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William Coddington (c. 1601 – 1 November 1678) was an early magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and later of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He served as the Judge of Portsmouth, Judge of Newport, Governor of Portsmouth and Newport, Deputy Governor of the entire (four-town) colony, and then Governor of the colony. Born and raised in Lincolnshire, England, he accompanied the Winthrop Fleet in its voyage to New England in 1630, becoming an early leader in Boston. Here he built the first brick house, and became heavily involved in the local government as an assistant (magistrate), treasurer, and deputy. As a member of the Boston church, under the Reverend John Cotton, he was caught up in the events of the Antinomian Controversy from 1636 to 1638. When the Reverend John Wheelwright and the dissident minister Anne Hutchinson were banished from the Massachusetts colony, many of their supporters were also compelled to leave. Though Coddington was not asked to depart, he felt the outcome of the controversy was unjust, and decided to join many of his fellow parishioners in exile. He was the lead signer of a compact to form a Christian-based government away from Massachusetts. Encouraged by Roger Williams to settle on the Narragansett Bay, he and other supporters of Hutchinson bought Aquidneck Island of the Narragansetts, and settled there, establishing the town of Pocasset, later named Portsmouth. He was named the first "Judge" of the colony, a Biblical term for Governor. A division in the leadership of this town occurred within a year, and he left with several others to establish the town of Newport at the south end of the island. In short time, the towns of Portsmouth and Newport united, and Coddington was made, by continuous election, the governor of the island towns from 1640 to 1647. During this period, Roger Williams had gone to England to obtain a patent to bring the four Narragansett towns of Providence, Warwick, Portsmouth, and Newport under one government. Done without the consent of the island towns, these two towns resisted joining the mainland towns until 1647. Though Coddington was elected President of the united colony in 1648, he would not accept the position, and complaints against him prompted the presidency to go to Jeremy Clarke. Very unhappy with Williams' patent, Coddington returned to England where he was eventually able to obtain a commission, separating the island from the mainland towns, and making him governor of the island for an indefinite period. While initially welcomed as governor, complaints from both the mainland towns and members of the island towns prompted Roger Williams, John Clarke and William Dyer to go to England to have Coddington's commission revoked. Being successful, Dyer returned with the news in 1653, but disagreements kept the four towns from re-uniting until the following year. With the revocation of his commission, Coddington withdrew from public life, focusing on his mercantile interests, and becoming a member of the Religious Society of Friends. After nearly two decades away from politics, he was elected Deputy Governor in 1673, then Governor the following year, serving two one-year terms. The relative calm of this period was shattered during his second year as governor of the colony, when King Philip's War erupted in June 1675, becoming the most catastrophic event in Rhode Island's colonial history. Though not re-elected in 1676, he was elected to a final term as governor of the colony in 1678 following the death of Governor Benedict Arnold. He died a few months into this term, and was buried in the Coddington Cemetery on Farewell Street in Newport. == England and Massachusetts == Born in Lincolnshire, England, William Coddington was likely the son of Robert and Margaret Coddington of Marston. His presumed father was a prosperous yeoman, and when in Rhode Island the younger Coddington possessed a seal with the initials "R.C.," likely that of his father. The source of his education is not known, but that he was well educated is apparent from his correspondence, and from his considerable command of English law. As a young man he married by about 1626, and had two sons baptized at St. Botolph's Church in Boston, Lincolnshire, but both died in infancy and were buried at the same church. His first wife was Mary, and speculation exists that she was Mary Burt, because Coddington once mentioned his "cousin Burt" in a letter. Also in 1626 when England's king circumvented Parliament by raising funds through the Forced Loan, Coddington was one of many Puritans who resisted this royal loan, and his name was recorded on a list for doing so the following winter. Coddington was elected as a Massachusetts Bay Assistant (magistrate) on 18 March 1629/30, while still in England, and sailed to New England the following month with the Winthrop Fleet. His first wife died during their first winter in Massachusetts, and he returned to England aboard the ''Lion'' in 1631, remaining there for two years. During this visit to England he married in Terling, Essex, Mary Moseley who came back to New England with him in 1633, and who was admitted to the Boston church that summer. Coddington was a leading merchant in Boston, and built the first brick house there. He was elected an Assistant (magistrate) every year from his arrival in New England until 1637, was the colony's treasurer from 1634 to 1636, and a Deputy for Boston in 1637. He was also a Boston selectman in 1634, and was on several committees overseeing land transactions in 1636 and 1637. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Coddington」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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