>From the book "History of Washington and Kent Counties, Rhode Island" by J.R. Cole, published 1889, New York, W.W. Preston & Company. Beginning on page 488. [xxx] respresents either notes or the page number. FREEMEN OF SOUTH KINGSTOWN. – "A list of freemen belonging to South Kingstown taken from ye Records of ye Late Kingstown September ye 16, 1723. The former List (See North Kingstown) bearing Date the 12th of December, 1696: Moses Barber, Nathaniel Niles, Henry Gardner, Samuel Hopkins, Thomas Hazard, Stephen Hazard, William Congdon, Joseph Hull, William Gardner, Samuel Warden, jr., Samuel Helms, John Watson, jr., James Kinyon, Robert Hannah, George Babcock, Thomas Potter, Robert Potter, Jonathan Turner, John Shelden, jr., Ichabod Potter, Christopher Allen, Daniel McCooun, Joseph Cass, jr., Solomon Carpenter, Abiel Sherman, Stephen Wilcox and son, Nathaniel Gardner, Robert Cass, Henry Gardner, Ephraim Gardner, Benjamin Sheffield, Edmond Sheffield, Daniel Smith, George Hazard, Nathan Niles, Thomas Joslin, John Kinyon, Peter Boss, William Robinson, Richard Mumford, Daniel Knowles, William Mumford, Robert Knowles, Stephen Hazard, jr., Robert Hazard, jr., Joseph Mumford, Jeremiah Sheffield, Emanuel Cass, George Hazard, son of Thomas; John Gardner, Benjamin Mumford, Benjamin Hazard, Thomas Potter, jr., Ichabod Potter, jr., Peleg Mumford, Joseph Congdon, William Clarke, Ephraim Bull, Thomas Kinyon, George Babcock, jr., John Potter, son of Thomas, Samuel Barber, John Browning, Pasco Austin." EARLY BIRTHS. – William Congdon (son of William and Mary) was born ye 25th day of December, 1698. The children of Robert and Elizabeth Potter were: Marburg, born ye second day of February, 1697-8; Martha, born ye 10th day of August, 1699. George Babcock was married to Elizabeth Hall the 28th day of November, 1694. Mary Babcock was born to them the 20th day of September, on the 6th day of the week, 1695; George Babcock was born April 9th, 1699; David Babcock December 22d, 1700; Jonathan Babcock March 22d, 1702; Elizabeth (daughter of George) March 16th, 1704. [489] The births of the children of Joseph Cass and Hannah his wife: Joseph, July 16th, 1678; William, May 27th, 1681; Mary, December 2d, 1682; Hannah, July 6th, 1687; Margaret, August 20th, 1690; John, November 20th, 169–; Emanuel, November 2d, 1699. Children born to Moses Barber and Susannah his wife; Dinah, January 5th, 1692-3; Lydia, February 24th, 1693-4; Samuel, November 8th, 1695; Susannah, October 23d, 1697; Thomas, October 19th, 1699; Joseph, October 16th, 1701; Martha, November 30th, 1703; Ruth, June 23d, 1705; Benjamin, March 10th, 1706-7; Mary, March 13th, 1708-9; Ezekiel, March 6th, 1710; Abigail, January 6th, 1712-13. Mary Place (daughter of Enoch and Mary) was born October 16th, 1697. The children of Ephraim and Mary Bull: Mary, born July 30th, 1693; Rebeckah, July 27th, 1697; Content, November 24th, 1699. The children of Ephraim and Hannah Bull: Ephraim and Hannah, twins, born April 18th, 1702, "in ye night." Thomas Mumford, September 14th, 1706. James Allen, June 15th, 1688. He was son to Christopher and Elizabeth Allen. John, son to William and Elizabeth Brown, was born August 6th, 1708. Margaret Smith, daughter to John and Mary Smith, was born October 2d, 1708. Ruth Robinson, daughter to John and Mary Robinson, was born March 12th, 1708. Elizabeth Gardner, daughter to Elizabeth Gardner, was born May 17th, 1708. Bathsheba Smith, daughter to John and Mary Smith, was born April 7th, 1710. Henry Gardner, son to Henry and Abigail Remington, was born February 25th, 1691; Ephraim, January 27th, 1693; William, October 27th, 1697. Mary Robinson, daughter to John and Mary, was born September 30th, 1705. Children of Stephen and Elizabeth Hazard: Mary, July 20th, 1695; Hannah, April 20th, 1697; Susannah, April 20th, 1699; Stephen, November 29th, 1700; Robert, September 12th, 1702; Samuel, June 29th, 1705; Thomas, July 28th, 1707. [490] The children of Joseph and Lacy Hoxse: Zebulon, August 11th, 1697; Mary, September 15th, 1699; Joseph, November 25th, 1701; Ann, August 1st, 1704; Gideon, July 3d, 1706; Lodowick, September 27th, 1708; Ann, December 10th, 1716; Zebulon, September 21st, 1718. Sarah Robinson, daughter to John and Mary Robinson, was born January 22d, 1706-7. The children of John and Sarah Potter: Martha, December 20th, 1692; John, May 20th, 1695; Samuel, September 2d, 1699; Sarah, April 15th, 1704; Susannah, September 17th, 1706-7; Samuel, July 28th, 1715. The children of Samuel and Mary Brown: Sarah, December 12th, 1703; Mary, July 17th, 1705; Jeremiah, October 29th, 1707; Penelope, October 27th, 1709; Samuel, November 5th, 1711. The children of Rouse and Sarah Helms: James, May 7th, 1710; Sands, August 21st, 1711; Rouse, February 11th, 1712-13; Nathaniel, December 17th, 1714; Benedict, February 17th, 1716; Simeon, December 15th, 1718; Benedict, 2d, October 3d, 1720. The children of Samuel and Mary Brown: Elizabeth, October 28th, 1713; John, November 14th, 1715; Freelove, January 29th, 1717; Zepheniah, December 23d, 1721. Children of Ezekiel and Ann Johnson: Ann, July 24th, 1718; Elizabeth, March 5th, 1719; Benjamin, May 5th, 1722. The children of Joseph and Mary Sheffield: Joseph, April 5th, 1711; Mary, September 9th, 1712. REMINISCENCES OF THE FREEMAN. – Moses Barber was born in 1652, and died in 1753. In 1692 he married Susanna Wait. Their children were: William, Moses, Dinah, Lydia, Samuel, Susanna, Thomas, Joseph, Martha, Ruth, Benjamin, Mercy, Ezekiel, Abigail, Daniel and Ann. The old Barber house stood on a knoll near the present residence of Mrs. Luke Clarke. Nathaniel Niles was born in 1642. He married Sarah Sands, February 14th, 1671, and died December 22d, 1727. His son Samuel Niles, born in 1674, had three wives – Elizabeth Thatcher, Anne Coddington and Elizabeth Whiting. Samuel Niles moved to New Shoreham, where he was attacked by the French privateers at the time they landed and plundered the inhabitants. This raid was made July 3d, 1689, when he was fourteen years of age. In the year 1700 he accepted a call to preach at Block Island. In 1745 he published "Tristia Ecclesiarum." He also wrote other books, one of which, "God's Wonder Working Providence for [491] New England in the reduction of Louisburg," was in verse. Nathaniel Niles, brother of Samuel, born in 1677, was justice of the peace in 1709. In 1740, under appointment by the assembly, he built a watch house at Point Judith. The watch kept in these houses by the different towns was placed under regulations of the council of war. Henry Gardner was appointed on a committee to lay out the highways of South Kingstown in 1703. Many of these roads are still in use. The Hazards of South Kingstown are and have been numerous. They descend from Thomas Hazard, the ship builder, who was born in 1610 (see sketch). Joseph Hull was a preacher. He was born in 1652, married Experience Hooper in 1676, and in 1681 the first meeting for worship by the Quakers was held at his house. He was fined £7 for beating the sheriff for prosecuting him because of his religious belief, but the fine was afterward abated. He was minister of the denomination that build a house of worship at Mashapaug in 1702. Samuel Helms was one of the elder brothers of Rouse Helms, a very influential man in South Kingstown. Rouse Helms for a number of years, beginning in 1714, was deputy. In 1720 he was clerk of the assembly, and was judge of the superior court for over twenty years. He and Francis Willett, appointed by the assembly in 1723, drew a copy of all the records belonging to South Kingstown from the records of the late Kings Town. The charge made for the work was £60. Robert Hannah was the town clerk from 1723 to 1736, inclusive. He died in 1736. Thomas Mumford is spoken of as purchaser of a large tract of land in Pettaquamscutt of certain Indian sachems in 1658. In 1668 he and his wife, Sarah Sherman Mumford, sold to Peleg Sanford of Newport 1,000 acres of this land for £25. His son, Thomas, born in 1656, married Abigail, who was murdered by a slave belonging to him. The murderer, a negro, drowned himself to prevent being taken alive. The assembly ordered his body to be disposed of in the following manner, as a terror to others perpetrating like barbarities: his head, legs and arms to be cut from his body and hung in some public place near Newport, and his body to be burned to ashes. In 1708 Mr. Mumford deeded 180 acres of land in Point Judith to his son George. He and his wife were buried in the Mumford burying ground. [492] Benjamin Congdon, as early as 1671, bought of William Brenton and Benedict Arnold and others 230 acres in Narragansett, near "Pettacomscott," and in 1710 he and seventeen others bought 7,000 acres of vacant lands in Narragansett. His children were: William, Benjamin, John, James, Elizabeth and Susanna.