A Search For The Origins of Colonial
Deuels In Their Name, Life and Country
Colonial Deuels - Part 3
William1 Deuell "Old Devil" and his religion
Cotton Mather, in his "The Ecclesiastical History of New England" called Rhode Island a "cesspool" of
religious practice: "there has never been such a variety of religions together on so small a spot of ground
as in Rhode Island: Antinomians, Familists, Anabaptists, Anti-sabbatarians, Arminians, Socinians,
Quakers, Ranters --- everything in the world but Roman Catholics and true Christians."
Where did William Deuell fit into all this? At first, he was in all likelihood a Puritan/Separatist (i.e what
Cotton Mather would have called a "true Christian") like his Duxbury and Braintree neighbors, although,
to judge from the apparent refusal of the Plymouth theocracy to respond positively to William's request
for land in Duxbury, he may not have been in good standing. Certainly Walter Deuell, whoever he was,
was not in good standing.
An observer in 1641 noted that Rhode Island was still in a disorganized state as far as religion is
concerned: "the Newport church where one Master Clark [i.e. John Clarke] was elder is dissolved; at
the other end of the island a town, Portsmouth, but no church --- a meeting of some men who teach
one another and call it prophecy; at Providence Master Williams and his company of divers opinions,
most are Anabaptist."
Since Newport was only founded in 1639 the church there couldn't have lasted long. The Portsmouth
people, still including Anne Hutchison at that point, were Antinomians. John Clarke, whose sister Mary
(Clarke) Peckham is an ancestor of mine, founded a Baptist church in Newport in 1644 and was the
main emissary of that doctrine to the dissenters at Rehoboth. Roger Williams writes in 1649: "at
Seekonk [i.e. Rehoboth village] a great many have concurred with John Clarke and our Providence men
about the point of a new baptism and the manner by dipping, and Mr. John Clarke hath been there lately
(and Mr. Lucar) and hath dipped them. I believe this practice comes nearer the first practice of our
great founder than the practices of religion do, and yet I have not satisfaction, neither in the authority in
which it is done nor in the manner."
These last comments of Williams are very interesting. It is usually stated that Roger Williams founded
the first Baptist church in America in Providence in 1639. Commencement ceremonies of Brown
University, founded in 1763 as a college for Baptist ministers, are still held at the Providence FBC. But if
Williams, the undoubted spiritual leader of that congregation, was disputing basic Baptist doctrine as of
1649, then the church he founded could not truly be baptist in nature.
And so the rightful title should go to the "second" oldest Baptist church --- the one founded by John
Clarke in 1644, and into which it appears William Deuell was baptized.
Why did the Puritans consider the Baptists as dangerous? Adult baptism undercut a basic rite of the
Puritans, infant baptism. Moreover, for people to come up with their own practices was in essence a
denial of the authority of Puritan ministers, who thought of themselves as God's direct emissaries, in
effect the ayatollahs of Plymouth and Mass Bay. This departure from practice also signified something
deeper: moving away from rule by "the law" or "the word" as interpreted by Puritan ministers, and
towards rule by what the baptists would call "the spirit," Quakers would call "the inner light," and what
we would probably call "conscience." And to top it all off this was happening right on the border of that
den of iniquity, Rhode Island. Most of the settlers of Rehoboth were from Weymouth or Braintree (like
William)in Mass Bay, and they thought that Plymouth Colony was soft on transgressors. Most people in
Rehoboth wanted Mass Bay to annex the town, and partly to appease such a move the Plymouth
government took a hard line on the Rehoboth baptists, though stopping short of the tongue-drilling sort
of discipline that was preferred in Boston.
William was not formally registered with any church, at least from any record I have seen, but his
experience in Rehoboth clearly indicates that he was an Baptist. But an interesting mention comes from
the letter book of Samuel Hubbard, who was a member of the First Baptist Church of Newport. His
letter of 16 December 1671 to his children states in part as follows:
"This is to inform you upon the sermon Ruth [his wife] heard Obe Holmes [Holmes, ringleader of the
Rehoboth Baptists, was John Clarke's successor at the Newport FBC] preach. . . And then breaking of
bread we all withdrew, they being troubled, warned in all of the church (or relinquants) [?] that stood
off, as Brother Joseph Clarke, T.Clarke, J.Man [another Rehoboth Baptist], old Devil, S.Turnly. . .B.
Hiscox, I, my wife, B.Baster all to come in 5 days. So it was alleged because some keeping the 7th day
or sabbath, either they [are] in an error or we, etc."
"Old Devil" refers to William Deuell, according to the compiler of these letters, and clearly this is
correct. The letter, which outlines the subsequent profession of faith of the dissenters and their
withdrawal from the church --- they insisted on celebrating the sabbath on the 7th day or Saturday,
contrary to the existing practice --- marks the birth of the first Seventh Day Baptist church in North
America.
So "old Devil" got around, religiously, although records are spotty he probably belonged to the first
Baptist church in America (or the one that deserves the title) as well as the first Seventh Day Baptist
church in America. Another early member of this SDB church was Gov. Benedict Arnold, whose
great-grandson of the same name was to gain infamy. Gov. Arnold owned --- and in my view, probably
built --- the famous stone tower in Newport that the more romantic-minded historians have claimed was
built by Vikings.
Where did they get the idea to celebrate the sabbath on a Saturday, reverting to the practice of the Old
Testament? The idea was current in England, but interestingly there are records that, unique in New
England, Newport had an additional market day, Thursday, in addition to Saturday --- and that it was
started in 1667, before the SBP church was founded. Why would they do that?
In 1658 a group of Portuguese Sephardic Jews settled in Newport and formed the first congregation in
America. Touro Synagogue still has a trap door near the alter, symbolizing the hiding places used in their
homeland to escape the Inquisition. Early maps of Newport show a "Jew Street." This street is now
Bellevue Avenue, home to the Breakers, Marble House, and many other Newport mansions. But the
interesting thing is that in one account of Newport SDBs it states how they started observing the
sabbath at sundown on Friday --- a remarkable parallel to the shabbat practice of their Jewish neighbors
(no Christian sect that I know of starts celebrating a Sunday sabbath on Saturday night, unless you
count the very modern practice of a Saturday 5:00 Catholic mass). So it could be an interesting instance
of religious cross-pollination.
Rick Gifford
November 4, 2002