to 1683, the son of earlier governor John Sanford with his second wife Bridget Hutchinson, and a grandson of William and Anne Hutchinson. His grandson William Coddington, the son of Nathaniel, married Content Arnold, the daughter of Benedict and Mary (Turner) Arnold, and granddaughter of Governor Benedict Arnold. A portrait often ascribed to Governor Coddington actually portrays this grandson, who was very active in colonial affairs but never a governor. Coddington was usually at odds with Roger Williams, who described him in a letter several years after the founding of Portsmouth (1638): "a worldly man, a selfish man, nothing for public, but all for himself and private." Rhode Island historian and Lieutenant Governor Samuel G. Arnold was highly critical of Coddington for obtaining a commission to govern Aquidneck Island separately from Providence and Warwick, yet he had this to say of him: "He was a man of vigorous intellect, of strong passions, earnest in whatever he understood, and self-reliant in all his actions." Historian Thomas Bicknell writes: "he rose to the achievement of a great personal and political victory, when foes became friends, his policy of statecraft vindicated, and Rhode Island Colony on Aquidneck assumed the position for which he had so stoutly contended and so shamefully suffered." Coddington Hall, an upperclassmen residence hall at the University of Rhode Island is named in his honor. A harbor, street, cemetery, and apartment complex in Newport bear his name, and the Coddington Brewery restaurant in Middletown, Rhode Island is named for him. See also List of colonial governors of Rhode Island List of lieutenant governors of Rhode Island List of early settlers of Rhode Island Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Notes References Bibliography "Online sources" External links Chronological list of Rhode Island leaders Background on Coddington portrait (Brown University online portrait collection) Provides good background on history of the portrait, but mistakenly calls William Coddington III the son of William Coddington, Jr., when he was actually the son of Nathaniel Coddington, and grandson of Gov. Coddington. Coddington portrait Published paper refuting the portrait being of the governor Forced loan Published paper about Coddington's role in refusing the forced loan, 1627 1600s births 1678 deaths 17th-century Quakers American city founders Colonial governors of Rhode Island Converts to Quakerism Kingdom of England emigrants to Massachusetts Bay Colony People from colonial Boston Politicians from Newport, Rhode Island Burials at Coddington Cemetery