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William Harris (1610-1681) was one of the four men who was with Roger Williams at Seekonk in the Plymouth Colony during the winter early in 1636. He then joined Williams and several families in establishing the settlement of Providence which later became a part of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He became one of the 12 original proprietors of Providence, and one of the 12 original members of the first Baptist Church in America, and appears prominently in the early records of the settlement. Harris had a very keen mind for business, and while Roger Williams was a dreamer, Harris was a realist who knew legal methods and principles better than any other man in Providence. He had very liberal views concerning the freedom of conscience, and published these views. This put him in deep conflict with Williams, who as President of the colony in 1657 issued a warrant for Harris's arrest with the charge of high treason against the Commonwealth of England. At the ensuing trial, the court decided that the matter must be sent to England for resolution, with Harris being placed under bond. Ultimately, the ruling was in Harris's favor. Harris was very active in town and colonial affairs from 1660 to 1676, while at the same time acting as agent or representative for interests that were inimical to the interests of the colony. He became an agent on behalf of the Pawtuxet settlers in some complex land disputes, and made several trips to England on their behalf. While he was successful in winning his cases, the results were never realized, and disputes continued following his death. In his last trip to England in 1680, Harris once again represented the Pawtuxet settlers, but also became an agent for Connecticut in its claims for the Narragansett lands, very much at odds with Rhode Island interests. During this trip, his ship was seized by an Algerian corsair, and he became a slave along the Barbary Coast. Being released over a year later after a very high ransom had been paid on his behalf, he made his way back to London where he died three days after his arrival there. == Early life == Harris was baptized in Northbourne, Kent, England on 9 December 1610, the fourth of five children born to Andrew Harris and Jane Bagley of Northbourne. He was a young child when his father died in 1616, after which his mother married James Grigges, who died soon, and then she married James Sayer. On 22 October 1628, when Harris was almost 18, he began a seven-year apprenticeship as a needle-maker, to Thomas Wilson, a member of the Drapers' Company of Eastcheap, London. Harris was a member of Reverend John Lothrop's Church in London with his brother Thomas and sister Jane, the latter of whom appears on a 1632 church roster. In a church record, the three Harris siblings are listed as being among those "added to the church" at the time when John Lothrop, along with 42 fellow dissenters, were imprisoned. In about 1634 Harris married Susan Hyde, the daughter of John Hyde and Mary Bonfoy, his father-in-law being a member of the Drapers' Company to which Harris had been apprenticed. Harris probably left England in 1635, but certainly by early 1636, and may have first come to Salem in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 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 Harris (settler)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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