WILLIAMS, Roger. pioneer of religious liberty and founder of Rhode Island • I, \1 ales. 1607 d. Providence, It I, March trs8.4 There is considerable doubt as to the year of Wil liams' birth; authorities differ. Some of them claim be was born in 1601. others in 1603. The writer after a careful examination of all the records places the date at 1607. Consult Straus' R.wer Williams. the Pioneer of Re ligious Liberty,' pp. 5-11.
The most recent investigations have shown that he was the son of James Williams, a mer chant tailor a London, and of his wife, Alice \ViIliams. While yet a mere boy, he attracted the attention of Sir Edward Coke, while tak ing shorthand notes of sermons and speeches in the Star Chamber, and Coke placed him (1621) in the Charter House School. From there (1623) he went to Pembroke College, Cambridge University, from which he took his degree in 1626. Williams soon developed into a decided opponent of the liturgy and tere Monies of the Church, thereby placing himself on the side of the most radical Puritans. On 1 Dec. 1630 he embarked from Bristol with his young wife in the ship Lye's, and arrived at Nantaskct 5 Feb. 1631. No sooner had he set foot upon the shores of New England than he came in conflict with the ecclesiastical and civil authorities of the colony, whom he found ar rascd against him, for asserting and maintain ing with unwavering fidelity those principles which have immortalized his name as the champion of religious liberty.
The arrival of Williams in America was noted ty Winthrop as that of a •Godly minis ter.• He was already known and esteemed by the leading mcn in thc colony, and he was im mediately ins iced to officiate in the place of John Wilson as teacher of the church at Bos ton, which, however, Williams declined on the ground that they of Boston acre an unsepa rated people. It is well to note here a dis tinction between the Pilgrims and the Puritans. The former were Separatists, and were asso ciated as a distinct church before they left Hol land. A principle of their Church was, that the state had no right to punish for spiritual sins. The Puritans, on the other hand, though Non conformists, were not separated from the Estab lished Church. Their scruples were against con
forming to many of the ceremonies of that Church. He was invited by the Pilgrim church at Salem to become au assistant or teacher in place of Higgir•on, who died a few months be fore. This call Williams accepted, but the civil authorities, the General Court of iloston, inter fered and remonstrated with the Salem church for choosing him_ He remained at Salem only a short while, and in August removed to Ply mouth, where he was received with much re spect. Here he remained for two years, sup porting himself by manual labor and officiating as •teachcr• in the church among the Pilgrim fathers. During his residence here he became intimately acquainted with various Indian chief tains in the neighborhood, which intimacy had an important bearing in his subsequent life in thc of Rhode Island.
In .Nitgust 1(i33 he returned to Salem and resumed hi. ministerial labors there, but at es cry turn he found himself in conflict the cltro and the court of Massachusetts. lie cited to appear before the .curt 111 (etcher MI5 he %%as tried before the (Alicia! Court, coll>i>titig of the gosernor, the deputy governor, eight assistants and some 25 deputies. The formal charges against him were four in number, but the basis of them may he summed up by the statement that he maintained that the civil power has no jurisdiction over the con science, or, in other words, he maintained the absolute liberty of conscience. The court con victed him and sentenced him to banishment. In January 1636 he left Salem to escape arrest, and to seek a refuge from the tyranny of the church brethren. He went first to Seekonk, and afterward with four companions who joined him embarked in a canoe to seek a spot beyond the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts and Ply mouth colonies. The site selected by him was Providence. so named by him in gratitude for •God's merciful providence to him in his dis tress.' In March 1638 a large section of land was conveyed to him by deed from the Indians, which land he divided equally among his fol lowers. Mrs. Williams and her two infant children joined him, and friends from Massa chusetts and England soon joined the Rhode Island colony.