William Greene

Background

Greene was born on August 16, 1731, in Warwick, Rhode Island, one of the six children of Gov. William and Catharine (Greene) Greene.

Career

Greene was elected deputy from Warwick to the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1773, 1774, 1776, and 1777. In May 1776 when Rhode Island proclaimed its independence of Great Britain, he was one of the signers of the declaration. On July 18, 1776, the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress having meanwhile been proclaimed, Greene was appointed one of a committee to visit certain persons suspected of treason and demand papers relating to disputes between the Independent States of America and Great Britain. The same year he was made first associate justice of the superior court of Rhode Island and in February 1777 became chief justice. On December 10, 1776, and again in 1777 he was appointed a member of the Council of War. In May 1777 he was made speaker of the Rhode Island House of Deputies. In December of that year, in response to the recommendation of Congress that the states name commissioners to meet at New Haven to regulate prices of commodities, William Greene and Jabez Bowen were named commissioners from Rhode Island. In May 1778 Greene was elected governor to succeed Nicholas Cooke, and served eight successive years. In October 1778, distress in Rhode Island from want of provisions was so extreme that by request of the Assembly, Governor Greene wrote to the General Assembly of Connecticut, asking that the embargo on exportation of provisions might be so far modified as to permit their entry into Rhode Island. In January 1779 he sent similar pleas to the delegates in Congress, to Connecticut, and to Governor Clinton of New York. In October of that year he protested against the Massachusetts embargo on foodstuffs. Greene showed liberality toward British sympathizers in Rhode Island, forbidding their molestation after the withdrawal of the enemy. In 1779 the manuscript records of the Town of Newport were seized by the British and afterwards lost. The Governor complained of the matter to General Washington, who lent his aid, and the records were recovered. In 1780, on the occasion of the battle of Springfield, New Jersey, Washington wrote to Greene highly commending the Rhode Island troops who had sustained the brunt of the attack. In July of that year the French fleet under Admiral De Ternay, bringing six thousand troops under the command of the Count De Rochambeau, arrived at Newport, whereupon the Governor convened the Assembly, and addresses of welcome to the French general and admiral were prepared, and arrangements were made for a public dinner to be given at a future day to all the French officers. In 1782, Rhode Island withstood the impost act passed by Congress, a course which in 1783 brought from Congress a new impost, which had, in the main, the approval of the delegates Arnold and Collins. In 1786 Greene was succeeded as governor by John Collins, leader of the paper-money party, and retired to Warwick. In 1796 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress, and in 1802 he was nominated for the governorship by the Federalists against Arthur Fenner, a Republican, but was again defeated. He died at Warwick in his seventy-ninth year.

Achievements

• Greene is chiefly remembered as the second governor of the state of Rhode Island, serving in this capacity for eight years, five of which were during the American Revolutionary War.

Connections

In 1758 Greene married his second cousin, Catharine Ray, daughter of Simon and Deborah (Greene) Ray of New Shoreham, Block Island.

Father:

William Greene Sr.

He was a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Mother:

Catharine Greene

Spouse:

Catharine Ray

Daughter:

Celia Greene

Daughter:

Phebe Greene

Son:

Samuel Greene

Son:

Ray Greene

References

• State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the End of the Century: A History; Volume 2
• The Greenes of Rhode Island: With historical records of English ancestry, 1534-1902
• History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.