John Coggeshall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Coggeshall (ca. 1591 - November 27, 1647) was one of the founders of Rhode Island.
Coggeshall was born in Essex, England, but he went to Boston, Massachusetts aboard the Lyon in 1632 with his wife Mary and three children. They settled in Roxbury but then moved to Boston in 1634.
Coggeshall was a merchant in Boston. He was almost immediately elected a Selectman of the town and a deacon in the church. He was a deputy in the General Court of Massachusetts until 1637. Coggeshall was an enthusiastic supporter of Anne Hutchinson and was, therefore, expelled from the court and banished from the colony. He signed the Portsmouth Compact in 1638 and went with the group that founded the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island. From May 1647 until his death in November of that year Coggeshall served as the first "president" of the united colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, comprising the four towns of Providence, Warwick, Newport and Portsmouth. Although this union dissolved several years later, the colony later was permanently re-united under the royal charter of 1663.
John Coggeshall Elementary School in Portsmouth, Rhode Island is named for him.
