{{Short description|American judge (1715–1786)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}}
'''Samuel Nightingale''' (1715 – 1786) was a clergyman, distiller, merchant, and justice of the peace who served as a justice of the Colonial Rhode Island Supreme Court from May 1762 to August 1763, and again from June 1767 to June 1769.<ref>Rhode Island. Dept. of State, ''Manual - the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations'' (1882), p. 135.</ref>
Nightingale was the son of Joseph Nightingale (1677–1725). He was raised in Braintree, Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard College in 1734 after which he became clergyman. He lived in Pomfret, Connecticut for some years, and settled in Providence, Rhode Island in 1751. There he operated a distillery, invested in mercantile ventures, served as Justice of the Peace from 1752 to 1761, and then was chosen for three terms as associate justice of the state Supreme Court through 1768. Nightingale returned to Pomfret for much of the Revolution, from 1778 to 1781.<ref>Samuel H. Allen, "Rhode Island Judiciary", in James N. Arnold, ed., ''The Narragansett Historical Register'' (1889), Volume 7, p. 60.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://americanaristocracy.com/people/samuel-nightingale-1715-1786 | title=Samuel Nightingale (1715-1786) | work=American Aristocracy }}</ref>
He married Abigail Belcher in 1740. Their seven surviving children were Samuel Jr. (1741–1814), Joseph (1747–1797), William, Sarah (1744–1830) (m. Thomas Munro), Abigail (1745–1825) (m. Sylvester Richmond), Mary or "Polly" (1754–1803) (m. James Gramont) and Lydia (1760–1823) (m. Abijah Warren). Samuel II became a prosperous merchant, and Joseph was even more successful as founder of the merchant partnership Clark & Nightingale."<ref>https://www.rihs.org/mssinv/Mss588-1.htm</ref> His son Samuel was the Treasurer of Providence from 1797 to 1814.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://americanaristocracy.com/people/samuel-nightingale-ii-1741-1814| title=Samuel Nightingale II (1741–1814) | work=American Aristocracy }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box |title=Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court |before=John Burton<br>William Hall |after=Thomas Greene<br>Gideon Comstock |years=1762–1763<br>1767–1769}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nightingale, Samuel}} Category:1715 births Category:1786 deaths Category:Merchants from colonial Rhode Island Category:Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court Category:Harvard College alumni Category:People from Braintree, Massachusetts