Editing Roger Williams (section)

==Early life==
Roger Williams was born in London, and many historians cite 1603 as the probable year of his birth.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gaustad|first=Edwin S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sjmeBMAiyNMC|title=Roger Williams|date=2005-05-15|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-976053-4|language=en}}</ref> His birth records were destroyed when [[St Sepulchre-without-Newgate|St. Sepulchre church]] burned during the [[Great Fire of London]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Winslow|first=Ola Elizabeth|author-link=Ola Elizabeth Winslow|url=|title=Master Roger Williams: A Biography|date=1957|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9780374986827|language=en}}</ref> and his entry in ''[[American National Biography]]'' notes that Williams gave contradictory information about his age throughout his life.<ref>{{cite book |title=American National Biography |last=LaFantasie |first=Glenn W. |editor-last1=Garraty |editor-first1=John A. |editor-link1=John A. Garraty |editor-last2=Carnes |editor-first2=Mark C. |volume=23 |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780195127966 |url=https://archive.org/details/americannational23garr/page/500/mode/2up |pages=497–501}}</ref> His father was James Williams (1562–1620), a [[Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors|merchant tailor]] in [[Smithfield, London|Smithfield]], and his mother was Alice Pemberton (1564–1635).

[[File:Graduation_Day,_Pembroke_College,_Cambridge.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Williams attended [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]]]]

At an early age, Williams had a spiritual conversion of which his father disapproved. As an adolescent, he apprenticed under Sir [[Edward Coke]] (1552–1634), the famous jurist, and was educated at [[Charterhouse School]] under Coke's patronage. Williams later attended [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]], where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1627.<ref>{{acad|id=WLMS623R||name=Williams, Roger}}</ref> He demonstrated a facility with languages, acquiring familiarity with Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Dutch, and French at an early age. Years later, he tutored [[John Milton]] in Dutch and Native American languages in exchange for refresher lessons in Hebrew and Greek.<ref>Pfeiffer, Robert H. (April 1955). "The Teaching of Hebrew in Colonial America". ''The Jewish Quarterly Review''. pp. 363–73</ref><ref>[https://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/open-society-biography-roger-williams An Open Society: A Biography of Roger Williams]</ref>

Williams took holy orders in the [[Church of England]] in connection with his studies, but he became a Puritan at Cambridge and thus ruined his chance for preferment in the Anglican church. After graduating from Cambridge, he became the chaplain to [[Sir William Masham, 1st Baronet|Sir William Masham]]. In April 1629, Williams proposed marriage to Jane Whalley, the niece of [[Joan Barrington|Lady Joan (Cromwell) Barrington]], but she declined.<ref>Barry, John M. (2012). Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty. New York: Viking. {{ISBN|978-0-670-02305-9}}. pp. 73-74, pp. 136–139.</ref> Later that year, he married Mary Bernard (1609–76), the daughter of Rev. [[Richard Bernard]], a notable Puritan preacher and author; they were married at the Church of [[High Laver]] in [[Epping Forest District]], Essex, around 20 miles north-east of London.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2007/10/mary-barnard-williams.html |title= Wife of Roger Williams: Founder of Providence Plantation |date= 5 October 2007 |access-date= 5 November 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181106004755/http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2007/10/mary-barnard-williams.html |archive-date= 6 November 2018 |url-status= live |df= dmy-all }}</ref> They had six children, all born in America: Mary, Freeborn, Providence, Mercy, Daniel, and Joseph.

Williams knew that Puritan leaders planned to immigrate to the [[New World]]. He did not join the [[Puritan migration to New England (1620–1640)|first wave of settlers]], but later decided that he could not remain in England under the administration of Archbishop [[William Laud]]. Williams regarded the Church of England as corrupt and false, and he had arrived at [[English Dissenters|the Separatist position]] by 1630; on December 1, he and his wife boarded the [[Boston]]-bound ''Lyon'' in [[Bristol]].<ref>{{Cite book|title="A Brief history of Jacob Belfry" Page 40, 1888|url=http://www.mocavo.com/A-Brief-History-of-Jacob-Belfry-Sen-With-a-Sketch-of-His-Wife-and-Family-and-Their-Descendants-Containing-Also-an-Outline-of-Sherman-Genealogy-and-Biography/103056/48|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305002139/http://www.mocavo.com/A-Brief-History-of-Jacob-Belfry-Sen-With-a-Sketch-of-His-Wife-and-Family-and-Their-Descendants-Containing-Also-an-Outline-of-Sherman-Genealogy-and-Biography/103056/48|archive-date=5 March 2014|access-date=28 February 2014}}</ref>