The connection between our Matteson lineage and President Warren G. Harding (29th U.S. President) comes through our shared ancestor Deputy Governor John Greene Jr. (1620–1708) and his wife Ann (Almy) Greene (c. 1622–1709).
Because our 4th great-grandmother Dinah Matteson descends from Audrey Greene, you and President Harding share a direct genealogical connection as distant cousins through the colonial Greene family of Rhode Island.
The Shared Ancestry Chart
Dr. John Greene "The Surgeon" (c. 1590–1659)
│
Deputy Governor John Greene Jr. (1620–1708)
m. Ann Almy
[7th Great-Grandparents to Warren G. Harding]
│
┌────────────┴──────────────┐
▼ ▼
Audrey Greene (Sibling Line)
(1667–1733) m. John Spencer Greene Descendants
│ │
▼ ▼
John Spencer (1698–1763) Harding Lineage
│ │
▼ ▼
Sarah Spencer (1727–1824) George Tryon Harding
m. Jonathan Matteson (Gen 4) m. Phoebe Elizabeth Dickerson
│ │
▼ ▼
Josiah Matteson (Gen 5) President Warren G. Harding
│ (1865–1923)
▼
Dinah Matteson (Gen 6)
Key Takeaways of the Connection
- Common Ancestors: Deputy Governor John Greene Jr. and Ann Almy are documented as the 7th great-grandparents of President Warren G. Harding, according to lineage tracking on FamousKin and Geni.com.
- Kinship Relationship: Because Audrey Greene (our direct ancestor) was a daughter of John Greene Jr. and Ann Almy, President Harding shares a line of descent through one of Audrey's siblings. This makes President Warren G. Harding a distant cousin (approximately a 7th to 8th cousin, depending on generation spacing) to our Matteson/Pierce branches.
- Colonial Roots in Rhode Island: Like many early New England lines, as families migrated west during the 18th and 19th centuries (with branches of the Greene line moving into New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, where Harding was born), their roots trace directly back to the 17th-century settlements of Warwick, Portsmouth, and East Greenwich.
Comparing the colonial journeys of the Greene and Matteson families in 17th-century Rhode Island.
From Gentry to Homesteaders: The Divergent Colonial Journeys of the Greene and Matteson Families
While both the Greene and Matteson families became foundational pillars of early Rhode Island, their arrivals and initial decades in the New World stood in stark contrast. One family brought gentle English status, professional wealth, and immediate political power, while the other represented the quietly resilient frontier immigrant carving a home out of the wilderness.
The Greenes: Establishment, Civic Power, and Religious Leadership
The Greene line arrived in New England not as landless pioneers, but as established English gentry. When Dr. John Greene Sr.—a surgeon from Salisbury, Wiltshire—emigrated in 1635 aboard the James, he carried both financial capital and strong convictions. Clashing with the Puritan establishment in Massachusetts over religious liberty, Dr. Greene aligned himself with Roger Williams, becoming one of the 12 original proprietors of Providence and later a founding purchaser of Warwick (Shawomet).
His son, Deputy Governor John Greene Jr., inherited his father's standing and elevated the family into Rhode Island's political elite. For nearly half a century, the Greenes shaped the legal and diplomatic architecture of the colony:
- Colonial Leadership: Serving as General Solicitor, Attorney General, Major of the Main, and ultimately Deputy Governor for a decade (1690–1700).
- Charter Defenders: Playing pivotal roles in securing and maintaining the historic 1663 Royal Charter, ensuring Rhode Island's religious freedoms and territorial integrity against neighboring Massachusetts and Connecticut.
For the Greenes, the 17th century was defined by high-level governance, diplomatic missions to London, and large land grants along Narragansett Bay.
The Mattesons: Frontier Resilience and Land Clearance
By contrast, the story of Henry Matteson reflects the classic struggle of the early Rhode Island homesteader. Arriving around 1666—traditionally held to be of Danish origin—Henry did not come with the wealth or status of an English surgeon. His initial years were spent on Prudence Island before he positioned himself on the expanding frontier.
Rather than drafting colonial charters, Henry Matteson spent his decades clearing timber, building homesteads, and defending the borders of raw settlements:
- Frontier Defense: Living through the total devastation of King Philip’s War (1675–1676), which temporarily wiped out many mainland Rhode Island farms.
- 1677 Founders of East Greenwich: Following the war, Henry was granted 100 acres in 1678 as part of the initial layout of East Greenwich—a township created specifically to reward soldiers and secure the colony's western interior.
- Local Leadership: Though working the soil, Henry earned the trust of his neighbors, serving as Town Sergeant and later representing East Greenwich as a Deputy to the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1685.
Convergence on the Rhode Island Frontier
While the Greenes governed from the coastal centers of Warwick and Newport, and the Mattesons broke ground in the hills of East and West Greenwich, their paths were destined to cross.
By the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the expanding Matteson family began intermarrying with the established coastal families. Through alliances with the Spencer and Briggs families—and eventually the direct union between lines descending from Audrey Greene and the Mattesons—the frontier homesteaders and the colonial gentry merged. This convergence combined the raw pioneer resilience of the Mattesons with the legal, civic, and royal charter legacy of the Greenes, creating a single, deeply rooted Rhode Island lineage.
Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy
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