Williams, Roger. Founder of the state of Rhode Island, United States. Born in Wales in 1600. Being a Puritan, he fled from the country to escape persecution, and settled in New England, where he hoped to enjoy the religious freedom he was denied at home, but was received with disfavor by the earlier settlers and was obliged to separate himself and establish a colony of his own. This he did at Providence by favor of an Indian tribe he had made friends of, and under a charter from the Long Parliament of England, obtained through Sir Henry Vane. Here he extended to others the toleration he desired for himself. He was characterized by Milton, who knew him, as "that noble champion of religious liberty." Died 1683.

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