John Albro

Who is John Albro?

John Albro was an early settler of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a magistrate, and a long-time military officer in the Portsmouth Militia in the colony. He immigrated to New England in 1634 as a minor under the care of early Portsmouth settler William Freeborn. He was very active in civil as well as military affairs, and was an Assistant to the Governor for nine one-year terms between 1671 and 1686. During King Philip's War when the colony needed the advice and counsel of "the most judicious inhabitants" in the colony, his was one of 16 in a 1676 list of names, which included Governor Benedict Arnold and former President Gregory Dexter.

When the colony's charter was suspended in 1686, and Rhode Island was placed under the Dominion of New England, Albro was chosen as a member of Sir Edmund Andros' council, and was present at its first meeting in Boston. Albro remained active in the affairs of the colony while well advanced in age, and even when nearly 80 years old, he was reimbursed for an official trip he made to Boston in 1697. He was a Quaker and died in 1712 at a very advanced age, and was buried "in his own orchard" according to the Friends' records.