Gregory Dexter

Who was Gregory Dexter?

Gregory Dexter was a printer, Baptist minister, and early President of the combined towns of Providence and Warwick in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was in New England as early as 1638 when he had a five-acre lot assigned to him in Providence. He had been in the printing business in London, and still operated that business in 1643 when his establishment printed Roger Williams' translation of the native languages. As an experienced stationer, he offered his expertise to the printing operation in Boston in 1646, asking for no compensation other than an annual almanac.

Dexter became active in colonial affairs in 1647, as the four towns of the colony were consolidating into a unified government. He later became a commissioner from Providence during the early 1650s, after William Coddington had received a commission to remove the two island towns of Portsmouth and Newport from the unified government. Dexter became the President of the combined towns of Providence and Warwick, during the final year of the split government, and the towns were re-united with his successor.