Richard Smith

Who was Richard Smith?

Richard Smith was the first European settler in the Narragansett country in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He established a trading post on the western side of the Narragansett Bay at a place called Cocumscussoc, later to become the village of Wickford in modern-day North Kingstown, Rhode Island.

The Narragansett lands, where Smith had his establishment, were highly contested by several colonies, and Smith wanted his properties to fall under the jurisdiction of the Connecticut Colony. Conflicting claims to the area resulted in it being put directly under the governance of the English crown, and being called King's Province for a while, but this still didn't end the disputes. It wasn't until 1726 when, by royal decree, the Narragansett lands were put under the governance of the Rhode Island colony.

Despite Smith's desire to unite with Connecticut, Roger Williams, Smith's closest neighbor for several years, remembered him very fondly in a deposition he made many years after Smith's death, indicating that Smith had lived a good, earnest, and peaceful life.