Ancestry and Early Life
Born August 16, 1731 in Warwick in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, William Greene was the son of William Greene who had served for 11 one-year terms as the governor of the Rhode Island colony, and the great grandson of John Greene, Jr. who had served for ten years as the deputy governor of the colony. His great great grandfather was John Greene who came from County Dorset in England in 1635, was one of the original proprietors of Providence with Roger Williams, and later became one of the founding settlers of Warwick. Governor Greene is also descended from early Rhode Island settler and Warwick founder Samuel Gorton, as well as from Frances (Latham) Dungan, the "mother of governors."
Governor Greene's mother was Catharine, the daughter of Benjamin and Susanna (Holden) Greene, and also a descendant of Warwick founder John Greene. She also descends from Randall Holden who was a follower of Anne Hutchinson and signer of the Portsmouth Compact in 1638, establishing the first government in the Rhode Island colony.
In 1753 Greene became a freeman from the town of Warwick, and was thus able to vote. In 1762, he married his second cousin, Catharine Ray (July 10, 1731 - January 29, 1794), the daughter of Simon and Deborah (Greene) Ray of Block Island, and also a great granddaughter of Deputy Governor John Greene, Jr. Catharine Ray had been a literary companion of Benjamin Franklin, and had a shared correspondence with the statesman.
Read more about this topic: William Greene (Rhode Island Governor)
Famous quotes containing the words ancestry and, ancestry, early and/or life:
“Both the ancestry and posterity of Grief go further than the ancestry and posterity of Joy.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“The Democratic Party is like a mule. It has neither pride of ancestry nor hope of posterity.”
—Ignatius Donnelly (1831–1901)
“I believe that if we are to survive as a planet, we must teach this next generation to handle their own conflicts assertively and nonviolently. If in their early years our children learn to listen to all sides of the story, use their heads and then their mouths, and come up with a plan and share, then, when they become our leaders, and some of them will, they will have the tools to handle global problems and conflict.”
—Barbara Coloroso (20th century)
“I had this advantage, at least, in my mode of life, over those who were obliged to look abroad for amusement, to society and the theatre, that my life itself was become my amusement and never ceased to be novel. It was a drama of many scenes and without an end.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)