John Greene (abt. 1594 - abt. 1659)

Born about 1594 in Gillingham, Dorset, England [uncertain]

Husband of Joane (Tattershall) Greene — married 4 Nov 1619 in St Thomas, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England

Husband of Alice (Daniel) Greene — married 1640 in Rhode Island

Husband of Phillipa (Unknown) Greene — married 1644 in London, England

Descendants

Died about 7 Jan 1659 at about age 65 in Warwick, Kent, Rhode Island

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John Greene migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Great Migration (Series 2), by R. C. Anderson, vol. 3, p. 141) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Disputed Origins

Previous versions of this profile have included an ancestry based on the work of noted forger Horatio Gates Somerby. Attempts to verify the key will to the his ancestry have failed. That ancestry has been detached.

Somerby claimed that his ties to the Greene family from Bowridge Hill in Gillingham, Dorset, England were proven by the wills of his brothers, Richard and Robert. ^[1] The will of Richard Greene of Gillingham, Dorset and Salisbury, Wilts willed his brothers Robert and John his Latin books; the will of Robert Greene of Gillingham, Dorset and Cucklington, Somerset wills his Latin books to his brother John Greene in New England should he come for them. However, it has been shown that this second will comes from the work of noted forger Horatio Gates Somerby. A search has failed to find this will or any other proof of the family connection.

His parents and origins are not yet known.

Anderson says he was the son of Richard Greene and Mary Hooker, of Bowridge Hill in Gillingham, Dorset, England, but cites the questionable "Greenes of Rhode Island" as his source.^[2]

Use this G2G thread to discuss evidence for his origins. Thank you.

Biography

John Greene is Notable.

Birth

Dr. John Greene, surgeon, was born about 1594, based on his first marriage in 1619.^[2][3]

A proved birth/baptism date is unlikely to be discovered until his parents are proven, and even then may not be found.

Dates seen on the internet include 9 Feb 1585, Gillingham, ^[4] 9 Feb 1591, and 29 May 1590. The Greens of Rhode Island uses 1590, but this is based on false information, regarding his parentage.^[5]

Emigration

On 6 April 1635, John Green, surgeon, and presumably his wife and children, from Hampton were aboard the ship, "James", mastered by William Cooper, bound for New England.^[6] This source has two mistakes, stating that the voyage took place the 5th and that John Green in a group of nine men were "late of New England" An examination of the original by Gene Zubrinsky found the date to be the 6th and that the group of nine were late of New Saru[m] [Salisbury]."^[7] The ship arrived at Boston the 3rd of June after five weeks and three days according to Winthrop's Journal.^[8] If this is correct the ship didn't actually leave until the 26th.^[7]

Boston and Salem

Mr. Green was briefly in Boston, where he was granted a house lot before the end of November 1635, but the allotment reverted back to the town on 21 March 1636, because he had not built the required house.^[9][10] He also spent a short time in Salem, Massachusetts, before proceeding to settle in Providence with Roger Williams. He had a house in Salem. Just before the end of July 1637 he returned to Salem "to take order about the sale of his howse etc." There he met an acquaintance from the James, Ed. Batter. In the course of the conversation he expressed the sentiment that he couldn't return to Salem "unles he might enjoy the freedome of his soule and conscience" and that it "could not be for the power of the Lord Jesus was in the hand of the Civill authoritie." Mr. Endicot came by and after questioning Ed. Batter about the conversation, he ordered Mr. Green to appear at the next general court.^[10][11]

Removal to Rhode Island

Soon after his arrival in Massachusetts, John Greene was among those in the congregation of Rev. Roger Williams who came in confrontation with the religious authorities of the Massachusetts Bay. Accused of spreading "new and dangerous ideas" to his followers, and threatened with arrest, Roger Williams left to found the Providence Plantations colony in Rhode Island in 1636. Around 1636, John sold his house and went to Rhode Island settling in Providence and was then assigned a home lot there by Mr. Williams.

On August the 1st. 1637, he was bound in 100 marks to appear at the next Quarter Court for having spoken contemptuously of the Magistrates.^[12] At this he departed for Providence to join Roger Williams. On Sept. 29, 1637 he was fined 20 Pounds and to be committed till paid, and enjoined not to come into the jurisdiction of this Court upon pain of fine and imprisonment at the pleasure of the Court for speaking so contemptuously of Magistrates.^[12] On March 12, 1638 he sent a letter to the General Court of Mass. charging them " with usurping the power of Christ over the churches and men's consciences" etc., and for this he was ordered not to come into Massachusetts under pain of imprisonment and further censure.^[12] He was one of the twelve to whom Roger Williams deeded the land he bought on Oct. 8, 1638 from Canonicus and Miantonomoh. In the same year he was on of the twelve original members of the First Baptist Church. For 144 Fathoms of Wampum he and ten others on Jan. 12, 1643 then bought from Miamtonomoh the tract of land which became the town of Warwick. On Sept. 12, 1643 the men of Warwick were summoned to Boston on the complaint of Pomham and Socconocco, but they refused to go, as they claimed they were beyond the limits of Mass. authority. Soldiers were sent and besieged the settlers in a fortified house. His wife Alice is said to have died from "fright and exposure" following the attack and her fleeing into the forest. He escaped but all the rest were carried to Boston and imprisoned until March, when they and he were banished. With two others he went to England to obtain redress for their wrongs.

While in London, he remarried to Philippa (aka Philip) who he brought back to Rhode Island in 1646.

Offices

• Magistrate for Rhode Island General Court of Trial, 11 March 1655/6. ^[13]
• Deputy for Warwick to Rhode Island General Court, 11 times from 1648-1656.^[14][15]
• Petit Jury 6 May 1650, 18 June 1656.^[16]
• Committee for the "purpose of organizing a government", 18 May 1647.^[17]
• Warwick Town Council, 8 August 1647 and 11 June 1649.^[18][19]
• Warwick Town Assistant, 4 June 1649.^[20]
• Warwick Town deputy, chosen 3 times, but refused to take the office the third time 9 June 1658.^[21]
• Warwick Town Assessor, 2 November 1651.^[22]
• Warwick Town Moderator, 4 September 1654.^[23]

Death & Will

Died: Between 28 December 1658 and 7 January 1659 in Warwick, Kent, Rhode Island. ^[24]

Dates his will was and proved.

John made his will on 28 December 1658 at Warwick, Kent County, Rhode Island. In it he gave to his "beloved wife Philipa Greene yt part of buildinge, being all new erected and containing A large hall and Chimni with a little chamber joining to the hall as also a large chamber with a little chamber within yt, with a large garret with a Little daffy room which buttes against ye oule house, to enioy deuring her life; allso I give unto her half ye orchard; allso I give unto her my Lott adjoining to ye orchard together with ye swamp which the Towne granted me."

After some other bequests to his wife, he gave to his son John the neck of land called Occupasnetuxet, with an adjoining meadow and a small island, all of which he says he bought of Miantonomi. To his other children he bequeathed other tracts of land including his portion of the Warwick purchase, and appointed his wife sole executrix of the will. Those named in the will include his wife, sons John, Peter, James, and Thomas, daughter Mary Sweet and grand child Ann Hade ( his daughter Joan's child). Witnessed by John Wickes and Anthony Low.

His will was probated on 7 January 1659.

He was buried in the eponymous Surgeon John Greene Lot in Warwick.^[4]

Marriages

He married first Joan Tattershall on 4 November 1619 at St Thomas Church in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. Joane Tatarsole to John Greene at St Thomas Salisbury Parish Register ^[25] Joanna, died in 1642 in Conimicut, Kent County, Rhode Island, at age 45 years.^{[citation needed]}

He married second Alice Unknown, widow of a Mr. Daniels. John and Alice had no children. I

In October of 1643, Boston officials sent 40 men on horses to Rhode Island to arrest the people in the new settlement. On their arrival, they fired round of shots over the houses. The women and children were frightened and fled into the woods to hide. Many of them perished there from exposure and fright. Alice was one of those who died of fright and exposure" following the attack. Soon after this incident John Greene returned to England.

He married third Philippa Unknown (usually spelled Philip) in 1644 in London, England. They returned to Warwick, Rhode Island in 1646. They had no children. Philippa died 11 March 1687 in Warwick Rhode Island.

Children

With Joan Tattershall, baptisms all recorded at St. Thomas's Church in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.^[26]

1. John : 1620, August 15, ye son of John and Joane Greene. (married Anne Almy).
2. Peter : 1621/2, March 10, the son of John and Joane Greene. (married Mary Gorton.)
3. Richard: 1624, March 25, the son of Mr. John and Mrs Joan Greene. (died young, probably in England).
4. James: 1626, June 21, of Mr. John and Mrs Joane Greene. (married (i) Deliverance Potter; (ii) Elizabeth Anthony).
5. Thomas: 1628, June 4, sonne of John and Joane Greene, gent'm. (married Elizabeth Barton).
6. Jone :1630, Oct 3, daur. of John and Jone Greene. (married John Hade).
7. Mary: 1633, May 19, of John and Jone Greene, Chirtorgeon. (married James Sweet).

Research Notes

Clues to the Greene Family of Bowridge Hill

Important Notes: . . . "John Greene, surgeon, should have used upon an official letter to England at an early date (1692) a seal with the arms of the Greenes of Boughton and Greene's Norton, Northamptonshire, the same arms being recorded in the Herald's College, (Soberby), as borne by Robert Greene of Gillingham, Dorsetshire, England, who was the great-grandfather of John Greene, surgeon, and from whom the records are unbroken. . . . The letter alluded to was of no special importance save for its seal. It was addressed to Sir Robert Southwell, Knight, one of the Secretaries of State to their Majesties' Privy Council, at Whitehall, London, bearing the date December 21, 1692. It was sealed with red wax, having the impression of the Greene arms. . . " Though this is possible evidence suggesting that the Greene's of Dorset were related to the Greene's of Northamptonshire, the exact connection remains unknown.

Fabricated pedigree

Although there are two published sources from the early 1900s claiming a direct pedigree from John Greene of Quidnessett, the immigrant, through Robert Greene to royalty in England, the supposed source documents for this pedigree (wills, deeds, etc.) have never been located and these sources have been discounted by genealogists. Genealogists generally consider these lines to be fabricated. La Mance does not publish any of the documentation she claims to have received while building this pedigree and Rixford uses La Mance’s book as her source.

The two sources which have been invalidated by genealogists and SHOULD NOT BE USED to source this pedigree are:

La Mance, Lora S. The Green Family and all its Branches from A.D. 861 to A.D. 1904. Floral Park, NY: Mayflower Pub. Co., 1904. Page 33.

Rixford, Elizabeth M. Leach. Families Directly Descended from all the Royal Families in Europe (495 to 1932) and Mayflower Descendants. Genealogical Publishing Co., 1932. Page 74.

Sources

Footnotes and citations:

1. ↑ Clarke, page 740-741.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Anderson. Great Migration, vol. III, G–H. (2003): 141-148, biography of Dr. John Greene.
3. ↑ Marriage: "Wiltshire, England, Marriages, 1538-1837"
   Original data: Private donor
   Ancestry Record 5813 #28353 (accessed 8 December 2023)
   John Greene marriage to Joane Tatarsole on 4 Nov 1619 in Salisbury St Thomas.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} E.g. Find A Grave: Memorial #17759415
5. ↑ Clarke, p. 40
6. ↑ Drake, Samuel Gardner. Result of some researches among the British archives for information relative to the founders of New England : made in the years 1858, 1859 and 1860; originally collected for and published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, and now corrected and enlarged (Boston : Office of the New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Register , 1860) AKA Drakes's Founders. p 56 see also p. 55
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} "Focus on the James of London." Great Migration Newsletter (2010) Vol 19. p 19. Link at AmericanAncestors ($)
8. ↑ Winthrop, John. Winthrop's journal : "History of New England", 1630-1649 (New York : Scribner 1908) p. 152
9. ↑ Second Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston. Boston Town Records (Boston : Rockwell and Churchill, City Printers, 1877) p. 5 Text: 30 Nov 1635 "That all such as have allotments for habitations alloted unto them shall build thereon before the first of the first month next called March, or else it shall be in the power of the allotters to dispose of them otherwise." p. 9 21 March 1636 "upon our viewe these former graunted Allotments were not built upon according to a former order made the 30th of the 9th moneth last, and therefore that they are free to be otherwise disposed o, vizt., … Mr. Greene's …"
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} "Additions and Corrections" "Carpenter-Verin" New England Historical and Genealogical Register 164: 296, 297. (2010) Zubrinsky, Eugene Cole. C&A to "The Immigration and Marriage of Willliam Carpenter of Amesbury, Wiltshire, and Providence, Rhode Island." NEHGR 164:36-40 (2010) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB202/i/12159/296/23909860
11. ↑ Williams, Roger, 1604?-1683, et. al. The Correspondence of Roger Williams. Providence, R.I.: Published for The Rhode Island Historical Society by Brown University Press/University Press of New England, Hanover and London, 1988. p. 208
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1 12.2} Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. Printed by order of the legislature. (Boston: W. White, printer to the commonwealth, 1853) p. 200; p 203; p. 224; p. 245
13. ↑ Bartlett, John Russell. Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England (Providence : A. C. Greene and Brothers, state printers , 1856) Vol 1 p 325
14. ↑ Rhode Island Historical Society The early records of the town of Warwick (Providence : E.A. Johnson, 1925) pp 41, 43, 55, 89, 93, 97, 104
15. ↑ Rhode Island Colonial Records Vol 1 pp 278, 281, 304, 326, 327, 337, 345, 354.
16. ↑ Warwick Town Records pp 51, 97
17. ↑ Rhode Island Colonial Records Vol 1. p 42
18. ↑ Rhode Island Colonial Records Vol 1 p 130
19. ↑ Warwick Town Records 36, 44, 45
20. ↑ Warwick Town Records p 44
21. ↑ Warwick Town Records pp 86, 90, 109-11
22. ↑ Warwick Town Records p 61
23. ↑ Warwick Town Records p. 85
24. ↑ Clarke, page 58.
25. ↑ Phillimore, W.P., Phillimore’s Parish Register Series (Phillimore & Co., London, 1900–1922) Vol. 99, Wiltshire Parish Registers, Marriages, Vol. 5, Page 32: Salisbury (St. Thomas) Marriages, "John Greene & Joane Tatarsole, 4 Nov. 1619"
26. ↑ Clarke, page 58.

Source list:

• Anderson, Robert Charles. Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume III, G–H. (Boston: NEHGS, 2003): 141-148. AmericanAncestors.org LINK ($)
• Clarke, Louise Brownell. The Greenes of Rhode Island with historical records of English ancestry, 1534-1902 (Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1903) page 40, Page 52
• Wikipedia:John_Greene_(settler)
• Colonial Family of America by McKenzie. Volumes I and 2, Pages 209 and 198. Paper arranged by Miss Mary A. Greene, Providence, Rhode Island USA. [unable to locate as citedGreen-11245 13:19, 25 June 2015 (EDT)]
• Colonial Families in the U.S. (v1) p180. [database on-line at Ancestry.com]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999. Original data: Mackenzie, George Norbury, ed.. "Colonial Families of the United States of America". New York, NY, USA: 1907.
• La Mance, Lora S. The Greene family and its branches from A.D. 861 to A.D. 1904 (Mayflower Pub. Co., Floral Park, N.Y., 1904) Page 47-8.
• Allen, Devere. The Allen Families and 83 Connected Families (Wilton, Connecticut, January 1947)
• Austin, John Osborne. Ancestry of Thirty-Three Rhode Islanders (J. Munsell's Sons, 1889)
• Find-A-Grave Sgt [Surgent] John Greene 1585 - Jan 1659. memorial #17759415
• Austin, John Osborne. Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode island (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, MD, 1969)
• Mark Dionne: mark (email removed) http://markdionne.com/ged/ Note Sweet, Toomey, French and Sibbald database (Sweet-Toomey) is no longer on worldconnect.
• A Family Genealogy by William Henry Beck, III
• Ancestors of Forrest Greene In England and America", author unknown
• Turner, Henry Edward. Greenes of Warwick in Colonial History (Davis & Pitman, 1877) Page 4

• "John Greene, surgeon, was son of Peter of Aukley Hall, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England."

• "Irisheyes", Dillard, Greene, Giddens, Hollingsworth, Love, Lott, Mathis, McCall, McMahan, Maloy, Moore, Roberts, Sweat & Others of Wiregrass Georgia & Beyond [1]
• The Heraldic Journal (J.K. Wiggin, Boston, 1867) Vol. 3, Page 27-31
• Phillips, Wendell. Notices of The Greene Family, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, vol. 4 no. 1 (January 1850): Page 75.
• Will of John Green of Warwick, R.I., The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 1851) Vol. 5, Page 248-9
• Cutter, William Richard. New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial (Lewis Historical Publishing Co., New York, 1915) Vol. 1, Page 225
• Updike, Wilkins. A History of The Episcopal Church in Narragansett, Rhode Island (New York, 1847)

• Both the 1847 edition (Page 378) and the 1907 edition (Page 127) say "he was one of the Greene's of Awkley Hall, in England." The 1907 edition (Page 406) highlights that this is not reported elsewhere.
• The source of this information is from Mrs. Lydia (Greene) Le Baron (b.c.1790), 4th gr-granddaughter of the Surgeon John Greene.

• Drake, Samuel. Result of Some Researches Among the British Archives for Information Relative to the Founders of New England (NEHGR, Boston, 1860) Page 55-6: "... James of London in and aboute the V^t April 1635... John Greene, surgeon"
• Additions and Corrections, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 2010) Vol. 164, WN 656, Page 296-7.
• DO NOT USE: Colonial Families in the U.S.: The Greene Family and its branches from A.D. 861 to Ad. 1904, by LaMance, Lora.
• Moriarty, G. Andrews. "'Gleanings from English Records." The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.' Vol 103 (1949), p 185-188, American Ancestors (subscription).