While it is true that many of the early colonists were rugged individualists and often a quarrelsome lot, one of them, John Greene, Surgeon, seemed to be an exception. This progenitor of the large, powerful and important Greene family was accepted and highly regarded by such diverse settlers as William Arnold, Roger Williams and Samuel Gorton. Perhaps the fact that he was a surgeon and one of the few skilled in both surgery and medicine may have been a deciding factor, but it was not the only one. Greene’s personality, common sense and writing skills made him a welcome addition to Rhode Island’s early history.

Much of what we learn of Surgeon Greene comes from the awesome manuscript compiled by Major-General George Sears Greene of Apponaug. Fortunately, his writings have been compiled by Louise Brownell Clarke in the volume, The Greens of Rhode Island, published in 1903.

John Greene, as the founder of the Greene family in Warwick, would have had his place in history secured as the ancestor of two Rhode Island governors (both named William): the very illustrious Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene and a Civil War general, George Sears Greene, as well as many other noteworthy citizens of Rhode Island.

John Greene was born in England circa 1590. For a number of years before coming to America he lived in Salisbury, England with his wife, Joanne Tattershall and their seven children. By the time he left Hampton, England for America in 1635, one of his children had died. John, Joanne, five sons and a daughter crossed the Atlantic on a 58-day sail on the ship James. They arrived in Boston on June 3, 1635. The Greene family soon moved to Salem, where he and his sons built a house. While there, John soon associated with Roger Williams and became familiar with the concept of separation of church and state. Oliver Payson Fuller, in his 1875 History of Warwick, says, “John Greene seems to have preferred a residence in a state where there were no witches to be hung, and where the utmost liberty was allowed in religious matters.” This was not to be had in Boston or Salem. As a result, John Greene joined Roger Williams in Providence in 1637 and “received Lot #15 on the main street.” The Greenes of Rhode Island volume tells us that he was “one of the eleven men baptized by Roger Williams.” Greene was also the first medical man in the young Providence colony, and we are told that even after he removed to Warwick (1642-43) “the people of Providence relied solely upon him for surgical aid.”

While in Providence, John Greene became closely associated with Samuel Gorton. Both men had strong feelings against the autocratic rule in Massachusetts. George Sears Greene, in his manuscript, tells us that he spoke “contemptuously of the magistrates.” He charged the court there with “usurping the power of Christ over the churches and men’s consciences.”

The Reverend Henry Rousimaniere, in his “Letters from the Pawtuxet,” written in 1859, called John Greene “This Adam of Shawomet [Warwick].” He adds that he “was driven out of Massachusetts, not Paradise, for the great crime of obeying his conscience of religion.”

The story of this remarkable early colonist will be continued.