Then and Now: John Greene, Surgeon 2: Mr. Green, a peacemaker

Posted 12/29/09

One of the first six colonists to receive "home lots" in Providence was the remarkable John Greene, Surgeon. Like many of the other settlers, he wanted more land to begin his life in America. In 1642, a few years after settling in Providence, Greene …

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Then and Now: John Greene, Surgeon 2: Mr. Green, a peacemaker

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One of the first six colonists to receive "home lots" in Providence was the remarkable John Greene, Surgeon. Like many of the other settlers, he wanted more land to begin his life in America. In 1642, a few years after settling in Providence, Greene purchased 700 acres of land from the Indian sachem Miantonomi. This land was south of the settlement of Pawtuxet and was called Occupasuetuxet. Later it was known as "Greene's Hold." When Providence merchant John Brown purchased it in 1782, he called it "Spring Green." Today, it is known as Spring Green and/or Governor Francis Farms.

According to the very informative The Greenes of Rhode Island (compiled from the manuscript of Major-General George Sears Greene), published in 1903, John Greene “was well respected by his contemporaries in Providence. Roger Williams, in 1637 wrote, "... Mr. Greene here is peaceable, a peacemaker, and a lover of all English that visit us."

It appears that while Greene took no active part in the Providence politics at the time, he became very friendly with Samuel Gorton, who did. Gorton became embroiled in the politics and quarrels in Providence and was called by William Arnold “a turbulent troublemaker." When Gorton and his followers left Providence, John Greene joined him and, with 10 others, purchased a tract of land directly below his Occupasuetuxet holdings. This was, of course, the Shawomet Purchase of 1642, the tract of land that was four miles wide and extended for about 20 miles west from Narragansett Bay. This later became the towns of Warwick, West Warwick and Coventry.

Life was very difficult in this early period, especially for many of the women who had left the security and comfort of Old England to eke out a living in the New World. One of those who succumbed to the rigors of Rhode Island's wilderness was Joanne Tattershall Greene, John Greene's first wife and the mother of his children.

Prior to his leaving Providence in 1642 to take up permanent residence in Warwick, John Greene married Alice Daniels, a widow with a young son and a tract of land in Providence. The newlyweds found little peace in that first year as the Massachusetts Bay Colony, claiming jurisdiction over Shawomet, invaded the fledging colony with "forty mounted and armed men" to arrest Gorton and his followers. Panic ensued and the women fled to the woods or the safety of the nearby islands as the soldiers descended upon Shawomet. The G.S. Greene manuscript tells us that the “fright and exposure caused the death of two of the women. One of them was Alice Daniels Greene. An unpublished and historically accurate manuscript by Hedley Smith, Stubborn Saint: A Portrait of Samuel Gorton, tells us that John Greene went to his wife's assistance on the island of Conanicut (Jamestown). He was too late, as Alice died before he could reach her.

When Gorton and the others barricaded themselves against the Massachusetts men, Greene was not with them. The siege lasted for several days and Gorton and his men were taken captive and sent to Boston. The trial was a travesty of justice as the legal aspect was ignored. The goal was to punish Gorton for his religious views and his criticism of the Boston magistrates and the Puritan preachers. Many historians call this episode in Warwick history the "Greatest Crime of the Colonial Period." The Shawomet men were whipped, shackled and given hard labor for a year. They were to be permanently banished from the colonies under Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colony jurisdiction. This, the court claimed, included Shawomet.

As John Greene was never taken captive (although placed on a wanted list) he was free to cultivate the good graces of the Narragansett Indians, and when the Gortonites were finally released he was there to help plan a petition to Parliament.

The story of John Greene's involvement to free Shawomet from Massachusetts rule will be continued.

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