John Rathbone ^{5 6 7 8}

   Another name for John was John Rathbun.⁹

  General Notes:

Extracted from The Rathbun, Rathbone, Rathburn Family Historian, Volume 1, Number 3, July 1981, Page 44.
John Rathbun born December 20, 1693, on Block Island, and married there December 25, 1720, Patience Fish, daughter of John and Patience Fish. Three years later, he received from his parents all their "housingand land on Block Island." In 1725, he sold his Block Island propertyand moved to the mainland. He was admitted a freeman of north Kingston (Exeter) in May 1732, described as "John Rathbun of Nesquaheague" (the Escoheag Hill area of what later became Exeter). Patience died shortly after the birth of their youngest son, and John was married to Alice, whose maiden name is not known. John died early in 1752 at Exeter. A few months before his death, he gave 240 acres of land each to his sons, Jonathan and Daniel. He had earlier given land to his eldest son, John. In his will, he left his younger sons, Gideon, Edmund and Joshua, 120 pounds each in bills of credit, and left furniture to his daughter, Anna, and to the children of his daughter, Patience. His second wife, Alice survived him, but her death date is not known.

Extracted from The Rathbun, Rathbone, Rathburn Family Historian. Volume 1, Number 3, July 1981, Page 46.
John Rathbun moved to the Rhode Island mainland from Block Island about 1725, settling in Exeter, on Escoheag Hill, near the West Greenwichtown line and not far from the Connecticut colony border. He was followed in the next few years by his three younger brothers - Benjamin, Nathaniel and Thomas. (Already in Exeter were his four Rathbun cousins,Thomas and John (sons of Thomas), John (son of William) and Joseph (son of Joseph).
As the families expanded, Escoheag Hill should have been renamed Rathbun Hill. The eight Rathbun cousins between them had 47 children, including 25 sons.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Property: Land On, 1723 To 1725, Block Island. ⁸

• Freeman: (Known As John Rathbun Of Newquaheague.), May 1732, North Kingstown, , Rhode Island, United States. ⁸

• Will, 18 Jan 1751/52.

• Probate, 10 Mar 1751/52, Exeter, , Rhode Island, United States.

John married Patience Fish on 25 Dec 1720 in New Shoreham, , Rhode Island.^{1 2 3} (Patience Fish was born on 20 Dec 1693 in Portsmouth, , Rhode Island, United States and died in 1721 in Exeter, , Rhode Island, United States ⁴.)

John next married Alice in 1721 in New Shoreham, , Rhode Island.⁴ (Alice was born in 1693 in Block Island, , Rhode Island, United States and died after 1761 in Exeter, , Rhode Island, United States.)