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Rhode Island Counties
Visit our Websites for:
Providence
Kent
Bristol
Washington
Newport
Website Updates
(We need county coordinators!)
Until the sites get permanent hosts, we'll try and add data as time allows. Email Kim to add your original source data
to this site.
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Welcomes
you to Rhode Island
Genealogy Trails
Our goal at Genealogy Trails is to transcribe and post genealogical source data so that family researchers can
track their ancestors through time, throughout the country.
This site is Available for Adoption
This website needs a dedicated host to make it the best that it can be! If you think that you may be interested
in volunteering to host a county or state please view our Volunteer Information page and email Kim.
(A desire to transcribe data and the know-how to make a basic webpage
is required)
Join our mailing lists for researchers looking to connect and share information. Our Rhode Island sites are covered
under the North-Eastern Coastal States Region list. You never know who you might meet and what family data they
may share with you -- it could start a whole new branch of the family!
We also use the mailing lists to announce our website updates.
Remember to look around at our other
states and consider donating your source information -- every little
bit helps someone.
Please contact
Kim if you have any questions or comments.
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State Data
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Some Rhode Island Facts
Bluffs-Block Island
Founder of Rhode Island : Roger Williams
Nickname: The Ocean State; Little Rhody
State Capital: Providence
Largest City: Providence
Est. Population in 2004: 1,080,632
Admission to the Union: May 29, 1790
The smallest State in the U. S.
Rhode Island covers an area of approximately 1,214 square miles and is bordered on the north and east by Massachusetts,
on the west by Connecticut, and on the south by Rhode Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. It shares a water border
with New York between Block Island and Long Island
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Colony
of Rhode Island & Providence Plantations
Rhode Island is part of the New England region and was one of the 13 original
American Colonies that declared independence from British rule which started the American Revolution on May 4,
1776. The name Rhode Isalnd refers to the largest island in Narragansett Bay, also knnown as Aquidneck Island which
is where Newport is located. The state of Rhode Island, despite its name, isn't an island. It's just that
from every point in the state is within 30 miles of Sea Water, hence the nickname, the "Ocean State".
Providence Plantation was founded by Roger Williams in 1636. He was a baptist minister fleeing from
religious persecution in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Other settlements were soon to follow. Williams was
sent to England by fellow citizens to secure a charter for the colony. Parliamentary patent was secure in
March in 1643. May 18, 1652, Rhode Island passed the first law in North America making slavery illegal. That's
how Rhode Island became the safe haven for people who were prosecuted for their beliefs such as the Baptists, Quakers,
and Jews. In 1663 a Royal Charter was given by Charles II of England. This charter guarranteed religious freedom
for all Christians and Jews.
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updated 12/4/07
©2007 Genealogy Trails
Original page created by ©Deanna Heneghan
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