Richard Smith, of Smith's Castle, RI

iii. Richard. Born in 1630 in Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England. At the age of <1, Richard was baptized in Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England, in Dec 1630. Richard died in Wickford, Washington Co., RI, in 1692; he was 62. Admin of Estate to the widow and nephew, Capt. Lodowick Updike

Occupation: Merchant.

Richard married Esther ?. No children. Esther died before his will was probated on July 12, 1692.

Links

• http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sam/rsmith.html

notes

From Smith's Castle Narraganset Rhode Island

Also around 1637, Richard Smith, an original settler of Taunton in Plymouth Colony, established a trading post at Cocumscussoc and, according to Williams, "Put up...the first English house...in Nahigonsik Countrey." It is thought to have been a grand house that was, possibly, fortified: thus the name Smith's Castle.

Richard Smith purchased Williams' trading post in 1651. Smith continued to increase his holdings, and Cocumscussoc soon became a center of social, political, and religious activities. Smith died in 1666 leaving Cocumscussoc to his son, Richard Smith, Jr.   In 1675, King Philip, sachem of the Wampanoags, led a coalition of Native Americans in a bloody conflict with the colonists over control of land. The Narragansetts, whose winter home was in the Great Swamp only 12 miles from Cocumscussoc, had pledged neutrality. Suspecting that the Narragansetts were harboring Wampanoag warriors, 1,000 colonial troops from Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and Plymouth colonies massed at the Castle and attacked the Great Swamp village in December 1675. Both sides suffered great losses. Forty colonial soldiers were interred in a mass grave near the Castle. In retaliation for the attack, the Castle was burned in 1676.

By 1678, Smith, Jr. had built a new home with front rooms flanking a large stone fireplace, a kitchen lean-to at the back, and

Richard Smith's will reads: "In the Name of God, Amen. The fourteenth day of July in the year of Our Lord, one thousand, six hundred, sixty and four, in the Sixteenth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, Charles the Second by the Grace of God of England and Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Father, etc. I, Richard Smith, of Wickford, in the Narragansett Countrey, in New England, Yeoman, being in health of Body, and of good and perfect memory, (Thanks be unto God) Do make this my last Will and Testament, and I do hereby revoak and renounce all former and other Wills and Testaments whatsoever heretofore by me made, by Word, Writing or otherwise And make and ordain this to be my very true, last Will and Testament, and no other Concerning my Lands, Chattels, debts, and every part and parcel thereof, in manner and form as followeth. First: I Commend my soul to Almighty God, and to his Son Jesus Christ, my Saviour and Redeemer, by whom I have to obtain full pardon, and remission of all my Sins, and to Inherit Everlasting Life. And I will that my Body be decently buryed by the Discretion of my Executors hereunto named. Item. I will that my debts which I shall owe unto any Person or Persons at the time of my decease either by Law or Conscience be well and truly Contented and paid, within Convenient time, out of my Goods and Chattels.

Item, I give unto my Son Richard Smith all my Right, Title and interest of, in and to my Dwelling house, and Lands thereto belonging, Situate, being and lying in Wickford aforesaid, and is bounded on the Southwest by Annoquatucket river, and by the Lands of Capt. William Hudson, Northeasterly and on the East by a fresh river or brook and Creek and Cove.

Item, I give unto my Son the s'd Richard Smith, all my right title and interest of, in, and to my propriety of Lands ying in Cunnanicot Island and Dutch Island, with the privileges and appurtenances to them or either of them belonging or in any way appertaining.

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The most exciting days centered around December 1675 when Smith's Castle, as it came to be called, became the military headquarters of the whole New England army of 1,000 men from Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth and Connecticut both before and after the Great Swamp Fight of King Phillip's War. This battle, fought near Kingston in a freezing blizzard, resulted in victory for the white men and the beginning of the extermination of the Narragansetts. Forty of the colonists killed are buried in a common grave near the house. When troops were removed, Smith's Castle was attacked in 1676 by Indians after Richard's death and partially burned. Richard's son, Richard Smith, Jr., rebuilt it on the same site two years later. In 1664 Richard Smith died at his trading house and is buried on the farm about one-quarter mile from his house. Smith's Castle still stands today near Wickford.

References

• A History of the Episcopal Church in Narragansett, Rhode Island by Wilkins Updike
• Richard Smith First English Settler of the Narragansett Country, Rhode Island by Daniel Berkeley Updike with letters written by Richard Smith, Jr.