Billings Throope (1735-1776) was the second child of Thomas Throope and Mary Billings. He was a wheelwright by trade. He was captain of the Bristol Militia Company between 1765 and 1766. Billings briefly served as Bristol County sheriff in 1766. He was married to a woman named Hannah. Billings and Hannah had several children, including: Abigail, Molly, Hannah, Sarah, Betsey, Peggy, and Thomas. In 1771, at the time of the birth of Thomas Billings Throope, the family was living in Barrington. By 1774, Billings was an insolvent debtor. When the Rhode Island colonial government raised new military units in late 1775, Billings joined as a captain in William Richmond’s Regiment. When a Royal Navy force undertook a foraging expedition on Prudence Island at the start of 1776, Rhode Island troops were mobilized in Bristol, Warren, and Warwick. An hours-long skirmish was fought. Billings Throope died in late January, 1776. He was one of two Throope brothers to die in 1776 (his younger brother Samuel dying in March). Another brother, William Throope, became captain of the militia the next year. Billings is buried in the East Burial Ground in Bristol.
Rev War Bristol 