Editing Raynham, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
The area that is now Raynham was settled in 1639 as a part of [[Taunton, Massachusetts|Taunton]], and was founded by [[Elizabeth Pole]], the first woman to found a town in America.

It was to that area three years earlier that [[Roger Williams]], proponent of [[separation of church and state]], of paying Indians for land acquired and abolishing slavery, had escaped, traveling 55 miles during a January blizzard.  He was fleeing a conviction for sedition and heresy of the General Court of [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem]], and it was here that the local [[Wampanoags]] offered him shelter at their winter camp. Their [[Sachem]] [[Massasoit]] hosted Williams for the three months until spring.

In 1652, [[bog iron]] was found along the [[Forge River|Two Mile (Forge) River]]. Soon after, the [[Taunton Iron Works]] was established by residents James and Henry Leonard. It was the first successful iron works established in what was then [[Plymouth Colony]], and operated from 1656 to 1876.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9XUKUkulSkIC&dq=ancient%20iron%20works%20taunton&pg=PA264 Creating the commonwealth, Stephen Innes, W. W. Norton & Company, 1995]</ref> It was not the "First Iron Works in America", as proclaimed on the Town's official seal, having been predated by the [[Saugus Iron Works|Saugus]] and [[John Winthrop, Jr. Iron Furnace Site|Braintree]] iron works. The success of the [[Taunton Iron Works]], however, led to the establishment of other iron works throughout the colonies.

Raynham played a key part in [[King Philip's War]]. The Leonards had forged a friendship before the war began with [[Metacomet|King Philip]], who lived in the area. It is said that Philip agreed to spare the town from the mass destruction if the Leonards repaired his troops' weapons in their iron forge.

The eastern end of Taunton was separated from that town and incorporated as Raynham on April 2, 1731, named after the [[England|English]] village of [[East Raynham|Raynham]] in the [[county]] of [[Norfolk]], England.  Many ships' hulls were built along the Taunton River in Raynham, which were sailed down the river towards [[Fall River, Massachusetts|Fall River]] and [[Narragansett Bay]] for final fittings.  The town also had other small manufacturing industries, but for the most part it was known for its rural and agrarian base.<ref>[http://www.mass.gov/dcr/stewardship/histland/reconReports/raynham.pdf Raynham Reconnaissance Report, November 2005]</ref>