M, 
 
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 /^'i 
 
 ^-6-^ 
 
Men of Progress 
 
 Biographical Sketches and Portraits 
 
 OF 
 
 Leaders in Business and Professional Life 
 
 IN THE 
 
 ^tatje 0f ilttoiTe %6Xm\a aud ^ramtteuc^ 'gX^nt^txons 
 
 COMPILED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF 
 
 RICHARD HERNDON 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 ALFRED M. WILLIAMS and WILLIAM F. BLANDING 
 
 -^v^^l-^' 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 NEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE 
 
 1896 
 
Copyright, i8 
 
 RICHARD HERNDON 
 
 ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS, BOSTON, 
 
 Fis 
 
 aopy ^ 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 ALLEN, Edwin Robinson, Lieutenant-Governor 
 of Rhode Island, was born in Windham, Conn., 
 November 26, 1840, the son of Edwin and Ruth 
 B. (Noyes) Allen. The earher members of the 
 Allen family were residents of Windham county. 
 
 E. R. ALLEN. 
 
 Conn. Amos D. Allen, the grandfather of the 
 subject of this biography, married Sarah Tracy, 
 whose children were seven in number. Their son 
 Edwin, a native of Windham county, deceased 
 January 4, 1891, gave much attention to inventions 
 of a practical character, and won some distinction 
 in that line ; he married Ruth B., daughter of 
 Joseph Noyes and F^lizabeth Babcock of Westerly, 
 and their children are Edward Tracy of San Fran- 
 
 cisco, Edwin Robinson of Hopkinton, and Charles 
 Noyes of Willington, Conn. Governor Allen re- 
 ceived his earliest instruction at the select and 
 public schools of the town, completing his studies . 
 at Eagleswood, N. J. In September 1856 he 
 entered the store of his uncle, the late Charles 
 Noyes, at Hopkinton, as clerk, and continued in 
 that capacity until September 1862, when he en- 
 tered the army as a private in the Seventh Regi- 
 ment Rhode Island Infantry. He advanced in the 
 regular line of promotion until his discharge and 
 return in June 1865, as First Lieutenant in command 
 of the company in which he Jirst enlisted. During 
 this period he participated in some of the most 
 eventful engagements of the war, including Fred- 
 ericksburg, fall of Vicksburg and Jackson, Spottsyl- 
 vania, Cold Harbor, Mechanicsville, Bethesda 
 Church, Hatchers Run, and Petersburg. On re- 
 ceiving his discharge he resumed his duties at the 
 store, which he has owned and managed since 1879. 
 Mr. Allen was in 1866 elected clerk of the town of 
 Hopkinton, and still holds that ofifice. His con- 
 ceded ability and integrity place him in confiden- 
 tial relations with his townsmen. His knowledge 
 of town affairs, acquired through years of experi- 
 ence, and his efficiency in all matters coming be- 
 fore probate courts, cause his advice to be fre- 
 quently sought in the drafting of important docu- 
 ments and in the transfer and settlement of estates. 
 In politics he is a Republican. His political 
 career commenced in 1889, when he represented 
 the town of Hopkinton in the State Senate, and 
 was thrice re-elected to that office. He was, April 
 1894, elected Lieutenant-Governor, and by virtue of 
 re-election in April 1895, is the present incumbent 
 of that office. Mr. Allen was married, January 
 1868, to Mary E., de 
 
 Martha E. Babcock ;^^^^^^^^^^Bt£ two sons 
 George E., born Au 
 Allen, whose birth 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 ARNOLD, John Nelson, artist and portrait 
 painter, was born in Masonville, now Grosvenor 
 Dale, Thompson, Conn., June 4, 1834, the son of 
 Benjamin and Thirza (Whitford) Arnold. His 
 father's family were of the Warwick, R. I., Arnolds, 
 and he is a descendant in the seventh genera- 
 tion from Roger Williams. His mother's family 
 were from Sterling, Conn. His parents came to 
 Providence in 1836. He received his early edu- 
 cation in the public schools, and graduated from 
 the Elm-stieet grammar school, Caleb Farnum 
 master, in 1850. He was then apprenticed to 
 
 JOHN N. ARNOLD^ 
 
 the jewelry firm of Stone & Weaver to learn en- 
 graving. He studied art by himself, as oppor- 
 tunity offered, and at the expiration of his term of 
 apprenticeship began to teach himself painting. In 
 1856 he opened a studio in Providence and has 
 followed the profession of portrait painting since. 
 He never had any instruction in art, but after he 
 had opened a studio, he received many valuable 
 suggestions from James S. Lincoln, who tlien stood 
 at the head of his profession in the city, and con- 
 tinued to do so u ntil 3 'Ir. Lincoln's death ; Mr. 
 never toQJ^^^^^bi^s, but was always kind 
 
 and suggest im- 
 Mise he has always 
 rartistic instiiicl was 
 
 developed very early, and at ten years of age he ex- 
 ecuted a painting of a landscape bridge and water- 
 fall. Among the portraits of prominent men he has 
 painted there are, in the State House : Governor 
 Francis (after Healy), Governors Anthony and Lip- 
 pitt; at Brown University, President Sears, Judge 
 Pitman, Gen. Varnum and Dr. Alvah Woods ; at the 
 City Hall, Mayors Doyle, Clarke and Potter ; at the 
 Public Library, Henry L. Kendall and John Wilson 
 Smith ; at the Masonic Temple, Past Grand Master 
 N. Van Slyck and E. L. Freeman ; at the Odd 
 Fellows Hall, P. G. M. Ham and Anderson ; at the 
 Rhode Island Historical Society, E. R. Young, 
 Governor H . W. King and Hon. Thomas Davis ; at 
 Warwick Town Hall, Hon. Enos Lapham, Bishop 
 Clark, Christopher Robinson, Henry Steeres ; for 
 the Old Men's Home, Amos Perry, Gov. John W. 
 Davis and many others. He was Chairman of the 
 School Committee of Johnston from 1892 to 1895. 
 In politics he is a Democrat. He is a member of 
 the Psychical Research Society and of the Royal 
 Society of Good Fellows. He married, in 1 856, Miss 
 Rose Potter of Johnston, who died in 1890; they 
 had two children: Ernest F., who died in 1S75, 
 aged seventeen, and Herbert Percy Arnold, who is 
 now master mechanic of one of the Howland Mills 
 in New Bedford. 
 
 ANDREWS, Elisha Benjamin, President of 
 Brown University, Providence, was born in Hins- 
 dale, N. H., January 10, 1844, son of Erastus and 
 Almira (Bartlett) Andrews. Both his father and 
 grandfather were Baptist ministers, his grandfather 
 Elisha being the founder of many churches in west- 
 ern Massachusetts, and his father, Erastus, although 
 never out of the ministry, being locally famous as a 
 lecturer ; he was also a member from Franklin 
 county for two terms in the Massachusetts House 
 of Representatives and for one in the Senate. 
 When Elisha Benjamin Andrews was six months 
 old his parents removed to Montague, Franklin 
 county, Mass., where he received his education at 
 the district school and on the farm until 1858, 
 when the family removed to Suffield, Conn., where 
 he resided until 1861. At the age of seventeen he 
 enlisted in the Fourth Connecticut Infantry for 
 three years. Tliis regiment was soon transferred 
 to the artillery service as the First Connecticut 
 Heavy Artillery and became one of the finest vol- 
 unteer regiments in the war. Mr. .Andrews received 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 promotion through various grades and was mustered 
 out as a Second Lieutenant, October 30, 1864. 
 Before the war he had partly fitted for college at 
 Connecticut Literary Institute, Suffield ; after the 
 war he attended two terms at Powers Institute, 
 Bernardston, Mass., and a year at Wesleyan 
 Academy, Wilbraham, Mass. He entered Brown 
 University in 1866 and graduated in 1870. He 
 graduated from Newton Theological Institution in 
 1874 and was ordained a Baptist clergyman the 
 same year. He was pastor of the First Baptist 
 Church in Beverly, Mass., in 1874-75, and resigned 
 
 Harrison one of the members of the International 
 Monetary Conference at Brussels. He received 
 the honorary degree of D. D. from Colby Univer- 
 sity in 1884, and that of LL. D. from the Univer- 
 sity of Nebraska the same year. President Andrews 
 has published a number of important volumes as 
 well as a large number of addresses, lectures and 
 magazine articles. His books are, " Brief Institutes 
 of Constitutional History, English and American," 
 1886 ; " Brief Institutes of General History," 1887 ; 
 "Institutes of Economics," 1889; "History, Pro- 
 phecy and Gospel," 1891 ; "The duty of a Public 
 Spirit," 1892; "Gospel from Two Testaments," 
 edited, 1893 '> Droysen's "Outlines of the Principles 
 of History," translation, 1893 ; " Eternal Words and 
 Other Sermons," 1894; " Wealth and Moral Law," 
 1894; "An honest Dollar," with seven other essays 
 on Bimetallism, 1894; "History of the United 
 States," two volumes, 1894, and " History of the 
 United States in the Last Quarter Century," now in 
 course of publication in Scribner's Magazine. 
 He is a member of the Grand Army of the Re- 
 public, the Loyal Legion, the Delta Upsilon Frater- 
 nity, the Massachusetts MiHtary Historical Society 
 and the Rhode Island Historical Society. In poli- 
 tics he is an Independent Republican, always in- 
 clined to a liberal interpretation of the constitution 
 and believing in a positive foreign pohcy; is an 
 ardent international bimetallist ; favors a low tariff 
 as a general policy, but a high and even prohibitive 
 tariff against foreign monoplies, and free trade, if 
 necessary, as a defence against home monopolies. 
 He married, November 25, 1870, Miss Ella Anna 
 Allen ; they have one son : Guy Ashton, born July 
 18, 1873. 
 
 E. B. ANDREWS. 
 
 to accept the Presidency of Denison University, in 
 Ohio, which post he held until 1879. He then re- 
 signed to accept the Professorship of Homiletics 
 and Pastoral Theology in Newton Theological In- 
 stitution, which he held until 1882, when he went 
 to Germany to study history and political economy 
 in the universities of Berlin and Munich. In 1882, 
 before going to Europe, he had been appointed 
 Professor of History and Political Economy in Brown 
 University, and he filled that chair until 1888, when 
 he accepted the Professorship of Political Itconomy 
 and Finance in Cornell University. In 1889 he was 
 elected President of Brown University, also occu- 
 pying the Chair of Moral and Intellectual Philos- 
 phy. In 1892 he was appointed by President 
 
 BAILEY, George Cross, physician and surgeon, 
 was born in Northampton, England, October 20, 
 1842, son of Samuel and Mary (Cross) Bailey. He 
 was brought by his parents to America when three 
 years of age. They settled in Unadilla, Otsego 
 county. New York, where he received as complete 
 an education as the school facilities of that place 
 permitted. He commenced the study of medicine 
 at the age of seventeen with Dr. Joseph Sweet of 
 Unadilla and Dr. George W. Avery of Norwich, 
 New York. In 1863 he enlisted in the Eighty-ninth 
 Regiment New York Volmiteers, and passed an ex- 
 amination as hospital sy^^^rd. He acted as regi- 
 mental surgeon until ^/close of the war, and was 
 with his regiment at tft/ surrender of General Lee 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 at Appomattox. In 1865 he entered the Department 
 of Medicine of the University of New York, and in 
 1866 the Long Island College Hospital. He com- 
 menced the practice of medicine in Andover, Ash- 
 
 his early business training with the extensive firm of 
 Mead, Lacy & Co., New York, with whom he was 
 shipping clerk from 1864 to 1868; at the close of 
 the war the firm ranked second or third in the country 
 as wholesale grocers and government contractors. 
 During the civil war he was First Lieutenant in Com- 
 pany D First Regiment Rhode Island Militia, in 
 1863. In June 1868 he went West on account of his 
 health, and settled in Kansas. Owing to two visita- 
 tions of grasshoppers, drought and floods, followed 
 by the financial panic of 1873, the loss of his wife 
 after an illness of five days, and the destruction of 
 his house by fire, he abandoned Kansas and returned 
 to the East. He determined to adopt medicine 
 as his profession, and graduated from the Medical 
 School of the University of New York, March 20, 
 1879. I"^ ^879 ^^ settled in Centerdale, R. I., 
 where he has secured a large pi'actice. He is Visit- 
 ing Physician of the Rhode Island Homoeopathic 
 Hospital and a member of the Board of Trustees. 
 He was elected President of the Board of Health of 
 the town of Johnston in 1892, and is Medical Ex- 
 aminer for the Fourth District of Providence County. 
 
 GEO, C, BAILEY. 
 
 tabula county, Ohio. He subsequently returned to 
 Delaware county, near his old home, continuing the 
 practice of his profession there until 1879, when he 
 removed to Westerly, R. I., where he has since re- 
 mained in successful and remunerative practice. 
 He is a member of Franklin Lodge, No. 20, A. F. 
 and A. M. ; Palmer Chapter, No. 28, Royal Arch 
 Masons ; Narragansett Commandery,No. 2 7,Knights 
 Templar, and Hella Temple N. M. S., Texas. He 
 married, April 6, 1867, Miss Lavantia Case; they 
 have one daughter, Mary Ada Bailey. 
 
 BARNARD, Charles Alonzo, homoeopathic phy- 
 sician, was born in Milledgeville, Ga., August 16, 
 1843, son of William H. and Nancy C. (Perry) Bar- 
 nard. He is descended from Peregrine White, the 
 first white child born in New England. His family 
 is connected with the Paine and Aldrich families, of 
 English descent, both of vvhich have coats of arms. 
 He received his early educ^-j^^n in the public schools 
 of Providence, and gradual^/ Mrom the scientific de- 
 partment of the high schoc^ 1864. He received 
 
 CHAS. A. BARNARD. 
 
 compnsmg 
 
 Smith field. 
 
 the towns of North Providence and 
 He was President of the Medico- Legal 
 
 Society for two years, from July 1891 to July 1893. 
 
 He was President of the Rhode Island Homoeopathic 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Society for three years, from January 1890 to Janu- 
 ary 1893, the longest term ever held by any indi- 
 vidual. He is a member of the American Institute 
 of Homoeopathy, and of the New York Medico- Legal 
 Society. He is a charter member of Narragansett 
 Lodge, A. O. U. W., and was its first medical 
 examiner. Dr. Barnard has engaged, as a recrea- 
 tion, in breeding blooded horses, and he has some 
 of the most highly bred horses in the country. He 
 has taken no part in politics and has always refused 
 public ofifice. He joined the church at the age of 
 twenty-one and has always been an ardent member 
 of some church ; he has selected the church located 
 where he has lived, seeking to help the people of 
 his own community, and caring more for the sub- 
 stance than the form of his own religion. He has 
 been trustee and treasurer of the Free Baptist 
 Church of Johnston, and member of the Executive 
 Board of the Rhode Island Free Baptist Associa- 
 tion, and was twice elected President of the Rhode 
 Island Free Baptist Social Union. He married, 
 November 29, 1866, Matilda P., widow of Rev. Rob- 
 ert Roberts of Brooklyn, who died September 13, 
 1875; they had children: William H. and Ethel- 
 wyn N. September 6, 188 r, he married Miss Eliz- 
 abeth T. Luther, daughter of Henry G. Luther of 
 Providence ; they had children : Luther, Edith, 
 Mary Brownell and Clinton Barnard ; she died 
 December 31, 1889. On June 9, 1892, he was 
 again married, to Adelaide R. Movvry, daughter of 
 the late John A Mowry of Smithfield, R. I. 
 
 BARROWS, Edwin, President of Insurance 
 Companies, was born in Norton, Mass., January 24, 
 1834, son of Albert and Harriet (Ide) Barrows. 
 He received his early education in the common 
 schools and at Peirce Academy, Middleboro, Mass. 
 He entered Yale College and graduated in the class 
 of 1857. After leaving college he taught a private 
 school in Norton, and was a bookkeeper for several 
 years for Taylor, Symonds & Co., wholesale dry- 
 goods, of Providence. Under President Lincoln's 
 call for nine-months' men he enlisted as a private 
 in the Fourth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, 
 and on going into Camp Joe Hooker, at Middle- 
 boro, was appointed Quartermaster-Sergeant. He 
 served under Gen. Banks in Louisiana until honor- 
 ably discharged after about a year's service. In 
 December 1868, he was elected Secretary and 
 Treasurer of the Firemen's Mutual Insurance Com- 
 pany, and of the Union Mutual Fire Insurance 
 
 Company. In 1880, he was elected President and 
 Treasurer of the two companies, and has held those 
 offices since that time. The business has steadily 
 increased from year to year until at the present 
 time more than eighty million dollars' worth of 
 property is protected by the policies of the two 
 companies. He is a Director of the First National 
 Bank, Providence, and Treasurer of The Rhode 
 
 EDWIN BARROWS. 
 
 Island Bible Society. He has not taken any part in 
 public affairs, but in politics he is a Republican. 
 He married, August 20, 1868, Miss Harriet E. 
 Armington, daughter of Dr. George B. Armington, 
 of Pittsford, Vt; they have children: Edwin 
 Armington, Mary Tomlinson, Anne Ide and Albert 
 Armington Barrows. 
 
 BROWN, Daniel Russell, Governor of Rhode 
 Island 1892-95, was born in Bolton, Conn., March 
 28, 1848, the son of Arba Harrison and Harriet 
 Marilla (Dart) Brown. His early years were spent 
 on his father's farm and in attendance at the dis- 
 trict school. He received his final school education 
 at an academy at Manchester, Conn., and in school 
 at Hartford. After graduation he entered the em- 
 ploy of a hardware me/«thant in Rockville, Conn., 
 and two years later lyecame head salesman of a 
 
6 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 large hardware 
 
 establishment in Hartford. In 
 1870 he removed to Providence where he took 
 charge of the mill-supply store of Cyrus White. 
 He soon formed a partnership with William Butler 
 
 D, RUSSELL BROWN. 
 
 & Son, who purchased Mr. White's business and 
 formed the firm of Butler, Brown & Company. In 
 1877, on the demise of Mr. Butler, Mr. Brown 
 formed the firm of Brown Bros. & Co., consisting 
 of himself, his brother Col. H. Martin Brown, and 
 Charles H. Child, which is now the largest mill- 
 supply establishment in the country. His business 
 relations include banking and other financial enter- 
 prises, and he is Vice-President of the City Savings 
 Bank, President of the Old Colony Co-operative 
 Bank, and holds other offices of business importance 
 and responsibility. He early took an interest in mu- 
 nicipal and state affairs, and was elected to the 
 Common Council of Providence in 1880, serving 
 for four years. He declined a nomination for 
 Mayor in 1886. In 1888 he was Presidential 
 Elector on the Republican ticket. In 1892 he 
 was elected Governor of Rhode Island, receiving a 
 majority of the votes, the first time any candidate 
 had done so since the extension of the franchise. 
 He was re-nominated in 1893 and held over on 
 account of dispute betwe>}ji the two houses of the 
 General Agsembly in rega\l to the counting of the 
 
 votes. In 1894 he again received the nomination 
 of the Republican party and was elected by a 
 plurality of over sixty-five hundred, receiving the 
 largest vote ever cast for a Governor of Rhode 
 Island. He is a member of the Young Men's 
 Christian Association, the Art, Athletic, Advance, 
 Talma, West Side, Pomham and Providence Press 
 clubs, also of the Board of Trade, Business Men's 
 Association, Rhode Island Historical Society, Sons 
 of American Revolution, Rhode Island Art In- 
 stitute, President of the Bethany Home, and 
 member of the Norfolk Club, Boston, and many 
 other social and fraternal organizations. He stands 
 high in the rank of the Masonic order and has 
 served in its most important offices. He married 
 Miss Isabel Barrows, October 14, 1874; they have 
 three children : Milton Barrows, Isabel Russell and 
 Hope Caroline Brown. 
 
 BROWN, Col. H. Martin, merchant and manu- 
 facturer. Providence, was born in Bolton, Conn., 
 April 28, 1850, son of Arba Harrison and Harriet 
 
 H. MARTIN BROWN. 
 
 (Dart) Brown. He comes of Revolutionary ances- 
 try and his father was a prosperous farmer in Bolton 
 and afterwards in Manchester, Conn. He received 
 his early education in the public schools of Bolton 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 and at the high school in Rockville, Conn. At the 
 age of sixteen he entered the drygoods house of the 
 Hon. E. Steven Henry of Rockville, Conn., and five 
 years later was admitted as a partner. In December 
 1887, the firm of Henry & Brown was dissolved by 
 mutual consent. January i, 1888, he entered into 
 partnership with his brother, ex-Governor D. Russell 
 Brown, and Charles H. Child under the firm name 
 of Brown Brothers & Co., which does a large and 
 prosperous business in mill supplies. Mr. Brown is 
 a Director in the National Ring Traveler Company, 
 the Equitable Fire and Marine Insurance Company, 
 of Providence, and the Union Belt Company of 
 Fall River, Mass. He was elected a member of 
 the City Council from the Ninth Ward in 1890. 
 He was appointed Colonel and Chief of Staff by 
 Governor Brown and served in that capacity from 
 1892 to 1895. He is a member of the Adolphoi 
 Lodge, A. F. & A. M., St. John's Commandery, 
 Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American 
 Revolution, also the Hope, Pomham, West Side and 
 Congregational clubs, and the Providence Athletic 
 Association In politics he is a Republican. He 
 married, February 9, 1875, Miss Annie W., daughter 
 of G. L. North of Rockville, Conn ; they have two 
 children : Marion N. and A. Helen Brown. 
 
 member of the Rhode Island Historical Society 
 Sons of the American Revolution, the Philadel- 
 phia Society for University Extension, and a mem- 
 ber of the Board of Trustees of Hartford Theological 
 
 BARSTOW, George Eames, manufacturer, was 
 born in Providence, November 19, 1849, son of Amos 
 Chafee and Emeline Mumford (Eames) Barstow. 
 The Barstow family came from the West Riding of 
 Yorkshire, England, and settled in Hanover, Mass., 
 in 1636. His father, Amos C. Barstow, was one of 
 the most prominent men in the city, in business, 
 religious and public affairs, an ex-Mayor, and the 
 holder of many important positions of trust. He 
 received his education in the public schools and in 
 Mowry & Goff's Classical School. He began his 
 business career at seventeen years of age, acquiring 
 a thorough knowledge of textile manufacturing, and 
 receiving a complete training in business affairs. 
 Besides his successful business career, he has taken 
 an active part in municipal, state and church 
 affairs, and in public education. He was fourteen 
 years a member of the School Committee, and for 
 one year its President. He was for four years a 
 member of the Common Council, and was elected a 
 Representative in the General Assembly in 1894-95, 
 and 1895-96. He took an active part in the forma- 
 tion of the Fourth Ward Republican Club, and for 
 the past four years has been its President. He is a 
 
 GEO. E. BARSTOW. 
 
 Seminary. He married, October 19, 187 1, Miss 
 Drew Symonds ; they have nine children : Caroline 
 Hartwell, George Eames, Jr., Herbert Symonds, 
 Helen Louise, Harold Carleton, Marguerite, Paris, 
 Putnam and Donald Barstow. 
 
 BROWN, Edward Alvin, marketman and dairy 
 farmer, was born in Little Compton, R. I., October 
 22, 1859, son of John C. G. and Maria M. 
 (Brownell) Brown. He is a descendant of Elizabeth 
 Alden, the first white woman born in New England, 
 the daughter of John Alden and Priscilla Mullens. 
 He received his early education in the pubHc schools 
 of his native town and at the Friends' School of 
 Providence. He then took a course at Bryant & 
 Stratton's Business College, Providence. His early 
 business career was in connection with his father's 
 firm, John C. G. Brown & Co., of Little Compton. 
 On January i, 1885, he purchased the business of 
 Benjamin Bateman of Newport, and has continued it 
 since, living in Newport 'for two years, and then re- 
 moving to MicklJetowyf where he is now carrying on. 
 
8 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 in connection with the market business, the largest 
 dairy and poultry farm on the island. He has been 
 Senator in the General Assembly from Middletown 
 since 1892, and is a member of the RepubHcan 
 
 E. A, BKOWN. 
 
 State Central Committee. He has been a Director 
 in the National Exchange Bank and of the Island 
 Savings Bank of Newport since 1891, and he is a 
 member of the Newport Business Men's Association. 
 He married, May 28, 1885, Miss Mabel Tompkins; 
 they have four children : Eugene Irving, Louise, 
 Lawrence Edward and Pauline Brown. 
 
 BUCKLIN, Edward Carrington, Treasurer of 
 the Harris Manufacturing Company, Woonsocket, 
 was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., August 7, 1850, of 
 Thomas P. and Eliza (Comstock) Bucklin. He is 
 a great-grandson of Captain Thomas Bucklin, who 
 answered the alarm sounded on the 19th of April 
 1775, and was one of the "Minute Men" of the 
 war of the Revolution. He received his education 
 at the Lyon's grammar school, Providence, boarding 
 school in Vermont, and Mowry & Goff' s Classical 
 School of Providence. After graduation he lived 
 for two years on the frontier of Colorado, where he 
 was a member of the Governor's Guard in Denver 
 in 1871, For one and aJbalf years he was in a 
 
 commission house in New York, and received a 
 practical training in a cotton mill. In 1878 he 
 was elected Treasurer of the Arkwright Manufact- 
 uring Company, in 1877 Treasurer of the Harris 
 Manufacturing Company, and in 1882 Treasurer of 
 the Interlaken Mills. He is now Treasurer of the 
 Harris Manufacturing Company and the Interlaken 
 Mills, the latter being a reorganization of the Ark- 
 wright Manufacturing Company. He is Vice-Pres- 
 ident of the Providence Land and Wharf Company, 
 and a Director of the National Bank of North 
 America, the Providence Mutual Fire Insurance 
 Company and the Mercantile Mutual Fire Insurance 
 Company. He is a member of the Providence 
 Athletic Association, of the Providence Art Club, 
 
 E. C. BUCKLIN. 
 
 and of the New England Cotton Manufacturers' 
 Association. He married, February 4, 1874, Miss 
 Jessie Howard, daughter of Ex-Governor Henry 
 Howard ; they have had six children : Henry Howard 
 (deceased), Edward Carrington, Jr. (deceased), 
 Harris Howard, Thomas Peck, Janet and Dorothy 
 Bucklin. 
 
 BALLOU, Hon. Latimer Whipit.k, LL. D., Woon- 
 socket, was born in Cumberland, R.I. .March i, 18 12, 
 son of Levi and Hepzibah (Metcalf) Ballon. He 
 is a member of the numerous antl long distinguished 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 family of Ballous that are descended from Maturin 
 Ballou, who was one of the earliest emigrants to 
 America from England, and who in 1745 was a co- 
 proprietor of the Providence Plantations in the 
 Colony of Rhode Island. Latimer W. Ballou at- 
 tended the district schools, and at the age of 
 sixteen was given by his father the option of a 
 collegiate education or a mechanical trade. He 
 chose the latter and became apprentice to a 
 printing firm in Cambridge, Mass., near Harvard 
 University, in which his maternal uncle, Eliab 
 Metcalf, was a partner. After serving his ap- 
 prenticeship, his next two years were spent as assis- 
 tant foreman in the University printing office, Cam- 
 bridge, following which he united in partnership 
 with two others and started the Cambridge Press 
 with which he remained seven years. At this time 
 impaired health admonished him to leave the 
 printing business, and in 1842 he entered into 
 mercantile partnership with his brother-in-law, 
 WiUiam O. Bisbee, at Woonsocket, R. I. Here a 
 few years' experience convinced him that mer- 
 chandise was not his element, and in 1850 he 
 became Cashier of the Woonsocket Falls Bank, 
 and Treasurer of the Woonsocket Institution for 
 Savings, where he proved to be the right man in 
 the right place, having retained these responsible 
 positions ever since, and to the great prosperity of 
 both institutions. In politics, as in finance, his 
 life has been a useful and successful one. Be- 
 longing to the progressive wing of the old Whig 
 party, he naturally advanced into the Republican 
 ranks, and was a prudent counsellor, eloquent 
 speaker and popular leader. He was a Presidential 
 Elector in i860, Delegate to the Republican Na- 
 tional Convention of 1872, and Representative in 
 Congress three successive terms, from 1875 to 
 1 88 1. All these offices he filled with honor to 
 himself, satisfaction to his constituents and benefit 
 to his country. He was a model Congressman, 
 not only as a legislator, but as an exemplary 
 moralist, being an active Vice-President of the 
 Congressional Temperance Society, and in other 
 ways an earnest worker and a shining example. 
 In all matters relating to the education of youth, 
 moral and philanthropic reforms, and the common 
 charities of the general community, Latimer W. 
 Ballou is a practical devotee to human welfare. 
 In religion he is a Universalist, and an emphatic 
 worker and upbuilder of his denomination and all 
 its internal institutions. He has been a model 
 Sunday School teacher, first in Cambridge, and 
 
 later in Woonsocket where he has led the school 
 of the Universalist Society as Superintendent with 
 great success for over fifty years. In the colleges, 
 academies, conventions, conferences and various 
 organizations of the denomination, he has held and 
 adorned many dignified offices, to the pleasure 
 and profit of all concerned. Mr. Ballou was 
 married, October 20, 1836, to Miss Sarah A. Hun- 
 newell of Cambridge, Mass. They had four 
 children: Mary Frances, born August 3, 1837; 
 
 L. W. BALLOU. 
 
 Sarah Jane, born March 20, 1839; Marie Louise, 
 born August 15, 1846, and Henry Latimer Ballou, 
 born October 14, 1841, now Assistant Treasurer 
 of the Woonsocket Institution for Savings, and 
 Treasurer and Trustee of several societies, estates 
 and institutions. 
 
 BOWEN, William Henry, M. D., Providence, 
 was born in Scituate, R. I., April 18, 1840, son of 
 Lyman and Phebe Ann (Burgess) Bowen. His 
 father, born in the same town July 16, 18 15, still 
 survives ; his mother, who was born in Johnston, R. I., 
 May 8, 1822, died August 29, 1856. The Bowen 
 ancestors in America were of English origin and 
 date back to 1640, when Richard and Grififith Bowen 
 came to this country from Glamorganshire, Wales, 
 and settled, the former in Rehoboth, and the latter 
 in Weymouth, Mass. ' Froni these progenitors the 
 
lO 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Bovven families now living in Rhode Island are 
 probably descended. William Henry is a direct 
 descendant of Richard Bovven, who lived and died 
 in Rehoboth. He was born and reared on a farm 
 in the western part of the town of Scituate, the eldest 
 of eight children, three of whom were girls. At an 
 early age he was put to work on the farm, and sent 
 to school only winters. Despite these disadvantages 
 he early developed a taste for books and study, and 
 when not more than twelve years old he had decided 
 to become a doctor. But the family was large and 
 money was scarce, and not much help could be 
 
 Dartmouth College, graduating from that institution 
 as Doctor of Medicine, October 30, 1863, at that 
 time being but twenty-three years of age. He im- 
 mediately commenced practice in the village of 
 Clayville, and after remaining there four years 
 removed to Rockland in the town of Scituate, where 
 he lived for twenty-one years. After practising in 
 the country twenty-five years, he removed in No- 
 vember 1888 to the city of Providence, where he is 
 now actively engaged in an extensive medical prac- 
 tice. Dr. Bowen is a member of the Providence 
 Medical Association and the Rhode Island Medical 
 Society. He is a Mason and a member of St. John's 
 Commandery Knights Templar, and has been Master 
 of Hamilton Lodge and High Priest of Scituate 
 Royal Arch Chapter. In politics he has always been 
 an Independent ; but notwithstanding his indepen- 
 dence, he was elected to the School Committee of 
 the town of Scituate for ten successive years, and was 
 nine years Superintendent of Schools. Dr. Bowen 
 is quiet and reserved in manner, but decided and 
 fearless when assailed, and always prompt, active, 
 straightforward and self-reliant. He labors hard to 
 keep abreast with the best scientific thought and the 
 improvement of the times, and whatever measure of 
 success in life he may have achieved has been due 
 to his own exertion, perseverance and hard work. 
 He was married, February 22, [865, to Miss Phebe 
 Smith Aldrich, daughter of Arthur Fenner Aldrich, 
 who for many years was a leading citizen of Scituate ; 
 two daughters and five sons were born to this union, 
 four of whom are living : Cora Aldrich, Harry Lyman, 
 William Henry and Frank Aldrich Bowen. 
 
 WM, H. BOWEN. 
 
 expected from his father; so at the age of fourteen 
 he went to work for a neighboring farmer, in order 
 to earn money for his education. As soon as he 
 had saved enough for the purpose, he entered Smith- 
 ville Seminary, walking daily to and from the school, 
 a distance of four miles. In this way, by working 
 out, and after a time by teaching school, he was able 
 in five years, through hard work, rigid economy and 
 close application, to prepare for college, and also to 
 take extra courses in chemistry and the French lan- 
 guage. Three of the five years were spent at East 
 Greenwich Academy. At the age of nineteen he 
 entered the office of Dr. Charles H.Fisher, in North 
 Scituate, and commenced the study of medicine. 
 After the necessary preliminary study he entered 
 
 BUFFUM, William Potter, civil engineer, New- 
 port, was born in Middletown, R. I., August 29, 
 1858, son of Thomas B. and Lydia R. (Potter; 
 Buffum. He is descended from (Quaker ancestry; 
 his father, Thomas B. Buffum, his grandfather David 
 Buffum, and his great grandfather David Buffum, 
 were prominent in the Newport branch of the de- 
 nomination ; the first of the name in the country, 
 Robert Buffum, who came to Salem, Mass , about 
 1634, was a Quaker, and the majority of the family 
 have since belonged to that sect. He received his 
 early education in private schools at Newport and 
 at the Friends' School in Providence, from which 
 he graduated in 1875. He then entered Brown 
 University and graduated in the class of 1S79. He 
 devoted himself to farming in Middletown until 
 1886, when he entered the office of J. P. Cotton, 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 II 
 
 civil engineer, at Newport, and remained with him 
 for six years and a half. Since August 1892, he has 
 carried on the business of civil engineering inde- 
 pendently. He was elected a Representative from 
 Newport in the Rhode Island General Assembly in 
 
 W. p. BUFFUM. 
 
 1894 and re-elected in 1895, and has been a mem- 
 ber of the Board of Reference of the Charity Or- 
 ganization of Newport since 1887. He is a mem- 
 ber of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity, Ninigret 
 Lodge, and the Newport Business Men's Association. 
 He married, April 5, 1883, Miss Joanna Sophia 
 Kimber of Germantown, Pa. ; they have three chil- 
 dren : Margaret, William P., Jr., and Marnuiduke 
 Cope Euffum 
 
 BARNEY, Walier Hammond, attorney-at-law, 
 Providence, was born in Providence, September 20, 
 1855, ^^^ son of Josiah K. and Susan H. (Ham- 
 mond) Barney. He is descended on both sides 
 from old Massachusetts families, the Barneys, Pecks, 
 Hammonds and Browns, who were distinguished in 
 the Revolutionary and Colonial services. He is 
 also connected on both sides with Commodore 
 Oliver H. Perry. He received his early education 
 in the public schools of Providence and Pawtucket, 
 R. I., and Silver City, Nevada, and attended Mowry 
 & Goff's Classical School in Providence from 1868 
 
 to 1872, graduating with the valedictory. He grad- 
 uated from Brown University in the class of 1876 
 with the degree of A. B., receiving that of A. M. in 
 1879; he was the valedictorian of his class. He 
 studied law in the office of Colwell & Colt (Hon. 
 Francis Colwell, now City Solicitor, and Hon. 
 Le Baron B. Colt, now Judge of the United States 
 Circuit Court of Appeals), and was admitted to the 
 Rhode Island bar in February 1879. He practiced 
 by himself from 1879 to 1882, and then was associ- 
 ated with his old instructor, Hon. Francis Colwell, 
 until 1893, since which time he has been by him- 
 self. His principal practice is in equity and cor- 
 poration law. He has taken an active interest in 
 public affairs. He was a member of the General 
 Assembly in 1889-90; has been a member of the 
 School Committee from 1889 to the present time, 
 and its President since 1890 ; and was a member of 
 the Common Council in 1891-92-93 and '95. He 
 is a member of the Providence Athletic Association, 
 the Elmwood and Pomham clubs, the Providence 
 Whist Club and the Narragansett Whist Club, of 
 
 W. H. BARNEY. 
 
 which latter he is the President. He was one of 
 the organizers of the American Whist League, and 
 was its Secretary from its origin, in 1891, to the 
 present year, when he was elected Vice-President. 
 He has been Presidf^tit of the New England Whist 
 
12 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Association since its organization. In politics he is 
 a Republican He married, June i, 1882, Miss 
 Sarah Lydia, daughter of Ezra I. Walker ; they have 
 one child : Walter H., Jr. 
 
 BARKER, William, Dental Surgeon, Providence, 
 was born in Springfield, Mass., August 5, 1842, son 
 of William S. and Hersey (Knowlton) Barker. 
 His father was a son of Deacon Nathan Barker, 
 who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war ; his 
 mother was a daughter of Nathan Knowlton of 
 
 WILLIAM BARKER. 
 
 Wilbraham, Mass. All his grandparents moved to 
 Massachusetts from Ashford, Conn., and settled in 
 adjoining^towns. Their ancestors were among the 
 earliest settlers of New England, and were all of 
 English lineage. His father died when he was but 
 twelve years of age, leaving his mother with six 
 children, and a heavy debt on the farm, too heavy 
 to permit her to liquidate it. The family were 
 necessarily scattered and he found a home with a 
 Wilbraham farmer, where he had a school privilege 
 of three months in the year, with a three-mile walk 
 to attend it. He worked on a farm until 1S59, 
 attending the district schools, and was for a short 
 time at the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham. He 
 has obtained the greater part of his education by 
 private study, reading the best literature he could 
 
 obtain, studying nights and Sundays, and literally 
 " burning the midnight oil." The breaking out of 
 the war ot the Rebellion found him in New York 
 engaged in mercantile pursuits. On April ig, 1861, 
 he entered the Seventy-first Regiment N. Y. S. M., 
 tor three months, gomg to Annapolis by steamer, 
 making with the First Rhode Island the somewhat 
 famous " first march of the war" from Annapolis to 
 Annapolis Junction — " Only Nine Miles to the 
 Junction." Just previous to the advance of the 
 troops into Virginia, which led to the first battle of 
 Bull Run, he and some hundreds of others were 
 discharged by reason of disability, at which he was 
 much mortified, being eager to take part in the 
 battle. He again engaged in mercantile pursuits 
 until August 1862, when he enlisted in the First 
 Massachusetts Cavalry for three years or during the 
 war, and served in the Army of the Potomac most 
 of the time as orderly and bugler, participating in 
 nearly all the engagements of his term of service. 
 He then engaged in various occupations, the mer- 
 cantile, mechanical and insurance business occupy- 
 ing him at different times. He spent about two 
 years in Kansas and Minnesota, drifting back to 
 New England and into the practice of dentistry in 
 Suffield, Conn., in 1875, remaining there, however, 
 but a short time. From there he went to Browns- 
 ville, Texas, and Matamoras, Mexico, where he re- 
 mained only long enough to convince himself that 
 New England was the best place for him. He first 
 opened an office in this state in East Greenwich, 
 and in 1876 removed to Providence. He pursued 
 a course of study in the Boston Dental College, 
 securing his degree of D. D. S. in 1880. He 
 was elected Professor of Operative Dentistry at 
 the Boston Dental College in 1886, occupying the 
 chair for four years, when he resigned. He is a 
 member of the Rhode Island Dental Society and 
 was one of its first Presidents ; of the New England 
 Dental Society and one of its Presidents ; of the 
 American Academy of Dental Science, and an ex- 
 member of the American Dental Association and 
 the Connecticut Valley Dental Society. He is 
 President of the Rhode Island Single Tax League, 
 an office to which he attaches more honor than any 
 he has ever held. He is a member of the Provi- 
 dence Athletic Association, the Grand Army of the 
 Republic and various other army organizations. In 
 1866 he married Miss Jane E. Mellows of Spring- 
 field, Mass., who died in 1872, leaving one daugh- 
 ter : Beatrice J. In 1878, he married Miss Charlotte 
 B. Farnum of Providence. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 13 
 
 BARSTOW, Amos Chafee, iron founder, Provi- 
 dence, was born in Providence, November 2, 1848, 
 the son of Amos Chafee and Emeline Mumford 
 (Eames) Barstow. He is a descendant of William 
 Barstow, who came from Yorkshire, England, and 
 settled in Massachusetts in 1636. His grandfather, 
 Nathaniel Barstow, came from Hanover to Provi- 
 dence early in life, and his father, Hon. Amos C. 
 Barstow, was born in Providence in 1813, and was 
 for many years identified with the growth of his 
 native city, having been one of the early Mayors of 
 Providence, and prominent in temperance, in poli- 
 
 AMOS C. BARSTOW. 
 
 tics and in religious work. Mr. Barstow received 
 his early education in the public grammar schools, 
 and in Ladd & Mowry's, afterwards Mowry & Goff' s 
 English and Classical High School. He lacked 
 about a year of completing preparation for college, 
 when on account of illness a college course was 
 abandoned, and after two years' training in office 
 work he made a vovage to California, before the 
 completion of the first through railroad, spending a 
 few months in travel, after which his business life 
 was begun in earnest. He began his business 
 career in February 1866, with the Barstow Stove 
 Company, iron founders. This business had been 
 started by his father in 1836 and was incorporated 
 in 1859. He was elected Treasurer in 1869, and 
 has since continued in that office, having been man- 
 
 ager of the business the greater part of the time. 
 He was elected President in February 1895, suc- 
 ceeding his father in this office a few months after 
 the latter's death, which occurred in September 
 1894. He served as a Director in the Commercial 
 National Bank of Providence for twelve years, com- 
 mencing January 6, 1879, representing a family in- 
 terest on his wife's side. (Mrs. Barstow's grand- 
 father, Nathan Mason, had been for many years a 
 Director in this bank.) He has been a Director of 
 the City National Bank of Providence since January 
 9, 1877, and in the Slater Cotton Company of Paw- 
 tucket since 1889. He was Vice-President of the 
 Providence & Springfield Railroad several years and 
 arranged the sale of that property to the New York & 
 New England Railroad in 1890, and has been con- 
 nected with other railroad corporations. In 1873 
 and 1874 he was a Colonel on Governor Howard's 
 personal staff. He was elected a Representative to 
 the General Assembly on the Republican ticket in 
 1888, and shared in the general defeat of that ticket 
 the two succeeding years. On returning from a 
 journey in France, Italy, Austria and Germany, he 
 married, June 27, 1876, Miss Grace Mason Palmer, 
 daughter of the late John Barstow Palmer, a well- 
 known and successful manufacturing jeweler of 
 Providence, whose mother was a Barstow from a 
 Connecticut family, but the relationship is too re- 
 mote to trace ; they have had four children : Amos 
 Chafee, Jr., who died in June 1879, aged two years, 
 Mary Mason, John Palmer and Grace Emeline 
 Barstow. 
 
 BALT.OU, Barton Allan, manufacturing jeweler, 
 Providence, was born in Cumberland, R. I., October 
 25, 1835, son of Barton and Deborah Catherine 
 (Rathbone) Ballou. He is descended in the sixth 
 generation from Maturin Ballou, one of the early 
 settlers of Providence and a contemporary of Roger 
 Williams. His father. Barton Ballou, graduated 
 from Brown University in the class of 181 3 ; he was 
 the son of Levi Ballou, Esq., of Cumberland, who 
 was a prominent citizen of his town and state. His 
 maternal grandparents were Abraham Borden 
 Rathbone and Waity Thomas of ^\'ickford, R. I. 
 His early education was obtained in the public 
 schools of his native town. His father died before 
 he had completed his ninth year, leaving the widow 
 and children to depend upon their own resources. 
 At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to learn 
 the jewelers' trade in Providence. During the long 
 depression in the jewelry business which followed 
 
14 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 the panic of 1857, he became for a few years a 
 resident of New Hampshire. He enlisted in the 
 army, and was largely influential in organizing a 
 military company that formed a part of the Six- 
 teenth Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers. He 
 was elected Lieutenant, and served with his regi- 
 ment under the command of General Banks in the 
 Department of the Gulf. He began his career as a 
 manufacturing jeweler early in 1878, and in a few 
 months formed with his brother-in-law, the late 
 John J. Fry, the firm since known as B. A. Ballou & 
 Co., which acquired and has maintained a high rep- 
 
 B. A. BALLOU. 
 
 utation in the business. He is an official member 
 of the National Free Religious Association and an 
 active member of the Free Religious Society of 
 Providence, always on the executive committee and 
 at one time its president. He is a member and 
 supporter of the Union for Christian work, a Director 
 of the Manufacturing Jewelers' Board of Trade, a 
 member of the Manufacturing Jewelers' Association, 
 the Advance Club, and other organizations based 
 on the idea of the common good. In politics he is 
 a Republican, but not sufficiently partisan to engage 
 in active political work. He married, May 7, 1858, 
 Miss Delia A. Wesley, who died without children. He 
 was again married, November 28, 1867, to Miss Mary 
 Rathbone Kelley ; they have three children : Fred- 
 erick Allan, Charles Rathbone and Alice May Ballou. 
 
 CARR, George Wheaton, M. D , Providence, 
 was born in Warwick, R. I., January 31, 1834, son 
 of John and Maria (Brayton) Carr. He is a de- 
 scendant in the seventh generation of Robert Carr 
 of Portsmouth and Newport, R. I., who was born in 
 England in 16 14 and died in Newport in 1681, 
 leaving six children. Robert and Caleb Carr, broth- 
 ers, sailed from London in the ship Elizabeth and 
 Ann in 1635, and settled in Newport, R. L Caleb 
 was subsequently Justice of General Quarter Sessions 
 and the Court of Common Pleas, and in 1695 be- 
 came Governor of the State of Rhode Island, under 
 the Royal Charter. Both Robert and Caleb had 
 families, and became large landed proprietors, 
 owners of Gould and Rose islands at Newport, with 
 nearly the whole of Dutch and Conanicut islands, 
 and extensive tracts of land in Narragansett and 
 Coweset, purchased chiefly of the Indians. Robert's 
 son Caleb married Phillis Greene, lived in James- 
 town, R. I., and died there in 1690. The latter's 
 son Robert, born in Jamestown in 1683, married 
 Hannah Hall, and had three children, and died in 
 Warren, R. I. His son Caleb, of Newport, born 
 there in 17 19, married Ruth Miller and had ten 
 children, and died in 1767. His son Caleb, of 
 Warren, was born there in 1743, and married LiUis 
 Barton of Warren, a cousin of Gen. William Barton, 
 and granddaughter of Governor Samuel Gorton, who 
 though suffering much at the hands of Massachu- 
 setts, came off finally triumphant, and in 165 1 was 
 Governor of the United Colonies of Providence and 
 Warwick. Captain Caleb Carr and his son. Captain 
 John (born in Warren in 1771 and died there in 
 1815, having married Patty Davis and had eight 
 children), were joint owners of the brig Rambler, 
 which sailed from Baltimore in February i799> under 
 the command of Captain John Carr, was captured 
 by a French privateer sailing under the authority of 
 the French Republic, and was subsequently taken 
 from them by a Spanish man-of-war, carried into 
 the port of Barracoa and sold ; the claim arising 
 from this case was allowed by Congress under the 
 provisions of tlie French Spoliation Act, and amounts 
 to a considerable sum, not yet paid. John's son 
 John, of Warwick, who was born in Warren in 1795, 
 married in 1824 Maria Brayton, had six children, 
 and died in 1873, was the father of the subject of 
 this sketch. As indicative of his thoroughly Rhode 
 Island ancestry, and to illustrate the custom of inter- 
 marriage among the older families of the colonies, it 
 may be stated that he is descended from a large 
 number of prominent Rhode Island families, among 
 
/X/^^^^^y^ yVr ^<^=s^<y^ 
 
 J 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 15 
 
 others those of Brayton, Greene, Almy, Barton, Law, 
 Rhodes, Arnold, Hail, Miller, Watson and Gorton. 
 George Wheaton Carr prepared for college at the 
 Fruit Hill Classical Institute, at that time a flour- 
 ishing seminary, and entered Brown University in 
 1853, graduating in the class of 1857 with the degree 
 of Master of Arts. He was elected and served 
 as Class Poet, and delivered the class poem on 
 class day in Manning Hall. On leaving college he 
 entered upon the study of medicine in the office 
 of Dr. J. W. C. Ely, Providence. He pursued his 
 studies at the National Medical College in Wash- 
 ington and in the University of Pennsylvania, grad- 
 uating from the latter institution with the degree 
 of Doctor of Medicine in i860. Returning to 
 Providence he entered upon the practice of medi- 
 cine and surgery, became Surgeon to the Providence 
 Cadets and later was appointed Assistant Surgeon 
 General of the State. The civil war broke out the 
 following year and he was called away from private 
 life. With other members of the General Staff of 
 the State he was transferred to the first troops raised 
 in Rhode Island, and commissioned Assistant Sur- 
 geon of the First Regiment Rhode Island Detached 
 Militia, commanded by Colonel (afterwards Gen- 
 eral) A. E. Burnside. He continued with the 
 regiment during its short but active service, serving 
 under General Patterson in Maryland and General 
 Winfield Scott at the battle of Bull Run. After 
 the First Regiment was mustered out he was ap- 
 pointed Assistant Surgeon of the Second Rhode 
 Island Volunteers, under Colonel (now General) 
 Frank Wheaton, and was subsequently promoted 
 to the post of Surgeon, serving in that capacity 
 and as brigade operating surgeon, and as brigade 
 surgeon in the Fourth and Sixth Army Corps, and 
 in General Couch's Division, in the battles of 
 Yorktown, Mechanicsville, Gaines Mill, Fair Oaks, 
 Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericks- 
 burg, the Wilderness, Gettysburg, Mine Run, 
 Rappahannock, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Han- 
 over Junction, and in other engagements. At the 
 close of the war Dr. Carr resumed the practice of 
 his profession in Providence. He was admitted 
 to the Rhode Island State Medical Society and 
 to the Providence Medical Association in i860, 
 and from March 1870 to March 1872 was President 
 of the latter organization. He was appointed 
 Physician of the Rhode Island State Prison in 
 July 1868, and filled that position until the re- 
 moval of that institution from Providence in 1878. 
 In 1868 he was appointed United States Examin- 
 
 ing Surgeon of Pensioners, and served twenty-five 
 years ; was Surgeon of the Rhode Island Hospital 
 twenty years, receiving his appointment in 1868 
 and resigning in 1888 ; and was six years a member 
 of the Board of Examiners of the Rhode Island 
 Medical Society. He has been closely identified 
 with the State Militia and National Guard, serving 
 as Brigade Surgeon many years ; on the reorgan- 
 ization of the State Mihtia he was made Medical 
 Director, and served in that capacity thirteen years. 
 He was the first Surgeon of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic in the state, and for several years was 
 Medical Director of that body. He is also Consult- 
 ing Physician of the Butler Hospital for the Insane, 
 Consulting Surgeon of the Rhode Island Hospital 
 and of St. EHzabeth's Home, and a member of the 
 American Medical Association, American Academy 
 of Medicine, and the Association of Military Sur- 
 geons of the National Guard. Dr. Carr was mar- 
 ried, April 17, 1871, to Miss Imogen Matthewson, 
 a Hneal descendant of Dr. John Hoyle, prominent 
 in the early annals of the city of Providence, whose 
 character and benevolence not only made their im- 
 press upon the history of his time, but have perpet- 
 uated his name to the present day ; and who in 
 1710-20, when the fires of religious controversy 
 raged fiercely throughout the New England Colonies, 
 proved himself, by deed and by gift, the defender 
 and patron of freedom in religious worship. They 
 had one child : George Wheaton Carr, Jr., born 
 November 12, 1879, died March 16, 1881. 
 
 COLWELL, FRANCis,City Solicitor of Providence, 
 was born in Cranston, R. I., April 7, 1833, the son 
 of Francis and Harriet B. (Tucker) Colwell. He is 
 a lineal descendant of Robert Colwell, who came to 
 Rhode Island with Roger Williams, and the family 
 became connected with that of Williams by mar- 
 riage, and located in the town of Glocester. His 
 father, Francis Colwell, was a prominent physician 
 of Providence for many years. The subject of this 
 sketch was educated in the public schools of Provi- 
 dence, and entered Brown University in 1852, but 
 did not graduate. He adopted the law as a pro- 
 fession and entered the office of the late Hon. 
 Abraham Payne, whose partner he became after his 
 admission to the Rhode Island bar in 1856. He 
 has since practised his profession in Providence, 
 and has taken a somewhat active part in public 
 affairs. Early in his professional life he was elected 
 Judge of the old Court of Magistrates, and held the 
 
 / 
 
i6 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 office for several years under re-election. He was 
 elected City Solicitor in 1866. He was a member 
 of the House of Representatives in the General As- 
 sembly for several years, and was elected Senator in 
 1875-76 and again in 1884. He was a member of 
 
 FRANCIS COLWELL. 
 
 the Common Council in 1870 and President of that 
 body in 1875-76, was again elected to the office of 
 City Solicitor in 1892, and has since held that posi- 
 tion. He is a member of the Rhode Island Bar 
 Club, and of several social associations. He was 
 for four years President of the Unitarian Club. In 
 politics he is a Republican. He married, March 
 17, 1864, Miss Anna F. Packard, daughter of Henry 
 Packard of Providence ; they have had two chil- 
 dren : Augusta M. (deceased) and Henry F. Colwell, 
 a banker in Boston. 
 
 CHILD, Benjamin Ham, Chief of Police of the 
 City of Providence, was born in Providence, May 
 8, 1843, son of John Griswold and Mary Ann 
 (Ham) Child, the former a native of Connecticut 
 and the latter of Providence. He attended the 
 common schools in Providence until fourteen years 
 of age, when he was apprenticed to Granville 
 Greenleaf, a wireworker in Westminster Street. 
 He was a youth of eighteen at the opening of the 
 civil war, and in June 1861 he enlisted as private, 
 
 and was mustered into the United States service in 
 the Second Rhode Island Battery, afterwards Bat- 
 tery A, First Regiment, Rhode Island Light Artil- 
 lery, for three years, or for the war. At the first 
 Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, he was slightly 
 wounded, and in August following was promoted to 
 corporal. He was again slightly wounded at the 
 Battle of Antietam, on which occasion he was pro- 
 moted to Sergeant. At Gettysburg, in Pickett's 
 charge, he received a severe wound — " shot through 
 the left shoulder," — and was sent to the Satterlee 
 Hospital at West Philadelphia. And in August 1863 
 he was commissioned Second Lieutenant of Battery 
 A (afterwards transferred to Battery H, same regi- 
 ment) by Governor James Y. Smith. After serving 
 forty-three months in the Second Army Corps, 
 Army of the Potomac, and three times wounded, 
 he was honorably discharged on account of wounds, 
 by special order of General Meade, commanding 
 the Army of the Potomac. In 1868 he was ap- 
 pointed patrolman in the police department of 
 Providence, by Mayor Thomas A. Doyle, and was 
 successively promoted to Doorman of Station i in 
 
 B. H. CHILD. 
 
 1874, Sergeant of Station 4 in 1S77, Captain in 1879, 
 and was appointed Chief of Police, January 5, 188 1. 
 He is Past Department Commander of the Rhode 
 Island G. A. R., Past Grand Chancellor K. of P. of 
 Rhode Island, also a member of Swarts Lodge No. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 17 
 
 18, I. O. O. F., and Massachusetts Commandery of 
 the military order Loyal Legion of the United 
 States. In politics he is a Republican. He was 
 married November 14, 1872, to Mrs. Ruth Avery; 
 they have one daughter : Mary Elizabeth Avery, who 
 married Abner E. Claflin, of Providence, November 
 12, 1895. 
 
 COGGESHALL, Chandler Hall, farmer, Bris- 
 tol, was born in Bristol, son of Wilbour B. and 
 Eliza J. (Coggeshall) Coggeshall. He is descended 
 
 1893, being on various important committees and 
 now a member of the Finance Committee. In 
 politics he is a Republican. He is not married. 
 
 C. H. COGGESHALL. 
 
 from an old and honored Rhode Island family, 
 his ancestor, John Coggeshall, having been the 
 first President of the Colony of Rhode Island. He 
 received his early education in the public schools 
 of Bristol, and graduated from the high school, and 
 subsequently from Schofield's Commercial College 
 of Providence. He has since successfully followed 
 agricultural pursuits in Bristol. He has taken an 
 active part in public affairs. He has been a member 
 of the School Committee since 1884. He has been 
 a member of the Board of Managers of the Rhode 
 Island College of Agricultural and Mechanic Arts 
 since its establishment and is now President of that 
 body. He was a Representative from his native 
 town in the General Assembly for seven vears from 
 1883 to 1890, and has served as State Senator since 
 
 CARPENTER, Phanuel Bishop, physician, was 
 born in Seekonk, Mass., January 8, 1832, son of Job 
 and Eliza (Bishop) Carpenter. He is the de- 
 scendant of William Carpenter, one of three 
 brothers, who left England on account of the perse- 
 cution of the Quakers, and settled in Weymouth, 
 Mass., in 1838. His son William settled in Reho- 
 both, now Seekonk, in 1645, where he was town 
 clerk and delegate to the Plymouth General Court. 
 His descendants occupied prominent positions in 
 town affairs and took part in the Colonial and Rev- 
 olutionary wars. Dr. Carpenter received his early 
 education in the public schools and took a course 
 in Worcester Academy. He began self-support at 
 an early age, and was four years in the dry-goods 
 business. For six years he conducted a boot and 
 shoe business in Providence and Pawtucket, and for 
 
 p. B. CARPENTER. 
 
 five years was engaged in the manufacture of jewelry. 
 During his active business life he was pursuing 
 a system of self-education with a view to the adop- 
 tion of the medical profession, and in 1868 he com- 
 menced the regular study of medicine in the office 
 
 /, 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 of Dr. George D. Wilcox of Providence where he re- 
 mained for two years. He entered Harvard Medi- 
 cal College in 1870 and took a course of study in 
 the Eclectic Medical College of New York, and a 
 course in the Eclectic Medical College of Pennsyl- 
 vania, graduating from the latter in 1872. From 
 1872 to the present time he has been in active 
 practice in Providence. He has been a member oi 
 the Rhode Island Homoeopathic Medical Society 
 for twenty-two years. He is a member of Union 
 Lodge, No. 10, A. F. & A. M., of Pawtucket, R. I. ; 
 Unity Lodge, I. O. O. F. ; Mazeppa Encampment, 
 I. O. O. F. ; and Excelsior Lodge, Knights of Honor, 
 of Providence, R. I. He has not taken an active part 
 in public life, but in politics he is a Republican. 
 In his religious views he is " broad, liberal, and 
 modern." " Although his ancestors were Quakers 
 in the strictest sense, and worshipped under the 
 rigid doctrine of that sect, he himself throws aside 
 all creeds and dogmas, believing earnestly in the 
 progress of the human race and of the spirit after 
 death, which, together with the daily practice of the 
 Golden Rule, must ultimately bring man to that 
 perfection in the future world as designed for him 
 by the Creator." He has had five children : Lita 
 Barney, died in 1866 aged two years, William 
 Huckins, Phanuel Bishop, Jr., Mary Eliza and 
 Hattie Ella Carpenter. 
 
 CARROLL, Hugh Joseph, attorney-at-law, was 
 born in Lippitt, one of the villages of the town of 
 Warwick, R. I., October 29, 1854, the son of Hugh 
 Carroll and Ann (McElhaney) Carroll. His parents 
 came from County Monayhan, Ireland. He was edu- 
 cated in the public school at Phenix, near by, and pre- 
 pared for college by Rev. John A. Couch, Catholic 
 pastor of that place and an old time classical scholar. 
 He received his college training at Niagara, N. Y., 
 University and at St. Laurent's College, near Mon- 
 treal, P. Q. He studied law with Attorney-General 
 Willard Sayles and his partner. Judge Wm. H. Greene, 
 and wasadmitted to the bar August 27,1877. In 1888 
 he located in Pawtucket where he has since resided. 
 When he attained his majority Mr. Carroll entered 
 heartily into politics as a Democrat, his chief object 
 being the abolition of the property qualification, then 
 a requisite for voting in Rhode Island, for natural- 
 ized citizens of all kinds, but now repealed. Since 
 then he has served his city in the General Assembly 
 several terms and has been Mayor twice. During 
 his last term of office in 1890 occurred the centen- 
 
 nial of the founding of the cotton industry in the 
 United States by Samuel Slater. Mr. Carroll obtained 
 a large appropriation from the General Assembly, 
 which with a similar amount appropriated by the city, 
 enabled Pawtucket to have a week's exhibition which 
 extended the reputation of that busy city through- 
 out the mechanical and manufacturing world ; Rev. 
 Edward Everett Hale assisted at the celebration and 
 took a most lively interest in it. As Mr. Carroll's 
 people were of the hardy, working peasant class of 
 Ireland, he has always been active in Irish national 
 and laboring matters. He introduced the present 
 
 HUGH J. CARROLL. 
 
 ten-hour law for the state, and has always tried to 
 settle any differences between capital and labor, and 
 has succeeded whenever his advice prevailed among 
 strikers. He takes pride in the development of 
 Pawtucket, and is always active in promoting its 
 interests. In 1880 he married Sarah M., daughter 
 of James and Alice Washerton of Phenix, R. I ; 
 they have a family of four children. 
 
 CHAGNON, Charles Emile, physician and 
 pharmacist, was born in St. Dominique, Province of 
 Quebec, Canada, October 7, 1863, son of J. B. and 
 Victoria (Des Noyers) Chagnon. His family is of old 
 Norman descent and came to Canada in 1750. He 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 19 
 
 received his early education in the common schools. 
 He attended the Seminary of St. Hyacinthe, Can- 
 ada, from 1875 to 1879, and the college of Ste. Marie 
 de Monnoir in 1883-85. From 1879 to 1883 he 
 was engaged in the drug business with his father in 
 
 CHAS. E. CHAGNON. 
 
 Fall River, Mass. In 1885, shortly after leaving col- 
 lege, he went to New Orleans during the World's 
 Exhibition, and while there became interested in a 
 company to explore the gold region of Honduras. 
 He remained in Central America for three years, 
 visiting all five of the republics and travelling in all 
 parts of that wild country. While there he perfected 
 his linguistic acquirements, so that he speaks fluently 
 Spanish and Portuguese as well as French and 
 English. On his return to New England he en- 
 tered the Medical Department of the University of 
 Vermont, and continued the study of medicine at 
 the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore 
 from which he graduated in 1890. After gradu- 
 ating he entered his father's office in Fall River, 
 and practised with him for six months, after which 
 he opened an office in Centerville, R. I. He is a 
 registered pharmacist and proprietor of the" Family 
 Drug Store," one of the finest drug stores in the 
 Pawtuxet Valley, with one of the best clicnicles of 
 any young physician in the state. He is now serving 
 his third term as Councilman for the town of War- 
 
 wick. In politics he is a Republican " in every 
 sense of the word," but does not let party govern 
 his actions in matters of public welfare. He is a 
 member of the Odd Fellows fraternity ; of Washing- 
 ton Lodge, No. II, Knights of Pythias ; Red Men; 
 Foresters ; St. John the Baptist Society of Center- 
 ville ; the Providence Athletic Association, and the 
 Rhode Island Mortar and Pestle Club. He married, 
 August 4, 1891, Miss Victorine Beaudry ; they have 
 three children : Estelle, Colombe, and Teannette 
 Chagnon. 
 
 COOK, Samuel Penny, City Treasurer of Woon- 
 socket, and banker, was born July 20, 1852, in 
 Albion, R. I., the son of Ariel Lindsey and Mary 
 Harris (Phillips) Cook. He received his early 
 education in the public schools of AVoonsocket, and 
 entered the high school, but did not complete the 
 course. He commenced his business career in 
 July 1870 as clerk in the Producers' National Bank, 
 which position he held until August 1885, when he 
 was elected Treasurer of the Producers' Savings Bank, 
 and later Cashier of the Producers' National Bank 
 
 S. p. COOK. 
 
 He has been a Trustree of the Producers' Savings 
 Bank since 1874, and Director of the Producers' 
 National Bank since 1886. He has been Treasurer 
 of the Woonsocket Opera House Company since 
 1889. He was a Director in the Woonsocket Elec- 
 
20 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 trie Machine and Power Company from 1888 to 
 1894; has been Treasurer and Director of the 
 Woonsocket Land Company since 1893 ; Treasurer 
 and Director of the Rhode Island Granite Pressed 
 Brick Company since April 1895, and a Director 
 in the Perforated Pad Company since November 
 1885. He was Town Treasurer of Woonsocket 
 from August 1885 to January 1889, and since 
 that time City Treasurer, and has been Trustee 
 of the Consolidated School District since April 
 1889. He was recorder of Woonsocket Com- 
 mandery Knights Templar from October 1876 to 
 October 1878, and from October 1883 to October 
 1889. In politics he is a Republican. He married, 
 January 31, 1883, Miss Lucia Grey Moses ; they 
 have two children : Theodore Phillips and Gertrude 
 Nourse Cook. 
 
 COYLE, Philip Henry, late Manager of the 
 National Rubber Company, was born in Bristol, R. I., 
 March 31,1858, son of Philip and Sarah Anna (Rohan) 
 Coyle. His father was born in Ireland of old his- 
 toric ancestry, and came to this country when a 
 young man ; he was for a time an instructor in St. 
 Louis, and afterward entered the manufacturing 
 business ; he was killed by an accident before he 
 was forty. His grandfather was never in active 
 business, other than the management of his own 
 estate, and was killed at an early age by being 
 thrown from his horse. His mother was born in 
 Manchester, England, and brought to this country 
 when a child ; she was descended from the early 
 English Methodists, and her ancestors were promi- 
 nent in many notable religious and political move- 
 ments. He received his early education in the 
 public schools of Bristol and afterward at the Rhode 
 Island School of Design. He continued the study 
 of art in the Boston Art School, and later with Jug- 
 laris of Paris. He received many gratifying testi- 
 monials for his talent, but on account of weak eye- 
 sight at the time determined to take up a business 
 career. He entered the employ of the National 
 Rubber Company at Bristol at an early age, and 
 made a thorough study of the business in all its 
 branches under some of the most experienced work- 
 men. He labored in every department and was 
 steadily advanced to positions of responsibility. In 
 1879 he entered the ofifice of the company and was 
 rapidly advanced in important positions until 1889, 
 when the company met with financial losses, and 
 was reorganized. He was the only one of the old 
 
 staff who was retained, with the superintendent, to 
 operate the new concern. In 1892 the superintend- 
 ent died suddenly, and he carried on the business 
 without interruption. In 1893 he was elected Man- 
 ager, and under his management the concern met 
 with great success, the product being doubled, and 
 the factories reconstructed and largely increased. 
 The present capacity for boots and shoes alone is 
 fifty thousand pairs per day, and in addition to this 
 there are other departments, manufacturing a large 
 line of clothing, druggists' goods, mechanical appli- 
 ances, etc. The plant covers about twenty acres, 
 and employs about fifteen hundred people. In 1895 
 
 PHILIP H. COYLE. 
 
 he resigned and entered business for himself. He 
 has taken an active part in public affairs. He was 
 President of the Town Council from 1887 to 1891, a 
 member of the School Committee for six years, and 
 has filled various other political and civic olifices. He 
 is a member of a large number of clubs and socie- 
 ties in the state. In politics he is a Republican. 
 He is not married. 
 
 CRAFTS, Aldert Barnard, attorney-at-law, was 
 born at Milan, N. H., September 4, 185 1, son of 
 Frederick A. and Maria L. (Soule) Crafts. He 
 received his education in the high schools of Edgar- 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 21 
 
 town, Martha's Vineyard, and Brockton, Mass. He 
 graduated from Wesleyan University, Middletown, 
 Conn., in the class of 1871, afterwards receiving 
 the degree of A. M. in course. He adopted the 
 law as a profession, studied in the office of the 
 
 A. B. CRAFTS. 
 
 Hon. Thomas H. Peabody, in Westerly, R. I., and 
 was admitted to the Connecticut and Rhode Island 
 bars in 1875. He has been a member of the firm 
 of Peabody & Crafts and Crafts & Tillinghast, and 
 has since practised by himself in the Rhode Island, 
 Connecticut and United States courts. He has 
 not taken an active part in public life. He is a 
 member of the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows, 
 and the Westerly Business Men's Association. He 
 married, October i, 188 r, Miss Jennie Louisa Blake 
 of Ashaway, R. I , who died November 19, 1884. 
 He married, December 17, 1892, Miss Mary Amittai 
 Stark of Mystic, Conn ; he has no children. 
 
 DAVIS, William Dean, woolen manufacturer, 
 Pi'ovidence, was born in Davisville, North Kings- 
 town, R I., January 26, 1813, son of Jeffry and 
 Elizabeth (Mawney) Davis. He is descended from 
 Aaron Davis, who, November 13, 1694, became 
 one of the proprietors of Dartmouth, Mass., in 
 the confirmatory deed of Governor William Brad- 
 
 ford. Joshua, the son of Aaron, bought the property 
 in North Kingstown, now Davisville, and had a grist- 
 mill there. This property Mr. Davis now owns. 
 His grandson Joshua, Mr. Davis's grandfather, was 
 Major of the Second Regiment of Kings county in 
 the war of the Revolution, and was afterward a 
 Deputy in the General Assembly from North Kings- 
 town. Jeffry, Mr. Davis's father, was for many years 
 a Senator from North Kingstown in the General 
 Assembly. He received his early education in the 
 public schools and in Kingstown Academy. At six- 
 teen years he went into a store in New York and 
 then into one in Philadelphia, remaining in both 
 places about three years. Returning to North Kings- 
 town he took an interest in the manufacturing of 
 woolen goods, which business had been established 
 by his father and uncle in 181 1, with carding 
 machines for custom work, and which was afterward 
 developed into spinning, weaving and cloth finish- 
 ing. In 1850 he bought a woolen mill in Centre- 
 ville, Warwick, R I., which he sold in i860. In 
 1 86 1 he bought the Uxbridge Woolen Mill in Ux- 
 bridge, Mass., which he sold in]i885. In 1884 he 
 
 W. D. DAVIS. 
 
 bought, with others, the Quidnick Mills, and formed 
 the Quidnick Manufacturing Company, in which he 
 still retains an interest. He has been a Represen- 
 tative in the General Assembly from Nortli Kings- 
 
 l 
 ,) 
 
22 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 town and afterward from Warwick. He has been 
 a member of the Squantum Club since 1872. He 
 married, in September 1849, Miss Mary Eleanor 
 Congdon ; they have had four children : Jeffry, 
 Elizabeth Le Moine, William Albert and Mary 
 Congdon Davis ; the last named died in infancy. 
 
 DOWNES, Lewis ' Thomas, President of the 
 What Cheer and Hope Mutual Fire Insurance 
 Companies, Providence, was born in Waterbury, 
 
 L. T. DOWNES. 
 
 Conn., July 9, 1824, the son of Anson and Eveline 
 (Welton) Downes. He is a direct descendant in 
 the seventh generation of John Downes, one of the 
 early settlers of New Haven colony, whose first 
 child was born in 1659. Mr. Downes' family is of 
 Anglo-Saxon origin, and has an authentic pedigree 
 from A. D. 1243. His grandfather, great-grand- 
 father and other members of the family took an 
 active part in the early colonial wars and in the 
 Revolution. His early education was obtained at 
 the Cheshire Academy, the Waterbury Academy, 
 and afterwards at the Newtown Academy, in Con- 
 necticut. He entered Trinity College, Hartford, 
 and graduated in 1848 with the degree of A. B., 
 receiving that of A. M. in 185 1. After graduation 
 
 he studied law in the office of Judge Francis Parsons 
 of Hartford. He went to Providence in 1855 and 
 soon afterward entered the office of Royal Chapin, 
 wool-dealer and manufacturer. In 1861 he became 
 associated with George W. Chapin in the manufac- 
 ture of woolen goods, and the firm soon after built 
 the Riverside Mills. Previous to this he had spent 
 some time in Europe, studying the methods and 
 processes of the woolen manufacturers in England, 
 France, Belgium, Germany and Austria. This 
 resulted in his introducing into this country several 
 machines and processes in the manufacture of 
 woolen goods, not before known in the United 
 States, among which may be mentioned the BoUette 
 First Breaker Card Feeder, the first self-operating 
 woolen mules, the Houget double-cylinder gig, now 
 generally known as the Downes gig, as well as 
 several other woolen finishing machines. Among 
 the goods which were first produced in this country 
 at the Riverside Mills were wool and mohair astra- 
 khans, also worsted coatings and Austrian cloakings 
 in great variety. In 1872 he left the Riverside 
 Mills, and in 1873, with Elisha Harris, organized 
 the What Cheer Mutual Fire Insurance Company, 
 now one of the New England factory insurance 
 companies, and in 1875 he organized the Hope 
 Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and is now Presi- 
 dent of both companies. Since his connection with 
 the business he has brought into the mutual system 
 upward of $65,000,000 of insurance on manufactur- 
 ing property. For a great part of his life Mr. 
 Downes has been known as a church musician and 
 organist. Having received a careful musical train- 
 ing as a portion of his early education, under some 
 of the most noted masters of the organ and voice, 
 he has cultivated this taste in several trips abroad 
 by careful study of the music in the most famous 
 cathedrals and churches in Europe, and has done 
 much toward raising the standard of church music 
 in this country, particularly in the Episcopal church. 
 He was for several years a member of the School 
 Committee of Providence and Chairman of the 
 Committee on Music. He is a member of the 
 Advance Club, being one of its Executive Com- 
 mittee and Chairman of the Committee on Muni- 
 cipal Reform. He has also been a member of the 
 Churchman's Club since its organization. In poli- 
 tics he has always been a staunch Repulilican. In 
 1857 he married Miss Sarah Chapin, daughter of 
 Royal and Maria T. Chapin ; they have had four 
 children : Ellen M., Herbert C, Emma W. and 
 Louis W. Downes, the two latter now living. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 23 
 
 DUBOIS, Henry Joseph Church, Assistant At- 
 torney-General of Rhode Island, was born in London, 
 England, June 22, 1850, during the temporary ab- 
 sence of his parents from the United States. His 
 parents were Edward Church and Emma (Davison) 
 Dubois. On his paternal side he is of American 
 descent ; his paternal grandfather, Edward Church, 
 was a native of Kentucky, and was United States 
 Consul at L'Orient, France, for many years, being 
 first appointed thereto by President Madison On 
 his maternal side he is of EngHsh ancestry, his 
 mother being descended from the English families 
 
 H. J. C. DUBOIS. 
 
 of Davison and Moore ; the family name, Church, 
 was changed to Dubois in 1857. The subject of 
 this sketch received his early education at Russell's 
 Academy (the Collegiate and Commercial Institute), 
 New Haven, Conn. ; the Grove-street Grammar 
 school of Pawtucket, R. I., and the Friends' Acad- 
 emy in New Bedford, Mass. He commenced 
 reading law in the ofifice of John E. Risley, Jr. 
 Providence, and afterward read in the office of Hon. 
 William VV. Douglas and Hon. James C. Collins. 
 He was admitted to the Rhode Island bar at the 
 October term in 187 1, and afterward on September 
 22, 1880, to the United States Circuit Court in 
 Providence. He commenced the practice of his 
 profession in Providence, where he has since suc- 
 cessfully practised. In 1872 he was appointed by 
 
 Governor Padelford, Clerk of the Justice Court of 
 the Town of North Providence, and at the May 
 Session of the General Assembly in 1873, was elected 
 to the same office, and held the position until the 
 division of said town. In 1873 he was elected by 
 the Town Council of North Providence, Trial 
 Justice of the Justice Court, of the Third Voting 
 District of said town, and also Coroner, which 
 positions he held until the division of the town. In 
 January 1893 he was elected by the City Council of 
 Providence one of the Justices of the Police Court, 
 and in May 1894 was appointed by Hon. Edward C. 
 Dubois Attorney General, Assistant Attorney Gen- 
 eral. He was for several years a member of the 
 Republican City Committee from the Tenth Ward 
 of Providence. He was one of the organizers of 
 the British American Association of Rhode Island 
 and was its president for several years. In politics 
 he has always been a Repubhcan. He married, 
 October 23, 1872, Miss Eoline Glenmore Dean; 
 they have had eight children : Henry Dean, Russell 
 Charles, Edward Davison", Eoline Beatrice, Daisy 
 Alice, Edward Gordon, Gladys Hope and Constance 
 Glenmore Dubois, all of whom are now living ex- 
 cepting Edward Davison, who died in infancy. 
 
 DOUGLAS, Samuel Tobey, attorney-at-law, was 
 born in Providence, November 15, 1853, son of Rev. 
 William and Sarah (Sawyer) Douglas. His father 
 was born in Pollock Shaws. near Glasgow, Scotland, 
 of an ancient Scotch house. His mother was a 
 native of SaUsbury, Mass., of American and remotely 
 of EngHsh descent. He received his preparatory 
 education in the public schools of Providence, and 
 entered Brown University, from which he graduated 
 with the degree of B. P. in 1872. He afterwards 
 entered the Department of Law in Union Univer- 
 sity, Albany, N. Y., from which he graduated with 
 the degree of LL. B. in 1875. He was admitted 
 to the bar of the state of New York, May 21, 1875, 
 to the bar of Rhode Island, November 2, 1875, and 
 to the Circuit Court of the United States, March 7, 
 1877. He has since practised his profession in 
 Providence. In January 1890 he was appointed 
 Commissioner of the United States Circuit Court 
 for the District of Rhode Island, which office he 
 now holds He has taken an active part in the 
 service of the Rhode Island militia He was Second 
 Lieutenant and Judge Advocate of the First Light 
 Infantry Regiment from 1879 to 1880; Captain and 
 Adjutant from 1880 to 1884; Major from 1886 
 
24 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 to 1887; Lieutenant-Colonel from 1887 to 1889; 
 Adjutant of the Veteran Association from 1884 to 
 1887 and Major from 1893 to 1895. He was a 
 member of the Common Council from 1887 to 1890 
 and of the Board of Aldermen from 1890 to 1892. 
 
 S, T, DOUGLAS. 
 
 In politics he is a RepubHcan He is a member of 
 the First Baptist Church, of the Rhode Island His- 
 torical Society, the First Light Infantry Veteran 
 Association, and of the Hope, Athletic, Providence 
 Bar and Young Men's [Republican clubs. He mar- 
 ried, November 20, 1878, Miss Alice Crawford Noyes, 
 who died January 10, 1881 ; they had one child, 
 Samuel Noyes Douglas, now living. On September 
 24, 1884, he married Miss Edith Courtney Harris, 
 who died November 27, 1885. He again married, 
 January i, 1890, Miss Alice Barnes Wilbur. 
 
 DOUGLAS, William W., Jusnce of the Supreme 
 Court, was born in Providence, November 26, 1841, 
 son of Rev William and Sarah (Sawyer) Douglas. 
 His father was a native of Scotland and born near 
 Glasgow. His mother was a native of Salisbury, 
 Mass. He was educated in the public schools in 
 Providence and at Brown University, graduating in 
 the class of 1861 with the degree of A. M. After 
 graduation he was attached to the Fifth Regiment 
 R. I. Vols , then recruiting, and received a commis- 
 
 sion as Second Lieutenant. He took part with his 
 regiment in the Burnside expedition, participating 
 in the batdes of Roanoke Island, Newbern, and the 
 siege of Fort Macon. He was promoted to First 
 Lieutenant June 7, 1862, and to Captain February 14, 
 1863. He was with the regiment on the steamer 
 Escort when the rebel blockade on the Pamlico 
 River was broken by running past the batteries to 
 Washington, N. C. On the expiration of his term 
 of service, not anticipating any further active service 
 for the regiment, which had been changed to one 
 of heavy artillery, he returned to Providence and 
 studied law, first in the office of Samuel Currey and 
 afterwards at the Law School of Union University, 
 Albany, N. Y., where he graduated in May 1866, with 
 the degree of LL. B. He was admitted to the bar 
 of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, January i, 
 1867, and practised law in Providence until elected 
 Justice of the Supreme Court. He was Commissioner 
 of the United States Circuit Court for the District of 
 Rhode Island from 1874 until 1890. From 1888 to 
 1890 he was Chief Supervisor of Elections for Rhode 
 
 W. W. DOUGLAS. 
 
 Island under appointment from the United States 
 Circuit Court. In 1890 when serving as Senator from 
 Providence he was elected .'\ssociate Justice of the 
 Supreme Court, and took his seat in August of that 
 year. In addition to his law practice he has taken 
 
C7^t^i/2^1.^C4^^ \^^^>"^0^ 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 25 
 
 an earnest interest in public and military affairs. He 
 was elected a member of the General Assembly for 
 the first time in 1871 and re-elected the following 
 year. He was a member of the Common Council 
 of Providence from the Second Ward from June 
 1873 to January 1876. In 1866 he was appointed 
 Major and division Judge Advocate on the staff of 
 Gen. Olney Arnold, commanding the Rhode Island 
 militia, and held the same position on the staff of 
 Gen. Horace Daniels, Gen. Arnold's successor, until 
 1874. In 1881 he was appointed assistant adju- 
 tant-general of Rhode Island with rank of Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel, and in 1882 was promoted to be adju- 
 tant-general with the rank of Brigadier-General, 
 holding the office until it was filled by election in 
 the General Assembly. He was commander of Rod- 
 man Post, No. 12, Grand Army of the Repubhc, 
 Department of Rhode Island, 1869-1870, and was 
 Judge Advocate-General of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic from 187 1 to 1877, serving on the staffs of 
 Commanders-in-Chief Burnside, Devens and Hart- 
 ranft. He was senior Vice-Commander of the 
 Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order 
 of the Loyal Legion, 1889-1890. He was for some 
 years treasurer of the society of the First Baptist 
 Church in Providence, and one of the trustees of 
 the Ministerial Fund. He is a member of the 
 Hope, Squantum and Art clubs, the Providence 
 Athletic Association, the Grand Army of the Repub- 
 lic, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and 
 various professional and literary societies. In poli- 
 tics he is a Republican. He married, June 30, 1884, 
 Miss Anna Jean Bennett of Newton, Mass ; they 
 have no children. 
 
 DURFEE, Thomas, Providence, ex-Chief Justice 
 of the Supreme Court, was born in Tiverton, Rhode 
 Island, February 6, 1826. He was the eldest son of 
 Job and Judith (Borden) Durfee. His early years 
 were spent at the home of his parents, and to some 
 extent in the Jabors of the farm, his father being a 
 great lover of farm and country life. He attended 
 the school of his district in the summer and received 
 instruction at home in the winter, the school being 
 distant. When fourteen years old he went to East 
 Greenwich and began preparing himself for college, 
 first under the tuition of the late Rev. James Richard- 
 son, and later under that of the Rev. Nathan Williams. 
 He entered Brown University in 1842 and graduated 
 in 1846. His class was large for the time and had in 
 it students who have since attained much distinction. 
 
 Immediately after his graduation he commenced the 
 study of law, as a student with Tillinghast & Brad- 
 ley, but pursuing his studies for the first year and 
 more at his home in Tiverton. He was admitted 
 to the bar in October 1848, and at once entered 
 on the practice of his profession in the city of 
 Providence, where he has since resided. In Oct- 
 ober 1849, he was appointed by the Supreme Court, 
 Reporter of the Decisions and held the office for 
 four years. He then served on the Court of Magis- 
 trates of the city of Providence from 1854 to i860, 
 one year as assistant and five years as presiding 
 magistrate. In 1863 he was one of the Representa- 
 tives of the city of Providence in the General As- 
 sembly and Speaker of the House for that year. 
 He was an active supporter of the Government 
 during the Civil War with both voice and pen, and 
 in 1864 was one of the delegates from Rhode Island 
 to the convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln 
 for President for a second term, and was by ap- 
 pointment of his associates, president of the delega- 
 tion. In 1865 he was elected to the State Senate, 
 and in June of that year was chosen an Associate 
 Justice of the Supreme Court, and soon after took 
 his seat as such. January 28, 1875, he was elected 
 Chief Justice, to succeed Judge Brayton who had 
 retired, and took the oath of office February 6, 
 1875, his forty-ninth birthday. He retired from 
 the Bench March 14, 1891, after a service of more 
 than nine years as Associate, and more than sixteen 
 years as Chief Justice. The Court during his in- 
 cumbency had a jurisdiction, original and appellate, 
 covering nearly the whole range of judicial proceed- 
 ings. Its published decisions for that period, extend- 
 ing inclusively from the eighth to the seventeenth 
 volume of the Rhode Island Reports, show in part 
 the importance and variety of the questions before 
 it, and also the manner in which they were met 
 and decided. It may be mentioned here, as an 
 example of the law of heredity, that Judge Durfee's 
 grandfather, Thomas Durfee of Tiverton, was a 
 lawyer and from 1820 to 1829 Chief Justice of the 
 Court of Common Pleas for Newport county ; and 
 that his father, also a lawyer, was Assistant Justice 
 of the Supreme Court from June 1833 to June 1835, 
 and then Chief Justice until his death, July 20, 1847. 
 Since his retirement Judge Durfee has held no public 
 office. He has for many years been a member of the 
 corporation of Brown University, first as trustee and 
 chancellor, and later as fellow, and received from it, 
 in 1875, the degree of LL. D. He now fills, and 
 has for some years filled, the office of President of 
 
26 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 the Providence Public Library. Judge Durfee has 
 occasionally contributed to periodicals and newspa- 
 pers, and has written some things which, having 
 been separately published, may be separately men- 
 tioned. In 1856-57 he completed a work on the 
 Law of Highways, commenced by the late Joseph 
 K. .Angell, shortly before his death, published by 
 Little & Brown in 1887. In 1872 he put forth a 
 small volume of verse entitled " The Village Picnic 
 and Other Poems." In December 1877 he de- 
 livered the oration at the dedication of the Providence 
 County Court House, pubhshed by order of the State. 
 In 1883 he prepared a paper entitled " Gleanings 
 from the Judicial History of Rhode Island," published 
 by Mr. Sidney Rider, number eighteen of his series 
 of " Rhode Island Historical Tracts." In 1884 he 
 published a pamphlet entitled " Some Thoughts on 
 the Constitution of Rhode Island." It was devoted 
 mainly to the question, whether it is competent for 
 the General Assembly of Rhode Island to call a con- 
 vention for the amendment or revision of the consti- 
 tution of the state, the amendments or revisions 
 when prepared by it, to be submitted to the electors 
 for adoption by a simple majority vote. The con- 
 stitution contains a provision for its own amend- 
 ment, prescribing the method to be followed in the 
 most mandatory terms, arid requiring for the same, 
 among other requirements, the approval of three 
 fifths of the electors voting. The contention of the 
 pamphlet was that the General Assembly has no 
 authority to provide for an amendment in any other 
 manner, and that revision, even when it takes the 
 form of a so-called new constitution, is but a work 
 of amendment On June 24. 1886, Judge Durfee 
 delivered the oration at the celebration of the two 
 hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the planting of 
 Providence, pubhshed by the city and in other ways ; 
 and June 29, 1894, an oration at the dedication of 
 the statue of Ebenezer Knight Dexter, published by 
 the city of Providence. He married, October 29, 
 1857, Sarah J. Slater, a daughter of John Slater 2d, 
 and has one son, Samuel Slater Durfee. 
 
 ECROYD, Henry, M. D., of Newport, was 
 born in Muncy, Lycoming county. Pa., May 6, 
 1858, son of James and Rachel (Haines) Ecroyd. 
 He is descended, on the paternal side, from the 
 Ecroyd family of Lancashire, England, where the 
 records show they have held public offices since 
 the reign of Richard II in the fourteenth century. 
 Thii? family were among the early followers of George 
 
 Fox, and introduced into their district the manu- 
 facture of worsted. The grandfather of the present 
 representative of the family in this country emi- 
 grated to the United States in 1795 and bought 
 a large tract of land in Pennsylvania from sons of 
 the scientist Dr. Priestly. The subject of this 
 sketch is a graduate of the Friends' School at 
 Westtown, Pa., and of the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania, class of 1883, Medical Department. He 
 read medicine eighteen months with Dr. Rankin 
 of Muncy, Pa., was three years at the University 
 of Pennsylvania, and two years in the hospitals. 
 
 HENRY ECROYD. 
 
 He is acting Assistant Surgeon of the United States 
 Marine Hospital service, a member of the staff of 
 the Newport Hospital, and Medical Examiner for 
 the Third District of Rhode Island. He is also 
 a member of the Rhode Island State Medical 
 Society, the State Medico-Legal Society, and the 
 Newport Medical Society. He was married, Octo- 
 ber 30, 1890, to Miss Rebekah Ashbridge of Philadel- 
 phia, Pa., and has two children : Henry Ecroyd, Jr., 
 and Elizabeth Ashbridge Ecroyd. 
 
 EDDY, Charles D., Collector of Customs for 
 Bristol and Warren District, was born in Providence, 
 October i, 1829, the son of Cyrus B. and Eunice 
 (Dyer) Eddy. His ancestry was of well known 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 27 
 
 Rhode Island stock on both paternal and maternal 
 sides. His early education was limited, and he 
 adopted seafaring as a profession when quite 
 young. He was promoted to positions of respon- 
 sibility and was master of vessels in the foreign 
 
 CHAS. 
 
 EDDY. 
 
 trade for fourteen years. In 1891 he was appointed 
 Collector of Customs for the District of Warren and 
 Bristol, which office he now holds. He is a 
 member of the Masonic order. In politics he has 
 always been a Republician. He married in March 
 1862 Miss Sarah Martin Bennett, daughter of 
 Capt. Albert C. Bennett, who died in 1886 ; they 
 have had three children, Mary Eunice, Grace Dyer 
 and Sarah Martin (deceased) Eddy. 
 
 EASTMAN, James Henry, Superintendent of 
 Rhode Island State Institutions, was born in Hano- 
 ver, New Hampshire, May 31, 1842, son of Rev. 
 Larnard L. and Lucy Ann (Currier) Eastman. Re- 
 ceiving his early education in the district schools, 
 he graduated at the New Hampshire Conference 
 Seminary at Tilton, and entered Wesleyan Univer- 
 sity in the fall of i860, but left in his junior year to 
 enter the Union army. He served the remainder 
 of the war, and was discharged as First Sergeant of 
 Captain Sumner T. Smith's Company C, One Hun- 
 
 dred and Ninety- First Ohio Volunteers, in August 
 1865. At the close of the war he entered upon 
 reformatory work, as teacher in the Boys' Reform 
 School at Deer Island, Boston Harbor, during the 
 winter of 1865-66. In Ap'il following he went to 
 the Connecticut Reform School, remained there 
 seven and a half years, and in September 1873 was 
 appointed Superintendent of the Girls' Industrial 
 School at Middletown, Conn. He left this position 
 April I, 1874, to take charge of the Reform School 
 for Boys at Jamesburg, N. J., where he remained 
 ten and a half years, and resigned to take charge 
 of the Sockanosset School for Boys at Howard, R. I., 
 September i, 1884. In March 1886 he was ap- 
 pointed General Superintendent of Rhode Island 
 State Institutions, holding this position ever since. 
 He belongs to the West Side, Pomham and Athletic 
 clubs of Providence, and is a member of all the 
 Masonic orders to the thirty-second degree, also 
 of Prescott Post No. i. Department of Rhode Island, 
 Grand Army of the Republic. He married, October 
 
 JAS. H. EASTMAN. 
 
 10, 1862, Elizabeth Finley of Middletown, Conn.; 
 they have four children : George L., Assistant Sec- 
 retary of the Rogers' Silver Plate Company, Danbury, 
 Conn. ; Frank G., M. D., East Greenwich, R. I. ; 
 Alice Trowbridge, Providence, R. I., and Grace 
 Eastman. 
 
28 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 ELY, James Winchell Coleman, physician and 
 surgeon, was born October 2, 1820, in Windsor, Vt., 
 son of Rev. Richard M. and Lora (Skinner) 
 Ely. He came of good old New England stock on 
 both sides. His paternal ancestor, Nathaniel Ely, 
 was made a freeman of Cambridge, Mass., in 1635, 
 and in Jmie 1636 with a hundred others accom- 
 panied Rev. Thomas Hooker and made the first 
 settlement of Hartford, Conn ; in 1654, he with 
 others purchased land of Governor Ludlow and 
 settled at Norwalk, and in 1659 he sold his Norwalk 
 property and removed to Springfield, Mass , where 
 he died December 25, 1695. Dr. Ely fitted for col- 
 
 J, W. C. ELY, 
 
 lege in an academy at Townsend, Vt., under Prof. 
 Wheeler, who was afterward Professor of Greek in 
 Brown University. He entered Brown University 
 in 1838 and graduated in 1842 with the degree of 
 A. B., receiving the degree of A. M. some years 
 later. Immediately upon leaving college he began 
 the study of medicine. He attended two courses 
 of lectures in the Medical Department of Harvard 
 University, and received the degree of M. D. 
 March 12, 1846. From April 1844 to April 1845 
 he was Interne at the city institution at South 
 Boston, long before the House of Industry was re- 
 moved to Deer Island. He settled in Providence 
 in April 1846, and was admitted a fellow of the 
 Rhpde Island Medical Society in 1847. He has 
 
 served in every ofifice in the gift of the society, and 
 was elected President for two years, 1868-1870. He 
 was one of the founders of the Providence Medical 
 Association, its first Secretary and afterward its 
 President. In 1847 he was appointed Dispensary 
 Physician for the whole east side of the city, in 
 which place he served four years, and on his resig- 
 nation was appointed on the board of consultation. 
 In 1850 he was elected one of the physicians of the 
 Dexter Asylum, and also City Physician. He 
 served in the former capacity fifteen and a half 
 years, and in the latter eighteen years. Upon his 
 resignation he was placed upon the consulting 
 staff of the asylum. In January 1868 he was 
 elected to the board of consultation at the Butler 
 Hospital, which position he still holds. Upon the 
 opening of the Rhode Island Hospital in 1868 he 
 was elected one of the attending physicians. He 
 resigned in 1874 and was placed on the consulting 
 staff. In 1883, at the request of Professor Chace, 
 President of the Board of Trustees, he again took 
 the part of Attending Physician, and served six 
 years. Since that time he has been on the con- 
 sulting staff. Ever since the opening of the 
 Providence Lying-in Hospital he has been a mem- 
 ber of its consulting staff. He is a member of the 
 American Academy of Medicine, and has served 
 several times as delegate to the American Medical 
 Association. Soon after settling in Providence he 
 joined the Franklin Society, a scientific association, 
 and was an active member, reading many papers, 
 and having been elected its President. During the 
 civil war he served with Dr. Joseph Mauran as an 
 examining board for applicants for the positions of 
 surgeons and assistant surgeons in the Rhode 
 Island regiments. He has served for three years 
 as one of the directors of the Providence Athen?eum, 
 and two years as a member of the city School Com- 
 mittee. He is a member of the Squantum Club. 
 He married, June 6, 1848, Miss Susan Backus, 
 daughter of Lieut.-Gov. Thomas Backus, of 
 Killingly, Conn. ; he has two children : Joseph C. 
 and Edward F. Ely. 
 
 EAMES, Benjamin Tucker, attorney-at-law, Prov- 
 idence, was born in Dedham, Mass., June 4, 18 18, 
 son of James and Sarah (Mumford) Fames. His 
 father was born in Haverhill, Mass., and his mother 
 in Eastford, Conn. His parents in 1820 removed 
 to Providence where they resided during life. He 
 had the advantage of the schools of Providence, 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 29 
 
 and of some of the leading academies of Massachu- 
 setts and Connecticut. At the age of sixteen he 
 was placed in the auction rooms of Martin Stoddard 
 & Co., where he remained for a year or two, and 
 then as bookkeeper entered the employ of Bates & 
 Hutchins, wholesale drygoods merchants of Provi- 
 dence, and subsequently the employ of Borden & 
 Bowen, who were the agents of the Blackstone Man- 
 ufacturing Coinpany, and the financial agents of the 
 American Print Works in Fall River, Mass. With a 
 thorough English education, and some knowledge of 
 mercantile and commercial pursuits, which were of 
 service to him in after life, in the fall of 1838 he 
 went to the Worcester Academy, and under the 
 tuition of the late Professor S. S. Greene prepared 
 for, and in the fall of 1839 entered, Yale College, 
 and graduated in 1843 with a fair standing in his 
 class. He took during his college course an es- 
 pecial interest in the debating and literary societies 
 connected with the college. In the vacation before 
 graduation he entered his name as a law student in 
 the office of the late Chief Justice Samuel Ames, 
 with whom was then associated Rollin Mathewson, 
 Esq. For about six months after graduation he was 
 engaged as a teacher in the academy at North At- 
 tleboro, Mass. In the spring of 1844 he went to 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, and entered the law office of the 
 Hon. Bellamy Storer, where he remained until the 
 following winter, when he was admitted to practice 
 in the courts of Kentucky. Upon his return to 
 Providence he was admitted in 1845 to practice in 
 the courts of Rhode Island and in the United States 
 courts, and since then, except when in Congress 
 and for the past two years, he has been actively en- 
 gaged in his profession in Providence. He grad- 
 ually succeeded in obtaining a remunerative practice 
 and a prominent position at the bar. From 1845 
 to 1850 he served as Clerk of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives of Rhode Island, and during part of this 
 time was the reporter of the proceedings of the 
 General Assembly for the Providence Daily Journal. 
 In 1854 he was elected Senator from the city of 
 Providence to the General Assembly, and was re- 
 elected to that office in 1855, ^^5^> 1859, and 1863. 
 He was a member of the state House of Representa- 
 tives in 1859, 1868 and 1869, serving the last year 
 as Speaker. He was one of the commissioners on the 
 revision in 1857 of the public laws of Rhode Island. 
 In i860 he was a Delegate to the Republican Con- 
 vention at Chicago, which nominated Abraham 
 Lincoln for the Presidency. In 1870 he was elected 
 Representative to the Forty-second Congress from 
 
 the First District of Rhode Island, and was re-elected 
 to the Forty- third, Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth 
 Congresses. In the Forty-second Congress he 
 served on the committees on Elections and Revo- 
 lutionary Claims and the War of 1812 ; in the For- 
 ty-third, on the Committee on Patents ; in the 
 Forty-fourth on the Committee of Banking and Cur- 
 rency, and in the Forty-fifth on the same committee 
 and Expenditures in the War Department. Among 
 his speeches in Congress that have been published 
 for circulation are those on the presentation by the 
 State of Rhode Island of the Statue of Roger 
 
 B, T, EAMES, 
 
 WiUiams, Currency and Free Banking, Counting 
 the Electoral Votes, Resumption of Specie Pay- 
 ments, Repeal of the Resumption Clause, Coinage 
 of the Silver Dollar, Treasury Notes as a Substitute 
 for National Bank Notes, the Tariff, and Reduction 
 of Letter Postage. In the fall of 1878 he declined 
 to be a candidate for re-election to Congress. He 
 was in 1879 elected a Representative to the General 
 Assembly from Providence. He was re-elected to 
 that office in 1880, and in 1884 was elected Senator 
 from Providence. Mr. Fames became identified 
 with the Republican party at its first organization. 
 He stood by it through the struggle for national 
 life, and has always been a firm supporter of its 
 principles and policy. He was married in War- 
 
30 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 wick, R. I., May 9, 1849, to Laura S. Chapin, 
 daughter of Josiah and Asenath (Capron) Chapin ; 
 his wife died October i, 1872. Of four children, 
 two died in infancy ; his son Waldo C, a graduate 
 of Yale, class of i88r, died August 20, 1894; his 
 daughter, Laura Chapin Eames, is living. 
 
 ELY, Joseph Cady, attorney-at-law. Providence, 
 was born in Providence, March 24, 1849, the son 
 of Dr. James W. C. and Susan (Backus) Ely. The 
 record of his ancestry will be found in the sketch of 
 
 J, C. ELY. 
 
 Dr. J. W. C. Ely. He received his early education 
 in the grammar and high schools of Providence. 
 He entered Brown University and graduated in the 
 class of 1870 with the degree of A. B. He then 
 entered the Harvard Law School and graduated in 
 1872 with the degree of LL. B. He was admitted 
 to the Rhode Island bar in December 1872. He 
 entered the office of James Tillinghast as an assist- 
 ant, and in 1874 formed a partnership with him, 
 which continued until 1883, since which time he 
 he has practiced law alone. 'I'he specialty of his 
 practice is equity, real estate, conveyancing and 
 consultation. In 1890 he was appointed member 
 of a commission to revise the laws of Rhode Island 
 
 under a statute directing revision and compilation, 
 and whose work has been to reform the judicial 
 system and practice in all courts, bringing the 
 courts into closer relations, giving more efficient 
 administration, more systematic methods of proce- 
 dure, and speediness in litigation ; to reform the 
 property law and the proceedings in cases of in- 
 solvency ; also to revise the laws as to corporations, 
 property of married women, marriage and divorce, 
 and other matters, a work not heretofore at- 
 tempted in this state. He was a member of the 
 School Committee of Providence in 1885-86. He 
 is a member and ex-President of the Unitarian 
 Club, ex-President of the First Congregational 
 Church Society. President of the Providence Athe- 
 naeum and chairman of its library committee. He 
 is Secretary of the Providence Art Institute, and is 
 a member of the American Bar Association. He 
 married, November 6, 1877, Miss Alice Peck; they 
 have had three children : Alice Louise (deceased), 
 Ruth and Robert B. Ely. 
 
 FOSTER, Samuel, retired manufacturer. Prov- 
 idence, was born in Dudley, Mass., October 13, 
 1803, the son of Abel and Mary (Tucker) Foster. 
 He is descended from old and honorable New Eng- 
 land stock. His great-grandfather, Timothy Foster 
 of Dudley, Mass., had twelve sons and four daugh- 
 ters, and with all his sons served in the Revolutionary 
 war, the aggregate service of the father and sons 
 being sixty years, a circumstance probably unparal- 
 leled in that of any other conflict. His son 
 Timothy, the grandfather of Samuel, served in the 
 French war, enlisting as a private at the age of 
 sixteen ; he afterwards served in the Revolution 
 during the war, enlisting as a private and being 
 promoted to a Lieutenant, and was wounded. His 
 brother John, when a boy, lived with General Israel 
 Putnam at Pomfret, Conn. ; he served in the French 
 war under Putnam and was in the battle of the 
 Plains of Abraham, where General Wolfe was killed ; 
 he afterwards married, and continued to work for 
 Putnam until the outbreak of the Revolution when 
 with his employtr he left the plough for the army; 
 lie served under Putnam during the war and was 
 gone eight years, and after the conclusion of the 
 war, settled in Littleton, Mass., where he died in 
 extreme old age. Joseph, another of the twelve 
 brothers, enlisted in the army of the Revolution at 
 the age of only thirteen years. Samuel Foster 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 31 
 
 received his education in the common schools, 
 and came to Providence in 1820, where he became 
 clerk for Philip and Charles Potter in the retail 
 grocery business. In 1825 he formed a co-partner- 
 ship with his brother William under the firm name 
 of S. & W. Foster, for the transaction of the whole- 
 sale grocery business, which continued until 1877. 
 In 1848 he associated with his brother William and 
 John Atwood, for the manufacture of fine cotton 
 goods, under the name of the Williamsville Manu- 
 facturing Company, of KiUingly, Conn. He con- 
 tinued an owner in this corporation until 1890, 
 acting as its Treasurer from 1877. In January 
 
 SAMUEL FOSTER. 
 
 1849, S. & W. Foster admitted Henry J. Burroughs 
 as a partner, under the firm name of S. &. W. 
 Foster & Co. Prior to the admission of Mr. 
 Burroughs into the firm, S. & W. Foster were for 
 some time associated with H. S. Hutchins and 
 William Pierce, under the name of Hutchins, 
 Pierce & Co., doing a wholesale grocery business. 
 In 1853, Addison Q. Fisher was admitted a member 
 of the firm under the firm name of Foster, Bur- 
 roughs & Fisher, wholesale grocers, which continued 
 until 1858. On the death of Mr. Burroughs the 
 business was continued under the name of Fosters 
 & Fisher. In 1864, James H. Bugbee was admitted 
 a partner under the firm name of Fosters, Fisher 
 cS; Company. In 1862, Thomas A. Randall was ad- 
 
 mitted a partner with S. & W. Foster, under the 
 firm name of S. & W. Foster & Co., for the trans- 
 action of a general cotton business ; this firm was 
 dissolved in 1866. In 1866 he formed a partner- 
 ship with his sons and Addison Q. Fisher, under 
 the firm name of Samuel Foster & Co., for the 
 transaction of a general cotton business ; this firm 
 was dissolved in 1877. He was a Director in the 
 Third National Bank and the Pawtuxet Bank for 
 many years, and was also President of the First 
 National Bank of Providence for a number of 
 years. He sold out his interest in the Williamsville 
 Manufacturing Company in 1890 to his partners, 
 the Messrs. Atwood, grandchildren of his first 
 partner, John Atwood. He is now a large owner in 
 the Central Mills Company of Southbridge, Mass , 
 manufacturers of cotton goods. He retired from 
 active business in 1890. He is the senior member 
 of the Providence Board of Trade, and has for 
 many years been a member of the Squantum and 
 other clubs, the Rhode Island Veteran Association 
 and the Rhode Island Historical Society, and dur- 
 ing his life he has been connected with many 
 industries of various kinds as owner and manager, 
 all of which has made his life one of great activity. 
 He is the only survivor of a family of nine children. 
 He married, June 10, 1841, Miss Priscilla Smith, 
 sister of Amos D. and Gov. James Y. Smith ; she 
 died March 24, 1867. He married. May 13, 1880, 
 Mrs. Aliph Elizabeth Brinley Cornell, who died Aug- 
 ust 21, 1890. He had six children by his first wife : 
 Ella Mitchell, who died April 24, 1878, Walter 
 Smith, Louis Tucker, Frederic Leeds, James 
 Herbert and Clara Dennison Foster. 
 
 FARRALLY, Wiilliam Henry, co-editor and pro- 
 prietor of the Bristol, R. I., Phoenix, was born in 
 Pittsfield, Mass., April 2, 1859, the son of John and 
 Juliette E. (Rogers) Farrally. His father was born 
 in the northern part of Ireland and caine to this 
 country when a young man ; he served during the 
 war of the Rebellion and was honorably discharged. 
 On his mother's side he comes from old Revolution- 
 ary stock; his maternal grandfather was Captain 
 Joseph Rogers, who served in the war of 181 2, and 
 and his great-grandfather. Captain Joseph Rogers, 
 served in the war of the Revolution. He received 
 his early education in the public schools, and in the 
 high school of Great Barrington, Mass. He learned 
 the printing trade when fifteen years of age in the 
 
32 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 office of the Berkshire Courier at Great Barrington, 
 where he served seven years, and then accepted 
 the foremanship of the NewMilford Gazette, at New 
 Milford, Conn. He was general superintendent 
 there for ten years, and in September 1892 pur- 
 
 WM. H. FARRALLY. 
 
 chased a half interest in the Saturday Record of 
 Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and was business manager for 
 two years. In November 1894 he purchased the 
 Bristol, R.I., Phoenix, in connection with his brother, 
 Joseph Franklin Farrally, who had had a thorough 
 training in the business with Clark M. Bryan of Spring- 
 field, Mass., and others. Since that time they have 
 changed the Phoenix from a weekly to a semi-week- 
 ly, and greatly enlarged and improved the business 
 in all its departments, being the pioneers of semi- 
 weekly journalism in the state. He has never en- 
 gaged in politics or public life, preferring to devote 
 himself strictly to a business career. He is a mem- 
 ber of the executive committee of the Valley Club, 
 a business men's club of New Milford, Conn. In 
 Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he was a member of the Fifth 
 District Editorial Association. He is a member of 
 the Southern Rhode Island Press Club and of the 
 Bristol Improvement Society. He married, October 
 17, 1894, in St. Stephen's Church, Ridgefield, Conn., 
 Miss Gertrude Adams Scott, daughter of ex-judge 
 Hiram K. Scott of Ridgefield. 
 
 FRANCIS, E. Charles, banker, was born in 
 Utica, N. Y , September 6, 185 1, son of Rev. Eben 
 and Mary (Hunnewell) Francis. The Francis 
 family is of old New England stock, Richard 
 Francis having settled in Cambridge, Mass., in the 
 early part of the seventeenth century, and died 
 there on March 24, 168.6 The family were promi- 
 nent in Medford, Beverly and Cambridge, and 
 served with distinction in the Revolutionary war. 
 He received his early education in the common 
 schools and adopted banking as a business. In 
 1870 he became a clerk in the Woonsocket National 
 Bank. He is now assistant cashier and member of 
 the board of investment of the Woonsocket Insti- 
 tution for Savings. He has held numerous offices 
 of trust and honor. He was Colonel on the per- 
 sonal staff of Gov. A. H. Littlefield. in 1880-81- 
 82. He has been an assessor of taxes for Woon- 
 socket since 1885, was a member of the Court 
 House Commission in Woonsocket in 1891, and 
 was elected Senator in the General Assembly from 
 Woonsocket in 1894-95. He is a thirty-second 
 degree Mason, a Knight Templar, a member of the 
 
 E. CHARLES FRANCIS. 
 
 Military Order of the Loyal Legion, of the Sons of 
 the American Revolution, and an associate member 
 of Smith Post, G. A. R In politics he is a Repub- 
 lican. He married, October 20, 1886, Miss Gertrude 
 A. Nourse ; they have no children. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 33 
 
 GOFF, Isaac Lewis, President and Director of 
 real estate and investment companies, Providence, 
 was born in Taunton, Mass., August 29, 1852, son 
 of David F. and Clarissa D. (Stacey) Goff. He is 
 of English descent and his ancestors were among 
 the first settlers of New England in the Old Colony. 
 Four of his ancestors on both the paternal and ma- 
 ternal side were in the military service of the 
 Colonies during the war of the Revolution. He re- 
 ceived his early education in the common schools 
 of Rehoboth, Mass., and at Bryant & Stratton's 
 Commercial College in Providence. He entered 
 
 ISAAC L. GOFF. 
 
 the real estate office of William D. Peirce in Provi- 
 dence, in 1872, and continued there as clerk until 
 1876, when he engaged in the real estate business 
 on his own account, which he has since continued. 
 He was prominent in the organization of the Home 
 Investment Company, one of the most successful 
 real estate and investment companies established 
 in Rhode Island, which began business in 1891, 
 with Governor D. Russell Brown as its first Presi- 
 dent. He has been the General Manager of the 
 Home Investment Company from its organization 
 to the present time. He is now President of the 
 Isaac L. Goff Company and the People's Trust 
 Company, and is the Treasurer of the Seaconnet 
 Point Land Company and Director in several finan- 
 
 cial institutions. He has taken an active part in 
 military and political life. He joined the United 
 Train of Artillery in 1880, and was promoted to the 
 offices of Second Lieutenant, Paymaster and Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel, which latter position he held until 
 he was appointed by Governor Wetmore in 1885 an 
 aide-de-camp on his personal staff with the rank of 
 Colonel. He organized the Plumed Knights in 
 1889 and was chosen the first Commander, which 
 office he still holds. In politics he has always been 
 a Republican and has been actively engaged in 
 political work since his majority. He was Secre- 
 tary and Treasurer of the Republican State Com- 
 mittee from 1886 to 1892. In 1888 he was an 
 alternate delegate to the Republican National Con- 
 vention and in 1892 was a delegate to the National 
 Convention at Minneapolis. He was the messenger 
 to carry the vote of the State to Washington at 
 the national election in 1892. He has always de- 
 clined to be a candidate for public office. He 
 married, in 1875, Miss Ada J. Richards, daughter of 
 William R. Richards, a manufacturing jeweler of 
 Providence ; they have four children : William 
 David, Josephine A., Lillian L. and Isaac L. Goff, Jr. 
 
 GEORGE, Charles Henry, merchant and 
 banker, Providence, was born in Foxboro, Mass., 
 July 14, 1839, the son of Thomas M. and Rebecca 
 S. (Farrington) George. He comes of good old 
 New England stock, his ancestors having emigrated 
 from England in the seventeenth century and set- 
 tled in what is now the state of Maine, then a 
 province of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He 
 received his early education in the public schools 
 of Foxboro, and at twelve years of age entered a 
 hardware store in Providence, where he remained 
 until he was fifteen. He then attended Bristol 
 County Academy in Taunton, Mass., for a year and 
 a half, after which he returned to his old position 
 where he remained until he was twenty. He then 
 started in the hardware business for himself, and 
 since that time the firm of C. H. George & Com- 
 pany has been among the most prominent in its 
 line in the state. He was elected a Director of 
 the Roger Williams National Bank in 1873 and its 
 President in 1879, and is a Director in several 
 other banking institutions. He was President of 
 the Board of Trade in 1891 and 1892. In 1887 he 
 was appointed by President Cleveland, Postmaster 
 of Providence, and held the office until July 1895, 
 several years after the expiration of his commission. 
 
34 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 He is a member of the Congregational Club, and 
 was its President in 1890 and 1892. He is a mem- 
 ber of the Providence Press Club, the Marine 
 Order, and various social and fraternal associations 
 In poHtics he is a Democrat. He married, April 
 
 CHAS. H. GEORGE. 
 
 14, 1861, Miss Clarissa Jackson, who died Septem- 
 ber 4, 1880. He has three children: Edward A., 
 now minister of the Congregational Church of New- 
 port, Vt. ; Grace T., wife of Wm. C. Dart, and 
 Margaret Emerson George. 
 
 GARVIN, Lucius Fayeite Clark, physician and 
 surgeon, was born in Knoxville, Tenn., November 
 13, 1841, son of James, Jr., and Sarah A. (Gunn) 
 Garvin. His paternal ancestors were among the 
 early settlers of Vermont. His maternal ancestors, 
 including the Gunn, Montague and Dickenson 
 families, were settlers of Massachusetts and of Eng- 
 lish descent. He received his early education in 
 the public schools of Enfield and Sunderland, Mass. 
 He fitted for college in the New Garden School, 
 now Guilford College, near Greenboro, N. C, having 
 previously attended a private school in Greenboro, 
 and entered Amherst College, Mass., at the age of 
 sixteen. He was graduated in the class of 1862, 
 thirty-one years after the graduation of his father 
 
 from the same institution. In the autumn of 1862 
 he taught a public school in Ware, Mass., having 
 previously taught in Sunderland during a part of his 
 senior year in college. Immediately upon attaining 
 his majority he enlisted in Company E Fifty-irrst 
 Massachusetts Volunteers, recruited in Worcester 
 county. The regiment served in North Carolina, 
 under General Foster. The march to Goldsboro, 
 the burning of the bridge at that place to cut off 
 the communications from the south with Lee's 
 army, and the engagements at Kingston, Whitehall 
 and Goldsboro were the chief features of his experi- 
 ence in the army. After the mustering out of his 
 regiment he taught a select school in Leverett, 
 Mass., where he began the study of medicine. Sub- 
 sequently, he was a student with Dr. Sylvanus 
 Clapp of Pawtucket. He was graduated from the 
 Harvard Medical School, March 13, 1867, having 
 passed a year prior to graduation as Interne at the 
 Boston City Hospital. In May 1867 he began the 
 practice of medicine in Lonsdale, R. I , where he 
 has continued to reside and actively practice since. 
 
 L. F. C GARVIN. 
 
 He has always taken an active interest in public 
 affairs. He was a Republican until 1876, supporting 
 Lincoln and Grant for the presidency, but in that 
 year advocated the election of Samuel J. Tilden, 
 and has ever since acted with the Democratic party. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 35 
 
 Since 1880 he has been active in the propaganda of 
 what he believes to be much needed reforms in the 
 state. Beginning with 1883 he has been elected 
 ten times to represent the town of Cumberland in 
 the General Assembly, and is a member of the 
 present House of Representatives. During this 
 period he has aided in the enactment of the follow- 
 ing eight popular measures, four of which were in- 
 troduced by himself : The Ten Hour law, the Labor 
 Bureau, the Extension of Suffrage, the Australian 
 Ballot, Weekly Payments, Free Text-Books, Plu- 
 rality Elections, and Factory Inspection. He re- 
 gards proportional representation as the most 
 important organic reform, and the single tax as the 
 most important social reform, within the bounds of 
 practical politics. For the past fifteen years he has 
 urgently advocated a complete revision of the state 
 constitution by means of a convention of the people ; 
 but unless that is to be held at an early date, he 
 favors as the next constitutional amendment the 
 granting to registry voters in cities the right to vote 
 for councilmen. He regards his efforts for the 
 extension of the suffrage in Rhode Island from 1880 
 to 1888 as his greatest life work. He was the 
 Democratic candidate for Congress from the second 
 district in Rhode Island at the election in 1894. 
 Upon the passage of the Medical Examiner Act in 
 1884 he was appointed by Governor Bourn, Medi- 
 cal Examiner for the Seventh District, which em- 
 braces the town of Cumberland, and in 1890 was 
 reappointed for six years by Governor Davis. He 
 is a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society, 
 of the Providence Medical Association, of the Grand 
 Army of the Republic (Ballou Post, Central Falls) 
 and of the Bell Street Chapel Society of Providence. 
 He married, December 23, 1869, Miss Lucy W. 
 Southmayd of Middletown, Conn. ; they have three 
 children : Ethel, Norma and Florence Garvin. 
 
 HARRIS, George Albert, physician and surgeon, 
 was born in North Scituate, R. I., May 19, 1855, the 
 son of James Arnold and Elizabeth Wheeler 
 (Potter) Harris. He is descended from Gideon 
 Harris, one of the earliest settlers of the town of 
 Scituate. Gideon was born March 15, 1714, and was 
 the great-grandson of Thomas Harris, who in company 
 with his brother William, Roger Williams, and others, 
 sailed from Bristol, England, in the ship Lyon, 
 William Peirce master, December i, 1630, landing at 
 Nantasket, Mass., on the 5th of February following; 
 he settled in Providence in 1638 and died there in 
 
 1686. Dr. Harris received his early education at 
 Lapham Institute, North Scituate, graduating in the 
 class of 1873. After graduation he taught school 
 for a year, and then passed two years in railroad 
 surveying under Edward Everett, a nephew of 
 the statesman of the same name. He began the 
 study of medicine in 1876 with his maternal uncle. 
 Dr. Albert Potter of Chepachet, and graduated from 
 the Columbia College Medical School (the College 
 of Physicians and Surgeons), New York, in the 
 class of 1880. He first settled at Greenville, R. I, 
 and remained there nearly a year, when he was 
 
 GEO. A, HARRIS. 
 
 called to Chepachet on account of the illness of his 
 preceptor, and has remained there since. He has 
 been a member of the school committee for nine 
 years. He has been Medical Examiner for District 
 No. 3, Providence county, since 1884. He is a 
 member of the Rhode Island Medical Society, of 
 the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and of the 
 Rhode Island Medico-Legal Society. He has al- 
 ways been greatly interested in musical affairs and 
 has been chorister of the Chepachet Church for the 
 past seven years. He was converted under the 
 ministry of Rev. Richard K. Wickett. He has been 
 treasurer of the church since 1887, and deacon 
 since 1893. He has been active in the Christian 
 Endeavor movement. In politics he is a Repub- 
 
36 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 lican. A careful and conscientious practitioner of 
 medicine, he yet believes that the truest " Men of 
 Progress " are those who work most industriously 
 for the spiritual welfare of their fellowmen. He 
 married, June 2, 1879, Miss Ella Louise Smith; 
 they have had one child : Amey Elizabeth, born 
 and died June 6, 1889. 
 
 HEMENWAY, Herbert Lewis, late Resident 
 Manager in Providence for Norcross Brothers, con- 
 tractors and builders of Worcester, Mass., was born 
 March 2, 1864, in North Leverett, Mass., the son of 
 
 H. L. HEMENWAY. 
 
 Elihu and Hepsibath Mary (Loring) Hemenway. 
 His ancestry on the father's and mother's side were 
 of good old New England stock, of EngHsh descent 
 with some admixture of Dutch and Irish. He re- 
 ceived his early education in the "little red school- 
 house " at North Leverett, the high school at 
 Montague, Mass., and Powers Institute at Ber- 
 nardston, Mass. He graduated from Eastman's 
 National Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., in 
 1 88 1. He worked on his father's farm at North 
 Leverett, when not attending school, until 1880. 
 In 1880 and part of 1881 he was employed in the New 
 Home Sewing Machine Company's factory. After 
 his course in the business college he worked as an 
 apprentice at the carpenter's trad? with J. L. Carll, 
 
 of Greenfield, Mass. In the winter of 1882-83 ^^ 
 was bookkeeper for Emil Weissbrod, manufacturer 
 of pocketbooks at Montague, Mass., and in the sum- 
 mer of 1883 was employed as a carpenter by John 
 Huxley, of Northampton, Mass. In September 
 1883 he entered the employ of Bartlett Brothers, 
 contractors and builders, of East Whately, Mass., 
 afterwards North Adams, Mass., to complete his 
 mechanical education. In 1885 he became foreman 
 carpenter for the firm in the construction of the 
 Belchertown Library. He was superintendent of 
 construction of the Dedham Library in 1887-88, 
 severing his connection in June 1888 to enter the 
 employ of Norcross Brothers, and superintended 
 the construction of the station at Springfield of 
 the Boston & Albany Railroad in 1888-91, and of the 
 Youth's Companion Building, Boston, in 1891-92. 
 He has been resident manager of the firm in 
 Providence since 1892, and superintended the con- 
 struction of the Industrial Trust Company's build- 
 ing, the Telephone building, a large building for 
 the Brown & Sharpe Company, and other important 
 works. On December 14, 1895, he terminated his 
 relations with Norcross Brothers, and intends entering 
 into the building business on his own account at an 
 early date. He is a member of Constellation Lodge, 
 A. F. & A. M., Dedham, Mass. ; Royal Arch 
 Chapter, Providence ; Providence Council, R. & 
 S. M. ; St. John's Commandery, Knights Templar ; 
 Providence Chapter, Order of Eastern Star, and 
 Palestine Temple, A. O. N. M. S. He is a member 
 of the Providence Athletic Club. In politics he is 
 an Independent Republican. He married, March 
 28, 1889, Miss Alice Maud Spaulding ; they have 
 two children : Carlotta Effie and Loring Spaulding 
 Hemenway. 
 
 HEYDON, Henry Darling, merchant, Crompton, 
 was born in Coventry, R. I., December 25, 1851, son 
 of David and Remima C. (Johnston) Heydon. 
 He is a lineal descendant of William Heydon, 
 who emigrated from England to this country 
 about 1630, and his ancestors took part in the 
 Colonial and Revolutionary wars. He received 
 his early education in the public schools of Provi- 
 dence, and began his business career at an early 
 age as clerk in a store in Providence, where he 
 remained for two years, and then took a special 
 course at Mount Pleasant Academy. He then 
 served as clerk in a store in Olneyville for a 
 number of years, when he engaged in the dry- 
 goods and grocery business. Later he disposed of 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 37 
 
 his business to take charge of a large estabhshment 
 in the same place. In 1874 he removed to Cromp- 
 ton, R. I., where he assumed charge in behalf of 
 the creditors of a large general store in that village. 
 The promising outlook induced him, six months 
 
 HENRY D. HEYDON. 
 
 later, to form a copartnership with Daniel W. 
 Batchelder to purchase the business, in which 
 they have since continued. He has taken an active 
 part in public life. He was Postmaster at Cromp- 
 ton from 1883 to 1887, a member of the school 
 committee since 1883, and Town Auditor of 
 Warwick five years. He was appointed aid-de- 
 camp with the rank of Colonel by Governor Taft 
 in 1888-89, and by Governor Ladd 1889-92. He 
 was a member of the committee to secure a per- 
 manent campground for the state militia, and 
 also a member of the committee to procure a site 
 for a state armory in Providence. He is a member 
 and Past Master of Manchester Lodge, A. F. & A. 
 M., was High Priest for three years of Landmark 
 Chapel Royal Arch Masons, and member of St. 
 John's Commandery. He was a Representative 
 in the General Assembly from Warwick in 1879-80 
 and since 1888, and Chairman of the Committee on 
 Finance. In politics he is a Republican. He 
 married, March 16, 1881, Miss Charlotte A. Booth ; 
 they have two children : Howard Raymond and 
 Wright David Heydon. 
 
 HILL, Frank, Ashaway, was born in Utica, N. Y., 
 June 28, 1 86 1, the son of Frank and Mary (Greene) 
 Hill. His paternal grandfather was Horace Hill 
 of Bennington, Vt., and his maternal grandfather 
 was Wm. B. Greene of Westerly, R. I. He received 
 his early education in the public schools of Inde- 
 pendence, Alleghany county, N. Y., and graduated 
 from Alfred University, Alfred, N. Y., in 1883 with 
 the degree of A. B. He taught school for one year 
 at North Loup, Neb., and for three years he was 
 principal of the Hopkinton grammar school, one 
 year before graduating and two years afterward. He 
 then gave up teaching and became Cashier of the 
 Ashaway National Bank, and Treasurer of the Asha- 
 way Savings Bank, July i, 1885, which position he 
 now holds. Outside of the banking business his 
 main interests have been with the public schools, 
 and for the past eight years he has been Chairman 
 of the Board of School Trustees of the town. He 
 is now serving for the third term as the Representa- 
 tive of Hopkinton in the General Assembly, and 
 is Chairman of the Committee on Education. In 
 
 FRANK HILL, 
 
 politics he is a Republican with independent 
 tendencies. He married, October 6, 1885, Miss 
 Emma Greene, daughter of M. J. Greene, of Alfred, 
 N. Y. ; they have three children : F>elyn Irene, Mary 
 Hulda and Frank Maxsom Hill. 
 
3« 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 HILL, Lester Seneca, physician and surgeon, 
 was born in Foster, R. L, December 19, 1843, son of 
 Jirah and Aniey Whipple (Ormsbee) Hill. He re- 
 ceived his early education in the district schools and 
 his physical training on the paternal farm, where 
 
 L. S. HILL. 
 
 " the trees grew big and the rocks grew bigger." 
 During the civil war he enlisted, September 1 861, at 
 the age of seventeen, in Battery E, First Rhode 
 Island Light Artillery, and served in First Division, 
 Third Corps, Army of the Potomac, till December 
 1863, when he was appointed Second Lieutenant 
 Company F, Fourteenth Rhode Island Heavy Ar- 
 tillery, serving with this regiment in the Department 
 of the Gulf until October 1865. He was at the siege 
 of Yorktown, the battle of Williamsburg, the Seven 
 Days' battles before Richmond, White Oak Swamp, 
 Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, Chantilly, Freder- 
 icksburg and Gettysburg. On the completion of 
 his term of service he resumed his studies and grad- 
 uated from Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Mass., 
 in 1870. He entered the Medical College of the 
 University of the City of New York, and graduated 
 in 1872 with the degree of M. D. He then com- 
 menced the practice of medicine in Providence, 
 where he has remained since. He has been a mem- 
 ber of the School Committee of Providence for fif- 
 teen years. He was elected a Member of the House 
 
 of Representatives of the General Assembly in 
 1872-73. He has been Grand Master of the Inde- 
 pendent Order of Odd Fellows of Rhode Island, 
 and is a member of the Grand Lodge and Grand 
 Chapter A. F. & A. M. of Rhode Island. He was 
 Medical Director of the Department of Rhode 
 Island G. A. R. for three years. He is a member 
 of the Massachusetts Commandery of Loyal Legion. 
 In 1894 he was assistant surgeon-general of Rhode 
 Island Militia, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. 
 He is a member of the Society of the Sons of the 
 American Revolution, and of the Rhode Island 
 Medical Society. In politics he is a Republican. 
 
 HORTON, Horace Fr.ancis, real estate dealer. 
 Providence, was born in Rehoboth, Mass., Janu- 
 ary 2, 1838, son of Ellis and Mary EHza (Craw) 
 Horton. He received his early education in the 
 public schools and at Schofield's Commercial Col- 
 lege, Providence. He first engaged in the grocery 
 business in co-partnership with Major E. S. Horton, 
 
 HORACE F, HORTON. 
 
 from 1859 to 1861, and from 1864 to 1872 with 
 Henry J. Anthony. From 1872 to the present time 
 he has been engaged in the real estate, mortgage 
 and insurance business, giving special attention to 
 the development of land in the vicinity of Provi- 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 39 
 
 dence. He has taken an active part in the rehgious 
 work of the Baptist society, and has been for twen- 
 ty-three years Superintendent of the Sunday School 
 of the Jefferson Street Church. He was President 
 of the Rhode Island Baptist Sunday School Con- 
 vention in 1878 and 1879, and was President of the 
 Rhode Island Baptist Social Union in 1893. He is 
 a director in the executive board of the Rhode 
 Island Baptist State Convention. He married, Jan- 
 uary 15, 1862, Miss Susan M. Anthony; they have 
 six children : Henry F., Annie M., Clarence H., Fred 
 E., Marion L. and Laura E. Horton. 
 
 HOWARD, Hiram, manufacturer of silverware, 
 was born in West Woodstock, Windham county. 
 
 wholesale jewelry business until the breaking out 
 of the war in 1861. September 18, 1861, he enlisted 
 in the Second Regiment of Artillery, New York 
 Volunteers, serving at first as Second Lieutenant, 
 and afterward as First Lieutenant and Adjutant. 
 He remained in the army until July 1864, nearly 
 three years, when he returned to New York, and 
 again engaged in the jewelry business. In 1881 
 he returned to Providence and embarked in the 
 manufacture of jewelry, which he conducted suc- 
 cessfully for several years, and then engaged in the 
 manufacture of sterling silverware. At the present 
 time he is president of the Howard Sterling Silver- 
 ware Company, Providence, his son Stephen C. 
 being associated with him in the management. He 
 has taken an active interest in public affairs 
 and in the social and economic questions of the day. 
 In May 1877 the New York Free Trade Club was 
 formed and he became a member in July of the 
 same year, retaining his membership until it was 
 merged into the Reform Club of New York, of which 
 he is consequently one of the oldest members. In 
 1890-91 he was elected a Representative to the 
 General Assembly from Providence on the Demo- 
 cratic ticket, and in 1889 was the candidate of his 
 party for the Mayoralty. He was appointed and 
 served as a member of the Rhode Island Commission 
 to the Columbian Exposition at Chicago. In politics 
 he has always been a staunch Democrat, as were his 
 father and grandfather before him. He is a mem- 
 ber of the Advance Club, the Providence Athletic 
 Association, the Providence Press Club, the Reform 
 Club of New York, and other societies and organ- 
 izations. 
 
 HIRAM HOWARD. 
 
 Conn., November 26, 1834, son of Warner and Mary 
 (Taft) Howard. He is descended from good old 
 New England stock, and is connected with the Taft, 
 Olney, Knowlton and Ellis families of Massachusetts, 
 Connecticut and Rhode Island. He received his 
 early education in the public schools of his native 
 town, at the academies at Ashford and South Wood- 
 stock in the same county, and at Dr. Cook's private 
 school for boys in Webster, Mass. At the age of 
 eighteen he left school and settled in Providence, 
 where he commenced his business career. In 1857 
 he went to New York, where he engaged in the 
 
 HOLBROOK, Albert, manufacturer, Provi- 
 dence, was born in Providence, February 5, 1813, 
 son of Abel and Sally (Hopkins) Holbrook. He 
 was one of the originators of the firm of A. & C.W. 
 Holbrook, manufacturers of raw-hide goods, princi- 
 pally at first of loom pickers, but developing into 
 numerous other articles composed of that material. 
 This business is at the present time managed by 
 his three sons, George A., Albert, Jr., and Charles 
 W. Holbrook 2d. At its origin, in 1842, the firm 
 name was the same as to-day, the Charles W. Hol- 
 brook associated with him being his brother, about 
 six years his junior. His paternal ancestral line, so 
 far as known, starts from Thomas Holbrook, who 
 emigrated from England in 1635 and settled in 
 Weymouth, Mass., and runs through John, Ichabod, 
 
40 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 ,^M^<r}/s^^n^p^'. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 41 
 
 David,' Ichabod, Nathaniel, Abel and Albert Hol- 
 brook. The ancestral home was soon changed to 
 Braintree, Mass., where Abel was born April 5, 
 1788. About the year 181 2 Abel removed to Prov- 
 idence, where he became acquainted with Sally 
 Hopkins and made her his wife. Sally's ancestral 
 line ran from Thomas Hopkins, son of William and 
 Joanna (Arnold) Hopkins, born in England, April 
 7, 1616, and continuing through Thomas, Amos, 
 Uriah, Sally and Albert. Four children were born 
 to Abel and Sally: Albert, February 5, 1813; 
 Harriet, June 23, 1814; Charles, July 21, 1816; 
 who died in childhood ; and Charles William, Jan- 
 uary 6, 1819. Mr. Holbrook's early life was very 
 inauspicious, being left fatherless when six years 
 old and motherless before the age of twelve. In 
 his twelfth year, November 1824, he was sent to 
 live with Benjamin Lewis, who had married a rela- 
 tive, with the understanding that he was to serve an 
 apprenticeship with Mr. Lewis, learning the trade 
 as a mason. This arrangement was early, and it 
 might be said prematurely, entered upon, for in the 
 early summer following his twelfth birthday he was 
 found engaged as a bricklayer on a building being 
 erected at the North End in Providence, by Wil- 
 liam Randall. This was followed up by a continu- 
 ance in the various branches of the mason trade, 
 which then embraced many features now divided 
 up into separate and special pursuits and vocations. 
 For about ten months in 1827-8 he labored upon the 
 Providence Arcade, and at the time of this writing 
 (1895) is probably the only living person who was 
 engaged in this department of its construction. 
 Among other prominent buildings in the construc- 
 tion of which he was engaged was the Newport 
 Steam Factory, in the summer of 1831, followed in 
 the autumn of that year by a short service on the 
 Number One Mill of the Lonsdale Company in 
 Smithiield. In 1833, April 30, at the solicitation 
 of his uncle, Benjaman Holbrook, who was a mem- 
 ber of the firm of J. Cunhff & Co., manufacturers of 
 loom pickers, he entered into their employment 
 and continued in this position until August 1842, 
 when he associated with his brother, as before 
 noted. This connection lasted until June 1868, 
 when Charles retired, and Albert's sons, as hereto- 
 fore stated, joined with their father in the contin- 
 uance of the business. Advancing age with its 
 infirmities prompted his retirement from the firm 
 after his three sons were established, but his per- 
 sonal interest in its growth and success remains un- 
 abated. He has also been greatly interested in 
 
 genealogical and historical matters, and for the past 
 twenty years or more has devoted much time to re- 
 search and investigation in this line of study, em- 
 bodying many of the results of his labors in publi- 
 cations of various kinds, through the press and peri- 
 odicals as well as in pamphlet and book form. His 
 efforts in this line of work have been of great public 
 value and widespread interest, generally taking a 
 broad range, covering a large field, and his services 
 have been ever and freely at the command of any 
 and all inquirers who have approached him with 
 general or specific queries relating to his favorite 
 subjects in which they were interested. That such 
 service has been keenly appreciated is evidenced 
 by the many authors whose acknowledgments ap- 
 pear in their publications, and by the multitude of 
 letters of inquiry he has received from different 
 persons resident in the state and abroad. The 
 class of historical matter, outside the genealogical, 
 to which he has especially devoted himself, is mainly 
 confined to details pertaining to the North End, 
 in Providence. A serial of several numbers, en- 
 titled " Ancient North End Landmarks, by an Old 
 Resident," covered a large field and showed up the 
 forgotten origin of many old homesteads, with de- 
 tails of the personal history of some of the people 
 connected with them. In the genealogical field, 
 one of his most interesting works was published in 
 1881, entitled "One Line of the Hopkins Family," 
 covering the line of Governor Stephen Hopkins and 
 his brother the Commodore, but not the one from 
 which the author descended ; although compara- 
 tively brief, it embraces nearly every male member 
 belonging to the line that bore the name of Hop- 
 kins, and all females born of that line. The line 
 to which the author belongs were more numerous 
 — excessively so ; he intended to follow this out, 
 but the task was beyond his strength, with his num- 
 erous other cares, although under the title of 
 "Notes on the Hopkins Family" he contributed 
 several articles to the Narragansett Historical Reg- 
 ister. At an early period in his life he was very 
 familiar with the famous Commodore's family then 
 living, and was frequently sent to the old homestead 
 on errands, briefly alluded to in the genealogical 
 work referred to. As his grandfather Uriah Hop- 
 kins and the Commodore were second cousins, the 
 association between the author's people and the 
 Commodore's descendants continued until most of 
 the latter had passed away. The subject of this 
 sketch was married, January 8, 1838, to Miss Abby 
 Olney Angell, who was born June 23, 181 1, and 
 
42 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 died December 24, 1886; five children were born 
 to them: George Abel, October 14, 1838, grad- 
 uated at Brown University, class of 1861 ; Frank 
 Pinckney, May 14, 1842, died young; Albert, Jr., 
 October 7, 1845 > Charles William, September 10, 
 1848, and Uriah Hopkins Holbrook, November 10, 
 1850, graduated at Brown University 1874 and at 
 Harvard Medical School in 1877, entered into 
 practice as a physician in Providence with promis- 
 ing success, but died suddenly May 8, 1884. 
 
 HORTON, Jeremiah Wheeler, furniture manu- 
 facturer and dealer, Newport, was born in Rehoboth, 
 
 J. W. HORTON, 
 
 Mass., April 8, 1844, son of Tamerlane Wheeler 
 and Amanda (Walker) Horton. He received his 
 early education in the public and private schools of 
 Rehoboth. He lived on a farm until he was 
 eighteen years of age, and then went to Perryville, 
 Mass., to learn the trade of wood-turning. Two 
 years later he came to Newport, and was employed 
 by J. L. & G. A. Hazard, furniture manufacturers; 
 he remained in their employ until 1884, when the 
 firm dissolved and he was appointed to settle the 
 business, which occupied a year. He then en- 
 gaged in the business with G. A. Hazard, under the 
 firm name of Hazard & Horton. Eight years later 
 
 he purchased Mr. Hazard's interest, and took F. A. 
 Ward as a partner, under the firm name of J. H. 
 Horton & Co., furniture manufacturers and dealers, 
 which still carries on the business. He is a mem- 
 ber of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
 was its Treasurer for eighteen years. He is chair- 
 man of its board of trustees, and Superintendent 
 of the Sunday School, a position he has filled for a 
 quarter of a century. He was a member of the 
 School Board of Newport for six years, and served 
 on the Board of Overseers of the Poor and Asylum 
 for several terms. He was a member of the Board 
 of Aldermen for two years, and Mayor of Newport 
 in 1893, declining to accept a re-nomination. He 
 was a Representative in the General Assembly for 
 three years, and in 1894 was nominated for Senator 
 but declined. He served the state in its militia for 
 twenty-six consecutive years as a member of the 
 Newport Artillery Company, and held commissions 
 as Captain, Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel, 
 and is now on the retired list. He was master of 
 St. Paul's Lodge A. F. & A. M. for three terms, 
 is a member of Washington Commandery Knights 
 Templar, and is a. Past Grand of Rhode Island 
 Lodge L O. O. F., and was its Financial Secretary 
 for fifteen years. He is a member of the Busi- 
 ness Men's Association, the Newport Historical 
 Society and the Redwood Library and Athenseum. 
 He is President of the Coddington Savings Bank. 
 He is President of the G. K. Warren Post Associates 
 Grand Army of the Republic. He is a member of 
 the Rhode Island Hospital Corporation. In politics 
 he is a Republican. He is not married. 
 
 HIGBEE, Edward Wyman, editor and printer, 
 Newport, was born in Newport, N. H., December 
 26, 1854, the son of John Hitchcock and Adeline 
 (Emmons) Higbee. His ancestors on the paternal 
 side were among the early settlers of Connecticut, 
 and his great-great-grandfather Stephen and great- 
 grandfather Charles served in the war of the Revo- 
 lution. On the maternal side his ancestors were 
 among the early settlers of New Hampshire He 
 received his education at New Hampton Institute, 
 New Hampton, N. H. In 1871-72 he was em- 
 ployed in the Smith & Wesson Arms \\'orks at 
 Springfield, Mass. He then learned the printer's 
 trade and worked on Newport and Providence 
 newspapers. He was the Newport correspondent 
 of the Boston Globe for upwards of twelve years. 
 He is now associate editor of the Newport Mercury, 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 43 
 
 and President of the Newport Mercury Publishing 
 Company. He represented the second ward in the 
 Newport Board of Aldermen from 1889 to 1891 in- 
 clusive. In 1893 he was unanimously elected by 
 the Newport City Council a member of and clerk 
 
 E. W. HIGBEE. 
 
 to the Board of License Commissioners. In 1895 
 he was elected a Representative in the General As- 
 sembly from Newport. He is a member of Red- 
 wood Lodge Knights of Pythias, of Newport Asso- 
 ciates N. M. R. A., Malbone Lodge N. E. O. P., 
 Gen. G. K. Warren Associates and Treasurer of the 
 Lawrence Club. In politics he is a Republican. 
 He married, in 1883, Miss Alice E. Thompson; 
 they have three children : Alice Francis, Edward 
 Wyman and Margarita Emmons Higbee. 
 
 JACKSON, Charles Akerman, artist and portrait 
 painter, Providence, was born in Jamaica Plain, 
 Mass., August 13, 1857, son of Charles E. and Caro- 
 line E. (Akerman) Jackson. His paternal ancestors 
 were William and Sarah Jackson of Portsmouth, 
 N. H., and on the maternal side Charles and Lucy 
 E. Akerman of Providence. He received his early 
 education in the public schools of Boston (Jamaica 
 Plain). He entered the wholesale drygoods trade 
 at the age of sixteen, as stock boy, and at twenty 
 
 was a traveling salesman, traveling and visiting the 
 largest cities in the West and South. He traveled 
 extensively as road salesman, until he decided to 
 adopt the art of portrait painting as a profession. 
 He always had this predilection for art, and at the 
 age of ten painted a portrait of his mother ; but 
 his parents did not favor the profession for a liveli- 
 hood. Having strong musical tastes, they allowed 
 him tuition on the church organ under W. J. D. 
 Leavitt of Boston. At one time he thought he 
 would make this his profession ; but he was passion- 
 ately fond of portraits, and during his spare time 
 kept up his practice of painting and drawing. 
 Many spare moments during his travels he spent 
 in visiting studios, and in observing artists of repu- 
 tation at their work ; also in private study with 
 artists, among whom he greatly values the teaching 
 of his friend, John N. Arnold. He also studied 
 numerous text books, among which he considers 
 those of Rubens and Bouvier the most valuable. 
 With many misgivings, he commenced to devote a 
 portion of his time to portrait painting ; and soon 
 
 C. A. JACKSON 
 
 after, in 1 891, he began devoting his entire time to 
 the painting of portraits, and has met with un- 
 questionable success. His style is refined and 
 chaste, and his portraits of women and children 
 excel in that subtle delicacy of flesh tones so 
 
44 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 charming to the eye and so alluring to the senses. 
 His portraits of men are carefully finished and 
 truthfully painted, and show a positive avoidance of 
 the " impressionist " school. Confining himself 
 solely to portraiture, and having inborn that natural 
 gift, so rare, of obtaining a likeness, it is but natural 
 that the demand for his portraits should be large 
 and that demand constantly increasing. Among 
 his more prominent portraits are those of S. N. 
 Lougee, ex-President of the West Side Club; Mayor 
 Frank F. Olney, for the City Hall ; City Messenger 
 Edward S. Rhodes, for the City Hall ; John Whipple 
 Potter Jenks, for Brown University; Stephen W. 
 Griffin, Town Clerk of Coventry, for Town Hall ; 
 Col. W. W. Brown, for the Infantry Veteran As- 
 sociation ; Prof. Thomas Metcalf for State Normal 
 University, 111. ; Albert Metcalf, Treasurer Dennison 
 Tag Company, Boston, and Dr. A. J. Gordon of 
 Boston. He is a member of Suffolk Council Royal 
 Arcanum of Boston, and also a member of the West 
 Side Club of Providence. 
 
 JACKSON, Frank Hussey, attorney-at-law. Provi- 
 dence, was born at Nobleboro, Lincoln county. Me., 
 July II, 1843, son of Joseph Jr., and Arietta G. 
 (Flagg) Jackson. He is the eldest of nine children. 
 His father was the son of Joseph Jackson, and he 
 was the son of Captain Jackson, a Revolutionary 
 soldier, whose father came from the north of Ire- 
 land. His mother was the daughter of John Flagg, 
 and he was the son of Rev. Samuel Flagg of Boston, 
 Mass., a Revolutionary soldier, who was in the 
 battle of Bunker Hill, and continued with the army 
 until the British surrendered at Yorktown. His 
 parents removed to Jefferson, Me., when he was 
 about a year old, and lived on a small farm. His 
 father was a farmer and ship carpenter. He at- 
 tended the common schools and high school at 
 Jefferson. After he was twelve years old he worked 
 on the farm and attended school until 1861, when 
 he worked for a neighboring farmer for six dollars a 
 month during the summer season, attending school 
 the next winter. In the summer of 1862 he worked 
 on a farm for nine dollars a month, and in the winter 
 of 1862 and 1863 taught school for fifteen dollars a 
 month. In the fall of 1863 he entered Lincoln 
 Academy, Newcastle, Me., receiving his education 
 at that institution, and supporting himself by teach- 
 ing school. In 1856 he entered the law office of 
 Henry Farrington, Esq., Waldoboro, Me., and on 
 the eighth day of May, 1867, entered the law office 
 
 of Hon. Lorenzo Clay, at Gardiner, Me. ; was ad- 
 mitted to the Kennebec bar, November 1867. He 
 taught school the following winter and summer of 
 1868, was nominated for Clerk of Courts for Lin- 
 coln county on the Democratic ticket and received 
 the largest vote of any of. the candidates on the 
 same ticket, only lacking thirty-four votes of an 
 election in a total vote of over five thousand. Ii> 
 September 1869 he opened a law office at Hallo- 
 well, Me., and was City Solicitor of Hallowell from 
 1870 to 1878. He supported himself all the time 
 he was at Lincoln Academy and a law student by 
 
 F, H, JACKSON. 
 
 teaching school, and received no aid from any one. 
 January i, 1879, he came to Providence and was 
 admitted to the Rhode Island bar. He entered 
 into partnership with Colonel Daniel R. Ballou 
 and the co-partnership continued until July 1895, 
 having during his practice at Hallowell and in 
 Providence enjoyed a large and lucrative business. 
 In 1880 he was admitted to the bar of the United 
 States. In 1870 he was the junior counsel for the 
 defendant in the celebrated case of State vs. Hos- 
 well, who was indicted and tried at Augusta, Me., 
 for the murder of John Laflin. The State was 
 represented by Hon. Thomas B. Reed, then Attor- 
 ney-General of Maine, and the Hon. Wm. P. 
 \Vhitehouse, County Attorney, now Justice of the 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 45 
 
 Supreme Court of Maine. The jury returned a 
 verdict of manslaughter. In Providence he has 
 been engaged in several important damage cases 
 and has enjoyed a large practice. He never was a 
 candidate for any office in Rhode Island ; he has 
 been offered nominations by his party, but always 
 declined them. He joined Olive Branch Lodge, 
 I. O. O. F., in 1882 at Providence and is now a 
 member of the order. He is a member of the 
 Providence Athletic Association and the Rhode 
 Island Business Men's Association. In politics he 
 was always a Democrat, and took an active part 
 in the election of 1884- 1888, the Congressional 
 election of 1890 and the election of 1892. He 
 married, January 27, 1875, Miss Ella A. Owen, of 
 Waltham, Mass. ; they have two children : Frank 
 H., Jr., and Walter N. Jackson. 
 
 JONES, Augustine, Principal of the Friends' 
 School, Providence, was born October 16, 1835, in 
 China, Me , the son of Richard M and Eunice 
 (Jones) Jones. His father's and mother's families, 
 both Jones, were united some generations previous. 
 The family, which is of Welch origin, settled in 
 Hanover, Mass., where his great-great-grandfather, 
 Thomas Jones, a Quaker, was residing in 1730. His 
 father's mother was Susannah Dudley, descended 
 directly from Thomas Dudley, the second Governor 
 of Massachusetts, who fought as a captain under 
 Henry IV of France. He received his early educa- 
 tion at the district schools, at the Friends' School 
 in Providence, and at Yarmouth Academy, Me. He 
 entered Bovvdoin College and graduated in the class 
 of i860, the largest the college ever had. Among 
 his classmates were Hon. Thomas B. Reed, Hon. 
 W. W. Thomas, United States Minister to Sweden, 
 Judge Joseph W. Symonds of Portland, Me , and 
 Gen. John M. Brown. As a boy he worked on the 
 farm until the age of sixteen, and supported himself 
 during his educational course by teaching district 
 schools and academies. He entered the Harvard 
 Law School and graduated in 1867. He was ad- 
 mitted to the Suffolk bar the same year, and began 
 practice in the office of Gov. John A. Andrew, with 
 whom he had previously been a student for a year 
 and a half. He continued in practice there for 
 twelve years, until 1879, when he came to Provi- 
 dence to become Principal of the Friends' School. 
 He was administrator of the estate of Governor 
 Andrew, and, with his associate Albert B. Otis, 
 took into the office Hon. John F. Andrew, the eldest 
 
 son of the governor, recently deceased, who remained 
 there three years and a half, and with Mr. Otis re- 
 tained the office after 1879. He had great fondness 
 for the law and good success in it, but was induced to 
 give himself for the remainder of his life to the in- 
 struction of the rising generation. In 1874 he was 
 named by John G. Whittier, at the request of Rev. 
 James Freeman Clark, to deliver an essay at the 
 Church of the Disciples, on the Society of Friends, 
 it being the eighth in the series by different denomi- 
 nations upon the "Universal Church." This essay 
 
 AUGUSTINE JONES. 
 
 was published, and vigorously attacked by certain 
 orthodox Friends, but Whittier said, "There was 
 nothing to be added to it or taken from it as a state- 
 ment of Quaker doctrine." He read a paper on 
 Nicholas Upsall before the New England Historical- 
 Genealogical Society, which was printed in the 
 Register for January 1880, and published in pam- 
 phlet form. Whittier wrote of this, "Thou hast done 
 an essential service to truth and justice." He was 
 a Representative in the Massachusetts Legislature 
 from Lynn, Mass, in 1878, but the next year was 
 beaten by Gen. Benjamin F. Butler and the green- 
 back craze in an exciting election after receiving 
 more votes than in his previous election. In 1890 
 he was sent by the Friends' Society and the Ameri- 
 can Peace Society as a delegate to the London 
 
46 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Peace Congress. Regarding his work in the 
 Friends' School, the following is an extract from the 
 Phoenix Park, published by the students of the 
 Friends' School in 1889 : "The school goes on, old 
 students yielding their places to the new and ever 
 carrying with them the remembrance of the kindly 
 influence and true examples of the good old school. 
 But a history of the school would not be complete 
 without some mention of its Principal, to whose 
 influence and energetic efforts its success in latter 
 years has been due. Augustine Jones, LL. B., was 
 formerly a law student of the late John A. Andrew, 
 the War Governor of Massachusetts. In answer to 
 the need of the school he became its Principal in 
 1879, leaving a flourishing law practice in order to 
 do so He devoted himself with all his powers to 
 the advancement of the school, and the improve- 
 ments of the last few years have been in a large 
 part due to his earnest endeavors and personal 
 assistance. His views of education are broad and 
 liberal and his every thought is given to the ad- 
 vancement and progress of the institution. Beloved 
 as he is by all who have felt his influence, and 
 honored by his pupils, I can only echo the wish of 
 one of the alumni who has said : — 
 
 " ' The old fifth century bad its saint, 
 Augustine, pure and wise; 
 May troops of students nurtured here 
 His namesake canonize.' " 
 
 By personal influence he has brought over 
 one hundred thousand dollars in funds to the 
 institution. He has published several pamphlets 
 on moral, religious and other topics, among 
 them one on " Parks and Tree-Lined Avenues ; " 
 one on " Peace and Arbitration," which has 
 been published in several editions, reaching more 
 than one hundred and ten thousand copies, and 
 largely distributed at home and abroad ; one on 
 " Moses Brown," the founder of many institutions 
 in Rhode Island, read in 1892 before the Rhode 
 Island Historical Society and published by its 
 direction ; and one the same year on Robert Burns, 
 before the Advance Club, which drew the following 
 letter from Mr. Whittier : — 
 
 My Dear Friend : Newburyport, 3d mo. 7, 1892. 
 
 I thank thee for sending thy eloquent and just address on 
 Burns. Read it with great satisfaction. There is nothing 
 illiberal or bigoted in it. Burns was not a Qualvcr; be had 
 faults; but he did a noble work for Scotland and humanity. 
 He sweetened an atmosphere bitter with Calvinism. Again 
 thanking thee, I am ^^^ ^^^ ^^j^^^^ 
 
 John G. Whittier. 
 
 He is a member of the Society of Friends, of the 
 Phi Beta Kappa Society, Bowdoin Chapter, New 
 England Historical-Genealogical Society, President 
 of the Advance Club and the Public Park Association 
 of Providence. He has been a Republican from 
 the start to the present time, having cast his first 
 vote for Fremont. He married, October 10, 1867, 
 Miss Caroline Alice Osborne ; they have two chil- 
 dren : Caroline R. and William A. Jones. 
 
 KENNEY, William Francis, M. D., Providence, 
 was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., February 19, 1854, 
 
 KENNEY. 
 
 son of Francis W. and Margaret M. (Daley) 
 Kenney. His father came to this country from 
 Dubhn, Ireland, in 1834. and was engaged in the 
 copper, sheet-iron and tin trade, carrying on busi- 
 ness in Hartford, Conn., for forty-five years. His 
 early education was obtained in the public schools 
 of Hartford, after which he attended Georgetown 
 University, Georgetown. D. C, and graduated from 
 the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York 
 City, in 1877, with honors, being first toastmaster 
 of his class. He acted as substitute house surgeon 
 in the Bellevue and Charity hospitals in 1876-77, 
 and after graduation located (April i, 1877) in Prov- 
 idence, where he has since continued in active 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 47 
 
 practice of his profession. In 1879 he was ap- 
 pointed Surgeon of the Fifth Battalion of Infantry, 
 Rhode Island Militia, serving in that capacity three 
 years. He was elected a member of the Common 
 Council from the Third Ward ini 885-86, and was 
 again elected to that body in 1895-96. He is a 
 Democrat in politics. Dr. Kenney belongs both 
 professionally and socially to various fraternal and 
 social organizations. He has been Surgeon of 
 Court Canonicus, Ancient Order of Foresters, 
 1889-93 j Medical Examiner of Court Roger Wil- 
 liams, A. O. O. F. of America, 1893-95 ; Supreme 
 Surgeon General of Supreme Conclave K S. F. of 
 the World, 1893-95 ; is Medical Examiner St. 
 George Lodge, No. 14, Knights of Pythias, and of 
 Endowment Rank, Section 81, Knights of Pythias; 
 Past Commander Knights of the Mystic Chain ; also 
 a member of the Select Castle of the last-named 
 order, Westminster Lodge of Odd Fellows, and the 
 Wolf Tone Literary Association. He is also a fel- 
 low of the Georgetown Alumni Association, a fellow 
 of the Bellevue Hospital Medical College and mem- 
 ber of the Rhode Island Medical Society. Dr. 
 Kenney was married, July 17, 1876, to Miss 
 Elizabeth M. A. Murray; they have eight children : 
 Maud A. E , Blanche M., William F., Stephen C, 
 Francis J., Margaret M., David A. and Elizabeth 
 Kenney. 
 
 KENDRICK, John Edmund, of Providence, 
 United States Marshal for Rhode Island, and promi- 
 nent as a manufacturer, was born in Providence, 
 June 17, 1854, the son of John and Lurana D. 
 (Cook) Kendrick. His ancestry on both sides 
 were among the earliest settlers in Massachusetts ; 
 on his mother's side he is connected with the family 
 of Gen Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill, and 
 on his father's he is descended from Oliver Ken- 
 drick, who served in the Revolutionary army. He 
 received his early education in the public schools 
 and in Mowry & Goff's Classical School of Provi- 
 dence. He matriculated at Wesleyan University, 
 Middletown, Conn., in the class of 1876. After 
 graduation he was for three years in the wholesale 
 drug business, and since 1877 he has been connected 
 with the Kendrick Loom Harness Company and the 
 American Supply Company, of which he is now the 
 "Vice-President. He has taken a warm interest in 
 educational affairs, and since 1887 has been a mem- 
 ber of the School Committee of Providence, serving 
 on many sub-committees. He has been a member 
 
 of the Common Council since 1890, and is now, 
 1896, its President, and served as a Representative 
 in the General Assembly in 1891-92. He was ap- 
 pointed by President Harrison United States Mar- 
 shal for Rhode Island in 1892, which ofifice he now 
 holds. He was one of the active organizers and for 
 many years President of the Young Men's Republi- 
 can Club of Providence, is President of the Mowry 
 & Goff Alumni Association, Vice-President of the 
 Delta Kappa Epsilon Brown University Alumni Asso- 
 ciation, and is a member of the Sons of the American 
 Revolution, the Masonic Order to the thirty-second 
 
 JOHN E. KENDRICK. 
 
 degree, and various social clubs. In politics he is a 
 Republican. He married, October 24, 1877, Miss 
 Phoebe Elizabeth Champlin of Westerly, R. I., who 
 died in 1892. In 1894 he married Miss Helena 
 Boyce of Fairfax, Vt., and they have one son, John 
 Boyce Kendrick. 
 
 LEGRIS, Marie Joseph Ernest, physician and 
 surgeon, was born in Louiseville, Province of Quebec, 
 Canada, May 8, 1857, the son of Antoine L. and 
 Marie L. (Beland) Legris. He is of French descent. 
 His grandfather Legris was born in France and 
 emigrated to Canada about 1770. His son Antoine 
 L. was the father of eleven children, one a priest in 
 
48 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Webster, Mass., one a lawyer, now deceased, one a 
 member of the Federal Parliament of Canada, and 
 two doctors. Dr. Legris received his early educa- 
 tion in the elementary schools, and took a complete 
 classical course of eight years at the Nicolet College 
 
 M. J, E, LEGRIS. 
 
 on the St. Lawrence, Canada. He received his 
 medical training for four years at the Victoria Col- 
 lege, Montreal, graduating in March 1879. He 
 first located in Natick, R. I., and after sixteen 
 months' residence there removed to Arctic, where 
 he has since remained, enjoying a large practice in 
 the town and neighborhood. He is a member of 
 the Rhode Island Medical Society. He has been 
 the medical examiner of the Mutual Life Insurance 
 Company of New York since the death of Dr. Job 
 Kenyon, which took place in 1887. He was the 
 first French Canadian elected to the Town Council 
 of Warwick, and held that position for four years, 
 from 1889 to 1892. He endorses the principles of 
 the Republican party, and has worked earnestly to 
 induce his people to become naturalized. Since he 
 began that work by the formation of clubs, the 
 number of naturalized French Canadians has in- 
 creased from about twenty five to eight hundred. 
 He was charter member of the Societe St. Jean- 
 Baptiste, of Centreville, and its President for the 
 first three years, and since, its Treasurer ; is a mem- 
 ber of Court Warwick, Foresters of America, and 
 
 its physician since its organization in 1887, and is 
 also a member of many other benevolent societies. 
 He is a Roman Catholic and a member of St. Jean- 
 Baptiste Church in Centreville, of which he is a 
 trustee. He is a Director in the Centreville 
 National Bank. On October 27, 1881, he married 
 Miss L. H. Leopoldine Des Rosiers, of Montreal ; 
 they have had seven children : Marie Blanche, 
 Louis J. A., Charles Ernest, Marie L. Fiorina (de- 
 ceased), Jean Martial, M. L. Florette and Marie 
 Edith Legris. 
 
 LANGSTAFF, Alfred M., bandmaster, was born 
 in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, January 30, 1866, 
 son of George and Jane (Wiskar) Langstaff. His 
 ancestors on both sides for generations have been 
 county squires in England, possessing considerable 
 property, and being greatly respected. He came to 
 the United States at an early age, and received his 
 education in the public schools. Having strong 
 musical tendencies he took up the study of music at 
 the age of sixteen, receiving instruction from some 
 
 ALFRED M, LANGSTAFF, 
 
 of the best masters in this country on several instru- 
 ments and in the theory of music and composition. 
 He was'quick to learn and was soon admitted to an 
 orchestra, and since that time he has been constantly 
 advancing and perfecting himself in the theory 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 49 
 
 and practice of music. Mr. Langstaff is the author 
 of many notable compositions for church, band and 
 orchestra. He at present holds the position of 
 Bandmaster to the National Band of Providence, to 
 which he was elected by unanimous vote on the 
 death of the former leader, Thomas W. Hedly. 
 This is a long established and well-known band, 
 and since the advent of Mr. Langstaff has taken a 
 high rank among the military bands of the country. 
 He was one of the founders of the musical society 
 of the Wandering Bards, has received all the hon- 
 ors at the disposal of the society, and was made 
 its first life member. He is a member of the Provi- 
 dence Athletic Association. He married, March 
 19, 1889, Miss Maud Marion Daniels; they have 
 no children living. 
 
 LATHAM, Joseph Augustus, civil engineer, was 
 born in Providence, December 6, 1850, son of Joseph 
 Stanton and Jane Ellen (Bulkley) Latham. His 
 father was born in Windsor, Conn., and is a de- 
 scendant of the William Latham whose name ap- 
 pears on the tablet in Pilgrims Hall, Plymouth, as 
 one of the passengers on the Mayilower. His 
 mother's ancestry, the Bulkley family of Connecti- 
 cut, also came to this country in the Mayflower, 
 so that he is of the best Pilgrim stock on both sides. 
 He received his early education in the public and 
 private schools of Providence, and left Bryant & 
 Stratton's Commercial College to enter the employ 
 of John Howe, civil engineer of Providence, with 
 whom he studied three years, and was subse- 
 quently employed by him until together they bought 
 a large granite ledge in Smithfield, and for two years 
 he took full charge, getting out a large amount of 
 granite for the city of Providence for the work about 
 the Sockanosset pumping station. They also fur- 
 nished the granite for the caps and foundation stone 
 for the Buder Exchange, Providence. In 1873 
 the ledge business was sold and he entered the em- 
 ploy of S. B. Gushing & Co., civil engineers, of 
 Providence, where he remained for two years, leav- 
 ing to take charge of the surveying department of a 
 real estate establishment in Providence. He re- 
 mained about three years with this firm when he 
 opened an establishment for himself in civil engi- 
 neering, and has continued in the practice of his 
 profession until the present time. He has made 
 bridge building a specialty and erected many in the 
 vicinity of Providence. He was chief engineer for 
 
 the Pontiac Branch Railroad, until it was leased by the 
 New York, New Haven & Hartford Company. He 
 made a preliminary survey of the Ponegansett Rail- 
 road from Providence to Danielson, Conn. He is a 
 Methodist, was reared in and is a member of the 
 Matthewson Street Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 Providence. He has been Superintendent of the 
 Sunday School for six consecutive years, has been 
 a trustee of the church for several years, and is a 
 member of the building committee for the erection 
 of a new church edifice, which will be a model as 
 well as a novel church building. He is also a mem- 
 
 JOS, A, LATHAM, 
 
 ber of the building committee for the erection of the 
 new Edgewood Methodist Episcopal Church, now 
 in process of erection. He is a member of Har- 
 mony Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Providence Chapter 
 and Council, of Calvary Commandery, and is a 
 " Shriner " and thirty-second degree Mason. He has 
 always been an active member of the Republican 
 party of Cranston, and was a member of the school 
 committee for sixteen consecutive years, holding 
 the office of Superintendent of Schools for three 
 years. He married, November 28, 1874, Miss 
 Hattie K. Tuller, of Simsbury, Conn. ; they have 
 four children : Hattie L., Eva J., Charles B. and 
 Arthur B. Latham. 
 
50 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 LANDERS, Albert Crocker, State Auditor and 
 Insurance Commissioner of Rhode Island, was born 
 in Newport, R. I., June 19, 1845. He was educated 
 in the pubUc schools of that city. He established 
 himself in the china, glass and fancy goods business 
 
 A. C. LANDERS. 
 
 some thirty years ago, and has been very successful. 
 He served on Governor Bourne's personal staff in 
 1883 to 1885. He has been a member of the State 
 Central Republican Committee for twenty-odd 
 years. He was elected State Auditor and Insurance 
 Commissioner in May 189 1, and still holds the 
 offices. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, Elks, 
 Knights of Honor, Good Fellows, and an active 
 member of the Lawrence Club of Newport and the 
 Athletic Club of Providence. He was married, in 
 1867, to Miss Sarah Perry Clarke, granddaughter of 
 Hon. Joshua Perry of Newport. 
 
 LAPHAM, Benjamin Newell, attorneyat-law, 
 Providence, was born in Smithfield, R. I., April 
 28, 182 r, the son of Alfred and Rebecca (Newell) 
 Lapham. He is of Rhode Island stock, the pater- 
 nal grandfather being William Lapham and his 
 maternal Benjamin Newell. He received his early 
 education in the public schools of Burrillville, then 
 very poor ones, until he was sixteen years of age. 
 About that time he heard Samuel Y. Atwell, an 
 eloquent lawyer, argue a case, and was so much 
 
 delighted that he determined to become a lawyer. 
 He prepared for college by studying by himself and 
 going on horseback to Chepachet, where he recited 
 his lessons to the late Hon. George H. Brown a part 
 of the time and part of the time to Alfred Bosworth, 
 then a young lawyer in the office of Mr. Atwell, and 
 afterwards one of the Judges of the Supreme Court 
 of Rhode Island. He entered Brown University in 
 1838. After three years' study his health gave out 
 and he lived on his father's farm for a year. He 
 then returned to college and graduated in 1843. 
 He studied law in the office of Samuel Y. Atwell 
 in Chepachet for a year until the death of the latter 
 and then for a year in the office of Richard W. 
 Greene of Providence, who was then United States 
 District Attorney and afterwards Chief Justice of 
 the Supreme Court of the state of Rhode Island. 
 He was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1845, 
 and commenced practice in Providence, January i, 
 1846. He attended sedulously to his profession 
 and acquired a large practice. He was City Solici- 
 tor of Providence, 1863-65, member of the General 
 Assembly 1863-64 and 1880-81, of the Providence 
 
 B. N. LAPHAM. 
 
 Common Council 1869-71, of the Board of Aldermen 
 1876-S2 and of the State Senate 1876-77-82-83. 
 He was also for many years a member of the School 
 Committee. In politics he was a Democrat until 
 the nomination of] .Abraham Lincoln for President 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 51 
 
 of the United States, when he became a Republican 
 and has remained one ever since. He married, June 
 24, 1847, Miss Sophia M. Page ; they have had four 
 children : Sophie P., now wife of John D. Lewis, 
 Juha B , Eliza B. and Louis P., all deceased except 
 Mrs. I,ewis. 
 
 METCALF, Harold, physician and surgeon, 
 was born in Providence, November 25, i860, son 
 
 HAROLD METCALF. 
 
 of Levi and Georgiana (Tucker) Metcalf. On his 
 paternal side his ancestors were early settlers of 
 Dedham, Mass., although for many generations they 
 have belonged to Rhode Island. His great-great- 
 grandfather on the maternal side was Daniel Mowry, 
 who was a Member of the Continental Congress 
 in 1781-82. His maternal ancestors are well- 
 known families in North Smithfield and adjacent 
 towns. He received his early education in the 
 public schools and high schools of Providence, 
 and entered Brown University, graduating in the 
 class of 1884. While in college he taught evening 
 schools, was clerk in a hat store, worked on a farm 
 and at other employments. He adopted medicine 
 as a profession and studied in the Harvard Medical 
 School, from which he graduated in 1887 with the 
 degree of M. D. He was Externe on the surgical 
 side of the Rhode Island Hospital, and Dispensary 
 Physician, during his year's residence in Providence^ 
 
 when he removed to Wickford, R. I., and took a 
 practice left vacant by the ill-health of the former 
 incumbent. He was Physician to the Soldiers' 
 Home while at Wickford before its removal to 
 Bristol. He was appointed Medical Examiner by 
 Gov. H. W. Ladd in 1889 and re- appointed in 1895 
 by Gov. C. W. Lippitt. He is examiner for the 
 Mutual and Equitable Life Insurance Companies. 
 He is a member of the Odd Fellows fraternity and 
 of the Sons of the American Revolution. In poli- 
 tics he is a Republican of the independent class, 
 but has always avoided public life, preferring to 
 devote himself to his profession. He married, 
 July 31, 1889, Miss Mary Anna Barney; they 
 have four children : Mary L., George T., John T. 
 and Paul B. Metcalf. 
 
 MORROW, Robert, Manager of the Providence 
 Opera House, was born in New York City, Sep- 
 
 ROBERT morrow. 
 
 tember 28, 1838, the sonof John and Ann E. (Moore) 
 Morrow. His father was an architect by ''profes- 
 sion, and his ancestors on both sides were Scotch. 
 He received his early education in private schools 
 and was in a boarding school until 1852. He then 
 went to sea and was second mate of the schooner 
 James T. Brady before he was eighteen^ years of 
 age. During the course of his seafaring life he 
 
52 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 visited Europe, Asia, Africa and South America, 
 and was for two years on the coast of Africa. He 
 served in the American navy from 1856 to 1859. 
 He came to Providence in the latter year and has 
 remained here until the present time. He has 
 been engaged successfully in various business enter- 
 prises — the grocery and liquor and livery-stable 
 business. In 1877 he became a member of the 
 firm of Hopkins & Morrow, Managers of the 
 Theatre Comique in Providence, and in 1885 
 became sole Manager of the Providence Opera 
 House, which he has conducted with success to 
 the present time. He also manages an extensive 
 brokerage business in stocks and bonds. He was 
 an active fireman from 1861 to 1867, and a mem- 
 ber of companies John B. Chace, No. 4, and Water 
 Witch, No. 6. He is a member of the Rhode Island 
 Club, the Athletic Association, and is an Odd Fellow 
 and Elk. In politics he is a conservative. He mar- 
 ried, April 12, 1863, Miss Mary A. Dennaly; they 
 have two children : Annie L. and Ella F. Morrow. 
 
 MASON, Robert Durfee, president of the 
 Robert D Mason Company, Pawtucket, was born 
 
 ROBT. D. MASON 
 
 Mason, and his mother a daughter of Barney and 
 Phila Benson (Tyler) Merry. He obtained his 
 early education in the public schools of Pawtucket, 
 and received his training for active life in the 
 dyeing and bleaching establishment of his uncle 
 Samuel Merry. Mr. Merry had succeeded his 
 father, Barney Merry, who established the business 
 in 1805. Mr. Mason succeeded his uncle in 1870, 
 after being in company with him for four years, 
 and has since been sole owner of the business, 
 until 1889, when his son Frederic became asso- 
 ciated with him as partner. In 1892 the business 
 was incorporated under the name of The Robert 
 D. Mason Company, with Robert D. Mason as 
 President and Frederic R. Mason Treasurer. Mr. 
 Mason is a Republican in politics, but has not 
 sought nor accepted public office. He was, how- 
 ever, an efficient member of the Pawtucket Water 
 Board for fourteen years. He was married, ia 1852, 
 to Miss Mary Bicknell Nicholas, who died in 1890 ; 
 and in 1893 he married Miss Mary Adeline 
 Havens. He has by his first wife two children : 
 Frederic Robert and Ella Frances Mason. 
 
 in Pawtucket, March 10, 1832, son of Robert 
 Durfee and Mehitabel Tyler (Merry) Mason. His 
 father was a son of Pardon and Annie (Hale) 
 
 NEWELL, Timothy, physician and surgeon, was 
 born March 29, 1820, in Sturbridge, Mass., the son 
 of Stephen and Polly (May) Newell. His father 
 was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and held 
 the rank of orderly sergeant and lieutenant; he 
 was a pensioner for many years. The first New 
 England representative of the family, Isaac Newell, 
 came to Boston from England when two years old. 
 His grandson, Isaac, was the second town clerk of 
 Sturbridge, in 1739. Dr. Newell's early education 
 was limited to three months' attendance at the 
 winter district school until si.xteen years of age. At 
 this time he entered the Manual Labor High School 
 at Worcester, teaching winters, alternately. He 
 fitted for college at the \Mlbraham Academy and 
 entered Brown University in the class of 1847. At 
 the close of the sophomore year he left college and 
 commenced the study of medicine in the office of 
 Dr. Sylvanus Clapp of Pawtucket, and then of Dr. W. 
 D. Buck of Manchester, N. H., for three years. He 
 attended two full courses of lectures at Woodstock, 
 Vt., and took a private 'course of three months 
 there. He graduated in 1850 and subsequently 
 took a course in the College of Physicians and Sur- 
 geons of New York. He commenced the practice 
 of medicine in Cranston, R. I., in 1851, and re- 
 mained there a little over three years. Since that 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 53 
 
 time he has been located in Providence. He is a 
 member of the Providence Medical Association, and 
 the Rhode Island Medical Society, of which he was 
 the Treasurer two years. He was formerly a member 
 of the American Medical Association, the American 
 
 TIMOTHY NEWELL. 
 
 Social Science Association, and American Public 
 Health Association. He was largely instrumental 
 in the formation of a flourishing medical library in 
 Providence, and for nine years was chairman of the 
 library committee, which acquired by gifts and pur- 
 chase, during that period, over seven thousand 
 volumes. He is a member of the Rhode Island 
 Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Indus- 
 try, the Rhode Island Horticultural Society, and the 
 Public Park Association of Providence, of which he 
 was an original member and largely instrumental in 
 its promotion, Treasurer for six years, and Secretary 
 and Treasurer for six years. He is a member of 
 the Sons of the American Revolution, and remem- 
 bers to have shaken hands with General Lafayette. 
 He is an honorary member of the Metropolitan 
 Public Garden Association of London. During the 
 civil war he was Surgeon of the First Rhode Island 
 Cavalry, commissioned November 4, 1861, and had 
 charge of sick and wounded prisoners of the Seven 
 Days' battle quartered in Richmond. He was re- 
 leased August 20, 1862. Among his published papers 
 are, " What Changes does Physiology Demand in our 
 
 Public School System?" read before the American 
 Social Science Association at Saratoga in 1876 and 
 published in the "Sanitarian." As chairman of the 
 committee of school hygiene of the Rhode Island 
 Medical Association, in 1875, he made a full report 
 with a series of resolutions, which were copied into 
 several sanitary journals and commented on. He 
 read a paper on '' Interior or Open Spaces in Large 
 Cities," before the American Public Health Associa- 
 tion. He is also the author of several pamphlets 
 published annually for ten years by the Public Park 
 Association, the last of which. No. 10, was influ- 
 ential in securing the loan for a new State House 
 and fixing its location. He is also the author of the 
 " Cyclopaedia of Domestic Medicine and Hygiene," 
 Bradley & Woodruff, Boston, 1890. He married, 
 in September 1867, Miss Annie Potter Bates, daugh- 
 ter of James W. Bates of South Kingston, and has 
 one son : Claude Potter, born November 8, 1870. 
 
 NUGENT, Charles Franklin, banker, Provi- 
 dence, was born in Lynn, Mass., November 15, 1869, 
 
 CHAS. F. NUGENT. 
 
 son of Thomas and Eliza (Newhall) Nugent. He 
 received his education in the grammar schools of 
 Lynn and in the high school of Manchester, New 
 Hampshire. After completing his school education 
 he entered the employ of the Amoskeag Mills in 
 
54 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Manchester and thoroughly learned the process 
 of the manufacture of cotton cloth. He was ap- 
 pointed superintendent of the cotton mills in 
 Moosup, Conn., in 1888, and resigned on account 
 of ill-health in 1889. He came to Providence the 
 same year and engaged in the merchant-tailoring 
 business, which was successfully conducted under 
 the firm name of C. F. Nugent & Company. In 
 1893 the business of C. F, Nugent & Company was 
 incorporated in a concern of which he was elected 
 President. He resigned and severed his interest 
 with the firm in 1894. He then engaged in the 
 banking business, which he has since successfully 
 conducted. He has not taken any interest in 
 public life. He is a member of the West Side 
 Club, the Providence Athletic Association, the 
 Order of United Workmen, the Masonic fraternity 
 and the Odd Fellows. In politics he is a Repub- 
 lican. He married, January 12, 1894, Miss Anny E. 
 Tinker, of Lafayette, Ind. ; they have no children. 
 
 O'REILLY, Francis L., Collector of the 
 Port of Providence, was born in the county of 
 Cavan, province of Ulster, Ireland, June 24, 1844, 
 the son of Philip and Catherine (McEntee) 
 O'Reilly. The O'Reillys of Cavan were for more 
 than a thousand years powerful princes and chief- 
 tains in that country, who after centuries of war- 
 fare against the invaders of their native land, were 
 gradually reduced in their power and possessions by 
 the confiscation of their lands by the kings and 
 queens of England. He was educated under 
 private tutorship in his father's house until he was 
 seventeen years of age, at which time he came to 
 the United States and settled in Rhode Island. 
 After a brief residence he removed to the Southern 
 States and spent a few years in the dramatic pro- 
 fession and as a public speaker and lecturer. He 
 then studied law and was admitted to the Rhode 
 Island bar in 1870. Since that time he has been in 
 the active practice of his profession in Woonsocket, 
 R. I. In 1882 he was admitted to practice in the 
 United States Supreme Court. His activity and 
 energy have found scope not only in a large law 
 practice, but in military and civil organizations, 
 in political work, and in the promotion and further- 
 ance of many business enterprises of a public nature 
 for the advancement of his city. In 1879 he was 
 commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the Rhode 
 Island Guards, of which regiment he has been an 
 active member for several years. He has been 
 
 active in politics and influential in the councils of 
 his party, and has been for the past fifteen years a 
 member of the Democratic State Committee. He 
 was a Delegate to the Democratic National Con- 
 ventions in 1888 and 1892, and was largely instru- 
 
 FRANCIS L. O'REILLY. 
 
 mental in having the vote of the state delegation 
 cast in convention for President Cleveland in 1892. 
 He was a Representative in the General Assembly in 
 1879-80; Town Solicitor of Woonsocket in 1887-88; 
 and a member of the commission created in 1890 
 to build a new State House in Providence. In 1894 
 he was appointed Collector of the Port of Provi- 
 dence by President Cleveland, which office he now 
 holds. He is married and has a family of three 
 children. 
 
 PERKINS, Jay, M. D., Providence, was born in 
 Penobscot, Hancock county, Maine, October 15, 
 1864, son of William N. and Phebe A. (Perkins) 
 Perkins. His ancestors came from England and 
 settled in York, Me., some time before the Revo- 
 lution, and their descendants settled along the 
 Maine coast and in Massachusetts. He attended 
 the common schools until the age of seventeen, 
 when he entered the Eastern State Normal School 
 at Castine, and graduated as salutatorian in 1884. 
 He took the college preparatory course in the Co- 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 55 
 
 burn Classical Institute at Waterville, attended a 
 special course of one year at Colby University, and 
 entered Harvard Medical School, from which he 
 graduated in 189 1. Following graduation he at- 
 tended a post-graduate laboratory course in bac- 
 teriology at Harvard. In November of the same 
 year he became House Physician to the Rhode Is- 
 land Hospital, was House Surgeon to the same in- 
 stitution the succeeding year, then served as House 
 Physician to the Boston Lying-in Hospital until 
 May 1894, following which he took a post-gradu- 
 ate laboratory course in pathology at Harvard. He 
 came to Providence in July 1894, and was at once 
 appointed Pathologist to the Rhode Island Hospi- 
 tal, which position he holds at the present time. 
 Dr. Perkins has especially devoted himself to re- 
 search and practice in pathology and bacteriology, 
 as the great advance made in medicine in modern 
 times is based in these branches of medical science. 
 He was one of the first physicians in Rhode Island 
 to do any systematic work in this direction, and in 
 association with another physician, has established 
 the Rhode Island Laboratory for Bacteriology and 
 
 JAY PERKINS. 
 
 Pathology, in which, besides private scientific work 
 in these branches for physicians from all over the 
 state, is done the bacteriological work for the State 
 Board of Health. Dr. Perkins is Secretary of the 
 Providence Medical Association, and is a member 
 
 of the Rhode Island and Massachusetts medical 
 societies, the Rhode Island Medico-Legal Society, 
 the Harvard Medical Alumni Association, the Penn- 
 sylvania Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis 
 and the New England Cremation Society.- He also 
 holds the position of Demonstrator of Human An- 
 atomy in Brown University. He is a member of 
 the Congregational Club, Union Congregational 
 Church and Young Men's Christian Association of 
 Providence and the Harvard Club of Rhode Island. 
 He is a Republican in politics, and is unmarried. 
 
 POND, Daniel Bullard, mayor of Woonsocket 
 in 1889-92, was born in that part of Smithiield, 
 R. I., subsequently forming a part of the city of 
 Woonsocket, October 21, 1830, son of EH and Maria 
 (Bullard) Pond. He is descended from old and 
 honorable New England stock, two brothers Pond 
 having come from Groton, England, with Governor 
 Winthrop in 1630, and being on familiar and 
 friendly terms with him. Daniel, the son of 
 Robert Pond, one of the original brothers and 
 from whom Daniel B. is descended, settled in 
 Dedham, Mass., where he was a lieutenant of 
 militia and a substantial citizen. The family were 
 active and patriotic during the war of the Revolu- 
 tion, taking arms immediately after the battle of 
 Lexington and serving until the freedom of the 
 Colonists was established. Eli Pond, Daniel B.'s 
 great-grandfather, was a drummer in a company of 
 minute men, a sergeant in Capt. Josiah Fuller's 
 Company, a lieutenant in Capt. Amos Ellis's 
 Company, and lieutenant in a company serving in 
 Rhode Island in 1788. Eli Pond, the father of 
 Daniel B., settled in Woonsocket in 1827, where he 
 established himself as a painter. He subsequently 
 conducted a general store for paints, oils, and man- 
 ufacturers' supplies, and also engaged successfully in 
 cotton manufacture. He was also engaged for 
 some time in farming in Mendon, Mass. Daniel 
 received his early education in the public schools of 
 Woonsocket and Mendon. He attended the 
 school of Prof. James Bushee at the " Old Bank 
 Village " and subsequently the Manual Labor 
 School at Worcester, Mass. He afterward entered 
 Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass., to fit for 
 college, where he remained two years, and then 
 finished his preparatory course at a private school 
 in Concord, Mass., where he made the acquaintance 
 of Emerson, Hawthorne and Thoreau. He entered 
 Brown University and graduated in 1857 with the 
 
56 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 degree of A. B. He adopted the law as a profes- 
 sion and studied in the Law School at Albany, 
 N. Y., from which he graduated with the degree of 
 LL. B., and was admitted to the bar of New York in 
 1858. At this time he was engaged as attorney for 
 the township of Ceredo, Va., where he remained 
 for a short time, and then engaged in practice in 
 partnership with P. P. Todd, in Blackstone, Mass. 
 In 1859 he was admitted to the Massachusetts bar. 
 The following year he had charge of the law and 
 collection office of the firm in Boston, and in i860 
 had charge of the office in New York, which repre- 
 sented collection claims against Southerners for over 
 a million dollars. The war destroyed the business 
 and in 1862 he returned to Woonsocket and began 
 the manufacture of cotton warp in what was known 
 as the Harris No. i Mill, afterward building a mill 
 of his own where he remained in the business for 
 several years. He was the first cotton and woolen 
 manufacturer in the state to shorten the hours of 
 labor. He was successful in business from the 
 beginning and acquired a large property, but the 
 
 DANIEL B. POND. 
 
 failure of debtors in 1878 caused him to sus- 
 pend and abandon all his means to creditors. 
 He then resumed his profession, which he has 
 successfully followed since. He has taken a very 
 active part in politics and in public affairs, and 
 
 has been honored by many important offices in 
 the city and state. He was for many years a 
 member of the Town Council of Woonsocket, a 
 Representative in the General Assembly in 1864-66, 
 and Senator in 1867-68-69, resigning in 1870. 
 While in the House he formulated the enactments 
 for the division of Woonsocket from Cumberland, 
 and was the first Senator from the new town. He 
 was Town Solicitor in 1879-80, Chairman of the 
 Consolidated School District Trustees and of the 
 Board of Engineers of the Fire Corporation. He 
 took an active part in the organization of the fire 
 departments and served on the committee for the 
 erection of the town asylum. He delivered an ad- 
 dress at the Garfield memorial service in Woonsocket 
 in 188 1, and was a member of the committee to 
 locate the soldiers' monument. He was the candi- 
 date of the Democratic party for the General Treas- 
 urer in 1880. He was elected first Councilman and 
 President of the Board in 18S7, but resigned to ac- 
 cept the office of High Sheriff of Providence county, 
 to which he had been elected by the General 
 Assembly in that year. He was a member of the 
 Board of Assessors of taxes in 1886, and Chairman 
 in 1887-88. He drew up the original charter for 
 the city of Woonsocket and secured its introduction 
 in the General Assembly in 1888 ; it was subsequently 
 passed with slight changes. He was elected the first 
 Senator from the new city, and re-elected in 1890 
 and 189 r. He was elected Mayor in 1889, and re- 
 elected for three successive terms. He has also 
 been a member of the Stone Bridge Commission, 
 and a member of the Rhode Island Board of World's 
 Fair Commissioners. He was appointed in 1891 a 
 member of the Board of Trustees for the Rhode 
 Island Institute for the Deaf and re-appointed in 
 1893 for the term of six years. On the organization 
 of the Board he was elected its President and still 
 holds the office. He is also Chairman of the Build- 
 ing Committee. He introduced the original petition 
 for the division of Providence county, and kept the 
 matter before the General Assembly while he was a 
 member. He drew up and procured the amend- 
 ment to the revised statutes providing for holding 
 the highest courts at Woonsocket. He advocated 
 the establishment of the Soldiers' Home and made 
 the first motion for an appropriation for that pur- 
 pose. As Mayor of Woonsocket he advocated most 
 of the present public improvements in highways, 
 bridges, water-works, a system of drainage, a system 
 of public parks, the extension of the electric rail- 
 way and the building of the railroad to Pascoag, the 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 57 
 
 city encouraging this project by guaranteeing the 
 interest on $100,000 of the construction bonds. 
 He was an earnest advocate for exempting new 
 industries from taxation, and the new impetus given 
 for the growth of the city may be traced to this 
 action. In pohtics he was a Repubhcan from the 
 organization of the party until 1872, when he became 
 a Democrat. He has been Chairman of the Demo- 
 cratic State Central Committee and of the Demo- 
 cratic Town Committee until he decHned further 
 services. He is a member of the Alumni Association 
 of Phillips Academy, of the Theta Delta Chi of 
 Brown University, the Woonsocket Business Men's 
 Association, the Woonsocket Agricultural Society, 
 of which he has been Trustee and President, and for 
 which he drew up and obtained the charter in the 
 General Assembly. He is one of the charter mem- 
 bers of the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the 
 American Revolution. He married, November 29, 
 i860. Miss Isadore Verry, only daughter of James 
 Verry, a successful woolen manufacturer of Woon- 
 socket, and of Dedham, Mass. : they have had five 
 children : Verry Nolan and Clarence Eli, who died in 
 infancy ; and Isadore Maud, Nannie May and Grace 
 Verena Pond. 
 
 Co-operative Association for Savings and Building 
 since the first year of its existence, was a charter 
 member of the Newport Street Railway Company, 
 
 PITMAN, Theophilus Topham, proprietor of the 
 Newport Daily News, was born in New Bedford, 
 Mass., April 12, 1842, son of William R. and Ann 
 Agnes (Topham) Pitman. His ancestry on both 
 sides dates from the earliest settlement of New- 
 port; he is of the seventh generation from John 
 Pitman, who settled in the town in 17 10. His 
 father was active in the formatioii of the Repub- 
 lican party. His mother was the daughter of Hon. 
 Theophilus Topham, for thirty years a member 
 of^ the Town Council of Newport, its President 
 for many years, and an influential citizen in the 
 affairs of the town. Mr. Pitman received his edu- 
 cation in the public and private schools of New 
 Bedford and Newport. He came to Newport in 
 1856, and in 1862 engaged in the coal and grain 
 business in partnership with the late John O. Peck- 
 ham. In June 1867 he purchased the half interest 
 in the Newport Daily News of Rev. M. J. Talbot, 
 forming a co-partnership with Hon. L. D. Davis. 
 In August 1887 he bought the interest of Mr. Davis 
 in the News and has since conducted the publication 
 of the newspaper alone. He has never held public 
 office, with the exception of that of Park Commis- 
 sioner. He has been a Director of the Newport 
 
 T. T. PITMAN. 
 
 and has always been a member of its board of man- 
 agement. He married, November 1866, Miss Marie 
 J. Davis, widely known in literature as "Margery 
 Deane" ; Mrs. Pitman died in Paris, November 30, 
 1888. 
 
 PEIRCE, William Copeland, President and 
 Treasurer of the Providence Machine Company, 
 was born in New Bedford, Mass., November 2r, 
 1863, son of Charles M. and Amanda E. (Hill) 
 Peirce. He is a grandson of the late well-known 
 Thomas J. Hill. He received his early education 
 in the public schools of New Bedford, and at War- 
 ner's Business College in Providence. In 1881 he 
 was apprenticed to the Brown & Sharpe Manufac- 
 turing Company for three years. In 1884 he en- 
 tered the employ of the Providence Machine 
 Company as a journeyman's machinist, and in 1885 
 was admitted to the firm, and became Superinten- 
 dent of Construction. In 1891 he was elected 
 Agent for the firm, and in 1894 became its Presi- 
 dent and Treasurer. He is President of the 
 Elizabeth Mills, and a Director in the Equitable 
 Fire and Marine Insurance Company and the City 
 Savings Bank. He is an active member of the 
 
58 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Providence Board of Trade and the New England 
 Cotton Manufacturers' Association. In politics he 
 has always been a Republican^ but has not sought 
 
 W. C. PEIRCE. 
 
 or accepted public office. He married, in Septem- 
 ber 1887, Miss Isabella Louise Baker, of Provi- 
 dence ; they have four children : Thomas J., 
 Emma I., Wm. C, Jr., and Ruth C. Peirce. 
 
 PHILLIPS, Eugene Francis, President of the 
 American Electrical Works, Providence, was born 
 in that city, November 10, 1843, son of the late 
 David and Maria Nancy (Rhodes) PhilHps of North 
 Scituate, R. I., and a descendant of Christopher 
 Phillips of Rainham, St. Martins, county of Norfolk, 
 England, who landed at Salem, Mass., June 12, 1630, 
 and settled in Watertown in that state. He re- 
 ceived his education in the public schools of Prov- 
 idence, making a break in his course at the high 
 school, to enhst and serve in the Tenth Rhode 
 Island Volunteers in 1862, together with a large 
 delegation of high school and college students, re- 
 turning to complete his studies at the time the 
 regiment was sworn out of service. His occupation 
 up to the time of the commencement of the manu- 
 facture of insulated wire in 1870, which may prop- 
 erly be called the business of his life, was of a 
 varied nature, and such as usually falls to the lot of 
 
 most young men. In the year 1870 Mr. Phillips in 
 a very limited way commenced the manufacture of 
 insulated telegraph wire, in a barn in the rear of his 
 residence, 57 Chestnut street, and each succeeding 
 year added to the amount of the production of the 
 preceding year. In 1882 the business was incor- 
 porated under the name of the American Electrical 
 Works, from which time he has filled the position of 
 its President. The business has grown until the 
 company at present occupies the position of one of 
 the leading manufactories of its kind in the world, 
 and is doing an amount of business excelled by 
 few individuals or corporations in the state. In 
 politics Mr. Phillips is an out-and-out Republican. 
 He is a member of the American Institute of Elec- 
 trical Engineers of New York, What Cheer Lodge 
 F. & A. M., Swarts Lodge I. O. O. F., Providence 
 Board of Trade, Slocum Post G. A. R., and of the 
 Athletic, Popham, Union and Rhode Island Yacht 
 clubs of Providence. He married, October 30, 
 1867, Josephine Johanna Nichols, daughter of 
 Samuel and Nancy (Baker) Nichols of Rehoboth, 
 
 E, F. PHILLIPS. 
 
 Mass. ; of this union were born : Eugene Rowland, 
 now a superintendent in the American Electrical 
 Works, Edith Josephine, Frank Nichols, now a 
 student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 
 ogy, Boston, and Grace, who died in March 1883. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 59 
 
 PEIRCE, Arthur Clarence, physician and sur- 
 geon, was born November 15, 1858, at Dighton, 
 Mass., the son of Isaac and EHzabeth A. (Adams) 
 Peirce. He comes of old New England stock. His 
 ancestor, Capt. Michael Peirce, born in England 
 
 A. C. PEIRCE. 
 
 about 1615, came to America in 1645, and located 
 at Hingham, Mass. He was commissioned a captain 
 of troops by the colonial authorities in 1669, and 
 was killed in battle with the Narragansett Indians 
 under Chief Canonchet, at Attleboro Gore, March 
 26, 1676. The Hne of descent is : Ephraim Peirce, 
 died 1719; Ephraim Peirce, born 1674; David 
 Peirce, 1701-1767; David Peirce, 1726-1801 ; David 
 Peirce, 1768-1847; Isaac Peirce, 1814; Arthur C, 
 1858. He received his early education in the pubhc 
 schools of Dighton. He adopted medicine as a profes- 
 sion, and took one course at Rush Medical College, 
 Chicago, one course at the College of Physicians 
 and Surgeons, Chicago, one course at the Kentucky 
 School of Medicine, Louisville, Ky., from which he 
 received the degree of M. D., June 26, 1883. He 
 practised medicine in Dighton, Mass., from 1883 to 
 
 1886, and settled in Drownville, R. I., December 
 
 1887, where he remained until December 1895, at 
 which time he removed to Riverside, where he is 
 now engaged in the practice of his profession. He 
 was appointed Health Officer of the town of Bar- 
 
 rington by the town council in April 1894, and has 
 held the office since that date. He was elected a 
 member of the school committee of Barrington, for 
 three years, April 1890, and served until August 
 189 1, when he resigned. He is a Knight of Pythias. 
 He was elected presiding officer of Barrington Coun- 
 cil No. 30 O. U. A. M., for the first two terms after 
 the institution of the Council, and by virtue of that 
 office became a member of the State Council of 
 Rhode Island O. U. A. M., April 23, 1895. He 
 was camping and hunting in the state of Texas from 
 November 1886 to July 1887, and wrote a book 
 giving an account of his experience in that state, 
 which was published by the Forest and Stream Pub- 
 lishing Company of New York, under the title of 
 "A Man from Corpus Christi," in May 1894. He 
 married, April 8, 1889, Miss Idella Lincoln, of 
 Taunton, Mass. ; they have no children. 
 
 PEIRCE, James Lewis, President of the Provi- 
 dence Board of Trade, and merchant, was born in 
 
 J. L. PEIRCE. 
 
 East Greenwich, R. I., March 25, 1830, the son of 
 James B. and Mary (Pinniger) Peirce. David Pin- 
 niger, his grandfather, was of French descent and 
 learned his trade of blacksmith in the " Old Forge 
 Mill " near East Greenwich with Gen. Nathaniel 
 
6o 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Greene. The father of his grandmother was Capt. 
 Thomas Arnold, who lost a leg at the battle of Mon- 
 mouth, and whose tombstone at East Greenwich 
 records the battles in which he was engaged. His 
 paternal grandfather, Daniel Peirce, was also a soldier 
 in the Revolutionary war, and took part in the battle 
 of Red Bank. He received his early education in the 
 public schools and at the East Greenwich Seminary. 
 He commenced his business life as a clerk for V. J. 
 Rates & Co., cotton manufacturers, whom he served 
 from 1847 to 1848, and a clerk for David Sisson & 
 Co., in the oil business, from 1848 to 1856. In 
 1856 he became a partner in the firm of French, 
 Sisson & Co., which in 1858 became the firm of 
 French & Peirce In 1862 he established the firm 
 of J. L. Peirce & Co., which has conducted a large 
 and successful business up to the present time. He 
 served in the Common Council of the city of Provi- 
 dence from 1876 to 1880. In 1861-62 he was on 
 the staff of Brig.- Gen. T. J. Stead, Quartermaster of 
 Rhode Island Militia, in charge of the outfit of the 
 state troops in the service. He has been Treasurer 
 of Grace Episcopal Church, Providence, since 1859. 
 He was elected President of the Providence Board 
 of Trade in 1893-94-95. He married Miss Lucretia 
 Foster, June 22, 1853, and they have one child, a 
 daughter, living. 
 
 Burrillville, R. I. On October 10, 1861, he was 
 commissioned Assistant Surgeon of the Fifth Rhode 
 Island Volunteers and went with the Burnside ex- 
 pedition to North Carolina. After the regiment 
 was filled up he was commissioned Surgeon, and re- 
 
 POTTER, Albert, physician and surgeon, was 
 born in Sturbridge, Mass., February 28, 1831, son of 
 Waterman and Tryphena (Stedman) Potter. His 
 ancestors are of historical New England stock and 
 connected with leading families in Rhode Island. 
 Robert Potter came from Coventry, Eng., to Salem 
 in March 1628, and to Rhode Island in 1638. 
 Through the Watermans he is descended from Roger 
 Wilhams, Thomas Olney, John Whipple, Capt. 
 Arthur Fenner, who was ensign in a troop of horse 
 in Cromwell's army, John Smith the miller, Richard 
 Borden, and others. Through the Windsors, he is 
 descended from Roger WiUiams, Robert Pember- 
 ton, Stephen Harding and others. He is also a 
 descendant from Roger Burlingame, Edward Fisher, 
 and the Howards. He received his early education 
 in the public schools of Sturbridge and in Monson 
 Academy. He was a student in the University of 
 Michigan and graduated from the Medical School 
 of Harvard University in 1855, with the degree of 
 M. D. He practised medicine in Scituate, R. I., in 
 1855, and in 1856 removed to Charlton, Mass., 
 where he practised until i860, when he removed to 
 
 ALBERT POTTER. 
 
 mained with the regiment until mustered out at the 
 expiration of the term of service, December 22, 1864. 
 In addition to other duties he had charge of Belger's 
 Battery, and was examining surgeon for recruits in 
 North Carolina in 1864. In 1863 he had charge of 
 the Foster General Hospital for some time. After 
 his return from the war he settled in Chepachet, R. I., 
 where he has since remained. He was President 
 of the Town Council of Gloucester 1888-89, chair- 
 man of the school committee, and assessor of taxes. 
 He is a fellow of the Rhode Island Medical Society, 
 and was its President in 1888-89. ^^ i^ ^ ^^^^ 
 Master of Friendship Lodge A. F. & A. M., 
 Surgeon and Adjutant of Charles E. Guild Post G. 
 A. R. ; he is a member of the Fifth Rhode Island 
 and Battery F Association, and an ex-President of 
 the organization. He is a member of the Rhode 
 Island Historical Society. He assisted in writing 
 the history of the Fifth Regiment Rhode Island 
 Volunteers, and has published some genealogical 
 tables and histories and contributed papers to the 
 proceedings of various societies. He has taken no 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 6i 
 
 part in politics or public life, except in town affairs. 
 He married, June lo, 1855, Miss Urania Tourtellot 
 Harris of Scituate, R. I. ; they have two children : 
 Charles and Frank H. Potter. 
 
 POTTER, Dexter Burton, attorney- at-law, was 
 born in Scituate, R. I., August 23, 1840, son of 
 Jeremiah and Mary Ann (Salisbury) Potter. He is 
 descended in the eighth generation from Robert 
 Potter, who came from Coventry, England, in 1634 ; 
 he settled in what is now Portsmouth, R. I., in 
 1637 or 1638, and in January 1642, he and others 
 bought of Sachem Myantonomoy the Shawmut Pur- 
 chase, so-called, which they afterward named War- 
 wick, and which embraced what is now a large por- 
 tion of the county of Kent. His great-grandfather, 
 Captain John Potter, served with distinction in the 
 Revolutionary war. His maternal ancestry also 
 came from England. He received his early educa- 
 tion in the public schools, in the Riverpoint Classi- 
 cal Seminary, and East Greenwich Academy. After 
 graduation he read law for three years in the offices 
 
 DEXTEH B. POTTER. 
 
 of Ira O. Seamans in Warwick and of B. N. & S. S. 
 Lapham~in Providence, and was admitted to the 
 Rhode Island bar December 4, 1 868, and to the bar of 
 the United States Circuit Court November 15, 1871. 
 Since his admission to the bar he has successfully 
 
 practiced his profession in Providence, having acted 
 as counsel in a large number of important cases, and 
 has a constantly increasing office practice. He has 
 taken an active part in politics and public life. He 
 was elected a Representative in the General Assem- 
 bly from Coventry in 1871 and 1872, and a Senator 
 in 1873 and 1874. He declined a re-election in 
 1875, but was again elected a Representative in 
 1876-77-78. He was chosen Speaker of the House 
 in 1877 and 1878, and elected to the Senate again 
 in 1879. While Speaker for two years, which in- 
 cluded six sessions, two special, he never once left 
 the chair to engage in debates, was never absent a 
 day's session, and never had a ruling questioned or 
 appealed from by any member of the House. He 
 was Moderator for two years in Scituate and five in 
 Coventry. He was also a trial justice in Scituate, 
 and for two years a member of the school commit- 
 tee. In politics he is a Republican. He is a mem- 
 ber of the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the 
 American Revolution and one of its board of mana- 
 gers. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, 
 has been Worshipful Master of Manchester Lodge, 
 No. 12, Marshal in the Grand Lodge, and District 
 Deputy Grand Master. He is a member of the 
 Providence Bar Club, and one of its executive com- 
 mittee. He is also a member of the Providence 
 Athletic Association. He married, July 24, 1883, 
 Miss Emily H. Allen ; he has no children. 
 
 RICH, William Greenman, attorney-at-law, was 
 born in Medway, Mass., October 21, 1864, son of 
 John Crane and Amelia (Greenman) Rich. His 
 ancestors on both sides were English Puritans. He 
 is descended from Thomas Rich, who came from 
 the west of England in 1634, and settled at Truro, 
 Cape Cod, Mass. A family bible brought over the 
 water by this ancestor was printed in London in 
 1579, and has remained the property of the Rich 
 family continuously ever since, and is now in a good 
 state of preservation. His great-grandfather, Barn- 
 abas Rich, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, 
 and the sword with which he fought at the Battle 
 of Bunker Hill is now in the possession of the 
 subject of this sketch. His grandfather, Ezekiel 
 Rich, was a graduate of Brown University and of 
 Andover Theological Seminary, a Congregational 
 minister and educator. His father, John Crane 
 Rich, was a school teacher. He received his early 
 education at the public schools, and took a course 
 at the high school in Blackstone, Mass., and also 
 
62 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 for one year in a private academy in Providence. 
 He earned his own living and paid for his education 
 without help since he was fourteen years of age. 
 He adopted the law as a profession, and finished his 
 preparatory studies in the office of Edwin Aldrich, 
 
 WM. G. RICH. 
 
 Esq., of Woonsocket. He then took a course at the 
 Boston University and was admitted to the Rhode 
 Island bar in February 1892. In February 1893 he 
 purchased the entire law library of the late Judge 
 Charles F. Ballou, which with his own addition now 
 constitutes one of the best working law libraries in 
 the state. He has devoted himself strictly to his 
 profession, and now has a large practice, being 
 counsel for several corporations and banks. He 
 has taken no part in public life, believing it impossible 
 to be a lawyer and a politician at the same time. 
 He votes the Republican ticket straight, but takes 
 no share in party management. He is a member 
 of the Providence Press Club, and the Woonsocket 
 Young Business Men's Club, which he helped to 
 organize. He is not married. 
 
 to Plymouth, Mass., about 1660. His great-grand- 
 father, Oliver, settled at Mendon, Mass., about 
 1740. His grandfather, Ahab, was a Baptist clergy- 
 man, and was settled at various places in Rhode 
 Island and Massachusetts. His father was engaged 
 in the tin business in Blackstone, Mass., until 1849, 
 when he went to California, where he died in 185 1. 
 He received his early education in the public 
 schools of Blackstone until eleven years of age. 
 Soon after, with a younger sister, Minnie, he moved 
 to Chepachet, R. I., where the opportunities for 
 education were limited, and he had to depend 
 mainly upon self-instruction. He was in the em- 
 ploy of Otis Sayles & Son, manufacturers of cotton 
 goods, until August 17, 1861, when he enlisted as 
 private in Company D, Fourth R. I. Infantry, and 
 was promoted to Second Lieutenant October 2, 
 1 86 1, and presented with a sword by the citizens of 
 Glocester. He was promoted to First Lieutenant 
 November 20, 1861, and to Captain August 2, 1862. 
 He took part with his regiment in the operations 
 under General Burnside in North Carolina, in the 
 
 WALTER A. READ. 
 
 READ, Walter Allen, dealer in general mer- 
 chandise, was born July 6, 1842, in Blackstone, 
 Mass., the son of Thomas Jenks and Sarah (Burton) 
 Read. His ancestors were English and emigrated 
 
 operations under General McClellan before Rich- 
 mond, in General Pope's campaign, at Antietam, at 
 Fredericksburg, and joined General Peck at Suffolk, 
 when besieged by General Longstreet. He served 
 under General Butler at Fortress Monroe until 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 63 
 
 June 1864, and then joined the forces under 
 General Grant operating against Richmond. He 
 was in the battle of the Mine, when the regiment 
 lost nearly half of its numbers. He was the senior 
 Captain and commander of the regiment after the 
 battle of the Mine until it was disbanded in Provi- 
 dence, October 15, 1864. After the war he associated 
 himself with Augustus F. Wade in the sale of general 
 merchandise from 1865 to 18 71, and has continued 
 the business by himself since. He was Postmaster 
 in Chepachet from June 1866 to 1885. He was 
 appointed a commissioner of the State Board of 
 Soldiers' ReHef in 1885 and served until 1890, and 
 was agent of the board until 1895. He was ap- 
 pointed a member of the State Board of Charities 
 and Correction in 1893 for the term of six years. 
 He was Worshipful Master of Friendship Lodge, 
 No. 7, A F. & A. M., in 1888-89. No RepubUcan 
 organization existed in Glocester previous to 1881. 
 He was Chairman of the Town Committee formed 
 that year, and succeeded in polling thirty-six 
 Republican votes out of a voting list of nearly six 
 hundred and fifty. There was a decided gain from 
 that time on, and in 1888 he was elected a Senator 
 from Glocester by one majority, the first Senator 
 ever elected in that town on a straight party issue. 
 With the exception of the year 1892 he has held 
 the position since. He served on the Finance 
 Committee of the Senate in 1888 and 1889, and on 
 the Judiciary Committee since. He has been 
 Commander of Charles E. Guild Post, G. A. R., 
 since its organization in 1891. He married, Septem- 
 ber 19, 1866, Miss Charlotte Owen, daughter of 
 Capt. George L. Owen, of Glocester ; they have one 
 daughter : Maude Louise, born March 9, 1874. 
 
 family he became an inmate of his house and sub- 
 stantially apprenticed to him. Under Mr. Canham's 
 instruction his ability developed so rapidly that 
 before he was nineteen he became the leader of the 
 Owego Band. Soon after he was engaged in the 
 famous Dodworth's Band of New York, in which 
 he played the cornet. He visited Europe and 
 played as a cornet soloist in concerts in England, 
 Ireland and Germany, with great success. Return- 
 ing from Europe he enHsted a band for Baxter's 
 Zouaves, but it was mustered out by order of the 
 Government dismissing all military bands. He 
 again joined Dodworth's Band, and was the first to 
 
 D, W, REEVES. 
 
 REEVES, David Wallis, musical composer 
 and band-leader. Providence, was born in 
 Owego, N. Y., son of Deacon Lorenzo and Maria 
 (Clark) Reeves. His ancestry is thoroughly 
 American. He received his early education in the 
 public schools. He had a remarkable taste for 
 music and acquired a knowledge of vocalization as 
 a child, singing alto in a church choir. While a lad 
 of fifteen he met Mr. Thomas Canham, a noted 
 instructor of military bands, and by his advice he 
 became second alto in the Owego band. Mr. 
 Canham appreciated the remarkable musical genius 
 of young Reeves and by the consent of the latter's 
 
 play I-evy's " Whirlwind Polka " before Levy came 
 to this country. He had learned the art of " triple- 
 tongueing" in London, and was the first to intro- 
 duce it in this country, becoming the first cornet 
 soloist of Dodworth's Band. In 1866, he was in- 
 duced to accept the leadership of the American 
 Band of Providence, on the retirement of Joseph 
 C. Greene, who had occupied that position for 
 nearly forty years. He greatly improved, enlarged 
 and strengthened the organization and imbued it 
 with his own spirit and taste, until it came to be 
 acknowledged as one of the finest bands in the 
 country. From the date of his leadership it has 
 been universally known as Reeves'American Band. 
 
64 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Besides his success as a leader, and as a cornet 
 soloist, in which he has ranked with Arbuckle and 
 Levy, he has devoted much time to musical com- 
 position. He has composed nearly a hundred mili- 
 tary marches, many of which have been very 
 popular in this country and in Europe. Of his 
 abilities as a military composer the American Mu- 
 sician said : " He is undoubtedly the foremost 
 march writer of America, if not of the world." 
 Reeves' marches are popular everywhere, not so 
 much for their melodic pretensions as for their 
 intense military spirit, rhythmic swing, fine contra- 
 puntal treatment, and excellent instrumentation. 
 His writings in their line are marvels of musicianly 
 work, and have won the admiration of American 
 march composers, whose great aim is to imitate 
 them in style and treatment. March writing is 
 about the only branch of the art in which the 
 United States excels. It does this mainly through 
 the efforts of Mr. Reeves, whose style, full of vitality 
 and martial spirit, marked a departure from 
 European methods that other composers have not 
 been slow to follow. The military march is a dis- 
 tinct form in art, and America may honestly, in 
 the person of one of her talented sons, lay claim to 
 having brought it to perfection, if not creating it. 
 He has also written the score of two operas, one of 
 which, "The Ambassador's Daughter," was pro- 
 duced at the Park Garden, Providence, following 
 the water '■ Pinafore " given as a full-rigged ship, 
 the idea originating with Mr. Reeves. After the 
 death of P. S. Gilmore he received a unanimous 
 call to become the leader of Gilmore's famous 
 band, then numbering one hundred members, and 
 accepted it. He conducted it successfully in 
 several tours and important engagements, notably at 
 the Chicago World's Fair, and the Minneapolis and 
 Pittsburg expositions. At the urgent request of 
 his fellow-citizens and members of the American 
 Band he decided to resume his old position and 
 his residence in Providence. His first appearance 
 at a complimentary concert was the occasion of 
 a very flattering popular demonstration. Governor 
 Brown and staff appeared upon the stage and con- 
 gratulatory addresses were given by the Governor 
 and Adjutant-General Dyer. Since that time he 
 has been actively engaged in his old position and 
 laboring in the familiar branches of his profession 
 as composer and leader. He married, September 
 30, 1871, Mrs. Sarah E. Blanding ; they have 
 two children, a son and daughter. The son, D. W. 
 Reeves, Jr., is a student at Brown University. 
 
 ROBINSON, Rowland Rodman, physician and 
 surgeon, was born in Wakefield, R. I., August 23, 1862, 
 son of Benjamin Franklin and Caroline Elizabeth 
 (Rodman) Robinson. He is descended from well- 
 known and distinguished Rhode Island ancestry, 
 which includes five colonial governors — William 
 Coddington, Nicholas Easton, Benedict Arnold, 
 Peleg Sandford and John Coggeshall ; and from 
 three deputy-governors — John Greene, George 
 Hazard and William Robinson. He is connected 
 with the old and honored South County families of 
 the Browns, Peckhams, Gardiners, Hazards, Car- 
 
 R. R. ROBINSON. 
 
 penters, Rodmans and others, and among his direct 
 ancestors were Deputy-Governor William Robinson 
 and Hon. Samuel Rodman. He received his early 
 education in the public schools until the age of 
 fifteen, and attended Captain Bucklyn's school at 
 Mystic, Conn., for three years, and Gen. Russell's 
 military school in New Haven for one year. He 
 was a special student at Harvard College from 1881 
 to 1885, and attended the Harvard Medical School 
 from 1885 to 1888, graduating with the degree of 
 M. D. He was a student for two years, from 1888 
 to 1890, at the General Hospital in Vienna, Austria, 
 attending clinics and studying medicine in all its 
 branches, and for three months at the Rotunda Hos- 
 pital, Dublin, where he paid special attention to 
 midwifery. On his return to this country he estab- 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 65 
 
 lished himself in the practice of medicine in his 
 native town in 1890, where he has since remained. 
 He has been Town Physician of South Kingston for 
 three years. He was commissioned Captain of Com- 
 pany F, First Regiment of Infantry, Rhode Island 
 MiHtia, May 3, 1895. He has been a Trustee of the 
 Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf since November 
 19, 1891. He is a member of the Rhode Island State 
 Medical Society, of the Washington County Medical 
 Society, of the Harvard Medical School Graduate 
 Society, and of the Society of the Sons of the 
 American Revolution. In politics he is a Repub- 
 lican. He is not married. 
 
 the manufacture of confectionery, and continuing to 
 the present time. He has established a business in 
 this line of large proportions, now carried on under 
 the name and style of The J. H. Roberts Company, 
 incorporated 1895. Mr. Roberts is not a club or 
 society man, his time outside of his family being 
 mainly devoted to the interests of his large and con- 
 stantly expanding business. He is a Democrat, but 
 has never held political office. He was married, 
 June 4, 1874, to Miss Harriet Littlefield, and this 
 union has been blessed by seven children : Martha 
 J., Joseph H , John H., Jr., Harriet, Alice D., 
 Linda B. and Dorothy Roberts. 
 
 ROBERTS, John Hopkinson, manufacturing con- 
 fectioner, Providence, was born in Somersworth, New 
 Hampshire, April 5, 1840, son of James H. and Lydia 
 (Hopkinson) Roberts. His ancestry is English. 
 He was educated in the public schools, and after 
 graduation pursued various avocations until the 
 breaking out of the Rebellion, when he became of 
 age, and enlisted, serving throughout the war. On 
 his return from the army in 1866 he engaged in the 
 
 SMITH, Frank Bailey, physician and surgeon, 
 Washington, was born in Columbus, Ga , January 
 
 JOHN H. ROBERTS. 
 
 manufacturing confectionery business in Boston. 
 In [i873j;he [sold out in_ Boston [and removed to 
 Providence, entering there into the'same business, 
 
 F. B. SMITH. 
 
 3, 1848, son of Benonie and Mary Anna (Bailey) 
 Smith. His grandparents were of English and Scotch 
 ancestry of worthy lineage. Feeble health in early 
 life prevented his attending school. Later how- 
 ever he attended private schools, and still later, 
 public schools, after which he took an academic 
 course under the private instruction of Professor 
 Hall. He studied medicine for three years with Dr. 
 Wm. A. Lewis of Moosup, Conn., and one year 
 with Dr. F. S. Abbott, a prominent surgeon of Nor- 
 
66 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 wich, Conn. He then took a medical course at the 
 University of Vermont, after which he graduated 
 from the University of New York City in 1873. He 
 is of the Baptist faith and a member of that church. 
 He is an active temperance worker, and was an 
 ardent advocate for constitutional prohibition in 
 Rhode Island. He was formerly a Republican, but 
 when the Republican Legislature and Republican 
 party advocated and voted for the repeal of con- 
 stitutional prohibition, he left their ranks and has 
 been an earnest worker in the Prohibition party 
 ever since, and is now a member of the Prohibition 
 State Central Committee. He is a member of the 
 Masonic fraternity and an active member of the 
 Order of United American Mechanics. He is a 
 strong woman suffragist, and a member of the state 
 association championing the cause. He is also a 
 member of the Women's Suffrage League of his own 
 town. He is a member of the Rhode Island So- 
 ciety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and 
 one of the executive board. He is in fact a moral 
 reformer in general. He is a member of the Rhode 
 Island Medical Society and the American Medical 
 Association. He began the practice of medicine 
 in Greene, R. I. Six years later he married Miss 
 Evangeline H., daughter of Dr. Allen Tillinghast, 
 of Washington, R. I. After the death of the latter 
 he succeeded him in practice at Washington, where 
 he is still residing and doing a large and successful 
 business. He has no children. 
 
 of Phenix, R. I., also of the Warwick Club, the 
 Providence Press Club and the Providence Athletic 
 Association. In politics he is a Republican. Dr. 
 
 SPRAGUE, Albert Gallatin, M. D., President 
 of the State Board of Health, was born in Provi- 
 dence, November 22, 1836, son of Albert G. and 
 Mary (Fiske) Sprague. His grandmother on the 
 paternal side, Amy (Williams) Sprague, was de- 
 scended in direct line from Roger Williams. He 
 received his early education at Peirce Academy, 
 Middleboro, Mass., and entered Jefferson Medical 
 College at Philadelphia, graduating in 1859. ^^ 
 started the practice of medicine in Warwick, R. I., 
 in 1866, and has since practised there to the present 
 time. Dr. Sprague is President of the State Board 
 of Health, of which he has been a member since 
 its organization in 1878. He was a Representative 
 to the General Assembly in 1886-87, and has been 
 Health Officer of the town of Warwick since 1887. 
 In the army he served as Assistant Surgeon in the 
 Tenth and Seventh regiments Rhode Island Volun- 
 teers, from May 1862 to the close of the war in 
 1865. He is a member of McGregor Post G. A. R. 
 
 ALBERT G. SPRAGUE. 
 
 Sprague was married, November 22, 1859, to Miss 
 Ellen T. Duncan of North Brookfield, Mass. ; they 
 had two children : Albert D. and Mary E. D. 
 Sprague, both deceased. 
 
 SMITH, Charles Sherman, M. D., Providence, 
 was born in Douglas, Mass., October 16, 1863, son 
 of Dr. John Derby and Susan (Anthony) Smith. He 
 comes of good medical ancestry. His grandfather. 
 Dr. Nathan Smith, founded the Medical School of 
 Dartmouth College, filled for nearly twenty years 
 the chair of surgery in the Medical School of Yale 
 College, and gave large aid as a lecturer in estab- 
 lishing similar schools at Bowdoia College and at 
 the University of Vermont. Nathan Smith was a 
 farmer's son, and at sixteen shouldered a musket to 
 protect Vermont homesteads from Indian attack 
 during the Revolutionary war. At the close of that 
 period he found a fitting mate in Sarah, daughter 
 of General Jonathan Chase who fought with Stark 
 at Bennington and drew up the terms of surren- 
 der for Burgoyne after the battle of Saratoga, and 
 granddaughter of Samuel Chase who joined the 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 67 
 
 Continental army when near seventy years of age. 
 Dr. Nathan Smith's practice extended throughout 
 New England and Canada. He was the second 
 American surgeon to perform ovariotomy, and his 
 method was the one that is best approved at the 
 present time. He had four sons, all of whom fol- 
 lowed the profession of their father. Dr. David S. 
 C. H. Smith was formerly a practising physician in 
 Providence, and was an accomplished botanist and 
 entomologist. Dr. Nathan R. Smith, of Baltimore, 
 Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the University 
 of Vermont at the youthful age of twenty-eight, was 
 soon called to the chair of anatomy in Jefferson 
 College, and later to the chair of surgery in the 
 University of Maryland, where he remained until 
 the ripe age of eighty. He counted among his 
 early pupils, Drs. Gross and Atley. In lithotomy 
 alone he performed successfully three hundred 
 operations. His Baltimore students affectionately 
 styled him the " Emperor of Surgeons," and his 
 exhaustive treatise on the surgical anatomy of the 
 arteries is of itself an enduring monument to his 
 name. Dr. James M. Smith was a beloved and suc- 
 cessful practitioner in Springfield, Mass., for nearly 
 twenty years; he met his death in the Norwalk 
 railway disaster, and was succeeded by his son. Dr. 
 David P. Smith. Dr. John Derby Smith was a Yale 
 graduate of 1832, and studied both theology and 
 medicine ; he never engaged in private practice, 
 but during the Rebellion served as surgeon at Fair- 
 fax Seminary Hospital, and after the war, became 
 surgeon in the navy. At the age of sixty-two he 
 was placed upon the retired list, and spent the re- 
 mainder of his days in private life at his country 
 home in Bridgewater, Mass. Of Dr. Nathan Smith's 
 fifteen grandsons, nine becaime physicians, of whom 
 the older and more widely known are Dr. Nathan 
 Smith Lincoln, of Washington, D. C. ; Dr. Allan 
 Smith of Baltimore, Md. ; and the late Dr. David 
 P. Smith, of Springfield, Mass., the latter occupying 
 at his death the same chair of surgery that his 
 grandfather had filled so many years before him. 
 Of the third generation six have already been added 
 to the medical profession. Dr. Charles Sherman 
 Smith's mother came from a Rhode Island family 
 even more numerously supplied with physicians 
 than was his father's. The subject of this sketch 
 is therefore, in three generations, one of twenty 
 physicians on his father's side, some of whom were of 
 national fame, and one of twenty-five on his mother's 
 side. He acquired his early education in the dis- 
 trict schools and at the Bridgewater High School. 
 
 He graduated from the Medical College of the 
 University of New York in the spring of 1892, be- 
 ing among the twenty selected for an honor list 
 from a class numbering one hundred and sixty 
 members. Following his graduation he stood first 
 among nine in a competitive examination for the 
 position of Interne at the Rhode Island Hospital, 
 remained in that institution until May 1894, and 
 three months later opened an office in Providence. 
 An unusual amount and variety of surgical work has 
 come to his hands during his three years' residence 
 in that city, requiring and testing all the quaUties of 
 a true surgeon. As he has said, water will boil and 
 
 C- S. SMITH. 
 
 bichloride will destroy germs anywhere, and some 
 of his best use of the surgeon's knife has been in 
 the treatment of hernia and appendicitis in the 
 midst of surroundings that might well dismay the 
 looker on. Dr. Smith was so fortunate while In- 
 terne as never to lose a typhoid patient, a result 
 which he attributes largely to a discreet, and yet a 
 more than usually persistent, treatment by the 
 sponge. In devising ingenious appliances for the 
 relief and cure of spinal and hip diseases he has 
 brought into play inherited mechanical skill. He is 
 an ardent believer in the possibility of arrest of lung 
 disease in its earlier stages, and the sufferings of 
 motherhood have led him to study closely how to 
 reduce them to the greatest extent possible. Lately 
 
68 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 he has made a successful debut as a laparotomist. 
 He is intensely devoted to his profession, and waits 
 patiently for the larger successes which come slowly 
 but surely to those who set for themselves a high 
 standard of professional and personal honor. Dr. 
 Smith is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the 
 Providence Medical Association and the Rhode Is- 
 land Medical Society. He is unmarried. 
 
 STUD LEY, John Edward, manager of real estate 
 corporations, Providence, was born in Worcester, 
 
 JOHN E, STUDLEY. 
 
 Mass., November 13, 1852, son of John Moore and 
 Julia Ann (Gill) Studley. The Studleys are an old 
 English family found in Kent and Yorkshire, the 
 seat of the family in the latter county being Studley 
 Park. There were two families of this name in New 
 England at an early date, one in Boston and one in 
 Sandwich, Mass. The Providence Studleys de- 
 scended from the Boston branch, and among their 
 ancestors was Benjamin Studley who was a lieuten- 
 ant in the Massachusetts troops during the war of 
 the Revolution, and was a Selectman in Hanover, 
 Mass., in [778. The subject of this sketch received 
 his early education in the public schools of Worces- 
 ter, Mass., Brooklyn, N. Y., and Providence, R. I. 
 He graduated from the high school in Providence, 
 
 May 5, 1869. His early training was all of a busi- 
 ness character. Much of his spare time out of 
 school was employed in a grocery store in the vicinity 
 of his home, and later in vacations and on Saturdays 
 he was employed in the store of Eddy & Studley. 
 In September 1869 he was engaged as clerk in one 
 of the freight offices of the New York, Providence 
 & Boston Railroad. A few years later his employer 
 accepted an important ofifice with the Providence 
 and New York Steamship Company, and at his 
 request he accompanied him as a cashier, and later 
 was appointed head clerk of the company. In 1877 
 he took the position of book-keeper and confidential 
 clerk of Amos D. Smith & Company, then a large 
 cotton manufacturing firm operating the Franklin 
 Manufacturing Company and the Providence Steam 
 Mills. While in their employ he married the eldest 
 daughter of William H. Low, a man who in his line 
 of business of leasing and improving real estate had 
 done much to build up the business centre of the 
 city. In 1 88 1 Mr. Low died suddenly and at the 
 request of his heirs Mr Studley resigned his position 
 with Amos D. Smith & Company, and assumed the 
 management of the estate of William H. Low. This 
 management has been very successful and the estate 
 has grown largely in value, so much so that it was 
 deemed advisable to incorporate it. Consequendy 
 in 1889 The William H. Low Estate Company was 
 chartered, and since then the business has been 
 carried on under that name. At the present time 
 he holds the office of President and Treasurer of the 
 company. In 1895 the Studley Land Company was 
 incorporated and he was chosen President and 
 Treasurer ; a large business block was erected on 
 Weybosset street known as the Studley Building. 
 He is also President of the Weybosset Investment 
 Company, and Director in the Providence Gas Com- 
 pany, the Manufacturers' National Bank, the .Atlantic 
 National Bank and the Atlantic Mutual Fire Insur- 
 ance Company of Providence. He has always been 
 so deeply engaged in business that he has uniformly 
 declined to accept public ofifice, although for years 
 solicited to do so, until 1894, when he accepted the 
 nomination for Representative in the General Assem 
 bly, to which he was elected, and re-elected the suc- 
 ceeding year, serving on the Judiciary Committee. 
 On his nomination the Providence Daily Journal said : 
 " J. Edward Studley of Ward 9 is the strongest man 
 on the ticket, and could have had the party nominee 
 for Mayor long ago had he desired." In politics he 
 is a Republican. He is a member of Adelphoi Lodge 
 A. F. &: A. M., in which he has held all the offices, 
 
 1 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 69 
 
 including that of Master, also a member of Provi- 
 dence Royal Arch Chapter, of Providence Council 
 Royal and Select Masters, and of St. John's Com- 
 mandery Knights Templar. He is a Scottish Rite 
 Mason, thirty-second degree, and a member of the 
 Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, 
 also a member of the Providence Press Club, the 
 West Side Club, the Providence Athletic Association, 
 the Pomham Club of which he was Treasurer for 
 one year and President for two years, the Squantum 
 Association and the Society of the Sons of the Ameri- 
 can Revolution. He is a Companion of the second 
 class of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, 
 Massachusetts Commandery. He married, Novem- 
 ber 21, 1878, Miss E. Lillie Low; they have had 
 three children : Ethel, Earle Stowell (deceased) and 
 William Low Studley. 
 
 STEVENS, Grenville Smith, homoeopathic phy- 
 sician, Providence, was born in Raynham, Mass., 
 
 G. S. STEVENS. 
 
 July 10, 1829. His father was a merchant, and he 
 spent his early youth on the farm and in attendance 
 at the public schools. In 1848 he entered Brown 
 University from which he graduated with the degree 
 of A. M. in 1852. He had early adopted medicine as 
 his profession, and during the vacations of his college 
 
 course he pursued his preliminary studies in the 
 ofifice of Drs. Barrows and Graves, eminent physi- 
 cians of Taunton, Mass. Immediately after his 
 graduation he entered the office of Dr. A. Howard 
 O'Kie, Providence, as a student. In 1853 he at- 
 tended a course of medical lectures in Pittsfield, 
 Mass., and afterward entered the College of Physi- 
 cians and Surgeons in New York, from which he 
 graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1854. His 
 first service as a physician was in Chicago during 
 the cholera epidemic, when his health gave way 
 and he returned East. In August 1854 he opened 
 an office in Providence, where he soon gained a 
 successful practice. After thirteen years of practice 
 his health again failed under his exacting labors, 
 and he retired to his farm, where he remained for 
 two years. In 1869 he returned to Providence and 
 resumed the practice which he has continued since. 
 Dr. Stevens has been much interested in religious 
 matters, and was the originator and one of the 
 founders of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 Providence. He is a member of the Masonic Order, 
 and of various medical associations. He was one 
 of the founders of the Rhode Island Homoeopathic 
 Society and its first Secretary. He married Miss 
 Hannah Wheaton Smith, and subsequently Mrs. 
 Lydia Browning White ; he has no children. 
 
 SEABURY, TH0M.4S Mumford, merchant, New- 
 port, was born in Newport, October 4, 1821, the 
 son of Thomas Mumford and Elizabeth Webster 
 (Marsh) Seabury. His paternal grandfather was 
 John Seabury, brother of Samuel Seabury, the first 
 Episcopal Bishop of America; his maternal grand- 
 father was Benjamin Marsh. He received his early 
 education in the public schools, and at the age of 
 fifteen entered the Trader's Bank, now the First 
 National, of Newport, as its first clerk. He re- 
 mained in that position for four years and then 
 opened a boot and shoe store, which he has con- 
 tinued up to the present time. He has taken an 
 active interest in public affairs. He was a mem- 
 ber of the School Board of Newport from 1865 to 
 1872, and a member of the Board of Aldermen for 
 eight years. He was Senator in the General As- 
 sembly from 1877 to 1885. He has been President 
 of the First National Bank since 1865 and was 
 Vice-President in 1864. He is a deacon of the 
 Central Baptist Church, and is Vice-President of 
 the Newport Business Men's Association. In poll- 
 
70 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 tics he is a Republican. He married, November 
 15, 1845, Miss Caroline A. Lovie ; they had four 
 children : John Cozzens, Caroline, Benjamin Ham- 
 
 T. MUMFORD SEABURy. 
 
 mett and Thomas Mumford, Jr. He married, 
 March 30, 1879, Miss Mary Seabury Tilley; they 
 have one son, George Tilley Seabury. 
 
 SHEFFIELD, William Paine, Jr., City Solicitor 
 of Newport, was born in Newport, January i, 1857, 
 the son of William Paine and Lilias White (San- 
 ford) Sheffield. He is descended on both sides 
 from the early settlers of New England, and both 
 families have been settled in Rhode Island since 
 the early days of the colony, and have held various 
 positions of trust and responsibility in the colony 
 and state. He received his early education in the 
 private schools of Newport and graduated with honor 
 from Phillips Andover Academy in 1873. He grad- 
 uated from Brown University in the class of 1877. 
 He studied civil and Roman law in the law school 
 of the University of Paris, France, and prepared 
 for the bar in the office of his father, Hon. Wm. P. 
 Sheffield, and at the Harvard Law school. He was 
 admitted to the Rhode Island bar in March 1880, 
 and located in Newport, where he has since been 
 
 actively engaged in general practice. He was 
 elected City Solicitor of Newport in 1891 and holds 
 that office at the present time. Since arriving at age 
 he has been actively interested in public affairs. He 
 was a member of the School Committee of Newport 
 from 1885 to 1894, and a portion of the time its 
 Chairman. He was State Commissioner on the affairs 
 of the Narragansett Indians 1880- 1884, and aid-de- 
 camp on the staff of Governor Wetmore with the 
 rank of Colonel, 1885-87. He was a member of the 
 House of Representatives from Newport, 1885-87, 
 1889-90, 1894-96. He is a Director of the Redwood 
 Library, and its Secretary for thirteen years ; a Trus- 
 tee of the Newport Hospital, the People's Library, 
 the Savings Bank of Newport, and connected with 
 other charitable and financial institutions. He has 
 been especially interested in education, and in pro- 
 moting thorough, progressive and practical methods 
 of instruction. Since 1882 he has been interested 
 in the subject of manual training, and in 1886 in 
 association with others instituted and maintained 
 in Newport private instruction for boys in wood- 
 
 W. P, SHEFFIELD, JR. 
 
 working. He has also been an advocate for a 
 system of manual training in the public schools. 
 He married, October 16, 1889, Miss Mary Stevens 
 Burdick ; they have three children : Margaret Bur- 
 dick, William Paine and Mary Morse Sheffield. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 71 
 
 SPRAGUE, Nathan Brown, musician and com- 
 poser, Providence, was born in Greenville, R. I., 
 April 25, 1864, son of John S. and Lelotina 
 (Phetteplace) Sprague. He received his early 
 
 and of the Masonic order. He married, June 24, 
 1884, Miss Lydia A. Irons; they have one son, 
 Stanley Sprague. 
 
 N. B. SPRAGUE. 
 
 education in the public schools and in the English 
 and Classical schools of Providence. He was early 
 attracted to musical studies and pursued them in 
 Providence, Boston and New York, and under lead- 
 ing masters in England and Germany, acquiring a 
 thorough knowledge of the principles of both vocal 
 and instrumental harmony. Since 1881 he has 
 taught the pianoforte, organ, the cultivation of the 
 voice and musical theory in Providence, having a 
 large clientage. As a composer, Mr. Sprague has 
 produced four complete operas, two of which have 
 been performed, about fifty songs, some of which 
 have been very popular, a large amount of church 
 music, and many pieces for violin, piano and 
 orchestra. He is the organist and director of 
 music at Grace Episcopal Church, Providence, con- 
 ductor of the Narragansett Choral Society of 
 Peacedale, R. I., President of the Rhode Island 
 Music Teachers' Association, also a member of the 
 executive committee and organist and pianist of 
 the Arion Club, the leading musical association of 
 Providence. He is a member of the Athletic and 
 Press clubs of Providence, the Boston Cadet Club, 
 
 SENIOR, Daniel Widmer, manufacturer, Woon- 
 socket, was born in Troy, N. Y., July 17, 1849, son 
 of Francis and Elizabeth (Widmer) Senior. He 
 comes from English stock on his father's side, and 
 on the maternal side from Swiss ancestors. He 
 was educated in the public schools of Troy, and 
 prepared for college under the tuition of Rev. F. 
 Widmer, of Fultonville, N. Y., following which he 
 entered the office of the Troy Woolen Company. 
 After serving as clerk in the office a few years he went 
 into the mill of the company, to learn the practical 
 and mechanical end of the business. Afterwards 
 he studied the art of fancy weaving and designing, 
 and finally took up the manufacture of fancy Avoolen 
 and worsted goods, rising from weaver to overseer 
 and from overseer to superintendent. He was 
 Superintendent of the Livingstone Mills, Bristol, Pa., 
 
 D. W. SENIOR. 
 
 from September 1884 to September 1887, and since 
 the latter date has held the position of Superin- 
 tendent of the Harris Woolen Company's mills at 
 Woonsocket. He has just started in business for 
 himself, as a member of the firm of Cole, Senior &: 
 
72 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Co., manufacturers of fine kerseys, meltons and 
 fancy cassimeres. Mr. Senior is vice-president of 
 the Woonsocket Business Men's Association, and is 
 a member of all the Masonic bodies, was Eminent 
 Commander of Woonsocket Commandery Knights 
 Templar from October 1893 to October 1895, 
 High Priest of Union Royal Arch Chapter, and has 
 passed through the several offices of the Blue 
 Lodge. He is a Republican, but has never held 
 political office. He was married, May 12, 1870, to 
 Miss Mary J. Button, of Schaghticoke, N. Y., who 
 died July 8, 1884 ; two children were born to them, 
 both of whom are living : Clare E. and Frank W. 
 Senior, the latter now a student at the Philadelphia 
 Dental College. 
 
 STINESS, John Henry, Providence, Justice of 
 the Supreme Court, is a native of Providence, 
 where he was born August 9, 1840, son of PhiHp 
 Bessom and Mary (Marsh) Stiness. Judge Stiness 
 is descended from sturdy Enghsh stock ; the name 
 originally being Staines, pronounced in two sylla- 
 bles, and changed to Stiness in America. The 
 family settled in Marblehead, Mass., and during the 
 Revolutionary war Samuel Stiness, the great-grand- 
 father of Judge Stiness, sejved in the famous regi- 
 ment recruited mainly among the fishermen of 
 Marblehead and vicinity, called " The Amphibious 
 Regiment," commanded by Colonel — afterward 
 Brigadier General — John Glover. The grandfather 
 of Judge Stiness was a sea-captain and during the 
 war of 181 2 served as sailing master in the two-gun 
 schooner Growler, attached to the squadron under 
 command of Capt. Isaac Chauncey in Lake Ontario. 
 After the war Capt. Stiness removed to Smithfield, 
 R. I., where he died in 18 16. Philip Bessom Stiness, 
 the father of Judge Stiness, was born in Marblehead, 
 and in his early business life served as a clerk to 
 the firm of which Samuel Slater, the famous founder 
 of the cotton manufacturing industry in the United 
 States, was a member at Slatersville, R. I. He 
 afterward engaged in the business of calendering 
 cotton goods at Woonsocket, and in a few years be- 
 came interested in the manufacture of gimlet- 
 pointed screws under a patent obtained by Cullen 
 Whipple. He and Mr. Whipple founded the busi- 
 ness in Providence in 1838, which resulted in the 
 formation of the New England Screw Company. 
 Mr. Stiness died in 1878. Judge Stiness's mother 
 was Mary Marsh, daughter of John and Lucy 
 (Blake) Marsh of Sutton, Mass., and a sister of 
 
 George W. Marsh, a former Grand Master of the 
 Grand Lodge of Rhode Island. Judge Stiness re- 
 ceived his early education in the Providence public 
 schools and at the University Grammar School. 
 He entered Brown University in the class of 1861. 
 At the close of the Sophomore year he took charge 
 of the Hopkins Grammar School, North Providence 
 (now the Branch Avenue Grammar School of Prov- 
 idence), and remained two years. At the outbreak 
 of the civil war he received a commission as Second 
 Lieutenant in the Second Regiment New York Ar- 
 tillery and served a year and a quarter, acting as 
 
 J. H. STINESS. 
 
 Adjutant and occasionally as Judge Advocate. He 
 did not graduate from the University but received 
 the honorary degree of A. M. in 1876 and that of 
 LL. D. in 1893. After his service in the army he 
 studied law in the office of Thurston, Ripley & Co., 
 and was admitted to the Rhode Island bar March 
 31, 1865, and to the United States Supreme Court 
 in January 1875. In 1874-75 l"*^ ^^as a Represen- 
 tative in the General Assembly from Providence, 
 and was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court on 
 April 13, 1875. Among the important decisions 
 rendered by Judge Stiness was the one sustaining 
 the validity of the trust deed given in behalf of 
 their creditors by the A. & W. Sprague Company. 
 The Court of Errors in Connecticut had decided 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 73 
 
 that the deed was invalid and this decision had 
 been followed by Judge Shipman in the United 
 States Circuit Court. Judge Stiness's opinion, how- 
 ever, was sustained in the United States Supreme 
 Court, where it was contested by General Butler in 
 the case of Evan Randolph vs. the Quidnick Com- 
 pany, and the Court of Errors in Connecticut mod- 
 ified its opinion so as to hold the mortgage valid 
 for the assenting creditors, which was the main 
 point at issue. Judge Stiness was one of the com- 
 missioners for the erection of the Providence County 
 Courthouse in 1876-77. In 1882 he was elected 
 a trustee of the Providence Public Library and is a 
 member of the library committee. In 1893 he was 
 elected President of the Brown University Lecture 
 Association. He is President of the Rhode Island 
 Historical Society, and member of the Churchmen's 
 Club, the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the Brotherhood 
 of St. Andrew, and other social and fraternal organ- 
 izations. In politics Judge Stiness is a Republican. 
 He married, November 19, 1868, Miss Maria E. 
 Williams ; they have two children : Flora Brown, wife 
 of Henry C. Tilden, and Henry Williams Stiness. 
 
 SAWIN, Isaac Warren, homoeopathic physician. 
 Providence, was born in Dover, Mass., December 
 30, 1823, son of Joel and Mary (Battelle) Sawin. 
 He comes of old New England stock, his ances- 
 tor Thomas Sawin having emigrated from Boxford, 
 county of Suffolk, England, and settled in New 
 England between 1647 and 1653. He received his 
 early education in the public schools of Massachu- 
 setts, supplemented by private teaching and self- 
 culture. He studied medicine under Dr. P. T. 
 Bowen of Providence, and Dr. C. W. B. Kidder, 
 then of Providence but now located in New York, 
 who was lecturer on surgery and demonstrator of 
 practical and surgical anatomy at the medical 
 college in Worcester, Mass. He graduated from 
 the Western Homoeopathic College of Cleveland, 
 Ohio, March 11, 1857 In 1875 and 1876 he took 
 a post-graduate course of clinical study in Vienna, 
 Austria. In 1857 he established himself in Centre- 
 dale, R. I., and remained there until 1867, when he 
 removed to Providence, where he has since contin- 
 uously practiced, except for the season spent in study 
 in Europe. He was an Assistant Surgeon in the 
 Rhode Island Militia under the militia law enacted 
 during the war of the Rebellion. He was appointed 
 Visiting Physician of the Rhode Island Homoeo- 
 
 pathic Hospital in 1886 and has been a Consulting 
 Physician at the same institution since 1892. He is 
 also a Consulting Physician in the Providence Homoe- 
 opathic Dispensary. He is a member of the Rhode 
 Island Homoeopathic Medical Society and a senior 
 
 ISAAC W. SAWIN, 
 
 of the American Institute of Homoeopathy. He 
 married, January i, 1849, Miss Olive S. Budlong ; 
 they have had children : Adaline Frances (de- 
 ceased), Olive Ervina and Ida Estelle Sawin. 
 
 TAFT, Royal Chapin, A. M., banker and manu- 
 facturer, is the son of Orsmus and Margaret (Smith) 
 Taft. He was born in Northbridge, Mass., February 
 14, 1823. His parents removed to Uxbridge, Mass., 
 when he was less than one year of age, where he 
 remained until his removal to Providence, R. I., in 
 July 1844, in which city he has since resided. He 
 is a descendant in the seventh generation from 
 Robert Taft, one of the original settlers of the town 
 of Mendon, Mass., who moved to that town from 
 Braintree, Mass., at the close of King Philip's war, 
 in 1680. Robert Taft originally came from Scot- 
 land, and was a householder while in Braintree, was 
 chosen one of the selectmen of Mendon in i68r, 
 and he, with his five sons and their descendants, 
 has had an important influence upon the history 
 
74 
 
 MENTOF PROGRESS. 
 
 and affairs of Mendon and Uxbridge. His grand- 
 father, Jacob Taft, appears with the rank of private 
 on Lexington alarm roll of Capt. Joseph Chapin's 
 company, which marched from Uxbridge on the 
 alarm of April 19, 1775. He appears with rank of 
 Sergeant on muster roll of Captain Seagrave's com- 
 pany. Col. Joseph Read's regiment, May i, 1775, 
 as also on September 25, 1775, having served in that 
 capacity at the battle of Bunker Hill. The subject 
 of this sketch had the usual common-school instruc- 
 tion in the town of Uxbridge, and the benefit of a 
 two-years' term in Worcester Academy. Upon his 
 removal to Providence he entered as clerk in the 
 
 ROYAL C. TAFT. 
 
 office of Royal Chapin, who was engaged in busi- 
 ness as a woolen manufacturer and dealer in wool. 
 After five years' service he was admitted as a 
 partner with Mr. Chapin, under the firm name of 
 Royal Chapin & Co. In 185 1 he started in the 
 wool and manufacturing business with S. Standish 
 Bradford, of Pawtucket, as a partner under the 
 firm name of Bradford & Taft, which was continued 
 as Bradford, Taft & Co., and Taft, Weeden & Co., 
 until 1885, when he for a while retired from active 
 business. He is now engaged in manufacturing 
 both cotton and wool. In 1888 he purchased the 
 interest of the late Henry W. Gardner in the 
 Coventry Company. He is Treasurer of the Bernon 
 Mills at Georgiaville, R. I., and President of the 
 
 Quinebaug Company, located at Brooklyn, Conn. 
 He has been for many years prominently identified 
 with the financial affairs of the state, as President of 
 the Merchants National Bank of Providence since 
 1868, as Vice-President of the Providence Institu- 
 tion for Savings, and one of the directors of the 
 Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company. He is 
 also President of the Boston & Providence Railroad, 
 and a director of the New York, New Haven & 
 Hartford Railroad Company. It may be truly 
 remarked in this connection that few men have 
 had more influence upon the financial affairs of the 
 state than Mr. Taft. Originally a member of the 
 Whig party, he has, since the dissolution of that 
 party, been a Republican. He was, during 1855 
 and 1856, a member of the City Council of the city 
 of Providence ; a Representative to the General 
 Assembly from that city in 1880, 1881 and 1882, 
 and for six years one of the sinking fund com- 
 missioners for the state. In April 1888 he was 
 elected by the people Governor of the state of 
 Rhode Island upon the Republican ticket. He 
 held the office one year, and declined a renomina- 
 tion on account of the increasing demands of his 
 private business. He has held many positions of 
 trust and honor in the city and state. He is now 
 President of the Rhode Island Hospital, has been a 
 member of the board of trustees of Butler Asylum 
 for the Insane since 1865, and is Vice-President of 
 the Providence Athenaeum. He was associated with 
 the late Hon. George H. Corliss as one of the 
 Commissioners from the State of Rhode Island to 
 the Centennial Exposition of 1876 held in Phila- 
 delphia. He received the degree of Master of Arts 
 from Brown University in 189 1. He married, Octo- 
 ber 31, 1850, Miss Mary Frances, daughter of 
 George B. Aimington, M. D., of Pittsford, Vt. ; their 
 children are : Mary E. (now Mrs. George M Smith), 
 Abby F., Robert W. and Royal C. Taft, Jr. 
 
 TANK, John Thomas, contractor and railroad 
 bridge builder, was born in Newton, Mass., June 22, 
 1843, the son of John and Caroline Elizabeth 
 (Stevens) Tank. His father was born near Truro, 
 Cornwall, England, and came to this country at an 
 early age. His mother is a native of East Brookfield, 
 Mass., and of old New England stock. He received 
 his early education in the public schools, and at 
 early manhood entered the service of his father, 
 who was a prominent railroad contractor. He 
 served in various capacities in this work and was 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 75 
 
 early put in charge of a gang of men in the con- 
 struction of railroads. In this capacity he was em- 
 ployed for several years on the Boston, Hartford & 
 
 JOHN T. TANK. 
 
 Erie, now the New England, Railroad. In 1870 he 
 became clerk and afterward superintendent for 
 Dawson, Tank & Co., who were general contractors 
 and owned a large granite quarry in Connecticut. 
 He remained in the employ of this company about 
 four years, when it discontinued business, and he 
 removed to New York, where he engaged in agri- 
 cultural pursuits at Chatham until 1883. He then 
 came to Providence, R. I., and engaged in the con- 
 tracting business under the firm name of Ingerson 
 & Tank. This partnership continued four years, 
 when it was dissolved, and he has since carried on the 
 business alone. His contracts are usually of heavy 
 masonry stonework, and the erection of dams and 
 bridges for public works. He is also a dealer in 
 granite. In 1889 he leased the Plumer quarry at 
 Northbridge, Mass , and the following year pur- 
 chased the property ; the output of the quarry has 
 been about twenty thousand tons since he took 
 possession of it. He is also the owner of the quarry 
 formerly owned by Dawson, Tank & Co. Among 
 the contracts which he has completed have been 
 the construction of bridges on Smith, Gaspee, and 
 Francis streets for the new terminal plan of the 
 Consolidated Railroad, and at Elmwood avenue, 
 
 Broad street, and Reservoir avenue for the proposed 
 Belt Line in Providence, and one at Broad street, 
 Lonsdale. He also rebuilt several of the Stonington 
 railroad bridges, and did considerable grading for a 
 second track between Providence and New London. 
 He built a well in Waltham, Mass., considered the 
 largest in the United States. It is fifty feet in 
 diameter and was constructed by the city for water 
 supply at a cost of ;^ 15, 000. He has now completed, 
 at Lonsdale, a dam and bridge across the Blackstone 
 River for the Lonsdale Company, which cost 
 $150,000, and another at Ashton for the same com- 
 pany which cost $75,000, and has just completed 
 the new Central or Red Bridge across the Seekonk 
 River, at Providence. He is a member of the New 
 England Granite Manufacturing Association, and is 
 Secretary of the Granite Manufacturing Association 
 of Rhode Island. In politics he is a Republican 
 always. He married, in 1868, Miss Euphemia 
 Shufelt of Chatham, N. Y. j they have one son : 
 Morton Richard Tank. 
 
 TANGUAY, John Baptist Antony, physician and 
 surgeon. Providence, was born in St. Rosalie, county 
 
 J. B. A. TANGUAY. 
 
 of Bagot, Province of Quebec, Canada, 
 1846, son of Joseph and Eulalie (Yon) 
 He is descended from old and respected 
 
 April 3, 
 Tanguay. 
 Canadian 
 
76 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 families. He received his early education at the 
 Seminary of St. Hyacinthe, P. Q. He adopted 
 medicine as a profession, and studied for three 
 sessions at M'Gill Medical College, Montreal, and 
 one session at the Victoria College, from which he 
 graduated in 1869. He first practiced in St. Hy- 
 acinthe, and removed to Providence in 1882, being 
 the first French physician to establish himself in 
 the city. He is a member of the Rhode Island 
 Medical Society, the Canada Medical Society, a 
 member and one of the founders of the Massachu- 
 setts Canadian Medical Society, the St. Louis 
 Medical Society, the North American Physician 
 and Surgeons Protection Society, of Court Thomas 
 A. Doyle Ancient Order of Foresters, Providence 
 Sanctuary A. O. of S of A., the St. John Baptist 
 Society, Naturalization Club, and Catholic Knights 
 of America. He married, February 8, 1875, Miss 
 Vitaline, a daughter of Prosper Cloutier, Esq. ; they 
 had children : J. A. Edgar, J. B. P. Raphael, Marie 
 Antoinette Blanche, Marie Corinne, and two others 
 who died in infancy. 
 
 WALKER, General William Russell, architect, 
 Providence, and Deputy Grand Commander of the 
 Grand Commandery Knights Templar of Massachu- 
 setts and Rhode Island, was born in Seekonk, Mass. 
 (now East Providence, R. I.), April 14, 1830, the 
 son of Alfred and Huldah Bardeen (Perry) Walker. 
 He is a descendant in the third generation of John 
 Walker of Rehoboth, Mass., who was a Sergeant in 
 the Minute Men from Rehoboth in the Lexington 
 alarm and in service during the war of the Revolu- 
 tion. John Walker was descended in the fourth 
 generation from the Widow Walker, who came into 
 the Plymouth Colony at a date unknown, and who 
 was previous to 1643 one of the purchasers and pro- 
 prietors of the town of Rehoboth. Who her hus- 
 band was, or what part of the old country she came 
 from, is unknown; but that she and her two sons 
 were the founders of the family of Walker in South- 
 ern Massachusetts is unquestionable. The subject 
 of this sketch attended the public schools of his 
 native town, and after graduating from the Seekonk 
 Classical Academy in 1846, went to Providence and 
 became a builder's apprentice, serving for a term of 
 three years, during which time he continued his 
 studies and began mechanical and architectural 
 drawing at the Schofield College. After completing 
 his apprenticeship he removed to Augusta, Ga., re- 
 maining there for about a year, and then returned 
 
 to Rhode Island and located in Pawtucket, where 
 he has since resided. In 1864 he established him- 
 self as an architect in Providence, in which pro- 
 fession he has ever since been engaged. He has 
 been closely identified with public life in his adopted 
 city and the state, having served as a member of the 
 
 W. R, WALKER. 
 
 Town Councils of both North Providence and Paw- 
 tucket, and also having served both towns as a mem- 
 ber of the General Assembly of the state. At the 
 breaking out of the Rebellion he was commissioned 
 First Lieutenant of Company C, First Regiment 
 Rhode Island Detached Militia, and served until 
 the mustering out of his regiment. He was a com- 
 missioned officer of the state militia for more than 
 twenty years, retiring with the rank of Major Gen- 
 eral in June 1879. He is Past Commander of Tower 
 Post G. A. R., and is at the present time a member 
 of the Board of Park Commissioners of the city of 
 Pawtucket. In politics he is a Republican, and was 
 a delegate to the Republican National Convention 
 at Chicago in 188S. General Walker became a 
 member of Union Lodge No. 10, A. F. & A. M., in 
 1857, received his capitular degrees in Pawtucket 
 Royal Arch Chapter No. 4, was knighted in Holy 
 Sepulchre Commandery No. 8 in 187 1, and has 
 served three terms as Eminent Commander of that 
 body. He is a member of Providence Consistory 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 n 
 
 Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and of Pales- 
 tine Temple Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the 
 Mystic Shrine. In the Grand Commandery of 
 Knights Templar of Massachusetts and Rhode 
 Island he has filled the offices of Grand Lecturer, 
 Grand Standard Bearer, Grand Junior Warden, 
 Grand Senior Warden, Grand Captain-General and 
 Grand Generalissimo, and at the annual session of 
 that body in October 1895 he was elected Deputy 
 Grand Commander, which office he now holds. 
 General Walker was married in 1852 to Miss Eliza 
 Billings Hall, daughter of Nathan Hall of Provi- 
 dence j she passed away February 21, 1896; they 
 had two children : George Clifton, born November 
 7, 1853, died June i, 1883; and William Howard, 
 born January 19, 1856, who resides in Pawtucket 
 and is associated in business with his father, under 
 the name of William R. Walker & Son, as architects 
 in Providence. 
 
 WARD, Abner Herbert, dairy and poultry farmer, 
 Middletown, was born in Middletown, September 6, 
 
 A. H. WARD. 
 
 1854, the son of John B. and Ann S. (Sherman) 
 Ward. His ancestors on both sides were of old 
 Rhode Island families, and on his mother's side 
 were members of the Society of Friends. He re- 
 ceived his early education in the public schools of 
 
 Middletown and Newport. Later he attended East 
 Greenwich Academy and graduated from a commer- 
 cial college in 1878. He worked for his father on 
 a dairy and stock farm for several years before start- 
 ing for himself. He commenced the business of 
 dairy and poultry farming in 1880, and has con- 
 ducted it successfully ever since, supplying a large 
 number of the principal summer residents of New- 
 port with milk, cream and eggs. He has been a 
 member of the Town Council of Middletown since 
 April 1884, and President of that body since 1892. 
 He was elected a Representative to the General As- 
 sembly in 1893 and re-elected for successive terms 
 since. He is a member of Coronet Council Royal 
 Arcanum, of Aquidneck Grange Patrons of Hus- 
 bandry, and is Treasurer of Chapter 666, Middle- 
 town, Ep worth League. In politics he has always 
 been a Republican. He married, February 24, 1880, 
 Miss Annie Medora Brown of Middletown, at White- 
 hall Farm, the former residence of Bishop Berkeley ; 
 they have four children : Helen M., A. Sadie, Charles 
 H., 2d, and Medora May Ward. 
 
 WILCOX, George Dawley, physician and sur- 
 geon, Providence, was born in West Greenwich, R. I., 
 August 28, 1825, son of John and Dorcas (Tanner) 
 Wilcox. He came from Revolutionary ancestry on 
 both sides. He received his early education in the 
 common schools, and graduated in medicine from 
 the University of New York in 1849. -^^ began 
 the practice of medicine in his native town in the 
 spring of 1849. In 1852, he removed to Phenix 
 Village, Warwick, R. I. In 1856, he became asso- 
 ciated with Dr. A. Howard Okie, in Providence. 
 In 1858 he went to Germany and pursued his 
 medical studies in Vienna, Prague and Leipsic for 
 two years, and then went to London, where he was 
 appointed Medical Interne to the London Homoe- 
 opathic Hospital, Great Ormond Street. He re- 
 sumed practice in Providence in i860. In 1870 
 he became associated with Dr. Ira Barrows, with 
 whom he remained in partnership until the death 
 of the latter in 1882. From that time he has been 
 associated with Dr. Annie W. Hunt, a former 
 pupil. In May, 1862, he was commissioned 
 Surgeon of the Tenth Regiment, Rhode Island 
 Volunteers, and served with the regiment in the 
 field. In July 1884 he was appointed by Governor 
 Bourne one of the two Medical Examiners for the 
 city of Providence for six years, and was re-ap- 
 pointed at the end of that time, and resigned after 
 
78 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 serving a year. He is a member of the Rhode 
 Island Homoeopathic Medical Society, honorary 
 member of the Medico-Legal Society of Rhode 
 Island and the British Homoeopathic Medical 
 Society of London, and Corresponding Mitglied 
 des Homoeopathischen Central Vereins of Leipzig. 
 In politics he is a Republican, but has not taken an 
 active part in public affairs. In 1854 he married 
 Miss Mary Fry, who died September 17, 1857 ; they 
 
 1885 he was appointed Assistant Surgeon to the 
 First Light Infantry Regiment and served until 
 1888. He is a member of the Rhode]Island State 
 
 GEO. D. WILCOX. 
 
 had one son, Frank Howard. In 1862 he married 
 Miss Mary Caroline, daughter of Rev. Daniel 
 Leach, of Boston, Mass. ; by this union were two 
 children : Mary Lawton and Alice Palmer Wilcox. 
 
 WILLIAMS, Horace Newell, physician and 
 surgeon, Providence, was born in Uxbridge, Mass., 
 January 2, 1861, son of Nicholas B. and Charlotte 
 E. (Newell) Williams. He received his early edu- 
 cation in the public schools and the High School of 
 Uxbridge. Adopting medicine as his profession he 
 entered the Bellevue Medical College, New York, 
 from which he graduated in 1882. He then served 
 in the surgical department at Bellevue Hospital, 
 from which he graduated in 1884. In that year he 
 established himself in Providence, where he has 
 secured an extensive and lucrative practice. In 
 
 H. N. WILLIAMS. 
 
 Medical Society, the Providence Medical Associa- 
 tion, and of the Society of the Alumni of Bellevue 
 Hospital. He is a member of Solomon Temple 
 A. F. & A. M., of Uxbridge, of Providence Royal 
 Arch Chapter and St. John's Commandery. He 
 married, April 30, 1890, Miss Carrie L. Peirce ; 
 they have one child, Charlotte Peirce Williams. 
 
 WARDWELL, Willum Thom.a.s Church, lumber 
 merchant and banker, was born in Bristol, R. I ., 
 September 20, 1835, son of Hezekiah Church and 
 Sallie (Gifford) Wardwell. He comes of good old 
 New England stock, and is descended from William 
 Wardwell, who landed in Boston in 1633 ; his son 
 Uzelle came to Bristol on the settlement of the 
 town in 1680, and his grandson, William, married 
 the granddaughter of John Howland who came 
 over in the Mayflower. From this union the 
 subject of this sketch is descended. His mother, 
 Sallie Gifford, was the lineal descendant of Sir 
 Walter Gifford, who landed in Massachusetts Bay 
 in 1630. His grandmother, Elizabeth Church, was 
 a descendant of Captain Benjamin Church of In- 
 
^J^^/ 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 79 
 
 dian wars fame. He received his early educa- 
 tion in the public schools and academy of Bristol, 
 and was one of the first scholars in the high school 
 in 1848. He first learned the business of a jeweler 
 with Sackett, Davis & Potter of Providence, from 
 1853 to 1856, then spent some time in Cuba and 
 the city of New York. He came back to Bristol in 
 1859, and with his brother, Samuel D. Wardwell, 
 succeeded their father, Hezekiah C. Wardwell, who 
 had been in the same business and the same place 
 since the early part of the century, in the lumber 
 business at the foot of Bradford street, corner of 
 Thames. He continued in business with his brother 
 until 1872, when he purchased his brother's inter- 
 est, and continued the business until 1894, when 
 the Wardwell Lumber Company was organized with 
 W. T. C. Wardwell as President. He has taken an 
 active part in public and business affairs. He has 
 been a Representative and Senator in the General 
 Assembly from Bristol and was Lieutenant-Governor 
 of the State in 1890-91. He is President of the 
 First National Bank of Bristol and a Director of the 
 Industrial Trust Company of Providence. He is 
 a member of the vestry of St. Michael's Church, 
 Bristol. He is a member of the Masonic order to 
 the thirty- second degree and has filled various 
 offices in the organization up to Grand High Priest 
 of the State of Rhode Island. He is a member of 
 the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. 
 In politics he is a Democrat, and was the candidate 
 of his party for Governor in 1893. He married, 
 November 24, 1874, Miss Leonora Frances Glad- 
 ding ; they have three children : Hezekiah Church, 
 Bessie Uzelle and Marguerite Wardwell. 
 
 WILLIAMS, Alfred Mason, journalist and author, 
 was born in Taunton, Mass., October 23, 1840, son 
 of Lloyd Hall and Prudence King (Padelford) Wil- 
 liams. His remote ancestry on both sides were 
 Welsh. His ancestor, Richard Williams, came from 
 Taunton, Somersetshire, England, and founded the 
 town of Taunton, Mass. His great-grandfather, 
 James Williams, was a captain during the Revolu- 
 tionary war, and for a long series of years town clerk 
 of Taunton. His great uncle, John Mason Williams, 
 was Chief Justice of the Common Plea Court of 
 Massachusetts. His maternal ancestors for several 
 generations were seafaring men. He received his 
 early education in the public and private schools of 
 Taunton, and was fitted for college at Bristol Acad- 
 emy. He entered Brown University in the class of 
 
 i860, but was compelled to leave before the com- 
 pletion of the course on account of weakness 
 of the eyes brought on by over use. During 
 the civil war he enlisted in Company K, Fourth 
 Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, and took part 
 in the Louisiana campaign under General Banks. 
 Having written some letters from the war to the news- 
 papers, he was invited, on his return at the expira- 
 tion of his term of service, to accept a position as 
 reporter on the Taunton Daily Gazette. In 1865 
 he was appointed by the New York Tribune to report 
 the Fenian disturbance in Ireland. On landing at 
 Queenstown he was arrested on suspicion of being 
 
 ALFRED M. WILLIAMS. 
 
 a Fenian emissary and detained a week, while his 
 papers were being examined in Dublin. When it 
 was discovered that he was no more dangerous a 
 personage than a newspaper correspondent, he was 
 released, and he reported the trials of O'Donovan 
 Rossa and other Fenian leaders in Dublin, besides 
 giving sketches of the people and country for several 
 American newspapers. On his return he took the 
 position of city editor of the Gazette, and was after- 
 ward managing editor. In 1868 he was elected a 
 Representative to the Massachusetts Legislature and 
 re-elected the following year by unanimous vote of 
 both parties. In the fall of 1869 he went West and 
 established the Neosho Journal in Neosho, a town in 
 the southwest corner of Missouri near the Indian 
 
8o 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Territory. While there he spent much time with the 
 Indians in the Territory, and was secretary pro tern. 
 of the last grand council of all the tribes held at Ok- 
 mulgee in the Creek Nation. Camp life and exposure 
 during a peculiarly wet season brought on a severe 
 attack of fever and ague, which compelled him to 
 abandon his enterprise and return East. He ob- 
 tained a position on the local staff of the Provi- 
 dence Journal, and after about six months was pro- 
 moted to the position of chief editorial writer, which 
 he held until the death of George W. Danielson 
 in 1884, when he became editor-in-chief. He held 
 this position, acquiring also a share in the corpora- 
 tion, until 1891, when he resigned while on a visit 
 to Europe. Since his retirement he has contributed 
 a large number of articles to magazines and news- 
 papers on literary and kindred subjects. He has 
 published " The Poets and Poetry of Ireland " with 
 Historical and Critical Essays and Notes, Boston, 
 Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1880; an introduction to 
 the popular edition of the poems of Sir Samuel 
 Fergerson, Dublin, Seeley, Bryers & Walker, 1887; 
 " Sam Houston and the War of Independence in 
 Texas," Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1893; "Studies 
 in Folk Song and Popular Poetry," Houghton, 
 Mifflin & Co., London, Eliot Stock, 1894. In 1882 
 he received the honorary degree of A. M. from 
 Brown University. In 1888 he was elected a trustee 
 of the Public Library of Providence and has held 
 that position since, serving on the library committee 
 and as chairman of the committee to purchase a 
 site and procure plans for a new building. He was 
 one of the charter members and an early Com- 
 mander of William H. Bartlett Post 3, G. A. R., 
 Department of Massachusetts, and has been Vice- 
 President of the Fourth Regiment Veteran Associa- 
 tion. He was the founder and the first President of 
 the Providence Press Club. He is a member of 
 the English and American Folk-Lore societies, of 
 the Irish Literary Society of London, of the Ameri- 
 can Historical Society, of the Indian Rights Asso- 
 ciation, of the Sons of the American Revolution, 
 and the United States Veteran Volunteer Association 
 of Rhode Island. He married, July 5, 1870, Miss 
 Cora Allen Leonard of Taunton, Mass., who died 
 December 11, 1886; he has no children. 
 
 side he is of French descent and on his maternal 
 side of English. He received his early education 
 in the district and high schools of Connecticut 
 He adopted medicine as a profession and gradu- 
 ated from the Berkshire Medical College of Pitts- 
 field, Mass., November 8, 1865. He first practised 
 in Sterling, Conn., from December 1865 to 1869, 
 when he removed to Anthony, R. I., where he has 
 since remained, having a large practice. He is also 
 sole proprietor of a large drug store there since 
 1878. He was elected State Senator for two terms. 
 
 WiNSOR, John, physician and druggist, Anthony, 
 was born in Sterling, Conn., May 18, 1843, son of 
 Ira and Almira (Main) Winsor. On the paternal 
 
 JOHN WINSOR. 
 
 1884-85, for the town of Coventry. He was ap- 
 pointed Medical Examiner of District No. i, of 
 Kent County, in 1884 and reappointed in 1890. 
 He is a member of the Rhode Island Medical 
 Society, member and ex-president of the Rhode 
 Island Medico-Legal Society, member of the \\'ar- 
 wick and Flat River clubs, and the Literary Club of 
 Anthony, of McGregor Post G. A. R., of Grand 
 Lodge and Grand Encampment of Odd Fellows, 
 of the Grand Lodge of Masons of Rhode Island, 
 and is a thirty-second degree Mason. In poli- 
 tics he is an active Republican. He married, 
 September 22, 1878, Miss Carrie A. Bowen ; they 
 have no children. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 ALMY, Herbert, attorney-at-law, was born in 
 Providence, February 25, 185 1, the son of Hum- 
 phrey and Amey Ann (Chase) Ahiny. He came of 
 
 married, February 21, 1884, Miss Lydia F. Kelton; 
 they have four children : Bertha K., Carrie W., Ada 
 F. and Marion Almy. 
 
 HERBERT ALMY. 
 
 well-known and respected Rhode Island ancestry. 
 He received his early education in the public 
 schools of Providence, and was fitted for college at 
 Merrick-Lyon's University Grammar School. He 
 graduated from Brown University in the class of 
 1873. He adopted the law as a profession, and 
 was a student in the office of the late Wingate 
 Hayes and the present Chief Justice Matteson 
 He was Assistant Clerk of the Supreme Court from 
 December 1876 to April 1885, since which time he 
 has successfully practised his profession in Provi- 
 dence. He is not a member of any societies or 
 clubs, and has taken no part in public life. He 
 
 AMES, George Henry, D. M. D., of Provi- 
 dence, was born in Foxboro, Mass , April 24, 1848, 
 son of Benjamin Keath and Sarah Durbey (Carpen- 
 ter) Ames. The family has been long prominent 
 in the history of New England ; it came originally 
 from Somersetshire, England, in the person of 
 William Ames, born at Burton, October 6, 1605, 
 who settled at Braintree, Mass., very early in the 
 planting of New England, and from a large and 
 excellent posterity descended. The first English 
 settler died in Braintree, January 11, 1654. Dr. 
 Ames's parents came to dwell in Providence in 
 1855, and young Ames was entered as a pupil in 
 the Providence schools, where the foundation of 
 his education was laid ; subsequently the young 
 student was entered at the Lapham Institute, which 
 institution had succeeded the Smithfield Academy, 
 then among the inost distinguished of the secondary 
 schools in New England. After graduation from 
 this institution young Ames was sent to Biddeford, 
 Me., where he entered the office of Thomas Haley, 
 D. M. D., for the purpose of acquiring some prac- 
 tical knowledge of the science of dental surgery. 
 One year was spent in this pursuit, until the autumn 
 of 1870, at which time young Ames entered the 
 Dental School at Harvard University, where he 
 pursued the full course two years, and was gradu- 
 ated February 14, 1872. Doctor Ames then opened 
 an office in the town where he was born, Foxboro, 
 Mass., for the practice of his profession. At the 
 end of a year, in May 1873, he opened a second 
 office, the latter in Butler's Exchange in Provi- 
 dence, R. I. ; but he still accepted appointments at 
 Foxboro, making weekly visits to that town for that 
 purpose. In the meantime the requirements of 
 
82 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 practice which developed at the Providence ofifice 
 so fully occupied his time that the visits to Foxboro 
 were forced to be abandoned. In 1874 he entered 
 into partnership with T. D. Thompson, D. D. S., 
 the two surgeons joined offices, and for three years, 
 
 leading clubs and societies of Providence, in which 
 pleasing relations he finds that rest and recuper- 
 ation which the severe practice of his profession 
 necessitates. 
 
 GEO. H. AMES. 
 
 until September 1877, this business arrangement 
 was continued. In September of that year, he 
 succeeded to the business of WiUiam B. Dennis, 
 D. D. S., whose ofifice was then at No. 17 Mathew- 
 son street, Providence. Here Dr. Ames developed 
 one of the finest practices of dental surgery which 
 had been known in that city. In 1879 he visited 
 Europe, partly for rest and pleasure, and partly in 
 pursuit of the further development of his profession. 
 In 1888 he removed to his elegant and admirably 
 fitted quarters on Snow street, which were especially 
 fitted with every appliance that modern science 
 had developed for the skilful practice of dentistry, 
 and where a liberal share of the best patronage has 
 fallen to his lot. Dr. Ames married first, June 26, 
 1872, Miss Myra Hatton, of Port Clyde, Me. ; one 
 son, Reginald Mountford Ames, was born of this 
 marriage; Mrs. Ames died January i, 1879. His 
 second wife was Miss Isabel Brownell, daughter of 
 Stephen and Henrietta (Hunt) Brownell. The 
 Doctor and Mrs. Ames are active in all the best 
 society movements in Providence. He has long 
 been connected by membership with several of the 
 
 ANTHONY, Charles Wilfred, architect, was 
 born in Providence, May 19, 1854, son of Henry E. 
 and Lucy Dudley (McKnight) Anthony. He be- 
 longs to the Anthony line so long prominent and 
 well known in Rhode Island. He received his 
 early education in the public schools of Providence, 
 and was a student in the classical department of 
 Mowry & Goff's Classical School in that city. He 
 adopted the profession of architecture, and for a 
 number of years has been a member of the firm of 
 Anthony Brothers, architects, of Providence. Mr. 
 Anthony is well known and his original and unique 
 designs for buildings have met with high commen- 
 dation and attracted favorable notice outside of 
 local circles. He leads a quiet bachelor life and is 
 a congenial, companionable man to meet, being 
 possessed of an ample fund of information in gen- 
 
 CHAS. W. ANTHONY, 
 
 eral, as well as on professional subjects, that enables 
 him to acceptably entertain his friends as well as 
 his clients. In politics he is a Republican, and has 
 always been a thorough advocate of sound financial 
 measures. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 83 
 
 ARNOLD, Warren Otis, of Chepachet, manu- 
 facturer, and Representative to Congress from the 
 Second District of Rhode Island, was born in Cov- 
 entry, R. I., June 3, 1839, son of Otis Whitman and 
 Carohne M. (Sweetser) Arnold. He was educated 
 in the common schools, and received his training 
 for active life as an operative in a cotton factory 
 and as clerk in a country store. In 1864 he en- 
 tered into the cotton manufacturing business for 
 himself, in which he continued two years, and since 
 then has been engaged in the manufacture of 
 woolen goods. He was a Representative from the 
 
 WARREN O. ARNOLD. 
 
 Second District of Rhode Island to the Fiftieth 
 Congress, was re-elected to the Fifty-first, and was 
 elected to the Fifty-fourth Congress in 1894. In 
 politics he is a Republican. He was married, Oc- 
 tober 30, 1862, to Miss Mary Owen; they have no 
 children. 
 
 BABCOCK, Albert Stillman, merchant, Rock- 
 ville, was born in Ashaway, R. I., November 15, 
 1 85 1, the son of Welcome B. and Mary (Rogers) 
 Babcock. His ancestors on both sides are of well- 
 known Rhode Island families. He received his 
 early education in the Hopkinton Academy, and was 
 pursuing the highest course of studies, alone in his 
 class, at the closing of that institution. He then at 
 
 once entered the employ of the Ashaway Union As- 
 sociation as a clerk in the general store, and suc- 
 ceeded as general manager at the close of one year. 
 Shortly afterward, at the age of eighteen, he taught 
 school for a while in the Quarryhill district of Wes- 
 
 albert s. babcock. 
 
 terly. He removed to Rockville in the spring of 
 187 1, and was engaged' in the Rockville store of 
 which he became the proprietor April i, 1878. 
 He has since continued in business there, combin- 
 ing with other work considerable real estate busi- 
 ness. He was Postmaster in Rockville from June 
 1877 to June 1893, when he resigned to enter the 
 State Senate, of which he has been a member since 
 that time. He married. May 4, 1878, Miss Lantie 
 A. Burdick, daughter of Gardner and Betsey Bur- 
 dick of Rockville ; they have one daughter, Lyra A. 
 Babcock. 
 
 BAKER, Darius, Justice of the District Court 
 for the First Judicial District of Rhode Island, 
 and Judge of the Probate Court of Newport, was 
 born in Yarmouth, Mass., January 18, 1845, ^^^ ^^ 
 Braddock and Caroline (Crowell) Baker. He is 
 descended on both sides from Plymouth Bay Colony 
 ancestry. Six of his ancestors came over in the 
 Mayflower in 1620, viz., Stephen Hopkins and his 
 daughter Constance ; John Howland ; Elizabeth 
 
84 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Tilley, who afterwards married John Rowland ; and 
 John and Bridget (Van der Velde) Tilley, parents 
 of Elizabeth. Among his ancestors are also Gover- 
 nor Thomas Prence, for eighteen years governor of 
 Plymouth Colony ; Yelverton Crowell, the first set- 
 tler of the south side of the town of Yarmouth, 
 about 1640; Francis Baker, who came over in 1635 
 in the ship Planter from Great St. Albans, England ; 
 and Captain John Gorham, who married a daughter 
 of John Rowland, sttpra. Gorham was captain of a 
 company at the famous swamp fight with the Indians 
 at Narragansett, and is the ancestor of a numerous 
 and distinguished posterity, including John Gorham 
 
 DARIUS BAKER. 
 
 Palfrey the historian, Ron. Charles Francis Adams, 
 William Everett and others. The subject of this 
 sketch acquired his early education in the public 
 schools of Yarmouth, and at the Providence Con- 
 ference Seminary, East Greenwich, R. I. He 
 graduated from Wesleyan University in 1870, saluta- 
 torian of his class, and the next two years he was a 
 teacher at Chamberlain Institute, Randolph, N. Y. 
 From 1872 to 1874 he was tutor in Latin at Wes- 
 leyan University, at the same time pursuing his 
 legal studies, having decided to adopt the law as a 
 profession. He was admitted to the Connecticut 
 Ear in 1874, and to the Rhode Island Bar in 1875, 
 and in the same year established himself in 
 Newport, where he has since remained in successful 
 
 practice. He served as Trial Justice of the city 
 from 1875 to 1886, has been Judge of the Probate 
 Court of Newport from 1877 to the present time, 
 and in 1886 was elected Justice of the District 
 Court for the First Judicial District, which office he 
 still holds. Re served as a member of the School 
 Committee from 1877 to 1883, and for the last two 
 years of his term as chairman of that body, and has 
 been elected by the alumni, for two terms of five 
 years each, a Trustee of Wesleyan University. 
 Judge Baker has taken an active interest in the 
 charitable work of Newport, being president of the 
 Charity Organization Society and a member of 
 various other charitable organizations, and serving 
 as a trustee of the Newport Hospital for the past 
 ten years. He is also a member of the Newport 
 Business Men's Association. In politics he is a 
 Republican, but has taken no active part in public 
 life other than as stated. During the war of the 
 Rebellion, at the age of seventeen, he enlisted in the 
 Fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, and 
 served nine months, mostly in North Carolina, par- 
 ticipating in engagements at Kinston, Whitehall and 
 Goldsboro. Re was married October 30, 1878, to 
 Miss Annie Barker, daughter of W. J. Barker, 
 Ph. D., of Leipsic, Germany; she died October 7, 
 ] 886, leaving two children : Hugh Barkly and 
 George Yelverton Baker. On October 8, 1891, he 
 married Miss Bertha A. Neales, daughter of Arch- 
 deacon Thomas Neales of Woodstock, New Bruns- 
 wick ; they have two children : Dorothy Neales and 
 Alfred Colebrooke Baker. 
 
 B.AiLLOU, Colonel Daniel R., attorney-at-law, 
 was born at Smithfield, R. I , August 6, 1837, eldest 
 son of the late Arnold and Roxa (Ross) Ballou. 
 He is a lineal descendant of Maturin Ballou, who 
 settled in Providence about the year 1646. Ac- 
 cording to the best authenticated information 
 Maturin Ballou was a native of England and a de- 
 scendant of the famous Norman chieftain, Guine- 
 bond Belleau, a field marshal of William the Con- 
 queror at the battle of Hastings, in 1066. Descend- 
 ants of this ancestor are found in the different 
 counties of England and Ireland, where they have 
 long enjoyed distinguished heritage and honors. 
 He received his early education in the public and 
 private schools of his native state and completed 
 his student life at Brown University. Upon leaving 
 college he at once entered on the studv of the law 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 85 
 
 at Providence and was admitted to the bar in May 
 1864. He was largely dependent upon his own re- 
 sources, and passed through the usual experiences 
 incident to a young man striving for an education. 
 Among the most valuable experiences of his earlier 
 days were those incurred during the eight winters 
 spent in teaching school in the country and " board- 
 ing round " the district. He commenced the prac- 
 tice of the law in Greenville and North Scituate, in 
 1864, and continued in business there until 1867, 
 when he was elected Clerk of the Court of Common 
 Pleas, for Providence county, which office he filled 
 until the spring of 1875, when he retired, declining 
 
 DAN'L R, BALLOU. 
 
 a re-election. He then resumed the practice of 
 law in Providence, and has continued in active 
 practice ever since. His son-in-law, Clifford S. 
 Tower, is associated with him in professional busi- 
 ness, under the firm name of Ballou & Tower. 
 Colonel Ballou served as a Representative in the 
 General Assembly from his native town of Smith- 
 field, to which office he was elected in 1865 and 
 was returned in 1866 and 1867. He represented 
 the city of Providence in the General Assembly in 
 1882, and was defeated at the next election, but 
 was returned again in 1884. He resigned in the 
 fall of that year in consequence of increasing pro- 
 fessional business. During this term in the General 
 Assembly he was Chairman of the Committee on 
 
 Corporations. He represented the Seventh Ward 
 in the City Council of Providence during the year 
 1886, but the next year he declined a re-election. 
 He has also served on the School Committee of the 
 city of Providence. He was elected Alderman 
 from the Ninth Ward in the fall of 1891, and occu- 
 pied a seat in the Board during the years 1892-93- 
 94, and was honored by his associates who elevated 
 him to the position of President of the Board, in 
 which capacity he served during the years 1893 and 
 1894. In 1890 he was nominated for the office of 
 Attorney-General by the Republican State Conven- 
 tion ; he reluctantly and with grateful appreciation 
 of the distinguished honor, dechned to accept, on 
 account of the pressure of professional business. 
 In 1862, during the Civil War, he enlisted as a 
 private in the Twelfth Rhode Island Volunteers, a 
 nine-months regiment, and was promoted to a 
 Lieutenancy. He was engaged with the regiment, 
 which was in General Nagle's brigade, General 
 Sturgis' Division of the Ninth Corps, in the Battle 
 of Fredericksburg on December 12th and 13th, 
 1862, in which battle the regiment suffered a loss of 
 109 men, killed and wounded. He accompanied 
 his regiment when it was transferred to the Depart- 
 ment of Ohio, under General Burnside, in 1863, 
 where it performed arduous and valuable service in 
 holding Morgan and his guerrillas in check in Ken- 
 tucky. On his return home from the army, he was 
 commissioned by Governor James Y. Smith, Colonel 
 of the Seventh Regiment Rhode Island MiHtia, 
 which had been armed and equipped in anticipa- 
 tion of active service. Colonel Ballou has been 
 prominent in the Grand Army of the Republic, 
 having filled nearly every position in the gift of the 
 Department of Rhode Island, and during the past 
 year, 1895, he held the position of Department 
 Commander. He is a member of the Massachu- 
 setts Commandery of the Military Order of the 
 Loyal Legion, and is also a member of the Provi- 
 dence Athletic Club and the Providence Bar Club. 
 In politics he has been a life-long Republican and 
 has taken an active part in every national campaign 
 from the nomination of General Fremont, in 1856, 
 to the late Presidential election. He married Miss 
 Ellen R. Owen of Scituate, Rhode Island, daughter 
 of Benj. and Betsey Owen; this union has been 
 blessed with two daughters : Leonora L., who is the 
 wife of Dr. Jacob Chase Rutherford, a prosperous 
 physician of Providence, and Fannie R., the wife of 
 Clifford Sayles Tower, the associate of Colonel 
 Ballou in professional business. 
 
86 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 BARKER, Colonel Alvin Arnold, Newport, was 
 born in Middletown, R. I., November 29, 1858, son 
 of Ezra J. and Lydia Eunice Barker. He was born 
 and grew up on a farm, receiving his education in 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 F^ 
 
 -..^'^^^^^^=_- --.'sHfl 
 
 
 jP 
 
 mm 
 
 ^H^HHHUm&l'^^HH 
 
 its charter from the colonial government under King 
 George II. February i, 1741. It has taken part in 
 all the wars of the country from the date of its 
 charter, and has done escort duty at the inaugural 
 of every Rhode Island governor from 1796 to the 
 present time. Colonel Barker is a member of 
 Coronet Council No. 63 Royal Arcanum, having 
 joined October 17, 1884. In politics he is a Re- 
 publican. He was married, November 2, 1882, to 
 Miss Augusta Neilson Peckham of Middletown, R. I., 
 by whom he has four children : Ezra J. Barker 2d, 
 Lydia Elizabeth, Myitalie and Alva A. Barker. 
 
 BARNEFIELD, Thomas Pierce, City Solicitor 
 of Pawtucket, was born in Boston, Mass., March 25, 
 1844, son of John and Eliza Ann (Thayer) Barne- 
 field. He is descended in the ninth generation on 
 his mother's side from John Aklen who came to 
 America in the Mayflower in 1620, and is a son of 
 John Barnefield, formerly of Gloucestershire, Eng- 
 land, a descendant of John of Barneveld, who was 
 the Grand Pensionary of Holland in the beginning 
 
 A. A. BARKER. 
 
 the public schools, until at the age of fifteen, in 
 1873, he moved to Newport where he prepared 
 himself for a business life. In 1878 he launched 
 out for himself in the grocery, grain and hay busi- 
 ness, which he has successfully continued to the 
 present time. He was a member of the Newport 
 City Council in 1892, representing the second ward 
 as second councilman, but declined a re-election, 
 preferring to give his time to his private business. 
 He joined the Newport Artillery, Rhode Island 
 MiUtia, July 27, 1875, and was elected First Lieute- 
 nant and Quartermaster April 25, 1882, serving 
 three years in this capacity. April 28, 1885, he 
 was elected Major, and held this position three 
 years. He was appointed, May 29, 1888, aide-de- 
 camp on Governor Royal C. Taft's personal staff, 
 with the rank of Colonel. He was elected Lieutenant- 
 Colonel of the Newport Artillery August 30, 1892, 
 and Colonel commanding April 24, 1894, which posi- 
 tion and rank he now holds. The Newport Artil- 
 lery is the oldest active military organization in the 
 United States. It was organized during the trou- 
 blous time occasioned by the declaration of war 
 between England and Spain in 1739, and received 
 
 THOMAS P. BARNEFIELD. 
 
 of the seventeenth century. His father died when 
 he was eight years of age, and in 1854, upon the 
 subsequent marriage of his mother with Martin 
 Snow of North Bridgewater (now Brockton), Mass., 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 87 
 
 he removed to the latter place and was educated in 
 the public schools of Massachusetts. In 1862 he 
 enlisted as a private soldier in the Thirty-fifth Regi- 
 ment Massachusetts Volunteers, served with his 
 regiment in the battles of South Mountain, Antietam, 
 Fredericksburg, Vicksburg and Jackson, and was 
 mustered out of the service at the close of the war 
 with the rank of First Lieutenant. He removed to 
 Pawtucket in 1865, and entered as a student in the 
 law office of Hon. Pardon E. Tillinghast, one of the 
 judges of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island. He 
 was admitted to the bar October 8, 1870, and has 
 since practiced his profession in Pawtucket. He 
 was elected by the Legislature a Judge of the Magis- 
 trates' Court for Pawtucket and vicinity in 1871 and 
 1872, and was appointed Judge of the Probate Court 
 of Pawtucket for the years 1879-80-81. He was 
 elected to the General Assembly as a member of the 
 House of Representatives for the sessions of 1880-81, 
 1884-85 and 1886-87. In 1884 he was appointed 
 Town Solicitor of Pawtucket, and upon the organ- 
 ization of the city government, in 1886, was elected 
 City Solicitor and has continued to hold the office 
 by annual election until the present time. In 1880 
 he was appointed Assistant Judge Advocate General 
 of the State with the rank of Captain. He is, by 
 appointment of the Supreme Court, one of the 
 standing Masters in Chancery for the county of 
 Providence. He is a member of the Congregational 
 Church, and for the last seventeen years has been 
 Superintendent of the Sunday School. In 1889 he 
 made a tour of Europe, Egypt and Palestine, and 
 visited Europe again in 1891 and in 1894. In 1888 
 he was elected one of the trustees of the Franklin 
 Savings Bank and continues in the same relation to 
 this institution. He was President of the Congre- 
 gational Club of Rhode Island from October 1892 to 
 October 1894, and in 1895 ^^^ chosen a Director 
 of the Rhode Island Home Missionary Society. In 
 187 1 he married Miss Clara Josephine Paine, and 
 has one daughter, Florence May, and two sons, 
 Harold Chester and Ralph Tillinghast Barnefield. 
 
 BARRY, William Francis, M. D., of Woonsocket, 
 was born in Woonsocket, November 11, 1872, son 
 of Michael and Catherine (Ryan) Barry. His early 
 education was acquired in the public schools, and 
 after attending the Woonsocket high school for a 
 year he entered the high school at Franklin, Mass., 
 from which he graduated in 1887. He adopted the 
 profession of medicine, and graduated with honors 
 
 from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at 
 Baltimore in 1893. Dr. Barry was appointed and 
 served for one year as Resident Physician at St. 
 Joseph's Hospital, Providence, and in 1896 was 
 
 WILLIAM F. BARRY, 
 
 elected Consulting Physician to that institution. He 
 is a fellow of the Rhode Island Medical Society, hav- 
 ing been elected in 1895, and is a member and local 
 examiner of the society of Knights of Columbus. 
 
 BAXTER, John James, physician and surgeon, 
 Woonsocket, son of Charles and Elizabeth (Mc- 
 Queeney) Baxter, and grandson of Michael Baxter, 
 was born in Providence, June 23, i860. After 
 graduating from Lasalle Academy, Providence, in 
 1876, he entered the mercantile office of B. B. & R. 
 Knight, as a clerk, and remained in their employ 
 until 188 1. Having accumulated sufficient money 
 for a professional education, he began to read med- 
 icine in i88r, at Providence, under WiUiam F. 
 Hutchinson, M. D. He attended two winter and 
 one summer courses of lectures at the University 
 Medical College, New York City, and was graduated 
 in March 1885, being president of the class and 
 among the honor men in the final examinations. 
 He has practised medicine at Woonsocket since 
 April 1885. Dr. Baxter is a member of the Rhode 
 Island Medical Society, the Rhode Island Medico- 
 
88 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS, 
 
 Legal Society, the Woonsocket Medical Society, the 
 Ancient Order of Foresters and the Catholic 
 Knights of America. He has been secretary of the 
 board of pension examining surgeons at Woon- 
 socket since 189 1, a member of the staff of the 
 
 JOHN J. BAXTER. 
 
 Woonsocket Hospital since 1888, Medical Exami- 
 ner of District 6, State of Rhode Island, and is 
 medical examiner and physician to the secret socie- 
 ties of which he is a member. He is a tenor vocal- 
 ist of considerable reputation. He married, June 
 2, 1886, Miss Jennie C. Furlong, of Providence, 
 R. I. ; they have three children : Thomas Furlong, 
 Rosa and John C. Baxter. 
 
 BEANE, George Frederick Aldrich, general 
 teaming, coal, and wood business, was born in North 
 Scituate, R. I., October 24, 1849, the son of Constant 
 Cook and Olive L. (Aldrich) Beane. His ances- 
 tor, William Pitt Beane of Meredith, N. H., mar- 
 ried Annie Cook of Scituate, daughter of Constant 
 Cook, a descendant of the brother of Governor 
 Cook, one of the first governors of Rhode Island. 
 His father Constant C. Beane was born in Pomfret, 
 Conn., and married Olive L. Aldrich, born in 
 Scituate, a descendant of David Aldrich of South 
 Kingston on the father's side and on the mother's 
 of Thomas Angell, one of the five settlers who came 
 
 with Roger Williams to Providence. She is a 
 cousin of Hon. James B. Angell, ex-Minister to 
 China. He received his early education in the 
 district schools, at Lapham Institute, North Scituate, 
 and at Schofield's Commercial College, Providence. 
 He entered the ofifice of the Franklin Manufactur- 
 ing Company, Merino village, October 16, 1865, as 
 clerk, and Horace Beane's market. Fall River, in 
 the same capacity in 1868. He returned to the 
 Franklin Company in 1871, and in 1872 entered 
 the employ of Rice & Hayward, bakers, Providence. 
 In 1873 he engaged in the real estate business in 
 Providence under the firm name of Peirce & Beane. 
 In 1874 he started in the egg business, and is now 
 engaged in the general teaming and coal and wood 
 business in his present location in Olneyville. He 
 has been a highway surveyor, member and Presi- 
 dent of the Town Council, State Senator from 1890 
 and 1892, Town Moderator in 1894 and 1896, and 
 was Chairman of the State Highway Commission, 
 appointed by Governor H. W. Ladd, in 1892. He 
 was Chairman of the Republican Committee of the 
 
 GEO. F. A. BEANE. 
 
 town of Johnston from 1887 to 1890, and a member 
 of the State Central Committee in 1891-92. He is 
 ex-foreman of the Rough and Ready Fire Company 
 of Johnston. He has been President of the Olney- 
 ville Business Men's Association, and of the Fruit 
 Hill Detecting Society. He is a member of Nestell 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 89 
 
 Lodge A. F. & A. M. of Providence, and of Scituate 
 Royal Arch Chapter, P. G. of Manufacturers' Lodge 
 and P. C. P. of Woonasquatucket Encampment, and 
 is a Past Grand High Priest of the Grand Encamp- 
 ment of Rhode Island, L O. O. F. He married, 
 June 14, 1870, Miss Abby Louisa Angell, who died 
 in August, 1887; they had children: Louisa A, 
 Josephine A., William Henry and George Fred- 
 erick. He married, January i, 1893, Mrs. Ida 
 Louise McAllister, n/c Marshall, of Bear River, Nova 
 Scotia. 
 
 BRUCE, Henry Jewett, M. D., Pascoag, was 
 born in Webster, Worcester county, Mass., Novem- 
 
 HENRY J. BRUCE. 
 
 ber 8, 1849, son of Winsor and Huldah (AVebster) 
 Bruce. His father was a native of Dover, Vt., and 
 his grandfather was Abijah Bruce, formerly of Mil- 
 ford, Mass. His mother was born in \\'oodstock. 
 Conn., of the same stock as Noah Webster of 
 dictionary and spelling-book fame. Henry's early 
 education was obtained in the public schools of his 
 native town. Having gone through the college pre- 
 paratory course, he afterward took up the scientific 
 course, and graduated in 1869. Following gradua- 
 tion he engaged in surveying and civil engineering, 
 having an office with the Town Clerk of Webster, 
 and devoted his spare time to reading law. In the 
 spring of 1871 he began the study of medicine, 
 
 under the tutorship of Dr. E. G. Burnett, of Webster, 
 and attended the following winter term of the College 
 of Physicians and Surgeons (the Medical Depart- 
 ment of Columbia College) , New York, after which 
 he took the two following courses at the Long Island 
 Hospital College, from which he received his diploma 
 in June 1874. In company with an old schoolmate, 
 Albert Howard, he opened a drug store in Webster, 
 and also engaged in practice in his native town ; 
 but after a time, as the business did not pay very 
 well, he sold out and went to Olneyville, R. I., where 
 he spent the winter, and in the spring of 1877 took 
 up his residence in Pascoag, about twenty miles 
 from Providence. He had been a resident of Pas- 
 coag about a year when his father, mother and 
 sister, who were all in poor health, came to live with 
 him. They took a house and lived very comfortably, 
 considering their condition of health, but in Decem- 
 ber 1879, his mother, who had been an invalid for 
 more than twenty years, died ; in June following, 
 his father, who had been suffering from a spinal 
 disease for about six years passed away, and a week 
 later occurred the death of his sister. During all 
 the family sickness Dr. Bruce had personally taken 
 upon him most of the care of the sufferers, besides 
 attending to quite a busy practice, and when it was all 
 over he succumbed to the long continued strain and 
 was compelled to lay aside the most of his practice 
 for over two years on account of nervous prostration. 
 Dr. Bruce has always been a Republican but has 
 never held political office. He has been many times 
 importuned to serve as a candidate for election to 
 the Town Council but has always refused. In 1878 
 he was appointed Superintendent of Schools, and 
 filled the position two years, when he resigned. He 
 has devoted much time and earnest work to influ- 
 encing the public mind in favor of good roads, and 
 is happily beginning to see some of the results of 
 his labors in this direction. He is a member of 
 the Masonic order of Knights Templar. In 1881 
 Dr. Bruce married Mrs. Lydia Bailey, a widow with 
 three children mostly grown up, the youngest about 
 fourteen years, with whom he is still living ; he has 
 no children. 
 
 BURBANK, Robert Willakd, attorney-at-lavv. 
 Providence, was born at Koloa, island of Kauai, 
 Hawaiian Islands, September 14, 1856, son of 
 Samuel and Mary A. (Morse) Burbank. He is 
 descended from New England ancestry, the family 
 having been residents of the state of Maine. He 
 prepared for college at the Friends' Boarding 
 
90 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 School in Providence and entered Brown University, 
 from which he graduated in the class of 1878. 
 After graduation he commenced the study of the 
 law in the office of Mowry & Comstock, and was 
 admitted to the bar November 29, 1880. He 
 
 ROBERT W, BURBANK. 
 
 established a successful practice in Providence and 
 in 1888 was appointed Assistant Attorney General, 
 holding the office for one year. In 1891 he was 
 unanimously nominated for Attorney General of the 
 State by the Republican Convention and held that 
 office for three successive terms. Since that time 
 he has continued in general law practice in Provi- 
 dence. In the municipal elect' on of the city of 
 Providence in November 1895, he was elected 
 Alderman from the Second Ward on the Good Gov- 
 erment Ticket, and now represents that Ward in 
 the Board of Aldermen, In politics he is a Repub- 
 lican. He married, April 12, 1883, Miss Martha 
 Anna Taylor ; they have three children ; Robert 
 Taylor, Philip and Elizabeth Burbank. 
 
 CADY, George Waterman, architect. Provi- 
 dence, was born in Providence, August 27, 1825, 
 son of Rev. Jonathan and EHza (Pettey) Cady. 
 He comes of old New England stock, his ancestor, 
 Nicholas Cady, having settled in Watertown, Mass., 
 
 Killingly, Conn., where they were prominent citi- 
 zens of the town for many generations. He re- 
 ceived his early education in the public schools and 
 in the Lowell high school. After his school educa- 
 tion he was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade, 
 and after some time in this work developed his 
 studies in architecture, for which he had a natural 
 taste and ability. In i860 he opened an architect's 
 office in Providence, and has since, under the firm 
 name of Geo. W. Cady & Co., done a large business 
 in designing and superintending the erection of 
 many important buildings. He has always taken 
 an active interest in military affairs and in the fire 
 department. He has been a member of the First 
 Light Infantry Regiment from 1854 to 1895, and 
 was an inspector on the staffs of Cols. Dennis, 
 Goddard and Thornton. During the war he was 
 commissioned Major of the Twenty-second Regi- 
 ment Rhode Island Volunteers, which was not 
 called into the service. In the Fire Department he 
 was captain of a company from 1854 to 1870, and 
 second President of the Providence Veteran Fire- 
 man's Association. He is a member of the Rhode 
 
 GEO, W. CADY. 
 
 Island Chapter of the American Institute of Archi- 
 tects, of the First Light Infantry Veteran Associa- 
 tion, and of the Providence Art Club. In politics 
 he is a Republican, but of late has not taken an 
 
 in 1645. 'I he family soon afterward removed to active part in public affairs. He married, July 20, 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 91 
 
 1846, Miss Mary Anna Burr of Providence; they 
 have four children : Frederic Waterman, Ella 
 Porter, Annie Burr and George Milton Cady, the 
 latter associated with his father's firm. 
 
 CADY, Philo Victor, Sheriff of the County of 
 Bristol, was born in Barrington, R. I., May 23, 1856, 
 
 PHILO V. CADY. 
 
 son of James Jerome and Experience (Smith) Cady. 
 His great-great grandfather, Isaac Cady, was one of 
 the first settlers of Alstead, N. H., being one of the 
 first three men that wintered in that town. He 
 married Mary Heldrick, who was the first woman 
 that spent a winter in that town, and their son 
 Jacob was the first child born there. The old 
 homestead is now occupied by Levi Cady, and his 
 father, James Jerome Cady, was born there. On 
 his mother's side he is the grandson of the Rev. 
 Eleazar and Experience (Barney) Smith of Swan- 
 zey, Mass. He received his early education in the 
 public schools of Warren, R. I., and commenced to 
 learn the shipbuilding trade with his father, a ship- 
 builder, who constructed the last two ships built in 
 Warren. After working two years at the trade he 
 was knocked from the side of a ship and injured. 
 He then learned the trade of manufacturing cigars. 
 He went West in 1877, crossing the plains on foot 
 from Fort Pierre, Dakota, to the Black Hills. After 
 
 four months' mining and prospecting in the Hills 
 he left for Cheyenne, Wyoming. In Cheyenne he 
 served as a member of a posse under Sheriff T. Jeff. 
 Carr to run down Reddy, the notorious outlaw and 
 stage robber, and the leader of a gang of outlaws 
 and miirderers. He returned to Rhode Island in 
 1880 and established the cigar-manufacturing busi- 
 ness in Bristol, where he has since remained. He 
 was Corresponding and Recording Secretary of the 
 Cigar-Makers Union in Denver, Col., in 1879-80. 
 He was elected Sheriff of the County of Bristol in 
 1890-91-92, held over in 1893, and has been con- 
 tinuously re-elected since. He is a member of 
 Burnside Lodge Knights of Pythias of Bristol. In 
 politics he is a Republican. He married, April i, 
 1875, Miss Elizabeth McCormick, who died April 
 18, 1889; they had children: Annie Newell, Grace 
 Mapleton, Harrison Victor and Lizzie Cady. He 
 married, second, November 15, 1893, Miss Florence 
 May Maxwell ; they have one son, George Maxwell 
 Cady. 
 
 CAP WELL, Remington Pendleton, physician 
 and surgeon, Slatersville, was born in Phenix, R. I., 
 
 remington p. capwell. 
 
 January 5, 1872, the son of Edwin C. and Susan 
 (Remington) Capwell. He is a nephew of Dr. Wm. 
 C. Monroe of Woonsocket, with whom he studied 
 during his school term in that city. He received 
 
92 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 his early education in the primary and grammar 
 schools of Phenix and the high school of Woon- 
 socket, graduating from the latter in the class of 
 1 89 1. He entered the Belle vue Hospital Medical 
 College of New York, and graduated in 1894. Dr. 
 Capwell established himself in practice in Slatersville, 
 R. I., April I, 1894, at the age of twenty-two, and 
 has since remained there. He is not married. 
 
 CARPENTER, Alva, iron manufacturer. Provi- 
 dence, was born in Seekonk, Mass., March 2, 
 1829, son of Jonathan and Leafy (Bourne) Carpen- 
 
 ALVA CARPENTER. 
 
 ter, and a descendant of Albert Carpenter, who 
 came over from England with the early Puritans. 
 He attended the common schools until fifteen 
 years old, and then spent two years in a cotton 
 mill. In 1846, at the age of seventeen, he was 
 apprenticed to learn the moulder's trade with 
 Thomas J. Hill (now the Providence Machine 
 Company), and at the expiration of his term of 
 service worked three years in a foundry at Matea- 
 wan, N. Y., returning to Rhode Island in 1850 and 
 working two years in a foundry at Newport. In 
 1852 he entered the employ of the Corliss Steam 
 Engine Company, remaining with them until 1865 
 and in September of that year started in the foundry 
 business in company with Amos D. Smith, under 
 
 the firm name of Smith & Carpenter, on Dyer 
 street. The partnership continued until 1870, when 
 they disposed of the business there and removed 
 to Aborn street, Mr. Carpenter buying out Mr. 
 Smith's interest soon after and continuing the busi- 
 ness alone. In 1880 he took in Henry C. Bowen 
 as partner, and they continued together until 1889, 
 when the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Carpenter 
 with his two sons building a new foundry in their 
 present location on West Exchange street. On 
 November 11, 1892, this foundry was entirely de- 
 stroyed by fire. The firm immediately rebuilt on 
 the same site, and on a larger scale, and they have 
 at present one of the best equipped foundries in 
 the state, employing one hundred hands. Mr. 
 Carpenter has never taken a very active part in 
 politics, but has always been a staunch and consist- 
 ent Democrat of the old school. In 1892 he was 
 elected and served as a Representative in the 
 Rhode Island State Legislature for one year. He 
 joined Roger Williams Lodge of Odd Fellows in 
 1874, received the highest honors of the Lodge, and 
 in 1886 became a charter member of Mount Pleas- 
 ant Lodge No. 45, I. O. O. F., of which he is still 
 an active member. He is also a member of the 
 Pomham and West Side clubs. He was married 
 in 1854 to Miss Mary E. Allen of Attleboro, Mass ; 
 they have five children .- three sons, all married 
 and having families, the eldest an episcopal clergy- 
 man, rector of St. Mark's Church at Warren, R. I., 
 and two daughters, residing with their parents in 
 Providence. 
 
 CHAMPLIN, Christopher Elihu, was born at the 
 homestead of his grandfather Rose on the easterly 
 side of Block Island, September 24, i860, the son 
 of John P. and Lydia M. (Rose) Champlin. He 
 comes from old Rhode Island families on both 
 sides, his great-grandfather, Nathaniel E., being the 
 first Champlain to settle on Block Island, and the 
 Rose family having been long identified with its 
 history. He received his education in the public 
 schools of New Shoreham and at East Greenwich 
 Academy, where he was prepared for Brown Uni- 
 versity in which he studied. He adopted the law 
 as his profession and recei\ed his early training in 
 the office of Edward H. Hazard and Col. C. H. 
 Parkhurst of Providence. He studied in the Boston 
 University of Law, from which he graduated in the 
 class of 1884, and was admitted to the Suffolk 
 County bar of Massachusetts in July 1884, and 
 to the Rhode Island bar the following year. Im- 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 93 
 
 mediately upon admission to the Rhode Island bar 
 he opened a law office in Providence, where he has 
 acquired a valuable practice. Although practicing 
 in Providence he has retained his residence in New 
 Shoreham, and has been its Town Solicitor for the 
 
 CHRISTOPHER E, CHAMPLIN. 
 
 past ten consecutive years. In 1887 he entered in- 
 to politics and was elected a Representative to the 
 General Assembly from New Shoreham, and was 
 unanimously re-elected the following year, serving 
 upon the Judiciary Committee for both terms. In 
 1888 he was Secretary of the Democratic State Cen- 
 tral Committee of Rhode Island. In 1890 he was 
 elected a Senator to the General Assembly from New 
 Shoreham, and has been continuously re-elected each 
 year since, serving upon the Judiciary and Corpora- 
 tion committees. From the beginning of his legisla- 
 tive career he interested himself strongly in securing 
 an appropriation for the construction of a harbor 
 of refuge in the Great Salt Pond of Block Island, 
 and it was due chiefly to his exertions that the work 
 was accomplished. At the formal dedication of the 
 new harbor, September 21, 1895, Senator Champlin 
 made the address of welcome to the Executive, Judi- 
 cial and Representative bodies of the State. He 
 is a member of the First Baptist Church of New 
 Shoreham, and of Atlantic Lodge of Masons. He 
 was married, October 14, 1891, to Miss Joannah 
 Hayes j they have no children. 
 
 CLARK, Henry Clinton, President of the Rhode 
 Island Coal Company, Providence, was born in 
 Providence, November 28, 1822, son of Sterry and 
 Julia Ann (Morse) Clark. He came of good old New 
 England stock, his grandfathers on both sides hav- 
 ing been Revolutionary soldiers. His first American 
 ancestors settled in Southbridge, Mass., where his 
 father, Sterry Clark, was born. He received his 
 early education in the public schools of Providence, 
 commenced active business life in 184 1 as a clerk 
 in the employ of Jackson & Clark, and held that 
 position until his admission into the firm, whose name 
 was changed to Jackson, Clark & Company. The firm 
 name underwent successive changes to S. Clark & Co., 
 Clark & Coggeshall, Clark & Webb, H. C. Clark & 
 Co., and later to the Providence Coal Company, as 
 the head of which Mr. Clark has conducted one of 
 the largest coal concerns in New England. He has 
 always taken an active interest in public affairs, and 
 has been influential with voice and pen both in and 
 out of office. He was a member of the State Legis- 
 lature, and of the Common Council of Providence 
 from 1882 to 1885, and was a member of the Board 
 
 HENRY C. CLARK. 
 
 of Aldermen in 1876. In 1892 and 1895 he was an 
 independent candidate for Mayor. In politics he 
 was originally a Whig, later a Freesoiler, and then a 
 Republican. He is not a member of any society or 
 club, preferring to devote his time to business and 
 
94 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 his family. On February 27, 1895, Mr. Clark pre- 
 sented to his native city a bronze statue of Ebenezer 
 Knight Dexter, a philanthropist who gave his large 
 property for the benefit of the homeless and the 
 public. He was married, January 21, 1844, to Miss 
 Martha E. Field, who died December 8, 1888 ; they 
 had one child, a son : Harry C. Clark. He married, 
 second, Miss Mary Caroline Phillips. 
 
 lican. He married, January 8, 1875, Miss Lizzie M. 
 Manter ; they have had two children : Daniel A. and 
 Mary M. Clarke; the latter died in January 1888. 
 
 CLARKE, Charles Kendall, physician and sur- 
 geon, Fiskeville, was born in North Scituate, R. I., 
 
 CHAS. K. CLARKE, 
 
 January 9, 185 i, the son of Daniel A. and Mary E. 
 (Harrington) Clarke. He received his early edu- 
 cation at the public schools and at Lapham Institute. 
 He adopted medicine as a profession, and studied at 
 the Bellevue Hospital in New York, from which he 
 graduated March i, 1874, with the degree of M. D. 
 He established himself as a physician at Fiskeville, in 
 the town of Scituate, R. L, in 1875, where he has since 
 remained in the enjoyment of a large practice. In 
 addition to his professional work Dr. Clarke has been 
 Superintendent of Public Schools and Assessor of 
 Taxes in the town of Scituate. He is a member of 
 the Rhode Island Medical Society and of the Royal 
 Society of Good Fellows. In politics he is a Repub- 
 
 COLT, Samuel Pomeroy, President of the In- 
 dustrial Trust Company, Providence, was born at 
 Paterson, New Jersey, January 10, 1852, the son of 
 Christopher and Theodora (DeWolf) Colt. On his 
 father's side he is descended from the Colts of Hart- 
 ford, Conn., his grandfather being Christopher Colt, 
 and his uncle Samuel Colt (for whom he is named) 
 was the inventor of the Colt's Revolver, and founder 
 of the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Com- 
 pany, Hartford, Conn. His grandfather's brother 
 was Peter Colt of New York, and his son was Ros- 
 well Colt of Paterson, New Jersey. On his mother's 
 side he is of the DeWolfs of Rhode Island. His 
 grandfather was General George DeWolf, who, in 
 18 10, built the colonial mansion at Bristol, R. I., 
 the present summer residence of the subject of this 
 sketch. The DeWolfs were extensively engaged in 
 East and West India trade in the early part of the 
 century, and in privateering, in which they amassed 
 large fortunes for those days. James DeWolf, his 
 great-uncle, was United States Senator from Rhode 
 Island in 182 1, and drove from Bristol to Washing- 
 ton with his own four-in-hand; the coach used is 
 still preserved. Henry Goodwin of Newport, R. I., 
 Attorney-General of Rhode Island, 1 787-1 789, was 
 also a great-uncle. His great-grandfather was 
 Gov. William Bradford, who was of the sixth gen- 
 eration from Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth 
 Colony, who crossed in the Mayflower. He re- 
 ceived his early education from five to ten at New 
 Hartford, Conn., ten to fourteen at Hartford, Conn., 
 and afterward at Bristol, R. I., and Anthon's Gram- 
 mar School, New York. At eighteen he entered 
 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 
 graduated at twenty-one in 1873. He passed a 
 year travelling in Europe, 1873-74. On his return 
 he entered the Columbia Law School, New York, 
 autumn of 1874, graduating in the spring of 1876, 
 and was admitted to the New York bar May 1876. 
 He was admitted to the Rhode Island bar January 
 I, 1877. He was Aide-de-Camp on the staff of 
 Gov. Henry Lippitt, with rank of Colonel in 1875- 
 76-77. He was elected a member of the General 
 Assembly from Bristol 1876-77-78-79, was Assistant 
 Attorney-General of Rhode Island 1879-80-81, 
 he was elected as the Republican candidate for 
 Attorney-General of Rhode Island 18S2-S3-84-S5. 
 
^^f^^^z:^ 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 95 
 
 After his term of office he again visited Europe. He 
 founded the Industrial Trust Company, Providence, 
 1887, and reorganized the National Rubber Com- 
 pany of Bristol, 1888. He has been President of 
 the Industrial Trust Company and National India 
 Rubber Company since their organization. He is 
 President of the National Eagle Bank and Vice- 
 President of the First National Bank, of Bristol, 
 also a Director, member of Executive Committee 
 and Legal Adviser of the United States Rubber 
 Company. He married, January 12, 1881, Miss 
 Elizabeth M. Bullock, daughter of J. Russell Bul- 
 lock, Ex-Judge of Supreme and United States 
 District Courts of Rhode Island; they have two 
 children : Russell Griswold, born October i, 1882, 
 and Roswell Christopher, born October 10, 1889. 
 
 CONGDON, William Washington, retired busi- 
 ness man, Wickford, was born in North Kingston, 
 R. I., February 22, 1831, the son of Stanton W. and 
 Izette (Hammond) Congdon. He comes of old 
 
 WM. W, CONGDON. 
 
 Rhode Island ancestry, his grandfather being Daniel 
 Congdon, and his grandmother Hannah Stanton. 
 He received his early education in the common 
 schools, and engaged in active business life when 
 quite young. For thirty-five years he conducted a 
 
 livery business and stage route, and for fifteen years 
 was conductor on the Newport & Wickford Railroad, 
 retiring from active business in 1892. He has been 
 a Deputy Sheriff of Washington county, member of 
 the Town Council of Wickford in 1891-92, Repre- 
 sentative in the General Assemby in 1894, and a 
 Director in the National Bank and Savings Bank of 
 Wickford. In politics he is a Republican. He 
 married, in November 1856, Miss Frances A. 
 Gardner, daughter of George and Mary A. Gard- 
 ner ; they had one daughter, who died in infancy. 
 
 CONLEY, John Edward, attorney-at-law, Prov- 
 idence, was born in Warren, R. I., September 7, 
 
 JOHN E, CONLEY. 
 
 1868, son of Michael F. and Catherine (Dolan) 
 Conley. His father died when he was about four- 
 teen years of age, and he has been in a great 
 measure dependent on his own exertions for success 
 in life. He received his early education in the 
 public schools of Warren and the Perry Business 
 College of Providence. He attended Brown Uni- 
 versity for two years, after which he was bookkeeper 
 and clerk until November 1885, when he entered the 
 office of the Hon. George J. West, Providence, for 
 the study of law. He was admitted to the Rhode 
 Island bar July 29, 1889, and has since been as- 
 
96 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 sociated with Mr. West in practice. He has taken 
 an active part in politics and pubHc Hfe. He served 
 as a clerk of the Committee on Corporations in the 
 Rhode Island General Assembly in 1889-1890, and 
 was elected Clerk of the House of Representatives 
 for the political years 1893-94. He has been Sec- 
 retary of the Democratic State Central Committee 
 for the past two years and still holds the ofifice. He 
 has also been Chairman and Secretary of the Demo- 
 cratic Town Committee of Warren for the past five 
 years, and has held other offices of importance and 
 responsibility in his party. He is a good speaker, 
 and occasionally writes for the current magazines 
 and newspapers. He served in the Rhode Island 
 militia for over two years as First Lieutenant of 
 Company A, Second Regiment, and was elected 
 Captain in May 1892, resigning in February 1893. 
 He is President of the Catholic Club of Warren, is 
 a member of Burnside Lodge Knights of Pythias, 
 Bristol, R. I., of Massasoit Council Royal Arcanum, 
 Warren, and a member of the Democratic Club of 
 the city of New York. He married, September 22, 
 1891, Miss Esther J. Murphy; they have two 
 children : Gertrude and Esther Conley. 
 
 Burnside Lodge Knights of Pythias of Bristol, of 
 Massasoit Council Royal Arcanum and the Catholic 
 Club of Warren. He is much interested in athlet- 
 ics and at present holds the county championship 
 
 CONLEY, Martin Joseph, Postmaster at War- 
 ren, was born in Warren, R. I., December 4, 1869, 
 the son of Michael F. and Catherine (Dolan) Con- 
 ley. His father was born in County Roscommon, 
 Ireland, came to this country when a small boy and 
 was engaged in the grocery business in Warren 
 from 1871 until October 14, 1880, the date of his 
 death ; he was well-known and highly respected, 
 and a citizen who took a prominent part in town 
 affairs. His mother was born in Longford, Leinster 
 province, Ireland, and came to this country when a 
 child. He received his education in the public 
 schools of Warren and in Bryant & Stratton's Com- 
 mercial College of Providence. His business ser- 
 vice has been that of a bookkeeper and collector, 
 and he was engaged in the boot and shoe and 
 drygoods business for three years. He was ap- 
 pointed Postmaster in Warren, February 10, 1895, 
 and is one of the youngest, if not the youngest, 
 ever appointed to that position. He served for 
 seven years in the state militia and retired with the 
 rank of Sergeant-Major. He has held ofifice in 
 Massasoit Council, Royal Arcanum. In politics he 
 is a Democrat, and was a member of the town com- 
 mittee of that party for some years previous to his 
 appointment as Postmaster. He is a member of 
 
 MARTIN J. CONLEY. 
 
 for bowling. Mr. Conley is a brother of Hon. John 
 E. Conley, ex-Clerk of the Rhode Island House of 
 Representatives and at present the Secretary of the 
 Democratic State Central Committee of Rhode Is- 
 land. He is unmarried. 
 
 COOPER, Robert Wright, manufacturer, is a 
 native of Manchester, England, born September 2, 
 1844, son of Francis A. and Maria (Wright) Cooper. 
 His paternal grandfather, Francis Cooper, came 
 from Ripon, Yorkshire, England, where his fore- 
 fathers lived for many generations. On the maternal 
 side, his grandfather, Robert Wright, was a Man- 
 chester merchant, originally from Coventry, War- 
 wickshire, England. His early education was ac- 
 quired in private schools, principally .\lms Hill 
 Academy at Cheetham Hill, Manchester. .\t the 
 age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a large dry- 
 goods firm in Manchester, where from the first his 
 ambition to "get on" was manifested by diligence, 
 punctuality — never being known to be late — and 
 by paying very close attention to business. When 
 seventeen years of age he commenced taking short 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 97 
 
 trips as a commercial traveller, and at nineteen he 
 made his first journey to New York. After several 
 years of hard struggle he succeeded in working up 
 a valuable connection with leading firms in the 
 largest American cities, in English full-fashioned 
 hosiery, representing manufacturers of Nottingham, 
 England, with whom he was associated, first as 
 traveUing salesman, later as partner, and finally 
 establishing his own firm of R. W. Cooper & Co. 
 He continued his American trips for twenty-one 
 years, crossing the ocean about one hundred times, 
 and travelling an average of nearly twenty-five thoii- 
 sand miles a year, without ever meeting with an 
 
 ROBERT W, COOPER. 
 
 accident. About the year 1880 he began to lose 
 his trade, the German manufacturers coming into 
 the market with the same class of goods, but made 
 by their cheap " pauper " labor, paying wages about 
 one- third what he was paying in England, thus en- 
 abling them to undersell him in the American mar- 
 ket. After several years of ineffectual struggling to 
 meet the conditions arising from this German com- 
 petition, he found that to save himself from ruin he 
 must choose one of two things — move to Germany 
 to secure the advantage of cheap labor, or move to 
 America and get the benefit of the protective tariff. 
 He decided upon the latter. With the aid of New 
 York friends he removed his machinery and skilled 
 work-people to this country, arriving with them 
 
 December 24, 1884, in the village of Thornton, R. I., 
 where a mill and cottages had been especially built 
 for them by Charles Fletcher of Providence. They 
 succeeded in making exactly similar goods in their 
 new home to those they had made for so many 
 years in England, hence the appropriate change in 
 the firm name to British Hosiery Company, which 
 was incorporated under Rhode Island state laws in 
 1885. The industry thus brought here was entirely 
 new in this country, and in their specialty — full- 
 fashioned cashmere hosiery — they are still (1895) 
 alone in it. The business has grown to four times the 
 size of eleven years ago. When they came to Thorn- 
 ton they found about two hundred inhabitants ; now 
 the village contains about fifteen hundred prosperous 
 and contented people, some of the most thrifty living 
 in houses of their own. They have two churches, 
 large public school, city water, macadamized roads 
 and electric cars from Olneyville. Nearly all Mr. 
 Cooper's people, with himself, have become Ameri- 
 can citizens. He has never held public office in 
 this country, outside of the different societies in his 
 village, as he is too busy a man in his private affairs, 
 which after all may be termed public in a measure, 
 inasmuch as upon their successful conduct depend 
 the welfare and prosperity of a large and growing 
 community. In England he was prominent in 
 church and temperance work, holding office as 
 Deacon in the church and as Vice-President in 
 temperance societies in Nottingham. In politics 
 he is not active, but is an adherent of the Repub- 
 lican party. His elder son, Oliver W., in his twenty- 
 second year, is learning the business with him ; his 
 other son Augustus, is at school in Europe. 
 
 COVELL, William Henry, of Providence, mer- 
 chant, was born in Killingly, Conn., January 27, 
 1836, son of Willis and Lydia (Perrin) Covell. His 
 grandfather, Ebenezer Covell, was in the Revolu- 
 tionary war, serving as body guard to General 
 Washington ; and his father, WiUis Covell, was one 
 of those who answered to the call for men in 181 2. 
 His early education was obtained in the public 
 schools and academy of Thompson, Conn., and East 
 Greenwich, R. I. In 1858 he commenced farming 
 in Thompson, Conn., and continued until i86i, when 
 he took up the meat, poultry and produce business, 
 and carried it on until July 1866. He then removed 
 to Olneyville, R. I., and entered the grocery trade, 
 in connection with R. S. Rouse, under the firm 
 name of R. S. Rouse & Company, continuing to 
 
98 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 May 187 1. In October 1871 he opened a new 
 store in Olneyville under the name of Wm. H. 
 Covell & Company, continuing until obliged to close 
 out on account of ill health. In 1878 he opened a 
 store at No. 589 Atwell's Avenue, formerly the Cove 
 Store, owned by the Richmond Manufacturing Com- 
 pany, in connection with S. N. Davis, under the 
 old name of Wm. H. Covell & Company, where the 
 firm now carries on the hay, grain, wood, coal, grocery 
 and market business. Mr. Covell was a member of 
 the Town Council of North Providence in 1873-74, 
 and for several years was trustee of North Providence 
 School District No. 8, now the Tenth Ward of the 
 
 W. H, COVELL. 
 
 city of Providence. He served on the School Com- 
 mittee of Providence in 1878-80, was elected to the 
 Common Council in 1883 and again in the succes- 
 sive six years 1888-93 i ^^^ ^ member of the Com- 
 mittee on Highways six years and chairman four 
 years ; and served on the Railroad Committee three 
 years, Finance three years, Lights one year and on 
 Committee City Engineer's Department three years. 
 He was appointed in 1888 on a committee to pur- 
 chase land for sewerage purposes, and is still acting 
 in that capacity. He has also served upon com- 
 mittees to confer with owners of the shore between 
 Hill's Wharf and Sassafras Point, relative to improved 
 navigation ; to examine and report relative to taxa- 
 tion upon special franchises ; to confer with owners 
 
 of real estate relative to the widening of Elmwood 
 Avenue, and other important committees. He was 
 elected a Representative to the General Assembly in 
 1886-87, 1891-92 and 1894-95, and in 1892 was 
 appointed on a committee to examine into the con- 
 dition of the roads and public highways of the State. 
 Mr. Covell is a Republican in politics, and belongs 
 to the Young Men's Republican Club of Providence, 
 and the Mount Pleasant Republican Club of the 
 Tenth Ward. He is also a member of the Butchers 
 and Marketmen's Association of Providence, and 
 President of the Olneyville Business Men's Associa- 
 tion. He was married June 2, 1858, to Miss Mary 
 Jane Davis ; they have four children : Agnes M., 
 Alice L., Lucy F. and William H. Covell, Jr. 
 
 COYLE, Rev. James, pastor of Saint Joseph's 
 Church, Newport, was born in Abbeylara, County 
 Longford, Ireland, September 9, 1850, son of Daniel 
 and Mary (Reilly) Coyle. His ancestry on both 
 sides is distinctively old Irish. He acquired his 
 rudimentary education in the Irish national schools, 
 and came to America with his parents early in 1863. 
 After spending two years in Saint Joseph's College, 
 Bardstown, Ky., going there in September 1869, he 
 entered in September 187 1 Laselle Academy, Prov- 
 idence, where he taught Latin, at the same time con- 
 tinuing his own studies under Rev. H. F. Kinnerney. 
 In September 1872, with the purpose mainly of ac- 
 quiring a knowledge of the French language, he went 
 to Saint Laurent College, near Montreal, where he 
 graduated in June 1874. While at Saint Laurent he 
 was president of the leading literary society, editor of 
 the weekly college journal, the Spectator, and class 
 valedictorian. He entered the Grand Seminary, 
 Montreal, in September following, and was there 
 raised to the priesthood, December 22, 1877. 
 Bishop O'Reilly of the Springfield diocese needing 
 priests, he was sent temporarily to Springfield, and 
 reported for duty at North Adams, January 19, 
 1878; and on the return of the pastor of North 
 Adams, then in Europe, was appointed assistant at 
 Millbury, Mass., remaining there until called by 
 Bishop Hendricken to the Cathedral in Providence, 
 February 11, 1880, where he labored until ap- 
 pointed pastor of the new parish in Newport, Janu- 
 ary 14, 1885. Father Coyle's first services in New- 
 port were held in the old Lhiitarian Church on Mill 
 street, January 25, 1885. The new parish had not 
 then an inch of ground, nor a resting place of any 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 99 
 
 description. The pastor bought the property of the 
 Zion Church corporation, paying therefor 1 15,025, 
 and celebrated the first mass therein on Sunday, 
 March 8, 1885. He remodeled and beautified the 
 church interior, and in January 1887 purchased the 
 
 JAMES COYLE, 
 
 adjoining property, known as the Young estate, at a 
 cost of $28,500. In May 1887 he began the erec- 
 tion of a rectory, which was tenanted the following 
 October, the estimated cost being $9,000. A con- 
 vent was finished and occupied by the Sisters of 
 Saint Joseph in July 1889, and a private academy 
 started the September following. Catholics and 
 non-Catholics generously seconded Father Coyle's 
 efforts, many rare and costly gifts testifying to their 
 continued goodwill. On the 2d of August 189 1, 
 one of the finest school buildings in New England 
 was dedicated, by Rt. Rev. Bishop Harkins ; the 
 donor, till then unknown, being George Babcock 
 Hazard, a non- Catholic. In this substantial manner 
 one of Newport's oldest citizens proved his friend- 
 ship for Saint Joseph's pastor. Ten teachers and 
 five hundred and fifty children now utilize Mr. 
 Hazard's beneficence. In the eleven years of his 
 pastorate Father Coyle has collected and disbursed 
 upwards of $165,000, aside from the Hazard gift, 
 and Saint Joseph's, one of the finest church proper- 
 ties in the diocese, is now entirely free from debt, 
 a splendid showing, all things considered. 
 
 CROOKER, George Hazard, physician and 
 surgeon, Providence, was born in Providence, Feb- 
 ruary 25, 1865, son of Josiah Whipple and Eliza 
 (Hazard) Crooker. He is descended from old 
 New England stock on both sides, the Crooker 
 family of Richmond, New Hampshire, and the 
 Hazard family of Wakefield, R. I., both very well 
 known and distinguished for generations. He re- 
 ceived his preparatory education in Mowry & 
 Goff's Classical School, Providence, from which he 
 graduated in 1883. He then entered Brown 
 University, from which he graduated in 1887 with 
 the degree of A. B., receiving that of A. M. in 1890. 
 He adopted medicine as a profession and entered 
 the Harvard Medical School, from which he gradu- 
 ated in 1893 with the degree of M. D. In 1890 
 he went to Europe to complete his education and 
 spent two years in studying in Heidelburg, Vienna, 
 Berlin, Dresden and London. In the winter of 
 1892-93 he took a course of hospital work in 
 Boston. He began the practice of medicine in 
 Providence in the spring of 1894. He holds the 
 positions of Externe of the Rhode Island Hospital 
 
 GEORGE H, CROOKER. 
 
 and House Physician of the Providence Lying-in- 
 Hospital. Dr. Crooker is a member of the Rhode 
 Island Medical Society and the Providence Medical 
 Association, also of the Providence Art Club and the 
 Providence Athletic Association. He is unmarried. 
 
lOO 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 CRUMB, Alexander Green, of Westerly, gran- 
 ite manufacturer, was born in Charlestown, R. I., 
 November 2, 1830, son of Gardner and Hannah 
 Hoxsie (Hazard) Crumb. His education was ob- 
 tained in the common schools of his native town. 
 He worked as a farm hand during his youth, after- 
 ward learning the granite cutter's trade, embarking 
 in the granite business for himself in 1857, and in 
 which he has continued to the present time. With 
 him are associated his three sons in the business, 
 under the firm name of A. G. Crumb and Sons their 
 quarry and works being located at or near Niantic, 
 in the town of Westerly. Mr. Crumb has been vari- 
 
 Erskine A., Edward S., William A., Susan E. M. 
 and Eugenia A. The three sons, as has been stated, 
 are established in business with their father. 
 
 ALEXANDER G. CRUMB. 
 
 ously honored by his fellow citizens by his election 
 to public oiSce. He was a member of the Town 
 Board of Assessors for eight years, and in 1888 was 
 elected a member of the Town Council, which ofifice 
 he has held continuously since, serving as president 
 of the council in 1893-94. In April 1895 he was 
 chosen to represent the town of Westerly in the 
 General Assembly of the state, in which capacity 
 therefore he at present serves. He is a member 
 of the Business Men's Association of Westerly, but 
 belongs to no other important social, business or 
 fraternal organization. In politics he is a Repub- 
 lican. He was married, January 15, 1857, to Miss 
 Sarah Frances Hines ; they have five children : 
 
 DAVIS, John William, retired merchant, and 
 Governor of Rhode Island in 1887 and 1890, was 
 born in Rehoboth, Mass., March 7, 1826, son of 
 John and Nancy (Davis) Davis. He comes of 
 old New England ancestry. On his paternal side 
 he is a descendant in the seventh generation from 
 James Davis, who came with a family from Marl- 
 boro, Wiltshire, England, to Massachusetts Bay 
 Colony, about 1630, was admitted a freeman in 
 Newbury in 1634 and in 1640 was one of the 
 twelve original settlers of Haverhill, of which town 
 he was chosen to the first board of Selectmen and 
 was the largest individual taxpayer for many years. 
 The line of descent is James and James, Jr. (both from 
 England), Elisha and Daniel (born in Haverhill), 
 Daniel, Jr., and Daniel, 3d (of Swansea), and John 
 and John W. of Rehoboth. On the maternal side 
 he is a descendant in the fifth generation from John 
 Davis, who came from London, England, to New- 
 port, R. I., about 1678, where he built a house, 
 which was occupied by the General Assembly as the 
 place of its sessions and made practically the Prov- 
 ince House from 1682 to 1691, when the first public 
 Colony House was built. This ancestor's descend- 
 ants of the third generation, having identified them- 
 selves with the Revolutionary party were obliged, as 
 were hundreds of others, to leave Newport, upon its 
 occupation by the British in December, 1776, and 
 came up to Rehoboth, Mass., and settled there. 
 Mr. Davis received his early education in the pub- 
 lic schools of Rehoboth and at a private school 
 in Pawtucket. He was brought up, as all his pater- 
 nal ancestors were, to the business of farming, 
 until he was eighteen years of age, when he ap- 
 prenticed himself to the trade of a mason in 
 Providence, teaching public schools in the country 
 during the winters. Having completed his ap- 
 prenticeship of three seasons, he traveled as a 
 journeyman, working at his trade in Rhode Island, 
 Massachusetts, South Carolina and Louisiana from 
 1847 until 1850, when he went into mercantile 
 business in Providence, which he continued until 
 1890, and which by industry and prudence through 
 all the vicissitudes of forty years he successfully 
 maintained. True to his ancestral instincts, and in 
 line with his mercantile business (the grain and 
 provision trade), he has always taken a deep interest 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 lOi 
 
 in agriculture and carried on an extensive farming 
 business in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts, 
 still owning and being largely interested in farm 
 lands and plantations in the Western states, in 
 Manitoba and in the Island of San Domingo, to 
 
 JOHN W. DAVIS. 
 
 all of which he habitually gives much thought 
 and attention. Having removed his residence from 
 Providence to Pawtucket in 1877, he was there 
 chosen to his first public office, that of Town 
 Councilman, and President of the Board, in 1882, 
 and again in 1885. In 1885 he was elected a State 
 Senator, re-elected in 1886 and again in 1893. In 
 October 1886 he was appointed by President 
 Cleveland Appraiser of Foreign Merchandise for 
 the Providence United States Customs District. 
 In 1887 he was elected Governor of Rhode Island 
 by the Democratic party, aided by a large independ- 
 ent vote, and was for five consecutive years the 
 candidate of his party for that office, receiving in 
 four of the five, the last three successively, the ma- 
 jority vote, though owing to the then law requiring 
 a majority of all the votes cast, to elect by the 
 people, he was but twice seated in office, viz. : in 
 1887, by a majority of all the votes, and again in 
 1890, by choice of the General Assembly. The 
 most notable events of his gubernatorial service 
 were an investigation and reform in prison discip- 
 line and management ; the adoption of an amend- 
 
 ment to the state constitution, extending the 
 elective franchise to all citizens upon uniform 
 qualifications, as a right, instead of a privilege as 
 theretofore held to especial classes, and thus amica- 
 bly concluding a long and bitter partisan controversy 
 of more than fifty years of acrimonious debate with 
 threatened insurrection ; the adoption of a ballot- 
 reform law and the establishment of the Rhode 
 Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts at 
 Kingston (which was chartered upon his special 
 recommendation) were also substantially outcomes 
 ■ of his administrations. At present Mr. Davis is 
 employed in the care of various fiduciary interests 
 for himself and others, and engaged in several busi- 
 ness enterprises which serve to keep him in active 
 life, and abreast with the state's progressive citizens. 
 His residence is in the suburbs of Pawtucket, and his 
 family, a wife and two daughters, are well known in 
 social circles. 
 
 DROWN, Benjamin, for many years prominent 
 in the political and social life of Warren, was born 
 
 BENJAMIN DROWN. 
 
 in Warren, December 19, 1826, son of Benjamin 
 and Eliza (Champlin) Drown. He is of old New 
 England ancestry, his grandfather Jonathan Drown 
 having served in the war of the Revolution. He 
 was educated in the public and private schools of 
 
102 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Warren, and has been engaged in business as team- 
 ster and contractor since 1855. -^^ ^^^ ^^"^ '-^^ 
 office of Street Commissioner of Warren, was a 
 member of the School Committee for several years, 
 has been Assessor of Taxes continuously since 1872, 
 and has served his town on various committees, 
 important among which was the committee to re- 
 build Kelly's bridge over Warren river. He was 
 Senator from Warren in the General Assembly from 
 1882 to 1887, and again from 1890 to the present 
 time, in which body he is at present Chairman of 
 the Senate committees on Finance and Fisheries. 
 He is also a member of the Shell Fish Commission 
 of Rhode Island, elected in 1895 for five years. He 
 is President of the Union Club of Warren, and 
 member of the Philanthropic Society and the 
 George Hail Free Library. Mr. Drown is a life-long 
 Republican, and active in politics and public life, 
 having been on the Republican Town Committee of 
 Warren, and for ten years a member of the Repub- 
 lican State Central Committee. He was married in 
 April 1850 to Miss Mary W. Bowen, deceased; in 
 October 1884 he was married to Miss Mary J. 
 Walker, also deceased; in January 1887 he married 
 Miss Mary Merritt, who is now living. He has three 
 children by his first marriage : William B. Drown ; 
 Mary A., now the wife of Walter H. Rose ; and 
 Carrie E., wife of Charles S. Davol. 
 
 DUBOIS, Edward Church, Attorney General of 
 Rhode Island, was born in London, England, during 
 the temporary absence of his parents from the 
 United States, January 12, 1848, the son of Edward 
 Church and Emma (Davison) Dubois. His paternal 
 grandfather, Edward Church of Kentucky, was Con- 
 sul at L'Orient, France, and his grandmother was 
 Marie Dubois of Paris. On his mother's side he is 
 descended from the English families of Davison and 
 Moore. In 1857 his father had his name and that of 
 his family changed from Church to Dubois. He was 
 a distinguished teacher and lecturer, and the author 
 of several text- books : Church's " French Spoken," 
 Dubois' " Method of Teaching French," a book called 
 "Blunders," and the edition of " Le Petit Courier" 
 published in Boston. The subject of the present 
 sketch received his early education at Russell's Mili- 
 tary Academy, New Haven, Conn., the Pawtucket, 
 R. I., High School, and the Friends' Academy, 
 New Bedford, Mass. After graduation he was em- 
 ployed by Thomas Otis, apothecary of New Bedford, 
 for a year, and then went on a short whaling voyage 
 
 in Jonathan Bourne's barque Andrews. After his 
 return he renewed his engagement with Mr. Otis, 
 and then was engaged by Corlies, Piatt & Metcalf, 
 wholesale druggists, and by WiUiam E. Clarke, apoth- 
 ecary, of Providence. He determined to adopt the 
 law as his profession, and went to Boston, where he 
 studied in the office of Hon. Charles J. Noyes. He 
 was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of 
 Massachusetts in Boston, March 19, 1870, to the 
 United States Circuit Court bar in Boston, May 15, 
 1877, and to the bar of the Rhode Island Supreme 
 Court December 15, 1877. After his admission to 
 the bar he remained in the office of Mr. Noyes until 
 
 EDWARD C. DUBOIS. 
 
 187 1, when he went to Haverhill, Mass., to take 
 charge of the latter's office there. In 1872 he 
 formed a co-partnership with Mr. Noyes under the 
 firm name of Noyes &: Dubois. In September 1872 
 he was appointed Clerk of the Police Court in 
 Haverhill, and resigned his position in November 
 1877 to remove to Providence and practice law in 
 Rhode Island. Mr. Dubois removed to East Provi- 
 dence in 1878 and has since resided there. He was 
 elected Town Solicitor and has held the office for 
 most of the time since. He served as State Senator 
 from East Providence from 1883 to 1885. He was 
 elected Attorney General of Rhode Island in 1894 
 and re-elected in 1895. In politics he is a Repub- 
 lican. He married, February 24, 1872, Miss Jennie 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 103 
 
 Roberts of West Gardiner, Maine, daughter of Henry 
 and Mary J. (Potter) Roberts. They have had three 
 children, girls : the first died shortly after birth ; the 
 second was Blanche Emma Roberts, since deceased ; 
 and Desiree Jennie Dubois, born April 5, 1877. 
 
 EARLE, Charles Henry, physician and surgeon. 
 East Greenwich, was born at the homestead of his 
 family in Cranston, R. I., near Fiskeville, January 
 
 CHAS. H. EARLE. 
 
 15, 1861, the son of Charles WilHam and Cynthia 
 Jones (Hawkes) Earle. He came of good old 
 Rhode Island stock, and is a relative of the late 
 well known Dr. Pliny Earle. He received his early 
 education at a private school, at home and in the 
 public schools of the village, and was graduated 
 from the Friends' School in Providence, in 1883. 
 He was engaged as a teacher in the public schools 
 of Rhode Island for five years, during which time 
 he held the position of Principal of the grammar 
 school at Auburn for three years. He adopted 
 medicine as a profession, and was graduated from 
 Bellevue Medical College, N. Y., in 1889, and from 
 Kings County Hospital, Flatbush, L. I., in 1890. 
 After graduating from the hospital he established 
 himself in East Greenwich, R. I., where he has 
 built up an excellent practice. He has acted as 
 examiner for various life insurance companies. 
 
 having been appointed Medical Examiner for the 
 East Greenwich District in 1892, as successor to 
 the late Dr. J. H. Eldredge. He is a member of 
 the Rhode Island Medical Society. In politics he 
 is a Republican. He married, October 13, 1893, 
 Miss Jennie M. Perry of Rehoboth, Mass ; they 
 have no children. 
 
 FARNSWORTH, John Prescott, Treasurer and 
 Agent of the Providence Dyeing, Bleaching and 
 Calendering Company, was born in Pawtucket, 
 Mass. (now Rhode Island), February 18, i860, son 
 of Claudius Buchanan and Marianna (Mclntire) 
 Farnsworth. There have been seven generations of 
 the Farnsworth family in New England, principally 
 settled in northern Massachusetts. His great-grand- 
 father fought at Bunker Hill, and was a cousin of 
 Colonel Prescott, who commanded. His near an- 
 cestors were mostly farmers, living in Groton, Mass. 
 He received his early education at a private school 
 in Pawtucket, until the age of thirteen, and in the 
 next four years prepared for college at Rev. C. H. 
 
 JOHN P. FARNSWORTH. 
 
 Wheeler's school in Providence. He then pursued 
 the regular course at Harvard University, from which 
 he graduated in 1881 with the Degree of A. B. In 
 July of that year he entered the bleachery of the 
 Lonsdale Company as clerk, and remained there in 
 
I04 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 various capacities until January 1885, at which time 
 he was serving as Assistant Superintendent, and 
 resigned to superintend the rebuilding of the Great 
 Falls Company's bleachery at Great Falls, N. H. 
 He severed this connection in July 1885 to accept 
 the position of Agent of the Providence Dyeing, 
 Bleaching and Calendering Company, of which 
 corporation he became Treasurer in 1890. Since 
 becoming the executive head of this large manufac- 
 turing establishment he has rebuilt the works of the 
 company, adding six new buildings to the plant, 
 increasing its output over four hundred per cent. 
 Mr. Farnsworth is a member of the A. E. Club of 
 Providence, the Providence Athletic Association, 
 the Churchman's Club of Rhode Island and the 
 Arkwright Club of New York, and has been Secre- 
 tary of the Harvard Club of Rhode Island from 1 889 
 to the present time. In politics he is a Republican, 
 and was a member of the Republican City Com- 
 mittee in 1890-92. He was married, November 25, 
 1885, to Miss Margaret Cochran Barbour, by whom 
 he has three children : John Prescott, born Febru- 
 ary 8, x888 ; Wilham Barbour, born September 7, 
 1892 ; and Claudius Ralph Farnsworth, born March 
 
 25> 1895- 
 
 with various fraternal orders, being Past Grand of 
 Eagle Lodge No. 2 I. O. O. F., Past Chief Patriarch 
 of Moshassuck Encampment No. 2 I. O. O. F., 
 Past Councillor of Narragansett Council No. 2 
 Order of United American Mechanics, and Past 
 
 f 
 
 #1^. 
 
 :? 
 
 
 FOLSOM, Fred William, sail-maker, Provi- 
 dence, is a native of Wiscasset, Maine, born April 
 16, 1848, son of Samuel C. and AnnE. (Dammon) 
 Folsom. His ancestry on both sides were among 
 the early pioneers in Maine, on his father's side 
 settlers in Starks ; on his mother's side he is a de- 
 scendant of the Newburys of Newburyport, Mass., 
 who went to Maine in 1765. His educational 
 advantages were confined to the district school of 
 his native town. After working more or less in the 
 lumber mills of Wiscasset, at the age of seventeen 
 he apprenticed himself to John Topham and learned 
 the business of sail-making. In 1871 he came to 
 Providence and went to work at his trade for George 
 S. Dow. After serving in this connection for quite 
 a long term of years, in 1884 he bought a half 
 interest with Albert Jillson, and upon the latter's 
 death, which occurred early in 1894, he asumed the 
 control and management of the business, under the 
 firm name of Fred W. Folsom & Company. They 
 have lately removed from the old stand in South 
 Water street to new and commodious quarters 
 at 168 Dyer street, where they now have one of the 
 largest and best equipped establishments for the 
 manufacture of sails, awnings, tents, canopies, etc., 
 in the state. Mr. Folsom is prominently connected 
 
 FRED W. FOLSOM- 
 
 Commander Canton W. S. Johnson No. i I. O O. F. 
 Besides the above named, he is a member of Prov- 
 idence Lodge No. 17 Knights of Pythias, the Rhode 
 Island Yacht Club, and the Ninety-two Club of 
 Boston. He is a Republican in politics. He was 
 married, January 8, 1887, to Miss Dora A. Whit- 
 marsh ; they have no children. 
 
 GORTON, William Arthur, M. D., Superin- 
 tendent of the Butler Hospital for the Insane, 
 Providence, was born in North Brookfield, Madison 
 county, N. Y., June 21, 1854, son of Tillinghast 
 and Adaline M. (Rice) Gorton. He is descended 
 on the paternal side from Samuel Gorton, one of 
 the early settlers of Rhode Island, and on the ma- 
 ternal side from the Wight family, prominent among 
 the early residents of Massachusetts. His educa- 
 tion was acquired in the public and in private 
 schools. He completed a classical and scientific 
 course in Whitestown Seminary, ^^l^itestown, N. Y., 
 graduating in 1873, and entered the Medical De- 
 partment of the University of the city of New York 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 105 
 
 in 1874, from which he was graduated in 1876, 
 having completed two full courses of lectures, an 
 intermediate course and a course of instruction by 
 Dr. J. E. Winters of New York city. In April 1876 
 he entered Bellevue Hospital in New York city, 
 
 WILLIAM A. GORTON, 
 
 and after serving the regulation period of eighteen 
 months in that institution went to Cooperstown, 
 N. Y., and commenced practice in partnership with 
 Dr. L. H. Hills, now of Binghamton. A few 
 months later he was offered a position in the New 
 York State Asylum for Insane Criminals, which he 
 accepted in June 1878. In January 1882 he was 
 appointed Assistant Physician to the Danvers Luna- 
 tic Hospital, Danvers, Mass., of which institution 
 he was chosen Superintendent in 1886. He re- 
 signed in May 1888 to become Superintendent of 
 the Butler Hospital, Providence, which position he 
 holds at the present time. Dr. Gorton deems it 
 the chief honor of his professional career that he 
 has been chosen to succeed such men as Isaac Ray, 
 John W. Sanger and William B. Goldsmith at the 
 Butler Hospital. The last named was his intimate 
 associate and warm friend ; and he is mindful of 
 the great benefits he derived from this association, 
 while the many important plans for the develop- 
 ment of the Butler Hospital that were devised by 
 Dr. Goldsmith, he has endeavored to further pro- 
 mote and carry out. Of Dr. Gorton's own work at 
 
 the Butler Hospital the least that can be said is 
 that he has endeavored to maintain the high stand- 
 ard of the institution established by his predeces- 
 sors. Dr. Gorton is a member and first Vice- 
 President of the Rhode Island Medical Society, 
 and a member of the American and the Boston med- 
 ico-psychological associations. He is also a member 
 of the St. Botolph Club of Boston, and of the Provi- 
 dence Athletic Association. He was married, June 
 8, 1877, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Langley of Dan- 
 vers, Mass. ; they have had four children : Mary 
 Putnam (deceased), Janet Langley, Miriam Rogers 
 and William Tillinghast Gorton. 
 
 GRANT, Robert Alexander, M. D., Crompton, 
 was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, December 24, 
 1870, came to Providence in October 1871, son of 
 William and Jessie (MacDougald) Grant. He ac- 
 quired his early education in the Providence public 
 schools, fitted for college at the College Hill School 
 in Providence, pursued a course at Union College, 
 and finally graduated from the Albany, N. Y., Med- 
 
 ROBERT ALEX. GRANT. 
 
 ical College. His medical training was received 
 in the Albany City Hospital and in dispensary 
 practice, and he entered upon the practice of his 
 profession in Providence, June i, 1895, removing 
 to Crompton in September following. He is Chan- 
 
io6 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 cellor Commander of Narragansett Lodge K. of P., 
 being the youngest "C. C." in the state, and is a 
 member of Washington Lodge No. ii I. O. O. F., 
 Howard Encampment I. O. O. F., and one of the 
 leading college secret societies. He is unmarried. 
 
 GRINNELL, Frederick, President of the Gen- 
 eral Fire Extinguisher Company, and inventor of the 
 Grinnell Automatic Fire Extinguisher, was born 
 August 14, 1836, in New Bedford, Mass., the son of 
 Lawrence and Rebecca Smith (Williams) Grinnell. 
 
 FREDERICK GRINNELL. 
 
 The Grinnells were French Huguenots, who came to 
 this country in 1632 and settled near Newport, R. I. 
 They intermarried with the well-known families of 
 Williams, Smith, Ricketson, Tallman, Russell and 
 Howland, all of whom were among the first settlers 
 of New England and distinguished in its history and 
 social and business life. This portion of the ancestry 
 of Mr. Grinnell is all of English descent. He received 
 his early education in the Friends' Academy of New 
 Bedford, Mass. He adopted civil engineering as a 
 profession and studied at Rensselaer Polytechnic 
 Institute of Troy, N. Y., from which he graduated 
 in 1855. ^^ commenced his practical work as 
 draughtsman together with shop practice at the 
 Jersey City Locomotive Works in the fall of that 
 
 year. In the summer of 1858 he was assistant 
 engineer in the construction of the Burlington & 
 Missouri River Railroad, now a part of the Chicago, 
 Burlington & Quincy. He returned to the Jersey 
 City Locomotive Works and remained until i860, 
 when he entered the employ of the Corliss Steam 
 Engine Company, Providence, as draughtsman, and 
 was soon after elected Treasurer of the Company. 
 He acted as Superintendent of the Works, and dur- 
 ing the war went on three trips on the steamer 
 Blackstone, because of his familiarity with the con- 
 struction of the engines designed by Mr. Corliss. 
 One of their trips was in search of the line-of-battle 
 ship Vermont, which had been given up for lost. 
 In January 1865 he accepted the appointment of 
 manager of the Jersey City Locomotive Works, 
 then leased by the Atlantic & Great Western Rail- 
 road Company. In the fall of the same year he 
 was appointed superintendent of motive power and 
 machinery of the Atlantic & Great Western Rail- 
 road. Previous to taking this position he spent 
 three months in visiting and studying the large 
 mechanical establishments of England and Scotland. 
 He remained in the employ of the Atlantic & Great 
 Western Railroad Company until 1869, when he 
 purchased an interest in the Providence Steam and 
 Gas Pipe Company, of which he has since been the 
 President, Business Manager and Mechanical En- 
 gineer. The corporation has done a very large 
 business in equipping manufacturing establishments 
 with steam-heating apparatus, gas works for lighting 
 them, and in providing them with automatic fire- 
 extinguishers. It is in this last department in 
 which Mr. Grinnell has accomplished a work of 
 original genius of the utmost practical importance, 
 and which has made his name known all over the 
 civilized world. He became attracted by an inven- 
 tion of Henry Parmelee of New Haven, of an auto- 
 matic fire-extinguisher exhibited in 1874. In 1878 
 the Providence Steam and Gas Pipe Company began 
 the manufacture of fire-extinguishers under an ar- 
 rangement with Mr. Parmelee. Since that time Mr. 
 Grinnell has so improved and perfected them that 
 he has completely revolutionized the system of fire 
 protection in manufacturing establishments through- 
 out the world. He has solved the problem of 
 automatic fire-extinguishing in buildings so high as 
 to be above water service, and when water would 
 freeze in the pipes, by a system of air pipes and 
 force pumps acting automatically. The apparatus 
 has been very generally introduced not only in this 
 country but in Europe, India, and Australia. His 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 107 
 
 improvements in the apparatus include some forty 
 patented devices. The work has received the en- 
 dorsement of all the principal fire insurance com- 
 panies, and has resulted in a reduction in the rates 
 of insurance for manufacturing establishments of 
 from thirty to fifty per cent and in other buildings 
 of twenty-five per cent. He is President of the 
 Providence Steam and Gas Pipe Company and of 
 the General Fire Extinguisher Company, and a 
 Director of the National Bank of Commerce of 
 Providence, the Mechanics National Bank of New 
 Bedford, the Bunnell Manufacturing Company of 
 Pawtucket, and the Wamsutta Mills of New Bed- 
 ford. He is a member of the American Society 
 of Mechanical Engineers, the Hope Club, and the 
 New York and Eastern yacht clubs. He is an 
 enthusiastic yachtsman and spends his brief vaca- 
 tions in that recreation. In politics he is a Re- 
 publican. He voted first for Abraham Lincoln, 
 and for every Republican Presidential candidate 
 since. He married, October 15, 1865, Miss Alice 
 Brayton Almy, daughter of William Almy of New 
 Bedford, who died January 5, 1871; they had two 
 children : Lawrence and Alice Almy Grinnell. He 
 married, February 17, 1894, Miss Mary Brayton 
 Page, daughter of John H. W. Page of Boston ; they 
 have five children : Russell, Lydia, Frederick, Law- 
 rence and Francis B. Grinnell. 
 
 HALL, Nelson Read, M. D., of Warren, was 
 born in Warren, March 31, 1868, son of John 
 Champlin and Sarah Wheaton (Read) Hall. On 
 his father's side he is descended from Bishop Hoare 
 of England, and Samuel Champlain. His great- 
 great-grandfather, Samuel Hoar, made gun carriages 
 for the colonial forces during the Revolution. The 
 latter's grandson, Allen Carey Hoar, married Mary 
 Champlin, a direct descendant of Samuel Cham- 
 plain ; and John Champlin Hall, their son^ married 
 Sarah W. Read, his second wife, who was the 
 mother of the subject of this sketch. His maternal 
 ancestry in this country dates from John Read of 
 Rehoboth, and Ephraim Wheaton of Rehoboth who 
 landed at Salem in 1636. John Read landed in 
 1630 and came to Rehoboth in 1643. His son 
 John was killed by Indians at Pierce's fight in King 
 Philip's war. By marriage the Reads were con- 
 nected with the Carpenters, Abels and many of the 
 old families of New England. The early Wheatons 
 were prominent in the Baptist Church, Elder 
 Ephraim and Deacon Robert being noted as elo- 
 
 quent preachers. One Wheaton endowed a scholar- 
 ship at Brown University. The families on both 
 sides were closely connected with the early history 
 of the country, and one of the Reads (George) was 
 a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In 
 all branches of the family the ancestry can be 
 traced back into the parent countries of England, 
 Wales and France. The subject of this sketch re- 
 ceived his early education in the public schools of 
 Warren, graduating from the high school in 1887, 
 and teaching chemistry, physics and botany in the 
 school during the year following. Entering Johns 
 Hopkins University in October 1888 as a special 
 
 NELSON READ HALL. 
 
 student in biology, he remained one year and was 
 compelled to give up because of failing health. In 
 September 1889 he entered Long Island College 
 Hospital and was graduated March 23, 1892 ; was 
 laboratory assistant in the department of histology 
 and pathology during the years 1889-90, and assist- 
 ant in the throat and nose department, under Pro- 
 fessor French, in 1891-92. He entered upon the 
 practice of medicine at his old home, Warren, about 
 May or June 1892, and has enjoyed an unusually 
 good and successful practice. He is Surgeon of the 
 Warren Artillery, was Vice-President of the Warren 
 High School Alumni Association in 1893-94, and 
 is a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society, 
 Providence Medical Society, Long Island College 
 
io8 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Hospital Alumni Association, Union Club, Royal 
 Arcanum and Kickemuit Grange. In politics he 
 takes little interest. He is very much interested in 
 natural history, and finds his chief recreation in 
 hunting and fishing. He is also keenly interested 
 in genealogy and the early history of our country, 
 and especially in local history. He married, Octo- 
 ber 4, 1893, Edith Wheaton of Boston, by whom he 
 has one child, a son : John Robert Wheaton Hall. 
 
 HARRIS, William Andrew, builder of the Harris- 
 Corliss Steam Engines, Providence, was born in 
 
 the eighth generation of William 
 Island with Roger 
 
 WM. A, HARRIS. 
 
 South Woodstock, Conn., March 2, 1835, ^°^ ^^ 
 Elisha and Mary Ann (Winsor) Harris. He is a 
 descendant in 
 
 Harris who came to Rhode 
 Williams. His early education was acquired in the 
 public schools, supplemented by a term at boarding 
 school in South Williamstown, Mass., in the summer 
 of 1 85 1. He spent the three years from 1852 to 
 1855 as clerk in the Union Bank of Providence, and 
 early in the latter year entered into the employ of 
 the Providence Forge and Nut Company (now the 
 Rhode Island Tool Company) as draftsman. In 
 April 1856 he entered the drafting room of Corliss 
 & Nightingale, afterwards the Corliss Steam Engine 
 Company, remaining till August 1864, when he com- 
 
 menced business on his own account, on Eddy 
 street, in what was, in Dorr times. Governor Dorr's 
 headquarters. In November 1868 he removed to a 
 new location on Park street, where he has continued 
 building the Harris-CorHss Engine to the present 
 time. Mr. Harris has represented his ward in the 
 City Council, and was a member of the House in 
 the State Legislature for the four years 1883-86 in- 
 clusive. He is a Republican in politics. He has 
 recently resigned from the Commercial Club, of 
 which he was a member nearly fifteen years, and also 
 from the Pomham Club, Advance Club and the 
 Providence Business Men's Association. He was 
 married, September 8, 1859, to Miss Eleanor Frances 
 Morrill, who died October 28, 1895, leaving two 
 children: Frederick A. W., born August 22, 1864, 
 and William A. Harris, Jr., born June 22, 1872. 
 
 HARKINS, Matthew, Roman Catholic Bishop of 
 Providence, was born in Boston, Mass., November 
 17, 1845, th^ ^°'^ of Pa trick and Margaret (Kranitch) 
 Harkins. He is of Irish ancestry. He received 
 
 MATTHEW HARKINS, 
 
 his early education in the public schools of Boston, 
 Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass., and St. Ed- 
 munds College, Douai, France, from which he 
 graduated in 1864. He received his training for the 
 priesthood in the Seminary of St. Sulpice of Paris 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 109 
 
 and the Gregorian University of Rome. He served 
 as assistant pastor of the church of the Immaculate 
 Conception of Salem, Mass., from 1870 to 1876. 
 He was pastor of St. Malachi's church of Arlington, 
 Mass., from 1876 to 1884, and of St. James' church 
 of Boston from 1884 to 1887. He was appointed 
 Bishop of Providence in 1887, and has since 
 administered the affairs of that diocese. 
 
 HAYWARD, William Salisbury, Mayor of the 
 city of Providence for three terms, 1881-83, was 
 born in Foster, R. I., February 26, 1835. In 1847, 
 at the age of twelve, he went to Old Warwick, R. I., 
 where he engaged in farming, attending the district 
 school during the winter months. Removing to 
 Providence, his present home, in 185 1, he obtained 
 employment in a bakery establishment and followed 
 that occupation until 1858, when he purchased an 
 interest with Rice & Hayward, biscuit manufactur- 
 ers. In 1863 Mr. Hayward bought the entire inter- 
 est of the firm, and continued in business alone un- 
 til 1865, when Mr. Fitz- James Rice again became 
 his partner, which co-partnership has existed until 
 the present time. His fellow-citizens were not long 
 in recognizing the qualities that were chiefly instru- 
 mental in making his establishment one of the large 
 and prosperous industries of the city, and in conse- 
 quence he was called upon to fill many positions of 
 honor and public trust. In 1872 he was elected to 
 the Common Council, and was annually re-elected 
 until 1876. During his terms of office in this 
 branch of the city government he served on many 
 important committees, acting as chairman of the 
 committees on fire department, public parks, etc. 
 In 1876 he was elected to the Board of Aldermen, 
 was chosen President of that body in 1878 and 
 served in that capacity three years, and in 1880 he 
 was elected Mayor, succeeding Hon. Thomas A. 
 Doyle. He brought to the administration of the 
 Mayor's office the ripe experience of a long train- 
 ing in the two legislative branches of the city gov- 
 ernment, as well as the enterprising spirit and 
 sound judgment which had characterized his busi- 
 ness career ; and that he filled the executive office 
 to the satisfaction of the community is evidenced 
 by the commendatory terms in which his chief mag- 
 istracy was referred to, both in editorial utterances 
 and reports of public addresses, by the press of that 
 period. After serving as Mayor three terms he de- 
 clined a renomination, and ex-Mayor Doyle again 
 succeeded to the office. Mr. Hayward has always 
 
 been, in private as well as public capacity, a sup- 
 porter and earnest promoter of all measures for the 
 benefit of the city and people, and has contributed 
 much of his time and means to the furtherance 
 thereof. Besides his extensive private business in- 
 terests, Mr. Hayward is President of the Union 
 Trust Company, a Director in the National Eagle 
 Bank and the Citizens' Savings Bank, and a mem- 
 ber of the Sinking Funds Commission of the city of 
 Providence. He was elected Representative to the 
 State Legislature in 1885 and re-elected in 1886, 
 and was appointed a member of the State Board of 
 Charities and Corrections by Governor Bourne in 
 
 WILLIAM S. HAYWARD. 
 
 1884, to which office he was re-appointed by Gov- 
 ernor Wetmore in 1886. He served five years as 
 Chairman of the Committee on Buildings and Re- 
 pairs of the last named Board, during which time 
 many new and important buildings were erected at 
 the various state institutions, notably the new alms- 
 house, a structure seven hundred and thirty feet in 
 length, with accommodations for four hundred peo- 
 ple. Mr. Hayward is a member of the Masonic 
 fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
 Knights of Pythias, Providence Light Infantry, 
 Franklin Lyceum, Squantum Club and various 
 other societies and organizations. He was mar- 
 ried, November 9, 1859, to Miss Lucy Maria Rice, 
 daughter of Fitz-James Rice, Esq., of Providence. 
 
no 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 HAYES, Charles, M. D., was born in that part 
 of Berwick now known as North Berwick, Maine, 
 March 7, 1840, and died in Providence, R. I., June 
 8, 1894. He was the fifth child of Elijah and Jane 
 (Hayes) Hayes. His ancestors came to this country 
 from Scotland early in the seventeenth century. The 
 family in Berwick dates back to the beginning of 
 the eighteenth century, and the subject of this 
 sketch was of the third generation born on the farm 
 which is still in possession of the family. His edu- 
 cation began in the little country schoolhouse of the 
 district where he was born. When older he was a 
 student at Berwick Academy, South Berwick, and 
 
 CHARLES HAYES. 
 
 later at Phillips Exeter Academy. An injury in early 
 youth reduced him to the use of crutches, and pre- 
 cluded regular study and out-of-doors sports for a 
 long period. This finally resulted in necrosis of the 
 tibia, from which he suffered many years,the last piece 
 of diseased bone being removed by himself in the 
 ordinary method with knife and forceps when serv- 
 ing in the army thirteen years after the accident 
 which occasioned his misfortune. Through the 
 kindness of an uncle, Dr. Jacob Hayes, then a 
 practitioner in Charlestown, Mass., he received the 
 best surgical skill and advice that Boston afforded, 
 and to the suggestion of this uncle was due his 
 choice of the medical profession as his life-work. 
 With this end in view, and his preparatory course 
 
 finished, he entered Bowdoin Medical School at 
 Brunswick, Me., and subsequently became a student 
 at Dartmouth Medical College where he pursued 
 his studies to graduation. This however was not 
 without interruption. The Civil War was in prog- 
 ress, and young Hayes was anxious to enlist but 
 his physical condition made that impossible. Later 
 came a call for medical assistants in the hospitals 
 and that was his opportunity. No physical exami- 
 nation was required, and November 1862 found him 
 on duty in Washington at Carver Barracks General 
 Hospital. Here he at once gained the attention and 
 favorable consideration of prominent medical officers, 
 and early in 1863 was tendered an appointment as 
 Acting Assistant Surgeon, United States Army. Find- 
 ing himself qualified he accepted the position and 
 was ordered at once to Jefferson Barracks on the 
 Mississippi just below St. Louis, and from this date 
 onward until May 1868 when he was relieved at his 
 own request, he was connected with the army most 
 of the time. During General Grant's siege of Vicks- 
 burg he rendered efficient aid in caring for the sick 
 and wounded upon the hospital transports. From 
 this service he was ordered to Baltimore where he 
 became a member of the surgical staff of McKims 
 Mansion General Hospital. Thence his duties took 
 him to Annapolis and subsequently to Fortress 
 Monroe and Yorktown. In the summer of 1864, at 
 the latter place, blood poisoning developed in such 
 severity that he was obliged to leave the army. His 
 right arm was practically useless and he had become 
 reduced almost to a skeleton. The bracing air of his 
 native state soon restored him to comparative health, 
 and in October of that year he received his diploma 
 at Dartmouth, and a few months later again entered 
 the service, reporting for duty at Hilton Head, S. C. 
 He was assigned to Charleston, and for nearly two 
 years was assistant health officer of that port, his 
 headquarters being upon a ship anchored in the 
 harbor, and his duties to board every vessel that 
 entered that port. From this city he was ordered 
 to Wilmington, N. C, and a little later to Anderson, 
 S. C. While here, the Blue Lodge and Capitular 
 degrees of masonry were conferred upon him, a 
 faithful index of the estimation in which he was 
 held by the citizens, who could not be accused of 
 over-friendliness to northerners at that time. After 
 a year at this post he was transferred to Laurens, 
 S. C, where his appointment was annulled at his 
 own request in May 1868. In resigning from the 
 army, Dr. Hayes' intentions were to enter private 
 practice, and in order to be more fully equipped 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 for his profession he pursued his studies farther at 
 Harvard. He began his professional career in Fall 
 River in April 1869, practised in Bayfield and Ash- 
 land, Wisconsin, 1871-73, in Chicago 1873-75, and 
 in Providence from November 1875 until his death, 
 June 8, 1894. He held at various times the military 
 offices of Assistant Surgeon, United States Army, 
 ranking as First Lieutenant, 1863-68, Surgeon First 
 Battalion Cavalry, Rhode Island Militia, rank of 
 Major, 1878-92, and Medical Director Brigade 
 Rhode Island Militia on the staff of General Kendall, 
 with rank of Lieutenant Colonel, from April 1892 
 until his death. He was a member of Hiram 
 Masonic Lodge, Anderson, S. C, the association of 
 Military Surgeons of the United States, United States 
 Veteran Association, Soldiers and Sailors' Historical 
 Society, Rhode Island Homoeopathic Medical Society 
 of which he was secretary 1883-88 and president 
 1888-90, Military Service Institution (N. Y.), 
 American Institute of Homoeopathy, Young Men's 
 Republican Club, Providence, and Visiting Surgeon 
 to the Rhode Island Homoeopathic Hospital from 
 the opening of that institution. In politics he was 
 a Republican, but never held public office. He was 
 married, June 17, 1872, to Miss Abby M. Bennett 
 of Fall River, Mass. ; they had four children : 
 Jennie Cook, Ruth Bennett, Charles Jr. and Albert 
 Bennett Hayes, the latter of whom died in infancy. 
 In his character Dr. Hayes added to the activity, 
 courage and persistency which we expect to find in 
 a man, the delicacy, sensitiveness and consideration 
 of a woman. Brave in enduring pain himself, he 
 was tender to others in trouble, while in his profes- 
 sional life, his fellow physicians characterized him 
 as "a man of sound judgment, cautious action, 
 gentle treatment and unremitting attention to duty." 
 
 York State Association of Master Painters and the 
 Troy Boss Painters'Association, and is also a mem- 
 ber of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, of 
 
 HOLLEN, James H., of Providence, decorative 
 painter, was born in New York city, August 28, 1848, 
 son of Michael and Mary (Malone) Hollen. His 
 ancestry is Celtic. His education was acquired in 
 the public schools, and his training for active life 
 was obtained with decorative painters of New York. 
 He practiced his trade in Troy, N. Y., from 1881 to 
 1892, coming to Providence in January 1895. Mr. 
 Hollen is a Democrat in politics, and has held 
 various offices in public life, in New York state. 
 He was a member of the Lansingburgh, N. Y., Water 
 Commission, and president of the Village Corpora- 
 tion. He has been identified with the Master 
 Painters' Association of the United States, and New 
 
 JAS. H. HOLLEN. 
 
 Troy, N. Y., and the Builders and Traders' Ex- 
 change of Providence. He was married in 1875 to 
 Miss Katie A. Rayher ; they have four children : 
 Ora, Marie, Anna and Eddie Hollen. 
 
 JACOBY, Douglas Peter Alexander, physician 
 and surgeon, Adamsville, was born in South 
 Whitehall, Lehigh County, Pa., August 6, 1873, son 
 of Edwin C. and Ehzabeth (Hoffman) Jacoby. He 
 received his early education in the common schools, 
 in the Commercial College at Allentown, Pa., and 
 the Pennsylvania Normal School. His first busi- 
 ness work was as an operator in the telegraph office 
 at Coplay, Pa., for the Lehigh Valley Railroad 
 Company. In 1889 he entered E. S. Heiberger's 
 wholesale and retail drug store at Allentown, Pa., 
 as clerk, and the following year acted as head clerk 
 and travelling salesman. In September 1891 he 
 entered the Starling Medical College, Columbus, 
 Ohio, where he studied for three years, graduating 
 March 22, 1894. He passed a satisfactory exami- 
 nation before the Board of Examiners at Mount 
 Carmel Hospital in the same city in 1892, where 
 he served for two years as Assistant Physician and 
 
I 12 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Surgeon, and at the same time was a student in the 
 office of Professors W. D. & C. S. Hamilton. After 
 graduation he located in Adamsville, Newport 
 county, R. I. Dr. Jacoby is now taking a special 
 course on the eye, ear, nose and throat in the Post- 
 
 education in the public schools of Providence, and 
 graduated from Brown University in the class of 
 1867 with the degree of A. B., subsequently receiv- 
 ing that of A. M. in course. He was engaged in 
 the lumber business in Providence from 1867 to 
 1874, when he was appointed Mayor's clerk by 
 Hon. Thomas A. Doyle. He held this position 
 until 1879, when he was elected City Clerk, being 
 elected successively until 1890, when he resigned 
 to accept the position of Secretary of the Union 
 Railroad Company. He is at present Secretary of 
 the Union Railroad Company, the Cable Tramway 
 Company, the Pawtucket Street Railway Company, 
 and the Pawtuxet Valley Electric Street Railroad 
 Company. He was a member of the Providence 
 School Committee from 1870 to 1879, when he 
 resigned; he was again elected in 1891 and is now 
 Chairman of the sub-committee on high schools. He 
 was Major of the First Battalion of Cavalry, Rhode 
 Island militia, from 1875 to 1879, when he resigned. 
 He is a member of the Sons of the American 
 Revolution, the Providence Athletic Association 
 
 D, p. A. JACOBY. 
 
 Graduate College of New York City. He is a 
 member of the Rhode Island Medical Society, 
 Electra Lodge I. O. O. F. of Adamsville, Little 
 Compton Grange Patrons of Husbandry, Young 
 Men's Christian Association of Allentown, Pa., 
 Epworth League of Columbus, O., Mannoer Choir 
 of South Whitehall, Pa., and literary societies in the 
 same place. He has also been recently elected a 
 member of the Thurber Medical Association of 
 Milford, Mass. In politics he is a Democrat. Dr. 
 Jacoby was married, February 18, 1896, to Miss Mary 
 Lois Almy, only daughter of the late Philip Almy, 
 of Little Compton, R. I. 
 
 JOSLIN, Henry Van Amburgh, Secretary of 
 the Union Railroad Company, was born in Exeter, 
 R. I., April 24, 1846, son of John H. and Julia A. 
 (Vaughn) Joslin. His ancestors on both sides 
 came from England about the middle of the 
 seventeenth century, and settled in the southern 
 part of Rhode Island. He received his early 
 
 ^m^aimii 
 
 "gjjjjjj^^^^^^jg^g 
 
 HENRY V. A. JOSLIN. 
 
 and the Providence Board of Trade. In politics 
 he is a Republican. He married, October 29, 
 1867, Miss Henrietta A. Briggs; they have five 
 children: Efifie B., Julia V., Harry A., Marion C. 
 and Royal K. Joslin. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 113 
 
 KEENE, George Frederick, Resident Physician 
 and Deputy Superintendent of the State Insane 
 Asylum, was born in Whitman, Mass., October 22, 
 1858, son of Africa and Betsey (Turner) Keene. 
 His maternal grandfather, Daniel Keene, was a 
 prominent member of the Society of Friends of 
 Pembroke, Mass., and his maternal grandmother 
 was Betsey (Turner) Keene, the daughter of Colo- 
 nel Amos Turner of the Continental army of the 
 Revolution ; the father of Amos Turner was Ezekiel 
 Turner, a Colonel in the French and Indian war. 
 His paternal grandfather, Meshach Keene of Pem- 
 broke, was a private in the Revolutionary war, and 
 his paternal grandmother, Anna (Hersey) Keene, 
 was a daughter of James Hersey of Abington, Mass., 
 also a private in the Revolutionary war. He was 
 educated in the South Abington (now Whitman) 
 high school, and graduated from Brown University 
 in 1875, receiving the degree of A. M. in 1878 in 
 course. He entered Harvard University, Medical 
 Department, in 1875, and graduated in 1879, hav- 
 ing served in the Boston City Hospital for eighteen 
 months. He was one of the eight successful com- 
 petitors out of over twenty who came up for exami- 
 nation at the Boston City Hospital, and was assigned 
 to the surgical side, receiving his diploma from the 
 hospital in 1880. He commenced practice in Prov- 
 idence in May of that year, and was soon appointed 
 to the dispensary district of the First and Tenth 
 wards. Soon after he was appointed out-patient 
 surgeon to the Rhode Island Hospital and lecturer 
 to the hospital training school for nurses on physiol- 
 ogy and materia medica, and retained the position 
 until his removal from that city in 1886. In 1884- 
 85, during the illness of Professor Chapin, he was 
 engaged to lecture one term to the students of 
 Brown University on physiology until the professor 
 recovered his health. He was elected Physician to 
 the State Institution at Cranston, R. I., in March 
 1883, and visited there three times per week until 
 1886, when he was elected by the Board of State 
 Charities and Corrections, a Resident Physician 
 and Deputy Superintendent of the State Insane 
 Asylum, which position he now holds. Dr. Keene is 
 a thirty-second degree Mason, and a Past Master of 
 Mount Vernon Lodge No. 4 of Providence. He is 
 a member of the American Medical Association, the 
 American Academy of Medicine, the American 
 Medico-Psychological Association, the New York 
 Medico-Legal Society, the Harvard Graduate Club, 
 the Harvard Club of Rhode Island, the Boston City 
 Hospital Association, the Rhode Island Medical 
 
 Society, the Providence Medical Association, the 
 Providence Clinical Club, the Pomham and West 
 Side clubs of Providence and the Providence Ath- 
 letic Association. He has never entered poHtics or 
 taken much interest in political affairs, although he 
 has always voted the Republican ticket. Dr. Keene 
 has written several monographs on different subjects 
 pertaining to insanity and in 1882 invented a splint 
 for Colles fracture, now considerably used. He 
 delivered the annual address before the Rhode Is- 
 land Medical Society, June 6, 1895, and has made 
 many experimental researches with regard to the 
 relation of bovine and human tuberculosis, as was 
 
 GEORGE F. KEENE. 
 
 shown in the last annual report of the Board of 
 State Charities and Corrections. He married, Jan- 
 uary I, 1884, Miss Frances B., youngest daughter of 
 Hon. Erastus Redman of Ellsworth, Me. ; they 
 have two children : George Frederick, Jr., and 
 Bessie Turner Keene. 
 
 KELLIHER, Michael William, physician and 
 surgeon, Pawtucket, was born in Palmer, Mass., 
 February 20, 1864, son of Cornelius and Mary 
 (Maunsell) Kelliher. He received his preparatory 
 education in the public schools of Palmer and grad- 
 uated from the high school. He subsequently spent 
 two years at the University of Vermont. He 
 
114 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 adopted medicine as a profession and studied at 
 the Medical College of the University of New York, 
 from which he graduated in March 1886. After 
 taking a post-graduate course he began the practice 
 of medicine in Pawtucket the same year. He was 
 
 MICHAEL W, KELLIHER. 
 
 appointed Medical Examiner for Pawtucket and 
 Lincoln by Governor Davis in 1890, for the term of 
 six years. In November 1889 he was elected a 
 member of the School Committee of Pawtucket for 
 three years. He is Consulting Physician of St. 
 Joseph's Hospital, Providence, is a member of the 
 Rhode Island Medical Society, and the Providence 
 and Pawtucket Medical Association, and Vice-Pres- 
 ident of the Rhode Island Medico-Legal Society. 
 He is unmarried. 
 
 KIMBALL, James Madison, retired cotton man- 
 ufacturer and merchant, and President of the Second 
 National Bank of Providence, was born in Smithfield, 
 R. I., May 12, 1814, son of Paul T. and Lillie 
 (Warner) Kimball. He was educated in the com- 
 mon and high schools, the best afforded at that 
 period, and for the first twenty- five years of his busi- 
 ness life was engaged in the manufacture of cotton 
 goods, at Fall River, Mass., and at Kirkland, N. Y. 
 Mr. Kimball spent six winters in the south, one at 
 New Orleans and five at Memphis, in the latter place 
 establishing a house for the purchase of cotton, 
 
 under the firm name of Taber & Kimball, which 
 continued until the breaking out of the war, and did 
 a large and successful business. In the year i860 
 he removed to Providence and in association with 
 his two sons opened a cotton commission house, 
 under the firm name of J. M. Kimball & Sons, and 
 continued until 1880, at which time he retired from 
 all active business. Mr. Kimball has been very suc- 
 cessful in his business life, and although advanced in 
 years, he is active still, and fills various important 
 official positions of trust and pubHc usefulness. He 
 is President of the Second National Bank of Provi- 
 dence, having served in that capacity since 1884. 
 In Utica, N. Y., he was in 1845 elected a Director 
 in the Utica City Bank. In 1870 he was chosen a 
 Director in the Franklin Savings Bank of Providence ; 
 in 1884 he was elected a Director in the Blackstone 
 Mutual and Merchants Mutual fire-insurance com- 
 panies of Providence ; he was elected a Director, 
 and also one of the Executive Committee, in the 
 Industrial Trust Company of Providence, in 1887 ; 
 and in 1893 he was elected a Director in the Rhode 
 Island Safe Deposit Company, all of which offices 
 he holds at the present time. He is also a member 
 of the Central Congregational Church of Providence* 
 and of the Congregational Club of that city. In 
 politics he is a Republican. Mr. Kimball was 
 abroad in 1869, with a portion of his family, for 
 about eight months, travelling extensively in England, 
 France, Germany, Austria and Italy. He has been 
 twice married : first, August 4, 1835, to Miss Caro- 
 line Maria, daughter of Uriah Benedict of Pawtucket, 
 which union was blessed by five children, two of 
 whom are living : James C. and William B. Kimball ; 
 and second, February 17, 1848, to Miss Cornelia, 
 daughter of Otis Walcott, of Smithfield, R. I. 
 
 KIMBALL, Harry Waldo, M. D., Providence, 
 Externe of the Dermatological Department of the 
 Rhode Island Hospital, was born in Woonsocket, 
 R. I., January 17, 1868, son of James Frederick and 
 Ada Frances (Wales) Kimball. He acquired his 
 early education in the public schools, and at the Coles 
 English and Classical school, Pawtucket, fitting for 
 college at the last-named, and entered in 1888 the 
 Portland (Maine) School for Medical Instruction, 
 later the Medical Department of Bowdoin College, 
 from which he was graduated in 189 1. During 
 1890 he was assistant in the Portland Dispensary, 
 and the following year ser\-ed as clinical clerk 
 of the Maine General Hospital. In 1891-92 he 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 "5 
 
 filled the position of Interne of Rhode Island State 
 Institutions and the Insane Hospital, and January 
 I, 1893, was appointed Externe of the Derma- 
 tological Department of the Rhode Island Hospital, 
 in which capacity he is now serving. Dr. Kimball 
 has served as Assistant Surgeon, with rank of First 
 Lieutenant, of the First Regiment Infantry Brigade 
 Rhode Island Militia, and Assistant Surgeon First 
 Light Infantry Regiment 1892-94 ; also as Medical 
 Examiner of the Union Mutual Life Insurance 
 Company of Portland, Maine, the Ancient Order of 
 United Workmen and the Independent Order of 
 Odd Fellows. He is a Fellow of the Rhode Island 
 
 H. W. KIMBALL. 
 
 Medical Society, member of the Providence Medi- 
 cal Association, the Medical Improvement Club 
 and the Rhode Island Medico-Legal Society, also of 
 Harmony Lodge of Masons, Washington Park Lodge 
 of Odd Fellows and What Cheer Lodge, Ancient 
 Order United Workmen, being Master of the last 
 named. In politics he is a straight Republican, but 
 has never held political office. He married, January 
 15, 1896, Miss Emma L. Hayward. 
 
 gold watch-case and the founder of the Ladd Watch 
 Case Company. Mr. Ladd received his early edu- 
 cation in the Providence schools, and graduated 
 from the Elmwood Grammar School in 1889 and 
 from the Providence Bryant & Stratton Business 
 
 FRANK F. LADD. 
 
 College in 1890. He then entered the service of 
 the Ladd Watch Case Company, which he left to 
 accept the position of Treasurer's clerk in the office 
 of the Union Railroad Company. He afterwards 
 accepted a position in the office of the H. W. Ladd 
 Company, drygoods dealers, and had charge of the 
 retail accounts. He resigned the position in 1892 
 and has since been engaged in the real estate and 
 stock-brokerage business. He also holds the 
 office of Secretary and Treasurer of a Rhode Island 
 company engaged in the manufacture of gas gener- 
 ators. He is an enthusiastic yachtsman and an ac- 
 tive member of the Rhode Island Yacht Club. He 
 is a member of the order of America Mechanics 
 and of the Young Men's Christian Association, and 
 is a member and treasurer of various social organi- 
 zations. In politics he holds Republican views. 
 
 LADD, Frank Foster, of Providence, was born 
 in Providence, February i, 1873, the son of George 
 W. and Mary J. (Bennett) Ladd. His father was 
 widely known as the inventor of the Ladd filled 
 
 LADD, John Westgate, physician, Newport, was 
 born in East Greenwich, R. I., October 8, 1836, son 
 of John Gardner and Phebe Ann (Watson) Ladd. 
 The ancestry of the Ladd family is of English ori- 
 
ii6 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 gin, and is of great antiquity. They came to New 
 England in 1633, on the ship John and Mary. On 
 the maternal side his ancestry is also English, from 
 the distinguished lineage of the Spencers. His 
 father, John Gardner Ladd, who was a native of 
 Rhode Island and came to Newport with his family 
 in 1843, was a man of great originality and inventive 
 genius, by profession an architect, and of a high order. 
 John Westgate spent his early life with his father, 
 from whom he learned and practiced with him much 
 of his art. During this period he was much inter- 
 ested in mechanism, and later on other branches of 
 
 JOHN WESTGATE LADD. 
 
 science became of interest to him and engaged his 
 attention and stuty. He is largely self-taught, as 
 the usual routine of the schools did not appeal to 
 his fancy or his desires. He commenced practice 
 as a physician in New York City at the age of 
 twenty-five. His methods are peculiarly his own, 
 but are in strict conformity and harmony with the 
 principles of advanced science. He never uses the 
 knife, and his greatest success has been in the 
 treatment of chronic diseases, — tumors, cancers 
 and kidney troubles being his specialties. As a 
 physician-specialist his field is a very wide one, and 
 although his winter residence has been New York 
 city and his summers have been spent at (he family 
 home in Newport, his practice has extended over 
 
 the country from Chicago to New Orleans and from 
 Maine to Mexico. Although a Republican, he 
 takes no active part in politics, and is not a club or 
 society member, preferring the surroundings of his 
 home and family in his leisure hours. Dr. Ladd 
 was married September 27, 1868, to Miss Caroline 
 Augusta Vaughan, of Newport ; they have had two 
 children : Maude Crosby (now Mrs. Charles Phillips 
 Scott of Boston) and Harry Watson Ladd, now 
 deceased. 
 
 LARRY, John Hale, clergyman, was born in 
 South Windham, Me., December 2, 1843, the son 
 of Joseph Child and Mary (Purington) Larry. His 
 father was a sturdy yeoman of the old New England 
 type, and his mother a woman of great intelligence 
 and strong religious convictions, which were im- 
 parted to her children. He received his early 
 education in the public schools, and early devoted 
 himself to the profession of teaching, beginning at 
 the age of sixteen, and the same year published " A 
 Key to Outline Map, " which was much needed in 
 the schools of the state. While supporting himself 
 by teaching he attended a course at Gorham 
 Academy, walking eight miles a day for the purpose. 
 When the civil war broke out he was engaged in 
 teaching at Little Falls, N. H. He gave up his 
 school and enlisted as a private in Company I, 
 Eighth Massachusetts Volunteers, from Lynn. He 
 participated with his regiment in the campaigns in 
 North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. On the 
 expiration of his term of service he re-enlisted in the 
 Eleventh Unattached Company, Massachusetts 
 Heavy Artillery, stationed at Fort Independence, in 
 which he was made Orderly Sergeant. He success- 
 fully passed an examination for promotion and was 
 commissioned a Lieutenant in Company H, on 
 which occasion his comrades of Company G pre- 
 sented him with a dress sword and equipment cost- 
 ing over a hundred dollars. While in the service 
 he acted as Adjutant at Fort Lincoln, D. C, and 
 had charge of the new commissioned officers' school. 
 He was in command of the detachment which pur- 
 sued and nearly captured John H. Surratt after the 
 assassination of President Lincoln. After the close 
 of the war he resigned and resumed the profession of 
 teaching, and for about six years was Principal of the 
 Weston High School. He was principal of the New 
 England Christian Institute for a time, and had 
 charge of the Normal School and Agricultural School 
 at Hampton, Va., during the absence of Gen. .Arm- 
 strong in Europe for two years raising funds for the 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 117 
 
 building. But for the effect of the climate he would 
 have continued in mission work at the South. He 
 established "A School of Practice" at Penacook, 
 N. H., to exemplify his educational ideas, but gave 
 it up to adopt the ministerial profession, for which 
 
 JOHN HALE LARRY. 
 
 he had long felt a predilection. He was ordained in 
 Boston in 1873, and suppHed churches in Lynn for 
 about a year. He was then settled in Smytherville, 
 N. H., and afterward at Wilmot, when he established 
 the " The Kearsage School of Practice." He was 
 then settled in Penacook, N. H., and in 1882 re- 
 ceived a call to the Free Congregational Church on 
 Richmond street, Providence, where he has since 
 remained. Since his residence in Providence he 
 has taken an active part in social reforms, and par- 
 ticularly in temperance. He was for some years 
 editor of the Independent Citizen, the Prohibition 
 Organ, and is now the editor of the Pointer, an 
 all around reform newspaper. On the resignation 
 of Gen. C. R. Brayton as Chief of State Police in 
 1887 he was offered the position by Governor 
 Wetmore, but declined to accept, preferring to 
 continue his church work. He is a member of the 
 Grand Army of the Republic and has been Chaplain 
 of Prescott Post. In 1865 he married Miss Mary 
 E. White, a descendant of Peregrine White, the first 
 white child born in New England; they have six 
 children. 
 
 LEWIS, Nathan Barbour, Justice of the District 
 Court of the Second Judicial District, was born in 
 Exeter, R. I., February 26, 1842, son of James and 
 Mary (Sisson) Lewis. He is a direct descendant 
 of John Lewis, who settled in Westerly about 1650. 
 His father, commonly known as Deacon Lewis, was 
 a captain in the state militia, and took an active 
 part in the bloodless campaigns of the Dorr war ; 
 he was the son of Col. Nathan B. and Sally 
 (Richmond) Lewis. His mother was the daughter 
 of Lodowick and Mary (Saunders) Sisson of 
 Hopkinton, R. I. He received his early education 
 in the public schools, working on the farm summers. 
 Pie subsequently spent several terms in private 
 schools, and took a commercial course at East 
 Greenwich Academy. He taught school for several 
 terms beginning in the autumn of 1859. During 
 the war of the Rebellion he enlisted as a private 
 in the Seventh Rhode Island Volunteers, August 
 13, 1862, and served until June 9, 1865, participat- 
 ing in all the campaigns of the regiment, and act- 
 ing for the greater part of the time as company 
 clerk and regimental postmaster, and serving in 
 
 NATHAN B. LEWIS. 
 
 the color guard. Although not robust he was not 
 absent a single day from the regiment, and when 
 the regiment came from the field after the battle of 
 Cold Harbor, he was one of only seven in his com- 
 pany who reported for duty. During the last three 
 
ii8 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 years he has been President of the Seventh Rhode 
 Island Veteran Association, an organization com- 
 posed of the survivors of that regiment. After a 
 term in Greenwich Academy he taught school 
 winters until 1867. In the summer of 1866 he 
 canvassed in Maine for the Henry Bill Publishing 
 Company of Norwich, Conn., in Ohio in the sum- 
 mer and autumn of 1867, and in New York the 
 following year. In 1869 he bought a farm in 
 Exeter and followed farming for three years. In 
 June 1872 he was elected Town Clerk of Exeter, 
 and held that office continuously until 1888. 
 While Town Clerk he was connected with a great 
 many legal cases, there being no lawyer in the 
 town, and this induced him to study the law, which 
 he did in the ofifice of ex-Senator Nathan F. Dixon, 
 of Westerly, and was admitted to the Rhode Island 
 bar in 1890. While Town Clerk of Exeter he 
 wrote most of the deeds and wills executed in the 
 town. At the May session of the General Assembly 
 in 1886 he was elected Justice of the District Court 
 of the Second Judicial District, which embraces the 
 towns of Exeter, North Kingston, South Kingstown, 
 and the District of Narragansett. On account of 
 the distance from railroads he sold his farm on 
 Pine Hill, Exeter, and removed to Wickford in 
 1887, where he resided until 1894, when he removed 
 to West Kingston. At the last May session of the 
 General Assembly he was for the third time re- 
 elected to the ofifice of Justice of the District Court. 
 In July 1890 Judge Lewis opened a law ofifice in 
 Westerly, R. I., where he enjoys a large practice 
 for a country squire, and has been engaged in set- 
 tling a large number of estates. He was a member 
 of the Commission appointed to build the new 
 County Court House of Washington county. In 
 1895 he was appointed by the Supreme Court a 
 standing Master in Chancery for Washington 
 county. He was Postmaster at Pine Hill, R. I., 
 from July i, 1872, to April 1876, when he resigned 
 to accept a seat in the General Assembly, and was 
 re-appointed in 1879, holding the office until 1888. 
 He was a member of the School Committee of 
 Exeter from June 1866 to June 1887, and Superin- 
 tendent of Schools for the greater part of that time. 
 He was a Representative in the General Assembly 
 from April 1869 to April 1872, and from April 1876 
 to April 1877. He was Assessor of Taxes from 
 June 1875 to June 1888, was Trial Justice of Exeter 
 previous to the establishment of the District Court, 
 was Coroner of the town of Exeter from July 1873 
 to June 1886, and was Moderator of North 
 
 Kingston from 1889 to 1892 and Auditor of Town 
 Accounts from 1890 to 1894. He is a member of 
 the Grand Army of the Republic, Past Commander 
 of Charles C. Baker Post of Wickford, and was 
 Judge Advocate of the Department of Rhode Island 
 1890-1893. He is a member of Exeter Lodge 
 I. O. O. F. , having been through all the chairs, and 
 is a member of the Grand Lodge ; is a Past Chief 
 Patriarch of Uncas Encampment I. O. O. F. of 
 Wickford ; a member of Orilla Lodge D. of R., 
 Peacedale, R. I. ; of Exeter Grange P. of H. and 
 Washington County Pomona Grange ; of Charity 
 Lodge A. F. & A. M., Hope Valley ; of Franklin 
 Chapter Royal Arch Masons, Hope Valley, and of 
 Narragansett Commandery K. T. of Westerly. In 
 politics he is a Republican. He married, March 
 7, 1869, Miss Rowena K. LilHbridge, who died July 
 5, 1879; they had four children: Aubrey C, a 
 graduate of Dartmouth College and now studying 
 law, Agnes Mabel, Howard and Nathan Richmond 
 Lewis, the latter three dying in infancy. He 
 married, August 15, 1880, Miss Nettie Chester, 
 He resides in West Kingston. 
 
 LEWIS, Sam Warren, florist and nurseryman, 
 Olneyville, was born in Exeter, R. I., April 22, 1844, 
 
 SAM V/. LEWIS. 
 
 the son of Warren Gardiner and Amy (Reynolds) 
 Lewis. His grandparents on his father's side were 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 119 
 
 Simon and Rhoda (Wood) Lewis. On his mother's 
 side they were Samuel and Deborah (Lillibridge) 
 Reynolds. On both sides he is of New England 
 ancestry. He received his early education in the 
 public schools, and was employed on a farm until 
 March 1870, when he entered the employ of David 
 Moore, Jr., nurseryman, with whom he remained until 
 1873, when he commenced business for himself. He 
 first purchased some trees and sold them on the 
 Crawford-street bridge of Providence, but now has 
 an extensive nursery, one of the largest in Rhode 
 Island, on Hartford avenue, Olneyville. He has 
 also a greenhouse and is engaged in the florist busi- 
 ness, and is also interested in bee keeping and a 
 large producer of honey : at the present time he 
 has sixty-eight colonies of bees. He is a member 
 of the Rhode Island Horticultural Society, and of 
 the Society for the Encouragement of Domestic 
 Industry. He has taken no part in public life and 
 is an Independent in politics. He married, January 
 10, 1869, Miss Mary Reynolds Lillibridge, who died 
 December 29, of the same year; they had one 
 child, a son, who died in infancy. 
 
 LIPPITT, Robert Lincoln, Agent and Manager 
 of the Lippitt Woolen Company, Providence, was 
 born in that city, March 22, i860, son of ex-Gover- 
 nor Henry Lippitt and Mary Ann (Balch) Lippitt. 
 He is a brother of Charles W. Lippitt, the present 
 Governor of the State of Rhode Island. They are 
 descendants of John Lippitt, who came to Rhode 
 Island in 1638, two years after its settlement by 
 Roger Williams ; their ancestors were officers in 
 General Washington's army, and in later times were 
 all noted as manufacturers. R. Lincoln Lippitt was 
 educated in Mowry & Goff' s School in Providence, 
 St. Mark's School in Southboro where he spent 
 the five years from 1873-78, and at Brown Uni- 
 versity, class of 1882. Upon leaving college he 
 entered the mill of the Lippitt Woolen Company, 
 where he spent three years learning the woolen 
 business, after which he sold woolen goods in 
 the commission house of Walkinshaw & Voigh, 78 
 Worth Street, until 1889, thus familiarizing him- 
 self with the commission business. He then became 
 Agent and Manager of the Lippitt Woolen Company, 
 which position he now holds. He is also a Director 
 in the Social Manufacturing Company, the Turkey 
 Red Dyeing Company and the Providence Opera 
 House Association, all of Providence. He was 
 elected as a Member of the House in the State 
 
 Legislature in 1894-95, in which body he is serving 
 the present year as Chairman of the Committee on 
 Corporation. He is also a member of the Commis- 
 sion appointed by the Legislature to represent the 
 State at the Atlanta World's Fair, being appointed 
 on the Governor's staff. Mr. Lippitt belongs to the 
 Hope and Union clubs, the Press Club, Anawam 
 Hunt Club, Providence Athletic Association, Rhode 
 Island Yacht Club (vice-commodore), What Cheer 
 Harbor No. 13 American Association of Masters 
 and Pilots of Steam Vessels, and the Sons of the 
 American Revolution, all of Providence ; also the 
 
 R. LINCOLN LIPPITT. 
 
 New York Yacht Club, the Society for the Preven- 
 tion of Cruelty to Animals, and various other societies 
 and organizations. In politics he is a Republican. 
 He was married in 1882 and has one daughter: 
 Mabelle Clifton Lippitt. At present he is unmarried. 
 
 MARTIN, Joseph Wright, of Warren, President 
 of the Warren Trust Company and the Warren Elec- 
 tric Light Company, was born in Warren, October 
 14, 1852, son of Ezra M. and Cynthia M. (Wright) 
 Martin. His parents came to Warren from Reho- 
 both, Mass. He received his early education in the 
 public schools of Warren, and entering the Commer- 
 cial Department of East Greenwich Seminary, East 
 Greenwich, R. I., at the age of nineteen, graduated 
 
I20 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 therefrom in 1873, ^^^ began at once the active 
 duties of a commercial life. He is at present as- 
 sociated with his father, Ezra M. Martin, in the 
 lumber and coal business in Warren, under the firm 
 name of E. M. Warren & Company. Mr. Martin is 
 
 graduated from Harvard College with the degree 
 of A. B. in 1878, and from the Harvard Medical 
 School with the degree of M. D. in 1885. He was 
 an assistant in the Bennett Street Dispensary, 
 Boston, a pupil for a very short time of Henry B. 
 Holton, M. D., of Brattleboro, Vt., and of LeRoy 
 Gale, M. D., of New York. He studied for some 
 months in the hospital of Paris, France, in 1878. 
 He was Interne at the City Hospital in Worcester, 
 Mass., in 1883-84, and special laboratory pupil 
 under Prof. E. S. Wood, Harvard Medical School, 
 1884-85. He practiced casually while on a vacation 
 in the summer and autumn of 1885 at Plymouth, 
 Mass. He then came to Newport, R. I., and opened 
 an office early in January 1886, and has remained 
 there since. He was appointed by Governor Taft 
 Medical Examiner for District Number Three for 
 the term ending February 1859, and declined a 
 re-appointment, although urged to accept one by 
 Governor D. Russell Brown. He was City Physi- 
 cian of Newport for a short time in 1892, but 
 resigned because there was too much politics con- 
 nected with the office. He was Secretary, Vice- 
 
 JOSEPH W. MARTIN. 
 
 President of the Warren Trust Company and the 
 Warren Electric Light Company, Vice President of 
 the Warren National Bank, and a Director of the 
 National Hope Bank. He has also served as Town 
 Treasurer three years, and as President of the Town 
 Council in 1894 and 1895. He is a Director of the 
 Warren Foundry and Machine Company, also a 
 member of Washington Lodge of Masons and of the 
 Union Club of Warren. In politics he is a Repub- 
 lican. He is unmarried. 
 
 MacKAYE, Henry Goodwin, physician and sur- 
 geon, Newport, was born March 16, 1857, in New 
 York City, son of Colonel James and Maria Ellery 
 (Goodwin) MacKaye. His father's father came 
 from Scotland and settled as a farmer in Rome, 
 N. Y. His mother's grandfather was Hon. Asher 
 Robbins, United States Senator from Rhode Island, 
 the "Cicero of the Senate." He received his early 
 education at Pastor Godet's school, Neufchatel, 
 Switzerland, and graduated from Phillips Acad- 
 emy, Exeter, N. H., in the class of 1874. He 
 
 H. G. MACKAYE. 
 
 President, and is now President of the Rhode 
 Island Medico-Legal Society. He has been Sec- 
 retary of the Newport Sanitary Protection Society 
 for many years, and is now Vice-President of 
 the Rhode Island Harvard Club, Attendant Physi- 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 121 
 
 cian and Surgeon at the Newport Hospital, Fellow 
 of the Rhode Island Medical Society, of the New 
 York Medico-Legal Society, of the Alumni Associa- 
 tion of the Harvard Medical School, and of the 
 Newport Business Men's Association. He was a 
 delegate to the Massachusetts Medical Society from 
 the Rhode Island Medical Society at the annual 
 meeting in 1894. He has written many short-case 
 reports for medical journals and societies, and also 
 " Some Chemical Aspects of Urinary Analysis " 
 (vide a.vch\ves of the Rhode Island Medical Society), 
 and a report of the cure of poisoning by Tyrotox- 
 icon, published by the Newport Sanitary Protection 
 Association in 1893. He married, in January 1887, 
 Miss Ellen T. Bailey of Middletown, R. I. 
 
 McCarthy, Patrick Joseph, attorney-at-law. 
 Providence, was born in Geevagh parish. County 
 
 PATRICK J. MCCARTHY. 
 
 Sligo, Ireland, September 1848, the son of Patrick 
 and Alice (Cullen) McCarthy. His parents came 
 to the United States when he was only four years 
 of age, and both died within a few weeks after, 
 while at quarantine on Deer Island, Boston harbor ; 
 their place of burial is unknown. He received his 
 early education in the public schools of Boston and 
 Somerville, Mass., and became self-supporting from 
 a very early age. He came to reside in Provi- 
 
 dence in 1865, and, after acquiring the necessary 
 means, devoted himself to the study of the law. 
 He graduated from the Law School of Harvard 
 University, June 28, 1876, and was admitted to the 
 Rhode Island bar the same year. He has since 
 successfully practiced his profession in Providence. 
 He has been prominent in municipal politics and 
 was a member in the Common Council in 1890-92 
 and '94. He was elected a Representative to the 
 General Assembly from Providence in 1892 and 
 1893. He is a member of the Brownson Lyceum, 
 was its president three terms. In politics he is 
 a Democrat, favoring protection to American indus- 
 tries. He was married, August 29, 1875, to Miss 
 Anna M. McGinney of Providence, since deceased ; 
 they had three children : Mary Josephine, now 
 living ; Patrick, Jr., and Alice, deceased. 
 
 McMURROUGH, Thomas, Providence, is a na- 
 tive of Ireland, born July 31, 1840, son of Patrick 
 and Ann (Foley) McMurrough. His ancestry on 
 both sides is Irish. He came to Providence in 
 1850, and attended the public schools when he 
 
 THOMAS McMURROUGH. 
 
 could get a chance, which was not often, and his 
 entire schooling was covered by a period of not 
 more than two years in all, being placed at work in 
 a cotton mill when he was eleven years old. He 
 
122 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 worked in the mills for six years, and in 1858 en- 
 gaged with the firm of Marsh & Horton, to learn the 
 iron moulding business. When the war broke out 
 he entered the employ of John Roach & Sons, New 
 York, and remained with them four years, at the end 
 of which time he returned to Providence where he 
 has since resided. In May 1870 he engaged in the 
 undertaking business, in a small way, and has kept 
 on steadily increasing, until at the present time he 
 carries one of the largest and best stocks of un- 
 dertakers' supplies of any house in the state. He 
 has never held any public office. In politics he is 
 somewhat independent, usually acting with the 
 Democratic party. He is a member of the Brown- 
 son Lyceum, a literary society organized in Provi- 
 dence about thirty-five years ago, also of Branch 
 237 Catholic Knights of America. He has been 
 twice married, first in May 1869, to Mary Murry, a 
 daughter of Lawrence Murry, who for a number 
 of years was connected with Albert Daley's lumber 
 yard in Providence, by whom he had one child, 
 Amy McMurrough ; his second marriage was in 
 September 1892, to Mary C. Sinnott, daughter of the 
 late Peter H. Sinnott, clerk a number of years for 
 William H. Gree & Co., Providence. 
 
 MOIES, Charles Parmenter, first Mayor of Cen- 
 tral Falls, was born in North Providence (now Paw- 
 tucket), March 24, 1845, son of Thomas and Susan 
 W. (Seymour) Moies. He is a grandson of John 
 and Anna (Robinson) Moies of Dorchester, Mass. 
 On the maternal side his great-grandfather was 
 Capt. John George Curien, who came to this coun- 
 try from France with Lafayette, served in the Revo- 
 lution, and married Olive Branch of Providence ; 
 their daughter Cecilia married George Seymour, 
 and their daughter Susan married Thomas Moies 
 and was the mother of the subject of this sketch. 
 Charles P. Moies received his early education in the 
 public schools of Central Falls, and attended Scho- 
 field's Commercial College, Providence, in 1864. 
 In March 1865 he went to Chicago, III, and entered 
 the freight office of the Chicago, Burlington & 
 Quincy Railroad, remaining there until September 
 1866, when he returned to his home in Central Falls 
 and entered the Pawtucket Institution for Savings 
 as clerk, and assistant to his father, who filled the 
 ofiice of Treasurer. Upon the death of his father, 
 in November 1886, Charles was elected Treasurer, 
 which office he still holds. In May 1885 he was 
 elected Treasurer of the Pawtucket Mutual Fire In- 
 
 surance Company and still holds that office. In 
 January 1881 he was elected Treasurer of the Cen- 
 tral Falls Fire District, succeeding his uncle, Charles 
 Moies, who had held the office twenty-six years, 
 and continued in that capacity until March 1895, 
 when the district was abolished by the organization 
 of the city of Central Falls. He also succeeded 
 his father, upon the latter's death in 1886, as Treas- 
 urer of Union School Districts One and Two of 
 Central Falls, and served until May 1892, when the 
 district school system was abolished by the adop- 
 tion of the town system by the town of Lincoln. 
 He was also elected Treasurer of the town of Lin- 
 
 CHAS. P. MOIES, 
 
 coin upon the death of his father (the former treas- 
 urer), and continued in that office until the town 
 was made a city, March 18, 1895, when he was 
 elected the first Mayor of Central Falls, and held 
 the office until January 6, 1S96. In politics he is a 
 Republican, and has represented the town of Lincoln 
 (1885) in the lower branch of the General Assem- 
 bly. Mr. Moies left school at the age of seventeen, 
 in September 1862, to enter the army, and served 
 during his term of enlistment nine months in 
 Company B, Eleventh Regiment Rhode Island 
 Volunteers. He is a member of Ballou Post, Grand 
 Army of the Republic, and served two years as its 
 commander. He is also a member of the order of 
 Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, Knights of 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 123 
 
 Honor, Veteran Firemen's Association and the Paw- 
 tucket Business Men's Association. He was mar- 
 ried, December 19, 1876, to Miss Florence Damon 
 Wetherell ; they have one son, Charles P. Moies, Jr. 
 
 MOFFITT, Godfrey, superintendent of planing 
 mills, Newport, was born in Killingly, Conn., July 
 
 GODFREY MOFFITT. 
 
 24, 1824, son of Simon and Ruth (Smith) Moffitt. 
 His ancestors on both sides are Americans. He 
 received his early education in the public schools, 
 and served an apprenticeship in woodworking in all 
 its branches. He has taken an active interest in 
 public affairs both in the city and state. He has 
 been a member of the City Council of Newport 
 since 1891, and in 1895 was elected a Represen- 
 tative in the General Assembly. In politics he is a 
 Republican. He married, May i, 1865, Miss Amelia 
 C. Spooner ; they have no children. 
 
 Roger Mowry, Edward Inman, John Steere, John 
 Whipple, Thomas Harris, Thomas Angell, Thomas 
 Arnold, William Wickenden, Richard Scott, Joseph 
 Jenckes and Banfield Capron. He received his 
 early education in the public schools of Providence 
 and of Sheboygan, Wis., and was fitted for college 
 in the University Grammar School of Providence. 
 He entered Brown University in the class of 1857, 
 but was compelled to leave in the junior year on 
 account of ill-health. He was out of college four 
 years, during which time he was clerk in a large 
 commercial house in Buffalo, N. Y., for a part of 
 the time, and also taught school in Erie county, N. Y., 
 and in Rhode Island. He again entered Brown 
 University and graduated in the class of 1861. 
 Having adopted the law as a profession he entered 
 the office of the Hon. Samuel Currey of Providence 
 and studied there until his admission to the Rhode 
 Island bar. May 14, 1865, supporting himself by 
 teaching school winters. In 1864-65 he was Prin- 
 
 E. C. MOWRY. 
 
 MOWRY, Elisha Capron, attorney-at-law. Provi- 
 dence, was born in what is now North Smithfield 
 R. I., December 26, 1836, son of Harris Jenckes 
 and Fanny Capron (Scott) Mowry. His ancestors 
 were English on both sides, and he is descended 
 from the following, who came to Rhode Island with 
 Roger Williams, or were contemporaries with him : 
 
 cipal of the High School of East Douglass, Mass. 
 During the civil war he enlisted and served for 
 three months in the Tenth Rhode Island Infantry. 
 Since May 1865 he has practiced law continuously 
 in Providence, from January 1879 to January 
 1884 in company with Richard B. Comstock, under 
 the firm name of Mowry & Comstock, and for the 
 last three years in company with Livingston Scott, 
 
124 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 under the firm name of Mowry & Scott. He was 
 admitted to the United States Circuit Court bar in 
 1866 and to the United States Supreme Court bar in 
 1887. He has taken a prominent part in municipal 
 and state poHtics. He was a member of the Com- 
 mon Council of Providence from 1871 to 1877, of 
 the Board of Aldermen from 1878 to 1880, and of 
 the School Committee from 1872 to 1881. He was 
 elected Senator to the General Assembly from Prov- 
 idence in 1880. He was the Democratic candi- 
 date for Mayor of Providence in 1880, but was de- 
 feated by Hon. William S. Hayward, the Republi- 
 cans being largely in the majority in the city at that 
 time and united upon Mr. Hayward. He married, 
 October 7, 1869, Miss Hannah Richardson, who 
 died March 17, 1882. September 18, 1884, he 
 married Mrs. Harriet Marble Page ; he has child- 
 ren : Fanny Richardson, Benjamin Richardson, 
 Emma Augusta, Charles Matteson, Sarah Ross, 
 Harris Jenckes, Daza Page, Albert Erastus and 
 Elisha Capron Mowry, Jr. 
 
 NICKERSON, Asa Harden, physician, Central 
 Falls, was born in South Dennis, Mass., July i, 
 1854, son of Asa Whelden and Ruth Ann (Nicker- 
 son) Nickerson. He comes of old Pilgrim stock 
 and his ancestors on both sides were among the 
 first settlers of the town of Cape Cod. He is 
 descended in the eighth generation from William 
 and Annie (Busbie) Nickerson, who came from 
 Norwich, Norfolk county, England, landed in Bos- 
 ton in 1637 and settled in Yarmouth, Mass Their 
 son Nicholas married Sarah Bassett and died in 
 Yarmouth. Their granddaughter Hester married a 
 son of the first white child born in Plymouth, Pere- 
 grine White. Another granddaughter, Mary, mar- 
 ried Simeon Crosby, one of the first settlers of 
 Eastham. A grandson, William, married Mary 
 Snow and was one of the founders of Chatham. 
 Other descendants intermarried with leading fami- 
 lies of the Cape and Plymouth. Asa received his 
 early education in the public schools of his native 
 town and at Mowry & Goff' s School in Providence. 
 He graduated from the New Hampton Literary and 
 Biblical Institution, New Hampton, in July 1873. 
 He is also a graduate of the Harvard Medical 
 School, receiving from the University the degree of 
 M. D. June 28, 1882. Since that time he has been 
 a member of the post-graduate medical schools of 
 Boston and New York. While fitting for his pro- 
 fession he worked in a drug store and taught a 
 
 grammar school in Harwich, Mass. Dr. Nickerson 
 began the practice of medicine and surgery in 
 Central Falls, R. I,, in September 1882, where he 
 has since remained. In 1895 he was appointed 
 Assistant Eye and Ear Surgeon to St. Joseph's 
 Hospital, also Externa to the Eye Department of 
 the Rhode Island Hospital, Providence. He was a 
 trustee of the Union School District, which is now 
 the city of Central Falls, in 1886 and 1887, a mem- 
 ber of the School Committee of the town of Lin- 
 coln from 1887 to 1890, and Superintendent of 
 Schools in Lincoln in 1889. He is a member of 
 Jenks Lodge A. F. & A. M., Pawtucket Royal Arch 
 
 ASA H, NICKERSON. 
 
 Chapter, Holy Sepulchre Commandery, the Grand 
 Lodge of Masons of Rhode Island, Royal Society 
 of Good Fellows, Washington Lodge K. of P., Paw- 
 tucket Medical Association and the Harvard Medi- 
 cal Alumni Association. In politics he is a 
 Republican, but has not taken an active part in 
 public affairs. He married, October 12, 1887, Miss 
 Carrie E. Bunker of Bethlehem, N. H. 
 
 PALMER, William Henry, physician and sur- 
 geon. Providence, was born in Woodstock, Conn., 
 May 25, 1829, the son of Hezekiah and Lucy 
 (Bugbee) Palmer. He is a descendant in the sixth 
 generation of Thomas Palmer, who was one of the 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 125 
 
 founders of the town of Rowley, Mass., in April 
 1639. His mother was of the fifth generation in 
 descent from Edward Bugby, who settled in Rox- 
 bury, Mass., in 1634. His ancestors on both sides 
 were of the sturdy yeomanry of New England, who 
 lived honorably and peaceably, serving their coun- 
 try and generation to the best of their ability and 
 opportunity. His maternal grandmother was the 
 daughter of Dr. Daniel Holmes, of Woodstock, 
 Conn., grandfather of Oliver Wendell Holmes, and 
 a soldier in the war of the Revolution. His pater- 
 nal grandfather was also a soldier of the Revolution. 
 Acquiring his early education in the public schools 
 
 WM. H. PALMER. 
 
 and at the Academy in Woodstock, he entered Yale 
 College and graduated in the class of 1854 with 
 the degree of B. A. Adopting medicine as a pro- 
 fession, he studied in the Harvard Medical School, 
 and at the University of the state of New York, re- 
 ceiving a diploma therefrom in 1859-60. Return- 
 ing from the war in 1866, he settled in Providence, 
 where he has since been engaged in the practice of 
 his profession. He is a member of the American 
 Medical Association ; a Fellow of the Rhode Island 
 Medical Society and served as President for two 
 terms, 1 891-1892 ; a member of the Providence 
 Medical Association ; a member and first President 
 of the Rhode Island Medico- Legal Society for 
 1885 ; a member of the New York Medico-Legal 
 
 Society ; a contributor to various medico-legal and 
 medical journals, and is often called in court as an 
 expert on medico-legal questions. He served in 
 the war of the Rebellion, was commissioned August 
 26, 1 86 1, Surgeon and Major of the Third New 
 York Volunteer Cavalry by Governor Morgan, and 
 served three years in the field. On April 10, 1865, 
 contracting as Acting Staff Surgeon, U. S. A., he 
 served as Surgeon in charge of the hospitals in and 
 about Richmond, Va., until September 1866. He 
 has been a member of the Grand Army of the Re- 
 public since 1867 ; was Assistant Adjutant-General 
 of the Department of Rhode Island for two years, 
 and Surgeon for two years ; is a Companion of the 
 Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United 
 States, and a member and first President of the 
 United States Veteran Volunteers' Association. In 
 1876 he was appointed acting Surgeon to the Provi- 
 dence Police Force and continued in service until 
 1 89 1, when he was elected PoHce Surgeon, and is 
 still serving in said office. In June 1884 he was 
 appointed by the Governor of Rhode Island a Med- 
 ical Examiner for District Number Ten, county of 
 Providence, and served for six years ; was reap- 
 pointed in 1 89 1, and is still serving. On June 10, 
 1872, he was elected by the City Council, Deputy 
 Superintendent of Health for the city of Providence, 
 and a Coroner from 1875 to 1884, inclusive. He is 
 a member of Corinthian Lodge A. F. & A. M., of 
 Providence Lodge K. of H., and of other beneficial 
 societies. In politics he was an Abolitionist before 
 and during the war, and since has been a Republi- 
 can. In October 1862 he married Fanny Purdy, 
 author, of New York city ; they have two children : 
 Henrietta Raymer and Granville Ernest Palmer. 
 
 PECK, Samuel Luther, member of the firm 
 of Arnold, Peck & Co., importers, jobbers and com- 
 mission merchants in chemicals, drugs and dye- 
 stuffs. Providence, New York and Boston, was born 
 in Warren, R. I., December 17, 1845, the son of 
 James M. and Elizabeth (Luther) Peck. He was 
 educated at the Warren high school and at Bryant, 
 Stratton and Mason's Commercial College. His 
 first occupation was as clerk for Charles E. Boon 
 & Co., from 1864 to 1869, Then he became book- 
 keeper for B. B. & R. Knight until 1872, and was 
 salesman for Butts & Mason until 1874, when he 
 entered the firm of Mason, Chapin & Co., which in 
 1896 was succeeded by the present firm. He has 
 always held his residence in Warren, where he has 
 
126 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 been Assessor of Taxes three years, was first Chair- 
 man of Standing Committee of the George Hail 
 Free Library, was Superintendent of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Sunday School for ten years, and Master 
 of Washington Lodge A. F. & A. M. No. 3 for one 
 year. He has also been Vice-President of the New 
 England Paint and Oil Club, and is a member of the 
 Providence Athletic Association, Union Club, Rhode 
 Island Yacht Club and Southern Press Club. He is 
 now Vice-President of the National Hope Bank, 
 and serving his second term as Representative to 
 
 SAMUEL L. PECK. 
 
 the General Assembly. In politics he is a Republi- 
 can. He married, June 23, 1870, Miss Esther Alice 
 Gardner ; they lost their only child, Howard 
 Gardner, at the age of three years and nine months. 
 
 PECKHAM, Thomas Clarke, woolen manu- 
 facturer, Coventry, was born in Westerly, R. I., 
 December 21, 1836, son of Daniel and Olive 
 (Kenyon) Peckham. His education was acquired 
 in the common schools, and at an early age he de- 
 voted himself to woolen manufacturing, in which he 
 has been engaged continuously from 1861 to the 
 present time. He was elected to the Rhode Island 
 House of Representatives in 1875 and served in 
 that body two years, then served as State Senator 
 three years, and was again chosen Representative 
 
 in 1894, which office he now holds. He was also 
 elected and served as delegate to the Republican 
 National Convention of 1884 in Chicago, when 
 James G. Blaine was nominated for president of the 
 
 THOS. C. PECKHAM. 
 
 United States. He has been a Free Mason for 
 more than thirty years, and is a member of Man- 
 chester Lodge of Coventry. He is also a member 
 of the Pomham Club of Providence. In politics he 
 is a Republican. Mr. Peckham was married, 
 March 7, 1858, to Miss Mar}-^ Vaughn Reynolds; 
 they have had eleven children —two sons and nine 
 daughters : Daniel W., Hannah A. F., Mary L., 
 Grace G., Hattie V., Amy G., Susie E., Isabella B., 
 Bertha V., Bertha E., and Charles H. Peckham. 
 Of these one son and five daughters are now living, 
 viz., Hannah A. F , Grace G., Hattie V., Amy G., 
 Isabella B. and Charles H. Peckham. 
 
 PRICE, Walter, druggist, Westerly, was born 
 in Plainfield, Conn., June 18, 1845, the eldest of 
 three children. His father was a native of Wales 
 and his mother of Bristol, England ; they came to 
 America in 1838. He was educated in the public 
 schools, leaving school at the age of sixteen to enlist 
 in the war of the Rebellion. He served three years 
 in the army, and after receiving an honorable dis- 
 charge returned to his home, then in Mystic, Conn., 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 127 
 
 where new duties and responsibilities awaited him, 
 his father and mother having died during his 
 absence. On his return he found it necessary to 
 obtain immediate employment of some kind, with- 
 out waiting for a choice in entering upon a career, 
 
 WALTER PRICE. 
 
 in order to educate his two younger brothers. He 
 obtained a position as purser of a steamship running 
 to Southern ports and later to the West Indies, 
 which berth he held until he was made Agent of the 
 Steamship Company and located at Samana Bay, 
 Santo Domingo, W. I. This was in 1870, and dur- 
 ing that period, in connection with his business as 
 steamship agent, he was naval storekeeper for the 
 United States, and also acted as commercial agent 
 for our government. He was at Samana Bay during 
 all the period of agitation concerning the proposed 
 annexation of the island to this country. Mr. Price 
 returned to the United States in the fall of 1874 and 
 engaged in the drug business at Westerly, R. I., 
 which business he has carried on at Nos. 26 and 27 
 Main street continuously for the past twenty-one 
 years. In politics he has always been a Republican 
 — is serving his second term as Town Councilman 
 of Westerly, also his second year as a member of the 
 Republican Town Committee, and this year was 
 elected a member of the General Assembly. He is 
 in no sense a club or society man, having led too 
 active a business life to find time for such form of 
 
 recreation ; he is a member of the Pawcatuck 
 Seventh-Day Baptist Church, Hancock Post G. A. 
 R., and the Westerly Business Men's Association. 
 His life has been a busy one, with many severe 
 struggles through early years of poverty and privation, 
 until now he is entering upon his second half-cen- 
 tury with the satisfaction of having reached a point 
 of comparative ease and competence. Mr. Price 
 was twice married : October 24, 1872, to Miss Laura 
 Adelaide Greenman, and February 14, 1877, to Lucia 
 Annette Greenman. His first wife and second wife 
 were sisters, daughters of the late George Greenman 
 of Mystic, Conn., for more than fifty years a noted 
 shipbuilder of that place. His first wife died at 
 Samana Bay, Santo Domingo, W. I., March 17, 1874, 
 leaving no children. Four children were the fruit 
 of his second marriage : Abby C, Fanny Annette, 
 Walter Smith and Catherine Greenman Price, all 
 now living except the firstborn, who died January 
 10, 1882. 
 
 READ, Harwood Edwards, Chief of Police of 
 Newport, was born in Newport, July 28, 1838, 
 
 HARWOOD E. READ. 
 
 the sonjof Eleazer J. and Mary Ann Tilley (Cook) 
 Read. His father was a descendant of John Read 
 of Cornwall, England, who was an of^cer in Crom- 
 well's army, and upon the restoration of Charles II. 
 fled to America and settled in Providence. His 
 
128 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 mother's ancestors came from Exeter, Devonshire, 
 England, in 1638, and settled in Newport. Of their 
 descendants many were officers and soldiers in the 
 early wars of the colonies, of the Revolution and 
 the war of the Rebellion. He received his early 
 education in the public schools of Newport. He 
 entered business at an early age, first as a boy and 
 clerk in a grocery store, and then learned and 
 worked at the printer's trade. He has been 
 honored by many offices of trust and importance by 
 his fellow citizens. He was City Marshal of New- 
 port in 1871-72, and from 1876 to 1881. He was 
 Overseer of the Poor in 1871-72. He has been 
 Chief of Police from 1893 to the present time. He 
 was a member of the Common Council from 1886 
 to 1889, and President of that body in 1888-89. 
 He was License Commissioner from 1889 to 189 1. 
 He is a member of the Second Baptist Church and 
 treasurer of the corporation. He is a Past Noble 
 Grand of R. I. Lodge, I. O. O. F., Past Chief Patri- 
 arch of Aquidneck Encampment, and Past Grand 
 Chancellor of Redwood Lodge K. of P. In politics 
 he is a Republican and for many years a member of 
 the City Committee from Ward 3, and also a mem- 
 ber of the State Central Committee. He married, 
 December 25, 1864, Miss Amanda M. Crosby, who 
 died November 4, 1888; they had three children: 
 Georgiana Shaw, Bessie Murphy and Harwood E.j 
 Jr. He married, October i, 1890, Miss Sarah 
 Weeden Lee. 
 
 REMINGTON, John Alfred, physician and 
 surgeon, Central Falls, was born in Coventry, R. I , 
 November 2, 1867, son of Albert D. and Caroline 
 M. (Knight) Remington. He comes of old Colo- 
 nial stock, being connected with some of the oldest 
 families in Rhode Island — the Remingtons, 
 Knights, Potters, Coles, Gardiners, Mattesons, 
 Watermans and others. He is a descendant of 
 James Cole of Plymouth, who was the first occupier 
 of the hill back of Plymouth Rock which bears his 
 name. He is also a descendant of Thomas Rem- 
 ington of Prudence Island, who fled to the main- 
 land when the British were coming up Narragansett 
 Bay in the war of the Revolution ; " Prudence Tom," 
 as he was called, became one of the minute men 
 who patrolled the shore of Narragansett Bay watch- 
 ing for the British. He received his early education 
 in the district schools of Quidnick, in the town of 
 Coventry, R. I., until thirteen years of age, and 
 afterwards attended a private school in Providence 
 for a year. He adopted medicine as a profession 
 
 and studied two and a half years in the oflfice of the 
 late Dr. James E. Tobey of Central Falls, whom he 
 succeeded in practice. He studied for three years 
 in the Bellevue Hospital of New York City, and 
 graduated March 30, 1891, afterward locating in 
 Central Falls, where he has since remained. At the 
 last election he received the vote of the Democratic 
 members of the City Council for City Physician. 
 He is a member of the Pawtucket Medical Associa- 
 tion, of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, at 
 present being Past Master Workman and Repre- 
 sentative to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts for 
 
 J. A. REMINGTON. 
 
 one year, of the Knights of Pythias, A. F. & A. 
 Masons, of the American Order of Druids, and the 
 dramatic order of the Knights of Kohassen ; also 
 associate member of the Veteran Firemen's Associa- 
 tion of Central Falls. In politics he is a Democrat, 
 and a member of the John W. Davis Club of Cen- 
 tral Falls. He is unmarried. 
 
 ROELKER, William Greene, counsellor-at-law, 
 Warwick, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 12, 
 1854, the son of Dr. Frederic and Catherine Ray 
 (Greene) Roelker. Frederic Roelker became an 
 American citizen in 1837, coming from the kingdom 
 of Hanover, where he had succeeded his father as 
 Rector and Master of a great public foundation 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 129 
 
 school in his native city. On his mother's side the 
 subject of this sketch is descended from Colonial 
 and Revolutionary ancestry; his great-great-grand- 
 father William Greene was Governor of Rhode Isl- 
 and during most of the period of the Revolution. 
 
 W, G. ROELKER. 
 
 He received his early education in private classical 
 schools in Cincinnati, and went to Europe in 1867, 
 where he pursued his studies in the College of 
 Freiburg, the University of Berlin, the Academy of 
 Geneva and other prominent educational institu- 
 tions, until 1873. On his return to this country he 
 adopted the law as his profession and studied in 
 the Harvard Law School, graduating with the degree 
 of LL.B. in 1875. He then entered as a student 
 the office of Browne & Van Slyck, Providence, and 
 was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1876. 
 He formed a co-partnership with Francis W. Miner, 
 one of the leading lawyers of the state, and since the 
 retirement of Mr. Miner from active business has 
 successfully managed a large practice, and is coun- 
 sel for many large concerns. He was elected a 
 Representative to the General Assembly in 1877, 
 and was a Senator from Warwick in 1894 and 1895. 
 He was Chairman of the Commission to revise the 
 General Statutes of Rhode Island from 1890-95, a 
 Presidental Elector on the Republican ticket in 
 1892 and Chairman of the Rhode Island delegation 
 
 in the Republican National Convention at Minne- 
 apolis in 1892. In 1894 he was favorably mentioned 
 as a candidate for United States Senator, but with- 
 drew his name in a letter recommending Hon. 
 George Peabody Wetmore. He is a member of the 
 American Bar Association, Rhode Island Historical 
 Society, Sons of the American Revolution and most 
 of the leading social clubs of Providence as well as 
 of others in New York and Washington. He was 
 married, October 19, 1880, to Miss Ella Jenckes, 
 daughter of Hon. Thomas A. Jenckes, the distin- 
 guished advocate of civil service reform, lawyer and 
 statesman. They have had four children : William 
 Greene, Thomas Jenckes (deceased), Eleanor 
 Jenckes and Edith Goddard Roelker. 
 
 SACK, August Albert, one of the leading man- 
 ufacturers of Rhode Island, is a native of Germany, 
 where he was born August 16, 1843. After acquir- 
 ing a liberal education and gaining a thorough 
 knowledge of all the details of woolen manufactur- 
 
 A. ALBERT SACK. 
 
 ing in his native country, he came to America in 
 1867. He was first employed as designer by the 
 Harris Woolen Company of Woonsocket, R. I., and 
 later served in a similar capacity in the Everett 
 Mills at Lawrence, Mass., and the Bates Mills at 
 
I30 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Lewiston, Me. This was followed by a brief service 
 in the commission house of Leland, Allen & Bates, 
 Boston, where he had full supervision of all the 
 woolen mills operated by this firm. In 1873 he 
 came to Providence as superintendent of the 
 worsted mill of Owen & Clark. In 1879 he pur- 
 chased the business of Mr. Owen, incorporated as 
 the Geneva Worsted Mill. After successfully man- 
 aging it until May 1884 he sold his interest in this 
 enterprise. He then organized the Lymansville 
 Company and under his personal direction built the 
 Lymansville Mills, which are acknowledged to be 
 the most modern, best equipped and managed 
 worsted mills in the country. From the inception 
 of the enterprise to the present time Mr. Sack as 
 Treasurer of the company has been the dominating 
 force in the management, and to his thorough 
 knowledge of the business, his untiring energy, 
 financial ability and keen business judgment, its 
 notable success can be largely ascribed. The prod- 
 uct consists of worsted yarns and worsted goods ; 
 the mills employ four hundred and fifty persons, 
 and about ten thousand pounds of wool is con- 
 sumed daily. Mr. Sack is also interested in various 
 other cotton and woolen mills, but his principal at- 
 tention is directed to the management of the 
 Lymansville Company. He is a man of unusual 
 executive ability and untiring industry, and despite 
 his careful supervision of extensive business inter- 
 ests, he has managed to find time for mental culti- 
 vation and improvement, and is well posted as to 
 the progress of affairs in the political and literary 
 worlds. He is a Republican in politics, and is a 
 thorough believer in the wisdom of reciprocity and 
 a protective tariff in the interest of home manufac- 
 tures, holding that labor and the material progress 
 of the country would be best advanced by this 
 policy. Mr. Sack resides in Providence, and is a 
 member of various clubs and societies, but has 
 never taken a prominent part in them, or in public 
 life, finding his chief pleasures after the close of 
 the day's business within his home circle. He was 
 married, September 25, 1879, ^^ Miss Alice R. 
 Davis, eldest daughter of the late George L. Davis, 
 senior member of the Davis & Furber Machine 
 Company of North Andover, Mass. ; they have two 
 sons : George D. and A. Albert Sack, Jr. 
 
 Providence, born February 26, 1840, son of Adnah 
 and Eliza (Adams) Sackett. He is a descendant 
 in the seventh generation of Simon Sackett, who 
 came to America from the Isle of Ely, Cambridge- 
 shire, England, in 1628. He received his early 
 education at Mount Pleasant Academy, Amherst, 
 Mass., and Phillips Academy, Exeter, N. H., grad- 
 uated at Brown University, class of 1861, and went 
 from college into the army at the first call of Pres- 
 ident Lincoln for volunteers in 1861. He served 
 as Second Lieutenant and afterwards First Lieuten- 
 ant of Battery C, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, 
 and at different times was in command of the 
 
 SACKETT, Frkderic Mosf.lev, Adjutant-Gen- 
 eral of the State of Rhode Island, is a native of 
 
 F. M. SACKETT. 
 
 battery. He was severely wounded at the battle of 
 Chancellorsville. Following his retirement from 
 the army he engaged in woolen manufacturing 
 from 1864 to 1882, and from 1882 to 1892 was 
 Treasurer of the Richmond Paper Company. He 
 was appointed Adjutant-General of the State, No- 
 vember 4, 1895. Mr. Sackett is a member of the 
 Hope Club of Providence and the University Club 
 of New York, and is also a member of the military 
 order of the Loyal Legion. He was married, 
 November 15, 1866, to Miss Emma Louisa Paine, 
 and has four children : Fred M., Jr., Elizabeth 
 Paine, Henry Weston and Franklin Page Sackett. 
 He resides in Providence. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 131 
 
 SAN SOUCI, Joseph Octave, of Providence, 
 head of the large retail shoe and department busi- 
 ness of J. O. San Souci & Co., was born in Stukely, 
 Province of Quebec, Canada, July 27, 1855, son of 
 Euzebe and Louise (Couette) San Souci. His 
 father enlisted in the First Vermont Cavalry in 1861, 
 and was killed in action on July 3, 1863. Joseph 
 was eight years old at the time of his father's death. 
 He had four sisters older and three brothers younger 
 than himself, besides an elder brother who enlisted 
 in the same company as his father, at the age of six- 
 teen. He attended the public schools at St. Albans, 
 Vermont, until sixteen years of age, and then, as his 
 family were poor, he was obHged to enter upon the 
 active duties of life. He entered, in 187 1, the store 
 of George S. Eddy, Greenfield, Mass., as clerk^ 
 selling drygoods and boots and shoes, and later was 
 engaged with M, S. Fellows in the same place. In 
 1875 he came to Providence and was employed by 
 E. J. Beane at Olneyville, the manufacturing suburb 
 of the city, in the shoe business as salesman. When 
 a boy at school he read in some paper or magazine 
 a statement said to have been made by A. T. Stewart, 
 the great drygoods merchant, something as follows : 
 " If a young man will economize and save one thou- 
 sand dollars, he will find it comparatively easy to 
 make money afterwards; the hard work comes in 
 getting the first thousand." He never forgot it, and 
 determined at the start to save this amount as soon 
 as possible. His earnings were very small at first, 
 only five dollars a week the first year ; but he perse- 
 vered, and in eight years was the proud possessor of 
 eight hundred dollars, when an opportunity pre- 
 sented itself for him to go into business. His em- 
 ployer opened a large shoe store in the centre of the 
 city, and was desirous of disposing of the Olneyville 
 store. This was the chance of a lifetime for Joseph, 
 and he grasped it. He succeeded in getting two other 
 young men, S. C. Jameson and Asa M. Pinkham, to 
 combine their small capital with his, and they pur- 
 chased the store and started it under the name of 
 Jameson, San Souci & Co., making a success from 
 the start. After five years he had purchased the 
 interests of both partners and taken into partner- 
 ship his younger brother, F. C. San Souci, the firm 
 name being changed to J. O. San Souci & Company. 
 In a few years, finding that they had more money 
 than was needed in their business, they opened 
 another store in Olneyville, and in 1885 bought the 
 shoe store of W. H. Bigelow at Atdeboro, Mass., 
 giving one of their salesmen, T. E. McCaffrey, a half 
 interest. In 1887 they bought the shoe business of 
 
 Fowler & San Souci at Hartford, Conn., a firm of 
 which another brother, E. J. San Souci, was a mem- 
 ber, and who now was taken into the firm of J. O. 
 Souci & Company. Two years later the Boston 
 Shoe Store, in Westminster Street, was sold at 
 auction by the receiver, and they bid it in at 
 $17,050. They then offered their Hartford store 
 for sale, and sold it the following week at a good 
 bonus. Their greatest venture, and what they believe 
 is to be their most successful one, is their elegant 
 department store in Olneyville Square, where they 
 sell drygoods, cloaks, shoes, etc. It was opened 
 for business in November 1892, and is one of the 
 
 / 
 
 J. O. SAN SOUCI. 
 
 handsonaest stores to be found in New England. 
 Mr. San Souci is entering upon his sixth year as a 
 member of the School Committee of Providence, 
 and has just finished his second year as a Common 
 Councilman, declining re-election on account of the 
 pressure of his private business. He is a member of 
 various fraternal societies, including the American 
 Order of Foresters and Knights of Sherwood, 
 Ancient Order United Workmen, Royal Society of 
 Good Fellows, Royal Arcanum and Knights of 
 Columbus. He was married, June 15, 1890, to Miss 
 Sarah G. Lynch of Providence ; they have four 
 children : Paul, aged nine ; George H., aged seven; 
 Joseph O., Jr., aged five ; and Sadie L. San Souci, 
 aged two years. 
 
132 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 SAYLES, Albert Leprelett, manufacturer, 
 Pascoag, was born in Burrillville, R. I., August 29, 
 1826, son of Harden and Laura (Wood) Sayles. 
 He is descended from an old and well-known Rhode 
 Island family, his ancestor, John Sayles, having 
 
 they have had four children : Edgar Franklin 
 (deceased), Ellen Maria, Albert Hardin and Fred 
 Lincoln Sayles. 
 
 A. L. SAYLES. 
 
 married Mary, the daughter of Roger Williams. 
 He received his early education in the public 
 schools, and commenced his training as a manu- 
 facturer in the mill of his father and in that of D. 
 S. Whipple, who were manufacturers of woolen 
 goods in Burrillville. He commenced business for 
 himself in connection with his father as early as 
 1854, and has continued in it ever since, controlling 
 and managing some large and successful establish- 
 ments. He has refused all political office, except 
 that of delegate to the Republican National Con- 
 vention held in Chicago in 1888. He is one of 
 the Commissioners to erect a new State House in 
 Providence ; is one of the promoters and a Director 
 of the Providence & Springfield Railroad ; a Director 
 of the Pascoag National Bank ; President and Di- 
 rector of the Third National Bank of Providence, 
 and a Director of the American and Enterprise 
 Mutual Fire Insurance Companies. Mr. Sayles has 
 taken an active interest in religious affairs, and 
 was for many years President and Treasurer of the 
 Pascoag Freewill Baptist Society. He married, 
 December i, 1852, Miss Fannie Jane Warner; 
 
 SHEPARD, John, Jr., drygoods merchant, 
 Providence, was born January 2, 1857, in Boston, 
 Mass., the son of John and Susan Annie (Bagley) 
 Shepard. His father is an eminent and successful 
 merchant in Boston. He received his early educa- 
 tion in the public schools of Boston, graduated from 
 the English High School in 1874, and started in 
 business for himself at the age of twenty-three in a 
 store occupying a small portion of the present site 
 on Westminster street. Providence. Since that 
 time the business has grown in remarkable propor- 
 tions, and he now owns the new and elegant build- 
 ing, Nos. 259 to 273 Westminster street, which 
 has been built by him as various enlargements be- 
 came necessary. He has no partner, all the con- 
 trol of the business emanating from one head and 
 under a thorough and efficient system. In addition 
 to his drygoods business he is President of the 
 
 JOHN SHEPARD, JR. 
 
 Consolidated Car Fender Company. He has been 
 President of the Rhode Island Business Men's As- 
 sociation and of the Narragansett Boat Club, and 
 is now Treasurer of the Providence Athletic Asso- 
 ciation. Mr. Shepard has not taken an active in- 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 133 
 
 terest in politics or public life. He married, Octo- 
 ber 22, 1884, Miss Flora E., daughter of Gen. A. P. 
 Martin of Boston ; they have three children : John, 
 3d, Edward P. and Robert Ferguson Shepard. 
 
 SHOVE, Isaac, Secretary of the Pawtucket 
 Mutual Fire Insurance Company tor nearly forty 
 years, was born in Smithiield (now Woonsocket)> 
 R. I., October 4, 1823, son of Marvel and Lydia 
 (Fish) Shove. The ancestor of the Shove family in 
 this country was the Rev. George Shove, the third 
 minister of Taunton, Mass., whose wife was Hope- 
 
 ISAAC SHOVE. 
 
 still Newman, daughter of Rev. Samuel Newman, 
 one of the founders of Rehoboth; she died in 1674, 
 and from them the Shoves, few in number, have de- 
 scended. Isaac's father was a manufacturer at the 
 Globe Mill; his mother died during his infancy, 
 and he went to Hve with his grandfather, Josiah 
 Shove, in Mendon (now Blackstone), Mass. He 
 attended the district school, and about 1833 went 
 to the boarding school of Thomas Fry in Bolton, 
 Worcester county, Mass., where he was fellow 
 schoolmate with Samuel Foss, for many years editor 
 of the Woonsocket Patriot. At the age of fourteen 
 he went to live with an uncle in the town of 
 Palmyra, Wayne county, N. Y., where he worked on 
 the farm. In 1846 he returned East and lived in 
 
 Seekonk, Mass., until 1851, when he came to Paw- 
 tucket, Mass., and obtained employment as a clerk. 
 In 1856 he was elected Secretary of the Pawtucket 
 Mutual Fire Insurance Company, which office he 
 still fills, having held it for a period of nearly forty 
 years. In 1857-58-59 Mr. Shove was on the board 
 of Selectmen of Pawtucket, and in i860 he was ap- 
 pointed by Governor Banks a Trial Justice with 
 jurisdiction over Pawtucket, Seekonk and Rehoboth. 
 In 1862 Pawtucket was annexed to Rhode Island, 
 and he was elected Town Clerk and held the office 
 three years. He was elected a member of the 
 House of Representatives in 1865 and again in 
 1866, and in 1865 was elected by the General As- 
 sembly a member of the Court of Magistrates, with 
 jurisdiction over Pawtucket, North Providence and 
 Smithfield — an office which under different names 
 he has held, with the exception of two years, up to 
 the present time, about thirty-three years. In 
 1874, when the town of North Providence was 
 divided and a portion consolidated with Pawtucket, 
 Mr. Shove was again elected to the General Assem- 
 bly, and yet again in 188 r. In 1877 and in 1888 
 he was President of the Town Council of Pawtucket, 
 subsequently served as Sewer Commissioner, and 
 has held various offices in town and city. In poli- 
 tics he is a Republican. 
 
 SIMMONS, George Washington, undertaker, 
 Bristol, was born in Bristol, March 9, 1833, son of 
 Smith B. and Sarah B. (Cartee) Simmons. He is a 
 grandson of Comfort Simmons, and his great-great- 
 grandfather, Thomas Simmons, who was a Baptist 
 clergyman, preached a sermon when one hundred 
 years old, and lived to the age of one hundred 
 and five years. His maternal grandfather, Ben- 
 jamin Cartee, was lost at sea in 1833 ; and his great- 
 grandfather, Stephen Talbee, was a Revolutionary 
 soldier, born in 175 1 and died in 1842 at the age of 
 ninety-one. George Washington Simmons was 
 educated in the public schools of his native town, 
 and at the age of sixteen, in 1849, was apprenticed 
 to learn the cabinet-making trade of the late John 
 S. Weeden, serving four years' apprenticeship and 
 continuing the trade with him for twenty years. In 
 1869 he commenced business for himself as a pro- 
 fessional undertaker and still continues in that pro- 
 fession. Mr. Simmons was a member of the fire 
 department of the town of Bristol for twenty-one 
 years, holding the office of foreman of the King 
 Philip hand-engine in 1869, and has served two 
 
134 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 years as assistant engineer on the board of engineers 
 of the department. He served in the war of the 
 RebelHon as Sergeant of Company E, Twelfth Rhode 
 Island Volunteers, and was wounded at Fredericks- 
 burg, December 13, 1862. He is also a veteran of 
 Bristol Train of Artillery. He is a member of St. 
 Albans Lodge of Masons since 1864, and of United 
 Brothers Lodge of Odd Fellows from 1870; a mem- 
 ber and Past Chief Patriarch of Wampanoag En- 
 campment ; Past Ensign and Lieutenant of Canton 
 Miller, Patriarchs Militant ; and a member of Burn- 
 side Lodge Knights of Pythias and Babbitt Post 
 Grand Army of the Republic. In politics he is a 
 
 GEO. W. SIMMONS. 
 
 Republican, and has been a Representative to the 
 General Assembly since May 1891. He was mar- 
 ried, October 4, 1855, to Miss Elizabeth R. Allen; 
 they have three children : Amy E., Emma E. and 
 Mary R. Simmons. 
 
 SLATER, Alpheus Brayton, General Manager 
 and Director of the Providence Gas Company, was 
 born in Warwick, R. I., November 26, 1832, son of 
 Brayton and Patience (Millard) Slater. His family 
 is that of the well-known and respected Slaters of 
 Killingly, Conn., and his maternal grandfather was 
 Charles Millard of Warwick. He received his 
 preparatory education in the public schools of 
 
 Newburyport, Mass., and East Killingly, Conn., 
 and afterwards attended Srnithville Seminary at 
 North Scituate and the Conference Seminary at East 
 Greenwich. In September 1853, when not quite 
 twenty-one, he entered the service of the Provi- 
 dence Gas Company, and in December 1858, was 
 elected Chief Clerk, in March 1869 was elected 
 Assistant Treasurer, and in February 1870 he was 
 made Director, Treasurer and Secretary, with the 
 additional duties of General Manager, which po- 
 sition he has held continuously to the present time. 
 The great financial and mechanical success of the 
 corporation is largely due to his practical ability 
 and energy. He is the only one now remaining 
 of the organization as it existed when he entered 
 the service. He has taken an active part in the 
 organization and service of the Association for the 
 Development and Improvement of Gas Lighting, 
 is a member of the New England Association of 
 Gas Engineers and served as its President for two 
 years, and is also a member of the New England 
 Guild of Gas Managers, of which he served as 
 Secretary from its organization until he was elected 
 its President in 1885, which position he held for 
 two years. He is 'also a member of the Society of 
 Gas Lighting of New York, an honorary member of 
 the Western Gas Association, and a member of the 
 American Gas Light Association, in which he has 
 served on the Finance and Executive Committees, 
 and was elected its President in 1888 at the meeting 
 held in Toronto. Mr. Slater has always carefully 
 avoided holding any public oflfice not connected with 
 the business. He is a member of the Squantum 
 Club and of the Providence Athletic Association. 
 In politics he is a Republican. He married, June 
 25, 1855, Miss Ruth Matthews of East Killingly, 
 Conn. ; they have three children : Lora R., Alpheus 
 B. and Howard C. Slater. 
 
 SMITH, Irving M.wr.w, President of the Provi- 
 dence Business Men's Association at the time of his 
 death, was born at Rumstick, in Barrington, R. I., 
 July 15, 1852, and died December i, 1895. He 
 was the son of Nathaniel Church and Sally (Bowen) 
 Smith, and descended from Italian and English 
 ancestry. With a good education preparatory for 
 business, he commenced his active career as a lad 
 in the wholesale department of George L. Claflin <.^ 
 Co., Providence, where his brother Nathaniel had 
 preceded him in a most successful business experi- 
 ence. He remained with this house until he formed 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 135 
 
 V^/^...:-^^ 
 
136 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 a partnership to carry on the drug business under 
 the firm name of Kenyon, Smith & Co., on Ex- 
 change Place. After a few years at this location he 
 returned to the house of George L. Claflin & Co., 
 where he remained until about July 1895, when he 
 was induced to give up his drug business to become 
 the Secretary and Treasurer of the Inter-State Pe- 
 troleum Company, which position he held at the 
 time of his death. Mr. Smith inherited a genial 
 nature, an active disposition and a sanguine tem- 
 perament. He needed no stimulus for work, for his 
 busy mind was full of plans for himself and others, 
 which no obstacles could hinder and no discourage- 
 ments or counter influence check. He was open- 
 hearted, possessed no arts of concealment or of 
 private scheming so that his life, character and 
 purposes were an open book, known and read of all. 
 He was constantly thoughtful for the good name of 
 his native town, and was always on the alert to do 
 something to add to its attractions. Arbor day in 
 Rhode Island owes its existence to Mr. Smith's 
 labors, and the first celebration of the day was held 
 in Barrington under his direction. He was inter- 
 ested among the foremost in the organization of 
 improvement associations, and the Barrington Rural 
 Improvement Association and the Rhode Island 
 Society owe their present successful operations 
 largely to his labors. He was the efficient Presi- 
 dent of both of these bodies, as well as of the 
 Providence Business Men's Association, of which he 
 was a charter meinber. Mr. Smith was ever lavish 
 of time, strength and enthusiastic interest for the 
 good of his fellows, and a shortened life is the price 
 paid for excessive energy spent in public and private 
 service in the town, in the church at Barrington, in 
 business life, in associational work and in all other 
 pursuits which he followed with such diligence and 
 success. He was married, April 12, 1887, to Carrie 
 Wakeman Ketchum, who survives him ; they had 
 two children : Kenneth Valentine and Nathalie 
 Church Smith. 
 
 SMITH, Robert Morton, physician and sur- 
 geon, River Point, was born in Maitland, near 
 Newport, Nova Scotia, October 12, 1863, the son 
 of Bowden and Elizabeth (Faulkner) Smith. He is 
 descended from New England ancestry, who settled 
 in Hants County, Nova Scotia, prior to the American 
 Revolution. His father's ancestors came from near 
 Newport, R. I., and founded the town of Newport, 
 Nova Scotia. He received his early education in 
 
 the public schools and at the Provincial Normal 
 School and Pictou Academy. He adopted med- 
 icine as a profession, graduated from the College of 
 Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore, Md., in 1889, 
 served as clinical assistant in the City Hospital of 
 Baltimore and practiced in New Jersey for a short 
 time. He settled at River Point, R. I., in 1890, 
 where he has since remained in the enjoyment of 
 a lucrative practice. Dr. Smith is a member of 
 Washington Lodge I. O. O. F., of Warwick Lodge 
 
 R. MORTON SMITH. 
 
 A. F. & A. M. of Phenix, R. I., of Landmark 
 Chapter, of Providence Council, of Calvary Com- 
 mandery, and of Palestine Temple A. A. O. N. M. 
 S. He married, in April 1892, Miss Lizzie A., 
 daughter of Arnold and Lizzie (Taylor) Parker. 
 
 SMITH, Thomas Joseph, M. D., Valley Falls, 
 was born in Adams, Massachusetts, April 18, 1859, 
 son of Michael and Bridget (Malone) Smith, of 
 Irish ancestry. His early education was obtained 
 in the public schools, after which he was employed 
 in a cotton mill until the age of seventeen, when he 
 left to finish his studies. He attended La Salle 
 Academy in Providence, West Farnham College in 
 the Province of Quebec, the University of Ottawa 
 (Canada), and the College of Physicians and Sur- 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 137 
 
 geons at Baltimore, Maryland, graduating from the 
 last-named institution March 4, 1884. Since grad- 
 uation he has practiced medicine in the town of 
 Cumberland. He has visited Europe three times 
 since 1887, for the purpose of gaining experience 
 in the different hospitals, and has enjoyed a success- 
 ful professional career. Dr. Smith has served as 
 member of the School Committee three years, and 
 as Chairman of the Board of Tax Assessors for one 
 year. He is a member of the Rhode Island State 
 Medical Society, the Providence Medical Associa- 
 tion, and the Megantic Fish and Game Club. In 
 politics he is an active Democrat, and has been a 
 
 T, J. SMITH. 
 
 member of the Democratic State Central Com- 
 mittee from Cumberland for four years. He was 
 married, July 3, 1888, to Miss Mary Welsh of Clay- 
 ton Mount (near Manchester), England ; they have 
 four children : Thomas Charles Russell, Mary 
 Beatrice, Helen Welsh and Brenda Angela Smith. 
 
 STEARNS, Henry Augusitjs, manufacturer, Vice- 
 President of the Union Wadding Company, Paw- 
 tucket, and Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island 
 in 1891-92, was born in Billerica, Mass., October 
 23, 1825, son of Abnerand Anna (Russell) Stearns. 
 His mother was a daughter of Thomas Russell of 
 West Cambridge, Mass. He is a direct descendant 
 
 of Isaac Stearns, who came to this country in 1630 
 with Governor Winthrop, and settled in Watertown, 
 near Mount Auburn, Mass. For more than two 
 centuries the Stearns name has been a leading one 
 in Billerica and the vicinity thereof. Abner Stearns, 
 Henry's father, was a man of great force of charac- 
 ter and an inventor of more than local reputation. 
 Abner was about nine years old at the opening of 
 the Revolution. He and his brother Solomon, a 
 lad of eighteen, sleeping side by side, were awakened 
 at an early hour on April 19, 1775, by their father. 
 Lieutenant Edward Stearns, who announced that 
 the British were coming. The Lieutenant and his 
 son Solomon marched that day with the Bedford 
 militia to Concord, where they acquitted themselves 
 with great credit in the memorable Concord fight. 
 Captain Wilson of the Bedford militia having been 
 killed. Lieutenant Stearns was placed in command 
 of the Bedford troop during the latter part of the 
 day, and thus it is that the subject of this sketch 
 enjoys the distinction of having had his own uncle 
 a leading participant in the first battle of the Rev- 
 olution. The death of his parents occurred when 
 he was about twelve years old. His early education 
 was acquired in the public schools, supplemented 
 by two years at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. 
 At the age of twenty he went West, and settled 
 for a time in Cincinnati, where he engaged in the 
 manufacture of cotton wadding. In the spring of 
 1850, his mill having been twice destroyed by fire, 
 he started for California via the Isthmus of Panama. 
 From the Isthmus he took passage for San Francisco 
 on an old whaling vessel, ill-conditioned, ill-fitted 
 and overcrowded, and after four months of tossing 
 about on the Pacific and intense suffering from lack 
 of food and water, he finally reached his destination. 
 He opened the first steam laundry in California, 
 and also ran the first steam ferry between San 
 Francisco and what is now the city of Oakland. 
 After several years of Cahfornia life he returned 
 East, and in 1857 engaged in business in Buffalo, 
 N. Y., where for a time he was roommate and friend 
 of a young lawyer, Grover Cleveland, now President 
 of the United States. The financial crisis of 1858 
 swept away his property in the general disaster 
 which it precipitated upon most young business 
 enterprises and many of long standing throughout 
 the country, and he moved, with his young wife and 
 with courage undaunted, to Illinois, and started 
 anew to build up his fortunes. While in that state 
 he formed a friendly acquaintance with another 
 lawyer, of some local reputation, and in i860, having 
 
138 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 planned to engage in manufacturing in Rhode Island, 
 but uncertain whether to go into business at that 
 time of political and business agitation, in his per- 
 plexity he consulted his lawyer friend, Abraham 
 Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln advised him to carry out his 
 
 H. A. STEARNS. 
 
 plans, stating that he expected the war clouds would 
 soon blow over. Accordingly Mr. Stearns went to 
 Pawtucket, R. L, and in conjunction with Darius 
 Goff began the manufacture of cotton wadding. 
 The inventive genius inherited from his father was 
 now brought into full play ; many of his inventions 
 have been utilized in the mill of the Union Wadding 
 Company, of which he is Vice-President and Super- 
 intendent, and to-day this company is one of the 
 largest manufacturers of wadding in the world. Mr. 
 Stearns resides in Central Falls, and has been many 
 times honored by his fellow-townsmen. He is a 
 Republican in politics. For a number of years he 
 represented the town of Lincoln in the House of 
 Representatives, and then served several terms in 
 the State Senate. In 1891 he was elected Lieuten- 
 ant-Governor, and in 1892 declined a re-election to 
 that office. He has held various other public and 
 state offices, and has acted as a State Commissioner 
 in many cases ; but the one in which he has taken 
 the greatest satisfaction and interest is his connection 
 with the State Home and School for Homeless and 
 Dependent Children, having been Chairman of its 
 
 Board of Control for many years. While in the 
 Senate he introduced and procured the passage of 
 an act creating the institution, and was Chairman of 
 the Committee to select and purchase the property, 
 which is one of the most charming locations in the 
 state, where hundreds of homeless little ones have 
 been kindly cared for, and good permanent homes 
 found for them. Mr. Stearns is an active member 
 of the Congregational Church in Central Falls, and 
 is also a thirty-second degree Mason. He was 
 married, June 26, 1856, to Miss Kate Falconer, a 
 granddaughter of Hiram Falconer, one of the early 
 pioneers in Southern Ohio ; they have had eight 
 children, of whom seven are living : Deshla F., 
 George R., Walter H., Kate R., Charles F., Henry 
 F. and Caroline C. Stearns. 
 
 STEVENS, Colonel Daniel, of Bristol, was born 
 in Cambridge, Mass., September 6, 1849, son of 
 Daniel W. and CaroHne (Partridge) Stevens. 
 Colonel Stevens is of early American ancestry on 
 both sides, and his great-grandfather on the 
 
 DANIEL STEVENS. 
 
 maternal side was a drummer-boy in the army of 
 the Revolution. He received his early education 
 in the public schools of Mansfield, Mass., after 
 which he learned the trade of watchmaker and 
 engraver at Fall River, Mass. In 1878 he went 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 139 
 
 West and settled in Springfield, 111., the capital of 
 the state and Lincoln's old home, where he worked 
 at his trade seven years, returning East in 1885 and 
 engaging as commercial traveller with the wholesale 
 watch, diamond and jewelry house of D. C. Percival 
 & Company, Boston. After six years with this 
 firm he again went West in 1892 and located in 
 Chicago as agent for the Bay State Watchcase 
 Company, remaining with them until they were 
 absorbed by a larger concern, in 1894, when he 
 once more came East and settled in Bristol, R. I., 
 establishing the retail jewelry business of Stevens 
 & Company. Upon taking up his residence in 
 Springfield, 111., he became a member of the 
 National Guard of that state, and in June 1881 
 was commissioned First Lieutenant of Light Battery 
 B. Upon the consolidation of the state forces he 
 was commissioned as Aide-de-Camp on the staff of 
 Brigadier General J. N. Reece, commanding the 
 Second Brigade, I. N. G., which commission he 
 resigned on leaving the state. He became Adjutant 
 of Bristol Train of Artillery, Rhode Island Militia, 
 in 1894, and in 1895 was promoted to Colonel, 
 which office and rank he now holds. He is also a 
 member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery 
 Company of Boston. Colonel Stevens has never 
 taken any active part in politics. He is a Knight 
 Templar and a member of Springfield Lodge No. 4, 
 F. A. M., the same lodge to which Stephen A. 
 Douglas belonged, and is also a member of Medina 
 Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the 
 Mystic Shrine, of Chicago. He was married, in 
 
 1872, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Young, who died in 
 1888, leaving two children: Waldo W., born in 
 
 1873, and Ralph P. Stevens, born 1875. 
 
 the graded public schools, and the Washington and 
 Orange county grammar schools of Vermont. He 
 began the study of medicine in the Dartmouth 
 Medical College, continued it in the Long Island 
 College Hospital, and returning to Dartmouth, grad- 
 uated November 5, 1873, with the degree of M. D. 
 The following December he was appointed assistant 
 physician at the Butler Hospital, Providence, and 
 served until February, 1876, when he began general 
 practice in Orange, Mass., where he resided until in 
 April 1879 he removed to Tiverton, R. I. In July 
 1884 he was appointed Deputy Superintendent of 
 
 p. SriMSON. 
 
 STIMSON, Edward Payson, M. D., of Tiverton, 
 was born in Waterbury, Washington county, Vt., 
 June 8, 1849, son of Joel and Cynthia Roxana 
 (Stone) Stimson. He is descended on both sides 
 from old New England stock. Of his ancestors, 
 Dr. James Stimson, who settled in Reading, Mass., 
 about 1640, and his son Dr. James, Jr., practiced in 
 Reading (now Wakefield) from 1640 to 1690 ; and 
 James, son of James, Jr., settled in Tolland, Conn., 
 about 1 7 16, and was the first physician to locate in 
 that place. Joel Stimson, another of his ancestors, 
 served in the Revolutionary war, and was one of the 
 pioneer settlers of Vermont. His maternal ancestor 
 Stone settled in Watertown, Mass., in 1630. The 
 subject of this sketch received his early education in 
 
 the State Insane Asylum of Rhode Island, at Crans- 
 ton, and served until 1885, when he accepted the 
 appointment of Assistant Superintendent of the Kan- 
 sas State Asylum, at Osawatomie. Resigning that 
 position in i888, he returned to Vermont, and re- 
 sided in Randolph until 1893, when he renewed his 
 practice at Tiverton, where he has since remained. 
 Dr. Stimson is a member of the Rhode Island Medi- 
 cal Society, the Vermont Medical Society, and the 
 American Medical Association, and is one of the 
 founders of the Miller's River Medical Society, at 
 Athol, Mass. He was clerk of the School District 
 of Tiverton, in 1881-82, and in West Randolph, Vt. 
 he served as clerk of the Congregational Church 
 from its first annual meeting after incorporation until 
 his removal from the town. In politics he has always 
 
140 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 been a Prohibition Republican, but has never sought 
 civil or political office. He was married at Brain- 
 tree, Vt., December 7, 1875, by Rev. Samuel W. 
 Dyke, to Miss Sarah Amanda Belcher, daughter of 
 Jonathan Wales and Sarah Harwood Belcher, both 
 of her parents being descendants of John Bass and 
 Ruth Alden, the latter the third daughter of John 
 Alden and Priscilla Molines of colonial fame. 
 
 STONE, Waldo Hodge, homoeopathic physician 
 and surgeon. Providence, was born in Olean, New 
 
 W. H. STONE. 
 
 York, July 8, 1855, son of Samuel Hollis and Betsey 
 (Copeland) Stone. He is descended on his 
 father's side from the Normans, and on his mother's 
 side from the original Puritans. He possesses a 
 coat-of-arms from both sides of the house. He can 
 trace his ancestry directly to 1655, when Hugo 
 Stone came to this country from England. His 
 early education was received in a log-cabin school- 
 house in Calhoun county. 111. He afterward attended 
 the academy at Bridgewater, Mass., and graduated 
 from the Bridgewater Normal School. He taught 
 school at AVest Bridgewater in 1877 and became 
 Superintendent of Schools the next year. Later he 
 taught school in Danvers, Mass. He had been pur- 
 suing his studies ia medicine, and in 1881 became 
 resident physician at the Homoeopathic Dispensary 
 
 in Boston, and in June 1882 he graduated from the 
 Boston University School of Medicine. In Septem- 
 ber 1882 he commenced the practice of medicine 
 in Taunton, Mass., and was City Physician in 1884. 
 He located in Providence in December 1886, and 
 has been in active and successful practice since. 
 He is also Surgeon of the Rhode Island Homoeo- 
 pathic Hospital. He has been through all the 
 chairs of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
 and was Noble Grand of What Cheer Lodge in 
 1893-94, and is now a member of the Grand Lodge 
 of Rhode Island. He is a member of What Cheer 
 Lodge and Minnehaha Encampment I. O. O. F., of 
 the Knights of Pythias, of What Cheer Lodge, 
 Providence Chapter, and Calvary Commandery A. 
 F. & A M. He is also a Noble of the Mystic 
 Shrine. He has been Secretary of the Rhode 
 Island Homoeopathic Medical Society, and is a 
 member of all the Homoeopathic Medical Societies 
 of prominence in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 
 He is also a member of the American Institute of 
 Homoeopathy. He has never taken an active part 
 in politics, but is keenly alive to the issues of the 
 day. He is a Republican by party affiliation. He 
 married, June i, 1882, Miss Mary Elbe Goss of Dan- 
 vers, Mass ; they have children : George Burrill 
 and Samuel HolHs. 
 
 'J'HAYER, Philo Elisha, brush manufacturer, 
 Pawtucket, was born in Bellingham, Mass., 
 March 4, 1847, son of Samuel and Miranda 
 (Sherman) Thayer. He is of the ninth generation 
 of the Thayer family in America. The first of the 
 name to arrive in this country were Richard and 
 Thomas, with their families, in 1630; they came 
 from Braintree, Essex County, England, and settled 
 in Massachusetts, calling their settlement Braintree 
 in memory of their old home. Philo obtained his 
 early education in the public schools and the high 
 schools of Woonsocket, R. I., and West Milton, 
 Ohio. He worked several years in a brush factory, 
 and afterward for a few years in a grocery store. 
 Becoming a partner in the present brush manufac- 
 tory in 1873, he succeeded to the sole ownership 
 in 1880, and has since conducted the business 
 under the name of P. E Thayer & Co. He was 
 also one-half owner in the Woonsocket Brush Com- 
 pany from 1886 to 1893. Mr. Thayer was chosen 
 to represent his town in the State Legislature of 
 1894-95, and was re-elected for 1895-96. He 
 served as a member of the City Council for the 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 141 
 
 five years 1886-92, was again elected for 1895, and 
 is a member of the Board of Aldermen for 1896, 
 and was elected President of the Board January 
 6, 1896. He has been actively interested in mili- 
 tary matters, and was First Lieutenant in the 
 Woonsocket Light Artillery for the years 1869-70. 
 He is a member of the different Masonic bodies up 
 to the thirty-second degree and Palestine Temple 
 of the Mystic Shrine, and of Eureka Lodge of Odd 
 Fellows, Pawtucket Council Royal Arcanum and 
 Hope Lodge Knights of Honor ; he also belongs to 
 the West Side Club of Providence, the Rhode 
 
 PHILO E. THAYER, 
 
 Island Universalist Club, the Pawtucket Business 
 Men's Association, and the Garfield Club of the 
 last named city. In politics he is a Republican. 
 He was married, March 7, 1866, to Miss Georgianna 
 F. Arnold ; they have two children : Annie L. and 
 Hattie M. Thayer. 
 
 TARBOX, Otho, Superintendent of Schools at 
 West Greenwich, was born in West Greenwich, R. I., 
 April 5, 1863, the son of David 2d and Sally M. 
 (Cleaveland) Tarbox. He received his early edu- 
 cation in the public schools of West Greenwich and 
 attended East Greenwich Academy the fall and 
 winter terms of 1883-84. He has followed the 
 vocation of farming, and has been honored with a 
 
 number of public offices at the hands of his fellow- 
 townsmen. He was elected, May 28, 1894, a mem- 
 ber of the Town Council and of the School Com- 
 mittee. On April 3, 1895, he was elected a Senator 
 
 OTHO TARBOX, 
 
 in the General Assembly, and May 27, 1895, he was 
 elected Assessor of Taxes and re-elected to the 
 Council. He has been Superintendent of Schools 
 since June 1894. He was initiated into Exeter 
 Lodge of Odd Fellows, Exeter, R. I., in 1887, and 
 admitted to the Grand Lodge in 1891. In politics 
 he is a Republican. He is unmarried. 
 
 TIEPKE, Henry Edwin, Mayor of the city of 
 Pawtucket, was born March 21, 1857, in that part 
 of Pawtucket which then was in Massachusetts but 
 now is included in Rhode Island territory, son of 
 Henry Gustave and Tabitha S. (Leach) Tiepke. 
 His father was German and his mother American. 
 He was educated in the public schools, and being 
 left an orphan at an early age, secured his first em- 
 ployment at the Bunnell Print Works, Pawtucket, 
 as factory boy. Shortly after he engaged with the 
 hardware firm of George Mumford & Company, 
 Pawtucket, and upon their retirement from business,' 
 connected himself with Sargent & Co., New York, 
 the largest wholesale hardware house in America. 
 
142 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 He returned to Pawtucket to become clerk to the 
 superintendent of the foundry department of the 
 Fales & Jenks Machine Company. Later, he en- 
 tered the employ of the James Hill Manufacturing 
 Company of Providence, as manager, and in 1884 
 he became New England agent for the Iron Clad 
 Manufacturing Company of New York, which posi- 
 tion he now holds. Mr. Tiepke began to take an 
 active part in politics as soon as he was able to vote. 
 His first office was that of District Clerk of the old 
 town of Pawtucket, and after the city of Pawtucket 
 was estabhshed, in 1885, he was successfully elected 
 
 HENRY £. TIEPKE. 
 
 to the respective offices of Ward Clerk, Warden, 
 Common Councilman 1888-90, Alderman 1891, and 
 Mayor 1894-95. Thus it is seen that he has had 
 a thorough training for the public service. His 
 best work in public life probably was in his advocacy 
 of the passage of a law introducing the Australian 
 system of voting in municipal elections ; his efforts 
 toward the establishment of a municipal electric- 
 lighting plant ; his instrumentality in establishing 
 an ordinance requiring contractors for city work to 
 submit bids ; and his executive work as chairman 
 of the Cotton Centenary celebration in 1890, at 
 which time was celebrated with pomp and cere- 
 mony, and with great credit to the city, the centen- 
 nial anniversary of the founding of the cotton-spin- 
 ning industry in America by the use of waterpower. 
 
 which it will be remembered was the work of Sam- 
 uel Slater of Pawtucket. The executive capacity 
 demonstrated by Mr. Tiepke on that occasion 
 doubtless laid the foundation for his future success. 
 Mayor Tiepke's administration of the executive 
 office in 1894 and 1895 has received its best en- 
 dorsement from the people, who have witnessed his 
 introduction of modern business methods in the 
 administration of public affairs ; the consolidation 
 of several municipal departments into one general 
 public works department, and various other meas- 
 ures of economy, have resulted in the saving of 
 large sums of money for the taxpayers. He has 
 always been regarded as a safe and conservative 
 public officer, and is a careful and critical student 
 of municipal government. One of his achieve- 
 ments, which it may be said attracted general atten- 
 tion throughout the country, was in the settlement 
 of the labor troubles in the winter of 1894, when 
 the first substantial fruits of conciliation between 
 labor and capital were demonstrated. Mr. Tiepke's 
 political affiliations are with the Republican party. 
 He has held the state office of Commissioner of 
 Industrial Statistics from 1892 to date, and is also 
 Superintendent of the State Census of 1895. He 
 organized the Garfield Club of Pawtucket and has 
 been its President from the beginning, is President 
 of the Pawtucket Base-ball Association, and a mem- 
 ber of the Pawtucket Business Men's Association and 
 Pawtucket Cycle Club ; also a member of the Ath- 
 letic Association, Union Club, West Side Club and 
 Falstaff Club of Providence, the Home Market, 
 Norfolk and Exchange clubs of Boston, the Repub- 
 lican Club of New York City, and the Patria Club, — 
 auxiliary branch American Institution of Civics. 
 He is a member of various masonic societies, in- 
 cluding Union Lodge, Pawtucket Chapter, Paw- 
 tucket Council, R. S. M., and Holy Sepulchre 
 Commandery Knights Templar, also of Enterprise 
 Lodge, I. O. O. F. Mr. Tiepke was married, April 
 25, 1882, to Miss Marietta Harkness Paine; they 
 have no children. 
 
 THOMPSON, Henry Manton, Clerk of the 
 Supreme Court, and merchant of Bristol, was born 
 in Bristol, R. I., April 8, [850, the son of Joseph 
 S. and Roxana (Fish) Thompson. He received 
 his early education in the public schools, and early 
 devoted himself to business vocations. For the 
 past twehe years he has successfully conducted a 
 retail grocery store in Bristol. He was a member 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 143 
 
 of the Town Council for four years and of the 
 Republican Town Committee for six years. In 
 May 187 1 he was elected Clerk of the Supreme 
 Court, and has held that position up to the present 
 
 HENRY M, THOMPSON. 
 
 time. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum. 
 In politics he is a Republican. He married, 
 January 15, 1874, Miss Henrietta Bufifington; they 
 have two children : Charles H. and Nellie May. 
 
 TILLINGHAST, Frank Wayland, lawyer and 
 manufacturer, Providence, was born in Richmond, 
 R. I., May 19, 1859, son of Wilham B. and Julia 
 (Thompson) TiJlinghast. He received his early 
 education in the public schools, and fitted for col- 
 lege at the New Hampton Institute, New Hampton, 
 N. H. Entering the Boston University Law School, 
 he graduated in 1883, was admitted to the bar in 
 July of that year, and at once began the practice of 
 law in Westerly, R. I. After an active practice of 
 three years he became interested in manufacturing 
 at Johnston, R. I., and removed to that place in 
 1886. For something more than a year he gave but 
 little attention to law practice, the new enterprise 
 in which he was engaged demanding most of his 
 time ; but after getting the business better organized 
 he was able to resume his professional work, and 
 opened a law office in Providence, where he has 
 
 had a satisfactory and lucrative practice. The line 
 of business in which he engaged at Johnston was 
 the dyeing and preparing of cotton yarns. In 1890 
 he organized the firm of Tillinghast, Stiles & Com- 
 pany, incorporated, with himself as President and 
 George E. Tillinghast as Treasurer, and with Walter 
 F. Stiles of Fitchburg also interested. The enter- 
 prise has developed into a large business and the 
 firm is as well-known and ranks as high as any in its 
 line. In 1893 he became the owner of the Phcenix 
 Hosiery Mills, now engaged in manufacturing wool- 
 en yarns and for more than a year past in operation 
 night and day. Pardon S. Peckham, Jr., is associated 
 with him in this business, and is superintendent 
 of the mills. In 1894 he organized the Vermont 
 Manufacturing Company, incorporated, and has since 
 been President of the concern, which is engaged 
 in manufacturing butterine, has a fine plant on Jack- 
 son street, Providence, and is now selling three 
 hundred thousand pounds of its product monthly. 
 In 1893 Mr. Tillinghast also purchased, in company 
 with his father, the Arcadia Village in the town of 
 Richmond — the home of his childhood and his 
 father's place of residence. This purchase included 
 
 F. W, TILLINGHAST. 
 
 two mills operating ten thousand spindles and manu- 
 facturing print cloths, which have since been steadily 
 running. In 1894 the enterprise was incorporated 
 under the name of the Arcadia Company, with F. 
 
144 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 W. Tillinghast as President. In politics Mr. Till- 
 inghast is a Republican. He was a Representative 
 from Johnston in the State Legislature in 1888-89, 
 declining a renomination, has been Chairman of 
 the Republican Town Committee of Johnston for 
 the past three years, and is Town Solicitor of the 
 town of Johnston, having held the position for three 
 years. He is a member of the Pomham and West 
 Side clubs of Providence. He was married, May 4, 
 1885, to Miss Grace G. Peckham, daughter of Hon. 
 Thomas C. Peckham of Coventry, R. I. ; they have 
 two children : Carl K. and Leroy L. Tillinghast. 
 
 -TILLINGHAST, Pardon Elisha, Associate 
 Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, was 
 born in West Greenwich, R. I., December 10, 1836, 
 son of Rev. John and Susan C. (Avery) Tillinghast. 
 He is a direct descendant in the eighth generation 
 of Elder Pardon Tillinghast, the founder of the 
 Tillinghast family in the United States, who came 
 from Severne-Cliffe, near Beachy Head, England, 
 in 1642, and settled in Providence; he built the 
 first meetinghouse in the town at his own expense, 
 about the year 1700, on the west side of North 
 Main street nearly opposite Star street ; he was a 
 compeer of Roger Williams, a prominent merchant 
 and a most useful and respected citizen. Judge 
 Tillinghast, whose father was pastor of the West 
 Greenwich Baptist Church for forty years, never re- 
 ceiving any salary for his services, received his 
 early education in the public schools of West 
 Greenwich, at KiUingly, Conn., and at Hall's Acad- 
 emy, Moosup, Conn. He afterward attended the 
 East Greenwich Academy, the Rhode Island State 
 Normal School, and Potter & Hammond's Commer- 
 cial College in Providence, and later studied Latin 
 with Rev. Mr. Richards of Providence and Hon. 
 Thomas K. King of Pawtucket. At the age of sev- 
 enteen he commenced to teach district schools, 
 " boarding around," in order to earn money to ob- 
 tain an education, and taught for three winters. He 
 obtained his entire education and training without 
 the least financial assistance from anyone. He 
 commenced his active career by teaching school, 
 which profession he followed for seven years, — two 
 years as Principal of the Valley Falls Grammar 
 School, one year as Principal of the Meeting-street 
 Grammar School, Providence, and four years as 
 Principal of the Grove-street Grammar School, Paw- 
 tucket. He studied law with Charles W. Thrasher, 
 Esq., and Hon. Thomas K. King of Pawtucket, and 
 
 commenced practice in April 1867, succeeding to 
 the clientage of Hon. Thomas K. King on the lat- 
 ter's appointment as United States Consul at Bel- 
 fast, Ireland. He met with good success as a gen- 
 eral practitioner, but soon turned his attention to 
 municipal law and from 1874 to 1881 was Town 
 Solicitor of Pawtucket. He was a Representative 
 in the General Assembly from Pawtucket for three 
 years and Senator for four years, occupying the 
 position of Chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 
 the latter body. He was Chairman of the Joint 
 Select Committee of the two houses in the Revision 
 
 p. E. TILLINGHAST. 
 
 of the Statutes in 1872, and was Chairman of the 
 Joint Select Committee on the reception and enter- 
 tainment of President Hayes on the occasion of his 
 visit to Rhode Island, and made the address of 
 welcome. He was elected a Justice of the Supreme 
 Court in June 1881, and served in the Court of 
 Common Pleas until 1891, since which time he has 
 served in the Supreme Court, Appellate Division. 
 His opinions may be found in Rhode Island Re- 
 ports, Vols. 13-19. During the civil war he was a 
 member of the Twelfth Rhode Island Volunteers, 
 Colonel Brown, with the rank of Quartermaster- 
 Sergeant, and was honorably discharged on the ex- 
 piration of his term of enlistment. He was con- 
 nected with the state militia from 1862 to 1881, 
 holding the office of Second Lieutenant of Cavalry, 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 H5 
 
 First Lieutenant and Adjutant of Pawtucket Light 
 Guards, Captain on staff of General Daniels, 
 Colonel and Brigadier-General on staffs of Gover- 
 nors Van Zandt and Littlefield, and was Judge Ad- 
 vocate-General of the State for six years. He has 
 always taken an active part in educational and re- 
 ligious affairs. He served on the School Com- 
 mittee of Pawtucket for a number of years, also as 
 a trustee of the Free Public Library, and has been 
 President of the First Baptist Society of Pawtucket 
 for six years. He has been one of the trustees of 
 the Providence County Savings Bank for eighteen 
 years. In 1890 he received the honorary degree of 
 A. M. from Brown University. He is a member 
 and was at one time President of the Rhode Island 
 Baptist Social Union, and is also a member of the 
 Rhode Island Bar Club and the Pawtucket Business 
 Men's Association. In politics Judge Tillinghast is 
 and always has been a Republican, and was Moder- 
 ator in town meetings in Pawtucket for many years, 
 and in West Greenwich for seven years, commenc- 
 ing at the age of twenty-two. He married, Novem- 
 ber 13, 1867, Miss Ellen F. Paine; they have 
 four children : Alice L., John A., Angelina F. and 
 Frederick W. Tillinghast. John graduated in 1895 
 from Brown University, and is now in Harvard Law 
 School; Alice married Ralph R. Clapp in 1893 and 
 lives in London, England. 
 
 UTTER, George Herbert, editor Westerly Daily 
 Sun, was born July 24, 1854, at Plainfield, N. J., 
 the son of George B. and Mary Starr (Maxson) 
 Utter. His father was born in Oneida county, N. Y., 
 where his father had emigrated from Hopkinton, 
 R. I. His mother's father was John Maxson, a direct 
 descendant of Newport's first settlers ; and her 
 mother was a Starr, the daughter of Jesse Starr of 
 Newport, a Revolutionary soldier, and a grand- 
 daughter of Vine Starr, another Revolutionary soldier. 
 On this branch the line is unbroken to Elder 
 William Brewster, who came in the Mayflower. 
 George H. received his early education in the 
 private schools of Westerly, and for two years in 
 the preparatory department of Alfred University, 
 Alfred, N. Y. Then for two years in the Westerly 
 high school. He entered Amherst College, Mass., 
 and graduated in the class of 1877. He had 
 learned the printer's trade before entering college, 
 and after graduation he became associated with his 
 father and uncle, publishers of the Westerly Weekly. 
 On the death of his uncle in 1886 he became a 
 
 member of the firm, and on the death of his father 
 in 1893 sole owner. In August, 1893, he started 
 the Westerly Daily Sun. He has always taken an ac- 
 tive interest in public affairs. He has been a Trustee 
 of School District No. i. Westerly. He was colonel 
 on the staff of Governor Bourne from 1883 to 1885. 
 He was elected a member of the Rhode Island 
 House of Representatives 1885 to 1889 and was 
 Speaker the last year. He was a member of the 
 Senate from 1889 to 1891. He was elected Sec- 
 retary of State in 1891 and re'-elected two times, 
 
 GEO. H, UTTER, 
 
 when he declined a renomination. In politics he 
 is a Republican. He married. May 19, 1880, Miss 
 Elizabeth L. Brown of Allston, Mass. ; they h ave 
 children : George Benjamin, Henry Edwin, Mary 
 Starr and Wilfred Brown Utter. 
 
 VERNON, George Edward, merchant, Newport, 
 was born in Newport, April 16, 1847, son of George 
 E. and Anne A. (Bradford) Vernon. He was edu- 
 cated in the public schools of his native city and at 
 Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College in Provi- 
 dence, and entered upon mercantile life when under 
 the age of fifteen. From 1861 to 1866 he was en- 
 gaged in the coal business, after which he was in the 
 wholesale grocery business in Chicago for three 
 years, and went to Yankton, now South Dakota, 
 
146 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 engaging in various occupations. Returning in 1875 
 he entered into the furniture trade with his father. 
 After his father's death in November 1889, he con- 
 tinued the business with his mother and brother 
 under the firm name of Geo. E.Vernon & Company. 
 
 GEO. E. VERNON. 
 
 Mr. Vernon was Major of the Newport Light Infantry 
 from 1862 to 1866, and is prominent in Masonry, as 
 well as other fraternal orders. He has served as 
 Master of St. Paul's Lodge A. F. & A. M., was Emi- 
 nent Commander of Washington Commandery 
 Knights Templar in 1895, ^^'^ ^^ ^^^^ Regent of 
 Coronet Council Royal Arcanum and Past Leader 
 of Powell Council Home Circle. He is also a 
 member of Newport Chapter Royal Arch Masons 
 and of De Blois Council Royal and Select Masters, 
 also of the Newport Business Men's Association. 
 In politics he is a Repubhcan. He was married, 
 February 3, 1873, to Miss Harriet Peabody; they 
 have one child : Susan B. Vernon. 
 
 VIALL, Nelson, Warden of the Rhode Island 
 State Prison, was born in Plainfield, Conn., Novem- 
 ber 27, 1827, son of Samuel and Hannah (Shorey) 
 Viall. He is of old Colonial stock. His ancestor, 
 John Viall, came from England to Boston, and is 
 mentioned in the second report of the Record 
 Commissioner to January 11, 1639, when he was 
 
 allowed to be an inhabitant, and on June 2, 1641, 
 was made a freeman. His descendants settled in 
 Swansea and Rehoboth, Mass., where they held 
 prominent positions, and served in the Colonial and 
 Revolutionary wars. His mother was a daughter of 
 Col. Abel Shorey of Seekonk, Mass. He received 
 his early education in the common schools, and at 
 the age of fifteen was apprenticed to Hon. Amos 
 C. Barstow, stove manufacturer, Providence, to 
 learn the trade of a moulder. During his appren- 
 ticeship he joined the Providence Artillery Com- 
 pany, now the United Train of Artillery. AVhen 
 the war with Mexico broke out in 1846 he joined 
 the Rhode Island contingent in General Scott's army. 
 He took part in the engagements of Contressa and 
 Chapultepec, where he was wounded in ascending 
 one of the scaling ladders, and in the operation 
 which led to the capture of the city of Mexico. 
 He was twice promoted for meritorious conduct. 
 After the expiration of his service in 1848 he re- 
 turned to Providence, and for about two years was 
 in the employ of the late Thomas J. Hill. In 1850 
 he went to Bahia, Brazil, to erect and manage an 
 
 NELSON VIALL. 
 
 iron foundry, and remained there until 1854, when 
 he returned to Providence and resumed his occu- 
 pation as a moulder. When the civil war broke out 
 he was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Providence Artil- 
 lery, and immediately recruited a company, which 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 147 
 
 was incorporated in the First Regiment, under the 
 command of Colonel Burnside, and marched with it 
 in the defence of Washington. On the first of 
 June he returned to Providence, when within three 
 days he recruited Company C for the Second Regi- 
 ment, of which he was commissioned Captain. He 
 was promoted to Major for gallant conduct at the 
 battle of Bull Run. On the 12th of June, 1862, he 
 was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, and was pro- 
 moted to Colonel December 15, 1862, while com- 
 manding his regiment in the battle of Fredericks- 
 burg. While with the Second Regiment he took 
 part in the battles of Bull Run, Malvern Hill, 
 Williamsburg, Antietam and Fredericksburg. He 
 resigned January 5. 1863, and returned to Provi- 
 dence, when in August of the same year he was 
 commissioned Major and afterward Colonel of the 
 Fourteenth Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (colored). 
 He organized the regiment of eighteen hundred 
 men and served with it in the Department of the 
 Gulf until the close of the war. For his gallantry 
 and merit he received the brevet of Brigadier- 
 General April 15, 1866. In 1866 he was elected a 
 Representative in the General Assembly, from 
 Providence, and in May of the same year he was 
 elected Chief of Police for Providence, which posi- 
 tion he held for a year, resigning to accept the 
 position of Warden of the State Prison, which he 
 still holds, his administration having been marked 
 with great success. He was one of the nine charter 
 members who organized the Grand Army of the 
 Republic in Rhode Island, and is a member of 
 Prescott Post; in 1866 he was elected Junior Vice- 
 Commissioner of the Department of Rhode Island. 
 He is a member of the Soldiers and Sailors' Histori- 
 cal Society of Providence ; also of St. John's Lodge 
 A. F. & A. M. He married, February 5, 1848, 
 Miss Mary W., daughter of Silas and Freelove 
 (Millard) Peckham ; they have had six children : 
 Willard Seymour, Arthur Manchester, Grace Eveline, 
 Mary Nelson, Ellen Estella and Nelson Shorey, of 
 whom only two, Grace Eveline and Nelson Shorey 
 Viall, are now living. 
 
 WE EDEN, Charles Edv/ard, hotel proprietor 
 and insurance agent, Jamestown, was born in 
 Jamestown, September 4, 1848, the son of Clarke C. 
 and Lucy K. (Palmer) Weeden. He received his 
 early education in the public schools of Jamestown. 
 He has done much to develop his native town as a 
 summer resort. He was proprietor of the Prospect 
 House in Jamestown from 1888 [to 1891 inclusive. 
 
 and of the Hotel Thorndike at that place from 1891 
 to the present time. He has been an insurance 
 agent since 1882, representing the Providence 
 Washington Insurance Company. He was Town 
 Clerk from November 1888 to April 1891, was 
 
 CHAS. E. WEEDEN. 
 
 President of the Town Council from April 1892 to 
 April 1895, and was elected Senator from James- 
 town to the Rhode Island Legislature April 4, 1895. 
 In politics he is a Republican. He married, 
 October 12, 1886, Miss Flora M. Clarke; they 
 have no children. 
 
 WHIPPLE, William Lewis, merchant. Provi- 
 dence, was born in Olneyville, September 21, 1851, 
 son of Stephen D. and Emily D. (Barnard) Whipple. 
 His father was a leading marketman of Olneyville, 
 and the son has always been closely and very promi- 
 nently identified with the interests of that commu- 
 nity. He received a common-school education, 
 was graduated from the Mount Pleasant grammar 
 school in the class of 1868, and was then employed 
 for three years in the general store of Holloway & 
 Phillips. He next took a course in bookkeeping 
 and commercial law at Scholfield's Commercial 
 College, Providence, graduating from that institu- 
 tion in 1873. Entering the employ of Thomas 
 Sawyer, Jr., as bookkeeper, he continued in that 
 
148 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 capacity until June 1879, when he resigned to en- 
 gage in business on his own account. In August 
 1879 he opened a house-furnishing establishment at 
 47-49 Manton avenue, where he has built up an 
 extensive business in the better lines of goods. At 
 
 been evidenced in a marked manner. He is a thirty- 
 second degree Mason, and in the Odd Fellows holds 
 membership in both the Grand Lodge and Grand 
 Encampment of Rhode Island. He is also a mem- 
 ber of the West Side and Providence Press clubs. 
 Mr. Whipple was married, October 21, 1880, to 
 Miss Lucy A. Sawyer, daughter of Thomas Sawyer 
 of Providence. 
 
 WM, L. WHIPPLE. 
 
 the present time over thirty-five thousand square 
 feet of floor space is required to properly display 
 the various lines of carpets, furniture and stoves in 
 his stock. The manufacture of tin and sheet-iron 
 ware is carried on, and a plumbing department has 
 also been added. Mr. Whipple was elected to the 
 Common Council of Providence from the Tenth 
 Ward in 1884, and served three years, to the satis- 
 faction of all concerned ; he was Chairman of the 
 Harbor Committee, a member of the committee on 
 Lamps and Highways, and one of the special com- 
 mittee on the extensive "Gray Plan" for sewerage 
 of the city. He was elected Representative to the 
 State Legislature for 1893-94, and served on the 
 important committees of Corporations and Manu- 
 facturers. In November 1895 he was again elected 
 to the Common Council from Ward Eight, and is at 
 present serving on the joint standing committees 
 on Police and Water. He is a Director of the 
 Atlantic National Bank, Providence, and was the 
 first Vice-President of the Olneyville Business Men's 
 Association, and the following year filled the office 
 of President, in which organization his abilities have 
 
 WHITE, Hunter Carson, Sheriff of the County 
 of Providence, was born in Zanesville, Ohio, 
 December 18, 1853, son of Amos L. and Nancy J. 
 (Harris) White. He came from early Rhode 
 Island stock on both sides, being descended from 
 the Perrys, Lewises and Hoxies on his father's side, 
 and on his mother's side from Thomas Harris, who 
 came over to Rhode Island in 1630 with Roger 
 Williams in the ship Lyon from Bristol, England. 
 He was educated in the public schools of Provi- 
 dence and at the United States Naval Academy. 
 In business life he was prominent as Manager of 
 the Providence Cotton Lining Compnny from 1883 
 
 H. C. WHITE, 
 
 to 1892, and he has held the office of Sheriff of the 
 county of Providence from Jnne i, 189 1. In 
 politics he is an active Repviblican ; has been a 
 member of the Republican City Committee from 
 1878, Chairman 01 the Republican State Central 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 149 
 
 Committee from 1892, and a member of the School 
 Committee from 1881. He was Assistant Adjutant- 
 General of Rhode Island from 1892 to October 31, 
 1895, and then Adjutant-General. He is an ex- 
 President of the FrankHn Lyceum, Vice-President 
 of the West Side Club, and a member of the Society 
 for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry, the 
 Soldiers and Sailors' Historical Society, Rhode 
 Island Historical Society, Providence Athletic 
 Association, and the Pomham, Squantum and Press 
 clubs ; also a thirty-third degree Mason, A. & A. 
 Scottish Rite, and Past Commander of St. John's 
 Commandery Knights Templar. He was married, 
 December 11, 1877, to Miss Carrie H. Kelton ; 
 they have one child, a boy : Hunter C. White, Jr. 
 
 WIGGIN, Oliver Chase, M. D,, Professor of 
 Biology in the Rhode Island College of Agriculture 
 and Mechanic Arts, was born in Meredith, N. H., 
 May 3, 1839, son of John Mead and Polly Fox 
 (Wadleigh) Wiggin. He is a descendant of Thomas 
 Wiggin, first Governor or Agent of the " Upper 
 Plantations " — that settlement about Portsmouth, 
 now New Hampshire — who came to this country 
 in 1631, in charge of a colony sent out by the Bris- 
 tol Company, which had a special grant of what is 
 now Stratham, N. H. Lords Say and Brook suc- 
 ceeded the Bristol Company, and Thomas Wiggin 
 succeeded them, by purchase. He was noted as a 
 most able and useful adviser and manager in those 
 pioneer days. The original homestead has never 
 been out of the family name to this day, and the 
 graves of Thomas Wiggin and his wife, Mary Whit- 
 ing, are well preserved. Andrew Wiggin, son of 
 Thomas, married Hannah Bradstreet, daughter of 
 Gov. Simon Bradstreet and Ann Dudley, who was a 
 daughter of Gov. Thomas Dudley, a descendant of 
 Alfred the Great, King of England, also Hugh Capet, 
 King of France. The subject of this sketch is a 
 lineal descendant of Andrew Wiggin. He acquired 
 his early education in the common schools and 
 academies of New Hampshire, was fitted for col- 
 lege in the Providence High School, pursued a two- 
 years elective course in Brown University, gradu- 
 ated from the Harvard Medical School July 9, 1866, 
 and practiced medicine in the city of Providence 
 twenty years, establishing an especially large and 
 successful practice in obstetrics and the treatment 
 of children. He was President of the Providence 
 Medical Association two years, in 1880-82, Presi- 
 dent of the Rhode Island Medical Society two 
 
 years, 1884-86, Visiting Physician to the Rhode Is- 
 land Hospital eight years, from 1875 to 1882, sev- 
 eral years Consulting Physician to the Dexter Asy- 
 lum and the Home for Aged Men, and was an 
 incorporator of the Providence Lying-in Hospital, 
 and a trustee and its President from its founding in 
 1884 until 1891. At present he holds the position 
 of Professor of Biology in the Rhode Island College 
 of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, in which 
 capacity he has served three years. In addition to 
 his membership in the Providence Medical Associa- 
 tion and Rhode Island Medical Society, he is a 
 member of the American Medical Association and 
 
 OLIVER C. WIGGIN. 
 
 the Franklin Society. In politics he is a Repub- 
 lican. Dr. Wiggin has always had a warm love for 
 natural history and for rural life in general. He 
 has had a farm wherein he could find diversion and 
 a field for study and experiment from childhood, 
 and at present has several thousand acres in Vir- 
 ginia. His knowledge of embryology and compara- 
 tive anatomy and physiology has contributed in no 
 small degree to his success in fine stock breeding, 
 while his knowledge of chemistry, geology and botany 
 in their special relations to husbandry has stood him 
 in good stead in his practical agriculture and horti- 
 culture. He has contributed numerous articles to 
 agricultural periodicals and has delivered occasional 
 addresses to agricultural and scientific societies and 
 
I50 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 before other audiences. He was married, Decem- 
 ber 3, 1878, to Mrs. Helen Mortimer Jenckes, widow 
 of Leland Delos Jenckes, Esq., and eldest daughter 
 of the late Hon. Charles Nourse of Woonsocket ; 
 she died May 22, 1890, leaving no children. 
 
 WILLIAMS, William Frederick, physician and 
 surgeon, Bristol, was born in New York city, 
 December 23, 1859, the son of Isaac Frazee and 
 Mary Elizabeth (Weed) Williams. He is a direct 
 descendant in the ninth generation of Robert Wil- 
 
 W. FRED WILLIAMS. 
 
 Hams of Roxbury, Mass., among whose descendants 
 were one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, another the founder of WilHams College, 
 and others of prominence and distinction. His 
 own father was a very active and influential man in 
 his adopted town and state, many times a member 
 of the Town Council and its President, a member 
 of both houses of the General Assembly, many 
 years a member of the School Committee, a bank 
 director, high in the Masonic and Odd Fellows fra- 
 ternities, superintendent of a great manufacturing 
 establishment and the inventor of many useful arti- 
 cles. He received his early education in the public 
 and private schools of Bristol and at Mowry & 
 Goff's school of Providence, and graduated from 
 
 Brown University with the degree of A. B. in 1883. 
 He entered Harvard Medical School in 1886, after 
 a year of preliminary study, and graduated with the 
 degree of M. D. in 1889. He practiced for a few 
 months in New York city, but illness in his family 
 caused a return to Bristol, where he has since prac- 
 ticed. Dr. Williams is a vestryman of St. Michael's 
 Church, a member of the School Committee and a 
 Director in the Bristol County Savings Bank. 
 He has been Medical Examiner for Bristol county, 
 the second district, since 1892. He was Ensign in 
 the Naval Reserve Torpedo Company for three 
 years, 1891-94, and is now Lieutenant in command. 
 He is a member of the Providence Medical Asso- 
 ciation, the Harvard Medical Alumni Association, 
 the Brown University Medical Association, the 
 Harvard Club of Rhode Island, the Medico-Legal 
 Society, the Providence Athletic Association, the 
 Neptune Boat Club, and various other societies and 
 organizations. In politics he is a Republican. He 
 married, January 20, 1891, Miss Mildred Lewis 
 Williams ; they have no children. 
 
 WILSON, William Edward, Principal of the 
 Rhode Island State Normal School, Providence, was 
 born March 26, 1847, among the hills of western 
 Pennsylvania, near Zelienople in Beaver county, 
 son of Francis Thomas and Mary Ann (Morrison) 
 Wilson. His ancestors on both sides came from 
 the North of Ireland in the eighteenth century, the 
 Wilson ancestry living for a time in Northampton 
 county, then moving to Beaver county in 1803, 
 crossing the Alleghanies on pack horses. He grew 
 up on the farm which his grandfather and his father 
 had cleared in the woods, his early experiences 
 being those of the average country boy during the 
 years just before the war. The school of his boy- 
 hood was kept in a log house at the edge of a 
 wood, and afterward in a less primitive one of 
 brick. With no other education than that given 
 by the common schools of that day he commenced 
 teaching in 1865, during the winter terms, in the 
 country ungraded schools. He attended the State 
 Normal School at Edinboro, Pa., and afterward 
 the West Virginia State Normal School at Hunting- 
 ton, graduating there in 1870. Having prepared for 
 college at an academy at Jamestown, Pa , he entered 
 Monmouth College at Monmouth, Illinois, and 
 graduated from the classical course in 1873. He 
 was immediately ap]>ointed to a position in the 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 151 
 
 State Normal School at Peru, Nebraska, just then 
 vacated by Professor H. Straight. This position 
 he held for two years, during which time he was act- 
 ing principal for one term. In June 1875 he went 
 abroad for study and travel ; he studied history and 
 
 Stanley Ramsdell and Francis Thompson, August 
 23, 1887 ; and Caroline Lucile, September i, 1889. 
 Of these all are living except Ralph, who died 
 July 27, 1882. 
 
 W. E. WILSON. 
 
 literature at Edinburgh University, and visited 
 England, France, Germany, Switzerland and Bel- 
 gium, studying meanwhile during his travels, schools 
 and educational systems of the different countries. 
 On his return he taught in the Morgan Park Acad- 
 emy, Chicago, and was afterward principal of high 
 schools at Tekamah, North Platte and Brownville, 
 Nebraska. From 1881 to 1884 he was Professor of 
 Natural Science in Coe College, a Presbyterian 
 institution at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. From there he 
 came to Rhode Island to teach physics and biology 
 in the State Normal School, which position he held 
 from 1884 to 1892, when he was elected Principal. 
 In connection with his work as teacher, he has held 
 the position of Superintendent of Schools both in 
 Nebraska and in Rhode Island, and has done general 
 educational work by lecturing and writing. He is 
 a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity and of the 
 Temple of Honor. In 1881, June 30, Mr. Wilson 
 married, at Ceredo, West Virginia, Miss Florence 
 May Ramsdell, who is a descendant of John Alden 
 of the Mayflower; their children are : Ralph, born 
 April 28, 1882; Florence Alden, August 5, 1883; 
 
 \VYMAN, Colonel John Crawford, manufac- 
 turer, and Secretary of the Old Colony Co-opera- 
 tive Bank, Providence, was born in Northboro, 
 Massachusetts, September 13, 1822, son of Abraham 
 and Sarah (Crawford) Wyman. He received his 
 early education in the public schools until about 
 twelve years of age, when he was put into a country 
 store in his native town. In his eighteenth year he 
 procured a clerkship in the well-known drygoods 
 house of H. B. Claflin, then located in Worcester, 
 Mass. Subsequently he was engaged in mercantile 
 business for himself, in Boston, Worcester and New 
 York until 1861. Upon the breaking out of the 
 civil war he abandoned business for the military 
 service, and in May 1862 was commissioned as 
 Captain of Company A, Thirty-third Regiment 
 Massachusetts Infantry. The following September 
 
 J. C. WYMAN. 
 
 he was appointed Provost Marshal of Alexandria, 
 Virginia, and served in that capacity until the 
 spring of 1863, when he was placed in charge of 
 forwarding supplies to the Army of the Potomac, 
 then in command of Major-General Meade. In 
 
i52 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 October 1863 he was ordered to report to Brigadier- 
 General D. C. McCullom, General Manager of the 
 United States Military Railroads, and was after- 
 wards transferred to the Thirty-third Massachusetts 
 Cavalry in Louisiana, but was ordered by the Secre- 
 tary of War to remain attached to the military 
 railroad service. In May 1865, after serving as one 
 of the military escort accompanying the remains of 
 President Lincoln from Washington to Springfield, 
 he resigned his commission and became connected 
 with the Renssalaer Iron and Steel Company of 
 Troy, New York. In 1882 he removed to Rhode 
 Island, engaging first in mercantile business, 
 and afterwards (1882) in cotton manufacturing. 
 Colonel Wyman's business and executive abilities, 
 combined with his personal qualities, soon brought 
 him into prominence in the community and state of 
 his adoption. He was elected Representative to 
 the General Assembly from the town of Lincoln in 
 1888, served as Executive Commissioner of the 
 State of Rhode Island to the World's Columbian 
 Exposition in Chicago, and has recently accepted 
 an appointment by Governor Lippitt as Commis- 
 sioner to the forthcoming Mexican National 
 Exposition of Industries and the Fine Arts. In 
 politics he is a Republican. Colonel Wyman was 
 married in 1846 to Miss Emma C. Willard, of 
 Uxbridge, Mass. ; she died in Brookline, Mass., in 
 December 1861. In 1888 he married Miss Lillie 
 B. Chace ; they have one child, a son : Arthur C. 
 Wyman, born September 21, 1889. 
 
 WEST, Thomas Francis, lawyer, Providence, 
 was born in Dublin, Ireland, February 29, 1844, son 
 of John and Catherine (Cavanagh) West, of Irish 
 ancestry. He came to this country in 1852 and 
 settled in Providence, receiving his education in 
 the public schools of that city. At the outbreak 
 of the civil war he enlisted, in 1861, in the Seventh 
 New York Cavalry, served with distinction, being 
 wounded at Chancellorsville, Virginia, and was 
 mustered out in 1864. At the close of the war he 
 returned to Providence, joined the Fenians, and 
 
 participated in the famous raid on Canada in 1867. 
 In 1872 he joined the Massachusetts State Militia, 
 and did guard duty for two weeks at the great 
 Boston fire in November of that year. He adopted 
 the profession of engineer in 1872, and at one time 
 was connected with Thomas A. Edison, in Newark, 
 New Jersey; also with the American Conduit Com- 
 pany of Massachusetts, but commenced the study 
 of law, and in 1892 was admitted to the Rhode 
 Island Bar. Mr. West has always been actively 
 
 THOS. F WEST. 
 
 interested in politics, having held offices both in 
 Boston and Providence, and is at present one of 
 the State Central Committee of Rhode Island. He 
 is also connected with several secret and social 
 orders, and is a member of the Grand Army, 
 National Veteran Association, Providence Press 
 Club, and other organizations. In 1894 he visited 
 his birthplace, and made an extensive tour of the 
 Continent. Mr. West is married and has two 
 children : Alfred L. and Josephine P. West. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 ALLEN, Colonel Crawford, Jr., was born in 
 Providence, April 2, 1840, son of Crawford and 
 Sarah Seiiter (Crocker) Allen, and died in that city. 
 
 CRAWFORD ALLEN, JR. 
 
 May 7, 1894. Mr. Allen was descended on both 
 sides from early New England ancestry. His father 
 was one of the noted manufacturers whose enter- 
 prise and skill have made the name of Rhode Island 
 famous in the industrial world, for many years at 
 the head of the Allen Print Works, Providence. 
 He was a grandson of Zachariah and Anne (Crawford) 
 Allen, and a nephew of Hon. Zachariah Allen, a 
 graduate of Brown University in the class of 1813, 
 and long distinguished as a lawyer, scientist, in- 
 ventor and manufacturer. The family came from 
 Dorsetshire, England, in 1636. On the maternal 
 side he was a grandson of Rev. Nathan B. Crocker, 
 
 D. D., a prominent Episcopal divine of Providence, 
 and a great-grandson of Dr. Isaac Senter, a noted 
 physician of Newport, Surgeon in Benedict Arnold's 
 expedition to Quebec and in the Revolutionary 
 army, honorary member of the medical societies of 
 London and Edinburgh, and for many years Presi- 
 dent of the Society of the Cincinnati of Rhode Isl- 
 and. The subject of this sketch attended the 
 University Grammar School in Providence, prepara- 
 tory for college, and entered Brown University, but 
 did not graduate, as before the completion of his 
 college course he went abroad with a tutor, making 
 an extensive tour of Europe and extending his trip 
 around the world, visiting China, the East Indies 
 and the Asiatic Islands. Upon his arrival at San 
 Francisco news of the breaking out of the Rebellion 
 reached him, and he immediately returned home 
 and enlisted in a battery of light artillery then being 
 formed in Providence. On November 7, 1861, he 
 was commissioned by Governor Sprague as Second 
 Lieutenant of Battery G, First Rhode Island Light 
 Artillery, and November i8, 1862, was promoted to 
 First Lieutenant ; his regiment joined the Army of 
 the Potomac and participated in the Peninsula cam- 
 paign, and later in the battles of Fredericksburg 
 and Antietam, also in the second battle of Freder- 
 icksburg, where Lieutenant Allen was slightly 
 wounded. Shortly after the latter engagement he 
 was made Adjutant of the regiment and Acting 
 Adjutant-General of the artillery brigade of the 
 Sixth Army Corps, which positions he held until 
 September 30, 1863, when he was promoted to the 
 Captaincy of Battery H, and served at various 
 points in the defence of Washington. For several 
 months he was in command of Fort Richards, near 
 the Falls of the Potomac. In the spring of 1864, 
 Battery H was transferred to a more active scene of 
 operations, joining the artillery reserve of the Army of 
 the Potomac and participating in many important 
 movements and more or less severe engagements. In 
 
154 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 the following January the battery joined the artillery 
 brigade of the Sixth Army Corps, and took part, 
 April 2, 1865, in the final assault on Petersburg. 
 On this occasion Captain Allen was warmly com- 
 mended by General Wheaton, commanding the 
 First Division of the Sixth Corps, for the admirable 
 handling of his battery, and was recommended for 
 promotion to Major by brevet, "for distinguished 
 gallantry and most valuable services at the assault 
 on the enemy's works at Petersburg," which pro- 
 motion he received from the President bearing date 
 of April the second. Captain Allen and his battery 
 continued in active service until the close of the 
 war, and it is said, on the authority of an officer 
 present, that to Battery H belongs the honor of 
 firing the first gun discharged in the country in 
 celebration of Lee's surrender. Major Allen was 
 breveted Lieutenant-Colonel on June 12 following, 
 and the battery returned home and was mustered 
 out June 28, 1865. After the close of his army 
 career, until his marriage some twelve years later. 
 Colonel Allen spent the greater part of his time 
 abroad, having a residence in London, and coming 
 home only at infrequent intervals. The severities 
 and exposures of army service had implanted in his 
 constitution the germs of a fatal malady, to which 
 he finally succumbed, passing away at his home in 
 Providence, in the midst of his family, to which he 
 was devotedly attached. May 7, 1894. Colonel 
 Allen was a member of the old Rhode Island Club 
 of Providence, also of the Sons of the American 
 Revolution, and of several clubs abroad, his favorite 
 social organization being the Junior Naval and Mili- 
 tary Club of London. In politics he was strongly 
 Republican in principles, but independent in his 
 following of party candidates. He was married, 
 November 19, 1877, to Miss Clara Dennison, 
 daughter of Samuel Foster, a prominent manu- 
 facturer of Providence, now living at the age of 
 ninety-two years ; they had four children : Crawford, 
 Ella Clarke, Sarah Senter and Churchill Senter 
 Allen. 
 
 ANTHONY, James, Sheriff of Newport County, 
 was born in Middletown, R. I., November 6, 1840, 
 son of George and Margaret (Hathaway) Anthony. 
 He was educated in the public schools, and was 
 trained to the avocation of farming, which he has 
 successfully followed. He has served in public life 
 as a member of the School Committee and Town 
 Council of Middletown. as Representative to the 
 General Assembly, and as Sheriff of Newport 
 
 County, which office he now holds. In politics he 
 is a Republican. Mr. Anthony is a member of 
 Coronet Council, No. 63, Royal Arcanum, and of 
 Aquidneck Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, of Mid- 
 
 -^ 
 
 JAMES ANTHONY. 
 
 dletown. He was married, February 24, 1869, to 
 Miss Charlotte S. Coggeshall ; they have two chil- 
 dren : Arthur R. and Alfred C. Anthony. 
 
 ATVVOOD, Henry Clinton, Providence, was 
 born in the village of Williamsville, Killingly, Conn., 
 February 12, 1856, son of William A. and Caroline 
 A. (Hargraves) Atwood. His education was ac- 
 quired in the Williamsville grammar and Danielson, 
 Conn., high schools, the Friends' School and Uni- 
 versity Grammar School of Providence, and at 
 Brown LTniversity, from which he graduated in 
 1878. Following graduation he had charge of the 
 Williams\ille Manufacturing Company's store until 
 1881, when he assumed the position of Superin- 
 tendent of the company's mills. In 1886 he was 
 made Agent and Superintendent, and in 1890 be- 
 came Treasurer, Agent and Superintendent, in 
 which capacity he has served until the present 
 time. He is also a Director and Trustee of the 
 Windham County Savings Bank. Mr. Atwood is a 
 member of the New England Cotton Manufacturers' 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 155 
 
 Association, the Textile Club of Boston, the" Hope, 
 Union and Athletic clubs of Providence, the Prov- 
 idence Board of Trade and the Rhode Island Busi- 
 ness Men's Association. He is also prominent in 
 Masonry. In politics he is a Republican, and was 
 
 H. C. AT WOOD. 
 
 a member of the Legislature in 1888 and of the 
 School Board of Killingly four years. He was mar- 
 ried in 1878 to Miss Lillian B. Whitford ; they have 
 two children : Clinton William and Harold Brad- 
 ford Atwood. 
 
 BABCOCK, Joseph Alonzo, Secretary and 
 Treasurer of the Dixon Granite Works, Westerly, is 
 the seventh in descent from John Babcock, second 
 son of James, who with his family emigrated from 
 England in 1630 and settled in New England. He 
 therefore comes from lineage well represented in the 
 struggles waged in behalf of civil and religious liberty, 
 on account of which many fled to seek a refuge upon 
 these shores. At the session of the General Assem- 
 bly of Rhode Island, held on the first Monday in 
 July, 1780, "both Houses being resolved into a 
 grand committee," with other officers chosen to fill 
 up the vacancies in Col. Christopher Greene's regi- 
 ment, his great-grandfather, Ichabod Babcock, Jr., 
 was elected Cornet of a Troop of Horse ; and it was 
 " recommended to His Excellency General Washing- 
 
 ton to commission them accordingly." His grand- 
 father, Joseph Babcock, son of Ichabod, Jr., and Es- 
 ther (Stanton) Babcock, was born April i, 1762, and 
 married Sarah, daughter of Christopher Babcock, 
 Esq, August 10, 1782; he died in Westerly of 
 smallpox, December 22, 1796, in the thirty-fifth 
 year of his age. His father, Joseph Stanton Bab- 
 cock, son of Joseph and Sarah Babcock, was born 
 in Westerly, June 3, 1792 ; when a small boy he re- 
 moved with his mother and other members of the 
 family to Otsego county. New York; in 1825 he 
 settled in Cannonsville, a small village on the banks 
 of the Delaware river, in Delaware county, N. Y., 
 and May 10, 1827, he married Abby, daughter of 
 
 J. A. BABCOCK. 
 
 John Owens, a prominent citizen of that locality; 
 here he passed the remainder of his life, highly re- 
 spected by all who knew him, because of his spot- 
 less character, and here he died February 5, 1855. 
 In this retired and picturesque little village Joseph 
 Alonzo Babcock was born March 9, 1833. He re- 
 ceived his education in the public schools and in 
 the Delaware Literary Institute at Franklin, N. Y. 
 At twenty years of age, in 1853, he came to West- 
 erly and was soon engaged as teacher in the public 
 schools, receiving his first certificate from Rev. 
 Thomas H. Vail (afterwards Bishop of Kansas), 
 Rev. Frederick Denison and Rev. A. L. Whitman, 
 who were at that time the town school committee. 
 
156 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 He has continued to cherish the liveliest interest in 
 the schools of the town, and the opinions which he 
 entertains concerning matters of education always 
 command respectful attention. When the call for 
 three hundred thousand volunteers was issued by 
 the President, in the summer of 1862, he enHsted 
 " for three years, or during the war," and was 
 mustered into the service August 8, by Captain 
 Silva, at Providence. He joined Troop A, First 
 Rhode Island Cavalry, and first answered at roll- 
 call in Poolville, Maryland. He was in the ranks 
 during the march to Falmouth, when the regiment 
 was constantly on the flanks of the army and doing 
 picket duty. During the battle of Fredericksburg, 
 the regiment was sent to Dumfries to protect the 
 trains. From this time until the March following, 
 the regiment was engaged in hazardous out-post 
 duty, rendered doubly trying by the severity of the 
 weather. March 10, 1863, he was promoted to a 
 position on the non-commissioned staff. In May 
 he was with the regiment at Chancellorsville, in 
 June at Brandy Station and Middleburg, and on the 
 17th, when the fight was raging with the rear guard 
 of Stewart's command, he was prostrate on the 
 ground with typhoid fever. Unable to ride his 
 horse he was placed in an army wagon, and finally 
 reached Alexandria, Virginia. For a month and a 
 half he received in his tent the attentions of Dr. 
 Albert Utter, the Assistant Surgeon of the regiment, 
 but when, about the ist of August, the regiment 
 having been recruited and new horses provided, it 
 was ordered to rejoin the Army of the Potomac at 
 Warrentown, he was unable to proceed, and was 
 sent to the Queen Street Hospital in Alexandria, 
 where he was admitted August 8, 1863. Perhaps 
 no war and no government had ever before devel- 
 oped a more perfect and efficient hospital service 
 than that which then ministered to the Army of the 
 Potomac ; and added to this, the constant attend- 
 ance of his wife at his bedside for two months 
 made it possible for him to receive his discharge 
 from this hospital October 6, 1863, though he 
 carried with him a surgeon's certificate of disability. 
 Inheriting a sound body he entered the service in 
 splendid health, and at the expiration of fourteen 
 months found himself at home a shadow of his 
 former self, with his right limb paralyzed from the 
 effects of the fever, and remained an invalid for 
 more than two years. His love for the old regi- 
 ment still remains, and he is now a member of the 
 First Rhode Island Cavalry Veteran Association, 
 and was elected its President in 1890. He joined 
 
 Vincent Post, No. 6, Grand Army of the Republic> 
 upon its formation in Westerly in 1867, and re- 
 mained a member until it surrendered its charter 
 and was disbanded in 1870. When Budlong Post, 
 No. 18, was instituted in 1874, he became a mem- 
 ber, and has always remained in sympathy with the 
 objects and purposes of the order. In 1877 he was 
 Aide-de-Camp on the staff of the Department 
 Commander; in 1879 was Senior Vice-Commander 
 of Budlong Post; in 1885 was elected Post Com- 
 mander, and by unanimous re-elections held the 
 office for four years. He then peremptorily de- 
 clined a fifth election, but after an interval of one 
 year, he consented to again accept the office and 
 was unanimously elected. He was elected Captain 
 in the Westerly Rifles in 1872, and served two 
 years, when he resigned to accept the position of 
 Chief of Staff in the Third Brigade, with the rank 
 of Major, which he held for four years ; and when 
 the militia was reorganized into one brigade, he 
 was elected and commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, 
 and commanded the Third BattaHon from 1879 to 
 1 88 1. In politics he is a staunch Republican. In 
 1873 he was elected a Representative to the Gen- 
 eral Assembly of Rhode Island, and was re-elected 
 in 1876 and 1877. He served on the committees 
 on Education and Militia, and during his last term 
 was Chairman of the latter. He was Trial Justice 
 of the Justice Court of the town of Westerly from 
 1881 to 1884, when other engagements compelled 
 him to place his resignation in the hands of the 
 Governor; was trustee of School District Number 
 One from 1885 to 1889, and Chairman during the 
 last two years; is now, and has been since 1890, a 
 member of the town School Committee, and is at 
 present Clerk of the board. He was Moderator of 
 the Westerly fire district from 1878 to 1891, and is 
 now, and has been since 1882, Moderator of the 
 town of Westerly. He has long been prominent in 
 Masonic circles. He is a member and Past Com- 
 mander of Franklin Lodge, No. 20, Ancient Free 
 and Accepted Masons ; is a member and has 
 served as High Priest of Palmer Chapter No. 28, 
 Royal Arch Masons ; is a member, and is reckoned 
 among the earliest m the list of Eminent Com- 
 manders, of Narragansett Commandery No. 27, 
 Knights Templar. Among Masons he is recog- 
 nized as one who makes thorough preparation for 
 work ; his literary culture and tenacious memory se- 
 cure for him a mastery in all declamatory parts, 
 while the preciseness and freedom with which he 
 delivers the splendid ritual contribute to make it 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 157 
 
 most impressive. Mr. Babcock is not less known 
 and respected as a religious man. He is connected 
 with the First Baptist Church in Westerly, and for 
 twenty-two years has been Secretary of its Corpora- 
 tion. He has been repeatedly elected Superintend- 
 ent of the Sunday School, and as teacher for many 
 years has held with unflagging interest a large class 
 in the study of that book of which he is not 
 ashamed. At the beginning of the Fifty-second 
 Congress, in December, 1891, he went to Washing- 
 ton as Private Secretary to United States Senator 
 Nathan F. Dixon, and soon after became Clerk to 
 the Senate Committee on Patents. His term of 
 service there closed with the final adjournment of 
 the Fifty- third Congress, in March, 1895, when he 
 returned to his Rhode Island home. As an ac- 
 countant he has been connected with some of the 
 largest manufacturing establishments in Westerly, 
 and he is now the Secretary and Treasurer of the 
 Dixon Granite Works. Mr. Babcock was married, 
 September i, 1856, to Miss EHzabeth M., eldest 
 daughter of Isaac C. Burdick of Westerly, who was 
 also a teacher, and who in intellectual pursuits has 
 always thoroughly shared his tastes and inclinations ; 
 they have had two children : Edward H., born 
 November 21, 1857, and Mary A., born June 10, 
 i860, who died in Washington, D. C, January 20, 
 1892. 
 
 BABBITT, Edward Spaulding, insurance agent, 
 Providence, was born on Mount Pleasant farm, one 
 mile east of Bristol, R. I., July 20, 1829, son of 
 Jacob and Abby E. (Briggs) Babbitt. Jacob 
 Babbitt was the son of Jacob Babbitt, who removed 
 from Taunton, Mass , to Bristol the latter part of 
 the last century, and was there a silversmith, then 
 in the general mercantile business, and subsequently 
 engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods. Abby 
 E. Briggs was the daughter of Dr. Lemuel W. 
 Briggs, who removed from Middleboro, Mass., to 
 Bristol early in the century ; he was the son of 
 Lemuel W. Briggs of Middleboro. E. S. Babbitt 
 received his early education in private schools in 
 Bristol, and took a two years' course in Brown 
 University from 1845 to 1847, since which time his 
 life has ever been that of an active business man. 
 Removing to Boston in 1852, he became junior 
 partner in the firm of Page, Briggs & Babbitt, large 
 importers of metals and other supplies for ship- 
 building and ma( hine shop purposes, during which 
 time he was also interested with his father in the 
 
 rebuilding and operating of a cotton mill in his 
 native town, under the name of the Pokanoket 
 Steam Mill Company. In 1863 he became the 
 manager and executive officer of the City Insurance 
 Company, of Providence, continuing in that capacity 
 until 1880, when the company retired from business, 
 dividing to its stockholders more than the par value 
 of its stock. From that time forward he has main- 
 tained a most successful insurance agency in that 
 city. He was elected a member of the school 
 committee of Bristol, in which town he resides, in 
 1884, and now holds that office. He was elected 
 a trustee of the Juniper Hill Cemetery in 1865 and 
 still holds that position. From an early age he was 
 
 EDWARD S. BABBITT. 
 
 connected with St. Michael's Church at Bristol. 
 On his removal to Boston he became vestryman of 
 the Church of the Messiah and delegate to the 
 Diocesan Convention. Since his return to Bristol 
 in 1863 he has served St. Michael's Church as ves- 
 tryman, clerk, warden, and as delegate to the Di- 
 ocesan Convention from that time to the present. 
 Like his father and grandfather he has expressed 
 the Democratic belief in politics, but was never so 
 bound to the party as to feel compelled to vote for 
 its candidate, always claiming the right to cast his 
 ballot for the most reliable man. He was kept 
 from active service in the war of the Rebellion by 
 the enlistment of his father and the subsequent 
 
158 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 death of the latter, events which rendered his 
 presence at home absolutely necessary for the care 
 and settlement of the estate. He was however 
 alive to the wants of those at the front and did 
 much in obtaining and providing means for the 
 Christian Commissions. While in Boston he was 
 active in the Young Men's Christian Association, 
 and on his return home, with the aid of others, 
 organized one in Bristol, which has done much 
 successful labor among the young men of that place. 
 He married, January 4, 1853, Miss Arselia, daughter 
 of Daniel N. Morris; they have no children living. 
 At his death and that of his sister, the name of 
 Babbitt, which has held a prominent position in 
 Bristol for a century, will cease to be known there. 
 
 BALLOU, Charles Olney, M. D., Providence, 
 was born at Cumberland Hill, R. I., June 10, 1830, 
 son of Barton and Sarah (Rathbone) Ballou. He 
 
 C. O. BALLOU. 
 
 is a descendant in the sixth generation from Maturin 
 Ballou, who was a contemporary of Roger Williams 
 in the first settlement of Providence. His father. 
 Barton Eallou, was born at the old Ballou home- 
 stead in Cumberland, was graduated at Brown 
 University in the class of 1813, and acquired promi- 
 nence as a citizen of the town and state. His 
 mother was a native of Wickford, North Kingston, 
 
 R. I., his maternal grandparents being Abraham 
 Borden and Deborah (Cook) Rathbone. His early 
 education was acquired in the public schools, sup- 
 plemented by a course at an academic school in 
 Dudley, Mass. He taught school several years in 
 Massachusetts and Rhode Island, his occupations 
 prior to the war being teaching and farming, and 
 clerking in drygoods stores in Providence, R. I., 
 and Detroit, Mich. In 1861 he enlisted in Com- 
 pany I, Eleventh Rhode Island Regiment Volunteers, 
 and was in active service some eleven months, 
 returning home early in 1863. From about 1864 
 he was engaged for the next ten years in the manu- 
 facture of cotton goods at Weare, N. H., where he 
 was a member of the School Committee three years. 
 Representative to the General Court at Concord 
 two years, Justice of the Peace, and active in town 
 matters and to some extent in politics. In 1874 
 he returned to Providence to reside, and entered 
 the Medical Department of Harvard University. In 
 earlier Hfe he had studied medicine with Dr. Ballou 
 of Woonsocket, but not having the means to pursue 
 a thorough medical course, his professional aspir- 
 ations were temporarily set aside, and meanwhile 
 having entered into commercial business, his 
 entrance upon a medical career was postponed be- 
 yond his expectations. Graduating from the Har- 
 vard Medical School in June 1877, he at once 
 commenced practice in Providence, where he has 
 now been established nineteen years. Dr. Ballou is 
 a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society and 
 the Providence Medical Association, also of Rising 
 Sun Lodge of Masons, the United Order of Amer- 
 ican Mechanics and the Grand Army of the Repub- 
 lic. In politics he is a Republican. He was mar- 
 ried, November 17, 1857, to Miss Sarah Emily, 
 daughter of Welcome and Seriah Olney Darling of 
 Providence ; they have two daughters : Anna Dar- 
 ling and Kate Stuart, the latter now the wife of 
 William G. Payton of Providence. 
 
 BARKER, Henry Rodman, Mayor of Provi- 
 dence for two terms, 1 889-1 890, was born in Prov- 
 idence, September 15, 1841, son of William C. and 
 Sarah A. (Jenks) Barker. His father came from 
 Newport about 18 10, and was a member of the first 
 city government of Providence. He is a descend- 
 ant of John ' Barker of Harwich, England, who 
 married Elizabeth Hill, sister of Sir Rowland Hill, 
 first protestant Lord Mayor of London (1549), and 
 whose grandson James Barker sailed on the ship 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 159 
 
 Mary and John from Southampton in March 1634, 
 and settled in Rhode Island, at Newport, in 1639. 
 James Barker was Assistant Deputy Governor for 
 many years, also Deputy Governor, and he with 
 his son James occupied one of these ofifices for 
 a period of about twenty-five years ; he was fre- 
 quently associated on committees with Roger Wil- 
 liams, Governor Coddington, Governor Benedict 
 Arnold and other noted men of the times, and his 
 name appears in a royal charter granted by King 
 Charles Second. Mr. Barker is also descended 
 from Nicholas Easton and John Coggeshall of New- 
 port, and Giles Slocum, Thomas Lawton and 
 Richard Borden of Portsmouth, the early settlers. 
 
 HENRY R. BARKER. 
 
 On his mother's side he comes from the noted 
 Jencks family of northern Rhode Island. He re- 
 ceived his early education in the public schools of 
 Providence, graduating from the high school in 
 1859. Immediately following graduation he entered 
 the office of the Providence Mutual Fire Insurance 
 Company, and since 1883 he has been President 
 and Treasurer of that corporation. In 1864 he 
 entered into the insurance agency business with J. 
 T. Snow, which business is still continued by Mr. 
 Barker, under the same firm name, Mr. Snow hav- 
 ing died in 1883. Besides his insurance business 
 and connections, Mr. Barker is President of the 
 Rhode Island Investment Company, a corporation 
 
 owning large business properties in Providence, 
 and of the Roger Williams Savings Fund Loan As- 
 sociation, a very successful institution having assets 
 invested in mortgages in the city of Providence 
 and its immediate vicinity to the extent of about a 
 milhon dollars. He is also a Director in the In- 
 dustrial Trust Company, the Rhode Island Electric 
 Protective Company and the Narragansett Electric 
 Lighting Company, is Vice-President of the Old 
 Colony Co-operative Bank, and has been for several 
 years President of the Insurance Association of 
 Providence, an organization formed of the under- 
 writers of the city. Mr. Barker was a member of 
 the Common Council of Providence from 1873 to 
 1880, and of the Board of Aldermen from 1880 to 
 1883; in 1879 he was unanimously elected Presi- 
 dent of the Council, and in 1882 was elected with 
 similar unanimity to the Presidency of the Alder- 
 manic Board. He served as Mayor of Providence 
 two terms, from January 1889 to January 1891, and 
 has been a Commissioner of Sinking Funds of the 
 city from the latter date. He is a charter member 
 of Corinthian Lodge of Masons, and was its Master 
 in 1872-73; is a member of Calvary Commandery 
 Knights Templar, and was its Commander in 1889- 
 90, and is a Thirty-second Degree Mason. He is a 
 charter member of Slocum Post No. 10, Grand 
 Army of the Republic, of which he was Commander 
 in 1870-71-72 and has been Quartermaster twenty- 
 four terms. In 1879 ^e was elected Commander 
 of the Department of Rhode Island G. A. R. In 
 politics he is a Republican. Mr. Barker was mar- 
 ried, October 24, 1864, to Miss Annie C. Tripp of 
 New Bedford, Mass. ; they have two children : 
 Henry A. and Jessie L. Barker. 
 
 BARN A BY, Abnkr Jones, merchant, and many 
 years a prominent citizen of Providence, was born 
 in Freetown, Bristol county, Mass., May 23, 1834, 
 son of Stephen and Lucy (Hathaway) Barnaby, 
 and died in Providence, June 29, 1882. He was a 
 descendant in the sixth generation of Jamee Barnaby, 
 one of the early settlers of Plymouth colony. 
 James Barnaby married, in 1664, Lydia Warren 
 Bartlett, daughter of William Bartlett of Plymouth, 
 who arrived at that place in 1623, a passenger in the 
 ship Mary and Ann; William Bartlett's wife, Mary 
 Warren, came to Plymouth in 1620 with her father, 
 Richard Warren, in the Mayflower. Abner J. 
 Barnaby attended the district school of his native 
 town until the age of fourteen, when he became a 
 
i6o 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 student in the Mount Hope Academy at Fall River, 
 and afterward pursued a course at Pierce Academy 
 in Middleboro, Mass., from which he graduated in 
 1853. Following graduation he taught school at 
 Westport, Mass., for a time, and then removed to 
 Providence and entered upon mercantile life, being 
 employed for six years by his brother, J. B. Barnaby, 
 in the clothing business. In 1861 he started for 
 himself in the clothing trade, and established a 
 large and successful business in the location where 
 he continued up to the time of his death in 1882. 
 Mr. Barnaby's interest and labors were not, however, 
 limited to the demands of his private business. 
 His nature was social and public-spirited ; he was 
 
 ABNER J. BARNABY. 
 
 possessed of strong political principles and views as 
 to governmental policy in municipal affairs, and the 
 popular appreciation of his sturdy integrity and 
 business ability brought him at an early period of 
 his career into activity and prominence in public 
 affairs. He was elected to the Common Council in 
 1866, and held his seat uninterruptedly for twelve 
 years, in 1876 serving as President of that body. 
 The following year, 1877, he was the Democratic 
 candidate for Mayor, the first election resulting in a 
 tie vote, notwithstanding the city was strongly Re- 
 publican ; a second election was necessary, which 
 resulted in the election of Mayor Doyle by less than 
 fifty majority. In 1879 he was elected Alderman 
 
 from the Fourth Ward, and for several years he 
 served as Chairman of the Democratic State Cen- 
 tral Committee. Mr. Barnaby was a thorough and 
 steadfast Democrat, but won and held the respect 
 and esteem of both parties by being upright and 
 honorable in his political life, as in his business 
 career. A writer of the period says of him : " Mr. 
 Barnaby did a great deal to uphold and strengthen 
 the Democratic party in Rhode Island. In muni- 
 cipal matters he showed rare discriminating sense 
 and keen insight, and in business affairs manifested 
 great enterprise and tact. He was for years cham- 
 pion of the West Side in the long and determined 
 controversy over the location of the City Hall. In 
 this as in every other public question he represented 
 the interests of his constituents with assiduous and 
 unfailing fidelity, and many a weary hour he talked 
 against time to prevent a vote, when the other side 
 happened by some chance to have a majority 
 present. But no matter how long his speeches, 
 Mr. Barnaby was always listened to with pleasure, 
 for his voice was pleasing, his style attractive, his 
 eloquence effective and his words to the point." 
 Mr. Barnaby was a Mason, and was a member of 
 the First Light Infantry since 1858 and of the 
 United Train of Artillery since 1862. He was 
 married, December 31, 1863, to Miss Jennie 
 Wallace, daughter of Dr. Merrick Wallace, a prom- 
 inent physician of Ashburnham, Mass. ; they had 
 four children : Philenia A , Grace E., Jennie W. 
 and Fannie L. Barnaby. 
 
 BIXBY, Reverend Moses Homans, A. M., D. D., 
 Pastor for twenty-six years of the Cranston Street 
 Baptist Church, Providence, was born in Warren, 
 N. H , August 20, 1827, son of Benjamin and Mary 
 (Cleasby) Bixby. He was the fifth of eight sons, 
 of whom five were preachers. He united with the 
 church at the age of twelve, and feeling called to 
 the gospel ministry, he entered at once upon a 
 preparatory course of study. He was the youngest 
 theological student that e\'er entered the Biblical 
 Institute, now Boston University. At sixteen he 
 was a Sunday-school superintendent, and at seven- 
 teen was licensed to preach the gospel. For several 
 years he paid his way by teaching vocal music, and 
 he was never aided by any education society or 
 church during the twelve years of his preparatory 
 studies. He was ordained pastor of a church in 
 Vermont at twenty two, and continued in the pas- 
 toral office about four years. In January 1853 he 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 l6l 
 
 sailed for Burmah as a missionary of the American 
 Baptist Missionary Union. Stopping on the way at 
 Cape Town, South Africa, and being detained there 
 a month, he preached repeatedly to a little company 
 of believers, who were soon after organized into a 
 Baptist church, and it is said that more than twenty 
 Baptist churches have since been formed there. 
 He reached Maulmain, Burmah, in June 1853, 
 where he found the English church without a pastor 
 and wellnigh extinct. Within a few months, under 
 his preaching, the chapel was filled, and the mem- 
 bership increased from nine to forty-five. After 
 this he travelled extensively for several years in the 
 Tenasserim and Martaban provinces, preaching the 
 
 M. H. BIXBY. 
 
 gospel to many thousands. But the failing health 
 of his wife compelled him to return to this country, 
 and he landed at New York only to see his beloved 
 helpmate breathe her last before they could pos- 
 sibly reach home. In 1857 he became Pastor of 
 the Friendship Street Baptist Church in Providence, 
 where he remained over three years and where his 
 labors were greatly blessed, one hundred and 
 seventy-six members being added during his pas- 
 torate. But his pastoral relations were always held 
 in subjection to the cherished purpose of his life, 
 and as soon as a door was opened for him to re- 
 enter the field of foreign missions, he at once 
 embraced it. In the fall of i860 Mr. Bixby was 
 
 recalled to Burmah, and was appointed to open a 
 new mission to the Shans. Sailing via England and 
 the Red Sea, he entered the field early in 186 1. 
 Just before he reached Burmah, ten thousand Shans, 
 driven out of the Shan States by war, came in a 
 body to Toungoo and settled near his destined 
 home. Encouraged by this providence, he entered 
 with great earnestness upon the work of the new 
 mission, nor did he labor in vain. Success imme- 
 diately followed, and continued from year to year ; 
 the chief's son was soon converted, and converts 
 were multiplied, churches were formed, and a train- 
 ing school was established. In eight years Mr. 
 Bixby travelled extensively over various provinces, 
 far into the interior and among savage tribes, often 
 in great peril, but always with marked tokens of 
 Divine favor. These labors and exposures, how- 
 ever, proved too much for his naturally robust con- 
 stitution, and at length his health broke down and 
 he was again compelled to return to this country. 
 He left his family behind, fully intending to go 
 back ; but after a year all hope of his resuming 
 missionary work in that climate being abandoned, 
 his family was called home. For ten successive 
 years he was a sufferer from Burmah fever, but he 
 finally regained his health, and after more than a 
 quarter of a century of service in the home field, is 
 now able to do as much work as at any period in 
 his life. Under his supervision was gathered and 
 organized the Cranston Street Baptist Church in 
 Providence, over which his pastorate has continued 
 uninterruptedly to the present time. In the incip- 
 ient stages of the enterprise the responsibility rested 
 upon him alone. Seeing the possibilities of the 
 field, he personally assumed large pecuniary obliga- 
 tions for a church lot, in September 1869, and in 
 three months completed a chapel with a seating 
 capacity of five hundred. This building was en- 
 larged three times within ten years. In January 
 1870 the Sunday-school was opened with thirty- 
 five members, and in the following October the 
 church was organized with fifty-six members. A 
 new, beautiful and commodious house of worship 
 was dedicated in November 1893, and in January 
 1895 the twenty-fifth anniversary of the church 
 Sunday-school and pastorate was fittingly celebrated. 
 The results of these twenty-five years of labor are 
 seen in three houses of worship, two for the home 
 work and one for a vigorous out- station ; two 
 Sunday-schools, numbering nearly a thousand 
 members ; and an addition of eleven hundred and 
 sixty-five to the church, of which seven hundred 
 
I62 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 and twenty-seven were by experience and baptism. 
 Dr. Bixby's labors have not, however, been" con- 
 fined to his church alone, he having given counsel 
 and help to many others, and surpervised the build- 
 ing of four churches besides his own. He is pre- 
 eminently the friend of young people and deeply 
 interested in whatever tends to uplift the rising 
 generation. For fifteen years he has been a mem- 
 ber of the School Committee, and it was through 
 his efforts that the normal music course was intro- 
 duced into the schools of Providence. Fourteen 
 successive years he was chosen President of the 
 Rhode Island Baptist Education Society, and only 
 resigned on account of the pressure of other duties. 
 Thirty young men and twenty young women have 
 gone from his church to college. He is a trustee 
 of Brown University, Newton Theological Seminary, 
 Hartshorn Memorial College at Richmond, Va , 
 and Worcester Academy ; also a member of the 
 executive committee of the last named institution. 
 Dr. Bixby is even more vigorous now in the ministry 
 than in his earlier years, and is preaching to larger 
 congregations than ever before. He is in his 
 twenty-seventh year with the Cranston Street 
 Church, and the thirtieth year of pastoral work in 
 the city of Providence. Dr. Bixby was married, in 
 November 1849, to Miss Susan C. Dow, of Maiden, 
 Vt., who died in Burlington, Vt., in August 1856, 
 ten days after her arrival from Burmah. He was 
 married again, in 1857, to Miss Laura A. Gage, 
 principal of the New Hampton Ladies' Seminary, 
 who has since shared his labors and successes. 
 His daughter Jennie, born in Maulmain, in 1855, is 
 the wife of Rev. Freeman Johnson, M. D., missionary 
 in Toungoo, Burmah. His son, Ernest Merle, born 
 in Toungoo, Burmah, is the founder and head of 
 the Bixby Silver Company of Providence, R. I. 
 
 BOSWORTH, Benjamin Miller, Justice of the 
 District Court of the Fifth Judicial District, was 
 born in Warren, R. L, January 17, 1848, and has 
 resided there continuously since. His father was 
 Benjamin Miller Bosworth, son of Peleg Bosworth, 
 and his mother was Elizabeth Luther, daughter of 
 Martin Luther. His ancestry on both sides is 
 Colonial and Revolutionary. His early education 
 was obtained in the public schools of Warren. He 
 prepared for college at the Warren High School, 
 but did not enter, pursuing his studies instead with 
 Isaac F. Cady, and teaching school for two years. 
 He studied law with Judge Richard Ward Greene 
 
 and later with Thomas C. Greene, Esq., in the 
 meantime teaching evening school, was admitted to 
 practice law before the state courts in Rhode Isl- 
 and, in August 1873, at East Greenwich, and sub- 
 sequently was admitted to practice in the United 
 States courts. He commenced his legal career in 
 Providence, and since his admission to the bar has 
 been engaged in active practice. He was Trial 
 Justice of Warren from 1874 to 1876, Assistant 
 Attorney General from May 1882 to March 1895, 
 and has been Justice of the District Court of the 
 Fifth Judicial District since 1886. Judge Bosworth 
 has also served the public in various other official 
 capacities. He was a Representative from Warren 
 
 B. M. BOSWORTH. 
 
 in the General Assembly of the State from May 
 1880 to October 1882, and again in 1885 and 1886 ; 
 a member of the School Committee of Warren for 
 more than twenty years, acting as Chairman and 
 Superintendent for five years ; delegate from Riiode 
 Island to the Republican National Convention in 
 Chicago which nominated President Harrison in 
 1888; was Town Solicitor of Lincoln from 1891 to 
 1895, and upon the establishment of the city of 
 Central Falls, became and now is City Solicitor. 
 He has been actively interested in military affairs, 
 serving as Judge Advocate of brigade on the staffs 
 of Gen. Thomas W. Chace and Gen. Elisha H. 
 Rhodes, and as Adjutant, Captain and Colonel of 
 
A 
 
 (_>' . V-fcI<'-z--«''J'-i-'<-— ' 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 163 
 
 the Warren Artillery. He is a member of Wash- 
 ington Lodge No. 3, F. A. M., of Warren, twice 
 serving as Master j of Temple Chapter and Webb 
 Council, of Warren, having occupied the highest 
 office in both bodies ; and of Calvary Commandery 
 Knights Templar, Providence. He is also, a mem- 
 ber of Union Club of Warren, the Rhode Island 
 Business Men's Association of Providence, the 
 Providence Athletic Association, and the George 
 Hail Free Library, of which last named institution 
 he is one of the original corporate members, and 
 has been since 1873 its President. In poHtics he 
 is a Republican, and active in town and state affairs. 
 Judge Bosworth has been especially active in all 
 matters pertaining to the improvement of his native 
 town, — the introduction of water and electricity, 
 macadamized streets, etc, and the erection of pub- 
 lic buildings, being chairman of the building com- 
 mittees of the beautiful granite Library Building and 
 the Town Building recently erected in Warren. 
 He is also active in business affairs, being a director 
 in the Warren Trust Company, the Warren Gaslight 
 Company and the Bristol and Warren Water Works. 
 He was married, March 17, 1875, to Miss Mary M. 
 Cole of Warren ; they have no children. 
 
 BOURN, Augustus Osborn, Governor of Rhode 
 Island in 1883-85, was born in Providence, October 
 I, 1834, son of George O. and Hudah B. (Eddy) 
 Bourn. He is descended in direct line from Jared 
 Bourn, who came to this country from England 
 about 1630, removed from Boston to Portsmouth, 
 R. I., and in 1654-55 was a deputy from that town 
 in the Colonial Legislature ; at the time of King 
 Philip's War he had a garrison house on what is now 
 Gardner's Neck, in Swansea, Mass., in which the 
 settlers from the neighborhood took refuge. In 
 other ancestral lines he is descended on the pater- 
 nal side from the Bowens, Braytons, Wheatons, 
 Carpenters, Chases, Shermans, Tripps, Paines, Sterns, 
 Gibsons, Beckets, Blys, Gotts and other prominent 
 colonial families, and on the maternal side from the 
 Eddys, Ides, Blandings, Coopers, Walkers, Peck- 
 hams, Greenes, Clarkes, Weedens and others. 
 Among them were Francis Brayton, one of the 
 founders of Portsmouth, R. I. ; Robert Wheaton, 
 Richard Bowen, Nicholas Ide, Thomas Cooper, Jr., 
 Philip Walker and William Blanding, among the 
 original settlers of Rehoboth, Mass. ; Samuel Eddy, 
 one of the early settlers of Plymouth, and the son 
 of Rev. William Eddy, Vicar of St. Dunstan's, Cran- 
 
 brook, Kent, England ; William Chase, the ances- 
 tor in this country of the well-known Chase family ; 
 Philip Sherman, Anthony Paine, John Peckham, 
 James Weeden, John Greene, Jeremiah Clarke and 
 John Tripp, among the founders of Portsmouth and 
 Newport, R. I., and well-known as very prominent 
 citizens of their time ; and Charles Sterns, John 
 Gibson, John Becket, John Ely and Charles Gott, 
 among the earliest settlers of Massachusetts Bay, 
 Charles Gott being the first deacon of the church in 
 Salem. Augustus O. Bourn received his early edu- 
 cation in the public schools of Providence, passing 
 through the various grades from the primary to the 
 High School, and entered Brown University in 185 1, 
 graduating in 1855 with the degree of Master of Arts. 
 Immediately after leaving college he went into 
 business with his father, who was one of the firm of 
 Bourn, Brown & Chaffee, Providence, manufacturers 
 of rubber shoes, and, with the exception of some six 
 years spent in Europe, he has been engaged in 
 that business continuously ever since. He is now 
 manufacturing rubber shoes in Providence as sole 
 proprietor of a large establishment at Nos. 53 to 63 
 Westfield Street. He was Senator for Bristol in 
 the Rhode Island Legislature from 1876 to 1883. 
 During his first term he was a member of the Com- 
 mittee on Finance, and for the remaining five years 
 was its Chairman, and also a member of the Com- 
 mittee on the Judiciary. In 1883 he was elected 
 Governor and served two successive terms as chief 
 executive of the State. He was also Senator for 
 Bristol from 1886 to 1888, but was excused from 
 serving on any regular committees during that time. 
 In 1889 he was appointed Consul-General of the 
 United States for Italy, at Rome, which position he 
 held until 1893. Governor Bourn has travelled ex- 
 tensively abroad, in Cuba, Mexico, England, France, 
 Germany, Holland, Spain, Italy and Morocco, and 
 is well versed ni the French, German, Italian and 
 Spanish languages. He was the author of the 
 " Bourn Amendment " to the Constitution of Rhode 
 Island, which granted to foreign-born citizens the 
 right to vote on the same terms as those who are 
 native born ; he introduced the Act into the Senate, 
 and was chairman of the Joint Special Committee 
 to which the Act and others to the same or similar 
 effect were referred. In politics he is a Republican, 
 but was elected Senator the first four or five terms 
 without opposition. He was for a long time inter- 
 ested in military matters, having joined the Provi- 
 dence Horse Guards about 1861, and held every 
 position from private to major, and served as 
 
164 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel in the Battalion of Rhode 
 Island Cavalry. He is a member of numerous clubs 
 and societies, among others the Phi Beta Kappa of 
 Brown University, What Cheer Lodge of Masons, 
 and Calvary Commandery of Knights Templar. 
 Governor Bourn was married, February 24, 1863, to 
 Miss Elizabeth Roberts Morrill, daughter of David 
 
 C. and Mary (Wentworth) Morrill, of Epping, N. H. 
 Both the Morrill and Wentworth families have been, 
 from the beginning, very prominent in the history 
 of New Hampshire, and also of Maine, Vermont 
 and Massachusetts. They have four children : 
 Augustus O., Jr., born May 7, 1865, educated at 
 Providence in the University Grammar School and 
 Brown University, studied law at Harvard Law 
 School and Columbian University, Washington, 
 
 D. C, from which latter he graduated with the de- 
 gree of Bachelor of Laws, and is now practising his 
 profession at Denver, Col. ; Stephen Wentworth, 
 born April 5, 1877, now in Brown University ; Eliza 
 beth R. and Alice M. W. Bourn, the former study- 
 ing music in Vienna, and the latter living at home 
 with her parents at Bristol, Rhode Island. 
 
 BOYLE, Patrick Joseph, Mayor of Newport 
 in 1895 and 1896, was born in Newport, March 8, 
 
 schools of his native city, and pursued a classical 
 course under the tuition of the Rev. P. Grace, 
 D. D. Since the age of seventeen, or from 1877, he 
 has been engaged in business as bookkeeper and 
 confidential clerk for the Newport Gaslight Com- 
 pany. Mr. Boyle has always taken an active 
 interest in public affairs, and has served his city on 
 all important committees in both branches of the 
 municipal government. He was a member of the 
 Common Council for six years, 1885-92 inclusive, 
 acting as President of that body in the latter year, 
 served two terms as Alderman in 1893-94, and was 
 elected Mayor in 1895 and again in 1896. He is 
 a Democrat in politics, and is serving his second 
 successive term as Chairman of the Democratic 
 City Committee. Mayor Boyle is an active mem- 
 ber of the Newport Commerical Club and the 
 Robert Emmet Association. He was married, 
 January 17, 1894, to Miss Anna Frances Gatzen- 
 meier; they have one child : Patrick Boyle. 
 
 p. J. BOYLE 
 
 i860, son of Patrick and Barbara '(Conroy) Boyle. 
 He received his early education in the parochial 
 
 BROWN, Colonel Will Edwin, Colonel of the 
 Kentish Guards of East Greenwich, and Senior Colo- 
 nel of Rhode Island Militia, was born in North 
 Kingston, May 22, 1854, son of Ed\vin and Sybil 
 (Spencer) Brown. His grandparents on the pater- 
 nal side were John and Abby (Adams) Brown, and 
 on the maternal side Job and Rebecca (Briggs) 
 Spencer. He is a descendant in the ninth genera- 
 tion of John Spencer, who landed at Newburyport, 
 Mass., in 1633, and came to Newport, R. I., in 1677, 
 and whose son, Thomas Spencer, was the first white 
 child born in East Greenwich. His great-great- 
 grandfather Benjamin Spencer was a charter mem- 
 ber of the Kentish Guards, organized in 1774, and 
 served with them through the war of the Revolution. 
 On the father's side he is descended from Chad 
 Brown, who landed at Boston in 1638, and came to 
 Providence in the same year. His great-great- 
 grandfather Colonel Robert Brown, who was the 
 great-great-grandson of Chad, served with distinction 
 through the Revolution, defeating Captain Wallace 
 of King George's fleet off Newport, for which he 
 was publicly thanked by the General Assembly of 
 Rhode Island. The Colonial History gives consid- 
 erable space to his deeds. He is also a direct 
 descendant (great-great-grandson) of Major Eben- 
 ezer Adams, who came from the Massachusetts 
 Adams family, and who was one of the party that 
 under command of Colonel Barton entered the 
 Prescott camp and captured General Prescott, and 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 165 
 
 who also led a party on Patience Island and captured 
 fifteen of His Royal Highness' naval officers. He 
 also had a grandfather and two great-uncles in the 
 war of 1 81 2, and a great-uncle in the Mexican war. 
 Will Edwin Brown was educated in the public schools 
 of Portsmouth and East Greenwich, the Highland 
 Military Academy of Worcester, Mass., and the 
 Commercial Department of the Providence Confer- 
 ence Seminary, now known as East Greenwich 
 Academy. At the age of manhood, in 1874, he 
 became associated with A. W. Place under the firm 
 name of Place & Brown, in the house-painting busi- 
 ness. Two years later he sold out to his partner, 
 and entered the employ of W. H. Hunt & Son. con- 
 
 WILL E. BROWN. 
 
 tinuing this relation three years, then purchasing a 
 half interest, and continuing under the name of 
 Hunt & Brown. In 1881, A. W. Place bought the 
 Hunts' interest and the firm became Brown & Place, 
 from which Mr. Brown shortly after retired on ac- 
 count of poor health. He afterward became asso- 
 ciated with the clothing firm of J. P. Mowry & 
 Company as local salesman, subsequently going to 
 Attleboro and Marlboro, Mass., in the same capacity 
 for the firm. In 1886 he accepted a position with 
 the Greenwich Printing Company, with whom he 
 was employed until the fall of 1889, when he entered 
 the employ of the Adams Express Company, and is 
 now serving as their agent at East Greenwich. 
 
 Colonel Brown holds the civil offices of Chief of 
 Police and Town Sergeant of East Greenwich, having 
 been appointed to the former successively in 1893- 
 94-95, and elected to the latter each year since 1892, 
 in two instances by a unanimous vote. Upon the 
 organization of a volunteer fire department in East 
 Greenwich, Mr. Brown took an active interest in its 
 affairs and assisted in perfecting its organization, 
 volunteering his services as a member, filled a num- 
 ber of offices, and at the close of five years' service 
 retired as first assistant engineer. He enlisted in 
 the Kentish Guards in 1868, and rose through the 
 various grades until elected Colonel in 1881, and 
 has been unanimously re-elected every year since, 
 having been in command longer than any officer 
 before him, and making him Senior Colonel of 
 Rhode Island Militia. He has also served as First 
 Lieutenant and Captain of Company C, Third Bat- 
 talion Infantry, First Brigade, and as Major in the 
 Third Battalion Brigade, R. I. M., with which rank 
 he was. mustered out in July 1881. Besides his 
 official membership in the Kentish Guards, he is a 
 member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery 
 Company of Massachusetts, the Military Service 
 Institution of New York, and the Rhode Island Sons 
 of the American Revolution. He is also a prominent 
 Odd Fellow, having filled nearly all the offices in 
 Harmony Lodge of East Greenwich, and serving on 
 important committees in the Grand Lodge of Rhode 
 Island. In politics he is an Independent, with 
 Democratic proclivities. Colonel Brown was mar- 
 ried, May 22, 1876, to Miss Harriet Frances Vaughn 
 of Warwick, R. I., who died June 16, 1892; they 
 had two children, both of whom died at birth. He 
 was married, second, January 22, 1896, to Miss Cora 
 Jane Smith of Providence. 
 
 BUDLONG, John Clark, M. D., Surgeon- 
 General of Rhode Island for nearly twenty years, 
 was born in Cranston, R. I , August 28, 1836, son 
 of Samuel and Rachel (Martin) Budlong. He is a 
 lineal descendant of Francis Budlong, the first of the 
 name in the colony of Rhode Island, who with his 
 wife and all his family except one child were massa- 
 cred by the Indians at the outbreak of King Philip's 
 war in 1675 ; his son John, then three or four years 
 old, was carried away by the Indians but was 
 subsequently rescued and became the owner of 
 twenty-five acres of land on Coweset Bay in 1692, 
 to which he added at various times until he owned 
 a tract of several hundred acres, including Brush 
 
1 66 
 
 MEN OFfPROGRESS. 
 
 Neck, on which he built the house at present 
 owned by Henry VV. Budlong, one of the old- 
 est now standing in Warwick. The line of de- 
 scent is : Moses, Samuel, Samuel second, Samuel 
 third, and John, who is the subject of this sketch. 
 Dr. Budlong is also a lineal descendant, in the 
 seventh generation, of Roger Williams. His 
 mother was descended from Christopher Martin, 
 who came over with the founders of Plymouth 
 colony in the Mayflower. He attended the district 
 school of his native town, and Fruit-Hill Classical 
 Institute, from which he graduated valedictorian of 
 his class. He then entered Smithville Seminary 
 (afterward Lapham Institute) at North Scituate, 
 
 J. C. BUDLONG. 
 
 and pursued a special course preparatory to the 
 study of medicine. Instead of entering college he 
 devoted five years to his medical course, in 1855 
 placing himself under the tuition of Dr. I. W. 
 Sawin at Centredale, who enjoyed a high repute as 
 a physician, and in 1857 he entered the Homoeo- 
 pathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, which later 
 was merged into the Hahnemann Medical College. 
 At the end of his course he returned home, and 
 was unable to resume his studies in Philadelphia 
 until 1862, when he completed them and obtained 
 his degree of Doctor of Medicine, March 3, 1863. 
 The winters of 1857-8 and 1863 he attended clinics 
 at the Pennsylvania Hospital and Philadelphia 
 
 Almshouse, and during this time became a private 
 pupil of Dr. Agnew, Professor of Surgery in the 
 University of Pennsylvania, studying surgical anat- 
 omy and operative surgery, and receiving a certifi- 
 cate of proficiency in both branches. After gradua- 
 tion he was tendered and accepted the assistant charge 
 of the College Dispensary. Dr. Budlong intended 
 to establish himself in Philadelphia, and opened an 
 office in that city, but feeling it his duty to enter 
 the government service, he returned to his state to 
 take part in the military movements then being 
 organized. In July 1863 he enhsted in the Third 
 Regiment Rhode Island Cavalry, was immediately 
 appointed Assistant Surgeon in charge, and subse- 
 quently was advanced to the rank of Surgeon. The 
 regiment sailed for New Orleans in December 1863, 
 and took part in the Red River campaign, during 
 which Dr. Budlong held the positions of Brigade 
 and Division Surgeon, and for a time Surgeon in 
 Charge of the General Hospital. He remained 
 with the army, arranging and systematizing various 
 matters connected with the Medical Bureau until 
 December 1865, when he was honorably discharged 
 Returning to Rhode Island he engaged in practice 
 in partnership with his brother-in-law and late 
 preceptor, Dr. Sawin, at Centredale, until the 
 latter removed to Providence in 1868, since when 
 Dr. Budlong has continued the practice. Some 
 time after the war he was solicited to join the 
 state troops, and having a natural liking for the 
 military service, joined the Pawtucket Horse Guards, 
 of which he was chosen Surgeon. Later he was 
 promoted to Brigade Surgeon of the Second Brigade, 
 which position he held several years. In 1875 he 
 was elected Surgeon-General of the state, with rank 
 of Brigadier-General, being the first homoeopathic 
 physician to be accorded this honor in any state, 
 and in which capacity he served continuously for 
 nineteen years. Dr. Budlong is a member of the 
 American Institute of Homoeopathy, is Vice-Presi- 
 dent of the National Homoeopathic Medical Society, 
 has served one year as Treasurer and two years as 
 President of the Rhode Island Homceopathic Med- 
 ical Society, and represented his state in the World's 
 Homoeopathic Medical Congress held at Philadelphia 
 in the centennial year of 1876. He is also an hon- 
 orary member of the New York State and Massa- 
 chusetts Homceopathic medical societies. He is a 
 thirty-second degree Mason, member of the Loyal 
 Legion of the Lhiited States, the Grand Army of 
 the Republic, the Athletic and Squantum clubs of 
 Providence, and associate member of the Military 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 167 
 
 Service Institution of the United States ; he is also 
 an active member of the Association of Mihtary 
 Surgeons of the United States. He has been for 
 many years a communicant and vestryman of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church, of which he is a 
 zealous member. In politics he is a Republican, 
 but has always declined political honors, which have 
 been repeatedly tendered him. He resides in 
 Providence. Dr. Budlong was married, June 7, 
 1866, to Miss Martha Alexander, daughter of the 
 late Professor Walter Williamson of Philadelphia ; 
 they have had eight children, of whom only three are 
 living : Walter Williamson Budlong, salesman in the 
 house of Callender, McAuslan & Troup, Providence ; 
 Martin Salisbury Budlong, A. M., M. D., associated 
 in medical practice with his father ; and John Clark 
 Budlong, Jr., insurance agent. Providence. Mrs. 
 Budlong's ancestors, the Williamsons, were among 
 the early settlers of Pennsylvania, and a portion of 
 the original Pennsylvania grant of lands in Delaware 
 county is still in possession of the family ; her 
 father was Emeritus Professor in the Homoeopathic 
 Medical College of Pennsylvania and a man of 
 distinguished ability. 
 
 CAMPBELL, John Park, President of the 
 Campbell Mills, Westerly, and of the Cranston 
 Print Works Company, was born in Voluntown, 
 Conn., December 28, 1822, son of Winthrop and 
 Susan Dorrence (Gordon) Campbell. He is the 
 third of four Campbell brothers, all prominently en- 
 gaged in business in Rhode Island. The ancestry 
 of this branch of the Campbell family runs back to 
 Scotland, and counts many highly worthy names in 
 the various professions and all the walks of life. 
 Robert Campbell emigrated from Scotland to New 
 England with his wife and six children in 17 19, and 
 located first in New London, Conn , afterwards 
 settling at Voluntown, where they were among the 
 first settlers of the region. Robert's son John, 
 known in local history as Dr. John on account of 
 his professional skill, married and had eight chil- 
 dren. His son John, the second of the name, well 
 known as Deacon John, born in 1728, had six chil- 
 dren, among them a third John, born 1758, who was 
 a farmer of the stalwart type of those days, and be- 
 came a soldier and a captain in the war of the Rev- 
 olution. Winthrop, a son of this Captain John and 
 father of the present John, was born in 1786 and 
 had nine children, of whom four were sons, as has 
 been stated ; he was an enterprising and successful 
 
 farmer. John Park, the subject of this sketch, re- 
 ceived his early education in the public schools, 
 combining with this course of study a home training 
 in industry, economy and integrity that had an im- 
 portant bearing upon his uninterrupted success in his 
 business undertakings. Deciding upon a business 
 career, he first engaged as clerk in a store at West- 
 erly, where his brother Horatio N. had been four 
 years employed. Later in the same year, 1840, the 
 proprietor of the business, who was also a large and 
 distinguished manufacturer, moved into larger 
 quarters and took in Horatio as partner, the firm 
 becoming H. N. Campbell & Company. John 
 continued with the new house until 1850, when he 
 
 J. p. CAMPBELL. 
 
 became a member of the firm and soon rose to 
 prominence by his activity, tact and good business 
 judgment ; the house dealt in merchandise, manu- 
 facturers' supplies and wool. In 1855 he retired 
 from this connection, and forming a copartnership 
 with his brother James M., established a wholesale 
 house in Providence, dealing in wool and cotton, 
 under the firm name of J. P. & J. M. Campbell. 
 They built up a prosperous business and continued 
 until 1865, when James withdrew to enter upon 
 other engagements, and a new firm was formed 
 bearing the name of J. P. Campbell & Co., of 
 which another brother, Daniel G., was a member. 
 At this time the firm added to their business the 
 
i68 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 manufacture of woolen goods, first taking on lease 
 the Belleville Mill in North Kingston, which was im- 
 proved and run to good advantage. In 1876 the 
 firm bought the mill property at Potter Hill in 
 Westerly, which, after being nearly doubled in capac- 
 ity, has ever since been known as the Campbell 
 Mills, and is one of the best woolen manufacturing 
 plants in Rhode Island. In 1887 John bought the 
 interest of his brother Daniel in the Belleville Mills, 
 enlarged the structure, added new machinery and 
 made it a first-class fancy-cassimere mill. The 
 Campbell Mills at Potter Hill are now incorporated, 
 John being President and Daniel the Treasurer. 
 John and Daniel also bought in 1884 the Riverside 
 Mill in East Providence, a new plant, which they 
 equipped with ten thousand spindles for working 
 cotton. In 1888 John and B. B. & R. Knight 
 bought the Cranston Print Works property, formerly 
 owned by the Spragues, fitted it for bleaching, dye- 
 ing and finishing cotton goods, and organized the 
 business under the name of the Cranston Print 
 Works Company, of which Mr. Campbell is the 
 President. Mr. Campbell is a prominent member 
 of the Providence Board of Trade, of which he was 
 one of the organizers. He has been for more than 
 twenty years a Director in the Second National 
 Bank of Providence and has been a Director in the 
 Industrial Trust Company almost from its formation. 
 Politically he was an old line Whig, and on the 
 formation of the Republican party naturally en- 
 listed under its banner, never however seeking or 
 accepting public office. In religion he was reared 
 a Presbyterian, but early became an Episcopalian, 
 uniting with Christ Church in Westerly and after- 
 wards with Grace Church in Providence. Mr. 
 Campbell was married, February 25, 1873, to Miss 
 Jessie H. Babcock of Liverpool, England. His 
 wife was born in Glasgow, Scotland, while her 
 father, Benjamin F. Babcock of Stonington, Conn., 
 was engaged there in a branch of a banking house 
 with his brother, Samuel D. Babcock, then of New 
 York. He resides in Providence. 
 
 CHAMPLIN, John Carder, M. D., of Block 
 Island, was born in the homestead of his grand- 
 father Rose at New Shoreham, Block Island, 
 February 13, 1864, son of John P. and Lydia M. 
 (Rose) Champlin. His father was the only son of 
 Christopher E. andRosina (Pocock) Champlin, and 
 Christopher was the fourth and youngest son of 
 Nathaniel and Mary T. (Hull) Champlin, who were 
 
 the first of the family to settle on Block Island (about 
 1 7 75)- The Champlin family is one of the oldest on 
 the island, and the name is closely connected and 
 associated with all the principal events that make 
 its history. John P. Champlin, the father of Dr. 
 Champlin, has been at the head of the town govern- 
 ment for the last quarter of a century. The subject 
 of this sketch received his early education in the 
 public schools of New Shoreham and the Island 
 High School. Adopting medicine as a profession, 
 he entered the Boston University School of Medicine, 
 from which he graduated in June 1885 with the 
 degree of M. D. Being induced to locate in his 
 native town, he began the practice of medicine on 
 
 JOHN CARDER CHAMPLIN. 
 
 Block Island in July 1885, and has continued there 
 until the present time. He has the honor of being 
 the first physician born on Block Island. He was 
 appointed Postmaster of Block Island in July 1888, 
 and in February 1893 he was appointed Medical 
 Examiner of the Second District of Newport County 
 for six years. He was elected a member of the 
 School Committee of the town of New Shoreham in 
 April 1894. Dr. Champlin is a member of the Rhode 
 Island Homu.>opathic Medical Society and the 
 Hahnemann Medical Society of Boston ; also of 
 Atlantic Lodge of Masons, of which he was master 
 from 1890 to 1895, Columbus Lodge Knights of 
 Pythias, Newport Chapter, De Blois Council, and 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 169 
 
 Washington Commandery Knights Templar. He 
 is a member of the First Baptist Church of Block 
 Island. In politics he is a Democrat. Although 
 never seeking ofifice, Dr. Champlin has always been 
 active in all enterprises for the welfare and develop- 
 ment of his native town, and was especially influential 
 in securing the completion of the harbor of refuge 
 in the Great Salt Pond of Block Island. He was 
 married, Jxme 23, 1886, to Miss Annie J. Conley, 
 daughter of Captain George W. and Arabella 
 (Dodge) Conley ; they have three children : Annie 
 A., Rose and Christopher A. Champlin. 
 
 CLANCY, William P., Postmaster of Westerly, 
 was born in Waterford, New London county, Conn., 
 June 20, 1855, son of James and Bridget (McGrath) 
 
 WM. p. CLANCY. 
 
 Clancy. He is of Irish ancestry. His father was 
 born in County Limerick, Ireland, in 1822, and 
 emigrated to America in 1849, and his mother was 
 born in County Tipperary in 1832, and came to this 
 country in 1848 ; they came to Westerly in April 
 1858. William's early education was acquired in 
 the public schools of Westerly, from 1862 to 1868. 
 His parents being in comparatively poor circum- 
 stances, and he being the eldest of eight children, 
 he was obliged to leave school at an early age, but 
 attended evening school during the winter months 
 
 of 1869-70. He learned the granite cutters' trade, 
 and commencing the business in November 1872, 
 continued in that occupation until November 1893, 
 always working hard during the day and devoting 
 his evenings to study. Mr. Clancy is a member of 
 the Atlantic Social Club, the Ancient Order of Hi- 
 bernians, and the Cardinal Manning Total Absti- 
 nence Society. He was Recording Secretary of the 
 Ancient Order of Hibernians from June 1883 to 
 January 1889, then served two years as President, 
 and was then elected County President of Washing- 
 ton county, which ofifice he now holds. He was 
 also Recording Secretary of the Atlantic Social Club 
 June 1885 to January 1888. He received his ap- 
 pointment as Postmaster of Westerly on May 23, 
 1895. In politics he is a Democrat, and has been 
 Chairman of the Democratic Town Committee since 
 March 1890. He is unmarried. 
 
 CLARKE, Elisha Peckham, physician and sur- 
 geon, was born in AVesterly, R. I., August 17, 1833, 
 the son of Robert and Dorcas (Peckham) Clarke. 
 
 E. P. CLARKE. 
 
 He is a descendant of an old Rhode Island family 
 settled in the state since an early period in its his- 
 tory. He received his early education in the public 
 schools and at DeRuyter Institute, New York. He 
 taught school for several years, successfully, before 
 
lyo 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 entering upon the profession of medicine which he 
 adopted. He took one course in the Harvard Medi- 
 cal School and finished his course in the Maine 
 Medical School (Bowdoin College), from which he 
 graduated August 5, 1863. He commenced practice 
 in Milford, Mass., in the fall of 1863. On February 7, 
 1864, he was commissioned Assistant Surgeon in 
 the Thirty-first Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers. 
 He remained in the service and was mustered out at 
 the close of the war, in September 1865. He then 
 settled in Hope Valley where he has since remained 
 in the enjoyment of a large practice. He was elected 
 a member of the State Senate in 1878-79 and re- 
 elected in 1879-80. He has been a Director in the 
 Hopkinton Savings Bank since its incorporation and 
 is now its second Vice-President. He was elected a 
 Fellow of the Rhode Island Medical Society in 1867, 
 its second Vice-President in 1891--92, first Vice- 
 President in 1893-94, and its President in 1895, 
 which office he now holds. He is a charter mem- 
 ber of Charity Lodge A. F. & A. M., and was 
 elected Worshipful Master in 1870. He is also a 
 charter member of Franklin Royal Arch Chapter, 
 in which he has held various offices and is at present 
 King. He is a charter member of Lincoln Post, 
 G. A. R., was its first commander and served for 
 two years. He is a charter member of Hope Chap- 
 ter of the Eastern Star, and its first Worthy Patron. 
 He is now Grand Associate Patron of the Grand 
 Chapter O. E. S. of Rhode Island. He married, 
 May 7, 1859, Miss Nancy J, Davis, of Ledyard, 
 Conn, who died November 20, 1894; they have 
 two children : Elisha D., a graduate of Harvard 
 Medical University, now practicing medicine in 
 Woonsocket, R. I., and Elliott M., a student in the 
 medical department of the University of Michigan. 
 
 COLE, Joseph Edward, President of the Ameri- 
 can Worsted Company, and large owner in and 
 Treasurer of the Harris Woolen Company, Woon- 
 socket, was born in North Kingston, R. I., Novem- 
 ber 18, 1824, son of Edward and Margaret (Pierce) 
 Cole, and is the only one remaining of a family of 
 seven children. He is a descendant in the sixth 
 generation of Isaac Cole of Sandwich, County of 
 Kent, England, who came to America with his fam- 
 ily in the ship Hercules early in the seventeenth 
 century, and settled in Charlestown, Mass. One of 
 his ancestors, John Cole, married Susannah Hutch- 
 inson, daughter of William and Anne Hutchinson, 
 
 the latter of whom was banished from Massachu- 
 setts on account of her religious views. The sub- 
 ject of this sketch was reared upon the farm owned 
 by his father, receiving his education in the country 
 schools and at the Wickford and East Greenwich 
 academies. For a period following the completion 
 of his academical course he employed the winter 
 months in teaching, and spent the summers in the 
 various duties pertaining to the avocation of farm- 
 ing. Being ambitious to enter upon a business 
 career, he removed in his twenty-second year to 
 
 JOS. E. COLE. 
 
 Providence, where he engaged as book-keeper and 
 clerk in a drug and dye house, and later accepted a 
 position as book-keeper in the print works at Johns- 
 ton, R. L, where he remained four years and a half. 
 In 1854 he effected an engagement with Edward 
 Harris of Woonsocket, in whose extensive business 
 he soon made his presence felt, especially in estab- 
 lishing a considerable and growing trade for the 
 Harris goods in Boston. As a consequence of his 
 efficient services in this connection he was given an 
 interest in the business, devoting himself especially 
 to the finances, and to the trade that had been 
 built up in Boston. The satisfactory outcome of 
 the Boston venture led Mr. Harris to open a New 
 York house for the sale of the fabrics of his mills, 
 and it devolved upon Mr. Cole to organize the busi- 
 ness at that point, where he remained until the en- 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 171 
 
 terprise was an assured success. The large manu- 
 facturing interest of the Harris Mills was subse- 
 quently reorganized as the Harris Woolen Company, 
 in which he was one of the partners and Treasurer 
 of the organization. Upon the reorganization of 
 the American Worsted Company, in 1876, Mr. Cole 
 was called to fill the Presidency of that corporation, 
 and still serves in that capacity. He is also Presi- 
 dent of the First National and People's Savings 
 banks of Woonsocket, and of the Woonsocket Gas 
 Company. He served on the School Board for 
 nine years, part of this time as President of the 
 Board. In politics he is a staunch Republican, and 
 has been identified to some extent with local politi- 
 cal issues. In 1888 he represented his town in the 
 State Senate, and was Chairman of the Finance 
 Committee of that body. Mr. Cole was married, 
 October 12, 1857, to Miss Mary K., daughter of 
 William L. and Mary Ann Peckham, of Bristol, 
 R. I. ; they have had four children : Edward Peckham 
 (deceased), Walter Hutchinson (deceased), Mary 
 Louise and Frederick Peirce Cole. 
 
 COM STOCK, Richard Borden, lawyer. Prov- 
 idence, was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Feb- 
 ruary 15, 1854, son of Joseph J. and Maria S. 
 (Taber) Comstock. He is a descendant of Roger 
 Williams. His father was a noted steamship cap- 
 tain, for many years in the service of the early 
 Sound lines, commanding steamers running between 
 Fall River and New York, and later connected with 
 the Collins Line to Europe, in command of the 
 Baltic, and afterward of the Adriatic, which at the 
 time she was built was the second-largest steamboat 
 in the world. Captain Comstock was in command 
 of the Baltic during the war of the Rebellion, when 
 she was employed in the government transport ser- 
 vice, and was present at the capture of Port Royal, 
 New Orleans and other maritime strongholds of the 
 Confederacy, the boy Richard accompanying his 
 father in all of the Baltic's expeditions while in the 
 service of the government. Richard received his 
 early education in boarding schools at Ridgefield, 
 Conn., Yonkers, N. Y., and Lawrenceville, N. J. 
 He prepared for college at Mowry & Goff's English 
 and Classical School in Providence, and entered 
 Brown University, from which he graduated in 1876, 
 He studied law in the office of Hon. E. C. Mowry. 
 was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1878 and 
 to the United States courts in 1881, and since the 
 former date has been actively engaged in the prac- 
 
 tice of his profession in Providence, for the last four 
 years in partnership with Rathbone Gardner under 
 the firm name of Comstock & Gardner. Mr. Com- 
 stock is a member of the Hope, Squantum, Art and 
 Athletic clubs of Providence. He is a Democrat in 
 politics, and has served one term as State Senator, 
 in 1892-93. He was married, July 19, 1883, to 
 Miss Alice Greene, daughter of Professor Samuel S. 
 
 RICHARD B. COMSTOCK. 
 
 Greene late of Brown University and well known 
 as the author of Greene's Grammar ; they have 
 three daughters : Marjorie Stuart, Louise Howard 
 and Alice May Comstock. 
 
 DAVIS, Fr.-vnklin Jerome, physician and sur- 
 geon, Newport, was born in Saugus, Massachusetts, 
 March 25, 186 r, son of Jerome and Harriet A. 
 (Weeks) Davis. His father was a lawyer; his 
 grandfather, Rodney Davis, was a farmer and a 
 soldier of the war of 18 12, and his great-grand- 
 father fought in the Revolutionary army, in which 
 he held a Lieutenant's commission. The names in 
 the female branch of his paternal ancestry were 
 Hyde and Rogers. On the maternal side he is 
 descended from one of three brothers Weeks 
 who landed at Plymouth in 1636; female ancestral 
 names. Small and CoUins. He received his early 
 
172 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 education in the common schools, passing through 
 the ordinary grades and entering the Saugus High 
 School at the age of twelve, and left home when 
 quite young to seek his fortune. At that time he 
 was going to sea summers, and spending the winters 
 at school. At the youthful age of eighteen he was 
 mate of a bark on the Pacific, and later a mining 
 superintendent in California for three years until 
 1883, when he went into the drug business in 
 Arizona as clerk, and subsequently, in 1886, bought 
 out the store. In 1887 he returned East and 
 entered the Medical Department of the University 
 of Vermont, from which he graduated July 3, 1891, 
 at that time Vice-President of his class. In Dec- 
 
 F. J. DAVIS. 
 
 ember 1891 he came to Newport and entered 
 upon the practice of medicine. Dr. Davis is a 
 member of the Newport Medical Society, and of 
 various fraternal orders and societies, including St. 
 Paul Lodge A. F. & A. M., Newport Chapter 
 Royal Arch Masons, Washington Commandery 
 Knights Templar, Redwood Lodge Knights of 
 Pythias, Ocean Lodge A. O. U W. and Court 
 Wauton A. O. F. A., also a member of the Newport 
 and Conanicut yacht clubs. He was married, 
 November 29, 1891, to Miss Emma K. Varney ; 
 they have two children : Annie D. and Dexter 
 Jerome Davis. 
 
 DOYLE, Thomas Arthur, Mayor of Providence 
 for eighteen terms, 1864-69, 1870-81, and 1884 
 until his death in 1886, was born in Providence, 
 March 15, 1827, son of Thomas and Martha (Jones) 
 Doyle. He enjoyed the advantages of the city 
 schools, graduating from the Elm-street grammar 
 school, and at the age of fourteen entered the 
 counting-room of Benjamin Cozzens, Esq., where he 
 remained six years, and then held for five years the 
 position of head clerk for Jacob Dunnell & Com- 
 pany. In 1853 he was elected Cashier of the 
 Grocers' and Producers' Bank, which position he 
 occupied two years, and later became a stock-broker 
 and auctioneer of real estate. His interest and ac- 
 tivity in public life began at an early age. In 1848 
 he was elected Ward Clerk for the Sixth Ward, and 
 held the position for six years, after which he held 
 ofifice under the city government almost continuously 
 until his death. In 1852 he was elected a member 
 of the Common Council from the Fifth Ward, and 
 while serving in that capacity was chairman of vari- 
 ous important committees, and was President of the 
 Council in 1854 and 1855. In the latter year he 
 was Chairman of the Board of Assessors, and for 
 eighteen years he served on the School Committee. 
 In June 1864 he was inaugurated Mayor of the city, 
 and to this office he was annually re-elected, with 
 the single exception of 1869, until January 1881. 
 In that year he was elected Senator to the General 
 Assembly. After an interval of three years he again 
 resumed the office of Mayor, which he occupied 
 until his death, June 9, 1886. During Mayor Doyle's 
 administration the city more than doubled in popu- 
 lation and wealth, and at his instigation many im- 
 portant public improvements were carried into effect ; 
 the city police were drilled and uniformed, water 
 was introduced, an excellent system of sewerage was 
 adopted and put under construction, the Roger 
 Williams Park was given to the city and improved, 
 many public buildings were erected, and a general 
 spirit of progress was infused into the city govern- 
 ment. As an intelligent and fitting tribute to his 
 character and attainments as a public man and exec- 
 utive, this sketch may well include an extract from 
 an article in the Boston Advertiser, printed in 1881, 
 upon the occasion of Mayor Doyle's second retire- 
 ment from the office, which he had held with but a 
 single year's intermission for sixteen years. " Mayor 
 Doyle's career," said this authority, "is the more re- 
 markable, as the second city of New England is 
 unique in the self-asserting individuality of its citi- 
 zens and the heat of its ever-shifting partisanship. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 173 
 
 Mr. Doyle himself has the individuality of a true 
 Rhode Islander ; he has the courage of his convic- 
 tions ; his opinions are decided, he has never been 
 afraid to express them, and there are probably few 
 voters of the city who have not at one time or 
 another opposed him. In uniform succession he 
 has been opposed by every journal published in 
 Providence, and as a rule this opposition has been 
 merciless, if not bitter and unreasonable. He has 
 been opposed at one time by Democrats, then by 
 Republicans, then by the Independents, then by 
 the chief taxpayers, then by every department of 
 the city government, and always by a hopeful 
 minority. His relations to the City Council have 
 usually been those of hearty disagreement on almost 
 everything. The veto messages written by Mayor 
 Doyle would fill a stout folio volume. He has rarely 
 had the support of conservative financiers, and he 
 has never attempted a personal policy or a policy of 
 conciliation. While expressing cordial dislike for all 
 sorts of men, corporations and interests, he has 
 ever been ready to give every citizen the fullest in- 
 formation on all city matters, and he does not seem 
 to have known what wire-pulling, secret arrange- 
 ments and quiet understandings meant. He has 
 been frank, upright and straightforward to the last 
 degree — so much so that any man could at any 
 time learn precisely what the Mayor wanted or op- 
 posed. Rarely has a Mayor resisted popular measures 
 more frankly, or advocated unpopular policies more 
 courageously. . . . He quits office with the proud 
 record that Providence is one of the best governed 
 of all American cities. . . . Altogether Mr. Doyle 
 closes a service as unparalleled as it is deserving of 
 studious attention on the part of those interested in 
 the difficult and undefined art of municipal govern- 
 ment." Mayor Doyle was a prominent Mason, 
 being made Grand Master in 1857, and having 
 served as Prelate and Commander of Calvary Com- 
 mandery Knights Templar, also as Grand Prelate, 
 Grand Captain and Grand Generalissimo of the 
 Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode 
 Island ; he was also a thirty-third degree Mason. 
 He was for many years a consistent member of the 
 Unitarian church. He was married, October 21, 
 1869, to Miss Almira, daughter of Amasaand Fanny 
 Sprague, and sister of the late Governor and United 
 States Senator William Sprague. 
 
 mouth, Me., August 8, 1839, son of Samuel Frank- 
 lin and Martha Caroline (Neal) Folsom. He ob- 
 tained his early education in the public schools, and 
 was employed quite young upon the farm. At the 
 age of eighteen he learned the horse-shoeing trade 
 in Augusta, Me., and worked at it until 1863, when 
 he went to California, where he remained until 
 1870. In that year he came East, and was for two 
 years engaged in selling sewing machines in Provi- 
 dence. After this he engaged in the business of 
 shirt-making and followed it two years, and subse- 
 quently became connected with the Union Rail- 
 road Company and assumed the responsible posi- 
 tion of Superintendent. He has not taken an ac- 
 
 JOHN N. FOLSOM. 
 
 five part in politics or public life, but is a member 
 of the West Side Club, also of Temple Lodge of 
 Masons, Winthrop, Maine, and of Harmony Lodge 
 Knights of Honor, Providence. Mr. Folsom was 
 married in 1874 to Miss Catherine Bay; they 
 have one son living : Henry Frank Folsom. 
 
 FOLSOM, John Neal, Superintendent of the 
 Union Railroad, Providence, was born in Mon- 
 
 FOWLER, George Herbert, late Secretary and 
 Treasurer of the Pawtucket Manufacturing Com- 
 pany, was born in Northbridge, Massachusetts, July 
 16, 1852, son of George D. and Abigail (Adams) 
 Fowler, and died in Pawtucket, January 4, 1895. 
 He received his early education in the public 
 schools of Barre, Mass., to which place his parents 
 
174 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Removed when he was but two years old. In the 
 spring of 1869, at the age of sixteen, he left the 
 high school to enter the Worcester Academy, but 
 in a few weeks transferred his attendance to the 
 Worcester Polytechnic Institute, as the latter 
 school was found to offer better opportunities for 
 the practical education he desired. He graduated 
 from this institution in 1873, ^^ith special profi- 
 ciency in the department of mechanical engineering, 
 and with the commendation of his instructors for 
 general deportment and faithful performance of his 
 school duties. Soon after graduation, being de- 
 sirous of finding a promising opening for a career 
 
 GEO. H. FOWLER. 
 
 worthy of himself and his ideals, he made a short 
 tour of several cities and finally settled in Provi- 
 dence, where he entered a small machine shop as 
 draughtsman. The following year, 1874, he entered 
 the employ of the Providence Tool Company in a 
 similar capacity, and remained with them seven 
 years. In July 1881, George H. ^Vebb, for many 
 years in the employ of William H. Haskell & Com- 
 pany, bolt and nut manufacturers of Pawtucket, 
 severed his connection with that firm and engaged 
 in business for himself, building bolt and nut ma- 
 chinery under contract for the Providence, now the 
 Rhode Island, Tool Company. By an agreement 
 with the tool company, Mr. Webb secured the 
 services of Mr. Fowler as draughtsman. The rela- 
 
 tions thus established between Messrs. Webb and 
 Fowler ripened into a warm friendship, and when 
 in 1882 the Pawtucket Manufacturing Company 
 was incorporated, the latter became a member of 
 the company, and was elected its Secretary and 
 Treasurer. This position he held at the time of his 
 death, which untimely event took place in January 
 1895, in the forty- third year of his age. That his 
 abilities and faithful service in his ofificial capacity 
 were recognized and appreciated by his business 
 associates, and that his high character and personal 
 worth as a friend and citizen were understood and 
 honored by the general community, were strikingly 
 evidenced by the widespread tributes of respect 
 paid to his memory, and by the popular feeling of 
 deep sorrow and regret manifested, upon the occa- 
 sion of his demise. For some years Mr. Fowler 
 had suffered from a chronic malady which affected 
 his general health to an extent that made it imper- 
 ative for him to decline the assumption of all cares 
 beyond those of his home and business. He was 
 always, however, keenly alive to the well-being and 
 prosperity of his adopted city, and an active sup- 
 porter of all measures to that end. He stood high 
 in the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Union 
 Lodge, in which he had held every office up to and 
 including Senior Warden, and of Pawtucket Royal 
 Arch Chapter, Pawtucket Council and Holy 
 Sepulchre Commandery Knights Templar, also of 
 the Scottish Rite, the Consistory, and Aleppo 
 Temple of the Mystic Shrine, Boston. His church 
 relations were sustained with the unassuming con- 
 sistency that was a shining mark of his character. 
 During his residence in Providence he joined the 
 Beneficent Congregational Church, and although 
 retaining his membership there to the time of his 
 death, he was a regular attendant of the Pawtucket 
 Congregational Church, and identified prominently 
 with its interests and welfare. Mr. Fowler was 
 strongly attached to his home, preferring the quiet 
 happiness of his domestic relations to any extended 
 social distractions. He was married, December 7, 
 1887, to Miss Lula A. Reynolds, who survives him 
 and mourns in his loss the unfulfilled promise of 
 future happy years. 
 
 FREEMAN, Hon. Edward Livingston, State 
 Commissioner of Railroads, was born in Waterville, 
 Me., September 10, 1S35, son of Rev. Pkiward and 
 Harriet Ellis (Colburn) Freeman. His father was 
 a clergyman of the Baptist denomination, a graduate 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 175 
 
 of Brown University, a native of Mendon, Mass , 
 and was probably a descendant of one of the three 
 Freeman brothers, who came over to Plymouth from 
 England ; his mother was born in West Dedham, 
 Mass., and after graduating from the high school at 
 Medfield, engaged in teaching French and Latin, in 
 which she was specially proficient. Rev. Mr. Freeman 
 was engaged in the ministry at Waterville and later 
 at Oldtown, Me., removing from the latter place to 
 Camden in the same State, where he resided, with 
 the exception of two years spent at Bristol, R. I., 
 until his death in 1882. Edward was the eldest of 
 ten children. He was personally taught and fitted 
 for college by his father, who for many years taught 
 
 """to \ 
 
 E. L. FREEMAN. 
 
 a high-class private school ; but deciding to learn 
 the printing business, in preference to taking a 
 college course, he was apprenticed to A. W. Pearce, 
 proprietor of a printing establishment in Pawtucket, 
 R. I. Following his apprenticeship he entered the 
 employ of Hammond, Angell & Co., Providence, 
 remained with them several years, holding a partner- 
 ship in the firm during the last two years of his 
 connection, and then sold out his interest and com- 
 menced business in Central Falls, where he has 
 been successful in building up a large business, in- 
 cluding all departments of printing. In 1886, his 
 eldest son, William C, became a partner, and in 
 March i886 his second son, Joseph W., was taken 
 
 into the firm and the business is now conducted 
 under the name of E. L. Freeman & Sons. In 1880 
 the book and stationery establishment of Valpey, 
 Angell & Co., Providence, was purchased, and is still 
 the location of the present firm of E. L. Freeman 
 & Sons, although the printing establishment has 
 been maintained at Central Falls, and in 1888 a 
 large stationery store was established at Pawtucket. 
 The firm have had charge of the State printing for 
 a number of years, and are the publishers of the 
 Freemasons' Repository, a monthly magazine. 
 Mr. Freeman's early estabHshed reputation for activ- 
 ity, persistence, business ability and integrity has 
 resulted in holding many positions of financial trust 
 and responsibility, and his interest in public affairs 
 has led to his being called to an uninterrupted 
 period of service in pubhc office for many years. 
 In politics he is a Republican, and was Chairman of 
 the Rhode Island Delegation to the Republican 
 National Convention in June 1892. He has been 
 a member of the General Assembly of Rhode Island 
 for more than twenty years, during two years of 
 which he was Speaker of the House of Representa- 
 tives, and at this time he is representing the city of 
 Central Falls in the State Senate, being Chairman 
 of the Judiciary Committee of that body. He was 
 the last Senator from the town of Smithfield before 
 it was divided, the first Senator from the new town 
 of Lincoln, the last Senator from Lincoln before it 
 was divided, and the first Senator from the city of 
 Central Falls, thus representing two towns and one 
 city in the Senate without change of residence. 
 Mr. Freeman is at present State Commissioner of 
 Railroads, which office he has held since May 1889. 
 He has found time in the midst of a busy public 
 and business life to give some attention to military 
 affairs, and was connected with the state militia for 
 many years, rising from private to Colonel. He is 
 also a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Odd 
 Fellows, Red Men, Knights of Pythias and Good 
 Fellows. In Masonry he has held the office of 
 Grand Master of Masons in Rhode Island, Grand 
 High Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of 
 Rhode Island, and Grand Commander of the Grand 
 Commandery of Knights Templar of Massachusetts 
 and Rhode Island ; he has also taken the Cryptic 
 degrees and those of the A. and A. Scottish Rite. 
 For many years he was actively connected with the 
 Fire Department of Central Falls, and served as 
 fireman for nineteen years. He has been a mem- 
 ber of the Central Falls Congregational Church since 
 1855, and for twelve years he has been the efficient 
 
176 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Superintendent of its Sunday School. Mr. Freeman 
 was married, in 1858, to Miss Emma E. Brown of 
 Central Falls ; they have five children living : Wil- 
 liam C, president of the Taber Art Company, New 
 Bedford, Mass. ; Joseph W., in business with his 
 father; Emma R., now Mrs. John A. Moore of 
 Richmond, Va. ; Rev. Edward, Methodist minister 
 at Schuylkill Haven, Pa., and Lucy J. Freeman, now 
 a senior at Wellesley College. 
 
 GRANGER, William Smith, President of the 
 Granger Foundry and Machine Company, Provi- 
 
 W. S. GRANGER. 
 
 dence, was born in Pittsford, Vt., September 19, 
 1834, son of Chester and Mary Page (Smith) 
 Granger. He is lineally descended from Launcelot 
 Granger, who emigrated to this country in 1640, 
 settled in Newbury, Mass., and removed in 1672 to 
 Suffield, Conn. ; he was one of the original proprie- 
 tors of that town, and was wounded in the King 
 Philip war. Among others of his ancestry were 
 Rev. Peter Bulkeley, the founder of Concord, Mass. ; 
 Gershom Bulkeley, Surgeon in the Colonial Army ; 
 Charles Chauncy, President of Harvard University; 
 Jonathan Prescott, Captain in the Colonial 7\rmy ; 
 and William Aspinwall, one of the founders of Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay Colony. His early education was 
 
 acquired at Salem, New York, and Burr Seminary 
 at Manchester, Vt., supplemented by one year's 
 study at Lyon and Frieze's School in Providence, 
 previous to entering Brown University in 1850, 
 where he pursued a two years' course, and from 
 which institution he has been honored by receiving 
 the degree of A. M., conferred in 1890. His prac- 
 tical training for active life was received at Augusta, 
 Me., and Pittsford, Vt. Since 1868 he has resided 
 in Providence, and is President of the Granger 
 Foundry and Machine Company, who manufacture 
 machinery for finishing textile goods and fine papers. 
 He is also Director in the Second National Bank, 
 and numerous other corporations. Mr. Granger is 
 a member of the Society of the Sons of the Ameri- 
 can Revolution, Rhode Island Historical Society, the 
 Hope and Squantum clubs of Providence, and the 
 Providence Athletic Association. He was married, 
 June 12, 187 1, to Miss Caroline Richmond Pitman, 
 of Providence ; they have two children : Mary Alice 
 and Helen Richmond Granger. 
 
 GRANT, Geotige Henry, Superintendent of the 
 Eagle Mills, Woonsocket, was born in Woonsocket, 
 
 GEO. H. GRANT, 
 
 December 11, 1837, son of Arunah and Eliza 
 (Darling) Grant, the former a native of Cumber- 
 land, R. L, and the latter of Wrentham, Mass. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 177 
 
 His education was begun in the public schools, 
 from which he entered Smithville Seminary in North 
 Scituate, and later graduated from the High School 
 in Woonsocket. Being desirous of becoming master 
 of a self-supporting trade, he entered the machine 
 shops of Edward Harris, where he served an 
 apprenticeship of three years, and then found 
 employment in Woonsocket and afterward in Provi- 
 dence. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 
 he entered the service as Lieutenant of Company 
 K, First Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers, and 
 participated in the battle of Bull Run. Returning 
 at the expiration of his enlistment period of three 
 months, he raised a company that was merged into 
 the Fifth Regiment Heavy Artillery and known as 
 Company D, of which he became Captain. He 
 took part in the battles of Roanoke Island, New- 
 bern and Fort Macon, and in consequence of a 
 bad wound at Newbern was compelled to resign 
 and return home. Later he resumed his trade, and 
 soon after was made foreman of the foundry and 
 machine shops of Edward Harris. Three years 
 later he accepted an engagement with the Groton 
 Manufacturing Company as foreman of their machine 
 shop, and after continuing in this relation a year, 
 became superintendent of the mills. In 1883 this 
 industry was reorganized as the Eagle Mills, of 
 which he is the Superintendent at the present time. 
 Mr. Grant has been a lifelong and ardent Repub- 
 lican ; he cast his first vote for the first Republican 
 candidate for President, and has voted for every 
 Republican presidential nominee since. He has 
 been several times a member of the Town Council, 
 and for a portion of the time its President. When 
 Woonsocket was made a town, in 1867, he was 
 elected as a member of its first council ; and when 
 later it became a city, in 1889, he had the honor of 
 being its first Mayor. For a number of years he 
 held the offices of Chief and Assistant Engineer of 
 the Fire Department. He is a member of Woon- 
 socket Commandery No. 23 Knights Templar, 
 Morning Star Lodge No. 13 F. & A. M., Union 
 Chapter No. 5, Palestine Temple A. A. O. N. M. 
 S., Woonsocket Lodge No. 10 I. O. O. F., Washing- 
 ton Lodge No. 1269 Knights of Honor, and Smith 
 Post No. 9 G. A. R., all of Woonsocket. He 
 worships with the congregation of the Universalist 
 Church. Mr. Grant was married, in 1865, to Miss 
 Ellen F. Rand, daughter of Franklin Rand of Paw- 
 tucket; they have five children: Harriet A., wife 
 of James E. Pratt of Woonsocket ; George F , Edwin 
 S , Ellen F. and William H. Grant. 
 
 HALL, William Henry, real estate broker. Prov- 
 idence, was born in that city June 12, 1837, son of 
 James S. and Eleanor Ryder (Snow) Hall. His 
 early education was obtained in the public schools, 
 until at the age of fourteen, being desirous of learn- 
 ing a trade, he entered a large cigar factory, and in 
 six months became an expert workman. But the 
 occupation and confinement impaired his health, so 
 much so that for two years his life was despaired of, 
 although he retained his courage and ambition, and 
 upon partial recovery cast about for some other 
 active employment. When seventeen years old he 
 borrowed from a friend a small capital of less than 
 fifty dollars, and securing credit for the necessary 
 
 WILLIAM H. HALL. 
 
 materials, erected a small building and opened a 
 store for the sale of fruits, confectionery and period- 
 icals. His venture proved successful, and by careful 
 methods and strict attention to business, he was soon 
 accumulating money in a small way, while at the 
 same time contributing to the support of his parents. 
 With improved health came increasing ambition, 
 and deciding upon a mercantile career, he attended 
 a course of instruction in Scholfield's Commercial 
 College, from which he received a diploma in 1859. 
 At once securing a position as book-keeper with a 
 large concern in Providence, he sold out his busi- 
 ness in the store and rented the building to the pur- 
 chaser. He retained his book-keeping situation in 
 
178 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Providence four years, and then took a similar posi- 
 tion with a large wholesale lumber house in Albany, 
 New York. Early in 1865, being offered the position 
 of Secretary and Treasurer of the Marietta and 
 Vinton County Coal and Oil Company, of Prov- 
 idence, he accepted the situation and returned to 
 his native city, and continued in this relation until 
 the business of the company was closed up. Mr. 
 Hall began his operations in real estate in 1866. 
 At that time the real estate business of Providence 
 was practically monopolized by one or two firms, 
 long established and influential, and his success in 
 this line, established in the face of competition with 
 the older and more powerful operators, is but little 
 short of phenomena], and can only be attributed to 
 his personal qualities of unbounded energy, strict 
 integrity, unflagging persistency and rare business 
 judgment. His experience in the lumber trade was 
 invaluable to him, and this, combined with his intui- 
 tion and natural business abilities of a high order, 
 enabled him in due time to establish for himself an 
 enviable position and reputation as one of the lead- 
 ing real estate brokers and dealers of Providence. 
 In 1873 Mr. Hall purchased the Joseph Sweet estate 
 in Cranston, now Edgewood, and at great expense 
 of time, labor and money transformed the once 
 unpretentious homestead with its spacious grounds 
 into an imposing and elegant residence. In 1876 
 he erected the large business block in Weybosset 
 Street known as the Hall Building. In 1890 he 
 organized the Central Real Estate Company, with 
 an authorized capital of two millions, for the purpose 
 of bringing within the reach of people of moderate 
 means a class of investments hitherto monopolized 
 by the wealthy. Nothing perhaps more favorably 
 illustrates Mr. Hall's business energy and sagacity 
 than the remarkable success of this company ; hav- 
 ing been its President and Manager since its organi- 
 zation, he has been the chief factor in bringing this 
 large business and investment enterprise to the sub- 
 stantial position anci high standing which it to-day 
 occupies. Mr. Hall has been active and influential 
 in public life, and has filled many elective offices, 
 never having been defeated. He served six years 
 as a member of the Town Council of Cranston, and 
 was Town Treasurer one year, declining a re-election. 
 He was a Representative to the General Assembly 
 four terms, 1880-84, ^'"xl for the two years succeed- 
 ing was a member of the Senate, being the first 
 Republican Senator elected from the town of 
 Cranston ; he was again nominated, but declined a 
 longer service. While in the Assembly he served 
 
 as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Accounts 
 and Claims, and second on the Senate Committee on 
 Corporations, and established a reputation as an 
 excellent debater of governmental and economic 
 questions. Mr. Hall finds his favorite relaxation 
 from the cares of business in driving fine horses, 
 and nothing gives him greater pleasure than 
 handling the reins over his high-spirited four-in- 
 hand team, while taking out a party of friends on 
 his handsome drag. He was married, December 
 24, 1866, to Miss Cleora N., daughter of William 
 L. Hopkins of Providence. Mr. Hopkins, who was 
 one of the chief promoters and organizers of the 
 Sons of Temperance society in Providence, is a 
 descendant of Thomas Hopkins, from whom was 
 descended Stephen Hopkins, one of the early gov- 
 ernors of Rhode Island, and a signer of the Decla- 
 ration of Independence. 
 
 HARKNESS, Professor Albert, Ph. D., LL.D., 
 Professor of the Greek Language and Literature in 
 Brown University, and author of the well known series 
 of Greek and Latin text-books which are in almost 
 universal use, was born October 6, 1822, in that part 
 of Mendon, Mass., which is now the town of Black- 
 stone. He is the son of South wick and Phebe 
 (Thayer) Harkness. In his boyhood he attended 
 the district school for ten or twelve weeks in the 
 year, and when thirteen years of age he attended 
 the Uxbridge High School for a single term, and 
 the following year the Worcester Academy for a 
 similar length of time. In 1838, after a year's 
 study at home, mostly without a teacher, with occa- 
 sional help from the Rev. Mr. Atkinson of Millville, 
 he entered Brown University, where he at once 
 attained high rank in his class, and was graduated 
 as valedictorian in 1842. After graduation he en- 
 gaged in the work of private instruction, but at the 
 opening of the Providence High School in 1843 he 
 became one of its teachers. He was Senior Master 
 from September 1846 until .August 1853, when he 
 resigned and went to Europe for study and travel. 
 After a year's study at the universities of Bonn and 
 Berlin, he received the degree of Doctor of Philos- 
 ophy at Bonn, being the first American to receive 
 the degree at that university. He then spent one 
 semester at the University of Goettingen, and during 
 the summer of 1855 traveled in Germany, France, 
 Switzerland, Italy, Greece and England. On his 
 way to Greece he received notice of his appoint- 
 ment to the Greek chair in Brown L^niversity, and 
 
^yrtyi<yv:^ hi-CAJlyfE^-nyL 
 
 ^^-<^c/ 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 179 
 
 began his work in the following September. Twice 
 he has had leave of absence for a year to revisit 
 Europe. Professor Harkness' labors have not been 
 confined to the class-room. He has lectured on 
 education in different parts of Rhode Island and 
 elsewhere, and has held many positions of respon- 
 sibility and trust. He was president of the Franklin 
 Lyceum in 1849, ^"d of the Rhode Island Alpha of 
 the Phi Beta Kappa from 1871 to 1873. He was 
 one of the founders of the American Philological 
 Association, one of its Vice-Presidents in 1869, and 
 President in 1875-1876. He is a member of the 
 Archaeological Institute of America, and in 1881 
 was a member of the first committee appointed to 
 consider the expediency of establishing an American 
 School of Classical Studies at Athens, of which 
 school he has been a member of the managing com- 
 mittee from its establishment in 1882 to the present 
 time. Professor Harkness has given special atten- 
 tion to the methods of classical instruction. In his 
 five visits to Europe he has made a careful study of 
 educational questions, and at the great English and 
 German schools and universities he has enjoyed 
 peculiar privileges of inspecting academic work and 
 of making valuable friendships among the leading 
 professors and masters. He began his successful 
 career as an author in 1851, with the publication of 
 the First Latin Book. His later works are the 
 Second Latin Book, the First Greek Book and 
 Reader, the famous Latin Grammar, two Latin 
 Readers, an Introductory Latin Book, Practical 
 Introduction to Latin Composition, Elements of 
 Latin Grammar, editions of Caesar's Gallic War, 
 of Cicero's Select Orations and of Sallust's CatiHne, 
 a Preparatory Course in Latin Prose Authors, a 
 Latin Course for the First Year, and An Easy 
 Method for Beginners in Latin. The publication 
 of this series of text-books marked an era in the 
 classical education of the country. A wonderful 
 success followed the first appearance of the Gram- 
 mar, in 1864; after thirty years it still deservedly 
 leads its competitors, and its merits have been rec- 
 ognized by the highest educational authorities of 
 England and Germany. Professor Harkness is also 
 the author of various scientific papers embodying 
 some of the original results of his philological 
 investigations, chief among which are two on the 
 Formation of the Perfect Tense in Latin, and one on 
 the Development of the Subjunctive in Principal 
 Clauses ; these were published in the Transactions 
 of the American Philological Association, and have 
 been noticed with great respect by leading American 
 
 and European philologists. The degree of Doctor 
 of Laws was conferred upon him by Brown University 
 in 1869. Professor Harkness is possessed of pecu- 
 liar skill as a teacher, and is of a kind and genial dis- 
 position and of a high character as a Christian scholar 
 and gentleman. The esteem which his associates 
 accord to him increases as the years go by, and he 
 is honored and beloved, not only among his neigh- 
 bors and fellow citizens, but wherever he is known 
 on both sides of the sea. He was married, May 28, 
 1849, to Miss Maria Aldrich Smith; they have two 
 children : Clara Frances, born May 10, 185 1, wife of 
 Professor Poland of Brown University, and Albert 
 Granger Harkness, born November 19, 1856, for- 
 merly a professor in Madison University, now Pro- 
 fessor of Roman Literature and History in Brown 
 University. 
 
 HARSON, M. Joseph, merchant. Providence, 
 was born in New York city, July i, 1855, son of 
 
 M. J. HARSON. 
 
 John and Alice (O'Connell) Harson. His ances- 
 try is Irish. He received his early education in the 
 public schools of New York and entered upon his 
 practical training for active life as an office-boy in 
 his native city, in 1867-68. He re-entered school 
 at Bellefont, Pa., in 1869 and 1870, and for the three 
 years 1870-72 worked as a machinist in ironworks 
 at Danville, Pa. Following this experience he re- 
 
i8o 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 turned to New York and entered the employ of a 
 prominent Broadway hatter, was a book-agent in 
 1876, and a partner in the book business in 1877. 
 In the latter year he came to Providence, and in 
 1878 began the business career in which he has 
 since been successfully engaged. He first opened a 
 small store on Dorrance street, devoted exclusively 
 to hats. This was an innovation in Providence, 
 and many were the predictions of failure for the 
 young merchant. But his enterprise and push won 
 from the start, and within a year larger quarters 
 were needed for his growing business, and he leased 
 a more capacious store on Westminster street. 
 The prophets were now certain that failure was 
 inevitable as a result of Mr. Harson's bold move. 
 But as before, these predictions only served to 
 stimulate his determination. With unshaken faith 
 in the wisdom of his policy and the efficiency of his 
 methods, which especially in advertising were strik- 
 ingly original, and even revolutionary in the hat 
 trade, he carried out his plans with such success 
 that the Westminster-street store, twice too large 
 at the beginning, continued to grow smaller and 
 smaller each year, until it was scarcely half large 
 enough to accommodate the business flowing to him. 
 Increased room became a necessity, and after long 
 waiting for a suitable location, he secured the stores 
 embracing the numbers 196-202 Westminster street, 
 to which he removed September 5, 1891, and where 
 he now has one of the largest and finest emporiums 
 of its kind in the United States. Besides his large 
 retail business, he has carried on a considerable 
 wholesale trade, and has conducted at various times 
 branch stores in the principal cities of New England. 
 He has also been instrumental in starting a number 
 of young men in business, in nearly every instance 
 with good success Mr. Harson has always taken a 
 deep interest in all movements for the advancement 
 of young men. He has been active and prominent 
 in the National Union of Catholic Young Men's 
 Societies, was invited to deliver addresses before 
 it in 1882-84-85-87, and has been accorded the 
 highest honors it could bestow. In recognition of 
 his society services, he has been complimentarily re- 
 ferred to as "The Ozanam of America " He was 
 one of the originators of the Catholic Congress held 
 in Baltimore in 1889, and was elected Secretary of 
 the committee appointed to arrange for future con- 
 gresses. He is a frequent contributor to the 
 Catholic and secular press and his articles are 
 distinguished for their vigorous style, fearlessness 
 of expression and sprightliness of treatment. A 
 
 series of thoughtful articles on the negro question, 
 written by him in 1890, were the subject of much 
 favorable comment and commanded widespread at- 
 tention, and the Colored Congress held at Cincinnati 
 in June 1890 passed resolutions of thanks and elected 
 him an honorary member of its executive committee. 
 In September 1880 Mr. Harson entered Brown 
 University and took a special two-years course, 
 attending meanwhile to all the details of his business. 
 In June 1892 the Board of Fellows of the University 
 conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Arts 
 in connection with his class, the class of 1884. 
 His address at the first dinner of the Providence 
 alumni, held in the month of March 1894, will be 
 remembered as one of the successes of the evening, 
 though following such notable speakers as President 
 Angell of the University of Michigan, Rev. Dr. 
 Greer of New York, Professor Wheeler of Cornell 
 University, Doctor Keen of University of Pennsyl- 
 vania and President Andrews of Brown. He is a 
 member of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 
 the United States Catholic Historical Society of 
 Philadelphia, and the Catholic Club of New York. 
 He is also a member and founder of the Phi Kappa 
 Sigma college fraternity. In politics he is Indepen- 
 dent-Democratic, but has steadfastly declined to 
 accept nominations to public office. Mr. Harson 
 was married, October 11, i88t, to Miss Marianna F. 
 Kelly ; they have two children : Raymond Joseph, 
 aged thirteen, and Henry Newman Harson, aged 
 eleven years ; another son, Edwin Brownson Harson, 
 died in infancy. 
 
 HASBROUCK, Saver, M. D., Providence, was 
 born in Middletown, N. Y., June 3, i860, son of 
 John W. and Lydia (Sayer) Hasbrouck. Dr. Has- 
 brouck comes of one of the oldest Knickerbocker 
 families of New York state, of Flemish and Hugue- 
 not ancestry. His mother, Lydia Sayer, M. D., is 
 a descendant in the seventh generation of Thomas 
 Sayre, whose homestead at Southampton, Long 
 Island, built in 1648, is said to be the oldest house 
 now standing in the state of New York. His father, 
 John W. Hasbrouck, editor and founder of the 
 Orange County Press, and one of the old line Whigs 
 that came into the Republican ranks upon the for- 
 mation of that party, is lineally descended from 
 Abraham Hasbrouck, a native of Calais, France, 
 who lived for a time in England, and came to this 
 country about 1675, landed at Boston, and went to 
 Kingston on the Hudson, where he became the head 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 I8l 
 
 of the Paltz patentees, who controlled a large tract 
 of land on the west side of the Hudson, where the 
 town of New Paltz is at present located, and including 
 Lake Mohonk, now a famous resort. Dr. Hasbrouck's 
 great-grandfather, Captain Elias Hasbrouck, com- 
 manded a company of rangers in the Revolution- 
 ary army, was with Montgomery in the attack on 
 Quebec in which the latter lost his life, and was 
 also at the burning of Kingston by the British, on 
 which occasion his store was destroyed. His grand- 
 father, Richard Montgomery Hasbrouck, was named 
 
 SAYER HASBROUCK. 
 
 for General Montgomery, and was the recipient of a 
 ring and a tract of land from the General's widow. 
 Dr. Hasbrouck's early education was acquired in 
 the public schools of Middletown, and a four 
 years' course in Cook Academy, Havana, N. Y., 
 during 1875-9. I"^ 1879-82 he studied in the 
 Boston University School of Medicine, holding the 
 position of House Surgeon in the College Dis- 
 pensary during part of the course, and graduating 
 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He then 
 spent two years abroad, principally in London and 
 Dublin, but passing some time in the hospitals of 
 Glasgow, Edinburgh and Paris. He was six months 
 in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, where he received 
 the degree of Licentiate of Midwifery, and was also 
 House Surgeon in St. Mark's Ophthalmic Hospital, 
 Dublin. In London he was Clinical Assistant to 
 
 Sir George Lawson, F. R. C. S., at the Royal Lon- 
 don (Moorfields) Ophthalmic Hospital, and to Mr. 
 Hamilton at the Gray's Inn Throat and Ear Hos- 
 pital. Dr. Hasbrouck returned to the United States 
 in June 1884, and opened practice in Providence, 
 R. I., for the special treatment of diseases of the 
 eye and ear. He has written papers on his travels, 
 and has contributed many articles to the ophthal- 
 mic literature of the day, while numerous other 
 interesting and important papers which he has read 
 have appeared in the Transactions of the American 
 Institute of Homoeopathy and the Reports of the 
 New York State Homoeopathic Society. He holds 
 the position of Ophthalmic and Aural Surgeon to the 
 Rhode Island Homoeopathic Hospital and Provi- 
 dence Dispensary, is a member of the American 
 Institute of Homoeopathy and the New York State 
 Homoeopathic Society, and is Vice-President of 
 the Rhode Island State Homoeopathic Society. He 
 is active in various social and charitable organiza- 
 tions, and is also a member of the Sons of the 
 American Revolution, and of the Holland Society 
 of New York, an association of Knickerbockers 
 whose ancestors came over prior to 1675. Dr. 
 Hasbrouck is a lover of athletics and outdoor sports, 
 and both the Rhode Island Yacht Club and Provi- 
 dence Athletic Association were organized in his 
 office ; he was four or five years President of the 
 Yacht Club and one year its Commodore, and served 
 as President of the temporary organization of the 
 Athletic Association. His residence is at Pawtuxet 
 Neck, four miles out of the city. He was married, 
 September 25, 1889, to Miss Mary Owen Fiske, 
 daughter of John T. Fiske, of Pascoag, R. I. ; they 
 have one child : Fanny Fiske, born December 16, 
 1890. 
 
 HAWES, Edward Coffin, merchant and me- 
 chanic. Providence, and inventor of the widely- 
 known Hawes Steam Trap, was born in Coventry, 
 R. I., December 29, 1833, son of George and Maria 
 (Greene) Hawes. His ancestry is English on both 
 sides. He was educated in the public schools, and 
 attended the Friends' Boarding School in Provi- 
 dence in 1850, and later received a commercial 
 training to fit him for a business career. He was 
 brought up on a farm until the age of sixteen, when 
 he came to Providence and engaged in the fruit 
 and produce business with his father and three 
 brothers, under the firm name of George Hawes & 
 Sons. Later the wholesale grocery business was 
 connected with this. About 1880 Mr. Hawes con- 
 
l82 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 ceived an idea to construct a device that would be 
 advantageous to steam users, for the purpose of dis- 
 charging the water of condensation from steam 
 pipes and other appliances where live steam is used. 
 This invention, known as the Hawes Steam Trap, 
 has proved a great success, and is widely known 
 and used throughout the United States and foreign 
 countries. At present Mr. Hawes is engaged solely 
 in the manufacture and sale of steam traps, and in 
 looking after his extensive interests in that connec- 
 tion, having retired from the fruit, produce and 
 grocery business. He is a member of What Cheer 
 Masonic Lodge and of Calvary Commandery Knights 
 Templar, also of Canonicus Lodge of Odd Fellows 
 
 EDWARD; C. HAWES. 
 
 and the Athletic Club of Providence. In politics 
 he is a Republican. He was married in 1874 to 
 Miss Sarah J. Haynes; they have one child : Alice 
 May Hawes. 
 
 HOWARD, Henry, manufacturer, and Governor 
 of Rhode Island 1873-5, was born in Cranston, 
 R. I., April 2, 1826, son of Jesse and Mary (King) 
 Howard. His paternal ancestry are of the English 
 Howards. On the mother's side he is descended 
 from Gabriel Bernon, the eminent Huguenot refugee, 
 who settled in Rhode Island, and through him from 
 the Bernon family of Rochelle, France. Through 
 
 the Bernons and their descendants he has a 
 genealogical record from the year A. D. 1300. He 
 received his early education in the common schools 
 and academies. He first adopted the law as a pro- 
 fession and was admitted to the Providence County 
 bar in 185 i. He practiced successfully for six years 
 and then abandoned the profession for the large 
 field of manufacturing and business enterprises in 
 which he has since been engaged in connection with 
 very important and extended operations. He early 
 took an active part in politics and public life. He 
 was Secretary of the Whig State Committee, and on 
 the dissolution of the party took an effective part in 
 the formation of the Republican party. He was a 
 Delegate to the National Convention which nomi- 
 nated Fremont for the Presidency in 1856, and also 
 to the one which nominated Hayes in 1876. He 
 was elected a member of the Rhode Island General 
 Assembly in 1856-57, was a Presidential Elector in 
 1872, and in 1873 was elected Governor of Rhode 
 Island and re-elected in 1874. He was Expert 
 Commissioner to the Paris Exposition in 1878, ap- 
 pointed by President Hayes. He has repeatedly 
 declined nomination for political office on account 
 of the pressure of his business occupations. In 
 military affairs he has been a Captain in the corps 
 of the Providence Marine Artillery, and was a Colo- 
 nel on the personal staff of Gov. William H. 
 Hoppin. He is President of the Harris Manufac- 
 turing Company, and late President of the Atming- 
 ton & Sims Engine Company, the Providence Tele- 
 phone Company and the Pintsch Gas Company. 
 Governor Howard is a lucid and forceful writer 
 upon public questions and topics of the time, and 
 contributions from his ready pen have graced and 
 enlivened the pages of various newspapers and peri- 
 odicals, where they have invariably commanded 
 thoughtful and widespread attention. He was for 
 some years a member of the Franklin Lyceum and 
 at one time its President. In 1873 he received the 
 honorary degree of A. M. from Brown LTniversity. 
 He was married, September 30, 185 1, to Miss Cath- 
 arine Greene Harris, daughter of Elisha Harris, a 
 former Governor of Rhode Island ; they have three 
 children : Jessie H., wife of Edward C. Bucklin, 
 Elisha H. and Charles T. Howard. 
 
 JORDAN, Jules, musical director and composer, 
 was born in Willimantic, Conn., November 10, 
 1850, son of Lyman and Susan (Beckwith) Jordan. 
 He is of early colonial ancestry, his progenitors on 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 the maternal side having been the first settlers of 
 New London, Conn. ; his father's people were all 
 Rhode Islanders, and their old homestead is located 
 at Greene, R. I. The subject of this sketch attended 
 the public school in AVillimantic until sixteen years 
 old. Always interested in music, and naturally pos- 
 sessed of musical talents of a high order, he had 
 but small opportunity for cultivation until he re- 
 moved to Providence in 1870, where his fine tenor 
 voice secured him a position in the choir of Grace 
 Church and made him known in musical circles. 
 He was thus enabled to commence study in earnest, 
 and has since devoted himself exclusively to the 
 practice of the art which his tastes and special abili- 
 ties led him to adopt as a life profession. He 
 
 JULES JORDAN. 
 
 studied thoroughly the cultivation of the voice, in 
 this country with George L. Osgood of Boston, and 
 in Europe under William Shakespeare in London 
 and Signor Sbriglia in Paris. While abroad he had 
 an exceptionally attractive offer to go upon the 
 operatic stage, but he declined, much against the 
 advice and wishes of Signor Sbriglia, preferring to 
 pursue his own plan of work already well begun in 
 Providence, to which city he returned at once upon 
 the completion of his studies. As a teacher, con- 
 ductor and composer, Mr. Jordan has become recog- 
 nized throughout the country as at the head of his 
 
 profession. He was choirmaster of Grace Church, 
 Providence, for thirteen years, and from its organi- 
 zation in 1880 has been the conductor of the Arion 
 Club, a musical society that has won fame through- 
 out New England and beyond. He has given in- 
 struction to many hundreds of pupils, and has 
 written a great number of songs, choruses and other 
 musical compositions, many of which are widely 
 known and have acquired a well-merited popularity. 
 Early in his career Mr. Jordan came into promi- 
 nence as an oratorio and concert singer, and he has 
 appeared with success in most of the larger cities 
 of the country. He was chosen by the late Dr. 
 Damrosch to create the role of Faust in Berlioz's 
 great " Le Damnation de Faust " at its first per- 
 formance in New York, February 14, 1880; in this 
 he made a remarkable success, and he has sung the 
 part often since with great acceptance. Among the 
 better known of his musical compositions are " Ny- 
 dia's Love Song; " " Drink to Me Only with Thine 
 Eyes ; " " If on the Meads ; " " Bedouin's Prayer ; " 
 " Love's Reward ; " " Sleep, Beloved ; " " Daffo- 
 dils; " " Down by the Brook in Maytime ; " " Ring 
 Out, Wild Bells ; " " Forging the Plow ; " "A Life 
 Lesson;" "Invocation;" "Love's Philosophy;" 
 "Love's Sunshine ; " " Love's Confidence ; " " Stay 
 by and Sing;" "My Laddie" and "A Dutch 
 Lullaby, " also " AVind Swept Wheat," for mixed 
 chorus and orchestra, with tenor solo, and " A Night 
 Service," a cantata, for mixed chorus and orchestra, 
 with soprano and bass solos. His sacred composi- 
 tions include '• The Lost Sheep," tenor solo and 
 chorus; "The Sower," alto solo and chorus; " Tan- 
 tum Ergo," bass solo and chorus ; " Panis Angeli- 
 cus," "I Am the Vine," and numerous others which 
 have found much favor with church choirs and 
 choral societies. Among his later works are a fine 
 setting of Whittier's patriotic ballad, " Barbara 
 Frietchie," for soprano, chorus and orchestra, and 
 a national hymn, " Great Western Land." His last 
 work, just completed (April 1896), is a romantic 
 opera in three acts, " Rip Van Winkle," the libretto 
 as well as the music being written by Dr. Jordan. 
 In June 1895 Brown University conferred upon 
 Mr. Jordan the honorary degree of Doctor of 
 Music, the first time the degree was ever conferred 
 by this institution. In 1892 he was strongly urged 
 to remove to New York, where a position was offered 
 him in the National Conservatory of Music, but he 
 declined for the sake of his interests in Providence. 
 Although fully occupied for years in the various 
 branches of his profession. Dr. Jordan's field of labor 
 
1 84 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 is continually extending, particularly in the line of 
 musical conducting, for which he is especially 
 equipped and peculiarly adapted, and in which he 
 has had the greatest success. 
 
 KINNERNEY, Rev. Henry Francis, Pastor of 
 St. Joseph's Church, Pawtucket, was born near 
 Mountrath, Queen's County, Ireland, January 26, 
 1846, son of John and Betty (Whalen) Kinnerney. 
 He came to America in September 1852, and in 
 1 86 1, at the age of fifteen, entered St. Charles Col- 
 lege, Maryland, the nursery of so many learned and 
 zealous priests. In 1863 he entered Niagara Uni- 
 versity, finishing his classical course at that institu- 
 
 H. F. KINNERNEY, 
 
 tion, and obtaining first honors in his class. He 
 then made his course in philosophy at Montreal 
 College, where in 1866 he was crowned by the 
 Governor- General of Canada, having taken the high- 
 est honors. Upon the completion of his studies, 
 December 18, 1870, he was ordained to the priest- 
 hood by Bishop Bourget, and at once entered upon 
 his missionary life. He had charge of the Foun- 
 tain-street Academy, or preparatory school for the 
 diocese of Hartford, until July 1872, when he was 
 appointed pastor of Sandwich, and of all Cape Cod 
 and adjacent islands, embracing Nantucket and 
 
 Martha's Vineyard. After two years' service in this 
 field he was transferred to the pastorate of the 
 new parish of St. Joseph's at Pawtucket, where he 
 has since labored with great success. St. Joseph's 
 parish, set off from the old parish of St. Mary's, in 
 1873, and embracing the territory on the east side 
 of the river from Cottage Street to the East Provi- 
 dence line, was struggling under a heavy debt, 
 ^52,000, incurred in purchasing a site and laying 
 the foundations and corner stone for the new church, 
 and with no means in sight for completing the edi- 
 fice or even for carrying forward the work another 
 stage. The burdensome indebtedness, the especial 
 money stringency of the times, and a laity composed 
 mainly of people in humble circumstances practi- 
 cally without ready means in the hard times then 
 prevailing, combined to make the outlook for the 
 young parish anything but promising. But Father 
 Kinnerney's energy, skill and persistency proved 
 equal to the emergency. He was appointed to the 
 pastorate January 26, 1874, and held his first ser- 
 vice on the first Sunday in February, in the Old 
 Town Hall on School Street. Under his minis- 
 trations a new interest was awakened, the courage 
 of the parishioners revived, money began to flow in, 
 and on April i the basement was completed and 
 mass was celebrated in the new church for the first 
 time. The pastor's labors met with continued suc- 
 cess, and the church debt was rapidly reduced, 
 $27,000 being raised the first year, while the con- 
 struction of the edifice went on. A church fair 
 held in the first year of his pastorate, attended by 
 all the civic and mihtary societies of the state, was 
 instrumental in raising $10,000, of which amount 
 $3,000 was contributed by Hon. George H. Wilson 
 of Providence. By 1878 the pastor had brought 
 the financial problem of the parish within sight of 
 solu ion On the first Sunday in October of that year 
 the church was dedicated with great ceremony, the 
 collection upon that occasion amounting to $1,500, 
 and in 1891 the belfry and tower were finished. In 
 1887 Father Kinnerney purchased the French 
 estate for educational purposes, and in 1892 was 
 commenced the erection of a convent and school 
 buildings on the grounds, completed in February 
 1895 at a cost of $50,000. The old French house 
 was also transformed into a home for the Sisters of 
 Mercy. The school now has an attendance of 
 four hundred and fifty pupils. So greatly has St. 
 Joseph's flourished under Father Kinnerney's pas- 
 torate, that notwithstanding the detachment from 
 his parish of the mission districts of Dodgeville, 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 185 
 
 Hebronville and Rumford, he still numbers upwards 
 of three thousand people among his parishioners, 
 and in this time the church has raised, exclusive of 
 the pastor's support, a sum amounting to about half 
 a million dollars. Not merely in religious affairs 
 has Father Kinnerney been the adviser and guide 
 of his flock J as a public spirited citizen he is noted 
 among Protestants and Catholics alike for his deep 
 interest in matters of public moment, and has taken 
 an active part in many local and national move- 
 ments. He is known as one of the ablest of public 
 speakers, and as President of the Rhode Island 
 Temperance Union, has spoken in that capacity to 
 full houses from nearly every pulpit and platform in 
 the state. In 1878 he was elected a member of 
 the Public School Board of Pawtucket, and served 
 three years. He was one of the speakers at the 
 great mass meeting to welcome Parnell and Dillon 
 in 1879. In 1885 the Grand Army of the Repubhc 
 of the state held memorial services in St. Joseph's 
 Church, the first time in the history of the society 
 that such services were ever held in a Catholic 
 church, upon which occasion the pastor delivered 
 the oration. He also delivered memorial orations 
 upon General Grant and General Garfield, at the 
 instance of the G. A. R. of the state, the Grant 
 oration being published by the society in pamphlet 
 form. Father Kinnerney visited England, Ireland 
 and France in the summer of 1882, and attended 
 the unveiling of the O'Connell monument by 
 Charles S. Parnell. In November 1884 he attended 
 the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, as Theo- 
 logian for the diocese of Providence. In June 
 1895 he again visited Europe, making a tour of the 
 continent, including Rome, Naples, Switzerland and 
 other parts. On December 18, 1895, occurred his 
 silver anniversary, commemorating his twenty-fifth 
 year of priesthood; it was characteristic of him 
 that he should refuse upon that occasion to sanction 
 any pubhc celebration of his sacerdotal jubilee. 
 Father Kinnerney was in 1893 elected President of 
 the Board of Directors of the Providence Visitor, 
 which office he still holds. 
 
 KNAPP, Albert Mason, M. D., Providence, 
 was born in Lyman, N. H., October 14, 1842, son 
 of Dr. Horace and Lucretia (Dickenson) Knapp. 
 His father was a native of Maine, born in Kingfield, 
 and was a school teacher in early life, afterward a 
 Universalist minister, and subsequently a physician 
 and lecturer upon medical and other subjects. His 
 
 mother was a daughter of a New Hampshire farmer. 
 His boyhood was passed to quite an extent in 
 Maine, mostly at Kendall's Mills, but the greater 
 part of his early education was acquired in the pub- 
 lic schools of Racine, Wis. He attended the Nor- 
 mal School of that state, and taught school two 
 years, after which he entered the Medical Depart- 
 ment of the University of Michigan, from which he 
 graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 
 1865. Following graduation he practiced in Racine, 
 Wis., for a time, and then in Chicago, until the 
 great fire in 187 1, when having suffered the loss of 
 his office and much other property by the conflagra- 
 tion, he came East and accepted an offer to asso- 
 
 ALBERT M. KNAPP. 
 
 ciate himself with another physician in Lowell, 
 Mass. Remaining there but a short time, he prac- 
 ticed two years in Manchester, N. H., and about 
 1875 located in Providence, where he has since 
 been estabhshed in successful and remunerative 
 practice. Dr. Knapp has served as Medical Exami- 
 ner for several benevolent and fraternal organiza- 
 tions, and is a member of the Rhode Island Medical 
 Society, and the Providence Medical Association. 
 He was married, in Dubuque, la.. May 31, 1865, to 
 Miss Kittie A., daughter of Thomas W. Crane, an 
 old resident of Chicago ; they have two children : 
 K. Mabel and George H. Knapp. 
 
1 86 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 KNIGHT, Benjamin Brayton, manufacturer, 
 and head of the firm of B. B. & R Knight, Provi- 
 dence, was born in Cranston, R. I., October 3, 1813, 
 son of Stephen and Welthan (Brayton) Knight. 
 His early life was spent in assisting his father on the 
 farm, and his educational advantages were limited 
 to occasional terms in the district schools, until he 
 was sixteen years old. At the age of eighteen, in 
 1 83 1, he entered the Sprague Print Works at Crans- 
 ton and served as an operative until 1833, then he 
 resumed farming for two years. In 1835 he started 
 the initiative movement of his remarkable business 
 career, by purchasing a small building near the 
 Sprague Print Works and opening a general grocery. 
 
 B. B. KNIGHT. 
 
 Five years later he removed to Providence, and 
 with Olney Winsor and L. E. Bowen, under the 
 firm name of Winsor, Knight & Company, engaged 
 in the wholesale and retail grocery business. In 
 1842 he purchased Mr. Bowen's interest, and in 
 1847 his brother Jeremiah became associated with 
 him, under the style of B. B. Knight & Company. 
 Soon afterwards Mr. Knight extended his operations 
 by engaging in the flour and grain trade with D. T. 
 Penniman, under the name of Penniman, Knight & 
 Company, and a year later bought out Mr. Penni- 
 man and continued alone for about four years, doing 
 a large and successful business. In 1849 he sold 
 his grocery interest to his partner and brother, 
 
 Jeremiah, and in 1852 sold a half interest in his 
 flour and grain business to his brother Robert, at 
 the same time purchasing of the latter a half interest 
 in the Pontiac Mill and Bleachery, and establishing 
 the firm of B. B, & R. Knight, under which name 
 the constantly and now marvellously extended 
 manufacturing and mercantile interests of the 
 brothers have ever since been carried on. They 
 soon retired from the flour and grain trade to de- 
 vote their entire time to the manufacture and sale 
 of cotton goods, and the immense business which 
 they have built up from small beginnings is now the 
 largest of its kind in the world. They own and 
 operate under various corporate names no less than 
 twenty-one cotton mills — excepting only a limited 
 interest owned by outsiders in two of the mills — in 
 nearly as many different and widely scattered villages 
 of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, with an aggre- 
 gate capacity of eleven thousand looms and over four 
 hundred thousand spindles, and employing nearly 
 seven thousand operatives. The principal of these 
 mills are : In Rhode Island, the Natick Mills at 
 Natick, Royal and Valley Queen Mills at River Point, 
 Arctic Mill at Arctic, Pontiac Mill and Bleachery at 
 Pontiac, White Rock Mill at Westerly, Clinton Mill 
 at Woonsocket, Grant Mill at Providence, Lippitt 
 Mill at Lippitt, Fiskeville Mill at Fiskeville, and 
 Jackson Mill at Jackson ; and in Massachusetts the 
 Hebron Mill at Hebronville, the Manchaug Mills 
 at Manchaug, the Readville Mill at Readville, 
 and the Dodgeville Mill at Dodgeville. The vast 
 manufacturing property of the Messrs. Knight com- 
 prises fifteen entire villages, absolutely separate and 
 independent from each other as regards their com- 
 munity interests, and includes some seventeen hun- 
 dred or more tenements occupied by employes, 
 besides large tracts of farming lands upon which 
 they conduct extensive operations. Stores are 
 maintained by the corporations in the respective 
 communities, which are conducted upon the same 
 careful system as in the case of the mills, and whose 
 aggregate sales constitute alone a business of exten- 
 sive proportions Independent of all other opera- 
 tions and interests, the Messrs. Knight carry on a 
 mammoth mercantile business, in the sale of the 
 goods of their own manufacture. They have no 
 accounts with commission houses upon which they 
 can draw, but sell their goods direct to the trade 
 and carry the accounts of all their customers. 
 Their principal store is in Worth Street, New York, 
 and they have branches or agencies in Boston, Phil- 
 adelphia, Baltimore and other cities, the operations 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 187 
 
 of all being directed from their central office in Prov- 
 idence. The firm also own a controlHng interest 
 in the Cranston Printing Company at Cranston, 
 formerly the property of the A. & W. Sprague 
 Manufacturing Company, known as among the most 
 extensive works of the kind in the country, and 
 have other large and diversified interests, both as a 
 firm and individually. Mr. B. B. Knight has ren- 
 dered efficient public service as a state legislator and 
 as a member of the city government of Providence. 
 He served as Alderman from the sixth ward in 1865- 
 66-67, was chairman of the Finance Committee of 
 the Aldermanic Board, and has been twice elected to 
 the General Assembly. He has been President of 
 the Butchers' and Drovers' Bank almost ever since its 
 organization in 1853, and is a Director in several 
 insurance companies and other business organiza- 
 tions and institutions. Mr. Knight was married, in 
 1842, to Miss Alice W., daughter of Elizur W. 
 Collins of Johnston, R. I., who died February 8, 
 1850, leaving three children, all now deceased. He 
 married, second, in December 1851, Phebe A., 
 daughter of Abel Slocum of Pawtuxet, R. I. ; they 
 have had three children : Alice Spring, Henry 
 Eugene (deceased) and Adelaide Maria Knight. 
 
 KNIGHT, Robert, manufacturer, and member 
 of the firm of B. B. & R. Knight, Providence, was 
 born in Old ^Varvvick, R. I., January 8, 1826, son of 
 Stephen and Welthan (Brayton) Knight. In his 
 childhood his father moved his family to Cranston, 
 and the lad was put to work in the Cranston Print 
 Works when but eight years of age. At ten years 
 he became an employe in the cotton mill at 
 Coventry, owned and operated by Elisha Harris, 
 where he remained until he was seventeen, part of 
 the time working fourteen hours a day for I1.25 a 
 week. Early in 1 843 he went to Providence and 
 entered the store of his brother Benjamin as clerk. 
 Being desirous of securing an education, he fol- 
 lowed this occupation but two years, and then, 
 through the aid of a friend, spent the eighteen 
 months following in the Pawcatuck Academy at 
 Westerly. He next taught a district school in the 
 town of Exeter four months, and in 1846 took a 
 position as clerk in the factory store of John H. 
 Clark at Arnold's Bridge, now Pontiac. Mr. Clark 
 was subsequently elected United States Senator, at 
 which time he leased his cotton mill and bleachery 
 to Zachariah Parker and Mr. Knight for $5,000 a 
 year, and in October 1850, the firm of Parker & 
 
 Knight purchased the whole property from Mr. Clark 
 for ^40,000. The next year Mr. Knight bought his 
 partner's interest and gave the village its present 
 name of Pontiac. The main facts relating to his 
 subsequent business career are narrated in the sketch 
 of Benjamin Brayton Knight, wherein mention more 
 or less detailed is made of the origin, development 
 and present extent of the immense business con- 
 trolled and operated by the brothers Benjamin B. 
 and Robert under the firm name of B. B. & R. 
 Knight. Robert Knight has been distinctively a 
 business man, never having held any public office, 
 but devoting his time and energies exclusively to 
 business affairs. He was a Director in the National 
 
 ROBERT KNIGHT, 
 
 Bank of Commerce, Providence, from 1867 to 1884, 
 when he was elected President, which office he now 
 holds. He was an incorporator of the People's Sav- 
 ings Bank, was elected Vice-President in 1874, and 
 in 1884 became its President. He has also been 
 connected officially with other banking institutions 
 and several insurance companies, and was for several 
 years a Director in the New York, Providence & 
 Boston Railroad Company. Mr. Knight was married, 
 March 5, 1849, to Miss Josephine Louisa, daughter 
 of Royal A. and Hannah C. (Parker) Webster, of 
 Providence ; they have had nine children, of whom 
 five are now living : Josephine E., Webster, Clinton 
 Prescott, Sophie and Edith Knight. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 LADD, Herbert Warren, merchant, and Gov- 
 ernor of Rhode Island for two terms, 1 889-90 and 
 1891-92, was born in New Bedford, Mass, Octo- 
 ber 15, 1843, son of Warren and Lucy (Kingman) 
 Ladd. Governor Ladd's life has been a busy one, 
 crowded with incident and successful adventure. 
 Few men have ever been called upon to endure, 
 at times, more discouraging experiences, or greater 
 trials or sorrows, but against these his indefatigable 
 effort, indomitable will and good judgment have 
 brought him successes and honors attained by few. 
 He was educated in the public schools of New 
 Bedford, and graduated from the high school of 
 that city in i860. Following graduation, he en- 
 tered a wholesale drygoods house. After a year 
 of this experience he accepted a position on the 
 staff of the New Bedford Mercury, where his abil- 
 ities for newspaper work were at once recognized, 
 and he soon became one of the most efficient 
 reporters and correspondents of that paper. As 
 a writer he was graphic and accurate, and his 
 letters to the Mercury from the South and West 
 during the war were of exceptional merit and in- 
 terest. The first Sunday newspaper pubhshed in 
 New England, outside of Boston, was an "extra" 
 Mercury issued by him to announce the battle of 
 Fredericksburg. In 1864 he retired from journal- 
 ism and re-entered the drygoods business, with 
 White, Brown & Co., Boston, then the largest im- 
 porters of foreign dress-goods in the United States. 
 In the spring of 1871 he came to Providence and 
 started in a fifteen-foot-front store a retail drygoods 
 business. His excellent taste in the selection of 
 goods at once brought him the best trade of the 
 city, while the systematic methods he first introduced 
 into the retail business in this country and the 
 special abilty he manifested as an organizer rapidly 
 developed his enterprise, his business increasing until 
 for years the H. W. Ladd Company occupied one 
 of the largest blocks on Westminster street, widely 
 known as one of the finest retail establishments in 
 all New England. During the development of his 
 successful business career in Providence, Mr. Ladd 
 declined all solicitations to become a candidate for 
 public office — his uniform reason given being that 
 he was a business man and not trained in the 
 school of politics — until in 1889 he was induced to 
 become the Republican candidate for governor. 
 Upon taking office, Governor Ladd undertook the 
 advocacy of many measures in the interests of his 
 state and its people, that bore abundant fruit before 
 his final retirement from administration, bringing 
 
 to his executive duties the same energy and pro- 
 gressive spirit that had characterized him in his 
 private business. He received an emphatic en- 
 dorsement for re-election at the hands of his party 
 in 1890, but owing to causes for which he was 
 in no wise responsible, the Republicans were that 
 year defeated. He was again made the standard- 
 bearer in 1 89 1, however, and was elected to his 
 second term. His record of two years in the exec- 
 utive office is a brilliant one, marked everywhere 
 by energetic and progressive work. He was 
 among the first in the country to actively push the 
 movement for good roads, the result of his efforts 
 being that Rhode Island now has a model road 
 law. The State Agricultural School at Kingston, in 
 its infancy when he took the reins of government, 
 was rapidly developed through his interest in its 
 behalf. The establishment of the Soldiers' Home 
 at Bristol is another notable feature of his public 
 work. The agricultural and educational interests 
 of the state commanded his enthusiastic support, 
 and biennial elections, improved tax laws, the early 
 closing' of polls, the elevation of the ofifice of 
 Governor to that enjoyed by the executives of other 
 states, were all urgently advocated. A notable 
 awakening in the state's educational affairs followed 
 an address before the Rhode Island Institute of 
 Instruction on illiteracy and educational methods 
 pursued in the state, and he gave practical em- 
 phasis to his interest by the presentation of a mag- 
 nificently equipped observatory, said to have cost 
 $40,000, to Brown LTniversity, the University recog- 
 nizing the splendid gift by conferring on the donor 
 the honorary degree of Master of Arts. An enduring 
 and notable monument that will long serve as a 
 worthy tribute to his administration is the new 
 State Capitol building, now in process of construc- 
 tion, to be the finest marble edifice in America. 
 Governor Ladd took up the question of Rhode 
 Island's need for a State Capitol in his usual enter- 
 prising fashion, his first message containing pictures 
 of the state buildings all over the country, by which 
 was contrasted Rhode Island's poor edifice. The 
 plans for the new capitol were secured after a scheme 
 that is to-day quoted by architectural authorities as 
 a model for the whole country. Tiirough all his 
 business and political career Governor Ladd took 
 an unfailing interest in public and social affairs. 
 He was the founder and father of the famous Provi- 
 dence Commercial Club, an organization of busi- 
 ness men that meets monthly, and after a good 
 dinner, discusses leading questions of the day, and at 
 
o^^o.^^e.o^/t:;^A;^^l^^-^^ 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 189 
 
 whose board distinguished men from all over the 
 land consider it an honor to be invited to sit. The 
 club reached the highest point of prosperity and 
 influence under his Presidency. Eminent states- 
 men addressed its members from time to time, and 
 its notable entertainment of the Commercial Club 
 and the Merchants' Club of Boston and a com- 
 mittee of the United States Senate, will never be 
 forgotten. He was for two years vice-President of 
 the Providence Board of Trade, was for several years 
 President of the Rhode Island Society for the Pre- 
 vention of Cruelty to Children, for which society he 
 was chiefly instrumental in securing a fine home, and 
 is a member of and has been a large contributor to 
 the Young Men's Christian Association. He is also 
 vice-President of the New England Genealogical 
 Society of Boston, has been for several years Presi- 
 dent of the Rhode Island School of Design, and is 
 a member of the Hope, Athletic and Press clubs of 
 Providence, and other organizations. He is a 
 Director in the Atlantic National Bank of Provi- 
 dence, but although frequently invited to fill a 
 similar position in the larger financial institutions of 
 the city, he has been unable to give to them the 
 time which he felt their importance demanded. The 
 movement for enlarged and improved railway ter- 
 minal facilities for the city and faster train service, 
 in 1876, found in him an earnest supporter. He 
 called the meeting of the famous committee of one 
 hundred that met before the municipal election to 
 take steps to elect a city council favorable to the so- 
 called " Goddard Plan" for railroad terminals, a 
 movement that in 1884 was the beginning and in- 
 spiration of the awakening that has slowly and surely 
 resulted in the plans finally adopted, after hard 
 battles and despotic jealousies that time has not even 
 yet obliterated. Governor Ladd was married. May 
 25, 1870, to Miss Emma Frances, daughter of Caleb 
 Gerald and Elizabeth (Holmes) Burrows of Provi- 
 dence ; she died just as her husband entered upon 
 his duties as Governor. Of six children, only two 
 are living : Elizabeth Burrows and Hope Ladd. 
 
 LAPHAM, Oscar, lawyer, was born in Burrill- 
 ville, R. I., June 29, 1837, son of Duty and Lucinda 
 (VVheelock) Lapham. His great-grandfather, Solo- 
 mon Lapham, who came from Massachusetts to the 
 town, then Gloucester, about 1750, was an exten- 
 sive land owner and farmer. His grandfather, Wil- 
 liam, was a farmer. His father was first a carpenter, 
 then a farmer, a leader in town affairs, frequently 
 
 President of the Town Council, and member of the 
 General Assembly, and an authority on probate law. 
 He received his early education in the district 
 schools of the town, such as they were, and in dif- 
 ferent boarding schools, prepared for college at the 
 University Grammar School of Providence, entered 
 Brown University and graduated in the class of 
 1864. During the Civil War he served as Lieuten- 
 ant, Adjutant and Captain in the Twelfth Regiment 
 Rhode Island Volunteers. His training for active 
 life consisted in manual labor on the farm, study at 
 home, teaching school, the instruction of a father of 
 extraordinary good sense, and the school of expe- 
 rience in the army. He adopted the law as his 
 
 OSCAR LAPHAM, 
 
 profession, was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar in 
 1867, and estabhshed an office in Providence, where 
 he has continued to reside and has enjoyed an exten- 
 sive and lucrative practice up to the present time. 
 Mr. Lapham has always taken an active part in poli- 
 tics as a Democrat, and has been honored by his 
 party by many important nominations in municipal 
 and state campaigns. In 1887-88 he represented 
 the city of Providence in the State Senate and was 
 Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He was 
 elected a Representative in Congress for the First 
 District of Rhode Island in 1891, and re-elected 
 for the succeeding term. He is a trustee of Brown 
 University and a member of the Advisory and Ex- 
 
igo 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 ecutive Committee of the University. For many 
 years he was Colonel of the United Train of Artillery, 
 of Providence. He is a member of Squantum and 
 Hope clubs, of the Providence Athletic Association 
 and the Press clubs. He was married, June 20, 
 1876, to Miss Clara Louise Paine, of Providence; 
 they have no children living. 
 
 LEACH, George, engineer and architect, Prov- 
 idence, was born in Naples, Maine, September 16, 
 
 GEO. LEACH. 
 
 1843, soi^ o'' Samuel and Martha (Mayberry) 
 Leach. His parental grandparents were Samuel 
 and Anna (Clark) Leach, and his maternal Daniel 
 and Betsy (Nash) Mayberry, all of Cumberland 
 county, Maine. He received his early education in 
 the public schools. His father was a millwright 
 and the early portion of his life was spent with him 
 in that and kindred trades. Later he took up 
 machinery designing and mechanical engineering. 
 He has been employed in responsible positions 
 connected with that class of work by the Saco 
 Water Power Machine Shop, Eiddeford, Me. ; the 
 South Boston Iron Works ; the United States Navy 
 Yard, Portsmouth, N. H. ; the Whitehead & Atherton 
 Machine Company, Lowell, Mass., and the Brown 
 & Sharpe Manufacturing Company, Providence. 
 Since coming to Providence in 1891 he has been 
 
 engaged in the designing and erection of the new 
 buildings of the Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing 
 Company, superintending the construction of the 
 Merchants' Freezing & Cold Storage Company's 
 plant, designing and superintending the construction 
 and fitting up of the Oakdale Manufacturing Com- 
 pany's plant, and other work of a similar nature in 
 and about Providence. He takes no active interest 
 in politics, societies or religion, although he is 
 very much interested in them all to the extent of 
 being enlightened in all points pertaining to them 
 and a life of morality. His pursuits being entirely 
 mechanical and not being of very robust health, his 
 time is largely taken up with his business, with only 
 slight variation for recreation and rest. He married, 
 in 1868, Miss Ester J. Edgecomb 3 they have one 
 child : Mattie M. Leach. 
 
 LEAVITT, Edward Chalmers, artist. Provi- 
 dence, was born in Providence, March 9, 1842, son 
 of Rev. Jonathan and Charlotte Esther (Stearns) 
 
 EDWARD C. LEAVITT. 
 
 Leavitt. His paternal ancestor was John Leavitt, 
 who came to Massachusetts Bay in the first ship 
 and settled in Hingham, and on the maternal side 
 he is de.scended from John Alden and Priscilla 
 Mullens, who came to Plymouth in the Mayflower. 
 He was educated in private schools in Providence, 
 and at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, New 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 191 
 
 Hampshire. During the Civil War, in 1862 and 
 1863, he served in the navy on the U. S. S. Galena. 
 In his profession of artist Mr. Leavitt is especially 
 noted as a painter of fruit, flowers and still life. 
 He exhibited in the National Academy for several 
 years, and has made many successful exhibitions in 
 Providence and Boston. He is a member of the 
 Boston and Providence art clubs, and the Providence 
 Press Club. He is also a member of the Grand 
 Army of the Republic. In politics his proclivities 
 are mainly Republican. He has been twice married : 
 first, May 19, 1877, to Ellen M. Fuller; and second, 
 April 22, 1880, to Elizabeth S. Chace. 
 
 LEE, Thomas Zanslaur, Justice of the District 
 Court of the Twelfth Judicial District of Rhode 
 Island, was born in Woonsocket, September 26, 
 1866, son of Thomas and Ellen (Monahan) Lee. 
 His education was acquired in the public schools of 
 Woonsocket and at St. Bernard's Academy, supple- 
 
 firm of Browne & Van Slyck, was admitted to the 
 Rhode Island bar in August 1888, and after a short 
 professional association with Col. Walter R. Stiness, 
 of Providence, established himself in his native city, 
 where he has won a large and lucrative practice. 
 In May 1888 he was elected Recording Clerk of 
 the Rhode Island House of Representatives, and 
 held the position until May 1889. In January 
 1889 he was elected Coroner of the city of Woon- 
 socket, and served in that capacity three years. In 
 May 189 r, he was elected Reading Clerk of the 
 House of Representatives, was re-elected in 1892, 
 was again elected in 1894, unanimously, and unani- 
 mously re-elected in 1895 and 1896, On February 
 3, 1893, at the age of twenty-six, he was elected 
 Justice of the District Court of the Twelfth Judicial 
 District, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of 
 Judge Charles F. Ballou, being at the time of his 
 election the youngest justice presiding over a court 
 on record in the United States. Two years later, in 
 May 1895, he was unanimously re-elected, after one 
 of the most spirited political contests that Northern 
 Rhode Island has ever seen. It is a noteworthy 
 fact of his judicial career, that since his elevation to 
 the bench no decision of Judge Lee's court has ever 
 been overruled, nor has any exception to his rulings 
 been sustained, by either division of the Supreme 
 Court. Judge Lee is a iTiember of the Providence 
 Athletic Association, the Union Club, the Rhode 
 Island Yacht Club, the Providence Press Club, the 
 United Company of the Train of Artillery, all of 
 Providence, and of the High School Association, 
 Young Business Men's Club and St. Anne's Gym- 
 nasium, of Woonsocket. He is a Past Grand in 
 Woonsocket Lodge No. 10, and a member of the 
 Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, I. O. O. F. ; also 
 Past Chancellor in Myrtle Lodge No. i, and mem- 
 ber of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, Knights 
 of Pythias. In poUtics he is a Republican. He is 
 unmarried. 
 
 THOMAS Z. LEE. 
 
 mented by special courses of study with private 
 tutors. His earlier experience in the active duties 
 of life was in the mechanical department of news- 
 paper work, during a connection of two and a half 
 years with the Woonsocket Reporter. Following 
 this he read law in the office of the well-known legal 
 
 LEWIS, James Noyes, M. D., Ashaway, was 
 born in Pawcatuck, town of Stonington, Conn,, 
 October 30, 1849, son of Dr. Daniel and Ann Frances 
 (Kenyon) Lewis. The Lewises were among the 
 first settlers of what are now the towns of Westerly 
 and Hopkinton, R. I., and the genealogy can be 
 traced back six generations. His grandfather, 
 Christopher C. Lewis, was the town clerk of Hop- 
 kinton for more than forty years, and his great-grand- 
 father. Dr. James Noyes, was a practitioner in 
 
192 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Westerly fifty years ago. His mother was the 
 daughter of Dr. Joseph D. Kenyon, late of Hopkin- 
 ton. Thus it is seen that his professional tastes, to 
 say nothing of his skill, were inherited from both 
 sides. His father died in Ashaway, R. I., in 1859, 
 when James was but ten years old. He was edu- 
 cated in the common schools of his native town and 
 at Hopkinton Academy, spent one year at Alfred 
 University, Alfred, N. Y., and graduated in medicine 
 at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia 
 
 29, 1876, to Miss Lois Clarke, daughter of Hon. Hal- 
 sey P. Clarke of Richmond, R. I., and the union has 
 been blessed by two daughters : Susie C, born July 
 5, 1882, and Hattie D. Lewis, born Dec. 9, 1891. 
 
 JAMES N, LEWIS. 
 
 College, New York City, March 3, 1874. Before 
 graduation he studied and practiced medicine four 
 years with Dr. John D. Kenyon at Ashaway, R. I. 
 Since his graduation he has practiced continuously 
 in the town of Hopkinton, R. L, with the exception 
 of four years spent in Killingly and Plainfield, Conn., 
 and for the last fourteen consecutive years in Asha- 
 way. Owing to the long illness and subsequent death 
 of his father, Dr. Lewis's early life was spent in farm 
 labor and in teaching to obtain the means of com- 
 pleting his education. But by perseverance, hard 
 work and strict attention to business, he accomphshed 
 his purpose in life, and now enjoys the fruits of a 
 successful and lucrative practice. He was one of the 
 charter members, and is at present Vice-President 
 of the Washington County Medical Society, but 
 although strongly Republican in politics, has never 
 held any public ofifice. He was married, November 
 
 LINCOLN, Levi Cook, Treasurer and Manager 
 of the Woonsocket Electric Machine and Power 
 Company, was born in Providence, April 15, 1858, 
 son of Samuel and Ohve (Cook) Lincoln. His 
 father was a native of Hingham, Mass., and his 
 mother was a daughter of Capt. Amos and Ohve 
 (Darling) Cook, of Cumberland, R. I. He was 
 educated in the public schools, and after leaving 
 the high school in Lonsdale he entered Mowry & 
 Goff's English and Classical School in Providence, 
 from which he graduated June 16, 1875. From 
 May I, 1877, to January i, 1888, a period of nearly 
 eleven years, he served as clerk in the Citizens' 
 National Bank of Woonsocket. In October 1883 
 he took charge of the Woonsocket Electric Machine 
 and Power Company, and has served as the Treas- 
 
 L. C. LINCOLN. 
 
 urer and Manager of that corporation ever since. 
 Mr. Lincoln is a member of Woonsocket Lodge and 
 Palestine Encampment of Odd Fellows, Myrtle 
 Lodge Knights of Pythias, Fountain Division Sons 
 of Temperance, and the Woonsocket Business Men's 
 Association. In politics he is a Republican. He 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 193 
 
 was married, April 27, 1877, to Miss Anjanette 
 Bailey ; they have one child, a daughter, Florence 
 C. Lincoln, born May 14, 1878. 
 
 LITTLEFIELD, Nathan Whitman, attorney-at- 
 law, Providence, was born in East Bridgewater, Plym- 
 outh County, Mass., May 21, 1846, son of Rufus 
 Ames and Abigail Russell (Whitman) Littlefield. 
 Both parents are living at East Bridgewater and cele- 
 brated their golden wedding June 10, 1895. Rufus 
 Ames Littlefield is a lineal descendant of Edmund 
 Littlefield, who came to Boston from England in 
 the year 1636 and who afterwards settled at Wells, 
 
 NATHAN W. LITTLEFIELD. 
 
 Me., where he erected the first mill in that region 
 and did much to develop the manufacturing indus- 
 tries of that place. One of the descendants of 
 Edmund Littlefield was Daniel Littlefield, who very 
 early settled in what is now West Bridgewater, 
 Mass., and was the progenitor of the branch of the 
 family of which several generations have resided in 
 that and neighboring towns. Rufus Ames Little- 
 field is related to the Ames family of North Easton, 
 Mass., of which Ex-Gov. Oliver Ames was a 
 member, and also to the Standishes of the Old Col- 
 ony. Abigail Russell (Whitman) Littlefield is a 
 lineal descendant of John Whitman of Weymouth, 
 
 Mass., whose son Thomas was one of the first resi- 
 dents of the ancient town of Bridgewater, Mass., 
 where he settled about the year 1662, and who was 
 the progenitor of a family which has given to the 
 nation Dr. Marcus Whitman, the Savior of Oregon ; 
 Ezekiel Whitman, for many years Chief Justice of 
 the Superior and Supreme Courts of the State of 
 Maine, and a large number of men who have been 
 eminent in professional life, in business and as 
 educators ; like their ancestor, John Whitman, his 
 descendants have been broad-minded and liberal 
 men, very self-reliant, yet unassuming, tenacious of 
 their own opinions, yet tolerant of the opinions of 
 others even in times when toleration was rare. She 
 was educated at the Charlestown Female Seminary, 
 at that time the best school for young ladies in 
 Massachusetts, and was a very proficient scholar, 
 especially in mathematics ; her mother was Saman- 
 tha (Keith) Whitman, a Hneal descendant of James 
 Keith, the first minister of Bridgewater, Mass., and 
 a woman of great amiabihty and strength of char- 
 acter ; she is also a descendant of John and Priscilla 
 Alden. Nathan W. Littlefield was educated in the 
 common schools of East Bridgewater, at Bridge- 
 water Academy, and at Phillips Academy, Andover, 
 Mass., where he was graduated in 1865. The same 
 year he entered Dartmouth College and was gradu- 
 ated in 1869, the Centennial of the College, with 
 the highest honors. At that time Dartmouth had 
 the finest college gymnasium in the country, and he 
 was a recognized leader in athletics from the first, 
 being chosen captain of his class during his fresh- 
 man year, which position he held during the entire 
 course, and was also for two years an assistant in- 
 structor of gymnastics in the college. After gradu- 
 ation he entered upon educational work and was 
 for several years Principal of the High School of 
 Newport, R. L The report of the Superintendent 
 of Schools of that city for the year 1872-73, refer- 
 ring to his departure to another field, says : " Mr. 
 Littlefield is a man of sound and liberal scholarship, 
 and an efficient teacher and earnest worker. His 
 amiable disposition and rare virtues have endeared 
 him to his pupils and associates ; and I am sure that 
 we share deeply in their regrets that the school 
 must lose his labors and influence." The following 
 year he was Principal of the High School and 
 Superintendent of the Schools of the village of 
 Westerly, R. I., which position he resigned, 
 although assured of a large increase of salary if he 
 would remain, to enter upon the work of preparation 
 for his chosen profession; and in October 1874 he 
 
194 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 entered the Law School of Boston University, from 
 which he was graduated in 1876, and was soon after 
 admitted to the Boston Bar, but entered upon the 
 practice of the law at Providence in January 1877. 
 His practice has been exclusively upon the civil 
 side of the court, and largely in equity and probate 
 cases and in the law of real estate, in which, from 
 the beginning of his professional career, he has been 
 engaged in some of the most important litigation 
 which has come before the Rhode Island courts, 
 both as regards the legal principles involved and the 
 pecuniary interests at stake. A recent case involv- 
 ing the titles to several large tracts of land taken by 
 the city of Providence for park purposes was one 
 of the most involved and difficult which ever came 
 before the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, and 
 resulted in the complete estabhshing of the titles of 
 his client and an award of nearly a quarter of a 
 million of dollars as damages. In 1893 he was 
 appointed a Standing Master in Chancery. He is 
 a member of several fraternal organizations, also of 
 the Business Men's Association, and the Patria Club • 
 of Pawtucket. In politics he is a Democrat of the 
 Jeffersonian school, and has been the candidate of 
 his party for State Representative and Senator from 
 Pawtucket. On August 13, 1873, he was married 
 to Miss Arietta V. Redman, daughter of Hon. 
 Erastus Redman of Ellsworth, Me., who died at 
 Providence, October 18, 1879; 01^ April 20, 1877, 
 a son was born to them, Nathan W. Littlefield, Jr. 
 December i, 1886, he was married to Miss Mary 
 Wheaton Ellis, daughter of Asher EUis of Paw- 
 tucket; on December 19, 1889, a son was born to 
 them, Alden Llewellyn Littlefield. 
 
 LYNCH, John Edward, Providence, was born in 
 Blackburn, England, August 22, 1867, son of Mau- 
 rice and Margaret (Downey) Lynch. He came to 
 America with his parents at an early age, and was 
 educated in the public schools of Rhode Island. 
 Entering mto mercantile life, he followed the retail 
 grocery trade from 1879 to 1890, and in the latter 
 year engaged in the undertaking business, which he 
 has since conducted successfully to the present 
 time. Mr. Lynch has served three terms as Re- 
 cording Secretary of the Young Men's Lyceum and 
 Social Club, is Treasurer of Court Thomas A. 
 Doyle, No. 21, Foresters of America, and is a mem- 
 ber of Tyler Council Knights of Columbus and 
 Branch 399, Catholic Knights of America. He is 
 unmarried. 
 
 McGUINNESS, Edwin Daniel, Mayor of Provi- 
 dence in 1896, was born in Providence, May 17, 
 1856, son of Bernard and Mary (Gormley) Mc- 
 Guinness. His ancestry on both sides is Irish. 
 He received his early education in the public 
 schools of Providence, was fitted for college in the 
 high school, entered Brown University and gradu- 
 ated in the class of 1877. He adopted the law as 
 a profession, entered Boston University Law School 
 in 1877, and graduated therefrom with the degree 
 of Bachelor of Laws in 1879, and was admitted to 
 the Rhode Island Bar July i, 1879. Since that time 
 he has been engaged in active practice, and has re- 
 ceived an extensive and profitable clientage. Mr. 
 McGuinness has always taken an active interest in 
 public affairs. He was elected Secretary of State 
 of Rhode Island in 1887, and again in 1890. He 
 was Alderman from the Third Ward from Septem- 
 ber 1889 to January 1893. He received the unani- 
 mous nomination of the Democratic convention for 
 Mayor in 1893 and 1894, and, although not elected, 
 his vote was a flattering testimonial of his personal 
 popularity among his fellow-citizens. In the muni- 
 cipal election of 1895 ^e was elected Mayor of the 
 
 J. E. LYNCH. 
 
 city of Providence for the year 1896, receiving the 
 support of a large independent vote. In politics 
 he is a Democrat and has always been active and 
 influential in the councils of liis party. He was 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 195 
 
 Adjutant of the Fifth Battalion Rhode Island Mili- 
 tia from 1879 to 1881, and Major from 1881 to 
 1887. He has been Supreme Trustee of the Cath- 
 olic Knights of America since 1889, and was Presi- 
 dent of the Brownson Lyceum for two years. He 
 is a member of the American Bar Association, the 
 
 E. D. McGUlNNESS. 
 
 Rhode Island Historical Society, the Brownson Ly- 
 ceum, the Providence Athletic Association, the 
 Press Club, and Reform Club of New York. Mayor 
 McGuinness was married, November 22, 1881, to 
 Miss Ellen T. Noonan ; they have one child : Mary 
 Frances McGuinness, born October 8, 1S82. 
 
 MASON, Arthur Livingston, Treasurer and Gen- 
 eral Manager of the Continental Steamboat Com- 
 pany, Providence, was born in Providence, February 
 24, 1852, son of Earl P. and Lucy Ann (Larcar) 
 Mason. Mr. Mason's mother was descended from 
 an old French family. His father. Earl P. Mason 
 (March 10, 1804 — September 21, 1876), tenth child 
 of Pardon Mason and Anna Hail, was identified 
 with many of the important industries of New 
 England. Pardon Mason (August 14, 1758 — May 
 18, 1845) was eleventh child of Nathan Mason and 
 Lillias Hail. He was the youngest of the six broth- 
 ers whose names appear so frequently on the rolls 
 of the Revolution. The history of Cheshire, Mass., 
 
 tells us that Pardon and four of his brothers were 
 in the hot fight at Bennington and that they were 
 so begrimed with powder they did not recognize 
 each other when they met on the field after the 
 battle. Pardon returned to Providence but the 
 other brothers remained in the New Providence 
 settlement, later incorporated with Adams. Nathan 
 Mason (May 10, 1705 — May 1758) was one of the 
 ten children of Deacon Isaac Mason (July 15, 1667 
 — June 25, 1742). He in turn was one of thirteen 
 children of Sampson Mason and Mary Butterworth. 
 Sampson, a dragoon in Oliver Cromwell's army, and 
 one of the famous Ironside Troop who received the 
 trite advice to " Trust in God and keep your pow- 
 der dry," emigrated to Boston about 1649, and after 
 living in Dorchester about seven years, started with 
 Obadiah Holmes in search of greater freedom and 
 became a large proprietor of land in Rehoboth and 
 one of the owners of the North Purchase, since 
 Altleboro; he died September 15, 1876, respected 
 by all. The subject of this sketch received his 
 early education in private schools in Providence, 
 
 A. LIVINGSTON MASON, 
 
 until 1865, then three years in France and Germany. 
 In 1868 he returned to America, entered Mowry & 
 Goff's English and Classical High School, and in 
 1870 took a special course in Brown University. 
 From 1871 to 1873 he worked in a woolen mill to 
 learn the details of the manufacture of woolen goods, 
 
196 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 and about 1873 became junior partner in the woolen 
 manufacturing firm of Needham, Mason & Company. 
 A few years later Mr. Needham retired from the 
 business and the firm name was changed to C. F. 
 Mason & Company. The new firm had hardly paid 
 for Mr. Needham's interest when the manufactory, 
 Farnum Mill Number Three, situated in Waterford, 
 Mass., was totally destroyed by fire, involving a heavy 
 loss. With a reduced capital the firm commenced 
 business again in the Saxon Mills, situated in Put- 
 nam, Conn., and later purchased the property. 
 Through the failure of their commission house in 
 New York the firm became financially embarrassed, 
 and after making a satisfactory settlement of its in- 
 debtedness, went into liquidation. During the fatal 
 illness of his father, Earl P. Mason, in September 
 1876, Mr. Mason was appointed one of the Trustees 
 of the estate, which position he held for ten years. 
 When the property was merged into the Earl P. 
 Mason Land Company he was elected Vice-President 
 of the corporation. He was also a Trustee of the 
 estate of Isaac Hartshorn in 1877. In 1883, April 
 28, Mr. Mason was elected Treasurer and General 
 Manager of the Continental Steamboat Company. 
 After getting an insight into the business he found 
 that many reforms would have to be made, as well 
 as great economies, before the business could be 
 made remunerative to the stockholders. He found 
 the position a most difficult one at first, as he knew 
 but httle of the details of the business and his 
 efforts at reform and economy met with but little 
 favor from his subordinates. Finding that it was 
 impossible to do justice to his stockholders or to 
 himself under the existing circumstances, he made 
 a clean sweap of all the employes who were hostile 
 to him and put in new men who would work in his 
 interest. A change for the better soon became 
 apparent, the business increased largely, and the 
 fleet of boats had to be augmented. During his 
 administration two lines of opposition steamboats 
 have been satisfactorily disposed of, the entire float- 
 ing indebtedness has been retired and the company 
 put upon a permanent dividend-paying basis. Mr. 
 Mason is also Secretary of the Rhode Island Loco- 
 motive Works, to which position he was elected 
 May I, 1883. He is a member of the Providence 
 Art Club, Lincoln Library Association, Rhode Island 
 Historical Society, New York Society Sons of the 
 Revolution, and while in college was a member of 
 the Psi Upsilon Society of Brown University. He 
 resigned his membership in the Hope Club of Prov- 
 idence in 1895, having moved his residence to New- 
 
 port. He is also a member of the corporation of 
 the Providence Lying-in Hospital. Mr. Mason is 
 the founder of the Providence Symphony Orchestra 
 and has been its Business Manager since its organi- 
 zation about 1879. The orchestra numbers over 
 fifty of the leading amateur musicians of the state, 
 members coming from Newport, Bristol, Pawtucket 
 and the suburbs of Providence to attend the weekly 
 rehearsals held in the rooms of the Providence Art 
 Club. The orchestra is strictly private, no public 
 concerts being given. Mr. Mason was born in the 
 Mason homestead on Benefit Street, and lived there 
 until his marriage, spending his summers in New- 
 port. Shortly after his marriage he purchased a 
 residence on Keene Street, Providence, and in 
 June 1894 removed to Newport, occupying Hahdon 
 Hall, the handsome residence formerly occupied by 
 Dr. Isaac Hartshorn. He was married, June 30, 
 1875, to Miss Edith Bucklin, daughter of Dr. Isaac 
 and Eliza Dayton (Gardiner) Hartshorn; they 
 have had four children: Earl P., Edith Livingston, 
 Marguerite Schuyler and Liona Gardiner Mason ; the 
 last named died October 6, 1893, in Paris, France. 
 
 MASON, Robert Albertus, Chief Engineer of 
 the Westerly Fire Department, was born in Paw- 
 tucket, October 16, 1850, son of Henry Franklin 
 and Matilda Rider (Lapham) Mason, of English 
 and Scotch ancestry. He attended the pubhc 
 schools of Providence, graduating from the Bridgham- 
 street grammar school in 1865. Between the ages 
 of sixteen and nineteen he \vorked on a farm at 
 Evans Centre, Erie county, New York, and in 1869 
 entered the foundry of the Rhode Island Locomo- 
 tive Works in Providence to learn the moulder's 
 trade. He remained in that establishment until 
 1880, and from that time until May 1882, was em- 
 ployed in the foundry department of William A. 
 Harris, Providence. He then started a foundry for 
 the Lamphear Machine Company, at Phenix, R. I., 
 but left there in the following August to take charge 
 of the foundry of C. B. Cottrell & Sons' printing 
 press manufactory at Westerly, which position he 
 now holds. Mr. Mason has served as Captain of 
 Capt. George W. Steadman Camp Sons of Veterans, 
 of Westerly, from December 1889 to February 1891 ; 
 Major of the Rhode Island Division Sons of Veterans, 
 from February 1891 to February 1892 ; and as Chief 
 Engineer of the Westerly Fire Department from 
 November 1892 to the present time. He received 
 the Master Mason's degree in What Cheer Lodge 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 197 
 
 No. 21 of Providence in 1872, joined Pawcatuck 
 Lodge No. 90 of Pawcatuck, Conn., in 1886 and 
 was elected Worshipful Master in 1894. He joined 
 Palmer Chapter Royal Arch Masons No. 28 in 1884; 
 was chosen High Priest in 1887, 1888, 1889 and 
 1892, joined Narragansett Commandery No. 27 
 
 ROBERT A. MASON. 
 
 of Knights Templar in 1885, and was elected Emi- 
 nent Commander in 1893 and 1894; he was made 
 a shriner in Palestine Lodge, Mystic Shrine, at New- 
 port in 1887, and received the thirty-second degree, 
 Scottish Rite, at Providence in 1888. He is first 
 Past Chancellor of Bowen Lodge Knights of Pythias, 
 of Westerly. He is also a member of the Westerly 
 Business Men's Association. In politics he is a 
 Republican. Mr. Mason was married September 
 7, 1876, to Miss Fannie Earl Hixon. They have 
 two children : Fannie Alice, now eighteen years of 
 age, and Robert Edgar Leroy Mason, aged sixteen 
 years. 
 
 MATHIEU, Joseph Edouard Victor, M. D., 
 Central Falls, was born in St. Barnabe, county of 
 St Hyacinthe, Province of Quebec, August 8, 1856, 
 son of Edouard and Rosalie (Lapre) Mathieu. His 
 ancestors on both sides came from Normandie, 
 France, about the sixteenth century, and with others 
 of the name were among the first settlers of the 
 Island of Orleans, near the city of Quebec. His 
 
 father was born in St. Ours, Richelieu, P. Q., and 
 when twenty-two years old removed to St. Barnabe, 
 where he engaged in business, keeping a country 
 store and exporting the farmers' produce ; he was 
 Postmaster for sixteen years, and Mayor for twenty 
 years; in 1872 he removed to the city of St. Hya- 
 cinthe, accepting a railroad agency, a position which 
 he occupied until his death in 1895. Joseph's 
 mother was born in St. Barnab^, and was educated 
 in the convent of La Presentation at St. Hyacinthe. 
 He received his early education in the parochial 
 school until the age of eleven, when he entered the 
 St. Hyacinthe Seminary and pursued a classical 
 course. He studied medicine at the Victoria Uni- 
 versity of Montreal, from which he received his 
 degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1879, and soon 
 after graduation came to Rhode Island, engaging in 
 the practice of his profession in Central Falls, where 
 he has since resided. Dr. Mathieu has held the 
 office of Coroner for the city of Central Falls since 
 1893, and is Medical Examiner for the Equitable 
 Life Assurance Society of New York, and the New 
 
 J. E. V. MATHIEU. 
 
 "\'ork Mutual Reserve Fund Association ; also Phy- 
 sician for the Loyal Mount Hope Lodge of Odd 
 Fellows, Court Flower Dexter of the Ancient Order 
 of Foresters of America, Lodge 277 Order of the 
 Sons of St. Georges, Lady Lincoln Lodge 46 Order 
 of the Daughters of St. Georges, the Association of 
 
198 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 St. Jean Baptiste, of Central Falls, and the Catholic 
 Knights of America. He is a member of the 
 Pawtucket Medical Society and the Rhode Island 
 Medical Society, also of most of the local socie- 
 ties and social organizations. Dr. Mathieu was 
 married, February 14, 1882, to Miss Amanda 
 Blanche Richer, of St. Hyacinthe, P. Q. ; they 
 have had three children : Yvonne, born February 
 22, 1883, died February 28, 1885 ; Bertha Corinne, 
 born December 25, 1885, and Estelle Marie Mathieu, 
 born in September 1890. 
 
 MATTESON, Charles, Chief Justice of the 
 Supreme Court of Rhode Island, was born in 
 
 CHARLES MATTESON. 
 
 Coventry, R. I., March 21, 1840, son of Asahel 
 and Julia M. (Johnson) Matteson. His father 
 was a merchant of Coventry, and served for sev- 
 eral years as a State Senator. His early education 
 was acquired in a private school in Providence, 
 and at the Providence Conference Seminary in East 
 Greenwich, after which he served a clerkship of two 
 years in his father's store. He then re-entered 
 (Greenwich Academy, and in 1856 began a college- 
 preparatory course of studies in the University 
 Grammar School, Providence. The following year 
 he entered Brown University, and in 1861 graduated 
 from that institution. For a year after leaving 
 college he studied law in the office of the United 
 
 States District Attorney for Rhode Island, Hon. 
 Wingate Hayes, and then entered Harvard Law 
 School, in which he remained during the years 1862 
 and 1863. Upon admission to the Rhode Island 
 Bar, in January 1864, he began practice in Provi- 
 dence, at first alone, but the succeeding year 
 became associated with Mr. Hayes, his former pre- 
 ceptor, under the firm name of Hayes & Matteson. 
 The copartnership continued until July 187 1, when 
 Mr. Matteson retired and devoted himself especially 
 to corporation practice, becoming attorney and 
 counsel for various corporations and later serving 
 as Director and Trustee of several corporate institu- 
 tions. His marked ability as a lawyer and his 
 fidelity to important trusts led to his election to the 
 bench of the Supreme Court in February 1875, to 
 fill the vacancy resulting from the promotion of 
 Judge Durfee to the Chief Justiceship, and in April 
 1891, he succeeded to the position of Chief Justice, 
 in which capacity he has since served, with honor 
 to himself and with credit to the state. Judge 
 Matteson was married, August 22, 1872, to Miss 
 Belle Himes, daughter of Paul Himes, of Warwick, 
 R. I. ; they have three sons : Archibald C, George 
 A. and Paul Matteson. 
 
 MILLER, Augustus Samuel, attorney- at-law, was 
 born August 13, 1847, at Plainfield, Conn., the son 
 of Simon Williams and Ann (Lawton) Miller. He 
 is descended from Rev. Alexander Miller of Plain- 
 field, Conn. (1711-1798), a staunch advocate of 
 religious liberty in that state, a leader among those 
 who " soberly dissented from the church established 
 by Connecticut." Alexander Miller was the son of 
 Robert Miller (1672-1727) who came to this coun- 
 try at the close of the seventeenth century, and 
 settled in Voluntown, Conn. He is also descended 
 from Roger Williams through his paternal grand- 
 mother, whose grandfather, Major Benjamin Potter, 
 married Jemima ^Villiams, daughter of Joseph Wil- 
 liams, Esq., grandson of Roger Williams. On his 
 mother's side he is descended from the Lawtons of 
 Portsmouth, R. I., who settled in .\quidneck in 1638. 
 His grandfather, Darius Perry Lawton, was one of 
 the earliest manufacturers in New England, having 
 built a mill and begun the manufacture of woolens in 
 Plainfield in 181 1. He received his early education 
 in the public and private schools of Plainfield and 
 prepared for college in Mowry & Goff' s English and 
 Classical school, Providence. He entered Brown 
 University and graduated in the class of 1871 with 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 199 
 
 the degree of A. B., afterward receiving the degree 
 of A. M. He adopted the law as his profession 
 and was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar, April 
 2, 1874. He was assistant clerk of the Supreme 
 Court of Rhode Island from May 1873 to October 
 1876. In June 1878 he formed a law partnership 
 
 AUGUSTUS S, MILLER. 
 
 with Hon. H. J. Spooner. The firm afterward be- 
 came Spooner, Miller & Brown, by the admission of 
 Arthur L. Brown, Esq. The firm becaine Miller & 
 Brown, January i, 1885, and so continued till Janu- 
 ary I, 1894, when it was dissolved. He was ad- 
 mitted and qualified as attorney and counsellor in the 
 United States Supreme Court Jan. 9, 1890. He has 
 always enjoyed a large practice and been employed 
 in a number of important cases. He has taken an 
 active part in public life and politics. He was 
 chairman of the Democratic City Committee in 
 1881-83, member of the Common Council of Provi- 
 dence 1885-87 and its President in 1887. He was 
 elected a member of the House of Representatives 
 of the General Assembly in 1884-85 and in 1889- 
 91, and was Speaker of the House 1889 91. He 
 was the Senator from Providence in the Rhode 
 Island Senate 1893-94, and has received other im- 
 portant nominations in State and municipal cam- 
 paigns. He is President of the American Enamel 
 Company, incorporated in 1866, the oldest and 
 largest establishment of the kind in the country. 
 
 doing enamelling of all kinds on wood and metal. 
 He was President of the Franklin Lyceum in 1880. 
 He is a member of the American Bar Association. 
 He was a member of the Hope Club for nineteen 
 years and its Vice-President for several years. He is 
 a member, and was the first President, of the Young 
 Men's Democratic Club. He is a member of the 
 Athletic Club, Elmwood Club, Press Club, Art Club, 
 Rhode Island Historical Society and Rhode Island 
 State Fair Association. He has marked literary 
 taste, and has written for the magazines and news- 
 papers, when his avocation permitted. He mar- 
 ried, February 17, 1881, Miss Elizabeth LeMoine 
 Davis ; they have had two children : Mary Eleanor 
 Davis (deceased) and William Davis. 
 
 NEYLAN, Daniel James, M. D , Bristol, was 
 born in New York city, November 27, 1852, son of 
 James and Mary Neylan. He received his early 
 education in the common schools, and entered the 
 University of New York, from which he graduated 
 
 D. J. NEYLAN. 
 
 in 1885. He was a teacher of gymnastics for 
 several years, an acrobat and professional gymnast 
 for fifteen years and an animal trainer four years, 
 with the John Robinson show, the Great Eastern, 
 Stone & Murray's, Starr & Orton's, and several 
 minstrel and variety shows. Dr. Neylan served as 
 
200 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Surgeon in the Rhode Island Militia in 1888-89. 
 He is a Thirty-second degree Mason, is Past Regent 
 in the Royal Arcanum, Past Master Workman of the 
 Ancient Order United Workmen and is a member 
 of the Knights of Pythias. He was married, July 
 5, 1880, to Miss Elizabeth Baxter of Providence. 
 
 NICHOLSON, Samuel Mowrv, President and 
 General Manager of the Nicholson File Company, 
 Providence, was born in Providence, February 25, 
 1861, son of William Thomas and Elizabeth Dexter 
 (Gardiner) Nicholson. His paternal ancestors were 
 among the early Puritan settlers along the eastern 
 shores of Massachusetts. On the maternal side he 
 traces back to Sir Roger Movvry and Sir Thomas 
 
 S. M. NICHOLSON. 
 
 Gardiner, of England, and to Gabriel Bernon, the 
 noted Huguenot, and is connected by birth with 
 some of the oldest and most prominent families of 
 Rhode Island. His early education was acquired 
 in his native city, first in Miss Warren's Primary 
 School, then in the public schools, and afterwards in 
 Movvry & Goff's Classical School. In 1879, at the 
 age of eighteen, he entered the employ of the Nich- 
 olson File Company, of which his father was the 
 founder and President, devoting the first year and a 
 half to the mechanical dei)artment, and learning the 
 different processes of the manufacture of files and 
 rasps. He then entered the main office as clerk, 
 
 acquiring a thorough knowledge of the book-keep- 
 ing departments, and in 1881 was elected Secretary 
 of the company. He subsequently made numerous 
 trips throughout the United States and British 
 Provinces in the interest of the company, widely 
 extending his commercial acquaintance. In 1890 
 he was elected a Director of the company, and in 
 1891 he was made Vice-President. In November 
 1893, upon the death of his father, he succeeded to 
 the position of President and General Manager, 
 which position he now holds. The company at 
 present operates, in addition to the factories at 
 Providence, the American File Works at Pawtucket, 
 R. I., and the Great Western Works at Beaver Falls, 
 Pa. There are about twelve hundred skilled work- 
 men on the company's pay-rolls, and the products 
 are sent to all parts of the globe. Mr. Nicholson is 
 a Director of the following institutions and com- 
 panies, located in Providence : Rhode Island Na- 
 tional Bank ; Enterprise, State and American Mutual 
 Fire Insurance companies ; and the Providence, Fall 
 River and Newport Steamboat Company. He is 
 Vice-President for Rhode Island of the National 
 Association of Manufacturers, and a Director in the 
 Exporters' Association of America. He is a mem- 
 ber of the Hardware clubs of New York, Boston 
 and Philadelphia, and of the Home Market Club of 
 Boston ; also a member of the Providence Board 
 of Trade, the Rhode Island Historical Society, the 
 Hope, Squantum, Commercial and other clubs of 
 Providence. In politics he is a Republican. He 
 was married, November 17, 1886, to Miss Mary 
 Jewett Coe, of Brooklyn, N. Y. ; they have two 
 children : Paul Coe and Martha Jewett Nicholson. 
 
 NO YES, Robert Fanning, M. D., Providence, 
 was born in South Kingston, R. I., February 8, 
 1850, son of Thomas W. and Julia Elma (Allen) 
 Noyes. Dr. Noyes is a descendant of Rev. James 
 Noyes, who was born in Cholderton, Wiltshire, 
 England, in 1608, bred at Brazen-Nose College, 
 Oxford, and emigrated from London to America in 
 1634, in the ship Mary and John, in company 
 with his brother Rev. Nicholas Noyes and his 
 cousin Rev. Thomas Parker. He and his associates 
 above referred to were Puritans and Nonconformists. 
 They finally settled in 1635 in Newbury, now New- 
 buryport, Mass., where Rev. Mr. Noyes and Rev. 
 Mr. Parker were associated as teacher and pastor 
 over the first church established in that town, and 
 where Rev. Mr. Noyes in 1647 erected the Noyes 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 20I 
 
 house which has been owned and occupied by those 
 in lineal descent almost to the present day, or until 
 within about two years. The subject of this sketch 
 acquired his early education in the public school 
 and at Mrs. S. H. Weeks' seminary in his native 
 town, supplemented by private instruction in mathe- 
 
 ROB'T F, NOYES. 
 
 matics and languages under the tuition of Rev. J. 
 H. Wells. Later he attended the Providence 
 Conference Seminary at East Greenwich, the 
 Friends' School in Providence, and the Connecticut 
 Literary Institute at Suffield, Conn. At the age of 
 nineteen, in March 1869, he began the study of 
 medicine with Dr. Job Kenyon in Providence, and 
 after one year at the Harvard Medical School in 
 Boston and two years at the College of Physicians 
 and Surgeons in New York City, graduated from 
 the last named institution in February 1873. ^^ 
 December of the same year he engaged in the 
 practice of medicine and surgery in Providence, 
 and has continued as a practitioner in that city ever 
 since. Dr. Noyes was for several years Physician 
 to Out-Patients at the Rhode Island Hospital in 
 Providence, and is at the present time Visiting 
 Physician to that institution, also Consulting Phy- 
 sician and member of the Advisory Board of St. 
 Joseph's Hospital in the same city. He has served 
 as President of the Providence Medical Association 
 (1891-93) and as President of the Rhode Island 
 
 Medical Society (1893-95), and besides his member- 
 ship in these medical organizations is a member of 
 the Clinical Club of Providence. Although not a 
 frequent Or voluminous writer, Dr. Noyes has con- 
 tributed a number of valuable articles to the Trans- 
 actions of the Rhode Island Medical Society. He 
 was married, May 15, 1888, to Miss Katharine 
 Rowland Gifford, daughter of Abraham R. and 
 Meribah A. Gifford, of Westport, Mass. ; they have 
 one child : Emily Gifford Noyes, born March 26, 
 1892. 
 
 O'LEARY, Charles, M. D., Providence, was born 
 in Ireland in May 1832, son of Denis Wallace and 
 Catherine (Cantel) O'Leary. He is descended on 
 the paternal side from the old historic family of 
 Wallace, of the Barony of Ardagh, County Cork, and 
 one of his near relatives was Arthur O'Leary, the 
 distinguished wit and writer. He was educated for 
 Trinity College, Dublin, studied for honors and made 
 entrance examination in October 1848; but owing 
 to his father's death and reduced family circum- 
 
 CHAS. O LEARY. 
 
 stances, he was unable to pursue the course of studies 
 contemplated, and came to America in May 1850. 
 He entered Mount Mary's College at Emmetsburg, 
 Md., continuing his studies and being occupied as 
 tutor in Latin and Greek at the same time, receiving 
 the degree of A. B. in 1851 and that of A. M. in 
 
202 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 1853, in which year he became Professor of Greek 
 and Latin in that institution. In the meantime, in 
 the intervals of vacation and during the year, he 
 studied chemistry, natural philosophy and physiology 
 under Dr. William E. A. Aiken, the Professor of these 
 sciences in the college, and also Professor in the 
 University of Maryland. He wrote and published 
 a Greek Grammar in 1855, which was favorably re- 
 ceived and accepted in the schools, but has been 
 allowed to run out of print, the author having turned 
 his attention to other pursuits. In 1856 he went to 
 Cincinnati and commenced the study of medicine 
 in the Medical College of Ohio, teaching, as before, 
 two hours a day, in a college outside of the city. 
 From there he went to the Long Island Medical 
 College, Brooklyn, N. Y., where he received the 
 degree of M. D. in July 1859. Returning to Cin- 
 cinnati he was appointed to the chair of Chemistry 
 and Physiology in the Medical College of Ohio, and 
 lectured there two terms ; he was also visiting physi- 
 cian to the St. John's and German hospitals. In 
 September 1861 he entered into the United States 
 service as Brigade Surgeon, with the rank of Major, 
 serving on the staff of General Couch through the 
 Peninsular and Maryland campaigns of that year. 
 In December 1862 he was appointed Medical Direc- 
 tor of the Sixth Corps, and served with that corps 
 on the staff of General Sedgwick until February 1864, 
 when at his own request he was relieved of duty in 
 the field and assigned to various duties in New York 
 and Philadelphia — to inspect hospitals and examine 
 soldiers supposed to be detained therein without 
 sufficient cause in the way of disability, and return 
 them to the field ; to inspect the Provost Marshal 
 department of the state of Pennsylvania, and to act 
 as member of a board for the examination of invalid 
 and disabled officers. In September of the same 
 year he was ordered to the work of restoring to 
 discipline two hospitals that had lapsed into a state 
 of disorder and abuse — one in Philadelphia, the 
 other in New Haven. Having accomplished this 
 work he was assigned to the command of Lovel 
 General Hospital, near Newport, R. I. ; and at the 
 termination of the war, in December 1865, having 
 settled the affairs of the hospital and closed it up, 
 he was mustered out of service with the rank of 
 Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. In the following May 
 Dr. O'Leary went to Paris, where during his stay in 
 1866-67 he attended the hospital clinics. He re- 
 turned to America in October 1867, and in Septem- 
 ber 1868 took up his residence in Providence, where 
 he has since continued the practice of medicine and 
 
 surgery. In 1875 he was appointed Visiting Surgeon 
 to the Rhode Island Hospital ; this position he re- 
 signed in 1893, but still remains Consulting Surgeon 
 to that institution. He is a fellow of the Rhode 
 Island Medical Society, and in 1881-82 was Presi- 
 dent of that organization. Dr. O'Leary has written 
 several papers that have been published, and which 
 have been considered valuable contributions to med- 
 ical science. A work written in the History of the 
 Medical Department of the Army of the Potomac, 
 by Dr. Letterman, Medical Director of the Army, 
 reprints one of Dr. O'Leary's reports and pays him 
 a high compliment for " efficient service of an un- 
 usual character." He was married in October 1863, 
 to Miss Louise, daughter of Clement Dietrich of 
 Cincinnati, Ohio ; they have six children : Clement 
 D., Arthur, Charles, Louise, Angela and Juliet 
 O'Leary. 
 
 OWEN, Franklin Pierce, member of the Rhode 
 Island Bar, was born in Scituate, R. I., December 
 
 FRANKLIN P. OWEN. 
 
 27, 1853, son of Elisha B. and Mary E. (Mathew- 
 son) Owen. He is of Welsh ancestry. He re- 
 ceived his early education in the public schools and 
 at Lapham Institute, Scituate, and in 1870 entered 
 Amherst College, graduating in the class of 1874. 
 Adopting the profession of law, he studied with 
 George E. Webster, Esq., at Providence, and was 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 203 
 
 admitted to the bar January 26, 1883. He has 
 since practiced his profession in Providence. Mr. 
 Owen has served in both branches of the State 
 Legislature, as Senator in 1888 and 1889, and as 
 Representative in 1892 and 1893. In poUtics he 
 is a Democrat, and has been Chairman of the 
 Democratic State Committee since 1889. He is a 
 member of Temple Masonic Lodge No. 18, also of 
 the Union Club and Providence Athletic Associa- 
 tion. He was married, December 26, 1877, to Miss 
 Mary S. Fisher ; they have three children : Sadie 
 R., Mary F. and Edith R. Owen. Mrs. Owen 
 died December 20, 1892. 
 
 PENDLETON, Hon. James Monroe, late Presi- 
 dent of the Niantic National Bank and Niantic 
 Savings Bank, Westerly, was born at Pendleton Hill, 
 North Stonington, Conn., January 10, 1822, son of 
 General Nathan and Phoebe (Cole) Pendleton, and 
 died February 16, 1889. He was the youngest son 
 and tenth child in a family of twelve children. He 
 was a descendant on his father's side of Major Brian 
 Pendleton, who came from the mother country and 
 settled in New England shortly after the arrival of 
 the Mayflower in 1620, and became distinguished as 
 a soldier and in the councils of government. Gen. 
 Nathan Pendleton was a member of the Connecticut 
 Legislature from iSioto 1826. The subject of this 
 sketch received his early education in the district 
 schools, and graduated from the Connecticut Liter- 
 ary Institution in 1844, with high honors, following 
 which he entered at once upon the active duties of 
 a business life. In 1854 he was one of the incor- 
 porators of the Niantic Bank of Westerly, and sub- 
 sequently during seventeen years was its Cashier, the 
 bank in the meantime having reorganized under the 
 National Bank Act. At the time of his death he 
 was President of the Niantic National Bank and also 
 of the Niantic Savings Bank. From youth he took 
 a deep interest in political science and public affairs, 
 and his industry, ability, rectitude, patriotism and 
 exemplary private life early won the public confi- 
 dence, appreciation and esteem. He was elected 
 to the State Senate for the years 1862-65 inclusive, 
 in 1868 was a Delegate to the National Republican 
 Convention in Chicago, and was chosen Presidential 
 Elector the same year. He was elected to the 
 Forty-second Congress in 1868, and re-elected to 
 the Forty-third Congress, serving during the first 
 session on the Committee on Printing and Revolu- 
 tionary Claims, and subsequently on the Committee 
 
 on the Revision of Laws, one of the most important 
 in the House. Mr. Pendleton was a Delegate to 
 the Republican National Convention of 1876, and in 
 1878 he was elected to the Rhode Island House of 
 Representatives, was re-elected each succeeding 
 year until 1884, and held during several sessions the 
 position of Chairman of the Committee on Finance. 
 Mr. Pendleton was an earnest advocate of all measures 
 which he believed to be conducive to the good of 
 the community in which he lived or of the country 
 at large. During the war he was President of the 
 Union League in Westerly, and was largely instru- 
 mental in enlisting soldiers for the defence of the 
 government. For fifteen years he was a member of 
 the State Board of Charities and Corrections, and a 
 portion of the time its Chairman. He also held 
 many offices in the Masonic fraternity. He was 
 married, in 1847, to Miss Bethena A. Spencer, of 
 Suffield, Conn., a lady whose talents and refined 
 culture command the highest respect and esteem. 
 Mr. Pendleton having no children, he manifested 
 much liberality and kindness in the education of his 
 nieces and nephews. In 1854, two children of his 
 brother William were taken into his family for that 
 purpose, one of whom, James M. Pendleton, became 
 a Lieutenant in the army during the late Civil War, 
 and died of fever contracted in the service. 
 Another, Elizabeth P. Pendleton, whom Mr. Pendle- 
 ton considered his adopted daughter, died Febru- 
 ary 2, iSgr. In 1865, his brother having died, two 
 others of the children were given a home, one of 
 whom has since died, and the other. Rev. Charles 
 H. Pendleton, graduated from Brown University in 
 1878, and from Rochester Theological Seminary in 
 1881. 
 
 PERRY, Oliver Hazard, Chief of Police of Paw- 
 tucket, was born in Hope Village, Scituate, R. I , 
 June 10, 1834, the youngest of eleven children born 
 to George C. and Thankful T. (Carpenter) Perry. 
 He comes of good old Rhode Island stock. His 
 ancestry were among the earliest settlers of the state, 
 he being of the South Kingston Perrys, and a direct 
 lineal descendant of Matthew C. and Commodore 
 Oliver Hazard Perry. His early educational train- 
 ing was received in the country school of his district, 
 and in early life he engaged in mill work, with his 
 brothers William G. and John R., first at Georgia- 
 ville and later at Pawtucket. In June 1858 he was 
 appointed to the position of cloth inspector at the 
 Dunnell Print Works, which position he held up to 
 November 1882, with the exception of the interval 
 
204 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 spent in the service of his country during the Rebel- 
 lion. In 1861, at the call for volunteers, he en- 
 listed in Company E, First Rhode Island Detached 
 MiHtia, Captain Stephen R. Bucklin, receiving the 
 rank of Corporal, and left Providence for the front 
 April 20, 1861, under command of Colonel A. E. 
 Burnside. After three months of service, during 
 which time he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, 
 he was mustered out at Providence. He returned 
 home and again enhsted May 26, 1862, in Company 
 A, Ninth Regiment Rhode Island Infantry, Captain 
 
 OLIVER H. PERRY. 
 
 Robert McCloy, receiving the rank of Third Ser- 
 geant on date of enlistment, and being promoted to 
 the rank of First Sergeant June 20. This Company 
 was mustered out September 2, after three months' 
 service. Immediately upon his return home he in- 
 stituted steps to recruit a company for the Twelfth 
 Rhode Island Infantry. In this he was successful, 
 and he enlisted with his company October 13, 1862, 
 receiving the rank of Captain. This company served 
 for nine months, being in several important engage- 
 ments, notably the battle of Fredericksburg, and 
 was mustered out at Providence on the 29th day of 
 July, 1863. Mr. Perry, before and after his service 
 in active defence of his country, was an energetic 
 member of the time-honored Pawtucket Light 
 Guards ; he joined the organization in its early for- 
 mation, held every position from private to that oi 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, which office he held at the time 
 of disbandment, and has in his possession commis- 
 sions signed by Governors Sprague, Smith, Burnside, 
 Padelford and Howard. He resigned his position 
 as inspector at Bunnell Print Works to accept the 
 appointment of Chief of Police, November i, 1882, 
 which office he held until May 1884, and was re-ap- 
 pointed January 1886, at the inauguration of the 
 city formation of government, and has held the 
 office continuously to the present time. In early 
 life he affiliated himself with the Masonic order, 
 having been a member of Union Lodge No. 10 since 
 1864; he is also a member of the Knights of 
 Honor, the Grand Army of the Republic, and a 
 charter member of Ossemequin Tribe of Red Men. 
 Mr. Perry was married, September 5, 1855, to Miss 
 Mary C, daughter of Joseph and Abby (Lecraw) 
 Arnold, of Pawtucket; to them were born five 
 children, four of whom, Byron T., Mrs. Samuel N. 
 Hammond, Mrs. Fred G. Perry and Claude W. 
 Perry, are now living and residents of Pawtucket. 
 
 PETTIS, George Henry, City Sealer of Weights 
 and Measures, Providence, was born in Pawtucket, 
 
 GEO. H. PETTIS. 
 
 R. I., March 17, 1834, son of Henry Nelson and 
 Olive Graves (Parker) Pettis. His paternal ances- 
 tors were among the early settlers of the town of 
 Rehoboth. His maternal ancestors were of New 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 205 
 
 Hampshire stock, and among them was Captain 
 John Parker, distinguished at the battle of Lexington. 
 He attended the pubHc schools in Cohoes, N.Y., until 
 the age of ten. At twelve he entered the " poor 
 boys' college," the printing office, from which he 
 graduated at the age of fifteen. In 1 849 he moved 
 to Providence, where he followed the occupation of 
 a printer until 1854, when he went to California, 
 arriving at San Francisco on June 1 7 of that year ; 
 he was engaged in mining near Garrote, Tuolumne 
 county, from June 1854 until May 1858, when he 
 started for the Frazer River, British Columbia. This 
 adventure not being successful, he resumed his 
 occupation as a printer, and was employed on the 
 Alta California and the Morning Call, and held a 
 situation on the Herald when President Lincoln 
 issued his call for troops from California. He 
 entered the military service as Second Lieutenant of 
 Company B, First California Infantry August 16, 
 1861, was promoted to First Lieutenant of Company 
 K January i, 1862, commanding the company 
 nearly all the time until mustered out February 
 15, 1865, when he was immediately mustered into 
 service again as First Lieutenant of Company F, 
 First New Mexico Infantry. He commanded Com- 
 pany F until promoted to be Adjutant June i, 1865, 
 and was finally mustered out September i, 1866, 
 with the regiment, having served continually five 
 years and fifteen days. He was in a number of 
 skirmishes with the Apache and Navajo Indians, 
 and was brevetted Captain of United States Volun- 
 teers March 13, 1865, for "distinguished gallantry" 
 in the battle of the Adobe Walls, Texas, with 
 the Comanche and Kiowa Indians, November 25, 
 1864, in which he commanded the artillery. In 
 1868 Mr. Pettis removed from New Mexico to 
 Providence, where he was engaged as a promoter 
 of various enterprises. He served as a member of 
 the Common Council from the Ninth Ward from 
 June 1872 to January 1876, and was elected a 
 Representative to the General Assembly in 1876 
 and 1877. He was Boarding Officer of the port 
 of Providence from 1878 to 1885. He was marine 
 editor of the Providence Journal from 1885 to 1887. 
 He is now Sealer of Weights and Measures and 
 Superintendent of Street Signs and Numbers of 
 Providence. He became a member of the Grand 
 Army of the Republic by joining Kit Carson Post 
 No. I, Department of New Mexico, in 1868, and 
 joined Slocum Post No. 10, Department of Rhode 
 Island, by transfer, in 1872, of which post he held 
 the offices of Adjutant and Chaplain ; was a charter 
 
 member of Arnold Post No. 4, Department of 
 Rhode Island, in 1877, of which post he has held 
 the positions of Officer of the Day and Senior Vice 
 Commander ; was Chief Mustering Officer, Depart- 
 ment of Rhode Island, in 1877 and 1879, and 
 Assistant Mustering Officer in 1890; was a member 
 of the National Council of Administration and a 
 Delegate to the Twentieth National Encampment, 
 held at San Francisco in 1886. He became a mem- 
 ber of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of 
 the United States, Commandery of California, 
 November 10, 1886 ; is Corresponding Secretary of 
 the Rhode Island Soldiers' and Sailors' Historical 
 Society; Secretary of the United States Veteran 
 Association of Providence ; a member of the 
 Society of California Volunteers, also of the Society 
 of California Pioneers of New England, was Presi- 
 dent in 1891-92 of the California Volunteer Veteran 
 Association, and is now Secretary and Treasurer of 
 the same association. He is an Honorary Member 
 of the Second Rhode Island Veteran Association ; 
 Battery B Veteran Association ; Fourth Rhode 
 Island Veteran Association ; and the Fifth Rhode 
 Island and Battery F Veteran associations. He is 
 a member of the Providence Press Club. Mr. 
 Pettis was married in September 1859, at San 
 Francisco, Cal. ; he has three children : George 
 Henry, Jr., Annie Olive and Charles Lucian Pettis. 
 
 POWE, Darius L., eclectic physician, was born 
 in Canada, April 28, 1854, the son of Josiah and 
 Mary (Grigg) Powe. His parents were both born in 
 England. His father's ancestry can be traced in a 
 direct Hne to George III., the name being rather a 
 rare one. His mother was the eldest daughter of 
 Dr. William Grigg, who practiced medicine in Can- 
 ada for fifty-two years, and died in 1880. He re- 
 ceived his early education in the public schools, and 
 his physical training on his father's farm. He was 
 early attracted to the study of medicine by the in- 
 fluence of his grandfather, who was an allopathic 
 physician, and from whom he received much of his 
 early education ; but being of a liberal turn of mind 
 he adopted the eclectic system, which he has since 
 pursued. He graduated from the Eclectic Medical 
 Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1881, and attended 
 a post-graduate course in the New York Post-Grad- 
 uate College and Hospital in 1891. He first prac- 
 ticed his profession in Boston, Mass., in 1882-83, 
 then in Falmouth, Mass., from 1884 to 1892. He 
 
206 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 then removed to Providence, where he has since 
 successfully practiced. He has been a member of 
 the Massachusetts Eclectic Medical Society since 
 1882. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity 
 and an Odd Fellow. He is a collaborator of the 
 Massachusetts Medical Journal and a contributor to 
 
 DARIUS L. POWE. 
 
 other medical journals. He married, in 1885, Miss 
 Mary F. Baker, eldest daughter of Captain N. P. 
 Baker, of Falmouth, Mass. ; they have no children. 
 
 RANDALL, Reuben G., banker and business 
 man, Woonsocket, was born in Richmond, N. H., 
 September 24, 1826, son of David and Ruth (Allen) 
 Randall. His education was acquired in the public 
 schools of his native town and at the Friends' School 
 in Providence. After leaving school he was book- 
 keeper for Dexter Ballou, manufacturer, at Woon- 
 socket, eight years. In 1850 he became Cashier of 
 the Railroad Bank, which in 1865 became the First 
 National Bank of Woonsocket, and holds this posi- 
 tion at the present time. He was made Treasurer 
 of the People's Savings Bank in 1857 and is still 
 serving in that capacity, and has been Treasurer of 
 the Woonsocket Gas Company since 1859. He is 
 also one of the Trustees of the Harris Institute, 
 having held the office since 1863. Mr. Randall has 
 
 always been deeply engaged in business, and has 
 never held any public office. He was first married, 
 in November 1853,10 Miss Sylvia Harrington. He 
 
 REUBEN G. RANDALL. 
 
 married, second. Miss Medora Cook, in June 1857 j 
 they have two children : Willis C. Randall, and 
 Ruth A., now the wife of Henry C. Hubbard, of 
 Woonsocket. 
 
 RAY, David Saunders, merchant. East Pro\i- 
 dence, was born December 24, 1840, son of Robert 
 and Mary P. (Graham) Ray. He received his early 
 education in the public schools of Providence and 
 of Rehoboth, Mass., and his training for active life 
 was that which came from "paddling his own 
 canoe " after the age of ten years. From ten to 
 fourteen he worked on a farm and attended school, 
 and at sixteen he was apprenticed to the shipbuild- 
 ing trade, working for a year in the shipyard on 
 Palmer River, at Barneysville, where he assisted in 
 the building of the last ship launched there. After 
 the company discontinued business and the ship- 
 yard was closed, he apprenticed himself to learn 
 carriage-making in Taunton, Mass., where he re- 
 mained until the summer of 1858. From that time 
 until i860 he was employed in Fall River. In the 
 latter year he removed to Seekonk, Mass. (now 
 East Providence, R. 1.), and established a carriage 
 shop, where he was engaged at the breaking out of 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 207 
 
 the Rebellion in 186 1. He at once endeavored to 
 enlist, but was debarred on account of physical 
 disability. Later in the year, October i, he was 
 more successful, and enlisted as private in Troop C, 
 First Rhode Island Cavalry. He participated in 
 this regiment's varied service and engagements 
 while in the Army of the Potomac, and with Sheri- 
 dan in the Shenandoah Valley, and was mustered 
 out as a Quartermaster-Sergeant at Harrisonburg, 
 Va., October 4, 1864, after three years' service, with- 
 out having lost a day's duty, and with health fully 
 re-established by the outdoor life and arduous ex- 
 periences of his campaigns. Upon his return home 
 he took up the business he had dropped in 1861 to 
 
 DAVID S. RAY. 
 
 enter the army, but in the fall of 1865 emigrated to 
 Ohio and engaged in mercantile pursuits. Return- 
 ing to Rhode Island in the fall of 1868, he engaged 
 in carriage making in Providence until 1874, when 
 he sold out his business and removed to East Provi- 
 dence, where for eighteen years he carried on suc- 
 cessfully a general hardware business, from which he 
 retired in 1892. Mr. Ray has been an active and 
 public-spirited citizen of his town and has done 
 much toward building up this beautiful and prosper- 
 ous suburb of Providence. He was elected State 
 Senator in 1888, and was renominated the following 
 year, but declined the honor. In 1892 he was 
 elected Second Representative to the State Legis- 
 
 lature and has continued in that capacity to the 
 present time, serving on several legislative commit- 
 tees, and as Chairman of the Committee on Militia 
 for the past two years. Mr. Ray has kept up an 
 active interest in military matters, and in the State 
 Militia, under the old law, served as First Lieutenant 
 and Captain of Troop A, Providence Horse Guards. 
 Under the new law he was First Lieutenant and 
 Commissary five years on the staff of Major George 
 N. Bliss, commanding the First Battalion of Cavalry, 
 R. I. M. In the Grand Army he joined Prescott 
 Post in 1869, and in 1886 was transferred to Bucklin 
 Post, of which he was elected its first Commander 
 and served three successive terms. He served as 
 Aide-de-Camp on the staff of the Department Com- 
 mander two years, and on the National Commander- 
 in-Chief's staff for a similar period ; was Quarter- 
 master-General of the Department of Rhode Island 
 two terms ; was elected Senior Vice Department 
 Commander in 1891, and at the encampment of 
 1892 was unanimously elected to the highest office 
 in the Department, that of Department Commander. 
 He is also a member of various Masonic bodies, 
 including St. John Lodge of Providence, Providence 
 Royal Arch Chapter, Calvary Commandery Knights 
 Templar, and Palestine Temple Order of the Mystic 
 Shrine. Since retiring from active business Mr. Ray 
 has devoted those talents which proved so successful 
 in his mercantile life to the finances and other in- 
 terests of the town in which he resides, having been 
 elected Town Treasurer of East Providence in 1874, 
 and continuing in that office ever since. He has 
 also been for the past three years Vice President of 
 the East Providence Business Men's Association. 
 He has shown in his public life the same cardinal 
 principles of application and integrity, and the same 
 executive abiHty,that have characterized his business 
 career. He stands a living example of a self-made 
 man whose natural modesty forbids his claiming 
 for himself those qualities so much sought for by 
 others. Mr. Ray was married on his return from 
 the army, October 30, 1864, to Miss Mary H., 
 daughter of Miles B. Lawson of Providence ; they 
 have had six children : Miles Hobart, Arthur Gra- 
 ham (deceased), Clara Josephine, Edgar Saunders, 
 Myra Amelia and Emma Louise Ray. 
 
 READ, BvRON, merchant and undertaker, An- 
 thony, was born in Coventry, R. I., April 7, 1845, 
 son of Henry and Phebe (Wait) Read. His father 
 and mother were both born in Coventry, in 1801 
 
2o8 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 and 1804 respectively ; the former died in 1887 and 
 the latter in 1895. He is a grandson of Joseph 
 and Sabria (Knight) Read and of Sheffield and 
 Rebecca (Andrews) Wait, and is a descendant in 
 the sixth generation of John Read, who was born in 
 Lincolnshire, England, in 1598. His father was a 
 farmer, and Byron followed that caUing until he be- 
 came of age, his education meanwhile being such as 
 could be obtained in the district school. He 
 showed at a very early age, however, that he pos- 
 sessed both industry and perseverance, and the 
 lessons he learned on the farm and in the school 
 
 BYRON READ. 
 
 were not forgotten in later life. On attaining his 
 majority, in 1866, he entered the employment of 
 his brother, Henry Read, Jr , who was engaged at 
 that time in the undertaking, furniture and small- 
 hardware business in the village of Anthony. He 
 continued in this relation until 1872, at which time 
 he bought a half interest in the business, and the 
 firm name was changed to H. Read, Jr., & Co. In 
 March 1873 his brother died, and Byron at once 
 purchased of the heirs their interest in the business, 
 retaining the old firm name for seven years, when it 
 was changed to that of his own. The increasing 
 trade demanding larger quarters and better facilities, 
 and the building and land where he was located 
 being owned by the heirs of Isaac B. Aylesvvorth, 
 who originally began the business, he erected in 
 
 1878 a large and convenient barn and storehouse, 
 40 X 80 feet, of his own, upon land he had pre- 
 viously purchased of the Coventry Company, just 
 opposite the old stand. In 1882 the store was built, 
 40 X 100 feet, three stories and basement, with com- 
 partments specially adapted to the needs of the 
 trade, the whole built under his own active super- 
 vision. In these commodious and well-equipped 
 quarters, fitted with all modern improvements, Mr. 
 Read has continued business with ever increasing 
 prosperity to the present time. In 1887, feeling 
 that he ought to have, in keeping with his increasing 
 business, a new and modern dwelling, he purchased 
 the estate of the late Oliver Matteson, and remov- 
 ing the old house to another lot to be used for 
 tenements, erected on the site the handsome house 
 containing all modern improvements where he now 
 resides. In politics Mr. Read has always supported 
 the principles of the Republican party ; but he has 
 declined all public trusts tendered him, and giving 
 undivided attention to his business, has by a life of 
 quiet industry, perseverance and economy acquired 
 a competency, and gained the confidence and esteem 
 of all with whom he has been associated. In 
 June 1895 ^^ celebrated his twenty-fifth wedding 
 anniversary, upon which occasion his wide circle of 
 friends was very numerously represented. He is a 
 member of Manchester Lodge of Masons and An- 
 thony Lodge of Odd Fellows. He was married, in 
 June 1870, to Miss JuHa A., only daughter of 
 Edward S. and Eleanor (Johnson) Pinckney of 
 Coventry Centre, and granddaughter of Jacob and 
 Sarah (Fowler) Pinckney of Providence ; they have 
 two sons: Herman Byron, born February 17, 1878, 
 and Charles Sheldon Read, born November 23, 
 
 1879- 
 
 REED, Robert Gates, M. D., Woonsocket, was 
 born in Lonsdale, R. I., November 10, 1852, son of 
 Joseph and Ann J. (Howard) Reed. He received 
 his early education in the public schools of New 
 Bedford, Mass., graduating from the high school of 
 that city in 1870, and pursued a college course at 
 Dartmouth, from which he graduated in June 1874, 
 with the degree of A. B., and from which he re- 
 ceived the degree of A. M. in 1893. He subse- 
 quently studied one course at Dartmouth Medical 
 School, and graduated from the Medical School of 
 Boston University in March 1877. Dr. Reed was a 
 member of the City Council of New Bedford in 
 1880, and since his residence in Woonsocket has 
 served on the School Committee of that city since 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 209 
 
 1 89 1, and on the Park Board since 1894, in the 
 latter acting as Secretary and Treasurer of the Board. 
 He was President of the Rhode Island Homceo- 
 pathic Medical Society in 1895, and is a member of 
 the Worcester County Medical and the Massachu- 
 setts Surgical and Gynecological societies. He is 
 Medical Examiner for the Knights of Honor, the 
 Royal Society of Good Fellows, the Ancient Order 
 United Workmen, and the Mutual Reserve Life In- 
 
 ROBERT G. REED. 
 
 surance Company of New York, also Surgeon for the 
 Employers' Liability Company of London, England. 
 He is a member of Morning Star Lodge F. & A. M., 
 and of Union Royal Arch Chapter of which he is a 
 Past High Priest, a member of Woonsocket Com- 
 mandery Knights Templar, and of Palestine Temple 
 of the Mystic Shrine. He is likewise a member of 
 Washington Lodge Knights of Honor, Ballou As- 
 sembly Loyal Society of Good Fellows, Hope Lodge 
 New England Order of Protection and Blackstone 
 Lodge United Order of Workmen, also of the 
 Woonsocket Business Men's Association and the 
 Rhode Island Universalist Club. In politics he is a 
 Republican. Dr. Reed was married, October 18, 
 1880, at New Bedford, Mass., to Miss Eudora C. 
 Libby ; they have no children. 
 
 ington. His mother was the daughter of Sion Arnold 
 of Coventry, R. I., a prosperous farmer, and his 
 father was born in Pawtuxet, of English descent. 
 His early education was obtained in the public 
 schools, which he attended until he was thirteen 
 years of age, when he was put to work on a farm, 
 where he remained until he was seventeen, when he 
 learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed until 
 he was twenty-two. At nineteen he went South 
 and located in Northern Georgia, at the foot of 
 Kenesaw Mountain, in Cobb county. He lived 
 there two and a half years, getting back to Rhode 
 Island just in time to escape being conscripted into 
 the Confederate army. He then worked at the 
 manufacture of sash and blinds until 1872, when he 
 entered the employ of an undertaking establishment 
 at 55 Ocean street, Providence, in which he is still 
 engaged, for the last seven years in business for 
 himself. He is a member of Eagle Lodge I. O. O. T., 
 Harmony Lodge A. F. & A. M., the American 
 Legion of Honor and Pettacousett Tribe of Red 
 
 REMINGTON, Henry Adolphus, undertaker, 
 was born August 7, 1834, in Pawtuxet, R. I., the son 
 of Henry Adolphus and Sally Ann (Arnold) Rem- 
 
 HENRY A. REMINGTON. 
 
 Men. He has had no interest in politics beyond 
 voting for the most capable man according to his 
 judgment. He was married, February 14, 1858, 
 to Miss Mary Cassidy of Providence, and has three 
 children : Anna Frances, the wife of Charles Fred- 
 erick Jackson ; Charles, in business with his father, 
 and Mary Ann, a teacher in the public schools. 
 
2IO 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 RIPLEY, James Madison, counsellor-at-law. Prov- 
 idence, was born in Wrentham, Mass., Septem- 
 ber 8, 1834, son of Benjamin W. and Lucy 
 (Cook) Ripley. He is a great-grandson of Na- 
 thaniel Cook, who served with Paul Jones on the 
 Bonhomme Richard, which captured the Serapis. 
 He was educated at Smithville Seminary, Lyons' 
 and Frieze's Grammar School, and at Brown Univer- 
 sity. After leaving college he read law for a time 
 
 JAMES M. RIPLEY. 
 
 with Carpenter & Thurston, Providence, and then 
 entered the Albany Law School, where he was 
 graduated in 1855. He began the practice of his 
 profession in Providence, at 26, now 42, Westmin- 
 ster street, where he has since been located. After 
 the death of General Carpenter he formed a 
 partnership with Benjamin F. Thurston, with whom 
 he was long associated under the firm name of 
 Thurston & Ripley, and afterwards with Mr. Thurs- 
 ton and his brother under the name of Thurston, 
 Ripley cS: Co. Mr. Ripley had almost the entire 
 management of the law and equity practice of the 
 firm, in which he acliieved marked success, speedily 
 acquiring a reputation which placed him among the 
 ablest lawyers of the state. He attained especial 
 distinction in jury cases, and for many years follow- 
 ing his admission to the bar was engaged in the 
 trial of almost every case of homicide in the state. 
 
 He is now pursuing the practice of his profession 
 alone, and in which he is very actively engaged. 
 In 1862 he was appointed Judge Advocate of the 
 Second Brigade, Rhode Island Militia. Mr. Ripley 
 is no less respected for his legal attainments than 
 for his genial disposition and social qualities. In 
 1856 he was President of the Young Men's Fremont 
 Club of Providence, and has since been identified 
 in politics with the Republican party. He was 
 married, June 30, 1859, to Miss Mary W. Brown, 
 daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Brown of Provi- 
 dence, and niece of the late Governor James Y. 
 Smith ; they have two children : James Herbert 
 and Alice Maud Ripley. 
 
 ROCKWELL, Elisha Hutchinson, Factory In- 
 spector of the State of Rhode Island, was born in 
 Lebanon, Conn., October 16, 1829, son of Jabez 
 and Eunice (Bailey) Rockwell, the fifth son in a 
 family of children numbering ten sons and three 
 
 E. H. ROCKWELL. 
 
 daughters. He is descended from \\'illiam Rock- 
 well, who came from England and settled in Dor- 
 chester, Mass., in 1630. His early boyhood was 
 spent in farm life of the usually severe kind in those 
 days, as when under nine years of age he was 
 "bound out" for three years to farm work, and 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 21 1 
 
 having completed that term served another period 
 of two years, his compensation being board and 
 clothes, and four months' " schooling " in the winter. 
 At fifteen he went into the woolen mill of Henry 
 Gillette at Bozrahville, Conn., and two years later 
 secured a better position in the mill of the Rock- 
 ville Manufacturing Company at Rockville, where 
 he remained two years. He then decided upon a 
 change of occupation and apprenticed himself for 
 three years to his brother John in the tombstone 
 and monumental business at Norwich, Conn. 
 After two years of this service he was offered a 
 position as clerk in the steamboat Charles Osgood, 
 running between Norwich, New London and New 
 York, and he bought the remaining year of his 
 apprenticeship for a nominal sum, and started upon 
 a career in the steamship business which he has 
 since followed with remarkable success. His abil- 
 ities and especial adaptation to the business were at 
 once demonstrated, and in a year and a half, being 
 then but twenty-three years old, the New York, 
 New London and Norwich Transportation Company 
 tendered him the New York agency of the line, 
 which he accepted and held until the company 
 retired from business in November 1861. The 
 first of January following, the steamers Charles 
 Osgood and Osceola were started as an opposition 
 line between Norwich, New London and New York, 
 and Mr. Rockwell was appointed the New York 
 agent. Eighteen months later he was offered and 
 accepted the position as agent of the Providence 
 and Boston line of the Neptune Steamship Com- 
 pany, at their Boston office, where he remained 
 until the line was discontinued by the chartering of 
 the company's steamers for government service in 
 the war of the Rebellion. Mr. Rockwell then 
 associated himself as partner in the shipping and 
 commission house of Bentley, Smith & Company, 
 New York, but at the end of a year retired from 
 the firm to again accept the Boston agency of the 
 Neptune Steamship Company. In 1867 he trans- 
 ferred his services to the Providence & New York 
 Steamship Company, as their agent at Providence, 
 in which capacity he continued six years. In 1873 
 the Merchants & Miners' Transportation Company 
 re-established their business by a Hne from Provi- 
 dence to Norfolk and Baltimore, and Mr. Rockwell 
 became their Managing Agent at Providence, a 
 position which he held continuously for twenty-one 
 years, and resigned his agency in June 1893. In 
 June 1894 he was appointed, by Governor D. 
 Russell Brown, Factory Inspector of the State of 
 
 Rhode Island for three years, which position he has 
 since held with signal efficiency and ability. Mr. 
 Rockwell is a public-spirited citizen, and has been 
 active in public affairs, notably as a member of the 
 City Government and of the Board of Trade, serving 
 on important committees where his work has 
 amounted to public benefactions. He is a member 
 of Swarts Lodge of Odd Fellows and of the Squan- 
 tum. Advance and Elmwood clubs. He was married, 
 January 28, 1852, to Miss Martha A., daughter of 
 Captain Erastus Geer of Norwich, Conn. ; they 
 have three children ; Ella M., now Mrs. Walter J. 
 Lewis, of Providence ; Frank W., who for eleven 
 years was associated with his father in the steamship 
 office in Providence ; and William P. Rockwell, now 
 engaged in business in Denver, Colorado. 
 
 SAYLES, Frederic Clark, manufacturer, and 
 first Mayor of Pawtucket, was born in Pawtucket, 
 July 17, 1835, son of Clark and Mary Ann (Olney) 
 Sayles. On both sides he is a descendant, through 
 six distinct lines, of the founder of Rhode Island, 
 his ancestor, John Sayles, having married a daugh- 
 ter of Roger Williams ; and his ancestry is also 
 traced back to Governor Joseph Jenks, the founder 
 of Pawtucket in 1655. His early education was 
 acquired in the public schools of Pawtucket, and 
 for several winters, beginning in 1840, in the school? 
 of Savannah, Ga., where his father was then en- 
 gaged in a wholesale lumber business. Afterward 
 he attended the University grammar school in Prov- 
 idence, and a course at the Providence Conference 
 Seminary in East Greenwich, from which institution 
 he graduated in 1853. Upon leaving school he at 
 once entered the Moshassuck Bleachery at Sayles- 
 ville, R. I., of which his brother William F. was the 
 owner and manager, his first duties consisting of 
 sweeping the floors, invoicing goods and perform- 
 ing general minor services for a compensation of 
 five shillings a day. Naturally bright, energetic and 
 ambitious, he entered upon this start on active life 
 with a determination to equip himself for a success- 
 ful career, and for many years following he applied 
 himself rigidly and persistently to studying and 
 mastering every department of the establishment, 
 familiarizing himself with the machinery and pro- 
 cesses employed, and becoming acquainted with all 
 the intricate methods and multitudinous details of 
 the business. In 1863 he was admitted into part- 
 nership with his brother, under the firm name of 
 
212 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 W. F. & F. C. Sayles, since which time the busi- 
 ness has increased and expanded, until the Moshas- 
 suck Bleachery long since became noted as the 
 largest and best equipped establishment of its kind 
 in the world. In other respects, as well, it is a 
 model industrial institution, for the handsome vil- 
 lage of more than three thousand people that has 
 grown up around the works is one of the most 
 peaceful, contented, thrifty and enterprising manu- 
 facturing communities in New England. Mr. Sayles 
 is also similarly interested, and to a like extent, in 
 the Lorraine Mills, and Glenlyon Dye Works, in 
 which he was likewise associated with his brother 
 until the latter's death, and is President of the Mosh- 
 assuck Valley Railroad. The Lorraine Mills, also 
 situated in the Moshassuck Valley, are of great re- 
 pute both in this country and abroad, producing by 
 the best of skill and machinery a high grade of 
 French cassimeres that has challenged comparison 
 with the finest products in this line of foreign man- 
 ufacture. Mr. Sayles is also a Director in the Slater 
 National Bank of Pawtucket and the Merchants' 
 National Bank of Providence, a Member of the 
 Board of Trustees of the Franklin Savings Bank of 
 Pawtucket, and is prominently identified with other 
 business and financial corporations and institutions 
 of Pawtucket and Providence. He was the first 
 signer of the call which resulted in the formation 
 of the Pawtucket Business Men's Association, and 
 was chosen first President of that body, serving in 
 that capacity four successive years. In 1886, when 
 Pawtucket became a city, Mr. Sayles was induced 
 for the first time to enter public life. Although 
 always an ardent Republican, he had hitherto de- 
 clined all appeals to become a candidate for politi- 
 cal honors, because of the large and constantly 
 increasing business interests that demanded his un- 
 divided time and attention. But the new city was 
 desirous of starting out with a business administra- 
 tion of its affairs which should prove a shining ex- 
 ample to its successors, and the popular demand for 
 Mr. Sayles to become its executive head was so 
 urgent that he consented to become a candidate 
 and was elected the city's first Mayor. He was re- 
 elected the following year, but at the end of his 
 second term declined to become again a candidate, 
 as his public duties were beginning to make too 
 serious encroachments upon his private business. 
 His term of service was characterized by the same 
 progressive ideas, keen methods and sound princi- 
 ples that had marked his private business career, 
 and the young city gained from his administration. 
 
 as was expected, a prestige among municipal gov- 
 ernments and an impetus in the direction of modern 
 progress and development that has proved far- 
 reaching and in the highest degree beneficial. Mr. 
 Sayles has also been interested in military affairs, 
 and at one time served as Major in the Pawtucket 
 Light Guard, an organization that in war time sent 
 a large number of men into the field. He has 
 travelled quite extensively abroad, principally for 
 recuperation from the effect of too close and con- 
 tinued application to exacting business cares and 
 labors, but always in such trips combining health- 
 seeking with both business and pleasure. His home 
 is on East Avenue, in the suburbs of Pawtucket, 
 where he has an elegant residence, Bryn Mawr, 
 adorned with many interesting and beautiful works 
 of art gathered in his foreign travels, and extensive 
 grounds and stables well stocked with some of the 
 finest-bred horses and cattle in the countr}'. He 
 was married, October 16, 1861, to Miss Deborah 
 Cook Wilcox, daughter of Robert and Deborah 
 (Cook) Wilcox, of Pawtucket, and whose grand- 
 father, Thomas Wilcox, was a soldier of the Revo- 
 lution, and one of the daring party of forty-one, led 
 by Colonel William Barton, that captured General 
 Richard Prescott on the island of Rhode Island, 
 July 10, 1778 ; they have had five children : Carrie 
 Minerva (Mrs. Frederick William Hollis), Frederic 
 Clark, Benjamin Paris (deceased), Robert Wilcox 
 and Deborah Wilcox Sayles. 
 
 SHEAHAN, Dennis Harvev, lawyer. Provi- 
 dence, was born in Providence, of Irish ancestry. 
 When eight years old he was placed at work, be- 
 ginning the active duties of life at that early age. 
 Fitting himself for admission to the Providence 
 high school in the old Front-street evening school, 
 he entered the classical department of the former 
 in 1 88 1, and graduated in 1885. In the fall of that 
 year he entered Brown University, and graduated 
 therefrom in 1889, receiving the degree of Bache- 
 lor of Arts, and delivering the address to under- 
 graduates. His professional studies were completed 
 in the law office of Walter B. Vincent, Esq., and at 
 the Law School of the University of Virginia. He 
 was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar February 20, 
 1892, and subsequently to the L'nited States Court. 
 Mr. Sheahan has served three years as a member of 
 the City Council of Providence from Ward Three, 
 and as Clerk of the Rhode Island House of Repre- 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 213 
 
 sentatives for three years. He was also Secretary 
 of the Democratic City Committee for two years. 
 He was married, June 25, 1894, to Miss Mary A. C. 
 
 DENNIS H. SHEAHAN. 
 
 McDonnell, of Wickford, a teacher in the Wickford 
 Academy ; they have one child. 
 
 SHEDD, Joel Herbert, City Engineer of Prov- 
 idence, was born in Pepperell, Mass., May 31, 1834, 
 son of Joel and Eliza (Edson) Shedd. He was 
 educated in the public schools of Massachusetts, in 
 the Bridgewater Academy, and by private instructors. 
 His professional education began in 1850 with a 
 three-years course in civil engineering in the office 
 of a prominent civil engineer in Boston. His first 
 work as an independent engineer was in railroad 
 location and construction in Indiana. He returned 
 to Boston in 1856 and opened an office, making a 
 specialty of drainage and of hydraulic and sanitary 
 engineering. In i860 he was appointed by Gov- 
 ernor John A. Andrew a Commissioner for Massa- 
 chusetts on the Concord and Sudbury rivers. He 
 designed many important waterworks and sewerage 
 systems for cities and towns in Massachusetts. In 
 1866 he was invited to Providence to make an 
 examination in regard to a public water-supply, on 
 which work he was engaged for two years. He was 
 
 also employed to design a plan of sewerage for the 
 Brook-street district, which was the first step in a 
 comprehensive plan for the entire city. Removing 
 to Providence in 1869, where he has since resided, 
 he began, as Chief Engineer, the construction of the 
 waterworks, which were put in partial operation 
 November 18, 1771, though construction continued 
 until 1877. In 1874 he reported a general sewerage 
 plan for the entire city, which is still under con- 
 struction, and for a time he was engaged in the 
 construction of the waterworks and sewers con- 
 jointly. Mr. Shedd was elected a member of the 
 American Society of Civil Engineers in 1869, and 
 was chairman of its sub-committee on sewerage and 
 sanitary engineering at the World's Fair in Philadel- 
 phia in 1876. In 1877, the main work of construction 
 of the Providence waterworks being completed, he 
 resigned his position and resumed general practice, 
 opening an office in Providence in addition to the 
 
 J. HERBERT SHEDD. 
 
 office which was still retained in Boston. In 1878 
 he spent some time in Europe in the study of 
 many important engineering works, especially those 
 of irrigation and sewage disposal. He was appointed 
 Chairman of the State Harbor Commission in 1876 
 and has held that position to the present time. He 
 designed an extensive system of harbor improve- 
 ment which was executed by the United States gov- 
 ernment. Mr. Shedd was chairman of the Rhode 
 
214 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Island section of the joint commission for deter- 
 mining the state boundary between Rhode Island 
 and Connecticut, and also chairman of the joint 
 commission of those states for establishing encroach- 
 ment lines in Pawcatuck River and Little Narra- 
 gansett Bay. He was among the founders of the 
 Providence Commercial Club and is a member of 
 the Board of Trade, also of the Rhode Island His- 
 torical Society, the New England Meteorological 
 Society, the New England Water Works Associa- 
 tion, the Worcester County Society of Civil Engineers 
 and various other organizations. He was Commis- 
 sioner from Rhode Island to The World's Fair in 
 Paris in 1878. He holds the degree of A. M., con- 
 ferred by Brown University. Mr. Shedd accepted 
 the position of City Engineer of the city of Provi- 
 dence on May i, 1890, which he still holds, and is 
 engaged in completing the construction of his system 
 of sewerage. Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American 
 Biography has the following in regard to Mr. Shedd : 
 " He has executed many engineering works in the 
 cities of the New England and the Middle States, 
 as well as for the United States government and the 
 states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The 
 most important single work of engineering that he 
 has designed and executed is the Providence water- 
 works, costing ^4,500,000. Every element of these 
 works was studied fundamentally, and nothing was 
 copied. They have been much referred to, and 
 have a European reputation. Mr. Shedd has prob- 
 ably done more to improve the quality of American 
 hydraulic cements than any other engineer, both by 
 the rigidity of his demands and by his careful testing 
 of the material. He has been frequently called on 
 to testify on engineering matters in court, and he 
 has contributed largely to professional journals. 
 Among his articles are the sections on ' Rain and 
 Drainage ' in French's ' Farm Drainage ' (New York 
 1859); 'Essay on Drainage' (Boston 1859); and 
 reports on 'Ventilation' (1864) and 'Sewerage' 
 (1874-84). The latter include reports to nearly all 
 of the principal cities of New England." Mr. Shedd 
 was married, in 1856, to Miss Julia A. Clark of New- 
 port, Me. ; their children are : Charles Elmer, a 
 civil engineer, who died in 1892 ; Edward Whitten, 
 a civil engineer, and Mary Isabella Shedd. 
 
 SMITH, Albkri' Watkriman, wool merchant. 
 Providence, was born in Johnston, R. I., October 
 7, 1855, ^o" of Olney Latham and Maria Jeanette 
 (Paine) Smith. His paternal ancestors were resi- 
 
 dents of Smithfield, R. I., as early as the year 1700; 
 and on the maternal side he is a descendant of the 
 well-known Hoyle family who came from England 
 about the middle of the eighteenth century and 
 became large landholders in the western part of 
 Providence, in the neighborhood of the Hoyle 
 Tavern on Broad street. His early education was 
 obtained in the public schools, which he left at the 
 age of fourteen to acquire at a commercial college 
 in Providence the rudiments and methods of gen- 
 eral business. After leaving business college he 
 entered the employ of the CoUins Line of Steam- 
 ships, making several voyages to Liverpool on the 
 steamship Baltic, Captain Joseph J. Comstock, until 
 about 1859, when he abandoned sea life, and for 
 
 ALBERT W SMITH. 
 
 two years following was engaged in various pursuits. 
 In 1 86 1 he entered the cotton and wool business in 
 Providence, in which he continued until the close 
 of the war, when he took up the wool business 
 separately, in which he has ever since been actively 
 engaged. In 1873 he bought the Duncan Home- 
 stead, an estate comprising some four acres situated 
 on the brow of Smith's Hill in Providence, and in 
 1876 converted some of the buildings into ware- 
 houses for business purposes, where he has since 
 carried on an extensive and prosperous business, 
 retaining the large and fine old mansion as a resi- 
 dence. Mr. Smith is Vice-President of the Fourth 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 215 
 
 National Bank of Providence, an active member of 
 the Providence Board of Trade, and prominent in 
 the Masonic Lodge and other fraternal societies. 
 He is also a member of the Hope, Squantum and 
 Athletic clubs of Providence, and of the First Light 
 Infantry Veteran Association. In politics he is a 
 Republican, but excepting for one term in the City 
 Council he has never been in public life. Mr. 
 Smith was married, November 22, 1865, to Miss 
 Emma C. Merrill of New York city; they have 
 one son and two daughters : Arthur Blakeley, Stella 
 Merrill and Florence Marston Smith. 
 
 1895, and elected Senator in 1896. In politics he 
 is a Republican. Mr. Tallman is a member of 
 Eureka Masonic I^odge of Portsmouth, in which he 
 has held several of the offices. He was married 
 January 17, 1875, to Miss Eleanor Ann Fish; they 
 have no children living. 
 
 TILLINGHAST, James, member of the Rhode 
 Island bar, was born in Providence, July 22, 1828, 
 son of Charles Foster and Lusanna (Richmond) 
 Tillinghast. He is a descendant of Pardon Tillin- 
 
 TALLMAN, Benjamin, Member of the Rhode 
 Island Senate from Portsmouth, was born in Ports- 
 mouth, November 7, 1846, son of Benjamin and 
 Sarah Ann (Dennis) Tallman. His paternal an- 
 cestors were German, and on the maternal side he 
 is of English descent. His education was obtained 
 in the common schools of his native town. He has 
 
 B. TALLMAN. 
 
 been master and pilot of sailing vessels six years 
 and of steam vessels nineteen years, and for the past 
 twenty-five years he has been engaged in the men- 
 haden and fresh-fish business, combined with farm- 
 ing on a small scale. He was elected as Represen- 
 tative to the Rhode Island Legislature from the town 
 of Portsmouth in 1893, was re-elected in 1894 and 
 
 JAMES TILLINGHAST. 
 
 ghast, who was contemporary with Roger Williams 
 and was the original ancestor of the Tillinghast 
 family in the United States. Among his paternal 
 ancestry were also Stephen Hopkins, Colonial 
 Governor and signer of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, and Theodore Foster, one of the first 
 Rhode Island Senators in Congress. His ancestors 
 on the maternal side, the Richmonds, were among 
 the earliest settlers at Seaconnet, now Little Comp- 
 ton, R. I. He acquired his early education in the 
 grammar and high schools of Providence, and 
 received his collegiate training at Brown University, 
 from which he graduated in 1849. Adopting the 
 law as a profession, he was admitted to the bar by 
 the Supreme Court at Providence, September 22, 
 1851, and immediately became associated in active 
 
2l6 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 practice with his father and the late Chief Justice 
 Bradley, in their copartnership of Tillinghast & 
 Bradley. He remained in this connection until 
 Mr. Bradley withdrew in 1858, and afterwards con- 
 tinued practice with his father until the death of the 
 latter in August 1864. The earliest important case 
 which Mr. Tillinghast especially originated was that 
 of Taylor & Company vs. Place, in 1856, by which 
 he took to the Supreme Court the question of the 
 constitutional power of the General Assembly to 
 grant new trials — a case which at the time caused 
 much discussion throughout the state, and its 
 decision established the independence of the courts, 
 and put an end to the legislative exercise of judicial 
 powers, which had always prevailed under the 
 charter, and had to that time been continued under 
 the state constitution of 1842. For over forty 
 years Mr. TiUinghast has held a distinguished place 
 among the most honored leaders of the Providence 
 Bar. He is universally known as a lawyer of sterling 
 character and high attainments, and as a citizen of 
 unimpeachable integrity and of broad and liberal 
 views. Although public spirited and deeply inter- 
 ested in all matters concerning the public welfare, 
 he never has had the inclination to seek nor could 
 find the time to hold public office, devoting all of 
 his working energies to the practice and perpetual 
 study of his profession. His practice has been 
 extensive in all branches, in both the state and 
 federal courts, with especial attention to equity 
 cases and questions of corporation law. Among 
 the most important incidents of his professional 
 career was that as one of the four associate counsel 
 of the A. & W. Sprague Manufacturing Company, 
 and of its trustee in the litigation which grew out of 
 the company's failure in 1873, ^^^ which continued 
 during the subsequent fourteen or fifteen years. 
 Mr. Tillinghast resides in Providence. He was 
 married, May 26, 1857, to Miss Sarah Benson 
 Anthony, daughter of Henry and Charlotte Benson 
 Anthony; they have had six children: AVilliam 
 Richmond, Henry Anthony, Stephen Hopkins, 
 Theodore Foster, Charles Foster and Charlotte 
 Lusanne Tillinghast. 
 
 His American ancestors were born in Rhode Island 
 five generations back, and his great-great-grand- 
 father, Thomas Spellman, was an officer in the ship 
 Constitution during the Revolutionary war. He 
 received his early education in private and public 
 schools in Providence, and in 1883, at the age of 
 thirteen, was apprenticed to learn the machinist 
 trade. In 1887, on receiving an offer from the 
 Granger Foundry & Machine Company, he decided 
 to learn pattern and model making. After sening 
 his apprenticeship in this branch of mechanics he 
 worked in various pattern shops throughout the 
 city, and was foreman at the works of the House- 
 hold Sewing Machine Company for two years, when 
 he was tendered and accepted an offer from F. A. 
 
 TURCK, Joseph Abram, manufacturer of pat- 
 terns and models, Providence, was born in Camden, 
 N. Y., August I, 1870, son of Dr. Joseph H. and 
 Mary C (Spellman) Turck, the former a native of 
 Syracuse, N. Y., and the latter of Providence, R. I. 
 
 JOSEPH A. TURCK, 
 
 Chase & Company, mill furnishers, to start a factory 
 for the manufacture of the Chase Wood- Rim Pulley. 
 Accordingly he designed and invented special ma- 
 chinery for the manufacture of wood-rim pulleys. 
 Having a desire to engage in business for himself, 
 in 1893 he started in the manufacture of patterns 
 and models in a well-equipped shop at 220 Aborn 
 street, in which he has since continued, under the 
 name of The Aborn-Street Pattern & Model Works. 
 Mr. Turck is a natural mechanic, having been 
 awarded two diplomas for models made and exhib- 
 ited at the Rhode Island State Fair when twelve 
 years of age. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 217 
 
 WEBSTER, George Eldridge, Clerk of the Com- 
 mon Pleas Division of the Supreme Court of Prov- 
 idence County, was born in Lowell, Mass., July 16, 
 1843, -o^ of Clement and Catherine Packer (Lit- 
 tlefield) Webster. His early education was acquired 
 in the public schools of Providence, and after grad- 
 uating from the high school he entered the printing 
 office of the Providence Post, of which journal his 
 father was the editor from its start until his death in 
 1864. Through his associations with the office 
 during his boyhood, George had become quite an 
 adept at typesetting, and in his regular employment 
 following school graduation he famiharized himself 
 with all the departments of the newspaper printing 
 
 GEO, E. WEBSTER. 
 
 and publishing business. At the age of twenty-one, 
 soon after his father's decease, he secured an en- 
 gagement as Private Secretary to Senator William 
 Sprague, and went to Washington, where he was 
 appointed Clerk to the Senate Committee on Man- 
 ufactures, and served in that capacity through the 
 regular session of Congress and the special session 
 following. From March 1865 until his resignation 
 in 187 1 he was connected with the Pension Office, 
 occupying successively the positions of Chief Clerk, 
 Special Service Agent, Chief of the Branch Office, 
 Secret Service Agent, and Pension Agent at Fort 
 Gibson, Indian Territory, where he held a special 
 commission under President Grant, being sent there 
 
 to investigate the Wright Indian Frauds matter. 
 While in Washington he studied law, graduated with 
 honors from the Columbian Law College, and was- 
 admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia. 
 He left Washington in the fall of 187 1 with the pur- 
 pose of estabhshing himself in practice in Chicago, 
 but three days after his arrival in the Western 
 metropolis occurred the great fire which laid the 
 greater part of the city in ashes. Returning to 
 Providence, he edited for a period the Providence 
 Herald, which had succeeded the old Post, and in 
 1875 was elected Clerk of the Court of Common 
 Pleas of Providence county, afterwards, upon re- 
 organization, the Common Pleas Division of the 
 Supreme Court, which position he has held unin- 
 terruptedly to the present time, his re-elections 
 having been unanimous with the exception of a 
 single year. Mr. Webster, in 1878, took up his res- 
 idence in East Providence, and has since repre- 
 sented that town on the commissions which intro- 
 duced water service and constructed the Seekonk 
 River Bridge and Town Hall, besides serving in 
 various other official capacities. He was married, 
 February 8, 1884, to Miss Mary Josephine Gale, of 
 Providence ; they have one daughter : Grace Gale, 
 born in Washington in 1868, now the wife of 
 George S. Baker, of Providence. 
 
 WHITE, Reverend Charles J., pastor of the 
 Universalist Church of Woonsocket, was born in 
 Boston, Mass., May 22, 1836, son of Charles and 
 Amanda (Kimball) White. He received his edu- 
 cation at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass , 
 and Tufts College, Medford, Mass., from which last 
 named institution he graduated in 1858. Shortly 
 after graduation he became Principal of the Milford 
 High School, at Milford, Mass., where he remained 
 two j'ears, when he resigned to accept a position as 
 cashier in the mercantile house of B. D. Godfrey & 
 Co., Boston. In his leisure hours, while engaged 
 in commercial business, he studied theology under 
 the tuition of Professor Charles H. Leonard, of 
 Tufts Divinity School, and subsequently entered the 
 ministry of the Universalist Church. He was or- 
 dained in 1864, and began his labors in East Bos- 
 ton, where, under his ministry, a parish was estab- 
 lished and a church edifice erected. In 1870 he 
 was led to accept a call to the Universalist pulpit in 
 Woonsocket, to fill the vacancy resulting from the 
 death of the Reverend John Boyden. He entered 
 
2IJ 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 upon the duties February i, 1871, and the pastoral 
 relations then established remain still unbroken. 
 Rev. Mr. White was married, August 7, i860, to 
 Miss Harriet Ehzabeth, eldest daughter of Obed 
 and Harriet E. Daniels, of Milford, Mass. ; they 
 
 -.S^^. 
 
 CHAS. J. WHITE. 
 
 have had five children : Charles Obed, Hattie May, 
 Alphonso Fayette, William Irving (deceased) and 
 Paul Maurice White 
 
 WHITTEN, William Wilberforce, founder of 
 the W. W. Whitten Cycle Manufacturing Company, 
 manufacturers of bicycles and dealers in sporting 
 goods. Providence, was born in Waterboro, Me., 
 January 12, 1861, son of WiUiam and Abbie (Hodg- 
 don) Whitten. On the paternal side he is of English 
 descent, as also in one branch of his maternal an- 
 cestry, both families having come to this country 
 some time in the last century and settled in the 
 vicinity at Waterboro; his mother's ancestors on 
 one side of the house were Scotch, who came over 
 many years ago and married into American families. 
 He acquired his early education in the public 
 schools of Wakefield, Mass., being a graduate of the 
 high school of that place, and now a member of its 
 Alumni Association. He prepared for college at 
 Coburn Classical Institute, Waterville, Me., and 
 entered Colby University, studying there two years, 
 and two years at Brown University, from which in- 
 
 stitution he graduated in June 1886. He worked 
 his way through college, teaching school and work- 
 ing at various employments during vacations. Im- 
 mediately following graduation he opened up for 
 himself in Providence the business in which he has 
 since been engaged. Mr. Whitten had been prom- 
 inent in college athletics, had played on the Colby 
 ball team and been a member of the Brown boat 
 crew. When a student at Brown he conceived the 
 idea of his present business, and during his senior 
 year laid the plans which after graduation he ma- 
 tured and carried into practical effect. Being ath- 
 letically inclined and actively interested in college 
 sports, his ideas of business turned in this direction, 
 and as there was no distinctive sporting-goods house 
 in Providence at that time, and no bicycle house of 
 any kind, he foresaw the advantages open to such a 
 house in a city of that size, the home of a large and 
 rapidly growing university and numerous preparatory 
 and technical schools. The wisdom of Mr. Whit- 
 
 i." ! 
 
 W. W. WHITTEN. 
 
 ten's views were well borne out by the success of 
 the business he established with his associates under 
 the name of the W. V^'. Whitten Cycle Manufacturing 
 Company. At first only a retail business was carried 
 on, but in 1887 a wholesale department was estab- 
 lished, and bicycle parts and supplies from England 
 were imported and sold to the trade. There were 
 few if any bicycle supply houses in the country at 
 
(^cn/^M^<. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 219 
 
 that time, and many large and prosperous manu- 
 facturers of to-day were greatly assisted in the early 
 years of their development by the faciHties afforded 
 by this enterprising Providence house. In 1893 the 
 Whitten Company began the manufacture of bicycles 
 and bicycle parts at Elmwood, and this branch of 
 their business has been increased and its facilities 
 extended year by year. In addition to the goods of 
 their own manufacture, the company are large retail 
 dealers and jobbers of bicycles, athletic and sport- 
 ing goods of every description, besides having the 
 agency for some of the standard and leading bicycles 
 of the world. Mr. Whitten was the prime mover in 
 starting the Rhode Island Wheelmen, the largest 
 cycling club in Providence, was first Vice-President 
 and has held various minor offices and committee- 
 ships since. He has been a member of the League 
 of American Wheelmen since 1886 and has been 
 Local Consul of the district since 1893. He is a 
 member of the National Board of Trade of Cycle 
 Manufacturers, and is President of the Providence 
 Cycle Dealers' Association, having held that office 
 smce 1892. He is also a member of the Rhode 
 Island Business Men's Association, of Harmony 
 Lodge of Masons, the Providence Athletic Associa- 
 tion and the Delta Kappa Epsilon college fraternity. 
 In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Whitten resides 
 in Cranston, a suburb of Providence, where he built 
 a fine residence for himself in 1892. He was mar- 
 ried, January 12, 1884, to Miss Adelaide Davis of 
 Waterville, Me. ; they have two children : Delora 
 Davis and Carl Edmund Whitten. 
 
 WILBOUR, ISA.4C Champlest, of Little Compton, 
 President of the Tiverton & Little Compton Mutual 
 Fire Insurance Company, was born in Little Comp- 
 ton, May 10, 1830, son of Philip Tabor and Eliza 
 Penelope (ChampHn) Wilbour. His paternal 
 grandfather, Isaac Wilbour, was very prominent in 
 Rhode Island official life, having served as Gov- 
 ernor of the State, Representative to Congress, and 
 Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court for 
 nine years. His mother's ancestor, Jeoffrey 
 Champlin, was a man of wealth who early settled in 
 Kings Town (now Kingston) and lived on his two- 
 thousand-acre farm in fine colonial style. His 
 mother's father, Daniel Champlin, inherited the 
 homestead, and lived and died there ; he was an as- 
 sociate Judge of the Supreme Court for many years. 
 Isaac C. Wilbour was educated in the district school 
 of his native town, and received his early training 
 
 for active life upon the farm. He was one of the 
 founders of the Tiverton & Little Compton Mutual 
 Fire Insurance Company, and became its President, 
 which office he still holds. He resides in Little 
 Compton. In politics he is a Republican. He was 
 married, November 5, 1854, to Miss Deborah J. 
 Wilbour, who died in 1864, leaving two children: 
 
 I. C, WILBOUR. 
 
 Philip H. Wilbour, and Dora J., who married F. M. 
 Patten of Boston. November 17, 1868, he married 
 Miss Amelia H. French, by whom he has one son : 
 William F. Wilbour. 
 
 WORK, Godfrey, merchant and financier, of 
 Providence, was born in Eastford, Conn., April 27, 
 1806, and died in Providence November 29, 1895. 
 He was the son of Samuel and Patty (Ward) Work. 
 The name was originally Wark, but was changed to 
 Work by the members of the family soon after 
 coming to this country. The Work family origin- 
 ated in Scotland, where it has been traced, clearly, 
 to the time of Cromwell. They emigrated to 
 Ireland, where they were merchants and ship 
 owners, and engaged in the East India Trade. 
 Thence they emigrated to America and settled in 
 Eastford, Conn., where for generations they were 
 large land owners and prominent and influential 
 men. His maternal grandfather, Joel Ward, settled 
 
220 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 in Westford, Conn., where he owned extensive 
 tracts of land, and was a member of the Legislature 
 and a Major in the Army of the Revolution. His 
 father, Samuel Work, was a farmer of Eastford, 
 Conn. Godfrey attended the town schools, and 
 afterward studied with the Rev. Reuben Torrey for 
 four years, to prepare for college. It was his first 
 intention to study law, but deciding to follow a busi- 
 ness career, he gave up his contemplated college 
 course, and in 1826, took a clerkship with Samuel 
 W, Wheeler, a retail grocer in Providence, with 
 whom he served an apprenticeship of four years, as 
 was customary at that time. He then entered the 
 employ of Gould & Hunt, wholesale grocers, and 
 when this partnership was dissolved remained with 
 John Gould, who continued the business, until his 
 health failed and he returned to his home in East- 
 ford, remaining there about a year, then returned 
 to Providence and took charge of the business of 
 Samuel W. Wheeler, his old employer, who had 
 accepted the position of Assistant Postmaster of 
 Providence, continuing in this relation about a year, 
 when he again returned to Eastford and engaged in 
 manufacturing woolen goods. This was in 1832, 
 and he carried on the business with success until 
 1837, when the great panic and consequent demoral- 
 ization of manufacturing interests caused him to 
 close up the factory. He then went west to Carlin- 
 ville. 111., driving the entire distance, a journey of 
 sixty-five days. While residing in the West, the 
 death of his wife took place, and, although success- 
 ful there, desiring to educate his children in the 
 East, he returned to Providence in 1845, ^^^ went 
 into the wholesale grocery business. The following 
 year he took in as partner Silas B. Whitford, and 
 
 under the firm name of Work & Whitford continued 
 until 1852, when the partnership was dissolved 
 and he associated with him Frederick P. Shaw of 
 New Bedford, under the name of Work, Shaw 
 & Company. This association continued about 
 a year, when the firm was dissolved, and Mr. 
 Work then (1854) took his brother Harrison G. into 
 partnership under the name of G. & H. Work, which 
 association continued until 1875, when the senior 
 partner, and subject of this sketch, retired from the 
 business. After his retirement from trade, and a 
 trip across the Isthmus, in his seventieth year, Mr. 
 Work took up his residence in Edgewood, R. L, and 
 invested his money in real estate and mortgages, 
 actively attending to the details of his business to 
 the day of his death. In all his business career he 
 showed himself possessed of exceptional abilities as 
 a financier, although he preferred the gradual gains 
 of a modest, well-conducted business to the unsafe 
 if more rapid methods of speculation. He was a 
 great reader and student of history and philosophy, 
 and, when not engrossed with the cares of business, 
 was a fluent and interesting conversationalist. He 
 had travelled extensively in this country, both before 
 and after the introduction of railroads ; he went on 
 business all through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Penn- 
 sylvania and New York, during the "thirties," and 
 knew personally many of the prominent business 
 men and politicians of those states. He was always 
 a Democrat, but was never active in politics. Mr. 
 Work was married, January 1836, in Mansfield, 
 Conn., to Miss Almira Thomas ; they had two chil- 
 dren : William Ellery Work, who died in 1862, and 
 Martha N., now the wife of General Z. R. Bliss, 
 U. S. Army. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 ANTHONY, Frederick Henry, member of the 
 firm of Anthony Brothers, architects. Providence, 
 was born in Providence, November 4, 1846, son of 
 
 F. H. ANTHONY. 
 
 Henry Edwin and Lucy Dudley (McKnight) 
 Anthony. He is of old New England ancestry, on 
 the paternal side belonging to the well-known 
 Anthony family of Rhode Island, and to the Hunt 
 family. His mother is a direct descendant of Gover- 
 nor Dudley, one of the earliest colonial governors 
 of New England, and is also descended from the 
 Stuart family. His early education was acquired in 
 the public schools of Providence. He graduated at 
 the Elm-street grammar school and was entered for 
 the high school, but instead of pursuing his school 
 course he entered the office of the American Screw 
 Company, and shortly after became Paymaster, in 
 which capacity he served three years or more, and 
 
 then resigned to accept a position in the American 
 Bank, where he gained valuable financial experi- 
 ence. He resigned his bank connection to engage 
 in commercial pursuits, representing a factory prod- 
 uct in Boston, of which he had full charge, up to 
 the period of the great Boston iire in 1872. He 
 then went to New York, where he remained some 
 twenty years, still successfully engaged in commer- 
 cial business, and visited regularly all the cities of 
 importance in the United States and Canada. 
 About 1893 he was invited to join the firm of 
 Anthony Brothers, the well-known Providence 
 architects, and assume the general management of 
 the commercial portion of the business. The firm 
 are largely engaged in designing and superintending 
 the construction of business buildings, residences 
 and public edifices, one of the latter class upon 
 which they are now engaged being the new Town 
 Hall in Seekonk. Mr. Anthony's position in the 
 firm is that of general business manager, mainly 
 looking after and conducting the details of the out- 
 side business, a work of no small magnitude and 
 importance, and one for which he is especially 
 qualified by natural adaptation and his long experi- 
 ence in commercial life. In politics Mr. Anthony 
 is a high-tariff and sound-money Republican, but 
 has never sought nor held office. 
 
 ARNOLD, General Olney, banker and manu- 
 facturer, Pawtucket, was born in Newton, Mass., 
 January 17, 1822, son of Dr. Seth and Belinda 
 (Streeter) Arnold. The name of Arnold is one of 
 the most ancient known in history. Thomas Arnold, 
 born in 1599, in Cheselbourne, Dorset county, Eng- 
 land, was a direct descendant of Cadwalader, the 
 last King of the Britons, and of Alfred the Great, 
 King of England. He came to America in the ship 
 Plain Joan in 1635, settled first at Watertown, Mass., 
 where he married Phebe, daughter of George and 
 Susanna Parkhurst, and came to Providence in 1661, 
 
222 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 where he bought land and took up his residence ; 
 he was for years one of the Town Council, and 
 represented the town in the General Assembly. 
 His son, Richard Arnold, was Speaker of the House 
 of Deputies, and a member of that body for many 
 years, was also for many years one of the Council of 
 Governor Sir Edmond Andros, and was appointed to 
 draw up the address of congratulation to King 
 James Second on his peaceable succession to the 
 crown. John Arnold, son of Richard, was the first 
 President of the Smithfield Town Council, was a 
 
 OLNEY ARNOLD. 
 
 Quaker in religion, and gave land and money to 
 build two meeting-houses, one at the northerly and 
 the other at the southerly end of his farm, being 
 nine miles apart ; one was built at what was called 
 Bank Village, and the other near Butterfly Factory. 
 The grandson of John Arnold was Nathan, captain 
 of a military company from Cumberland, R. I., 
 during the war of the Revolution, and who lost his 
 life in consequence of exposure after being wounded 
 at the battle of Rhode Island, which took place 
 August 29, 1778. General Olney Arnold's line of 
 descent from Thomas, born in 1599, died 1674, is 
 as follows : Richard, son of Thomas, born March 
 22, 1642, died April 22, 17 10; John, son of Richard, 
 born November i, 1670; Seth, son of John, born 
 September 6, 1706, died 1801 ; Nathan, son of Seth, 
 born October 18, 1735; Nathan, son of Nathan; 
 
 Seth, son of Nathan, born February 26, 1799, died 
 October 31, 1883 ; and Olney, son of Seth, born, as 
 above, January 17, 1822. General Arnold is also 
 descended in direct line from William Arnold, half 
 brother of Thomas, who came from Cheselbourne 
 with his wife. Christian Peake, first to Hingham, 
 Mass., in 1635, and to Providence in 1636; he was 
 one of the original proprietors of Providence Planta- 
 tions, his name being second in the deed — this deed 
 being from the Indian sachems Canonicus and 
 Miantonomi, with Roger Williams. He is also 
 descended from Wilham Carpenter, one of the 
 thirteen original proprietors of Providence Planta- 
 tions ; Richard Waterman, also one of the original 
 thirteen; Richard Carder, who represented the 
 town in the General Assembly for many years ; 
 Thomas Olney, another of the original proprietors, 
 for many years one of the Governor's Council, the 
 first Town Treasurer, and one of those named on 
 the royal charter granted by King Charles Second, 
 1663 ; Thomas Angell, who was but eighteen years 
 old when he accompanied Roger Williams in his 
 landing at Slate Rock in 1636 ; Rev. John Myli s of 
 Swaf'sea, Mass., a noted preacher of his day ; Rev. 
 Pardon Tillinghast, pastor of the First Baptist 
 Church of Providence in 1681 and many years 
 after ; Edward Smith of Rehoboth, for many years 
 a member of the Governor's Council ; Benjamin 
 Smith, of Providence, one of the Governor's 
 Council and Deputy to the General Assembly for 
 many years ; Edward Freeman, Commissioner and 
 Deputy many years ; and John Johnson of Boston, 
 Commander of all the Arms and Ammunition, 
 Chairman of the Committee on War, and Deputy 
 for twenty years. General Arnold is also de- 
 scended from many other lines of first-comers, 
 who have helped make Rhode Island history. His 
 grandparents on the maternal side were Jonathan 
 and Patience Mason, both descendants from Samp- 
 son Mason of Rehoboth, through the Rev. Pelatiah, 
 Charles and Benjamin Mason. Jonathan Mason 
 was a farmer of Cumberland, Rhode Island, and a 
 member of the Town Council. The subject of this 
 sketch was educated in the public schools of Woon- 
 socket, Rhode Island, where his early life was spent, 
 and at Bushee's Academy in Smithfield. His first 
 business training was in mercantile pursuits, but in 
 a few years he became cashier of a bank in Woon- 
 socket, and in 1853 he removed to Pawtucket, having 
 been elected Cashier of the People's Bank of that 
 place. From that time he has been prominently 
 identified with many of the enterprises that have 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 223 
 
 made the present city of Pawtucket and given it the 
 rank and reputation in the business world which it 
 now holds. In 1855 Mr. Arnold was tendered the 
 position of Cashier of the newly organized Bank of 
 Mutual Redemption in Boston, but declined the 
 offer, on account of his business interests and asso- 
 ciations in Pawtucket. In 1863, when the national 
 banking system was established, he organized the 
 First National Bank of Pawtucket, the first national 
 bank in the town and the sixth in the state, and 
 became its Cashier. Two years later the People's 
 Bank was merged with it, and in 1875 he was elected 
 President, which office he has smce held. Soon 
 after coming to Pawtucket he was elected Treas- 
 urer of the Providence County Savings Bank, and 
 has since continued in that office. Under Mr. Ar- 
 nold's management the net earnings of the People's 
 Bank and its successor, the First National, have 
 averaged more than twelve per cent, yearly for up- 
 wards of forty years. Naturally his services have 
 been constantly in requisition as financier and man- 
 ager of trusts, and in the settlement of estates, and 
 he has served and is still serving as treasurer, direc- 
 tor and trustee of a great number of corporations, 
 societies and institutions. In 1858 he engaged with 
 David Ryder, A. H. Littlefield (afterwards Gover- 
 nor) and a few others in an attempt to perfect the 
 manufacture of haircloth by machinery, in which 
 he succeeded after numerous discouragements in 
 establishing a large and successful industry. He 
 is also Managing Director in the Cumberland Mills 
 Company and the Dexter Yarn Company, and is 
 variously interested in other manufacturing and 
 industrial enterprises. In a pubhc capacity he 
 has served as President of the Town Council, 
 Town Treasurer, Water Commissioner, Trustee of 
 Schools, Trustee of the Public Library, Moderator, 
 and in various other town offices. For several 
 years following 1846 he was a Representative to 
 the General Assembly from the town of Cumber- 
 land, of which the village of Woonsocket was then 
 a part. After his removal to Pawtucket, then in 
 North Providence, he was Representative and sub- 
 sequently Senator from the latter town. Politically 
 he is a Democrat, of the Jeffersonian type, and he 
 has been the candidate of his party for Governor, 
 Representative to Congress, United States Senator, 
 Presidential Elector and other prominent positions, 
 always leading his ticket largely in popular elections. 
 He has been Railroad Commissioner, Commissioner 
 for the Organization of State Banks, State Prison 
 and Jail Commissioner, has served upon numerous 
 
 important state committees and the most prominent 
 committees of both branches of the Legislature, and 
 has received civil or military commissions from 
 nearly every Governor of the state for the last forty 
 years. Always taking a deep interest in military 
 affairs, Mr. Arnold has served in nearly every 
 position from private to Major-General. At the 
 breaking out of the Rebellion he was appointed one 
 of the aides to Governor Sprague, and did efficient 
 work in organizing companies for active service in 
 the field. On account of his energy, ability and 
 knowledge of military affairs he was retained in the 
 state, and was promoted to Major-General of the 
 militia. During the war he was Commissioner and 
 Superintendent of Drafts in Rhode Island for the 
 United States. By the Rhode Island veterans of 
 the war. General Arnold is held in the highest 
 esteem, and he is an honorary member of the First 
 and Second Regiment Veteran Associations, also of 
 Slocum Post Grand Army of the Republic. He is 
 also a prominent Mason, and a member of many 
 charitable associations, historical societies and other 
 organizations. He organized the Pawtucket Electric 
 Lighting Company, and was one of the leaders in se- 
 curing the introduction of municipal waterworks and 
 the fire-alarm system. He is prominently identified 
 with the Universalist church, has been president of 
 its national organization, is trustee of its publishing 
 house, treasurer of its state convention, and has been 
 treasurer and trustee of the Pawtucket parish. Gen- 
 eral Arnold was married, January 23, 1844, to Miss 
 Phebe Dudley, of Providence. Mrs. Arnold was born 
 in Douglas, Mass., December 17, 1824, and died in 
 Pawtucket, March 5, 1895. They had no children. 
 
 BAKER, Benjamin, Superintendent of Schools, 
 Newport, was born in the village of Wickford, town 
 of North Kingstown, R. I , October 24, 1853, son 
 of David Sherman and Mary Cahoone (Waite) 
 Baker. His family has resided in the " South 
 County" (Washington) since the early settlement 
 of that region. General Silas Casey, Stephen A. 
 Douglas and General Sherman are said to have 
 been distant relations of the family. He acquired 
 his early education in the public schools of Wick- 
 ford, following which he attended the Providence 
 Conference Seminary at East Greenwich, and 
 Brown University, from which institution he giadu- 
 ated in 1875. He was a teacher in the high school 
 at Westerly in 1875-6, studied law in the office of 
 
 
224 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Vincent & Carpenter (the late Judge Carpenter of 
 the United States District Court) in 1876-7, was 
 Principal of the high school in Woonsocket 1877-9, 
 was a teacher in the Providence high school from 
 1879 to 1890, and in the latter year became Super- 
 
 BENJ. BAKER, 
 
 intendent of Schools in Newport, which position he 
 now holds. Mr. Baker is a member of the Ameri- 
 can Academy of Political and Social Science, the 
 Newport Historical Society, the Natural History So- 
 ciety of Newport, and the Newport Business Men's 
 Association. He was married, February 10, 1880, 
 to Miss Lucy Anna Sisson ; they have two children : 
 Harvey Almy, born April 24, 1881, and Charles 
 FuUerton Baker, born February 28, 1884. 
 
 BALLOU, Henry Clay, merchant, Providence, 
 was born in Cumberland, R. I., August 22, 1844, 
 son of Isaac Chauncy and Sarah Aldrich (Cook) 
 Ballou. His ancestry is Anglo-Norman, and traces 
 back to Guinebond Ballou, a marshal in the army 
 of William the Conqueror, who fought at the battle 
 of Hastings in the year 1067. Descendants of 
 Guinebond Ballou emigrated to America in the 
 early period of the country's history, and from one 
 of them, Maturin Ballou, a co-proprietor with Roger 
 Williams in 1646, the Rhode Island Ballous are 
 descended. Mr. Ballou is of the eighth generation 
 
 from his American progenitor, on both sides, his 
 mother being a niece of Dr. Ariel and the Rev. 
 Adin Ballou. The line of descent is : On the 
 paternal side, Maturin, James, Obadiah, Ezekiel, 
 Levi, Esq., Flavius J., and Isaac Chauncy Ballou ; 
 and on the maternal side, Maturin, James, James, 
 Ariel, Deacon Ariel, Abigail and Sarah Aldrich 
 Cook. His early education was that of the com- 
 mon schools, and his youth was passed on the an- 
 cestral farm. After working a few years in a 
 grocery store in Woonsocket, he commenced his 
 business life in Providence at the age of twenty-one 
 with Flint & Company, house furnishers, and con- 
 tinued with them twelve years. In 1877 Mr. 
 Ballou associated in partnership with Dennison G. 
 Markham, under the firm name of Ballou & Mark- 
 ham, in the same line of business, at loi-ii 1 Eddy 
 street, continuing in this relation until 1891, when 
 on account of failing health Mr. Markham sold his 
 share in the business to E. L. Johnson. In 1893 
 Albert J. Nichols, a trusted salesman who had been 
 twelve years in their employ, was admitted to part- 
 nership, and the firm was changed to its present 
 
 H. C. BALLOU. 
 
 name of Ballou, Johnson & Nichols, wholesale dealers 
 in kitchen furnishing goods and grocers' supplies, 
 Mr. Ballou being the buyer and general manager. 
 Tiie firm of Ballou & Markham did a large retail 
 and jobbing business up to 1890, when a pressure 
 
Men of progress. 
 
 '■^5 
 
 of business decided them to drop the retail part of 
 it, and they have since done a strictly jobbing busi- 
 ness. They are today the leading jobbing house in 
 their line in Rhode Island, buying direct from the 
 manufacturers in large quantities and thus being 
 enabled to compete with the largest houses in Bos- 
 ton and New York. Mr. Ballou is very methodical 
 in all his business relations, and to this especial 
 characteristic is due a large measure of his success. 
 He is a member of the Universalist Club of Rhode 
 Island, and of the Elmwood Club, Providence. In 
 politics he is a Republican, but he has never held 
 public office, although he has recently been nomi- 
 nated for Alderman from the Sixth Ward, and the 
 election is soon to take place. Mr. Ballou was 
 married, July 4, 1867, to Miss Frances Eveline 
 Williams ; they have two sons : Myron Clarence 
 and Henry Welcome Ballou. 
 
 BARTON, Nathan Bowen, manufacturing jew- 
 eler. Providence, was born in Warren, R. I., 
 August 8, 1853, son of Alfred and Ann Ehzabeth 
 
 N. B. BARTON, 
 
 (Bowen) Barton. He is of old New England 
 ancestry, and distantly connected with General 
 William Barton of Revolutionary fame. He re- 
 ceived his early education in the public schools of 
 Warren, and prepared for college in the high 
 
 school, but owing to force of circumstances was 
 unable to carry out his intention of pursuing a 
 collegiate course. In September 1869, at the age 
 of sixteen, he entered the employ of Belcher 
 Brothers, hardware dealers in Providence, and 
 remained with them until July 1879, when he left 
 to engage in the manufacturing jewelry business 
 with E. C. Ostby, under the firm name of Ostby 
 & Barton. This relationship continued until in 
 August 1893 a charter was secured from the Leg- 
 islature and the business was incorporated under 
 the name of the Ostby & Barton Company. Mr. 
 Barton was elected Treasurer of the company at its 
 formation and has since held that position to the 
 present time. The factory employs from two 
 hundred to two hundred and fifty hands, with a 
 product of nearly a million dollars yearly. The 
 head office is at Providence, with branches in New 
 York and Chicago. Mr. Barton has been a Director 
 in the Manufacturing Jewelers' Board of Trade 
 since December 28, 1885, and has been a Director 
 in the High Street Bank since 1893. He is a 
 member of the Masonic fraternity, also of the West 
 Side Club and the Providence Athletic Association. 
 He was married, September 2r, 1874, to Miss 
 Lillian Fisher ; they have one child, a daughter : 
 Annie Florence Barton. 
 
 BATES, William Lincoln, M. D., Providence, 
 was born in North Kingstown, R. I., January i, 1855, 
 son of Benjamin Sanford and Lucinda (Howland) 
 Carr. His father was of New England parentage, 
 and was a contractor and builder. His mother was 
 a descendant of the Howland family of Rhode 
 Island, of noted Quaker stock. On the death of 
 his mother, October 7, 186 1, he was adopted by his 
 relatives, John and Hannah F'owler Bates, being 
 then under seven years of age. His early education 
 was acquired in the public schools of Newport, 
 supplemented by an academic course at WiUimantic, 
 Conn. After taking a special course at Brown Uni- 
 versity, he went to Philadelphia to pursue his regular 
 medical studies, having determined to adopt the 
 medical profession. During the next few years 
 he studied at the University of Pennsylvania, the 
 Philadelphia Polyclinic, and the Philadelphia Elec- 
 tropathic Institute, graduating from the latter in 
 December 1891, and receiving the degree of M. E. 
 (Master of Electro-therapeutics), and afterwards 
 taking a post-graduate course, completing his studies 
 in 1892. Having thus made himself familar with 
 
226 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 the science of electricity in its relation to medicine, 
 Dr. Bates returned to Providence and established 
 himself as a medical electrician, and within a short 
 time his reputation for skill became so well known 
 that patients came to him from all parts of New Eng- 
 
 WILLIAM LINCOLN BATES. 
 
 land. Realizing the need of a suitable sanitarium, 
 where patients could be afforded the care and com- 
 forts they needed and be constantly under his over- 
 sight during treatment, Dr. Bates examined all the 
 available places in and near Providence, and finally 
 secured for his purpose the old Professor Chace 
 mansion on Benefit street, which under his direction 
 has been remodelled and refitted into an ideal Sani- 
 tarium and Medical Home. The house is situated 
 in the midst of large grounds, with handsome lawns, 
 fruit and flower gardens, and is richly but unostenta- 
 tiously furnished, everything about the establishment 
 having been devised for pleasing, quiet and soothing 
 effect, and for the comfort and permanent benefit 
 of visiting invalids and patients. In his position as 
 electrical specialist Dr. Bates has gained the confi- 
 dence, not only of the general public, but of the 
 medical fraternity as well, many patients being sent 
 to him by practitioners whose limited knowledge of 
 electricity, or lack of facilities, prevent them from 
 applying it under satisfactory conditions. He is 
 called to work at the Homoeopathic Hospital, 
 
 besides being compelled to make frequent trips out 
 of town and to other states, for consultation and 
 advice in different cases. Dr. Bates is a member of 
 the Rhode Island Historical Society, the Providence 
 Franklin Society and the Rhode Island Horticultural 
 Society. He has followed in the footsteps of his 
 maternal ancestors by accepting the principles of the 
 Society of Friends. He was married, July 5, 1895, 
 to Miss Martha Boyce of New York, an accom- 
 plished lady, well fitted to adorn the position which 
 she has chosen to fill ; there are two children : 
 Carrie L. and WiUiam P. Bates, by a former marriage. 
 
 BEDLOW, Henry, Mayor of Newport for three 
 terms, 1875-6-7, was born in New York city, 
 December 21, 182 1, son of Henry and Julia 
 (Halsey) Bedlow. The name of Bedlow belongs 
 to one of the oldest Knickerbocker families of 
 New York, and the American ancestor of the 
 subject of this sketch was Isaac Bedlow, son of 
 Godfrey Bedlow, physician to William, Prince of 
 Orange. Isaac Bedlow came from Leyden, Hol- 
 
 HENRY BEDLOW. 
 
 land, and settled in New Amsterdam, now New 
 York, in 1639. He soon became prominently 
 identified with the interests of the city, was for 
 some years Alderman, and in 1668 he acquired by 
 purchase tlie historic Bedlovv's Island, afterward 
 
 ■ ^ 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 227 
 
 deeded to the state of New York. One son in 
 each generation has since represented the family, 
 who have always made New York their residence. 
 William Bedlow, grandfather of Mayor Bedlow, was 
 appointed by the Government one of the commis- 
 sioners to make the survey and establish the 
 military school at West Point ; he married Cath- 
 erine, sister of Colonel Henry Rutgers, and had one 
 son, Henry. The present Henry Bedlow was 
 educated under private tutors at Yale University, 
 studied law and graduated at Harvard Law School, 
 and was admitted to the New York State bar in 
 1842. Subsequently he studied medicine in this 
 country and France. In early life he became an 
 attache of the United States Legation at Naples, 
 where he rendered Minister Polk, brother of the 
 President, James K. Polk, efficient service in inter- 
 course with what at that time was considered the 
 most formal court in Europe. Mr. Bedlow was 
 also officially attached to the United States Dead 
 Sea Expedition, sent out under command of F. W. 
 Lynch, whose published report bears complimentary 
 testimony to his efficient aid rendered in the ex- 
 ploration and survey of the Jordan river and valley 
 and the lake of Sodom and Gomorrah. For many 
 years Mr. Bedlow has spent with his family the sum- 
 mer and autumn season in Newport, of which city his 
 varied capabilities and social accomplishments have 
 made him a most valued resident. Pie became ac- 
 tively concerned in and closely indentified with all 
 the city's interests, and in 1875 the citizens elected 
 him Mayor, to which office he was twice re-elected. 
 His three successive terms marked a period of at 
 that time unprecedented advancement for the city 
 and of general improvement in its municipal affairs. 
 Mr. Bedlow was married, March 2, 1850, to Miss 
 Josephine DeWolf Homer, daughter of Fitzhenry 
 Homer of Boston ; there are two children : Harriet 
 Hall, widow of Lieutenant-Commander Francis 
 Morris, and Alice Prescott, wife of William Henry 
 Mayer of Middletown, Rhode Island. 
 
 BENTLEY, Benjamin Courtland, contractor 
 and builder, Westerly, was born in Westerly, May 2, 
 1841, son of Benjamin Wilbur and Mary Potter 
 (Maxon) Bentley. His paternal grandparents were 
 Benjamin Peckham and Hannah (Wilbur) Bentley, 
 and his mother was a daughter of Jonathan and 
 Nancy (Potter) Maxon. He was educated in the 
 common schools of Westerly, and for many years 
 has been a member of the firm of Randolph Bentley 
 
 & Company of that place, contractors and builders, 
 and dealers in builders' materials of all kinds. Mr. 
 Bentley has been for fourteen years a member of 
 the Town Council of Westerly and Chairman of the 
 Board for six years, and a member of the Board of 
 Trustees of School District Number One for two 
 years. He is a member and Past Master of 
 Franklin Masonic Lodge, member of Palmer 
 Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, member and Past 
 Commander of Narragansett Commandery Knights 
 Templar, and member of Palestine Temple, Ancient 
 Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He 
 is also a member and President of the Westerly 
 
 B. COURTLAND BENFLEY. 
 
 Business Men's Association. He was elected a 
 member of the Rhode Island House of Representa- 
 tives in April 1894, and Senator in April 1895. 
 Politically he is a Republican. Mr. Bentley was 
 married, February 14, 1867, to Miss Henrietta 
 Clark ; they have had five children : Bertha, Benja- 
 min Courtland, Jr., Maryetta, Anna Hancox (died 
 August 18, 1877) and John Clark Bentley. 
 
 BRICE, Harry Beggs, Superintendent and 
 General Agent for Rhode Island of the Prudential 
 Insurance Company of America, was born in Wash- 
 ington, Warren county, N. J., December 15, 1864, 
 
228 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 son of Alexander Lawrence and Amelia (Beggs) 
 Brice. His father, the Rev. A. L. Brice, was a 
 Methodist clergyman in the state of New Jersey for 
 forty-five years, located in Newark sixteen years, 
 Presiding Elder twenty-four years, a member of the 
 Newark Conference and of the New York Mission- 
 ary Board of the Methodist Episcopal church ; he 
 died in 1892, at the age of about seventy years. 
 His grandfather, Alele Reise Brice, was a French- 
 man, a paper manufacturer, and at one time asso- 
 ciated in business with Cyrus W. Field. His 
 maternal grandfather, Hugh Beggs, came to this 
 country from Wick, Scotland, and settled in Pater- 
 
 HARRY B, BRICE. 
 
 son, N. J., where he became proprietor of the 
 Union Machine Works of that city. The subject of 
 this sketch was educated in the public schools of 
 his native city, graduating from the grammar school 
 and attending the high school until the age of six- 
 teen, when he was apprenticed to the printing 
 trade. After learning his trade, in 1880 he went 
 into the printing business for himself, continuing 
 until 1887, when he took up the insurance busi- 
 ness, in which he has since been engaged. In 
 1895 the Prudential Insurance Company of 
 America, whose home office was in Newark, became 
 desirous of extending their business in the Rhode 
 Island field, which they had only entered in June of 
 the previous year. A capable man was needed to 
 
 take charge of the Providence office of the com- 
 pany, and Mr. Brice was appointed to the position, 
 under the official title of Superintendent and 
 General Agent of the Prudential Insurance Com- 
 pany of America for Providence. He came to 
 Rhode Island and assumed charge of his present 
 office April 29, 1895, since which time the com- 
 pany, which has attracted the attention and gained 
 the confidence of the people by its liberal and 
 sound methods, has largely increased its business in 
 the state. The company which Mr. Brice repre- 
 sents ranks as one of the great financial institutions 
 of the world, and in the twenty years of its exis- 
 tence has built up I15, 780,000 of assets, $12,500,- 
 000 of annual income and $3,300,000 of surplus, has 
 paid to policy holders over $22,000,000, and has 
 now, at risk, insurance amounting to more than 
 three hundred millions of dollars Although its 
 principal field has been outside of New England 
 until within a comparatively recent period, it is 
 already doing a very large business in life and 
 endowment policies in this section. Mr. Brice has 
 been active in politics and public life in his native 
 state, and served in 1894 as Document Clerk of 
 the House of Assembly, and as Secretary of the 
 Committee on Municipal Corporations. His pro- 
 clivities are Republican. He is a member of the 
 West Side Club of Newark, also of the Odd Fel- 
 lows, the Ancient Order United Workmen, and the 
 Typographical Union. On his departure from 
 Newark he was given a farewell dinner by his 
 friends, which was attended by a large number of 
 public officials and prominent men of the city. 
 Mr. Brice was married. May 9, 1889, to Miss Zilla 
 Alverta, daughter of Lieutenant Lorrin Bundy, of 
 the Maine Cavalry ; they have two children : 
 Lorrin Smylie, aged six, and Harry Danforth Brice, 
 aged four years. 
 
 CANFIELD, Herman, A. M., M, D., of the 
 Hopeworth Sanitarium, Bristol, was born in Medina, 
 Ohio, April 17, 1853, son of Herman and S. A. 
 Martha (Treat) Canfield. The Canfields came 
 from France to England in 1350, and settled in 
 Yorkshire. From there they came to Milford, 
 Connecticut, about 1640. Dr. Canfield's great 
 grandfather, Colonel Samuel Canfield, serv'ed on 
 Washington's staff in the Revolutionary War. His 
 grandfather, Herman Canfield, removed to the 
 Western Reserve early in the present century, and 
 founded the town of Canfield, Ohio. His father. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 229 
 
 Herman Canfield, was a lawyer and located in 
 Medina, where he held in succession all the town 
 and county offices, and when serving as Mayor was 
 elected State Representative, and later was a State 
 Senator. At the fall of Sumter he was appointed 
 Major, and soon after Lieutenant-Colonel, of the 
 Seventy-second Ohio, and was in command of his 
 regiment when shot and killed at the battle of Shiloh 
 or Pittsburg Landing. Dr. Canfield's mother's fam- 
 ily, the Treats, came to East Hartford, Connecticut, 
 from England. His great-grandfather Treat was 
 Governor of Connecticut and a member of Wash- 
 ington's staff during the Revolution ; his grand- 
 father Treat removed to Ohio about 1840, and is 
 now living in Denver, Colorado, at the age of 
 ninety-nine years. The Canfields were all profes- 
 sional men, the Treats always in business. The 
 father of our subject, when Senator, introduced a 
 bill establishing the State Idiot Asylum of Ohio, 
 and was President of that institution at the time of 
 his death ; he was a strong Abolitionist, and was the 
 head in his part of the state of the underground 
 railway between the slave states and Canada. 
 After his death his widow went South to care for 
 sick and wounded soldiers, and at the close of the 
 war established the Canfield Colored Orphan 
 Asylum at Memphis, Tennessee. Afterwards she 
 had charge of the Division of Orphan Asylums, In- 
 dustrial Schools and Charities in the Bureau of 
 Education at Washington. She died at Hope- 
 worth in 1890, from the effects of exposure in her 
 work for the soldiers during the war. During the 
 war the subject of this sketch spent most of his 
 time at the front with his mother in caring for sol- 
 diers, so that he grew up in hospitals, and became 
 personally acquainted with Grant, Sherman and 
 other prominent generals of the war in the West. 
 He obtained his early education in private schools, 
 completed his preparation for college in the grammar 
 school at Gambler, Ohio, and graduated in 1874, 
 at Racine College, Racine, Wisconsin, from which 
 institution he received the degree of A. M. in 1877. 
 In the fall of 1874 he entered the College of 
 Physicians and Surgeons in New York, received his 
 degree from the University of New York, Medical 
 Department, in 1876, was admitted, after a severe 
 competitive examination, as Junior Assistant Fourth 
 Medical Division on the staff of Bellevue Hospital 
 in New York city, and in 1878 went abroad and 
 studied at Wurtzburgh, Berlin, under Virchow, nnd 
 also in London. While in Bellevue Hospital he was 
 appointed to the care of a practice in Cold Spring, 
 
 New York, and latter was appointed to collect and 
 care for an exhibit to represent Medical Education, 
 by request of the United States Commissioner of 
 Education, at the Centennial Exposition in Phila- 
 delphia. He also served for a time at the head of 
 the Bellevue Emergency Obstetrical Hospital. In 
 the spring of 1879 he located in Cleveland, Ohio; 
 but wishing to open a sanitarium, he removed with 
 his wife and child, in the same year, to Bristol, 
 Rhode Island. Dr. Canfield is emphatically a self- 
 made man. He began his business life in Bristol 
 with twelve dollars in his pocket and no other finan- 
 cial resources. After practicing two years in order 
 
 
 4^ ^H 
 
 
 L^j^^^^l 
 
 JM 
 
 w 
 
 HERMAN CANFIELD. 
 
 to get something to start a sanitarium upon, he 
 rented the General Burnside estate and opened his 
 institution with one room. In eighteen months the 
 business had outgrown its quarters, and Dr. Can- 
 field bought his present estate. The house then 
 contained seven rooms, and has since been extended 
 to forty-five rooms, with accommodation for thirty 
 patients ; other buildings have from time to time 
 been added, so that it is now one of the best and most 
 complete sanitariums in the East. In 1885 he took 
 his brother. Dr. William E. Canfield, into partner- 
 ship, and the firm name has since been Canfield & 
 Canfield. Dr. Canfield has spent four or five winters 
 abroad, and is now establishing a sanitarium at the 
 Hot Springs in Jamaica, British West Indies, and 
 
2 30 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 another at Cartago, Costa Rica. His labors are en- 
 tirely devoted to his specialty of nervous diseases, 
 and besides his sanitarium work much of his time 
 is spent in consultation with physicians all over 
 New England. Aside from the business part of 
 Hopeworth, it is a rule of the Sanitarium to care 
 always for two deserving patients who are unable to 
 meet the regular charges. The institution is rapidly 
 growing, and is every year obliged to extend its 
 accommodations. The record of Dr. Canfield's 
 professional career commences with his services in 
 the United States Sanitary Commission and United 
 States Christian Commission during the war. He 
 was House Physician at Bellevue Hospital, New 
 York, in 1878; House Physician of Bellevue 
 Emergency Obstetrical Hospital in 1879; and has 
 been Physician in charge of Hopeworth Sanitarium 
 since 1883. He is a member of the Rhode Island 
 Medical Society, Providence Medical Association 
 the Society of Internes of Bellevue Hospital, the 
 Military Order of Loyal Legion and the Providence 
 Athletic Club. He has always been a Republican, 
 but while actively interested in politics has never 
 sought nor held public office. Dr. Canfield was 
 married, April 13, 1878, to Ella M. Kendall of Wind- 
 sor Locks, Connecticut; they have two children: 
 Herman and Roderick Canfield. 
 
 COTTON, Joseph Potter, civil engineer, New- 
 port, was born in Bovvdoin, Me., May 8, 1837, son 
 of Isaac H. and Rhoda Lamont (Potter) Cotton. 
 His paternal ancestors were engaged in farming and 
 ship-building. His great-grandfather Lamont was a 
 soldier in the Revolution and died in the service. 
 He acquired his early education in the public schools 
 and academies of his native district, working as a 
 boy on the farm, and later teaching in district 
 schools in Maine, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 
 In 1857 he taught winter school in Topsham, Me., 
 and taught in the same town the following year. 
 In 1859-60 he taught school in Phillipsburg, N. J., 
 and in 186 1-2-3 ^^ Easton, Pa. In 1862 he served 
 as Orderly Sergeant in Captain Finley's Company, 
 Colonel Clemens' regiment militia, of Easton, Pa. 
 In 1863 he raised and commanded Company C, 
 Thirty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Militia, mus- 
 tered into the United States service. In 1864-5 '""^ 
 was Assistant Superintendent of the House of 
 Refuge in Philadelphia. In 1866 Mr. Cotton com- 
 menced work in engineering, being employed from 
 
 March to September as rodman and leveler on the 
 Lake Superior & Lake St. Croix Railroad, in ^Vis- 
 consin. Following this engagement he was em- 
 ployed under General G. K. Warren of the United 
 States Engineers on surveys of western rivers, in 
 Mississippi, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio, until 
 1 87 1. In that year he came to Newport and took 
 charge of the construction of the breakwater at 
 Block Island. He continued in the service of the 
 Government until 1883, being employed on various 
 river and harbor and fortification works. In 1882- 
 3-4 he served as Commissioner and Engineer of the 
 Seekonk River bridge at Providence. In associa- 
 
 JOSEPH P. COTTON. 
 
 tion with E. S. Cheesbrough he prepared a plan for 
 sewering Newport, which plan, slightly modified, 
 was adopted and the sewers built. Since 1883 he 
 has been engaged in the private practice of engi- 
 neering, and since 1 890 has served as City Engineer 
 of Newport. Mr. Cotton was a member of the 
 School Committee from 1876 to 1883, and was 
 Overseer of the Poor three years. He has been a 
 member of the American Society of Civil Engineers 
 since 1876, and of the Newport Business Men's As- 
 sociation since its organization, is President of the 
 Fish and Game Association, and has been President 
 of the Association for Saving and Building since it 
 was organized in 1888. He is also a member of G. 
 K. ^^'arren Grand Army Post and of the Newport 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 231 
 
 Charity Organization Society. In politics he is a 
 RepubHcan. Mr. Cotton was married, March 26, 
 1867, to Miss Isabella Cole ; they have two children : 
 Frederic J. and Joseph P. Cotton, Jr. 
 
 EVERSON, Edward W., of Providence, con- 
 tractor for public works, was born in Manlius, 
 Onondaga County, N. Y., July 14, 1847, son of 
 William and Adaline D. (DeLamater) Everson. 
 He is of Dutch ancestry on the paternal side, and 
 of French Huguenot on the mother's, and his pro- 
 
 EDWARD W. EVERSON. 
 
 genitors settled in New York city and in the 
 Mohawk Valley before the Revolution. He was 
 born and bred on a farm, was educated in the 
 common schools, and from the age of nineteen has 
 been actively employed on public works of varied 
 character. Since 1873 he has been in business for 
 himself, as a general contractor, and has had an 
 extensive experience in New York, Ohio, Illinois, 
 Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine 
 and Canada. Mr. Everson has executed large 
 sewer work in Akron and Cleveland, Ohio ; Buffalo 
 and Yonkers, N. Y. ; Providence, R. I., and Bos- 
 ton, Mass. He has the best known appliances 
 for such work, which he performs by modern 
 methods in part exclusively his own, and with 
 
 thoroughness and despatch. At present he is at 
 work on a contract for building Section Two of 
 the Boston Rapid Transit Subway, through Boston 
 Common. He has lately completed a heavy con- 
 tract at Pawtucket, R. I., for building a dam 
 and power-station for the Bridge Mill Power 
 Company, to which the builder may justly point 
 with pride as an enduring example of his work. In 
 1894 Mr. Everson organized the Narragansett 
 Improvement Company, of Providence, of which he 
 is the Secretary, Treasurer and General Manager, 
 to lay sheet-asphalt pavements in New England, 
 with principal office at 17 Custom House street. 
 Providence. The company have paved Broadway, 
 Pine street, Washington Row and the Red Bridge in 
 Providence with Trinidad Lake sheet-asphalt, on a 
 six-inch base of cement-concrete, and the people of 
 the city are now beginning to appreciate the good 
 qualities and superior merits of a noiseless, smooth 
 and impervious pavement, while wheelmen are en- 
 thusiastic in its praise. The strongest surety 
 companies write guarantees for long terms of years 
 on this form of pavement, which is rapidly succeed- 
 ing all other kinds wherever it is once laid and the 
 people experience its advantages, not the least 
 among which is its cheapness, as it is claimed that 
 it can be laid and kept in good order for less money 
 than any other pavement. At all events it has never 
 anywhere been replaced by any other pavement, and 
 is rapidly superseding all others. To Mr. Everson 
 belongs the chief credit for the introduction of this 
 valuable modern pavement into Providence and 
 neighboring towns. In politics Mr. Everson is a 
 Republican. He was married, October 21, 1875, to 
 Henrietta Cady Liddle, of Duanesburgh, N. Y. 
 
 FARRELL, John T., M. D., Providence, was 
 born in Webster, Mass , September 11, 1858, son 
 of Thomas and Catherine (Thompson) Farrell. 
 His parents were natives of Ireland, and came to 
 this country when children ; they are still living. 
 His early education was acquired in the public 
 schools of his native town, and after leaving the 
 high school he entered a large drygoods store, where 
 he rose in course of time from the position of store- 
 boy to that of confidential clerk. His school-days 
 were marked by evidences of ambition, energy and 
 executive ability, and during summer vacations he 
 published a small local paper, which yielded him 
 some financial returns. An especial interest in 
 
232 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 physiological study awakened in his high-school 
 course developing as he reached manhood, he re- 
 linquished promising mercantile opportunities to 
 enter Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. 
 There after a three-years course he graduated in 
 April 1886, and a month later came to Providence 
 and opened an ofiSce at 19 13 Westminster street, 
 where he has remained, and by earnest application 
 and an early-gained reputation for professional skill 
 has established a large practice. Dr. Farrell is a 
 member of the American, Rhode Island and Provi- 
 dence medical associations, and served as delegate 
 from the Rhode Island Society to the meeting of 
 
 is a physician in Maiden, Mass., and Thomas Far- 
 rell is a lawyer in Providence Dr. John T. Farrell 
 was married, July 14, 1892, to Miss Mary A. Quinn 
 of Providence; she died June 21, 1894. 
 
 J. T, FARRELL, 
 
 the American Association in Atlanta, Ga. He is 
 also a member of the Providence Press Club and 
 Ancient Order United Workmen, and Medical Di- 
 rector of the Knights of Columbus, Good Fellows, 
 Foresters and Catholic Benevolent Legion. He is 
 also Medical Examiner for the Massachusetts Mutual 
 and other insurance companies, and has served as 
 Town Physician of the town of Johnston. In 
 national politics he is a Democrat of the free- trade 
 and sound money order, but in local affairs he is in- 
 dependent. Dr. Farrell was the eldest of five sons; 
 and of his four brothers. Dr. Henry W. Farrell is 
 associated with him in practice, the Rev. James J. 
 Farrell is located in Everett, Mass., Dr. Geo. L. Farrell 
 
 FULLER, Myron Hollev, General Manager 
 of the Providence Coal Company, was born in 
 Hampton, Windham county. Conn., September 21, 
 1844, son of Elisha S. and Esther E. (Chester) 
 Fuller. His ancestors on both sides settled in 
 Windham county at a very early period, and were 
 noted for being long-lived people, most of them 
 reaching the nineties and many exceeding that age 
 by from two to six years ; his mother died in 1895, 
 aged eighty-five, and his father is now living at 
 eighty-seven. His education was that of the 
 country school, never having had any other except 
 that which he has "picked up " himself. He 
 worked on the farm until the age of eighteen, and 
 in September 1862 came to Providence, where he 
 secured a situation in a boot and shoe store as clerk. 
 He worked a year in the store, when the proprietor 
 sold out, and after remaining with the new one two 
 months he hired with Bangs AVilliams as entry clerk. 
 After a little over a year in this position he trans- 
 ferred his services to the business in which he has 
 ever since been engaged. This was in 1865, and 
 the business was conducted by Henry C. Clarke, for 
 many years one of the prominent merchants of Provi- 
 dence. In 1870 Mr. Clarke sold out to Tucker, 
 Swan & Company, who in 1878 were succeeded 
 by the firm of Tucker & Little, and in 1880 the 
 growth and transfers of interests in the business, 
 which had meanwhile grown to extensive propor- 
 tions, resulted in the organization of the Providence 
 Coal Company, of which Mr. Fuller was made Gen- 
 eral Manager in 1881. Mr. Fuller has therefore 
 been identified with the business over thirty-one 
 years, through all its successive changes, first as 
 book-keeper, later in charge of the financial affairs, 
 and finally as General Manager of what is now one 
 of the largest coal distributing institutions of Rhode 
 Island. Notwithstanding the magnitude of the 
 business over which he presides, Mr. Fuller finds 
 time to devote to other business interests, as well 
 as to political affairs and social life. Since 1880 he 
 has been connected with the firm of Royce, Allen 
 & Company, manufacturers of jewelry novelties, 
 and he is Treasurer of the Nelson's Improved Seam 
 less Filled Ware Company, an enterprise started 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 233 
 
 early in 1896. In 1890 he was elected Alderman 
 from Ward Six, and served successively in 1891- 
 2-3-4, and was again elected in 1896. He is a 
 Thirty Second Degree Mason, and a member of 
 What Cheer Lodge and St. John's Commandery 
 Knights Templar, also of Eagle Lodge of Odd 
 Fellows, and the Athletic, Press, Union and 
 Country clubs. He has also served as Commissary 
 of the United Train of Artillery for the last two 
 years. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Fuller 
 was married. May 20, 1869, to Miss Sarah A. 
 Martin, born in Camden, Alabama, a daughter of 
 William P. Martin of Providence ; they have one 
 child : Edward Martin Fuller. 
 
 GARDINER, Aldridge Bissell, retired manu- 
 facturer. Providence, was born in Wickford, R. I., 
 May 25, 1826, son of Beriah and Elizabeth (Ham- 
 mond) Gardiner, being next to the youngest of 
 eighteen children. His American ancestors for four 
 generations were named Nicholas Gardiner, and 
 the family originally came from Poole, England. 
 He receivi.d his early education in the common 
 schools and at Wickford Academy, and at the age 
 of thirteen joined his elder brothers in following 
 the sea. After a couple of years of seafaring life 
 he came to Providence and apprenticed himself 
 with Hunt & Owen, manufacturing jewelers, and 
 remained with them nine years. In 1866 he 
 entered into copartnership with Josiah W. Richard- 
 son, in the jewelry business, under the firm name of 
 J. W. Richardson & Company. This copartnership 
 continued until the death of Mr. Richardson in 
 1 88 1, when his son, George H. Richardson, suc- 
 ceeded him. In 1893 Mr. Gardiner retired from 
 the business, disposing of his interest to Mr. 
 Richardson and two of the clerks in the office. 
 The business is still carried on under the old 
 firm name in Providence, with offices in New York, 
 and has been very successful. For a long time 
 they were the only concern in New England making 
 a specialty of society emblems. Mr. Gardiner was 
 for ten years an active member of the First Light 
 Infantry, and since then a member of the Veteran 
 Association up to the present time. He is promi- 
 nent in Masonry, being a member of St. John's 
 Lodge and the oldest Mason in the lodge, also 
 a member of Providence Royal Arch Chapter, Provi- 
 dence Council Royal and Select Masters, St. John's 
 Commandery of Knights Templar, Rhode Island 
 Consistory Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite, 
 
 and Palestine Temple Ancient Arabic Order of No- 
 bles of the Mystic Shrine. He has the honor of 
 being the first man to be made a Knight of Pythias 
 in Rhode Island. He is also a member of the West 
 Side, Pomham and Athletic clubs of Providence. 
 In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Gardiner was 
 
 A. B. GARDINER. 
 
 married, June 14, 1854, to Miss Agnes D. Jackson 
 of Rockaway, Morris county, New Jersey; they 
 have had three children : Annie R., now Mrs. 
 Frank T. Pearce, Laura C, now Mrs C. M. Lee, 
 and John J. Gardiner, who died in his seventeenth 
 year. 
 
 GARDINER, Jeremiah Briggs, Superintendent 
 of the Stonington Division of the New York, New 
 Haven &i Hartford Railroad, was born in South 
 Kingstown, R. I., July 15, 1831, son of Henry and 
 Mahala (Briggs) Gardiner. He obtained his early 
 education in the common schools of his native 
 country district, until the age of fourteen, when he 
 came to Providence. In 1849, then a lad, he was 
 induced by Governor William Sprague, Senior, his 
 friend and adviser, to go on the ship William 
 Sprague and learn navigation, with the purpose of 
 fitting himself for a ship-master. He was absent at 
 sea two years, making a voyage around the world. 
 In the fall of 1850, the ship being then at Manila, 
 the young man of twenty was appointed master for 
 
234 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 the remainder of the voyage, and brought the vessel 
 home to New York, arriving in February of 185 1. 
 But sea life was not in accordance with his health 
 or inclinations, and he decided to abandon it for 
 transportation business on shore. Soon after the 
 close of his first and only sea voyage, he was ap- 
 pointed to a position in one of the subordinate 
 departments of the New York, Providence & Boston 
 Railroad, where the fidelity and intelligence with 
 which he served the interests of the company and 
 the public secured him rapid promotion. Advanc- 
 ing from one position to another toward the higher 
 grades, he was in 1869 appointed Superintendent of 
 
 J. B, GARDINER. 
 
 the Neptune Line of steamers running between 
 Providence and New York. After four years or 
 more of efficient service in this office he was 
 chosen, in 1873, Assistant Superintendent of the 
 New York, Providence & Boston Railroad, and five 
 years later was elevated to the position of Superin- 
 tendent. The Providence & Worcester Railroad 
 having been leased to the New York, Providence & 
 Boston Company, this road, thereafter known as the 
 Worcester Division, was in 1889 also placed in 
 charge of Mr. Gardiner, and so remained until 1892, 
 when the entire property was leased by the New 
 York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company. 
 The New York, Providence & Boston Railroad be- 
 
 came known as the Stonington Division of the New 
 York, New Haven & Hartford, and Mr. Gardiner 
 remains Superintendent of that division. In 1873, 
 Mr. Gardiner was appointed Agent of the Stoning- 
 ton Steamship Line, which position he held for a 
 number of years in connection with his railroad duties. 
 In addition to the foregoing executive offices, he 
 was in 1888 made Superintendent of the Newport & 
 Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company, which 
 position he held until 1894. Mr. Gardiner is a man 
 of genial nature and strong character, and is of the 
 comparatively few that seem to find the station in 
 life best fitted to their tastes and talents. He has 
 mastered the details of his business from the 
 beginning, and having rare executive ability, and 
 thoroughly understanding human nature, he has 
 acquired or originally possessed the happy faculty 
 of handling men judicially, or in other words, for 
 the best interests of the great road and the greater 
 traveling public whom he ahke serves. He was 
 married, April 11, 1852, to Miss Eliza Antoinette, 
 daughter of Tolland and Rhoda Ann Benson ; they 
 had five children, of whom only two are now living : 
 Antoinette Augusta and Granville S. A. Gardiner. 
 Mr. Gardiner was married a second time, April 23, 
 1896, to Miss Cecilia Augusta Potter. 
 
 GOFF, Lyman Bullock, manufacturer, Pawtucket, 
 was born in Rehoboth, Mass., October 19, 1841, 
 son of Darius and Harriet (Lee) Goff. His an- 
 cestors were among the earliest settlers of his 
 native town, and held prominent ^nd respected 
 positions in the community. His parents moving 
 to Pawtucket in 1847, he received his early educa- 
 tion in the grammar and high schools of that city, 
 after which he entered Brown University and 
 graduated in the class of 1862. He commenced his 
 active business career in connection with the firm 
 of D. Goff & Son, manufacturers of worsted and 
 cotton goods, and was admitted into the firm in 
 1872. In 1880 he was made Treasurer of the 
 Union Wadding Company, of which his father, 
 Darius Goff, was President, and on the death of the 
 latter became its President, which office he now 
 holds. He is also President of the Excelsior 
 Building Company of New York, and is largely in- 
 terested in many of the manufacturing industries of 
 his state as well as in mills in the South and Canada. 
 He is a Director in several banks in Providence 
 and Pawtucket, is Vice-President of the Pawtucket 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 235 
 
 Street Railway, in which, as well as in other electric 
 railways and electric companies of his state, he has 
 large holdings. Mr. Goff has been three times 
 elected President of the Business Men's Association 
 of Pawtucket, and has taken a prominent part and 
 
 and was admitted to the bar December 12, 1865. 
 Entering at once upon practice in Providence, Mr. 
 Gorman was very soon recognized as a leader in his 
 profession, and his marked and versatile abilities led 
 to his being early called into public life. He was 
 elected a member of the School Committee in 1S67 
 and served until 1872, was chosen Common Council- 
 man in 1874, and Alderman in 1879-80-81 and 
 1890. In 1870 he was elected to the House of 
 Representatives, and again in 1885 and 1887, 
 serving in the latter year as Speaker of the House. 
 In 1895 he was appointed United States Attorney 
 for the District of Rhode Island, which office he 
 fills with signal efficiency and ability. In 1896 the 
 honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred 
 upon him by Georgetown University. Mr. Gorman 
 was President of the Brownson Lyceum, and is a 
 member of the Athletic Association, the Country 
 Club and the Franklin Lyceum of Providence, also 
 of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is 
 interested in military affairs, and has served as Adju- 
 tant of the Rhode Island National Guards. In pol- 
 itics he is a Democrat, and has been the Democratic 
 
 LYMAN B- GOFF. 
 
 a warm interest in the improvement of his city. A 
 Republican in politics, he has always declined 
 office. He is a member of the Athletic and Hope 
 clubs of Providence, and of the Union League and 
 Athletic clubs of New York. He was married, 
 December 14, 1864, to Miss Almira Thornton; 
 they have two children : Lyman T. and Elizabeth 
 Lee Goff. 
 
 GORMAN, Charles Edmund, United States 
 Attorney for the District of Rhode Island, was born 
 in Boston, Mass., July 26, 1844, son of Charles and 
 Sarah J. (Woodbury) Gorman. On the maternal 
 side he is descended from John Woodbury, one of 
 the original settlers of Cape Ann, Mass., in 1622. 
 His father was a native of Ireland. His early edu- 
 cation was acquired in the public schools, until the 
 age of eleven. He came to Providence in 1848, 
 and when eight years old commenced active life as 
 a newsboy, continuing in that occupation until 
 about sixteen, when he engaged in mercantile pur- 
 suits. He studied law with Ex-Chief Justice Greene, 
 
 CHARLES E. GORMAN. 
 
 candidate for Secretary of State, Attorney General, 
 and Mayor. From his entrance into public life he 
 was an earnest agitator and worker for the removal 
 of the real-estate requirement imposed upon nat- 
 uralized citizens as a requisite of the suffrage in 
 
236 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Rhode Island. After twenty-five years of agitation, 
 during which time Mr. Gorman devoted persistent 
 labors to the cause, the reform was accomplished 
 by an amendment to the constitution. Upon its 
 final adoption he was presented by citizens of the 
 state with a silver tea service, "in recognition of 
 twenty-five years' service in behalf of equal rights." 
 Mr. Gorman is a prominent and eloquent speaker in 
 the cause of Democracy, and has participated on 
 the platform and stump in every Presidential cam- 
 paign since 1864. He was married, July 8, 1874, 
 to Miss Josephine C. Dietrich ; they have had five 
 children : Charles Woodbury, Edward J., Joseph, 
 Clara J. and Clement Dietrich Gorman, of whom 
 only the first and last named are now living. 
 
 GREENE, Benjamin, M. D., Portsmouth, was 
 born in Exeter, R. I., October 30, 1833, son of 
 Hon. Isaac and Eliza (Kenyon) Greene. He is 
 descended from the well-known Greene family of 
 which Gen. Nathaniel Greene was a distinguished 
 
 BENJ. GREENE. 
 
 representative. His father was a farmer and a 
 prominent man of his district, for many years a 
 Representative in the General Assembly. His 
 grandfather, Hon. Benjamin Greene of Coventry, 
 was a Judge of one of the courts and held various 
 
 and prominent public positions. Dr. Greene 
 passed his early life at the family homestead, where 
 he worked on the farm. He received however a 
 good school and academic education, and in 1856 
 commenced the study of medicine with his uncle, 
 Dr. Job Kenyon of Anthony, R. I. In 1857 he 
 entered the University Medical College of the City 
 of New York, and graduating in 1859, established 
 himself in practice in Portsmouth, R. I., where for 
 some years he was the only physician and surgeon 
 in the place. In his extensive practice now cov- 
 ering many years. Dr. Greene has become widely 
 known and greatly respected as a skilful physician, 
 and as a gentleman of superior intellectual attain- 
 ments, enterprising and public spirited, and of high 
 moral character. Notwithstanding the demands of 
 his profession, he has found time to devote to real 
 estate transactions and various manufacturing 
 interests, in which he has exhibited rare business 
 judgment and capabilities, and has been mainly suc- 
 cessful. He has been a member of the Rhode 
 Island Medicil Society since i860, and is a promi- 
 nent Mason, having filled many ofifices in that order 
 and being still a member of the Board of Censors. 
 He was married, November 26, i860, to Miss Eunice 
 A., daughter of Philip B and Sarah E. (Cooke) 
 Chase, of Portsmouth ; they have had two children : 
 Ivah Eunice and Isaac Philip Greene. 
 
 GREENE, Nathaniel, M. D., Middletown, was 
 born in Dungeness House, Cumberland Island, 
 Georgia, June 22, 1809, eldest son of Nathaniel Ray 
 and Anna Maria (Clark) Greene. His father was 
 the youngest son of Major-General Nathaniel Greene 
 of Revolutionary fame, and his mother was the 
 daughter of Ethan and Anna (Ward) Clark of East 
 Greenwich, Rhode Island. Dr. Greene was brought 
 to Rhode Island in his infancy, and has resided here 
 ever since. His early education was mainly acquired 
 in the public schools of Kingston and at East 
 Greenwich Academy ; for a while he attended school 
 at Jamaica Plain, Mass., a then noted school where 
 wealthy and cultured people sent tlieir children. 
 At the age of fourteen he entered Amherst College 
 as a Freshman, remaining one year, and then entered 
 the Sophomore class at Brown University, where, he 
 likewise remained only one year. For three years 
 he lived on and managed a farm. From thence he 
 went to Whitestown, Oneida county, N. Y., and 
 studied medicine two years under Drs. Peck and 
 Clark, who were of the Allopathic school, afterwards 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 237 
 
 studying one year with Dr. Charles F. Eldridge of 
 East Greenwich, R. I. At the urgent soUcitation of 
 Dr. Abraham Okie of Providence, he began the 
 practice of medicine as a homoeopathist, about 
 1852, and continued the practice, which was a large 
 and lucrative one, for twenty years. He received 
 his diploma from the New York Homoeopathic 
 College of Medicine and Surgery. In 1842, when 
 an attempt was made to overthrow the then-existing 
 state government of Rhode Island, Dr. Greene 
 organized a company of volunteers, and taking the 
 command, reported for service at Chepachet. The 
 rebellion was suppressed without the intervention of 
 arms, however, and the company was not required 
 
 NATH'L GREENE. 
 
 to do any fighting. Subsequently, at the request of 
 Governor Samuel Ward King, he enlisted a company 
 of cavalry, of which he retained command for about 
 two years. In April 1848 he was elected Senator 
 from Middletown to the General Assembly of the 
 state, and was three times re-elected to that office, 
 in 1849-50-51. Upon the organization of the 
 Aquidneck Agricultural Society, in 1850 or there- 
 abouts, Dr. Greene was elected its first President. 
 In 1878, with the assistance and by the advice of 
 Dr. Henry E. Turner, Major Asa Bird Gardiner and 
 Colonel James Varnum, he called a meeting of per- 
 sons entitled by heredity to membership in the 
 Society of the Cincinnati, and reorganized the 
 
 Rhode Island society of that name. This organiza- 
 tion was duly recognized by the National Society of 
 the Cincinnati, and Dr. Greene was elected Presi- 
 dent of the Rhode Island branch, which office he 
 has held continuously ever since. Dr. Greene was 
 married, at the age of eighteen, to Mary Jane Moore, 
 eldest daughter of Colonel William Moore of New- 
 port, R. I. 
 
 HALLER, John Frederick, M. D., Providence, 
 physician, inventor, journalist and musician, was 
 born in Smaland, Sweden, October 16, 1862, son 
 of Anders Peter and Anna Gustafva (Peterson). 
 His father was a graduate of the Royal Academy 
 of Music at Stockholm, a teacher of music and 
 other branches in the High School, and a fine 
 organist. His ancestors on both sides were well-to- 
 do people, whose antecedents can be traced back 
 to the earliest history of Sweden. His mother's 
 progenitors belonged to the higher nobility of 
 Sweden six generations ago, and many of his ances- 
 tors have distinguished themselves in the wars of 
 Sweden. Dr. Haller early manifested a taste for 
 music, literature and invention. He received his 
 preliminary education in the public schools of 
 Sweden and later under private tuition, and entered 
 college with a view to preparing for the study of 
 medicine. Circumstances necessitating a change 
 of plan, however, he graduated from the Commercial 
 Department of the University of Norrkopingin 1880, 
 receiving the equivalent of the English degree of 
 A. B., and became a bookkeeper and office clerk until 
 in 1882, at the age of nineteen, he emigrated to the 
 United States. His parents were opulent until he 
 was thirteen years of age, since which time he has 
 depended upon his own resources, serving as organ- 
 ist and as tutor in private families while pursuing 
 his college course. After coming to this country he 
 was a music-teacher, and organist of the First Luth- 
 eran Church in Jamestown, N. Y., and at the same 
 time bookkeeper for a wholesale house, until 1884, 
 when he commenced the study of medicine. During 
 his four-years course of medical study he earned a 
 living for himself and mother, as organist and as 
 publisher of a Swedish newspaper which he bought 
 in 1884, and by working for a time in a piano 
 factory at Jamestown, as tuner and regulator. In 
 the meantime he attended the Medical Department 
 of the University of Buffalo, where he was Prosector 
 to the Chair of Anatomy in 1886-7-8, and from 
 which he graduated with the degree of M. D. in 
 1888. He then sold his paper and removed to 
 
238 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Providence, R. I., where he engaged in practice 
 and has since remained. While his practice has been 
 general, Dr. Haller has devoted especial attention 
 to maladies peculiar to women and children, in the 
 treatment of which he has been very successful. In 
 November 1888, shortly after his removal to Provi- 
 dence, Dr. Haller started the first Swedish news- 
 paper published in Rhode Island, The Tiden, and 
 in 1892 he started the Rhode Island Medical Science 
 Monthly, the first medical journal established in 
 that state. Both of these journals are still published 
 under other names, the latter being changed in 
 
 J. FREDERICK HALLER. 
 
 January 1895 to the Atlantic Medical Weekly, of 
 which Dr. Haller continued editor-in-chief until his 
 resignation in April 1895, owing to increasing 
 professional duties. He is a member of the Provi- 
 dence Medical Association and the Rhode Island 
 Medical Society, and since 1890 has served as a 
 member of the Committee on Legislation of the 
 last named ; was Assistant Surgeon of the United 
 Train of Artillery with rank of First Lieutenant 
 1889-92, and is now Surgeon with the rank of Major 
 of the United Train Artillery Veteran Association ; 
 and is Medical Examiner of Enterprise Lodge 
 Knights of Pythias, Unity Lodge of Foresters, 
 Rhode Island Lodge of United Workmen and 
 several life-insurance companies. He is also a 
 member of Mount Vernon Masonic Lodge ; the 
 
 Press and Athletic clubs of Providence, being one 
 of the Executive Committee of the former ; and the 
 Graduate Students' Association and German Semi- 
 nary of Brown University. He is at present taking 
 a post-graduate course at Brown for the degree of 
 A. M. Dr. Haller has always been interested in all 
 public affairs, and has been particularly active in urg- 
 ing foreigners in the United States to become good 
 and useful American citizens. He was President of 
 the Swedish-American Association 1888-90, has been 
 lay reader in the Protestant Episcopal Church since 
 1890, and was Chairman of the Building Committee 
 of St. Ansgarius Church in 1 890-1. He has also 
 been active in medical and other literary work, 
 being a contributor to various newspapers and peri- 
 odicals, and a frequent .speaker at public meetings 
 upon temperance, church matters and political 
 questions. He has written over two thousand 
 articles for medical journals, besides speeches, 
 addresses and remarks delivered before medical, 
 religious, social and political organizations, on various 
 topics, particularly on sanitation, hygiene, state 
 medicine and public health. Among his principal 
 papers, which have attracted widest notice, are 
 " Cholera, its History, Diagnosis and Treatment," 
 delivered by invitation at the one-hundredth anni- 
 versary of the Windham County Medical Society of 
 A'Vindham, Conn., in May 1893 > ^ speech before the 
 Senate Committee on Special I<egislation in 1891, 
 on "Medical Legislation in Rhode Island," published 
 in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal the 
 same year; an address before the Rhode Island 
 Medical Society on " Physical Deterioration " ; 
 " Our Water Supply," published in the Providence 
 News in 1890; " Cholera in Hamburg," Providence 
 Journal, 1892; "Pure Milk," Providence News, 
 July 1895 ; and an address before the Brown Univer- 
 sity Graduate Students' Association, on " Modern 
 Medicine," in April 1895. In 1892 Dr. Haller 
 visited England, Germany, Sweden and Denmark, 
 for professional study. He has recently invented a 
 surgical and gynecological table which, for simplicity 
 of operating, durability, neatness and usefulness, 
 compares very favorably with, if it does not excel 
 in many respects, any similar table now in use. 
 Dr. Haller is not only an accomplished musician, 
 but is a composer of more than ordinary talent. 
 He has published a number of songs and pieces for 
 the organ that have met with much favor, and his 
 most recent published composition, a song, "The 
 White Rose of Killarney," is an established favorite 
 in refined musical circles wherever known. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 239 
 
 HANAFORD, James Boardman, M. D., Appo- 
 naug, was born in New Hampton, N. H., February 
 21, 1849, son of Joseph Norris and Betsey Nichols 
 (Prescott) Hanaford. He is descended on the ma- 
 ternal side from Capt. John Prescott, who fell at Bun- 
 ker Hill. His early education was obtained in the 
 public schools and at the New London Literary and 
 Scientific Institution, New London, N. H., now Colby 
 Academy, He studied medicine with the late Prof. 
 L. B. How of Dartmouth College, graduated from the 
 Medical Department of the University of New York 
 in 1 87 1, and immediately began the practice of his 
 profession in Apponaug, where he has since resided. 
 
 JAMES B. HANAFOHD. 
 
 Dr. Hanaford has been very active in his profes- 
 sional life, and has built up a large and lucrative 
 practice. He is known as one of the leading 
 physicians of the county, has been Town Physician 
 of Warwick for many years, and still holds that 
 position. In April 1888 he was elected a Repre- 
 sentative to the General Assembly of the state, and 
 has been re-elected each successive year since, serv- 
 ing as a member of the Judiciary Committee of that 
 body. He is a member of King Solomon Masonic 
 Lodge of East Greenwich, also of the Providence 
 Athletic Association, the Warwick Club and various 
 other organizations. In politics Mr. Hanaford is a 
 Republican. He was married, in 1872, to Anna 
 Louise Reynolds ; they have no children. 
 
 HEATHCOTE, John, manufacturer. Providence, 
 was born in England, near Manchester, April 30, 
 1833, son of Luke and Mary (Ferguson) Heath- 
 cote. He came to Providence in boyhood, in 
 1842, and his associations therefore have always 
 been in that city. He received his education in 
 the public schools of Providence, and at seventeen 
 was apprenticed to the machine business with the 
 Franklin Foundry & Machine Company, at that 
 time one of the leading concerns of its kind in the 
 country. He served his apprenticeship of four 
 years, and soon after entered the employ of the 
 Corliss & Nightingale Engine Company, with whom 
 he remained two or three years and then went to 
 Lawrence, Mass., to help fit up the machinery for 
 the Pacific Mills. After that he was two or three 
 years with Brown & Sharpe, the founders of the 
 now famous manufacturing company of that name, 
 in a little old shop in South Main street, when the 
 firm employed but seven or eight hands. After 
 leaving them he held an official position in one 
 of the departments of the Franklin Foundry & 
 Machine Company for a time, and about 1866 he 
 started business for himself in steam, gas and water 
 piping and brass finishing, with a partner, under the 
 firm name of Barbour & Heathcote. A few years 
 after, Mr. Heathcote bought out the patent of the J. 
 S. Winsor Tentering and Drying Machine, and went 
 into manufacturing under the same partnership ; 
 and in 1874 he bought out his partner's interest and 
 prosecuted the business by himself. This drying 
 machine, patented in 1861, which Mr. Heathcote 
 has made a specialty of his business ever since, was 
 for a long time the only chain dryer in use for 
 woolen or worsted goods, blankets, shawls, etc. 
 Many years after, the machine was copied, in 
 another form (horizontal), by foreign builders, and 
 later the foreign-built machine was copied by others 
 in this country. In 1870 Mr. Heathcote bought all 
 the patent rights and entirely remodeled the 
 machine, since when improvements have been 
 added from time to time, strengthening its parts 
 and adding two new patterns for heavier work. At 
 the time of writing this sketch Mr. Heathcote is 
 putting up a machine of twenty-three tons, the 
 largest and the first of its style ever made in this 
 country, for a large felt manufacturing concern in 
 New York state. Mr. Heathcote is also Treasurer 
 of the Russell Electric Manufacturing Company, 
 manufacturers of mast-arms for electric street- 
 lighting. The special feature of their device is that 
 it provides facilities for trimming lamps without 
 
240 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 lowering, and as many lamps are required in posi- 
 tions where it would be impossible to lower them, 
 these mast-arms are largely used. About two 
 thousand are in use in Providence, and the com- 
 pany, who are the only authorized manufacturers in 
 the United States, have also supplied Pawtucket 
 and various cities in Massachusetts and other 
 states. Mr. Heathcote is well-known socially in 
 Providence, and is a member of the West Side and 
 Pomham clubs. He is prominent in Masonic 
 circles, being Past Master of Adelphoi Lodge, and 
 Past Commander St. John's Commandery Knights 
 Templar, the oldest Templar organization in the 
 
 JOHN HEATHCOTE. 
 
 United States. He is also a member of the Vet- 
 eran Firemen's Association, In politics he is 
 strongly Republican, but has steadfastly declined to 
 accept public office. Mr. Heathcote was married, 
 August 20, 1856, to Miss Jane Barbour, daughter of 
 George Barbour of Providence ; they have two 
 children : Ella J., and George H. Heathcote, who 
 is associated with his father in business. 
 
 HILL, Thomas Jefferson, founder of the 
 Providence Machine Company, and for more than 
 half a century at the head of one of the most im- 
 portant iron industries of Rhode Island, was born in 
 Pawtucket, R. I., March 4, 1805, son of Cromwell 
 
 and Cynthia (Walker) Hill, and died in Providence, 
 July 24, 1894. His father was a blacksmith, and a 
 resident of Rehoboth, Mass., until his removal to 
 Pawtucket about the year 1800. The boy Thomas 
 was unable to fully avail himself of even the limited 
 opportunities for education furnished by his native 
 town. He attended school until the age of fourteen, 
 after which he worked two years in his father's shop, 
 and then served an apprenticeship in the machine 
 shop of Pitcher & Gay, Pawtucket, where he re- 
 mained as apprentice and journeyman nine years. 
 In 1830, at the age of twenty-five, he came to 
 Providence and took charge of the machine shop 
 connected with the steam mill owned and operated 
 by Samuel Slater, and four years later purchased an 
 interest and became associated with his employer 
 under the name of the Providence Machine Company. 
 This was the beginning of the business which Mr. Hill 
 in after years developed to extensive proportions, 
 and which is to-day, under the same name, one of 
 the leading manufacturing industries of Rhode 
 Island. In 1835 Mr. Slater died and his interest 
 was sold to other parties. Mr. Hill continued at 
 the head of the business however, and under his 
 management the industry expanded and increased 
 until in 1845 larger and improved quarters and 
 facilities were imperatively demanded. Accord- 
 ingly new buildings were erected and equipped, and 
 the succeeding year Mr. Hill became the sole 
 owner of the plant and business, manufacturing all 
 kinds of cotton and woolen machinery. Continued 
 prosperity and success followed, and in 1874, a 
 charter having been secured some years previously, 
 the business was incorporated and organized with 
 Thomas J. Hill as President and Treasurer, his son 
 Albert Hill as Secretary, and his foreman George 
 Hazard as Manager and Agent, retaining the old 
 and widely-known name of the Providence Machine 
 Company. Although in his later life engaged in 
 many other large business enterprises, Mr. Hill 
 made this one a special object of his careful atten- 
 tion and oversight, and his personal interest in its 
 welfare and progress continued up to the time of 
 his death. Mr. Hill was a man of great enterprise 
 and public spirit, and besides his energy and 
 mechanical skill possessed remarkable powers of 
 organization together with rare executive capacity 
 and financial ability. Few men have done more 
 individually to promote and develop the business 
 interests of his town, state and section. In 1837 he 
 bought the Lee Mill at Willimantic, Conn., and ran 
 it seven years as a thread mill. In 1850, having his 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 241 
 
 attention drawn to the grand opportunity for manu- 
 facturing at Lewiston, Me., he associated a number 
 of Boston capitahsts with him in the purchase of 
 the Androscoggin waterpower at that place, organ- 
 ized the Bates and the Hill manufacturmg com- 
 panies, and built extensive cotton mills there. He 
 also erected a foundry and leased a machine shop 
 in Lewiston, to aid in supplying the new mills with 
 machinery, and this enterprise, afterwards organized 
 as the Lewiston Machine Company, has continued 
 to manufacture cotton machinery, for mills all over 
 the country, to the present time. In 1859 he 
 bought the Peckham Mills at East Greenwich, 
 
 THOS. J. HILL. 
 
 R. I., and ran the plant for a time as the Bay Cotton 
 Mills, afterwards giving them to his two sons. 
 He founded the village known as Hill's Grove, 
 seven miles out of the city, and in 1875 started 
 there a twenty-thousand-spindle cotton mill, which 
 in honor of his wife he named the EHzabeth Mill. 
 He organized in 1866 the Providence Dredging 
 Company and in 1867 the Rhode Island Malleable 
 Iron Works, and in 1874 he organized the Provi- 
 dence Pile-Driving Company, which built the 
 Crawford-street bridge and constructed other 
 public works of magnitude. Notwithstanding the 
 demands of his extensive and varied personal 
 business interests, Mr. Hill found time to devote a 
 share of his services to some of the city's financial 
 
 institutions, and was long prominently identified 
 with various banking and insurance corporations. 
 He was for nearly forty years President of the 
 Limerock National Bank, and twenty-five years 
 Vice-President and Trustee of the City Savings 
 Bank. He served in the City Council for the 
 years 1848-52, 1855-56 and 1878, also repre- 
 sented the city in the General Assembly. Mr. Hill 
 was an active and prominent member of the Slater 
 Club of Providence and the Home Market Club of 
 Boston, also of the Rhode Island Agricultural and 
 Historical societies. In 1857 he travelled exten- 
 sively in Europe for his health, and again in 1867 
 he made a European tour on business. At the 
 time of his death, which occurred July 24, 1894, he 
 was Vice-President of the Rhode Island Veteran 
 Citizens Historiccal Association, and as a fitting 
 close to this sketch, a few words or brief extract 
 may be quoted from the resolutions passed by the 
 society as a merited tribute to his memory. Among 
 other resolutions referring to the high character and 
 distinguished ability of their departed friend and 
 associate, and to the loss sustained by the society 
 and the public, it was resolved : " That in his 
 death Providence has lost an honorable and upright 
 citizen, whose word was his bond, and who was ever 
 loyal to the city's best interests and success." Mr. 
 Hill was three times married: first, October 12, 
 1825, to Miss Betsey Brown, daughter of Sylvanus 
 Brown of Pawtucket, whose death occurred May 9, 
 1859; second, December 9, 1861, to Miss Olive 
 L. Farnham, daughter of Stephen Farnham of Can- 
 terbury, Connecticut, who died November 16, 
 1866; and third, August 9, 1869, to Miss EHzabeth 
 C. Kenyon, daughter of John H. and Ruth Kenyon 
 of Warwick, Rhode Island, who is now living. Of 
 three children that reached maturity, but one is 
 now living, a daughter, Mrs. Charles M. Pierce of 
 New Bedford, Massachusetts; she has six children, 
 the elder son, William C. Pierce, being the present 
 head of the Providence Machine Company, of which 
 he was the Superintendent for several years during 
 the lifetime of his grandfather. 
 
 HOLDEN, Frank Eugene, coal merchant, Woon- 
 socket, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, November 
 17, 1861, son of Thomas B. and Sarah (Stone) 
 Holden. His ancestry is EngHsh. He was edu- 
 cated in the common and high schools of Newton, 
 Mass., and began work in VVoonsocket as a freight 
 clerk for the New York & New England Railroad 
 
242 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 in 1880. Resigning the position of Freight Cashier 
 in 1888 to enter the retail coal business, in 1890 he 
 became a Director in the Woonsocket Spool & 
 Bobbin Company, to whom he sold his coal business 
 but continued in charge of the same as a special 
 department of their plant, with enlarged accommoda- 
 tions and facilites. In May 1894 he bought back 
 the business, and in partnership with H. C. Card, Jr., 
 conducted it under the name of the New England 
 Coal Company, doing a large retail and wholesale 
 business. The latter department of the business 
 has been personally cared for by Mr. Holden, and 
 
 FRANK E. HOLDEN. 
 
 included supplying many of the largest manufactur- 
 ing plants in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. At 
 a quite recent date Mr. Holden sold his retail busi- 
 ness, and under his own name is extending his 
 manufacturing trade all over New England. The 
 pecuHarities of different coals, and the varying condi- 
 tions under which they are used, are matters of much 
 concern to the consumer. Mr. Holden is success- 
 ful in supplying his customers with the coal that is 
 best adapted to the particular conditions, which un- 
 doubtedly accounts for his success in this line of busi- 
 ness. Mr. Holden served as President of the 
 Common Council of Woonsocket in 1890 and 1891, 
 as Chairman of the Board of Sewer Commissioners 
 1893-6 inclusive, and as Representative to the 
 General Assembly three terms, 1894-6. He is a 
 
 Director in the Citizens' National Bank of Woon- 
 socket, and First Vice-President of the Woonsocket 
 Business Men's Association. He is a prominent 
 Mason, being a member of Morning Star Lodge, 
 Union Royal Arch Chapter and Woonsocket Com- 
 mandery, is a Thirty-second Degree Mason and a 
 member of Palestine Temple of the Mystic Shrine. 
 He is also a member of the Odd Fellows, Royal 
 Arcanum, Ancient Order of United Workmen and 
 United Order of the Golden Cross. Mr. Holden 
 is a great lover of music, and has been for two 
 years President of the Woonsocket Choral Associa- 
 tion. He is a member of the Woonsocket Baptist 
 Church, was Secretary of the Building Committee 
 which had in charge the erection of its new brick 
 edifice within a few years, and is President of its 
 Bible Class Number Two, taught by Colonel Amos 
 Sherman, which has a membership of nearly three 
 hundred. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. 
 Holden has a beautiful modern residence with spa- 
 cious grounds at Prospect and Winter streets. He 
 was married October 18, 1884, to Miss Hattie A. 
 Devere ; they have one child, a daughter : Grace 
 Beatrice Holden. 
 
 HUNT, Simeon, M. D., East Providence, was 
 born in Seekonk, Mass., April 27, 1837, son of 
 William D. and Lydia (Chase) Hunt. He received 
 his early education in the public schools, prepared 
 for college at the Friends" School in Providence, 
 entered Dartmouth in 1858 and graduated in 1862 
 with the degree of A. B. Having commenced the 
 study of medicine in the winter of 1861 with Dr. 
 Phineas Spaulding of Haverhill, N. H., and contin- 
 uing later under the preceptorship of Dr. A. B. 
 Crosby of Hanover and Dr. William D. Buck of 
 Manchester, he took two courses of lectures at Dart- 
 mouth Medical College and was graduated as M. D. 
 in October 1864. For a short time following grad- 
 uation he practiced medicine at Corry, Pa., and 
 then, in the spring of 1865, was engaged in practice 
 at Springfield, Erie county, that state. After two 
 years he returned to his native state and town, 
 locating in East Providence, where he has since 
 resided, in extensive and successful practice. Dr. 
 Hunt is an active member of the Providence Med- 
 ical Association, the Rhode Island Medical Society 
 and the American Medical Association, and a 
 charter member and now an iionorar)' member of 
 the Rhode Island Medico-Legal Society. He is a 
 charter member and Past Master of Rising; Sun 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 243 
 
 Lodge of Masons, also a member of the chapter, 
 commandery and A. A. S. rite, thirty-second degree, 
 and of the Veteran Masonic Association. Dr. Hunt 
 has served his town as Health Officer several years, 
 1885-7, and as a member of the School Committee, 
 
 SIMEON HUNT. 
 
 1886-8. He was appointed State Medical Exam- 
 iner by Governor Bourne, and held the office six 
 years, 1885-91. Prior to graduating in medicine. 
 Dr. Hunt taught school, select and pubhc, for 
 several years, 1857-63. In October 1864, shortly 
 after graduation, he was commissioned by President 
 Lincoln, after a competitive examination. Assistant 
 Surgeon of the Sixty-ninth United States (colored) 
 Infantry, but did not muster, on account of ill 
 health. Dr. Hunt was elected to the Phi Beta 
 Kappa Society at Dartmouth in 1862, and was 
 honored by the degree of A. M. from that institu- 
 tion in 1887. He was married October 25, 1865, 
 to Miss Anna M., daughter of Samuel W. Balch of 
 Lyme, N. H. ; they have had five children : Charles 
 Balch, born September 2, 1866, died in infancy; 
 William West, born April 22, 1868, graduated from 
 the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, 
 1890, and now associated in practice with his father ; 
 Charles Balch, born July 24, 1869, died in infancy; 
 Fred Balch, born January 8, 1872, drowned August 
 10, 1882, and Archie John Hunt, born November 
 3, 1878. 
 
 JENCKES, John, State Senator from Barrington, 
 was born in Providence, August 30, 1848, son of 
 Daniel C. and EHzabeth D. (Randall) Jenckes. 
 He is a great-grandson of John Jenckes, who was a 
 member of the Legislature from 1772 to 1789 and 
 was one of a committee to act in any sudden 
 emergency when the Assembly was not in session, 
 with full power to take all necessary measures for 
 the safety of the colony. He is a great-great- 
 grandson of Nicholas Cooke, Governor of Rhode 
 Island during the Revolution, and also a great- 
 great-grandson of Colonel Elisha Mowry of Revolu- 
 tionary times. He is also a direct descendant in 
 the seventh generation from Roger Williams. His 
 early education was obtained at the Woodstock 
 Academy and in the Providence high school. 
 For some years he was associated with his father, 
 Daniel C. Jenckes, in active business in Providence, 
 in commercial fertilizers and masons' materials, a 
 business founded in 1844, and carried on success- 
 fully for over forty years. He removed to Barring- 
 ton in 1870. Mr. Jenckes was elected Represent- 
 ative to the Legislature from Barrington in 1893, 
 
 JOHN JENCKES. 
 
 was elected Senator in 1894 and re-elected in 1895 
 and again in 1896. He is a member of the Provi- 
 dence Athletic Association and of the Rhode Island 
 Yacht Club, also of the Rhode Island Sons of the 
 American Revolution. In politics he is a Republi- 
 
244 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 can. He was married, June 15, 1875, to Ida, 
 daughter of Acting Master R. L. Kelly, United 
 States Navy, who was killed at the taking of Port 
 Hudson, Miss., in 1863; they have two children; 
 Alice and A. Katherine Jenckes. 
 
 KENYON, George Henry, M. D., A. M., 
 Surgeon General of Rhode Island, was born in 
 Providence, April i, 1845, son of George Amos 
 and Isabella Greene (Brown) Kenyon. On the 
 paternal side he is of English ancestry, his Ameri- 
 can progenitors being among the early settlers of 
 Southern Rhode Island. His maternal ancestors 
 
 GEO. H. KENYON. 
 
 came from Wales, and located in the vicinity of 
 Wickford, R. I., where Beriah Brown, the first of 
 the family in America, settled in 1640, and twenty 
 years later built the house now standing and still 
 occupied by his direct descendants. Receiving his 
 early education in the public schools, he prepared 
 for college in a two-and-a-half-years course at the 
 Friends' School in Providence, and entered Brown 
 University, from which he graduated in 1864 with 
 the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Subsequently he 
 was honored with the degree of Master of Arts, 
 conferred upon him by the same institution. 
 Having an inclination for the profession of medi- 
 cine, he gave considerable time to medical studies 
 
 in the last two years of his college course, especially 
 devoting himself to practical chemistry in the 
 laboratory of the university. Upon leaving college 
 he entered the office of Doctors Capron and Perry, 
 and after a period of study there entered the 
 Medical Department of the University of Vermont, 
 where he graduated with the degree of Doctor of 
 Medicine in June 1866. Returning to Providence, 
 he was elected a member of the Rhode Island 
 Medical Society in the month of his graduation, 
 and at once commenced practice in his native city, 
 where he has since resided. Dr. Kenyon has 
 found time in the midst of a busy life and the 
 exacting duties of an extensive practice to devote 
 some attention to matters outside of his profession, 
 and he has been actively interested in social, mili- 
 tary and general public affairs. In 1862 he enlisted 
 as private in the Tenth Regiment Rhode Island 
 Volunteers, and served in the Army of the Potomac 
 for the term of his enlistment. After the war he 
 became a member of the Grand Army of the Re- 
 public, joining Prescott Post of Providence, servdng 
 as Post Surgeon for two or three years, and later as 
 Medical Director of the Department of Rhode 
 Island. In the state militia he served a number of 
 years as Surgeon of the United Train of Artillery of 
 Providence, and resigned in 1883 to accept an 
 appointment on the Governor's staff as Assistant 
 Surgeon-General of Rhode Island, which position 
 he held until May 1894, when he was elected by 
 the Legislature Surgeon General of Rhode Island, 
 which office he now holds. Dr. Kenyon has served 
 as Secretary and as President of the Providence 
 Medical Association, also as Treasurer of the Rhode 
 Island Medical Society, and is a member of the 
 American Medical Association. He is a prominent 
 Mason, being a member of Rising Sun Lodge, 
 which he has served in all the various official posi- 
 tions, also of Calvary Commandery Knights Templar 
 and Rhode Island Sovereign Consistory Scottish 
 Rite, and has held various offices in the Grand 
 Lodge ; he was Grand Master of Masons in Rhode 
 Island for three years, 1889-92, and is now Com- 
 mander-in-chief of Rhode Island Consistory Ancient 
 and Accepted Scottish Rites. 
 
 MATHEWSON, Ai.mv, proprietor of the Smith- 
 field Granite Company, Providence, was born in 
 Johnston, R. L, in 1842, son of Benjamin O. P. 
 and Mehitable (Willey) Mathewson. He was edu- 
 cated in the public schools, learned the granite-cut- 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 245 
 
 ting trade, and has been connected with the granite 
 industry since 1877. In 1886 he came to Providence 
 and estabHshed himself in business under the name 
 of the Smithfield Granite Company, which has been 
 very successful and filled many large contracts, and 
 
 ALMY MATHEWSON. 
 
 which has the reputation of having turned out some 
 of the best building material ever used in the state. 
 Among the buildings for which Mr. Mathewson has 
 furnished granite are those of the Gorham Manufac- 
 turing Compan}' at Elmwood, Providence Central 
 Police Station, Brown & Sharpe Works, Merchant's 
 Freezing and Cold Storage Company's plant, dor- 
 mitory at Brown University, Corliss Steam Engine 
 Works, bridge at Roger Williams Park, Providence 
 Water Works, Pawtucket Water Works, Narragan- 
 sett Electric-Light Station and many others in and 
 around Providence and throughout the state. Mr. 
 Mathewson is a thoroughly practical granite mason 
 of long experience, and possesses an accurate know- 
 ledge of all the recjuirements of his most exacting 
 patrons. He furnishes estimates on and executes 
 all classes of foundation work for buildings, stone 
 and granite fronts, and cemetery work, also contracts 
 for the erection of granite trimmings for buildings 
 and the heaviest foundations. His company is 
 noted for closely following specifications, and for 
 performing work in the specified time and in a first- 
 class manner. The quarry is situated at Pascoag, 
 
 R. I., on the line of the New England Railroad. 
 Mr. Mathewson is a member of the Odd Fellows, 
 the Good Templars and the Free Baptist Church. 
 In politics he is a Prohibitionist. He was married. 
 May 10, 1863, to Miss Rebecca Eddy; they have 
 six children : Herbert, Irving, Alice, Lester, Lillian 
 and Arthur Mathewson. 
 
 McCLOY, John Aswould, manufacturing jeweler. 
 Providence, was born in Newburg, New York, July 
 13, 1844, son of John and Jane (Gwenn) McCloy, 
 and died in Providence, March 7, 1893. He 
 received his early education in the public schools 
 of Providence, graduating from the high school in 
 May 1863, after which he took a business course in 
 Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College in that 
 city. Following his graduation from that institution, 
 in the latter period of the war of the Rebellion he 
 was actively connected with the Quartermaster 
 General's department of the state of Rhode 
 Island. In 1865 he entered the employ of the 
 Fall River Iron Works Company, where he re- 
 
 JOHN A, MCCLOY. 
 
 mained as bookkeej^er until 1870. Soon after, he 
 engaged in the manufacturing jewelry business with 
 his uncle, James W. Gwinn, in Providence, under 
 the firm name of Gwinn & McCloy. Mr. McCloy 
 was the market representative of the concern, 
 
246 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 which carried on a very successful business, their 
 specialty being the manufacture of gold lockets. 
 After a time Mr. McCloy purchased the interest of 
 his partner and carried on the business in his own 
 name, continuing until May 1877, when he retired 
 from manufacturing to devote his whole time to the 
 interests of the Manufacturing Jeweler, a weekly 
 paper published in Providence, devoted to the 
 interests of the jewelry trade, and of which he 
 became Treasurer and Business Manager. Mr. 
 McCloy was elected Major of the United Train of 
 Artillery in May 1884, and he served four years on 
 the School Committee of Providence. He was one 
 of the leading spirits in the formation of the 
 Providence Jewelers' Club, in 1879, was for two 
 years its President and three years a member of its 
 Executive Committee, and since then Secretary 
 until his death in 1893, the club meanwhile, in 
 1883, having changed its name to the New England 
 Manufacturing Jewelers' Association. He was one 
 of the founders of the Manufacturing Jewelers' 
 Board of Trade, was its first Secretary and subse- 
 quently for many years its Treasurer. He was also 
 a member of What Cheer Masonic Lodge ; Olive 
 Braiich Lodge of Odd Fellows ; Sterling Division, 
 No. 10, Uniform Rank, Knights of Pythias; Sterling 
 Lodge, Knights of Pythias ; Golden Rule Lodge, 
 Knights of Honor ; Unity Council, Royal Arcanum ; 
 What Cheer Assembly, Royal Society of Good 
 Fellows, and Providence Lodge Ancient Order of 
 United Workmen. Mr. McCloy was a very active 
 man in both social and business life, and had 
 many friends, by whom he was greatly missed, on 
 account of his geniality, sociabiHty, kindness of 
 heart, and boundless energy, which made him the 
 life of any company in which he mingled. He was 
 twice married : first, November 26, 1868, to Miss 
 Clara Wardwell, who died November 16, 1877, 
 leaving two children : William Wardwell and John 
 Howard McCloy ; second, April 23, 1884, to Miss 
 Elizabeth C. Chace, by whom he had one child, 
 Beatrice McCloy. 
 
 MILLER, Horace George, M. D., Providence, 
 was born in Pawtucket (then North Providence), 
 R. L, April 6, 1840, son of Horace and Elizabeth 
 Borden (Monroe) Miller. He comes of old New 
 England stock, being descended on his father's side 
 from Isaac Stearns, who came with Croxcrnor ^Vin- 
 throp in 1630, and on the maternal side from John 
 Howland, who came over in the Mayflower. His 
 
 early instruction was chiefly imparted by his uncle, 
 the Rev. Nathaniel Bowen Cook, afterward the well- 
 known Principal of the Bristol, R. I., High School. 
 He prepared for college at the University Gram- 
 mar School of Lyon & Frieze in Providence, and 
 entered Brown University, receiving the degree of 
 A. M. from that institution on' graduation in i860, 
 and becoming resident graduate in 1861. He 
 studied at Harvard Medical School in 1862-5, 
 enrolled as a pupil of the late Dr. Lloyd Morton of 
 Pawtucket, and receiving his degree of M. D. upon 
 graduation. He was house pupil for a time and 
 afterwards Assistant Surgeon at the United States 
 
 HORACE G. MILLER. 
 
 Marine Hospital in Chelsea, and " Assistant to the 
 Surgeons " at the Massachusetts Charitable Eye and 
 Ear Infirmary in Boston. Dr. Miller studied 
 diseases of the eye and ear in Europe during the 
 years 1865-7, and about the first of January 1868 
 began practice in Providence, where he has since 
 remained, making the above-named branches a 
 specialty of his profession. At the opening of the 
 Rhode Island Hospital in 1868 Dr. Miller was 
 appointed Ophthalmic and Aural Surgeon, and has 
 retained this connection with that institution ever 
 since ; he is now the senior member of the staff and 
 President of the Staff Association. He is a member 
 of the Rhode Island Medical Society, and was its 
 President from 1886 to t888; is a member of the 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 247 
 
 Providence Medical Association and served as its 
 President in 1876-7; also member of the Ameri- 
 can Medical Association, fellow of the American 
 Academy of Medicine, member of the American 
 Ophthalmological Society, Vice-President of the 
 American Otological Society and the New England 
 Ophthalmological Society, of which last-named he 
 was for two years President. Dr. Miller was mar- 
 ried, July 14, 187 1, to Miss Helen, daughter of the 
 late John Woods of Boston. 
 
 MONROE, William C, M. D., Woonsocket, 
 was born in Woonsocket, February 21, 1850, son 
 of Abel Collins and Rebecca (Coe) Monroe, the 
 former of Plainfield, Conn., and the latter of Smith- 
 
 WM. C. MONROE. 
 
 field, R. I. His ancestry on the maternal side 
 is traceable directly back to John and Priscilla 
 Alden of the Mayflower. His early education 
 was acquired in the public schools of his native 
 place, and at the Friends' School in Providence, 
 where he fitted for teaching. He taught as Gram- 
 mar Master for the next five years, during which 
 period he carried on preparations for the study of 
 medicine. He then entered Bellevue Hospital 
 Medical College in New York city, graduated Feb- 
 ruary 21, 1876, and entered upon the practice of his 
 profession in Woonsocket, where he has since 
 
 remained. Dr. Monroe is a member of the Rhode 
 Island Medical Society, and has served on the staff 
 of the Woonsocket Hospital since its establishment 
 in 1888. He was for eight years Coroner of Woon- 
 socket. He has also served a number of years on 
 the School Board of that city, and as a member of 
 the Board of Management of the Friends' School in 
 Providence. In politics he is a Republican, and in 
 religion a member of the Society of Friends. He 
 was married, June 8, 1876, to Miss Carrie M., 
 daughter of AVilliam W. Remington, of Phenix, 
 R. I. ; they have no children Hving. 
 
 OLNEY, Frank Fuller, Mayor of Providence 
 t\vo years, 1894-6, was born in Jersey City, N. J., 
 March 12, 1851, son of Elam W. and Helen (Fuller) 
 Olney. He is descended from Thomas Olney, one 
 of the associates of Roger Williams in the settle- 
 ment of Providence in 1636. The Olney family has 
 always held a prominent place in the commercial 
 and social life of Providence, and from it is derived 
 the name of Olney street and of Olneyville, the 
 
 FRANK F. OLNEY. 
 
 principal manufacturing suburb of the city. The 
 subject of this sketch acquired his early education 
 in the public schools and the University Grammar 
 School of Providence, to which city he removed at 
 the age of nine years. At seventeen he entered 
 
248 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 mercantile life as clerk in the office of a woolen 
 manufacturer, but after a short time abandoned this 
 occupation to engage in the study of law, in the 
 office of W. W. & S. T. Douglas, with the purpose 
 of adopting that profession. But the continually 
 increasing demands of private business interests 
 have claimed so large a share of his time and atten- 
 tion that he has never engaged in professional 
 practice. Mr. Olney has always held an active 
 interest in military affairs, and served for three 
 years as Commander of the First Light Infantry 
 Veteran Association. He is also a member of the 
 National Lancers and the Ancient and Honorable 
 Artillery Company of Boston, the Continental 
 Guards of New Orleans, and a Captain in the 
 Boston Light Infantry Corps. In politics he is a 
 Republican, and has long been prominent in the 
 public life of the city. He was a member of the 
 City Council in 1889-90-91 and 1893, and for a 
 number of years served as Chairman of the Repub- 
 lican City Committee. In 1894 he was elected Mayor 
 of Providence, and administered the affairs of the 
 executive office with honor to himself and credit to 
 the city for two terms, being re-elected in 1895. 
 Mayor Olney is a member of the Hope, Squantum, 
 Pomham and West Side clubs of Providence, and of 
 the Providence Athletic Association. 
 
 PEASE, Leroy Bidwell, of Woonsocket, editor 
 and proprietor of the Woonsocket Patriot and Woon- 
 socket Evening Reporter, was born in Enfield, Conn., 
 February 2, 1842, son of Walter Raleigh and Sophia 
 (Bidwell) Pease. His paternal homestead has re 
 mained in the possession of the family since the settle- 
 ment of the town, having been occupied by them for 
 seven generations, and his father still resides on the 
 land purchased by his ancestor from the Indians in 
 1680. On the maternal side also he is of Puritan 
 ancestry, the Bidwells having been among the first 
 settlers of Hartford, Conn. When he was but four 
 years old his parents removed to Manchester, Conn., 
 where his father, who was a contractor and builder, 
 was engaged in the erection of buildings for the 
 Cheney Silk Works, now of world-wide fame. Leroy 
 attended the public schools of Manchester, and 
 finished his educational period by a course at Pro- 
 fessor J. C. Howard's private academy for boys at 
 East Hartford. He then entered a drug store in 
 Hartford, and began reading medicine, but after 
 two years, experiencing a desire to learn the news- 
 paper business, he entered the office of the Tolland 
 
 County Gazette in Rockville, where he remained 
 until the fall of 1859. Returning to Hartford he 
 worked as a journeyman printer until the war 
 times of 1861, when he enlisted as a private in the 
 First Connecticut Light Battery and served until 
 mustered out in the fall of 1862. He again returned 
 to Hartford, and filled various positions on the 
 newspapers of that city, New Haven and New York 
 until November 1863, when he re-enlisted, in 
 Company A, First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, 
 and served until mustered out in September 1865, 
 several months after the close of the war. During 
 a portion of his army term he was engaged in 
 
 L. B. PEASE. 
 
 Special service for the government. After the war 
 Mr. Pease resumed newspaper work in New York 
 and Hartford, and in the summer of 1870 went to 
 Providence. After filling short engagements on the 
 Journal and Herald of that city, he came to \\'oon- 
 socket and entered the employ of Samuel S. Foss, 
 publisher of the Patriot, with whom he remained 
 until the fall of 1873, when he started the Evening 
 Reporter, the first daily issued in Woonsocket. 
 Since then he has devoted himself to the publica- 
 tion of that paper and the advancement of his 
 general news]")aper business, liaving in tlie meantime 
 purchased the Patriot and other competing journals. 
 Politically Mr. Pease is a Republican, but has never 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 249 
 
 held public office. He has devoted much time to 
 temperance and philanthropic work, and is in- 
 terested in all matters relating to the public welfare 
 and the promotion of the best interests of his 
 adopted city. He was married, in 1874, to Miss 
 Helen A., youngest daughter of Samuel S. Mosely 
 of Hampton, Conn. ; they have three children : 
 Arthur S., Albert L. and Helen L. Pease. 
 
 PECK, George Bacheler, M. D., Providence, 
 was born in Providence, August 12, 1843, son of 
 George Bacheler and Ann Power (Smith) Peck. He 
 is descended in the eighth generation from Joseph 
 
 GEO, B. PECK, 
 
 Peck, who came in 1638 from Hingham, Norfolk 
 county, England, and settled at New Hingham, 
 Norfolk county. New England, with three sons, a 
 daughter, two men-servants and three maid-servants ; 
 the descent is through Joseph's eldest son, Joseph, 
 Jr. His paternal grandmother was a daughter of 
 Reverend William Batcheler of Sutton, Massachu- 
 setts, fourth in descent from Joseph Batcheler, the 
 original immigrant and founder of that family in this 
 country. Through his mother he is connected 
 with the Wilbur and the Sayles families. He 
 acquired his early education in the public schools 
 of Providence, entered Brown University and grad- 
 uated in 1864 with the degree of A. B., receiving 
 
 an additional diploma for a course in civil engineer- 
 ing extra to the regular college course. In 1867 he 
 also received from the university the degree of 
 A. M. Soon after leaving college he was mustered in, 
 conditionally upon raising a company, as Second 
 Lieutenant of Company G, Second Regiment Rhode 
 Island Volunteers, December 13, 1864. He was 
 on recruiting service and waiting orders until some 
 time in January, and then on duty at the United 
 States draft rendezvous, popularly known as the 
 Conscript Camp, at Grapevine Point, Fairhaven 
 (now part of New Haven), Conn., until March 13, 
 when he sailed with his company to City Point, 
 Va. He participated in the siege of Petersburg 
 and the pursuit of Lee, and having at the battle 
 of Sailor's Creek received a bullet through his left 
 side, he resigned and was honorably discharged 
 July 5, 1865. After his return from the war he 
 filled a position as bookkeeper in Peck & Salsbury's 
 coal and wood office four years, but finding business 
 distasteful, he took a summer and winter course in 
 the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia 
 in 1869-70, followed by a winter and summer course 
 in the Medical Department of Yale University in 
 1870-1, receiving a diploma from President 
 Woolsey in June of the latter year. He then took 
 a one-year post-graduate course in the Sheffield 
 Scientific School at Yale, devoting attention to 
 practical chemistry, determinative mineralogy, as- 
 saying, stockbreeding, and military and physical 
 geography. He was Assistant Chemist at the Naval 
 Torpedo Station at Newport in 1872 4, was tem- 
 porarily in charge of the Chemical Department of 
 the University of Vermont in the fall of the latter 
 year, and in June 1875 he commenced the practice 
 of medicine in Providence, which he has prose- 
 cuted unremittingly ever since. For upwards of 
 fifteen years his office was in the house where his 
 mother was born, and on the exact spot where his 
 grandfather, John Knowles Smith, kept an old- 
 fashioned grocery and gunsmithery during his entire 
 life ; but his increasing and overwhelming cares 
 necessitated the removal of his office to his home, 
 where he and his father were both born, the house 
 being built by his grandfather, Benjamin Peck, in 
 1803. Dr. Peck has been Admitting Physician to 
 the Rhode Island Homoeopathic Hospital since the 
 opening of that institution in 1886, declining a 
 regular staff appointment, and has served as a Trustee 
 ever since that date. He was admitted to member- 
 ship in the Rhode Island Homoeopathic Society in 
 April 1875 ; was Secretary from August 1875 to Janu- 
 
250 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 ary 1883, Vice-President 1883-4, President 1885-6, 
 Censor 1887-8-9 and Treasurer 1890-1-2, his period 
 of official service covering seventeen and a half years. 
 He became a member of the American Institute 
 of Homoeopathy in 1879, was Acting Chairman of 
 the Section in Obstetrics in 1880, Chairman in 
 1881, 1886, 1888 and 1892, Secretary in 1887, 1889 
 and 1890, and in 1895 was elected Censor for a 
 term of five years and appointed Chairman of the 
 Committee on Foreign Correspondence, to which 
 latter position he was reappointed in 1896. He was 
 Vice-President of the Western Massachusetts 
 Homoeopathic Medical Society in 1886-7, a^nd 
 is an honorary member of the Homoeopathic Med- 
 ical Society of the State of New York and of the 
 Missouri Institute of Homoeopathy. He is one of 
 the thirteen founders of Prescott Post, Grand 
 Army of the Republic, of which he was Surgeon in 
 1 88 1-3 and 1890-6, was Medical Director of the 
 Department of Rhode Island G. A. R. in 1894-5-6, 
 is a Companion of the Massachusetts Commandery 
 of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the 
 United States, was President of the Rhode Island 
 Soldiers' and Sailors' Historical Society 1892-6, 
 and was Vice-President for three years at an 
 earlier period, and has been Adjutant and ex-officio 
 necrologist of the Marine Artillery Veteran Associ- 
 ation since 1875. After service as a private for 
 brief periods in the First Ward Light Guard and 
 the University Cadets, volunteer wartime organiza- 
 tions, he was enrolled in the Providence Marine 
 Corps of Artillery in March 1863, and during the 
 eight subsequent years he held nearly every official 
 position, having a Major's commission the last two 
 years. He was also Surgeon of the Battalion of 
 Light Artillery Division, Rhode Island Militia, from 
 1876 until its disbandment in 1879. Dr. Peck has 
 also held civil office, having served on the School 
 Committee of Providence from April 1881 to 
 December 1895. He is a member of What Cheer 
 Masonic Lodge of Providence, Washington Com- 
 mandery Knights Templar of Newport, and Rhode 
 Island Sovereign Consistory, Thirty-second Degree, 
 Scottish Rite. He is a member of the First Baptist 
 Church of Newport, member of the Board of 
 Managers of the Rhode Island Baptist State Con- 
 vention since 1876, Treasurer of the Narragansett 
 Baptist Association since 1877 and Clerk from 1877 
 to 1886 and since 1892, and in 1889 was Moderator 
 of that association, composed of twenty-seven 
 regular or associate Baptist churches in the south 
 part of the state, being the only layman that has 
 
 ever held such a position in the state. He is also 
 a member of the Rhode Island Baptist Social 
 Union. Dr. Peck has a ready pen, and has con- 
 tributed to the pubHcations of the Rhode Island 
 Soldiers' and Sailors' Historical Society some inter- 
 esting sketches under the titles of " A Recruit 
 before Petersburg," and "Camp and Hospital." 
 He is also the author of a " Historical Sketch of the 
 Narragansett Baptist Association," " Pabula Neona- 
 torum," annual reports of original investigation to 
 the American Institute of Homoeopathy, and other 
 professional articles contributed more particularly 
 to the Hahnemannian Monthly, the Southern Jour- 
 nal of Homoeopathy and the American Homoeo- 
 pathist, besides a series of " Pencil Jottings " 
 furnished the Providence Daily Journal between 
 1868 and 1872, with other articles and reports at 
 divers times, also a few papers to the Christian 
 Secretary, of Hartford, Conn. Dr. Peck claims to 
 have never had any politics, in the general meaning 
 of the term ; but he has been an unswerving 
 Republican in principle since the days of " Fremont 
 and Jessie," and is a Monometallist and a Protec- 
 tionist. He is unmarried. 
 
 PECKHAM, Charles Henry, Secretary of the 
 State Board of Charities and Corrections, was born 
 in North Scituate, May 11, 1833, son of Abner W. 
 and Patia F. (Harris) Peckham. He is of old 
 Colonial and early Rhode Island ancestry on both 
 sides, and on the paternal side is a descendant of 
 Stephen Hopkins, one of the founders of Rhode 
 Island and a signer of the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence. His early education was acquired in the 
 public schools of his native town, and later he 
 attended Fruit Hill Seminary in North Providence. 
 At about the age of twenty he came to Providence, 
 where he was clerk in a bank for two or three years 
 and then entered into a business partnership under 
 the firm name of Spicer & Peckham, stove manu- 
 facturers. This relationship continued thirty-two 
 years, and the firm was long known as one of the 
 leading houses of its line in Providence. Mr. 
 Peckham served three years in the Legislature, as a 
 member of the House in 1885-6, and of the Senate 
 in 1886-7-8. In the Senate he was chairman of 
 the Committee on Corporations one year, and on 
 the Finance Committee two years. He was for 
 eleven years President of the Rhode Island Society 
 for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry, now 
 the Rhode Island State Fair Association, and under 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 251 
 
 his executive management the finances of the society 
 were increased from an annual loss of about eigh- 
 teen hundred dollars to a profit of fifteen or sixteen 
 thousand dollars a year. Mr. Peckham was also 
 largely instrumental in founding the State Agricul- 
 
 CHAS. H. PECKHAM. 
 
 tural College ; while in the Legislature he introduced 
 a resolution making inquiry as to the Hatch fund, 
 providing government aid for such institutions, was 
 appointed chairman of the committee of inquiry 
 and afterwards was made chairman of the com- 
 mittee on locating the school. In 1888 he was 
 appointed a member of the Board of State Charities 
 and Corrections, and in 1893 was made Secretary 
 and Purchasing Agent, which position he now 
 holds. In politics he is a Democrat. Mr. Peckham 
 resides in Providence winters, but his summer 
 home is in North Scituate, the place of his birth. 
 He was married, February 27, 1862, toMissCelia S., 
 daughter of George T. Spicer of Providence ; they 
 have no children living. 
 
 PERRY, John Edward, M. D., was born in 
 Wakefield, South Kingstown, R. I., May 28, 1847, 
 son of John G. and Harriet T. (Hazard) Perry, and 
 continues to make his home there. His father 
 has twice been General Treasurer of the State of 
 Rhode Island, and thirty years Town Clerk of South 
 
 Kingstown. Both parents are living. Dr. Perry 
 claims close relationship to Commodore O. H. 
 Perry, the hero of Lake Erie, and to Commodore 
 Matthew C. Perry, famed for the treaty that he 
 negotiated with Japan, by which the ports of that 
 country were opened to the world, being cousin to 
 them, as is shown by the Perry genealogy as follows : 
 Edward Perry, who came from England, had two 
 sons, Samuel and Benjamin. From Samuel was 
 descended his son James ; his son John ; his son John 
 R. ; his son John G. ; and his son John E., the 
 subject of this sketch. From Benjamin came his 
 son Freeman, and his son Raymond, the father of 
 the Commodores. Dr. Perry's early education was 
 obtained in the public schools, and later in the 
 Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield, where he 
 bore the honor of the Presidency of the Calliope 
 Ovat, the oldest society of the Institute. Deter- 
 mining to enter' the professional ranks, young Perry 
 attended the Yale Medical College, and later the 
 College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, 
 a department of Columbia College, from which 
 he graduated February 27, 1873. He commenced 
 
 JOHN E. PERRY, 
 
 practice immediately in Wakefield, where he has 
 since resided. His specialty is obstetrics, in which 
 he has been eminently successful. A similar success, 
 however, has attended his efforts in other depart- 
 ments of medicine, and has won for him a substantial 
 
252 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 practice and the character of an able, painstaking 
 physician. A course of popular health lectures 
 having been projected in South Kingstown in 1886, 
 Dr. Perry delivered a lecture on hygiene and ac- 
 companied it with illustrations on the blackboard. 
 Among other contributions to medical literature, 
 Dr. Perry is the author of an article on " Pediculo- 
 phobia," which he read before the Rhode Island 
 Medical Society, and also an essay on " La Grippe," 
 published in the Narragansett Times in 1890, in 
 which he called attention to the disease that pre- 
 vailed in 1842, and which was called " Tyler's Grip," 
 after the then President of the United States. He 
 also showed that it was closely related to the 
 Southern "dengue" or break-bone fever, in which 
 opinion he was sustained by Louise Fiske Bryson, 
 M. D., of New York, and by the French Academy. 
 Dr. Perry was elected a member of the Rhode 
 Island Medical Society in 1874, and of the Provi- 
 dence Franklin Society (scientific) in 1875. He 
 has been twice elected Master of Hope Lodge, 
 A. F. & A. M., No. 25, is a member of the Grand 
 Lodge, and of Franklin Chapter No. 7, A. F. & 
 A. M. In June 1891 he was appointed by the 
 Grand Masler to represent Hope Lodge at the 
 Centennial of the Grand Lodge held in Provi- 
 dence. Among the civil offices he has held is 
 that of Deputy Town Clerk in 1869, Town Phy- 
 sician, and in 1891 the Governor appointed him 
 Medical Examiner for the Second District of 
 Washington county, for the term of six years. 
 Dr. Perry was married, May i, 1878, to Miss 
 Elnora E. Crawford ; they have one daughter : 
 Harriet E. Perry. 
 
 POWEL, John Hare, Ex-Mayor of Newport, was 
 born in Paris, France, July 3, 1837. His father, 
 the late Colonel John Hare Povvel, originally bore 
 the surname of Hare, and assumed the additional 
 one of Powel by legislative act in 1806. Through 
 him the subject of this sketch is descended from 
 Edward Shippen, Charles Willing and Robert Hare, 
 three Englishmen who settled in Philadelphia prior 
 to 1773. On the maternal side his ancestry in- 
 cludes the Verplanck, Beekman, Van Cortlandt, 
 Schuyler, Provost and other early Dutch families 
 of New Netherlands, now New York, and also by 
 the marriage of his grandfather. Colonel Andrew 
 de Veaux of South Carolina, with the French 
 Huguenot family of that name. He received his 
 
 education principally under the instruction of an 
 English tutor, after which he studied law with 
 Henry J. Williams of Philadelphia. A large part of 
 his early life was devoted to travel in America and 
 Europe, and the remainder was passed at his 
 father's inherited estate, Powelton, now a part of 
 West Philadelphia, and at Newport, the summer 
 home of the family since the early part of the 
 century. The death of his father, which took place 
 at Newport in 1856, left him in possession of 
 a house on Bowery street in that city, adjoining 
 the residence of his eldest brother, and this, 
 together with his interest in the place and his 
 fondness for field sports and outdoor exercise of all 
 kinds, induced him to give up his residence in 
 Philadelphia. Upon his marriage in i860 he 
 removed to Newport, and became at once identified 
 with the permanent interests of the city, which has 
 since numbered him among its most valued citizens. 
 Although actively interested in various local socie- 
 ties and public affairs, and serving two years as a 
 member of the Board of Health, Mr. Powel inva- 
 riably declined to accept any political office, until in 
 1886 he was induced to become an independent 
 candidate for Mayor. In response to the call for 
 troops in 1862, Mr. Powel, who had been captain 
 of the Newport Company of the National Guard 
 from its organization, volunteered with his com- 
 pany, which became Company L in the Ninth 
 Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers. He received 
 from Governor Sprague his commission as Captain in 
 May 1862, was promoted to Major in June and to 
 Lieutenant-Colonel in July following, and in the fall 
 of the same year was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel 
 of the Fifth Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers. 
 Later he was frequently tendered and urgently 
 solicited to accept the Colonelcy of either of the 
 nine-months regiments then being raised in Rhode 
 Island, and many other positions, all of which he 
 was compelled to decline. In February 1863, he 
 was elected a member of the Newport Artillery 
 Company, was chosen Lieutenant-Colonel in April 
 following, and became Colonel in December 1864, 
 to which position he was annually re-elected until 
 his resignation in August 1877. Colonel Powel 
 was married in June i860 to Miss Annie Emlen 
 Hutchinson, daughter of I. P. Hutchinson, a prom- 
 inent merchant of Philadelphia ; she died .'Kpril 23, 
 1872. They have had two children: John Hare 
 Powel, Jr., whose decease preceded that of the 
 mother, and Pemberton Hare Powel, born January 
 7, 1869, now living. 
 
^ 
 
 /^^-IZ-X^ 
 
 -^ 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 25; 
 
 SAYLES, William Francis, one of the most 
 distinguished and successful manufacturers that the 
 manufacturing state of Rhode Island has produced, 
 was born in Pawtucket, September 2, 1824, son of 
 Clark and Mary Ann (Olney) Sayles, and died May 
 7, 1894. On the paternal side he was a lineal 
 descendant of Roger Williams, in the sixth genera- 
 tion ; his mother was of the Olney family, long and 
 prominently identified with the history of the state, 
 and who also trace their ancestry back to the 
 founder of Rhode Island. His father was a master- 
 builder and merchant of Pawtucket. William was 
 favored with the advantage of a good classical and 
 mercantile education. He attended the Fruit Hill 
 Classical Institute and the Seekonk Classical School 
 in Rhode Island, then spent about two years in Phil- 
 lips Academy at Andover, Mass., upon leaving which, 
 in 1842, he entered the Providence commercial 
 house of Shaw & Earle, serving first as bookkeeper, 
 then as salesman, and finally being intrusted with 
 the management of the concern's financial affairs. 
 In the latter part of 1847, he embarked in business 
 for himself, as a manufacturer. A small print-works 
 establishment in the town of Lincoln, near Paw- 
 tucket, was sold at auction, and Mr. Sayles became 
 the purchaser. He at once erected additional 
 buildings and converted the plant into a bleachery 
 for cotton cloth, and started it with a capacity for 
 turning out about two and a half tons daily. He 
 was without previous knowledge of the business, 
 and labored under the disadvantage of insufficient 
 capital, yet his indomitable spirit and remarkable 
 business capacity made the enterprise a success, 
 and he steadily enlarged the works until in 1854 
 the capacity of the establishment was four tons 
 daily, and his reputation for superior work had 
 become so well established that he was at that time 
 bleaching about three-fourths of all the fine grades 
 of white cotton goods manufactured in the United 
 States. In June 1854 the whole plant was destroyed 
 by fire, and the results of years of labor were swept 
 away in a few hours. But William F. Sayles was 
 not of the stamp to succumb to a single stroke of 
 misfortune, however severe. The work of rebuilding 
 was immediately undertaken, on a larger scale and 
 with structures of a more permanent character, and 
 in the fall of that year the bleachery was again in 
 operation, with its daily capacity increased to six 
 tons. From that time enlargement and extension 
 have gone on year by year, until the capacity of the 
 works reached fifty tons or three thousand yards of 
 bleached goods daily, and the Moshassuck Bleach- 
 
 ery, whose origin has been thus briefly narrated, 
 became widely known as the largest and most 
 complete establishment of its kind in the world. In 
 1863 Mr. Sayles was joined in partnership by his 
 brother Frederic, the firm name becoming W. F. & 
 F. C. Sayles, and the present great industrial estab- 
 lishment at Saylesville in the Moshassuck Valley 
 stands as a living and imposing monument to the 
 brother's combined enterprise, energy and business 
 abihty. In 1877 the Messrs. Sayles built the Mo- 
 shassuck Valley Railroad, connecting Saylesville 
 with the New York, New Haven & Hartford Rail- 
 road at Woodlawn, which, besides a passenger 
 service, transports the supplies and products of the 
 bleachery and also those of the noted Lorraine 
 Woolen Mills, likewise the creation of the Sayles 
 Brothers. These mills and their surrounding village 
 of Lorraine are also situated in the Moshassuck 
 Valley, about midway between Saylesville and the 
 junction of the branch railroad with the main line. 
 From his unbounded enterprise and great ability as 
 a financial manager and adviser, Mr. Sayles naturally 
 became associated with many manufacturing cor- 
 porations and business institutions outside of his 
 extensive interests at Moshassuck and Lorraine. 
 At the time of his death he was President of the 
 Slater Cotton Company, Pawtucket, of which he 
 was the originator ; a Director in the Ponemah 
 Mills, the largest cotton manufacturing concern in 
 Connecticut and one of the largest in New Eng- 
 land j and a Director or stockholder in various 
 mills and enterprises in Massachusetts and else- 
 where. He was also President of the Slater National 
 Bank of Pawtucket, and a Director in the Third 
 National Bank of Providence. Although a staunch 
 Republican in politics, he was only once prevailed 
 upon to enter political life, when he served two terms 
 as Senator from Pawtucket in the General Assembly. 
 He was for a number of years President of the 
 Pawtucket Free Library, and a member of the 
 board of trustees of Brown University. For a time 
 he served as Lieutenant-Colonel in the Pawtucket 
 Light Guards, and during the war of the Rebellion 
 he was a constant and liberal contributor to all 
 patriotic ends. In 1878 he donated the sum of 
 fifty thousand dollars to Brown LTniversity, for the 
 erection of a building as a memorial to his son, 
 whose untimely death occurred in 1876, during his 
 Sophomore year in the college. Subsequently the 
 fund was increased to a hundred thousand, and the 
 Sayles Memorial Hall, a large and beautiful stone 
 edifice, was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies 
 
254 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 in June 1881. Mr. Sayles was a man of high 
 personal character as well as strictest commercial 
 honor, upright in all dealings with his fellow-men, 
 and active and public-spirited as a citizen. The 
 termination of his busy, useful and instructive life, 
 which took place May 7, 1894, at the age of about 
 seventy years, was an event that occasioned keen 
 regret and sincere mourning, not merely in the com- 
 munity in which he had always resided, but through- 
 out his widely-extended circle of business friends 
 and associates, by whom he was universally honored 
 and revered. Mr. Sayles was married, October 30, 
 1849, to Miss Mary Wilkinson Fessenden, daughter 
 of the late Hon. Benjamin Fessenden of Valley 
 Falls, R. I.; she died September 20, 1886. Three 
 children are now living: Mary (Mrs. Roscoe S. 
 Washburn), Martha F. and Frank A. Sayles. 
 
 TINGLEY, Frank Foster, architect. Providence, 
 was born in Providence, October 7, 1844, son of 
 Henry F. and Lucy A. (Draper) Tingley. He is 
 descended from Samuel Tingley, who came from 
 
 FRANK F. TINGLEY. 
 
 Maiden, Mass., to South Attleboro, that state, 
 where he died in 17 14, and from Isaac Draper 
 who came from Dedham, Mass , to South Attle- 
 boro. His ancestors on both sides were long- 
 lived people; in one family of fourteen, four 
 
 lived to be over ninety, seven over eighty, and 
 two over seventy. His father was born in Provi- 
 dence, and his mother in South Attleboro. His 
 grandfather Sylvanus Tingley, in connection with 
 Samuel Tingley his brother, the style of the firm 
 being S. & S. Tingley, established himself in 
 the marble business in Providence in 181 1, and 
 was the first to apply steam power for sawing 
 marble in the United States. His grandfather 
 Isaac Draper, who lived to the age of ninety-two, 
 was one of the pioneers of the modern tanning 
 industry, the beginning of the extensive tanning in- 
 terests of Pawtucket, R. I., having sprung from 
 the tanneries in South Attleboro. Belonging to 
 a race of tanners, Isaac Draper followed in the 
 footsteps of his grandfather and father, himself and 
 the latter being the inventors and original manu- 
 facturers of pickerstring and lace leather, used for 
 belting purposes. Frank Foster Tingley acquired 
 his early education in the public schools of Provi- 
 dence. On leaving the High School he entered 
 the architect's office of Alpheus C. Morse, where he 
 studied and worked two years, and afterwards was 
 engaged with James C. Bucklin, also a prominent 
 architect, for two years, since which time he has 
 devoted himself largely to monumental architecture. 
 For three years he was engaged in the monumental 
 business with his father, one of the proprietors of 
 the Tingley Marble Company, Providence. He 
 then went into architecture on his own account for 
 a while, but not liking it particularly well, again 
 took up the monumental business, as agent and de- 
 signer for the Smith Granite Company of Westerly, 
 R. I., in which connection he remained nine years, 
 1874 to 1883, working up a large business for the 
 company in designing and selling. From 1883 to 
 i886 he was engaged in the work of developing 
 the Chapman Quarry of Westerly, and since that time 
 has been in business for himself. Mr. Tingley 
 is a thorough and expert architect, and has de- 
 signed some noteworthy buildings, among which 
 is the large Kent & Stanley building in Provi- 
 dence, since called the Manufacturers' Building, 
 seven stories, covering an acre of ground, and cost- 
 ing with the land over a half-million dollars. But 
 as has been said, he has made a specialty of mon- 
 umental work, in which line the originality and 
 beauty of his designs have extended his reputation 
 throughout New England and beyond, and brought 
 his professional services into extensive demand. 
 Among notable examples of the monumental art, 
 which stand as representatives of his genius and 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 255 
 
 skill in designing, are the Barnaby monument in 
 Providence; the Ames monuments at North Easton, 
 Mass. ; the Governor Padelford monument and the 
 Abell tomb at Swan Point, Providence ; several 
 of the Whitin family monuments at Whitins- 
 ville, Mass., and others in nearly all the principal 
 cemeteries of New England. Mr. Tingley is also 
 distinguished as an amateur musician. He has 
 been a church organist ever since he was fifteen 
 years of age. He was organist of Grace Church, 
 Providence, at eighteen, when Bishop Clark was 
 in the height of his fame for pulpit oratory, and has 
 held engagements in nearly all the churches of 
 Providence, also at Dr. Putnam's in Roxbury, nearly 
 thirty years ago, when that famous divine was in 
 the height of his power as a preacher, and at 
 the Shawmut Church, Dr. Webb's, in Boston, in 
 the palmy days of this famous preacher. At Dr. 
 Putnam's church in Roxbury, Mr. Tingley's choir was 
 composed of Dr. C. A. Guilmette basso, Sarah Bar- 
 ton soprano, Matilda Phillips contralto, and William 
 Macdonald tenor, — a quartet of famous soloists and 
 artists. It has often been remarked in musical circles 
 of Boston that never in that city, before or since, has 
 the musical part of a church service been more faith- 
 fully and exquisitely rendered than by this renowned 
 quintet of artistic and finished performers that consti- 
 tuted the regular choir organization of the noted 
 Roxbury Church. He is an accomplished pianist 
 and accompanist, and years ago, in the sixties, 
 travelled with the Camilla Urso Concert Company. 
 For many years he has ranked as the first organist 
 and pianist of Providence, his work especially 
 excelling in nicety of execution, and in delicacy and 
 power of expression. His most effective work may 
 be regarded in his playing of the church service 
 and choir accompaniments. An extract from a 
 newspaper criticism of a concert given by Mr. 
 Tingley and his wife in the Beneficent Congrega- 
 tional Church, Providence, in 1885, may not be out 
 of place in this sketch, as showing how his musi- 
 cianly abilities were regarded in his native city : 
 " Mr. F. F. Tingley, the organist of the church," 
 said the critic, " gave on this occasion a recital to a 
 large invited company, and although he disclaims 
 being, and really is not, ' in the profession,' yet it 
 must be conceded that he played with the skill, 
 judgment and taste of a decidedly able professor. 
 His regular profession, as is well known, is that of 
 monumental architect and designer ; and to this his 
 time is mainly devoted. Having manifested, how- 
 ever, even in boyhood, remarkable aptitude for 
 
 music, and having subsequently attained a high 
 degree of skill as an executant on the organ, he has 
 steadily been ' pressed into service,' as we may 
 truthfully say, in different churches, here and in 
 Boston, for years past, and has consequently had 
 large experience. Mr. Tingley is noted for being a 
 very clean and sure player. Mrs. Tingley is well 
 known and esteemed in our city as a church-quar- 
 tet soprano and soloist of superior quality. Her 
 voice is one of great purity and sweetness as well as 
 of good volume and compass." On one occasion 
 in later years, on an Easter Sunday, Mr. Tingley 
 being in Boston, just as he was leaving the hotel for 
 church, he was requested, on account of the sudden 
 illness of the organist of the New Old South 
 Church, to take his place at the organ. Mr. Ting- 
 ley reluctantly consented to play the elaborate 
 Easter service at sight, and upon one of the largest 
 organs in the country, with which he was not 
 familiar. The pastor apologized to his audience 
 for the new organist who was to officiate at such 
 brief notice, but the latter went through the service 
 without any trouble, and was warmly congratulated 
 on all sides for the successful performance. Mr. 
 Tingley is a member of the Rhode Island Chapter 
 of Architects, and of the Congregational Club of 
 Providence. In poHtics he is a Republican. He 
 enlisted in the Tenth Rhode Island Regiment, in 
 the war of the Rebellion. The regiment was 
 detailed to guard the defences of Washington. 
 After being with his regiment for two weeks, and 
 before it was mustered in, he was found to be a 
 minor and was discharged and returned home. He 
 was married, in Providence, July 9, 1867, to Miss 
 Orlena A. McConkey of Stonington, Conn. ; she 
 died May 9, 1895, leaving no children. Mrs. Ting- 
 ley was a noted singer, possessing a highly culti- 
 vated voice of remarkable purity and sympathetic 
 qualities. For many years in church and oratorio 
 music she was recognized as the first of Providence 
 singers, and her untimely death was deeply and 
 widely lamented. 
 
 WATSON, Colonel Arthur Hamilton, merchant 
 and all-round business man. Providence, was born 
 in Lonsdale, R. I., September 20, 1849, son of Rev. 
 Elisha F- and Mary (Dockary) Watson. He is a 
 lineal descendant of an old Rhode Island family. 
 He received his early education in the public schools, 
 and graduated at Brown University in the class of 
 1870. In 187 1 he became a clerk in the wholesale 
 
256 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 boot and shoe house of Greene, Anthony & Com- 
 pany, Providence, was admitted to partnership in 
 the business in 1873, ^^d is now the active partner 
 in the firm, which is the largest boot and shoe house 
 in the city. Colonel Watson is also a Director in 
 
 ^, ^ 
 
 several years was Chairman of the Committee on 
 Finance. He was Chairman of the joint special 
 committee on the investigation of the Municipal 
 Court in 1884, and also served on the joint special 
 committee on the celebration of the two hundred 
 and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the town 
 of Providence. He served as Colonel on the staff 
 of Governor Bourne three years, and is a member 
 of the Hope and Athletic clubs. Colonel Watson 
 was married, February 20, 1873, to Miss Annie P. 
 Sprague, daughter of Colonel Byron Sprague of 
 Providence ; they have four children : Harriet, 
 Byron, Mary Dockary and Annie Hamilton Watson. 
 
 WETMORE, George Peabodv, United States 
 Senator, son of William Shepard and Austiss Derby 
 (Rogers) Wetmore, was born in London, England, 
 August 2, 1846, during a visit of his parents abroad. 
 The Wetmore family in America is descended from 
 Thomas Whitmore, who emigrated from England in 
 
 ARTHUR H. WATSON, 
 
 the Globe National Bank, the Union Railroad 
 Company and the Narragansett Electric Lighting 
 Company, is Vice-President of the Nicholson File 
 Company, and President of the Providence, Fall 
 River & Newport Steamboat Company, a corpora- 
 tion formed by the recent consolidation of all the 
 steamboat lines on Narragansett Bay. He has been 
 one of the Vice-Presidents of the Providence Board 
 of Trade, and was Vice-President of the Board of 
 Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition for 
 Rhode Island. Colonel Watson was elected to the 
 Common Council as a member from Ward Two in 
 1883, and served continuously in that body until 
 1893, the last three years as President of the Coun- 
 cil. Ltl 1892 he was unanimously nominated by the 
 Republicans for Mayor, but was defeated by Mayor 
 William K. Potter, the Democratic candidate for 
 re-election. He was then elected Alderman, and 
 served three years, two years as President of the 
 Board, retiring in January 1896. During Colonel 
 Watson's period of service in the City Council he 
 served on various important committees, and for 
 
 GEO. PEABODY WETMORE. 
 
 1635, and was one of the original patentees of 
 Middletown, Conn. William Shepard Wetmore, 
 Governor ^Vetmore's father, was born in St. Albans, 
 Vt., in 1 80 1, and was a distinguished merchant, 
 residing for many years in South America and 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 257 
 
 China, and finally in New York city, where he 
 closed his business career. Shortly thereafter he 
 became a citizen of Newport, R. I., where he lived 
 until his death. Seth Wetmore of Middletown, 
 Conn., grandfather of Governor Wetmore, married 
 a daughter of General William Shepard of Westfield, 
 Mass., and went at the end of the last century to 
 St. Albans, Vt. He was a lawyer by profession, 
 a Judge, member of the Legislature and of the 
 Governor's Council of Vermont for many years, and 
 a Fellow of the University of Vermont. On the 
 maternal side, Governor Wetmore is descended from 
 the Rev. John Rogers, fifth President of Harvard 
 College and the first in the list of graduates of that 
 institution to become its head. The subject of this 
 sketch has lived at Newport, R. I., since he was 
 four years old, and received his early education 
 at private schools in that city, kept by Messrs. 
 Reade & Thurston and by the Rev. William C. 
 Leverett. He was graduated from Yale College in 
 the class of 1867 and from the Columbia College 
 Law School, of New York City, in 1869, and was 
 admitted to the Bar of New York and Rhode 
 Island the same year. Mr. Wetmore is President 
 of the Newport Hospital and a Director in various 
 other associations and institutions ; is a Trustee of 
 the Peabody Education Fund ; Trustee of the Pea- 
 body Museum of Natural History in Yale University, 
 and was nominated a Fellow of the University in 
 1888, but declined; and is a member of the State 
 Commission to build the new Rhode Island State 
 House. In politics he is a Republican ; he was 
 first Presidential Elector of Rhode Island in 1880 
 and again in 1884; was President of the Newport 
 Blaine and Logan Campaign Club in 1884 ; was a 
 Member of the State Committee to receive the 
 Representatives of France, on the occasion of their 
 visit to Rhode Island in 1881 ; was governor of 
 Rhode Island in 1885-6 and in 1886-7, and 
 although defeated for a third term received a 
 greater number of votes than at either of the two 
 preceding elections when successful. In 1889 he 
 was defeated on the eighth ballot for United States 
 Senator, during his absence in Europe; but was 
 elected to that office on June 13, 1894, receiving a 
 unanimous vote from the General Assembly in the 
 Senate, House and Joint Assembly. His term 
 expires March 3, 1901. He was married December 
 22, 1869, to Edith Malvina Keleltas, daughter of 
 the late Eugene Keteltas of New York ; they have 
 four children : Edith M. K., Maude A. K., William 
 S. K. and Rogers P. D. K. Wetmore. 
 
 WILCOX, Robert, M. D., Pascoag, was born in 
 Mapleville, R. I., November 14, 1854, son of WiUiam 
 and Anna (Tabb) Wilcox. He is of English 
 descent. His early education was that of the dis- 
 trict school, following which he attended Wesleyan 
 
 ROBERT WILCOX. 
 
 Academy at Wilbraham, Mass., the University of 
 Michigan at Ann Arbor, and the Long Island College 
 Hospital at Brooklyn, N. Y., from which institution 
 he graduated in June 1878 with the degree of 
 Doctor of Medicine. He left the Glendale (Rhode 
 Island) mill in July 1869, being then fifteen years 
 old, and went to live with his preceptor, Dr. Ben- 
 jamin Joslin, in Mohegan, R. I., with whom he 
 remained at this period eleven years. After gradu- 
 ation he practiced in company with Dr. Joslin two 
 years, under the firm name of Joslin & Wilcox. In 
 1878 he commenced practice in Pascoag, where he 
 has continued ever since. Dr. Wilcox has served 
 his town as Tax Collector, in 1876 and 1880, as 
 Superintendent of Schools in 1882, as Town Coun- 
 cilman for two years, and as Coroner from i886 to 
 1892. He was appointed by the Governor, April i, 
 1892, Medical Examiner for Burrillville and North 
 Smithville, District Number Five, which ofiice he 
 now holds. He is a member of the United Order 
 of Workmen and of the Foresters, for which he is 
 Medical Examiner. He is also a member of the 
 
258 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 West Side Club of Providence. In politics Dr. 
 Wilcox is a Republican. He was married, June i8, 
 1879, to Miss Frances Caroline, daughter of the late 
 Edwin Brewer of Wilbraham, Mass. 
 
 WILKINSON, George, silversmith, and General 
 Superintendent of the Gorham Manufacturing 
 Company, Providence, for many years, was born in 
 Birmingham, England, April 13, 18 19, son of 
 George and Ann (Waterhouse) Wilkinson, and 
 died in Providence, December 28, 1894. His 
 mother was a daughter of Robert Waterhouse of 
 Sheffield, England. He received his education in a 
 private school until the age of twelve, and after- 
 
 GEORGE WILKINSON. 
 
 wards studied in the Birmingham School of Design, 
 of which Thomas Wallis was Head Master. At 
 fifteen he was apprenticed to the trade of die- 
 sinking and served until twenty-one, then worked 
 at the business until the age of thirty, when he en- 
 tered into business in that line for himself. Soon 
 after he came to this country, and in 1857 he be- 
 came connected with the Gorham Manufacturing 
 Company, manufacturers of silverware. Providence. 
 At that time the annual product of this now famous 
 concern did not equal that of a single month of the 
 present time, and the " little workshop " located on 
 Steeple street was far from being widely known. To 
 
 Mr. Wilkinson as General Superintendent belongs 
 no small share of the credit for the company's sub- 
 sequent success and development. To him great 
 credit is due for the artistic and consistent 
 character of the designs for which the Gorham 
 Company's productions are justly noted ; for the 
 possession of that thorough knowledge of the numer- 
 ous and various processes of manufacture which is 
 so necessary in order to enable any one person to 
 efficiently direct the operations throughout an 
 entire estabHshment j and for a quick and complete 
 comprehension of the adaptability of machinery 
 and tools, the greater portion of which are of a 
 special character, quite unlike those of any other 
 manufacturing industry. At the time he joined 
 the company Mr. Wilkinson was in the midst of 
 early and vigorous manhood, a serious and enthu- 
 siastic student of all that was best in art, and 
 possessed of perceptions of the keenest order. As 
 a lover of the beauties of nature, he was by instinct 
 prepared to appreciate the excellences of art. It 
 has justly been said, " The devotee of art traces in 
 nature many beauties which by the uncultivated 
 eye are unnoticed." It was, therefore, great good 
 fortune for the Gorham Company to secure, in the 
 early period of its career, the services of a man so 
 peculiarly fitted to develop the industry. Gifted to 
 an unusual degree with the talent for the produc- 
 tion of new ideas, and associated with this a desire 
 to learn from the best schools of art what had gone 
 before ; with a practical knowledge, gained by 
 experience, sufficient to enable him to do with his 
 own hands that last touch which often gives the 
 whole character to a piece of fine workmanship, 
 coupled with the rare characteristic of being able to 
 inspire others to perform better work through their 
 confidence in him, and their wilHngness to follow 
 his directions as a master of the craft ; not confined 
 to a servile imitation of any one school, but suffi- 
 ciently broad in mind to appreciate and take what 
 is best from all schools and ages, Mr. Wilkinson 
 combined a fertility of resources, and a production 
 so varied in its character, that it may safely be said 
 that he has been to the metal industry of the 
 United States, during a period of its most rapid 
 development, what Wedg^vood was to the pottery 
 industry of England at a period a century earlier. 
 A cultivated and studious mind caused him to see a 
 true value in the possession of suitable art publica- 
 tions, and he steadily accumulated for the company 
 a rare and valuable collection of books and folios 
 of plates, not for the purpose of copying in toto, 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 259 
 
 but purely for educational and suggestive use. 
 This country is lacking in the possession of those 
 facilities afforded by such art treasures as the 
 British and South Kensington museums of London, 
 the Louvre at Paris, and others of note in Conti- 
 nental cities. It acts as a healthy stimulus or 
 inspiration to intelligent artisans to have placed in 
 their hands, or find within ready reach, works 
 entirely new to them, and which convey to their 
 minds new forms and ornamentations, both emi- 
 nently suggestive and helpful. With the growth of 
 the business came assistant designers and modellers, 
 often coming from Paris, London, or other Old 
 World cities, where art schools and museums of 
 world-wide reputation furnished an unfailing supply 
 of the best examples of art work in all its varied 
 materials. To such workmen the Gorham library 
 is an attractive and helpful feature, and upon them 
 it exerts a potent influence. In addition it is an 
 interesting collection of examples of meritorious 
 industrial art work, forming a choice and valuable 
 museum. In the foregoing respects the manufactory 
 of the Gorham Company is unlike that of other 
 silversmiths, and to these features must be attrib- 
 uted much of their success. Mr. Wilkinson had 
 for some years looked forward with the deepest 
 thought and kindUng interest to the time when the 
 "old shop," which had reached the full limit of its 
 repeated expansions, should be vacated and a new 
 plant erected, more thoroughly in touch with his 
 idea of the company's requirements for the future. 
 Directly the site was determined upon and the land 
 purchased, he prepared a series of architectural 
 plans and submitted them for approval. While his 
 own feelings suggested and favored the introduction 
 of features in the front fagade more ornamental, or 
 even picturesque, and in keeping with or as reflect- 
 ing the nature of the business, a desire of others in 
 favor of constructive simplicity overruled. Upon 
 the adoption of the general design. Constructing 
 Engineer E. P. Sheldon was engaged to lay out and 
 prepare the working drawings, and to superintend 
 the erection of the buildings. Yet Mr. Wilkinson, 
 though always busily occupied with the preparation 
 of new designs for the company's products, found 
 time to do a large share of the planning of the new 
 shops, and locating the machinery, tools, etc., 
 which for many years had been his experienced 
 study. His wish, felt and expressed, to see the 
 new works completed and in successful operation 
 was gratified, and a deep sense of satisfaction came 
 to him in beholding such a consummation of a life's 
 
 work, and in hearing the expressions of appreciation 
 which spontaneously came from many sources of 
 those most competent to judge of the difficulties 
 encountered and successfully overcome. Mr. Wil- 
 kinson was a member of the Masonic fraternity for 
 some years, but retired from the order, feeling that 
 it would take too much time from his business. He 
 was married, March 31, 1847, to Miss Harriet Butter- 
 worth ; they had twelve children — seven sons 
 and five daughters — ten of whom are now living : 
 Jessie, Walter, William S., Arthur W., John B., 
 Amey H., Harriet S., Esther Ann, Ruth and Robert 
 Wilkinson. 
 
 WOODS, John Carter Brown, lawyer, State 
 Senator, and President of the Board of State 
 Charities and Corrections, was born in Providence, 
 June 12, 1851, son of Marshall and Anne Brown 
 (Francis) Woods. Among his ancestors are many 
 
 J. C. B. WOODS. 
 
 whose names are prominently associated with the 
 foundation and growth of the country. Captain 
 Thomas Marshall, who came to this country in 
 1634; Lieutenant Isaac Marshall, an officer in the 
 Revolutionary army ; Francis Cooke, who came over 
 in the Mayflower, 1620; Lieutenant John Thompson, 
 who came in the second ship, Fortune ; Samuel 
 Woods, of England, who came to this country in 
 
26o 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 1700 ; Samuel Woods, his son, of Princeton, Mass., 
 who took an active part in all the interests of the 
 time, especially during the years preceding the 
 American Revolution, was a member of the Com- 
 mittee of Correspondence, and with others signed 
 and published a renunciation of allegiance to the 
 British Crown ; Rev. Alva Woods, A. M., D. D., 
 Harvard A. B., grandson of Samuel Woods of 
 Princeton, Professor of Mathematics and Natural 
 Philosophy in the Columbian College, Washington, 
 D. C, President of, and Professor of Moral and 
 Intellectual Philosophy in, Transylvania University, 
 Lexington, Ky., and the University of the State of 
 Alabama, and for many years most prominently 
 identified with Brown University as President ad 
 interim, Professor of Mathematics and Natural 
 Philosophy, and as Trustee and Fellow; Marshall 
 Woods Brown, A. B., A. M., University of City of 
 New York, M. D., son of Alva Woods, Trustee of 
 Brown University since 1856, Treasurer from 1866 to 
 1882 ; Chad Brown, who came to this country in the 
 ship Martin, July 1638, soon came to Providence, 
 and with others prepared the first written form of 
 government for the colony of Providence, which was 
 adopted and continued in force until 1644, when 
 Roger Williams returned from England with the 
 first charter; John Brown, closely identified with 
 the Revolutionary period, and with the events that 
 preceded and followed it, among the first to take 
 measures against the imposition of unjust taxes upon 
 the colonies by Parliament, and to protest against the 
 tyrannical and unlawful acts of armed British vessels 
 in Narragansett Bay, was the organizer and leader 
 of the expedition against the British armed schooner 
 Gaspee in Narragansett Bay on the night of June 9, 
 1772, which resulted in the destruction of the vessel 
 and the wounding of Lieutenant Duddingston, her 
 commander, furnished supplies and munitions of 
 war to the Continental army, helped to raise recruits 
 for it, was one of a committee appointed by Congress 
 to build vessels for the Continental navy, and gen- 
 erally rendered material service in the cause of 
 American Independence, was in the General As- 
 sembly for several years during the War of the Rev- 
 olution, and was a member of the Assembly that 
 voted to renounce allegiance to the British Crown, 
 for two successive times a member of the Conti- 
 nental Congress, and prominent in securing the 
 adoption of the Constitution of the United States 
 by Rhode Island ; Nicholas Brown, brother of the 
 foregoing, also closely identified with the Revolu- 
 tionary period, among the first to take measures 
 
 against the imposition of unjust taxes upon the 
 colonies, and to protest against the unlawful acts of 
 armed British vessels in Narragansett Bay, assisted 
 in furnishing supplies, munitions of war, and recruits 
 to the Continental army, was a member of a com- 
 mittee appointed by Congress to build ships for the 
 Continental navy, was one of a commission to adjust 
 accounts between Rhode Island and the United 
 States, and took a prominent part in securing the 
 adoption of the Constitution of the United States by 
 this state ; Nicholas Brown, son of the above, the 
 chief benefactor of Brown University, which bears 
 his name, besides his other gifts to the college, 
 building at his own expense Hope College and Man- 
 ning Hall, and presenting them to the corporation, 
 was a Federalist, and was in the General Assembly 
 for several years, and was also a Presidential Elec- 
 tor ; and John Brown Francis, grandfather of Mr. 
 Woods and grandson of the above John Brown, Gov- 
 ernor of the state 1833-8, and United States Sen- 
 ator from February 18, 1842, to January 17, 1844. 
 The subject of this sketch received his early edu- 
 cation in the private school of Rev. C. E. Wheeler, 
 Providence, and entered Brown University, gradu- 
 ating in the class of 1872 with the degree of A. B., 
 and delivering the classical oration. In 1875 he 
 received from Brown University the degree of 
 A. M. He studied law in the office of Thurston, 
 Ripley & Company, Providence, graduated at the 
 Harvard Law School in 1874, receiving the degree 
 of LL. B., was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar 
 in 1874 and to the Bar of the United States Circuit 
 and District Courts in 1876, and has since practiced 
 his profession in Providence. Mr. Woods was 
 elected a Trustee of Brown University June 19, 
 1884, and still holds that office ; he has also been a 
 member of the Advisory and Executive Committee 
 since June 17, 1885, and Secretary of the Committee 
 since September 4, 1889. He has been a member 
 of the Alpha (Brown University) Chapter of the 
 Phi Beta Kappa from June 187 1, serving on the 
 Committee on Appointments from June 1883 to 
 June 1884 and from June 1885 to June 1891, and 
 on the Committee of Arrangements from June 
 1884 to June 1885, was Vice-President of the 
 Chapter from June 1891 to June 1893 and Presi- 
 dent from June 1893 to June 1895. He has 
 been Moderator of the Charitable Baptist Society 
 of Providence since June 9, 189 1, prior to which 
 he was Clerk of the Society fourteen years. In 
 June 1892 he was appointed a member of the 
 Board of State Charities and Corrections, for six 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 261 
 
 years, and in October 1895 was elected President 
 of the Board, which office he at present fills. He 
 was also appointed, in May 1895, a member of the 
 Board of Trustees of the Rhode Island Institute for 
 the Deaf, for six years. He has been President of 
 the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of 
 Cruelty to Animals since June 1888, one of the 
 Directors of the Rhode Island School of Design on 
 the part of Brown University since September 1894, 
 and a Director in the Providence National Bank 
 since January 1886. Mr. Woods has been active in 
 the formation of various societies and social organi- 
 zations. He is one of the founders of the Rhode 
 Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolu- 
 tion, was Vice-President from June 1890 to June 
 1 89 1 and President from the latter date to June 
 1892, was Delegate to the National Congress of the 
 Societies at Chicago in 1893, and has been several 
 times a Delegate to meetings of the National 
 Society. He is one of the founders of the Hope 
 Club of Providence, was continuously a governor of 
 the club from its inception to the present time, 
 excepting from December 1888, when he resigned 
 from the management, to November 1892, was 
 Vice-President from October 1875 to October 
 1 88 1, and has been President since November 9, 
 1892. He is also one of the founders of the 
 Country Club at Choppequonsett, and a member of 
 the Agawam Hunt Club, the Providence Press 
 Club and the Providence Board of Trade. Mr. 
 Woods was elected a member of the Common 
 Council in January 1877, and served continuously 
 until January 1885, declining a re-election at that 
 time, and was President of that body in the years 
 1 881-2-3-4. While a member of the Council he 
 served on joint standing committees on City Prop- 
 erty, Finance, Police, City Engineer's Department 
 (ex-officio) and Ordinances, being Chairman of 
 the last-named committee in 1879 and 1880. He 
 was also a member of many special committees, 
 among them serving as Chairman of the Committee 
 appointed to report upon the future management of 
 the Providence Reform School; the result of the 
 investigation made by this committee was the abol- 
 ishment of that school and the establishment of the 
 Sockanosset School for Boys and Oaklawn School 
 for Girls at the State Institution in Cranston. 
 He was a member of the committee on the City 
 Engineer's Department during the inquiries made 
 by that committee as to the safety of certain public 
 buildings, the pollution of the Moshassuck and 
 Woonasquetucket rivers and Providence harbor, 
 
 and the best methods of disposing of the city 
 sewage. As President of the Common Council, 
 he was ex-officio member of the School Committee 
 of Providence in 188 1-2-3 -4. ^i"- Woods was a 
 member of the Rhode Island House of Represen- 
 tatives from May 1 88 1 to May 1887, a member of the 
 Senate from December 189 1 to the May session of 
 1892, was again elected Senator in April 1894 and re- 
 elected in 1895 and 1896, serving at present in that 
 capacity. While in the House of Representatives 
 he was a member of the Joint Committee on Rules 
 and Orders, and the Committee on Judiciary, being 
 Chairman of the latter in 1884-5, 1885-6 and 
 1886-7 ') also Chairman of a committee appointed in 
 March 1886, to inquire into and report upon the ad- 
 ministration of criminal law in the state, and Chair- 
 man of a Joint Special Committee appointed in April 
 1886 to consider changes in laws relating to the 
 administration of justice in the inferior courts, and 
 to the suppression of intemperance. While in the 
 Senate in 1892 Mr. Woods was Chairman of the 
 Judiciary Committee, and member of a committee 
 appointed to examine into the condition of the 
 roads and public highways of the state, with a view 
 to improvement in their construction and main- 
 tenance, and to revise and consolidate the laws 
 relating to the same ; in consequence of the labors 
 of this committee, legislation looking to improved 
 highways was passed in 1895. In June 1894 he 
 was appointed one of a Joint Committee to con- 
 sider the subject of exemption from taxation, and 
 taxation generally, and the report was made in 
 April 1896. Also in June 1894 he was a member 
 of a Joint Special Committee to confer with the 
 city of Providence, with a view to obtaining a site 
 for a State Armory, and in May 1895 he was ap- 
 pointed a member of the Rhode Island State 
 Armory Commission. In May 1895 he was made 
 Chairman of the Commission to cause a geological 
 survey to be made of portions of the state contain- 
 ing rocks suitable for road building, and in May 
 1896 he was appointed on the Commission to 
 Revise the Militia Laws of the State. He has also 
 served as a member of many other special com- 
 mittees. Politically Mr. Woods is a Republican. 
 He was a member of the Republican City Com- 
 mittee of Providence from 1879 '^o 1896, declining 
 a re-election, and was Chairman from 1886 to 1893, 
 declining to serve at the head of the committee 
 longer. He was also a member of the Rhode 
 Island Republican State Central Committee from 
 1890 to 1893, and has been prominently connected 
 
262 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 with many other RepubHcan organizations, conven- 
 tions, etc. While in college he was a member of 
 the Epsilon Chapter of the Zeta Psi. He is 
 unmarried. 
 
 YOUNG, Arthur, retired business man, and for 
 many years Postmaster at Slatersville, was born in 
 Jewett City, Conn., August 23, 1828, son of Alfred 
 and Lucy (Peck) Young, and died December 19, 
 1894. His parents were both of English ancestry. 
 
 WESTCOTT, Amasa Smith, Judge of the Mun- 
 icipal Court of Providence for many years, was born 
 in North Scituate, R. I., September 21, 1818, 
 son of John and Cecilia (Owen) Westcott. He 
 is a lineal descendant of Stukley Westcott, one 
 of the first settlers of Providence and Warwick, an 
 associate of Roger Williams in his expulsion from 
 the church in Salem, and one of the distinguished 
 founders of the Rhode Island colony. His grand- 
 father on the paternal side was a soldier of the 
 Revolution. Judge Westcott's early boyhood was 
 passed in the town of his birth, where he pursued 
 the ordinary studies of the public schools. Being 
 ambitious of securing a college education, he 
 attended the academies at Brooklyn and Plainfield, 
 Conn., and after a further preparatory course 
 of study under the tuition of Judge Bosworth of 
 Warren, entered Brown University and graduated 
 therefrom in 1842. Following graduation he studied 
 law with Judge Bosworth, was admitted to the bar 
 in 1844, and for a year thereafter remained in the 
 office of his preceptor. In 1845 he came to Provi- 
 dence and engaged in the practice of his profession 
 until 1852, when he was elected Clerk of the Court 
 of Common Pleas of Providence County, and 
 was annually re-elected, with the exception of 
 one year, until 1867. He was then elected Judge 
 of the Municipal Court of Providence, and ex-ofificio 
 Judge of Probate, which position he occupied with 
 marked ability and honor for seventeen years, or 
 until his retirement from public Hfe in 1884. Judge 
 Westcott has served as a member of the City Coun- 
 cil of Providence, and was Chairman of the Com- 
 mittee which in 1875 erected the handsome 
 Providence County Court House. He was also at 
 one time Major of the Twelfth Regiment Rhode 
 Island MiHtia. He has been a member of the 
 Squantum Club since 1870, and is a stockholder 
 in the Providence Athenseum. In poHtics he was 
 originally an old-line Whig, but has been a Repub- 
 lican from the formation of that party. Judge 
 Westcott was married April 7, 1845, to Miss Susan 
 Carpenter, daughter of Daniel Bosworth of Warren 
 and sister of the late Judge Bosworth ; they had 
 three children who died in infancy. 
 
 ARTHUR YOUNG. 
 
 his mother being a descendant of Joseph Peck of 
 Belton HaW, Yorkshire, England, who emigrated to 
 America in 1638. The original coat-of-arms of the 
 Pecks is still in the possession of the family, the 
 motto being "Prohibiten! quam divitias"; it was 
 first borne by William Peck of Sanford Hall, Essex. 
 Henry Peck was among the first settlers of New 
 Haven, coming to America in the company of 
 Governor Eaton and the Rev. John Davenport in 
 1637. The subject of this sketch was educated in 
 the public schools of his native place, and began 
 his business career with Tiffany, Young & Ellis, 
 now Tiffany & Company, New York. In 1848 he 
 accepted a position with J. & W. Slater, cotton 
 manufacturers of Slatersville, R. I., remaining with 
 the firm and their successors, William S. Slater 
 and John W. Slater, as confidential clerk, until 
 he retired from active business in 1885. Mr. 
 Young served for many years as Postmaster at 
 Slatersville, and in 1883 and 1884 represented the 
 town of North Smithfield as Senator in the State 
 Legislature. In politics he has been a staunch Re- 
 
\ 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 263 
 
 publican from the formation of the party. He was 
 married, April 19, 1852, to Miss Alice Wood; they 
 had three children : Arthur P., Alfred W., who died 
 in infancy, and AHce W., wife of Frederick H. 
 Potter. 
 
 ALDRICH, Hon. Nelson Wilmarth, United 
 States Senator, was born in Foster, Rhode Island, 
 November 6, 1841, son of Anan E. and Abby 
 (Burgess) Aldrich. He is of old New England 
 ancestry. Senator Aldrich's early education was 
 acquired in the public schools of Killingly, Con- 
 necticut, and at the East Greenwich Academy in 
 Rhode Island. Shortly after leaving the latter 
 institution, in 1857, he came to Providence and 
 secured a situation as bookkeeper with Waldron & 
 Wightman, wholesale grocers. His aptitude for 
 business and his close application to the interests 
 of the firm led to his admission as a partner in 
 1866, and the firm name was changed to Waldron, 
 Wightman & Company. The high mercantile stand- 
 ing which he early acquired, together with his public 
 spirit and his reputation for sterling integrity, practi- 
 cal wisdom and sound judgment, soon led to his con- 
 nection with other business enterprises and institu- 
 tions, and brought him into prominence in public 
 affairs. He has been President of the First Na- 
 tional Bank of Providence and a Director in the 
 Roger Williams Bank, and has been President of 
 the Board of Trade and a member of the Ex- 
 ecutive Committee. Upon the organization of 
 the Union Railroad Company, a few years since, 
 formed by a consolidation of the various street- 
 railway lines and interests of Providence, Mr. 
 Aldrich was called to the Presidency of that cor- 
 poration, which position he assumed and still 
 holds. To his intelligent direction, liberal policy 
 and energetic methods is chiefly due the de- 
 velopment of the superior street-railway system 
 of Providence, which provides the public with 
 accommodations and facilities not surpassed by 
 those of any other city of its size in America, and 
 which in itself is a successful and profitable enter- 
 prise for its stockholders. He has served as a 
 Trustee of the Providence, Hartford & Fishkill 
 Railroad, also as a member and director of the 
 commission that built the Narragansett Hotel, and 
 as a Trustee for the property. He has also been 
 one of the Commissioners on Cove Lands since 
 1 87 1. Mr. Aldrich made his first entry into public 
 life in 1869, when barely twenty-eight years old, as 
 a member of the Common Council of Providence 
 
 from the Fifth Ward. He served in that capacity 
 two years, and was then elected to the Council from 
 the Sixth Ward, serving from June 1872 to January 
 1875, and was President of that body from June 187 1 
 to January 1873. In April 1873 he was appointed 
 a member of the Joint Special Committee of the 
 Aldermen and Council to obtain plans for a public 
 market. He also served on the committee that built 
 the Cranston-street bridge. In 1875 he was elected 
 Representative to the General Assembly, serving 
 two years and as Speaker in the latter year. In 
 1878 he was elected Representative from the 
 First District to the Forty-Sixth Congress, and in 
 1880 was re-elected for a second term by the largest 
 vote ever cast for Representative in his district. 
 Mr. Aldrich's activity and keen grasp of pubHc 
 affairs soon made him an influential member of the 
 House of Representatives, and he was instrumental 
 in rendering his state valuable service in many ways. 
 In 1880 he was elected Senator, as successor to 
 Senator Burnside, taking his seat at the beginning 
 01 the session of 1881, and has been twice re-elected, 
 his present term expiring in March 1899. In his 
 Senatorial career, because of his especial business 
 education and training, Mr. Aldrich's work has 
 naturally been chiefly directed to practical rather 
 than to purely political affairs. He has been a dili- 
 gent worker on the Finance Committee, the Com- 
 mittee on Transportation Routes, and in various 
 other capacities in which his wide knowledge of 
 commerce, transportation, finance and general busi- 
 ness have brought him into national prominence 
 and enabled him to establish an influence that at 
 various times has rendered the country efficient and 
 exceedingly valuable service. His personal power 
 in the Senate was signally shown upon the change 
 in the political complexion of that body, by his 
 retention at the head of the Committee on Corpor- 
 ations in the District of Columbia, when Democratic 
 chairmen were in almost every instance substituted. 
 Yet his strong Republican partisanship has found 
 abundant exhibition in his advocacy of the Force 
 bill and his efforts to secure a modification of the 
 rules, so that a majority could transact business, and 
 in his Chairmanship of the Committee on Rules, 
 which entitled him to leadership in many protracted 
 and heated partisan contests. He is a strong advo- 
 cate of sound money and the Protection policy, and 
 was a warm supporter of the McKinley bill when 
 pending. Senator Aldrich has been a member of 
 the Masonic fraternity since 1866, and has held 
 various offices in the order ; was Eminent Com- 
 
264 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 mander of Calvary Commandery Knights Templar 
 in 187 1, and has served as Grand Commander of 
 the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode 
 Island. He is a life member of the Franklin 
 Lyceum of Providence, of which he was Secretary 
 in 1864, Vice-President in 1866, and for a long time 
 a member of the Lecture Committee. Mr. Aldrich 
 was married, October 9, 1866, to Miss Abby P. 
 Greene ; they have several children. 
 
 CHARLES J. ARMS. 
 
 BLODGETT, William Winthrop, lawyer. Paw- 
 tucket, was born in Randolph, Vermont, July 8, 
 1824, third son of Eli Blodgett. He received his 
 early education in the pubhc schools, prepared for 
 college at the Orange County grammar school in 
 Randolph, and in 1843 entered the University of 
 Vermont at Burlington, from which he graduated 
 with the highest honors in 1847. Soon after gradu- 
 ation he became Principal of the Academy at Keene, 
 N. H., which position he filled for a few months, 
 and then commenced the study of law in the office 
 of William P. Wheeler of Keene. y\fterward he 
 studied with Hon. Isaac F. Redfield. Chief Justice 
 of Vermont, and in the office of Wires & Peck at 
 Burlington, and was admitted to the bar of \'ermont 
 
 in June 1850. In the following October he re- 
 moved to Pawtucket, Mass., and in November was 
 admitted to practice in that state by the Supreme 
 Judicial Court then sitting at New Bedford. Mr. 
 Blodgett has continued to practice his profession in 
 Pawtucket to the present time. He has been fre- 
 quently, and of late years continuously, honored with 
 positions of pubHc trust and responsibility. In 
 1859-61 he represented the towns of Atdeboro and 
 Pawtucket in the Massachusetts Legislature. In 
 1 86 1 the long pending controversy between the 
 states over the boundary culminated in a com- 
 promise line agreed upon by the counsel of the 
 respective states and submitted 10 the Legislatures 
 for ratification. The proposed line, arbitrarily 
 drawn, was unsatisfactory to Rhode Island, not 
 giving due regard to natural division, and giving 
 many advantages to Massachusetts, and was certain 
 of being rejected by the Rhode Island Legislature. 
 A new line was proposed by Mr. Blodgett, and was 
 finally adopted; and March i, 1861, the town of 
 Pawtucket, and that part of Seekonk lying on the 
 Providence and Pawtucket rivers, now known as 
 East Providence, became a part of the state of 
 Rhode Island. On the day of transfer Mr. Blodgett 
 was elected to the Rhode Island Senate — the first 
 time in the history of the state that a member of 
 the General Assembly was elected without the con- 
 stitutional requisite of a year's residence. Mr. 
 Blodgett has since continued the practice of law in 
 Rhode Island. In 1868 he was elected Judge of 
 Probate for North Providence, and held the office 
 by annual election until 1874, when the town and 
 village of Pawtucket were consolidated into one 
 town under the same name. He has continued in 
 the office for the town and city of Pawtucket, with 
 the exception of two or three years, until the present 
 time, a period of more than twenty-five years. Mr. 
 Blodgett has also represented the towns of North 
 Providence and Pawtucket and the city of Paw- 
 tucket in the Rhode Island Legislature, of which 
 he is now a member, more than twenty years. He 
 was also at one time Commissioner of Insolvency 
 in Massachusetts, and a Bank Commissioner in 
 Rhode Island. He has been for many years a 
 member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Paw- 
 tucket, a member of the Diocesan Convention and 
 of the Standing Committee of the Diocese. Mr. 
 Blodgett was married, in 1855, to Miss Salome W. 
 Kinsley of Pawtucket ; they have had six children : 
 Ellen H., Edward W., Lloyd Morton, John, Chauncey 
 Hayden and Kinsley Blodgett. 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 265 
 
 CAMPBELL, Frank A., Postmaster of Woon- 
 socket, was born in Providence, July 6, 1858, son of 
 Patrick and Jane (Mercer) Campbell. His early 
 education was acquired in the public schools and 
 La Salle Academy, in his native city. Following 
 his school-days he worked at tailoring for a time in 
 Providence. In 1879, he came to Woonsocket, 
 where the following year he established himself in 
 the merchant-tailoring business. He served as Tax 
 Collector in the years 1886-7, ^^^^ ^^ December of 
 the latter year was appointed Postmaster by Presi- 
 dent Cleveland. In this capacity he served a term 
 of nearly five years, when, the opposing political 
 
 F. A. CAMPBELL. 
 
 party having secured control of national affairs, he 
 was superseded by a Republican official. Mr. 
 Campbell retired from office, temporarily as it after- 
 wards proved, with a record that had never been 
 surpassed in the Woonsocket postmastership, for 
 efficiency, intelligent personal supervision of every 
 detail of the work, uniform courtesy and general 
 satisfaction. He secured additional mails for Woon- 
 socket, among them a much-needed but hitherto- 
 denied outgoing Sunday mail, and also secured a 
 new and handsome location for the office in the new 
 Longley Building, and fitted up the new quarters in 
 accordance with the latest improved designs of post- 
 office furnishings. Under his administration many 
 
 new rules were adopted, and were continued in 
 force by his successor. On account of his record, 
 when a change of national administration again oc- 
 curred, and once more the Democracy came into 
 power, Mr. Campbell's reappointment was favored 
 and strongly urged, not only by his friends in his 
 own party, but by business men of both parties. 
 There was a warm contest for the office, but Mr. 
 Campbell had besides his other support the unani- 
 mous endorsement of the Democratic State Central 
 Committee, and in June 1893 he was reappointed 
 Postmaster by President Cleveland. Mr. Camp- 
 bell was married, in March r883, to Miss Delia 
 Burke of Woonsocket. 
 
 CHAPIN, Charles Value, M. D., Superintendent 
 of Health for the city of Providence, was born in 
 Providence, June 17, 1856, son of Joshua Bicknell 
 and Louise (Value) Chapin. He is of well-known 
 and highly-respected Rhode Island ancestry, his 
 father having been a practicing physician of repute 
 in Providence, and for many years Commissioner of 
 Public Schools for the State of Rhode Island. He 
 received his early education at the well-known 
 English and Classical High School of Providence, 
 and graduated from Brown University in the class 
 of 1876 with the degree of A. B. He adopted 
 medicine as a profession, and after studying for a 
 year in the office of Dr. George D. Wilcox, a 
 distinguished physician of Providence, attended lec- 
 tures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons and 
 Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York, 
 graduating from the latter institution in 1879. He 
 at once received the appointment of House Physi- 
 cian to Bellevue Hospital, where he served until 
 October 1880, when he returned to Providence, 
 where he established a successful private practice. 
 He was appointed Professor of Physiology in Brown 
 University in 1883, where his lectures and methods 
 of instruction received high approval. Dr. Chapin 
 had given much attention to questions of public 
 health and municipal sanitary management, and in 
 1884 he was elected Superintendent of Health for 
 the city of Providence, which position he has con- 
 tinuously held to the present time, his executive 
 ability commanding the warm approval of the 
 citizens, and his reports attractmg the attention of 
 distinguished scientists in municipal sanitation. In 
 1888 he was elected City Registrar. He was 
 librarian and patriologist of the Rhode Island 
 Hospital from 1882 to 1886, and is now one of the 
 
266 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Consulting Physicians. He is also a consulting 
 physican at the Providence Lying-in Hospital. In 
 189 [-92 he was Director of Physical Culture at 
 Brown University. He is a lecturer at the School 
 of Sociology in Hartford, Conn. ; is a fellow of 
 the Rhode Island Medical Society, and a member 
 of the Providence Medical Association, of which he 
 was President in 1894; and is a member of the 
 American Academy of Medicine, the American 
 Public Health Association, the American Statistical 
 Association, and the Association of the Massachu- 
 setts Board of Health. He is the author of the 
 following essays, which received the award from the 
 Fiske fund of the Rhode Island Medical Society : 
 "The Sympathetic Nerve, its Relation to Disease," 
 1880; "Origin and Progress of the Malarial Fever 
 now prevalent in New England," 1884; "Present 
 State of the Germ Theory of Disease," 1885 ; " Meth- 
 ods and Practical Results of the Treatment of the 
 Malarial Disease now prevalent in New England," 
 1886 ; "What Changes has the Germ Theory made 
 in the Means for the Prevention and Treatment of 
 Consumption?" 1888. He has also published: 
 '• Some Points in the Etrology of Scarlet Fever," 
 1889 : "Disposal of Garbage in the City of Provi- 
 dence," 1893; "Purification of Public Water Sup- 
 plies," 1893; and Reports on Public Health, and 
 Births, Deaths and Marriages in Providence. Out- 
 side of his office Dr. Chapin has not taken part in 
 public Hfe. He was married. May 6, 1886, to Miss 
 Anna Augusta Balch ; they have one son : Howard 
 M., born May 11, 1887. 
 
 In politics he is a Republican. He was married, 
 June 24, 1874, to Miss Marie Louise Angus ; they 
 have two children: Neil A., born April 13, 1876, 
 and Duncan Campbell, born July 3, x88i. 
 
 CAMPBELL, John H., Editor and Publisher of 
 the Pawtuxet Valley Gleaner, Phenix, was born in 
 the village of Phenix, May 27, 1849, son of Neil 
 and Catherine (Hart) Campbell. He is of Scotch 
 ancestry, his parents having come to this country 
 from Scotland in 1849, the year of his birth. He 
 received his early education in the public schools of 
 Providence, after which he learned the printer's 
 trade and has since mainly followed that voca- 
 tion. He established himself in business in 
 Phenix, where for some time he has been publisher 
 and editor of the Pawtuxet Valley Gleaner, a 
 newspaper devoted to the interests of one of 
 the most thriving sections of the state, Mr. Camp- 
 bell has been President of the Rhode Island Press 
 Association, and has represented his native town 
 (Warwick) three terms in the General Assembly. 
 
 COLWELL, WiLMARTH H., architect, Providence, 
 was born in Providence, July 24, 1849, son of John 
 W. and Hannah (Wing) Colwell. His ancestor, 
 Robert Colwell, the first of the name in this country, 
 came from England. His father, John W. Colwell, 
 was a Freewill Baptist Clergyman and for many 
 years pastor of the church in South Providence. 
 In 1852, the Rev. Mr. Colwell's church was strug- 
 gling under a burdensome debt, and the pastor 
 being offered a good salary for his services as 
 school-teacher on the Pacific Coast, he was in- 
 duced to accept the position by the prospect of 
 thus securing the means to pay off the church 
 mortgage. He accordingly started for California, 
 but died on the passage, as a result of exhaustion 
 and fever brought on by caring for the sick passen- 
 gers of the steamer Monumental City. His death 
 left the wife and mother with seven children, the 
 eldest thirteen ; of these three are now deceased, 
 one being the late Rev. John W. Colwell, a Congre- 
 gational clergyman of Barrington, Rhode Island. 
 Wilmarth, the subject of this sketch, was educated 
 in the public primary and in private intermediate 
 and high schools of Providence. After graduation 
 he went into the drygoods business and continued 
 about four years, and was then apprenticed to 
 Charles P. Hartshorn, a prominent architect of 
 Providence. He studied with Mr. Hartshorn three 
 years, and then went to Boston where he served as 
 draughtsman for a time in different architectural 
 offices. In 1873 he returned to Providence and 
 started business for himself, establishing his office 
 alone, and continuing in that relation ever since. 
 Mr. Colwell's professional skill and reputation are 
 not Umited nor directed to any particular class 
 of work or school of architecture. His work is 
 scattered all over the state, and comprises business 
 blocks, manufacturing buildings, of which the Ameri- 
 can Electrical Works may serve as a good example, 
 and churches, including the two Jewish synagogues 
 in Providence and several small church edifices ; 
 but his principal work has been in the designing 
 and construction of dwellings, of which he has built 
 nearly eight hundred in the city of Providence and 
 elsewhere throughout Rhode Island. His designs 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 267 
 
 are original, pleasing and practical, and his work is 
 noted for its modern and pretentious results accom- 
 plished at moderate and economical cost. Mr. 
 Colwell lives in the house in which he was born, 
 and outside of his family his life is thoroughly devoted 
 to his profession. He is, however, an enthusiastic 
 Republican in politics, and has attended every 
 election-return meeting in Providence since the 
 Fremont campaign,but has never sought nor accepted 
 public office. He was married, February 25, 1874, 
 to Miss Ida F. Horton, of Providence ; they have 
 six children : Carrie L., Henry H., Wilmarth H., 
 Jr., Chester R., Florence D. and Lillian H. Colwell. 
 
 C, FRED CRAWFORD. 
 
 ECCLESTON, Ai.vin Herbert, M. D., Provi- 
 dence, was born in North Stonington, Conn., 
 November 26, 1858, son of Latham Hull and Har- 
 riet Elizabeth (Burdick) Eccleston. His paternal 
 ancestry is English, county Cheshire, and his mater- 
 nal ancestors, also English, were among the first 
 settlers of Rhode Island. He received his early 
 education in the public schools of his native town 
 and at Hopkinton Academy, Ashaway, Rhode Island, 
 entered the Albany Medical College and graduated 
 
 in the class of 1880 with the degree of M. D. He 
 commenced the practice of his profession in Rhode 
 Island in the summer of 1880, and obtained an 
 extensive and lucrative practice in Washington 
 county. In 1892 he removed to Providence, where 
 he has since practiced. During his residence in 
 Washington county he was a member of the Town 
 Council of Richmond, and Chairman of the School 
 
 A. H. ECCLESTON, 
 
 Committee for five years. In 1889 he was elected 
 a member of the House of Representatives of the 
 General Assembly and served two years. In 1890 
 he was appointed by Governor Ladd a member of 
 the State Board of Health. In 1892 he was com- 
 missioned an Examining Surgeon for the United 
 States. He is Surgeon of the New York, New 
 Haven & Hartford Railroad, and is Major and 
 Surgeon of the United Train of Artillery, Rhode 
 Island Militia. He is a member of the Rhode 
 Island Medical Society and of the Washington 
 County Medical Society, and is a member of Charity 
 Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Franklin Royal Arch 
 Chapter, Narragansett Commandery, Providence 
 Consistory Thirty-Second degree, Northern Juris- 
 diction, also of Mechanics Lodge, I. O O. F., and 
 Niantic Encampment. Dr. Eccleston is also a 
 member of the Rhode Island Sons of the American 
 Revolution. 
 
268 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 FISHER, George Russell, physician and sur- 
 geon, was born in North Scituate, R. I., May 28, 
 1852, the son of Charles Harris and Sophia Reming- 
 ton (Smith) Fisher. His father was a surgeon, and 
 at his death was Secretary of the State Board of 
 Health, and for many years represented Scituate in 
 the General Assembly. On his mother's side he is 
 descended from the West family, one of whose 
 members was Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island ; 
 her grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary 
 War. He received his early education in the com- 
 mon schools and Lapham Institute, Scituate. He 
 entered Brown University and graduated in the class 
 of 1872. He adopted medicine as a profession and 
 studied at Bellevue Hospital and at the Yale Med- 
 ical school. He established himself as a physician 
 in Scituate, where he was town physician from 1876 
 to 1879. H^ ^^^ Assistant Surgeon General from 
 1876 to 1881, and on May 6, 1895, ^^^ appointed 
 Assistant Surgeon of the United Train of Artillery, 
 He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of Roger 
 Williams Lodge, A. F. & A. M. of Centreville, R. I., 
 and of the Order of United Workmen. He married, 
 December 6, 1886, Miss Annie Wilkinson Hale; 
 they have no children. 
 
 of his brother, Thomas F., to partnership. The 
 firm have built up an extensive business and have 
 been connected with some of the largest building 
 enterprises of Providence and vicinity. Among the 
 large contracts they have executed may be men- 
 tioned : Carpenter work on Manual Training School, 
 Hodges Building, Champlin Block, Art Museum at 
 Roger Williams Park, State Normal School, Home 
 for Aged Men on Broad street, and Athletic Club 
 building on Weybosset street ; carpenter and mason 
 work on St. Joseph's Hospital, Joseph Banig'in's 
 house and stable, also P. T. Banigan's house. East 
 
 GILBANE, William, senior member of the firm 
 of William Gilbane & Brother, carpenters and 
 builders, Providence, was born in county Leitrim, 
 Ireland, September 21, 1844, son of Thomas and 
 Bridget (O'Brien) Gilbane. His father and mother 
 were both natives of county Leitrim. They came 
 to this country in 1845 ^-nd located at Limerock, in 
 the town of Lincoln, R. I., where the father engaged 
 in farming and also worked for the Harris Limerock 
 Company. The family moved to Providence in 
 June 1868. WiUiam Gilbane, the subject of this 
 sketch, received his early education in the Limerock 
 district school, working meanwhile at farming and 
 for a time in the box shop of the Lonsdale Company 
 at Lonsdale. In 1862 he came to Providence and 
 apprenticed himself to learn the carpenters' trade 
 with George A. Brown. While serving his appren- 
 ticeship he attended the Providence Evening School, 
 also drawing school, and took courses at the Bryant 
 & Stratton Business College and the Rhode Island 
 School of Design. In 1870 he went into business 
 for himself as a carpenter and builder, and continued 
 alone until 1883, when the present firm of William 
 Gilbane & Brother was established by the admission 
 
 WM GILBANE. 
 
 and West Side high schools, and Holy Name Church 
 on Camp street. Mr. Gilbane is a member of the 
 Catholic Knights of America, also of the Brownson 
 Lyceum Literary Society. In politics he is an Inde- 
 pendent. He was married, February 17, 1870, to 
 Annie Frances Martin ; they have six children : 
 Annie Josephine, Mary Alice, William Henry, Jennie 
 Ursula, Elizabeth Veronica and Helen Martha 
 Gilbane. 
 
 GILBANE, Thomas Francis, of William Gilbane 
 & Brother, carpenters and builders, Providence, 
 was born in Limerock, Lincoln, R. I., November 
 5, 1854, son of Thomas and Bridget (O'Brien) 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 269 
 
 Gilbane. His parents were born in the county of 
 Leitrim, Ireland, and came to this country in 1845, 
 locating at Limerock, where the father worked for 
 the Harris Limerock Company and also at farming, 
 until their removal to Providence, June 10, 1868. 
 His early education was acquired in attendance at 
 the Limerock district school and at evening school 
 in Providence. Later he attended both day and 
 evening commercial school at the Bryant & Stratton 
 Business College in Providence, and also studied 
 drawing at a school on Fountain street and for six 
 winters in evening class at the Rhode Island School 
 of Design. In June 1868 he went to work in 
 the Allen Print Works in Providence, where he re- 
 mained two years, and then worked for the Provi- 
 dence Tool Company until in July 187 1 he entered 
 upon an apprenticeship with his brother William to 
 learn the carpenters' trade. In 1883 he became 
 
 THOS. F. GILBANE. 
 
 associated in partnership with his brother, under 
 the firm name of William Gilbane & Brother, which 
 relation has continued to the present time. The 
 firm have built up a large business in their line, and 
 besides their building and construction work, which 
 is mentioned in greater detail in the preceding 
 biographical sketch of William Gilbane, they oper- 
 ate a large factory for getting out building fin- 
 ish and material, and for general woodworking. 
 Mr. Gilbane is a member of the Brownson Lyceum 
 
 Literary Association, and is an Independent in 
 politics. He was married, January 27, 1886, to 
 Miss Mary Josephine McGuinness ; they have two 
 children : Catherine Josephine and Miriam Attracta 
 Gilbane. 
 
 J. J. LACE. 
 
 LANGMAID, George Batchelder, M. D., East 
 Greenwich, was born in North Danville, Vt., 
 September 5, 1848, son of Willard K. and Emily 
 (Batchelder) Langmaid. He received his early 
 education in the common schools, and at Barton 
 (Vermont) Academy, from which he graduated at 
 the age of twenty. Immediately following gradua- 
 tion he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. 
 Stokes of St. Johnsbury, Vt., where he remained for 
 six months, and then went on a tour west as far as 
 Colorado. Upon his return he resumed his study 
 of medicine, under the preceptorship of the late 
 Dr. Calvin Woodward of his native town, with whom 
 he continued for a year, when the Doctor came to 
 Boston and arranged for his pupil to enter the 
 Boston University School of Medicine. Here he 
 took a three-years course, and graduated with the 
 class of 1877. Locating in Melrose, Mass., he 
 practiced his profession in that town for nine years, 
 removing in April 1886 to East Greenwich, where 
 he took an entirely new field, and has continued in 
 active practice to the present time. For the last 
 
270 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 three years he has been Surgeon of the Kentish 
 Guards of East Greenwich. Dr. Langmaid is a 
 
 3pS^^^'*'Mht 
 
 GEO. B. LANGMAID. 
 
 member of the Boston Homoeopathic Medical 
 Society. In politics he is a Republican. 
 
 MITCHELL, John Waite, M. D., Providence, 
 was born in Norwich, Chenango county, N. Y., April 
 6, 1848, son of John and Caroline D. (Foote) 
 Mitchell. He is of old New England ancestry on 
 both sides ; the Mitchells came originally from 
 Scotland, and his grandfather Mitchell came to 
 New York state from Connecticut j the Footes were 
 also from Connecticut, and his maternal aricestor, 
 Isaac Foote, was an officer in the Revolutionary 
 army, and with Washington at Valley Forge, and 
 later was a Judge in Chenango county, N. Y. John 
 Waite Mitchell received his early education in the 
 public schools and prepared for college at Williston 
 Seminary, East Hampton, Mass., from which insti- 
 tution he graduated in 1868. He then entered 
 Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York 
 city, graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medi- 
 cine in 187 1, and after graduation served for a time 
 as Interne of the hospital, under Dr. James R. 
 Wood and Dr. John J. Crane of New York as pre- 
 ceptors. In October 1872 he began his career as a 
 medical and surgical practitioner in Providence, 
 and has continued in active practice ever since. 
 
 Dr. Mitchell served as Attending Surgeon of the 
 Rhode Island Hospital Dispensary in Providence 
 from 1873 to 1875, was Visiting Physician to the 
 Rhode Island Hospital from 1873 to 1882, and 
 since the latter date has been Visiting Surgeon to 
 that institution; is Consulting Physician to St. 
 Joseph's Hospital, St. EHzabeth's Home and the 
 Catholic Orphan Asylum ; and was one of the 
 original incorporators of the Providence Lying-in 
 Hospital, of which he has been Consulting Physi- 
 cian and President of the Board of Trustees ever 
 since. He became a member of the Providence 
 Medical Association in 1886 and of the Rhode 
 Island Medical Society in 1889, and is one of the 
 most influential members of those organizations, 
 frequently contributing valuable papers to both 
 associations, as well as to various medical journals. 
 In politics Dr. Mitchell is a Republican. He was 
 married, April 15, 1875, to Miss Frances E. Mason, 
 who died in 1876. In August 1878 he married 
 Miss Lydia Pearce ; they have one child, John 
 Pearce Mitchell. 
 
 JOS. F. Mcdonough. 
 
 THOMPSON, David Moulton, President and 
 Treasurer of the Corliss Steam Engine Company, 
 Providence, was born at Great Falls, in the town of 
 Somersworth, N. H., April 10, 1839. He was the 
 eldest of a family of four sons and three daughters, 
 
^^M 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 271 
 
 children of Joseph H. and Lydia B. (Moulton) 
 Thompson. He was educated in the pubHc schools 
 of his native town, and graduated from the high 
 school at sixteen years of age. It was the earnest 
 desire of his parents that he should enter college ; 
 but he had formed other plans, and finally obtained 
 their consent to a postponement of theirs for one or 
 possibly two years. He had from early boyhood man- 
 ifested a deep interest in machinery and mechanics. 
 His father was both a frame and mule spinner, and 
 operated under contract for many years the spinning 
 of several mills owned by the Great Falls Manufac- 
 turing Company. Thus exceptional opportunities 
 were at hand to gratify his desire to learn the art of 
 cotton manufacture. Very much of his time out of 
 school hours and nearly all school vacations had 
 been spent in the mills. At fourteen years he had 
 engaged in all of the duties and operations required 
 of the back-boys, cleaners, frame spinners, and the 
 mule piecer, spinners and doffers ; while at sixteen 
 he was regarded as a proficient operator of Smith 
 and Mason mules. This early experience and 
 training may be regarded as not only the foun- 
 dation, but as a factor of great supplementary 
 force, influencing in a large measure all subse- 
 quent effort and the achievements of later years. 
 Shortly after leaving school he went into the mills, 
 in pursuance of a well-formed purpose to learn 
 all of the operations of the several departments, 
 to which he devoted nearly four years. The last 
 ten months were spent in the bleachery and 
 cloth-finishing departments. He then went to 
 Boston, and served a regular apprenticeship to the 
 trade of a carpenter and joiner. In i860 he 
 returned to the mills, to engage in the mechanical 
 departments. In the latter part of said year, he 
 was engaged to go to Manville, R. I., where he 
 started up and operated a room of self-acting 
 mules. Several months later he accepted, of the 
 same company, the position of master mechanic, in 
 which he remained during the re-organization of 
 the property. Hon. Jonathan Chace, ex-Senator of 
 Rhode Island, was then Agent. In September 
 1863 he removed to Whitinsville, Mass., and 
 entered the employ of the Paul Whitin & Sons, sub- 
 sequently the Whitin Machine Works, noted 
 builders of cotton machinery, in which service he 
 remained three years. In September 1866 he 
 removed to Portland, Me., entered a copartnership 
 with two former associates, and began business as 
 carpenters and builders. One of the partners 
 retired in a few months ; during the second year he 
 
 purchased the interest of the remaining partner and 
 continued the business alone. The third year he 
 employed an average of one hundred and seventy- 
 five carpenters, upon a variety of high-grade work, 
 among which was a contract for the re-build- 
 ing of the High Street Congregational Church 
 (Rev. Dr. Fenn, pastor). A recognition such as the 
 above, accorded a young man but twenty-nine years 
 of age and a resident but two and a half years, was 
 an honor of which he may justly have been proud. 
 In September 1869 he was invited to remove to 
 Boston and enter into partnership with the builder 
 of whom he learned his trade (a man of large 
 experience and considerable means) less than eleven 
 years before. He accepted the proposal, and in 
 January 1870 sold out his business in Portland. In 
 July following, the terms of the copartnership were 
 revised to enable him to open an office for the 
 practice of architecture and engineering as a pro- 
 fession, — a long cherished plan, in the prepara- 
 tion for which years of earnest effort had been 
 given. In July 1871 he was engaged as the archi- 
 tect, engineer and builder for the Number Three 
 Mill (designed for 120,000 spindles) at Manville, 
 R. I., where eight years before he was employed as 
 master mechanic. This engagement materially 
 changed recently-formed plans, and he determined 
 to unite the varied experiences of previous years and 
 devote the future exclusively to mill engineering, 
 a profession justly demanding a wide range of 
 practical experience. It then appeared clear that 
 the many departments of industrial work which had 
 occupied the preceding sixteen years were but the 
 links of a chain awaiting the process of welding, 
 or as a series of minor paths all converging toward 
 a central point or junction into a broad thorough- 
 fare common to all. In September 1873 he dissolved 
 his partnership in the builders' trade in Boston, and 
 the following December removed his engineer- 
 ing office from Boston to Providence. The business 
 extended beyond local surroundings and gave 
 promise of large operations in the future. In the 
 spring of 1878 he visited Europe, where he devoted 
 seven months to a careful study and observation of 
 the methods employed in the manufacture and 
 finish of cotton and woolen textile fabrics, as also 
 to questions of engineering and mechanical con- 
 struction, both in England and upon the conti- 
 nent. In February 1879 he visited the South, 
 devoting four months to extended travel and study 
 of its social and physical conditions, with reference 
 to its probable future in the manufacture of cotton. 
 
272 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 The predictions made upon his return have proved 
 prophetic. A large business was opened up in the 
 South. The operations of his office extended 
 rapidly through the New England and Middle 
 states, the Southwest and Canada. In 1883 the 
 office employed thirty-seven draughtsmen ; twenty- 
 seven mills were in process of treatment, of which 
 eleven were new plants, and sixteen in course of 
 re-organization. During the twelve years pre- 
 ceding, more than twenty young men (many of 
 them graduates of technological schools) had been 
 trained through a three-years apprenticeship, a 
 system which proved of great value. These young 
 men are now employed in important work through 
 the country, while several of them are occupying 
 positions of large responsibility. The honor and 
 pride of the training of such a corps of young men 
 constitute some of his most pleasant memories. 
 In the presence of such conditions as above recited, 
 Mr. Thompson was induced in 1883 to give up his 
 profession, and enter the service of Messrs. B. B. & 
 R. Knight as General Manager of their mills, em- 
 bracing all of the properties except the Hebron 
 Manufacturing Company. The capacity of the mills 
 in 1883 was one hundred and eighty thousand spin- 
 dles. He continued in the management for a period 
 of twelve years, during which the business extended 
 to four hundred and twenty-one thousand spindles 
 and twelve thousand six hundred looms, employing 
 seven thousand persons. Their property comprised 
 seventeen villages in Rhode Island and Massachu- 
 setts, twenty-one mills, a bleachery and print works. 
 The production of the bleachery was twenty-two 
 tons of goods per day, and this large amount was 
 but sixty per cent, of the product of the mills. 
 Mr. Thompson resigned in May 1894, to take 
 effect January i, 1895. In May 1894 the property 
 of the CorHss Steam Engine Company was pur- 
 chased of the heirs of the late George H. Corliss, 
 and in the re-organization Mr. Thompson was 
 elected President and Treasurer. His associates 
 in the directory are men of great prominence, 
 and widely known as practical and financial man- 
 agers of many of the most prominent mechanical 
 works in New England. In the face of an un- 
 paralleled business depression the works of the 
 CorHss Steam Engine Company resumed operations. 
 The year 1895 witnessed a larger production and 
 output than ever before in the history of the works. 
 Mr. Thompson's management is recognized, in view 
 of the times, to be remarkably successful. Many 
 improvements have been made involving large 
 
 expenditures. One of the most marked is doubtless 
 his invention of a new type of boiler, patents for 
 which have been issued to him in the United States, 
 Canada, Great Britain, France and Belgium. It has 
 been subjected to a large number of tests by disin- 
 terested experts of high reputation, and the results 
 obtained are recognized by all as phenomenal, 
 exceeding anything heretofore known of which there 
 is reliable and authentic record. It now appears 
 only a question of a restoration of healthful business 
 conditions, when this famous and world-renowned 
 plant will take its position as in former times when 
 under the direction of its illustrious founder. 
 The responsibilities of large business interests have 
 for many years been such as to preclude the accept- 
 ance of political honors, which have been often 
 tendered. He has taken a deep interest in the 
 welfare of the city of Providence, where he has 
 resided for the past twenty-four years, and is recog- 
 nized as a factor of influence, and an earnest 
 promoter of all just measures for public improve- 
 ment. He was the projector of the Greenwich- 
 street improvements and Elmwood-avenue boule- 
 vard. His exposition of the above subject, coupled 
 with a review of the progress and improvement 
 of many modern cities, pubHshed in 1889, in a 
 voluminous pamphlet, accomplished its purpose, re- 
 moved the objections which had stood as barriers 
 for years, and awakened a liberal spirit, the evi- 
 dence of which is apparent in the extensive works 
 since undertaken and now in progress. A second 
 edition of three thousand copies was called for, five 
 hundred of which were distributed largely at request 
 for municipal and public libraries throughout the 
 country. It was widely noticed by the press, 
 notably by the Boston Herald in November 1889, 
 and was pronounced by Frederick Law Olmsted 
 (a gentleman of national reputation) as one of the 
 best presentations of the subject that he had ever 
 seen. In 1891 a joint resolution of the City 
 Council had been presented to the General 
 Assembly, asking for the enactment of a bill per- 
 mitting the city of Providence to borrow four 
 million dollars for public improvements. The 
 natural spirit of conservatism, supplemented by 
 local disturbance and difference of opinion among 
 prominent leaders, stood as an inflexible barrier. 
 At the request of the Ma)-or, Mr. Thompson engaged 
 in the work at once. He called a meeting of the 
 executive committee of the Advance Club. His 
 urgent appeal secured the support of this committee 
 (composed of fifteen prominent citizens), and laid 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 273 
 
 the foundation of subsequent effort in harmonizing 
 serious opposition. He then called a meeting of 
 the club, and his address upon that occasion, en- 
 titled " The Crisis," was unanimously endorsed. A 
 thousand copies were ordered printed and dis- 
 tributed to the City Council, and to leading 
 and prominent citizens of influence in the city 
 and state. A committee of prominent members 
 of the club presented the address and resolu- 
 tions to the General Assembly, and secured a 
 prompt enactment of the important measure. 
 Mr. Edwin P. Dawley, chief of the engineering 
 department, Providence Division, of the New York, 
 New Haven & Hartford ConsoHdated Railroad, 
 says : " The change in terminal plans for the pur- 
 pose of widening Francis street, from eighty feet as 
 first determined to one hundred feet as now being 
 executed, was due to Mr. Thompson's recommen- 
 dation and earnest personal advocacy." The above 
 indicates very briefly the deep interest he has taken 
 in all measures intended to advance the material 
 interests of his adopted city and state. He has for 
 many years taken a deep interest in technical edu- 
 cation, and has been especially desirous for the 
 establishment of a technological school which 
 should give prominence to the technics of the tex- 
 tile industry. In company with several prominent 
 citizens, a charter was secured for the purpose. 
 Fourteen business organizations and Boards of 
 Trade of the state were induced to co-operate. 
 Five delegates from each wer? appointed to com- 
 pose a general committee into whose hands the 
 interests of this great work was placed. At the in- 
 vitation of this committee, Mr. Thompson prepared 
 an address which set forth clearly and at length the 
 objects and purposes of the enterprise. The paper 
 was published and distributed throughout the state, 
 and awakened a deep interest; but owing to the 
 serious financial conditions the work of the com- 
 mittee has been suspended. He was the founder of 
 the Advance Club, and its first President for three 
 years, and is a member of many social and business 
 organizations. He is a Free Mason, raised in 
 Solomon's Temple Lodge in Saccarappa, Maine, in 
 1867. The foregoing is but a brief outline of a 
 busy life. Mr. Thompson has been an active and 
 indefatigable worker, versatile in resources, of tre- 
 mendous nervous power and energy. He has had a 
 wide and remarkable experience of great diversity. 
 He is widely known throughout the country, and to 
 nearly all engaged in manufacturing interests. 
 Commencing business life at a very early age, he 
 
 has done forty years of work averaging not less than 
 sixteen hours a day. As will be seen from the 
 recent portrait herewith, he is yet young, full of 
 vigor, in the prime of an active life, which gives 
 promise of yet long years of great usefulness. Mr. 
 Thompson was married, January 16, 1858, to Anna 
 J. Hanners, of Great Falls, daughter of Thomas 
 and Jane Hanners (both deceased) ; they have 
 had two children: Lydia Ella (deceased), and 
 Emma Frances, married to Daniel J. Sully, October 
 I, 1885. Mr. and Mrs. Sully reside in Providence, 
 and have three children : Anna Beth, Kenneth 
 Moulton and Gladys Lee Sully. 
 
 WEST, George J., I,awyer, Providence, was 
 born in that city, in 1852, son of John and 
 Catherine (Cavanagh) West, and died July 21, 
 
 GEO. J. WEST, 
 
 1896. He acquired his early education in the public 
 schools, and graduated from Brown University in 
 1876. From college he entered the Law School of 
 Boston University. Graduating in 1878, he opened 
 an office and commenced practice in Providence. 
 Later, his brothers Ambrose E. and Thomas F. 
 were associated with him. The former died in 1894. 
 Mr. West early established a reputation as an advo- 
 
2 74 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 cate of superior ability, and especially in the depart- 
 ment of criminal law he soon won a position and 
 fame which placed him in the front rank of his pro- 
 fession. At the time of his death, which unexpected 
 and untoward event occurred in the midst of a 
 brilliant career full of even greater future promise, 
 he was universally recognized as the foremost crim- 
 inal lawyer of Rhode Island, if not of New England, 
 although his practice did not extend beyond the 
 limits of his own state. His talents and abilities 
 were not confined, however, to the criminal branch 
 of his profession, as in all respects he was a persis- 
 tent student, widely read and possessing an amazing 
 fund of general information, an acute lawyer, and a 
 brilliant and magnetic advocate. Before a jury, he 
 had few equals and no superiors, and even among 
 his competitors in the legal profession, it is the 
 belief of many that he was without a peer in the 
 art of fascinating and capturing the twelve men 
 that are selected to render a decision in mat- 
 ters of litigation. One of the first criminal trials 
 in which Mr. West figured was that of the noto- 
 rious "Spiker" Murphy, now serving a life term 
 in the Rhode Island State Prison at Cranston. 
 His opponent on the side of the State was Judge 
 Horatio Rogers, then Attorney-General, and Judge 
 Rogers asserted that a harder fight for the acquittal 
 of a prisoner was never within his experience. The 
 skill, ingenuity and forensic ability displayed by 
 Mr. West in that case astonished members of the 
 Bar, who until then were not aware of his mental 
 stature or his grasp of his vocation. He stepped 
 into celebrity at once, and since that memorable con- 
 test has been regarded as the Abe Hummel of 
 Rhode Island jurisprudence. Mr. West again 
 came into prominence in his defence of Yankee 
 Dan Sullivan, and was defeated in that case, only 
 because Sullivan made a fatal admission, or stumble, 
 on the witness stand. Mr. West's victories won in 
 the trials of Ernest Whitaker and Dr. Hale are 
 fresh in the recollections of the people of Rhode 
 Island. In the latter case particularly, did his 
 superb accomplishments and wonderful fertility of 
 mind undergo a most telHng exemplification. The 
 doctors on the side of the prosecution confessed 
 that they never ran against so dangerous a cross- 
 questioner, or one who seemed to know the medical 
 books from Alpha to Omega as he did. In the 
 civil departments of the courts also, Mr. West 
 scored many notable triumphs. One of these was 
 the famous Burnham case against the Railroad, 
 in which he got four successive verdicts, for 
 
 seventy-five hundred, eight thousand, eleven thou- 
 sand, and twenty thousand, dollars respectively. 
 After the first verdict, the Supreme Court granted 
 the railroad new trials, and while preparing to raise 
 the ad damnum to thirty thousand dollars, Mr. 
 West agreed to a liberal settlement with the road. 
 The cases growing out of the railroad accident at 
 Lonsdale were also handled with exceptional 
 cleverness by Mr. West, who established the point 
 upon which all of those pieces of litigation turned. 
 He was connected with the celebrated Wash- 
 burn-Moen case, in which he was paid by Doc. 
 Wilson a retainer that has rarely been equalled. 
 He participated in the contest over the will of 
 Judge Eli Aylsworth, and it was in a large measure 
 due to his masterly efforts that the will was broken 
 by the jury. Corporations came to consider him 
 one of the most dangerous antagonists they could 
 meet, learning to dread the appearance of his name 
 on a writ, and it is within the knowledge of many 
 attorneys that sooner than risk a battle before a 
 jury with George J. West, they would gladly settle 
 for a round sum. Mr. West's income from his 
 practice was very large. He owned a number of 
 pieces of valuable real estate, but never went into 
 speculation in any other form, devoting his business 
 Hfe almost wholly to his profession. As a lawyer 
 he was an indefatigable laborer, toiling both night 
 and day ; and perhaps quite as much to his assiduity 
 with his law books and reports, as to his native 
 quickness and ability, was due his many noteworthy 
 achievements before the bar of justice. He could 
 see into difficulties with a directness of perception 
 and a thoroughness of comprehension that excited 
 the admiration of his brother barristers. He was 
 not given to deciding a question off hand, but bent 
 to its consideration all of his energy and attainments, 
 often working for days and weeks over a point he 
 desired to emphasize, and then coming into court 
 fortified with authority after authority and reason after 
 reason until his opposing counsel began to think he 
 was a perfect cyclopedia of legal information. He was 
 eminently faithful to his clients, who always trusted 
 him implicitly, and when he had laid down their 
 cases they had the satisfaction of knowing that there 
 was absolutely nothing more that could be done for 
 them. In Mr. West's untimely removal by death, 
 the bar of the state, and the city that was his home, 
 have suffered an irreparable loss. He was closely 
 in touch with the people in many ways, and was 
 particularly serviceable to them in defending their 
 rights against the real or fancied encroachments of 
 
MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 275 
 
 corporations ; was one of the staunchest and 
 most valuable friends of the public schools ; and 
 was actively prominent in all matters relative 
 to the fostering of Catholic institutions. He was a 
 member of the School Board of Providence from 
 1888 until his death, and in 1885-6 was a Repre- 
 sentative in the Rhode Island General Assembly. 
 In politics Mr. West was a Democrat, and had 
 served as a member of the Democratic City and 
 State Central committees. He was twice married, 
 his first wife passing away a short time after their 
 union. His second marriage was in 1881, to 
 Miss Hyde, of Providence, by whom he had seven 
 children. He was very fond of his home and 
 family, and although a member of many societies of 
 a social and literary character, he devoted a large 
 share of his time to the home circle. Mr. West 
 died abroad, whither he had gone with his family on 
 a tour of pleasure and health-recuperation, the 
 event taking place in Aughnacloy, Ireland, from the 
 effects of a cold contracted during a period of cold 
 and stormy weather in crossing the Isrih sea. His 
 remains were brought home on the steamship 
 Servia, which also brought the Ancient and Hon- 
 orable Artillery Company of Boston, who had been 
 his fellow-passengers on the same steamer a few 
 weeks before. An escort of honor, detailed by the 
 city government and various societies of Providence, 
 accompanied the body from Boston to that city, 
 where two days latter the funeral was held in the 
 Cathedral, attended by an immense concourse of 
 neighbors, business and professional acquaintances, 
 representatives of the Bench and the Bar, the city 
 and state governments, various societies, and citi- 
 zens generally, assembled to pay their tributes of 
 reverence and sorrow to the memory of the departed 
 lawyer, their sincere friend and conscientious 
 advocate. 
 
 WHEATON, Francis Levison, M. D., of Provi- 
 dence, was born in Providence October 27, 1804, 
 son of Dr. Levi and Martha (Burrill) Wheaton, and 
 died January 20, 1896. His early education was 
 acquired in the public schools of his native city, 
 and his studies for his profession included attend- 
 ance at the Medical School of Brown University, 
 and lectures in Boston. He received a further val- 
 uable training as assistant to his brother. Dr. Walter 
 Wheaton, Surgeon of the Second Regiment U. S. 
 A., from the age of seventeen to twenty, and in 
 1824 he accompanied the regiment under command 
 of Colonel Brady from Sackett's Harbor to Lake 
 
 Superior. Returning to Providence in that year he 
 established himself as a physician and surgeon, and 
 remained until May 1836, when he accepted an in- 
 vitation to go to Pomfret, Conn., to take the place 
 of Dr. Hubbard, physician and surgeon of that 
 town. He returned to Providence in 1840 and 
 practiced his profession there, excepting during his 
 intervals of military service, until his retirement 
 from age and failing health a few years since. 
 During the Mexican War he accepted the position 
 of Surgeon to the Ninth Regiment, U. S. A., and 
 participated in the campaigns which resulted in the 
 capture of the City of Mexico by General Scott. 
 During the war of the Rebellion he served as Sur- 
 geon to the First and Second Regiments, Rhode 
 Island Volunteers. After the war he was appointed 
 Surgeon-General of Rhode Island, and held that 
 office for a number of years. Dr. Wheaton was a 
 member of the Rhode Island Medical Society and 
 the Providence Medical Association. He was mar- 
 ried, August 3, 1828, to Miss Amelia Smith Burrill; 
 they had four children : George Burrill, Frank, 
 WiUiam Levi and Henry Seth Wheaton. The 
 second son is now Brigadier-General Frank 
 Wheaton, United States Army. 
 
 WILLARD, Charles Wells, Commissioner of 
 Inland Fisheries for the state of Rhode Island, was 
 born in Hartford, Conn., January 24, 1853, son 
 of William Francis and Frances Griswold (Wells) 
 Willard. He is descended on both sides in a 
 direct line from one of the Colonial Governors of 
 Connecticut — the seventh generation on the Willard 
 side and the eighth on the Wells side from Governor 
 Thomas Wells, who was born in England in 1570, and 
 landed at Salem, Mass., June 24, 1629, five years 
 before Simeon Willard, the paternal progenitor of 
 Charles W., came to America ; he died at Wethers- 
 field, Conn., and was one of the wealthiest and most 
 prominent men of his time. Simeon Willard, son 
 of Richard Willard of Kent, England, came over in 
 1634. Soon after his arrival he and his brother-in- 
 law Captain Davis established themselves in Cam- 
 bridge, where they owned adjoining lands on the 
 Brighton side of the Charles River. Major Willard, 
 as he afterwards became known, was one of the 
 leaders in founding the town of Concord, Mass., on 
 the site of the Indian village of Musketoguid. From 
 him the subject of this sketch is descended. He 
 was educated in the public and high schools of 
 Hartford, and adopted a mercantile career. In 
 
276 
 
 MEN OF PROGRESS. 
 
 1878 he succeeded J. H. Porter, at Westerly, in the 
 hardware trade, in the same building, 22-24 High 
 street, in which he now occupies two stores and 
 four floors for the requirements of his extensive 
 business. Mr. Willard has served as Rhode Island 
 
 CHAS. W, WILLARD. 
 
 Commissioner of Inland Fisheries since 1894. He 
 has always held aloof from accepting political or 
 town offices, as interfering with his active business 
 life, and he was led to accept the office of Fish 
 Commissioner only by the inducements of his ex- 
 treme love of fishing and his fondness for the study 
 of the habits and culture of fishes. He is a char- 
 ter member and was prominent in the organization 
 of the Westerly Business Men's Association, a strong 
 
 body of practical business men occupying the entire 
 second floor of the Porter & Loveland Building. 
 He is also a Director in the Mechanics Savings 
 Bank, and Vice-President of the Local Board of the 
 Connecticut Savings Society. He is prominent in 
 Masonry, being Worshipful Master of Franklin 
 Lodge of Westerly, and Past Eminent Commander 
 of Narragansett Commandery Knights Templar. 
 He has also served since 1893 as a Trustee of Bowen 
 Lodge Knights of Pythias. Mr. Willard was married, 
 November 25, 1880, to Miss Minnie Porter of 
 Westerly; they have a daughter : Grace Porter 
 Willard. 
 
 W. H. COLWELL. 
 For Sketch see page 266. 
 
ADDENDA AND ERRATA. 
 
 Arms, Charles J. Page 264. Eiographical data not furnished. 
 
 Baker, Darius. Page 84. In second line, second column, in place of "1875" 
 
 read " 1879 " • " He served as Trial Justice of the city from 1879 to 1886." 
 
 Ballou, H. C. Page 225. Thirteenth line, first column, referring to nomination 
 
 for Alderman : Lacked twenty-five votes of election. 
 
 Barry, VV. F., M. D. Page 87. Was married, April 14, 1896, to Elizabeth Agnes 
 
 Conley, daughter of P. J. Conley, the late rubber manufacturer. Was appointed. 
 May 8, 1896, Assistant Surgeon to the Second Regiment Infantry, Rhode Island 
 Militia, with rank of First Lieutenant. 
 
 Barstow, George E. Page 7. Is also a member of the American Academy of Polit- 
 ical and Social Science, Philadelphia. In lines six and seven, second column, for 
 " Miss Drew Symonds " read " Clara Drew Symonds." 
 
 BucKLiN, E. C. Page 8. In second line of sketch, in place of " Woonsocket " read 
 
 "Providence " : "Treasurer of the Harris Manufacturing Company, Providence." 
 
 CoLWELL, W. H. Page 266. Portrait, on page 276, furnished too late for insertion 
 
 with sketch. 
 
 Crawford, C. Fred. Page 267. Born in Pawtucket, Mass., December 27, 1844. 
 
 ninth child of George and Hannah Crawford ; attended the public schools until the 
 age of eighteen : started as "reaming boy" in the spool factory of R. & G. Cush- 
 man ; passed through all the various departments, learning the details of each ; 
 entered the ofifice as shipping clerk, was made book-keeper and clerk after the death 
 of Mr. Phillips, one of the partners, and soon after was admitted to the firm under 
 the name of Atwood, Crawford & Co. The business continued to increase, was 
 incorporated under the style of the Atwood-Crawford Company, of which Mr. Craw- 
 ford is a member of the Board of Directors, and is now one of the largest spool- 
 manufacturing establishments in New England. He has occupied various public 
 positions from Fire Ward to Assemblyman ; was Secretary of the Central Falls Fire 
 District 1878-80, declining are-election; for years was Clerk and afterwards was 
 Moderator of the voting district of Central Falls in the town of Lincoln ; served in 
 the General Assembly 1887-8 as Representative from Lincoln ; was elected Town 
 Clerk of Lincoln in 1891 ; is now City Clerk of Central Falls, Clerk of the Probate 
 Court, Chairman of the Republican City Committee, Treasurer of the Republican 
 State League and the Lincoln Republican Association, and is identified with various 
 fraternal organizations. He was Foreman of the Pacific Steam Fire-Engine Com- 
 pany for two years, and is now President of the Central Falls Veteran Firemen's 
 Association ; is an associate member of the Grand Army, and belongs to the Central 
 Falls Congregational Church, which he has served as Sunday School Librarian con- 
 tinuously for more than thirty-three years. Mr. Crawford was married to Mattie M. 
 Horton, of Smithfield, R. I.; they have two children: Frederick S., born July 13, 
 1869, and C Lois, born February 25, 1879. — [Condensed from data furnished after 
 foregoing pages were printed. 
 
 Jackson, F. H. Page 44. In twenty-seventh hne of sketch, in place of " 1856" 
 
 read " 1866 " : " In 1866 he entered the law office," etc. 
 
 Lace, Dr. J. J. Page 269. Biographical data not furnished. 
 
278 ADDENDA AND ERRATA. 
 
 Larry, Reverend John Hale. Page 116. In sixteenth line of sketcli, "Little 
 
 Falls, N. H.," should read "Little Falls, Maine." On page 117, first column, 
 eighth line, " Smytherville " should read " Scytheville." 
 
 Lewis, Nathan B, Page 117. In first line of sketch, read "Barber" for "Bar- 
 bour": "Lewis, Nathan Barber." Page 118, forty- fourth line, first column, in 
 place of "1887" read "18S6": "was a member of the School Committee of 
 Exeter from June 1866 to June 1886." 
 
 McDoNOUGH, Rev. Jos. F. Page 270. Biographical data not furnished. 
 
 Nugent, Charles F. Page 53. In second line of sketch, in place of " 1869 " read 
 
 "1859": "born in Lynn, Mass., November 15, 1859." Page 54, in last line of 
 sketch, for " Tinker " read " Tinkler " : " He married, January 12, 1894, Miss Anny 
 E. Tinkler." 
 
 Perkins, Jay. Page 55. Is also a member of the American Medical Association. 
 
 Pond, Daniel B. Page 44. Died suddenly on September 9, 1896. Had just been 
 
 appointed by Governor Lippitt as one of the Rhode Island Commissioners to the 
 Nashville, Tennessee, Exposition. 
 
 Potter, Dexter B. Page 61. In second line of sketch, after "son of" add 
 
 "Reverend " : "Son of Reverend Jeremiah and Mary Ann (Salisbury) Potter." 
 
 Senior, D. W. Page 71. Removed to Medway, Massachusetts. 
 
 Thompson, Henry M. Page 144. In third hne, first column, "1871" should read 
 
 "1891": "was elected Clerk of the Supreme Court in May 1891." 
 
 Tiepke, Henry E. Page 141. Was re-elected Mayor for 1895-6. 
 
 Walker, General William R. Page 76. Mrs. Walker died February 21, 1895. 
 
 Webster, George E. Page 217. Date of marriage should be "1864" — not 
 
 "1884": "was married February 8, 1864." 
 
 West, George J. Page 273. Was a member of the Providence City Council, 1895-6. 
 
 Was also President of Democratic State Central Committee, 1883-4. 
 
 Williams, Alfred M. Page 79. Died at Besse Terre, St. Kitts, West Indies, 
 
 March 9, 1896. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aldrich, Nelson W 263 
 
 Allen, Crawford, Jr 153 
 
 Allen, E. R i 
 
 Almy, Herbert 81 
 
 AiMES, Geo. H 81 
 
 Andrews, E. B . 2 
 
 Anthony, Chas. W 82 
 
 Anthony F. H 221 
 
 Anthony, James 154 
 
 Arms, Charles J. (portrait only) 264 
 
 Arnold, John N. 2 
 
 Arnold, Olnev 221 
 
 Arnold, Warren O 83 
 
 Atwood, H. C 154 
 
 Babbitt, Edward S 157 
 
 Babcock, Albert S 83 
 
 Babcock, J. A 155 
 
 Bailey, Geo. C 3 
 
 Baker, Benj. ... 223 
 
 Baker, Darius 83 
 
 Ballou, B. a J 3 
 
 Ballou, CO . 158 
 
 Ballou, Dan'l R. . . 84 
 
 Ballou, H. C 224 
 
 Ballou, L. W 8 
 
 Barker, A. A 86 
 
 Barker, Henry R 158 
 
 Barker, William 12 
 
 Barnaey, Abner J 159 
 
 Barnard, Chas. A 4 
 
 Barney, W. H 11 
 
 Barnefield, Thomas P 86 
 
 Barrows, Edwin 5 
 
 Barry, William F 87 
 
 Barstow, Amos C 13 
 
 Barstow, Geo. E 7 
 
 Barton, N. B 225 
 
 Bates, William Lincoln 225 
 
 B.^xter, John J 87 
 
 Beane, Geo. F. A 88 
 
 Bedlow, Henry 226 
 
 Bentley, B. Courtland 227 
 
 Bixby, M. H 160 
 
 Blodgett, W. W. (sketch only) 264 
 
 Bosworth, B. M - 162 
 
 Bourn, Augustus O , 1 63 
 
 BOWEN, WiM. H 9 
 
 Boyle, P. J , 164 
 
 Brice, Harry B 227 
 
 Brown, E. A 7 
 
 Brown, D. Russell 5 
 
 Brown, H. Martin 6 
 
 Brown, Will E 164 
 
 Bruce, Henry J 89 
 
 BUCKLIN, E. C 8 
 
 Budlong, J. C 165 
 
 BuFFUM, W. P ID 
 
 Burbank, Robert W 89 
 
 Cady, Geo. W 90 
 
 Cady, Philo V 91 
 
 Campbell, F. A. ....... 265 
 
 Campbell, J. P 167 
 
 Campbell, John H. (sketch only) 266 
 
 Canfield, Herman 228 
 
 Capwell, Remington P 91 
 
 Carpenter, Alva 92 
 
 Carpenter, P. B 17 
 
 Carr, George W 14 
 
 Carroll, Hugh J 18 
 
 Chagnon, Chas. E 18 
 
 Champlin, Christopher E 92 
 
 Champlin, John Carder 168 
 
 Chapin, Charles V. (sketch only) 265 
 
 Child, B. H 16 
 
 Clancy, Wm. P 1 69 
 
 Clark, Henry C 93 
 
 Clarke, Chas. K 94 
 
 Clarke, E. P 169 
 
 Coggeshall, C. H 17 
 
 Cole, Jos. E 170 
 
 Colt, Sam'l P 94 
 
 Colwell, Francis 15 
 
28o 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 COLWELL, W. H. (portrait 276) 
 
 CoMSTOCK, Richard B 
 
 CONGDON, \\m. W 
 
 CoNLEY, John E 
 
 CoNLEY, Martin J 
 
 Cook, S. P 
 
 Cooper, Robert W 
 
 Cotton, Joseph P 
 
 COVELL, W. H 
 
 CoYLE, James 
 
 CoYLE, Philip H 
 
 Crafts, A. B 
 
 Crawford, C. Fred (sketch in addenda) 
 
 Crooker, George H 
 
 Crumb, Alexander G 
 
 Davis, F. J 
 
 Davis, John W. . . 
 
 Davis, W. D 
 
 Douglas, S. T. . . , 
 Douglas, W. W. . 
 Doyle, Thos. A. . . 
 
 Dovi'NES, L. T 
 
 Drown, Benjamin, 
 Dubois, Edward C. 
 Dubois, H. J. C. . . . 
 DuRFEE, Thomas . . 
 
 Eames, B. T 
 
 Earle, Chas. H 
 
 Eastman, Jas. H. . . . 
 Eccleston, a. H , . . . 
 
 EcROYD, Henry 
 
 Eddy, Charles D. . . 
 
 Ely, J. C 
 
 Ely, J. W. C 
 
 Everson, Edward W. 
 
 Farnsworth, John P 
 
 Farrally, Wm. H . 
 
 Farrell, J. T 
 
 Fisher, Geo. Russell (sketch only) 
 
 FoLSOM, Fred W 
 
 FoLSOM, John N , 
 
 Foster, Samuel 
 
 Fowler, Geo. H 
 
 Francis, E. Charles 
 
 Freeman, E. L 
 
 Fuller, Myron H. (sketch only) . . . 
 
 Gardiner, A. B. 
 Gardiner, J. B. 
 Garvin, L. F. C. 
 
 PAGE 
 266 
 
 95 
 95 
 96 
 
 19 
 
 96 
 
 230 
 
 97 
 98 
 20 
 20 
 267 
 
 99 
 100 
 
 171 
 
 100 
 
 21 
 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 172 
 
 22 
 
 lOI 
 
 102 
 23 
 
 25 
 
 28 
 103 
 
 27 
 
 267 
 
 26 
 26 
 
 30 
 
 28 
 ,231 
 
 103 
 
 31 
 231 
 
 268 
 
 104 
 
 173 
 30 
 
 173 
 32 
 
 174 
 
 233 
 233 
 
 34 
 
 PAGE 
 
 George, Chas. H 33 
 
 GiLEANE, Thomas F 268 
 
 GiLBANE, William 268 
 
 GoFF, Isaac L 33 
 
 GoFF, Lyman B 234 
 
 Gorman, Charles E 235 
 
 Gorton, William A 104 
 
 Granger, W. S 176 
 
 Grant, Geo. H 176 
 
 Grant, Robert Alex 105 
 
 Greene, Benj 236 
 
 Greene, Nath'l 236 
 
 Grinnell, Frederick 106 
 
 Hall, Nelson Read 107 
 
 Hall, William H 177 
 
 Haller, J. Frederick 237 
 
 Hanaford, James B 239 
 
 Harkins, Matthew 108 
 
 Harkness, Albert 178 
 
 Harris, Geo. A 35 
 
 Harris, Wm. A. . . . . 108 
 
 Harson, M. J 179 
 
 Hasbrouck, Sayer 180 
 
 Hayes, Charles no 
 
 Hayward, William S 109 
 
 Hawes, Edward C 181 
 
 Heathcote, John 239 
 
 Hemenway, H. L 36 
 
 Heydon, Henry D 36 
 
 Higbee, E. W 42 
 
 Hill, Frank 37 
 
 Hill, L. S 38 
 
 Hill, Thos. J 240 
 
 Holbrook, Albert 39 
 
 Holden, Frank E 241 
 
 Hollen, Jas. H 1 1 1 
 
 HoRTON, Horace F 38 
 
 Horton, J. W 42 
 
 Howard, Henry 182 
 
 Howard, Hiram 39 
 
 Hunt, Simeon 242 
 
 Jackson, C. A 43 
 
 Jackson, F. H 44 
 
 Jacoby, D. P. a Ill 
 
 Jenckes, John 243 
 
 Jones, Augustine 45 
 
 Jordan, Jules 182 
 
 JosLiN, Henry V. A 112 
 
 Kef.ne, George F 113 
 
 Kelliher, Michael W 113 
 
INDEX. 
 
 281 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Kendrick, John E 47 
 
 Kenney, W. F 46 
 
 Kenyon, Geo. H 244 
 
 Kimball, H. W 114 
 
 Kimball, James M 114 
 
 KiNNERNEY, H. F 1 84 
 
 Knapp, Albert M 1 85 
 
 Knight, B. B 186 
 
 Knight, Robert 187 
 
 Lace, J. J. (portrait only) 269 
 
 Ladd, Frank F , 115 
 
 Ladd, Herbert W 188 
 
 Ladd, John Westgate 115 
 
 Landers, A. C 50 
 
 Langmaid, Geo. B 269 
 
 Langstaff, Alfred M 48 
 
 Lapham, B. N 50 
 
 Lapham, Oscar 189 
 
 Larry, John Hale ; 116 
 
 Latham, Jos. A 49 
 
 Leach, Geo 190 
 
 Leaviit, Edward C iqo 
 
 Lee, Thomas Z 191 
 
 Legris, M. J. E 47 
 
 Lewis, James N 191 
 
 Lewis, Nathan B 117 
 
 Lewis, Sam. W 118 
 
 Lincoln, L. C 192 
 
 I^ippitt, R. Lincoln 119 
 
 Littlefield, Nathan W 193 
 
 Lynch, J. E 194 
 
 McCarthy, Patrick J 121 
 
 McCloy, John A 245 
 
 McDonough, Jos. F. (portrait only) 270 
 
 McGuiNNESS, E. D 194 
 
 Mackaye, H. G 120 
 
 McMurrough, Thomas 121 
 
 Martin, Joseph W 119 
 
 Mason, A. Livingston 195 
 
 Mason, Robert A 196 
 
 Mason, Robert D 52 
 
 Mathewson, Almy 244 
 
 Mathieu, J. E. V 197 
 
 Matteson, Charles 198 
 
 Metcalf, Harold 51 
 
 Miller, Augustus S 198 
 
 Miller, Horace G 246 
 
 Mitchell, John W. (sketch only) 270 
 
 MoFFiT, Godfrey 123 
 
 MoiES, Chas. P 122 
 
 Morrow, Robert. . 51 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Mowry, E. C 123 
 
 Munroe, Wm. C 247 
 
 Newell, Timothy 52 
 
 Neylan, D. J . . . 199 
 
 Nickerson, Asa H 124 
 
 Nicholson, S. M 200 
 
 Noyes, Rob't F 200 
 
 Nugent, Chas. F 53 
 
 O'Leary, Chas 201 
 
 Olney, Frank F 247 
 
 O' Reilly, Francis L 54 
 
 Owen, Franklin P 202 
 
 Palmer, Wm. H 124 
 
 Pease, L. B 248 
 
 Peck, George B 249 
 
 Peck, Samuel L 125 
 
 Peckham, Chas. H 250 
 
 Peckham, Thos. C. 126 
 
 Peirce, a. C 59 
 
 Peirce, J. L 59 
 
 Peirce, W. C 57 
 
 Pendleton, J. M 203 
 
 Perkins, Jay 54 
 
 Perry, John E 251 
 
 Perry, Oliver H 203 
 
 Pettis, Geo. H 204 
 
 Phillips, E. F 58 
 
 Pitman, T. T 57 
 
 Pond, Daniel B 55 
 
 Potter, Albert 60 
 
 Potter, Dexter B 61 
 
 PowE, Darius L 205 
 
 Powel, John Hare 252 
 
 Price, Walter 126 
 
 Randall, Reuben G 206 
 
 Ray, David S 206 
 
 Read, Byron 207 
 
 Read, Harwood E 127 
 
 Reed, Robert G 208 
 
 Read, Walter A 62 
 
 Reeves, D. W 63 
 
 Remington, Henry A 209 
 
 Remington, J. A 128 
 
 Rich, Wm. G 61 
 
 Ripley, James M 210 
 
 Roberts, John H 65 
 
 Robinson, R. R 64 
 
 Rockwell, E. H 210 
 
 Roelker, W. G 128 
 
282 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Sack, A, Albert 129 
 
 Sackexx, F, M 130 
 
 San Souci, J. O 131 
 
 Sawin, Isaac W 73 
 
 Sayles, a. L 132 
 
 Sayles, F. C, .. . , 211 
 
 Sayles, W. F , , , 253 
 
 Seabury, T. Mumford 69 
 
 Senior, D, W. . , , , 71 
 
 Sheahan, Dennis H 212 
 
 Shedd, J. Herbert 213 
 
 Sheffield, W. P., Jr 70 
 
 Shepard, John, Jr 132 
 
 Shove,. Isaac 133 
 
 Simmons, George W 133 
 
 Slater, ,A.. B 134 
 
 Smith, Albert W 214 
 
 Smith, C. S 66 
 
 Smith, F. B 65 
 
 Smith, Irving M 134 
 
 Smith, R. Morton 136 
 
 Smith, T., J 136 
 
 Sprague, Albert. G 66 
 
 Sprague, N. B , 71 
 
 Stearns, H. A. ..,.., 137 
 
 Stevens, Danij;l , 138 
 
 Stevens, G. S 69 
 
 Stimson, E. P , 139 
 
 Stiness, J. H 72 
 
 Stone, W. H 140 
 
 Studley, John E. .- 68 
 
 Taft, Royal C 73 
 
 Tallman, B 215 
 
 Tanguay, J. B. A. .... 75 
 
 Tank, John T 74 
 
 Tarbox, Otho 141 
 
 Thompson, D. M 270 
 
 Tiepke, Henry E , 141 
 
 Tilunghast, F. W 143 
 
 Tillinghast, James 215 
 
 Tillinghast, p. E. . . , 144 
 
 Tingley, Frank F 254 
 
 Thayer, Ehilo E 140 
 
 Thompson, Henry M 142 
 
 TuRCK, Joseph A 216 
 
 Utter, Geo H. . 145 
 
 Vernon, Geo. E 145 
 
 ViALL, Nelson. 146 
 
 Walker, W. R .... 76 
 
 Ward, A . H. . . 77 
 
 Wardwell, W. T. C 78 
 
 Watson, Arthur H 255 
 
 Webster, Geo. E 217 
 
 Weeden, Chas. E 147 
 
 Westcott', Amasa S 262 
 
 West, Geo. J 273 
 
 West, Thos. F 152 
 
 Wetmore, Geo. Peabody 256 
 
 Wheaton, F. L. (sketch only) 275 
 
 White, Chas. J 217 
 
 White, H. C ". 148 
 
 Whipple, Wm. L 147 
 
 Whitten, W. W 218 
 
 Wiggin, Oliver C 149 
 
 Wilbour, I.e.. . . 219 
 
 Wilcox, Geo. D 77 
 
 Wilcox, Robert 257 
 
 Wilkinson, George . 258 
 
 Willard, Chas. W 275 
 
 Williams, Alfred M 79 
 
 Williams, H. N 78 
 
 Williams, W. Fred 150 
 
 Wilson, W. E 150 
 
 WiNSOR, John 80 
 
 Woods, J. C. B 259 
 
 Work, Godfrey 219 
 
 Wyman, J. C '.'. 151 
 
 Young,. Arthur. 262 
 
 Addenda and Errata 277