Samuel GEORGE

¹Marriage for Sarah Rathbone and John Ball. "
U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
about Sarah Rathbone
Name: Sarah Rathbone
Gender: female
Birth Year: 1659
Spouse Name: Samuel George
Spouse Birth Year: 1651
Marriage
Year: 1678
Marriage State: RI
Number Pages: 1."

Sarah RATHBONE

¹Rathbone Genealogy .

²Marriage for Sarah Rathbone and John Ball. "
U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
about Sarah Rathbone
Name: Sarah Rathbone
Gender: female
Birth Year: 1659
Spouse Name: Samuel George
Spouse Birth Year: 1651
Marriage
Year: 1678
Marriage State: RI
Number Pages: 1."

John RATHBONE

¹Rathbone Genealogy . "# ohn RATHBONE
# Surname: Rathbone
# Given Name: John
# Sex: M
# Birth: 28 Mar 1628 in Prescott Parrish, County Lancashire, England (Bapt.)
# Death: BEF 6 Oct 1702 in New Shoreham, Newport, Rhode Island
# _UID: 6486EF736D78354784AEEB308D238F013AE8
# Event: Biography Records of the Cology of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 1686 Page 194-5
# Will: 12 Feb 1701 New Shoreham, Newport, Rhode Island Book 1 Page 285
# Note:

   The Rathbone Genealogy compiled by John C. Cooley was published in 1898.For many years, famil y historians have accepted Cooley's version of thefamily's earliest generations. However, b y the 1940's many found that they could not prove what Cooley had stated in his genealogy. Much research was done most by Frank H. Rathbun of Fairfax, Virginia. He established the current t hinking on the early records of the family as weknow it today. He published the current think ing from 1981 to 1996 in theRathbun Rathbone Rathburn Family Historian.

   John Rathbone was raised in Ditton, County Lancashire and married in thearea to Margaret Acre s, the daughter of Thomas Acres, a neighbors of theRathbones. It would appear that after bein g left a small sum of moneyfrom his father's estate in 1654 he left England with his bride an dsettled in Dorchester, Massachusetts where others from County Lancashirehad settled. His nam e first appeared in the American records when he
   was listed among 12 Massachusetts men who met at the Roxbury home of Dr.John Alcock to consid er the purchase of Block Island, a small islandtwelve miles off the coast of Rhode Island. I n 1658, the possession ofBlock Island was transferred from the Colony of Massachusetts to pri vateindividuals with its sale to Richard Bellingham, Daniel Dennison, JohnEndicott and Willia m Hawthore. They in turn made the last transfer ofland as a whole to the company of twelve me n who met at Dr .Alcock's. Asecond meeting was held where the number of individuals had grow n tosixteen. Drawings were held to assign each of the proprietors a "greatlot" in both the no rthern and southern sections of the land. John, lessaffluent than some of the others pooled h is funds with Edward Vorse,another native of County Lancashire and brought half shares. Thei r landin the southern section lay along the southeastern coast and their landin the north con sisted of a lot. Totally, they had 420 acres. Years laterit was discovered that a istake wa s made in the original survey. In 1671,the lawyers for the estate of Dr. Alcock granted Joh n Rathbone anadditiona160 acres "what land shall be found wanting...in some convenientplace i n the commonland". He was given land near the center of the islandstretching from near wher e the center of town is today to the ocean eastof town. In October of 1680, he made his las t payment of his share of theoriginal purchase.

   According to the New Shoreham town books, a barque was built to transportthe cattle to the is land. A shallop was built by Samuel Deering and SimonRay who no doubt charged the others fo r the transportation to the island.The families met in Taunton for the trip to New Shoreham i n April 1661.

   John was listed as a freeman of New Shoreham in 1664. He represented NewShoreham in the Rhod e Island General Assembly for five years. In 1685, hewas a member of the Crown party which su pported King James' ordervacating the Rhode Island colonial charter. He signed with his mark" JR!I. That same year, King James was overthrown during the GloriousRevolution and the Crown p arty was out of favor in Rhode Island.

   It appears that during his political career he kept a home on themainland in Newport. In 1674 , he was living in Hammersmith, a section ofNewport. He returned to Block Island about 1685 . In 1702 he was listed asa proprietor of the town wharf in Newport.

   Block Island was invaded by a French privateer in July of 1698. Theinvaders asked some of th e islanders who had money and they directed themto John Rathbone. At the Rathbone home, the i nvaders seized John, Jr. whothey tied, stripped to the wait and whipped.

   John's will dated February 12, 1702 at Block Island described him a"yeoman". Although liste d of Block Island, the inventory of his estateindicates he considered Newport his principal h ome. He conducted somesort of business there as his will referred to a "shop" there. His will was probated October 16,1702. He named his wife, Margaret; sons John,William, Joseph, Samue l and Thomas; daughters Sarah, Margaret andElizabeth and
   grandchildren John son of John and John son of William. The will waswitnessed by James Welc h and Roger Dickens (Book 1 Page 285). His widowsurvived him at least fourteen years as in Ma rch of 1716 as "widow andrelict of John Rathbone, deceased" she made a deposition on Block Is landregarding properties.

   John was baptized in the Anglican church in England. He may have been aQuaker in Newport as h is son's birth is registered in Quaker recordsthere. He was a slave owner as he left a slav e to his son, Thomas, at hisdeath.

# Change Date: 8 Jan 2002 at 20:12:20



Father: Thomas RATHBONE b: 9 Jan 1595 in Farnworth Chapel, Prescott, County Lancashire, England (Bapt)
Mother: Alice

Marriage 1 Margaret ACRES b: 15 Sep 1633 in Prescott Parrish, County Lancashire, England (Bapt.)

   * Married: ABT 1654 in County Lancashire, England

Children

  1. Has Children John RATHBUN b: 1655 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts."

²Marriage for Rathbone, John and Margaret Dodge. "
U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
about Margaret Dodge
Name: Margaret Dodge
Gender: female
Birth Place: RI
Birth Year: 1658
Spouse Name: John Rathbone
Number Pages: 1."

Margaret ACRES

¹Marriage for Rathbone, John and Margaret Dodge. "
U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
about Margaret Dodge
Name: Margaret Dodge
Gender: female
Birth Place: RI
Birth Year: 1658
Spouse Name: John Rathbone
Number Pages: 1."