Stephen Northup.

About Stephen Northup

Stephen Northup[a] was an early settler of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and built what may be the oldest house still standing in Rhode Island. Northup was a fairly early settler of Providence in the Rhode Island colony, but accounts claiming that he settled the area with Roger Williams are inaccurate, since Northup was an infant or child when Williams first came to Providence in the spring of 1636. Northup lived in Providence from 1655 to 1666, after which he moved to the Narragansett country, which land was claimed by both the Rhode Island and Connecticut colonies. He may have owned or operated a grist mill, and is credited with building a house that still stands and is used as a private residence. Northup was married, had six known children, and lived until at least 1687, when he was taxed. He was the great grandfather of Capt. Henry Northup who left Rhode Island to settle in Hoosick, New York, and took his slave Mintus who was manumitted in 1797. Mintus assumed the surname Northup, and had a free-born son, Solomon Northup, the subject of the Academy Award-winning film 12 Years a Slave.