Captain Arthur Fenner

 

[bpt 17 Oct. 1619 at Horley, Surrey, England; d 10 Oct. 1703 at Providence, RI] Arthur, son of Arthur Fenner and Sarah Browne, was baptized at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Horley, Surrey, England. He had been a Lieutenant in a troop of horses in Oliver Cromwell’s army before emigrating to Providence, Rhode Island. Two of his brothers, William and Thomas, along with his sister Sarah, had emigrated to the colonies before him but settled in Connecticut. Another brother, William, settled in Newport, RI.

Roger Williams had established the colony at Providence in 1636, and a patent (charter) was officially granted 14 March 1643 with Robert Earl of Warwick named as governor. Arthur’s name did not appear on a map of properties drawn in 1646. Arthur was first recorded as an inhabitant of Providence on 27 February 1649. On 27 April 1649, he attended the Quarter Session of the Providence Court, and on 3 October 1649, he bought equal rights into the Providence Plantations for 30 shillings.

 

Providence, 1650. Map compiled by Henry R. Chace, drawn by A.L. Bodwell in 1911. Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library.

 

On 27 July 1650, Arthur bought 6 acres of property from Nathaniel Dickens, situated along the Seaconque River and a marsh. Around 1651–52, Arthur m 1st Mehitable Waterman [b 1626 at Nyland, Somerset England; d 3 Dec. 1683 at Providence, RI], daughter of Richard Waterman and Bethiah Waite (or Rice), who emigrated to the colonies in 1629 and settled with Roger Williams in Providence Plantations. Arthur bought some of his land on 27 April 1652 from John Lippitt of Warwick, who was one of the first inhabitants of Providence and was on the committee to draft a plan of government in 1647. On 28 April 1654, he purchased additional property along the Pocasset River from William Barrows. Arthur also reportedly received some of his land from Indian Chief Massasoit. In 1655, he was one of only 42 heads of household in Providence. He is credited with being the first settler in the area later known as Johnston.

As a civil engineer, he helped survey the boundaries of Providence. He served as Constable for the town of Providence in 1651, and was Assistant to the Town Council in 1651, 1659, 1665, 1667–1668, 1672, 1676, 1679, 1686, and 1690. He also served as Commissioner to the General Court, Moderator, Treasurer, and Deputy, among other jobs.

Arthur and his family were survivors of King Philip’s War, 1675–76, a violent dispute involving natives in the area. After natives burned much of the town of Providence on 29 March 1676, Captain Arthur was appointed leader of a garrison of men (“The King’s garrison”), stationed at his home, which had some form of barrier surrounding it. The war ended when Philip was shot by a member of his own tribe on 12 August 1676. The garrison was decommissioned on 26 October 1676. Fenner’s home was known as “Fenner Castle,” owing partly to its large chimney. There is an oil painting of Fenner Castle in the Historical Society of Providence, RI. It eventually collapsed from neglect in 1886, and the stones of the chimney were used to build a wall in the neighborhood. A second house, which Arthur built for his son Thomas in 1677, still stands in Cranston, RI, and is owned by a descendant.

CaptainArthurFennerHouse.jpg

Mehitable died 3 December 1683. Three years later, Arthur m 2nd Howlong Harris [d 19 Nov. 1708 at Providence, RI] on 16 Dec. 1686, daughter of William and Susan Harris, but had no more children. By 1888, Arthur had amassed nearly 340 acres of property.

Children by Mehitable Waterman:

  1. Thomas [b 27 Oct. 1652 at Providence, RI; d 27 Feb. 1718] married twice.

  2. Sarah [b ca. 1655 at Providence, RI; bur 7 Nov. 1676].

  3. Freelove [b ca. 1656 at Providence, RI; d 1 June 1712] m Gideon Crawford.

  4. Arthur [b 1658 at Providence, RI; d 24 April 1725] m Mary Smith [d 13 Dec. 1737].

  5. Samuel [b ca. 1660 at Providence, RI; d ca. 1680]

  6. Bethiah [b ca. 1662 at Providence, RI] m Robert Kilton.

  7. Phebe [b ca. 1665 at Providence, RI] m Joseph Latham.

Lineage:
John | Roger | John | Roger | Thomas | Thomas | Arthur || Capt. Arthur

Sources:
1. Arthur’s memorial at FindaGrave.com, no. 19393785
2. J.P. Root, Genealogy of the Fenner Family (1887): Archive.org / PDF
3. Jim Fenner, Fenner–Broughton Family History (Apollo, PA: Closson Press, 1995), pp. 3, 13–14.
4. Martha Benns, Notes on the Fenner Family of R.I. (1941), p. 3
5. Eva Fenner, Notes, p. 93; letter from the RI Historical Society by Clarkson A. Collins III, 14 Jan. 1957.
6. Rick Buckingham, The Book of Begats (rev. 2021), Line 2:2–11. Rick shows Arthur’s death as 20 Oct. 1703 and his son Samuel’s birth before 1650.
7. Daniel M. White, Descendants of Thomas Fenner (unpublished); shows Samuel’s birth before 1650.
8. Lucinda T. Fenner, History of the Fenner Family (1908). Lucinda mentioned six children, in the following order: Freelove, Bethiah, Phoebe, Thomas, Arthur, and Joseph. The sixth, Joseph, cannot be his son. His birthdates and his wives’ birthdates establish him as Arthur’s grandson (son of Thomas): PDF
9. Richard M. Bayles, History of Providence County, Rhode Island (NY: W.W. Preston, 1891), pp. 146, 158–159, 162–163, 790–791: Archive.org
10. Samuel Greene Arnold, History of the State of Rhode Island & Providence Plantations, vol. 1 (1894): Archive.org
11. James N. Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 21 vols. (1891–1912): HathiTrust
12. Horatio Rogers, et al., Early Records of the Town of Providence, vol. 2 (Providence: Snow & Farnham, 1893): HathiTrust
13. Donald Lines Jacobus & Edgar Francis Waterman, The Waterman Family, vol. 3 (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Historical Society, 1954), pp. 6–7: Archive.org