George Lawton
George Lawton came out of Yorkshire, reached New England in 1634 and was admitted an inhabitant of Aquidneck in 1638. On 30 April 1639 he was one of twenty nine men who signed the paper that founded Portsmouth: “We whose names are underwritten do acknowledge ourselves the legal subjects of his Majesty King Charles, and in his name do hereby bind ourselves into a civil body politicke, unto his laws according to matters of justice.”
In the spring of 1676, with King Philip’s War burning through the mainland and the island full of refugees, the Assembly asked for his company and counsel by name, and sent him with John Easton to Providence to decide whether garrisons should be kept there at the colony’s charge. In 1680 he and two others were empowered to buy a bell from Freelove Arnold for three pounds ten, to call the Assembly and the courts together.
He died on 5 October 1693 and was buried in his own orchard at Portsmouth.
