Randall Holden

Randall Holden (c. 1612—1692) was an early inhabitant of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, one of the original founders of Portsmouth, and one of the co-founders of the town of Warwick.

The first few years of the Warwick settlement were fraught with difficulty; Massachusetts Bay Colony claimed their land and arrested them for supposed infractions against the sachems.

Holden soon after joined Gorton and John Greene on a trip to England to seek redress for the wrongs committed against them.

During the next 40 years, he served in a variety of roles as councilman and treasurer at the town level, and in the colony he was Assistant to the President (or Governor), Commissioner, and Deputy.

[1] Holden became a follower of Samuel Gorton, and the group bought a large tract of land in January, 1643 from Narragansett chief Miantonomo for 144 fathoms of wampum.

[3] Later that year, he and others of Shawomet were summoned to appear in court in Boston to answer a complaint from two Indian sachems concerning some "unjust and injurious dealing" towards them.

The Shawomet men refused the summons, claiming that they were loyal subjects of the King of England and beyond the jurisdiction of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

[4] Holden continued to be active in civic affairs into his mid 70s, and in 1687 was appointed as Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.