John Anthony of Portsmouth

Not the same as John Anthony, who died in England.

Disputed Origins

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Anthony-55

The origins of John Anthony, immigrant, settler in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, are unknown.[1] He was not the son of John Anthony, Doctor of Physick (1585-1655). John Anthony was also not a son of Francis Anthony He settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and married Susan Potter. He did not have a wife named Mary _____, nor a daughter Mary Rebecca Anthony, born in London, England. [2]

Family

Married Susannah, seen as daughter of George Potter and Martha Weeden (Unknown) Potter. Evidence needed to support her origins.

Biography

Find a Grave: John Anthony

Notes for JOHN ANTHONY:

According to the History of Rhode Island published by the American Historical Society in 1920, the Anthony family is of English origin and had its seat at Hampstead, near the city of London, where John Anthony, the founder of the line in America, was born. Members of the family have occupied distinguished positions in may different callings throughout the entire period of American history, and no name is more closely associated with the growth and development of Rhode Island, both as a colony and State, than is this. John Anthony was a young man when he sailed from his native country on board the barque 'Hercules,' in 1634, and it was but six years later that we find the first record of him as a resident of Portsmouth, R.I., where his descendants have made their home ever since. In 1641 he was made a freeman of Portsmouth and shortly afterwards became a corporal in the military company of the settlement. He was the recipient of a grant of land at 'Wading River' in 1644, and on May 25, 1655, had authority granted him to keep a house of entertainment at Portsmouth. He was commissioner in 1661, and a deputy to the General Court from 1666 to 1672.

The Anthony family is one of the oldest settled families in the State of Rhode Island, the American progenitor of the family having been a resident of Portsmouth as early as 1640. Middletown has been the home of many members of this family for generations, and that town is still the abiding-place of two worthy representatives of the name in the persons of Miss Susan A. Anthony and Abraham Anthony. The first of the name in New England was one John Anthony, or Anthonie, as he wrote his name. The first known of the family was one William Anthony, who was born in 1495, in Cologne, Germany. He had three sons, the youngest, Francis, having been goldsmith and jeweler to Queen Elizabeth. The genealogy of the Anthony family in America will be found in detail elsewhere in these volumes.

(I) John Anthony (or Antonie [sic] ) as he wrote it, who was born in 1607, and was a resident of the village of Hempstead, near London, England, became the founder of the family in New England, coming to America in the barque "Hercules", in 1634. He married Susanna Potter, and settled at Portsmouth, R. I., where he is of record in 1640 and the next year became a freeman of the Colony.

(II) Abraham Anthony, son of (I) John, born in 1650, married Alice Wodell, and lived at Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

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Immigration: 1634 Left England for the Colonies aboard the ship Hercules