indicate his prominence and ability as a citizen of the town and of the colony.
His liberal sentiments on religious affairs were positive, and as a colonial magistrate, he expressed his scruples as to the propriety of coercing the people to support the minister, and offered to pay all delinquencies from his own estates.
In 1643 the colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Haven united in a confederacy, styled the United Colonies of New Eng land, for their common defence and welfare. Each colony sent two com missioners to the meetings of this body. Mr. John Brown represented Plymouth colony for twelve years, and was associated in these deliberations with such men as John Winthrop, Gov. Haynes, Mr. Eaton, Mr Bradstreet, and Gov. Winslow. In this body he exercised a large influence, and served the colony wisely and faithfully.
Mr. Brown died at Wannamoiselt, April 10th, 1662. An obituary notice is given of him by Morton, in his New England Memorial, pp. 295, 296, 297:
His burial place is probably in what is now known as the "Viall Burial Ground," on the Little Neck, in Wannamoisett, at the head of Bullock's Cove. My reasons for this belief are these: The locality is within the limits of Wannamoisett, which he purchased of the Indians, and also within the bounds of Ancient Swansea, which included a large portion of that purchase. It was upon his own estate, where family burial grounds were often located.
His widow, Dorothy Brown, was buried there; she died at Swansea, January 27, 1674, aged ninety years.
His daughter Mary and her husband, Capt. Thomas Willett, with other descendants, were buried in this ground, and the locality was formerly known as the "Brown Burial Ground."
Mr. Brown left three children—Mary, who married Capt. Thomas Willett, John, Jr., who settled with his father in Rehoboth, and James Brown, who was one of the most influential men in the founding of Swansea, as well as one of the leading members of Mr. Myles's church.
Thomas Williams Bicknell. Son of Allin and Harriet Byron (Kinnicutt) Bicknell; b. Sept. 6, 1834; named for Rev. Thomas Williams; Barrington schools till 1850; grad. Thetford Academy, Thetford, Vt., July, 1853; Amherst College, Freshman year 1853-4; grad. B. U. 1860, degree A. M.
Teacher. Seekonk, 1852-3; Rehoboth, 1853, 1855, and 1856-7; principal public schools Elgin, Ill., 1855-6; principal Bristol High School, 1860-Feb., 1864, and May, 1867 to May, 1869; principal Arnold St. Grammar School, Prov. R. I., from February, 1864, to May, 1867; Commissioner of Public Schools for Rhode Island June, 1869, to Jan., 1875; editor and publisher, Boston, from Jan. 1875, to 1893.
Editor. R. I. Schoolmaster, 1865 to 1875; founder and editor of The Journal of Education, New England and National; of the Primary
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