Jonathan Green of Rhode Island was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and served in the Kentish Guards in Warwick, Kent County, Rhode Island Militia as a Private as well as his first cousin Nathanael Greene who also was a Private in the Kentish Guards and later was promoted and remembered as Major General Nathanael Greene. The Green(e) Family of Rhode Island was one of the founding families of Rhode Island. Both Jonathan and Nathanael descended from John Greene, surgeon, who, with Roger Williams and Samuel Gorton founded Rhode Island.
John Greene, surgeon was one of the original six settlers of Providence, Rhode Island as evidenced in "the first portions of grass & meadow were appropriated to Throckmorton, Greene, Harris, Verin, Arnold, and Williams," Jun 10 1637. (Rhode Island Colonial Records, vol.i., p.17). Samuel Gorton was a prominent figure in Massachuesetts and Rhode Island history and was the individual responsible for establishing the first government in the history of the world to grant freedom of religion which he obtained . In fact, John Greene, Samuel Gorton and Randall Holden sailed to England to obtain the Charter for Rhode Island which secured these rights and spent two years in England petitioning the Crown and the 2nd Earl of Warwick, Robert Rich who ultimately granted the petition whose title was "Simplicities Defence against Seven-Headed Policy."
Both Jonathan Green, patriot ancestor of Past President and Chapter Secretary David Hayball, Compatriot Sergeant-Major William Francis Fitzgerald III, USMC, and Compatriot 1st Lieutenant Sean Duffield Hayball U.S. ARMY, and Jonathan's cousin Major General Nathanael Greene of the Revolutionary War all are direct descendents of Samuel Gorton. Jabez Green, grandfather of Jonathan and Nathanael Green married Mary Barton, grand daughter of Samuel Gorton. Samuel Gorton was the founder of what ultimately became part of the Universalist/Unitarian Church. The Green(e) Family name is an old and ancient name of good reputation.
The earliest known relative according to "The Greenes of Rhode Island, Clark, Vol.I, page 5," is Alexander de Boketon.....His great grandson, Sir Thomas De Boketon took the name de la Grene. Thomas married Lucy la Zouche, grand daughter of Lord Alan Zouche, Governor of Northhampton Castle, "whose wife was granddaughter of Saier de Quincy, Earl of Winchester one of the twenty-five Magna Carta Barons and a Knight of the Fifth Crusade in the Holy Land (1220). Lucy la Zouche was also descended from Hengest, King of the Saxons, and Hugh Capet, founder of the Capetian dynasty in France (Clark, Vol. I, p.6), and Henry I, King of France and Anne of Russia.
John Green(e) and his descendants also descend from Aubrey de Vere, who came to England with William the Conqueror whose son by the same name became the Great Chamberlain to Henry I…. In Rhode Island the Green(e) Family continues to be an influential family in its history to this day. Dr. John Greene's son James served in the General Assembly of the Colony as a Commissioner under the First Charter and a Deputy and Assistant under the 2nd. He moved to Potowomut and purchased a mill which would supply power for the forge and ironworks his family would maintain for generations until the 1820's making anchors and other iron works.
Jonathan Green's grandfather, Jabez and father, Rufus continued in the family ironworks. Jonathan's father also was active in "mercantile business." Jonathan Green(e) was born at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, April 16, 1760. He shared that birthdate with his twin brother, David. David Greene became a mariner, had a family of five children before his death in New York in 1792….Jonathan Greene named a son after his brother, David upon his birth July 7,1798. Jonathan Green first appears in the Rhode Island 1777 Military Census, page 10. Jonathan was a signer or the Test Act of 1777, and served in the Kentish Guards, in Captain Squire Millerd's 2nd Company, Militia, Warwick 1780-1781, ( Rhode Island Historical Society, Rhode Island State Archives #580 & #223, Providence, Rhode Island).
After the American Revolution Jonathan and his wife Catherine (White) moved to Hinesboro, Vermont where they had nine children: Martha, Mary, Catharine, Sophia, Hannah, Ornin, Ruluff White, David, and Eliza. From Vermont it appears that Jonathan, his wife Catherine and son David migrated to Ohio. Jonathan died in 1840 at Liverpool Twp., Medina Ohio. Compatriots William Francis Fitzgerald III, David Michael Hayball, and Sean Duffield Hayball of the Sons of Liberty Chapter, SAR all descend through Jonathan Green's son David.