William Arnold (24 June 1587 – ) was one of the founding settlers of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and he and his sons were among the wealthiest people in the colony. He was raised and educated in England where he was the warden of St. Mary's, the parish church of Ilchester in southeastern Somerset. He immigrated to New England with family and associates in 1635. He initially settled in Hingham in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but he soon relocated to the new settlement of Providence Plantation with Roger Williams. He was one of the 13 original proprietors of Providence, appearing on the deed signed by Roger Williams in 1638, and was one of the 12 founding members of the first Baptist church to be established in America.
After living in Providence for about two years, Arnold moved with his family and others to the north side of the Pawtuxet River forming a settlement commonly called Pawtuxet, later a part of Cranston, Rhode Island. He and his fellow settlers had serious disputes with their Warwick neighbors on the south side of the river and, as a result, separated themselves from the Providence government, putting themselves under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This separation from Providence lasted for 16 years, and Arnold was appointed to keep the peace as the head of the settlement. He died sometime during the great turmoil of King Philip's War in 1675 or 1676. His son Benedict succeeded Roger Williams as President of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in 1657, and he became the first Governor of the colony under the royal charter of 1663.
Early life
William Arnold was born in Ilchester, Somerset, England on 24 June 1587 to Nicholas Arnold (–1623) by his first wife Alice Gully (1553–1596). In about 1610, he married Christian Peak who was baptized 15 February 1584, the daughter of Thomas Peak of Muchelney, Somerset, a village about west of Ilchester.
Arnold's parents lived in the small village of Northover, located across the River Yeo (also known as the River Ivel) from the town of Ilchester. His father was a tailor, and he evidently was prominent in his work and likely a member of the Tailor's Guild, which carried professional and political clout in its day. After the baptism of his oldest daughter Thomasine in 1572, Nicholas moved with his small family from Northover across the river to the much larger town of Ilchester where he became well established in his trade, and where the remainder of his children were born.
Arnold's mother Alice was the daughter of John Gully (c. 1508–1559) and his wife Alice (c. 1510–1583) of Northover. She died in 1596 shortly after childbirth when Arnold was eight years old, and he was thereafter largely raised and influenced by his sister Joanne who was ten years older than he. Joanne eventually married William Hopkins of Yeovilton and died at an early age in England. Her children Francis Hopkins and Thomas Hopkins immigrated to New England with Arnold.
Arnold and his siblings were likely educated at the Free Grammar School associated with the parish church in Limington, slightly more than a mile to the east of Ilchester. This ancient school is where Thomas Wolsey was the curate and schoolmaster from 1500 to 1509. Wolsey later became the Lord Cardinal and Primate of England.
Only two records for Arnold are known to exist while he still lived in England. The first of these was a transcript of baptisms, marriages, and burials that he signed in 1622 as the warden of St. Mary's, the parish church of Ilchester. The other record mentioning his name was the will of his father Nicholas Arnold, dated 18 January 1623. There is no record of Arnold between 1623 and his sailing to New England in 1635.
Arnold was an educated man; he had to be able to read and write as the warden of his parish church, and appears to have had a secure relationship with his church and community. Unknown are his motives for emigrating from England or when he began planning to do so, but his plan materialized in 1635.
Voyage to New England
Arnold gathered members of his immediate family and other relatives and associates in the spring of 1635, together with their baggage and supplies, and made the trip from Ilchester to Dartmouth on the coast of Devon. The exact route of the travelers was not recorded, but a probable path was through Yeovil, Crewkerne, and Axminster to Exeter. From there, the party likely turned south along the Devonshire coast, traveling through Teignmouth and Torquay to the port city of Dartmouth.
Fred Arnold provided a perspective of the group in 1921, as they prepared to load their ship destined for the New World: While their eyes rested upon these last scenes in the home land, the... young people... were perhaps thinking more of the village greens of Ilchester and Yeovil... and their playmates from whom they were now separated... while the older ones were more likely turning their thoughts toward the unknown sea with some doubts and misgivings mayhap, but yet with stout hearts and strong hopes facing the great adventure that lay before them in a new world.
The ship carrying William Arnold and his group sailed from England to New England in 1635, with some brief particulars of the voyage given by his son Benedict in the family record: "Memorandom my father and his family Sett Sayle from Dartmouth in Old England, the first of May, friday &c. Arrived In New England June 24 Ano 1635". The name of the ship was not recorded, nor has it been identified since. Governor Winthrop recorded that 15 ships arrived in the Massachusetts Bay area in the six-week period beginning 4 June 1635, but he gave the names of only two of them.
The ship on which the Arnolds sailed was not the Plain Joan, as is stated in some accounts, which carried a Thomas Arnold from England to Virginia. There is no known record of any event that took place at sea, only the length of the trip. The journey to America was less than two months in duration and ended on William Arnold's 48th birthday.
Settling Providence and Pawtuxet
Once in New England, Arnold joined a group of settlers from Hingham, Norfolk, England who established the new settlement of Hingham in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. On 18 September 1635, the town of Hingham gave Arnold a house lot "lying in the Town Street."
According to historian John Barry, William Arnold was banished from Hingham for reasons that were not religious, but he does not give the actual reason, nor does he cite any sources. Years later, Arnold's son Benedict recorded in the family record: "Memm. We came to Providence to Dwell the 20th of April, 1636. per me Bennedict Arnold." William Arnold stated in 1659: "for as much that I was one that the very first day entred [sic] with some others upon the land of providence, and so laid out my money to buy and helpe pay for it".
Arnold became one of the 13 original proprietors of Providence, and his initials appear second on the "initial deed" signed by Roger Williams in 1638, following the initials of Stukely Westcott, the future father-in-law of his son Benedict. He was assigned a house lot on what became North Main Street, but his stay was short in this part of Providence. In 1638, just two years after his arrival, he became caught up in a bitter dispute over a woman named Jane Verin, who had fled her husband's domestic abuse. Williams insisted that Jane had the right to leave her husband as a matter of freedom of conscience, but Arnold countered that Jane was defying her husband's authority over her. Williams wrote to Massachusetts Bay governor John Winthrop to warn him that Arnold was writing slanderous letters about the case.
Soon Arnold, his wife and children, his son-in-law William Carpenter, his nephew Thomas Hopkins, and a few associates and all their families moved four miles (six km) south to the Pawtuxet River around 1638, at the far southern edge of Williams's Providence purchase. They settled at the ford where the Pequot Trail crossed the river, close to where the Warwick Avenue (US Hwy 1A/Hwy 117) bridge crosses the river in the town of Cranston. Here Arnold remained until the end of his life. This was before a dividing line had been created between the two localities, and he physically resided at the location called Pawtuxet, although he continued to be referred to in some deeds as "of Providence" even after his move there. The break with Roger Williams eventually caused Pawtuxet to be treated as an independent settlement, as below.
Arnold had been important to his church in England, and Samuel Gorton writes in Simplicity's Defence that Arnold had been a great professor of religion in the west of England. Once in the New World, he became one of the original 12 members to organize the first Baptist Church in Providence, founded by Roger Williams in 1638. This church was also the first Baptist church established in America.
Arnold had a good relationship with the Narragansett people and, according to Elisha Stephen Arnold's family genealogy (1935), "he felt for the Indians a conscientious kindliness and in his dealings with them was actuated by a sense of strictest justice." Like Roger Williams, he also made an effort to learn their language and acted as interpreter many times; he was paid 26 shillings for his services in one instance. Being able to communicate with the Indians also enabled him to buy large tracts of land from them, and soon he and his sons owned nearly . In 1650, he paid taxes amounting to more than three and a half pounds, and his son Benedict paid five pounds—the highest taxes paid in the colony, implying that the Arnold family was among the wealthiest families in the colony in terms of land holdings.
Difficulty with the Gortonites
In 1641, the Pawtuxet settlers complained to the Massachusetts authorities of their neighbors in Warwick, the so-called Gortonites led by Samuel Gorton. Gorton had been causing disturbances for several years and had already been evicted from several places for creating difficulties which centered around his religious beliefs, insubordination towards the magistrates, refusal to pay taxes, and his dealings with and treatment of the Indians. The Massachusetts authorities replied that they were unable to help because the Pawtuxet settlement fell under the jurisdiction of neither the Massachusetts Bay Colony nor the Plymouth Colony. As a result, William Arnold and other Pawtuxet settlers subjected themselves to the Massachusetts government in 1642, with Arnold appointed to keep the peace. This separation from Providence lasted for 16 years.
One of the primary reasons for the separation from Providence was dissension over admitting Samuel Gorton and his Warwick friends to equal rights in Providence. After being evicted from other places, Gorton attempted to join in the Providence government, but the Pawtuxet settlers wanted no part of him or his followers. One cause of dissatisfaction was Gorton's treatment of the Indians. Arnold felt a strong affinity towards the Narragansett people, having acquired their language, and he accused Gorton and the other Warwick settlers of showing injustice to the Indians in a long letter to Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts in 1648.