United Baptist Church (Newport, Rhode Island)

In 1638 John Clarke, a minister, from Great Britain, started leading worship in nearby Portsmouth, Rhode Island (Newport County) after he and his congregation were exiled from Massachusetts after disagreements with the Puritan leadership.

In addition to Clarke, Obadiah Holmes and John Crandall were active in the leadership of the church in the seventeenth century.

In 1656, while Clarke was in England — advocating for the Colony's royal charter and religious liberty — a group of congregants broke off from the church to found the Second Baptist Church in Newport, which followed Six Principle Baptist (Arminian) principles in contrast to Clarke's more Calvinist theology.

In December 1671,[1] two members of the church — Samuel and Tacy Hubbard[2] — withdrew and joined with Stephen Mumford, a Seventh Day Baptist (SDB) from England, and others.

In 1737 Hezekiah Carpenter and Josiah Lyons donated the current land on Spring Street for a meeting house which was constructed that year.