Family traditon says that Pasco was born about 1640 in England . The family tradition was written down by William Whitford o f Addison, Vt 9son of Peleg, Pasco, Nicholas,Pasco) and states t hat Pasco and his two sons came to Rhode Island from the West In dies, having been driven out of that location by the French, dur ing the naval warfare between England and France. They fled t o Rhode Island, settling in Portsmouth then East and West Greenw ich. (William Whitfor's "Narrative of the Whitford Family" in th e Vermont His. Soc. Collections). William Carke Whitford (1902 ) says that Pasco Whitford is reported to have come from Bedford shire Eng. Taxed 2s in 1680. But he was taxed in Newport,R.I . in 1680 according to Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of R.I . A letter of George N. Whitford dated 3 June 1911 to Walter Jo hn Coates states tha many Whitfords lived in and near the town o f Truro, Cornwall, England and havebeen numerous there for th e last 400 years. There is also an old Cornish family, the Pasc oes who are also plentiful in the area. Possibly the maiden nam e of Pasco Whitford's mother or grandmother was Pascoe. I hav e searched the Mormon records for any records of marriages betwe en Pascoes and Whitfordsprior to 1640 in Cornwall but so far ha ve not come across any. In 1690 (proceedings of the General Ass embly held at Newport May 1690, for the Colony of Rhode Island a nd Provdence Plantations, Mr. Henry Bull being governor, "Vote d Mr. Pasco Whitford (and others) be admitted freemen of the col ony." (p270 Records of the Colony of Rhode Island compiled by Jo hn Russell Bartlett, Vol 3Providence, R.I.) Pasco was living i n East Greenwich in 1690. On 13 Apr 1697 he is recorded as a wi tness to a deed from Samuel Eldred, Sr, to his son John in King s Town. Pasco Whitford is mentioned in a will of Charles Marti n(difficult to read) of East Greenwich dated 1682. See Histor y of East Greenwich - 1960-M.R. McPartland pgs 25-28 for a decip hering of this will.
