Four ships of the United States Navy have been named Canonicus for Canonicus, a chief of the Narragansett Indians, who befriended Roger Williams, and presented him with a large tract of land for the Rhode Island colony.
Providence Plantation was an American colony of English settlers founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a theologian, independent preacher, and linguist on land gifted by the Narragansett sachem, Canonicus.