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REHOBOTH and ATTLEBORO. 228 |
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grave is. His wife, Mary Brown, thought to be a daughter of one of the original purchasers, died about 1669, and is buried beside him. They had a large family and their descendants are numerous. The first settler in Rehoboth was William Blaxton (Blackstone), whom Governor Winthrop found living on the peninsula of Shawmut, the site of Boston, when he went there with his company in 1630. Blackstone was a man of considerable literary taste, with a retiring disposition, who did not like to mingle with his fellows; and the coming of what seemed to him a large number of people evidently disturbed him. As more kept following, he determined to move, and in 1635 he sold his land for J30 and settled in a part of Rehoboth known as Attleboro Gore, now Cumberland, R. I. It was, as now, a beautiful country, and he found himself favorably situated to indulge his love of nature and of books. His retreat, called "Study Hill," was on the bank of the charming river which to-day bears his name, a mile and a half above Valley Falls. There is a question as to the exact location, some claiming it was on the knoll which rises abruptly from the river, and others that it was in the meadow on the east side of the hill, the latter probably being the correct site. In this secluded and fertile spot, with the graceful river lending its beauty, he lived in undisturbed solitude, pursuing his own method of life. He had but few intimates, one being Roger Williams, whom he used to visit at Providence. His death occurred in 1665 at the age of eighty, and he was buried a few rods east of Study Hill. His wife, to whom he was married in 1659, died in 1673 She had children by a former marriage, but only one by this marriage, a son John. He inherited his father’s property, but was a man of weak character,
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