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Rhode Island Genealogy

Rhode Island Genealogy Facts

From its beginnings, Rhode Island has been distinguished by its support for freedom of conscience and action: Clergyman Roger Williams founded the present state capital, Providence, after being exiled by the Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans in 1636. Williams was followed by other religious exiles who founded Pocasset, now Portsmouth, in 1638 and Newport in 1639.

  • Rhode Island was organized as territory on Aug. 14, 1848
  • Rhode Island entered the union as the 33rd state on Febuary 14, 1859 .
  • Rhode Island has 5 Counties
  • Rhode Island’s capital is Providence and the official state website is www.ri.gov/.
  • Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut (west) and Massachusetts (north and east)
  • Rhode Island has a land area of 1,045 square miles making it the smallest state.
  • Rhode Island’s 2010 population was 1,051,302 .
  • Rhode Island  largest cities (2010) are Providence (Capital), 178,042; Warwick, 82,672; Cranston, 80,387; Pawtucket, 71,148; East Providence, 47,037; Woonsocket, 41,186; Newport, 24,672; Central Falls, 19,376.
  • Rhode Island was was either named for the Isle of Rhodes (in the Mediterranean Sea) or for its red clay (the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block may have named it “Rood Eylandt” meaning Red Island, in Dutch) .
  • Rhode Island’s nickname is ” The Ocean State, Little Rhody “
  • Rhode Island State Motto is ” Hope ” .

Rhode Island County Genealogy

The major genealogical use for counties in Rhode Island is the pursuit of court records and federal census returns. Before 1729 there were no county courts in Rhode Island. Two counties became incorporated in 1703: Providence and Newport. By 1750 all of Rhode Island’s present counties existed, and no more developed after these were formed. Bristol became a county in 1746–47 when five towns, originally belonging to Massachusetts, were ceded to Rhode Island. Perhaps because the rest of the country is so oriented to counties, some of the vital records have been published in “county” groups, but the records themselves exist only on a town level. Modern court records are at the superior court at the county seat; earlier ones have been moved (see Court Records).

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COUNTY PAGES UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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Rhode Island Genealogy Links

See Rhode Island County Genealogy for County Links. These genealogy links fall into 3 categories: Commercial Sites, Personal Sites or Organization Sites. Some are have free access some require a payment. This is just a list that has been collected or submitted. I do not endorse or promote one genealogy site above another. Feel free to submit your own favorite genealogy or family history related sites.

Rhode Island State History

Rhode Island, state in the northeastern United States, in New England, officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first of the 13 original colonies to declare its independence from Great Britain. However, it was the last of the 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution of the United States, doing so on May 29, 1790. The smallest state in the Union, it is, after New Jersey, the second most densely populated and one of the most highly industrialized. Its name is a paradox, since most of the state is part of the North American mainland. The name Rhode Island is the official name of the largest island of Narragansett Bay, an estuary that extends through the eastern part of the state. On most maps of the United States, the state appears so small that it is difficult to identify, but its influence is more widely felt than its tiny size would warrant. Providence is Rhode Island’s capital and its largest city.

Historians disagree over the source of the name Rhode Island. Some claim that it was first used by the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, when he compared Block Island to the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean. Others maintained that the name is a corruption of Roodt Eylandt (Red Island), the name applied to Aquidneck Island in 1614 by the Dutch navigator Adriaen Block because of the red clay on the island’s shore. Roger Williams, the English Puritan who founded the Rhode Island colony, was the first to refer to Aquidneck as Rhode Island. The name was incorporated into the official title of the colony in 1663 and, later, of the state. Rhode Island’s official nickname is the Ocean State. The state’s small size led to the emergence of what is now its most common, although unofficial, nickname, Little Rhody.

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