Joshua Babcock

Joshua Babcock (1707–1783) was a physician, American Revolution general, Rhode Island Supreme Court justice, and postmaster from Westerly, Rhode Island. Biography Early life Babcock was born in Westerly in 1707 to James Babcock and Elizabeth Saunders, who were amongst Westerly's earliest settlers. Babcock became a Seventh Day Baptist as a young man. In 1724 he graduated from Yale College as Yale's first Rhode Island graduate. He then studied medicine in Boston and London and returned to Westerly to practice medicine in 1734. Around this time he married and purchased the Babcock-Smith House. Babcock later served as a justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, serving as an associate justice from May 1747 to May 1749 and chief justice from May 1749 to May 1751 and from August 1763 to May 1764. In May 1758 he was elected a deputy from Westerly to the Rhode Island General Assembly. In May 1759 he was elected speaker of the House of Deputies and served for one year. He left office in May 1761.