Holbrook line: Christopher Smith, Immigrant

Christopher Smith's biography has recently changed.  I guess I'm glad I haven't written about him yet, because now I don't have to go back and do an update.  There are some important facts missing about him, but still, we have more information about him now than we have about many of our immigrant ancestors. 

Christopher Smith was born about 1591 in goodness knows where.  Much information says he was born on March 18, 1593 in Lancashire, England, but I'm not sure this is the correct Christopher Smith.  He was married on May 1, 1616 in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire.  The distance between these two localities is 140 miles, which makes it somewhat unlikely that the Christopher Smith of Lancashire is the Christopher Smith of Warwickshire.  More research is needed to prove or disprove this theory.  What is known is that his wife was Alice Gibbs or Gibes and that she became our Christopher's widow a little over 60 years later. 

The Smiths had 9 proven children, starting in 1617 and ending in 1633, all baptized in the church their parents were married in.  Four of the Smith sons and one daughter went to Hartford, Connecticut, probably before their father came to America.  Our Smiths were in Providence, Rhode Island by 1649.  Hartford was Puritan and Providence was more tolerant, which was a good place for a Quaker like our Christopher to live.  It would be interesting to know when the religions of some of the children split from those of their parents, or when Christopher split from them.  More needs to be researched about his like in England.  Was he ever harassed or jailed for his Quaker beliefs?

We don't know what Christopher did for a living, but we do know that he was given land in Providence in 1649 and in 1650 was taxed there.  He became a freeman in 1655 and the same year served as a juryman.  In 1656 he was granted a share of meadow in lieu of land he'd previously had, and he received more land in 1665.  He and his wife Alice sold land in 1665 and in 1672.  It's hard to get  sense of what he did for a living but he did have shares in meadow land so must have owned at least enough farm animals for family subsidence. 

He took an oath of allegiance in 1667, which makes one wonder whether he had given up his Quaker beliefs, or whether he actually affirmed instead of taking an oath.  We know that he was a Quaker at the end of his life because when he died at Newport in 1676 he was noted in the Society of Friend records as being an "ancient Friend of Providence, RI."  He died in Newport because he had gone there to take refuge from the natives who burned so much of Providence during King Philip's War. 

I've not yet found his will, if there was one.  He was at least 83 years old and probably older when he died, so he'd lived a good long life.  He spent 27 years in Rhode Island, building a home and a future for his family.  For this alone, we owe him honor.  I hope to learn more about Christopher in the future, but for now this will at least mark him as "one of ours".

The line of descent is
Christopher Smith-Alice Gibbs
Edward Smith-Amphyllis Angell
Amphillis Smith-Zachariah Eddy
Elisha Eddy-Sarah Phettiplace
Enos Eddy-Sarah Brown
Enos Eddy-Deborah Paine
Joseph Brown Eddy-Susan Lamphire
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants