Bristol, Rhode Island Celebrating 325 years of its foundation!

 

	Mt. Hope Bridge

 

The four founders of Bristol , Rhode Island , United States of America,   chose its name from the City of Bristol , in England , with is a famous seaport, one hundred miles west of London .

At that time it was King of England Charles II and his Queen was the Portuguese Catharine of Braganza.  This is the reason why the founding fathers of Bristol, RI, named one street Queen’s Street  (today’s Constitution Street),  and King’s Street (today’s Church Street).

See the article “The first Queen of Bristol, Rhode Island was 100 % Portuguese!”  

Queen Catherine of Braganza

It was in September of 1680 that William Ingraham handed a lump of “turf and twigs” to one of Bristol’s founding fathers, Boston merchant John Walley, in a ceremony marking the town’s independence from the Plymouth Colony. Walley and a group of other merchants – Nathaniel Byfield included – paid 1,100 English pounds for roughly 7,000 acres that included all of today’s Bristol and part of southern Warren.

The first town census taken in 1689 by the Congregational Church revealed a total population of  421 among 70 families: 68 husbands, 68 wives, three singles, 226 children and 56 servants.

Twenty two families had one or more servants, with Byfield claiming 11. The women of child-bearing age ranged from 19 to 45 with the median age of 33.  

The Colt  Memorial School	Portuguese Saint Isabel church, the largest  Catholic parish in Bristol, RI
The Bristol Dock	Bristol Harbor

TODAY

Today the population of Bristol , R. I. ( MAP )is almost 25 thousand. It is a fascinating and beautiful community. It has ten Museums, one complete Medical Center and  Roger Williams University.   

It has a mosaic of ethnic groups. The largest one continues to be the Portuguese which at one time  (1965) reached the percentage of 70 per cent!

Bristol is today the only locality in U. S. A. that continues to celebrate with a great parade the Independence Day, or 4^th of July for 219 years continuously!   ( Photo's )

The people of Bristol are Proud and Patriotic and they have many reasons to be so. Congratulations, good  health and many happiness  to all its citizens! 

How many Bristol there are in the world?

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