By Lester Warren Fish
EARLY FISH FAMILIES IN ENGLAND 27
of Rehoboth, Mass., whose great grand daughter, Abigail
Carpenter, married Preserved7 Fish of Ira,VT, and this became
the maternal ancestor of all the Vermont family of Fish.
There were three distinct families bearing the name of Carpenter
that early came from England and settled in America; by
way of distinction they may be traced to the Providence Family,
the Rehoboth Family and the Philadephia Family. The first
Carpenter who made permanent settlement here was William
Carpenter, son and heir of Richard of Amesbury, Wiltshire,
England. His wife was Elizabeth Arnold, daughter of William
and Christiana (peak) Arnold. They were married a short time
before sailing on Friday, May 1, 1635. They landed in America
June 24, 1635, and settled in Hingham, Mass., later going to
Providence, R.I., in 1636. They were accompanied by her father,
William Arnold, who also was prominent in the affairs of Providence,
as mentioned above. It is thus seen that the Carpenter
Ancestors in America preceded the immigrant Thomas Fish to
Rhode Island by seven years.
The first mention of William Carpenter is found in what is
called the "Initial deed," a document hastily drawn up by Roger
Williams at the time of the settlement, in which by initials he
designated his "loving friends and neighbors" who are to have
equal rights with himself. These friends and neighbors, twelve
in number, until December 23,1661, had only this "Initial deed"
to show in the way of title to their holdings. On this date a formal
confirmatory deed was given them by Roger Williams and wife,
intended to make their titles secure, but in some unaccountable
manner some of the original names were omitted. To remedy
this another deed was given in 1666 at which time Williams
stated that the original "initial deed" was delivered in the
eighth month, 1638.
One of the witnesses to the second deed was Joseph Carpenter,
oldest son of William Carpenter, whose wife was a daughter of
William Carpenter of Rehoboth, our ancestor.
INITIAL DEED
Memorandum, that I Roger Williams having formerly purchased of Coani-
cus and Miantonomi, this our situtation or plantation of New Providence,
viz: the two fresh rivers Wonasquatucket and Mossehassick and the grouuds
and meadows thereupon, in consideration of thirty pounds, received from the
inhabitants of said place, do freely and fully pass grant and make over equal
right and power of enjoying and disposing of the same ground and lands unto
my loving friends and neighbors, Stukely Wescott, William Arnold, William
Carpenter, Thomas James, William Harris, Robert Cole, John Greens, John
Throckmorton, Thomas Olney, Francis Weston, Richard Waterman and
Ezekiel Holyman; and such others as the major part of us shall admit into
28 THE FISH FAMILY
the same fellowship of vote with us. As also I do freely make and pass over
equal right and power of enjoying and disposing of the lands and grounds
reaching from the aforesaid rivers unto the great Patuxit and the greass and
meadows thereupon, which was so lately granted by the aforesaid Sachems
to me.
Witness my hand, Providence 22. 10th month, 1666, so called
Roger Williams
This paper and writing given by me about twenty years since, differs not
a little, only so is dated as near as we could guess about that time, and the
name of the men written in the straight of time and haste are here explained
by me.
Roger Williams
William Carpenter was on numerous commissions to settle
boundary lines, to lay out roads, to locate and build bridges,
and in all the affairs of the Colony no man enjoyed the con-
fidence of Roger Williams more than did he. He was elected to
the General Court and to the General Assembly, and was a
Deputy of the latter body. When King Philip's was was threat-
ening to annihilate the colony, the General Assembly, on Apr. 4,
1676, passed the following resolution:
Voted, that in these troubleous times and straits in the colony this Assembly
desiring to have the advice and concurrence of the most judicious inhabitants,
do desire at their next setting the company and counsel of William Carpenter.
He suffered severe losses during the war, the Indians having
burned his home and farm buildings, driven away 200 of his
sheep, 50 cattle and 15 horses, and killed his son William.
FOUNDING OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN AMERICA
The prevaling religious sentiments in the early days of the
Colony were those of the Baptists and Quakers. All sects were
tolerated.
It was here in Providence, soon after its founding, sometime
between Aug. 3, 1638, and Mar. 16, 1639, that the first Baptist
Church in America was founded, when Ezekiel Hoylman, a
man of gifts and piety, was chosen by the candidates for com-
munion to baptize Roger Williams, and Holyman baptized the
twelve founders of this first Baptist Church. These ten men
were the same mentioned above in the "Initial deed" with the
exception of the names of Robert cole and John Throckmorton.
Thomas3 Fish having arrived in the Rhode Island Colony soon
after the organization of the Baptist Church may or may not
account for thr fact that the Fish Family has been almost en-
EARLY FISH FAMILIES IN ENGLAND 29
tirely Baptist in church affiliation to this day. He was made a
freeman in 1655, which indicates that he was a member of the
church, and yet it may be that he became a Quaker, as the Ports-
mouth Church was established by the Quakers or Society of
Friends, while the Baptist Church was established on the main-
land to the north, in Providence.
The leaders among the Baptists, besides Roger Williams and
the other eleven original founders were Chad Brown, Gregory
dexter and William Wickenden. Among the Quakers, or Friends,
George Fox, Richard Scott, John Burnett, John Stubbs, William
Edmundson, and William Wilkinson (whose descendants married
into the Fish family in Vermont).
Here men of every creed lived together happily, and those
with no religious faith were not molested. Here persecuted men
fled for refuge and found safe asylum, the only weapons used
were those of the intellect. Reason, argument, truth, and free
discussions were encouraged. Williams and his followers has no
fear for the truth. In the contest with error she is able to with-
stand, for "She is might and will prevail," was their statement.
Truth crushed to earth will rise again,
The eternal years of God are hers,
But error wounded writhes in pain,
And dies amid her worshippers.
Roger Williams [says Bancroft] had already matured a doctrine which
secures him an immortality of fame, as its application has given religious peace
to the American world. A fugitive from English persecution, he had revolved
the nature of intolerance, and had arrived at its only effectual remedy, the
sanctity of conscience. In soul matters he would have no weapons but soul
weapons. The civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never control
opinion, should punish guilt, but never violate inward freedom. The doctrine
contained within itself an entire reformation of theological jurisprudence;
quenche the fires that persecution had so long kept burning; would repeal
every law compelling attendance on public worship; would abolish tithes and
all forced contribution to the maintenance of religion; woould give an equal pro-
tection to every form of religious faith; and never suffer te force of the gov-
ernment to be employed against the Dissenters meeting house, the Jewish
Synagogue or the Roman Cathedral. In the unwavering assertion of his
views he never changed his position; the sanctity of conscience was the great
tenet, which with all its consequences, he defended as he first trod the New
England shores; and in his extreme old age it was the last pulsation of his heart.
If Copernicus is held in perpetual reverence, because on his deathbed he
published to the world that the sun is the center of our system; if the name
of Kepler is preserved in the annals of human excellence for his sagacity in
detecting the laws of planetary motion; if the genius of Newton has been
almost adored for dissecting a ray of light and weighing heavenly bodies in a
balance, let there be for the name Roger Williams at least some humble place
among those who have advanced moral science and made themselves the
benefactors of mankind.
30 THE FISH FAMILY
He would hold no communion with the Church of England, "for," said he,
"the doctrine of persecution for cause of conscience is most evidently and
lamentably contrary to the doctrine of Jesus Christ." The magistrates insisted
upon the presence of every man at public worship; Williams reprobated
that law. The worst statute in the English code was that which did but enforce
attendance upon the parish church. To compel men to unite with those
of a different creed, he regarded as an open violation of their natural rights;
to drag to public worship the irrligious and the unwilling, seemed only like
requiring hypocrisy. "An unbelieving soul is dead in sin, "such was his argument,
"and to force the indifferent from one worship to another was like
shifting a dead man into several changes of apparel." "No one should be allowed
to worship, or to maintain worship against his own desire."
Although the smallest State in the Union, yet she is the patent of that
principle which inderlies our Republic, and which is the corner stone of civil
and religious liberty. "Roger Williams," says Professor Gervinus, in his introduction
to the "History of the Nineteenth Century," "founded in 1636, a small,
new society in Rhode Island upon the principles of entire liberty of conscience,
and the uncontrolled power of the majority in secular concerns. Theories
of freedom in church and state, taught in the schools of Philosophy in Europe,
were here brought into practice in the government of a small community. It
was prophesied that the democratic attempts to obtain universal suffrage, a
general elective franchise, annual parliament, entire religious freedom, and
the Miltonian right of schism, would be of short duration. But these institutions
have not only maintained themselves here, but have spread over the
entire Union. They have superseded the aristocractic commencements of
Carolina, and of New York, the high church pary in Virginia, the theocracy
in Massachusetts, and the monarchy throughout America; they have given
laws to one-quarter of the globe, and dreaded for their moral influence, they
stand in the background of every democratic struggle in Europe." Roger
Williams' own language expressing this illustrious sentiment is that "Every
man has the absolute right to full liberty in religious concernments." The
same freedom was allowed in politics as in religion.
EARLY INDUSTRIES OF RHODE ISLAND
Although Roger Williams was the founder of the state of
Rhode Island, he was not the first to settle in that territory. One
year before Williams' advocacy of religious freedom developed
into his being banished from Salem, William Bladstone, a
University man and also of Cambridge, had wearied of the
Puritan theocracy of Massachusetts and settled in Cumberland,
which though not included in the original Rhode Island territory
afterwards bcame a part of it. This by no means lessens
the credit due Williams. Had it not been for him, the territory
which is now Rhode Island would have been divided between
Massachusetts and Connecticut. The state owes its individuality
and much of its traditional character to the fact that in October
1635 Williams, as the pastor of the church at Salem, was sent
into exile by the Massachusetts General Court, because he had
"broached and divulged different new and dangerous opinions."
The Blackstone river was named for William Blackstone, and
the first apple orchard in the country was planted by him, and
EARLY FISH FAMILIES IN ENGLAND 31
was still bearing twp hundred years after his death. Originally
an agricultural country, the farm is still an important factor in
Rhode Island. Its long coast line, however, brought an early
development of seafaring occupations. Rhode Island clams,
oysters, scallops and lobsters are the survival of a once great
fishing industry. The Rhode Island clam chowder, the clam
bakes, and the yellow corn-meal johnny (journey) cake are gifts
for which the world will never cease to be thankful.
When the eighteenth century dawned the many excellent
harbors of the state were the homes of fleets which sailed the
seven seas, and centers of commerce which became world-wide.
Ships built in these harbors carried farm products, dried fish,
lumber, barrel heads, staves and hoops and horses; and brought
in run, sugar, molasses, cotton, whale oil and tea. The molasses
was made into more rum and exchanged on the shores of Africa
for slaves, most of whom were disposed of in the West Indies.
Today, in the south and west, Rhode Island is a country of
farms and market gardens. North of industrial Providence the
valley of the Blackstone River, which in 1790 turned the
spindles to maek cotton yarn for Samuel Slater, now holds many
of the factories of an industrial state. The merchants and sailors
have been caught in the toils of a machine age. The old
harbors are crowded with the yachts of the summer colony. The
shores are thronged with summer residents. Newport and Narragansett
Pier are the sites of but a few of the countless beautiful
landscaped estates for which the well-to-do and fashionable
forsake New York, Philadelphia and other sultry citiesn for the
summer months.
THOMAS3 FISH AND DESCENDANTS
72 THOMAS3 FISH (Alice2, John1, or Robert2, Thomas1), eldest
son of (68) Robert and (12) Alice (Fysh) Fyshe, was bapt. at
Market Harborough, Great Bowden, Leicestershire, England,
Jan. 1, 1618/19 (one year before the landing of the Pilgrims at
Plymouth); d. at Portsmouth, R.I., Dec 1687 (three years after
the death of Roger Williams).
It was three hundred years ago that our Puritan Ancestor
left his home, brothers and sisters, mother and father, and
friends in England, and turned his face toward the adventure
and uncertainty of life in a strange, new and sparsely settled land
on the shores of New England. Dense forests filled the valleys
and crowned the hilltops, and wild beasts and the wilder savages
were the inhabitants of this widely extended country.