Beschreibung:

Copy of the originall Purchass of the Island of Aquedneck in 1637 by Mr. Wm. Coddington
Rhode Island: c.1686]. Manuscript document on paper, 1 page, large watermarked bifolium sheet (450 x 295 mm). [Docketed:] Copy of the originall Purchass of the Island of Aquedneck in 1637 by Mr. Wm. Coddington and friends united to him deceased but not the said Coddington his freinds their heyres for Ever so now devolved to his Maj.tie our Soveraign Lord and King. In the secretarial hand of Francis Brinley, the transcriber of the document from the original “Generall Records.” Signed by Brinley, who also countersigned “Wm Lytherland” and “Jn Sandford,” containing the replicated marks of Native American tribesmen most notable and mentioned in the text are the chiefs “Cononnicus” and “Miantonony,” including the names of several early colonists as witnesses (including Roger Williams . Condition : usual folds, some light soiling at creases, ink slightly faded in some areas. Provenance : Heirs of Sir Edmund Andros by descent. "…Memorandum, that we Cannonicus and Miantunnomu, the two chief sachems of the Nanhiggansets by virtue of our general command of this Bay ; as also the particular subjecting of the dead sachem of Aquedneck and Kitacka- muckqut themselves and lands unto us, have sold unto Mr. Coddington and his friends united unto him, the great Island of Aquedneck, lying from hence eastward in this Bay, as also the marsh or grass upon Quinunnugat and the rest of the Islands in the Bay, (excepting Chibachu- weca, formerly sold unto Mr. Winthrope, the now Governor of Massachusetts, and Mr. Williams of Providence) as also the rivers and coves about Kitackamuckqut and from thence to Paupasquash for the full payment of forty fathom of white beads to be equally divided between us… an andros copy of the purchase of rhode island from the indians for 40 fathoms of white beads, likely prepared in relation to the dominion of new england. William Coddington arrived in Salem from England in 1630, and was one of the original Magistrates for Massachusetts Bay. He built the first brick house in Boston and would have continued his role as a community leader if not for his advocacy of Anne Hutchinson's religious liberties in court. Resulting public censure was enough to convince him to settle elsewhere. In 1638 he and 18 others left Boston for Rhode Island. Enlisting the aid of Roger Williams at Providence, Coddington and friends obtained from Canonicus and Miantanomoh, the Narragansett chiefs , a deed of the islands Aquidneck and Conanicut lying at the mouth of the bay. They paid 40 fathoms of white beads. They settled on the north shore of Aquidneck at Pocasset, which became Portsmouth, where Coddington was elected judge. But as a natural conservative in the midst of radicals, Coddington left Portsmouth shortly to found Newport. THE DOMINION OF NEW ENGLAND Once Carolina and Pennsylvania were founded and England had recovered her rule in New York, New Jersey, and Delaware from the Dutch, she had an unbroken line of colonies from Maine to the Carolinas. An ambitious plan was undertaken to cancel the charters of the colonies and unite them into a single royal entity. Thus the Dominion of New England; as the lower state were never added in part due to Sir Edmund Andros and his deeply unpopular government. Formerly governor of New York and New Jersey, Andros arrived in 1686 as the first governor of the Dominion of New England, a vast royal colony without the previous boundaries of separate colonies. Charters were to be turned over to the King's representatives, but both Rhode Island and Connecticut hid theirs in an attempt to maintain some sovereignty. And it seems they did, his rule was mostly stymied in Rhode Island except in regards to assessing property taxes, which was attempted only intermittently. The present document was prepared by Francis Brinley, chairman and judge of the local court "The General Quarter Sessions and Inferior Court of Common Pleas holden at Newport, Narragansett, and Providence Plantations" during the Andros administrat