born , 1601, Boston, Lincolnshire, Eng.
died Nov. 1, 1678, Rhode Island
American colonial governor and religious dissident.
An official in the Massachusetts Bay Company, he immigrated to Massachusetts in 1630 and served in the colonial legislature. As a follower of Anne Hutchinson , he was obliged to leave the colony for Aquidneck Island (Rhode Island), where he established settlements at Portsmouth and Newport. Although he hoped to maintain Aquidneck as a separate colony, it was combined with Roger Williams 's Providence plantation in 1644. Later acknowledging Rhode Island's unity, he served as its governor in 1674, 1675, and 1678.