Simon Pease, Sr. Founder of Brown University

Simon Pease (1695-1769) was a slave trader from Newport, Rhode Island, and one of the city's richest merchants. Between 1759 and 1766, he financed five voyages to the coasts of West Africa to purchase enslaved people.[4] In 1764, he was one of the original signers of the charter of the College of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, later known as Brown University.[5] Sometime before 1769, Simon Pease enslaved Kingston Pease, probably through one of his voyages to the West African coast.[3]

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pease-1482

Profile last modified 3 May 2023 | Created 29 Oct 2016

Biography

Simon was born in 1695. He is the son of James Pease and Hannah Dunham. Simon died in 1769.[1]

Simon Pease (1695 - 1769)

Simon Pease

Born 1695 in Edgartown, Massachusetts

Son of James Pease Jr. and Hannah (Dunham) Pease

Brother of Nathaniel Pease and Mehitable (Pease) Vincent

Husband of Martha Willett — married [date unknown] [location unknown]

Father of Anne (Pease) Carpenter

Died 31 Mar 1769 at about age 74 in Newport, Rhode Island, British Colonial America

Sources

history.vineyard.net[2]
Find A Grave Index[3]
See also:

"How to add sources here."
Footnotes

↑ Information from Jenner family researcher, Darren Jenner, 29 Oct 2016.
↑ [1]
↑ database, FamilySearch [2]13 December 2015, Simon Pease, 1769; Burial, Newport, Newport, Rhode Island, United States of America, Common Burying Ground; citing record ID 123453804.
Find A Grave: Memorial #123453804

Simon Pease BIRTH 1695, Newport, Newport County, Rhode Island, USA DEATH 31 Mar 1769 (aged 73–74), Newport, Newport County, Rhode Island, USA BURIAL Common Burying Ground, Newport, Newport County, Rhode Island, USA, MEMORIAL ID 123453804

Moved to New Port about 1718 and was admitted freeman about the same time he was married to Martha Willett.

He was considered a wealthy merchant of New Port and Providence.

In 1729 he was a deputy to the General Assembly.

He was a devout member of The Congregationalist Trinity Church in Newport, RI.

One of the original founders of Brown University in 1764 and original proprietor of Redwood Library 1747.

Owner of the Simon Pease house at 32 Starke Street, Newport, RI.

Parents Judith Parrott Cranston 1670–1737

Spouse Martha Willett Pease 1697–1779 (m. 1718)

Children: Elizebeth b. March 1719 d. July 27, 1720 (16 months old) Ann Pease b Jan 19, 1721 d. 4 April 1776/1777 married Mr Cornell after his death then married Mr Carpenter William Pease b. abt 1723 d. June 23, 1733 Judith Pease b abt 1728 d. 22 June 1755 spinster Francis Pease b abt 1730 d. 1735 Martha Pease b about 1732 d. 3 Oct 1755 spinster Simon Pease, Jr b about 1734/1736 d. 24 Nov 1777 no issue Mary Pease b. abt. 1738 d. 6 June 1765 m. Robert Stoddard Oct 18, 1756 in the Trinity church in New Port (Robert was a store keeper in New Port)

Reference: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123453804/simon-pease

• Point of interest:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_Pease

Kingston Pease
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kingston Pease (sometimes spelled Pees, Peas, or Peares), was a property owner and prominent member of the free Black community of 18th century Newport, Rhode Island.[1] Along with Newport Gardner, Zingo Stevens, and Caesar Lyndon, Pease formed the Free African Union Society in 1780.[2] In 1789, he was excommunicated from the Second Baptist Church for having a child with Anne Mackumber, a white woman.[3]

In 1755, almost one quarter of Newport's population was enslaved, and most had been born in Africa. Kingston Pease's name suggests that he was born in Africa and forced into enslavement in either Kingston, Jamaica or Kingston, Rhode Island. This was common practice, see: Newport Gardner. It was also common practice for formerly enslaved people to use the last name of the slaveholder or former slaveholder, making it very likely that Kingston had been enslaved by the wealthy merchant and slave trader Simon Pease.[3]

Simon Pease (1695-1769) was a slave trader from Newport, Rhode Island, and one of the city's richest merchants. Between 1759 and 1766, he financed five voyages to the coasts of West Africa to purchase enslaved people.[4] In 1764, he was one of the original signers of the charter of the College of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, later known as Brown University.[5] Sometime before 1769, Simon Pease enslaved Kingston Pease, probably through one of his voyages to the West African coast.[3]

Freedom[edit]
Kingston Pease likely gained his freedom after the death of Simon Pease in 1769. In May of that year, "Kingston Peares Negro" was baptized and became a member of the Second Baptist Church of Newport, Rhode Island.[3]

Second Baptist Church[edit]
Kingston Pease was baptized in 1769 and became a member of the Second Baptist Church of Newport, Rhode Island. Though this was a mostly white congregation, Pease would not have been the first Black member. The church admitted Black people as early as 1736. Ten people of African ancestry and three Native Americans were baptized and admitted to the church between 1730 and 1750. According to church records, between 1766 and 1776, twenty more Black people were admitted to the church. Pease remained a member in good standing within the church for more than a decade, without any recorded difficulties.

In February of 1781, a church meeting was called to order "Kingston Pees a Black Brother to appear at our next Church Meeting to account for his Conduct on Account of his keeping Company with a White Girl and Wanting to Marry her contrary to the Distinctions God had made." Pease attended a March meeting, and, according to the clerk, "did not appear in any Shape to be convinced of any Error in keeping Company with a White Girl, & wanting to Marry her; Moreover he seem'd rather to blame his Brethren than himself." After this meeting, the council of church members (made up of seventeen men, six of them Black) decided to allow more time for Pease to consider his actions and to respond to the church's objection to his relationship.

In a March 1781 church meeting, Kingston Pease came before the church members and "confessed his Error in Sining [sic] against God and Wounding his Brethren," expressing a hope that "his Brethren would forgive him and Receive him in Fellowship again." After this, the church officially forgave him and restored him to membership status, "without one Dissenting Voice." About eighteen months later, in October of 1782, it had become clear to the church members that Pease had not ended his relationship with the "White Woman" now identified as Anne Mackumber, who was now pregnant, indicating his earlier confession had not been genuine. The church moved quickly to excommunicate him, writing "Our Black Brother, Kingston Pees, Appeared and did not Deny the Accusation brought against him, respecting Ann Mackumber, A White Woman being with Child by him." Once considered by the church's "Black Brother", Pease was now labeled "an Unclean Person," "an Heathen man," and "an Adulterer or Fornicator."[3]

Free African Union Society
In November of 1780, the Free African Union Society was founded in Newport, Rhode Island. It earliest known free Black association in the United States. The Union provided a variety of support services such as paying for burials and providing widows and children of former members with financial aid. Founding chapters in both Newport and Providence, the organization played an essential role in the survival and continuity of Rhode Island's free Black community, quickly becoming its public voice. Membership also provided some sense of financial stability for Black men and their families.[6]

In 1789, Kingston Pease was elected the Vice President of the Free African Union Society. Upon his relocation to New York City, the Union provided Pease with a letter of recommendation, attesting to his character to help him transition to a new city, writing that "whilst he resided in Newport amongst the free Africans, ... and that he has behaved himself as a good, faithful member of this said society, and as such, we recommend To all our Friends abroad."[3] While he made arrangements for he and his family to relocate, the Union helped him to conduct his business, collecting rent on the property he owned in Newport.[6]

Later life
By 1790, Kingston Pease had relocated from Newport, Rhode Island to New York City. He wrote in December 1790 that "my family [are] all well, both my wife & children recovered very well of the small pox, after a short confinement." In 1791, the Free African Union Society wrote Pease to tell him that his son, Arthur, still residing in Newport, was "very sick ... and said to be in a poor, distressed Condition, almost destitute of the Necessarys of Life."[2] An 1800 census of New York listed Kingston Pease as a free Black head of household in the Fifth Ward, probably at 8 Fayette Street in Brooklyn.[7][3]

References[edit]
^ Benard, Akeia A.F (2008-01-01). "The Free African American Cultural Landscape: Newport, RI, 1774--1826". Doctoral Dissertations: 1–251.
^ Jump up to: a b Robinson, William (1976-01-01). "The Proceedings of the Free African Union Society and the African Benevolent Society: Newport, Rhode Island 1780-1824". Faculty Publications.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Boles, Richard (2017). ""An Unclean Person" or "A Fit Candidate for a Church Member": Kingston Pease and Norther Baptist Churches". Rhode Island History. 75: 32–45.
^ "Slave Voyages". www.slavevoyages.org. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
^ The Charter of Brown University (PDF). Providence, RI: Brown University, Akerman-Standard Press. 1945.
^ Jump up to: a b Clark-Pujara, Christy (2016-08-30). Dark Work: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island. NYU Press. ISBN 978-1-4798-0994-3.
^ Eichholz, Alice; D, C. G. Eichholz Ph; Rose, James M. (1981). Free Black Heads of Households in the New York State Federal Census, 1790-1830. Genealogical Publishing Com. ISBN 978-0-8063-5199-5.

Simon Pease (1695 - 1769)

Simon Pease

Born 1695 in Edgartown, Massachusetts

Son of James Pease Jr. and Hannah (Dunham) Pease

Brother of Nathaniel Pease and Mehitable (Pease) Vincent

Husband of Martha (Willett) Pease — married [date unknown] [location unknown]

Father of Anne (Pease) Carpenter

Died 31 Mar 1769 in Newport, Rhode Island, British Colonial America

Profile last modified 2 Oct 2021 | Created 29 Oct 2016

Biography

Simon was born in 1695. He is the son of James Pease and Hannah Dunham. Simon died in 1769.[1]

Sources

history.vineyard.net[2]
Find A Grave Index[3]
See also:

Footnotes

↑ Information from Jenner family researcher, Darren Jenner, 29 Oct 2016.
↑ [1]
↑ database, FamilySearch [2]13 December 2015, Simon Pease, 1769; Burial, Newport, Newport, Rhode Island, United States of America, Common Burying Ground; citing record ID 123453804.
Find A Grave: Memorial #123453804

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123453804/simon-pease

Simon Pease

BIRTH 1695
Newport, Newport County, Rhode Island, USA

DEATH 31 Mar 1769 (aged 73–74)
Newport, Newport County, Rhode Island, USA

BURIAL
Common Burying Ground
Newport, Newport County, Rhode Island, USA
MEMORIAL ID 123453804 ·
Moved to New Port about 1718 and was admitted freeman about the same time he was married to Martha Willett.

He was considered a wealthy merchant of New Port and Providence.

In 1729 he was a deputy to the General Assembly.

He was a devout member of The Congregationalist Trinity Church in Newport, RI.

One of the original founders of Brown University in 1764.

Original proprietor of Redwood Library 1747.

Owner of the Simon Pease house at 32 Starke Street, Newport, RI.

Children:

-Elizebeth b. March 1719 died July 27, 1720 (16 months old)

-Ann Pease b Jan 19, 1721 died 4 April 1776/1777 married Mr Cornell after his death then married Mr Carpenter

-William Pease b. abt 1723 died June 23, 1733

-Judith Pease b abt 1728 died 22 June 1755 spinster

-Francis Pease b abt 1730 died 1735

-Martha Pease b about 1732 died 3 Oct 1755 spinster

-Simon Pease, Jr b about 1734/1736 died 24 Nov 1777 no issue

-Mary Pease b abt 1738 married Robert Stoddard Oct 18, 1756 in the Trinity church in New Port (Robert was a store keeper in New Port) she died 6 June 1765

Family Members

Parents

Judith Parrott Cranston
1670–1737

Spouse

Martha Willett Pease
1697–1779 (m. 1718)

Children

Elizebeth Pease
1719–1720

William Pease
1724–1733

Judith Pease
1729–1755

Francis Pease
1730–1735

Martha Pease
1734–1755

Simon Pease
1736–1777

Mary Pease Stoddard
1738–1765