Draft:Robert Burdick (Rhode Island Colonist)

  1. Home
  2. Wiki


Deputy to the Rhode Island General Assembly
Robert Burdick
Coat of Arms of the Burdett (later Burdick) family of Lowesby.
Born(1630-11-02)November 2, 1630
Devonshire, England
DiedOctober 25, 1692(1692-10-25) (aged 61)
Westerly, Rhode Island
Burial placeBurdick Ground, Westerly, Rhode Island
Occupations
Known forSettling Westerly, Rhode Island
SpouseRuth Hubbard
Children
  • Thomas Burdick
  • Naomi Burdick (Rogers)
  • Deborah Burdick (Crandall)
  • Ruth Burdick (Phillips)
  • Roger Burdick
  • Benjamin Burdick
  • Tacy Burdick (Maxson)
  • Robert Burdick
  • John Burdick
Parents
  • Samuel Burdick
  • Frances St Lawrence
FamilyBurdick Family

Robert Burdick (November 2, 1630 - October 25, 1692), sometimes spelled as Berdick, was an Anglo-Irish freeman, a Deputy to the Rhode Island General Assembly, a Deacon of the Seventh Day Baptist church, and planter who is noted as being one of the first original settlers of Westerly, Rhode Island and Southerntowne (later called Stonington) in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.[1][2] Robert Burdick was involved in one of the first territorial disputes between the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in 1661. Famous direct descendants of Robert Burdick include Clark Burdick, Burrows Burdick, Eugene A. Burdick, and Francis Marion Burdick.

Early Life and Family Background

[edit]

Robert Burdick was born on November 2, 1630 to Samuel Burdick and Frances Burdick (nee: St. Lawrence) in Devonshire, England.[3] Born to an affluent family, Robert's mother Frances was the daughter of Nicholas St Lawrence, 4th Baron Howth, a notable Anglo-Irish nobleman and soldier of the Elizabethan era. Meanwhile, Robert's father Samuel Burdick was a descendant of William Burdet, as well as the Norman lord of Cully Hugh Bordet (also spelled as Burdet or Burdett) who served as a knight under William the Conqueror during the Norman Conquest at the Battle of Hastings. Hugh is listed on the Battle Abbey Roll for his part in the conquest of England, as well as the Domesday Book as holding land in Leicestershire under the Countess Judith of Lens.[3][4][5] The Burdick family is directly related to the Burdett family, including the Burdett baronets of both Bramcote and Burthwaite.

In Rhode Island

[edit]

Marriage & Family in Rhode Island

[edit]

Robert Burdick sailed to the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in 1651, by 1655 he was living in the settlement of Newport. According to American historian and genealogist William Richard Cutter Robert Burdick "was baptized by Rev. Joseph Torrey, November 19, 1652 and was admitted a freeman in 1676".[3][6] On November 2, 1655 Burdick married Ruth Hubbard (1640-1691), the first White American born in Agawam, Massachusetts on January 11, 1640.[6] Ruth's father was the Reverend Samuel Hubbard (1610-1689) from Suffolk who had also emigrated to the New England Colonies.[3] Samuel Hubbard was one of the early founders of the Newport-based Seventh Day Baptist Church. Hubbard was born in 1610 in Mendlesham and was the son of James Hubbard and Naomi (nee: Cocke) Hubbard, the daughter of Thomas Cocke of Ipswich. Samuel's grandfather, Thomas Hubbard, was burned at the stake during the English Reformation for "failing to recant Protestantism", he is listed in Foxe's Book of Martyrs as "Thomas Higbed".[7][8]

Massachusetts Land Dispute

[edit]

In 1661 during the westward expansion of the Colony of Rhode Island land had been purchased from the Niantic people and Narragansett people near the modern day cities of Westerly, Charlestown, Richmond, and Hopkinton which is now known as the Misquamicut Purchase (sometimes called the Westerly Purchase).[6][9] A small group of some 36 colonists from Rhode Island, Robert Burdick among them, started placing land claims on land near the border of the city of Southerntowne, Massachusetts (now Stonington, Connecticut) along the boundaries on the east side of the Pawcatuck River.[6][10] One settler, Massachusetts colonist William Chesebrough, opened a territorial dispute against the settlers testifying to constable Walter Palmer that the land belonged to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.[2][6] Palmer promptly arrested Tobias Saunders, Robert Burdick, and Joseph Clarke who were among the 36 settlers and were then conveyed to Boston for their trial[2].[6][11][12]

On November 14, 1661 Burdick and others were placed before John Endecott, the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to plea their case of lawful land settlement near Southerntowne. Burdick "acknowledge[d] that he was upon the same land, and built a small house there, upon the lott layed out to him; and that he went upon the designe, upon the same grounds as are delcared by Tobias Saunders".[6][12][13] Both Burdick and Saunders argued that they had been given permission to settle the land by the Colony of Rhode Island when Connecticut was granted a new charter. Burdick and others were eventually charged with "forcible entry and intrusion into the bounds of Southerntowne" and were forced to pay a fine of 100 pounds each and were confined to the Boston Gaol until their payments were satisfied. Roger Williams, a friend of both Burdick and Saunders, raised and organized the funds for Saunders and Burdick's release.[2][11][12][14] According to Addison Erwin Sheldon, author of Nebraska: the Land and the People: Volume 3:

"At his trial Burdick stoutly upheld Rhode Island's charter rights to Misquamicut (now Westerly), and he and Saunders submitted to over a year's imprisonment rather tan, by payment of a fine of forty pounds, seen to concede Massachusetts authority over themselves and the region in which they had settled".[15]

Founding of Westerly, Rhode Island

[edit]

According to Westerly (Rhode Island) and its Witnesses by Frederic Denison, Robert Burdick is listed as one the first people to settle modern day Westerly, Rhode Island on May 13, 1669. A full list of the first settlers of Westerly include the following men:[16][17]

  • John Crandall
  • Edward Larkin
  • Stephen Wilcox
  • John Lewis
  • James Cross
  • Jonathan Armstrong
  • John Maxson
  • Jeffrey Champlin, Sr.
  • John Fairfield
  • Daniel Cromb
  • Nicholas Cottrell
  • Shubael Painter
  • Tobias Saunders
  • Robert Burdick
  • John Randall
  • John MacCoon
  • John Sharp
  • Daniel Stanton
  • James Babcock, Sr.
  • Thomas Painter
  • James Babcock, Jr.
  • John Babcock
  • Job Babcock
  • Josiah Clarke

On May 17, 1671 Burdick and others swore an Oath of Allegiance to Charles II of England and the Colony of Rhode Island promising to "stand to their engagements to his Majestie, and this Colony", other signatories include; John Crandall, Tobias Saunders, Joseph Clarke, John Maxson, Jeffery Champlin, Sir John Lewis, George Lanpheare, and Nicholas Cottrell[6]. At the outbreak of King Philip's War Burdick and his family were on the exposed frontier of the colony and subsequently fled to Newport for safety before returning to Westerly.[18]

Deputy to the General Court of Rhode Island

[edit]

Following King Philip's War Burdick campaigned for the office of Deputy for the city of Westerly to serve on the General Court of Rhode Island (later the Rhode Island General Assembly), ultimately Burdick served in the General Court of Rhode Island in the years 1680, 1683, and 1685.[19][20] The General Court of Rhode Island was established under the Rhode Island Royal Charter in 1663 and was the highest court for the Colony of Rhode Island from 1663 to 1842. The General Court of Rhode Island consisted of " a governor, deputy governor and ten assistants [who] were elected to fulfill the dual roles of General Assembly members and judges on the General Court of Trials".[21]

Personal Life and Death

[edit]

Robert Burdick was a part of a group of Puritan secessionists who seceded from the Baptist Church. Originally a practitioner of Sabbatarianism, Burdick later became an established Seventh Day Baptist, eventually becoming a Deacon for the church.[6][22] According to the book The First Hundred Years: Pawcatuck Seventh Day Baptist Church:

"The church that separated from the congregation at Newport was known for more than a half century as "the Sabbatarian Church of Westerly." But after the town was divided into four towns, Richmond, Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Westerly, ii became known as the Hopkinton Church. Sabbath keepers were here as early as 1666. They were Robert Burdick, Tobias Saunders and Joseph Clarke. Elder John Crandall and John Maxson were soon to follow".[23]

Robert Burdick and Ruth Hubbard had a total of 9 children; 5 boys and 4 girls, much of the family were married into other prominent Westerly families including the Saunders, Crandall, Clarke, Lanphear, Phillips, Maxson, and Painter families, among others.[24] Robert Burdick died on October 25, 1692 at the age of 61 in Westerly and is buried at the Burdick Ground in Westerly.[19][25]

Legacy

[edit]

Several places in the United States bear the name and legacy of Robert Burdick including both Burdickville, Rhode Island and Burdickville, Michigan.[26][27] Likewise, Burdick, Indiana is named after one of its original inhabitants Franklin N. Burdick (1870-1913) who was a descendant of Captain Hubbard Burdick (1713-1776) of the 2nd Company of Westerly's Militia. Hubbard (Hobard) was the grandson of Robert Burdick who fought and later died after the Battle of Rhode Island.

Descendants

[edit]

Many descendants of Robert Burdick are mainly concentrated in New England, primarily Rhode Island and Connecticut, as well as the Midwestern United States, primarily in Wisconsin and North Dakota. Several famous direct descendants of Robert Burdick include:

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Cutter, William Richard (1913). New England families, genealogical and memorial : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of commonwealths and the founding of a nation. Family History Library (Volume 1 ed.). New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 460–461.
  2. ^ a b c d Crandall, Earl P. (January 1, 1995). "Old Tobe": Some Lines of Descent of Tobias Saunders of Westerly, Rhode Island. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin-Madison (published 1995). pp. 2–3. ISBN 9780832846748.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ a b c d Johnson, Nellie Willard (January 1, 1937). Descendants of Robert Burdick of Rhode Island: An Extract. Morgantown, Pennsylvania: Higginson Book Company. pp. 1–2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  4. ^ Mueller, Frank P. (1982). Routes to roots : the Burdick family chronology. Boston Public Library. Sarasota, FL, U.S.A. : The Burdick International Ancestry Library.
  5. ^ "Battle Abbey Roll". www.1066.co.nz. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cutter, New England families, Genealogical and Memorial, 460.
  7. ^ Muller, Routes to Roots, 203.
  8. ^ Foxe, John; Milner, John; Cobbin, Ingram (1856). Foxe's book of martyrs : a complete and authentic account of the lives, sufferings, and triumphant deaths of the primitive and Protestant martyrs in all parts of the world, with notes, comments and illustrations. The Library of Congress. London : Knight and Son.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  9. ^ Naylor, Donita. "Westerly at 350". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  10. ^ Wheeler, Richard Anson (1900). History of the town of Stonington, county of New London, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1649 to 1900. Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. New London, Conn., Press of the Day publishing company. p. 13.
  11. ^ a b Willard, The Descendants of Robert Burdick of Rhode Island, 4.
  12. ^ a b c Archer, Richard, Fissures in the Rock: New England in the Seventeenth Century, Hanover: University Press of New England. 2001. pp. 134–135.
  13. ^ Willard, The Descendants of Robert Burdick of Rhode Island, 3.
  14. ^ "Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: Burdick". www.schenectadyhistory.org. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  15. ^ Sheldon, Addison Erwin (1931). Nebraska: The Land and the People (Volume 3 ed.). Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company. p. 70.
  16. ^ Willard, The Descendants of Robert Burdick of Rhode Island, 2.
  17. ^ Denison, Westerly (Rhode Island) and its Witnesses, 47, 52.
  18. ^ Willard, The Descendants of Robert Burdick of Rhode Island, 4.
  19. ^ a b Willard, The Descendants of Robert Burdick of Rhode Island, 4.
  20. ^ Muller, Routes to Roots, 195.
  21. ^ "Rhode Island. Courts (1647-)". catalog.sos.ri.gov. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  22. ^ Denision, Westerly (Rhode Island) and its Witnesses, 59.
  23. ^ Pawcatuck Seventh Day Baptist Church (1940). The First Hundred Years: Pawcatuck Seventh Day Baptist Church, Westerly, Rhode Island, 1840-1940. Westerly, Rhode Island: The Utter Company. p. 31.
  24. ^ Cutter, New England families, Genealogical and Memorial, 461.
  25. ^ "Robert Burdick (1630-1692) - Find a Grave Memorial". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  26. ^ Mueller, Routes to Roots, 358-360.
  27. ^ Dickinson, Julia Terry (1951). The Story of Leelanau. Solle's Bookshop.
  28. ^ "Members of the Wisconsin Legislature 1848–1999 State of Wisconsin Legislative Bureau. Information Bulletin 99-1, September 1999. p.33 Archived December 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ Tomaino, Frank. "Utica chooses legal scholar, reformer". Utica Observer Dispatch. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  30. ^ "Bioguide Search". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  31. ^ "A History of North Dakota's District Judges". www.ndcourts.gov. Archived from the original on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  32. ^ "North Dakota Court System". www.ndcourts.gov. Retrieved 2025-10-01.