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Roger Burlingham was also known as Roger Burlingame, which is an American corruption of the original English name Burlingham. After he came to Rhode Island, his name appears in both forms. Over time, most family members adopted the name Burlingame.
Roger was born 24 Jan 1620 (Doherty and Jacox both say 1638) in Darwich, Kent, England and married Jacolyn Huntingdon about 1646 in England. After Jacolyn's death, Roger married Mary Lippitt, daughter of John Lippitt and Martha (??) on 3 Oct 1663 in Warick, RI. Roger died on 1 Sep 1718 in Mashantatack, Providence, RI at age 98. His estate was valued at 199 pounds, 13 shillings, 8 pence, and included a mare, three cows, three yearlings, a calf, two sheep, two swine, an old sword, clothing, scales, cash, etc.
He enlisted in the British Army at age 16, serving in his uncle Roger Burlingham's regiment, and eventually became a Captain. His company was sent to America, landing at Boston, MA on 10 May 1650. Soon thereafter he resigned his commission. He went to Connecticut, intending to buy a farm and send for his wife and son in England, not knowing that his wife had died.
On 16 Feb 1656, he and Thomas Griffian bought 100 acres of land on the east side of "the brooke called misticke" in Pequot (now New London), RI from Peter Blatchford for 40 pounds. Roger sold this property on 1 Mar 1659 to William Thompson. On 14 Mar 1659 Thompson filed a complaint against (Thomas Burlingham", charging him with gathering crops on this farm. There is no other record of Thomas Burlingham at this date and may have been Thomas Griffian, named Burlingham by mistake. On 7 Mar 1663, Tollarton Harris testified in court that on 12 Jul 1662 he saw Samuel Gorton, George Goff, Roger Burlingame, and Ebenezer Moone mowing the grass on the property of W. Field and W. Harris, near a place called Toskeonke on the north side of the Pawtuxet River. Similar testimony was given by Andrew Harris. Roger Burlingame, along with Thomas Ralph and John Harrud, claimed that they had been granted the property, totaling 4000 acres, by the Cooweeseette Indians on 6 Jun 1662. Field and Harris claimed that they had been granted the property by the King. The court found in favor of Field and Harris and ordered Burlingame and the others to leave the land, and pay 10 shillings damages. They did not leave, however. The Town Sergeant put off enforcing the verdict, knowing that the community favored Burlingame and the others. On 1 May 1670, T. Harris testified that on 21 Apr 1670 he and the General Sergeant went to John Harrud's home to execute the verdict, and were turned away at gunpoint. Harrud was supported by about 15 men, including John Weeks Sr. and Jr., Edmund Calvery, Roger Burlingame and Benjamin Barton. Eventually, Burlingame, Harrud, and Ralph won out, partly due to Harris' death.
Roger bought lands from the Cooweeseette Indians on 23 Jun 1662 and 13 may 1663. The site of his home is "about one and one-half miles northwesterly from Oak Lawn Depot, Cranston, Rhode Island." He built a 2 1/2 story "Mansion House" about 1666, which was about 35x60 feet. On 25 Sep 1671, Thomas Ralph, Roger Burlingame, and John Harrud were authorized by the General Assembly to set the tax rate and levy assessments for the town of Mashantatack. In Oct 1671, they were ordered to levy a tax of 40 shillings on the townspeople, as their share of the 200 pounds levied on the Rhode Island Colony.
On 6 Oct 1682, Roger Burlingham "of Mashantatack" bought land in Warwick from Abel Potter, and then Roger Burlingham "of Warwick" sold the land to his son John the same day. On 6 Sep 1684 he deeded his homestead in Mashantatack, RI totaling about 83 acres to his son Peter, reserving a lifetime lease. (Jacox and McPherson both put this date at 6 Sep 1704, and the land at 50 acres). On 15 Mar 1708 he deeded an additional 15 acres of land to Peter, to the west of his homestead in Mashantatack, including some iron ore beds. He was elected to the General Assembly from Warick, RI on 6 May 1690, but was not accepted by the Assembly because of the question of his legal residence, and hence the legality of the election. The questions arose from his purchase and sale of land in Warwick on 6 Oct 1682, described above, in which he claimed residency in Mashantatack in one deed and in Warwick in the other. The Assembly declared he was from Mashantatack, not Warwick.
On 24 Apr 1697, in Providence, Providence, RI he was one of 21 men who were ordered by a Council of War to take ten men each, to search for the Indian enemies, and if possible to expel or kill them. If they were too strong however, he was to warn the inhabitants. (The date of this order calls into question the birthdate given by Nelson Burlingame, and makes the 1638 date given by other sources more credible. A birthdate of 1638, however, would mean that he couldn't have joined the British Army in 1636, married Jacolyn Huntingdon in 1646, and had a son in 1648, or come to the US as a Captain in the British Army in 1650.)
He was elected constable in Providence on 7 Jun 1697. He was elected to the town council of Providence on 6 Jul 1698. He and his family were Quakers, and up until about 1711, they held their meetings at his Mansion House in Mashantatack, Providence, RI.
His will was dated 28 Nov 1715 in Providence, Providence, RI. The witnesses were John Burton, Mary Burton, and Peter Robards. It was proved 13 Sep 1718, and his son Roger and sons-in-law Thomas Arnold and Amos Stafford were named as overseers. His wife Mary was named as executrix, but since she had died, his son John took over. He left his movable estate to his wife Mary. At her death, this was to be evenly divided between his daughters, and his granddaughters Freelove Burlingame (of his son, Roger), Frances Gorton, and Deborah Hazzard. He left 50 acres of land to his son Roger and his grandson John Burlingame, and the rest of his land to his son Thomas. He also left about 20 shillings each to his sons, John, Thomas, and Roger.
(A history of the Burlingame family was compiled by Nelson Burlingame, this information is derived from that work.)
Roger Burlingame is called to join a Providence Militia to Resist Indian Raids During the King William's War
Source: State of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations at the End of the Century (1906)
"And so their uneventful life went on until the days of the King William's War, when ugly rumors reached their ears, for the Council of War had been hurriedly called together in Providence town and on April 24, 1697 had commissioned several of the townsmen to lead scouting parties to 'search after the enemies', because the records of the Council stated, 'there hath Ben a late inCurtion & invation made upon some of our English plantations: by the cruel and barbarous Indian Enemies whose tender mercies are Cruel.' They had seen Indian barbarities and experienced one Indian attack, and in order to protect the settlements as much as possible, the Council of War commissioned Richard Arnold, John Angell, Edward Smith, Samuel Whipple, Thomas Olney, Jr., Thos.Fenner, Joseph Stafford, James Brown, James Angell, Thomas Hopkins, Benjamin Carpenter, Joseph Williams, Nathl. Waterman, Sr., Nathl. Waterman, Jr., John smith, John Brown, Samuel Comstock, Eleazer Whipple, Thomas Olney, Samuel Wilkinson and Roger Burlingame to take command of ten men each and 'rainge beyond the outmost of our plantations'. The Northern portion of the Colony had by this arrangement a chain of guards or scouting parties completely encircling the settled portion of the plantations, for an examination will show that these men were located at various points all through the outlying districts. They were directed in plain language what their duty was, and there was no opportunity for misinterpretation of instructions.
The memories of the fight at Nipsatschuck, the Providence attack and all of the horrible details of the former war were again brought vividly before them. There was to be no temporizing nor any intermediate course but, in the quaint language of the directions given to them, they were to 'to search after the Enemies and Upon Discovery of anie of them you are according to the best of your skill to indevour to Resist Explulse Kill and Destroy them according to the best of your Indevour but in Cace you judge them to be two strong for you, you are to alarem as manie of your inhabitants as in your wisdom yu can or may".
[Fortunately, as further noted in this source book, no combat took place as the war soon ended and the militia men were back working their farms.]
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Roger Burlingame's mansion house:
The following is from a an email communication written by the late Gayla Vidal and posted on a website:
"I have a copy of a document "Burlingame Lineage Records" written by Henry Allen Burlingame of Pawtucket, R.I. in 1926.
In this document he describes the Burlingame "Mansion house" this way: "Roger's homestead site is about 1 1/2 miles northwesterly from Oak Lawn Depot, Cranston, R.I. After passing the Old Friends Meeting House (built in 1729) go up the hill to the second four corners, there turn to the right and go down to a point nearly opposite the Wilbur A. Searle place (so called) where the bridge crosses the Mashantatack brook to go up to said Searl Place westerly from the Old Furnace Road (so called) and here on the easterly side of said road is the tumbled in cellar, the old chimney mound of brick, stone and mortar with ivy twined about and the nearly filled up well that marks the Mansion House Homestead Site of our first known American Ancestor, Roger Burlingham, hame, game, which I located Friday November 25th, 1921.
Roger Burlingame's homesite was located about one and one-half miles northwest from the Oak Lawn Depot in Cranston, Rhode Island. This is the site of the mansion house homestead of Roger Burlingame. This house was built about 1666. It was about 35 by 60 feet and was two and one-half stories, with a common plain roof on each side and an ell at the northeast corner with the main house facing south. Also a gambrel roofed house was south, not far from it and fronted on the west, towards the Furnace Road. The old well supplied both homesteads. This tract included the "iron ore beds which are well known". On September 6, 1704 (Nelson Burlingame says 1684), Roger deeded to his son, Peter, a house and 50 acres subject to the use and profits for Roger and his wife for life."
An image of the text from the original source of this can be found here.
A more fullreading of the original source (Burlingame Lineage Records) shows that in a published History of Rhode Island, the ruin of the Roger Burlingame mansion house were photographed and erroneously thought to be the Gorton Tavern. Henry Burlingame corrects the error as follows.
Burlingame mansion ruins confused for a tavern:
"The "Othniel Gorton Tavern" - an Error I have recently discovered an error in Field's History of Rhode Island, volume III, page 586, where appears a picture of an old chimney remains, which is described as of the Old Othniel Gorton Tavern, erected between 1710 and 1720.The facts are as follows: Roger Burlingame purchased land of the Coweset Indians, June 23, 1662, and May 13 or 14, 1663, the land then being described as in the Mashantatack Purchase, now Cranston, R. I. (Providence Town Papers No. 0120, Book I, page 53.) As he and two others were chosen to levy a tax there.in October, 1671, it seems likely that he located there about 1670. On September 6. 1704, he deeded his homestead to his son Peter, reserved a life lease, and described it, together with another tract of land, thus: "Three parcels of land with the Mansion House on one of them and one parcel lying westerly from the Mansion House, parcel only divided with a highway both parcels containing 33 acres more or less. The other of the said three parcels contains 17 acres and is situate at or near a place called The Mines." (Providence Records, Book I, page 266.) The above shows that the Cranston Coal Mine was then of repute, as I have traced the 17 acre tract as near there.
Roger deeded again to his son Peter on March 15, 1708/9, fifteen acres adjoining to a small piece of land on the westerly side of the highway that lyeth to the westward of my now Dwelling House (Providence Records, Book II, page 187). This tract included the Iron Ore Bed which is well known. Roger, in his deed of 1704 to his son Peter, aforesaid, bounded the land northerly against land of Robert Potter. Rachael Potter through heirship right sold to Othniel Gorton, July 4, 1715, the land that joined Roger's homestead on the north, as noted in a deed from Roger to his son Roger, September 5, 1715, bounding north against land of Othniel Gorton, who never owned any of the Burlingame estate (Providence Records, Book II, page 425, and Book IV, page 111).
Roger's son Peter died in 1712, and his property rights went to his oldest brother,, John, who made division with his brothers, Thomas and Roger, Jr., John retaining the Mansion House Homestead part. Roger Senior died September 1, 1718, and his wife Alary a short time previous. John sold the Homestead to Samuel Gorton, March 18, 1719 (Providence Records, Book IV, page 44). Samuel Gorton died and the Town Council sold the same to Elisha Baker, February 21. 1725 (Providence Records, Book VI, p. 470). Elisha Baker sold to Israel Gorton, May 13, 1752 (Providence Records, Book XIII, page 208). He willed all his real estate to his son. Captain Israel Gorton, July 4, 1772 (Council Records, Cranston, R. I., Book II, p. 161). He willed all his real estate to his sons, Pardon, Thomas and Cyrus, January 12, 1805 (Book I, page 246). They called for division, which was made April 10, 1807 (Book VII, page 315). Pardon had the southerly portion with a wood lot northerly and a half acre of meadow land on the easterly side of the Furnace Road (so called) a little northward of the Mansion House. The division line began on the "easterly side of the road about a rod west of the well, thence across the center of the well," which is now nearly filled. The nearby tumbled in cellar, the chimney mound and meadow land still mark the Mansion House Homestead Site of Roger Burlingame, 1st. Thomas Gorton had the northerly part and bounded against the easterly side of the Furnace Road, southerly and around the half acre tract to the point west of the well, and included the Mansion House. Cyrus, among other tracts, had one of "about an acre on the westerly side of the road nearly opposite the Old Mansion House," which is the same small piece "only divided by a road" mentioned in Roger's deed of 1704 to his son Peter, and again in his deed of 1708/9 to his son Peter.
Thomas Gorton's heirs sold the Mansion House property, April 1, 1822, and September 17, 1825, to David Nicholas (Cranston Records, Book X, page 302, and page 736). David Nicholas died and his son Amasa Nicholas sold to Harding Hudson, September 20, 1825 (Book X, page 737). Harding Hudson sold same to Amasa Nicholas, December 1, 1825 (Book X, page 667). Amasa Nicholas sold to Thomas Brayton, December 1, 1825 (Book X, page 668).
I find the Mansion House referred to several times in the old deed as a dwelling, but never as a tavern. Mrs. Esther (Searle) Williams and her sister, Miss Martha Searle, both over 80 years old, and born nearly opposite and a short distance west of Roger's Homestead Site, told me that in early life they called upon people who lived there, and never heard of it being used for any purpose but a dwelling. They also have told me that their brother, Wilbur A. Searle, and Henry Arnold took the old house down about the year 1855.
The May Day Souvenir of the Oak Lawn Baptist Church, May 2, 1882, states that for several years up to 1711 the Friends' Meetings were held at Roger Burlingame's house.
Under the reign of William III, King of England, the Council of War ordered Roger Burlingame, St., and 20 others to take 10 men each and search for the Indian enemies, April 24, 1697 (Volume XVII, page 164, copied Town Papers, June 6, 1698). He was elected a member of Providence Town Council (Providence Town Meeting Records, Book I, pages 28, 29). The aforesaid Roger Burlingame Homestead Site is situated about one and a half miles northwesterly from the Oak Lawn Depot, Cranston, R. I., on the easterly side of the Old Furnace Road (so called), nearly opposite the Wilbur A. Searle Place (so called).
The foregoing is but a small part of the record proof that I can furnish.
Henry Allen BURLINGAME, Pawtucket, R. I."
(A note about Henry Allen Burlingame: He is an interesting historical figure for the state of Rhode Island. Though he died in 1926, he was the son of a soldier who fought in the American Revolutionary War. This is information about his father's service (he was the son of Eseck Burlingame) is from Henry's 1921 application to join the Sons of the American Revolution:
“Eseck Burlingame, although never regularly enlisted, served in the Revolutionary War as a Minute Man, substituting, by subterfuge, for his brother Nathan Burlingame, who had regularly enlisted. In 1781, Nathan, being subject to call, and being sick consequently being unable to respond to the call, Eseck, at the time 16 years of age, took his brother’s credentials, answered the call, and always answering to the name of Nathan Burlingame, served during Nathan’s absence, in 1781. Henry Allen Burlingame, son of Eseck, was about nine years of age when his father died. Eseck Burlingame frequently conversed with the members of his family in regard to his service in the War of the Revolution. Henry Allen Burlingame’s sister, Lydia B. White, now deceased, has often told him of the facts stated above, as related to her and to other older members of the family, by her father.” More information about Henry can be found in this document about the last surviving Sons of the American Revolution who lived in Rhodes Island.
Henry Burlingame was the very last true son of the American Revolution in Rhodes Island and the second surviving true son in the United States. His father, Eseck, and his uncle, Nathan, were the sons of David Burlingame (and Mary Brown). David's father was John Burlingame (Mary Knowles Lippitt). John's father was Roger Burlingame, the first Burlingame immigrant to America.
OBITUARY: New York Times, Oct 21, 1926; Pg. 25.
"Special to the New York Times."
PAWTUCKET, R.I., Oct. 20. - With the fighting spirit inherited from his Minute Man father, Henry A. Burlingame, in his eighty-first year, faced a major operation last Saturday, convinced he would come through it successfully, but Rhode Island's last real son of the American Revolution succumbed today at the Memorial Hospital.
Nathan Burlingame, his uncle, was a Minute Man in Colonel Chad Brown's regiment and Captain Stephen Olney's company, but had to quit campaigning because of sickness. Esek, his brother and Henry's father, equipped himself with his brother's musket, powder horn and credentials and, although only about 13 years old, managed to join another regiment.
Henry Burlingame was one of twenty-one children. He was born on April 3, 1846, when his father was 82 years old.
More from Henry Burlingame:
Roger's homestead site is about 1 1/2 miles northwesterly from Oak Lawn Depot, Cranston, Rhode Island After passing the Old Friends Meeting House (built in 1729) go up the hill to the second four corners, there turn to the right and go down to a point nearly opposite the Wilbur A. Searle place (so called) where the bridge crosses the brook to go up to said Searle Place westerly from the Old Furnace Road (so called) and here on the easterly side of said road is the tumbled in cellar, the old chimney mound of brick, stone and mortar with ivy twined about and the nearly filled up well that marks the Mansion House Homestead Site of our first known American Ancestor, Roger Burlingame. 25th November, 1921
Clues to finding the Burlingame homestead site:
In modern-day Cranston, the Quaker Meeting house site is now a church that houses the Oak lawn Community Baptist Church at the intersection of Wilbur Avenue and Locust Glen Road. The Searle House amazingly still stands and is located at 109 Wilbur Avenue.There is no "Old Furnace Road" - but there is a Furnace Hill Road which crosses over Furnace Hill Brook. A reasonable guess would be that Roger Burlingame's homestead - marked by those bricks and stones would be found near near there.
Google maps link: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Furnace+Hill+Rd/@41.755433,-71.4865961,18z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x89e44937de4098c3:0x10d20f4dfbdf984
"On June 17, 1662, the General Assembly granted the petition of Thomas Ralph, William Burton, Roger Burlingame, John Harrod and "divers" other Warwick men to "purchase of the natives that are the true owners, a tract not exceeding fower thousand acres . . . always provided it bee such land as not already granted." This grant, known at the Meschanticut Purchase, opened the Oaklawn area for settlement.
The oldest house in Oaklawn was built by Edward Searle, son-in-law of Thomas Ralph. He acquired the land in 1671. During the conflict between the Indians and English known as King Philip's War, most of the buildings west of Narragansett Bay were destroyed; all but one in Cranston were burned to the ground. Searle rebuilt in 1677, and his one-and-a-half story gable-roofed "stone ender" still stands as part of the house at 109 Wilbur Avenue. This area was known as Searle's Corner at the time.
The first church in Cranston, built by Quakers who had been meeting in the homes of members since 1705, was erected in 1729 near Moshantatuck Brook on the present site of the Oaklawn Community Baptist Church. They also built a small schoolhouse nearby.
Source: http://www.cranstonri.com/generalpage.php?page=110
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Another home probably associated with the family, the Burlingame Noon House, survives and was built in 1800. It is listed in the RI list of historic places.
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