vital records sources
go to Ruth Wickenden's page

Ruth was the daughter of a Baptist minister, suggesting Thomas had similar religious leanings. Thomas and Ruth drowned on the night of 16 January 1669/70 in the Pawtuxet (now Blackstone) River in Smithfield.1 Their son Thomas apparently gave testimony to the event, which was recorded second hand:

Last Sabbath day within the night his [Thomas's] father Thomas Smith came to the river side over against his house and hallooed, whereupon his mother Ruth Smith went out and his father asked his mother if he might row over and his mother answered that no one but children had come over and cautioned him not to row. But his father would not stay but went to row over and fell into the water, and his mother went and caught up a stock and he said to her “give me hold of the stick” and he took hold thereof. The boy went to a neighbor for help, saying his father and mother were in the river by the house a-drowning, the child having with him his brother Joseph in his arms and his brother William beside him.

Apparently Ruth fell in as well. The reason Thomas took the boat on the river is not clear, but their oldest son John may have been in the river or stranded on the other side. Thomas was 5, William 3, and Joseph 11 months old. It isn't apparent who raised them. The births of these children are recorded at Warwick. The family must have moved there shortly after Thomas and Ruth married and moved back to Providence within a year of their deaths. When their son John's estate went to probate in Providence, Thomas is called a tailor formerly living in Warwick, which triggered a request by Providence that the town leaders in Warwick determine if John had any estate there. 6:116 There is no recorded mention of Thomas's estate after he died. Given that the children were orphaned, their aunt Plain (Wickenden) Wilkinson agree to raise Joseph in her household.

children of Thomas Smith and Ruth Wickenden:

John, b. 4 August 1660
Thomas, b. 9 August 1663
William, b. 10 January 1666/67
Joseph, b. 18 February 1668/69

vital records sources:

1.