BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY. THE FAMILY OF WILLIAM CODDINGTON, GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND. References made to the family of Governor Coddington, in the last Bulletin, are not altogether correct. The following is taken from the genealogy* by the late Thomas C. Cornell, of Yonkers, N. Y., a careful historian, and descendant of the Governor : William Coddington was three times married, but left no descendants except by his third wife, Anne Brinley. He married, first, 1625, Mary, daughter of Richard Mosely, and had two children, Michael and Samuel, both of whom died in infancy. He married, second, 1631, Mary . . . . , and had three children , all dying young. He married, third, at the age of forty-nine, about 1650, Anne Brinley, then twenty-two years old, daughter of Thomas and Anne (Wase) Brinley, who was born in 1628 and died May 9th, 1708. Children of William and Anne Coddington : I.William, born January 18th, 1651 ; died February 5th, 1689; unmarried. Served as Deputy Assistant and Governor. II.(Major) Nathaniel, born May 23rd, 1653; died January , 1724; married Susanna Hutchinson (daughter of Edward, son of the celebrated Anne Hutchinson) . Served as Deputy, &c. (See Austin, Diet. R. I.) III.!Mary, born May 16th, 1654; died March, 1693; married , December ist, 1674, Peleg Sanford, and had descendants. IV.Thomas, born November 5th, 1655 ; died March 4th, 1694; married, first, Priscilla Jefferay; married, second, Mary Howard, and had four children. V.John, born November 24th, 1656; died June ist, 1680.¡VI. Noah, died, December 12th, 1658. VII.Anne, died June 26th, 1660. VIII.Anne, born July 20th, 1663 ; died December 4th, 1751. t"Adam and Anne Mott: Their Ancestors and their Descendants." THE FAMILY OF WILLIAM CODDINGTON.13 Married, May 30th, 1682, Andrew Willett (born October 5th, 1655 ; died April 6th, 1712, son of Captain Thomas and Mary (Brown) Willett) and had five children. The records show that the Mary Coddington interred in the Newport Burial Ground was probably the second wife. The Governor himself died November ist, 1678, and was buried there on the 6th, according to the inscription on his tombstone : Anne Coddington, third wife of the Governor, was an able and interesting woman. Her father was Auditor-General of the kings, Charles I, and Charles II, and his tombstone in the aisle of the church at Datchet, near Windsor, records his birth at Oxford ; his marriage to Anne Wase, of Pettworth, in Sussex ; and the fact that they had five sons and seven daughters. One of the latter married William Coddington, and another, Griselda —or Grissel—married Nathaniel Sylvester, of Shelter Island, a pair of whom another interesting tale might be written. They also gave shelter to the exiled Quakers. Soon after the execution of Mary Dyer, Anne Coddington was impelled to write a letter of remonstrance to John Endicott and the persecuting magistrates, dated Rhode Island, July 8th, 1660. Besse (Vol. II, p. 207) gives the entire text, which begins: "It is so with me, that I cannot any longer forbear to give you warning of the evil of your ways, that you are now walking in, both in making and putting in execution that wicked law of punishing and putting to Death those among you that for conscience sake, do declare the Word of the Lord," &c. A hitherto unpublished letter (except in the genealogy referred to), is among the manuscripts of the family. It was written by Anne Coddington, at the age of fifty^-four, when she had been a widow for four years, to her five surviving children, all married but her eldest son, William, about to be made Governor . She was a zealous and active member of Friends, and a minister. "A few words more to you my children. . . . Husbands, love your wives as ye ought to do, and live in the fear of the Lord with them. Let there be no discontent or division between you, but bear with the infirmities of your wives, knowing they are the weaker vessels. Win them by your good example, and by meekness. Let no rash words proceed out of your mouth to 14BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY. provoke them; but let all be done in the fear of the Lord. . . . Cherish them...
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Mar 28, 2023
Hanadi I El Dessougi 
Open Access