Bristol County History of Cities and Towns 

Barrington—This, one of the three towns of Bristol county, has Warren river as its east bound, Narragansett Bay on the south and west, and East Providence and Swansea on the north. Before the Pilgrim settlement at Plymouth, it was a part of the Indian territory occupied by the Wampanoags, Its Indian name was Sowams, and its shores, south and west, lay on Sowams (Narragansett) Bay, the name by which the upper part of the bay was known. Sowams was the home town of Ousamequin. or Massasoit, the chief sachem of the tribes between Massachusetts and Narragansett bays. By the Pilgrim Patent, the royal grant extended to the west bound of Pokanoket, on Narragansett Bay, and included Sowams. In 1638, Sowams was chosen as the place of settlement of the Clarke-Coddington party, exiled from Boston in 1638. Roger Williams accompanied Dr. John Clarke and William Coddington to Plymouth to secure Sowams, but were told that "Sowams was the Garden of their Patent," and was held as a special reservation for the benefit of the first Plymouth settlers. In lieu of it Aquidneck was chosen.

In 1653, the Sowams Proprietary was organized; the territory was purchased of Massassoit for £35, the lands surveyed and divided among the survivors of the "first comers" at Plymouth, among whom were Governor William Bradford, Capt. Myles Standish, Governor Thomas Prence, John Brown, Thomas Willett and others.

In 1667, the whole territory between the Taunton river on the east and Narragansett Bay on the west, south of Seekonk (1643) and excluding the Indian Reservation, known as Consumpsit Neck (now Bristol), was incorporated under the name of Swansea, in Plymouth Colony. Here, on what is now Harrington territory, Rev. John Myles and others founded the first Baptist church within the bounds of the State of Massachusetts.

Fifty years later (1717), Barrington was set off from Swansea as a separate township, and included all of original Sowams, having ancient Rchoboth (1643) on the north. Thirty years later, by the establishment of the new boundary line between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the five towns—Barrington, Warren, Bristol, Tiverton and Uttle Compton—were set into Rhode Island. The new line triangulated Barrington of 1717, and gave to Rehoboth, on the north, a large slice of its original territory, Wannamoisett In 1747, the territory now Warren, was added to Barrington, and the name of Admiral Warren was given to the newly constructed town. The union of the two territories, divided by the old Sowams (Warren) river, was dissolved, June 16, 1770, since which time it has held a prominent place in the family of Rhode Island towns and has done its full share in developing local and state interests, as will appear elsewhere.

Indian Local Names: Pokanoket, Sowams, Popanomscutt, Peebee's Neck. Nayatt, Chachapacassett, Chachacust, Annawomscutt, Mosskituash, Mouscochuck, Wannamoisett, Scamscammuck.

Barrington takes its name from Barrington, Somerset county, England, from which came many of the families that founded the town. In addition to valuable colonial town records, the original Book of Records of the Sowams Proprietors, from 1653 to 1797, may be consulted at the town clerk's office, Barrington.

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Bristol—Bristol lies between Mount Hope Bay on the east and Narragansett Bay on the south and west. It bore the Indian name Consumpsit, and that, with Chachacust (New Meadow)Neck, were reserved by Massasoit and Philip as the home camping grounds of tbe western section of the Pokanokets—the tribe of the Wampanoags to which the two chief sachems belonged. While Massasoit, for diplomatic and other reasons, dwelt on Chachacust or New Meadow Neck (now Hampden Meadows). Philip, for equally good reasons, made his home camp at Mount Hope, an elevation 200 feet high, on a southeast spur of Consumpsit Neck, projecting into Mount Hope Bay. In the great Colonial tragedy of Philip's War, Philip was slain at Mount Hope in 1676, the remnant of the tribe was made slaves, and the Mount Hope lands of Consumpsit Neck were sold to John Walley, Nathaniel Byfield, Stephen Burton and Nathaniel Oliver, for £1,100, on September 14, 1680. On September 1, 1681, the founders met and chose the name of the old town, Bristol, England, as the name of the new town of Plymouth Colony. In 1747, Bristol, with five other towns, was transferred from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts to Rhode Island. A small portion of Bristol territory was set off to Warren, May 30, 1873.

Indian Local Names: Consumpsit, Poppasquash.

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Warren—Warren was originally a tract of Swansea, in Plymouth Colony, a town which was incorporated in 1667. It was also part of Consumpsit Neck, but on the incorporation of Swansea, a rail fence was built across the neck, from the Sowams to the Kickemuit river, about twenty rods north of Kickamuit Spring. Another fence was built across the Neck, about two miles north of the Spring and this territory was known as Brook's Pasture, where the settlers of Swansea made a common pasturage for their cattle, horses, sheep and swine. The pasture was named for Timothy Brooks who, it is said, built the first house in this section. It appears that Swansea bought the land on which Warren is located of Totomoramuck, in 1673.

After Philip's War, the Mount Hope lands were sold and settlers came to occupy the unoccupied lands of Consumpsit Neck and along the banks of the Kickemuit. Swansea people also moved southward. Barrington—ancient Sowams—had become well settled, and, in 1717, "the westward end of Swansea" was incorporated by Massachusetts Colony, the people choosing an old English home-town name, Barrington, and holding it until 1747. The new boundary line of 1747 between Massachusetts and Rhode Island Colonies set nearly the whole of Barrington into Rhode Island, except the section known as Wannamoisett, bought and settled by Hon. John Browne, in 1643. The south part of Swansea and the whole of Bristol were added also to Rhode Island. The piece of Swansea cut from the territory of Swansea was added to Barrington, which had enjoyed a separate town life for thirty years. At this time, Admiral Peter Warren had won great renown as a naval commander in the reduction of the French fort at Louisburg and the capture of a French fleet off Cape Finisterre, and the name of the hero of these great exploits was substituted for modest Barrington. In 1770, the Barrington people besought the General Assembly for a separation from the Swansea contingent and the territory called Barrington in 1747, resumed its chosen name.

The industry of ship-building, begun in Barrinton, at an early day was later transferred to Warren and Barneysville, on account of deeper water for launching.

Rev. James Manning established a secondary school in Warren in 1764, which developed into Rhode Island College, the first graduations being at Warren, in 1769. A part of Bristol was annexed to Warren in 1873, including Kickemuit Spring.

Rivers; Kickemuit; the ancient Sowams separates Warren from Barrington. Col. William Barton, the captor of Gen. Prescott was born in Warren. Hezekiah Burterworth, the poet, was a native of Kickemuit, or East Warren.

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