Finding Wescott This First Part Being an Account of the 17th and 18th Century Ancestors of Westcott Smith (1793-1877), Their Exploits at Shawomet, on Prudence Island and in the Narragansett Country, with Digressions Concerning Various Cousins, In-Laws and Political Allies, and Commentary on Religious Freedom, Commercial Customs, and Anarchy in the Rhode Island Colony David Smith August 2002, Revised June 2012 John Foster (1648-1681), A MAP OF NEW-ENGLAND (woodcut, 30.0 x 38.7 cm) in William Hubbard, The Present State of New-England (London, 1677). Image from the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine (http://www.usm.maine.edu/~maps) John Foster made this map, the first to be printed in North America, as a geographical guide to Hubbard’s history of the King Philip’s War, mapping the extent of European settlement at the outbreak of the war and the locations of key events in the war. Foster equated the territorial region of “New-England” with a historical region of conflict between the English and the “Indians.” English settlement in the region was thus legitimated by the victory over the “violent savages.” ii Contents Nana’s Sigh ............................................................................................................ 1 First Families ................................................................................................................. 3 Dramatis Personae .................................................................................................. 5 Westcott Smith’s Immigrant Ancestors ........................................................................... 5 Paterfamilias .................................................................................................................. 5 First Name First ............................................................................................................. 7 The Millwright from Warwickshire ................................................................................ 7 The Sweets and the Holy Man ....................................................................................... 8 The Militiaman and the Barmaid ................................................................................... 8 The Allen Connection and the Mystery of Susanna ...................................................... 10 Dramatis Loci ....................................................................................................... 11 The Gorton Connection ............................................................................................... 13 Dividing up Warwick .................................................................................................. 14 The Plight of Pessius .................................................................................................... 17 Humphrey Catches On ................................................................................................ 18 Stukely Leaves His Mark ....................................................................................... 23 The Westcotts of Wescote ............................................................................................ 23 Coming to America ..................................................................................................... 24 Keeping the Faith ......................................................................................................... 26 Disrupting Salem ......................................................................................................... 27 Main Street .................................................................................................................. 28 Ancient Mary and Her Two Husbands .................................................................. 33 Mending Joints and Shooting Governor Endicott’s Dog ................................................ 34 Ezekiel the Baptist, a Voice Clearing Trees in the Wilderness ....................................... 37 John of Prudence and His Mendacious Mate ........................................................ 45 Getting Along On Conanicut ....................................................................................... 45 Thou Shall Not Disparage the Governor ...................................................................... 46 Margaret’s Verdict ........................................................................................................ 48 The Island of Refuge .................................................................................................... 49 The Sovereign Island of Prudence ................................................................................ 51 iii Citizen John ................................................................................................................ 52 John Paine’s Tenants on Prudence Island ..................................................................... 53 How the Feud with a Dutch Trader Saved Warwick from the Puritans .......................... 55 The Smith Brothers (and Gereardy Sisters) Come to Boston Neck .......................... 65 The Farms at South Ferry ............................................................................................. 65 Ferry Road and Kings Town to Jamestown Ferry ........................................................... 67 John’s Warwick Lands .................................................................................................. 69 Jeremiah Walks the Line ....................................................................................... 73 Feather Smith........................................................................................................ 79 A Contest of Wills ........................................................................................................ 79 Solomon the Idiot ........................................................................................................ 80 John the Ferryman ....................................................................................................... 82 Whatever Happened to Jeremiah’s Farm? .............................................................. 85 Jeremiah’s Sticky Will .................................................................................................. 85 Affliction in the Fruitful Land ....................................................................................... 86 “There was a war broke out in Boston Neck”............................................................... 87 The South 165 ............................................................................................................. 90 John Smith’s All-American Family ......................................................................... 95 The Brood ................................................................................................................... 96 The Color of Amos ...................................................................................................... 97 Thomas Needed Help.................................................................................................. 99 Dancin’ John and Faithful Mary .......................................................................... 101 John Smith, Private Soldier and Drummer .................................................................. 103 A Remarkable Industrious & Indispensable Girl ......................................................... 107 The Great Dark Days ................................................................................................. 109 Down on the Farm .................................................................................................... 110 Mary’s Reward ........................................................................................................... 113 iv Nana’s Sigh Preface to the First Part On a hot, muggy evening in August 1975, I called my paternal grandmother with the news of our first child. “Nana, Rosemary had the baby this afternoon!” I proudly announced. “That’s wonderful! What did you name him?” “Well, Nana, it’s a girl. We call her Marah.” Silence. Then, “Well, that’s nice, I guess.” Silence. Click. Mary Flaherty Smith (1894-1975) – May to other adults, Nana to her 15 grandchildren – died within the year. But I think she died a little bit that night, and part of the sadness of her old age was that nobody was to going carry on the family name. Of course, it struck me as absurd that anyone would worry about the name Smith surviving an- other generation or two. Throughout the world that very night there was a sufficient number of Smith families welcoming male offspring, as there were plenty of new Jones boys and freshly minted sons of Chin. But Nana knew that so far we had not done our part in carrying on the name. William Hamilton Smith – Poppy to his 15 grandchildren – was the second son of Wescott Ham- ilton and Annie (Keirnan) Smith. His only brother, Frank, had no children. In addition to my father, Nana and Poppy had four daughters. You can see the chances of carrying on the name had already narrowed. That summer, I had two brothers, one a confirmed bachelor and the other with an eight year-old daughter and no other children. So, Nana looked to me to carry on the name, and well, I didn’t come through on August 8, 1975. You must allow us Smiths to be sensitive about names. At checkout counters, motel desks and even mortgage closings, we hear the same old tired jokes about the likely