Rhode Island State Facts & Information

Rhode Island, state in the northeastern United States, in New England, officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first of the 13 original colonies to declare its independence from Great Britain. However, it was the last of the 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution of the United States, doing so on May 29, 1790. The smallest state in the Union, it is, after New Jersey, the second most densely populated and one of the most highly industrialized. Its name is a paradox, since most of the state is part of the North American mainland. The name Rhode Island is the official name of the largest island of Narragansett Bay, an estuary that extends through the eastern part of the state. On most maps of the United States, the state appears so small that it is difficult to identify, but its influence is more widely felt than its tiny size would warrant. Providence is Rhode Island’s capital and its largest city.

Settlement of Rhode Island dates from 1636, when Roger Williams founded Providence after he had been banished from Massachusetts because of religious and political conflicts with the Puritans. This background of dissent made the colony tolerant of other religious groups.

Rhode Island prospered initially from the sea. Narragansett Bay, having some of the finest harbors on the Atlantic Seaboard, sheltered merchant vessels, privateers, slave runners, and even pirates. With the decline of high profits from maritime commerce, Rhode Island turned in the 1790s to manufacturing. The development of textile manufacturing, along with that of machinery, metal products, jewelry, and silverware, led to such a concentration of industry and population that Rhode Island has virtually become a city-state. However, there remains much unspoiled beauty in the islands and inlets of Narragansett Bay, in the lagoons and salt marshes of the Atlantic shore, and in the rolling hills of Block Island, about 16 km (about 10 mi) out at sea.

Historians disagree over the source of the name Rhode Island. Some claim that it was first used by the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, when he compared Block Island to the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean. Others maintained that the name is a corruption of Roodt Eylandt (Red Island), the name applied to Aquidneck Island in 1614 by the Dutch navigator Adriaen Block because of the red clay on the island’s shore. Roger Williams, the English Puritan who founded the Rhode Island colony, was the first to refer to Aquidneck as Rhode Island. The name was incorporated into the official title of the colony in 1663 and, later, of the state. Rhode Island’s official nickname is the Ocean State. The state’s small size led to the emergence of what is now its most common, although unofficial, nickname, Little Rhody. The Official State Website is http://www.ri.gov/

Named when Roger Williams referred to Aquidneck Island as the isle of roses, bedecked by rhododendrons and owned by the native inhabitants, Rhode Island had its beginnings as a haven for religious dissenters expelled by Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies. Williams's unceasing belief in religious freedom probably helped establish a long, collaborative relationship with the Narragansetts. In 1636, the only place he had to run was south, out of reach of both Massachusetts colonies and not yet within the Puritan strongholds of Rhode Island's colonies. He purchased from the native inhabitants what became Providence Plantations in 1637, and a group associated with Anne Hutchinson purchased Aquidneck Island in 1638. Renamed “Rhode Island,” it now encompasses Portsmouth, Middletown, and the city of Newport Geographically, the settlements might have met economic disaster had it not been for the enterprise of sea trade. Not having the rich natural resources that the other colonies had, a few wealthy planters in part of the colony capitalized on their excellent location relative to the sailing currents of the Atlantic. They developed import trade in sugar, fruit, rum, slaves, and exports from the other colonies to build an impressive plantation system. Throughout the state's history this has provided a highly mobile and much more ethnically diverse population than other New England states. Individuals from other New England locations may have broken loose from their moorings and headed to Newport for adventure and livelihood on the sea. Transients in town for a year or two were not uncommon.

More and more land was purchased from the native inhabitants, and groups of Quakers from England and Jews from Portugal and Spain arrived in the colony where they were accorded the status of freemen by the general assembly. At the outbreak of King Philip's War in 1675, despite an attempt to remain neutral, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations were swept into it when major battles were fought there. When this first of the colonial wars ended, more and more land was purchased from the indigenous tribes, and conflicts developed with both Massachusetts and Rhode Island colonies over land claims.

The towns in Rhode Island remained reasonably separate and distinct groups that coexisted despite considerable differences. As such, no county system of government developed until the eighteenth century, and even then its function was chiefly for court proceedings. The general assembly and the general court dealt with the colonial matters usually conducted by counties. During the Revolution, the British captured and occupied the Island of Aquidneck. The British Navy used Narragansett Bay as a strategic harbor, just as the United States Navy does today. Portuguese Jews, French settlers, and African slaves all found their way to Narragansett Bay in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The port of Providence brought hundreds of Irish and French-Canadians in the nineteenth century, and Italians, Germans, Russians, and Poles in the early twentieth century.

Immigration - Newport, Bristol and, to a lesser extent, Providence, were ports of entry for the slave trade in the colony’s early history and the choice for later immigrants. Immigration records are held by the National Archives and available regionally at the National Archives—Northeast Region.

U.S. Customs Service passenger records for the ports of Providence (1820–67), Newport (1820–57), and Bristol and Warren (1820–71) are included in NARA microfilm publication M575 and are held regionally at the National Archives—Northeast Region (see page 11). Index to Passengers Arriving at Providence, R.I., June 18, 1911–October 5, 1954 (NARA microfilm publication T518), as well as the passenger lists to 1943, are available on microfilm at the National Archives.

Naturalization - Naturalizations granted (1842–1904) by the Federal District Court at Providence are included in the Soundex cards for all of New England (1790–1906) held at the National Archives—Northeast Region (see Massachusetts—Naturalization). They were also granted by other courts, both at the county and statelevel, and can be hard to find. Court records previously at the Providence College Library have been moved to the superior court at the Rhode Island Judicial Records Center, 5 Hill St., Pawtucket, RI 02860. Both the Records Center and the Rhode Island State Archives have a personal name index to these records (1793–1900) on microfilm.

African American - As part of the “Triangular Slave Trade” with the South and the Caribbean, Rhode Island’s economy was heavily reliant on slave trade. However, slavery waned in acceptance during the Revolutionary War. Despite the slave trade, Rhode Island had one of the first anti-slavery laws. Records of African Americans as both slaves and free citizens exist in abundance in Rhode Island, integrated in all varieties of public records. The Rhode Island State Archives has numerous collections that document the role of African-American soldiers in the Revolutionary War.

Not much has been published, however. The Rhode Island Historical Society, in its large collection of manuscript material, has many records on African Americans.

Native American - Rhode Island’s native population sold their land to the outcasts from Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies to create the earliest settlements in the state. The early manuscript holdings in the Rhode Island State Archives contain information on Narragansetts and their descendants, who managed to stay in the state long after the demise, through either death or slavery after King Philip’s War, of most other tribes in New England.

“Indian” is a term found often in all categories of records for the state. As with African American slaves, natives often took the names of their owners or those to whom they were indentured, making it critical to follow white families of the same surnames. For excellent historical background, see Sydney S. Rider, The Lands of Rhode Island as they were Known to Canonicus and Miantunnomu (Providence, R.I.: the author, 1904).

Other Ethnic Groups - French, Jewish, and Portuguese communities have existed in the state from an early time. For Jewish research, Rhode Island Jewish Historical Society, 130 Sessions St., Providence, RI 02906 <www.dowtech.com/rijha> offers annual state and local meetings and projects. It publishes Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes with a query column.

The early French were Huguenots soon integrated into Rhode Island’s population. The American-French Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 830, Woonsocket, RI 02861 <www.afgs.org> is primarily concerned with French-Canadians who came for work in the nineteenth-century mills. Membership is open to French-Canadian or French researchers, but inquiries regarding the society’s library are answered by mail for a per surname fee. The society provides Je Me Souviens with membership. See also Albert K. Aubin, The French in Rhode Island (Pawtucket, R.I.: American French Genealogical Society, 1981).

• Newspapers & Periodicals - The Newspapers & Periodicals Collection lets you discover a wealth of information about your ancestors from many historical newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals. These types of sources can often supplement public records and provide information that is not recorded anywhere else. Here, you can learn more about your ancestor's possible daily activities by placing them in the context of their time.
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Rhode Island County List

 

The major genealogical use for counties in Rhode Island is the pursuit of court records and federal census returns. Before 1729 there were no county courts in Rhode Island. Two counties became incorporated in 1703: Providence and Newport. By 1750 all of Rhode Island’s present counties existed, and no more developed after these were formed. Bristol became a county in 1746–47 when five towns, originally belonging to Massachusetts, were ceded to Rhode Island. Perhaps because the rest of the country is so oriented to counties, some of the vital records have been published in “county” groups, but the records themselves exist only on a town level.

Modern court records are at the superior court at the county seat; earlier ones have been moved (see Court Records).