John Cranston was a Scottish-born physician and statesman. He was the 9th governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations from 1678 to 1680.
Background
John Cranston was born in 1625 in Scotland. He was descended from an ancient Scotch family holding lands in Mid-Lothian. He was the eldest son of Reverend James Cranston, M. A. , a chaplain of King Charles I, at one time attached to the church of St. Mary Overie, now known as St. Saviour’s, in London. At an early age his father placed him in the care of Jeremiah (or Jeremy) Clarke, a London merchant and nephew of Richard Weston, lord high treasurer to King Charles
About 1637, Clarke emigrated to the island of Aquidneck (Rhode Island), bringing with him his wife and her four children by a former husband, and his ward, John Cranston. Descended as he was from a long line of Scottish border fighters, and born and brought up in the atmosphere of the English Church and the Stuart court, John Cranston took his place among the Cavalier families who had been driven out of Boston with Anne Hutchinson and were laying the foundations of Portsmouth and Newport.
Career
On March 13, 1644, when Cranston was eighteen or nineteen years old, he was chosen drumpier of the Portsmouth militia and, within a few years, captain of the train band. At a meeting of the General Assembly on May 16, 1654, he was elected “Generali Atturnie, ” and was reelected to this office in 1655 and in 1656. He was commissioner from Newport in the General Assembly every year except three from 1655 to 1666.
During these years Cranston was employing his time profitably in gaining a knowledge of medicine and surgery. On March 1, 1664, the General Assembly of the colony unanimously voted that he should be licensed "to administer physic, and practice chirurgery [surgery] throughout this whole colony, and is by the court styled and recorded Doctor of Physic and Chirurgery. ” This was probably the first time that a degree equivalent to that of Doctor of Medicine was granted in the American colonies.
Cranston was Assistant in 1669, 1670, and 1671, and member of many sub-committees chosen to negotiate with other colonies and to deal with other important matters. In 1672 he was elected deputy-governor, and was thrice reelected. At the time of King Philip’s War, in 1676, he was commissioned major. Two years later, in October 1678, Governor William Coddington died, and John Cranston, who was then deputy-governor, was chosen to fill his place. He was reelected governor the following year, but did not complete his term of office. He presided at a meeting of the Assembly on March 10, 1680. The following day the Assembly met and adjourned on account of the sudden illness of the Governor, and on the 12th he died.
Achievements
Connections
On June 3, 1658, Cranston married Mary Clarke, the eldest daughter of his former guardian. His son, Samuel Cranston, became the longest-serving governor in the history of both the colony and the state of Rhode Island.