The Diary of Capt. Samuel Tillinghast of Warwick, Rhode Island, 1757-1766

An invaluable resource for eighteenth-century Warwick research, this book makes available for the first time a transcription of all three portions of Samuel Tillinghast’s diary. A retired sea captain, Tillinghast noted the deaths of hundreds of people during the ten years of his diary, carefully recording the circumstances: Mary Clapp who died with her garters around her neck, the ferryman Nathaniel Hill who drowned off Long Point, old Granny Olney who fell off a lime cart and was run over, the Indian John Absalom who was hanged at Providence for murder, and many more. As many as possible of the people mentioned in the diary are identified in footnotes with substantial genealogical information. Extended introduction, general and name indexes, illustrated with photographs and maps.