John Townsend.

About John Townsend

John Townsend was an early settler of the American Colonies who emigrated from England before 1642. Townsend was a signatory to the Flushing Remonstrance, a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights. Because of their persecution by the Dutch authorities of New Amsterdam, he and his brother Henry supported the Quakers, and later generations of this Townsend family joined the movement. They can be found in Friends' records on Long Island, New York, Newport, Rhode Island, Cape May County, New Jersey and around Philadelphia. John Townsend arrived in Oyster Bay in 1661 and he died there in 1668. There is a marker for him in Fort Hill Cemetery in the village of Oyster Bay. Members of his family would go on to be distinguished leaders in the Oyster Bay community, throughout New York State, the mid-Atlantic colonies and wherever they settled in the rest of the United States. The talented and famous furniture makers of Newport, Rhode Island Job, Christopher, John and Edmund descend from him.