Benjamin Greene

Biography

From https://archive.org/stream/greenefamilyitsb00lama#page/125/mode/1up...

I head this chapter “Tribe of Benjamin” for Tribe it is. It is the most prolific house of the many we are studying ....

Frank L. Greene, A. AL, B. A., has written a careful history of the fam-ily of Benjamin Greene.* It is a large volume, and even then he failed to get all of them. I shall refer those interested to his work. In this chapter only the first generations will be traced, as a rule, although in certain cases the genealogy is brought down to the present time, as where Mr. Greene has failed to list them, or where new evidence clears up a former tangle or dispute.

Benjamin Greene^ was the youngest son of John Greene of Quidnessett and his wife Joan. He married Humility Coggeshall. Her grandfather was John Coggeshall, the first President of Providence Plantations, who died in office, Nov. 27, 1648. Her parents were Joshua and Joan West-Coggeshall. Her father, Joshua Coggeshall, together with Mary Dyer, the Martyr, and Daniel Gould, founded the first Friends' Society in R. I. Private records give her birth in 1671, but the official record places it in Jan., 1670. Benjamin Greene's name is frequent in the records. His land joined that of his brother, James Greene, at Quidnessett. He also bought part of his brother Edward's estate, and seems to have owned considerable real estate beside. In 1704-5 he was involved in lawsuits over this land. The next year he sold out and moved to East Greenwich, where he died early in 1719 — not in 1716, as some have it. He helped to lay out the Path Road, that followed the old Pequot Indian trail from the Bay.
Benjamin and Humility had 12 children, having five sons in succession, and then seven daughters. Caleb died in 1727, and there are only birth records of Sarah and Dinah ; Mary married Thomas Spencer ; Catherine mar- ried her cousin, Daniel Greene^ of North Kingstown ; Ann married Daniel T'ennant ; Phebe married Thomas Wells of Westerley ; and Deborah married William Reynolds of East Greenwich. This leaves the lines of four sons, John, Benjamin, Henry and Joshua. Four things are noticeable of this confederation of families : (i) Their numbers. (2) The many soldiers sent to the French-and-Indian and Revolutionary Wars. (3) Their, relig- ious bias, by which a great majority became Seventh-Day Baptists. (4) The overflow of the middle generation to New York State, and of the later generations to Minnesota and other western states. Joan West was probably the daughter of Francis West, who was in Duxbury, Mass., by 1610

• The Greene Family, by Frank L. Greene. A. M. Price.

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===Family===

From https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/102365614/benjamin-greene

(Note - he was “not” “Tobacco Ben.”)

Benjamin Greene, son of John and Joan ( ) Greene, made his home at Kings Town and East Greenwich, Rhode Island. He was very prominent in the affairs of these places, and was deputy to the General Court in 1698, 1700-01-03. He was also surveyor of highways in 1701, a member of the Town Council in 1701, and was a rate maker in 1702. His death occurred in 1719, and that of his widow in the following year.

Benjamin Greene married Humility Coggeshall, who was born Jan 1671, daughter of Joshua and Joan (West) Coggeshall.

They were the parents of the following children:

1. John Greene b. c 1688, d. Mar 19 1751/52
2. Mary Greene b. c 1690, d. a 1719
3. Benjamin Greene b. c 1692, d. c 1755
4. Ann Greene b. c 1694, d. Jul 11 1731
5. Henry Greene b. c 1696, d. Feb 21 1751/52
6. Phebe Greene b. c 1698
7. Catherine Greene b. c 1700, d. b 1738
8. Caleb Greene b. c 1701, d. c 1727
9. Dinah Greene b. c 1706, d. a 1771
10. Deborah Greene b. c 1708
11. Joshua Greene b. 1714, d. 1795

    ---

The Greene Family

Being A Record of the Ancestry and Descendents of Maxson Alvaro Greene Submitted by PHGS Members: Dick & Charlotte Baker

1. John Greene was born in England in 1606.

As a young man, in 1635, he migrated to the New World, sailing on the ship, Matthew, to the West Indies, where he stayed for a few months. Finding the people there a "Godless set", he sailed to Massachusetts, the great Puritan settlement. Differing with the religious authorities there, he accompanied Richard Smith to Narragansett Bay where the latter had a trading post at Quidnessett, or Aquidneset. The two together established a flourishing trade with the Indians. For some years, Smith and Greene were the only white settlers at Quidnessett. Roger Williams and a Mr. Wilcox purchased land there in 1643 or 1644, and Williams sold his holdings to Richard Smith in 1651. On June 11, 1659 the Indian Sachem, Coquinaquant, sold the entire region of Quidnessett, which had belonged to the Narragansett Indians, to a land company headed by Major Humphrey Atherton. There were few Rhode Islanders in the company but Richard Smith was among them, the rest being Boston and Connecticut speculators. John Greene was one of the early shareholders but not one of the original ones. He became the leader of the Atherton land purchasers when trouble came up concerning the title to the land. The reason for the dispute is not clear, but the settlers were told that there was a Rhode Island law forbidding settlers to buy lands from the Indians, and that they must rebuy their homes from the Rhode Island colony. Connecticut and Massachusetts also claimed the same land. In 1663 John Greene, Richard Smith, and others petitioned to be under the Connecticut jurisdiction. This made the Rhode Island officials angry, and Greene was ordered arrested. He did not go peacefully, and when he arrived in Newport, he stood his ground so sturdily that the authorities came to some terms and he was released on the promise that he would be from that time on a "loyal freeman of Rhode Island". He was "loyal" until he could reach home. The fight between John Greene and Rhode Isand went on for seven years more, and Rhode Island finally gave in, May 1671. A special court was held at that time at Aquidneset, and Greene and his followers were assured full possession of their lands if they would acknowledge Rhode Island's jurisdiciton, so on May 20, 1671, John Greene and his son, Daniel, became "freemen" of Rhode Island and the dispute was at an end.

Several times after this, John Greene's name appears on the records as witness to the transfer of land, etc. March 23, 1682, he divided his land among some of his sons who remained in Rhode Island, some of them having gone to New Jersey. John Greene's wife was alive when these deeds were executed. There are some old and dilapidated graves in what was once a part of John of Quidnessett's land. Two of these rude headstones bear the initials D.G. and R.G., marking the graves of John's son, Daniel and his wife, Rebecca. The other gravestone, the oldest of all, is marked I.G. It is believed to mark the grave of Mrs. Joan Greene, wife of John. The letters I and J were often confused and used interchangeably in those days. His grave does not appear beside hers. In Rhode Island they point out a grave some miles away as that of John Greene. He is believed to have lived with his son, John, at Coventry from the time of his wife's death until his own in 1695 and was buried in the Old Field Graveyard, a mile we st of the Maple Root Church. John's wife was Joan. There has been much idle conjecture as to who she was. She was not the daughter of Surgeon John Greene of Warwick, as some have claimed, for that Joan died when a child. Nor was she the daughter of Richard Smith, for Joan Smith married a Mr. Newton. Governor Winthrop, of Massachusetts, speaking of one held to be John of Quidnessett, uses this language: "One Greene who married the wife of one Beggarly". So his wife was a young widow, Mrs. Joan Beggarly, whom he married on one of his business trips to Massachusetts around 1642. It is interesting to note here that the wife of John Greene of Warwick, second cousin of our John, was also a Joan, her name being Tatarsole. They were married and had several children before they came to America.

Whether Joan Beggarly was handsome or plain featured; whether she was brilliant or dull, we do not know. But we do know that she possessed a remarkably even, sweet temper that nothing could ruffle or disturb. After the English custom, she had been baptized Joan but was always called Jane. There is an old family superstition among the Quidnessett Greenes tht all their Janes will be self-sacrificing women who will take special care of the sick and care for the old and infirm.

This superstitions likely dates from the good, placid Joan. Ever since this good dame's day there have appeared again and again among her descendants some of her own sunny tempered kind. They look through rose-colored glasses and keep up a good heart and serene spirit whate'er betide. This disposition is illustrated by the stock family story of one of these good-natured Greenes whose wife had a furious temper. The story goes that when she was pleasant, he always blandly spoke to her as "Wife". When she began to fret and scold, he would soothingly remonstrate "Come! Come! Sister Greene, let's have no trouble"; but when the storm broke into a tantrum of rage and abuse, he would pick up his hat and beat a hasty retreat, philosophically saying, "Well! Well! Mrs. Greene, have it your own way, have it your own way!"

2. Benjamin Greene, the youngest son of John of Quidnessett, was born probably in Quidnessett (North Kingstown) about 1665. About the year 1687, he married Humility Coggeshall, the sixth child of Joshua and Joan (West) of Newport and Portsmouth, who was born in Portsmouth in January 1670 or 1671. Her father, Joshua, together with Mary Dyer, the Martyr and Daniel Gould , founded the first Friends Society in Rhode Island. She was the granddaughter of John Coggeshall, the first President of Providence Plantations, dying in office November 27, 1648. Benjamin Greene's name appears in the freeman's list of North Kingstown in 1696. In 1698-1703 he was deputy to the General Assembly; 1701-1704, member of the Town Council; 1702, rate-maker; 1703, appointed to lay out highways. On March 26, 1705 he sold his land in Kingstown and soon removed to East Greenwich, where he died in the winter of 1718-1719. His will, dated January 7, 1719, was proved in East Greenwich March 5 following. In it he mentions his wife, Humility, who survived him, and twelve children, of whom the three youngest wer under eighteen.

3. John Greene, the eldest of the family, was born about 1688, probably in Quidnessett. About the year 1708 he married Mary Aylsworth, born as early as 1688, the oldest daughter of Arthur and Mary (Brown) of Quidnessett, but originally from England or Wales. This Mary Brown was the daughter of Reverend John and Mary (Holmes) of Providence, and granddaughter of Reverend Obadiah Holmes, the Baptist minister of Newport. Who was so brutally whipped for being a Baptist in Massachusetts that he had to lie for three days on his face. On October 13, 1726, John gave his wife a receipt for her share of her father's estate. In 1732 he is styled "Lieutenant John". On January 9, 1733 or 1734, being then of East Greenwich, he purchased 149 ¾ acres in what is now West Greenwich, it being "The first farm in the first division in the right of Samuel Cranston". In 1743 he sold farms formerly belonging to his father and brother, Caleb, both deceased. The Cranston farm in West Greenwich was the site of his homestead.

In the records preserved by Ethan Greene, his son Joseph's grandson, he is styled "White Hat John" and was also called "Lord John" because of his haughty air. He died in West Greenwich March 29, 1752. His will was made March 26 and proved April 25, 1752

Doherty, Frank J., The Settlers of the Beekman Patent (1990) Vol. 5, Page 753-754.

References

1. Doherty, Frank J., The Settlers of the Beekman Patent (1990) Vol. 5, Page 754 Dutchess County, NY: The Settlers of the Beekman Patent (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2016), (Orig. Pub. by Frank J. Doherty, Pleasant Valley, NY. Frank J. Doherty, The Settlers of the Beekman Patent, Dutchess County, New York: An Historical and Genealogical Study of All the 18th Century Settlers in the Patent, ten volumes. 1990–2003). https://www.americanancestors.org/DB409/i/12175/754/0