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John Sweet & The Widow Sweet - Rhode Island & Masschussetts
When John and his wife, Mary first arrived in Salem, they bought land between where Norman and Gedney Streets are located today, which at the time was on the waterfront of the South River and called Sweet’s Cove, then later renamed Knocker’s Hollow after the Sweets moved on. A creek ran through the property and the street alongside was named Creek Street, though the creek was filled in about 1829.
The adherents of Roger Williams believed the land should be bought from the native Indians, rather than taken from them simply by grant of the King. In 1635, Hugh Peters arrived from England to succeed Roger Williams as pastor of the First Church.
John Sweet, who was recorded as “Isaac”, perhaps a church name, died about June 6, 1637. Records in Roger William’s handwriting in the original “Salem Waste Book” state that during a town meeting in December of 1637, John “Isaac” Sweet’s widow, who from later indications was likely named Mary, with four people in the family (which would be sons John and James, and daughter Meribah), were granted three acres of land.
In the letter of July 1, 1639, the Rev. Peters wrote he had placed “The Great Censure” on John Sweet’s widow and others, "that they wholly refused to hear the church, denying it and all churches in the Bay to be true churches."
Mary had remarried to Ezekiel Holliman, another follower of Roger Williams, at Providence, Rhode Island. Ezekiel was a Baptist preacher and one of those who had first baptized Roger Williams.
Second Generation - John and James Sweet
John Sweet, son of John “Isaac”, was found guilty by a Grand jury and fined five pounds on June 6, 1637 for killing a wolf dog belonging to Governor Endicott, while it was in the governor’s yard, and his fine was remitted to him September 6, 1638. Also in 1638 he was one of those given land by Roger Williams at Providence, Rhode Island. Here a record suggests he was born prior to 1610. Then, in August of 1648 he was summoned to court, to answer charges that he and his brother, James, gave a false military alarm in Providence, and that “James Sweet beat the drum while John Sweet shot off a gun” or two. This is recounted in the Bartlett RI Colony Records, but the outcome of the court case was not recorded. About this time, James married Elizabeth Jefferies. On June 18, 1649 and he was mentioned as a frequent visitor at the home of Roger Williams.
On January 23, 1649 John Sweet signed a statement that he had moved to Warwick. On May 5, 1651 he was selected as a Commissioner to represent Warwick in the General Assembly, and that same year his sister, Meribah, who her stepfather had renamed Renewed, was married to John Geready. On April 24, 1652 he was elected to the post of Sergeant at the town meeting and he held that office for one year until April 19, 1653.
On June 17, 1662, James and John Sweet and several others petitioned the court to allow them to purchase from the natives a tract of land of four thousand acres.
In 1675 John Sweet’s Grist Mill at Potowomet was burned during King Philip’s War and he moved with his family, first to Warwick and then to Newport to escape the Indians.
On March 7, 1676, the Council at Hartford, voted that he and a Samuel Eldred could haul ten bushels of Indian corn each to their distressed families. He died while still at Newport, Rhode Island in 1677, before he could return to his mill at Potowomet. His will was then probated on June 28, 1677 in Newport, RI, naming his wife, Elizabeth, and children: John, Daniel, James, Henry, Richard, Benjamin, William, Jeremiah and a daughter.
After John’s death, his wife, Elizabeth, who had married to a Samuel Wilson, stated in a deposition in 1684, when she was about 55 years of age, that "her first husband John Sweet, being a Warwick man, first built his dwelling house on Potowomut Neck and procured leave of the Narragansett so set down his mill and dam in Potowomut River. She and her husband kept possession peaceably of said house and land and mill for several years until forced off by the late Indian War, and after the war was over she and her children returned and kept possession of the same place."
James Sweet, the younger brother, prospered in Rhode Island as a physician and appears in a number of records and served in community posts as “Bonesetter” Sweet. He died in Kingstown, Rhode Island in 1695. He had deeded various parcels of land to his sons. He married Mary Greene, born 1633, daughter of John and Joan (Tattersall) Greene and his nine children born at North Kingstown were: Philip, James, Mary, Benoni, Valentine, Samuel, Jeremiah, Renewed, and Sylvester.
Sources: Records of The Colony of RI & Providence Plantations, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island