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26-595: The area was originally owned by William Brenton , who called the region "Hammersmith," a name that survives in the name of the adjacent Hammersmith Farm . Following its long tenure as a military installation, the State of Rhode Island took possession of Fort Adams for use as a state park in 1965. In addition to panoramic views of the harbor and Narragansett Bay , the park offers swimming, boating, picnicking, and athletic fields. The Joseph "Jay" Kirwin Memorial Rugby Pitch

52-495: A contract agreeing to serve for a specific number of years, typically five or seven. Many immigrants to the colonies came as indentured servants, with someone else paying their passage to the Colonies in return for a promise of service. At the end of his service, according to the contract, the indentured servant usually would be granted a sum of money, a new suit of clothes, land, or perhaps passage back to England. An indentured servant

78-462: A freeman. Thus, the enfranchised voters and office holders were landholding male church members. Non-Puritans were not made freeman. Initially, a male was not formally considered free when first entering into a colony, or just recently having become a member of one of the local churches; he was considered common. Such persons were never forced to work for another individual, per se, but their movements were carefully observed, and if they veered from

104-469: A general meeting there a year later. However, by 1643 his residence was once again given as Portsmouth. From 1640 to 1647, while William Coddington was the governor of the two Aquidneck Island towns of Portsmouth and Newport, Brenton was the deputy governor. In February 1649, Brenton was again living in Boston, when he was given liberty to "set up a porch afore his house" there. From 1652 to 1657, Brenton

130-583: Is a small, shallow, roped-off area for swimming, with slightly rocky sand. The adjacent Dr. Fred Alofsin Special Events Building has bathrooms, showers, picnic tables, and a small parking lot. William Brenton William Brenton (c. 1610–1674) was a colonial British statesman who served as colonial President, Deputy Governor, and Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations , and an early settler of Portsmouth and Newport in

156-571: Is home to Newport Rugby Football Club and to the rugby teams of Salve Regina University . In addition to the dedicated Kirwin rugby pitch, there are two soccer fields/rugby pitches. The annual Newport Rugby Sevens Tournament is held at the fort each summer. The Fort Adams Trust offers seasonal guided tours of Fort Adams, the Fort Adams Advanced Southern Redoubt, and the Eisenhower “Summer White House." Fort Adams State Beach

182-847: The American colonial period a freeman was a person who was not a slave. The term originated in 12th-century Europe. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony , a man had to be a member of the Church to be a freeman; in neighboring Plymouth Colony a man did not need to be a member of the Church, but he had to be elected to this privilege by the General Court. Being a freeman carried with it the right to vote, and in Plymouth only freemen could vote by 1632. Black's Law Dictionary (9th edition) defines freeman as follows: 1. A person who possesses and enjoys all

208-415: The civil and political rights belonging to the people under a free government. 2. A person who is not a slave. 3. Hist. A member of a municipal corporation (a city or a borough) who possesses full civic rights, esp. the right to vote. 4. Hist. A freeholder . Cf. villein . 5. Hist. An allodial landowner . Cf. vassal . - also written free man. "Freedom" was earned after an allotted time, or after

234-500: The Puritan ideal, they were asked to leave the colony . There was an unstated probationary period , usually one to two years, that the prospective "freeman" needed to go through, and he was allowed his freedom if he did pass this probationary period of time. A Freeman was said to be free of all debt, owing nothing to anyone except God Himself. A "free planter" (as opposed to a "freeman") was any land holder who possessed land outright that

260-654: The Rhode Island colony. Believed to be from Hammersmith , Middlesex , England, he emigrated to the British Colonies in North America by 1633, and rose to minor prominence in the Massachusetts Bay Colony before relocating to a new settlement to the south that became today's Rhode Island . Austin and other historians give his place of origin as Hammersmith in Middlesex , England (now a part of London ), but in reviewing

286-577: The Supreme Civil Magistrate of the colony, and the day of October 21 was set aside as the date of public recognition for the new king. Also during this administration, a commission was issued to Dr. John Clarke , Rhode Island's agent and diplomat in London, with the intent of seeking a new charter from the king, and a committee of three members from each town drew up instructions for Dr. Clarke. The new charter , delivered from England in 1663 during

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312-489: The building of a jail house. He was a Boston selectman from 1634 to 1637, and in 1635, was appointed to a committee to consider the incident when Massachusetts magistrate John Endecott defaced the English flag , and to report to the court to what extent Endecott would be censured. Brenton was a Deputy in Boston from 1635 to 1637, but following the settlement of Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island (called Rhode Island ) by

338-484: The colonies grew, these meetings became impractical and a representative bicameral system was developed. Freemen would choose deputy governors who made up the upper house of the General Court , and assistant governors who made up the lower house , who chose the governor from among their ranks and passed judgments in civil and criminal matters. To hold one of these offices it was required, of course, for one to be

364-689: The daughter of Governor Samuel Cranston , and had 15 children, the eighth of whom was also named Jahleel. This Jahleel (1729–1802) was a loyalist during the American Revolution , lost his property in Newport, and became an admiral in the British navy. He in turn had a son, Sir Jahleel Brenton (1770–1844), who also had a distinguished career in the British Navy, attaining the rank of vice admiral. Online sources Freeman (Thirteen Colonies) During

390-511: The evidence, Anderson concludes that his place of origin is unknown. Brenton named one of his Newport properties "Hammersmith," and this has led some writers to assume that the like-named town since absorbed into London was his place of origin. Brenton was in Boston by October 1633 when he was admitted to the church there, was made a freeman in May 1634, and later the same year was appointed to oversee

416-459: The followers of Anne Hutchinson , he became a resident there, and in late August 1638 was directed to oversee work on the prison. It appears that Brenton was not a follower of Hutchinson, or of her brother-in-law John Wheelwright , as he was not disarmed, and he also returned to live in Boston at a later time. In April 1639, he was one of nine men who signed an agreement to settle Newport , and appears to have changed residence, being present at

442-588: The person demanding "payment" was satisfied. This was known as indentured servitude , and was not originally intended as a stigma or embarrassment for the person involved; many of the sons and daughters of the wealthy and famous of the time found themselves forced into such temporary servitude, Gary Nash reporting that "many of the servants were actually nephews, nieces, cousins and children of friends of emigrating Englishmen, who paid their passage in return for their labor once in America." An indentured servant would sign

468-549: The son of John Sanford who succeeded William Coddington as governor of Portsmouth and Newport under the Coddington Commission. Their daughter Sarah married Joseph Eliot, the son of Puritan minister and missionary, John Eliot . Brenton's son William (died 1697) had a son Jahleel (1691–1767), who served as the first commander of the Artillery Company of Newport . He married as his first wife, Frances Cranston,

494-510: The tenure of Brenton's successor, Benedict Arnold , was characterized by historian Thomas W. Bicknell as "the most liberal and enlightened charter the world had then known." When Arnold was named by the charter as the first Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island, Brenton was named as the first Deputy Governor. When Arnold stepped down as governor in 1666, Brenton became governor of the colony for three consecutive one-year terms. In 1658, Brenton

520-511: Was appointed to deal with Atherton and his company about his land purchase, and arrange terms upon which Atherton might enter the colony. If the Atherton company refused to confer, then they would be forbidden from entering their lands. The committee reported only partial progress on this issue, and would continue at a later session. One of the first acts of Brenton's administration was to proclaim that King Charles II of England be recognized as

546-634: Was granted 8,000 acres of land on the Merrimack River , a tract which was called Brenton Farm and later became the town of Litchfield, New Hampshire . In 1670, he was residing in Taunton in the Plymouth Colony . Even though he was living in Taunton, in 1672 he was once again elected governor of the Rhode Island colony, in absentia , but refused to serve. He died sometime after September 25, 1674, when he

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572-769: Was involved in a land deed, but before November 13 of that year when his will was proved at Newport, where he died. One source says he eventually became a member of the Quaker church, but this is not supported by Anderson who gives his church affiliation only as the Boston ( Puritan ) church. He had been a central and highly regarded member of the colony, serving as an office holder or legislator for nearly 40 years. Brenton's Point and Brenton's Reef in Newport are named after him, and Hammersmith Farm , where Jacqueline Bouvier spent an important part of her youth after her mother married its owner, Hugh D. Auchincloss, Jr. , and later married future United States President John F. Kennedy ,

598-536: Was named for his property in Newport. Brenton was first married, by 1634, to a woman named Dorothy, who apparently died soon thereafter, leaving a single son, Barnabas, who was baptized in Boston on January 24, 1635. There is no further record of this son. Nearly a decade later, by about 1644, Brenton married Martha Burton, the daughter of Thomas Burton, with whom he had nine children. Martha died shortly before Brenton, in 1672 or 1673. Their daughter Mary married future colonial Rhode Island Governor Peleg Sanford ,

624-536: Was not the same as an apprentice or a child who was "placed out." Once a man was made a freeman and was no longer considered a common , he could become a member of the church (and would usually do so) and he could own land. The amount of land that he was able to own was sometimes determined by how many members there were in his family. As a freeman, he became a member of the governing body, which met in annual or semiannual meetings ( town meetings ) to make and enforce laws and pass judgment in civil and criminal matters. As

650-495: Was once again a selectman, and in 1655, became a freeman of Newport. In 1660, he succeeded Benedict Arnold as President of all four towns of the Rhode Island colony, serving for two one-year terms, and also serving as a commissioner during this period. One issue facing this administration was the land speculation of Humphrey Atherton in the Narragansett country (later to become Washington County, Rhode Island ). A committee

676-410: Was usually given to him by the colony after he had finished his probationary period, except in those cases where the land owner had inherited his property. But if he was deemed legally incompetent , didn't pass his probationary period, or again lost his freedom through some irresponsibility of his own, he would have his land and property confiscated and redistributed among the remaining freemen, even if

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