“Preserving the stories, records, and lives of those who came before us.”
Welcome to the Early American Settlers page. This website is dedicated to preserving family history through historical research, photographs, archival documents, and migration studies. Here you will find records tracing generations across America, Canada, and beyond. From the earliest English landings in New England, to the inland migration of their desecndants.
“The story of New England is written through migration, faith, kinship, and the enduring legacy of colonial families.”
The settlement of Rhode Island formed part of the broader colonization of New England during the seventeenth century. Unlike some neighboring Puritan colonies, Rhode Island became known for religious liberty, maritime commerce, and political independence.
Its coastal settlements attracted dissenters, merchants, farmers, Baptists, Quakers, and families seeking freedom from the stricter religious systems of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Among the important colonial families connected to Rhode Island and early New England were the Sherman, Earle, Lake, and Mumford families, whose descendants spread throughout North America and later into Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada.
Portsmouth, Rhode Island was founded in 1638 by religious dissenters who departed Massachusetts after disputes concerning theology and civil authority. The settlement emerged under the influence of Anne Hutchinson, William Coddington, John Clarke, and other colonists seeking liberty of conscience.
Located on Aquidneck Island, Portsmouth developed into an agricultural and maritime settlement closely tied to the expanding trade economy of Narragansett Bay.
Nearby Newport quickly became one of colonial America’s most important seaports. Founded in 1639, Newport evolved into a center of Atlantic trade, shipbuilding, religious diversity, and political influence.
Newport became notable for its coexistence of Baptists, Quakers, Jews, Anglicans, and Congregationalists during a period when many colonies enforced religious conformity.
Philip Sherman was one of the earliest and most influential settlers of Rhode Island. Born in England around 1610, Sherman immigrated to New England during the Great Puritan Migration before becoming associated with the founding of Portsmouth.
Sherman was among the signers of the Portsmouth Compact in 1638, an important early agreement establishing self-government within the colony.
He served in numerous public offices including commissioner, deputy, assistant, and secretary. Sherman also became a significant landholder and played an important role in shaping the political structure of early Rhode Island society.
Through generations of intermarriage, descendants of Philip Sherman became connected to many notable colonial New England families.
Ralph Earle was another important early settler associated with southern New England colonial history. Born in England during the early seventeenth century, Earle first settled in Massachusetts before relocating into the Narragansett region.
The Earle family became active in farming, local government, militia service, and land development throughout Rhode Island and neighboring colonies.
Colonial records frequently document the Earle family through land grants, court proceedings, wills, and town meetings, making them an important family for genealogical research.
Alice Lake occupies a darker place within early New England folklore through her association with colonial witchcraft accusations and superstition.
During the seventeenth century, fear of witchcraft reflected wider anxieties concerning religion, illness, frontier dangers, and social instability within Puritan society.
While the Salem Witch Trials remain the most famous example, accusations and suspicions appeared throughout New England communities during the colonial period.
Stories associated with Alice Lake became woven into regional folklore and historical memory, illustrating the fear and uncertainty experienced within early colonial settlements.
The Mumford family became one of the longstanding colonial families associated with the Narragansett, or “Nagassenett,” region of Rhode Island.
This area played an important role in colonial Rhode Island due to its fertile lands, coastal access, and growing agricultural settlements.
Members of the Mumford family participated in farming, maritime trade, local governance, and militia service during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The surname appears extensively within land deeds, probate records, church registers, and colonial court documents throughout Rhode Island history.
Rhode Island’s early settlers helped establish one of colonial America’s most distinctive societies — one founded upon religious liberty, local self-government, maritime commerce, and political independence.
Families such as the Sherman, Earle, Lake, and Mumford lines became deeply interconnected through marriage, migration, and trade, leaving descendants throughout New England, Nova Scotia, and Atlantic Canada.
Today, descendants can often trace these colonial family lines through:
These records preserve the history of the families who helped shape Rhode Island and the broader story of colonial New England.