Rhode Island

Rhode Island World War 2 Casualties – Army, Air Force

This database contains War Department casualties (Army and Army Air Force personnel) from World War II for Rhode Island. Information provided includes serial number, rank and type of casualty. The birthplace or residence of the deceased is not indicated. An introduction explaining how the list was compiled, a statistical tabulation, and the descriptions of the types of casualties incurred are also included.

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The Rodman Genealogy of New Bedford, MA

The Rodman family was early settled in Massachusetts. The first of the name of whom there is authentic record was John Rodman, who died on the island of Barbadoes some time between Sept. 16 and Dec. 4, 1686. Thomas Rodman, son of John, born Dec. 26, 1640, came to Newport, R. I, from the island of Barbadoes in 1675, with William Edmundson, a “Friend,” who was on a religious visit to Barbadoes. He (Thomas) was a prominent member of the Society of Friends, and was clerk of the monthly, quarterly and yearly meetings for thirty years. He was also the first clerk of the New England Yearly Meeting, which position he held until 1718, He was an eminent physician and surgeon. His death occurred Jan. 11, 1728.

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Vigneron Family of Newport, Rhode Island

The Vigneron family to which Mr. Spare belongs in the maternal line is descended from Norbert Felician Vigneron, who was baptized June 6, 1670, in the town of LaVentie, Province of Artois, Diocese of Arras, in the French Netherlands. He was the son of Anthony and Anne Therese (de Beaussart) Vigneron. The date of his coming to this country is uncertain, but his marriage to Susanna Peirce, daughter of Joanna Peirce, of Newport, took place in Newport, R. I.

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Ancestry of the Jennings Family from Fall River, Massachusetts

Several persons bearing the name Jennings (variously spelled) located in Massachusetts in its early settlement. Richard Jennings put himself as apprentice to Robert Bartlett, of Plymouth, in 1635, for a period of years. He is said to have lived at Sandwich, whence he moved to Bridgewater, and had a family of children. The Jennings family was long prominent and highly respected in the town of Sandwich, but in time became practically extinct there. Thomas Jennings was an early settler in Portsmouth, R. I. It is, however, the purpose to refer here to the special Fall River family of the name the head of which was the late William H. Jennings. The latter was a descendant in the seventh generation from John Jennings of Sandwich, Mass., from whom his descent is through Isaac, John, Isaac, Isaac and Andrew M. Jennings. These generations follow in the order named.

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Ancestors of Daniel Waldo Field of Brockton MA

Daniel Waldo Field, an extensive shoe manufacturer of Brockton, Mass., and one of the founders and for a number of years president, of the Clark-Hudson Company, shoe jobbers, of Boston and New York, is a citizen of whom Brockton is justly proud. Besides establishing a large and prosperous industry which has brought plenty and content into many a workingman’s home, he has given largely to philanthropic enterprises, some of which actually owe their existence to his generosity. He was born in Brockton, Feb. 18, 1856, son of William L. and Mary D. (Holmes) Field.

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Small Town Newspapers

Small Town Papers gives you free access to the people, places and events recorded in real time over the decades or even centuries! Browse and search the scanned newspaper archive from 1846 up to the current edition! Their archives contain millions of names of ancestors not found anywhere else. Enhance your Ancestry research with their high resolution scanned newspaper archive. Find distant relatives and discover your ethnic heritage by reading the articles about family and friends written back in the day.

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Ancestors of Frederick Macy of New Bedford Massachusetts

The Macy family of New Bedford is among the oldest and most prominent families of Nantucket, the name having been identified with the business interests of New Bedford for the past seventy years. The first American ancestor of the family was Thomas Macy, clothier merchant, who came, it is said, from the county of Wilts,

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Ancestors of Charles Jarvis Holmes of Marshfield and Rochester MA

The purpose of this article to treat with one branch only of the Marshfield-Rochester family, the head of which was the late Hon. Charles Jarvis Holmes, lawyer and public servant of distinguished official relation, as was his father before him, Hon. Abraham Holmes, and as was also the former’s son excepting that he was a banker and financier instead of a member of the legal profession, and a man of high standing and long service in his calling at Fall River, where he was succeeded by his only son, Charles L. Holmes, now treasurer of the Fall River Five Cents Savings Bank, an institution his father had served in the same official relation for approximately fifty years, and who is worthily wearing the family name and sustaining its reputation.

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Joshua Remington Family of Newbury Massachusetts

Joshua Remington, father of Mrs. Mary Anna (Remington) Holmes (See Ancestors of Charles Jarvis Holmes of Marshfield and Rochester MA), was born May 29, 1798, in that part of Providence, R. I., now called Olneyville. He was a son of Stephen and Sarah (Walton) Remington, and of the eighth generation in descent from John Remington, who came to this country in 1637 and settled in Newbury, Mass.

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Descendants of Abraham Tappan of Newbury, MA

The Tappan family of Attleboro, while not an old one in this section of the State, has, nevertheless, been resident for half a century in Attleboro, where Ephraim H. Tappan makes his home, and where his sons, Charles H. and William C, the latter now deceased, have been identified with the manufacturing interests of that section, by their great energy, enterprise and progressive spirit making for themselves a name ranking them among the foremost jewelry manufacturers of the State. The Tappan family was planted in America by:

Abraham Toppan (or Tappan), son of William Topham, of Calbridge, in the parish of Coverham, and fourth in descent from Robert Topham, of Linton, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England; he was baptized April 10, 1606. He lived for some time in Yarmouth, County of Norfolk. His wife, whose maiden name was Taylor, was born in 1607, daughter of Elizabeth, who married (second) John Goodale, whom she outlived and from whom she inherited considerable property. Mr. Toppan with his wife, two children and maidservant, in 1637, took passage in the “Mary and Ann” to New England, and there came in the same vessel with them Mrs. Goodale, his mother-in-law. He settled in Newbury, being admitted Oct. 16, 1637, and at different times in the year following several lots were granted to him. He made a number of voyages to Barbadoes, one or more of which were profitable. He died Nov. 5, 1672, aged sixty-six, in the house on “Toppan’s Lane” which he had built about 1670 for his son Jacob. His widow died March 20, 1689, aged eighty-two years. The children of Abraham and Susanna (Taylor) Toppan were:

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Holman Family of Attleboro, MA

For something more than two centuries the Holman family of which the Attleboro Holmans are a branch has been identified with the history of this Commonwealth, and for half of that period the Holmans have been people of distinction in the town just named, closely identified with its social, religious, educational and business life.

The progenitor of this Massachusetts Holman family, Solomon Holman, with his brother John, is said to have come from the Bermuda Islands to Newburyport, the family tradition being that the Holman family came from Wales to the Bermuda Islands some time between 1670 and 1690; that the two named were seized by a press-gang and brought to this country and escaped from a British ship at Newburyport; that John, the youngest, went to North Carolina and Solomon settled in Newbury. Coffin’s Newbury says Solomon Holman and wife came there about 1693 or 1694. Solomon Holman married Mary Barton and their twelve children were:

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Ancestors of Charles W. Milliken of Barnstable, MA

CHARLES WARREN MILLIKEN, M. D., of Barnstable, Barnstable Co., Mass., engaged as a general practitioner of medicine, has high professional and social connections which have brought him a wide acquaintance. The Millikens, though not one of the oldest Colonial families, have become allied with the posterity of the most distinguished early settlers, and the Doctor traces his line back to many whose names are suggestive of the interesting and important events of the ancient history of this region. There follows in chronological order from the first known American ancestor the genealogical and family history of his branch of the Milliken family.

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Descendants of John Baker of Rehobeth, MA

The Baker family of Taunton, the head of which was the late Charles F. Baker, who for years was one of the successful business men of Taunton, his adopted city, esteemed and respected for his many noble qualities of mind and heart, springs from the old Swansea-Rehoboth family of the name, the progenitor of which was John Baker. Little is known of the latter save that his wife was formerly Susannah Wood, and that he died in 1767. From this (I) John Baker of Swansea and Rehoboth the descent of the late Charles F. Baker, the head of the Taunton family under consideration, is through Nathaniel, Joseph, Levi and Caleb W. Baker.

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Stetson Family of Bridgewater, MA

The Stetson family of Bridgewater is one of the oldest and most prominent in that section of the State, and it has for upward of two centuries been identified with the manufacturing interests of the town, its representatives being the founders of the iron industry of Bridgewater. Especial reference is made to Capt. Abisha Stetson, who was one of the first to engage in the iron business; his son, Nahum Stetson, whose name was a household word in his native town, and who by his great foresight, enterprise and progressive ideas built up the great Bridgewater Iron Works; and the latter’s sons and grandsons, all men of substance and good citizenship.

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Some Descendants of Lawrence Wilkinson of Providence, RI

Lawrence Wilkinson, the first of the race here in New England, was born in Lanchester, County of Durham, England, a son of William Wilkinson by his wife Mary, sister of Sir John Conyers, Bart., and the grandson of Lawrence Wilkinson, of Harpley House, Durham. He was a loyalist, and at the surrender of Newcastle, 1644, was taken prisoner by the Parliamentary and Scotch troops. At this time he held a lieutenant’s commission. He was deprived of his property, and his estates sequestered by order of Parliament. After having obtained special permission from Lord Fairfax, chief commander of the Parliamentary army, he embarked with his wife and child for New England, leaving, according to Somerby, in 1652. Arriving at Providence he signed the civil compact and received a gift of twenty-five acres of land and commenced his pioneer life. He was admitted as one of the original “Proprietors of Providence.” He soon acquired a large real estate, and held a prominent position among his fellow citizens. He was frequently chosen to fill offices of trust in the infant colony; was elected a member of the Legislature in 1659 and subsequently. He was an active business man. He participated in the Indian wars. He lived in his adopted country nearly half a century. His death occurred in 1692.

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Ancestors of William J. Rotch of New Bedford, MA

At New Bedford, this Commonwealth, a point so long famous the world round for its whaling industry, a business carried on to an extent and success that made it the wealthiest place in proportion to its population of any point in New England, and a city that has since been hardly less conspicuous as a cotton manufacturing point, there still reside representatives of the Rotch family; here where, since the middle of the eighteenth century, have lived seven or eight generations of Rotches, than whom as a family perhaps no other has had greater influence in developing New Bedford’s character and prosperity and shaping its history.

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Ancestors of George Albert Chace of Fall River, MA

CHACE (Fall River family). In and about Fall River for generations the Chace (earlier generations using the orthography Chase) family has been conspicuous in the affairs of that section and especially for a century past in its industrial life. In the particular line of Joseph Chase, who settled in Swansea, the family becoming a Swansea-Somerset one, such names as Oliver, Harvey, James H., Hon. Jonathan and George Albert Chace – the latter of whom planned and built a number of the large cotton mills of Fall River, was long treasurer and manager of the Bourne Mill, in Tiverton, R. I., and as well was a most active and useful citizen of Fall River – will long endure in the annals of this great industrial section. There follows from the first American ancestor of the Chaces named to the present in chronological order the genealogy and family history of the children of the late George Albert Chace of Fall River.

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Descendants of Philip Taber of New Bedford, MA

The Taber family of Dartmouth and New Bedford is descended from (I) Philip Taber, who, according to Savage, was born in 1605, and died in 1672. He was at Watertown in 1634, and he contributed toward building the galley for the security of the harbor. He was made a freeman at Plymouth in that same year. In 1639-40 he was a deputy from Yarmouth, and was afterward at Martha’s Vineyard, and from 1647 to 1655 was at Edgartown, going from there to New London in 1651, but probably returning soon. He was an inhabitant of Portsmouth in February, 1655, and was a representative in Providence in 1661, the commissioners being Roger Williams, William Field, Thomas Olney, Joseph Torrey, Philip Taber and John Anthony. Later he settled in Tiverton, where his death occurred. He married Lydia Masters, of Watertown, Mass., daughter of John and Jane Masters, and his second wife, Jane, born in 1605, died in 1669.

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Rounseville Family of Fall River, MA

ROUNSEVILLE (Fall River family). The Rounsville or Rounseville family of ancient Freetown is believed to be of French origin, and a family tradition has it that they left France on account of religious persecution. It is the purpose here to refer to a branch of the Freetown Rounseville family which in time found its way into the busy manufacturing center of southeastern Massachusetts – Fall River – and soon became a part of the great activity there. Reference is made to the family of the late Capt. Cyrus Cole Rounseville, a master mariner of Freetown, who sailed from New Bedford in the whaling service, whose son and namesake Cyrus Cole Rounseville has long been one of the leading manufacturers of Fall River as treasurer of the Shove Mills, prominent in public life and identified with the banking interests of the city, etc.

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Grinnell Family of New Bedford, MA

Since the early settlement of Newport and Portsmouth, R. I., shortly after 1638, the Grinnells have been identified with Rhode Island and Massachusetts history, the earlier generations living largely in the towns of Newport county, R. I., and for the past hundred and more years branches of this southern Rhode Island family have been representative of the best citizenship in the old Massachusetts town of New Bedford. At New Bedford lived Capt. Cornelius Grinnell, a patriot of the Revolution, and long engaged in the merchant service, who married into the old historic Howland family, and one of whose sons, Joseph Grinnell, for almost a decade represented the New Bedford district in the United States Congress, and was long prominent as a merchant and manufacturer and banker of the town; and there lived the late Lawrence Grinnell, father of the late Frederick Grinnell, who so long was at the head of the Providence Steam and Gas Pipe Company and the General Eire Extinguisher Company, a man of genius in mechanical lines, whose inventions gave him distinction, and one of whose sons, Russell Grinnell, is at this time vice president of the General Fire Extinguisher Company. It is with this New Bedford branch of the Grinnell family this article deals.

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