NILES, Samuel, Rev. [1674-1762] -- American clergyman

NILES, Samuel, clergyman, was born on Block Island, R.I., May 1, 1674; son of Nathaniel and Sarah (Sands) Niles and grandfather of Hon. ¤Nathaniel Niles. He was graduated from Harvard college, A.B., 1699, A.M., 1709, and was a preacher on Block Island, 1699-1701; at Kingstown, 1702-10, and was ordained pastor of the Second church, Braintree, Mass., in 1711. He was twice married; first, in 1716, to a daughter of Peter Thatcher of Milton, Mass., and secondly, in 1732, to Ann Coddington. He returned to Block Island in his latter years and became pastor of a church in Charleston, composed chiefly of the Niantic Indians. He is the author of: A Brief and Sorrowful Account of the Churches in New England (1745); A Vindication of Diverse Important Doctrines of Scripture (1752); Scripture Doctrines of Original Sin (1757); History of the French and Indian Wars (1760), and a diary kept by him for sixty years, which forms an interesting history of Braintree. He died in Braintree, Mass., May 1, 1762. BDNA