Atherton Trading Company

Atherton Trading Company

Company type	Consortium of merchants and investors
Industry	Land speculation, trading
Founded	1659
Founder	Humphrey Atherton, John Winthrop
Fate	Disputed ownership, renamed Proprietors of the Narragansett Country, holdings sold, claim invalidated in 1688
Headquarters	England / New England colonies (Connecticut, Massachusetts)
Area served	New England (Narragansett region, Rhode Island)
Key people	Humphrey Atherton, John Winthrop, Simon Bradstreet, Daniel Denison, Elisha Hutchinson, Richard Smith, John Tinker, Amos Richardson, William Hudson, Josiah Winslow, John Brown, Thomas Willet
Products	Land speculation and trading rights

The Atherton Trading Company, also referred to as the Atherton Syndicate, was established in 1659 under the leadership of Humphrey Atherton and John Winthrop, who was then serving as Governor of Connecticut. This consortium of merchants and investors comprised individuals such as Simon Bradstreet, Daniel Denison, Elisha Hutchinson, Richard Smith, along with Boston traders John Tinker, Amos Richardson, William Hudson, and subsequently Plymouth backers including Josiah Winslow, John Brown, and Thomas Willet. Their land speculation activities in the Narragansett region of Rhode Island were conducted at the detriment of the indigenous Native American populations.

Opponents from Rhode Island accused Humphrey Atherton of exploiting a younger sibling of the Narragansett sachem Pessicus (Maussup) by keeping him under the influence of alcohol to obtain land rights for the company at a reduced cost.

The company secured approximately on Boston Neck, situated north of Kingston and above Wickford. The New England Confederation Commissioners, who were antagonistic towards Rhode Island dissenters, collaborated with the Atherton Trading Company by levying fines on the Niantic, thereby enabling what became known as the Atherton Purchase. Ownership was transferred to the company following Native American default on a loan, which contravened Rhode Island’s legal authority.

In 1660, commissioners from the New England Confederation, including John Winthrop Jr., assigned Pessicus's land mortgage to the company in exchange for 735 fathoms of Wampum. Subsequently, the company foreclosed on this mortgage and took possession of Narragansett territory within Rhode Island. The Rhode Island authorities declared this transaction unlawful and prevented any resale for multiple years.

A proprietors' list dated October 13, 1660 featured prominent members such as Thomas Willett, who later became New York City’s inaugural mayor. Disputes over ownership were resolved in 1679 following Humphrey Atherton’s demise. His son, Jonathan Atherton, sought continued backing from Connecticut in 1674 to uphold company claims amid ongoing regional land conflicts. Jonathan divested his shares in 1676 to John Saffin and Thomas Dean.

Renamed as "Proprietors of the Narragansett Country," the group eventually sold their holdings to Huguenot settlers who founded Frenchtown. Nonetheless, a 1688 ruling by a Royal Commission invalidated the Atherton claim; legal disagreements extended until 1708.

Neighboring land speculation

In 1657, John Hull alongside other Boston merchants acquired a land grant south of Wickford known as the Pettaquamscutt Purchase (later called South Kingstown) from local Indian sachems. Partners in this venture included Benedict Arnold, John Porter, Samuel Wilbore, Thomas Mumford, Samuel Wilson, and William Brenton. This acquisition predates the formation of the Atherton Trading Company and was also declared invalid by the Royal Commission of 1688.

Certain records suggest there was some overlap between these two land claims.

Further reading

• Dunn, Richard S. “John Winthrop, Jr., and the Narragansett Country.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 1, 1956, pp. 68–86.
• Ellis, George E., et al. "November Meeting, 1885. Washington Monument; The Beadle Tablet; Atherton Company." Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 2 (1885): 136-53.
• Colonial Records of Rhode Island, 2:464; Francis Jennings, The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest (2010), 279; Howard Chapin, Sachems of the Narragansetts (1931), 68; Samuel Gardner Drake, The Book of the Indians (1833), 2:58; John Fredrick Martin, Profits in the Wilderness: Entrepreneurship and the Founding of New England Towns in the Seventeenth Century (1991), 62-73; James N. Arnold, The Records of the Proprietors of the Narragansett or FONES RECORD (1894), 1:1.
• John Russell Barlett, Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (1856–65), 1:465; Arnold, Fones Record, 1:5-16; Chapin, Sachems, 70-4; Drake, Book of the Indians, 2:81; Richard Dunn, “John Winthrop, Jr. and the Narragansett Country,” The William and Mary Quarterly (1956): 68-74.
• Jennings, Invasion, 276-279; Chapin, Sachems, 71; Drake, Book of the Indians, 2:81; Paul Robinson, “The Struggle Within: The Indian Debate in Seventeenth-Century Narragansett Country” (Ph.D. diss., SUNY Binghamton, 1990), 161-2, 179-80.
• Society of Colonial Wars, The Narragansett Mortgage: Documents Concerning Alien Purchases in Southern Rhode Island (1926), 35; Jennings, Invasion, 278-86; Dunn, “Winthrop,” 70-74.
• Rhode Island Records, 1:36-38, 435; Jennings, Invasion, 278-86; Drake, Book of the Indians, 2:58; Dunn, “Winthrop,” 74.
• RI Records, 1:418, 1:38.

External links

• Memoirs on French settlements and settlers in Rhode Island
• Founding of New England