Coddington, William, 1601–78, one of the founders of Rhode Island, probably b. Boston, England. He came to America in 1630 as an officer of the Massachusetts Bay Company and was its treasurer from 1634 to 1636. He supported Anne Hutchinson Hutchinson, Anne, c.1591–1643, religious leader in New England, b. Anne Marbury in Lincolnshire, England. She emigrated (1634) with her husband and family to Massachusetts Bay, where her brilliant mind and her kindness won admiration and a following.
..... Click the link for more information. in the antinomian controversy. With her, John Clarke Clarke, John, 1609–76, one of the founders of Rhode Island, b. Westhorpe, Suffolk, England. He emigrated to Boston in 1637 and shortly thereafter joined Anne Hutchinson (with whom he had sided in the antinomian controversy) and William Coddington in founding
..... Click the link for more information. , and other Puritan exiles, he purchased the island of Aquidneck (Rhode Island) from the Narragansett and founded Portsmouth (1638). Deposed (1639) as leader of the settlement by Hutchinson and Samuel Gorton Gorton, Samuel, c.1592–1677, Anglo-American religious leader, founder of Warwick, R.I., b. near Manchester, England. Seeking religious freedom, he emigrated to America (1637) but, because of his unorthodox religious teachings, was banished successively from
..... Click the link for more information. , Coddington withdrew with Clarke and founded Newport Newport.

1 City (1990 pop. 18,871), seat of Campbell co., N Ky., on the Ohio River opposite Cincinnati and on the east bank of the Licking River opposite Covington; laid out 1791, inc. as a city 1835.
..... Click the link for more information. . The two towns were joined under Coddington's governorship in 1640. He opposed, however, the union with the mainland settlements of Providence and Warwick, which took place in 1647 under a patent received in 1644 by Roger Williams Williams, Roger, c.1603–1683, clergyman, advocate of religious freedom, founder of Rhode Island , b. London. A protégé of Sir Edward Coke, he graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1627 and took Anglican orders.
..... Click the link for more information. . The commission Coddington received in 1651 to govern for life Aquidneck and neighboring Conanicut Island was denounced by the island people, and Williams and Clarke succeeded in having it revoked in 1652. Coddington remained influential in Newport affairs and was governor of the united colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in 1674, 1675, and 1678.

Coddington, William

(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.

Coddington, William (1601–1678) colonist; born in Boston, England. He came to Massachusetts in 1630. He protested against the trial of Anne Hutchinson (1637) and moved to Aquidneck (in Rhode Island) where he later became the governor. He also founded Newport, R.I., in 1639.