Bristol was originally considered part of Plymouth Colony, then Massachusetts, and, finally in 1746/1747, Rhode Island. The town was a major boat-building center and "became one of the most important ports in New England." "Many of these early Bristol settlers were the sons of original immigrants to Plymouth Colony in the Cape Cod area, or of] Lynn, Ipswich, and Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Some of these families stayed in Bristol for one or more generations before their children or grandchildren moved on to Connecticut and New York State." Settlement in the mid-western states often followed. Information for this work was taken from several sources: Bristol's vital records and records from its two churches (Congregational and St. Michael's Episcopal), and from Bristol County's probate records. The families covered are those of the eighty-one settlers who attended the town's first meeting in 1681 as well as those who were the original proprietors of the Mount Hope Lands that became Bristol. Two, occasionally three, generations are covered.