I'M''. Ml!,-. 4 V ^-T "' : L . . Uh 7^'.'^ ¦M i4lli^!^V'' ;:l-i.- 'W\ YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the End of the Century: A History ILLUSTRATED WITH MAPS, FAC-SIMILES OF OLD PLATES AND PAINTINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF ANCIENT LANDMARKS EDITED BY E D WAR D FIELD, A. B. Dolume XCwo The Mason Publishing Company BOSTON S> SYRACUSE 1902 Copyrighted 1903 BY The Mason Publishing and Printing Co. Contents CHAPTER I. Epidemics and Medical Institutions 1-80 CHAPTER II. Religious Societies, their History and Present Con dition . 81-214 CHAPTER III. Growth op Public Education 215-386 CHAPTER IV. The Sea Trade and its Development 387-560 CHAPTER V. The Printer and the Press 561-611 CHAPTER VI. The Growth of the Library 613-673 Illustrations Map op the Town of Providence in 1803 12 Plan Showing the Original Water Line on the West Side of Provi dence River 15 Small-Pox Hospital, Lincoln 30 Small-Pox Hospital at Field's Point, Providence 37 Small-Pox Hospital, Pawtucket 45 Old Marine Hospital, Providence 59 Hospital for Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria Patients 64 Rev. John Callendbr (portrait) 88 First Baptist Meeting-House in Providence 91 Ballou Meeting-House, Cumberland, near Woonsocket Line 98 Old Quaker Meeting-House, near Quinsnicket, Lincoln 113 Old Town House, Providence 132 Trinity Church, Newport 155 Narragansett Church, Wickford, North Kingstown 157 The Glebe, North Kingstown 158 The Birthplace of Gilbert Stuart, North Kingstown 159 St. John's Episcopal Church, Providence 163 Rt. Rev. Alex. V. Griswold, D. D. (portrait) 166 St. Paul's Church, Pawtucket 169 SS. Peter and Paul's Cathedral, Providence 199 First Univbbsalist Church, Providence 207 Female Seminary, Newport 227 Plan of a Providence School House of 1819 (fac simile) 231 Providence Primary School Building in 1842 239 Providence Grammar School Building in 1842 245 State Normal School, Providence 248 Old High School Building, Providence 269 Nathan Bishop, LL. D. (portrait) 271 Jones School House, Pawtucket 317 Old High School Building, Westerly 338 viii Illustrations. Brown University in 1822 347 Friends School, Providence 3^'* Providence Conference Academy, East Greenwich 357 Greene Street School, Providence 364 Warren Ladies' Seminary 368 Lapham Institute, North Scituate 369 View of the Fox Point District of Providence in 1837 439 View of South Water Street, Providence, about 1857 446 View of Providence and the Upper Harbor 463 View of the East Side of Providence River 466 View of the Harbor of Bristol 477 Old Whalers and Casks of Whale Oil 482 A Portion of the Main Harbor of Providence, between India and Fox Points 489 Harbor op the City of Pawtucket 492 Upper Cove, Wickford, North Kingstown 493 View of the Harbor of Westerly 496 An Old Merchantman and Whaler 499 The "Experiment" (fac simile) 510 View op Narragansett Pier 525 Ross Tavern, near Quonochontaug, Charlestown 530 Pawtucket Bridge and Falls in 1840 538 Social Street, Woonsocket 542 Old Union Railroad Station, Providence 547 The Providence CbvE in 1818 550 View of Exchange Place and the Cove before the Railroad Improve ments 552 The First Page of the First Number op the First Newspaper Published IN Newport 567 The First Page of the First Number of the First Newspaper Published IN Providence 573 Lower Weybosset Street and Post-Ofpice News Agency, Providence, IN 1857 584 Redwood Library Building, Newport 617 Pawtucket Public Library 635 Westerly Public Library and Park 638 Providence Athen^um, Erected 1837 646 Providence Public Library 668 Epidemics and Medical Institutions. CHAPTER I. EPIDEMICS AND MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS. Sickness and death must always follow closely in the footsteps of the pioneer, and the gentle offices of the physician are soon needed wherever a home is founded. At many points along the New England coast some person, having at least more medical learning and experi ence than his fellows, came with or soon after the earliest settlers. Such was the case in the Providence Plantations and on Rhode Island, and Roger Williams had scarcely secured a permanent foothold here before men bearing the title "Doctor" followed. But there was a comparatively long period during which many of the settlers must- have found it difficult or impossible to procure medical attendance. In such cases sickness was treated by the administration of a few simple remedies brought in by the immigrants, and mth decoctions, ointments, and oils of various kinds, made by the unlearned hands of neighborhood nurses and housewives, -whose duty it was to regularly hoard a store of medicinal roots and herbs as faithfully as they did their fruits and vegetables. Most of the early settlers were strong and healthy men and women, and they found here a region which bore every indication of salubrity as far as could be compatible with the somewhat trying climate in certain months of the year. Their occupa tions were in the main conducive to good health, and the simple and efficacious remedies kept in every household were promptly and boldly administered. These, with careful nursing, were sufficient in very many cases to ward off or cure disease. Whatever trials and sorrows were endured by the pioneers of the Providence Plantations, through sickness and the lack of prompt medical attendance during the very early years of settlement, -will never be kno-wn to us ; but it need not necessarily be assumed that they were much greater than would be suffered by an equal number of persons at the present day, dwelling where physicians are not within immediate call. The regulation of the practice of medicine, by the licensing of physicians, has been recently strenuously resisted here in Rhode Island 4 State of Rhode Island and Pro-vidence Plantations. as a dangerous innovation and an unjustifiable interference with in dividual liberty. But it is no new thing, as the following extract from records of the proceedings of the General Assembly in 1664 will show : "Whereas the Court have taken notice of the great blessing of God on the good endevers of Captayne John Cranston of Newport, both in phissicke and chirurgery, to the great comfort of such as have had occation to improve his skill and practice, &c. The Court doe therefore unanimously enacte and declare that the said Captain John Cranston is lycenced and commistioned to administer phissicke, and practice chirurgery throughout this whole CoHony, and is by this Court styled and recorded Doctor of phissick and chirrurgery by the othority of this the General! Assembly of this Collony." Capt. John Cranston was born in Scotland in 1625 or 1626, and died in Newport March 11, 1680. He had a varied career ; was a drummer in 1644 ; at one period was attorney- general, and in 1676-8 was deputy governor, and governor in 1678-80. The date of the issuance of this license was March 1, 1664, new style. While this is the earliest record of a license to an accredited physician to practice in this colony, he was not the first medical prac titioner.^ One of the immigrants arri-sdng in Boston in 1631 was Dr. John Clarke, who remained there until 1638, when he removed to Ports mouth and in the follo-wdng year to Newport. Of his medical ex perience there during the next ten years little is kno-wn, but, in 1651, he went to England, where he aided Roger Williams in procuring the revocation of Governor Coddington 's commission as governor of the Islands in Narragansett bay. Dr. Clarke remained in England twelve years and was instrumental in procuring the charter of Rhode Island. Returning to Newport, he officiated in the pulpit of the Baptist church, at the same time continuing practice, until his death, April 20, 1676, at the age of sixty-six.^ The records mention "John Green, surgeon", who was probably the first physician in Providence Plantations, and was contemporary 'In the year 1859 a committee, consisting of Drs. Usher Parsons, Isaac Ray and George L. Collins, was appointed by the Rhode Island Medical Society to gather all the accessible material relating to the previous history of the profession in the State, -with especial reference to the archives of the society, with the purpose of having it published in a pamphlet for preservation. The task -was well performed and a pamphlet issued, which has constituted the basis of most of the later writing on the subject. From this pamphlet, -which is now quite rare, some of the biographic matter relating to early physicians has been drawn for this chapter. The pamphlet is in possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society. =See also memoir by Dr. David King, Library R. I. Hist. See. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 5 with Roger Williams; but he soon (1641) removed to War-wick. Robert Jeffries, also, was given governmental authority in 1641 "to exercise the functions of surgery." In the north part of the State no names of physicians are found among those of settlers prior to 1700. Roger Williams wrote to his friend Winthrop, in 1648, thanking him for advice and medicine. In that region dependence must have been placed mainly upon simple home remedies, or the occasional calling of a physician from a long distance. It should be remembered that at that date there were in Providence county only about one hundred persons capable of bearing arms, so that the number of cases of sickness at any one time could not have been large for some years. Newport was within a few hours by water, and doubtless some of those above named occasionally jour neyed northward to attend the suffering. When the inhabitants re turned to their former homes, after having been driven away by the Indians in 1676, their medical necessities were supplied by Dr. Richard Bowen, who settled at Seekonk, about two miles from Pro-vidence, and was there as earlj^ as 1680. Those early physicians often found themselves surrounded by con ditions that called for professional heroism and their best skill, when the country was swept by epidemics that were appalling in their viru lence and merciless in fatality. Small-pox was an early visitor to the settlers of this State pre-vious to the time when the discovery of the immortal Jenner had mitigated its terrors, causing death and mourn ing in many families. Another disease, which was then called by such names as "malignant fever", "black vomit", and yellow fever (and which was probably the latter), fell upon the inhabitants, particularly those in Newport and Providence, and many died. Through the broader knowledge gained in the passing years and under the light of modern medical science, the old-time terrors of such epidemics long ago passed away. The first severe -vdsitation.of small-pox to this colony took place in 1690 and the disease raged with great -violence. Public affairs were neglected, the Assembly, then sitting in Newport, did little business, and private trade operations were neglected through the -winter of 1690-91. Newport was the greatest sufferer. In 1712 the first efforts were made to combat the disease by legislation, a quarantine act being then passed ; it was, however, not very effective, for in 1716 the disease again made its appearance in several parts of the colony. Newport held a special election at which a hospital was ordered built on Coaster's Harbor Island. Bristol then largely escaped the epidemic, 6 State op Rhode Isl.^nd and Providence Plantations. but in 1732 the town authorities there were constrained to procure a house for small-pox patients. Providence had its first small-pox hos pital in 1751, when the General Assembly made an appropriation for its establishment.^ Inoculation was introduced into the colony in 1772, and in that year the General Assembly attempted to legalize the practice, which had developed intense opposition; the proposed legis lative measure was defeated, but the operation was continued by intel ligent physicians. In 1776 the matter was again brought before the Assembly, w^hich voted to establish a hospital in each county where persons could go to be inoculated.-' In addition to these many private hospitals were opened, and the practice, which had been bitterly opposed, became a popular movement. The first one that was patronized by Rhode Islanders was established on Ram Island, near New London, Conn. Later many were opened on the shores of the lower bay, some of which advertised hunting and fishing facilities and other attractions to mitigate the unpleasantness of a patient's stay. The disease continued to afflict this locality during a number of years and demanded a good deal of attention from the authorities.' 'There had probably been earlier cases of the disease in Rhode Island. Providence town paper No. 066 is a protest by Joseph Turpin and nine others against their detention on board a vessel where they were "all well except ye boye", and they were "very loath to stay on board with him any longer". This protest was dated June 6, 1752. In the same year Thomas Kinnicut presented a bill (town paper 195) for damage to his house through its use for a pest house. There must have been a large number of cases in that year, as the Town Council, at a meeting on April 11, gave a large number of orders for various kinds of supplies, and for making coffins, cleansing clothing, attendance on sick, etc. These orders covered the period from 1751 to 1761. (See Prov. town paper 219.) ^On July 2, 1776, Ambrose Page, Benjamin Man, Jabez Bowen, Nathaniel Wheaton and Barnard Eddy, in Providence, were appointed a committee "to find out the most suitable place for Erecting an Hospital to Innoculate in for the small pox, and to draw up the Rules and Regulations" for it; they report ed in favor of "the place called high Bank lying to the Northeast of Great point", as "the most propper place that we can find" (Providence town paper, No. 995.) There was much discussion over the subject of inoculation at this time; petitions for and against it were circulated and public meetings held to con sider the subject. Providence town paper 1031, dated July 26, 1776, is a bill of William Compton, covering several dates, for "worning a town Mitting by Drum for Enocalation"; six shillings for each warning. 'Providence town paper 2775, dated August 27, 1782, is an address to the "Moderator and Freemen" of Providence upon the necessity of having a build ing for a small-pox hospital, "and being desirous of obtaining permission to cari-y on the Innoculation in your vicinity", proposed to buy about six acres of land "on the West side of the River partly within the Limits of Providence and partly in those of Cranston", whereon to erect suitable buildings, and have "one room properly furnished containing 40 square Peet to your town", etc. For this concession he wanted "the full and exclusive Right of carrying Epidemics and MEDicAii Institutions. 7 In 1792 Newport set apart the old quarantine building for a small-pox hospital ; to this large numbers resorted, and thereafter the private institutions rapidly declined. The introduction of vaccination into this country by a Newport physician, Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, was met with nearly as much opposition as the preceding practice of inoculation, and this opposition exists to some extent to the present day. Pro-vddence, in 1810, employed Sylvanus Pansher to vaccinate the public, the town paying the expense ; he vaccinated 4,305 persons and rendered a bill of $233.25, or about five cents for each operation— which certainly was cheap enough. The alarm over the expected ap proach of the disease in 1815 and 1822 led to other public vaccinations, which doubtless greatly reduced the mortality. A report in 1855 stated that there had been only seventy-five deaths from small-pox in the State in the preceding seventeen years ; but in the folio-wing winter there were one hundred and thirty cases, and much alarm was felt. The next visitation of the disease took place in 1858-9, as a result of a "visit of a merchant to New York city, where in some manner he was exposed ; he was taken -with varioloid on Christmas day, 1858, and soon recovered. No precautions were taken to prevent the spread of the contagion. The second case was that of a child nearly three years old, who had never been vaccinated, and who showed the eruption on January 9, 1859 ; the disease -was not recognized until the eighth day of the eruption. The child died January 20, the first death from the disease since May 16, 1856. The number of cases that followed during the season up to June, were three of small-pox and seven of varioloid in January; three of small-pox and three of varioloid in February; nine of small-pox and twenty of varioloid in March ; four of small-pox and thirteen of varioloid in April; two of small-pox and nine of varioloid in May, the last case in the city at that time being one who was taken on May 25 and reported cured on the 15th of June. The whole number of cases of small-pox was twenty-one, eight of which were confluent and severe, and four died. Of the cases of distinct small-pox and of varioloid none died.^ Radical measures were adopted at that time to prevent the spread of the disease, with good effect, and the inestimable benefits of thor ough vaccination were well shown. on Innoculation of the Small Pox". This matter was considered in town meet ing, but no action was taken. '"Small Pox in the City of Providence from January to June, 1859", by Edwin M. Snow, Superintendent of Health, in possession of the Rhode Island Hist. Society. 8 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Pro-vidence was almost wholly free from small-pox until 1864, when there were one hundred and forty-five eases. From that year there were very few until 1872-3, when there were twenty-seven cases in that city, while in Newport, in 1881-2, there were twenty cases, -with six fatalities. Since that year the State has suffered only in slight degree from this malady. It will be of interest to note briefly some of the public proceedings in connection with this disease in its early manifestations. In Pro-vi dence on March 16, 1690, jurymen on criminal trials in the General Court were publicly notifled "That because of the Small pox in this Town there may be excuse for Jurymen and any concerned in Action or Criminall causes, not then to appeare"; they were, however, in structed to hold themselves in readiness for duty. The people of Pro-vidence were warned to "meet at the Town House", in that city, on June 12, 1729, "to consider whether it may not be convenient to draw money out of the to-wn treasury, for ye building a small house where people may be secured yt are Rendered dangerous of Spreading ye Small Pox, or any other contagious dis temper amongst us". In the year 1748 the Pro-vidence to^vn records show that bills were rendered for supplies and ser-vices on board the privateer Reprisal, in connection with this disease. In 1752, as again sho-wn by the to-wn records of Pro-vidence, the people were warned to meet to consider the prevention of the spread of small-pox, then "prevalent in the tovm of Boston, and people are daly coming from thence". On March 30, 1752, the foUo-wing ordinance was adopted: "Be it Enacted by the moderator and freemen of this to-wn that no person whatsoever coming from Boston or other place infected with the Small pox Shall enter into the limits of this To-wn within Twenty Days from the time of their coming from Boston", etc.^ 'The following references regarding the small-pox epidemic of 1748-52 will be found among Providence Town Papers: "Warrant to warn town meeting to prevent introduction of small-pox. (1752, paper 0834.) Ordinance of town to prevent small-pox. (1752, paper 0835.) This ordinance quarantines all persons not immunes coming from Boston or other infected places for twenty days before entering town. Warrant to prevent spread of small-pox by proclaiming by beat of drum ordinance against negroes being out after 9 o'clock at night, and an act to prevent any gun, squib, rocket or pistol being fired in any town or street in the Colony. (Nov. 4, 1751, paper 185.) Warrant as to proceedings before releasing person cured. (Nov. 19, 1751, paper 190.) Warrant to call council "to confer" regarding the small-pox. (1751, paper 176.) Warrant to isolate dwelling of patient. (1751, paper 288.) Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 9 Persons were ordered appointed to warn travelers and to arrest offenders against the ordinance, and were offered a reward of £20 for the apprehension of each culprit. Landlords were required to ask their guests whence they came. This ordinance was in force six months. A list of ' ' orders Given by order of the Town Council held at Providence for the 11th Day of April, 1752, on account of the Small pox", amounted to more than £500 up to February 17, 1753. Coming down to the Revolutionary period the Pro-vidence records contain much that is of interest in this connection. For example, a bill dated July 8, 1776, was rendered by Dennis 0 'Brien, as follows : "To my service attending 2 Black Persons with the SmaU Pox in the Pest House, 23 days at 3s, pr. Day, £5, 15. 0." To this is attached a certificate of payment signed by Theodore Foster, council clerk. Again, Nathan Arnold rendered a biU for attending "the people on Bord the Sloop Enterprise and the Pest house, sick with the Small Pox from June 6, 1776, to June 29, at 6s per day". Other bills were rendered for making coffins, etc., all serving to indicate that the authorities were not backward in their efforts to mitigate the public distress. It has already been mentioned that the introduction of inoculation throughout the State caused much opposition, the masses of the people fearing to voluntarily assume the risks which they ascribed to the operation. This matter received public attention, as seen in the f oUo-wing : "Providence, Tuesday, July 19, 1776. "Sir "I am ordered by the To-wn of Pro-vidence in To-wn Meeting on this Day assembled to write to request you to take proper Measures to call together the Freemen of the Town of Johnston on Thursday next, to know their sentiments of admitting Inoculation for the Small Pox into that Town. The Town of Providence have appointed a Com mittee to wait upon the Gentlemen of Johnston at their meeting Thursday next if one is called to consult and ad-vise upon Measures respecting inoculation for the Good of the public in General, ' ' etc. The following bill has reference to the pest house that had been established at North Providence : "July 9, 1777. ' ' Samuel Chace Esq. to the Town of Providence Dr. "To Proportion of Expence occasioned by your Negro Servant Rose ha-ving the Small Pox at the Hospital in North Pro-vidence 22 days at 8/6 pr Day as Settled and Adjusted by the Town Council." 10 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. A credit of 16s. 2d. stood against this charge. An invoice of accounts "occasioned by Small Pox at Tockwotton, July 9, 1777' , amounted to £104, 8s. 8d. Betvveen June 24 and August 1, 1776, bills were rendered for "Avarning to-wn meetings by Di-um for Enockela- tion ' '. Dr. William Bowen 's bill for attendance on small-pox patients from August 18, 1776, to February, 1777, was a little over £13. A bill, not before noticed, which was rendered against the to-wn of Providence in 1752, for damage for using a private house as a pest house, led the authorities to provide against a recurrence of similar charges by establishing small-pox hospitals, and in 1776-7 there were three; one of these was situated at North Providence, one at Tock wotton, and the third at Field's Point. One of these, at least, appears to have been erected in 1755, as shown by a bill of August in that year for £30 for building a pest house. George Law was appointed its overseer. These extracts from the old town records, which have been made so easily accessible by the efficient work of the Record Commissioners, will be closed as far as they relate to small-pox, by the f oUo-wing : "Providence, Oct. 12, 1787. ' ' This certificate that I. Daniel Bucklin, agreeable to an order of the Town Councel have bin on Bord the Brig Providence Capt. James De Wolf from Cape Francis— and Being all Day yesterday on Bord and find that there is onley one Person on Bord But what hath had the Small Pox Before they belonged to said Brig— and this one haveing been Inieulated abought 18 days past and appears to be as well as any Man on Bord, ha-ving had the Small Pox in the most easy manner that any person has it by inoculation and he being yesterday thor oughly Smoaked and Cleansed together with his Clothing and the Vessel also being well smoked & clensed & Dried -with all the People and thair clothing — together with everething on Bord in such a man ner that it is my opinion no Dainger nor risque of communicating the Small pox can accrue from her coming up to the Whorf and Dis charging her cargo. Daniel Bucklin. "To the Honorable Town Counsel of Providence." On June 2, 1789, an address was submitted to the council as follows : "The Subscribers Freemen of the said Town pray the Town Council not to allow Inoculation to be carried on in the Hospital in this Town." This petition was signed by one hundred and six citizens, indicat ing the extent of the opposition to the operation. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 11 The closing decade of the seventeenth century -was marked by the appearance in Rhode Island and Providence Plantations of an epidemic disease that was variously called by different physicians malignant fever, pestilential fever, putrid fever, and yellow fever. It is quite certain that there were many fatalities from the latter deadly malady. It should be stated that long before the outbreak of this epidemic, in the year 1723, a disease visited Providence and its vicinity which was called "burning ague", and from its effects eighteen men, sixteen women, and nine children died in three months, from July 1 to October. This disease was characterized by an amazing percentage of fatalities, all who were attacked with the exception of two having died. There is little further existing information obtain able regarding the visit of this malady. The outbreak which occurred in Providence during the last years of the eighteenth century was by many physicians of the time believed to be largely dependent upon the filthy condition of many parts of the town at that time. This out break was doubtless yellow fever, and even at the present time the cause of the disease is in dispute, and it is by most physicians believed to be propagated chiefly through the agency of filth. The writer does not consider it by any means proved that such is the case, but in con sideration of the generally received views as to its origin, it is of much interest to inquire into the conditions existing in Providence at that time. As the following pages will show, it must be admitted that the filth origin of the disease is contravened by the facts of that outbreak.^ Those conditions -will be better understood through a brief description of the natural surroundings of the young city of Pro-vi dence a hundred years ago. The settled part of the city was more than half surrounded by water. To the northward the Moshassuck River constituted the western boundary of the business and most of the residence district down to Broad lane (now Smith street). South of that for a considerable distance the Cove formed the west boundary and swept away westward nearly on the line of Westminster street to the westward of Eddy street and to the junction of Mathewson and Washington streets. Between Westminster and Broad streets and east of Stewart street was Stow Pond, a shalloAV body of water which ultimately became an unbearable nuisance and was filled up, leaving as its only memorial, Pond street, which started from the west shore of 'Since the above was written investigations by U. S. Army surgeons have made it very certain that mosquitoes are the chief factor in the spread of yellow fever. It will be seen from the following pages that yellow fever pre vailed in those parts of Providence where there were many stagnant pools which are the breeding places of these insects. 1. CoUege. 2. Church. 3. Court House. 4. Friends' Meeting House. 5. First Baptist Meet ing House. 6. Benevolent Congre gational Church. 7. Beneficent Congrega- A. Academy. tional Church. New Light Church. 9. Town House. 10. Brick School House. 11. North School House. 12, South School House. 13. West School House. a B. Bridewell. C. Cook's Lane. E. Bank. F. Washington Insur ance Office. G. Great, or Weybosset, Bridge. J. Jail. J Ma. Market Square, Market House, St. John's Hall. C. H. Constitution Hill. M. Mathewson Street. P. Bank (Providence). R. Bank (Roger Williams). U. Union Street. Work House. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 13 the pond. This pond long stopped the western advance of the settled part of the town. To the eastward of Benefit street a small but dense settlement had within a few years gathered about Tockwotton; this, with the dwellings and other buildings on Wickenden street, was sometimes spoken of as a part of the settled portion of the town. The original west shore line of "the salt river", within the early townbounds,beganat a point about sixty feet south of Point street and about ten rods west of Eddy street, extending thence northwestwardly mostly between the lines of the present Richmond and Chestnut streets, nearly to the line of the present Pine street. Thence it ex tended northeasterly across the Pine street line and reached Weybosset street not far from the present line of Eddy street. Northwardly of this point the shore receded westwardly till it merged in the shore line of the Cove near the present corner of Mathewson and Washington streets. The eastern shore line, beginning a little west of the present west abutment of the railroad bridge over the Seekonk River, swept southerly, westerly, and then northerly around a low tongue of land extending out from the higher land at the north, to where, at the head of a small cove, it reached the abrupt bank of this high land at a point about forty rods from the place of beginning, now in the line of India street, near the end of Ives street. Thence the shore line followed the line of this cove and finally reached a point on the line of the present India street near its junction "with Hope street ; thence it passed along the foot of a bluff near the India street line to South Main street, thence northward to what is now called Link street. At about the center of Link street was the mouth of Mile End Cove, a shallow body which extended in to the south of Wicken den street as far as Brook street. This cove was long ago filled up and its precise bounds cannot be defined. Between Mile End Cove on the north and the harbor on the west and south was the high plateau, a noted landmark of early days, called Fox (or Fox's) Hill. From the northern shore of Mile End Cove rose the southern slope of "ye Greate Hill of Moshassuck", now College Hill, Prospect Hill and Beacon Hill. At the northern side of the mouth of Mile End Cove the shore line projected westward to about the present easterly line of South Water street, and extended thence northerly in an irregular line between the present South Water and South Main streets to the present Market Square. Main street was actually washed by the water on some occasions at high tide, while the land below what is now the easterly sidewalk of Market Square was covered at high tide. It 14 State of Rhode I!^LAND and Providence Plantations. should be understood, however, that the grade of Main street has been materially changed from its original undulating surface. At the north end of Market Square the shore line projected westward, form ing a point of land beyond which it again receded until it came to the "To^^^le Streete", at the east entrance of "Weybosset" (the place of the ford), which was near the present junction of Steeple and North Main streets. Still farther northward the shore line was irregular, the west line of Main street at some places nearly or quite touching high water mark. In the vicinity of what was in colonial days known as the School House lot, near the present North Court street, the shore was low and flat and probably bare of water at low tide. At Smith street the shore line receded so near to Main street that it is traditionally claimed that the first Baptist meeting-house, which stood about thirty feet north of the present north corner of Smith and North Main streets, was built with its front end resting on the ground and its rear end on piles driven into the water. About a hundred feet north of this a small tongue of land projected into the river, while still farther north the tide rose against the foot of Stamper's Hill, covering the base of the hill to such an extent that one of the first pieces of road engineering was the construction of a cause way to elevate the road from Main street to the mill above high tide mark. To the eastward of the shore line, which extended from Eddy's Point to the Cove, was an expanse of tidal marshes and shoal water, terminating in places with a series of islets, including what were generally called Cowpen Point, Eddy's Point, and another smaller one between. These w^ere submerged at times, during high tide. Northward of Eddy's Point the shoal continued into the deeper water of the channel until a series of islands w^as reached, extending northeastwardly across the river towards the north side of the present Market Square. This series lay mostly within the bounds of the pres ent Weybosset and Westminster streets, and consisted first of a tidal marsh running to a clear water passway within the lines of the present Dorrance street and extending into the Cove. This passway was ford- able at low tide and from its muddy bottom was called the Muddy Ford ; later Muddy Bridge was built across it at Weybosset street, and after the passage north of the bridge was filled up, the part of it south of the bridge was called Muddy Dock. East of the Muddy Ford was a stretch of tidal marsh, and then came an island where the Arcade now stands. East of this was another piece of tidal marsh and then a small elevation caUed Weybosset Hill, at the junction of Weybosset 16 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. and Westminster streets. From the northeast side of this hill ex tended a strip of low land called Weybosset Neck, terminating in Weybosset Point, the extremity of which was only a few feet beyond the present sidewalk of Westminster street and Washington Row. The shore of Weybosset Neck extended northerly along the west side of Washington Row about two-thirds of the distance from Westminster street to the present Exchange Place then in an irregular line until it reached the northern side of Weybosset Hill in the present Exchange street, a little north of Westminster street. North and west of Wey bosset Neck were flats or shoals extending into the Cove. Northeast from it was a shoal extending across the river towards the present corner of Steeple and North Main streets. Along this shoal was the Indian Weybosset, the place of the ford, which was used by them and the settlers as late as 1738. Until about the time of King Philip 's war the homes of the settlers were so located that nearly all of the land on the shore line was left untenanted as the property of the Proprietors. One of the principal reasons for this was the tenacity "with which the Indians clung to their rights to the shore for landings and the free use of the clam beds and oyster grounds. Moreover, although trading voyages were made from Providence to New Foundland as early as 1652 (see Pro-vidence Town Papers 069 et seq., and 0280), -with probable voyages to New Amster dam, yet the general pursuit of the early settlers was agriculture. It was not, therefore, until about 1680 that the value of the water front for storehouse and wharf purposes was fuUy appreciated. This change in sentiment led to the following petitions : "To ye Towne mett this 27th day of July, 1704 ' ' Gentlemen "These are to desiar you to be pleased to order that there may be no lot nor lots granted on Wayboset side from mudey bridge to ye point of Wayboset but that it may be stated common forever. "Joseph Whipple. " (Indorsed) This bill is granted."^ "To the Town now met upon ajurnment ye 3d day of ffebuary, 1703-4 ' ' Gentlemen. Considering the many bills that are now and may be Presented to the Towne for forty foot Lots it is Prayed that it may be ordered that no person may take a Lot that may damnific Creators Passing over the River at Wayboyset which may be by reason of the Streame; from a Rock that Lieth upon the shore against Thomas Fields house 'Providence To-wn Papers, 0608. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 17 to the north side of Thomas Olneys house lot where his father dwells Tree that stands against James Angells. "The request of your ffriends "Nathaniel Waterman "Thomas ffield."^ A lengthy and favorable response was made to these petitions, which ordered among other details that "from henceforward there shall not at any time be any land appropriated to any person, which lieth upon the side of the Salt Water by the Town Streete, from the pice of land, laid out for a Town wharfe to be, which is against the southerne part of the sd Thomas ffield his said home lott, therefrom a bigg Rock, up the river northward along the To-wne Streete unto the north side of the now Thomas Olney senior his house lott which was formerly his ffathers dwelling place" (the northerly part of the east end of Market Square). This document may be found entire, E. R. vol. ii, p. 88. This was in 1704, and in 1711 a bridge was built from Weybosset Point to the point opposite on the other side of the river. ^ After the construction of this bridge the necessity of maintaining so wide an open space at the crossing was not so great, and in response to the prayer of "Mr. Nathaniell Browne of Rehoboth, shipp -wright", January 28, 1711-12, he was granted ' ' the liberty to make an improve ment of halfe one acre of land lieing on Weyboset Neck, . . . the which he might have the use of for building of vessels thereon, . . on the East side of ye said Neck adjoyning to ye salt Water. "^ Prayers, petitions and demands for the laying out of lots on the water front had already begun, and almost before the Proprietors realized the fact, they had granted away the greater part of the land so solemnly dedicated to the public in 1704. This pressure for addi tional lots was maintained on the west as well as on the east side, but the Proprietors determined to di-vide what land was left there among themselves, and incidentally to create more or less new acreage. Accordingly, in 1717, they laid out an artificial shore line (on paper), extending into the flats east and south of Weybosset street from the present No. 32 Westminster street, around nearly to Muddy Dock, platted the land between this line and Weybosset street into lots, lea-ving gangways where are now the passways through those lots, and at the same time laid out a highway "dow^n to the sea" on the west side of the Cowpen (now a portion of Eddy street), dividing the land 'Prov. Town Papers, 0613. ^bid., 023 to 026 and 01142. 'Early Records of the town of Providence, vol. 11, p. 158-159. 2 18 State of Rhode Island and Peovidence Plantations. east thereof also into lots, thus leaving only the triangular space now lying be-wteen the bridge and No. 20 Westminster street of aU the area south and west of Weybosset street which had been dedicated to the public. Through certain changes in the course of the "Towne Streete" and by reducing the width of Dexter 's Lane (now Olney street) from one hundred feet to its present vddth, other forty- foot lots were provided. All of these lots were di"vided by lot, one tp each Proprietor. At some time in the period under consideration it was discovered that the clay of which Weybosset Hill was largely composed would make excellent bricks. The hill also was directly in the line of needed street improvements. Brick-making was early established and in 1724 the growing town constituted a market for them.^ Thomas Staples was authorized "to dig clay at Waybauset hill for to make bricks". While the hill was thus being removed, the accumulating debris was used to fill out the shore lots, and at the same time a course was opened for a "Back Street" which was laid out about 1750 from the present eastern junction of Westminster and Weybosset streets to the v/estern junction of the same streets, and with later changes became the Westminster street of to-day. At about the same time, in 1752,'' a street was laid out on the east side, which also was called "Back Street" for a time, which -with important later changes became the Benefit street of the present time. Among the city's documentary possessions may be found a "Report of Committee naming the streets", in which it will be seen there is no street mentioned as run ning west from the old Towne Streete, whichever of the names given to different portions of it are there used, anywhere along the harbor or salt water frontage. There were gangways laid out between the ware house lots "down to the low water mark" long before this time, as shown in various Proprietors' plats, but the raising and filling out of the shore lands had not proceeded to such an extent as to make them worthy of mention in the committee's report, which bears the date of 1771. The same is true of the streets and gangways on the west side of the river running to the east and south of Weybosset street; the gangways from which they have developed had been laid out on paper fifty years earlier; but, excepting Nightingale lane, or Dock street, none of them had been filled in or out to such an extent as to make them a subject for the report of the committee of 1771. At that time there were no paved streets in the to-wn -with the exception that the 'Early Records of the Town of Providence, vol. xiii, p. 21. "Providence Town Papers, No. 207. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 19 Towne street, as it was termed in this report, was paved for about two hundred yards south of the "Market Parade", and King street (now North Main street) for about the same distance north of the same point. There were no sewers in the town ; hygienic precautions were unthought of by the average citizen and his household; the water, whether from the skies, from springs, or the refuse water from houses and shops, found its o-wn devious course down to the sea, and if its course was obstructed by filling in of tidal lands, it gathered in the lowest places and there festered and gradually evaporated. In the passing of years dovni to the last quarter of that century great changes had taken place in business activities, in relative land values, and in the development of commercial operations depending largely for their prosperity upon easy approach to the waters that washed the shores around Pro"vidence. It had been learned that a lot of even "forty foot square ' ', if so situated as to be available for commercial purposes, might have more value than five acres on or behind a hill ; consequently the low flat lands at the river front became crowded with small build ings, many of which served alike for dwellings, warehouses, and shops for their owners. The front portions of the 'original home lots were cut into small house lots and densely built up as far back as Benefit street. Meanwhile the back lands of the tovrai, originally granted in five or six acre tracts, had been consolidated by purchase or inheritance into a few large farms, so that it is a fair estimate that out of a popula tion of about 4,000 in 1771, at least three thousand lived -within the limits of "what was designated "the compact part of the to"wn". The streets of the then lower portion of "the compact part of the to"wn" west of the harbor were not the high, dry, paved avenues of to-day. The Ship street of that time, from where it left the hillside to go towards Cowpen, was a combination of low causeway and a bridge, through which the waters ebbed and flowed -with the varying stages of the tide, running over eventually to Eddy's Point. Many thou sands of tons of stone and earth were carted into this street between 1771 and 1800. The Weybosset street, the main thoroughfare on that side, was largely a mere "cassy way", as one document called it, of small stones and shells, through which the water percolated from the sunken lands on either side, and its height above the high tide mark inight properly be expressed in inches. Market street (lower West minster street) was of the same character, while the gore between the south side of the old Market street and the present south side of lower Westminster street, was open water and a source of danger to people and teams straying into it in the night. This gore was not wholly 20 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. filled and paved until after the jlose of the yeUow fever period. That part of Westminster street between the two junctions with Weybosset was mainly a causeway so open in construction that the water from the land south of the street drained through it into the cove on the north, and so narrow that as late as 1785 it was filled in at points to only half its width. The tovm voted to fill it to the full width if the o-wners on the north side of the street would pay one-fourth of the cost and "make such a good and sufficient barricado . . upon the north side of the street as shall be sufficient to confine the earth to the street".^ Again, in 1792 the street was reported as having its road way so narrow in places that at high tide two teams could not pass each other; moreover, its course westward up the hill was so steep as to render its use for loaded teams impracticable. This was only about one hundred years ago. Weybosset street was gradually built higher to the west-ward, cut ting off the natural drainage from the low land north of it south wards. Union street, paved between Westminster and Weybosset streets in 1780, and Orange street as it then stood (which was later raised), cut off the east- and west drainage, while the upbuilding of Westminster street cut off the northern drainage into the Cove, leav ing all low places between them mere shallow pits for the retention of stagnant water. This condition, with the extension of Snow (now Pine) street along the marsh and the construction of Richmond street and other streets east of Ship, now Chestnut street, at about this period, caused a large part of the to-wn to be covered with water, which lay stagnant and festering in the sun, instead of being daily removed by the action of the tides, as formerly. As the numerous ' ' shore lots ' ' were filled out, similar condi tions were produced ;the grade was frequently higher than that of other nearby lots, leaving receptacles for rain water and household and shop refuse to gather and become foul. The same tendencies were manifested on all of the low fiUed lands on the east side of the river, and as increasing business operations pressed the shore line out from the Town street, the area of stench-breeding territory was increased. As far as now kno-wn no covered drain or sewer was laid longitudinally along any street in the place until 1788, when one was placed in" what is now Thomas street, to carry the water of a brook flo"wing from hill side springs down through the street ; this and a few others of a similar character were not strictly sewers. No sewer for sanitary drainage 'Providence Town Papers, 3717. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 21 was constructed until after the tovni had been swept by the yellow fever. In the latter part of the eighteenth century the principal manu facturing business of Pro-vidence was the distillation of rum. The river front was marked at short intervals with distilleries, which were then termed stiU-houses. To economically dispose of the refuse grains, large droves of hogs were kept, generally in the cellars of the still- houses, with a yard at the back, fronting on the water, where the animals rooted and wallowed in the slime. This practice of course created an insufferable nuisance. Another large industry was the slaughtering of cattle and hogs. One of the slaughter houses stood, in 1791, on the west side of the bridge ; another, belonging to Governor Fenner, was located adjoining the north side of the east approach to the bridge, and a distillery stood just north of this, all three of which were treated as nuisances.^ Just to the south of the market was another distillery, with its accompanying comple ment of hogs. Aside from ship-building, the next largest industry was tanning, the establishments for which were mostly scattered along the valley of the Moshassuck River. Here were tanned not only the skins taken off in the slaughter houses, but also large importations of green hides from the warm countries of the Spanish main. After being taken from the vessels the hides were usually placed in storage near the harbor until needed in the tanneries. A manufactory of spermaceti candles was also early established. Every one of these industries was in some degree a nuisance, and at the present day would not be tolerated within any municipal corporation. By the year 1795 the district known as Tockwotten had become a very active center of business, with a flourishing East India trade, which gave the name to India Point. Here were found the e-vils of a densely congested tenement population, inviting disease. The water supply, moreover, was inadequate and at least in some localities impure. For example, when the "Market Parade" was filled in, a spring of water came up through the salt water to the northwest of the market house ; this was waUed up and a to"wn pump placed therein for the use of the market. On the west side of the river the filling in and occupation of the land was first done mainly on the islands before mentioned, and on them wells were sunk; but as these changes progressed, this supply was insufficient, and in 1772 the "Field Fountain Society" was formed to supply this section from a central reservoir, called a fountain, con- 'Providence Town Papers, 6368. 22 State of Rhode Island and Pro-vidence Plantations. structed on the mainland. What remains of it may now be seen on Clifford street, for the structure which sheltered the reservoir has collapsed from decay. But -with all the efforts to give the people fresh water, nothing had been done to get rid of foul and stagnant water, and the added supply by the fountain society only increased the quantity that was left to settle in the low places. This description -will give the reader some conception of the sani tary conditions in Providence in 1797, when the population numbered about 7,000, of whom probably 6,000 lived in the densely congested districts. Without the bounds of the thickly settled portion of the town, history does not record a single death from yellow fever. Within them the dreaded disease fell upon the people on every hand, striking down the poor and ignorant in the humble hovels, and the wealthy and educated residents of the old colonial mansions. The first cases of what was probably yellow fever appeared in Pro-vidence in the year 1791, and were attended by Dr. William Bowen, then the leading physician of this -vicinity. Two daughters of Eliza beth Ross, who lived near the center of the city, were attacked. Both daughters died -within three days after the attack — one on the 7th and the other on the 12th of June. James Burroughs, who lived "opposite a molasses and Ginn distillery ' ', was also attacked by the disease, but recovered. In the year 1793 a traveler from Philadelphia died of the disease in Providence, but there were no other cases. In July, 1794, the schooner Lively, Ebenezer Slocum, of Wickford, arrived at Pro-vi dence from Port Dauphin, on which two hands died of the same, or a similar disease, and two were attacked and recovered. In the same year a number of sailors on vessels arri-ving at Newport were attacked by the malady and were treated by Dr. Isaac Senter, the most promi nent physician of that city; he was very active in investigating and treating the disease and urging sanitary improvements, contending that yellow fever was not contagious, but was caused by unsanitary conditions. Other prominent physicians of that day took the opposite ground. In the year 1795 there were two deaths from this disease in Pro-vidence, and a third case in the person of Arthur Fields, who was attacked on the 18th of August, "at the Muddy Dock", and recovered. The existing records, as far as known, contain no mention of cases in 1796, and it is probable that there were none. The foregoing cases are mentioned in a manuscript in possession of the Rhode Island His torical Society, written very early in the present century by Moses Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 23 Brown,^ who seems to have made something of a study of the epidemic and its causes and to have co-operated wdth Dr. William Bowen and others in urging and introducing sanitary improvements. From the year 1791 to 1796 inclusive the disease, while recei-ving due considera tion from the physicians and a few others, does not seem to have ex cited any general fear or anxiety. During the few succeeding years, however, the ravages of the epidemic were so wide-spread and fatal as to alarm and finally terrify the whole community. The disease appeared in Providence "with renewed virulence in mid-summer, 1797,^ the first fatality being Robert Fuller, who died on the 18th of August ; this was probably the first case in that year. Mrs. Mitchell, August 18, 1797 ; Mrs. Goss, August 18 ; WiUiam Till- 'Moses Brown was the youngest of four brothers and was born in Provi dence in August, 1758; he died in October, 1836. The manuscript pamphlet referred to was presented to the Historical Society by the son of Dr. George L. Collins, who received it from Brown himself. ^The following references regarding "putrid" or yellow fever will be found among the Providence Town Papers Aug. 18, 1797. Resolutions of Town Council as to burial of persons dying of the fever. (Paper 12115.) Aug. 21, 1797. Order to smoke vessel with sulphur, tar, &c. (Paper 12118.) Sept. 17, 1797. Suggestion by physicians and others to Town Council that all sick persons be removed from the compact part of the town "to the free and open air of the country", to be housed and nursed at town's expense. (Paper 12168.) Sept. 18, 1797. Order to purify all "infected places" "with a layer of Slack Lime" "as soon as may be." (Paper 12169.) Sept. 18, 1797. Vote that the Town Council "cause to be erected or hired in the most eligible situation Buildings suitable and suflBcient for the Re moval of such of our Citizens and Residents who may sicken with the Contagious Fever which now prevails in some parts of this Town"- (Paper 12172.) Sept. 19, 1797. Proposal by John Brown, that large fires of "naval stores and other light fuel to keen up a large blaze on every wharf from Austen's to the south end of the Town all at the same time when the wind is west erly be built to cure the Town". That this proposition was carried out is indicated by the numerous bills for brimstone, rosin, tar, tar barrels, trucking tar kettles, etc., for use in "smoking the Streets". (Paper 12178.) The vote of Sept. 18 (paper 13173) resulted, after various propositions (some of which are referred to in paper 13178) , were discussed, in the erection of a "New Hospital" for yellow fever patients, on the same territory as the "Old Hospital," which was used for small-pox patients. June 36, 1805. Order by Town Council that "all Persons dwelling between Powers lane. Benefit street and the water as far south as the South Still House remove out of said district within three days from this time, as the best means for preventing the spread of the infectious Fever" (paper 008529.) The "South Still House" was probably on the north shore of the mouth of Mile End Cove and a little southeast of the present eastern end of Point Street bridge. That this order was carried into effect is indicated by petitions to the town for compensation for damages and losses resulting from a compliance with it. 24 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. inghast, August 20; Mary Arnold, August 20; Marcy Northrup, August 21; Joseph Arnold, August 22; James Arnold, August 22; Reuben Potter, August 25; Mary Tillinghast, August 28; Lemuel Pitcher, September 1 ; Henry Tillinghast, September 3 ; Joshua Townsend, September 3 ; Deliverance Haywood, September 8 ; Richard Goss, September 11; Benjamin Earle, September 11; Joseph Young, September 12; Widow Potter's child, September 16; Maria Gifford, September 17 ; Louise Gifford, September 17 ; Samuel Gifford, Septem ber 17; Robert Blinn, September 18; Samuel Pitcher, September 18; Gideon HuU, September 18 ; Robert Wilcox, September 20 ; Mrs. Mary Gifford, September 21 ; Betsy Smith, September 21 ; Jonathan Glad ding, September 22 ; Dr. Ephraim Comstock, September 22 ; John Hull, without date ; John Moulton, September 25 ; Daughter and wife, -with out date ; John Gifford, September 26 ; Mrs. Boyd, September 26 ; Mrs. Mary Whitney, September 27 ; Mr. Eleazer Perry, September 27 ; John H. Ormsbee, September 27 ; Sally Gladding, WiUiam Comstock, John Tillinghast, all without date; Patience (negro), September 29; John Gibbs, October 6 ; Lydia Ormsbee, October 1 ; Mrs. Mitchell, October 9 ; Ezra Richmond, without date. The manuscript of Moses Bro-wn, before mentioned, provides a few of the given names that are wanting in the Town Paper quoted ; for example, the Mrs. Goss of the record he gives as Hannah Goss ; for the Mrs. MitcheU of the record he gives Ann Mitchell; the negro woman, Patience in the record, he makes Patience Havens. It may be stated, however, that the list as given by him cannot be relied upon for accuracy. Another yet preserved con tains forty-nine names, all of whom died between August 18 and about October 9, an average of one each day. There were also during that period probably at least twice as many cases of attack and recovery. When the small number of inhabitants at that time is taken into account in connection with these forty-nine deaths in so short a period, some conception may be formed by the present-day citizen of the intense feeling caused. Physicians were baffled and almost help less; terror seized upon the timid and the nervous, and -wide-spread anxiety and fear existed in all of the populous centers of the State. Many of the cases were fatal within a week from the time of attack, and nearly as many -within two or three days. The people of Pro-vi dence and Newport were now awakened to the gravity of the situation and the most active and stringent measures were adopted to prevent further spread of the epidemic. The Pro-vidence Town Papers on file abound during that and two or three succeeding years -with documents of all descriptions bearing upon the prevailing affliction. Many of Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 25 these are especiaUy interesting to the medical practitioner, as well as to the layman, while many possess a quaintness of form and purpose that would be amusing, did they not show so clearly the distressing conditions then existing. How promptly official action was taken is seen in the following: " At a Town Council of the Town of Pro"vidence holden in and for Said Town on the eighteenth Day of August, A. D. 1797. "Present. John Dorrance Esq. Presd't, "Mr. Silvanus Martin "Mr. Joel Metcalf "Capt. Jonathan Treadwell ' ' Samuel Eddy Esqr. "Whereas it is reported unto this Council that Mr. Robert Fuller and the wives of Thomas Goss and Thomas Mitchell aU of this Town are deceased with the Putrid Fever which is highly contagious, and that their funeral is to be attended this afternoon, ' ' Therefore, to prevent the spreading of said Contagion, it is rec ommended by this Council that no more Persons attend said Funerals, than are necessary for the Interment of the deceased. "It is further recommended, that the Corpses of said deceased persons be conveyed to the place of Interment through the most pri vate Avenues, leading to the same, and that the To-wn Sergeant be directed to notify the friends of the Said deceased of this Resolution. ' ' A true Copy. Witness Geo. Tillinghast. ' ' The beUef prevailing that the yellow fever was brought in and propagated to a large extent by incoming vessels is seen in the follow ing: "Providence, August 21, 1797. "Capt Isaac Cahoone "Sir "You are hereby requested to Immediately go on board the Schooner Betsy, Capt. Burr Comander and proceed forth-with to Smoak the said vessell -with Sulphur, Tar, &c. as may serve to cleanse the said vesseU from any Infection, in order to prevent any Contagion taking place from said Vessell, and to preserve the Health of this Town from the malady with which it is now infected. "by Order of the Town Council "Tho Lloyd Halsey "Jon'n Treadwell."^ This document was supplemented on the foUowing day by an order to pay Captain Gaboon eight dollars for "cleansing and getting said Schooner dovra the River". There were other bills paid in the 'Providence Town Papers, 12119. 26 State op Rhode Island and Peo"vidence Plantations. month of September for "airing the vessell Betsy", drying her sails, etc.i Alarm soon spread to other parts of the State, particularly on or near the water front. The inhabitants of East Green-wich were particularly agitated, as seen in the following: "East Greenwich, September 13, 1797. ' ' Gentlemen "We the To-wn Council of East Greenwich Inform you, that the inhabitants of our Town was Much alarmed on Monday last, a young man on Monday Morning was taken as was thought -with the fever now Prevalent in your Town, was brought through our Town on his way to his Fathers . . when he came through this To-wn, seemed by his Complaint to have all the appearance of that Disorder, the Lad is a bound Prentice — as we are informed to one Mr. Da-vis a sailmaker in the Lower Part of your Town where we understand the fever Mostly Prevails. We -wish that every Precaution might be taken to prevent the said fever from being brought from your To-wn to this. "We are Gentlemen "with the Greatest Respect and Esteem your Most Humble Servants "By order and in behalf of the Town Council of said East Green-wich. "H. Cooke, CouncU Clerk ' ' To President and Members of the Town Council of Pro-vidence. ' '^ Under date of September 17, 1797, a lengthy petition was pre sented to the Providence Council, signed by physicians and others, stating that the "malignant fever still existing in the South part of the Town" seemed to indicate its continuance until the coining of frost, and that they beUeved that all cases should be removed "a moderate distance out of the compact part of the Town ' '. The secur ing of a proper place in which to quarantine the patients and the payment of the necessary cost was recommended in the petition. The signatures were Ephraim Bowen, A. Throop, Pardon Bowen, Ephraim Comstock, Comfort A. Carpenter, Thomas Greene, Benjamin Dyer, Joseph Mason, Stephen Randal, Joseph Lee, and John Milton Mason. One of the principal methods of combating the disease was the free use of fire and smoke. Among the documentary possessions of the city of Providence are bills'* for tar, rosin, empty tar barrels, brimstone, etc., for smoking the streets. One of these,* signed by 'Providence To-wn Papers, 12139, 12144. ^Providence To-wn Papers, 12158. "Providence Town Papers, 12176 to 12181, inclusive. 'Providence Town Papers, 12178. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 27 John Bowen, recommended the building of large fires around the in fected locaUties and on the wharfs, as a cure for the fever. He stated that he had heard through Captain Smith, "who had become consider ably acquainted with the Yaller Fevvor in the West Indies", that such fires cured the disease in the islands. This course was followed, as shown by the f oUowdng bill : ' ' The Town of Pro-vidence to William Earle Jr Dr. Sept. 25, 1797. To 2 Days attendance on the Fires, smoking the streets, a 2 Doll . $4 1 bbl Tar of A. E. Gorton 3 2Tarbbls, of " a 12c 24 7 24 this is to certify the above attendance and Artikals was Delivered John TiUinghast. "1 All through the summer and faU of 1797 bills^ were rendered against the town for cleansing different localities, medical ser-vices, medical supplies, nursing the sick, cleansing houses, carrying patients to hospitals, and other similar ser-vices. These bills were usually in the following form : ' ' September 15, 1797 Tovm of Pro-vidence to Joseph Lee Dr. To Reparing on Board Capt Anthony's Sloop, &c and Reporting &c to the Hon. Council 20. To Examining &c Capt Barles Vessell & people &c & Reporting &c .75 21 To 4 ounces Gum Camphor for the use of the Hospital @ Is. the ounce .66 22 To 9 lb. Tamarinds @ Is the lb 9s Pot 9d 1.62 24 To 1/2 lb Gum Camphor @ 16 1.331/3 27 To 4 ounces " " @ 15 ounce 0.66 My attendance on the Hon. Town Council from the 20 of Sept. to the 8 of October By there perticular Request and Orders 4.00 $10.71/2" On September 20 of that year Esek Eddy rendered a biU con sisting of forty-five items, including supplies and services for the hos pital amounting to $26.12.6.^ The bill of John Spurr covered his 'Providence Town Papers, 12185. 'Providence Town Papers, 12185, 12188, 12191-2, 12197, 12200 to 12203, 12209, 13313. 'Providence Town Papers, 12274. 28 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. services in ' ' attendance on the Sick and assisting in burying the dead that died with the Malignant Fever at the South End of the to-wn from August 20 to October 23, 1797", and amounted to $30, wdth $6 for "my horse for the above purpose within the above mentioned time".i John Carlile was paid $8 for "two coffins for poor persons deceased of the Yellow Fever". Mrs. Marcy Piles was paid $12 for nursing at the hospital and Dr. Amos Throop was paid $38 by note for services and medicines. The following order is self-explanatory : "Providence October 9, A. D. 1797. "Sir "Please to pay to WiUiam Chafee on Sight of this Order out of the Town Treasury, the Sum of Eight Dollars, the same being in full of his account for attendance on Robert Blinn, in Sickness and during his Interment. ' ' By Order of the Council. "Samuel Nightingale Esq. Town Treasurer. "Geo. Tillinghast, C. Clerk." On the same date an order was made to pay Santealger Hopkins $29 for ser-vices of himself and his wife "as nurses at the Hospital." A report made by Wheeler Martin, Isaac AngeU, and Samuel Whipple, who had been appointed to examine for nuisances and un- healthful places "at the North end of Pro"vidence ", reported "all places in a very cleanly situation, consideraing the nature of the busi ness carried on at many of the places pointed out to us. Wherefore we consider that we cannot impute the prevailing sickness to no less cause than the works of Providence ' '. It may be added that in olden times it was quite a customary proceeding to shift upon the convenient shoulders of Providence, calamities that were palpably due to human negligence or ignorance. The extracts from the Town papers of 1797 must here be concluded "with the f ollo"wing quaint bill : "to the Annexe bil Gentlemen of the Town Counsel of the to"wn of Pro"vidence. "to Charles Bogman Dr to Smokin'and Wight Washing the house of Capt. Bullock Down at the Loar end of the town two Days at tow DoUas per Day $4 DoUas. "Providence Sept the 30, 1797." The epidemic continued in the summer of 1798, but probably "with less violence than in the previous or the following year, judging by reports of physicians, town papers and other data. The hospital for yellow fever patients was erected during the open months of this year." 'Providence To"wn Papers, 12306. ''Providence Tovfn Papers, 12887. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 29 It appears that in May, Pardon Mason rendered a bill for lath, plaster ing, etc., for the building, amounting to $284.92; and many others are in the records. Under date of November 12, an appropriation was made of part of the sum of $12,000 raised by taxation, -with which to pay $575.28 on an order dated March 5, 1798, for money "advanced in Building the new Hospital". In December of that year Eben Sim-. mons was ordered paid $5.23 for hinges for the hospital. WiUiam Jones was paid $64.25 for sundries, and Job Waterman $25 for lath on April 10. November 7, Capt. Paul Allen was ordered paid $4, "for cleansing Capt. Zachariah Allen's Brigantine". The epidemic continued through 1799, but records of its results are somewhat deficient. The whole community was engrossed in efforts to bring it to an end, but apparently vdthout decisive result. Com mittees were kept at work in quest of nuisances, and one committee of Samuel Thurber and Philip Martin who, after inspecting the so- called Northern District, reported that "the privey at the Brick School House is in very bad condition, as is the Slaughter House owned by Mr. Ballew at the north end of the to"wn— both these places are ex tremely offensive".^ It should be remembered that this report was made several years after the first appearance of the disease. A report was made this year upon the condition of the west side of the river, by WilUam Richmond and Grendall Reynolds,^ which stated that the yards needed cleaning, while all along Westminster and Weybosset streets were low places in which was standing water, all of which ' ' would render the air very contagious ' '. This report was dated May 6, 1799. This and other sections were ordered cleansed during that summer; a road to the hospital was constructed and the building and premises improved. But all that was accomplished seemed futile to control or even diminish the march of the epidemic. To aggravate the situation, small-pox again made its appearance in the community and added to the general anxiety. To"wn paper 13,576 relates to this new danger and bears date April 18. It was a notifica tion to the council by Dr. Le-vi Wheaton and Dr. Pardon Bowen that, "having received Approbation of your honorable Body to conduct the Business of Inoculation at the Hospital," they had done so at con siderable expense to themselves and in expectation of a large number of cases and reasonable fees. They reported that they had only thirty- four cases at the fee of fifteen cents each, and asked to be further paid for their labor. 'Providence Town Papers, 13600. Trovidence Town Papers, 13601. 30 State of Rhode Island and Pro-vidence Plantations.- The first year of the incoming century saw no diminution of the epidemic ; on the other hand, judging by the tovm records, it was more extensively fatal than in the previous year. Newport and other cities were also afflicted. In a letter from the chairman of a Committee of Correspondence in Philadelphia, dated September 19, 1800,^ who had been called on for aid, it is stated that the signers "had been appointed to correspond with and aid in the Relief of the Inhabitants of Balti more, Norfolk and Pro-vidence, now suffering under the most relentless disease that ever afflicted our cities ' ', etc. In Philadelphia ward com- Small Pox Hospital, Lincoln. mittees were appointed to solicit money and suppUes for the afflicted communities. During the fall months of this year the physicians in attendance at the hospital made regular reports of their visits." These reports are an indication of the number of existing cases from day to day, the average during a considerable period being about ten cases. Many 'Providence Town Papers, 00256. 'Providence Town Papers, 00272, 00274, 00281, 00291, 00298, 00299. 00302, 00304, 00307, 00309, 00313, etc. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 31 other cases outside of the hospital were reported upon by the several physicians. Space for only a few of the reports can be spared here : "September 6, 1800. "Gentlemen. I was this day caUed to visit Mr. John Sheldon's wife now under symptoms of the last stage of the epidemic— She was seized last Sunday with the usual symptoms of fever which has progressed unnoticed until yesterday agreeably to the request of the Hon. CouncU I have immediately on its coming to my notice made this report. "At Hospital 12 o'clock. ' ' Patience Greatrax as well as yesterday. "J. Mason." Following is one of Dr. Levi Wheaton 's clearly -written reports : ' ' Gentlemen "I have this morning "visited Betsy Stokes, iU of the fever at William Harding's— she was attacked the night before last, and is in a situation to be removed to the Hospital. Also Prime Burrill and wife in the same neighborhood, attacked "with fever about the same time— both appear to be proper subjects for the Hospital. "With respect, "Your most ob't serv't "L. Wheaton." The reports from the hospital show wdth much detail the condi tion of the patients therein mentioned. Betsy Stokes died on the 11th. "Hospital, Sept. 12, 1800. "Gentlemen Since my last report 3 persons have died at the Hos pital "viz. Last night Betsy Stokes — and this morning Prime Burril. Mr. Warner appeared almost gone. Mrs. Morris is to-day much re- Ueved and I think will not have the fever. SaUy Clark appears to have no marked symptoms of fever and her complaints at present are probably the result of the very active medicines she had taken & I cannot resist a hope that these two cases will not prove anything against the idea we have held up that yellow fever is not contagious in a pure and freely circulating air. J. Mason. "Hon. Town Council of Pro"vidence "the other patients are in a good way. No new cases have oc curred in my practice in to"wn. ' '^ It will be noticed that Dr. Mason could not refrain from interject ing into his report a word on the prevailing disagreement among the local physicians as to the nature of the disease. Residents in the "vicinity of Eddy's Point strenuously objected to ha"ving the bodies of persons who died of the fever brought into their "vicinity. The matter is explained as follows : 'Providence Town Papers, 00205. 32 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. "To the Honorable Town Council of the Tovm of Providence. "We the undersigned Inhabitants Liveing on Eddy's Point hav ing heretofore Represented to this Council the Impropriety of Landing the Sick & Dead of the yellow fever on this Point we did hope that your Honours would Explicitly Direct that no more should be landed as heretofore at this Place but we find this is not the Case for a Corpsi has been Landed here this forenoon by Henry Alexander who says he has orders from the Town Council so to do which orders he atemted to Read whereby we perceived he was directed to Land the Dead South of Eddy's Point which we concluded might mean so far South as not to Endanger the Lives of the Inhabitants, but he obstinately persisted in Landing the Corps Exactly in the same place that they were landed heretofore which is Right into one of the Shipyards on this Point and carrying it therein directly by the doors of a number of Houses. How contagious the Disorder is we are unable to tell but this we affirm that they might as well pass along the Main streets in any part of the Town as to pass where they now do. We therefore Request your Honours to Direct ExpUcitly where they are to be Landed and like"wise to enable the person who lands them to understand his Instructions that we may not be Compeld to the necessity of flying from the Point or of keeping them off by force of Arms. "Providence, Sept. 19, 1800. "^ This document was signed by twenty persons. Dr. Charles F. Bartlett, of Newport, wrote a pamphlet in 1801, a copy of which is in the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society, in which he described the origin and progress of the epidemic in that city. As wiU be seen, he was a strong advocate of the contagion theory. From the pamphlet the follo"wing is taken : ' ' The manner in which this Disease was first communicated, and its subsequent progress, too clearly evinces its pestilential and con tagious nature. ' ' The United States Frigate General Greene, arrived in the harbor of Newport the 21st of July, 1800 ; came to a wharf at that part of the town of Newport called the Point, the 26th of the same month; at which time, the Author was caUed on to examine the state of the ship, and those men diseased on board her as weU as many on shore belong ing to her, by the Town-Council, through the medium of the Health Officer [Mr. John Wanton.]— The Author accordingly obeyed the mandate, and made a just report, as desired, in writing. Unfor tunately, little attention was paid to the report; and the heretofore healthy town of Newport, became in a great measure infected "with this Plague— many diseased— some recovered. The mistaken idea that the pestilential fever was not contagious in this fine atmosphere, which 'Providence Town Papers, 00226. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 33 has been very industriously reported by the medical faculty, as well as others, (from what motives is best known to themselves) occasioned the too tardy steps, taken by those authorized, to prevent the spread ing of the disease, which soon destroyed many valuable lives: I say valuable, as many, though poor laborers, were heads of families, and on "whom their entire subsistence depended. There were particular individuals, whose names it were useless to make mention of, that thought proper to oppose the idea held out by the Author, not only interestedly as to themselves; but not satisfied with that, attempted to blast the character of the person whose only wish, and design, was the Public welfare, despising every other consideration, and acting on the scale of humanity alone. This treatment was cruel to the last degree; but wall vanish like all calumny (the Author hopes) before rectilineal and philosophic conduct." After reciting the symptoms and character of the dreaded disease as manifested at that time in Newport, Dr. Bartlett described his method of treatment. After his visit to the infected ship Dr. Bartlett made his report to the Town Council and appeared before that body in person to give such further information as might be necessary. He said : "I recommended by all means, the removal of the ship from the wharf, to some distant place, and that the most likely means of cleansing her from the infection, was to sink her to her lower deck in salt water for at least a fortnight." It seems that his recommenda tions were almost -\vholly neglected. Dr. Bartlett then proceeded to describe in detail the cases attended by him personally and the results of his methods of treatment, to which he added a few cases that came under his observation while he was in the West Indies. The Newport cases numbered twenty-one, of whom five died and sixteen recovered ; and there were many other cases attended by other physicians. It may be interesting to physicians to read that the case of Capt. Francis Anderson " (on the lower ferry or market wharf), who was supposed to have taken the pestilential fever from one of the Pro-vidence Packets", and recovered after nine days of illness, "took no less than 125 grains of calomel in two days". Dr. Bartlett seems to have freely used calomel, yellow Peru-vian bark, jalap, and "sether of vitriol". In this connection the following document possesses historical intGrGst ' "Newport 20th August, 1800. ' ' Gentlemen "Yours of the 25th instant we have received and most cheerfully comply vnth your Request in gi-ving a true and impartial Statement of the Malignant Disorder that has prevailed in this Town since the 3 34 State of Rhode Island and Pro-vidence Plantations. arrival of the United States Frigate General Greene, which was on the 21st of July last, to this date. Fourteen persons have died -with that disorder, nine of which belonged to or had belonged to the Frigate, one person who came from New York sick, and the other four were Inhabitants of this Town who had been to work in the Hold of said Frigate, the first person that died was about the last of July or first of August and the last person that died was on the 26th instant, and we are happy to inform you that there is but one new case and that is a person who we are informed has been on board the frigate and she is removed to the Hospital, and no other person in the to^vn is sick -with that disorder. We would add further that no person to our knowledge has taken the disorder but those that belonged to the Frigate or those that had been to work on board. Inclosed you -will find a Statement given by the Surgeon of the ship on the day of her arrival at this port. Jonathan Almy, "CouncU Clerk."! The certificate mentioned was signed by WiUiam Turner, surgeon, and certifies that on August 20 there was no contagious case on the ship.^ The number of cases of the fever in Pro-vidence in the year 1800 reached well towards a hundred, of which about one-half resulted fataUy, as seen in the following list found in Pro"vidence To"wn paper 13914: r raken. Died. Mrs. Taylor, August 15 August 21 Elizabeth Whiting, ' Joseph Tillinghast, ' " 22 Mrs. Luther, ' 16 " 21 Joseph Cooke, ' 16 Mary Earle, ' 17 " 23 Sweet Luther, ' 18 Miss Dana (child), ' 18 Miss Warner, ' 18 Patrick Morris, ' 18 " 23 Jeremiah B. Howell, ' 19 Rebecca Carr, ' 19 " 23 Jonathan Eddy, ' 19 " 25 Jeremiah Whiting, ' 19 Mrs. Atkins, ' 29 Charles Tillinghast, ' 21 Mrs. Charles TilUnghast, ' 21 " 26 Nancy Briggs, ' 22 Richard Hinman, ' 23 " 25 'Providence Town Papers, 00182. ^Providence Town Papers, 00181. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 35 Taken. Died Lucretia Pearce August August 26 Mrs. Bogman, i i 24 Sept. 1 Mary Whiting, Patience Greatrix, I i 27 Joseph Arnold, ' ' 27 Aug. 31 Thomas MitcheU, 1 1 27 Mrs. Bird, i I 27 Amey Read, I < 23 Sept. 1 Lucy Libbey, I i 29 Hannah Fuller, i i 29 Mrs. NeweU, Sept. 1 Mrs. John Sheldon, Aug. 31 i i 7 Betsey Stokes, Sept. 5 i i 11 Prime Burrill, i i 5 i i 12 Mrs. Prime Burrill, i i 5 Ruth Curtis, i i 7 i I 11 Mrs. John Warner, i i 6 i i 10 Stephen Ashton, i i 6 i i 8 Amey Tillinghast, I I 4 Mrs. Samuel Warner, i (. 8 i i 13 Nancy Blinn, i c 4 Edward Luther, i i 4 i i 12 Edward Dickins, i i 8 i i 15 Pheobe HuU, i i 8 u 13 Mrs. Ed-win Dickins, i ( 11 ( i 16 WUUam Olney, i i 11 Mrs. Daniel Pearce, i i 13 Mrs. Dickins (widow), i i 8 i i 14 Sally HuU, li 14 C i. 17 Polly Godfry, i i 12 I i 20 Eliza Dickins, I i 15 Moses (black man), i i 13 Mary Tillinghast,, i I 13 17 Sarah Gibbs (black woman), i i 16 Mary Fields, i i 17 23 Richard Congdon, i i 17 i i 21 Eunice Congdon, i i 17 C i 23 Mrs. Brown, i c 14 i I 19 James Temple, i i 17 i i 19 Daniel Bucklin, i i 12 Ephraim Langdon, i I 18 Mrs. Mitchel, i i 18 20 Sally Howe, i i 15 Jabez Bucklin, i i 12 26 Mrs. Brown (black woman). i i 16 i i 19 36 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Taken. Died. Mrs. John Davis, Sept 16 Sept. 23 John Stokes, ii 18 " 21 Lydia Eveleth, i (¦ 18 " 21 Betsey Huntington, (. i 22 " 22 Amey Godfrey, i I 22 " 27 Rebecca Luther, i i 22 Oct. 1 Mary Stokes, ii 22 John Warner, i i 22 Sept. 28 Mrs. J. Tillinghast, i i 22 " 26 Nancy Newfield (B. woman). Sept. 23 " 27 Violet Cook (black), i i 20 " 28 John Sheldon, i i 23 " 27 Daniel Pearce, i i 24 " 25 SaUy Waters, wife of Jno., i i 23 " 28 Nancy Waters, i I 23 " 28 Pheobe Sisco (colored), i i 26 Mrs. Congdon, I i 25 Piney Bucklin, Oct. 8 Joshua Salisbury, (. i 5 Oct. 8 A list of the cases and deaths in this year is found also in the Moses Brown manuscript before mentioned ; its only value here is the addition of a few given names. The name, "Mrs. Taylor", in the foregoing list he gives as Mary Taylor; "Mrs. Luther", as Sweet Luther's wife; "Mary Earle", as William Earle 's wife; "Miss War ner", as John Warner's -wife. He also adds the names of Ephraim Congdon 's son and daughter, and states that one man and one woman were attacked by the fever in Providence and died in Swansea; one at Foster and one at Rehoboth. He notes also one death at East Green-wich. It -will be of interest to the medical profession to note the fact that in Dr. Bartlett 's pamphlet of 1801 he strongly discountenanced the use of salts of tartarized antimony in the treatment of yellow fever. Said he : "I have constantly found in the course of my practice, ill effects from their use. They always increase the irritability of the stomach (which is the affection most to be guarded against) and con sequent debility. I have with greater advantage in the first stage, and to answer the first intention of cure, used the foUowing evacuant, K, Calomel, 20 gr. Pulv. R, ad, jalap, 20 gr. m.". He then explains the beneficial action of these drugs on the patient. It is not at all sur prising that differences of opinion as to the best methods of treating the then little Imown disease should have arisen, for they exist also at the present day. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 37 Enough space has, perhaps, been devoted to this terrible visitation of fatal disease to the infant community of Providence, which during a number of years not only caused anxiety, suffering, and mourning in so many households, but also laid a paralyzing hand upon all kinds of business. The outbreak gradually decreased through the years 1801-5 and finally disappeared. A few other Town papers only can be given place here, in connection with the disease during the remain ing years of its prevalence. Esek Eddy was keeper of the hospital in 1800 and rendered a bill of $419.21 for his services from August 22 to November 1, and John Spurr 's bill for about the same period was $372.34. On October 22, 1800, PhiUp Martin put in a biU "for House Small-Pox] Hospital at Field's Point, Providence. Rent three weeks and sase in the garden for the family of John Till inghast, Removed in Thare by Mr. Elexander, four DoUars 50 cent". Henry Alexander's biU: "To my services from the 23d Day of August, to the 15th Day of October, [1800] inclusive being fifty-three days and during the Yellow Fever at 4 DoUars pr. Day, $212.00". On December 3 of that year Dr. Levi Wheaton rendered his biU "for services to Town", $225.25. A biU dated November 7, 1800, was paid February 28, 1801, for $76, payable to Dennis Bishop, Ephraim Congdon, Henry Alexander, and Stephen Whipple, "being a watch set under the direction of the Hon 'ble Town Council 22 nights during the time of the yellow fever prevailed from 1 to 22 October". 38 State of Rhode Island and Pro-vidence Plantations. Town paper 005546 consists of a letter from the authorities of Ne-wport asking if Providence would quarantine against New York; stating that six vessels came in there in one day and the council had voted to stop them outside of Fort Island. Also stating that PhUadel phia had "laid an embargo on aU shipping going or coming from New York and stages with passengers by Land coming to the city by 15 days Quarantine". A number of bills were rendered through 1801, 1802, 1803, in Providence,! for services, tar to burn in the streets, stone lime, making of coffins, hospital supplies, carrying nurses and patients to the hos pital, etc. With the passing of years of the present century, and with careful and efficient quarantine regulations, this dreaded disease has become unknown in the State. The first scourge of Asiatic cholera which swept over this eoimtry was in 1832. After devastating some parts of Europe this disease crossed the ocean from England, where it had made its appearance the preceding year, and was first developed in Quebec, on June 8, 1832; it was probably brought over in an emigrant vessel. On the 10th of the same month it passed up the St. Lawrence to Montreal, and on the 1st day of July appeared in Albany and New York. From Albany it followed the Erie canal westward, making great ravages in Syracuse, Rochester and especially in Buffalo, while it was at the same time sweeping hundreds to death in New York and the other cities mentioned. Intense excitement prevailed throughout the coun try, and strange methods were adopted to aid in preventing the out break of the pestilence in some localities.- At an early date in the progress of the disease Bishop Onderdonk, of New York, issued a circular with the form of prayer to be used, that the epidemic might be stayed. In June, 1832, the leading newspapers in Pro-vidence, Newport, and elsewhere in the State, contained exaggerated accounts of the ravages of the disease, theories were advanced and remedies 'The Providence Town Papers contain hundreds of bills, reports, orders, etc., relating to this epidemic and must be consulted for any special investigation of the subject. — Ed. ^The legislative, executive, and ecclesiastical authorities in all our cities at once adopted measures with the view of preventing the epidemic. Unfortu nately, in most places, more confidence was placed upon quarantines, and upon fasting and prayer, than upon internal sanitary measures. This absurd and inconsistent idea that cholera was sent by God, and that, at the same time, its progress could be stopped by quarantine regulations seems to have pre vailed at that period. — History of the Asiatic Cholera in Providence, by B. M. Snow, M. D., in Library of Rhode Island Hist. Soc'y. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 39 recommended for its cure, and quacks of all degrees of intelligence or lack of intelligence, became numerous on eveiy hand. The pestilence continued to spread. On the 19th of June, 1832, the physicians of Pro-vidence, at the call of Dr. Levi Wheaton and by request of the mayor, met in the Senate chamber to consider the subject of this disease. After discus sion Drs. Levi Wheaton, Joseph Mauran, and Thomas H. Webb were appointed a committee "to report such measures as they may deem expedient". On June 21st a quarantine ordinance was put in force, and on the 25th the report of the committee appeared. Its recom mendations were at once adopted by the council, and included the removal of ail filth and other nuisances, the provision of hospitals, effective quarantine, etc. The council adopted an ordinance to carry out the recommendations of the committee and appropriating $5,000 for the purpose. On July 10 Drs. Joseph Mauran, Thomas H. Webb, and Samuel Boyd Tobey proceeded to New York city, to inform them selves as far as possible by personal observation of the malady.^ Their report w^as published promptly and served to greatly allay the prevailing anxiety and fear. As steamboats were forbidden to land passengers in Providence, they discontinued doing so on July 16,^ and afterwards landed passengers at Seekonk, East Greenwich, Somerset and at other points. On July 18 an ordinance was adopted by the Providence Council prohibiting persons from any city infected with cholera from entering Providence, until ten days had expired from the time they left the infected place. Newport had already passed a similar ordinance, and Wickford and other places followed the example. A few days later the cholera appeared in Newport and the mail coach from that city was stopped by the Fall River authori ties. All of these incidents refiect the popular excitement of the time. As late as July 26 the press of Providence proclaimed the good health of the city ; but this feeling of congratulation was short lived. Two persons died of cholera in Newport on the 25th and others closely followed. On the 31st of July Mrs. John Thurber, and a girl named 'See "Remarks on the Cholera, embracing facts and observations Collected at New York, during a visit to the city Expressly for the purpose," in posses sion of the Rhode Island Hist. Soc'y. =-When the three physicians named returned from New York they were not permitted to land at Providence, the people fearing infection, and therefore they landed at Seekonk, proceeding thence to Pawtucket. They were refused admission to all public and private houses on their way until they reached Horton's Grove, where they were permitted to remain through the night. The next day, after being fumigated, they were allo-wed to return to their homes. — Dr. Snow's pamphlet, before quoted. 40 State of Rhode Island and Pro-vidence Plantations. Slocum living at Eddy's Point, were seized with the malady and died on the next day. The husbana and another girl named Slocum were attacked about the same time and died the following day. These were the first cases of cholera reported in Providence. On the 3d of August the local physicians formed themselves into a medical board "for the purpose of reporting all cases of cholera", and Drs. Thomas H. Webb, Isaac Hartshorn, Leander Utley, David B. Slack, and Samuel B. Tobey were appointed a committee "to in vestigate and report all the facts relating to the cases in the Thurber family". The report of this committee, according to Dr. Snow, seemed to indicate that quarantine regulations -were useless; that neither of the cases had been exposed to the disease, and that "the Cholera atmosphere" had reached the city. On the 6th of August Moses B. Ives offered the building afterwards known as "the Tockwotten house" for a cholera hospital, and it was accepted by the authorities, fitted up for its purpose and pro-vided with attending physicians. Two weeks elapsed before there were any other cases in Pro-vi dence. On the 16th of August a case was reported on Christian HiU, which recovered. On the 26th of that month two cases were reported, both of which resulted fatally, maldng seven cases in August, six of which were fatal. It now seemed evident that the disease would not prevail so extensively in Providence, or elsewhere in Rhode Island, as it had in New York and some other cities, and the ordinance restrict ing commerce and travel was repealed in response to popular demand on August 31. But Providence had not yet escaped. The warm weather of September was favorable to the spread of the malady, and from the first of that month to the ninth of October, twenty-nine cases were reported, making the whole number of cases in the city during the year thirty -six; twenty-five died and eleven recovered. The dis ease manifested itseJf in manj^ parts of the city, but there was none east of North Main street and north of Power street, nor in what was the Sixth ward. The cholera did not become epidemic in Pro-vidence, a fact due doubtless to the efficient action of the authorities and the physicians for the isolation of the sick and for improvements in various sanitary directions. The disease remained in this country to a limited extent during the two following years, but no cases were reported in Providence. From that date forward during a period of fifteen years the country was free from it. In the months of December, 1848, and January, 1849, there were cases of cholera in New York city, and the disease was then epidemic ia some parts of the South. On the 27th of May, 1849, a six year old Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 41 boy died of the disease on Eddy street in Providence, and during the month of June there were four more deaths. In July there were six teen deaths, and during the week ending August 11 there were thirty- four deaths. During the whole month of August there were ninety deaths, thirty-two in September, "Lhree in October, and four in Novem ber, making a total of one hundred and fifty. From the 1st to the 15th of August the disease was epidemic in Jail lane. Canal, Gaspee, and some other streets near the canal, while from the 15th to the 30th the greater part of the cases were near the south end of Main street and Benefit street and in what is now Globe street. As only the deaths were recorded at that time, the whole number of cases can only be estimated. Of about fifty cases attended by the city physicians in 1849, two-thirds died ; the same ratio for the whole city would give two hundred and twenty-five as the whole number of cases. Although the ravages of the disease were more extensive at this time than in 1832, far less excitement and fear existed, for reasons that will be apparent. The newspapers published less agitating matter regarding the disease, people had learned more as to what precautions would probably keep it from their doors, and were more familiar "with its consequences than they were seventeen years earlier. Dr. Snow wrote that "the same local filth, and cause of disease and death, existed in 1850, and in the succeeding years, as in 1849 ; but this atmospheric influence [to which he had previously alluded] was absent, and they did not give rise to Asiatic cholera". In the late months of 1853 emigrant vessels lost many passengers from the disease, which appeared in New Orleans, where two hundred and fourteen deaths took place in the week ending December 5. With the warm weather of the following spring it appeared at other points, and on the 16th day of May two persons died of the malady in Jail lane, Providence; another died in the same lane on the 20th and a third on the 28th. There w^as still another death in a filthy locality on North Main street on the 21st of May ; it was the case of a married woman, and on the 22d and 23d of the same month her husband and son died. On the 30th of May two more persons died, a mother and her son, also on North Main street, making nine deaths in the month. In June there were eight deaths, all but two on Gaspee street. From the 1st to the 20th of July the city was free from fatal cases, but between the 21st and the 30th there were fourteen deaths, five of which were near the south end of South Main street. The disease rapidly increased after the first of August, there being sixty-four deaths between the 1st and the 15th inclusive, forty-eight of which were in the section 42 State op-Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. bordering the canal, a locality that suffered more severely than any other from the disease in that year ; but, strange to state, after the 15th of August there was scarcely a case there. In the last half of August there were forty-five deaths, of which twenty-three were in the neigh borhood of India street and Fox Point hill. In the month of Septem ber there were nineteen deaths, and the last death from the disease in that year was on September 29. The whole number during the year was one hundred and fifty-nine. Of these one hundred and forty were on the east side of the river, with only eighteen on the west side ; the residence of one case was not given in the record. The disease in this year seemed to be of a milder type than in 1849 and there were a larger porportionate number of recoveries; it is believed that in 1854 only about one-half died. There was scarcely a wave of excitement at any time during the season, although the outbreak was receiving, perhaps, more careful and efficient attention from the authorities and physi cians than it had on previous occasions. According to Dr. Snow, many important facts were learned from the disease in 1854, the value of which has been far-reaching. Some of the more important of these were: That nine-tenths of all who died were of foreign parentage. That seven-tenths of the deaths took place in two comparatively re stricted localities, viz. : near the canal, and on and near Fox Point Hill. That the great proportion of deaths among foreigners was caused by the character of the tenements in which they lived and their habits of life ; and that the principal local causes of the pestilence were the condition of the canal near Gaspee street, the filth on Fox Point Hill, with the porous character of the soil in both those localities. At the annual meeting of the Rhode Island Medical Society in 1881, the author read a paper on "Malaria in Providence", which was called out by an endemic visit of that disease to this locality. The following is a quotation from that paper : "The recent appearance of such diseases among us has given rise to the enquiry whether they have, at any period of our history, been prevalent in New England. Dr. Holmes, in an essay published in 1836, gives the result of his extensive researches in this matter, which show that intermittent fever existed in this section, to a moderate extent, from its settlement till the early part of the present century. He quotes from various sources to show, that at the time of the Revolu tion, it occurred in Providence, Cranston, and South Kingstovm, while other parts of the State escaped. I have been told that in the early years of his practice. Dr. Mauran had cases in the north part of this town, and Dr. Usher Parsons, in a letter to Dr. Holmes, states that he had known of chills and fever many years before, in the "vicinity of Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 43 a dam that had been built across the Moshassuck River. Dr. Levi Wheaton also mentioned the same thing in a communication to the Massachusetts Medical Society. "But for the last fifty years Rhode Island, together -with the larger part of New England, has had complete immunity. About twenty-five years ago, malarial disease began to spread eastward from the valley of the Hudson. The evil influence, whatever it was, crept slowly along the coast of Connecticut, and on reaching a river-mouth would rapidly spread from it up the valley. In this way the valleys of the Housatonic, the Connecticut, and, lastly, the Thames, as well as smaller streams, have become very malarious. New London was flrst visited in 1878, and it was then prophesied that our State would be the next to suffer. "I have been told that cases of intermittent fever occurred in Pro-vidence three years ago, but none were publicly reported till the summer of 1880, the same year that the endemic occurred at Nayatt. While it w^as by far the most severe at that place, many other localities were somewhat affected, and a few cases occurred in Pro-vidence, all, I believe, in the neighborhood of Mashapaug Pond. During the sum mer just past, a very large number of eases were reported, and the effort to tabulate them furnished the suggestion for this paper. En quiries were made of one hundred and fifteen practitioners in this city. Replies were received from seventy-four. Of these, thirty-one reported cases, and forty-three reported having none. Three or four physicians practising in a locality to be mentioned, had a very large number of cases each, while of the remainder scarcely any one had more than half a dozen. In all there were about three hundred cases. About one hundred and eighty-seven, or more than sixty per cent., were within one-half mile of Mashapany Pond ; twenty-six or eight per cent.,wereneartheOrientalMill ; and eight, or two and a half per cent., were near Red Bridge. This leaves seventy-nine scattered irregularly over the city. The population of the affected district near Mashapaug Pond is two thousand five hundred, as nearly as could be estimated. This makes the proportion of those attacked as one to fourteen. Probably it is much larger, as a great many sick with chills treated themselves, or applied to a druggist, and did not call a physician. The proportion affected in the remainder of the city was about one in twelve hundred and fifty. Not a single death occurred within the city lines. ' ' Malaria has since spread over a considerable part of Rhode Island, but at present seems to be rather on the wane. During the years 1876-77 some parts of Rhode Island suffered to an unusual degree from the diphtheria. The statistics show that the first death reported from this disease took place in August, 1858. During the neriod from that date until January 1, 1876, there were 44 State of Rhode Island and Pro-vidence Plantations. three hundred and thirty-five deaths in the State from that cause, and from January 1, 1876, to December 1, 1876, there were ninety-seven deaths, making a total of four hundred and thirty-two since the disease first made its appearance eighteen years before.^ The largest number in any one year previous to 1876 was forty-two in 1868, and the least number in any one year was five. In the year 1877 there were reported in the tovras of Warwick and East Greenwich forty-seven deaths from diphtheria, a number greater than from any other disease, not excepting consumption.^' The first death in Warwick from this disease occurred in 1861 and the first one in East Greenwich in 1864. From that time until June, 1877, the disease caused eighty-one deaths in those two towns ; the number in each of those years was as follows : In 1861, 12 ; in 1862, 5 ; in 1863, 5 ; in 1864, 11 ; in 1865, 5 ; in 1866, 2; in 1867, 1; in 1868, 2; in 1869, 5; in 1870, 9; in 1871, 11; in 1872, 2 ; in 1873, 2 ; in 1874, 7 ; in 1875, 3 ; in 1876, 2. Sixty-six of these Avere under six years of age, about equally divided between the sexes. The disease seemed to break out sporadicaUy, not becoming epidemic at any time. The eighty-one deaths would represent about five times as many cases. This epidemic affected Pro-vidence as it did the smaller towns, and in 1877 there were 295 deaths, and in 1878 the number was 246. During the winter of 1889-90 the State was -visited by an epidemic of infiuenza to such an extent that thirty-three per cent, of the in habitants of the State were attacked and many deaths resulted from it and its complication with other ailments. In the year 1899 three cases of small-pox were imported into Providence from Norfolk, Va., and during the past three years the disease has existed generally in a mild form in many of the States of the Union. The three cases mentioned, and the only two others de veloped, were taken in hand and further spread of the disease pre vented. In 1901 the disease again appeared, the first case in East Providence. Later it appeared in Central Falls and afterwards in several mill villages in Providence county, and in Pawtucket and Pro-vidence. Under advice of the secretary of the State Board, the city and to-wn authorities took up the task of quarantining, isolating and treating of cases, providing temporary hospitals, and aU of the 'Prom paper read at the quarterly meeting of the Rhode Island Medical Society on December 20, 1876, by -Walter B. Anthony, M. D. ^Paper read before the Rhode Island Medical Society on March 20, 1878, hy Dr. James H. Eldredge. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 45 modern and effective means known to sanitary and medical authorities Avere brought to bear to prevent the spread of and eradicate the disease. The work of boards of health and health officers has become an important factor in the life of the modern city and village. Since the creation of the State Board of Health, Rhode Island has been extremely fortunate in the selection of its members, but the legislature has not supported its diverse efforts with any great degree of UberaUty. Its work, too, has been rendered effective and encourag ing by the earnest co-operation of the health authorities in many of Small-Pox Hospital, Pawtucket. the cities and towns; upon them has necessarily fallen the actual enforcement and execution of the pro-visions of laws and regulations relating to public health and sanitation, the State Board acting in harmony with them in an advisory capacity only. A bill was introduced at the May session of the General Assembly, in 1877, providing for a State Board of Health and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. It was not expected that this bill would at that time become a law; its introduction was the result of a sudden impulse to have the subject brought before the public for consideration 46 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. during the recess prior to the following January session. The bill was transferred from the Judiciary Committee to the House Committee on Charities and Corrections who, with Dr. E. M. Snow, superin tendent of health in Providence, and a committee from the Pro-vidence Medical Association and the senator who presented the bill, framed a new one, Avhich was duly reported. Previous to the framing of the new bill the governor received from the secretary of the International Medical Congress of 1876 a communication containing a resolution requesting all governors to recommend the establishment of State Boards of Health. The new bill and this request were referred to a joint committee, who reported strongly in favor of the measure, and the bill became a law. The first State Board of Health consisted of David King, M. D., of Newport county, for six years ; Elisha Dyer, jr., Washington county, five years ; Charles H. Fisher, M. D., Pro-vidence county, four years; George W. Jenckes, M. D., Providence county, three years; William T. C. Wardwell, Bristol county, two years; Albert G. Sprague, M. D., Kent county, one year. The first report of this board covered eight months of the year 1878, and contained a paper by George E. Waring, jr., on the causation of typhoid fever, and one by Dr. L. F. C. Garvin on the dietetic value of -wine, beer, etc. In the following year the board took up the work of registration of -vital statistics, which had heretofore been carried on under direc tion of the secretary of state, aided by a committee from the Rhode Island Medical Society. Circulars containing questions bearing upon sanitary matters were sent to all the towns of the State, to which twenty-three towns responded; the greater part of these to-wns re ported that more or less effort had been made during the preceding years to improve the health conditions of the several communities. Among the important papers prepared and published in the report of 1879 was one on Ventilation of School Houses, by William A. Mowry, A. M. The report contained, also, tables showing a summary of acute diseases prevailing in the towns in each month of the year to each 1,000 population, and the birth rate to each 1,000. The report of 1880 shows that circulars had been sent to health authorities throughout the State requesting information as to locali ties, the conditions in which might foster any particular disease ; as to contagious disease among domestic animals, and what had been done to promote health. To these circulars twenty-nine towns and cities re sponded. During the early years of the existence of the board the reports show that many very valuable papers on sanitation, hygiene, Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 47 and kindred subjects Avere written and placed before the board. Many sanitary tracts Avere sent out to the toAvns and cities, with the purpose of inducing the health authorities to use every effort to improve their respective localities. In the report of 1882 appeared an exhaustive paper on the Com position and Properties of Milk, by EdAvin E. Calder, milk inspector of Providence. In that year the secretary of the board. Dr. Charles H. Fisher, made a tour of inspection of the summer hotels at Narra gansett Pier and Block Island, and reported their sanitary condition. The reports made at this time and in foUowdng years, the annual re ports to the State Board by the health officers in Providence, Newport, Pawtucket, and elsewhere, were exhaustive and valuable. In the re port of 1884 much space was given to extracts from Samuel M. Gray 's report on a proposed plan of sewerage and the disposal of sewage. Early in 1885 the secretary sent out a circular calling attention to the danger of a possible outbreak of cholera ; this and the general interest that had been aA^'akened throughout the State resulted in marked im provements in sanitary conditions. The proceedings of the board for 1887 include the secretary's report on the pollution of Providence River, which was made upon an investigation conducted in accordance with a request from the General Assembly. The report indicated that the stream was extensively polluted. In 1888 the subject of tuberculosis in cattle began to receive more attention by the board, and circulars were sent to butchers, veterinarians, cattle dealers, and personal visits were made by the secretary, with a view of having affected animals killed at the expense of the State. At the July session of the Assembly, in 1891, an act Avas passed making it the duty of the State Board of Agriculture to give its at tention to cases of suspected tuberculosis in cattle, and conferring up on it authority to pay for all animals killed by its orders. This was the first positive authority to kill diseased animals and remunerate their OAvners for the loss. On the 21st of October, 1893, Secretary Charles H. Fisher died, and Gardiner T. Swarts, M. D., was appointed to the position, in which he still serves. In this and the next preceding year the question of protecting the State from an invasion of cholera received attention. The secretary corresponded vnth the surgeon- general of the Marine Hospital Service on the subject, and arrived at the understanding that StiU exists on the subject, namely: That any infected vessel destined for any port between New York and Boston shall anchor at a pre- 48 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. scribed distance from a landing, and the health officer or port physi cian where there is no disinfecting facilities shall notify the surgeon- general, who will thereupon order the vessel to proceed to New York or Boston for disinfection. The cities of Providence and Newport have port medical officers. Malignant scarlet fever prevailed extensively in 1893 in the towns of Johnston, Cranston, and Warwick, and Secretary Swarts took immediate steps to prevent its further spread and to control it in those localities; from that time to the present the board has continued to make the improvement of sanitary conditions in the various towns, through its advisory association Avith the local authorities and in other ways, one of the important branches of its work. In 1894 the board took up a line of work AA'hich Avas destined to prove of great benefit to the inhabitants of all localities where there is a public water supply. An examination was begun of the sources of water supply, beginning with the Pawtuxet River, from which samples were taken from three separate points and analyzed. The supplies of Newport, Block Island, and Narragansett Pier were also studied. This work continued from year to year, and resulted, partly at least, in an enlargement of the Newport Avater works, the improvement of the Woonsocket source, and the removal of many causes of pollution in the Pawtuxet River. In the last month of 1894, also, Avas taken up the work of free examination for physicians of sputum for the diag nosis of tuberciUosis and the examination of secretions of the throat in cases of diphtheria. This was the first State Board of Health in the country to undertake this work. This practice has continued to the present with the most satisfactory results. In the same year the sum of $1,000 was appropriated by the State for the investigation of tuber culosis in man, and a like sum in the next year for aid in controUing that disease and diphtheria. In January, 1895, an act was passed by the Assembly to control the practice of medicine ; it made the State Board of Health an examining board, to control the issuance of cer tificates and their revocation, and made it, through the secretary, a prosecuting body. The Avork entailed under this act included the consideration of over four hundred and fifty appUcations during the succeeding year. The most recent important work of the board was the estabUsh- ment in May, 1900, of a chemical laboratory, where potable waters are analyzed and other chemical tests and examinations made for general sanitary improvement. The State appropriated $6,000 for this undertaking and continues its support by annual appropriations of such sums as seem necessary. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 49 It will be seen that during the past five year.s the Avork of the Rhode Island Board of Health has been greatly broadened and made to include sanitary problems and tasks of the greatest importance to the general public throughout the State. Through the results of this work and the dissemination of sanitary knowledge, the people become better informed and consequently more clearly realize the importance to every community of individual effort for improvement in health conditions. The scientific work performed by the board enables it to give advice to town authorities Avhich frequently results in improved administration and sometimes in public economy. The registration of births, deaths, and marriages in this State was begun in 1853 under direction of Asa Potter, then secretary of state, but the credit for the movement should be given to Dr. Joseph Mauran. This system of registration is considered as the foundation of sanitary progress. In this country towns and cities engaged in sanitary work long before State boards of health Avere created. In colonial times the regular toAvn officials, or especially appointed officers, controlled nui sances and combated epidemics. Sometimes temporary committees or boards of health were appointed for some special work. The first per manent local sanitary organization in Rhode Island was established in Providence in 1856, sixty years after it was in Boston, Philadel phia and New York. Owing to the epidemic of cholera in the previous year, public attention Avas called to sanitary matters, and through the efforts of Dr. E. M. Snow, who had done heroic work in the outbreak, the office of Superintendent of Health was created. Dr. Snow filled the office until 1884, when he A^^as succeeded by the writer. Dr. Snow was considered one of the foremost sanitarians of his time, and his reports on births, marriages, and deaths in ProAddence have long been accounted as models and have a world-wide reputation. By an act passed by the Assembly in 1885, every town in this State is required to appoint a health officer. In most of the towns the council is ex-officio a board of health. The first medical school in this country was established in Phila delphia in 1762; the second one in New York in 1768; the next in Boston in 1780, and one in Hanover in 1800. A very small part of the students of that period were able to attend either of those schools, the larger number being restricted to study in the offices and under guidance of regular practitioners. When the proper time arrived the student was given a letter of recommendation by his preceptor, which was his only means of gaining the good will and the business of the 4 50 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. public. In 1810 a medical department was organized in connection with Brown University, and Drs. WiUiam Ingalls, Levi Wheaton, Solomon Drovrae, and William C. Bowen were appointed professors. The school was not well supported in its early years ; the first and the last named physicians gave two courses of lectures on anatomy and surgery, and on chemistry, which branches were all that were then required to obtain a degree. Dr. Ingalls then went to Boston and there remained until 1822, when the school in ProAddence was re organized with Drs. Levi Wheaton, professor of the theory and prac tice of physic and obstetrics ; John De Wolf, professor of chemistry ; Solomon Drowne, professor of materia medica and botany; Usher Parsons, professor of anatomy, physic, and surgery. During the years from 1822 to 1826, when the department was abandoned, the number of students ranged from twenty to fifty, and most of them took the degree of M. D. During the whole seventeen years of its existence this school graduated about ninety students. Early in the present century many of the States in the Union passed laws authorizing the formation of medical societies, under the correct belief that by organized effort the character of the profession at large would thus be elevated. At the February session of the Rhode Island General Assembly, in 1812, an act was passed "to incorporate certain physicians and surgeons by the name of 'The Rhode Island Medical Society' ". The names of the incorporating physicians were as f oUows : Amos Throop, William Bowen, Pardon Bowen, Levi Wheaton, Rowland Greene, Samuel Hudson, Daniel Barrus, Joseph Comstock, Niles Manchester, John Wilkinson, John M. Eddy, Thomas M. Barrows, Charles Eldredge, Jacob Fuller, Moses Mowry, Peleg Clark, John MacMe, Jeremiah WiUiams, William C. Bowen, Joseph B. Pettes, Walter Wheaton, Stephen Harris, Sylvester Kiiight, Abraham Mason, Ezekiel Comstock, August Torry, A. Waldron, Caleb Fiske, Solomon DroAvne, Comfort A. Carpenter, Thomas Nelson, Thomas Warren, John W. Richmond, William G. Shaw, Cyril Carpenter, Thomas Carpenter, Gorton Jerauld, Chillingsworth Poster, Lemuel W. Briggs, John Aldrich, Eleazer Bellows, Eleazer Bellows, jr., Jonathan Easton, Ben jamin Waite Case, Enoch Hazard, David King, WUUam Turner, Edmund Thomas Waring, and Jonathan Easton, jr.— forty-nine in aU.^ This list includes most of the prominent physicians in the State 'Of these forty-nine original members, fourteen, or just two-sevenths, be longed in Providence, and just half as many in Newport. It is worth noting as a token of centralization of physicians as well as of the inhabitants of the Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 51 at that time, notices of many of whom have been written in preceding pages of this chapter. The members of the society after its organiza tion were given the title of Fellows. A list of the PelloAvs pubUshed in the year 1812 contains sixty-four names for the whole State. The section of the incorporating act that had the most important influence upon the profession was the following : ' ' Sec. 7. And be it further enacted. That the President and mem bers of said Society, or such officers or members as they shall specially appoint for that purpose, shall have full power and authority to examine all candidates for the practice of Physic and Surgery, who shall offer themselves for examination, respecting their skill in their profession; and if upon examination, the said candidates shall be found skilled in their profession, and fitted for the practice of it, they shall receive the approbation of the said Society, in letters testimonial, under the seal of said Society, signed by the President or such other person or persons as shall be appointed for that purpose. ' ' Here was placed in the hands of the reputable physicians of the Commonwealth a power for good, the early use of which- wrought benefits that were of great good to the profes sion. The "Medical Police, By-laws and Rules of the Society", as adopted, provided an annual meeting to be held in Providence on the first Wednesday in June, and for a semi-annual meeting on the third Wednesday in December; this plan was subsequently changed, and until 1861 the annual meetings were held alternately in Providence and Newport. Since that year they have been held only in Providence in June, with quarterly meetings in March, September, and December. The first principal officers of the Society were as follows : Presi dent, Dr. Amos Throop ; recording secretary. Dr. John MacMe ; corre sponding secretary, Dr. William Turner ; treasurer. Dr. Thomas Bar rows. Dr. Turner held his office until 1832, a period of twenty years ; and Dr. Barrows was treasurer until 1830. The by-laws provided also for the election of a board of eight censors, whose duties were, perhaps, more important than those of any other official. It was a part of their duty to ' ' act as a committee ex- officio, or court of inquiry, for the purpose of recei"ving charges of any unprofessional conduct of the members, and if they shaU consider them as sufficiently substantiated, to report the same to the society at the next annual meeting", etc. It was also their duty to receive applications for admission of any person to the society, a provision State, that our last printed list of Fellows shows more than half belonging in Providence. — Paper read before the Medical Society June 15, 1882, by Dr. Charles "W. Parsons, A. M., M. D. 52 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. that gave them, through the name and authority of the society, almost unlimited power in respect of deciding upon the fitness of every person who aspired to become a member. Indeed, the effort to discriminate between the well-quaUfied practitioners and others Avas announced as one of the principal objects of the organization. The society may be said to have been reasonably successful in keeping the standard of its fellowship high, particularly in recent years.^ The Rhode Island Medical Society has exerted a strong and beneficial influence upon State legislation bearing upon matters in which the profession has always felt a deep interest. The first prominent instance in which this society adopted measures to procure special legislation was in connection with the law for registration of births, marriages, and deaths. At the annual meeting in 1849 the following resolution, oft'ered by Dr. Joseph Mauran, was adopted : ' ' Whereas, The Legislature of this State has at the present session, passed to a second reading, certain resolutions touching the important question of Registration of Births. Deaths, and Marriages, and raised a committee of conference vnth this Society: "It is therefore Resolved, That a special committee of three be appointed to confer with the Legislative committee, and report at the ensuing semi-annual meeting of this Society." Drs. Mauran, Usher Parsons and LcAvis L. Miller were appointed as the committee, and at the next semi-annual meeting reported the outlines of a more efficient law. The committee was continued and held various meetings and consultations, sending representatives 'In this connection the following quotation from a paper read before the Society at tbe annual meeting, June 15, 1882, by Dr. Charles "W. Parsons, pos sesses considerable interest: "Two questions connected with conditions of membership have come up at different times to vex our souls. One was that of our Fellows who practised homeopathy, and the admission of new Fellows more or less tinctured with that heresy. The general result of action has, I think, been this: FelloAvs Avho gave out that they had become homeopaths were gently and gradually dropped, without expulsion; the assumption of that name was held a bar to admission, but our members are left free to ad minister any supposed remedies they may choose, if they find sufficient reason to think that they may be useful. "What is regarded as a disqualification is not, I take it, the use of this or that drug, in large or small doses, but the assumption of a name which stands for an exclusive dogma, a revolt against the experience of the profession, and a claim to new and reformed principles of treatment. We disavow equally the nickname allopathist applied to our selves, and the pretensions of homeopathy to represent a new departure in therapeutics. Happily the self-styled 'new school' has so far lost ground in general esteem, and looms up so much less portentiously, that we have almost ceased to think of the old disturbing question." This extract is important as admitting that the Rhode Island Medical Society did not oppose local home opathy so intensely as many other organizations, and also that whatever oppo sition had existed had largely disappeared in 1882. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 53 before the General Assembly resulting in the continuance of the modified law and the placing in charge of a committee of the society the tabulation and publication of statistics. Of this latter committee Dr. Mauran Avas chairman many years. The first registration report included the results for the year ending May 31, 1853. When the State Board of Health was established the duty of preparing these statistics and reports was conferred upon that board, beginning with the year 1878. The movement Avhich resulted in the examination and registration of druggists began with a resolution offered by Dr. Ariel Ballou, and adopted in December, 1869, as follows : ' ' Resolved, That it is the deliberate sense of this Association that it is the duty of the legislature to protect the profession of medicine and the public from the accidents resulting from the ignorance of that class of citizens engaged in the vending of medicines, by a proper examination and license from competent commissioners." Again a committee of Fellows appeared before the Judiciary Committee of the General Assembly, and as a result the law was passed establishing the State Board of Pharmacy. This board made its first annual report in 1871. Under its regulations the standard of qualifications of pharmacists and their assistants has been greatly elevated and the public correspondingly protected. Other laws for which the society must be given most of the credit are those relating to the award of suitable compensation for expert testimony by court witnesses ; reform in the coroner system of the State ; for increasing the efficiency of the State Board of Health, etc. At the first annual meeting of the society Dr. William C. Bowen was elected librarian and cabinet keeper. The nucleus of a library was formed by a donation of books from the late Dr. Caleb Fiske, of Scituate, made in 1824. These with specimens of interest to physi cians gradually accumulated, and in 1868 many of them which, through the advancement of medical education, had become substan tially useless in the society, Avere presented to the Rhode Island Hospital. In 1879 a new interest was created in the library through the appointment of the first library committee, consisting of Drs. T. NeweU, W. E. Anthony, 0. C. Wiggin, H. G. Miller, and George D. Hersey. Their active efforts resulted in immediate improvement in the character and number of books, and since that time the growth has been regular and rapid, as shown by the following figures giving the annual increase in the number of volumes : In 1879-80, 60 volumes ; 1880-81, 993 volumes; 1881-82, 501 volumes; 1882-83, 409 volumes;. 54 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 1883-84; 1,083 volumes; 1884-85, 1,007 volumes; 1885-86, 1,037 volumes ; 1886-87, 1,014 volumes ; 1887-88, 556 volumes ; 1888-89, 500 volumes; 1889-90, 713 volumes; 1890-91, 611 volumes; 1891-92, 396 volumes; 1892-93, 604 volumes; 1893-94, 332 volumes; 1894-95, 350 volumes; 1895-96, 499 volumes; 1896-97, 328 volumes; 1897-98, 471 volumes. The total number of volumes at the present time is about 12,000, with a vast number of pamphlets. The Rhode Island Medical Society has profited in at least an in tellectual direction, through the beneficence of the late Dr. Caleb Fiske, of Scituate. In a letter addressed to ' ' the Fellows of the Rhode Island Medical Society", dated June 30, 1824, which accompanied a gift of "Seventy-two Volumes containing Thirty Thousand Seven Hundred and ninety- tAvo pages", to the library of the Society, Dr. Fiske Avrote in a postscript, the following : "P. S. If the Books meet a friendly Reception by the Society and be so disposed of as to become useful to its members, it is my Intention to provide a Fund ; the annual income whereof will furnish the means of exciting Competition in the Investigation of such medical subjects as the Society may from Time to Time propose for discussion; and also for printing the same so as to give each Member a Copy an nually. ' ' Thus Avas established the Fiske Fund, Avhich has stimulated much original Avork, and has produced many valuable essays, Avhich have been published by the means thus afforded. The foundation of the fund consisted of bank shares of the value of $2,000, the income of which has ever been devoted by paying premiums for the best treatises on subjects selected annually by officers of the society. In the year 1892 this fund amounted, Avith additions from its income, to about $8,000. At that time, owing to the liquidation of the Union Bank of Providence, the Rhode Island Supreme Court made a decree in the case of William H. Palmer, president of the Rhode Island Medical Society, against the bank, which confirmed the validity of the Caleb Fiske bequest of shares in that bank, and ordered the fund, after payment of certain costs, to be deposited Avith the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company, in the name of the Caleb Fiske Fund ; and that the president and two vice-presidents of the medical society be trustees of the fund and all accumulations thereof. The latest fund created in aid of the society is knoAvn as the Chase Wiggin Fund, Avhich consists of a bequest of $4,000 made by Dr. Chase Wiggin, amounting, in 1900, to more than $5,000. The bequest directed that one-quarter of the income should be added annually to Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 55 the principal forever; one-half of the remainder should be expended for improving and increasing the library; the remainder to be paid each year for the best popular essay upon certain designated subjects. The presidents of the Rhode Island Medical Society from its organization to the present time haye been as f oUows : Amos Throop, 1812-14; William Bowen, 1814-15; Pardon Bowen, 1815-23; Caleb Fiske, 1823-24 ; Levi Wheaton, 1824-29 ; David King, 1829-34 ; Charles Eldredge, 1834-37; Usher Parsons, 1837-40; Richmond BrowneU, 1840-43; Theophilus C. Dunn, 1843-46; Lewis L. Miller, 1846-47; Joseph Mauran, 1847-48 ; David King, 1848-49 ; S. Augustus Arnold, 1849-50; George Capron, 1850-51; Hiram Allen, 1851-52; Joseph Mauran, 1852-55; Ariel Ballou, 1855-56; Isaac Ray, 1856-58; James H. Eldredge, 1858-60; Charles W. Parsons, 1860-62; Henry E. Turner, 1862-64; Sylvanus Clapp, 1864-66; Otis BuUock, 1866-68; James W. C. Ely, 1868-70; George L. ColUns, 1870-72; Lloyd Morton, 1872-74; Fenner H. Peckham, 1874-75; George W. Jencks, 1875-76; Charles H. Fisher, 1876-77; E. T. CasweU, 1877-79; Charles O'Leary, 1880-82; Job Kenyon, 1882-83; Oliver C. Wiggin, 1883-85; Horace G. MiUer, 1885-88; John W. MitcheU, 1888-90; WiUiam H. Palmer, 1890-92; Robert P. Noyes, 1892-95; EUsha P. Clarke, 1895-97; Wil Uam A. Gorton, 1897-99 ; George D. Hersey, 1899-1900. The Providence Medical Association was organized in 1848 and incorporated in 1887. Its constitution declared its purposes to be: 1st, The separation of regular and irregular practitioners. 2d, The association of the profession proper, for the purposes of mutual recognition and fellowship. 3d, The promotion of the character, in terests, and honor of the fraternity, by maintaining the union and harmony of the regular profession of the city, and aiming to elevate the standard of medical education. 4th, The cultivation and advance ment of the science, by our united exertions for mutual improvement and our contributions to medical literature. A physician to be eligible to membership in this association was required to "be a regular practitioner of medicine or surgery, in the city of Providence and vicinity, and a Fellow of the Rhode Island Medical Society". The association holds monthly meetings, supports a reading room, and on January 1, 1900, began the publication of The Providence Medical Journal, a quarterly, of which Dr. George D. Hersey is editor. The membership has always included nearly aU of the Fellows of the State society who have resided in or near Pro-vi dence, and its officers have numbered many of the leading physicians. 56 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Many valuable papers have been read and discussed in the meetings and a spirit of mutual professional harmony maintained. The NcAvport Medical Society Avas organized in 1882 and incor porated in 1883. While it has been animated in its membership by the same spirit that is found among the best class of physicians, its membership has not been large and the monthly meetings have been held in the residences of its members. After tAVO unsuccessful attempts the Washington County Medical Society was organized in 1883. In that year Drs. EdAvin R. Levris, J. H. Morgan, George V. Poster, and F. T. Rogers met at the residence of one of the number, and after consultation determined to found a Clinical Club. A little later and after further consideration it Avas decided to make the organization open to any physician in the county, and on Januarj' 1, 1884, the first regular meeting of the AA^'ashington County Medical Society Avas held, Avith eight members present. A committee previously appointed presented a constitution and by-laws, which were adopted, and the following officers were elected: Presi dent, Edwin R. Lewis; vice-president, A. B. Briggs; secretary, F. T. Rogers. Dr. Rogers was secretary and treasurer until 1889, when he moved to Providence. Professional interest in the society increased and at the first annual meeting, which was held in Westerly, January 15, 1885, the proceedings were especially gratifying to the members, which then numbered fifteen. The membership gradually increased and at the present time it numbers fourteen. The society was incor porated by an act of the General Assembly, passed April 13, 1886. Very few medical societies including AAdthin their jurisdiction terri tory of a similar character to that of Washington county, and with no larger number of members, have shoAvn so deep and active interest in the progress of their organizations, or in efforts for mutual improve ment. A very large number of valuable papers have been read by members of the society during its comparatively short existence, dis cussion of their subjects has been free, and in every AVork in the county and State upon Avhich medical science had a bearing, the society has been active. The list of presidents is as foUoAA^s : 1884, Dr. Edwin R. Lewis, of Westerly; 1885, Dr. Alexander B. Briggs, of Ashaway; 1886, Dr. J. HoAA^ard Morgan, of Westerly, 1887, Dr. Amos R. Collins, of AVesterly; 1888, Dr. E. P. Clark, of Hope Valley; 1889, Dr. H. J. Pomroy, of Westerly; 1890, Dr. A. A. Saunders, of Carolina; 1891, Dr. PhiUp K. Taylor, of AA^akefield; 1892, Dr. John ChampUn, of AA^esterly; 1893, Dr. E. E. Kenyon, of Usquepaug; 1894, Dr. Wm. James, of Westerly ; 1895, Dr. H. RusseU Dunne, of Westerly ; 1896, Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 57 Dr. Henry K. Gardiner, of Wakefield; 1897, Dr. .James N. Lewis, of Ashaway; 1898, Dr. RusseU B. Smith, of AA'esterly; 1899, Dr. Harold Metcalf, of Wickford ; 1900, Dr. H. Vernon Weaver, of Carolina. The city of PaAvtucket has a young but very active organization of physicians. The PaAvtucket Medical Association Avas organized on March 2, 1895, Avith a membership of thirty-eight. The first officers were as follows : President, Dr. Julian A. Chase ; vice-president, Dr. Prank B. FuUer; secretary. Dr. Francis M. Harrington; treasurer, Dr. Charles A. Stearns ; librarian, Dr. Asa H. Nickerson. A standing committee was appointed consisting of the foUoAving: Drs. Augustine, A. Mann, John P. Corrigan, George H. Stanley, Herbert 0. True, Asa H. Nickerson. The association meets on the third Thursday even ing of each month, Avith the exception of July and xYugust, the annual meeting being held on the third Thursday evening in March. The membership remains just the same in 1900 as at the time of organiza tion, through deaths, removals, and the acceptance of new members. The presidents of the association succeeding Dr. Julian A. Chase have been Drs. Frank B. Puller, Augustine A. IManu, Charles A. Stearns, and the present incumbent, Dr. John P. Corrigan. Among the many good deeds of the late Nicholas Brown was one which formed the stepping-stone to the establishment of that noble institution, the Butler Hospital for the Insane. Prior to the opening of this asylum, many of the insane of the State Avere confined with the poor, each town caring for its oaa'u unfortunates. The care of paupers and in some instances of insane persons Avas let at auction to the lowest bidder, a custom that Avas followed in many parts of the country and one that was pernicious in the extreme. ' ' Men and Avomen, innocent of crime, were chained in dens, and caves, and cells, and there left for years, shut from the light of day, Avithout clothes or fire to shield or warm them".^ Upon the opening of the Butler Hospital nearly all the insane of the State were promptly placed under its protecting eare, and the same report from which a quotation has just been made, states that at that date there Avere only sixteen persons in the whole State Avho ought to be sent to it. The bequest of Mr. Brown was the sum of $30,000 which was left for the establishment of a hospital "where the unhappy portion of our fellow beings who are by the visitation of Providence deprived of their reason, may find a safe retreat, and may be provided vdth whatever may be conducive to their comfort and to their restoration to a sound state of mind". Mr. BroAA'n died in 1841 and a chartfer for 'Report on Poor and Insane in R. I., by F. R. Hazard, 1851. 58 State of Rhode Island and Proa^dence Plantations. the institution was obtained iu 1844. Soon after this a committee of the incorporators composed of Thomas Burgess, Amasa Manton, Moses B. Ives, and Alexander Duncan, addressed a letter to Cyrus Butler soliciting his aid in the undertaking, and a plan of proposed buildings was also submitted to him. His generous reply made a gift of $40,000, provided an equal sum was raised by subscription ; another condition of his gift was that, if the buildings should cost more than $60,000, the additional cost should also be raised by subscription, so that $50,000 might be left for an endoAvment fund for the institution. These con ditions were all met, and on November 8, 1844, the trustees unani mously voted to give the asylum its present name in Mr. Butler's honor. At the same meeting Avas reported the purchase of what was known as the Grotto farm, of 114 acres, lying on the Seekonk River, northeast of the city. A building two hundred and ninety feet in length, consisting of a main structure and east and west wings, two stories in height, was erected, with accommodations for one hundred patients. It was opened on December 1, 1847. Dr. Isaac Ray was chosen for superintendent of the institution and during about twenty years gave his great skill and energies to the care of the unfortunates in the asylum. He was succeeded by Dr. John W. SaAvyer in 1867, who remained until his death in December, 1885 ; during his adminis tration many new buildings were added and other improvements made. Dr. William B. Goldsmith followed in 1886, and was succeeded about two years later by Dr. William A. Gorton. The present superin tendent is Dr. G. Adler Blumer. The noblest single institution in this State Avith which the medical profession is directly connected and in Avhich the Avhole State is deeply interested, is the Rhode Island Hospital, situated in the city of Provi dence. During many years previous to the founding of this institu tion every hamlet and village in the State, and especially Providence and other large communities, felt the necessity of better hospital ac commodations, of a place Avherein suffering humanity of whatever degree and with or without means, could find a temporary home and skillful medical and surgical treatment. At the formal opening of a new pavilion in this hospital in May, 1900, Dr. J. W. C. Ely, of Providence, the only surviving member of the medical staff appointed in 1868, was asked to give a brief account of the inception and early history of the institution. Por the purposes of this AA^ork a large part of his paper is here quoted : "At the January session of the legislature for 1863 a petition was presented by tAveh'e physicians of the city of Providence praying for Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 59 the granting of a charter for a hospital. The physicians were Drs. Usher Parsons, Joseph Mauran, L. L. Miller, Richmond Brownell, Samuel B. Tobey, George Capron, S. Aug. Arnold, Hervey Armington, Charles W. Pabyan, George L. CoUins, J. AA^ C. Ely, and W. 0. Brown. ' ' Prior to this date Dr. Parsons and others, at the meetings of the city medical association, and also at the meetings of the State Medical Society, urged the pressing need and importance of a hospital in a city of the size of Providence ; but it resulted only in talk. "If my recollection serves me right, during the years 1855, 1856 and 1857, Mr. Thomas Poynton Ives was a student of medicine in my Old Marine Hospital, Providence. This building formerly stood on the site o£ the Rhode Island Hospital, from which it was removed when the present hospital building was commenced. During a portion of the Civil War many wounded and sick soldiers were here cared for. It has been considerably altered since its use as a hospital. office, attended lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in NcAV York, completed a full course, but did not take the degree, as he did not wish to be called 'Doctor' and thus place himself in a false position. He studied medicine for the love of the study and his interest in the science. His father, Moses Brown Ives, died during the summer of 1857. Before this the son induced his father to make a 60 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. bequest in his Avill to a hospital Avhenever it should be built in Provi dence. This bequest Avas .$40,000. This I know to be true, as he re quested the medical attendant of his father to urge upon him the great necessity of a hospital in the city, and also the duty of those possessed of wealth to establish it. AVhether Dr. L. L. MiUer acted upon this request I knoAV not. I certainly did not, as I was many years his junior and thought any suggestion of this kind from me would rightly be considered impertinent. "In 1861, upon the breaking out of the war betAveen the North and South, Mr. Thomas P. Ives gave to the government his yacht, Hope, for a gun boat and received a commission as lieutenant-com mander and served through the war. Late in the year 1862, being at home on a furlough, he called at the office and desired me to get the signatures of the physicians above mentioned to the petition for the hospital charter, which I did. It was his intention to obtain the names of all the Providence physicians to this paper, but that was over-ruled by his uncle, Robert H. Ives, as not necessary. At the close of the war he returned home broken in health, went to Europe to recuperate, but died suddenly at Havre, France, November 17, 1865, aged thirty-one years. Though death came to him in early manhood, he had lived long enough to prove his love for his country and his deep interest for the well-being of all who may Avant the kindly care of a hospital in his native city. "After the granting of the act of incorporation the citizens of the State and city were invited to subscribe the necessary funds to build the hospital. Captain Ives was one of the first to pledge $10,000. He was one of eight men to purchase and present to the hospital a parcel of land containing 89,424 (89 by 100) feet, on AA'hich (if I am not greatly mistaken) this very building stands. The land to the east to Eddy street was given to the hospital by the city. On it stood a long, low, two-story Avooden building, used by the city for contagious diseaases, especially ship fever and small-pox. During the fifteen and one-half years of service as city physician, I gained most of what clinical knoAvledge I have of small-pox and typhus fever in that building. "Before going to Europe Captain Ives made a will and gave the hospital $50,000. Until a quite recent date he was by far the largest contributor to the funds. To Capt. Thomas Poynton Ia'cs the city of Providence is more indebted for the building of the Rhode Island Hospital than to any other one man. One other has given more in money, but Captain Ives set the ball in motion and kept it roUing until the object Avas accomplished. ' ' After the hospital was started Dr. Usher Parsons did more than talk ; he gave $1,000 ; Dr. Tobey, $2,000 ; Dr. Lewis L. MUler, $500. Many other physicians according to their means, from $100 to $400. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 61 "Dr. Ezekiel Fowler, a physician of AVoonsocket, gave the hos pital his library of 400 volumes. Dr. George L. Collins gave 200 volumes, and also several very fine examples of anatomical dissection. Dr. LcAvis L. Miller gave the library of his son, Nathaniel, a very promising young surgeon AA'ho died in the early years of his profes sional career. This library consisted mostly of French medical works, which he had gathered during his years of study in Paris. I gave about 150 volumes. These medical works had served their purpose, as have many published since ; but I fear they are of little practical use save to fill empty book shelves or to serve as a browsing field for some medical antiquary. "Many of the physicians were supplied Avith subscription books to induce -their sick patients to contribute to the hospital, and to my knowledge some thousands of dollars Avere thus obtained that Avould not have been by any other solicitor. One old gentleman, Avorth more than a million, Avas induced to give three thousand, whereas at first he thought one thousand Avas a most liberal subscription. Another in the country was induced to give a thousand to the doctor, who would not have been reached by others. ' ' The first board of trustees of the hospital (1864) were Robert H. Ives, president, Amos N. BeckAAdth, Thomas Brown, Alexis Caswell, Thomas P. I. Goddard, Stephen Harris, Thomas P. Ives, Henry L. Crandall, Thomas P. Shepard, Amasa Sprague, Samuel B. Tobey; Amos D. Smith, treasurer ; John P. Tobey, secretary. The total of subscriptions at the time of the first annual report of the trustees was $305,035. The hospital was opened October 1, 1868, and the first patient was receiA^ed on the 6th of the same month. The main building, as originaUy erected, comprised a central part con nected by corridors with tAvo A\dngs, each of AA'hich is surmounted by a tower. In these Avings are the hospital wards and rooms for paying patients, while the central part contains the rooms of the superintend ent, operating and instrument rooms, museum of anatomy, library, chapel, etc. The structure is of brick, and is AveU adapted to its pur pose. At the opening of the hospital it was provided with nineteen permanent free beds and ten annual free beds. The first medical staff' were as follows: Admitting physician, Dr. C. W. Pabyan; visiting physician and surgeon, first term of three months. Dr. George L. CoUins, physician; Dr. G. E. Mason, surgeon; second term. Dr. J. W. C. Ely, physician; Dr. E. T. Caswell, surgeon; third term, Dr. Charles W. Parsons, physician ; Dr. Robert Millar, surgeon ; fourth term. Dr. S. S. Keene, physician; Dr. G. W. Carr, surgeon. An eye and ear department Avas organized and opened of AA'hich Dr. Horace G. Miller 62 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. had charge many years. Pathologist and librarian, Dr. William P. BuUock; house surgeon. Dr. R. C. Greenleaf, jr., and a board of four teen consulting physicians and surgeons. Prom the opening of the hospital its groAvth in every direction has been remarkable and fully equal to the proportionate growth of population in Providence and the State. The number of free beds and of out-patients rapidly increased, and at the same time the ex penses were annually exceeding the income, causing a deficiency which the benevolently inclined have guaranteed each year. The north wing of the budding was not completed until 1871, in which year a com mittee Avas appointed to solicit funds for this purpose. In 1873 three friends of the institution contributed $35,000 to finish the wing, and it was opened for the reception of patients. Up to the year 1874 it was reported that $110,000 had been expended for construction, equip ment, and maintenance in excess of the sums contributed for those purposes. Robert H. Ives was succeeded as president in 1874 by Amos D. Smith, who resigned in 1875, and was followed by Alexis Caswell. At the same time Dr. C. AV. Pabyan, admitting physician, was succeeded by Dr. Charles H. Leonard. A statement of the land owned by the hospital in 1875 was as foUows: The original tract given by the city, 408,000 feet; the so- called Manchester purchase, 291,508 feet; the Hill purchase, 14,037 feet ; or a little over sixteen acres in aU. In September, 1876, Dr. WiUiam T. Thurston succeeded Rev. Charles Nason in the office of superintendent. In 1877, George I. Chace was elected president, and in the next year the offices of admit ting physician and superintendent were combined and Dr. Thurston filled the place. By the year 1877, the number of out-patients had increased from 1,709 in 1870 to 4,039. A department for treating diseases of women and children Avas opened in 1877, with Dr. George W. Porter in charge ; this department took the name of the Gynecological Department in the report of 1882. It became of great importance in the hospital work, and Dr. J. H. Davenport was subsequently associated with Dr. Porter. In January, 1882, Dr. Thurston was succeeded in the office of admitting physician and superintendent by Dr. Charles E. Woodbury. In that year an autopsy building was erected through the generosity of Mrs. Elizabeth A. Shepard, at a cost of nearly $6,000, and a children's ward was opened. Upon the death of George I. Chace, Samuel R. Dorrance was elected president of the board of trustees of the hospital in 1885. In Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 63 the same year a gynecological cottage was completed at a cost of $1,454.74, which was the gift of Dr. J. W. Mitchell and some of his personal friends. In 1886 the General Assembly granted an amend ment to the hospital charter, granting it authority to hold property producing an income of $100,000. Mr. Dorrance was succeeded as president, in 1887, by Royal C. Taft, who has since held the office. In 1889 Dr. Woodbury was succeeded by Dr. John M. Peters as admitting physician and superintendent, a position which he has ever since held, administering its responsible duties with rare judgment and sagacity. After long feeling the great need of a separate building for out patients, who had previously been taken into the wards, in 1890 Thomas P. I. Goddard made a donation for the erection of such a building at a cost of not more than $18,000 ; the final cost was a little more than $22,000 and the building was occupied in 1891. It stands near the entrance to the grounds, and contains a waiting room, sur gical rooms, medical rooms, ophthalmic and aural rooms, and gyneco logical apartments. At this time the department for treatment of the ear, nose and throat was separated from that for the eye, the latter continuing under Dr. H. G. Miller, and the former under Dr. P. P. Capron and two assistants. A department for treating diseases of the skin was opened at this time, under Dr. James Morgan. Upon the death of George I. Chace he left by will $12,000 to be paid upon the death of his widow for the establishment of free beds in the hospital, and directed that the remainder should be left by her upon her death to such charitable purposes as she might direct in her will. Upon her death she gave one-half of the remainder of the estate, less $2,000, for either the erection of a building for nurses, or to be invested otherwise as a fund, the income of which should be devoted to the training of nurses. The trustees of the hospital resolved to devote the whole sum to building a structure for the nurses. The building was accordingly erected and first occupied on August 28, 1893. In 1895 a special department was opened for orthopedic surgery, of which Dr. Prank E. Peckham was appointed surgeon. In that year a contract was made with the city of Providence under which a new building was to be constructed for cases of contagious diseases that might be sent to it by the city, the city to pay $17,500, the contract to terminate whenever the hospital should return that sum to the city in one payment; no interest was to be paid to the city. The buUding was erected at a cost of about $20,000, and was opened July 13, 1896. In 1896 a department of neurology was opened under charge of Dr. Eugene Kingman. In 1899 Drs. Horace G. MiUer and P. P. HOSPITAL FOR SCARLET FEVER AND DIPHTHERIA PATIENTS. Known as the City AVard of the Rhode Island Hospital. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 65 Capron were added to the consulting staff of physicians. Dr. Miller had been in charge of the ophthalmic department since 1868. During the past ten years the hospital has received many generous gifts from benevolent people who appreciated its magnificent useful ness. In 1890 $10,000 were received from the Samuel M. Noyes estate ; $2,000 from Maria L. H. Cady, and over $3,000 from Sarah S. Whipple, in addition to the amount previously given. The gift of John Wilson Smith of $67,000 became available in 1893, and another from Mary Jane Sheldon of $5,000. The AviU of Julia BuUock left $10,000 in 1894, and in the same year $16,000 Avas received from William T. Sayles, of Pawtucket, for the establishment of free beds. In 1895 $6,500 was received from Sarah S. Whipple, and in 1897 the sum of $100,000 was received from the estate of Thomas P. I. Goddard, subject to an annuity of $2,500. The sum mentioned as previously received from Sarah S. Whipple was $23,925, in 1887, and in 1886 a fund was created by E. Aug. Allen, of $24,726.53, to be paid on the death of Ellen Maria Allen. The total hospital fund now amounts to $715,086.31 (in 1900), which is carefully invested in bank and rail road stocks, bonds, etc. ; but -large as is this fund, there has always been a deficiency each year in the receipts of the institution to meet the expenses. This has, however, been regularly guaranteed by gen erous citizens of ProAddence. During a number of years past the want of more room has been very pressing, and in 1897-8 plans were prepared for a new paAdlion, which was erected in 1899 and 1900 at a cost of about $175,000 ; it was formally opened on May 2, 1900, with appropriate ceremopies. A part of it is devoted to the Troup department for treatment of cancer. The f oUoAving statement of hospital statistics is valuable for refer ence and interesting in its relation to the growth of the institution : 1869.1870.1871. 1872. 1873. 1874.1875.1876. 1877.1878.1879. 1880. No. Patients. Expenses. 247 $17,142.04 271 23,643.36 287 24,486.56 421 21.239.47 429 28,801.62 413 25,345.68 444 26,298.00 417 25,273.07 415 25,500.26 367 24,301.19 425 24,062.81 438 23,150.85 66 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. No. Patients. Expenses. 1881 452 30,889.69 1882 670 38,155.03 1883. .. 812 48,840.22 1884 674 43,434.67 1885 702 38,253.89 1886 691 37,548.95 1887 790 45,753.60 1888 826 30,263.29 1889 . ... 902 48,424.19 1890 1,089 48,617.12 1891 1,061 52,111.79 1892 1,322 55,792.11 1893 1,476 60,907.08 1894 1,730 69,316.20 1895 2,046 69,493.43 1896 2,283 65,434.08 1897 2,421 81,771.67 1898 2,516 81,317.68 1899 2,750 87,238.28 The number of out-patients as given in 1870 was 1,709 ; in 1899 the number was 6,806. The gross amount of the hospital fund is now $715,086.31, which is invested in bank stocks, railroad stocks, bonds, bills receivable and misceUaneous securities. For the year 1899 there were 1,577 am bulance calls made from the hospital. An institution that has been of great benefit to the city of Pro-vi dence is the Providence Lying-in Hospital, which was incorporated February 29, 1884. The incorporators named in the act were OUver C. Wiggin, John W. Mitchell, George W. Porter, Benjamin A. Jack son, and James G. Vose. The first report of the trustees was not pub lished until 1887. Oliver C. Wiggin was chosen president of the board of six trustees ; Dr. Edward P. Walker, president of the medical staff, a responsible position which he has ever since filled. There was selected a board of six -visiting physicians, and five consulting physi cians. The first house physician was Dr. E. Flood; admitting physi cian, Dr. R. H. Carver; matron, Elizabeth Huggins. Organization of the institution was perfected in the fall of 1884, . and after having secured what was knoAvn as the Gen. James estate, on Slocum street, the institution took possession of it in April, 1885. It was opened on May 15, and the first patient was received the next day. At the time of the first report, in 1887, fifty-four children had been born in the hospital and no mother's death had taken place therein. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 67 The training of nurses was taken up, and they- were sent out in emer gency cases. Early in the year 1887 the Joseph Fletcher property, on the corner of State and Field streets, was purchased and occupied in August of that year. With some additions and improvements since made the building is well adapted to its purposes. In 1888 a system of guarantees was established to provide for the annual deficiency; the guarantee fund was divided into two hundred shares, the liability of each guarantor not to exceed $10. Since that time the annual deficiency has been thus provided for by benevolent people of the city. In the sanie year the hospital received the sum of $9,000 from the trustees of the late Col. Stephen T. Olney, which was paid under a provision of his Avill; the money was used to reduce the mortgage on the building. Measures were also adopted at that time to begin the training of obstetrical nurses. In 1889 the offices of superintendent and matron Avere combined and Annie M. Webber chosen for the position. From the estate of the late Daniel W. Lyman the sum of $10,000 was received, and a gift of $1,000 from Joseph Banigan. In 1891 John W. Mitchell succeeded Oliver C. Wiggin as president of the board of trustees and has since held that office. By this time donations had been received for the hospital sufficient to create a permanent fund of $13,000, while the resources were placed at $18,386.93. Prom 1895 doAvn to 1900 the annual amount of the permanent fund and of the resources have been as follows: 1895, permanent fund, $16,863; resources, $35,252.07. 1896, permanent fund, $16,863.00 ; resources, $35,919.34. 1897, per manent fund, $15,563 ; resources, $34,383.90. 1898, permanent fund, $15,363; resources, $34,211.69. 1899, permanent fund, $13,223.00; resources, $34,054.72. In 1897 the hospital was benefited by a bequest of $10,000 from the late Joseph Banigan, and $1,000 from the estate of Mrs. PaUas S. Wheeler ; in the next year the State of Rhode Island granted the institution $2,500, in consideration of its great usefulness, and has annually given a like amount since that year, for its care of paupers. The interest of the State is protected by the appointment on the Committee of Finance of two ex-officio members from the State Legislature. In the year 1893 an infant's ward was added to the hospital, and in 1895 the buUding was changed and improved at a cost of about $5,000. The institution is now free from permanent debt and is con ducted at an annual cost of about $14,000 a year, with annual deficit of about $5,000. 68 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The first house physician, Dr. E. Flood, -was succeeded in 1891 by Dr. James H. Akers, and he by Dr. Alex. K. Winter. In 1896 the position was given to Dr. George H. Crocker. He resigned vsdthin a year and Dr. Charles W. Higgins was chosen. In 1896 Ada B. Pike Avas chosen matron. This office was abolished in 1897, when Elizabeth B. Smillie was appointed superintendent, Avith Martha M. Russell, assistant superintendent. In 1899 Jane A. Wright was appointed superintendent, and two house physicians in the persons of Drs. Halsey DeWolf and H. G. Partridge, succeeded Dr. Charles W. Hig gins. The first president of the medical staff was Dr. Eugene King man, who Avas succeeded within two years by Dr. Edward F. Walker, who has served Avith the utmost fidelity and efficiency from that time to 1900. Since the training of nurses began in the hospital, nearly fifty have been graduated, the services of whom in the city and vicinity have been of incalculable benefit to the suffering. The city of Newport has a hospital, which was established mainly through the generosity and public spirit of a woman, who started the movement in the spring of 1872. A committee was designated to bring the matter before the public, solicit contributions and take charge of the funds. Citizens and summer residents in the city re sponded generously, and the sum of $24,123.40 was soon raised. The institution was incorporated in 1873, vnth a board of ten trustees, with the mayor of the city a member ex-officio. It was provided that the corporation should comprise this board and all persons who should thereafter give the hospital $100 or more at any one time. A site was purchased on Friendship street and a suitable buUding erected, which was opened for the reception of patients on November 22, 1873. Since that time a number of funds have been established which have greatly increased the usefulness of the institution. Among these are the Littlefield fund of $23,600, the John Alfred Hazard fund of $25,243, the Samuel Clinton annuity of $5,000, the Robert Rogers memorial of $1,000, and others through which free beds are provided. During 1895-6 four new wards were added to the hospital; these were the Vanderbilt ward for men ; the Ledyard ward for Avomen and children ; the Carey ward, for paying patients, erected in memory of Henry R. Astor Carey by his brother; this is a separate building; and the Van derbilt surgical building, the gift of Frederick W. Vanderbilt. A de partment for treatment of diseases of the eye, and another for diseases of the ear, was opened in 1896. The hospital is very complete in all of Its appointments and facilities and is generously served by the physicians of the city. Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 69 The Woonsocket Hospital was founded through the generosity of Dr. Ezekiel Fowler, who died July 23, 1863, leaving in his wiU $6,000, which sum was more than doubled under the stewardship of the trustee, Latimer W. Ballou; and a fund of $28,000, left by George Law at his death in 1873, to be devoted to some worthy charity. When it was decided by his executors that it might be applied to the found ing of a hospital an organization was effected, and in May, 1873, the following persons were incorporated as the Woonsocket Hospital : Dr. Ariel Ballou, Latimer W. Ballou, Thomas Steere, Paul Greene, Ira B. Peck, George C. BaUou, Stephen N. Mason, Willis Cook, Darius D. Parnum, Joseph E. Cole, Prancello G. Jillson, Joseph B. Aldrich, and Reuben G. Randall. The corporation was authorized to hold not more than $300,000 in property, which Avas to be free from taxation. Un successful efforts were made to enlist the town in the undertaking, which were repeated in 1880 and again 1884. In 1881 the trustees procured plans for improving the grounds, a tract of twenty acres having been purchased, lying about a mile out from the business center ; this tract was afterwards enlarged to twenty-four acres and is admirably adapted for its purposes. It was originally forest covered, but a portion centrally situated was cleared and graded, and thereon in the fall of 1887 the erection of a hospital building was begun ; the structure cost $20,000 and was dedicated July 9, 1888. The first medical staff was organized in September of that year, from the city physicians to the number of six. At the time of the dedication the Dr. Fowler fund amounted to $35,000 and the Law fund to an equal amount, while many donations of sums from $8,000 down to $1,000, including one of $5,000 made by Joseph Banigan on the dedication day, had been made previous to the opening. To these several have since been added. The entire fund is now about $100,000, the income of which goes to the support of the institution. The women of Rhode Island were most honorably represented in the medical profession very soon after they were admitted into medical schools for study. Of the many systems of practice of the healing art, the greater part of which are not entitled to the name of system, only one besides the Allopathic (the history of which has been given in preceding pages), has established a permanent existence and gained the confidence of a large part of every community.' The system, or school, of medical practice founded by the immortal Hahnemann, known as Homeopa- 'This account of the rise of homeopathy was written by Dr. Sayer Has- brouclc of Providence. 70 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. thy, found its Avay into this State soon after it became recognized on this side of the ocean as having real virtues that would prove success ful in the. cure of disease. The first person who practiced homeopathy in Rhode Island was Dr. Lewis Parlin, a graduate of Bowdoin CoUege in 1835, a briUiant scholar, versed in several European languages, and a man of exceUent character. He began practice in 1839, but when Thomas WUson Dorr began his unfortunate contest Dr. Parlin joined in the movement, and upon its failure he left the State and his later movements are not known. In 1840 Dr. Josiah P. Flagg opened an office and practiced in Providence one year, removing then to Boston. He was endowed Avith mental qualifications of a high order and adopted his profession Avith enthusiasm. He served as chairman of the Committee on Organiza tion of the American Institute of Homeopathy in 1844, was its first vice-president and later its president. In 1841 a physician who was later to attain eminence in his profession settled in Providence in the person of the late Phineas Parkhurst Wells. He Avas born in Hopkinton, N. H., July 8, 1808, where his father was also a physician. The son learned the printing trade in Concord and Boston, whence he went to Newport to assist a relative who had secured the legislative printing. From his youth he had been inclined to medical study and finally entered the office of Dr. Gregory, of Newport, working at his trade in the intervals of his study. He completed his medical education in the school at Dartmouth and became also well versed in Latin and Greek. Graduating in 1833, he settled in Roxbury, Mass., but soon gave up practice on account of iU health. After a year or two in the drug business his health improved and he removed to Providence, vA'here he soon was fully employed in his profession. In the midst of this early success he became interested in homeopathy, made careful and persistent investigation of the then new treatment and adopted it Avith enthusiasm. His success was pro nounced from the first, but he removed to Brooklyn, L. I., in 1843, and there continued among the most eminent of his school until his death in 1891. He was very largely instrumental in founding the American Institute of Homeopathy and was president of the Boston session of 1859. He was one of the founders of several homeopathic institu tions, dispensaries, hospitals, etc., and lectured in the New York Homeopathic Medical College. His death took place on December 23, 1891. The next physician of this school to settle in Providence was Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 71 probably Dr. Abraham Howard Okie, who was born in PhUadelphia, Pa., on December 31, 1819, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, medical department, in 1840. He then took up the study of homeopathy at the AUentown Academy (the predecessor of the Hahnemann Medical College), married Henrietta Rush, daughter of WiUiam Rush, of Philadelphia, and in 1842 settled in Pro"vidence, where he died after a surgical operation September 20, 1882. Dr. Okie was a man possessed of brilliant natural and acquired qualifica tions, but somewhat erratic in temperament. He located in Pro"vidence at the instigation of the firm of Brown & Ives, through whose great influence and his own skill he at once took a leading professional and social position. He was one of the foremost in the organization of the State Homeopathic Society and occupied a position of influence both in and outside of his profession. He was a man of somewhat aesthetic taste, established a luxurious home and achieved great pro fessional success. He was not a voluminous writer, but translated Ruoff's Repertory and Hartmann's Chief Remedies in a creditable manner. Late in his life he somewhat neglected meetings of his brethren, turned over to skiUful subordinates the hard work of his practice and eschewed obstetrics. He is said to have been a "natural born physician, quick in diagnosis, ready in prescribing, broad and liberal in the practice of his profession, a leader of men, and haAdng the confidence of his patients to an extreme degree."^ At the annual meeting of the Rhode Island Medical Society (described further on) an amendment to the 7th section of its constitu tion was adopted, from which the following is an extract : ' ' To prevent, as far as may be, all unqualified persons from prac ticing medicine or surgery, and in order to discourage empiricism, it shall be unlawful for any Fellow or licentiate of this Society, in the capacity of either Physician or Surgeon, to advise or consult directly or indirectly, with any person whatever, who shall hereafter commence the practice of medicine or surgery within this State, until he shall have been examined and approbated by the Censors of this Society. ' ' A fine of ten dollars was to be imposed in all cases of violation of this edict. While it Avas not directed at that early day against homeopathy, it became the basis a little later of Avhatever opposition was brought to bear against the new school, as avUI be shovra. At the June meeting of 1851 of the Rhode Island Medical Society measures 'Dr. Sayer Hasbrouck's address before the R. I. Homeopathic Society, January 12, 1900, on its Fiftieth Anniversary. 72 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Avere adopted directly in opposition to homeopathy, as seen in the following, taken from the records of the meeting : ' ' The Board of Censors beg leave to additionally report : that they have taken into mature consideration the subject referred to them at the last annual meeting of the Society, viz., The propriety of the Fellows to practice Homeopathy, so called ; or to consult Avith homeo pathic practitioners, as such ; and would briefly report, that they deem all theoretical speculations and discussions upon said subject inex pedient, injurious, and, in truth, wholly unworthy the time or atten tion of the members of the Society, and simply submit, therefore, the following resolutions, which they doubt not will meet their Avishes, their unanimous concurrence, and hearty co-operation : ' ' 1st. Resolved, That the Society consider all those who advertise and practice Homeopathy, as such, irregular practitioners. ' ' 2d. Resolved, That the 7th section of the first chapter of Medi cal Practice and By-Laws, enjoys noAV as heretofore the highest respect and consideration of the members of this Society, and that its Avise and salutary requirements be fully, strictly, unequivocaUy and promptly enforced. ' ' This is the section before quoted. At the annual meeting of that year (1851) these resolutions were laid on the table for further con sideration, and at an adjourned meeting held August 20, they were adopted. In the year 1850 the Fiske prize was aAvarded to Dr. Worthington Hooker for his dissertation on "Medical Delusions". The paper was to a great extent an arraignment of homeopathy and pleased aU of the opponents of the old school who heard or read it. At the annual meeting of the Rhode Island Medical Society a motion was made that a committee be appointed to "publish a thousand copies of Dr. Hooker's Prize Dissertation on Homeopathy", etc. This motion Avas finally witharaAvn. At the semi-annual meeting on December 17, 1851, it was "voted to reiterate and confirm the resolutions passed at the adjourned meet ing at NcAvport, in regard to the PelloAvs of this Society practicing Homeopathy. ' ' Nothing further appears in the records bearing upon this subject until 1856, Avhen the report of the censors contained the f oUoAving : ' ' Application being made by Henry King, ]\I. D., for membership of this Society, recommended by Dr. A. P. King, of Providence, it is voted that action on this application be postponed, for the reason that the person recommending the applicant has abandoned the regular profession, and adopted the Homeopathic system, and that the appli- Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 73 cant himself, from reliable information, is using homeopathic reme dies; and we recommend that all those members who profess and advocate homeopathy and stigmatize the regular profession, be not considered members in good standing, and that they be deprived of all the privileges and benefits of this Society. ' ' This action was about the end of opposition to the new system, as far as shown by the records of the old society, which, of course, repre sented the whole State. The fact is that Avhile homeopathy in Rhode Island, between 1850 and 1860, gained a firmer foothold and a larger degree of public confidence than in most other parts of the country, opposition to it by the older school appears to have been less bitter than elsewhere. One of the oldest and most reputable allopathic physicians of the present time in Providence, who was in practice as early as 1846, states that from a date soon after his arrival during a number of years, the homeopathic physicians of the city "had every thing", as he expressed it, and that while they were opposed by the other school of practitioners, the opposition accompUshed very little. AVhatever change has since taken place in these relations between the two schools has been effected to a great extent by the death or de parture of the veterans whose personal qualities and professional skill, combined vrith strong confidence in the system and determination that it should advance, with a lack of enthusiasm for the principles of the school as a whole in later practitioners. The number of homeopathic physicians in the State early in the year 1850 had become so large that the advantages of organizing into a society became apparent. Accordingly notices were sent out calling a meeting at Dr. Abraham H. Okie's office, in Providence, on May 5 of the year named, for the organization of a State society. The day proved a stormy one and only ten physicians responded to the call ; but the organization was perfected by the election of Dr. Okie, president ; Dr. Ira Barrows, vice-president; and Dr. Henry C. Preston, secretary. The incorporation of the society was effected at the June session of the General Assembly under the title of the Rhode Island Homeo pathic Society. A constitution was adopted Avith the foUoAving pre amble : "We, the subscribers. Practitioners of Medicine residing within the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations or their imme diate vicinity, believing the law propounded by Hahnemann, ' Similia similibus curantur', to be a fundamental truth in the Science of Medicine, and the only safe guide in its practice : "And further believing that the best mode of advancing the Science of Homeopathy in the State is by an effective organization 74 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. and co-operation of its professors and by their efforts in pro"ving Drugs upon the healthy, do agree to form an Association;" etc. This was signed by the following persons : Drs. A. Howard Okie, John J. De Wolfe, Charles G. McKnight, Washington Hoppin, H. C. Preston, and a Dr. Ferris, of Providence; Peleg Clark, of Coventry; Ira Barrows, of Pawtucket ; Isaac Fisk, of Pall River, Mass. ; and Dr. Greene, of East Greenwich. No one of those present at that meeting is now aUve, the last one to die having been Dr. C. G. McKnight, who passed away in 1899. The records of proceedings of the various meetings held during the first nine years of the society's existence indicate that it was active, progressive, and its members inspired by conscientious effort in their profession. One of the members present at the second meeting was Dr. James L. Wheaton, of Pawtucket, who is still an honored physi cian and respected citizen of that city; he joined the society in 1851. Dr. A. W. Brown joined in 1854, and Dr. GrenviUe S. Stevens, stiU in practice in Providence, joined in 1855. Dr. Isaac SaAvin, another active member, joined in 1856. At the annual meeting in 1851 a Homeopathic Jubilee was pro jected, which was held at the Earl House in Providence in the after noon and at Westminster Hall in the evening, Avhere the members and a large number of invited guests listened to an address by Prof. Charles Neidhard, of Philadelphia. This was probably the first pubUc presentation of homeopathy in this State, and its able and eloquent treatment of the subject was received with great satisfaction, giving an added stimulus to the cause. The minutes of the proceedings of the meeting contain the following: "Both members and guests were well satisfied that this great epoch in the Medical History of Rhode Island was a briUiant one. The meeting throughout had been one of uncommon interest; much that was valuable had been read and spoken, a large, inteUigent and discriminating audience had listened with no ordinary interest to this first public lecture ever delivered on Homeopathy in Rhode Island, and now they were feasting Avith their friends at the first annual board of a new and small but flourishing and learned Society of Homeo pathic Physicians." Dr. Ira Barrows was the orator of the evening, and Judge Hoppin and others addressed the assemblage. In the fall of the same year Dr. Barrows, then president of the society, delivered the annual address in the same hall, and others followed in later years. Those practitioners of the new school in the early years were not only skillful Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 75 in their profession, but were practical and enthusiastic workers for the cause they defended, and good citizens as well. Great advancement of the school in the confidence of the public was noticeable during the first seven years of its practice in the State ; but a difference arose between two physicians regarding diagnosis which led to a discussion and division in the society, and another organization was formed under the title of the Hahnemann Medical Society; this latter held meetings down to the outbreak of the Civil War and had a still longer existence ; but its records are lost. Meanwhile the practice of homeopathy had spread over the country and, as before stated, a physician who had achieved success in Providence, became one of the most prominent in the organization of the American Institute of Homeopathy, which was effected at a meeting held April 10, 1844, the eighty-ninth anniversary of Hahne mann's birth. The convention gathered and organized by electing officers, and a resolution was adopted expressive of the expediency of forming the institute as a national organization. Dr. John P. Gray was elected general secretary, and S. R. Kirby, treasurer, when an adjourn ment was taken. In the evening, at the call of the general secretary, the first session of the institute was held. Dr. Josiah P. Flagg (before noticed) was elected the first president; Dr. John P. Gray, of New York, general secretary; A. Gerrold Hull, of New York, provisional secretary; S. R. Kirby, treasurer. Since that date the institute has exercised large infiuence in the profession.^ During the AA'ar of the Rebellion and afterwards down to about 1873 there was little organized work done by the Homeopathic Medical Society in this State ; but in September of the year named a reorganization of the society took place, chiefly through the efforts of the late Dr. William Von Gottschalk, of Providence. Under the new arrangement monthly meetings were held until 1876, after which quarterly meetings took their place and have been continued since. At the annual meetings, which have been the more important of each year, distinguished members have attended from a distance who have been generously entertained, and at the annual banquets prominent men of the laity in this State, and members of the municipal govern ment have frequently been present. The society has accomplished a vast amount of good through the reading and discussion of a large number of valuable papers by the various members. In 1875 women physicians were first admitted to the deliberations of the meetings in the persons of Dr. Mary D. Moss Matthews and Lucy A. Babcock. 'For annual lists of officers see pp. 1086-94, Trans, of the Institute, 1883. 76 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Others have since joined and the sex now occupies an honorable posi tion in the profession, in this as well as the older school. The records of proceedings of meetings show that the greatest variety of topics have been considered by the society, Avith profit to the members ; while the list of honorary members includes men of distinction in all parts of the world. The list of members of the society contains the names of many physicians who have graced Avith honor and distinction official positions in different parts of the State government. During the Civil War, in both the army and the navy, were physicians of this school who performed honorable service and afterwards became members of this society. At the meeting of the American Institute of Homeopathy, held in Baltimore in 1852, the Rhode Island Homeopathic Society was recognized as an organized branch of the institute and delegates were received in the national organization for many years, while sister societies in other States have always shown a readiness to send dele gates to the meetings of the State society. Not long after the year 1850 dispensary work was begun in Provi dence, and during many years since the Providence Homeopathic Dispensary has done noble work. Out of the same spirit that or ganized this institution developed the initial measures that resulted in the establishment of a homeopathic hospital in Providence, the need of which had been felt many years. In 1878, at the solicitation of Dr. William Von Gottschalk and others, a charter for this institution was granted by the General Assembly. In providing means for the pur pose great aid was received through the efforts of a band of unselfish women who took the title of the Rhode Island Homeopathic Hospital Ladies' Aid Association, who, by the year 1882, had accumulated a fund of about $10,000. With other contributions the managers were encouraged to purchase what was knoAvn as the Nichols estate, on Olney street (uoav Morris avenue), and fit up the mansion thereon for hospital purposes. A new surgical building was .subsequently erected and the stable reconstructed for use as a contagious cottage. Within a very recent period and for various reasons, the hospital management became embarrassed financially and on December 1st, 1900, it was obliged to close its doors. The corporate body, however, is still main tained, and has in its care a considerable sum of money Avith which at an early date it again hopes to continue its work in caring for the needy sick. In the State legislation that has directly affected medical practice, homeopathic physicians have shown a deep and active interest, using Epidemics and Medical Institutions. 77 their influence in favor of all regulations intended to elevate their profession and surround applicants for admission to practice with such provisions for examination as would insL.re the best results. At the important meeting of January 12, 1900, a preamble and resolutions were adopted favoring the enactment of a law providing ' ' for future Medical Reciprocity such as was asked for in the resolution adopted in the business meeting of this day". The purpose here in view is thus defined in a part of the preamble : "We, members of the Rhode Island Homeopathic Society, believ ing that a uniform system for registration in medicine in the various States and Territories, and in the District of Columbia, of this Union, is imperatively demanded as a basis of reciprocity in medical registra tion between these States, Territories and the District of Columbia, and the recognition of the necessity of such reciprocity having already in a Avay been established between the medical boards of the two great States of New York and New Jersey, etc. ' ' The object being to empower State boards of medical examiners to grant registration on payment of a nominal fee, to qualified physicians in one State to practice in other States. Religious Societies, Their History and Present Condition. CHAPTER. II. RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES, THEIR HISTORY AND PRESENT CONDITION. introductory. Upon the front of the Rhode Island ( Japitol, in Providence, finished in 1900, is inscribed, in enduring marble, the purpose of Roger AVil- liams in founding the CommonAvealth : "To hold forth a lively experiment that a most flourishing civil State may stand and best be maintained, AAdth full liberty in religious concernments. ' ' This sentence is the Aegis under whose protection the citizens of the State have dwelt securely, in a spiritual sense, for almost three hun dred years. None of her records are stained Avith laws for the regula tion of the Avorship of God or for the favoring or the oppression of the adherents of any particular form of religion. It is the glory and the boast of Rhode Island that no one, AA'ithin her boundaries, has ever been disturbed by her legal representatives on account of spiritual convictions. The ' ' lively experiment ' ' has been tried and has fulfilled the most sanguine expectations. The Royal Charter of Charles II, promulgated in 1663, Avas but an echo of the utterance of the Standard bearer of Soul Liberty, where it declares : "No person AA'ithin said Colony, at any time hereafter, shall be any wise molested, punished, disquieted or called in question for any differ ence of opinion in matters of religion, Avho does not actively disturb the Civil peace of our said Colony. ' ' Rhode Island is thus the Geographical Expression of a principle, as old as humanity, but not previously so emphatically stated— the in stinct of revolt against spiritual dictation. 6 83 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. England protested against Rome, Massachusetts protested against England, and Rhode Island protested against Massachusetts, but from Rhode Island no protesting colony ever Avent forth. In her, through the complete establishment of soul-liberty, the spirit of ecclesiastical revolt attained its equilibrium. It is not to be supposed that there Avas no religion in the territory around Narragansett Bay until Roger WilUams brought it hither. The Red men, after their fashion, were among the most religious races of which there is aii.A' record. Roger AA'^iUiams himself testifies con cerning the Indians : ' ' They have plenty of gods. . . I brought home lately from the Narragansetts the names of thirty-eight of their gods." They worshiped no images. Their religion dealt only Avith spiritual powers. They had, too, their superior gods, one of good and one of evil. Mr. AVilliams tells of their "strange relations of one Watucks, a man that Avrought great miracles among them and walked upon the waters, with some kind of broken resemblance to the Sonne of God ' '. He remarks, too, ' ' he that questions whether God made the world, the Indian Avill teach him". When Williams preached to them, in his ardent and loving way, even if they were not couAdnced, they listened to all he told them with respectful attention. He could never forget that it was among these savages, taught only by the Great Spirit, that he found that favor which Christians had denied him, Avhen they drove him forth in the depth of winter to wander in the Avilderness, not knowing "what bread or bed did mean". Nor is it reasonable to conclude that God had left himself Avithout Avitness in some form among those childreo of Nature, who, by no fault of their OAvn, had been destitute for ages of the light of Revelation. Their many noble and generous traits, amidst much natural debase ment, forbid the thought. How responsiA'e was the Indian heart to the principles of Christianity, when they had been effectively pre sented to it, is evidenced by the sachem Thomas Ninigret's utterance of the prayer, in a petition to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for the establishment of a scliool among his people, a century later, ' ' that Avhen time shall be with us no more, that when we and the children over Avhom you have been such benefactors shall leave the sun and stars, Ave shall rejoice in a far superior light." But, of course, our principal concern in this historical sketch is Avith the Christian Religion, as professed by the colonists and later inhabit ants of Rhode Island, rather than Avith the aborigines and their ob scure pagan faith. Noble as Avas the corner-stone of Religious Liberty, which Roger Religious Societies. 83 Williams laid for the foundation of his new state, there can be no doubt that evil as well as good foUowed the pressing of the principle to its extreme results. No wonder Rhode Island became, forthAAdth, as it was styled, "a harborage for all sorts of consciences". People took advantage of sovl-liberty to have no religion at all or to embrace all sorts of vagaries. While a considerable number of earnest Chris tian men and women joined Mr. Williams in the formation of the first church, it is evident that a very much larger number of residents at Providence held themselves entirely aloof. It must thus be explained why the general religious condition of the State Avas, in early times, somewhat low and why traces of that chartered irreligion, which per fect liberty of conscience to a degree encouraged, in certain sections still subsist. Cotton Mather Avas not very charitable, but he did not, probably, wander as far as he might have done from the truth, Avhen, after about a hundred years from the settlement of the Colony, he declared that "if a man had lost his religion he might find it in this general muster of opinionists" in Rhode Island. One of the most singular of the religious systems, brought hither in response to the invitation to "persons distressed for conscience", Avas Avhat Avas called Gortonianism, as taught by a generally worthy early settler of AA'^arwick, Samuel Gorton, AA'ho arrived about 1641. Gorton was a zealous advocate of liberty of conscience and sought here an asylum Avhere he might enjoy it. He was a man of education and ability, but of a radical and crusty turn of mind. It is hard to tell what his religious tenets really were. He rejoiced in turning the Scriptures into allegory and discovering para doxical double meanings in them, like Origen. In the mysticalness of his theology and his rejection of Ordinances, he somewhat resembled the early Quakers. The notion of visibly instituted churches he vig orously condemned. Yet, strange as Avere his opinions, he found fol lowers and continued the leader of a religious meeting, at WarAAdck, for above sixty years. Of a very different class from Gortonianism, but still iUustrating the readiness of the early Rhode Islanders for something ncAV in relig ion, was Avhat Avas called the "Ncav Light Stir" in the middle of the eighteenth century. It was not confined to this State, having its apparent origin in Whitefield 's preaching throughout New England about 1741, and Jonathan Edwards's "Great Awakening", at North ampton in Massachusetts, about 1735. But it Avas in Rhode Island that the movement had, perhaps, its most peculiar development. The 84 State of Rhode Island and Pro-vidence Plantations. state of religion had been very low and, doubtless, there was great need of a revival of interest and true spirituality, such as this excitement, to a certain degree, inspired. But it was also the means of introducing lamentable dissensions and divisions into the established reUgious bodies of some parts of the State, especially North and South Kings town, AA'^arwick and East Greenwich, in some cases the churches never recovering, but becoming extinct. An extensive gathering of the "New Light" churches of New England was held in the tovm of Exeter in 1753 and another in 1754. In many cases the term "New Light" Avas applied loosely to old, regiUar organizations which dwelt, more than some others, upon the need of conversion and experimental piety. A fanatical religious system, of wholly domestic origin, was that started by Jemima Wilkinson about 1773. She was a native of Cum berland in the northern part of the State, reared a Quaker, and, at the age of twenty, after a severe illness, professed to have been raised from the dead and to be able to work miracles. Many converts flocked to her standard, the most distinguished among them being Judge WilUam Potter of South Kingstown, Avho made large additions to his already extensive mansion to accommodate the new prophetess, the house tak ing in consequence the name of the "Old Abbey". After a time, the followers of this misguided woman purchased a tract of land, many square miles in extent, in the State of New York, and together with her removed thither, calling it Jerusalem, the sect coming to an end Avith her death. It is much pleasanter than dAvelling on such extravagances to note among the general religious events of Rhode Island, that the Sunday School Movement in New England had its beginning in this State, at Pawtucket, in 1796 or 1797, and after a few years extended to Provi dence and other towns, as AAdll be noted more fully below. The history of the different established denominations aa^U now be treated in the order of their establishment. Two of them, the Baptists and the Friends, date from almost the beginning of the settlement. Two others, the Congregationalists and the Episcopalians or adherents of the Church of England, belong, in respect to their Rhode Island origin, to the close of the seventeenth century. The Methodists, the fifth in order, were introduced near the end of the eighteenth century. The Roman Catholics followed them quite closely in the early part of the nineteenth century. Then came the Christians, the Universalists, and a number of other bodies, con sisting in the aggregate of about twenty. Religious. Societies. 85 the baptist church of RHODE ISLAND. The Formative Period — 1638-1685.— Never, probably, had a church a more picturesque beginning than had the Baptist Church of Rhode Island. Por it may be said to have been embodied in the august per sonality of Roger Williams, Avhen, in company with Thomas Olney and two or three others, on a June day in 1636, he came sailing in a canoe across the PaAvtucket River from Seekonk toAvards the eastern border of what is now the capital of the State. The greeting of the friendly Indians, as the little partj' prepared to land on a flat rock upon the shore,— "What cheer, netop?"— sounds like an unconscious prophecy. It Avas, indeed, a day of loftiest cheer to those savage children of the forest, when the long-delayed Gospel of Jesus Christ was thus being brought to their doors. The singular devoutness of Mr. Williams's spirit was shown at the outset by his giving to the locality selected for his settlement, called by the natives Mooshausick, the name it still bears "in testimony," as he declared, "of God's merciful Providence" to him. But it must not be supposed that Roger Williams was a Baptist, by profession, at this period. In his native country, England, he had been at first a clergyman of the Established Church and then a Separ atist Puritan. Later, in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, he had found himself unable to enter into fellowship with John Cotton and the other Puritan clergymen, not because they Avere not Baptists, al though they were by no means such, but because they had not, like himself, cut themselves entirely loose from the communion of the Church of England. After he had gone to Salem, likewise, it had been charged against him, not that he was a Baptist, but that ' ' in one year 's time he fiUed that place with principles of rigid separation tending to Anabaptism. " It is maintained by some writers that, before leav ing England, Williams had become acquainted with Baptists and been made familiar Avith their distinctive tenets. Others doubt Avhether he had already imbibed the peculiar convictions of the English Baptists or AVhether he even knew of their holding such doctrines, but regard the Baptist Church in Rhode Island as, in a manner, autocihonoit^. Through earnest study of the Scriptures and by means of the spon taneous reduction of their truths in the crucible of his own burning spirit, the Prophet of soul-liberty is believed by the latter to have gradually evolved principles analogous to those of the Baptists of the Old World. When, then, about tAvo years after his settlement at Providence, certain refugees, derisively styled by the Puritans Ana- haptists, emigrated from Massachusetts Bay to the ".shelter for per- 86 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. sons distressed for conscience", as WiUiams very characteristically caUed his little colony, he was entirely prepared to experience a lean ing towards them. Under date of March 16, 1639, Governor Winthrop remarks in his Journal : "At Providence things grew stiU worse, for a sister of Mrs. Hutchinson, the wife of one Scott, being infected Avith Anabaptistry and going last year to live at Providence, Mr. WUliams was taken or rather emboldened by her to make open profession thereof and accordingly was rebaptized by one Holyman, a poor man late of Salem. Then Mr. WiUiams rebaptized him and some ten more." Williams had plainly come to question in his restless mind the valid ity of his original baptism, received, in accordance with the practice of the Church of England, during unconscious infancy, and to hold that only a believer, arrived at years of discretion, is a fit recipient of the rite, thus grasping the central distinctive principle of Baptists. It would be a palpable error to suppose that Christians of the mould of Roger Williams and the other devout men and women, who gladly accompanied him to Providence or soon joined him there, passed the earlier years of the settlement without meeting for common worship. Doubtless they assembled frequently and regularly, in each other's houses, for prayer and the hearing of the Word. But it is not until the record of Winthrop, cited above, made nearly three years after the founding of the Colony, that any trace remains of an ecclesiastical organization, although it is reasonable to conclude that the event re ferred to occurred quite a length of time previously, probably during 1638. The infant church, which at first consisted of Mr. Williams, Mr. Holyman and "some ten others", was soon joined by twelve more. The original recipients of baptism from Roger WilUams, beside Eze kiel Holyman or HoUiman, are said to have been William Arnold, Wil liam Harris, Stuckley Westcott, John Green, Richard Waterman, Thomas James, Robert Cole, William Carpenter, Francis Weston and Thomas Olney. Prom the association of these Christian people arose the First Baptist Church, still existing in Providence. The story of the forming of this earliest Baptist organization in Rhode Island, as, also, the first religious body of any kind in the Col ony, is all the more engaging, because it is also the story of the making of the great Baptist Church in America, to-day the largest Protestant organization of the New World. At first the little company met for worship in a grove, except Avhen wet or chilly weather obliged them to take refuge in some private house. Mr. Williams remained but a brief period— some say six months. Religious Societies. 87 others four years— in communion with the body, which he thus had the chief part in creating. It is, indeed, pathetic to find him soon tortured by doubt concerning the authority of Mr. HoUiman, himself unbap- tized "in an orderly manner", to administer baptism to others, and so Avandering forth, outside the bounds of any organized fold, to be what he himself styled a Seeker for the remainder of his life. While the great-souled man continued and could not help continuing to preach the gospel, Avhich he loved with all his being, on occasion and especially to his beloved Indians, and Avhile he never ceased to cherish a warm friendship for his former church brethren and to be cherished in their hearts in return, it was still his mysterious lot to be always watching for a morning which never fully broke, and finding no rest for his feet until he entered into that Everlasting Rest which is prepared for the people of God. Roger Williams is declared by the historian, Callen- der, to have been one of the most disinterested men that ever lived and a most pious and heavenly-minded soul. When Mr. Williams thus left the small congregation of which he had been the acknowledged head, it fell into the hands of men of less genius and culture than himself, it is true, and of no more than equal devoutness of spirit, but yet the possessors of greater stability and sobriety of mind. Chad Brown, William Wickenden, Gregory Dexter and Thomas Olney are the honored names of these leaders of the church. It is, however, very difficult to determine their exact terms of service or how far each was recognized distinctively as a pastor. Mr. Brown, the founder of the well-known Providence family of that name, is commonly regarded as the first settled shepherd of the flock. In 1644, five or six years after the organizing of the first church, in Providence, the next Baptist organization in Rhode Island and one which has enjoyed an uninterrupted existence to the present day was established at NcAvport. The constituents of this were John Clark, M. D., and his wife, with ten others, of whom are named Mark Luker, Nathan West and wife, William Vaughan, Thomas Clark, John Peck ham, John Thorndon and William and Samuel Weeden. Dr. Clark, like Roger Williams, a refugee from "the Bay", Avas among the first in America to recognize the principle of soul-freedom and the entire separation which should exist between the Church and the State. The Second Baptist Church in Newport, being the third in the Col ony, originated in 1656, when tAventy-one people broke off from the First Church and formed themselves into a separate body, with dis tinctive principles, to be cited later. In 1671 stiU another Baptist church, differing on one point from REV. JOHN CALLENDER. Author of the Cf.ntennial Discourse on Rhode Island History. From an Old Painting, in the Possession of the Neavport Historical Society. Religious Societies. 89 the preceding, was constituted in the same town. In 1685 a Baptist church was organized at Tiverton. How very largely the Baptist Denomination of the United States, as a whole, owes its origin to Rhode Island, is iUustrated by the fact that, out of the seven churches of the order existing in the country in the seventeenth century, five belonged to the Colony around Narragansett Bay. The R. I. Baptists in the Eighteenth Century. — The first seventy years of the eighteenth century witnessed a marked growth in the number of Baptist churches in Rhode Island. Prom 1706 to 1752 at least ten were founded, respectively in Smithfield, Hopkinton, North Kingstown, Scituate, Warwick, Cumberland, East Greenwich, Exeter, Westerly and Coventry. In 1764 a new church, formed chiefly of members from the First Baptist, Providence, was established in Crans ton, and another, still so vigorous in the middle of its second century, at Warren, with the distinguished Mr. (later Dr.) Manning as one of its constituents and its earliest pastor. The following year, 1765, gave birth to churches in North Providence and Poster, and 1771 to one in Johnston— a branch of the First Baptist in Providence, with some difference of order, adverted to below. In 1774-5 there occurred a potent reAdval of religious interest and large numbers were led to confess the power of Christ's spirit and seek membership in the churches of the body. As always happens during seasons of political excitement and civil disturbance, the Revolutionary period immediate ly foUoAving saw, on the contrary, little numerical progress among Rhode Island Baptists. Upon the establishment of peace, however, the work seems quickly to" have rcAdved, so that by 1790 there were in the State thirty-eight Baptist churches, thirty-seven ordained ministers and 3,502 members. The two most signal events of the eighteenth century among the Baptists were the erection of the present meeting-house of the First Church in ProAddence and the establishment of Rhode Island College, now Brown University. It is most singular that during the sixty years after Mr. WilUams organized the Providence church, no building seems to have been devoted to its exclusive use. While the members were dwelling in their "houses of cedar", even if not "painted with vermilion", the ark of the Lord vras permitted to remain not, indeed, "in curtains", but under the trees or in any private house which might temporarily receive it. Then at length it was due not to any layman, but to the zeal and personal liberality of the pastor of the day, Pardon Tillinghast, that a rude and in truth unsightly meeting-house. 90 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. described as "like a hay-cap, with a fire-place in the middle and an opening in the roof for the escape of smoke ' ', Avas built in the northern part of the city. A worthier sanctuary was, hoAvever, constructed close by in 1726, at the northwest corner of North Main and Smith streets, continuing in use until the erection of the present church in 1774-5. The growth of the congregation in numbers and Avealth and the need of a suitable building in which to hold the Commencements of the new College, then furnished an incitement to a marvelous architectural advance upon anything which had gone before. Nearly the whole of the flne block of land bounded by North Main, Thomas, Benefit and President (noAv Waterman) streets, since entirely cleared of other buildings and comprising more than an acre, was obtained for the new meeting-house, and Joseph Brown, esq., and Mr. T. Sumner were deputed to draw the plan. It is related that the elegant ancient church of St. Martin-in-the-Pields, London, supplied a basis for their design, especially in the case of the spire. The floor was laid eighty feet square, giving space for one hundred and twenty-six square pews, while broad galleries afforded room for many more. At the west side was reared a steeple one hundred and ninety-six feet in height, fur nished with a good clock and a bell, both made in London. On the latter, which weighed twenty-five hundred and fifteen pounds, was cast the following motto: "For freedom of conscience, the town was first planted, Persuasion, not force, was used by tbe people ; This church is the oldest and has not recanted. Enjoying and granting bell, temple, and steeple." This beautiful structure, still after a century and a fourth the pride and admiration of the citizens of Providence, was opened for pubUe AVorship May 28, 1775, when, it being less than six weeks after the battle of Lexington, the storm-clouds of the Revolution were already breaking. The sound of war Avas in the land and many prominent families of the town removed for safety into the country. But by the good providence of God stated Avorship in this House of the Most High was never, as happened in so many cases elsewhere during this dark period, suspended. The other event— the founding of what is now Brown University- while more fully treated in another part of this work, demands a brief notice here, because its inception grew out of the religious needs of Baptists, and because its whole history has been so honorably identified with that Denomination. FIRST BAPTIST MEETING-HOUSE IN PROVIDENCE. Erected 1774-5. 92 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations The earlier pastors of the body were almost, if not quite, without exception, men whose lips had been touched with live coals from the Lord's altar and whose earnest ministry had been greatly blessed. But they were not generally men of liberal education. During the first century and a third of the existence of the Baptist church in the Colony there had been, as an old writer quaintly expressed it, "preach ing after its kind". As, however, general culture advanced among the members of the congregations, a difficulty Avas experienced in procuring acceptable pastors for the growing churches. At a meeting of the Baptist Asso ciation, held in Philadelphia, October 12, 1762, it Avas decided that it was practicable and expedient to found a college in Rhode Island, which should be under the chief direction of the Baptists and "in which education might be promoted, and superior learning obtained, free from any sectarian test". As a result of this happy decision, the Rev. James Manning, a recent graduate of Princeton College, tAventy-five years of age, of a fine, com manding appearance, with pleasant manners and a polished address, proceeded, in the spring of 1764, to Warren, R. I., to begin the work. The College being as yet Avithout funds, it vvas arranged that, as has already been noticed, he should secure support by taking the pastorate of the church then about to be established in the town. In September, 1765, in accordance with the requirements of the charter that the pres ident of the College shall always be a Baptist, Mr. Manning, being a minister of that order, was elected to the office as well as to the some- Avhat comprehensive professorship of "languages and other bniiiches of learning", and the institution Avas formally opened Avith a single student. Pour years later the first Commencement was held in the meeting-house, in Warren, September 7, 1769, when seven young men were graduated. The next year the College wa.s reiiiovt-d to Provi dence, the foundations of the earliest building, now known as Univer sity Hall, being laid May 14, 1770. In June, 1771, President JManning wrote: "The College, in this place, consists of tAventy-three youths." In 1804 the name of the institution Avas changed, in honor of a generous benefactor, Nicholas Brown, to Broun Univcrsily. Over against this humble beginning vve have now, at the opening of the twentieth century, to set the large and influential establishment into Avhich the nursling has grown, vvith from eight hundred to nine hundred students, about eighty professors and instructors, a AVomen 's College Departmi-nt, a property, real and personal, of $3,025,389.18 in land, buildings and endoAvment and a Religious Societies. 93 long and distinguished roll of alumni and teachers. Right nobly has it fulfilled its original purpose of furnishing liberally educated pastors for Baptist churches. Nor Avhile doing this has it failed to educate ministers, in countless numbers, for almost every other Christian body and to elevate the whole community by graduating hosts of highly cultured lawyers, physicians, merchants and manufacturers. Al though chiefly under the direction of Baptists, never for a moment has it been open to the charge of SAverving from the principle of spiritual freedom on which it was founded, by interfering with the "soul-liberty" of its members. To-day, perhaps more than ever be fore, its faculty and students represent the whole range of religious belief. While standing high among the colleges and universities of America in general, it is by far the oldest and best-known of the institutions of learning belonging to the order w^hich founded it, and second among them in present importance and financial resources to only its younger sister, the University of Chicago. The Baptists of Rhode Island in the Nineteenth Century.— Duving this century the number of Baptist churches in Rhode Island nearly doubled and that of members more than trebled. In 1805, in the long and able pastorate of the Rev. Stephen Gano, occurred notable coloni zations from the First Baptist Church in Providence, to form the Second, or Pine Street Church, Avith the Rev. Mr. Cornell as pastor, now know as the Central Church, with its handsome brick building on High street, and the First Church in Pawtucket, of which the Rev. David Benedict soon assumed charge. Previously to that date there had been gathered at the latter place a congregation of persons still members of the old church in Providence, public worship being main tained by occasional supplies Avithout any formal organization. In 1806 a church was organized at PaAvtuxet, and in 1811 one in Bristol, consisting at first of twenty-three members. The later additions to the number of churches are too numerous to admit of indiAddual men tion. In 1813, when Mr. Benedict published his well-known History of the Baptists, he recorded that there were in Rhode Island thirty-six churches, possessing thirty meeting-houses in good repair and over five thousand members, of whom four hundred and twenty-five belonged to the First Church in Providence. In 1844 there were forty-one churches Avith seventy-three hundred and eighty-one members. In 1850 there were about fifty-eight ordained ministers and forty-nine churches Avith seventy-two hundred and seventy-eight members. Dur ing the next decade, in Avhich time occurred the remarkable rcAdval of !»4 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 1858, the membership increased tAventy-two per cent., to eighty-eight hundred and forty-nine, in fifty churches. But the Civil War occur ring in the succeeding decade and naturally distracting attention from religion, the groAvth in that period Avas but six per cent. In 1890 there Avere sixty-nine churches Avith twelve thousand and thirty-nine members. The national census of 1890 gave the value of the church property of the Baptists in Rhode Island as $1,151,960. During the nineteenth century there took place the notable events of the incorporation of the Rhode Island Baptist State Convention, October. 1826, and the adoption of the Sunday School, as an auxiliary in the religious Avork of the churches. In its original form, as introduced by Samuel Slater, at Pawtucket, about 1796 or 1797, the Sunday School— the first in New England— Avas merely a school on Sunday for the benefit of his employes in the neAvly established cotton mill. Avith paid teachers and elementary secular studies. Although conceived in a highly philanthropic spirit, the undertaking did not profess to be religious. In 1805 David Bene dict, then a student of Brown University, and a Ucensed Baptist preacher, Avas assigned to the charge of the school. It seems to have been due to his earnest spirit that, at this stage, Bible reading and I'eligious instruction Avere added to the original curriculum. Event uaUy this school Avas divided betAveen the Baptist Church, of Avhich Mr. Benedict became pastor, and St. Paul's Episcopal Church (organized in 1816), as a part of their regular work. As early as 1815 this movement extended to Providence, and steps Avere taken for the organization there of an independent Baptist Sun day School for colored women and children. The earliest school con nected Avith the First Baptist Church in that town and the precursor of the notably excellent and enthusiastic organization of later years under Prof. John L. Lincoln and others, was established in May, 1819, with about forty members. By 1833 there Avere in Rhode Island thir teen Baptist Sunday Schools. The Rhode Island Baptist Sabbath Scliool Association, subsequently changed to the Rhode Island Sunday School Convention, Avas organized in 1840, embracing twenty-four hun dred teachers and scholars. By 1842 the membership had increased to thirty-four hundred and ninety and by 1852 to forty-one hundred and sixty-three. The Present Condition (1900) of the Rhode Island Baptists— At the opening of the tAventieth century the Baptist Church in Rhode Island, fast approaching the completion of three hundred years of its history, presents itself as a large, vigorous and united body, living up to its Religious Societies. 95 honorable traditions. It is organized under three Associations— Nar ragansett, Providence and Warren— containing seventy-seven church es, eighty-six ordained ministers, and thirteen thousand seven hundred and seventy-two members. The one little PaAvtucket Sunday School of the beginning of the nineteenth century has groAvn to eighty-six schools, with sixteen hundred and fifty-five teachers and officers, and tAvelve thousand eight hundred and fifty-four scholars. The total annual contributions of the Denomination, last reported, amounted to $147,51 5.83, of which $118,804.34 went to church expenses. The value of church property is $1,375,300. The Rhode Island Baptists have not failed to share in the modern awakening of Christians to the importance of the social element in the promotion of religious life and activity, the Rhode Island Baptist Social Union being the pleasant and healthful outcome of the convic tion. The wonderful recognition, too, at the end of the century, through out all churches, of the value of young people's enthusiasm and devo tion in building up the Kingdom of Christ, has promptly led to the organization, among the Baptists of this State, of branches of the Baptist Young People's Union of America, formed in 1891. In summing up what the Baptists of Rhode Island have stood for, in their long history, in addition to the cardinal principle of freedom of conscience, ahvays from the first constituting the very warp and woof of their being and already sufficiently dAvelt upon, thei-e are to be noted three other points, viz. : 1. An unsAverving devotion to what is generally understood by Orthodoxy. While the theological system of Calvin has been held by them with varying degrees of tenacity, yet, as to the fundamental doc trines of grace, as believed to be found in the Scriptures, they have always been immovable. There has never among Baptists been any faUing away, as in some other Christian bodies in New England, from their original belief in the Deity of Jesus Christ. 2. An exceptional interest and zeal in respect to Foreign Missions, from the beginning of their modern prosecution. Although Adoniram Judson, at the time of his graduation at Brown University in 1807, was not a Baptist and did not become one until 1812, yet his fervor and earnestness in missionary work in India soon came to inspire the whole Baptist- church in Rhode Island. The interest in this cause of also the Rev. Dr. James N. Granger, the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Providence, in the heart of the nineteenth century, is weU known, leading him to take an arduous journey of missionary inspection to the 96 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. East. That church and other Baptist churches in Providence and in the country portion of the State have often been scenes of enthusiastic gatherings in behalf of Burmese Missions, while a number of the city pastors have borne Avitness to their devotion to the evangelization of the heathen by personal service in distant fields. 3. A marked and practical conviction of the indispensableness of Education. With peculiar temptations, in its early history, to under rating book-learning on the part of its teachers and discountenancing what was deprecatingly styled "a hireling ministry", the Baptist church, with singular enlightenment, has ever, for a century and a half, stood up manfully for the propriety of liberal culture for the clergy and the best practical education possible on the part of aU. Besides the monumental achievements in this field, the foundation of Brown University already described, the Baptist Education Society, incorporated by the Rhode Island Legislature in 1823 and 1842, has farther attested the interest of the Church in this cause, by aiding a large number of needy students in securing such training as might fit them for the sacred ministry. During 1893, for example, the Educa tion Society aided twenty-six young men. Among the distinguished Baptist clergy of Rhode Island, gone to their reward, have been James Manning and Jonathan Maxcy, presi dents of the college and pastors of the First Baptist Church in Provi dence, Asa Messer, Francis Wayland, Barnas Sears, Alexis Caswell and Ezekiel Gilman Robinson, presidents of Brown University, Stephen Gano, James Nathaniel Granger and Samuel Lunt CaldweU, pastors of the First Baptist Church in ProAddence, DaAdd Benedict, pastor at Pawtucket, and William Gammell and Henry Jackson, pas tors at Newport. THE BRANCHES OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH. As might have been anticipated from the untrammeled liberty of thought which was permitted and encouraged in the infant Baptist Church of Rhode Island, there soon grew up divergences of doctrine and order among its members. At first these were entertained within the limits of the original body. But, in several cases, they led to sep arate organizations, Avhich, while they have continued Baptist in the sense of accepting as valid baptism, that of believers only and that by immersion rather than by affusion, have on other grounds remained apart to the present day. To three of these attention avUI now be given. The Six Principle, Old or General Baptists.— The distinctive tenet Religious Societies. 97 of this body is the practice of the Laying on of Hands, as a prereqm- site for church membership and admission to the Lord's Supper, in accordance with Hebrews, vi, 1, 2, the other five "principles of the doctrine of Christ ' ', mentioned in the passage being, of course, accept ed by all Baptists. The name General was adopted by these Baptists by reason of their inclining to the Arminian System of Doctrine, teaching the potential redemption of all men by the death of Christ, in distinction from the particular redemption of the elect, as held by Calvinists. It appears that, before any separation occurred, many of the mem bers of the earlier churches, in both Providence and Newport, were inclined to a belief in the necessity of the Laying on of Hands. As early as 1653-4 a controversy upon this subject arose in the Providence church, leading to a division. At this time the party of Thomas Olney, one of the original constituents and himself an elder, being opposed to the Laying on of Hands, withdrew and formed a separate congregation. This organization maintained its existence until about 1718, when, being left without an elder, it ceased and its members sought admission into other churches. This Olney congregation, having thus proved comparatively temporary, has not been reckoned above in the list of earlier Baptist churches, being regarded as practicaUy a part of the First Baptist Church in Providence, to which it largely seems to have returned. In Newport a similar division took place in 1656, although here the original church held to the non-essentiality of the Laying on of Hands. Twenty-one members, one of them William Vaughan, an original constituent of the First Church, withdrew and formed a Six Principle church, holding to general atonement and a free offer of salvation to all and strictly practising Laying on of Hands. The rea sons given at the time for this separation are as f oUows : ' ' Said per sons conceived a prejudice against psalmody and against the restraint that the liberty of prophesying was laid under and also against the doctrine of particular redemption and against the rite of the Laying on of Hands, as a matter of indifference." William Vaughan, Thomas Baker and John Harden were the early pastors of this fold. Later, in 1701, there was ordained to the same office James Clark, a nephew of the Rev. John Clark, the first pastor of the earlier Newport church. In the first quarter of the eighteenth century, so overshadowing was the importance of those holding ' ' Six Principle ' ' couAdctions, thirteen out of the seventeen churches in New England being of that way of thinking, that their influence appeared destined to shape Baptist opin ion throughout the territory. 7 98 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. By 1731 the "Six Principle" Newport Church had grown to be the largest of any kind in the Colony, numbering one hundred and fifty members. At this period it was suppUed for about two years by the weU-knovm Rev. John Comer, a young minister of education, piety and great success in his profession, who had already, for three years, been pastor of the First Church in Newport and whose Diary has lately been published. Dr. WilUam Rogers, the first student of Rhode Island College, who was later settled in Philadelphia, was first called to preach in the Sec ond NcAvport Church, about 1771-2. After the Revolution this church is said to have swerved from its original distinctive faith and practice. * 1 ,^||,i|Mt)pw'Vi'|"71'""fffl 'Sh ^^H mM mr ^^s^m^^masm m ijgiaw.^ ^bI ',¦ ¦ lmmmmmm^^ "^ ^fijKJlHS^Bamj r-i:^''^!^^^^M y'P|BBtlB^fe|i|M|BB l^g Ballou Meeting-House, Cumberland, near -Woonsocket Line, Erected 1740. Elder William Gammell, the father of the professor of the same name, was subsequently among its pastors. The Six Principle Church in North Kingstown is interesting because of the tradition that it was formed about 1666, through the influence of Roger AVilliams, who had an Indian trading-house in the neighbor hood, although the earliest records of the organization belong to 1710. Near the first year above mentioned Thomas Baker, one of the pastors of the Second Church at Newport, is knOAvn to have removed to Kings- tOAvn, and is said to have soon gathered a church of which he continued in charge until his death in 1710, when Richard Sweet became pastor. Religious Societies. 99 Other early Six Principle Baptist churches in Rhode Island were those of Smithfield, Jonathan Sprague, pastor, formed not later than 1706 ; Richmond, Daniel Everett, pastor, organized as early as 1723 ; Scituate, Samuel Fiske, pastor, formed in 1725 and grovring, in a century, to' a membership of two hundred and seventy-six ; South KingstoAvn, Daniel Everett, pastor, established as early as 1729 ; and Warwick, of which the earliest records go back to only 1741, although the church is known to have been in existence in 1730, with sixty-five members under the pastoral care of Manasseh Martin. The Six Principle Church in Cum berland appears to have been organized in 1732. Although, like sev eral others of the early churches of this order, the Cumberland Church has ceased to exist as an organization, it yet challenges attention by reason of its venerable sanctuary, knoAvn as the ' ' Old Ballou Meeting- House", still standing just north of "Iron Mountain" or "Iron Rock HiU", in the northwestern part of the town. The quaint building, with its heavy, narrow gallery, is much resorted to by visitors, it being claimed that it was erected about 1740. The fact that the original deed of the land bears the date of 1749, ' ' in the twenty-second year of the reign of George, King of Great Britain ' ', suggests that year as the time of building the meeting-house. Still other Six Principle churches were formed later in the eight eenth century. In 1770-1 there arose, in the Providence church, a notable controversy, which led to the secession of the pastor, Samuel Winsor, and a large number of members to form a Six Principle church in Johnston, an adjacent town. The Rev. James Manning, President of Rhode Island College, at that time in the process of re moval from Warren to Providence, had been, by vote of the church in the latter town, admitted to the Communion, although, while having himself received the Laying on of Hands, he was not unwilling to join in the Lord's Supper with those who had not done so. Thereupon, April 18, 1771, it being church meeting, Elder Winsor appeared and presented a paper, signed by certain members Uving out of toAvn, as foUows: "Brethren and Sisters,— We must in conscience withdraw ourselves from all those who do not hold strictly to the six principles of the doctrine of Christ, as laid down in Hebrews, aq, 1, 2. " Elder Winsor, Deacon John Dyer and eighty-five other members then with drew and were organized into a separate church, as already stated, Mr. Manning becoming pastor in Providence. In 1774 the Johnston church erected a large meeting-house about two miles west of Provi dence, Elder Winsor surviving until January, 1802. Towards the close of the seventeenth century a few of the earliest Six Principle 100 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. churches united in a Yearly Meeting. As early as 1729 this body con sisted of twelve churches and about eighteen ordained elders, mostly in Rhode Island, but some in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and one in New York. In 1802 it was composed of twenty-one churches, a num ber of them apparently outside of this State. In 1813, Mr. Benedict stated that this Yearly Meeting, on account of its making the Laying on of Hands a term of communion and of its incUnation to the Armin ian System of doctrine, had no connection with any of the neighboring Associations. It then contained thirteen churches and twelve minis ters, eight only of the churches being in Rhode Island. By 1827 there were no less than eighteen Six Principle churches in the State and in 1850 nineteen. In 1853 there were twenty-two ministers and seven teen hundred and sixty-six members. Since that period the Denomina tion has declined, some of its buildings being closed or used by others. In 1891 there were said to be nine hundred and thirty-seven members, perhaps not all in Rhode Island. In January, 1895, there was incor porated The General Six Principle Baptist Conference of Rhode Island. At the opening of the twentieth century there are, in this Denomination, ten churches, with six ordained ministers and six hun dred and thirty-four members, and eight Sunday Schools Avith sixty- four officers and teachers and four hundred and thirty-two scholars. Small as is now the body there is still evident in it a genuine spiritual interest. The quaint titles of two of its organizations, the Maple Root Church and the Knotty Oak Church, yet in use, illustrate the primitive flavor of this ancient Denomination. The Seventh Day Baptists.— These, sometimes called also Sabbata rians, differ as a body from the Baptists generally, in no other article but as to the day of the week to be observed as the Sabbath. They hold that, as the Ten Commandments are stiU binding on Christians, the Seventh day of the week, instead of the First, in accordance Avith the Fourth Commandment, ought to be kept as the Christian Sabbath. The Seventh Day Baptists of Rhode Island had an origin organically quite independent of the English body of the same name. Sab batarian sentiments were first brought from England to America by Stephen Mumford, in 1665, and introduced by him into the First Baptist Church in Newport. Prom this church seven members seced ed, in December 1867, and organized in that town the first Sabbatarian church in this country, with William Hiscox as the pastor. A few members of this body, apparently children of Samuel Hubbard, An- dreAv Longworthy and AA^'illiam Hiscox, original constituents of the Newport church, soon joined the first freemen of AA^esterly, then em- Religious Societies. 101 bracing, as well as the present toAvnship of that name, those now known as Hopkinton, Richmond and Charlestown. This town was, however, by no means, as has sometimes been supposed, a Sabbatarian Colony, it having been purchased from the Indians previously to the arrival of Stephen Mumford in America. A Seventh-Day Baptist meeting house was built about 1680, in that part of Westerly now called Hop kinton, but the first Sabbatarian church in that locality was not organ ized until 1708, when Rev. John Maxson, who was the first white child born on the island of Rhode Island, having been ordained at about the age of seventy years, became the pastor or "Leading Elder". It is interesting to note that he was succeeded in the pastorate by two of his sons, in order. This church has since enjoyed the services of a long line of faithful pastors and has had an apparently unbroken prosper ity. The influence of large revivals upon its life and growth has been most marked. In 1769 Gov. Samuel AA^'ard and about flfteen others were added to the membership, in 1770 there were forty-five additions, in 1779 sixty-five, in 1780 fifty-three, in 1785 forty-one and in 1786 one hundred and forty-six. By 1793, after two hundred and four members had been set off to form three new churches, there were left four hundred and thirty-five. In 1816 the church membership was nearly one thousand, a number probably unparalleled in the case of a rural church, in the history of the remainder of Rhode Island. Soon after the above date several branches were organized into separate churches. The report of the parish for 1900, after an existence of nearly two hundred years, shows three hundred and forty-one mem bers, with two hundred and fourteen officers, teachers and pupils in the Sunday School and contributions of $2,827.15. From practical considerations, easily imagined, the Seventh Day order appears to thrive best in small places, where the population largely agrees in the practice of observing the last day of the AA^eek as the Sabbath. This early settling of a number of adherents of the Newport Seventh Day Church in Westerly seems to have given a permanent Sabbatarian complexion to Southwestern Rhode Island. In 1853 Dr. Jackson re ported that there Avere ten hundred and fifty-five members of Seventh Day Baptist churches in the State, with six ministers. At the opening of the twentieth century there are seven active churches in Hopkinton, Richmond and Westerly, with eleven hundred and forty-seven mem bers, of whom four hundred and seven belong to the vigorous Pawca- tuck Church, in the latter town. The original church at Newport, which retained its existence until 1850 or a little later, has since become extinct. The Seventh Day Baptists in Rhode Island, in common AAdth 103 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. their co-religionists in other parts of the country, sustain, vsdth char acteristic zeal and devotion, a mission in China. They have always been much interested, likewise, in education and assist in supporting high-class denominational schools and coUeges in other sections. A laudable effort and one for which Seventh Day people possess manifestly superior qualifications, by reason of agreement upon the day of the week to be kept as the Sabbath, was, some years since, started by this body for the Christianization of the Jews in New York city and later in Palestine, but unfortunately proved, at least tem porarily, impracticable. After the oversight of the general interests of the denomination had been exercised for nearly a hundred years by the First Hopkinton church, it passed from the control of that church, in 1802, into the hands of the Seventh-day Baptist General Conference, which -will cele brate its centennial year by meeting Avith that church in 1902. A pop ular illustrated history of the Denomination is in course of prepara tion. The Free {formerly Free Will) Baptists. — From nearly the begin ning of the Baptist Church in America, there have been some members who have opposed a number of the principal articles of the Calvinistic system of belief. For a long time most of these brethren of Arminian proclivities lived in Rhode Island and its vicinity. It was among these that the Free Will Baptist Denomination had its rise, with its beUef in General Redemption and its practice of Open Communion. In New Durham, N. H., the first separate church of this way of thinking was organized, in 1780, by Elder Benjamin RandaU. It does not, however, appear that Mr. Randall was disfellowshiped by the regular church with which he Avas connected, or that he hesitated to call the body which he had created a Baptist church. Thirty-two years later, in 1812, there came to Rhode Island, to pro mulgate the principles of Elder RandaU, a youthful preacher of great power named John Colby, who found a large number prepared, appar ently through previous convictions, to welcome his mission. In Provi dence, Smithfield, Gloeester and Burrillville, he proclaimed the gospel of free salvation unto all men with immense energy and acceptable- ness. Hundreds and thousands fiocked to hear him, and scores upon scores were converted as a result of his tireless labors. The kindliness of feeling entertained towards this young evangelist by his brethren of the regular Baptist connection, notAvithstanding differences of belief, is attested by the fact that, during a Avinter of Religious Societies. 103 sickness, he found a home for many months in the family of Dr. Ste phen Gano, the esteemed pastor at that day of the First Baptist Church in Providence. In the last month of 1812 Mr. Colby organized in Burrillville the pioneer Free Will Baptist Church of Rhode Island, now known as the Pascoag Church. For a long period, until the death of its founder in 1817, this church, under the influence of his burning zeal, experienced what seemed like a perpetual rcAdval. Other eminent gospel preachers came to take up the work of Elder Colby, the godly and able Joseph White being his principal successor. Por about eight years the Burrillville church remained the only one of the new order in the State. Then, in 1820, one was organized in Smithfield (since conspicuous for its influence, under the name of the Greenville church), also under the pastoral care of Elder AVhite. A Uttle later there was formed, by the instrumentality of Elder Ray Potter, a Free Will Baptist church in Pawtucket, now the largest outside of Providence. In 1821 there appeared, from Vermont and New Hampshire, Elder Reuben Allen, "a graduate from the anvil", who was destined for more than flfty years to be a man of mark in the church of Rhode Island. But, as an even more signal event, in 1828, in the village of Olneyville, there arose into notice a young, middle- aged man, gifted with more than ordinary power and mighty in the winning of souls to Christ, Martin Cheney. At first Mr. Cheney or ganized in the village a smaU, independent church, which, by 1830, had gathered eighty- four members and was then received into the Free Will Baptist Denomination. It is, without doubt, largely due to the sanctified genius and burning ardor of Elder Cheney, that the Olneyville church has for more than a half century been second to none of the order in the State, and has become the largest of aU in membership, as well as that the whole Denomination has gained its present standing. The "Roger Williams Church" in Providence Avas originally organ ized in 1830, as a Six Principle Baptist church. In May, 1837, how ever, it applied for admission and was received into the Free Will Baptist body and has since become the second in size and influence in the State. Fcav churches have enjoyed the services, among other faithful pastors, of such men as two of the ministers of this congrega tion, the quaint and strong Elder James A. McKenzie, and the saintly and scholarly Dr. George T. Day. In 1831 there were eight Free WiU Baptist churches in Rhode Island. By 1841 they had increased to about seventeen. 104 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In 1880, at the period of the centennial anniversary of the Denomi nation, there were nineteen churches, with twenty-six preachers. At the opening of the twentieth century there ^e twenty-nine churches in the State, Avith about thirty-seven ministers and thirty-six hundred and fifty-two members, and twenty-six Sunday Schools with thirty-seven hundred and forty-seven members. The value of church property is $252,580. In 1821 there was formed an association of the Free AVUI Baptist churches of the State, under the title of the Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting. In 1857 the name was changed to that which the society now bears— the Rhode Island Free {Will) Baptist Association. The terri tory covered by this Association is not, however, exactly conterminous with the State, seven of the churches, embraced in it, being situated in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. In most of the churches there are branches of the Free Baptist Young People's Union, Avith a total membership in the State of six hundred and eleven. There exists in the Denomination a lively interest in foreign missions, and its Rhode Island members also unite with the general church in sustaining an extensive and prosperous mission in southern Bengal, with more than a dozen stations, about twenty white missionaries and sixty-seven native helpers. In 1853, largely under the inspiration of Dr. Day, there began to be published in ProAddence an able Review, under the title of the Free Will Baptist Quarterly, the place of publication, after three years, being changed to Dover, N. H. There arose in Rhode Island and Connecticut, during the "White- field Revival" of the later middle of the eighteenth century, a body of Separates, who called themselves Free Communion Baptists. To these the later organization of the Free AVUI Baptists offered a con genial home, and by 1841 they had become mainly absorbed into that Denomination. About one-third of the existing Free Baptist churches in Rhode Island Avere not originally such, some of them being, probably, of the Denomination called Christians, but, Avhile of other names, find ing themselves in harmony with the principles of the growing new body appUed for admission to its fold. There can, too, be no doubt that the discussion aroused by the inception of the Free Will Baptist movement reacted upon the other Baptists, Avho entered into it, and tended, even where they did not change their position, in some degree to modify their vicAvs. Indeed, it Avould seem to have been one of the Providential offices of this Denomination, in addition to its chief ser vice of saving thousands of souls, to disseminate, also, a spirit of larger Christian UberaUty among other reUgious bodies. Religious Societies. 105 THE society of FRIENDS IN RHODE ISL.VND. Their Arrival and Organization.— Almost exactly a score of years after Roger Williams had found, in 1636, a secure refuge beside the pleasant waters of Narragansett Bay and proclaimed that all persons who should submit themselves to the civil regulations of the Colony need fear no persecution on account of their religious belief, there began to appear Avithin its borders members of a sect destined to exert a profound and salutary influence upon the community. In 1648 the founder of the Society of Friends in England, George Pox, had en tered upon his career as a preacher. In 1654 the first General Meeting of the Society, of Avhich any account has been preserved, was held in Swannington, Leicestershire. By 1656, to escape the persecution which had broken out in England, members of the Society had emi grated to Massachusetts Bay to meet there, likewise, a reception which Avould have daunted less determined enthusiasts than they. For refusing to attend Puritan worship and to contribute to the support of its ministers they were subjected to various persecutions. On one pretense or another, if they were not, like the prophets of old, ' ' stoned, and sawed asunder", they were yet scourged, imprisoned and muti lated. At length, in 1659, two members of the Society were publicly executed on Boston Common. A weakly old man, himself a member of the Puritan Church in Boston, was banished from the Colony for venturing to expostulate with the magistrates for these barbarities. Before the year of their arrival had closed, or certainly early in 1657, some of these unhappy people, hearing of the hospitable asylum be yond the southAvestern hiUs, began to flee from the tender mercies of the Puritans to the friendly "shelter for persons distressed for con science", set up by the Apostle of Soul-Liberty in Rhode Island. The earliest Friends to emerge, famished and scarred, from the intervening wilderness, repaired to the island of Aquidneck. To this day, during the session of the New England Yearly Meeting in June, not only is there held on First Day a meeting for worship at Newport, where all the business meetings occur, but also one at Portsmouth, in the north ern part of the island, as if in recognition of the fact that there the forefathers first found rest for their tired and bleeding feet. Later, bands of exiles of the order made homes for themselves in what is now known as Warwick, to give a Quaker complexion for two centuries to the western shore of Narragansett Bay. In Massachusetts these peaceable people had been treated as outlaws and subjected to every indignity. In Rhode Island they were allowed to follow their own 106 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. convictions and speedily became useful and industrious citizens. Dur ing 1657 Commissioners of Massachusetts and Plymouth Colonies, cha grined that the persons they derisively styled Quakers had found refuge in Rhode Island, united in a remonstrance. "AVe have experienced no difficulty with the people complained of," was the sturdy rejoinder of Roger Williams and the other authorities of the latter Colony. While Massachusetts was vigorously executing her laws condenming to death any Quaker who should return to the Colony after banish ment, Rhode Island stood sternly by the protest of her Assembly, "against the exercise of civil power over men's consciences", and finally appealed to Cromwell, then the Protector, that she might not be compelled -to such a course "so long as human orders, in point of civility, are not corrupted or Adolated". One of these exiles was Josiah Southwiek, who fled to Rhode Island and raised there a family of ten children, of whom one daughter, Cas sandra, married Jacob Mott, and became the maternal grandmother of Gen. Nathanael Greene. In 1659 another Friend, Mary Dyer, was placed upon a horse by the Massachusetts magistrate and escorted to the borders of Rhode Island, where she remained some months. In May, 1660, however, like a moth flying back to the candle, Avhich has already scorched its vrings, Mary Dyer returned to "the bloody town of Boston", to protest against the unrighteous laws under which her companions had suffered death, and was herself in turn executed on the gallows, on the first day of June. Mrs. George Gardner of Newport, the mother of several chil dren and a woman of good report, having become a Quaker, visited Weymouth in Massachusetts, with an infant at her breast, and was arrested and taken before Governor Endicott, who ordered her to be flogged with ten stripes and kept in prison for two weeks. Thomas Harris, Avho had settled in Rhode Island, went to Boston with two other Quakers, where, for denouncing the cruelties practiced on his brethren, he was severely whipped and imprisoned, being for five days of his confinement deprived of food and water. Catherine Scott of Providence visited Boston and saw the right ears of three Friends cut off by the hangman and, for remonstrating against this barbarity, was herself shut up in prison for two months and publicly flogged, two of her children suffering along with her. ' ' You are court, jury, judge, accusers, witnesses and all," exclaimed the Friend, Gov. WiUiam Coddington of Rhode Island, at this period, to the Puritan authorities of Massachusetts. Surely human nature would have had to be differ- Religious Societies. 107 ent from what it is, if Quakerism had not thriven in Rhode Island after such a baptism of blood. There is a good deal of doubt as to the date of the earliest organiza tion of the Friends in the Colony as a religious body, the records of the first meetings being said to have been destroyed in a burning dwelling house. Some writers maintain that a General Meeting was held at Newport on the 9th day of the fourth month (June), 1659. But, although this alleged fact lacks confirmation, there can be no doubt that, not long after that year, the earliest organization of Friends in America had been effected on the island of Rhode Island. Nor from that day to the present has a Yearly Meeting ever ceased to be held every June, in Newport, except when, from prudential considerations during the Revolutionary War, their sessions were, from 1777 to 1781 (inclusive), removed to Smithfield in the interior of the State. The first positive intimation of the existence of the Rhode Island Yearly Meeting, so far as at present appears, is found in the Journal of John Burnyeat, a minister of the gospel, who traveled extensively in this country at that day, and relates his attendance at a " Yearly Meeting held on Rhode Island, in the fourth month,- 1671." As he goes on to speak of it as a "General Meeting, once a year, for all Friends in New England", it is natural to conclude that it had been already for some years established. The initial entry in the books of the Rhode Island Monthly Meeting is dated "the 12th of 10th mo. 1676". Subsequent references in the minutes, however, to meetings formerly held, prove that it had been established considerably prior to the above date. Solid ground, indeed, is reached in 1672, for, in that year, no less a person than George Pox himself, the first promul gator of the doctrines of the Society in England, visited Newport and attended the June meeting, of which he inserted in his journal the following description : We ' ' arrived in Rhode Island the thirtieth of the third month, where we were gladly received by Friends. We went to Nicholas Easton 's, who was the governor of the island, where we lay, being weary with traveling. On First day following, we had a large meeting, to which the deputy- governor and several of the justices came and were mightily affected with the truth. The week following, the Yearly Meeting of Friends for New England and other colonies adjacent was held on this island. . . . This meeting lasted six days. . . . For having no priests on the island, and no restric tions to any particular way of worship, and the governor and deputy- governor daily frequenting meetings, it so encouraged the people that they flocked in from aU parts of the island. . . . These pubUc 108 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. meetings over, the men's meeting began, which was large, precious and weighty. The day following was the women's meeting, which was also large and very solemn. These two meetings were for ordering the affairs of the church When this great general meeting was ended, it was somewhat hard for Friends to part; for the glorious power of the Lord, which was over all, had so knit and united them together, that they spent two days in taking leave of one another and of the Friends of the island ; and then, being mightily filled with the presence and power of the Lord, they went away with joyful hearts to their several habitations." About the same time Mr. Pox held a meeting at Providence in a great barn, which, he said, "was so thronged with people that I was exceedingly hot and perspired much". Tradition narrates, too, that during this visit he preached under a tree, in Old Warwick, on land since owned by John Holden, and held also a large meeting at Narragansett, to which people came from Con necticut and other parts around. Altogether an immense impetus must have been given to Quakerism in Rhode Island by this progress through it of the Arch Prophet of the System. It is a curious commentary upon Roger WiUiams 's just dis tinction between the discarding of all carnal weapons, in combating what he judged to be heresy, and the duty of drawing against it the sivord of the Lord, that no sooner had George Fox set his foot in the Colony than the "Apostle of soul liberty" promptly sent him a formal challenge containing fourteen propositions to be debated between them. Nor is it hard to imagine the note of victory, with which that prince of controversialists announced that the fox had been "digged out of his burrows". Soul liberty, plainly, did not, in his view, mean immunity from the doughtiest kind of spiritual blows. After the departure of Mr. Pox we meet with such entries in the min utes of the meeting as the following, showing that everything was proceeding in the regular order : " It is agreed on and settled at A generall yearley meeting at ye house of AVm. Coddington in Rhoad Island, ye 11 4-m 1683— The yearley Generall meeting of Friends Avorshiping of God,— Theare assembley at Rhoad Island Begins ye sec ond sixth daye of ye 4th month in Every yeare." "At a GeneraU yearley Meeting at the house of AValter Newberrys at Newporte in Rhoad Island ye 15th daye of ye 4th mo, 1691, The severaU meetings were caUed over." In 1699 Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting was established by the Yearly Meeting, and comprised, at that time, the Monthly Meetings of Rhode Island, Narragansett and Dartmouth (Mass.). With this Religious Societies. 109 action the period of early general organization in Rhode Island may be taken to have been completed. The Tenets of Rhode Island Friends.— It was not Avithout Scrip tural authority that these plain people adopted their peculiar name, since the Master declared, "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends." S. John xv, 15. In their fundamental articles of belief the Friends did not depart from the doctrine of the Church of England, from which most of their earliest members originated. The Declaration of Faith, published in 1672 by one of the pioneers of the Society, sounds like an amplified form of the Apostles' Creed. "We do OAvn and believe," it declares, "in the only wise, omnipotent and everlasting God, the creator of all things, both in heaven and earth ; . . . and we own and believe in Jesus Christ, his only and beloved Son, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary ; in whom we have redemp tion through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins ; and we own and believe . . . that he was crucified for us in the flesh, without the gates of Jerusalem, and that he was buried and rose again the third day by the power of his Father, for our justification; and that he ascended up into heaven and now sitteth at the right hand of God. He it is that hath now come in the Spirit . . . He is our mediator that makes peace between God offended and us offending . . . Concerning the Holy Scriptures, we do believe that they were given forth by the Holy Spirit of God, who, as the Scripture itself declares, through the Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost". AVhat the Friends discarded were the forms and ceremonies of the Church, its ministry, and government. They disapproved of music, both instrumental and vocal, as an adjunct of worship, marring, as they judged, its strict simplicity. They rejected the outward forms of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, being convinced that the Lord appointed no external rite or ceremony for observance in His church. Acting upon the Sermon on the Mount, they condemned war and fighting, and declined to take oath before a civil magistrate, making a simple affirmation on giving legal testimony. The principal positive distinctive tenet of the Friends, at the outset, was an emphatic asser tion of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and of His immediate enlight ening and guiding operation on the heart, approximating direct in spiration. George Fox used to preface his addresses Avith such phrases as : " The Lord hath opened to me, "" I am moved of the Lord, ' ' and 110 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. "I am sent of the Lord God of heaven and earth." His foUowers were often content to sit through a meeting in complete silence, en gaged in reflection and self-examination and listening for the "still small voice" of the Spirit. They inculcated simplicity of dress and absence of personal adornment and required great plainness of speech, using, in direct address, the singular pronouns, "thee" and "thou", in the place of the more courtly ' ' you ' '. They also dispensed Avith all titles and honorary prefixes. As the Puritans had well-nigh exhaust ed the Old Testament in their search for praenomens, so the Quakers, for the same purpose, turned to the Ust of abstract virtues, especiaUy in the case of girls, and such names became common among them as Experience Hull, Content Richmond, Desire Greene, Deliverance Rey nolds, Thankful Ball and Comfort Boomer, some of them Ungering in Rhode Island even to the present day. The Friends discountenanced revivals as recognized religious instrumentalities for an extraordinary accession of numbers, and had little faith in rapid and exciting con versions. It was also one of their principles to abstain from active proselytism. Over all their assemblies and to a good degree over aU their lives, there brooded a benign spirit of peace, quietness, honesty, harmony and love. The Polity of the Rhode Island Friends. — In dispensing Avith the form of ecclesiastical government to which they had been accustomed in the Church of England, the Society of Friends was moved to adopt one of extreme simplicity. The highest and most comprehensive body provided for is the General or Yearly Meeting, which is autonomous and, except as to moral influences, independent. Each Yearly Meet ing is composed of several Quarterly Meetings, which, again, contain severally a certain number of Monthly Meetings. Every Monthly Meeting in turn embraces two or more Preparative Meetings and Meetings for Worship, which are the lowest form of organization, corresponding to local churches in other bodies. Thus the Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting, along with some eight others, such as the Salem Quarterly Meeting and that of Dover, is a member of the New England Yearly Meeting, and is itself constituted of five Monthly Meetings, ProAddence, Greenwich, South KingstoAvn, Rhode Island and Swansea (Mass) . Each of these latter, on the other hand, is composed of several Preparative Meetings, the East Green wich Monthly Meeting for example, including at present those of East Greenwich itself and Coventry, and formerly those also of Wickford and Cranston. It is to be noted that the territory covered by the Rhode Island Religious Societies. Ill Quarterly Meeting is not exactly conterminous with the State, Swan sea Monthly Meeting embracing Fall River and Somerset, lying in Massachusetts, while on the other hand a small portion of northern Rhode Island belongs to the Smithfield Quarterly Meeting, the far larger part of which extends over Massachusetts. One of the quaint est elements in the administration of the Friends Society is what is styled a Meeting for Sufferings, it being a committee, appointed by the Yearly Meeting, consisting of from twenty-five to fifty members of worthy character, sound judgment and exemplary life, to review all manuscripts relating to the principles or testimonies of the Society, proposed to be published, to correspond with other Yearly Meetings and, in general, to represent the Society in all cases where its reputa tion and interests are concerned. This Meeting originated in New England at a very early period and is believed to have taken its name from the sufferings of Friends, who were persecuted for their faith or distrained to do military duty contrary to their principles, and whom it was authorized to advise and, if necessary, assist, as best wisdom might direct. In later times the Meeting for Sufferings has come to correspond quite closely to the Standing Committee of other religious bodies. Each Quarterly Meeting has its OAvn Book of Disci pline and certain queries respecting the purity and consistency of the members are required to be answered periodicaUy. As to the ministry, there is not the same distinction between clergy and laity which prevails in other bodies, but any exemplary persons, male or female, whose public appearance in speaking is favorably regarded and whose remarks are profitable and edifying, are recommended or approved and can travel in the ministry, generally without any perma nent abandonment of their ordinary calling. The Quakers during the Eighteenth Century.— The first half of the eighteenth century was the blooming time of the Society of Friends in most parts, if not in all, of Rhode Island. Many of the influential men of the Colony, its governors and judges, were Quakers. For the time it shared with the Baptists the prospect of permanent predominance in the community. In Newport, Quakerism was thriv ing under the gentle teachings of the calm and persuasive Friend, Samuel Fothergill. But while on the island of Rhode Island, at the very beginning of the century, it had already become so well estab lished that half of the inhabitants were Quakers and about one-third of the houses of worship were theirs, it was not until this period that the system began to expand itself most rapidly upon the main land, meeting-houses being built in quick succession at Greenwich, Lower 112 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Smithfield, Woonsocket and Providence. The first house of worship of any kind raised on the western shore of Narragansett Bay was the Quaker meeting-house at Greenwich, built in 1700 on a site about a mile southwest of the present center of the Adllage, the spot being still marked by the old Quaker burying-ground. Here Nathanael Greene, the father of Gen. Nathanael Greene, the "Liberator of the South" in the Revolutionary War and the "Friend of Washington ' ', was, after a few years, often the preacher. It is not very long ago that an aged citizen passed away, who distinctly remem bered the general mounting his horse on emerging from the old meet ing-house. In those early days it was a saying that "the people of Greenwich were either Quakers or nothing". A great number of leading families belonged to the Meeting and, for years, the Society continued to increase. Marriages were, during that period, common in the meeting-house, instead of occurring, as at present, at very long intervals, there having been but one, it is believed, in GreeuAvich meeting-house, for about fifty years. But soon after the middle of the eighteenth century this prosperity began to decline. The number of members of GreenAvdch Meeting was diminished by the death of the elderly and the tendency of the young to stray away to other places, where more attractive modes of worship were presented. Another meeting-house built during this period of marked extension was that of Lower Smithfield, now Lincoln. Erected in 1704 by de scendants of Thomas Arnold, a well-known coadjutor of Roger Wil liams, the building is presumed to be the oldest Quaker meeting house still standing in Rhode Island. A little later, in 1719, other Arnolds of the same stock and members of the Comstock family, together organizers of the Society in the northern part of the State, built a meeting-house at the Union Village, Woonsocket, upon the site of the later one. In 1718 ProAddence Monthly Meeting was set off from GreeuAvich and in 1724 or 1725 a meeting-house was built, through the influence of members of the Arnold family, mentioned above, on Stamp er's Hill, in the northern part of the town. This was removed in 1745 to the corner of Meeting and North Main streets and replaced in 1844-5, by the present house of Avorship. In 1721 a meeting for worship was settled in Warwick, and about 1730 a meeting-house, now used by the Baptists of Oaklawn, was built in Cranston. Such a rapid extension must have justified eventually unrealized expectations of groAvth. Religious Societies. 113 .J^\l Kfl'fji 'tPtyJ^ w ''^ WilllMI jPP t lull >.>«> 91 nHH/lk., ||M|f Mill P«^_. ii^ai The Revolutionary War brought heavy trials to many Friends, who, faithful to their previous testimony against the sinfulness of war, were subjected to suspicions of disloyalty and exposed to what at least seemed like persecution. While the Militia Law had been modified in 1730, for the especial protection of the consciences of Friends, public opinion could not, of course, be held in leash. In the case of Nathan ael Greene, indeed, as in that of others, the peaceful principles of Quakerism could not subdue the promptings of a patriotic and advent urous spirit. In taking up the SAVord they Avere forced to act against the wishes of those dearest to them. Moses Brown.— The cardinal event in the history of the Friends of Rhode Island, in the eighteenth century, was the accession to their ranks of Moses Brown. Por half a century thereafter Mr. Brown was the most distinguished and in fluential figure among the Quakers, not only of his own State, but of all New England. Much that was then accomplished was due to his liberality and energy and the momentum of his genius and character. Belonging to a family already of importance in Rhode Island and destined to become of still greater prominence, he was able to do for the Society what, probably, no other individual in the State could have done. Up to the age of thirty-five Mr. Brown was under Baptist influence, being a direct de scendant of the Rev. Chad Brown, the earliest pastor of the First Baptist Church in Providence, and being surrounded by relatives and friends of that persuasion. The sacrifice, Avhich such a change in all his associations at the threshold of middle life must have cost him, evinced the strength of his convictions and the cheerfulness of his attention to the promptings of duty. It is related that the tender emotions aroused by the death of his beloved AvitV inspired him with a desire to give libert.A- to his slaves and the sympathy shown him in this course by those earliest advocates of human freedom, the Friends, appears to have supplied the initial impulse toAvards causing him to throw in his lot with them. On April 28, 1774, at his own request he Avas ' ' received under the care of the Meeting", and it is not too much to sav that for sixty-tAvo 8 Old Quaker Meeting-House Near Quinsnicket, Lincoln, erected in part in 1704. 114 State of Rhode Island and Proatedence Plantations. years he continued to adorn his profession. The declaration of Mr. Brown when, in 1814, he offered to present land for the site of the Friends School, seems to supply a key to the secret spring of his deep ly contemplative nature. "Let us proceed," said he, "in conformity with the Divine mind, that we may hope for His blessing". His whole lengthened life was one consistent effort to frame itself "in conformity with the Divine mind". He was a leader, because he was himself led by the Spirit of God. Having manumitted his OAvn slaves he was prepared to draw others to a similar course by becoming one of the founders of the Abolition Society of Providence. Being a friend of popular education he was made a member of the first school committee of northern Rhode Island. Although the establishment of the Cotton Industry was by no means primarily a religious or even a philanthropic undertaking, yet the encouragement rendered to Samuel Slater by Moses BroAvn exhibited the far reaching scope of his vision, "enabling him to see", as has been said, "a hundred years into the future". Mr. Brown was one of the founders of the Providence Athenaeum. He was, also, a found er of the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture in Rhode Island and of the R. I. Bible Society. He was a founder, likevrise, of the R. I. Peace Society, as well as of the B. I. Historical Society, presiding at the organization of the latter. It is impossible to estimate too highly the force of his vitalizing and enlightening infiuence, through all these and other instrumentahties, upon the community in which he dwelt for almost a hundred years. But all of Moses Brown's other activities are eclipsed by the chief achievement— the foundation of the Friends School. Nothing else has done so much to consolidate and perpetuate the institutions of the Society in this Commonwealth. The consideration of this undertak ing belongs, hoAvever, more properly to the account of Quakerism in the nineteenth century. It is mentioned here because the Yearly Meeting Boarding Scliool in Providence is the most enduring monu ment of Moses BroAv^n. The Quakers during the Nineteenth Century. — The Friends School. —As the conformance of Moses BroAvn with the Society of Friends was the principal external event in its history during the eighteenth century, so that of the nineteenth Avas the establishment of the great school, in Providence, under its aegis. But while the final accomplish ment of the enterprise belongs entirely to the latter period, the first movements towards it are, just as certainly, to be credited to the former. The training of the youthful members of the Society has Religious Societies. 115 ever been the most important and interesting concern of Friends. Prom almost the beginning of Rhode Island Quakerism its adherents stood out as friends of Education. "After erecting their Meeting Houses", says Governor Arnold, "the Quakers, from whom flow nearly all the good and perfect gifts in the early history of Rhode Island, proceeded to establish schools in various localities". Early in 1777 a number of gentlemen were appointed to draAv up a plan for a Free School among Friends, and thirteen persons, all Quakers, among them Moses Parnum, Moses BroAvn and David Buffum, were appointed the flrst School Committee in northern Rhode Island, already referred to. This philanthropic zeal among Quakers awoke such an interest in educational matters that more general measures soon began to be taken to establish public schools, free to all, which, in their later development, have formed such an important element in the history of the State. It was during the War of the Revolution, in 1779, when the Yearly Meeting was being held, temporarily, in Smithfleld, that the first steps were taken for the founding of a school for higher education, which has grown to be the Friends School. Moses Brown and fifteen other men were then appointed to consider ' ' a method to promote the estab lishment of schools for the education of youth among Friends". In 1780 a subscription was started for such a school, much of it being the humble contributions of poor people, supplemented, however, by, what then seemed a munificent gift, five hundred and seventy-five dollars from the ever-generous Moses Brown. It was not, however, until 1784 that the Avay was opened for the actual starting of the school, in a small room in the old Quaker meet ing-house at Portsmouth, very appropriately near the spot pressed by the feet of the first Quaker exiles from Massachusetts, a century and a fourth earlier. The first principal and, it would appear, the only teacher was Isaac Lawton, a preacher and a poet, with an annual salary of £50. Although the chief alleged object of the enterprise was "the elevation of poor and helpless children" from remote and rural regions of New England, yet one of the pupils w^as Moses Brovra's young son, Obadiah, who, at his death nearly forty years later, left to the Friends School the largest bequest Avhich had then been made to any school or college in America— one hundred thousand dollars. The school at Portsmouth Avas not sufficiently supported, there never being more than about twenty scholars, and after four strug gling years Avas compelled to close its doors, thirty-one years passing away before the enterprise was resumed. In the mean time 116 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Moses Brown continued to be the treasurer, investing the scanty fund of the school to such advantage that, in 1814, he was able to inform the Meeting that it had grown to nine thousand three hundred dollars. At the same time he offered to give to the institution, out of the west ern part of his homestead farm in Providence, the noble estate of forty- three acres, which the Friends School still continues to occupy. Under this incentive the subscriptions fiowed in freely and it became possible, on January 1, 1819, to reopen the doors of the school in the present principal building, with no fear of their again being closed. During the years that remained to Mr. Brown, before his death in 1836, at the age of ninety-eight, he continued to give the school constant care, making it the object of frequent donations and often inspiring it by the benediction of his presence. As originally constructed, the first edifice built for the school was intended to accommodate one hundred students. The first tAVO superintendents were Matthew and Betsey Purington, who continued in office for five years. About a dozen teachers were employed for different lengths of time during this period, Samuel Boyd Tobey being among them. Moses Brown came in his chaise to be present at the start. Only three stu dents appearing, the opening of the school was postponed for three days and even afterwards the number increased but slowly. By the middle of February, however, there were sixty scholars, the average number for 1819-20 being seventy. In 1828 the average for the year had increased to one hundred and twenty-one, with two hundred and seventy-four different pupils. In 1829 the average was one hundred and thirty-five, with three hundred and sixty-five individuals during the year. Thus rapidly did the school grow. Plain language was in use and plain apparel, with nothing for show in form or color, was enjoined, no rolling collars or extra buttons for ornament on coats being allowed. Among the most distinguished of the instructors in the early history of the Friends School was Samuel J. Gummere, the organizer of the Classical Department, afterwards a distinguished president of Haverford College. In 1832 appeared as literary prin cipal the most eminent man ever connected Avith the school, Dr. John Griscom. The faculty at this period contained the names, also, of Dr. Pliny Earl, Moses Cartland, Moses Lockwood, Samuel Austin and Elizabeth Osborn, later Mrs. Austin. Under these able teachers the average number of students rose, in 1833, to one hundred and seventy-two. This Avas the flowering-time of the Friends School in the first thirty-five years of its history. Religious Societies. 117 After the departure of Mr. Gummere and Dr. Griscom, in 1835, the number of scholars declined for some years. The advent of Joseph and Gertrude (Whittier) Cartland, in 1855, introduced a new era. They succeeded, during the four years of their tarry, in giving a fresh impulse to the cause of higher education among Friends in New Eng land and in making their cultured infiuence widely recognized. A long and successful administration Avas that of Albert K. Smiley and his wife as principals, -with Alfred Smiley as associate, from 1860 to 1879. During this period Alumni Hall and the Boys' School Room Building were erected and much Avas done to open the doors of the school more widely to the public, outside the Society, a greater num ber of students than ever before being in attendance. It is not too much to say that Mr. Smiley laid the foundation of that subsequent prosperity, which has been so amply enlarged under the efficient prin- cipalship of Augustine Jones, now, for more than twenty years, at the head of the school. During this administration the funds of the institution, already considerable, have been increased by nearly one hundred thousand doUars, and what is even better the former unadorned and sombre atmosphere has been relieved by works of art and the cheering influ ence of instrumental music, involving little less than a moral revolu tion in the old time traditions of the school. This period may be styled the era of the recognition of the beneficent office of the beauti ful. Valuable pictures and examples of sculpture are to be observed on all sides, and even the bedrooms of both the boys and the girls are rendered cheerful by such adornments. Color, instead of the former whitewash and bare boards, abounds everywhere. A tasteful building, lately constructed, for instruction in all branches of art, and grand pianos and other instruments of music in profusion, are constant reminders of the Avisdom of the present management. From being a place where music and the fine arts were emphaticaUy tabooed, the Friends School has come to be a spot especially resorted to by those who enjoy gazing on high class paintings, marbles and bronzes and Hstening to sweet strains. Such a capacity for adapting itself in harmless ways to the developing tastes and convictions of the age is a sign of Uf e, and bespeaks for the school a long continued existence. In 1894 there were tAvo hundred and nineteen students in the course of the year. In 1900 there were about two hundred and seventy different persons under instruction, Avith about twenty officers. The history of the Friends School has been thus dwelt upon with considerable detail, because it involves so largely the later history of 118 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. the Society itself, and because in recent years it has formed the prin cipal point of tangency betAveen the venerable body and the commu nity at large. Thousands of students from among "the world's peo ple", as AveU as the youth of the Society, have there been prepared to become a blessing to tens of thousands of others, Avho have never come Avithin its direct beneficent influence, and thousands more wiU, Avith out doubt, continue in the future to drink at its pure fountain. The Avhole State is under an obligation to those men of old time, who, Avorking in faith and love, laid broad the foundations of the Friends School. The citizens of Rhode Island can never be sufficient ly thankful that the tAvo religious bodies, first established within its borders, held Education in such high esteem that they did not rest in those days of small things until they had founded institutions of good learning, AA'hich long have blessed and long avUI go on blessing this Commonwealth. AVhat Rhode Island would have been or now would be AAdthout BroAvn University and the Friends School it is not pleasant to contemplate. General Condition of the Rhode Island Quakers in the Nineteenth Century.— The general history of the Friends in Rhode Island during the nineteenth century has been one of alternating advance and de cline, tending toAvards the latter. In 1813, when Dr. Benedict pub lished the History of the Baptists, he recorded that there Avere in the State eighteen congregations of Quakers, Avith the same number of meeting-houses, and eleven hundred and fifty members, apparently a considerable increase upon the number prevailing during the pre ceding century. In 1836 there were three hundred and thirty-three Quaker families, embracing thirteen hundred and thirty-nine indi- Adduals. In 1853 Dr. Jackson, in his Churches in Rhode Island, reports a total of nine hundred and fifty members, worshiping in eighteen meeting-houses— one each in Tiverton, Little Compton, Portsmouth, Jamestown, East GreeuAvich, Warwick, Cumberland, BurrillAdlle, Cranston and Providence and tAvo each in Newport, South Kingstown, Hopkinton and Smithfield. In 1900 there were in Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting, substantially conterminous Avith the State, tAventy-two ministers and nine hundred and fifty-seven members. The beginning of the nineteenth century witnessed a marked revival of prosperity in the East Greenvrich Meeting. In 1804 a new and "more imposing" house of worship was erected on the hill-top, above the village, superseding the Old Meeting House, which had never been disfigured by paint or plaster during its century of existence a mile Religious Societies. 119 away in the country. Some of the prominent members of this meet ing in the earlier part of the century were Sylvester Wickes, Paul Greene, Robert HaU and Benjamin and Thomas Howland, while among the approved preachers were John Casey, Daniel Howland, Thomas Anthony and Rowland Greene. The leading families of the surrounding community were attendants upon the worship, the mem bers of the Society of that day being free and social in their hos pitality. At Quarterly Meeting, in each May, it Avas the custom for the resi dents to provide entertainment for all Avho came from a distance, it not being uncommon, on the occasion, for the meeting-house to be com pletely filled, with as many as a hundred horses and carriages standing in the spacious yard. At present the attendance at the May Meeting, although faithful Friends continue to come by steamer or by rail from Portsmouth, Pall River, Newport and other toAA^ns, is much more limited and at ordinary seasons only a Uttle remnant of this once highly favored Meeting continues to Avorship in the venerable meeting house. About 1823 Greenvrich Monthly Meeting comprised six Preparative Meetings, or Meetings for Worship, of Avhich noAV only two remain. The Meeting at Wickford for many years ha(J no speaker and was attended by but two members, Beriah Brown and Howland Vaughan, who were wont to sit together in silence for the usual time and then rise, shake hands and return to their homes. Many years since, the meeting-house there, as in several other places, such as Cranston and Poster, was closed and sold. The present commodious meeting-house, Avith its roomy grounds on North Main and Meeting streets in Providence, and its predecessor of a hundred years' standing, have always commanded the respect and affection of the inhabitants of the city. During their long history they have been attended by citizens among the best, sociaUy and mor ally, in that town, and have for generations enjoyed an added impor tance from the vicinity of the great Friends School. Such names as those of Moses and Obadiah Brown, WilUam Almy, Annie Jenkins, Dr. Samuel Boyd Tobey and Sarah P. Tobey, Gilbert Congdon and Samuel Austin have enriched the plain structure with pleasant asso ciations. The well-known Hicksite schism, which rent in twain the Friends in the Middle States, about 1829, is, happily, not known to have per ceptibly affected the Society in Rhode Island. But another event, from which the most beneficent results might have been anticipated, worked rather for its injury. 130 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. About 1838 John Joseph Gurney, a minister of the London Yearly Meeting, visited and preached in Rhode Island. He appears to have been an advocate of a more liberal interpretation of the doctrines and usages of the Society than had been previously prevailing here. Hence arose a controversy, one party claiming that the orthodox traditions of the Society had been invaded and the other maintaining that there was no cause for alarm. Painful personal jealousies and animosities were aroused which, in 1844-5, led to actual division. John Wilbur, of Hopkinton, R. I., thought that he had discovered a spirit of worldliness among Friends, inconsistent vdth the history of the Society. Not being able to convince the majority, he led off a considerable number, who formed what came to be styled "the smaUer body" The schism turned rather upon differences in practices, dress and usages commonly deemed non-essential, than in doctrine. So far did the discussion proceed towards proAdng that even quiet and peaceable Friends are still human, that some of them attempted the forcible exclusion of the other party from houses of public worship. At Greenwich Iavo bodies, each claiming to be the Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting, were in session at once, one in the regular meeting-house and other in the Methodist house of worship. The results of such conten tion could not but be prejudicial to the welfare of the Society. Especially did the Friends School feel the shock of the confiict, the average number of students, which had been one hundred and seventy- two in 1833, falling, in 1844, to fifty-five and in 1845, so low that it is not recorded. But by 1849 the average had risen to one hundred and seventeen and the Avounds of the schism appear to have been largely healed. At the opening of the new century many signs of activity still dis tinguish the ancient Society. There is a marked interest in foreign missions, there being sustained, among other efforts, a -vigorous and most useful mission at Ramallah, in Palestine. Work among the Freedmen represents the sustained concern which used to manifest itself in the form of anti-slavery exertion. Missions among the West ern Indians, at some ten different stations, are supported by the New England Yearly Meeting, vsdth its center of effort at Nevvport. Per haps no man in the country has been more honorably identified Avith the cause of justice to the Red Man than Albert K. Smiley, at Avhose hotel in the Shawangunk Hills annual national conferences of the friends of the Indian, of various Christian names, have long been held. Nor are the efforts of Friends in behalf of Peace, in connection Religious Societies. 121 with the Peace Association of the Friends in America, and for the suppression of the liquor traffic suspended in Rhode Island. Notable changes, in contrast with a few years since, are seen to have occurred. The quaint costume which used to charactei'ize the mem bers of the Society, has almost utterly disappeared. The plain language is rarely heard. Hymns are sung and Scriptural selections are read at the Quarterly Meeting. Bible schools, corresponding to Sunday schools in other bodies, are now connected with several Meet ings. There is, also, a general Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, as in some other denominations, with a branch in the Friends School. As in the past, the Quakers are still found on the side of every great reform, civil or political, moral or religious, seeking to accomplish it in a peaceful manner. In them the enslaved African, the wronged Indian, the prisoner condemned to barbarous treatment, oppressed womanhood and the victim of unrighteous war found almost their earUest friends and to them similar unfortunates yet look, nor do they look in vain, for sympathy and help. In many respects the primitive members of the Society were in advance of their age. They were looking forward while most other Christians still stood facing the past. The conflicts in Massachusetts Bay, attended by such shocking cruelty on the part of the Puritans, were largely due to the fact that those good people got their practices from bygone ages, while the Friends were, at times somewhat fanat- icaUy it is true, anticipating the spirit of the future. It took man kind centuries to grope its way to complete freedom of thought and the Quakers were often far in the van. Says Governor Arnold, the historian of the State : ' ' The spirit of civil and religious liberty, for which Rhode Island has been so distinguished, is due, in no small degree, to the influence which the Quakers exerted in shaping the politics, as well as the religion of the Colony, in which they had sought refuge, and where, for many years, they were its lawgivers". If, as seems true, the numbers of this venerable Society are declin ing, at least a partial explanation may be found in the fact that the principles for which they so long stood have extended themselves gen erally and permeated other Christian bodies in the Commonwealth. Even folding the hands is by no means an ignoble posture for those whose work is done. If the world has overtaken the Quakers, they can regard vsdth equanimity the fact that if it has not become just what they were, it has, largely, become as they were. The memory of a host of saintly Quakers of old time avUI long linger over Rhode Island Uke a benediction. 122 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The last of the Sect to his fathers may go. Leaving only his coat for some Barnum to show; But the truths which he taught will expand with the years, Till the false dies away and the wrong disappears." — "WMttier. THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. Introduction.— From the nature of the case there were, in the flrst period of the Colony, no Congregational churches in Rhode Island. While the principles of religious liberty, advanced by Roger Williams and his fellow colonists and applied by them with unimpeachable impartiality, in no manner excluded the Puritan order, yet it was quite natural that those who had banished the founder of the Colony from Massachusetts Bay could not calculate upon a very Avarm wel come, had they attempted to introduce the system into the territory over which he presided. It was not, however, without signifleance that vigorous Puritan churches were, very early, founded in Plymouth Colony, just outside the boundary of Providence Plantations, at Rehoboth, Barrington and Bristol, the two latter towns not then belonging, as they did after 1746, to the Colony of Rhode Island. Nor did these border churches seem very unlike the first line of earthworks sometimes throAvn up by an ad vancing army in front of a city to which it is about to lay siege. Doubt less among the numerous colonists, who soon followed WiUiams to the head of Narragansett Bay, there was a considerable proportion of those who, without relishing the uncompromising spirit of the Puritan magistrates, in heart still clung to the familiar institutions they had left behind. It is supposed, with an appearance of probability, that these were accustomed, on the approach of the Lord's Day, frequently to cross the Seekonk and repair for worship to the neighboring "Nevsntnan Church", founded in 1643 at Rehoboth, or to that established some twenty years later at Barrington. It Avas not until, apparently, near the close of the seventeenth century that a movement was set on foot for the introduction of Puritan preachers into Newport and the Nar ragansett Country, nor until well on into the eighteenth century, when Providence had been settled Uttle short of a hundred years, that a like effort was successfully made in that town. It wiU be weU to sketch first the early history of the three ancient congregations, which, originaUy planted on the friendly soil of Ply mouth Colony, have long been included within the limits of Rhode Island and then to proceed to examine the quite different methods by Religious Societies. 123 which the Congregational polity was later introduced into places included from the first in the Colony around Narragansett Bay. The Churches of Barrington, Bristol and Little Compton.— It would be interesting to investigate the origin of the parish at Reho both, established, as it was, by Newman, in the tracks of Roger AVil liams, only seven years after his passing through that then uninhabited wilderness, during the first winter of his exile, and to discover the degree in which its founding may have been expedited by its prox imity to that recalcitrant Puritan. But as this town was not trans ferred with the others to Rhode Island, we must not tarry for that purpose. The earliest Puritan organization within the present limits of the State was formed at Barrington between the years 1650 and 1660 and still lives, after two and a half centuries, in the truth and order of the gospel. Very little is known about the founding of this parish, as no record belonging to the period of organization exists. There is a tradition that the first house of worship stood on Tyler's Point, many years before there was any meeting-house of any kind in ProAddence. The earliest edifice, however, concerning which there remains any record was erected on the main road and was, in 1734, taken down and rebuilt on the site of the present church. The third house of worship, still standing, was built in 1805-6 and remodeled in 1861. The first minister in Barrington is said to have been the Rev. James Wilson, the date of his settlement, the duration of his ministry and the time of his death being unrecorded. The first minister after the original incorporation of the town by Massachusetts, in 1718, was the Rev. Samuel Torrey, who Avas called in that year, signified his accept ance at a town meeting and was dismissed in 1726. The successor of Mr. Torrey was the Rev. Peleg Heath, elected pastor of the town of Barrington in 1728 and dismissed in 1740. It is related that Mr. Heath preached in the dwelling-house of Mr. Edward Bosworth, prob ably during the time when, as above narrated, the meeting-house was being removed from its original site. The founding of the Congregational (or as it is frequently called, Presbyterian) church at Bristol illustrates very well, as is shown in Munro's History of the town, the mode of establishing religion under the theocratic government of the Colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth, where the town and the parish came into existence practi caUy together. At the first town meeting, after the organization of the town of Bristol, in 1680, a vote was passed appropriating money for building a house for the minister, religious questions continuing 124 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. for a period to be decided by the whole body of the citizens. Before the year was over or the settlement of the territory had been more than begun, Mr. Benjamin Woodbridge, a son of the Rev. John Wood- bridge, the first pastor at Andover, Massachusetts, was secured as minister. During the residence of Mr. Woodbridge, from 1680 to 1686, the first meeting-house was built, in 1684, upon the spot where the county court-house now stands, the timber for it being cut on the adjacent common. The church was not, however, organized until 1687, the flrst regularly settled pastor being the Rev. Samuel Lee, born in London, England, in 1625, and at one time a proctor of the Univer sity of Oxford. After serving several Independent churches in Eng land, he was constrained by the strong opposition aroused against Puritanism in that country to sail for Boston, in the summer of 1686. As Bristol had, by that time, become the most important toAvn in Plymouth Colony, the need of a strong man of liberal education to build up a vigorous church there was generally apparent. Attention was accordingly called to the new immigrant, as a man of learning and eloquence, and, having been induced to visit the tovsm, he was received vsdth enthusiasm. So acceptable did he prove, that he was immediately and unanimously chosen pastor, the entire town meeting going in a body to present the caU. Mr. Lee entered upon his pastorate in April, 1687, and, being a man of independent fortune, proceeded at once to build himself a spacious and handsome house. A little later in the same year, under the titie of the Church of Christ in Bristol, the church was organized, with a membership of eight males. Major John Walley, Capt. Nathaniel By- fleld, Capt. Benjamin Church, Nathaniel Reynolds, John Cary, Hugh Woodbury, Goodman Throop and Nathaniel Bosworth. The ministry of Mr. Lee, although very .successful and harmonious, was quite brief. Upon the accession of King William III, who was supposed to be more favorable to the Puritans than had been his predecessor, he determined to return to England and, in 1691, resigned his post in Bristol, and sailed with his family on the ship Dolphin. After a stormy voyage the vessel was seized by a French privateer, it being a time of war, and carried into a port of France, where Mr. Lee was imprisoned and died of fever before the end of the year. The first pastor of Bristol must have been a much more than ordi nary man. Dr. Stiles spoke of him as "the light and glory of the church in Bristol", and Cotton Mather caUed him "the Ught of both Englands". For two years, until a call was extended to the Rev. John Sparhawk, Religious Societies. 125 a graduate of Harvard College, Bristol Avas without any regular min ister. Mr. Sparhawk Avas not installed as the second pastor until 1695. He served the church for almost twenty-three years and died in the har ness 1718, after a conscientious and arduous pastorate, during which a strong congregation had been gathered. After the death of Mr. Sparhawk, Mr. James MacSparran, a graduate of Glasgow University, then a young licentiate of the Scottish Presbytery, but subsequently a clergyman of the Church of England and for thirty-six years a rector of St. Paul's Church, Narragansett, acted as pastor for nearly a year. On the one hundredth anniversary of the Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, December 22, 1720, the church at Bristol elected the Rev. Nathaniel Cotton to be its pastor, the town no longer taking the initiative in the case, but contenting itself with the prerogative of ratifying the choice. Mr. Cotton was a great-grandson of the celebrated Rev. John Cotton of Boston and a graduate of Harvard College, being but twenty-two years of age at the time of his election. The youthful pastor-elect was ordained in August, 1721, and survived less than eight years. Notwithstanding its brevity his pastorate was eminently fruitful, more than a hundred baptisms being reported in the course of it and the meeting-house being renovated and improved. Mr. Cotton is characterized by a succeeding pastor as "a man of fiaming zeal and undissembled piety, . . . and for the cause of Truth and Right eousness, . . . bold as a lion". After the pastorate of the Rev. Barnabas Taylor, also a graduate of Harvard College, from 1729 to 1740, the Rev. John Burt was ordained, in 1741, as the fifth pastor of the church at Bristol. He, too, was a graduate of Harvard College, like all his predecessors except Mr. Lee, who was a graduate of Oxford University, even the two temporary ministers having been graduated at Harvard and Glasgow. AVhen Mr. Burt took charge of the church it numbered seventy-seven members. During his thirty-four years of faithful service, sixty-flve were admitted to full communion and one hundred and eighteen to the half way covenant, a provision of the Puritan churches of that period, by means of which, without professing conversion or Christian experi ence, men secured the right of suffrage in town affairs, through their original baptism as infants— a provision which during the succeeding pastorate was abolished. The ministry of Mr. Burt corresponded in its termination almost exactly with that of the pre-revolutionary 126 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. period. During the bombardment of Bristol by the British fleet, in 1775, having been for a long time ill and feeble, hearing the roar of the cannon and the Avhistling of the missiles through the air, he wan dered forth in the night, alone and unnoticed, to flee in his affright to the open country. His dead body was found the next morning in a corn fleld, fallen upon the face, death not resulting from any wound, but only from the strain of terror and excitement. As if he were pursued by the Pates, Parson Burt's house was the first to be de stroyed by the British and Hessian troops in the subsequent burning of Bristol, in May, 1778. No wonder it seemed as if the work of a century, in establishing the institutions of Christianity, had been Aviped out by war. Another early church, in the portion of Plymouth Colony after wards annexed to Rhode Island by royal decree, was that at Littie Compton, organized November 30, 1704. It is, however, supposed that for some time previously AVorship had been maintained in the settlement by various clergymen. The first pastor was the Rev. Richard Billings, ordained on the day of the founding of the church. Mr. Billings was a native of England and a graduate of Harvard College. He continued pastor for forty-four years, dying November, 1748, at the age of seventy-four. During this long pastorate one hundred and ninety-seven were received into the church and five hun dred and eighty-six children were baptized. A notable later pastor at Little Compton, although not belonging to the pre-revolutionary period immediately under review, may be mentioned here in passing— the Rev. Mase Shepard. He Avas educated at Dartmouth CoUege and ordained for this charge, in 1787, at the age of twenty-eight. Mr. Shepard reached the thirty-fifth year of his pastorate and left behind him in the town a vivid impression of his untiring labors and earnest preaching. He was a founder, along with Dr. Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, of the Rhode Island Missionary Society. The neighboring church, at Tiverton, was organized August 20, 1746, three months after the territory in which it is situated had been transferred to Rhode Island, but Avithout doubt the beginning of the enterprise dates backward to the time when the toAATi was a part of Plymouth Colony. The first pastor Avas the Rev. Othniel Campbell, a graduate of Harvard College. He was installed in October of the year of organization and died in 1778, after a pastorate of thirty-two years. The Foundation of the Congregational Churches at Kingstown, Newport and Providence.— The earliest introduction of Congrega- Religious Societies. 127 tional churches into what was already Rhode Island territory occurred at Kingstown and Newport, it being difficult, if not impossible, to determine to which the credit of precedence belongs. Governor Ar nold, in his History of Rhode Island, in speaking of the Congregational Church at Kingston Hill, remarks that ' ' this Church and that of New port are the earliest churches of their order in Rhode Island". There are those who claim that there was Congregational worship in what became, in 1674, "King's Towne", about the middle of the seventeenth century, although the records of the fact are wanting. The begin nings of the church are said by them to date back to about the settle ment of the country, in 1641, several of the Pettaquamscutt Purchas ers having been Boston Congregationalists. The first Congregational minister, of whom an account is extant, in Kingstown, was the Rev. Mr. Woodward, who came from Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1695. It does not seem to have been the policy of the promoters of this enter- piise, or of that at Newport, so much to organize almost at the outset, as was done on Plymouth territory, at Bristol and Little Compton, a permanent church, as to occupy the ground with a missionary. Mr. Woodward was succeeded by Mr. Henry Flint, and he, in 1702, by the subsequently distinguished Samuel Niles, who came under the auspices of the well-known Judge Sewall, of Boston, himself a Congregation- alist and a grandson and heir of one of the Purchasers, John Hull. Mr. Niles was born on Block Island and was the first graduate of Harvard College from Rhode Island. He was only twenty-eight years of age and was unordained Avhen he took charge of the church in Kingstown. He remained eight years and removed, in 1710, to Brain- tree, Massachusetts, where he was ordained pastor, dying in 1762. His best known work, among a large number, is a History of the French and Indian Wars. There is evidence that sometime previously to 1711 a meeting-house had been built in Kingstown, doubtless on Tower Hill. After the departure of Mr. Niles no record of Congregational worship in the town appears, until the arrival of Joseph Torrey, about 1731. He was a young man of only tAventy-f our, being a son of the Rev. Samuel Tor rey, a fellow of Harvard College, of which the son was a graduate. On May 17, 1732, a church, apparently the first one in the town, was organized at that part of it called Tower Hill, and on the same day Mr. Torrey v/as ordained and continued in the pastorate, with un swerving fidelity, until his death in 1791, thus completing one of the longest ministries in New England. In connection with his sacred duties he practiced medicine, and so 128 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. was commonly styled Dr. Torrey. It Avas chiefly during this pastorate that a long legal conflict, previously begun, was Avaged between the Congregationalists and the Church of England inhabitants, for the possession of three hundred acres of land, which had been set apart by the "Pettaquamscutt Purchasers", in 1668, "for an orthodox per son, that shall be obtained to preach God's word to the inhabitants". At the close of thirty years of litigation, in 1752, Dr. Torrey ob tained a final decision of the King and Council in favor of the Con gregationalists. After the death of the old pastor the people neglected to repair the meeting-house and, it having become dilapidated, per mitted it to be sold at auction. Services Avere, hoAvever, generally maintained, alternately in a school-house at Tower Hill and in the court-house at Little Rest or Kingston Hill, until 1820, when the pres ent Kingston meeting-house Avas built, the society having been reor ganized and incorporated by the General Assembly. The first Congregational minister to preach the gospel in NcAvport, so far as any record shows, Avas the Rev. Nathan iel Clap, who came hither as early as 1695. It is claimed, indeed, with a considerable show of evidence, that there was an inchoate formation of a Puritan church on the island of Aquidneck, at the beginning of the settlement, not later than 1639, the organization soon becoming Baptist. Mr. Callender, in his "Cen tury Sermon", calls the first settlers of the island of Rhode Island "Puritans of the highest form" and asserts that they "depended on the assistance of Mr. AVheelwright, a famous Congregational minis ter", a brother-in-law of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, who, however, dis appointed them by his non-arrival. He narrates that meeting-houses were built at both Newport and Portsmouth, but never alludes to the organization of a church, as Governor Winthrop has declared was the case, although speaking of the church as having been "gathered in a very disorderly way". As, however, it is conceded that this move ment did not result in a permanent Congregational establishment, the honor of being the pioneer of that order in NcAvport remains Avith the Rev. Mr. Clap. He was a graduate of Harvard College and had been a resident of Dorchester, Massachusetts. It ^oes not appear that, as in the cases of Congregational ministers of those days in general, Mr. Clap was called or even authoritatively sent. He only came hither, "by the advice of the minister of Boston", and preached here for fifty years until his death. It was not until twenty-five years had elapsed after his arrival that, following innumerable discourage ments, a church was organized in 1720, with fourteen male members, Mr. Clap being at the same time ordained and instaUed as its pastor. Religious Societies. 129 The new church flourished at flrst under this most zealous minister, but after three years he ceased to administer the Lord 's Supper, alleg ing that the church AA'as not pure and that its members Avere "not of sufficiently holy conversation for the ordinance". It is not strange that, while the people revered their pastor and admired him as a truly evangelical preacher, they were still offended by his rigid and imprac ticable discipline. Finally the church addressed Mr. Clap a respectful petition praying that he Avould allow them to have recourse, for sacra mental privileges, to other churches, but without eliciting his consent. In response to a remonstrance from some of the members, the sturdy Puritan declared : "I came hither by the advice of the Rev. minister of Boston. I have continued here by his advice. I have preached the Gospel here. As for you Avho are trying to drive me away, I would have you consider the awful account you will have to give for the damnation of the souls that will be lost for the Avant of my preaching". A colleague being proposed, Mr. Clap declined his services. When one was at length pressed upon him and permitted to occupy the pulpit a part of the time, he refused again to preach in it, and Avithdrawing with a part of the congregation, built a new meeting-house in Mill street, which was subsequently, for many years, used by the Unitarian Society. Notwithstanding the apparent sternness of this singular man; George Whitefield records in his journal that "his countenance was very heavenly", and that "he prayed most affectionately for a blessing on my coming to Rhode Island". "I could not but think", he declares, "I was sitting by one of the patriarchs". Dean Berkele}\ who was intimately acquainted with Mr. Clap, remarks : ' ' Before I saw Father Clap I thought the Bishop of Rome had the most grave aspect of any man I ever saw; but, really, the minister of Newport had the most venerable appearance". It was the custom of the old clergyman to walk out in a black velvet cap and a gOAvn with a girdle, the pocket on one side of it filled with books and that on the other with cakes, with which to purchase from the boys in the street their toy tops, to shoAV his disapproval of the vain sport. After his death, in 1745, a barrel almost full of tops was found in his house. In Mr. Callender 's memorial sermon he testifies concerning his beloved friend, Mr. Clap : ' ' The main stroke in his character Avas his eminent sanctity. ... He was a public blessing as an able min ister of the New Testament, an example of unspotted piety and an honor to religion". AVhen it became evident, in 1728, that the pastor could not be in duced to alter his uncompromising course tOAvards his colleague, the 9 130 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Rev. John Adams, about half the members Avithdrew from the First Church, and with Mr. Adams as pastor formed the Second Church of Newport. For several years, as the First Church had abandoned the original meeting-house, the Second continued to occupy it, but, in 1733, it built for itself a new meeting-house in Clarke street. Some years after the death of Mr. Clap there were ministering, at the same time, to the Newport Congregational churches two of the most able and distinguished diAdnes who ever presided over Rhode Island congregations, the Rev. Ezra Stiles and the Rev. Samuel Hopkins. Mr. Stiles, a graduate of Yale College and afterwards its president, Avas ordained pastor of the Second Church, in 1755, at the age of twenty-seven. He was one of the most learned men of the day, deliv ering at Commencement an oration in Hebrew on Oriental Literature, and translating the Psalms directly from the original into Latin. In 1765 he received the degree of Doctor in Divinity from the Uni versity of Edinburgh. He was an impressive and eloquent preacher, eminent not only for piety, but for patriotism and philanthropy. Chancellor Kent testifies concerning Dr. Stiles: "He was distin guished for the dignity of his deportment, the poUteness of his address and the urbanity of his manners". Dr. Hopkins, also a graduate of Yale College, having already served a long ministry in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, was installed pastor of the First Newport Church in 1770. In theology he had, in early life, sat at the feet of Jonathan Edwards and was regarded as second only to him among the theologians of that day. His chief work was his "System of Theology", which embodied a modified form of Calvinism, often called "Hopkinsianism". His theories were peculiar to himself and naturally gave great offense. He maintained that a true Christian ought to be willing to perish forever, if it should be necessary for the glory of God and the good of the Universe. By sermons and by his famous "Dialogues", as well as by letters to pubhc men and newspaper essays, he stirred up and organized political action against slavery, so that, in 1774, a law was passed forbidding the importation of negroes into Rhode Island Colony. There was great solemnity in Dr. Hopkins's preaching, carrying conviction to the understanding and the heart. Being a man of large stature, well proportioned and dressed, after the custom of the time, in a full- bottomed wig, he presented a very imposing appearance. At the settlement of Dr. Stiles and for many years afterwards, up to the early years of Dr. Hopkins's pastorate, both the Congregational churches in NcAvport were in a flourishing condition and received Religious Societies. 131 frequent additions. But about the year 1774 the difficulties be tween Great Britain and her American colonies began to give warning of the coming conflict. NcAvport declined in prosperity. Her com merce diminished. Many dwelling-houses were emptied of their in habitants and the churches were, naturally, in a great measure, for saken. Dr. Hopkins sent his family away hoping to be able, remain ing alone, to weather the storm, but, finally, in 1776, was forced to withdraw and joined them in a safe retreat in central Massachusetts. In 1775 the remnant of the Second Church met and determined that it was inexpedient to attempt to continue public worship during the winter and in the succeeding spring Dr. Stiles left Newport, both churches then being destitute of pastors and the members scattered far and wide. During the war the two meeting-houses were used as barracks. Although Dr. Stiles never returned, except for occasional ministrations, yet the Second Church was too much reduced by the war to give him a formal dismission. The long residence of these two uncommon minds in Newport could not but have exercised a perma nently salutary influence upon the community. The quiet introduction of Congregationalism into Kingstown and Newport might be considered an iUustration of the truth that "the Kingdom of God cometh not with observation". But the advent of the order in Providence, in contrast to that as well as to the coming of the Baptists and Quakers to that settlement, was, to a large degree, a demonstration. The first ordination on Rhode Island soil to the Con gregational ministry was that of Josiah Cotton and occurred with considerable outward circumstance and ceremony. It was about the year 1720 when the first efforts were set on foot for the establishment of a Congregational church in Providence. Regard being had to the former attitude of the Massachusetts Bay Puritans, it is not remark able that the Congregationalists did not sooner organize themselves in Rhode Island, but rather that they felt encouraged to do it so soon. The first movement was made in Massachusetts, Rhode Island appear ing to have been regarded there as, in a sense, missionary ground. As an opening, a conciliatory letter was written by the Rev. Peter Thacher of Milton, to the citizens of Providence, proposing to send a preacher to gather a congregation. The response, while not distinctly cordial, was sufficiently encouraging not to hinder an agent being appointed to collect funds in Massachusetts and Connecticut for building a meeting house in the Rhode Island town. No doubt there was in Providence, as has already been intimated, a considerable number of persons vs^ho had not become aUenated from the worship and order of their earlier k/^B OLD TOAVN HOUSE, PROVIDENCE. This Building Formerly Stood on --rHE Corner of Benefit and College Streets and was Originally the First Congrega- TioNAL Meetinp- House in Providence. From an Old Painting in the Possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society. Religious Societies. 133 days and who were prepared to welcome the advent of the Puritan church with gratification. By 1723 a lot was conveyed, at a nominal price, to certain trustees, by Daniel Abbott, one of the patrons of Con gregationalism in the town and subsequently deputy governor of Rhode Island. It was situated at what is now the southwestern corner of Benefit and College streets, being a portion of the orchard of Chad Brown, the first Baptist pastor of ProVidence, and the site of his burial place, the county court-house now occupying the position. Here was erected, in the same year, a spacious but very plain square meeting house, without a steeple, with tAVO rows of windows, the upper ones serving to light the broad galleries, which extended nearly around the interior. This building continued to be used for worship until 1794, when it was sold to the town and turned first into a town house and later into a police court room. In 1724 the Rev. Samuel Moody, a graduate of Harvard College and a bold, useful and resolute preacher of the gospel, labored for some time in Providence, baptizing sixteen persons, who became the nucleus of the future church. But the first regular pastor was, as has been mentioned above, Josiah Cotton, also a graduate of Harvard and a brother of Nathaniel Cotton, pastor at Bristol, the two being great-grandsons of the celebrated Rev. John Cotton, of Boston. The church Avas constituted in 1728 with nine male members. Por the ordination of Mr. Cotton as shepherd of this little flock, invitations were sent to twenty-three churches in Massachusetts, Con necticut and Rhode Island, eighteen being finally represented at the ceremony by their pastors and elders. About forty Bandmen, or mounted attendants upon the ministry, were present, as well as a large ¦ number of candidates for the ministry. The arrival of this concourse and of many other visitors called together by the novelty and interest of the occcasion, ' ' the like of which ' ', records Mr. Cotton in his Diary, "as to ministers and churches, . . . this North America never .saw", could not but have awakened a peculiar sensation in the little town, somewhat jealous, perhaps, at being taken almost by storm by its Massachusetts friends. But, true to its principles of religious liberty, it gave no recorded sign of opposition. After the sermon by the Rev. Nathaniel Appleton, the church was ' ' embodied ' ' by the eminent Rev. Thomas Prince, pastor of the old South Church in Bos ton and author of the "Annals of Ncav England", AA'hose name is hon orably perpetuated in the title of the Prince Society. At the close of the public exercises the whole council repaired to the ' ' Great Cham ber" of Daniel Abbott, at the foot of the hill, where a very sumptuous 134 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. and, after so much spiritual effort, no doubt acceptable, dinner awaited it. " Oh ! that I may ever keep it in the imagination of the thoughts of my heart", is the pious ejaculation of the young pastor, in closing his account of the day, "the awf ulness, the weight and the moment of this most arduous work, in Avhich I am engaged. ' ' But the immediate result was scarcely commensurate with the au- gustness of the opening function. For some time the church, although harmonious, continued quite feeble and tardy in striking roots into Rhode Island soil, additions being made rather slowly to its numbers. Mr. Cotton was, undoubtedly, a worthy man of considerable learning, but he appears to have lacked the qualities fitted to arouse enthusiasm. After his departure, in 1747, the Rev. John Bass and the Rev. David S. Rowland ministered to the church until the breaking out of the Revolutionary War. It was during the pastorate of the faithful, successful and munifi cent Rev. Enos Hitchcock, in 1795, it may be mentioned here, although not within the period strictly under consideration, that the old meet ing-house was abandoned for a new, more spacious and in the estima tion of the day more "beautiful" one, on the corner of Benefit and Benevolent streets. In tracing the history of Congregationalism in ProAddence, it is now necessary to return to the latter part of the ministry of the Rev. Josiah Cotton. In 1743, fifteen years after his ordination, a portion of the church withdrew and set up separate worship on the western side of the river. It was at about this period that a remarkable re-vival of spiritual Ufe was manifesting itself throughout New England. In 1735 had occurred, under the powerful preaching of Jonathan Ed wards at Northampton, what he himself styled the "Great Awaken ing", the influence of which extended far and Avide. Indifference and formalism had, previously to this period, to a great extent pre vailed, the doctrine of Personal Conversion and the need of a Christian Experience being considerably obscured. It was the time, too, when John Wesley was setting forth the gospel with such flaming zeal and when George AVhitefield was summoning in trumpet tones an audience of twenty thousand on Boston Common to repent and beUeve. A less widely-famed revival preacher of the day, but one of similar sincerity and fervor, was Gilbert Tennent, an Irishman, who came to Provi dence in 1741 and awakened many souls by his call to amendment of life. Mr. Cotton did not feel himself able to endorse the course of these Religious Societies. 135 wandering evangelists, nor was he alone, it must be acknowledged, among the settled clergy of New England, in his deprecation of this departure from the regular ministrations of the gospel. Possibly, too, after the manner of his masterful race, he did not approach the consid eration of the question in an entirely conciliatory spirit. There was in Mr. Cotton's flock a young man named Joseph Snow, who was quite carried away by the excitement and enthusiasm of the time. He had become a member of the church three years before, but now beUeved himself to be first converted by the preaching of Mr. Tennent. His father, of the same name, and others of the devouter people in the church sympathized with him in longing for a higher type of Christian life than had been prevailing. Accordingly, in the year above named, amidst many painful circumstances, such as are inevitable when good men cannot agree, w^as started the enterprise, Avhich resulted in that happily named organization, the Beneficent Congregational Church. Twenty-seven men from the First Church, about half of its membership, united in calling Elisha Paine, a ' ' Sep arate ' ' of Windham county, Connecticut, to be their minister, a call not, however, accepted. Joseph Snow, sr., was, thereupon, elected a "rul ing elder", while Joseph Snow, jr., for two or three years, acted as an exhorter at meetings in private houses and during the pleasant season in groves and orchards. So great proved the acceptableness of this young man and such confidence did his brethren place in his Christian character, that he was at length induced to be ordained as their actual pastor. But very diverse was the occasion of Joseph Snow's setting apart to the work of the ministry from that which heralded the first entrance of the Puri tan order into Providence, with its chief inspiration emanating from Massachusetts Bay. Only five churches were in this case bidden to unite in the simple services, the whole number, apparently, belonging to Connecticut. This fact by no means, however, appears to indicate a drawing of the new church tOAvards the more rigid and Presbyterian- Hke form of Congregationalism prevailing at that era in Connecticut. Rather was the exact contrary true, for not the Saybrook Platform, but that of Cambridge, with its guaranty of greater independence to the local church, was adopted as the rule of discipline. The especial leaning of the Beneficent Church towards pure independence is vividly illustrated by the fact that for many years, until 1858, it did not con sent to join the Evangelical Association of Congregational Churches in Rhode Island, established previously to 1823, being represented in it only by its pastors. 136 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The Connecticut inclination of the church was limited to a prefer ence for the cast of religion prevailing particularly in Windham coun ty, where the Great Revival had awakened the deepest interest. Al ready down the newly opened highroad from Western Connecticut to Providence had traveled preachers aflame with the new views of the Word of God. Windham county, so far from representing the general tone of the church throughout the State, was the very hot-bed of the "Separatism" and "New Light" doctrines, which had aroused the thunders of church and state, in Connecticut. Elisha Paine, who was, as has been related, the flrst choice of the West Side Church in Provi dence for pastor, had lain in Windham jail for several months on the charge of preaching the gospel vsdthout authority. Hence it was not unnatural that the church in Providence to which he had been caUed should be styled, somewhat derisively, the "Ncav Light Church". Nor does it appear to have been eager to repudiate the title. Under the faithful and devout ministrations of Mr. Snow it grew and prospered and attained the distinction of being known as the "church of the common people ' '. By 1771 the congregation numbered one hundred and forty families, being the largest in the town. For fifty years, including the first three when he was their spiritual leader by common consent, "Father Snow" went in and out among his people and built up the strong parish, which continues as his monument to the present day. At first there existed a bitter feeling between the two Congregational churches of the town, but, by the cultivation of a conciliatory spirit on both sides and the retraction of mistaken action, a more Christian senti ment grew up, until finally the ordinary courtesies of brethren and mutual kindly affections came to prevail between them. It was not until 1750 that the new church built its first meeting-house, fortunate ly far away from that of the other parish, on land given by the same Daniel Abbott, who had "for £30 and of his own free bounty" helped the First Church to a lot and whose name is appropriately preserved in the little park, also his gift, adjoining the present church, on Wey bosset street. So different from our OAvn were the customs of those days, that it is recorded that the stalwart young pastor was himself the leader of the party which cut doAv^n the necessary timber in the forest and raised the new meeting-house, he having, indeed, begun life as a carpenter. It is not unlikely that Mr. Snow received wages for his work, it not being until later that a slender stipend of sixty pounds in currency, worth at that period not much more than a hundred dollars, AVas allowed him. Religious Societies. 137 It is to be remembered that the size of the meeting-house was such that for three years College Commencements were held in it, as the largest place available before the completion of the First Baptist meeting-house. George Whitefield and Bishop Asbury are said to have preached in the building. Many must have been the exhortations of the pastor and brethren Avith Avhich the old structure echoed, the church having been noted in the beginning, as Avell as in later days, for the profitableness of its conference meetings. As time went on, the excitement and ardor of the first years gave place to a more sedate and meditatiA^e turn of thought, with, perhaps, no less valuable fruitage. Tavo hundred and eighty-three members were added to the church during ' ' Father Snow 's ' ' pastorate. In the year 1764 alone there was an increase of eighty-five, it being the year of AVhitefield 's preaching in Providence. In 1775, when the sound of war Avas beginning to be heard in the land, tAventy-seven new members were reported, sixteen of them being men. Thus have been reviewed aU the Congregational Churches in Rhode Island belonging to colonial times, unless, indeed, there was one at Westerly. In an old record of 1834 appears the statement, that about one hundred years previously Rev. Joseph Park, a preacher, was labor ing at Westerly. But if he organized a church there, it long since became extinct, for one Avas formed in that town, as if it were a new one and not a revival, in 1843. At the period of the Revolution there appear to have been nine Congregational churches in Rhode Island. During the conflict pubUc worship in the one at Bristol and the two at NcAvport, those towns being exposed seaports, was, as we have noted, whoUy suspended. In Providence there was no regular pastor at the First Church from 1774 to 1783, although the Rev. John Lothrop of Boston supplied the pulpit for some parts of 1775 and 1776. Many members of the Second Church, probably among them a goodly portion of the sixteen men, who, as we have seen, publicly professed Christ the year before the Declaration of Independence, served in important positions in the army or as honored privates. It is noticeable that the ' ' War Govern or" of Rhode Island, vs^ho presided over the State for the three years next after the battle of Lexington, Avas that most patriotic member of this church, Nicholas Cooke. The Revival of Congregational Churches after the Revolution. — After the Revolutionary AVar the Congregationalists of Rhode Island lost no time in restoring the churches, Avhich had been whoUy suspend ed, or in infusing ucav vigor into those which had been depleted and enfeebled. 138 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Shortly after Newport had been evacuated by the British, in the spring of 1780, three years before the final close of the war, Dr. Hop kins, the faithful pastor of the First Church, returned to his parish to find a scene of desolation. AA^ith many of the former members dead or scattered, the few that remained were almost too poor or too de spondent to face the exertion necessary for the restoration of the church. But, under the inspiration of their brave minister, the effort was made and it succeeded. With the intierior of the meeting house defaced and dismantled by the soldiery, they set about restoring it, but only in the plainest manner. The pews were rebuilt but left without paint, and the dents on the floor made by the British muskets were not removed. A neighboring parish in Massachusetts bestowed upon the ruinous sanctuary a suitable pulpit. All adornment was left for a later and more prosperous generation. It is reassuring to be certifled that the graces of the Spirit, soon bestowed on the church, were in an inverse ratio to the outward embeUishments. The Rev. Dr. Stiles, having become, in 1777, the president of Yale College, never, as has been already noted, came back to the pastorate of the Second NcAvport Church. It was not until 1786 that its return ing members sufficiently recovered themselves to secure another shep herd, the Rev. William Patten, who was ordained to the pastorate in May of that year. Mr. -Patten was a son of a clergyman of the same name and a graduate of Dartmouth College. He continued in the office for forty-seven years and it is a vivid illustration of the demor alizing influence of the Revolutionary struggle and of the prevaihng French skepticism at the close of the eighteenth century, that the addi tions to the church, during the Avhole period, averaged but one a year. For a long time the Second Church was destitute of a single male member, deacons for the celebration of the Holy Communion having to be introduced from the First Church. Until the death of Dr. Hop kins, in 1803, there existed the most entire harmony betAveen the two churches. Such affection and esteem bound the old pastor and the young one together that they were accustomed to address each other as son and father. It is pleasant to recall that, thus joined together in their lives, they now slumber near one another under the Avails of the Spring Street Church. It must have been as one of the fruits of this friendship, as well as a result of other causes, that, in 1833, the two parishes, after a distinct existence of more than a century, were again consolidated under the style of the United Congregational Church of Newport, with a membership of eighty-nine. In the foUoAving yeai', 1834, there Avas erected for the united parish a ncAV meeting-house. Religious Societies. 139 At Bristol, when the secular life began to revive after the termina tion of the war, an effort was promptly made to restore the vigor of the church also. In 1783 a subscription w^as started towards a fund for the support of a Congregational minister, and in the following year a charter was granted to the Catholic Congregational Society of Bristol, R. I. So rapid was the recovery of the town that the old meeting-house, built in 1684, after an existence of exactly a century, was demolished and replaced by a fine and spacious one, on Hope street, dedicated January 5, 1785. On the same day was ordained the new pastor, the Rev. Henry Wight, a graduate of Harvard CoUege. Dr. Wight continued sole pastor until 1815, when a coUeague was given him. At the beginning of his ministry he found thirty-six mem bers, but during these thirty years he received into the church two hundred and twenty-eight. For thirteen years more he continued as senior pastor, living in Bristol nine years longer after his retirement. He died in 1837 in the eighty-sixth year of his age, leaving upon the town an indelible trace of his high character and holy influence. In Providence the depression caused by the war had not been so complete as at NcAvport and Bristol and the revival was consequently less conspicuously marked. To the First Church, which had been vacant since 1774, the Rev. Enos Hitchcock was called in 1780, not being instaUed, however, until 1783. His successful ministry was con tinued until his death in 1803, when he bequeathed to the church a legacy of six thousand dollars. In the Second Church at Providence, under Mr. Snow, who had continued at his post during the dark days of the Revolution, the ordinances had been entirely preserved, so that the parish emerged from the conflict with unbroken vigor. It was at this period, in 1785, that the organization was chartered as the Beneficent Society, the church soon after taking the name of the Beneficent Church. A few years later there occurred a painful breach in the tranquillity of the parish. Mr. Snow, having reached the age of seventy-four, requested the appointment of a coUeague, but the election to that post of the Rev. James Wilson did not prove satisfactory to him, Mr. Wil son being a disciple of John Wesley and not a Calvinist. The appointment being insisted on, "Father Snow", after a devoted and fruitful ministry of fifty years, felt compelled to withdraw with a number of sympathizers, and to build a separate meeting-house in Richmond street. There he continued until his death in 1803, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. The new enterprise, although claiming to be the original church and retaining the records, remained for many 140 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. years weak and struggling. The Beneficent Church, on the other hand, seemed to have entered on a new career of prosperity. Mr. Wilson was an Irishman and possessed great power over men, being a very eloquent preacher. AVith perfect simplicity of character, unaffected devotion and an earnest love for the souls of his people, he left a profound impression upon his church and upon the community at large. In the Revival of 1804 he was the means of adding to the church nearly one hundred and fifty members, while during his whole ministry of forty-six years about eight hundred made profession of Christ. More than a thousand couples were married by him. It was while he was pastor that, in 1820, the new device of the Sunday School was introduced into the Beneficent Church. Many benevolent socie ties, also, were established at this period in the parish and great inter est was aroused in foreign missions. Governor Jones, one of the founders of the American Board, Avas an earnest attendant upon the Avorship of this church. The church continued to flourish in perfect union and harmony until the close of Mr. Wilson's life. Between him and Dr. Hitchcock, the pastor of the First Church, there existed a warm attachment, the latter bequeathing him valuable books from his library. It was under Mr. Wilson's ministry, in 1810, that the present large and impressive house of worship was built and dedicated. The East Greenwich Church. — During the Revolutionary period an effort Avas made to establish a Congregational church at East Green wich. As early as 1772 a number of the inhabitants of the toAvn, caU- ing themselves Presbyterians or Congregationalists, presented a peti tion to the General Assembly, praying that they might be granted a lottery to raise the sum of fifteen hundred dollars to build a meeting house. The petition was granted and, in 1774, an act of incorporation was passed and a house of Avorship built, the lottery having provided the necessary funds. There appears to be no record of regular ser vices or of the formation of a church until long afterwards. In the year 1815, the Rev. Daniel Waldo labored in East Greenwich for a period and organized the church. Dr. Benedict, in his History of the Baptists, written in 1813, records that there were then in Rhode Island eleven Congregational churches, with not far from a thousand com municants. The fact that it seems to have been necessary in order to make up this number to count the East Greenwich society, would indicate that public Avorship had been for some time maintained in the meeting-house, although there Avas strictly speaking no church there. With this explanation, hoAvever, the above report of Dr. Bene dict appears to have been a correct statement of the condition of the Religious Societies. 141 Congregationalists in this State at the opening of the nineteenth century. Congregationalism in Rhode Island during the Nineteenth Century. —The middle of the nineteenth century was a period of marked growth among Congregationalists in Rhode Island. At the beginning of the year 1829, after about one and a half cent uries of the existence of CongregationaUsm in what became the territory of the State, there were still only eleven churches. By June, 1869, forty years later, these had been increased to twenty-five, sixteen having been added and two having disappeared by consolidation or extinction. The number of members grew from about seventeen hun dred and fifty in 1833 (no earlier statistics being available) to four thousand and twenty-five on January 1, 1869, an addition of one hun dred and thirty per cent, in thirty-six years. In the Revival of 1857-8 the additions, which had been seventy-two during 1856, rose to one hundred and ninety-five during 1857 and three hundred and ninety- eight during 1858. The Pawtucket Church. — In 1829 the Pawtucket Church was organ ized with nine members. At that period the east side of the river, where the society worshiped, belonged to Massachusetts, but the church from the first was included in the Consociation of Rhode Island and, in 1862, upon the annexation of the town of PaAvtucket to the latter State, it came to be actually embraced in its territory. The first pastor was the Rev. Asa Hopkins and he was followed by the Rev. Barnabas Phinney. In the summer of 1836 the Rev. Constantine Blodgett became pastor at Pawtucket and remained in that office until 1871, when he resigned on account of the infirmities of age, although he lived until 1879 as retired pastor. Perhaps no one has done more for Congregationalism in Rhode Island than did Mr. Blodgett, and few preachers have imprinted them selves upon the hearts of their people with such a loAdng interest. Taking charge of this church in the day of small things, he left it Avith three hundred and twenty communicants and a Sunday School of two hundred and three. The High Street Church, Providence.— The High Street Church in Providence, another notable product of this period, was formed in 1834 with forty-one members, coming mostly from the Richmond Street and Beneficent Churches. The pastorate of the Rev. Mr. Dennen over this church, from 1865 to 1868, was marked by more than a hundred conversions. The Elmwood Church.— The Elmwood Church was estabUshed in 142 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. 1851, with a very tasteful rural house of worship, in what was then a remote new suburb of Providence but has long been continuously con nected with the compact part of the city. The Central Church, Providence.— The most influential of aU the additions of this groAving period was the Central Church of Provi dence, organized in March, 1852, out of members coming chiefly from the Beneficent Church, the Richmond Street, the High Street and the Fourth. The enterprise started under the most favorable auspices. The situation of its handsome brown stone church on Benefit street near College street, as the only one on the east side of the river, while there were then seven on the west side, attracted to it from the outset a large congregation of citizens of standing and substance. The church was most fortunate, too, in the choice of its first pastor, the Rev. Leonard Swain, who continued with it from the beginning until shortly before his early death in 1869. Dr. Swain was a man of strong convictions and great gentleness of heart, while his excessive self- depreciation kept, to some degree, his large intellectual powers from the complete recognition they deserved. During his pastorate the number of members was brought to three hundred and sixty-nine and that of the Sunday School to three hundred and eighty-nine. Dr. Swain was, also, a leading spirit in the general Congregational body of the State. The Peacedale Church.— "b^ote should be taken, too, of the Peacedale Church, in South Kingstown, formed in 1857 with eight members, the first acting pastor being the Rev. S. B. Durfee. In 1872, during the pastorate of the Rev. George W. Fisher, probably the most beautiful granite country church belonging to the Congregationalists, if not to any denomination, in Rhode Island, was erected, it being entirely the design of the late Mr. Rowland Hazard, of Peacedale. Nor was the growth of this Denomination less marked in some of the old established parishes during this fruitful period. The Bristol Church.— The Rev. Thomas Shepard, D. D., was pastor of the church at Bristol at this time, from 1835 to 1879, the year of his death, and, while most quiet and unobtrusive in his manner, was possessed of a winning graAdty and dignity of bearing. His faith fulness toward the people of his fiock is illustrated, among many other tokens, by the fact that he distributed among them for no less than thirty years, "Pastor's Annuals", carefully prepared upon a large variety of practical subjects. At the date of Dr. Shepard 's death there were three hundred and seventy-eight communicants in the church and three hundred and twenty-five members of the Sunday Religious Societies. 143 School. During his pastorate, in 1855-6, there was built for the parish a large and handsome Gothic church of stone. The Newport Church. — The United Church at Newport, having begun its career upon the consoUdation of the two old parishes in 1833, with eighty-nine members, had by 1869 raised the number to two hun dred and six, chiefly under the pastorate of the Rev. Thacher Thayer, D. D. The Beneficent Church, Providence.— The Beneflcent Church in Providence during this period, from 1829 to 1869, was growing all the time under Mr. Wilson, nearing the close of his long ministry. Dr. Tucker, Dr. Cleaveland, Dr. Clapp and Dr. Vose. The list of com municants indeed was being continually depleted by the formation of new churches, especially by that of the High Street Church, in 1834, the Free Church, in 1843, and the Central Church, in 1852. In the cir cumstances it is remarkable that it was able, in 1869, to report four hundred and ninety members— a number increased before the end of the century to seven hundred or more. The Richmond Street Church, Providence. — It should be recalled, also, that in 1840 the Richmond Street Church entered upon a period of prosperity hitherto unparalleled in the record of the parish, the Rev. Jonathan Leavitt being then called to the pastorate. No sketch of the Congregationalists of Rhode Island would be com plete Avithout a reference to the labors of this saintly man. More than four hundred persons were added to the communion list during his ministry. Mr. Leavitt was one of the ablest and most devout clergy men who have ever worked in Providence. His style of preaching was lofty and impressive, being peculiarly calculated to build up the spir itual life of his hearers. In personal appearance he was a very notice able man, being tall and grave, with a heavenly expression of counte nance as if he moved in an atmosphere of holiness. As a pastor and a friend the influence of Jonathan Leavitt will abide in Providence until at least the generation of all who remember him shall have passed away. The Union Church, Providence. — It was just after the close of the period of emphatic growth in the middle of the nineteenth century, which we have been reviewing, that there occurred the latest radical change in the collocation of Providence churches, through the consol idation, in 1871, of the Richmond Street and High Street Churches, to form the Union Church, a costly and elegant new house of worship being buUt on Broad street, just above Stewart street, for the use of the new congregation. The united membership of the two old 144 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. churches gave the Union Church flve hundred and eighty-one com municants at the outset, a number which, at the end of twenty years, had been increased to eight hundred and seventy-two, placing the new parish in the most commanding position of any of the Congregational order in the State. A farther period of rapid increase of churches happened toward the end of the century, a dozen new parishes springing into being in about as many years, from 1878 to 1892. As the former time of marked growth closed with the formation of the Pilgrim Church, since become one of the largest in Providence, so this latter period opened with the organization of the vigorous Plymouth Church in the same city. Special allusion should be made, too, among the organizations of this time, to the Park Place Church, formed in 1882 on the western side of the river in Pawtucket. Beginning with one hundred and thirty-four members, mostly com ing from the old church on the east side, by 1893 in not much more than ten years the number had increased to five hundred and thirty, while a large and attractive house of worship had been completed and dedi cated in 1885. Congregationalism at the Opening of the Twentieth Century. — At the opening of the twentieth century the Congregational church in Rhode Island possesses forty-two houses of worship, with fifty minis ters, nine thousand three hundred and eighty-five members and eight thousand nine hundred and eighty-six teachers and scholars in the Sunday Schools. The total contributions for the year ending Jan uary 1, 1900, were $152,524, of Avhieh $115,503 were for home ex penses. The Services of the Congregationalists to the State. — In estimating the debt which Rhode Island owes to the Congregationalists, that which claims the first place is their example in the early introduction into the State of a fixed and educated ministry. In the first days of the Colony, especially in Providence, as a result, perhaps, of the repul sion excited by the arbitrary clergy of Boston, there was a tendency to decry what was styled ' ' a hireling ministry ' '. It was sometimes diffi cult to discriminate between the shepherd and the sheep, the latter being often, no doubt, the losers through the imperfect shepherding. But the border towns of Plymouth Colony, later annexed to Rhode Island, especially Bristol, early set a salutary example of long and settled pastorates, with a liberally educated clergy. In Bristol for a hundred years every clergyman who was installed in the Congrega- Religious Societies. 145 tional church was a collegiate graduate, all of them but one being graduates of Harvard College. The first six pastors, too, averaged in their occupancy of the office considerably more than twenty years each. Mr. Clap, the pioneer of Congregationalism in Newport, was a Har vard graduate. Dr. Hopkins and Dr. Stiles, early clergymen in the same town, were graduates of Yale College. Dr. Joseph Torrey, who inculcated Congregationalism in South Kingstown for sixty years, was graduated at Harvard College. So, too, when in the fullness of time this order was introduced Avith so much stately ceremony into Providence, it was a Harvard graduate who was sent to hold up the banner. There cannot be a question that this persistent illustration of the need of a cultured clergy for planting permanent churches had its effect on the other denominations and helped to stimulate, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, the formation of those excellent insti tutions of learning already described, which have since distinguished the State. There was, also, another beneficent result of establishing in Rhode Island the Puritan forms of religion, which had been prevailing in Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. Previously there had existed in those Colonies and in Connecticut a natural prejudice against Rhode Island on account of her attitude of protest. Sometimes this antipathy had made itself felt in connection Avith common action for defense against the savages. There was a danger, too, of the little Narragansett Colony's being diAdded and absorbed by her more powerful neighbors on either side. But the introduction of Congregationalism created a new and healthful bond of union, which soon became sensible. Rhode Island thus lost to a degree her sturdy, but sometimes perilous, posture of isolation. While the Congregational church in this State has always borne a large share in all good works along with the other churches, it has been particularly distinguished for its concern for missions, especially foreign missions. No uncertain sound either has its trumpet given, when it has been a question concerning the due observance of the Sabbath. Prominent Clergymen and Laymen of the Past.— Many honored names of the Congregational clergy have been already mentioned in connection with their particular churches. But one or two others which should not be overlooked may be here recalled. The Rev. Solomon Townsend, born in Boston in 1716 and educated at Harvard College, was ordained pastor at Barrington in 1743, two or 10 14G State of Rhode Island and Proa^dence Plantations. three years before its consolidation with Rhode Island, and died in 1796. Being thus minister of the town for over a half century, his name was still precious there up to a time remembered by some noAS' living. His pastorate was marked, too, by the abolition of the plan of supporting the minister by a general tax, he being the first one to rely upon the free contributions of the members of his flock. The Rev. Daniel Waldo, born in 1762, in Windham, Connecticut, and a graduate of Yale College, Avas a soldier in the Revolutionary army and later became a most devoted home missionary. He organized, as has been mentioned, the church in East Greenwich in 1815. In the following year he formed another at Slatersville and was later settled for twelve years in Exeter. When ninety-three years of age, in 1855, this aged servant of God officiated as chaplain to Congress, not djdng until 1864 at the age of one hundred and two. No chronicle of Congregationalism in Rhode Island could be com plete Avithout a reference to the erratic but gifted and devout Rev. Thomas Williams. Born at Pomfret, Connecticut, in 1779, he was graduated at Yale College in 1800. Mr. Williams was a theological student aU his days, but his only instructor in theology was the emi nent Dr. Emmons, of Franklin, Massachusetts, during six weeks of one winter. He began to preach for the "Pacific Church", Provi dence, Avithout installation, in 1807, remaining in charge until 1816. In 1821 he returned to his Providence church and continued for two years. In 1830 he again removed to Providence, preaching to colored people and others in various parts of Rhode Island until near the close of 1834, when he became for three years acting pastor at Barrington. A list of the places where he subsequentlj^ preached, from 1840 to 1868, covers one hundred and ten pages in his own handvs^riting and records the delivery of tAventy-two hundred sermons. After living tepeatedly in Providence and for three years in East Greenwich, he died in the former place, Avithout any indication of disease, in 1876, at the age of nearly ninety-seven. The list of Mr. Williams's publications numbers twenty- four. A sermon Av^hich he prepared for the funeral of Dr. Emmons, and read to him a considerable time before his death, evinces the most marked ability. He Avas the first Scribe of the Evangelical Consociation of Rhode Island and drafted its Articles of Faith. Among the notable Congregational laymen Avho have not long passed away may be mentioned Josiah Chapin, Parris Hill, John Kingsbury, William J. King and Amos C. Barstow. Religious Societies. 147 the unitarian congregationalists. The First Church, Providence.— The rise of Unitarianism in Rhode Island was a part of the general movement towards what is styled a more liberal belief, extending throughout Nevs^ England and especially over Massachusetts, soon after the opening of the nineteenth century. It was during the pastorate of the Rev. Henry Edes, from 1805 to 1832, that the First Congregational Church in Providence became avowedly Unitarian. It is probable that from almost the first the general cast of theological thought, on the part of the pastors of this church and of its people, had been towards the more moderate type of Calvinism which prevailed in Massachusetts, rather than the severer form more common in Connecticut. The Rev. Dr. Hall, the sixth pastor, remarks that the original Confession of Faith was decidedly Trinitarian and moderately Calvinistic, although not harsh or exclu sive. The Rev. John Bass, the second pastor, from 1752 to 1758, who came from Connecticut, left on the Church Register of Ashford a record which sounds more Arminian than CalAdnistic. "I was dis missed," he wrote, "from my pastoral relation to the Church and people at Ashford by the Rev. Consociation of the County of Wind ham, for dissenting from the Calvinistic sense of the Quinquarticular Points, which I ignorantly subscribed to, before my ordination; for which, and aU my other mistakes, I beg the pardon of Almighty God". Mr. Bass is said also to have advised his people "to read the Bible themselves and not to take their religion secondhand". Being called before the Consociation and asked, "Don't you believe that some are elected to be damned and cannot be saved"? he sturdily responded, "No. All will be saved, who comply Avith God's conditions, and all may comply, who will". It would not be surprising if, after his dismissal from a rigid Connecticut church for holding such tenets, he found the atmosphere of Providence much more congenial and experi enced no opposition in impressing his convictions upon the members of his new flock. In any case, the First Church in Providence remained in general sympathy with the more liberal Massachusetts churches, its pastors being mostly Harvard men. When the Unitarian controversy arose that church appeared to be favorable soil for the implanting of the new doctrine and proceeded to change its Covenant into correspond ence Avith it. From about 1815 it came to be knoAvn as a Unitarian church. During the long pastorate of Mr. Edes, the meeting-house having 148 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. been burned in 1814, the society built, in 1816, on the same site, the spacious and exceedingly tasteful stone edifice, which stall remains as an excellent example of church architecture. The cost of it, over fifty thousand dollars, was a large sum to raise and expend in such a way in those days. The structure was designed by the master-builder and architect, John H. Greene, father of the late weU-known judge and poet, Albert G. Greene. Mr. Greene designed also the present St. John's church, in Providence, the graceful Dorr mansion on Benefit street, the Dexter Asylum and a church in Savannah, which was an exact counterpart of the First Congregational edifice in Providence, and which has lately been reproduced, after destruction by fire, largely by reference to the Providence church. The style of this building is that of the Renaissance, as illustrated by the designs of Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren, Greek elements being used in it deco- ratively. The spire, one hundred and ninety feet in height, is particu larly graceful and has formed a landmark in Providence since beyond the memory of men now Uving. In 1832 the Rev. Edward Brooks Hall was installed as pastor and remained until his death in 1866. Of his faithfulness, ability and devoutness too much can scarcely be said. The name of "good Dr. HaU" is still a watchword, not simply in Unitarian circles, but among all the older generation of ProAddence. It is probable that the parish attained its highest point of prosperity under his efficient and accept able ministrations. In 1882 the church still farther modified its Covenant by adopting the simple statement, "In the love of the Truth and in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we join for the worship of God and the service of man". Many representatives of the best families of Rhode Island have been associated vsdth the First Congregational Church, such as the Burrills, Anthonys, Bridghams, Lymans, Bowens, Maurans, Nightingales, Bul locks, Whitakers, TiUinghasts, Lippitts, Owens, Dexters, Metcalfs, Watermans, Earles, Dunnells, William Wilkinson, SuUivan Dorr, Samuel Ames, John Howland and Henry Wheaton. No less than eighty-four young men, feeling the fire of patriotism burning in their bosoms, with Ambrose E. Burnside at the head, went out from this single church to face the perils of the Civil War of 1861-5. The later pastors have been the Rev. A. M. Knapp, the Rev. C. A. Staples, the Rev. Thomas R. Slicer and the present one, the Rev. Augustus M. Lord. There are about two hundred families belonging to the parish. The Westminster Society, Providence.— The centennial of the form ation of the First Congregational Church in Providence, in 1828, was Religious Societies. 149 signalized by an entirely pacific colonization of certain members to start a new Unitarian organization on the west side of the river, the Westminster Congregational Society. It consisted at first of eighteen members and built, in 1829, the handsome house of worship of Greek architecture, still standing on Mathewson street. The first pastor was the Rev. Dr. Frederick A. Parley, a man of a lovely and saintly spirit, later long settled over a church in Brooklyn, New York. His successor was the Rev. Augustus Woodbury, who remained many years, not only a faithful and beloved pastor, but also a useful and universally respected citizen. After a period of depression the Westminster Church seems to be entering upon a period of renewed prosperity, so far as is compatible with its situation, at such a distance from the present residential sections of the city. The Nevjport C/iwrc/i.- Although Newport was the birthplace and early residence of William EUery Channing, the eminent divine and scholar and the acknowledged head of the early Unitarian movement in America, it was not until twenty years after he began to advocate the system that an attempt was made to introduce organized Unita rianism in that town. In 1835 the Unitarian Congregational Society was formed there by the Rev. Charles Briggs, and for many years worshiped in the MiU street house, built, as has been already related, by the Rev. Mr. Clap, the first Congregational minister in Newport, abctat 1728, and afterwards owned by the Fourth Baptist Society. The Rev. Charles T. Brooks, the weU-known writer and graceful translator of Goethe's "Faust", of Salem, Massachusetts, was caUed as the first pastor and ordained in 1837, the church organization being begun immediately afterwards. Mr. Brooks was able and efficient and was especially beloved on account of his amiable qualities of character. He continued in the pastorate of the parish for thirty- five years. On April 7, 1880, being the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Dr. Channing, was laid the corner-stone of the Channing Memorial Church, of stone, on Pelham street, Newport. The Olney Street Church, Providence.— A third Unitarian church was organized in Providence in 1878. It is known as the Olney Street Congregational Church and is an outgrowth of a mission called The Ministry at Large, which had been long maintained by the two older Unitarian parishes, at the corner of Benefit and Halsey streets, when such work among the neglected classes was, by no means, so common as it is now. The Characteristics of the Unitarians.— Activity in all manner of 150 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. practical Christian benevolence has always been a prime note of the Unitarians of Providence. The supporters of the "Benevolent Church, ' ' true to their title, have always been found in the forefront of efforts for the reUef of the poor and the alleviation of the sufferings of the diseased and infirm. The Union for Christian Work, main tained chiefly by them, by means of its Flower Mission has brought brightness and sunshine into many dark rooms of the Hospitals, the "Homes" and the tenements of the city. High, too, have stood the names of Unitarians upon the lists of originators and sustainers of the great general public charities, such as the Children's Friend Society, the Shelter for Colored Children, the Home for Aged Men and the Home for Aged Wom,en. THE episcopal CHURCH — THE COLONIAL PERIOD. William Blackstone.— The Church of England, to which the Epis copal Church in the United States is indebted for its first foundation, in a sense antedated every other Christian body on Rhode Island terri tory. At least as early as the year 1635, several months before the arrival of Roger Williams at Providence, a regularly ordained English clergyman established himself permanently about six miles farther north, at what is now the village of Lonsdale. This clergyman, the Rev. William Blackstone (or Blaxton), was an exceedingly interesting personage and occupies a unique position in the history of the settle ment of this Commonwealth. He took his degree in 1621 at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Eng land, and soon afterwards was ordained to the ministry of the Estab Ushed Church of that country. About 1625 he is found living upon the site of the present city of Boston in Massachusetts, having emi grated from England, probably with the party of Robert Gorges, in 1623, to escape AA^hat he considered the overbearing treatment of the English bishops. His house is supposed to have stood between the site of the present State House in Boston and the banks of the Charles River on the west, his claim extending over most of the land finally occupied by the original town and being recognized, through a pur chase of his land, by the early settlers. In 1634 or very early in 1635, Mr. Blackstone appears again upon the move, having found, as he quaintly expressed it, "the Lord Breth ren of Boston" quite as objectionable as "the Lord Bishops" of his former residence. This time he set up his home, as the first white settler of Rhode Island, upon the eastern bank of the river which Religious Societies. 151 eventually bore his name, as it does still, in Avhat soon came to be known as the township of Rehoboth but is now Cumberland, and there he remained in great seclusion and tranquillity for forty years. Mr. Blackstone showed his scholarly taste by the name of "Study HiU", which he bestowed upon his dwelling in the wilderness and by the fact that he transported thither, through the untrodden wilds of Massachusetts, his really excellent library, containing folios in Latin as well as English and some hundreds of quartos and smaller volumes. His more practical enlightenment also was exhibited by his purchasing, with the proceeds of his Boston property, as fine stock as Avas procur able for his Rhode Island farm. He is said, too, to have been the first to introduce the culture of fruit trees into the ncAv territory. One of his amiable traits Avas an extraor- _ dinary love for children, and it is related that Avhen from time to time he visited the neighboring town of Providence, he used to come with his pockets full of apples, , as an unaccustomed treat for the little friends who fiocked around him there. A traveler from England who sought the recluse a few years after he had settled at ' ' Study Hill ' ' and conversed with him in his quiet home, narrates of him: "One Master Blackstone, a minister, went from Boston, having lived there nine or ten years, because he would not join with the church ; he lives near Master Williams, but is far from his opinions". It is recorded that this worthy clergyman ' ' used frequently to come to Providence to preach the Gospel ' '. He had a regular engagement, too, with Richard Smith, the first settler of Wickford, twenty-five miles away, to officiate at his house once in every month. It is thus easy to trace to Mr. Blackstone a share in the original influence which led to the planting of two of the colonial parishes of Rhode Island, King's Church, Providence, and St. Paul's, Narragan sett. There is, however, no evidence extant proving that he ever organized any work at either place justifying for him the claim of a founder of the Episcopal Church. But no picture of early Rhode Island can be judged complete which does not introduce this gentle scholar walking under the blooming apple trees of his orchard, with one of his russet-bound f oUos under his arm and Uttle children clinging to his hand, while his own stream, as yet untrammeled by the demands of industry as it is to-day, ripples in the sunshine beneath his feet. Most certainly in any case the ecclesiastical history of the State cannot afford quite to overlook the earnest apostle, Avho journeyed far over almost unbroken paths to 152 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. administer the Sacraments and preach the Word according to the ritual and the doctrine of the venerable church in which he had been reared. It was not until the year 1675, when Mr. Blackstone had reached the age of about eighty, that he was caUed to his reward. Such were his prudence and philanthropy that he had succeeded in dwelling on the most amicable terms with his aboriginal neighbors for two scores of years. It seems a merciful providence that he fell asleep just in time to be spared the sight of the evil days of the Indian War of 1675. The fierce passions then let loose in the savage breast leave it doubt ful whether even his good and tried friends among the Red Men would have been able to protect him from the fury of the mass. In any case it is recorded on the margin of the book containing the inventory of his cattle, household goods and library, ' ' This estate was destroyed and carried away with the Indians". There is a tradition that the house Avas burned by the savages, with all the OAvner's dearly loved books and, Avhat would have proved in later times at least, precious manu scripts, and "Study HiU" after forty years of civilization sank into its primeval vsdldness. Trinity Church, Newport. — We have to pass on more than a score of years to find the actual foundation of the Church of England in Rhode Island as an institution, although we may be sure that the devout instructions of William Blackstone did not return to him void. AAThen that brave pioneer died there was not in New England or in the whole of the northern portion of what is now the United States a standpoint of the English Church. In 1689 the first little wooden King's Chapel was built in Boston. The original movement towards the formation of what grew to be the initial parish in Connecticut, Christ Church, Stratford, was made in 1690. In 1695 Christ Church, Philadelphia, the earliest Church of England edifice in Pennsylvania, was built. The opening meeting for the organization of Trinity Church, New York, occurred in 1696. It was, then, no mere isolated incident, but a part of a spontaneous and almost impersonal impulse at that period in the ecclesiastical air, Avhen, towards the close of 1698, services according to the EngUsh Book of Common Prayer began to be held at the fifth point in the northern colonies within nine years, Newport, Rhode Island. If, however, we look for a personal influence in the movement, we find it in Sir Francis Nicholson, credited in ancient documents Avith being "the original founder and first principal patron of Trinity Church ' '. This gentleman, in succession a royal governor or lieuten- Religious Societies. 153 ant-governor of New York, Virginia and Maryland, is said to have been commissioned by Queen Anne to inquire into the condition of Ameri can churches. In the course of his duties he visited what Avas then the metropolis of the Rhode Island colony and relatively a much more important seaport than it has continued to be, and appears to have been con cerned to find there no gathering for Avorship according to the forms of the English Church. He seems, thereupon, to have bestowed both time and money on the establishment of such services. Citizens were not lacking from the very first to lend a hand to the enterprise, such as Gabriel Bernon, the Huguenot refugee, Pierre Ayrault, a physician, also a French Protestant, William Brinley and Robert Gardner, or Gardiner, naval officer and collector of the port, upon whose gravestone, in Trinity church-yard, may be read, "Here lieth interred the body of Mr. Robert Gardner, Esq., who was one of the first promoters of the Church in this place ' '. The first clergyman to carry out the plans of Sir Francis, probably also having been secured by his efforts, was the Rev. John Lockyer. AVhence he came and whither he Avent are alike unknoAvn. He remained three or four years and was instrumental in arousing such an interest that a church edifice was built before the time of his departure. It stood on the same lot, probably, as the present one, although not on the same spot, and was by the church wardens of the time esteemed "handsome". Mr. Lockyer declares concerning it, "The place where in we meet to worship is finished on the outside, all but the steeple. . . . The inside is pewed well, although not beautified". But, faithfully as Mr. Lockyer doubtless labored, his stay was too brief and the field in his day too unprepared to enable him to claim the honor of being the true founder of Trinity Church, Newport. That title belongs of right and, hence, also the title of the real founder of the Episcopal Church in Rhode Island at large, to the Rev. James Hony- man, who was the first missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in this State, the society itself being but three years old at the time of his arrival in Newport in 1704. Mr. Honyman was a Scotchman and vsdth genuine Scottish tenacity remained at his post until his death in 1750. At the close of his rector ship of forty-six years there was a list of fifteen hundred and sev enty-nine persons who had been baptized in the parish, a few of them probably in Mr. Lockyer 's day, but almost all the fruit of the old pastor's toil. He was a most prudent and conciUatory man and his tombstone, near the principal door of Trinity Church, describes him as 154 State of Rhode Isi;And and Providence Plantations. "with the arm of charity embracing all sincere followers of Christ". The church greAV rapidly under his care and many quiet and sedate Quakers and devout Baptists learned to love it, as it was set forth by the rector with no lack of conviction although in the spirit of love. After a few years, when a number of parishes of the Church of England had sprung into existence in Ncav England, Mr. Honyman met his reward by being able honestly to report to the Society in Eng land: "Betwixt New York and Boston there is not a congregation, in the way of the Church of England, that can pretend to compare with mine or equal it in any respect". The little church building of 1704 began to be too narrow before twenty years of its use had passed. In 1725 the present beautiful and roomy structure was begun, being completed in the following year. It is fortunate that in the march of taste the ancient lofty pulpit with its overhanging sounding-board, the reading-desk and the quaint clerk's desk in front of it, then erected, have not been banished from the places they have occupied for almost two centuries. The plans for the church are believed to have been sent from London and largely copied from ancient St. James's, Picadilly. One of the chief incidents of interest in connection with the edifice in its early days, was the fre quent preaching in its pulpit of the eminent George Berkley, Dean of Derry and subsequently Bishop of Cloyne, Ireland, Avho passed two or three years in Newport at that period. Here worshiped many of the historical families of the old toAvn, the Malbones, the Wantons, the Cranstons, the Brentons, the Coddingtons, the Bulls, the EUerys and the Vernons. One of the most notable Churchmen of the parish at that day was the excellent and beneficent Nathaniel Kay, Collector of the king's customs. Not only the church in Newport, but those in Narragansett and Bristol as weU, were the recipients of his bounty. To Trinity he bequeathed his house and land and a generous sum of money to build a school-house in which to "teach ten poor boys their grammer and the mathematics gratis", and to aU the parishes he presented Holy Communion vessels of silver. It is satisfactory to be able to record that the name of this liberal soul is still preserved in the tities, Kay Chapel and Kay Street, in Newport. Mr. Honyman Avas succeeded in 1750 by the Rev. James Learning, a divine so much revered as to be the first choice of the clergy of Con necticut for their bishop. The Rev. Thomas Pollen foUowed in 1754 and the Rev. Marmaduke Brown in 1760, the latter remaining until his death in 1771. At the Christmas service of that year above two hundred persons partook at TRINITY CHURCH, NEWPORT. Erected 1725. 166 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. the Holy Communion, showing that "Francis Nicholson, soldier", "builded better than he kncAv" when he procured a missionary to "draw around him a little flock", in the flourishing seaport toAvn of two generations before. Then, however, came the gloomy years of the Revolution, Avhen the congregation largely fled from their homes and scarlet coated soldiers flUed the pews, until, at the time of the evacua tion, they and the minister, the Rev. George Bisset, a royalist, disap peared together and for years the church doors were mainly closed. St. Paul's Church., Narragansett.— The second point at which the Church of England was established on Rhode Island soil was the Nar ragansett Country. Previously to the end of the seventeenth century there had settled in that vicinity a number of families attached to the Church of England, such as the Smiths, at whose house, before 1675, Mr. Blackstone had been accustomed to hold regular services, the Gardiners and, perhaps, the Updikes. As early as 1702, the year after the founding of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in London, that body recorded its opinion "that a Missionary should forthwith be sent to the Narragansett Country", and requested the Bishop of London to recommend one for the purpose. But it was not until 1706 that a missionary actually arrived upon the ground, in the person of the Rev. Christopher Bridge, who had been, for several years previously, assistant minister at King's Chapel, Boston. Mr. Bridge remained in Narragansett for about two years and was then trans ferred to New 'York. It was during his ministry, in 1707, that St. Paul's Church was built in Kingstown, Narragansett, faUing after the division of the town, in 1722-3, into North Kingstown and having been removed in 1800 to the -village of Wickford, where it still stands as a venerable relic of a past age. In 1717 the Society appointed the Rev. William Guy, from Charleston, South Carolina, to the charge of the church, he also remaining a couple of years. For some time after the departure of Mr. Guy, Mr. Honyman came over from New port, at intervals, to hold divine service and administer the Sacra ments. It was not until 1721 that the new enterprise was placed upon a firm foundation by the arrival of the third missionary of the Society, the Rev. James MacSparran. He proved a devoted and Ayell-learned parish priest, beloved, respected and honored, dweUing among his flock for thirty-six years, until he was called hence after what he styled "labors and toils inexpressible". The Narragansett planters who constituted his cure were ' ' a people exceptionaUy cultured, weU-to-do, hospitable to a proverb, proud of NARRAGANSETT CHURCH, WICKFORD, NORTH KINGSTOWN. Prom a Photograph Taken About 1868 Before the Belfry was Demolished 158 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. their pastor, loyal to the Church and secure in the conviction that to be a Narragansett Planter, with large estates and troops of slaves, was a sufficient patent of aristocracy". Dr. MacSparran 's parish covered all southern continental Rhode Island, so far as it was settled, a terri tory some twenty miles broad by tvs'cnty-five miles long. ' ' Over those within this tract, acknowledging the authority of the Church of Eng land—that is the majority of the people of substance and standing— Dr. MacSparran ruled with a firm if gentle hand, striving, with faithful zeal and large ability, to gather the whole body of the sheep into the safe fold". Sometimes he proceeded to Conanicut Island to hold divine service and preach, and at others to Westerly Church, in what is now the tOAA^n of CharlestoAvn, built upon land presented by the The Glebe, North Kingstown. The Church of St. Paul's having in 1800 been removed from the site where it formerly stood to Wickford, the Glebe ceased to be convenient as the residence o£ the rector; and having become dilapidated and injured by continued tenantry, was sold by the Corporation in 1848. Indian king, George Augustus Ninigret. More regularly and at least once in each month he officiated at Old Warwick and in the Coeset Church, which Avas the original edifice of Trinity Church, Newport, it having been set up about 1726 on the Warwick shore, a mile and a half north of East Greenwich, where it remained until about 1764. At the first celebration of the Holy Communion after young Mr. MacSparran 's arrival at Narragansett, there were only seven to par take. Under his energetic administration matters, however, began Religious Societies. 159 rapidly to improve. He was very soon able to acquaint the Society with the fact that the congregation, which was so small at first, num bered about one hundred and sixty. A year later it had grown to two hundred and sixty, while, in the foUowing one, all the Church people, young and old, amounted to three hundred. At the Easter celebra tion of the Eucharist in 1727, six years after his arrival, the number of communicants present had increased to twenty. Among the laymen connected with the parish were Gabriel Bernon, already met by us at Newport, George Balfour, an EngUshman, Coh Daniel Updike, attorney-general of the Colony, Col. Francis WUlet, Dr. Silvester Gardiner, for whom the city of Gardiner, in Maine, was named, Moses Lippet, the progenitor of the Avell-known Rhode Island The Birthplace of Gilbert Stuart, North Kingstown. Lippitt family, and Judge John Cole. During Dr. MacSparran 's ministry the painter, Gilbert Stuart, was born in the parish and bap tized by him in the Narragansett church. Seldom has it been granted to a pastor to impress his individuality so deeply upon a community and to leave his name as a household word throughout such a broad section, a century and a half after his death, as did James MacSparran. The successor of Dr. MacSparran in St. Paul's Church was the Rev. Samuel Fayerweather, a good but eccentide man, Avho did not arrive 160 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. until nearly three years after the death of the old pastor, to find the congregation greatly reduced, the church having been so long closed. He continued to officiate with acceptableness from 1760 to 1774, about Avhich time a controversy concerning the prayers for the king, which he felt compelled to continue to use against the Avishes of a majority of the congregation, caused the church to be closed. Upon his death in 1781 Mr. Fayerweather Avas buried under the Communion table of St. Paul's, beside the body of Dr. MacSparran, where they both still lie, the spot having been marked since the removal of the church by a granite cross. St. Michael's Church, Bristol, the third colonial parish estabUshed in what is now Rhode Island, although then a part of Plymouth Colony, is commonly said to have originated in 1719, although services in a private house were held still earlier in the century. Among the first settlers of the town there were some attached to the Church of England and movements were made, at least as soon as the above mentioned date, looking to the founding of a parish. By 1720 the Bishop of London had received a letter from prominent citizens of Bristol asking for the appointment of a Church of England min ister, and promising that a church should be built for him, nearly a thousand pounds having been raised by the inhabitants. Accordingly, in the following year the Rev. James Orem was sent out by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel upon a salary of sixty pounds. He found an incomplete church edifice, with a steeple but with no fioor. Soon a large congregation was gathered and every thing seemed promising, when, after a little more than a year, the missionary accepted a more congenial position and withdrew. It was at about this date that twelve men of the church were imprisoned, under the law of Massachusetts, for refusing to pay toward the support of the Puritan minister of the town, a proceeding which may have helped to dampen the ardor of the new pastor. The second missionary sent by the Society to Bristol, in 1723, was the Rev. John Usher, a graduate of Harvard College and a son of the lieutenant-governor of Ncav Hampshire. Mr. Usher proved the man for the place and was at once and ahvays successful. He found the parish feeble and dwindling, but by his tireless solicitude built up a vigorous church and to a large degree, by his Avisdom and power of conciliation, disarmed the former Puritan opponents of the enterprise. In 1724-5 there were forty-five families reported in the congregation and thirty communicants. In the first vestry, elected in 1724, there were found, among others. Major Ebenezer Brenton, William Munro, William Walker, Obadiah Papillion and Nathaniel Bosworth. Religious Societies. 161 So great was the increase of the congregation that, in 1731, gaUeries had to be introduced into the church and in that same year Nathaniel Kay, the benefactor of Newport Church, as has been related, bestowed a valuable farm on St. Michael's Church for a school similar to that Avhich he provided for in his own parish. Although now the ' ' ten poor boys" find suitable instruction in the excellent public schools of the town, the parish still derives income from Mr. Kay's liberality. It is encouraging to the friends of religious freedom to find, in 1744, the town of Bristol, apparently actuated by its own more enlightened convictions, but also, no doubt, somewhat as a result of the liberal sentiment prevailing in the neighboring territory of Rhode Island, petitioning the General Court of Massachusetts to be allowed to ar range that the two congregations may impose, each upon its own adher ents, a tax for the support of its minister. After January 1, 1746-7, Bristol having been annexed to Rhode Island, no more votes upon religious questions were taken in town meeting. The beloved and revered rector, after a faithful ministry of fifty- two years and at the age of seventy-five, rested from his labors on April 30, 1775, only eleven days after the battle of Lexington, being, like the Puritan pastor, Mr. Burt, spared the sight of the painful struggle to follow^ During his long pastorate Mr. Usher baptized seven hundred and thirteen persons, attended two hundred and seventy-four funerals and solemnized matrimony one hundred and eighty-five times. He made the welfare of the church the whole busi ness of his life. Dr. Henry Caner, "the Father of the American Clergy", after having served as rector of King's Chapel, Boston, for thirty years, was appointed in 1776 honorary missionary of St. Mi chael's by the venerable Society, but does not appear ever to have visited the town, inasmuch as, being a royalist, he fled that same year from Boston to Halifax and thence to England. Two years later, in May 1778, St. Michael's Church was burned by British soldiers on an expedition from the island of Rhode Island, and the parish seemed to have been almost extinguished. St. John's Church, Providence.— The last to be established of the four colonial parishes of Rhode Island was King's Church, later St. John's, Providence. It is believed that as early as 1720, good, earnest Parson Honyman had come up from Newport to preach in the growing toAvn at the head of Narragansett Bay. At about that time he is said to have written to the Society concerning ' ' the want of a missionary at a town called Providence ' ', where ' ' through the Avant of instruction, 11 162 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. the people were become quite rude, and void of aU knowledge in relig ion, yet, " it is gratifying to learn, ' ' they were of a good and teachable disposition". Farther, Mr. Honyman reported how, in the year 1722, he had preached in Providence "to the greatest number of people he had ever had together since he came to America", and how "no house being able to hold them he was obliged to preach in the fields ' '. Near the same period Gabriel Bernon, who seems to have possessed the gift of ecclesiastical ubiquity and who was, as we have noticed, active and zealous in the interests of the church at Newport and in Narragansett as Avell as at ProAddence, corresponded with Dr. Mac Sparran with a view to settling "in our town of Providence one learned minister of good condition — an Old England gentleman minister". It appears to have been as a direct result of Mr. Honyman 's appeals that the people of Providence started upon the enterprise of raising money to build a church. Soon they had gathered seven hundred and seventy pounds and on St. Barnabas Day, June 11, 1722, began to build the plain edifice, Avith low belfry and round-headed Avindows, which supplied the wants of the parish for eighty-eight years. In 1723 came the first missionary of the Society, the Rev. George Pigot, from Stratford, Connecticut, where he had been previously stationed. Still earlier Mr. Pigot had served as a schoolmaster in Newport, marrying there, about 1717, Sarah, only child of Francis Carr, a ship wright of that toAvn. Mrs. Pigot inherited from her father extensive lands in Warwick and after returning to Rhode Island from her brief residence in Connecticut built a substantial house upon them for the use of her family. Hence arose the singular anomaly that the first rec tory of King's (or St. John's) Church, Providence, should have been situated more than a dozen miles away, in the heart of the primeval forest. Mr. Pigot remained only four years in his office in Providence, becoming, in 1727, rector of St. Michael's Church in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and later returning to England. The most distinguished of the early rectors of King's Church was the Rev. John Checkley, born in Boston in 1680, and for many years a publisher and bobkseUer there. He visited England no less than three times to obtain ordination, but, owing to the misrepresentations of his enemies, failed in his object until 1739, when, already in his sixtieth year, he was ordained by the Bishop of Exeter. From that date until his death in 1754 Mr. Checkley was settled in Providence, attending even in advanced age steadily to his duties. He was a noted contro- versiaUst and possessed remarkable skill in the Indian language in use ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PROVIDENCE, As it Originally Appeared. From a Copper Plate Engrav ing IN the Possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society. This Plate was Made from a Drawing by Zachariah Allen. 164 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. in Rhode Island, enjoying a close acquaintance Avith the natives them selves. Mr. Checkley was succeeded by the Rev. John Graves who had been vicar of Clapham, in Cheshire, England, and was sent to Pro-vidence by the Society in 1754. Mr. Graves remained through the trouble some times of the Revolution, refraining, however, from officiating after the Declaration of Independence, because not permitted to offer prayers for the king. He continued to be regarded as a missionary of the S. P. G. untU 1782 and died in 1785. The Society for the Propagation of the G'ospeL— Nothing is more noticeable, in connection with the colonial Episcopal Church in Rhode Island, than the enormousness of the debt she incurred to the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. It is not too much to say that, under God, she owed her existence to that organi zation. Every one of the four early churches, except Trinity Church, Newport, was planted as well as nourished by the Society. While it is true that Trinity by some three years antedated the existence of that organization, it is yet probable that had it not been for the subsequent nursing care of the Society, the feeble enterprise would have proved as shortlived as did similar ones in other places. At the critical point when, after the departure of the first minister in probable discouragement, the fate of the church was trembUng in the balance, there came as a representative of the Society a sturdy and faithful soldier of the Cross, to stand in his lot for almost a half century and place the undertaking on an inviolable foundation. No fewer than thirteen missionaries, in all, were sent to the four Rhode Island parishes during the colonial period, and derived from it their chief support. Not less than eighteen or twenty thousand doUars were contributed by the Society to St. John's parish alone, and not much less than one hundred thousand dollars, on the whole, to the churches in Rhode Island. The Transitional Period.— Aiter the independence of the American Episcopal Church had followed, as a necessary result, the establishment of National Independence, there ensued in Rhode Island a period of nearly a half century, during which she did little more than regain her former strength and hold her OAvn. When Corn wallis 's surrender at Yorktown in 1781 substantially ter minated the contest betweent Great Britain and America, there were four Episcopal parishes within the State. At the opening of the year 1829 there were stiU only five. The general condition of the church at the close of the Revolutionary War was most pitiable. Trinity, Religious Societies. 105 Newport, was for years without a pastor, her property in a state of dilapidation, her people discouraged, party spirit raging within the parish and the edifice itself being occupied for several years by a min ister of the Six Principle Baptist order. The Narragansett church, too, Avas unopened for worship for a dozen years or more, having been used as a barrack for the American soldiery during the war. St. Michael's, Bristol, lay in ashes. King's church. Providence, Avas closed against its rector, who desired, at the restoration of peace, to resume his public ministrations. To the human eye the Episcopal Church in Rhode Island seemed ready to die. The First Diocesan Convention. — The natal day of the Diocese of Rhode Island was November 18, 1790, the date of the first Diocesan Convention. By that time the parishes had begun to revive from their depression, all having for several years enjoyed the services of a rector except Bristol, Avhich, although the church had been rebuilt, was still served by only a zealous lay-reader, a son of the last rector. The Rev, William Smith, the brilliant introducer of chanting into the American church and the compiler of the Office of Institution in the Prayer Book, was ministering at Newport, having just closed a pastorate of three years in Narragansett. In Providence the Rev. Moses Badger was in the midst of a rectorate lasting a half dozen years, one of his successors, in 1801, being the Rev. Nathaniel Bowen, later Bishop of South Carolina. During the colonial period there had been frequently held New England Conventions of the clergy alone, as for example those of 1743 and 1745 at Newport, and that of 1768 at King's Chapel, Boston. But never, apparently, had there been convened an assembly of both the clergy and the laity of Rhode Island, by itself, before that of 1790, at Newport. Three churches— those of Providence, Bristol and Newport— were represented in this convention by two clergymen and five laymen, their first action being to approve the use of the revised Book of Common Prayer and to give a unanimous adherence to the Canons adopted by the General Convention, held in Philadelphia in the autumn before. Previously to the Declaration of Independence the Bishop of London for the time being had exercised ecclesiastical jurisdiction in British foreign plantations, by virtue of an order of King Charles I in Council, renewed by Charles II ; Rhode Island, in common with the rest of the American Colonies, being of course and as a fact included under his authority. The most important action of the convention of 1790 was a 166 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. declaration that Samuel Seabury, Bishop of Connecticut, was also "Bishop of the Church of this State". Three years later Bishop Seabury was present in convention, in order to ordain Mr. Usher to be minister at Bristol, and appears to have continued to exercise jurisdiction in Rhode Island until his death in 1796, Bishop Bass of Massachusetts being (in 1798) chosen to suc ceed him. When Bishop Bass died in 1803 the election fell upon Bishop Moore of New York, but whether or not he accepted and exercised jurisdiction does not ap pear to be recorded. In 1809 the Rhode Island Convention took ac tion toAvard a union with Massa chusetts, New Hampshire and Ver mont, for the formation of the Eastern Diocese, resulting in the election of Alexander Viets Gris- Avold as bishop of the four States in 1811. The First Diocesan Bishop.— The election of Bishop Griswold, who was already rector of St. Michael's, Bristol, formed an era in the his tory of the Rhode Island church, and was, doubtless, a prime factor The R't. Rev. Alex. V. Griswold , D. D. in preparing the way for the period of remarkable growth and prosper ity which opened before a score of years had gone by. Bishop Gris wold was a man of a most elevated and saintly character, utterly devoted to the duties of his office. While meek and gentle in his demeanor, he Avas still singularly shrewd and possessed of a good knowledge of men. His mere presence was a kind of benediction. While, previously, Rhode Island had enjoyed only the nominal and fitful services of a non-resident bishop, whose actual interests were bound up in his own field, she now had dwelUng, in the midst of the Diocese, one of the best bishops the American church has ever pro duced. It happened, likcAvise, that St. Michael's parish at Bristol was rejoicing in a period of singular spiritual elevation, under the ministrations of Bishop Griswold. When he had removed to the tOAVn in 1804, as an unknown clergyman from Connecticut, the church there included only about twenty-five famiUes and an even smaller number Religious Societies. 167 of communicants, although it soon showed signs of decided growth. But it seemed as if the raising of the rector to the highest order of the ministry stimulated, stiU farther, aU that was best and noblest in his nature. Faithful before to a high degree, he was thus led to develop an enlarged faithfulness. In 1812, the year after the consecration of Bishop Griswold, there occurred in his church at Bristol a most notable revival of religious interest. It was not the result of any preconcerted movement. The "wind blew where it listed" and the Spirit was poured out upon the congregation without stint. The wheels of indus try for the time stood almost still in the village, many of the shops were closed and the population flocked day after day to the House of God. One hundred names were added at once to the Holy Communion list of St. Michael 's. The parish, feeble and small before, was consol idated and established by that revival into one of the strongest country parishes in New England and the very strongest in Rhode Island, a distinction which the passage of nearly a century has not dimmed. In 1819, when he who was afterwards the eminent Dr. Stephen H. Tyng of St. George 's Church, New York, came to study theology with Bishop Griswold at Bristol, he thought he had then never seen a more flourishing church, and when sixty years more had passed he declared that he had never seen one since. In 1820 there occurred, under the devout Bishop's administration, a second potent revival, when more than one hundred were confirmed as a result. These movements, start ing in St. Michael's Church, extended not only through the town, but to more distant parts of the State. The Rev. Nathan B. Crocker, who had been elected rector of St. John's Church, Providence, in 1807, and under whose pastorate, in 1810, the present stone structure had re placed the old wooden building of 1722, felt the gracious infiuence of the revival of 1812 and was stimulated to such increased fervor in his preaching that many Avere converted and gathered into the fold, the rectornever again, until his death in 1865, relapsing into the cold, moral discourses of his earlier ministry. Bishop Griswold continued to Uve in Bristol until 1830, when he removed, for the sake of being nearer the center of his extensive Diocese, to Massachusetts. Besides Stephen H. Tyng, already alluded to, Samuel Brenton Shaw, J. H. Coit, J. P. K. Henshaw, afterwards Bishop of Rhode Island, and other young men to the number of at least a dozen, studied for the ministry with the rector of St. Michael 's and drew lifelong inspiration from the heaven ly atmosphere diffused around him. The universal estimate of Bishop Griswold was voiced by an honest, although uncultured, countryman — 168 State of Rhode Island and Pro-vidence Plantations. "He -was an uncommon perfect man. You could find no fault Avith him no way". Trinity Church, Newport.— B-aving the earlier years of Mr. Gris wold 's service at Bristol there was ministering at Newport a rector of unusual abiUty and devotedness, the Rev. Theodore Dehon. Mr. Dehon entered upon the duties of the parish in 1798, finding it consid erably divided but proving so acceptable that it was soon reunited in the bonds of harmony and Christian feUowship and flourished and increased to an overflowing congregation. The pews were again all occupied to a degree almost equal to what they had been in Mr. Hony man 's days of pre-eminent prosperity. When Mr. Dehon resigned the charge of Trinity Church in 1810, it Avas to become the rector of St. Michael's Church, Charleston, S. C, and soon afterwards, the bishop of that Diocese. He was succeeded by the Rev. Salmon Whea ton, who then entered upon a rectorship of thirty years. The flrst parish reports introduced into the Journals of Convention are found in that of 1813. At that time St. Michael's, Bristol, had about ninety families and one hundred and forty-eight communicants ; Trinity, Newport, one hundred and five communicants ; and St. John's Providence fifty-nine, St. Paul's, Narragansett, not reporting. St. Paul's Church, Pawtucket— The only permanent parish added to the diocese of Rhode Island during the period we are revieAving, from 1781 to 1829, was St. Paul's Church, Pawtucket. In the year 1790 the flrst cotton mill in America was started at that vUlage by Samuel Slater, leading to a large increase of population and material prosperity. Samuel Greene, David Wilkinson, Edward L. WiHdnson and Mr. Slater himself were among those who were early interested in the establishment of an Episcopal church in Pawtucket. In the Jour nal of 1816 is found the first report of St. Paul's Church, Avith twenty communicants and the Rev. John L. Blake as rector. It was in this parish that was organized one of the first Sunday Schools in Rhode Island, the secular school on Sunday, started by Samuel Slater in Pawtucket about 1797, having been, as has been noted above, eventually divided between St. Paul's and a Baptist church. Mr. Blake remained only four or five years in Pawtucket and about 1822 the Rev. George Taft became rector, having been previously an instructor at Brown University, and an occasional officiator at a short-lived mission called Christ Church, Chepachet. Dr. Taft thus entered upon a long and most successful pastorate, during which he built up a strong church, so thoroughly identified Avith his own earnest personality that he and the church seemed one. and the same. At the ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, PAWTUCKET. Demolished 1901. 170 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. present time the parish, in a renewal of its youth, is building a costly stone church to take the place of the time-honored, but now insufficient, structure of wood. The Tower Hill Church.— There was one other parochial enterprise, which, although it did not prove permanent, must be mentioned in connection with this period— the Tower Hill Church. The Church of St. Paul in Narragansett was erected before the division of the old town of Kingstown into the two towns of North and South KingstoAvn, in 1722-3, the church falling upon the northern side of the dividing line. The location of the edifice having become inconvenient through the shifting of population, it was, in 1800, removed five miles north ward to the village of Wickford, with the understanding that services should be maintained by the rector in both tovsms. For a long time this was done, the ministers officiating on alternate Sundays at the Wickford Church and at the old glebe house in South Kingstown, where they still continued to live. At length, however, through the enterprise of the Rev. Lemuel Burge, the rector at the time, a church Avas built for the South KingstOAvn portion of the congregation at Tower Hill, a couple of miles south of the glebe, and consecrated by Bishop Griswold in November, 1818. It may be mentioned, although not strictly connected with the period under consideration, that it was not until much later that a parish was incorporated at Tower Hill, by the name of St. Luke's Church, a name changed, afterwards, to St. Paul's. For six years, after 1834, the Tower Hill Church enjoyed the serAdces of rectors of its OAvn distinct from those at Wickford. In 1840 the members of the Tower Hill Church united themselves to the just established Church of the Ascension, Wakefield, and, subsequent ly, only occasional services were held in the former, until at length the edifice was altered into a dwelling-house and the parish became extinct. The Condition of the Church in 1829.— The number of communi cants reported at the Convention in 1829, at the close of the period under review, was, by St. Michael's, Bristol, one hundred and sixty- two; St. John's Church, Providence, one hundred and sixty; Trinity Church, Newport, one hundred and twenty-three; St. Paul's Church, Pawtucket, seventy-five ; and St. Paul's Church, Wickford, forty- three, making a total of five hundred and sixty-three. In the sixteen years since the first rendering of reports, the earUest point of comparison available, the number of communicants in the diocese had increased by about seventy-five per cent. The Period of Expansion.— Yov the first forty or fifty years after Religious Societies. 171 the attainment of National Independence,- the American Episcopal Church at large was engaged principally, as we have seen in the case of the particular portion of it in Rhode Island, in a struggle for exist ence. At about the close of the flrst third of the nineteenth century, the Church seems, at last, to have become assured of its position and to have attained a fuller consciousness of its nature and capacity. "Up to this moment", says a writer in 1829, "we have but one small infant station among the heathen, and that chiefly for the purpose of educa tion, and not a single foreign missionary on any distant shore". In 1833 the Board of Missions had the courage to appoint twenty additional missionaries in the domestic field and two to Africa. In 1835 two cardinal forAvard steps were taken— the missionary field was declared to be the World and nothing short of it and every baptized member of the Church was pronounced, by virtue of his baptism, a member also of the General Missionary Society of the Church. In that year, too, was sent forth the first missionary bishop, the pure, loving and holy Jackson Kemper, a host in himself. This was plainly the era, when the Church, like a young giant, was becoming aware of itself as "a strong man armed". It was at about this same period that the Diocese of Rhode Island likewise, as a small part of the whole body, entered upon its own period of rapid expansion. In the one hundred and seven years after the foundation of King's Church, Providence, from 1722 to 1829, only one parish which has surAdved Avas, as Ave have seen, established in the Diocese. Had no greater rate of progress been subsequently main tained, it would have taken five thousand years to reach the present number of churches. But between 1829 and 1839, inclusive, there intervened a period of extraordinary growth, such as the Rhode Island Episcopal Church never saw before and has never seen since, as far at least as the number of new orgamzations is concerned, averaging three in each two years, not quite all, however, proving permanent. But no less than a dozen parishes, still existing, were then admitted to the Convention, while from 1843 to the close of the nineteenth century the number of churches, chapels and mission stations has increased at the rate of one in each year. Grace Church, Providence.— In 1829 there was felt the need of a church on the west side of the river in ProAddence, many members of St. John's living too far away to find attendance there convenient. In Dr. Crocker 's parochial report of that year, he remarks, not without a trace of deep regret at the breaking of ties of more than a score of 172 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. years, "We should do violence to our feelings and incur the charge of indifference to measures which are supposed to promise efficient aid to the cause of piety and Episcopacy, were we not to say that sundry in dividuals of this church have organized an Episcopal society on the west side of the river. Their Delegates are now here and claim to be admitted as its legal representatives in this Convention. . . . We trust that it will be your pleasure to recognize and honor their claim". A little later in the session, upon a promise of conformity to the Con stitution and Canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Rhode Island and to those of the Eastern Diocese and of the Church in the United States, Grace Church was received into union with the Con vention. The flrst rector of the parish was the Rev. Samuel Fuller, jr., and the laymen who appeared as its first delegates in the Convention of 1830 were George S. Wardwell, Richmond Brownell, Benjamin P. HaUett and Philip S. Gardner. The number of communicants was reported as about thirty. Thus was launched upon its distinguished and beneficent career the organization which was destined to become the largest parish in the Diocese, numbering at present more than one thousand communicants and recording among its eminent and useful rectors two of the bishops of Rhode Island. Mr.. Puller remained in Providence only a single year. The true founder of the prosperity, both spiritual and temp oral, of Grace Church was the Rev. John A. Clark, who assumed the rectorship near the close of 1832. Finding, upon his arrival, forty-two communicants in the parish, he was able at his retirement after a Uttle more than two years and a half to leave two hundred and thirty-six, thirty-eight having removed or died in the mean time. Almost imme diately upon his assumption of the pastorate a deep and increasing seriousness spread over the congregation, due, under God, to his remarkable zeal and spirituality, more than a hundred individuals be ing added to the Redeemer's Fold between Christmas and the begin ning of the following June. The only drawback to the rapid advance of the parish in numbers was the impossibility of receiving into the church edifice, but then just ready for occupancy, nearly all who desired to attend the services. During the following year also the same happy state of things con tinued undiminished and a deep sense of the predominance of religious interests filled many hearts. Indeed a most exceptional work of grace, Avithout any unheal thful excitement, lasted throughout Mr. Clark's brief pastorate, such as has never probably been paralleled in Religious Societies. 173 the history of the Episcopal Church in Providence. Six young men had their attention directed towards the Christian ministry through his devoted labors. A Bible Class of more than two hundred members was maintained. The Sunday School was raised from about fifty teachers and scholars to two hundred and forty-three, with an addi tional Colored School of a hundred and nineteen members. The men tion of the ministry of the Rev. John A. Clark in Grace Church always awoke an enthusiastic response on the part of the older generation of its attendants, which has lately passed away. Mr. Clark was followed in the rectorship of Grace Church by the Rev. Alexander H. Vinton, then only in deacon's orders, but after wards well-known and highly honored throughout the Church. Find ing the parish somewhat discouraged by the loss of their late beloved pastor and by a somewhat long period of waiting for a successor, Mr. Vinton succeeded, by means of his ardent piety and moving eloquence, in consolidating and establishing the work previously done and in eventually raising it to a still higher level. He remained a half dozen years and was followed, after an interval, in 1843, by Bishop Henshaw, who continued in the rectorship of Grace Church until his death in 1852. The most signal event of his administration, in addition to marked spiritual succeess, Avas the erection, as a result of the rector's devoted assiduity in the coUection of means, of the present noble stone church. At the close of Bishop Henshaw 's pastorate the number of communicants, in the parish, had been increased to three hundred and thirty. Bishop Clark filled the same arduous office of rector of Grace Church from his consecration, in 1854, until 1866 or 1867, when the growing duties of the Episcopate compelled him to forego the care of a parish, the change having been made possible by the raising of a fund of about forty thousand doUars towards the bishop 's support. In his last paro chial report the number of communicants noted was four hundred and eighty. WiUiam T. Grinell and Edward Walcott were among the most prominent laymen in Grace Church at this period. St. Mark's Church, Warren.— In 1829, a little after the estabUsh- ment of Grace Church, Providence, there was founded another parish which has gained an honorable record, St. Mark's Church, Warren. The enterprise owed its origin to the Rev. John Bristed, at that time assisting Bishop Griswold, rector of the adjacent parish, St. Michael's, Bristol. In 1828 Mr. Bristed began to hold services in Cole's Hall, Warren, and by his energetic efforts soon built up a church, an edifice being erected in the following year. The first rector was the Rev. 174 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. George W. Hathaway and at the time of the earliest parochial report, in 1831, the communicants numbered twelve. At the close of Mr. HathaAvay's faithful service in 1851 there were one hundred and forty communicants registered in the parish. In the Convention of 1832 three new parishes were admitted, St. Paul's Church, South Kingstown; Trinity Church, Pawtuxet; and St. James's Church, Smithfield. St. James's Church, Woonsocket.— Only the last of these three, under the above title, has survived to the present day. The first rector, the Rev. Joseph M. Brown, was succeeded in 1835 by the Rev. Henry Waterman, whose name is held in conspic uous honor in the Diocese of Rhode Island and whose work in Woonsocket, until his departure in 1841, availed, with that of succeeding faithful rectors, to build up the vigorous parish now exist ing there. The church Avas built in 1833 and has since been exten sively remodeled. The growth of the parish is indicated by the fact that at the time of the earUest report in 1833 there were about twenty communicants, while in 1900 there were five hundred. St. Luke's Church, East Greenwich. — One of the three parishes founded in 1833 was St. Luke's Church, East Greenwich. As early as 1823 church services had been begun by the Rev. Charles H. Alden, deacon, who was then the principal of an academy in the town. No permanent organization, however, resulted at the time, and the ser vices appear to have been suspended after the retirement of Mr. Alden in 1825. It was through the missionary labors of the Rev. Sylvester Nash that a church was organized in the year above mentioned and an edifice erected in 1834. Mr. Nash continued rector until 1840, when he was succeeded by the Rev. William H. Moore. In December, 1841, there entered upon the rectorship of St. Luke's the Rev. Silas A. Crane, who by reason of his long continuance in the office and of his holy and uplifting influence upon the parish seems more closely identifled Avith it than any other. Dr. Crane continued going in and out among the people, in all gentleness and humility, for nearly thirty-one years until his death in the summer of 1872. Dr. Charles Eldredge, Joseph J. Tillinghast, Daniel Green and Wanton Casey were among the laymen identified Avith St. Luke's in its earlier history. In 1875, during the rectorship of Dr. Crane 's successor, the Rev. George P. Allen, the first church of wood Avas replaced by a handsome and spacious one of stone. Dr. James H. Eldredge was the leading layman in St. Luke's at this time. Christ Church, Lonsdale. — Another of these three parishes, Christ Religious Societies. 175 Church, Lonsdale, is among the most important in the Diocese. The inception of the movement there was due to the Rev. Mr. Taft, rector of St. Paul's Church, Pawtucket, who officiated at Lonsdale once every Sunday for several months during 1833. The Rev. Mr. Nash, also, who was, later, rector at East Greenwich, did missionary work there for about two months. But it Avas the Rev. James W. Cooke, who, coming to the village in the latter part of 1833, really founded the parish. A year before the admission of Christ Church into the Convention of Rhode Island the people of Lonsdale Avere almost wholly unacquainted with the serAdces of the Church, and there was not to be found in the whole neighborhood a single communicant. In December, 1833, a meeting of the inhabitants of the "viUage was held, at which the parish was organized. Mr. Cooke remained only two years in charge of the church, but the period was long enough for him to impress upon the people his own earnest Christian spirit and to gather fifty communicants. During his rectorship a neat and spacious wooden church was built and consecrated, which gave place, some years since, to a tasteful one of stone. Christ Church, Westerly.— Oi the two parishes established in 1834, Christ Church, Westerly, is of marked prominence. In that year the Rev. Erastus De Wolf, as a missionary of the Rhode Island Convoca tion, officiated in that village for about seven months. At the request of the Convocation the Rev. James Pratt Adsited Westerly, in Septem ber of the above year, and held services, a church being organized under his auspices in the ensuing November. In 1835 a commodious edifice was erected. One of the succeeding rectors, from 1844 to 1858, was the excellent and poUshed Rev. Thomas H. Vail, afterwards the first Bishop of Kansas. Within the last few years a beautiful stone church has been built in the parish. In 1900 the number of communicants was three hundred. St. Stephen's Church, Providence.— Fassing several other parishes organized at this period we note the formation of the very important St. Stephen's, Providence, in 1839. As early as 1837 the zealous young rector of Grace Church, the Rev. Alexander H. Vinton, estabUshed a Sunday School in the southern part of the city, on the east side of the river. It numbered as many as eighty scholars and its teachers were communicants of Grace Church. This school proved after a year or two to be the fruitful germ of a new parish, which was admitted to the Convention under the name given above, with the Rev. Francis Vinton, a brother of the rector of Grace Church, as its first rector. The 176 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. number of communicants was then from fifteen to tAventy, most of them having been transferred from the parent church. From this small beginning has groAvn up the large and highly honored parish, now including more than nine hundred communicants and abundant in good works. Mr. Vinton remained but a short time, being foUowed by temporary pastors, the first to devote himself heart and soul to the building up of the parish sufficiently long to accomplish any consid erable amount of good being the Rev., Henry Waterman, of blessed memory. Mr. Waterman entered upon his duties as rector, November 7, 1841, and was on the Sunday following instituted into his office by Bishop Griswold. A fcAv months previously a neat church had been consecrated for the use of the parish, at the corner of Benefit and Transit streets. Dr. Waterman remained rector of St. Stephen's until 1874, with the exception of five years, from 1846 to 1851, when he had charge of a church in Andover, Massachusetts. He secured an unusually large place in the affection and esteem of his parishioners in Providence and ministered in a high degree to their spiritual advance ment. It was during his rectorship, in 1862, that there was conse crated the elegant and spacious stone edifice, on George street, which nearly forty years of use has so much endeared to the congregation. All Saints Memorial Church, Providence. — A Providence parish which has grown to be a very important and prominent one was begun in 1847 as St. Andrew's, in the southern part of the city, on the west side, and is now knovsTi as All Saints Memorial. For several years this parish did not fiourish in its original position, but after the assumption of the rectorship by the Rev. Daniel Henshaw and the removal of the church edifice to Friendship street, Avhere it was enlarged and improved, it soon entered upon an encouraging and healthful period of growth. It was into this church that the first boy choir in Providence was introduced in 1858, the arrangement having continued, with ever increasing acceptableness, to the present day. About 1870, the old church proving too small for the enlarging congre gation, it was decided to erect a large and costly Gothic structure of freestone, at the corner of High and Stewart streets, in memory of the late Bishop Henshaw. The new church was accordingly opened for worship at Easter, 1872, and consecrated in 1875, it being particularly notable for the beautiful memorial gifts it contains. After many years of active service Dr. Henshaw has retired and been made rector emeritus. The Church of the Messiah, Providrncc— Another interesting par ish in Providence is the Church of the Messiah, Avhich Avas founded in Religious Societies. 177 1856, through the self-sacrificing labors of the Rev. Benjamin B. Bab bitt, and has been later brought into great prominence through the remarkable work among the poor and afflicted of the much lamented Rev. Thomas H. Cocroft, Avho passed away in the midst of his toils and apparently as a result of them in 1897. It was during the rectorship of Mr. Cocroft that a stone church of tasteful design was erected for the use of the parish, as a memorial of Arthur Amory Gammell. Among the fast increasing number of parishes founded in Rhode Island during the last forty-two years, all interesting and useful, there is space for a mention o£ only one more, the Church of the Redeemer, N. Main Street, Providence, organized in 1859, distinguished as the first free Episcopal church in the city. For many years this parish was identified with the name of its first rector, the gentle and devoted Rev. Charles H. Wheeler, a man much beloved. It is now a vigorous and active church with three hundred and fifty communicants. The later Growth of the Four Colonial Churches.— During the period of expansion of the last seventy years the four ancient colonial churches, also, have shared in the general prosperity. Trinity Church, Newport, which at the beginning of the period was, as we have noted, enjoying the ministerial serAdces of the devoted servant of God, the Rev. Salmon Wheaton, has since had nine rectors, of whom the first was the Rev. Francis Vinton, D. D., the fourth the Rev. Alexander Mercer, D. D., the seventh the Rev. Isaac P. White, D. D., and the eighth the Rev. George J. Magill, D. D. A building called Kay Chapel has been erected for week day services and the use of the Sunday School, as well as a convenient parish-house adjoining. At the begin ning of the period, in 1829, there Avere one hundred and tAventy-three communicants. In 1900 there were four hundred and ninety. St. Paul's, Wickford, continued to use the old Narragansett church building until 1847, when a plain but neat and comfortable church was erected on the Main street of the village, through the efforts of the rector at that time, the Rev. John H. Rouse. The new church Avas enlarged and received the addition of a spire about twenty-five years later. The old church edifice is kept in good repair, as a time honored relic, and is regularly opened for public services in the latter part of each summer. In 1829 St. Paul's had forty- three communicants, in 1900 one hundred and ninety-eight. In the parish of St. Michael's, Bristol, during the rectorship of the Rev. John Bristed, in 1834, a handsome Gothic church of wood was erected. During the same pastorate there Avas a season of unusual spiritual interest with an addition of more than one hundred com- la 178 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. municants to the church as a result. In 1858 the church was burned, and during the following year the present substantial structure of brown stone was erected. It is a most honorable fact in the history of St. Michael's that it has contributed three bishops to the Church, and a number of clergymen too large to enumerate. At one time, in 1880, there were said to be twelve living ministers connected with the parish and there are, probably, not less at the present time. In 1829 St. Michael's had one hundred and sixty-two communicants, and in 1900 four hundred and thirty. St. John's Parish, ProAddence, the fourth of the colonial churches, passed the earlier portion of the period Ave are considering under the faithful and fruitful pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Crocker, already aUud ed to as its rector for more than twenty years previous to 1829. Dr. Crocker survived until 1865, when he died on October 19th at the age of eighty-five, having been rector of the parish for over fifty-eight years and being the senior presbyter in the United States. The whole term of his serAdce with the parish was sixty years, inasmuch as before his rectorship he had ministered in it temporarily in parts of 1802, 1803 and 1804. He was succeeded by the Rev. Richard B. Duane, D. D., a man of consecrated and delightful spirit, during whose rector ship the church edifice was much enlarged and the rectory built. The Rev. C. A. L. Richards, D. D., has just closed a long and useful pastor ate at St. John's and been elected its rector emeritus. During the last few years of his rectorship a spacious and handsome parish house has been erected to accommodate the growing activities of the church and extensive improv€;ments have been made in the sacred edifice itself. In 1829 the communicants of St. John's Church numbered one hun dred and sixty, and in 1900 four hundred. The General History of the Diocese from 1829 to 1900.— The general history of the Diocese at this period shows us Bishop Griswold, passing the thirteen closing years of his life, from 1830 to 1843, at Salem, Massachusetts, and in Boston, but continuing as faithful in his Epis copal ministrations in Rhode Island as during his residence Avithin it. When he died in the latter year, in the plape of the four parishes Avhich first greeted him as bishop, there were twenty-one, of which four have become extinct. Where there were not over two hundred com municants at the time of his consecration, there had come to be about twenty-one hundred and tAventy-five. The whole Church throughout the United States mourned Bishop Griswold 's death and not least of all the small Diocese where he passed the first nineteen years of his life as a chief pastor of the flock. Religious Societies. 179 After the decease of the Bishop of the Eastern Diocese, it was felt that the time had come when Rhode Island should enjoy the exclusive serAdces of a bishop. A Special Convention was accordingly called to meet at St. Stephen 's Church, Providence, on April 6, 1843, for the election of such an officer. It consisted of eighty members, of whom twenty-one were clergymen— nearly twelvefold as many as took part in the first Convention, a half century before. The almost unani mous choice fell upon the Rev. John Prentiss KcAvley Henshaw, D. D., rector of St. Peter's Church, Baltimore, Avho Avas accordingly conse- QjVated during the ensuing August. Bishop Henshaw served the Diocese with eminent ability, energy and devotion until his death in 1852. His brief Episcopate Avas a period of enthusiastic home missionary interest and activity, many new points, especialh' in the manufacturing dis tricts of the State, being occupied, at least tentatively ; not less than six, which grew into parishes, surviving to the present day, as perma nent stations of the church. Bishop Henshaw has left upon the Dio cese the impression of a man in earnest. The present venerable bishop of Rhode Island, the Rt. Rev. Thomas March Clark, D. D., Avas elected to that office at a Special Convention, on September 27, 1854, ninety-five members, of whom twenty-four were clergymen, being present. During Bishop Clark's Episcopate the number of parishes in the Diocese has become twice and a fourth as large as at the beginning, and besides nearly twenty new chapels and mission stations exist as a fruit of his labors. In the same time the number of communicants has quintupled. It has been a period of solid growth, not only in numbers but in public estimation, until the Episcopal Church in Rhode Island in its influence and dignity is inferior to no other religious body, in marked contrast to its lament able condition at the close of the Revolutionary War. Another fea ture of the present happy administration has been the marked decline in party spirit and the attainment of a high degree of charity and tranquiUity. On the 6th of December, 1894, there was held, amidst the most impressive surroundings, the Fortieth Anniversary of the consecra tion of Bishop Clark. The only elements marring the pleasure of the occasion were the great feebleness of the aged Diocesan, who was, however, able to be present, and the reflection that of all the twenty- four clergy who participated in the election two score years before, only one, the Rev. Dr. Henshaw, remained connected Avith the Diocese, almost all of them having passed from the earth, notably Dr. Crocker, Dr. Taft, Dr. Crane, Dr. Vail and Dr. M^'aterman. One of the aus- 180 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. picious enterprises of this Episcopate, almost whoUy due to the energy and self-sacrifice of the bishop himself, has been the raising of an Episcopal fund of one hundred and seven thousand dollars, suffi ciently large to make sure that the head of the Diocese Avill always be supported without serving a parish as its rector. Another notable incident has been the presentation to the Diocese, by Mrs. Henry G. Russell, of the noble estate on BroAAm street between Power and Charles Field streets, Providence, to be forever the residence of the Bishop of Rhode Island, with a large fund for its maintenance. In 1897 Bishop Clark, by reason of the infirmities of age, was obliged to ask for the election of a bishop coadjutor, and accordingly at a Special Convention, held at the Church of the Redeemer, in Provi dence, on October 19th of that year, the Rev. WilUam NeUson Mc- Vickar, D. D., was chosen for that office. The Condition of the Episcopal Church at the Opening of the Twentieth Century.— At the opening of the twentieth century the Episcopal Church in Rhode Island embraces fifty-three parishes, four teen other churches and chapels, in which services are held during a portion or the whole of the year, and six mission stations. There are two bishops and sixty-eight other clergy. During the last conven tional year one thousand and sixteen persons were baptized and six hundred and seventy-one confirmed. The marriage service has been used four hundred and fifty-three times, and nine hundred and seven ty-one persons have been buried by the clergy of the Church. There are twelve thousand three hundred and seventy-two communicants and nine thousand eight hundred and eighty-one teachers and scholars in the Sunday Schools. During the year there was contributed for all purposes the sum of $247,748.32, of which the sum of $193,381.46 was for parish purposes. The estimated value of real estate belonging to the Church is $1,- 233,440, and of invested funds $178,853.68. The Episcopal Church in Rhode Island, in common with several other Christian bodies, stands for the Ancient Faith, as contained in the Apostles' Creed, for the acceptance of the Scriptures as the Word of God and of the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and, more distinctively, for Three orders of the Ministry, Bishops, Priests and Deacons, and a ritual form of worship. Perhaps its chief note is Conservatism. It is especially instant in benevolent work, as shown by its institutions of charity— jS^. Mary's Orphanage, the St. Elizabeth Home for Incurailes and Convalescents, and St. Andrew's Industrial School for Boys. It is active in mission work throughout Religious Societies. 181 the State and contributes liberally to support missionaries, in the United States at large and in the foreign field. THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. After the foundation of the Baptist Church and its branches and the Society of Friends in Rhode Island in the middle of the seven teenth century, and that of the Congregational and Episcopal Church es near its close, about a hundred years passed by before any addi tional religious body was introduced permanently into the State. Entirely through the tranquil first portion of the eighteenth century and the stormy second part until almost its very end, these four organ izations stood side by side, in unchallenged possession of the ground. Then entered upon the scene the vigorous young Society, founded by the Apostle of Methodism, John Wesley, in England, earlier in the century. There is something most interesting in the introduction of the Methodist Church into Rhode Island, because of its mode, so diverse from that of its predecessors and so singularly in literal ac cordance with the injunctions of the Master to his disciples, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," "And as ye go, preach, saying, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand". The watchword of early Methodism was " Go ! " Its genius Avas Itinerancy. The system Avas brought hither by an Itinerant, who preached as he went and whose footsteps were marked by a series of Methodist churches which have continued unto this day. The name of this pioneer of "The Gospel according to the Methodists" was Jesse Lee, a man whose soul was all aflame with the love of God and of his feUoAvmen. Mr. Lee was born in Virginia in 1758. When only twenty-one years of age he began to preach and at twenty-six accom panied Asbury on an extensive tour. In 1789 he was sent to New England, where he traveled for six years unceasingly, preaching in private houses, in barns and on the highways, forming new circuits and directing the labors of his assist ants. In September, 1789, he recorded in his Diary : "Thursday 3d, I passed through Stonington and crossed the Pawcatuck into Rhode Island State and went to Mr. Stanton's, who kept the coffee-house in Charlestovm, Washington County". Here or in the vicinity, appar ently on that very day, Mr. Lee delivered what is asserted to be the first Methodist sermon ever preached by an itinerant "in this State. Shortly afterwards he is said to have spoken in East Greenwich and the following year, without question, in Newport, Bristol and Warren. 182 State of Rhode Island and Pro-vidence Plantations. Later Mr. Lee preached in Cranston, Providence and Cumberland, as well as in Wickford. Other distinguished and useful early preachers in the State were Daniel Smith, Bishop Asbury, Lemuel Smith, Bishop Coke and Eze kiel Cooper. It is asserted, on apparently good authority, that Charles Wesley, one of the originators of Methodism along Avith his brother John, once preached in Newport. Ten churches were the fruit of the early zeal of Methodism in its first fifteen years in Rhode Island. Bristol.— The Methodist Church in Bristol claims to be the first of the order formed in this State and the second earliest in New England ; to that at Lynn having been, it would seem, generaUy conceded the honor of being the choir-leader east of New York. It is asserted that George Whitefield preached in Bristol in 1740, but, if so, no out ward result appears to have been produced. There exists in an old letter a curious reference to "Love Feasts" held in the tovsTi as early- as 1787, but by whom and under what auspices is not recorded. When the evangelist already referred to, the Rev. Jesse Lee, was traveling from Newport to Boston, at the beginning of July, 1790, his course lay through Bristol. He does not, however, seem to have contemplated making any tarry there. But a certain Capt. Daniel Gladding had heard of the power and unction, with which he preached the gospel, and in some way coming to suspect that one of two horse men, who were passing out of the north end of the tOAvn, was Lee, was seized with such a desire to hear him that he went in pursuit and actually brought him back. Like Jacob wrestling with the angel at Peniel, he declared, "I vsdll not let thee go, except thou bless me", and as a result there was established one of the strongest and most fruitful churches in Rhode Island. At that visit Mr. Lee preached in the court-house on July 2d. In 1791 he came again to Bristol and preached in a private house where a class of about sixteen was formed, including Capt. Gladding, John Gladding, WilUam Pearse, AUen WardweU, Jonathan Peck, Nathaniel Munro, Sylvester Munro, and WilUam Throope Waldron, the way having, in the mean time, been farther prepared by the labors of the Rev. Menzies Rainor and the Rev. Lemuel Smith, who became in the foUowing year the first regular preacher in the town. These events in 1791 appear to have resulted in the foundation of a church. The First Quarterly Meeting of the society was held in 1792. The first presiding elder to visit the Bristol Church after its formation was the Rev. Ezekiel Cooper, who on Sunday, December 1, 1793, ad ministered for the first time in the town the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Bishop Coke visited Bristol in 1803. Religious Societies. 183 In the earlier days of the Methodist serAdces they Avere held in the court-house, "not", it sounds strange to us now to hear, "without much annoyance from the rabble". But in 1805 the infant parish was able to build, upon a lot conceded to it by the town authorities upon the Common, a plain but comfort able church, with gaUeries on three sides. In 1812 a remarkable revival of religious interest, begun under Bishop GrisAvold in the Episcopal Church, was awakened in the Methodist Church likewise, about one hundred members being as a result added to it, more than four hundred uniting at that season with the connection at large in the State. Again in 1820 another period of spiritual quickening oc curred, when more than two hundred expressed a trust that they had been converted. Indeed periodic seasons of powerful religious revival have been, throughout its history, characteristic of the Bristol Church, many of the most eminent and worthy of the preachers of the order having ministered at its altar. But in 1832 there occurred an event which crippled the organization for years. The minister, for the time being, was tried for the crime of murder. In 1856 the Bristol Church completed and dedicated its present large and handsome house of worship, vsdth a spire that is visible over all parts of Narragansett Bay. When the church was formed in 1791 it consisted of eighteen members. In 1880 there were three hundred and twenty-seven, with three hundred and ten persons in the Sunday School. In 1900 the number of members was two hundred and twenty- one. Beside the preachers, who have served in Bristol already men tioned, there should not be forgotten the Rev. Joseph Snelling, about 1800 ; the Rev. Asa Kent, at the time of the Revival of 1812 ; the Rev. Thomas W. Tucker at the time of that of 1820, who found the church comparatively weak and left it strong; and the Rev. Isaac Bonney, who five times was stationed here. The famous "Father Taylor", the eccentric but devoted "Sailor Preacher"', ministered in Bristol in 1826. Warren.— It must be recorded at the outset that the Methodist Church in Warren, like that at Bristol, lays claim with considerable reason to being the first society of that denomination formed Avithin this State and therefore the "mother church" of the order in Rhode Island. Indeed it regards itself, also, as the earliest organization -within the bounds of the New England Southern Conference. The first Methodist service in Warren was held in a private house in 1789 by the Rev. Lemuel Smith. In the summer of 1790 the Rev. Jesse IJee, on his way from Newport and Bristol to Boston, preached at Warren, repeating his visit several times during the following years. 184 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In 1791, whether under the inspiration of Mr. Lee or of the Rev. Ezekiel Cooper cannot now be ascertained, there was formed the Warren Methodist Society, with twelve or fourteen members, the majority of them having been Free Will Baptists worshiping formerly in Rehoboth. On September 24, 1794, Jesse Lee dedicated for the parish its new house of worship, the first building of the kind in Rhode Island and the third in New England, the other two having been built at Redding, Connecticut, and at Lynn, Massachusetts. Some idea of the vigor of this young church may be gained from the statement that after an existence of nine years it possessed, in 1800, one hundred and twenty-three members. Then followed a period of depression, during which the hope of its continued existence caused great searchings of heart. But from this trial the Warren Church emerged in triumph and, with occasional times of adversity, has re mained generally prosperous and always beneficent in its infiuence to the present day. The dignified church edifice is one of the most spacious belonging to the order in Rhode Island, holding easily one thousand people. The time is within the memory of worshipers now living when this edifice used to be filled. But the town, in common with many other manufacturing places, has seen its native inhabitants to a considerable degree supplanted by those of foreign birth, attached to a different form of religion, and the Methodist Church of Warren has been in consequence somewhat depleted, while still nobly sustain ing its ancient traditions. Like the other Rhode Island churches of the connection, it has en joyed the services of many godly and able ministers, whose labors have been blessed with gracious out-pourings of the Holy Spirit. In 1897 the number of members was one hundred and sixty-two, and it continued at substantially that point up to 1900. East Greenwich.— There seems little doubt that the church in this town is entitled to the third place in order of organization among those in Rhode Island. Although Jesse Lee is believed to have preached here in 1789, East Greenwich does not appear upon the list of circuit appointments until 1792, when the Rev. Lemuel Smith was the pastor. Seven ladies composed the first class, among AA'hom were Mrs. Ruth Mumford, Mrs. Joseph Greene and Mrs. James Sweet. In 1797 and 1799 and for several years afterwards East GreenAvich was connected with the Warren Church, the circuit being visited in 1800 by Bishop Asbury and Richard Whatcoat. In 1822, when Lewis Bates and John E. Risley were the circuit preachers, the church enjoyed a revival Avith Religious Societies. 185 an addition of some forty, who professed conversion. Up to about 1831 the Methodists of East Greenwich had no place of Avorship except the court-house, but at that date they felt able to erect a building, which still stands upon the Main street of the village, although re peatedly enlarged and improved. The original trustees Avere Oliver Wickes, Daniel Greene, Ezra Pollard, Robert B. Hall, Thomas G. Allen, P. J. Hill and David W. Hunt. Soon after the erection of the church an extensive revival Avas enjoyed, and in 1850 and 1851, during the pastorate of the Rev. Richard Livesey, one hundred and twenty were gathered into the fold, the interest, with large additions, contin uing through the following two years under the ministrations of the Rev. William Cone. The number of members in 1897 Avas one hun dred and thirty, little change having occurred since. The East Greenwich parish has always possessed an added promi nence from the presence in the town of the Conference Academy, to which farther allusion will be made below. This fact has caused some of the most acceptable preachers to be stationed here and the congre gations, during the sessions of the school, are naturally much larger than the ordinary reports of membership would indicate. The church music, also, has generally been exceptionaUy good, by reason of the aid coming from teachers and pupils of the academy. Portsmouth.— Although there is no record of the preaching of Jesse Lee at Portsmouth on his journey through Rhode Island in 1790, yet the speedy estabUshment of a Methodist church there may well have been one of the results of his earnest setting forth of the gospel in the neighboring city of Newport and, in any case, he must have passed directly by the spot where the house of worship now stands. In the first tAVO or three years of its existence as a preaching station Portsmouth was a part of the "Providence Circuit", it being claimed that services were held there as early as 1791 or even 1790. It was in 1792 that it first appears upon the list of appointments, with the weU-known Rev. Lemuel Smith as the preacher. A Methodist society was formed in the year 1793, the house of Mat thew Cook, who, with his wife, was one of the organizing members, being used as the place of assemblage. Soon Bishop Asbury, Jesse Lee, John Chalmers and Zadok Priest were numbered among the occa sional preachers in Portsmouth and the people began to feel the need of a church. The first house of AA'^orship was a building altered about 1798 from an unfinished dwelling-house. In 1838 the prosperity of the society was such that a larger church was needed and the present neat and appropriate structure, lately enlarged and improved, was 186 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. erected. As is the case, perhaps, more commonly in the Methodist Denomination than in others, by reason of the periodic large additions through revivals Avith intervening seasons of comparative spiritual in action, this church has been subject to great changes in its interest and membership. But it was never larger than in the closing portion of the nineteenth century, after an existence of more than a hundred years, and its future seems promising. In 1900 there Avere seventy- four members reported, with one hundred and seven teachers and scholars in the Sunday School. Phenix.— The beginnings of Methodism in this vicinity are among the most engaging of the chronicles of the order. As St. Paul, in sending his greetings to the Roman Christians, PrisciUa and Aquila, speaks of "The church that is in their house", so at first the church in the Valley of the Pawtuxet was confined to a single devout family. Gen. Christopher Lippitt, whose attention had been turned during his service in the Revolutionary War to the spirituality and en thusiasm of the Methodists by his brother in Ncav York, made his house in Cranston a center of hospitality for all the preachers of the order who passed that Avay. As early as the autumn of 1791 Jesse Lee was led to the house of General Lippitt and preached to him and his family, from this time on the place being one of the best knoAvn homes of traveling ministers, Bishop Asbury speaking of the General as one who kept "an open house for Methodists". P. G. Garretson, Daniel Smith and "Black Harry" were others who were gladly entertained there. In 1794 Mr. Lee again visited General Lippitt 's and found Mrs. Lippitt and her daughter inquiring the way of salvation, having been awakened by one of his previous sermons. At that time a class was formed, a few from outside having become inter ested, and the three Lippitts all became members. In 1800 the General built a chapel for the use of the Methodists upon his own estate, it becoming a favorite place for the holding of Quarterly Meetings. Sometimes at such gatherings Mrs. Lippitt is known to have lodged as many as thirty guests in her spacious mansion. At one time in 1802 Bishop Asbury and Richard Whatcoat ordained in that little chapel several preachers. On Sundays, when no minister could be procured to hold the ser vices. General Lippitt himself led the congregation in its devotions and read a sermon, generally from those of John Wesley. So pro found was his reverence for sacred places that he was accustomed, before entering the desk, on such occasions, carefully to remove his boots, in literal accordance Avith the angel's injunction to Moses at Religious Societies. 187 Horeb, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground ' '. With his long white hair and silvery beard and his deeply devout maimer, the venerable man looked in the eyes of the listeners like one of the Old Testament prophets. As population increased in the Valley, ser-vices began to be held in some of the villages, where more people could be gathered than at General Lippitt 's chapel. In passing through Lippitt and Phenix, in 1813, Bishop Asbury exclaimed, at the sight of the numerous houses, "What a population and what a good place to preach Christ!" In 1824 a class was formed at Lippitt and in 1830 the first Quarterly Conference was held there, a Sunday School being organized in the following year. In 1839 a Quarterly Conference Avas held in Phenix. In 1842 a board of trustees was organized, with Daniel Greene, Elisha Harris and Nathaniel Arnold as the officers. An old ' ' Six-Principle Baptist ' ' house of worship at Phenix, knoAvn as the "Tatem Meeting-House", from the name of an early pastor, was procured and used by the Meth odists for several years. At length, in 1859, the present very tasteful and commodious structure was built. In the years between 1870 and 1880 the Methodist Church in Phenix attained its highest prosperity, attendance somewhat declining since, on account of the substitution of a larger foreign element for the original American population. As lately as 1897 great improvements were made in the edifice. The church has enjoyed frequent seasons of revival. In 1900 it had one hundred and twenty-five members. Wickford.— The history of the Methodist Church in Wickford embraces an early period of considerable activity and the so far brief duration of a recent organization, separated from the former by years of apparent suspension of Adtality. As we have already noted, Jesse Lee preached in the viUage in 1793. Peter PhiUips, chancing to be in Bristol, heard Mr. Lee preach and was so delighted with him that, although himself one of the principal patrons of the Narragansett Episcopal Church, he invited him to Adsit Wickford. Mr. PhiUips 's house was the handsomest one in the village at that time, fronting the Avater and being surrounded by well-kept grounds. It was here that the first Methodist sermon was delivered. The eccentric Lorenzo Dow also preached in Wickford for a number of times at that early period. In 1794 a class Avas formed and from that time for several years there Avere regular appointments for the viUage as a part of the Warwick Circuit. In 1815, among a number of other converts, a young man named Gideon S. Hunt, about twenty- 188 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. five years of age, became a devout Christian and continued as a class- leader for nearly fifty years, coming to be called "Father Hunt". He and other earnest members, often for long periods without any public services, kept the lamp burning through many otherwise dark days of feebleness and struggle for existence. In 1882 fresh life came into the society. A new class was formed and hired a little store where services were maintained whenever a preacher could be secured. The church at one time had only nine members, but in 1884, under the ministrations of the Rev. J. E. Fischer, thirty-five additions were made. Thereafter a haU was occupied for worship until in January, 1886, a neat and convenient new building of its own was dedicated and occupied by the society. By 1897 the membership had risen to ninety-five. In 1900 it was eighty. Chestnut Street, Providence.— The first Methodist sermon in Provi dence is said to have been preached by Freeborn Garretson in 1787. At intervals other distinguished preachers, such as Bishop Asbury, Dr. Coke and Jesse Lee, visited the town and a class was formed in 1798. Prom 1792 Lemuel Smith and other circuit preachers served the embryotic church, but it was not until more than a score of years had passed that a fuller organization was attained under the inspira tion of the Rev. Van Rensselaer Osborn. Mr. Osborn, chancing to be passing through the town, was invited to preach to the handful of Methodists who met in a school-house on Middle street, doing it with so much power that an ardent revival followed. He immediately resigned his charge in Massachusetts and began regular services in Providence on September 14, 1815. In the foUowing year, as a result of Mr. Osborn 's zeal, a small house of worship Avas built, on the southeast corner of Aborn and Washing ton streets, and dedicated on the 1st of June. So rapid was the growth of the society that in five years the corner-stone of a new church was laid on the corner of Chestnut and Clifford streets, it being dedicated January 1, 1822. Thus was begun the honored Chestnut Street Church, which has become the mother of many others and has long remained one of the strongest Methodist societies in New England, with a membership in 1886 of four hundred. Frequently the meetings of the Conference have been held vsdth this church and several times the building has been altered and beautified. Marked revivals have occurred under the ministries of Otheman, Merrill, Patten, Allen and Goodell, and the church has enjoyed the services of such other distinguished preach ers as A. D. Sargent, A. D. MerriU and Mark Trafton. Religious Societies. 189 Among the well-known Providence families which have been identi fied with the Chestnut Street Church are the Lewises, the Fields, the Wardwells, the Anthonys, the Snows, the Potters and the Manchesters. It cannot but be a matter of regret that, after such a noble career, it should have been found expedient, in 1898, that this old society should be merged with that of the far newer Trinity Church, the two hence forth to be known as Trinity Union. But the removal of many of the members to the western part of the city and the surrender of the vicinity of the old site to trade and manufactures seemed to compel such a change. Nor can there be any doubt that a most useful and even brilUant career is opening before it in its new form. Arnold's Mills.— As in so many other cases, the first impulse towards this church was given by that chosen instrument of the Holy Spirit, Jesse Lee. In 1791 an inhabitant of the town of Cumberland, named Hathaway, attended a camp-meeting in Massachusetts and was so fascinated by a sermon of Mr. Lee's that he straightway invited him to cross the State line and preach in his house near the site of Arnold's Mills. In 1799 there was there a society sufficiently formed to be received into the Warren Circuit. Some of the itinerants who visited Cumberland in those days of smaU things were Joshua Hall, Thomas Norris, Van Rensselaer Osborn and Joshua Soule. For many years services had to be maintained in private houses, especially that of a Free WiU Baptist, Deacon Bishop, in a vacant Baptist church and in a school house. In 1827 the present house of worship was dedicated and twice since, after extensive repairs, it has been rededicated. Among those active in promoting the building of the church were the Walcotts, the Arnolds, WilUam Sweetland and Columbia Tingley. Prom 1827 there has been a series of regular pastors, numbering not less than forty, and much activity, both spirit ual and material, has been maintained. In 1900 there were eighty members. Newport, First Church.— In 1790 Jesse Lee preached in Newport and gained a respectful hearing, no immediate outward result, how ever, being apparent. A little later the town was included in Green Avich Circuit and afterwards in that of Warren, formed in 1794. In 1800 Joshua Hall preached in Newport and organized the first class. The real beginning of the Newport Church was in 1805, when the Rev. Reuben Hubbard came from Boston and preached in the First Baptist Church and later in the State House. So great was the interest awakened by Mr. Hubbard that a church edifice, the one still in use, was built in 1806 and dedicated in 1807. . It was the first 190 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Methodist meeting-house in America to be furnished with a tower and bell, the fact exciting many searchings of heart. Bishop Asbury is said to have prophesied grave disaster as a retribution for introducing such novelties. But the tower still stands in its original form and the church, after nearly a century, remains vigorous and hopeful. Among the laymen prominent in the earlier history of the society were the Hon. Dutee J. Pearce, Jeremiah Hazard, John Allan, John C. Braman, William R. Pitman, J. C. PoweU and Benjamin Mumford. In 1827 the Sunday School was organized and in 1829 the Rev. James Porter, subsequently distinguished as a writer and preacher, became pastor. The pastorate of the Rev. Joel Knight in 1842 was marked by a potent revival, the number of members of the church rising above three hundred. In 1843-4 the pastor was the Rev. Robert M. Hatfield, who became such a favorite and eminent preacher and who was or dained at the time of the Annual Conference of 1844, held in the Newport Church. In 1856, while the Rev. Dr. Upham was ministering to the society, a mission was founded which has since developed into the robust and healthy Thames Street Church, a sketch of which appears below. After a somewhat disastrous fire in 1881, the First church was thor oughly rebuilt and adorned, it being reopened in the following year, during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Whedon. One of the pecuUar arrangements of this parish is the leasing of the seats of the church at a uniform rate of one dollar each, thus removing the distinctions of pecuniary ability from the house of God. The present number of members is two hundred and thirty. C ent reville.— All that can be confidently asserted concerning the date of the origin of this church is that it was sometime previously to 1806. A private record describes a quarterly meeting held in Sep tember of that year in Centreville, showing that a society had been already established. This record was made by LoatwcU Spalding, whose family has continued prominent in this parish, and is carefully preserved among the papers of the church. It shows that Thomas Branch and Mr. Smith were present at the quarterly meeting as preachers, eight persons being baptized. So excited was the meet ing held on Sunday evening, on this occasion, that the authorities sent a warning that unless a greater quiet were preserved the school- house where it was held would have to be vacated. WarAvick Circuit, on which the CentreviUe society was situated, was very large, extend ing from Wickford to Plainfield, Connecticut, and embracing thirteen Religious Societies. 191 places. In 1824 the Rev. Moses Fifield removed to Centreville and inunediately took a deep interest in the affairs of the Methodist church. In 1831, largely through his leadership, the edifice still standing was completed, the services, up to that time, having been held in a school house. On August 5th, of that year, the society Avas incorporated under the rather peculiar title of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Proprie tors' Meeting-House in Centreville, Rhode Island. In 1853 the church became a station by itself, faUing out of the circuit. From 1810 to the present time there have been regular preachers at Centreville, but while it was on the circuit they came at long interA^als, and for more than thirty years Mr. Fifield preached, AAdthout remuneration, much more frequently than the pastor, Avith great acceptability. From time to time large sums have been spent upon the improvement of the church and there has been a good degree of prosperity. The member ship in 1900 was one hundred and twenty-six. This completes the list of the ten churches which were formed in the early days, AA^hen the first wave of Methodism swept over New England. It was about fifteen years before another, at least one that has been preserved to the present time, was established, the initial im petus and what may be styled the spiritual romance of the system hav ing somewhat passed away. In the last eighty years many new socie ties have been organized, all of them interesting in their origin and his tory, and many of them among the largest and most important in the State, but there is space only to allude to a few of them in passing. The Little Compton Church was the first to mark the revived activ ity in the extension of the system. It began to have stated preaching services in 1820 and was really a branch of the First Church at Ncav- port, the interest having been carried thence by Mr. Lemuel Sisson. He settled in Little Compton in 1816 and dwelt there with his wife and eleven children, forming a good-sized congregation in themselves, when, at long intervals during the first four years, the pastor of Newport came over and ministered to this devoted Christian house hold, although ahvays joined by enthusiastic friends and neighbors. Their first regular minister was the Rev. Daniel Dorchester, who was stationed at Portsmouth. The earliest quarterly meeting was held in September, 1821. Such has been the growth of the society that three church edifices have been built for it, the last one at a large cost for such a rural point, in 1872. In 1900 there were seventy-three members. The Little Compton Church enjoys the distinction of being the only one in Rhode Island belonging to the New Bedford District. 192 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The First Church at Pawtucket had its beginning in a class formed in 1822, its first preacher being the Rev. Onesiphorus Robbins, who took charge in 1827. The distinguished Robert M. Hatfield was stationed at Pawtucket in 1841-2 and a second church edifice was built under his pastorate, the first one having been erected in 1830. The third and present expensive building was raised in 1894, when the Rev. P. M. Vinton was pastor. In 1886 there were two hundred and fifty-six members, in 1900 three hundred and eleven. The Hope Street Church (first known as the Power Street), was organized in Providence in 1834, being the second Methodist society in the city. Daniel Field, Hezekiah Anthony, Levi Webster and the four Captains HaU were among the first promoters of a Methodist church on the east side. In 1874 the new church was dedicated on Hope street, just forty years from the dedication of the first one at the corner of South Main and Powder streets. This society has been sub ject to unusual fiuctuations of prosperity, sometimes being encour aged and sometimes being greatly depressed. In 1900 it had one hundred and forty-five members, Avith a fine Sunday School of two hundred and eight teachers and scholars. The Woonsocket Church began to have regular preachers in 1834, but was probably supplied with services somewhat previously to that time from a Massachusetts circuit. The edifice Avas built in 1836-7. The membership in 1900 Avas one hundred and sixty-three, the Sunday School embracing two hundred and twenty-eight members. Grace Church, Westerly, lies in the line of Jesse Lee's famous first visit to Rhode Island in 1789 and may haA^e been connected with his first sermon at CharlestoAvn, near by, in some dim, traditional way. But its known existence dates from its organization in 1847. Por many years its place of meeting Avas the old Union meeting-house and different halls, the society being very feeble, but in 1873 a new build ing of its own began to be used, it not being completed until 1881. Since that time the church has become very prosperous, Avith a large congregation and, in 1900, Iavo hundred and thirty-five members. Westerly, with three other small churches in the northAvestern part of the State, belongs to Norwich District. The Mathewson Street Church was the third society to be formed in Providence, in 1848, the first membership being made up mainly from persons transferred from the other tAvo parishes. The services began in Hoppin Hall, on AYestminster street, the Rev. Robert AUyn, from East Greenwich Seminary, being the first preacher. Prom the Religious Societies. 193 beginning, the new enterprise was favored in a marked degree. On May 28, 1851, a handsome church edifice Avas dedicated for the parish on Mathewson street, the first pastor in the new building being the ever welcome Robert M. Hatfield, multitudes attending his ministra tions. At least four of the later Methqdist churches in Providence have been indebted for their origin or effective nursing care to the generosity and missionary spirit of this noble organization. Under the pastorate of Dr. Whedon, in 1873, the church celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. In 1897 the first edifice Avas replaced by a costiy and elegant new stone building, erected upon the institutional plan and embracing parlors, gymnasium, reception rooms and vestry, as well as a spacious and imposing auditorium. The front forms a new departure in ecclesiastical architecture, resembling a chaste and tasteful Renaissance business building, rather than the conventional form of a church. It is pleasant to see signs that the inner house, as well as the outer tabernacle of this church, is being richly renewed. The membership in 1900 was three hundred and eighty-eight. The Thames Street Church, Newport, began, as has been noted above, vnth efforts of the First Church in the southern part of the city. In 1854 services were held in an old school-house and a vacant store. In 1855 a minister was sent to labor in the region and in the following year a new church was organized by twenty-seven members of the old parish. In 1865 a building was erected and dedicated. The society has enjoyed the ministrations of several of the ablest Methodist clergy men in the Conference and has prospered accordingly. In 1900 it had one hundred and eighty-three members. Even this very partial list of the Methodist churches of Rhode Island would be quite incomplete vsdthout a reference to Trinity Union Church, Providence. The first movement towards the forma tion of this parish Avas made in January, 1859, the services being con tinued for three months, with ever increasing interest, under the charge of the able Rev. Dr. McKeown. At the end of that time a church was organized vsdth the Rev. WilUam McDonald as the first pastor. In May, 1865, a new church edifice was dedicated in a com manding location on Trinity Square, the number of members quickly becoming the largest in the State. In 1898 it was found expedient, as has been already noted, for the old Chestnut Street Church to remove from its long estabUshed site and become consolidated with this parish, under the title of the Trinity Union Church, there being thus opened before the combined organization a prospect of enlarged prosperity and usefulness to which it Avould be difficult to assign any 13 194 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. limits. With the united zeal of the two bodies and the massing of their ample resources, such a work for God can be accompUshed as has seldom fallen to the lot of a society in Providence. In 1900, after a revision of the list of members, the number was seven hundred and seventy. Even with this consolidation the Methodist churches in the city numbered eleven at the close of the nineteenth century, in the place of the single one of the first third of the century, and two thousand six hundrd and forty-seven members, where there were only about thirty in the early days, twelve communicants only being present at the first celebration of the Lord's Supper in Providence by a Metho dist minister, the Rev. John Finnegan, August 22, 1801. The State of Rhode Island, at the close of the nineteenth century, contains forty-one Methodist churches, with five thousand eight hun dred and ninety-six members. The Characteristics of the Methodists.— Methodism in this State, as well as elsewhere, has always represented, in an emphatic manner, the joyous and wakeful elements of the Christian religion. It might be said to have sung itself into the hearts of great multitudes of peo ple. It has made the largest use of any body of the Revival System and has been most successful where the revivals have been most con tinuous, the alleged evil of the plan consisting, of course, not in the revival but in the reaction. In many forms of good works the Methodist church has been pre eminent. Its care for the support of its superannuated and infirm clergy is a model for other denominations, not always imitated. In consistency with its vsdde-awake spirit, it has been most active in re spect to church extension, the strong upholding the weak and the old parishes gladly conceding the claims upon them of the young and struggling stations. Flourishing missions are maintained among the Swedes in Provi dence, Newport and Pontiac. An interesting form of work has been lately entered upon in Providence under the name of the Deaconess Home. The Methodists pay particular attention, also, to the promo tion of the cause of Temperance. The faithful women of the church are, as a rule, much more promi nent in their organizations than in most Christian bodies, it not being uncommon for them to assume the superintendency of Sunday schools and the presidency of mixed societies. There is, also, in this connec tion, a commendable zeal for home and foreign missions. One of the hopeful signs of the times, promising great things for the future of Religious Societies. 195 the Church, is the general introduction of branches of the Epworth League, with their large membership made up of the brightest and most devoted young men and women of the Church. Nor is the social element in abeyance, the Providence Methodist Social Union being effective in bringing together many of the members of the Denomina tion around the festive board three or four times a year. The relig ious instructor at the State Institutions, at Cranston, is a Methodist, the Rev. J. H. Nutting. Since 1841 the East Greenivich Academy (founded in 1802 as the Kent Academy) has been the property of the Methodists and has done an excellent work in educating both sexes, at rates within the reach of aU. Its alumni list contains many honored names of those prominent in church and state. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. The Rev. Dr. Mather, of Boston, speaking of Rhode Island nearly two hundred years ago, in the charitable way so characteristic of the Puritans of "the Bay", declared: "It has been a Colluvies of Antinomians, Pamilists, Anabaptists, Antisabbatarians, Arminians, Socinians, Quakers, Ranters, everything in the world but Roman Catholics and true Christians". How astonished would the good doctor have been to be permitted to look forward to the present time and see Roman Catholics, of whom there were none in his day, in Rhode Island, or, indeed, for a century later, now numbering from one hun dred thousand to two hundred thousand in the State and amounting to at least double the number of any other Christian body. The Beginning of the Church. — The beginning of the Roman Cath olic Church in Rhode Island centers around the attractive and pic turesque figure of Bishop Cheverus. He was a French ecclesiastic, who, in 1795, at the age of twenty-seven, joined the Roman Catholic Mission in Boston, Massachusetts, and was in 1808 appointed its first bishop. After Bishop Cheverus had lived in that city for nearly thirty years, King Louis XVIII recalled him to France and named him in 1823 to the Bishopric of Montauban. In 1826 he became the archbishop of Bordeaux and a peer of Prance. In 1836, the year of his death, Cheverus was elevated to the Cardinalate. It was this prelate, destined to become so distinguished, who was the first, so far as is known, to minister to Roman Catholic residents of Rhode Island. There were a few French families of that faith per manently fixed in Bristol in the early part of the nineteenth century. 196 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. To them Bishop Cheverus came, first in 1811, in company vsdth the Rev. Dr. Matignon, a French missionary also liAdng in Boston, to celebrate mass for them and baptize their children, the visit being once or more repeated. It was on the occasion of one of these missionary journeys to Bristol that Bishop Griswold, at that time rector of St. Michael's Episcopal Church in the town, cordially invited the Bishop of Boston to preach to his congregation in the parish church, on a Sunday afternoon, an iuAdtation which the latter as cordially accepted. Notice having been duly given, a large number assembled and were exceedingly edified and gratified by the excellent gospel sermon of the French prelate, as he stood in the pulpit, not commanding in stature but highly winning and dignified in mien. Indeed Bishop Cheverus and Bishop Griswold were men, in many respects, of a like sweet and humble spirit, both abounding in charitable words and works. No doubt a peculiarly beneficent influence was exerted in the toAvn by ministrations conceived and carried out in such devoutness and simplicity of heart. At the same period, but a couple of years later than the flrst visit of these faithful missionaries in Bristol, the two, in 1813, came also to Providence on a like service. When, in that same year, the Rev. Dr. Benedict wrote his History of the Ba.ptists and enumerated the eighty-five to ninety religious societies then existing in Rhode Island, the name of the Roman Catholics did not appear among them. What there were of the adherents of this church in the State Avere still too inconspicuous and too destitute of any organization to attract the attention of the histo rian. But yet at almost that very hour the apostolic Bishop of Boston was offering the Bread of Life, after the traditional forms of his ancient church, to a little colony of Roman Catholics in the tOAvn of Roger Williams. Prom 1813 onward for a decade, likewise, these two pastors contin ued to visit at intervals their ' ' few sheep in the wilderness ' ', in Provi dence. Not in some stately edifice, like the present SS. Peter and Paul, on Cathedral Square, were these primary services solem nized. It was only in an old school house of wood, in Sheldon street, that they began. But even that plain and bare refuge was somehow, presently, denied the bishop, or voluntarUy surrendered by him, for subsequently for years Ave find him celebrating mass only in private houses, in an old poUce station, or at length in the quaint "Tintop Meeting-House", at the corner of Richmond and Pine streets. Religious Societies. 197 The First Pastor of Rhode Island.— In 1820 there had been gained so little advance in numbers that there were said to be, all told, only seven Roman Catholics in Providence. By 1827, however, there had occurred such an improvement, numerically and in respect to courage, that Bishop Fenwick was petitioned to send a priest to minister stead ily in Providence and other towns of Rhode Island, the Rev. Robert D. Woodley, a native of Virginia, being accordingly appointed first pastor of Rhode Island and Connecticut, to officiate in the former State at Providence, Pawtucket, Woonsocket and Newport. What a contrast is this outlook with the aspect of the same territory after less than three-fourths of a century has passed, when, in place of the single lonely missionary for six thousand square miles, there are at least one hundred priests at work in Rhode Island alone. The First Public Service.— It was in April, 1828, that Bishop Fen wick held the first public Roman Catholic service in Providence, by celebrating mass in Mechanic's Hall, preaching and confirming five candidates. This occasion may, therefore, be regarded as the formal presentation of the Church to the inhabitants of Providence, about fifteen years subsequent to the earliest services. The Beginning of the Newport Church. — To Newport must be ac corded the third place, in order, where the services of the Roman Catholic Church were held. In 1825 were begun by the United States government the works of Port Adams, leading to an extensive immigration of laborers who found employment and became residents there. Many of these being attached to the Roman Catholic Church, a priest, soon after the above date, occasionally visited the town to look after their spiritual inter ests. The Rev. Mr. Woodley, mentioned above, Avas the first to organ ize a regular congregation of the church in Newport. In 1828 he purchased, for the accommodation of his people, a school- house, where divine service was maintained for several years, this being said to be the first Roman Catholic church edifice in Rhode Island. In 1833 a subscription for the erection of a spacious and Avell-finished building was opened by the pastor of that date, the Rev. John Corry. By 1836 the new edifice was completed at an expense of about $4,000, the whole sum being contributed by the faithful members at Fort Adams. On the 24th of August, in the succeeding year, the church was dedicated under the title of St. Joseph's, by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Fenwick of Boston, the Rev. Mr. Corry, under whose superintendence it had been built, resigning his charge of the mission on the following day. Mr. Corry was succeeded by the Rev. Constantine Lee. 198 State of Rhode Island and Proa^dence Plantations. In June, 1849, the Roman Catholic population of Newport then numbering about five hundred, the corner-stone of a costly stone church was laid on Spring street, under the name of St. Mary's, the structure proving one of the most beautiful and striking features of the city and being consecrated in 1853. To complete what is to be said about the Church in Newport, it should be noted that, in 1885, the parish of St. Joseph purchased the old Zion Episcopal church, built in 1834 on the State House Parade, and fitted it up for their worship. The Pawtucket Church. — The fourth, point in the State at which Roman Catholic services were instituted appears to have been Pawtucket. After the introduction of cotton manufactures by Samuel Slater and the Wilkinsons a foreign population began naturally to be draAvn to that village. David Wilkinson, a very enlightened and liberal-minded man and one of the chief promoters of St. Paul's, the first Episcopal Church in Pawtucket, recognizing the desirabiUty of a place of wor ship for the operatives of the Roman Catholic faith, presented them a suitable lot for a church. This was built upon in 1828 and the edifice was caUed St. Mary's, the people, for whom it was intended, number ing from one hundred and fifty to two hundred. The first mass in Pawtucket was celebrated by the Rev. Mr. Woodley. The Church of SS. Peter and Paul, Providence. — In the toAvn of Providence, the Roman Catholic population having increased to near three hundred, the resident priest, the Rev. Mr. Corry, who succeeded Mr. Woodley in 1830, soon after that date determined to build a church. The site which he purchased in 1832, under considerable difficulties, was a part of the present cathedral land and extended from High street to Pond street. The price paid for this lot, fifteen hundred doUars, contrasts somewhat strangely Avith the cost of land purchased only some fifteen years later for the addition of two tran septs, twenty-nine thousand dollars. About 1835, when the railways between Boston, Providence and Stonington were constructed, the Roman Catholic population was soon raised to one thousand by the infiux of the army of industry. This was the time selected for the beginning of the building of the Church of SS. Peter and Paul, on the land which had been waiting for three years to be occupied, the structure being made somewhat available for use at the end of 1837. It was not, however, until 1838 that it was fully ready for consecration, on November 4th. Although the church was built of only rough slate stone, covered with cement, it must have seemed beautiful and welcome after the quarter century "J^'. i>^' - y,<<^ ' V „ 0> ss. PETER AND PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, PROVIDENCE. Erected in 1835. The Last Service was Held in this Edifice Sunday, May 5, 1878. Soon After This, it was Demolished to Make Room for the Present Cathedral. 200 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. of waiting since the first visit of Bishop Cheverus. When, a few weeks later, the Christmas services were heralded by the Spanish bell, pre sented by Philip Allen & Son, it must have been felt that little was left to be desired. How imperatively the church was needed was at tested by the fact that during the first ten years there were solemnized in it five hundred and ninety-four marriages, while twenty-two hun dred and fifty-nine baptisms were administered there. St. Patrick's Church, Providence.— The second church in Provi dence was built on State street. Smith's Hill, and dedicated July 3, 1842, by the name of St. Patrick's. It is now the oldest Roman Catholic house of worship in the city and has generally been attended by the wealthiest congregation of that faith. The first pastor was the Rev. WiUiam Wiley. By 1886 the constituents of St. Patrick's Parish numbered about four thousand. The Diocese of Hartford.— During 1844 the Diocese of Hartford, consisting of the States of Rhode Island and Connecticut, was formed, with the Rt. Rev. William Tyler, D. D., as its first bishop. At this date there were said to be five thousand one hundred and eighty Roman Catholics in Rhode Island, three priests and four church edifices. Bishop Tyler chose Providence as his see city, making the church of SS. Peter and Paul his cathedral. His labors and burdens were very heavy, having only six priests to assist him in both States. He died in 1849. At this time adherents of the church in Providence alone attained the number of five thousand. It was at about this period that work was established more securely at several points out side of that city. Warren and Bristol.— The Rev. Michael McCallion was appointed, in 1854, pastor of Warren and Bristol by Bishop O'ReiUy of Hart ford. In Warren a small church had been built some time previously, and supplied by a succession of priests, who had also ministered occa- sionaUy at Bristol, although Avithout any settled congregation. Father McCallion selected Warren as his residence, the church there being the better estabUshed of the tAVO. In 1855 a plain church was built at Bristol, under the title of St. Mary's, since enlarged and beautified at a considerable expense. The Rev. Father C. J. Rogers succeeded his uncle. Father McCallion, in charge of this parish, taking up his residence in the town. In 1874 the Bristol parish became independent of Warren, the latter town now possessing two churches, one of them being devoted exclusively to the French Canadians. South Kingstown.— In South Kingstown there were very few ad herents of the Roman Catholic Church before 1852, Avhen a priest, Religious Societies. 201 Father Tucker, assembled as many as there were at a private house in Peacedale, to be present at the first mass ever celebrated in the town. Subsequently regular Adsits were made there by Father Lanahan of East Greenwich. There was, however, no fixed place of worship in the village until 1854, when a small church was built. In 1860 a disused Baptist meeting-house near by was purchased and refitted for use by the Roman Catholics, under the direction of Father Sherry, Avho came from Westerly to Adsit this congregation. East Greenwich. — In East Greenwich the Church of Our Lady of Mercy was built about 1853 during the pastorate of Father Patrick Lanahan, the same site being occupied at a later date by the present much larger and handsomer edifice. P/iema;.- Services were begun at Phenix, in the town of Warwick, in the same year as at East Greenwich, in a small building called Rock Chapel, built by the Episcopalians. A half dozen years later a larger and more commodious structure was bought of the Baptists. At the present date there are at least six churches in the town of Warwick. Additional Churches in Providence. — But even more rapid was the growth of the church between 1850 and 1860 in Providence than in the country. St. Mary's, Broadway, was opened for Avorship in 1853, with the Rev. John Quinn as pastor. It should be noted, in passing, that the noble new stone church, with its lofty tower, Avas occupied by this parish in 1869. By 1886 it had groAvn to be the largest parish in the city, the congregation numbering eight thousand. The edifice of St. Mary's was consecrated by Bishop Harkins, Trinitv Sunday, June 2, 1901. Another important new parish of this period was St. Joseph's, Hope Street, organized in 1851 by the Rev. James K. O'Reilly. The fine stone church was consecrated in 1853. This church was in 1877 placed by Bishop Hendricken in charge of the Jesuits. In 1886 its congregation was fifty-five hundred. The Parish of the Immaculate Conception was founded in 1857 and that of St. Michael's, Prairie Avenue, in 1859. The Diocese of Providence. — A great change was wrought in the status of the Church in Rhode Island, when, in 1872, it was erected into a Diocese by itself under the name of the Diocese of Providence, with the Rt. Rev. Thomas P. Hendricken as its bishop, his charge embracing twenty churches and thirty-five priests. Bishop Hendricken was a native of Ireland, having been born there in 1827. He had already served as a curate at St. Joseph 's and in the cathedral and was, there- 202- State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. fore, well acquainted with the requirements and capabiUties of the field. In his short episcopate of fourteen years, with his untiring energy and great devotion to his work, he gave an excellent account of himself. In six years after his consecration he had established thir teen new parishes in the Uttle Diocese. During his whole bishopric he more than doubled the number of clergy and formed thirty-five new parishes. At about the time of the close of his career, in 1886, he estimated that in Providence alone, in place of the little handful of seven Roman Catholics in 1820, there had grown to be fifty thou sand, with thirteen churches, twenty-seven priests, five parochial schools, six academies and seven chapels, while in the State there were sixty-five churches and one hundred priests. The Cathedral.— But remarkable as was this record of the result of the unceasing toils of Bishop Hendricken, there can be no doubt that the croAvning achievement of his episcopate Avas the building of the present cathedral. From the very beginning he must have felt the need of a larger and more adequate edifice, such as the increased numbers and ability of his people warranted, and early he shaped his plans in that direction. It was not until Thanksgiving Day, 1878, when the old cathedral had stood for forty years, that the corner-stone of the substitute was laid. Its front, on Cathedral Square, is one hundred and twenty feet in breadth and its length on Fenner street one hun dred and ninety-eight feet, there being in it twenty-five hundred seats. The two massive square towers are one hundred and fifty-six feet in height, the lofty site of the building rendering them visible over a large part of the State. The cathedral is built of brown stone and had cost three hundred and sixteen thousand dollars up to New Year's Day before Bishop Hendricken 's death. There seemed an almost tragic pathos in the time of this event, inasmuch as it occurred on June 11, 1886, within a fortnight of the date when he hoped to reap the fruit of so much effort by seeing the splendid structure conse crated to the worship of Almighty God. Later Churches in Providence.— The churches AA'hich Avere formed after 1859, in Providence, are St. Edward 's, Wanskuck ; St. John the Evangelist's, Atwell's avenue; Church of the Assumption, Elmwood; St. Charles Borromeo 's, for the French, Harrison street ; Holy Name, Jenkins street ; St. Theresa 's, Olneyville ; Our Lady of the Rosary, for the Portuguese, Wickenden street; St. Augustine's, for colored people; St. Boniface's for the Germans; and the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Academy Avenue. Among the institutions connect ed Avith the church, are the Sisters of the Order of Mercy, introduced in Religious Societies. 203 1851 ; the Asylum of St. Aloysius for Orphans ; St. Xavier 's Academy, and St. Mary's Seminary; The Little Sisters of the Poor, Woodlavsm, with a building given by the late Joseph Bannigan at a cost of eighty thousand dollars ; the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Elmhurst ; Order of the Sisters of Charity; the St. Vincent de Paul Society; St. Mary's Academy, Broadway; and St. Joseph's Hospital. The office of the Roman Catholic Church in Rhode Island has been, almost totally, to minister to the vast foreign population and their descendants. Its influence in making them the industrious and orderly citizens they have so largely become entitles it to the high appreciation and respect of the State. At the opening of the twentieth century, the number of Roman Catholic churches in Rhode Island may be given at eighty, of clergy at about one hundred and twenty-four and of members of congregations at 200,000. Bishop Harkins thinks that very nearly half (49 per cent.) of the population of Rhode Island is Roman Catholic. THE LATER FOUNDED AND SMALLER DENOMINATIONS. In addition to the four early introduced Christian bodies, the Bap tists and their branches, the Friends, the Congregationalists, both Orthodox and Unitarian, and the Episcopalians and to the much later founded but extensive ones, the Methodists and Roman Catholics, already treated at length, there are several smaller and more recently organized Denominations, for whose extended history there is not suffi cient space remaining, but which still demand a respectful notice. To these attention will now be given. THE CHRISTIANS. The origin of this body is someAvhat involved in uncertainty. The Rev. Dr. Benedict, in his History of the Baptists, writ ing apparently about 1812, remarks: "In Virginia and the South- em States, there had been a great schism in the Methodist Church. A large party has come off which denominate themselves Christians, ¦ . . and a great number of these Christian people have lately been buried in baptism". This statement indicates that one of the grounds of the schism must have been a difference of conviction upon the suject of Immersion. A little later in his book, in enumerating the religious organizations then existing in Rhode Island, Dr. Bene dict speaks of "A few churches of those who call themselves Chris tians". Of these few then existing we can now identify only one with 204 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. certainty, that at Rice City, in Coventry. It is related that in the year 1813 an itinerant of the Christians, Douglas Parnum by name, visited Coventry and was invited to preach in the gambling-house of a certain "Sam Rice". From this occasion a great revival resulted, Rice himself being among the converts. As a consequence of this movement there was organized the Rice City Church, which stiU con tinues in existence, the event forming the introduction of the Christian Denomination into Rhode Island. The society at Rice City continued for many years a large one, there being several hundred members. In 1900, however, it reported a membership of only seventy-five and was without a pastor. It is probable that several other Christian organizations were formed in the vicinity of Coventry at about the same period, as, for example, perhaps those at Foster Centre and Moosup Valley in Foster and that at Rockland in Scituate. The Foster Center Church re ported sixty-nine members in 1900, and was without a pastor, and that at Moosup Valley fifty-two, it also being without a pastor. The Rockland Church reported in that year a membership of ninety-eight, Avith no pastor. It is likewise probable that societies were early gath ered between 1813 and 1825 through the ministrations of Elder Mark Fernald, a pioneer of the Christian body, in Tiverton and Little Comp ton, where churches of the Denomination are known to have existed but have now disappeared. The earliest Christian church of whose establishment we possess definite information after that at Rice City, was the one organized at Middletown, October 14, 1828, with the Rev. Harvey SulUngs as its first pastor. This society possessed a neat house of worship about three miles from Newport, but appears now to have become invisible, as it makes no reports to the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Confer ence. There was also, at one time, a second church of this order in Middletown, its site being upon the East Road, about three miles from Newport, this since having disappeared. In 1833 there Avas organized at Bristol what was caUed the South Christian Church, with a membership of fourteen and the Rev. Mr. Sullings as its first pastor. After occupying the court-house for its services during the first year, the parish built a respectable and com modious house of Avorship in 1834 on High street, and appeared for a period to flourish. But about twenty-five or thirty years since, the society decided to disband, its edifice being sold for a lodge room. The Broad Street Christian Church, in Providence, was formed in 1834. In 1850 there were two churches of the Denomination in the Religious Societies. 206 city, and it is believed that the one which has disappeared dated back in its origin to a period before the beginning of the present one, but definite information is lacking. The Broad Street Church began with twenty members and had the Rev. Elijah Barrows for its first pastor. It has had a series of excellent pastors, who have met with good success in their work. Its house of worship is a neat structure of wood, built in 1841, and is valued with the lot at twenty-five thousand dollars. In 1900 the church reported one hundred and seventy-one members. The Portsmouth Church was organized on October 16, 1834, the Rev. Salmon Tobey being its first pastor. It occupies as its house of worship a building originally erected in 1821 as a Union meeting house, about six miles from Newport on the East Road. The society still continues prosperous with a regular pastor, and reported in 1900 one hundred and two members. The Westerly Church was established in 1842 or 1843 and has the largest Christian constituency in the State, reporting in 1900 two hundred and seventy-seven members, with a settled pastor and a house valued at fifteen thousand dollars. A church was organized in 1869 at Summit, in the tovsm of Coven try, where the denomination had its rise, with Elder Caleb Tillinghast for its first pastor and a house of worship erected at an earlier date. It did not report in 1900 to the Conference. The Christian body is a flourishing one in Massachusetts, especiaUy in New Bedford, where there are four churches, and in New York State, Ohio and Indiana. THE UNIATERSALISTS. Universalism began to attract attention in America about one hun dred and flfty years since. After the arrival from England in 1770 of the Rev. John Murray, known as the "Father of Universalism in America", the system spread with great rapidity. As Mr. Murray is knoAvn to have preached in some parts of New England and as, in the spring of 1775, he held the office of chaplain of the three Rhode Island regiments at Boston, it may be taken for granted that he proclaimed his belief in this State at an early period. There is evidence, also, of the preaching of the Universalist doctrine in some parts of Rhode Island in the flrst quarter of the nineteenth century by Hosea Ballou, DaAdd Pickering, Thomas Whittemore and others. But it was not until 1821 that the system was promulgated here in an organized form. In the early part of that year was found ed the pioneer organization of the order, the First Universalist Society 206 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. in Providence, the parish very soon entering upon the work of build ing a house for public worship. This edifice, known as the Univer salist Chapel, stood upon a most desirable site at the corner of West minster and Union streets, where the "Boston Store" now stands. After about three years of existence, the chapel was burned, on May 24, 1825, but was replaced before the end of the year by a second, and for the time very handsome structure. At that period the Rev. David Pickering was the pastor of the society. Prom that time until the present the First Universalist parish has maintained a Adgorous and beneficent existence. In the year 1871 its very valuable lot on Westminster street was sold for business purposes and the building of the present large and handsome edifice, on the corner of Greene and Washington streets, was begun, it being completed, at a cost with the land of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, before the close of 1872. Upon the occa sion of the dedication of the structure, on November 17th, the sermon was preached by the Rev. E. H. Capen, D. D., then the pastor, but noAV president of Tuffts College in Massachusetts. The organization of the church, as distinguished from the society, took place in 1823. At the close of the nineteenth century the First Universalist Society in Providence included two hundred and twenty-three families, two hundred and twenty-five church members and a Sunday School of two hundred and fifteen members. The Rev. H. I. Cushman, D. D., is the pastor. The High Street Universalist Society at Pawtucket, now knoAvn as the Church of Our Father, is the second in order of the existing organ izations of this Denomination in Rhode Island. There was occasional preaching in that town by ministers of the order during the first fourth of the nineteenth century, in the "Old Red School House", the "Old Free Baptist Meeting-House", and the "CathoUc Baptist Church", but the First UniversaUst Society was not founded until 1827, when a house of worship was erected by it on High street. The first pastor, in 1827 and 1828, was the Rev. Stephen Cutler. During the pastorate of Mr. Cutler's successor, the Rev. Jacob Frieze, in 1829, financial disasters overtook many of the members, the building erected only two years before was sold to the Baptists and the society, for a time, disbanded. In 1840, however, under the ministrations of the Rev. J. N. Parker, the movement again showed life and in the f oUovsdng year a new house of worship was raised on Exchange street. It was during the pastorate of the late devout, upright, pure-hearted >/£•' f^ff ? - "> FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, PROVIDENCE. From a Photograph Taken in 1866. This Edifice Formerly Occupied THE Lot at the Corner of Westminster and Union Streets, now Occupied BY the "Boston Store." It was Demolished in 1872. 208 State of Rhode Island and Proatedence Plantations. and learned Rev. Massena Goodrich, that the present church on High street was built and dedicated on January 30, 1868. At the close of the nineteenth century ^the parish numbers two hundred and ninety families with two hundred and thirty-five church members and three hundred and eighteen teachers and scholars in its Sunday School. The present pastor, who has been vsdth the society since 1895, is the Rev. E. L. Houghton. The Universalist Church at Woonsocket, which dates from a time previous to 1840, appears to be the third among existing parishes and is the largest one belonging to the denomination in the State. At the close of the nineteenth century it embraces three hundred and seven families, three hundred and fourteen church members and a Sunday School of four hundred and three teachers and scholars. The Rev. Charles J. White, D. D., is the pastor. The Second Universalist Society of Providence is the fourth in the order of formation, it having been organized in 1840, with the Rev. J. N. Parker as pastor or stated supply. The society maintained services in the old "Town House" and in "Mechanic's HaU" for several years. In 1845 it appears to have been reorganized Avith a view to representing an advanced movement towards larger liberty of thought. A little later the Rev. James S. Cook, a young man and a very gifted preacher, became pastor, the society flourishing greatly under his leadership. In 1848 it was determined to build a house of Avorship at the corner of Broad and Eddy streets, the neat brick structure, still standing and used in part by the Union for Christian Work, being the result. This edifice was dedicated April 6, 1849, and continued to be used for about twenty years for public worship. In 1868, under the vigorous pastorate of the Rev. Henry W. Rugg, D. D., the building of a new church was begun on Cranston street, the parish having changed its name to the Church of the Mediator. The new edifice, which is the large and handsome one still used by the parish, was dedicated December 22, 1869, the principle being carried out that there should be no individual proprietorship, the pews being the property of the whole society. The church, being the body constituted by the communicants, was not organized until October, 1849, nearly ten years after the formation of the society, and celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in October, 1899, under inspiring circumstances. The Church of the Mediator closes the nineteenth century with one hundred and seventy-five famihes, two hundred and seventy-two members and a Sunday School of one Religious Societies. 209 hundred and seventy-five teachers and scholars. The Rev. Willard C. Selleck is the present pastor. Several other Universalist societies, organized about the middle of the nineteenth century, survived but a short period. The Year Book of 1854 mentions, in addition to the four well established parishes just enumerated, eight such ephemeral organizations without pastors and, except in a single instance, without any church property. Since that period there appears to have been a more healthy growth with perma nent results, there being now ten societies, aU possessing houses of worship and resident pastors of their own, save that one of the latter serves at two points. The newest of these enterprises is the interest ing young "Ballou Church", on Capitol Hill, ProAddence, possessing a tasteful little edifice of brick, completed in 1898. While no new work looking to the establishment of parishes has been undertaken for several years, yet commendable efforts for the extension of mission Sunday schools and occasional preaching have been made by the Rev. Dr. White, in the Adcinity of Woonsocket, and the Rev. Mr. Eaton, in Burrillville. At the close of the nineteenth century, the UniversaUst Denomina tion in Rhode Island embraces in its ten parishes thirteen hundred and forty-three fanoilies, twelve hundred and twenty-nine members, thirteen hundred and sixty-seven teachers and scholars in eight Sun day Schools and $317,000 in church property. The General Universalist Organizations.— The Rhode Island Uni versaUst Convention was organized in 1838. The Young People's Christian Union is a beneficent instrumentality for enlisting the en thusiasm and vitality of the youthful adherents of the Universalist Church in Christian work. Although the Denomination possesses no educational institution within the State, it is yet proper to point to the excellent Dean Academy, just over the border of Massachusetts, in Franklin, with its noble endowment in land, buildings and money, of three hundred and thirty thousand doUars, as occupying a large place in the hearts of the Rhode Island Universalists and depending con siderably upon their patronage. The general foreign missionary work of the church in Japan has always secured a liberal share in the interest of the Denomination in this State, a single parish, at the outset of the enterprise, making a free-will offering of $1,500 towards the mission. In addition to the honored names of Universalist clergymen uoav passed away, already mentioned, such as Cook and Goodrich, remem brance should be had of the venerable Hon. Latimer W. Ballou, a most 14 210 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. devoted layman, who lately died at Woonsocket at the age of eighty- nine years. The Universalist Church in Rhode Island, although a smaU body, strives to help all who come vsdthin its influence to realize in faith and practice the best type of Christian life. As it faces the new century it studies to have its fuU share in the enlarged work on which the Church of Jesus Christ is now hopefully entering. the PRESBYTERIANS. The Presbyterian Denomination, as distinct from the Congrega tional, with which it used often to be confounded, at least in name, has never been extensively represented in Rhode Island. There are, however, three or four societies belonging to this body in the State. The First Presbyterian Church of Providence was organized in 1872 and built a house of worship on Clifford street in 1875 and 1876. The flrst pastor was the Rev. John Dixon and the membership has reached three hundred or more. There is, also, a Presbyterian Church in Newport. The Presbyterian Church at Narragansett Pier was erected in 1875, the first pastor being the Rev. C. H. Morrill. The attendance is large ly made up of summer visitors at the Pier. There is, also, a United Preshyterian Church in Providence, under stood to be attended by Scottish people or those of Scottish descent. This society occupies a house of worship built in 1848 near the foot of Broadway, at the corner of Hicks street. The church contains two hundred and fifty or more members. THE ADVENTISTS. The Adventists embrace from fifteen to twenty societies in Rhode Island, chiefly small and in the country. They are divided into Evan gelical Adventists, Christian, and Seventh Day. The principal society is the ChurcJi of tlie Yahveh in Providence. It Avas organized in 1850 with the Rev. N. Hervey as first pastor, and had a place of worship on Broad street, uoav Weybosset. Its present edifice Avas dedicated in 1878. This church has attained a membership of nearly, if not quite, four hundred. There are other societies at Bristol, Scituate, War AAdck (tAA'o), West GreenAvich, North KingstoAvn, Hopkinton, South KingstoAvn (tAvo) and Chariest OAvn. The Advent Christians have churches in Providence, Exeter and South Kingstown and the Seventh Day Adventists in South Kingstown and AYesterly. Religious Societies. 211 THE SWEDBNBORGIANS. There are two or three societies of the Swedenborgian or New Jerusalem Church in the State, the most important one being in Providence. The latter was organized in 1839 with the Rev. T. D. Sturdevant as first pastor and only nine members. For many years the congregation worshiped in a tiny but very pretty Gothic chapel, on Pine street, below Richmond street, but in 1870 to 1872 the society built a more commodious house of AVorship on Trinity Square, at the corner of Broad and Linden streets, at a cost of thirty thousand dollars. The membership has arisen above one hundred. A New Jerusalem Church Avas organized in PaAvtucket in 1854 and one at Lippitt, in WarAvick, about the same period, Avorship at the latter having for some years been suspended. OTHER religious SOCIETIES. Several vigorous and flourishing Swedish Lutheran churches have been founded of late years in Providence, East Greenwich, Pontiac and other places, for the use of that very numerous and useful foreign portion of the community. There are also several churches belonging to the African Methodist • Episcopal body, to the Primitive Methodists, and to the Wesley an Methodists. As a matter of historical interest, reference should be made to a church of the Moravians or United Brethren, Avhich used to exist in Newport, it having been constituted there as early as 1758. Previously to this date, some of the brethren had come "two and two", in the Scriptural manner, from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the head quarters of the order, and held occasionally A'ery Avelcome services for the preaching of the Word. The first pastor at NcAvport Avas the Rev. Richard Utley. The sixth pastor, from 1803 to 1819, Avas the Rev. Samuel Towle, a man universally beloved by his oAvn people and by the inhabitants in general of the town. The tenth and last pastor, the Rev. Charles P. Seidel, entered upon his position in 1837. Noav, for many years, the sheep have been Avithout a shepherd and have become scattered or have entered other folds. But the salutary influ ence of this most devout and spiritually minded body still lingers in the community. In the earlier part of the eighteenth century there Avere not less than sixty families of Jews living in NcAvport, the leading ones being those of the names of Lopez and Touro. In 1762 they built a syna gogue, dedicated in the foUoAving year to the God of Abraham Avith great pomp and magniflcence. After enjoying a high degree of pros perity the Jews nearly all left the toAvn during the Revolutionary 212 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. War, which utterly paralyzed the trade of Newport, and the synagogue for many years was closed. A large fund, however, was left by Abra ham Touro, who died in Boston, in 1822, for keeping the building in repair and for the care of the Jewish Cemetery near by. After sixty years of disuse the synagogue was reopened in 1850 with services held on the Jewish Sabbath by an eminent rabbi from New York. Of recent years a large Jewish population has gathered in Provi dence and spacious synagogues have been built for their use on Orms street, Chalkstdne avenue and Friendship street. conclusion. The survey just completed of the various religious bodies of Rhode Island shows with hoAv complete an equipment for its entire evangel ization and reformation the State enters upon the twentieth century. What is needed for the regeneration of the whole population is not, so much, additional machinery as the spirit and energy to evoke the best possible results from that thus seen to be already existing. There are in the State from three hundred and thirty to three hun dred and forty places of Protestant worship AAdth about three hun dred and ninety ordained ministers, fifty-four thousand five hundred members, fifty-one thousand five hundred teachers and scholars in Sunday Schools, and church property to about the value of $5,390,000. In addition, the Roman Catholics have not far from eighty churches, Avith rising one hundred priests and more than one hundred and fifty thousand members of the congregations. Leaving out of view the Roman Catholics, who amply provide for their very large constituency by holding numerous services for differ ent congregations in each church, on Sundays and Festivals, there appears to be a house of worship for about each seven to eight hundred of the Protestant population Avith, probably, in the aggregate, one hundred and fifty thousand seats for the approximately two hundred and fifty thousand people of that class Inasmuch as many aged and infirm persons, invalids and children are not able to attend wor ship, it is likely that the AAJ^hole Protestant population, who can attend, could be fairly accommodated with seats at one time in existing sacred buildings, were they evenly distributed according to the population. Even taking into account the fact that quite a number of these houses of worship are situated in sparsely settled communities and are, therefore, not available for their proportion of the aggregate inhabitants of the State, it is still likely that there are ample seating accommodations for all whom it is practicable to gather at any one hour. There is, then, more need of stirring up the wiUs of the neglect- Religious Societies. 213 ers of religion to recognize the duty of public worship than of mate rially increasing the buildings devoted to the purpose. In comparing the religious atmosphere of the present era with that of colonial times or that of even only a half century ago, great changes will be seen to have intervened. While the ancient, inbred passion for soul-liberty continues, as ever, a peculiar distinction of Rhode Island, and Avhile the complementary attitude of individualism sometimes seems almost to draw in its train a certain refractoriness to due eccle siastical authority and lack of docility under instruction, yet a much lovelier spirit now breathes through the churches than has prevailed in past times. The days of the old Denominationalism, Avith its antipathies and rivalries, are happily numbered. Hardly farther away seem the persecuting ages of Nero and Dio cletian than the period when it was possible for a sturdy Roger Wil liams, while deeply imbued with the spirit of religious freedom, to bait a George Fox AAdth such keen zest for religious controversy and to ' ' dig him out of his burrowes" so gleefully, or when, much later, grave deacons could rejoice in the calamities of less orthodox but still Chris tian neighboring churches and Avorthy pastors could warn their con gregations not to attend during their absence the ministrations of saintly men not of their OAvn name. The Christians of Rhode Island appear to be cordially set on dwelling upon the things which unite them rather than upon those which divide. Although union seems as far away as ever, yet unity has approached with rapid strides and is already before the door. Christian charity is no longer conspicuous by reason of its rarity. The clergy of widely differing names are not averse to meeting together in harmony and discussing questions of public interest with good will. Where, a few years since, the conviction, ' ' I am holier than thou ' ', often forbade those of one denomination to meet as brethren those of another, now the two classes are often found rejoicing together or weeping together in fraternal sympathy. At the great University where, formerly, seldom was a voice heard at chapel worship, except one of a particular religious order, in the latter years those of several different names have been selected to preside for a season over the daily devotions and clergymen of the most different beliefs have been invited to share in the courses of university sermons. Indeed the swing of the ecclesiastical pendulum indicates that the present danger is rather the "Charybdis" of an amiable indifferentism than the old "Seylla" of theological rancor, although most Christians can be trusted to steer the safe middle course. 214 State of Rhode Island and Pro-vidence Plantations. If the present rarity of the unction and devoutness of the fathers is to be deplored, it is a source of genuine congratulation that there Avas never a time when Christianity had so nearly universally perme ated society and Avas so generaUy diffused as it is uoav, when it had produced so orderly, law abiding and philanthropic a tone in the community, or when the prophet with a message was listened to with a more lively eagerness. If, too, it must be acknowledged that public Avorship among Protestants is not attended upon so generally as in the past, yet consolation can to some degree be found in the interest Aisdth which sermons and religious intelligence in newspapers are Avelcomed by increasing multitudes of readers, while books on living religious questions, by authors Avho are themselves aliA^e, meet a ready market. If there may be to-day less religiousness than in the past, it is to be hopefully trusted that there is more religion. Nor are there Avanting signs of a great reaction towards attention to the things pertaining to the life of the Spirit. The closing events of the nine teenth century stimulate the Christians of Rhode Island to nobler achievements in the twentieth, now opening. In the nCAv century things are not to proceed just as they have done in the old one. There is already to be heard, as of old, "the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees", impelling Christians to bestir themselves. If the church at large is to become set upon the evangelization of the whole earth Avithin a generation, the Christians of Rhode Island will awake to the readiness for the harvest of their own home field and to the splendid outfit with which they are supplied for its reduction to the sway of Christ. At the end of the twentieth century the religious condition of this portion of the vineyard AviU no more be like the Avorldly and placid state of the church, now at its beginning, than does the latter resemble the still colder and more unspiritual demoralization of the post-revolutionary period, a hundred years ago. Whether or not the year of our Lord 2000 in Rhode Island, or even some one anterior to that, shall witness the blessed vision of an ideal church in an ideal state, is largely dependent upon the courage and devotion with AA'hich the men of to-day face the problems so thickly pressing for solution. The history of the nearly three hundred years, Avhich we have just been considering, is fraught with inspiration to new endeavors and fresh triumphs. ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^-^ Growth of Public Education. CHAPTER III. GROWTH OF PUBLIC EDUCATION. It is difficult for any person who is f anuliar with the generally satis factory condition of educational facilities in these modem days, to realize under Avhat adverse circumstances our ancestors of a few gen erations back labored to obtain the limited book learning necessary to enable them to meet the requirements of their lives. Advancement from the primitive and inefficient schools of early days has been so rapid and the change so great as to be almost incomprehensible except to the careful student of history. This is especially true in the State of Rhode Island, where by far the greater part of this change has been wrought within little more than half a century. In the early condi tions and later development of her educational system this State dif fered materially from most others in the Union. In comparison with many other States, encouragement and consequent growth of an ade quate educational system, embracing free public schools, was in Rhode Island long postponed; this was due, to some extent, to somewhat peculiar conditions of people and circumstances. But when once the first important steps were taken in the right direction, and the people of the Commonwealth became better informed on the subject and better knew what was required of them, progress was so rapid towards the highest goal as to command admiration throughout New England. Some of the most potent reasons why Rhode Island did not, like Massachusetts and Connecticut, establish a system of public schools soon after the first settlements were made have been clearly set forth by an inteUigent writer^ who had familiarized himself with the subject. He noted, among other facts, the lack of homogeneity in the population of the Colony, its inhabitants resembling, in diversity of character istics, reUgious preferences, business or professional ambition, etc., the settlers of one of the modern Western States. Driven out of Massa chusetts, they looked with hostUe eyes upon everything they had left 'Hon. E. R. Potter. 218 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. behind. There the clergy had always exercised an active control in the government and in all public affairs. Here, on account of the pre vailing opposition to a salaried clergy, the salutary influence that such a body of men Avould have exercised in early years, was to a great ex tent lost. Another cause of delay in establishing public schools was that for nearly a century ' ' Rhode Island could not be said to have any settled government".^ The first settlers of the Narragansett country were compelled to defend themselves from attempts by Connecticut to assert jurisdiction over the region. Some of the inhabitants of this State favored the claim of Connecticut, thus stimulating a sort of civil dis turbance that Avas detrimental to the general good of the Colony, and prevented earnest effort to establish stable institutions, like schools. This condition was prolonged after the Pequod Avar, Avhen both Con necticut and Massachusetts claimed the southwestern part of the State by right of conquest. Such Avas the case, also, after the Indian war of 1676, Avhen Rhode Island Avas made the battleground on which Massachusetts and Connecticut struggled for victory, leaving this State the greatest sufferer. After all of this conflict it Avas not until 1728, nearly a hundred years after the arrival of Roger Williams, that the State boundary was settled as far as related to Narrangansett. At that time great tracts of land in some sections were occupied by squat ters, while the country along the shores of the bay was permanently settled by families Avhose rights had not been disturbed. The western part of the State was settled sloAAdy, the population being, during many years, scattered and unprotected. ' ' It Avould be unreasonable ' ', wrote Mr. Potter, ' ' to expect of a people so situated much progress in the comforts and elegancies of life. Occupied Avith keeping up a friendly intercourse with the natives on the one side, and defending their lives and property from the attacks and machinations of rival colonies, who regarded and treated them as heretics, rebels, or in truders, on the other ; it required all their energies to gain a bare sub sistence. No Avonder, therefore, that they did not establish schools and colleges, and that Ave do not find among them the arts, and the refine ment of manners, Avhich Ave could only expect in the older and more settled state of society." After Roger Williams returned from England in 1654, from a Iavo years' visit, he Avrote as foUows of some of the tasks he set himself AA'hile away: 'E. R. Potter, in Hist, of Pu.Mic Education in R. I., p. :;. Growth op Public Education. 219 "It pleased the Lord to call me for some time, and AAdth some per sons, to practice the Hebrew, the Greek, Latin, French and Dutch. The secretary of the council (Mr. Milton) for my Dutch I read him, read me many more languages. . . I taught tAVO young gentle men, a parliament man's sons, as we teach our children English, by words, phrases, or constant talk." It need scarcely be said that, with such a man at the head of affairs in this Colony, the education of children would have received prompt and earnest attention, had the conditions been different from what they Avere. With a population of only 10,000 at the end of that century, there was not much opportunity, excepting in the larger settlements, for establishing a public school system, even if different conditions had existed. Among the larger settlements Newport took the lead in re spect to schools, as well as in many other directions. Rev. Robert Lenthal, a Church of England minister, left Weymouth, Mass., whither he had been called, and settled in Nevjport, where he assisted Rev. Dr, Clarke in the ministry. He was admitted a freeman August 6, 1640, and within two years from the foundation of the town he established a school, as shown by the following : ' ' And August 20, Mr. Lenthal Avas, by vote, called to keep a public school for the learning of youth, and for his encouragement there was granted to him and his heirs, one hundred acres of land, and four more for an house lot; it was also voted 'that one hundred acres should be laid forth and appropriated for a school, for encouragement of the poorer sort, to train up their youth in learning, and Mr. Robert Len thal, while he continues to teach school, is to have the benefit thereof. ' But this gentleman did not tarry very long ; I find him gone to Eng land the next year but one."^ It is not clearly established that any community in New England can claim an earlier school record than this.'' The school land men tioned in the foregoing record was allotted in what is now Middletown, but in 1661 it Avas changed for a tract afterwards known as Newtown, or school land. In 1663 the tract was ordered divided into lots, " to be sold or loaned on condition that the purchasers should pay to the town treasurer an annual rent to constitute a fund for the schooling and educating of poor children, according to the direction of the town council for the time being, who are hereby empowered to direct, regu late and manage the said charity in behalf of the town, to the best ad vantage, according to the true intent and meaning thereof".' 'Callender's Discourse; Elton's edition, p. 136. ^Hist. of Puhlic Education in R. I., p. 5. ^Barnard's Journal of R. I. Institute of Instruction, iii, 145. 220 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The first school house was in existence in 1685, and was falling into decay in 1700, as shown by an entry in the records of a quarter meet ing, to the effect "that Ebenezer Mann may have some of the lumber that has fallen down about the old school house, to help build his house". A new school house was ordered built on January 31, 1704-5, but the order was revoked in April, and land was granted to Samuel Cranston and others on which to build a school house there. In Oc tober, 1706, additional land Avas granted and ordered to be sold "for finishing the school house in or near the market place in Newport". This building passed to the town, as shown by the following : "At an adjourned quarter meeting, August 18, 1708.— Voated, That the town council of Newport are empowered to take ye school house into their hands, to manage all ye pridential affairs belonging to said house, always reserving to ye quarter meeting in said town ye power of choosing ye school masters for said house, always provided that ye freemen of said town assembled in their quarter meeting have power further to alter or order ye above premises and the . . power always be invested therein." This building was not wholly finished, with its belfry, until April, 1739, after it had long been in use. Besides Robert Lenthal, there were John Jethro and Thomas Fox, who taught early in that century and were paid for their services from the income of the school lands. Thomas Pox, at one period, had a salary of £2, which seems insignifi cant ; but the entire school lands were let for £8. In the records are numerous negotiations with teachers, of Avhich the following may be taken as an example : "Quarter meeting, AprU 17, 1709.— Mr. WilUam Gilbert being chosen schoolmaster for ye town of Newport, and proposing that upon conditions, the quarter meeting grant him of the benefit of the school land, viz., the chamber and sellar and the profit arising from ye school land in this part of the town, and some convenieney for keeping of fire in the winter season, he is vsdlling to teach school for the year ensuing, and to begin the second Monday in May next, voated and allowed an act of the quarter meeting. ' ' On the 4th of October, 1710, the records show that there was favor able sentiment in the community towards higher education in the fol lowing : ' ' The petition of Mr. Gallaway, for the liberty of teaching a latin school in the two little rooms in the school house of this tovsm, is hereby granted. ' ' Growth of Public Education. 221 Slow progress was made during the next tAventy years, and prob ably the requirements of the inhabitants did not demand much exten sion in school facilities. In 1729 there were only two teachers em ployed, at £10 each, ' ' in the Avoods part of the town ' '. This section was subsequently set off to Middletown (1743), after which, for a period, there was only the central school in Newport. The first schoolmaster chosen in annual town meeting was John Callender, on June 3, 1746 ; he was also pastor of the Baptist church and in 1738 delivered a centennial address in commemoration of the first settlement of the town, from which we have quoted. Mr. Callen der was again appointed in 1747, and died in the f oUovsdng January ; he was succeeded by Terence Donally, an Irishman. In 1763 the fol lowing vote Avas passed regarding the school lands : "Voted, That ye monies, arising by sale of said lots and also ye annual quit rents forever, shall be paid to ye town treasurer, for ye time being, and yt ye same shall be a fund for ye schooling and educat ing of poor children, according to ye discretion of ye toAvn council, for ye time being, who are hereby empowered to direct, regulate and man age ye said charity in behalf of said toAvn to ye best advantage, accord ing to ye true intent and meaning thereof. ' ' The town school house was burned in 1774 and during the next half century no school was supported from the income of the school land, thus closing this first experiment at public education in the leading settlement of Rhode Island. The first public action in behalf of schools in Providence took place in 1663, Avhen a land grant was made for the purpose, as fully de scribed further on. Meanw-hile something was accomplished for educa tion in other parts of the Colony. A school Avas established in Barring ton (then a part of Swansea, Mass.) in 1673, "for the teaching of grammar, rhetoric and arithmetic, and the tongues of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and also to teach English and to A\rrite ' '. In Bristol, in 1680, land was granted "for the common improvement, for the en couragement and use of an able orthodox minister, and for the use and encouragement of an able school-master in the town ' '. Whatever other efforts were made in the toAvns to establish schools prior to the Revolu tion are noticed in later pages. A gift of land was made by Samuel Sewall to Harvard College in 1696, to aid in supplying education to the Indians, of Avhom there AA^ere 985 in this Colony in 1730. The negro population was still more numerous, and steps were taken before the Revolution to give them the means of obtaining education, as seen in 222 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. the following advertisement Avhich appeared in the Newport Mercury of March 29, 1773 : "Whereas a school Avas established, several years past, in the toA\'n of Newport, by a society of benevolent clergymen of the Church of England, in London, Avith a handsome fund for a mistress to instruct thirty negro children in reading, sewing, &c. And whereas it has hitherto been found difficult to supply the said school with the num ber of children required ; notice is hereby given, that the said school is noAV kept by Mrs. Mary Brett, in High street, nearly opposite to judge Johnston 's, and is open to all societies in the town, to send their young blacks, to the number of thirty ; And, provided, that the number can not be nearly kept up for the future, the gentlemen to whose care and direction the said school has been entrusted AAdll be obliged to give it up entirely at the expiration of six months ' '. The same newspaper of April 19, 1773, contains an advertisement of Peleg Barker, jr., announcing his "morning and afternoon school for young misses" ; he added to the notice that "he has a likely, well- limbed negro lad, eleven years old", for sale. On October 17, 1774, Francis Vandeleur advertised that he Avas ready to teach French and Italian to young ladies at their dwellings. Schools for young ladies Avere not nearly so numerous in the colonial days as those for boys, from whom they Avere taught separately even when in charge of the same teacher. In May, 1767, a school was adver tised in Providence for instructing young ladies in writing and arith metic, during the hours from 6 to 7 :30 a. m., and 4 :30 to 6 :00 p. m. In Staples 's Annals is found the foUoAving information, given by Samuel Thurber, regarding early schools : "As respects schools, previous to about the year 1770, they were but little thought of ; there Avere in my neighborhood three smaU schools, perhaps about a dozen scholars in each. Their books were the Bible, spelling-book, and primer. One kept by John Poster, Esq., in his office ; one by Dr. Benjamin West. Their fees Avere seven shillings and sixpence per quarter. One kept by George Taylor, Esq., for the church scholars. He, it Avas said, received a small compensation from Eng land. Besides these, there were Iavo or three Avomen schools. When one had learned to read, Avrite and do a sum in the rule of three, he was fit for business. . The Rev. .James Planning did great things in the way of enlightening and informing the people. Schools revived by means of his advice and assistance. Previous to him it was not uncommon to meet Avith those Avho could not Avrite their names. ' ' The cause of education Avas almost AA^hoUy at a standstill during the Revolution, after Avhich the Avork of John HoAvland and the Mechanics' Growth of Public Education. 223 Association of Providence, and of other earnest Avorkers in other parts of the State, led to a period of advancement that Avas ushered in by the passage of the act to establish free schools in February, 1800. This act met Avith intense opposition in many parts of the State outside of Providence, and was finally repealed in 1803. On June 17, 1801, instructions to members of the Assembly from various towns against the bill Avere read, and a motion AA'as made for its repeal.^ The provisions of the law Avere not enforced in a majority of the toAvns, and its repeal foUoAA'ed. To this action Providence paid no heed and continued the upbuilding of its free school system. During the suc ceeding twenty-five years Rhode Island at large had no public school system; but there Avere private schools almost Avithout number, of all descriptions, and supported in various Avays. It Avould seem that every person possessing a shadow of the qualifications of a good teacher opened somewhere a private school. Very little information is noAv obtainable of most of these. In his "Early Recollections of NcAvport, E. I.", Rev. George G. Channing describes the school of Mrs. Sayre and her daughter Betsy, which was situated near the corner of Mary and Clark streets, in a Ioav, square chamber on a second floor, and without furniture, desks or chairs, excepting a few for teachers or visitors. The children Avere supplied by their parents AAdth round blocks of wood of varied height on which to sit . A dark closet Avas used as a temporary prison for disobedient scholars. Mrs. Sayre Avas re membered as an excellent teacher. Mr. Channing mentioned also a classical school AA'here John Frazer, a Scotchman, taught Greek, Latin and mathematics ; it Avas situated in Ncav Church lane. Clarke Rod man had in his OAA'n house in Mary street a quite large school for boys and young men of the south end ; and a Mr. Knox taught poor young children the rudiments in a small building in rear of Trinity church. Most of the schools mentioned by Mr. Channing were probably open only to boys. A Miss Vinal, "lately from Boston", announced in the Mercury of April 22, 1794, the opening of a school at the house of William Coggeshall, Avhere she Avould be "obliged to those ladies and gentlemen that Avill favor her Avith their custom ' ' In the same paper of April 18, 1797, James Wallace advertised a "morning school for young ladies in reading, Avriting and arithmetic " ; he taught also navigation and bookkeeping, doubtless to young men. In 1805 Will iam Bridges offered to "teach young ladies and gentlemen. Private rooms for young ladies and board if required ". In 1807 Mrs. La Salle 'Newport Mercury, June 23, 1801. 224 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. and her daughter advertised a school at their home, and the Misses Smith announced the opening of a female academy in Bristol. In 1808 Mrs. Eliza C. Brenton advertised instruction for girls at Wash ington Academy in South KingstoAvn. The United States Chronicle of December 18, 1800, ProAddence, contained the folloAving: "Mrs. Hurley, from London, offers to instruct young ladies in all kinds of Needlework, Tambour and Embroidery, AAdth DraAAdng, Paint ing and Music on the Piano Forte. ' ' Likewise, "In Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, French and EngUsh, Grammar, Geography and History— which will be explained by Rev. Mr. Hur ley". Mr. Wallace, already mentioned, taught young ladies from 6 to 8 a. m., and Mr. Jastram, in Providence, from 6 to 8 a. m., and from 10 to 12, noon. The Newport Mercury of August 8, 1807, announced that Mr. E. Trevett— a well known teacher— avUI "gratuitously teach as many poor children as he can attend to in the State House, a few hours in the morning", and that a subscription would be circulated to pro vide stationery. To this the editor added that "the want of free schools is a serious evil to society". In the fall of the same year a similar announcement appeared, accompanied by a statement that more than seventy scholars had attended in the summer, and more than forty in the winter. From the beginning of the century forward the various academies, which are noticed further on, were Uberally advertised in the papers of Newport and Providence. It is well known at the present day that in early times lotteries were conducted to raise funds for a great variety of public projects, includ ing schools, churches, public improvements, etc. In the Newport Mercury of 1795 appears an advertisement of the "Newport Long Wharf and Public School Lottery ' ', of which George Gibbs and George Champlin, two prominent citizens, were managers. This lottery was originated, in 1765, in aid of the long wharf alone ; but it was revived in 1795, when an act passed the Legislature authorizing the raising of $25,000, and providing that the A\rharf profits and rents were to be applied to the support of such a school in Newport as the trustees should name and under their regulations. According to the Mercury of May 31, 1796, it appears that the total amount actuaUy drawn in this lottery was $30,000. What the profits were cannot be told. The AA'harf was built, but not the hotel that Avas projected in connection Avith the lottery, and it is doubtful if a school house would have been Growth of Public Education. 225 secured but for the generosity of Simeon Potter. Under date of Swansea, May 16, 1795, he addressed the lottery managers, offering as a free gift his estate called Easton Point, in trust, to support a free school forever, ' ' for the advantage of poor children of every denonuna- tion ' '. On receipt of this letter it was "Voted and Resolved, That G. Gibbs and G. Champlin be requested to present the thanks of the trustees to Simeon Potter, Esq., for his liberal donation, and to assure him that it shall be iuAdolably appro priated to the establishment and support of public schools, he has so generously patronized. "Voted, That Thomas Dennis and John L. Boss, be requested to take charge of the house, store and land, presented by Simeon Potter, to rent the same, and appropriate the rents to the repairs, in such manner as they may deem most advantageous. ' ' On the 28th of April, 1800, it was "Resolved, That the use of the building presented by Simeon Potter, Esq., be tendered to the town for a school house, on condition of the toAvn repairing the same, and paying such rent as may be agreed upon, provided it is appropriated for a school, conformably to the act of the Assembly for establishing free schools, and that it be called the Public School." During the War of 1812 the trustees of the Long Wharf did not meet, but on August 19, 1814, a committee was appointed "to devise a plan for the commencement of a school, taking into consideration the present Umited funds". The plan was reported on the 25th of Au gust, and included the appointment of five trustees, who were to serve as a school committee to manage a school for poor children ; to rent the Potter school house to a suitable person to teach, and to adopt a code of regulations for the institution. The committee reported, also, that Joseph Pinch and his wdf e, who had been keeping a school in the cham bers of the building, would instruct twenty or thirty scholars in read ing, and find the firewood, at $1.80 each per quarter, which arrange ment was recommended for the ensuing winter, at least. The contract was really made with Finch's wife, EUzabeth, and her success as a teacher caUed forth commendation from the trustees. She kept such an exceUent school that it was continued under her during a number of years. According to Barnard's Journal of R. I. Instruction (in, p. 145), the number of scholars in 1815 was about forty; but the actual number in 1820 was only about twenty, and the school was wholly abandoned in 1832 ; the house was ordered sold and the proceeds were deposited in a savings bank, where they remained until 1863, when 15 226 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. they were added to other funds in the hands of the Long Wharf trustees to aid in building the Willow Street school house. In the fall of 1824 a sub-committee was appointed to perform certain duties in connection Avith the schools of the city. A copy of their report, dated October 11, is among the George C. Mason papers in possession of the R. I. Historial Society, from which this information is drawn : ' ' The sub-committee appointed by the General School Com mittee to enquire what buildings could be obtained for school houses, provided a general system of School education should be adopted by the town, on the plan pursued in the Town of Providence ; the expense of the same, and the annual expense of Tutors and Ushers for three schools on that Plan ; beg leave to report, that they have attended to the duties assigned them, and are happy to state as the result of their enquireies that the Minister, Wardens and Vestry of Trinity church have Resolved, that if the toAvn should carry into operation the system of Free Schools as established in Providence, 'the town may have the School House for such rent, and on such terms as the Vestry should deem fair and reasonable;' . . This committee also learned 'that the store in Spring street late the property of Stephen Deblois Esq, dec'd can be obtained for a School House if that system should be adopted by the Town, on the most liberal terms. ' . . The committee also examined the records relative to the estate of Simeon Potter on Easton 's Point, 'which is noAV occupied by a free school and called the Long Wharf Free School,' and learned the facts regarding Mr. Pot ter's donation, as before described." In the year 1821 a committee was appointed by the General Assem bly, charged A\dth the duty of collecting information regarding the schools of the various towns in the State ; but whatever this committee accomplished it never reported to the Legislature. In 1828, the year in which an important step forward was taken in the establishment of a better educational system, the publishers of the American and Ga zette (Providence) made an attempt to perform the task that had previously been assigned to the before-mentioned legislative committee, by applying to representatives in the various towns for information upon the conditions in the schools. The result was published, as the editor stated, "with the exception of Providence, which is abundantiy provided Avith schools ' '. The f oUoAving statistics were thus gathered, and serve as something of a basis of school history in the State at that comparatively early date : "Newport.— One free school with about 200 scholars; 42 private FEMALE SEMINARY, NEWPORT. Reproduced from a Drawing by George C. Mason. 228 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. schools having about 1,100 scholars. These schools are supported Avin- ter and summer. Inhabitants, 7,319 [census of 1820]. "West Greenwich.— Two school houses, built by subscription.' Eleven schools are regularly kept about three months in the winter, three of which are continued nearly the year round. Inhabitants, 1,927. "Richmond.— Two school houses, in which schools are kept a part of each season— also a well attended Sunday school. Inhabitants, 1,423. "Hopkinton.— Nine school houses, in three of which— in the vicinity of factories — schools are kept through the year — the others in the winter. Inhabitants, 1,821. "North Kingstown. — The Elam Academy, and one private school in Wickford. There is but one school house in the tovsm, near Wm. Rey nolds ' factory — in all six schools, three of which are kept winter and summer. Inhabitants, 3,007. "Exeter. — Three school houses, in which Avinter schools are kept — no other schools in the toAvn. Inhabitants 2,581. "East Greenwich.— Academy, and one private school house in the village, kept the year round ; four in other parts of the town— in aU, six school houses. Seven schools are kept in the winter, and three or four women's schools in the summer. Inhabitants, 1,519. "Johnston.— Five school houses ; six or seven schools are kept in the winter, and two or three in the summer. Inhabitants, 1,542. "Charlestown.— One school house; from five to seven schools in the winter and three in summer. Inhabitants, 1,160. "Coventry.— Ten school houses; fourteen schools in Avinter and seven in summer. Inhabitants, 3,139. "Portsmouth.— Pour school houses, in which schools are kept pretty regularly in vsdnter, and in one or two in summer. Inhabitants, 1,645. "Foster.— Fifteen school houses— all open in the Avinter season, and most of them in summer. Inhabitants, 2,900. "North Providence.— Seven school houses— an academy, and four other schools in Pawtucket ; two men's and three women's kept most of the year — in aU, eleven schools in the town, most of them kept open but a part of the year. Inhabitants, 2,420. "Cranston.— Is divided into eleven districts, and has eleven school houses, though schools are not regularly kept in all. There are five other schools— in all sixteen schools, but a small part kept through the year. Inhabitants, 2,274. ^AIl of the scliool houses in the State have been built by private subscrip tion, or by individuals, except those for free schools built by the towns of Providence and Newport. Growth op Public Education. 229 "Middletown.— Five school houses, in which are schools regularly in Avinter, and irregularly in summer. Inhabitants, 949. "Warwick. — Seven school houses, in which are kept men's schools, besides two or three others ; six women 's schools in winter and summer —in all sixteen schools. Inhabitants, 3,643. "Smithfield.— Has thirteen school houses. Two of these are well conducted academies, kept the year round, at Woonsocket and Slaters- viUe, two flourishing manufacturing villages. There is also a private school at Woonsocket. Two S. H. on the east road, four on the Wor cester road, one, new road — one, Sayles' hill — one in AngeU 's neigh bourhood—one, Louisquisset Turnpike, of Brick, and one near R. Mowry. Besides schools regularly kept in these places, there are five others— in all nineteen schools. Inhabitants 4,678. "Cumberland.— Is divided into districts, and has thirteen school houses— schools regularly kept and well attended in all. Inhabitants, 2,653. "BurrillviUe. — Eleven school houses — schools in all in the Avinter, averaging forty scholars each — one kept the year round. There are four or five private schools in summer. Inhabitants, 2,164. "Scituate.— Five school houses. There are probably some other schools in the town; but a correct statement could not be obtained. Inhabitants, 2,834. "Gloeester.— Eleven school houses, and about fifteen schools in the toAvn in winter. Inhabitants, 2,504. "Jamestown.— Three school houses— schools kept in but two in win ter. Inhabitants, 448. "Barrington.— Three school houses — schools kept Avinter and sum mer. Inhabitants, 634. "Little Compton.— Eight school houses open in winter, and most all in summer. Inhabitants, 1,580. "Westerly.— Six school houses open the year round, limited to thirty scholars each. There are two academies, one at Pawcatuck, a manu facturing village, kept the year round— in all eight schools. Inhabit ants, 1,972. "Bristol.— Pour school houses, one of which is an academy, with two schools in it. There are five men's schools in winter, and seven women's schools through the year. The town appropriates about $350 annually for support of schools, arising from rent of market, licenses, and some land given for that purpose. Inhabitants, 3,197. "Warren.— One academy and four school houses— three built by the town, and one by an individual. There are five men 's schools in win ter (including the academy), and an average of twelve female schools through the year, in addition to the above— sometimes as many as twenty female schools. Inhabitants, 1,806. 230 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. "New Shoreham.— One school house. There are four schools, aA'er- aging thirty scholars each, kept four months in Avinter, and about six months in summer. Inhabitants, 955. "South Kingstown.— One academj'-, in which a school is kept the year round, and seven school houses, in AA'hich schools are kept AAdnter and summer. There are a number of schools kept irregularly in pri vate houses. Inhabitants, 3,723. "Tiverton. — Ten school houses, in AA'hich schools are kept pretty regularly. There are a few other small schools. Inhabitants, 2,875. "Providence. — There are eight public schools in this toAvn, at which about nine hundred children are taught. Six or seven academies, Avhere the higher branches are taught, including the Friends' Semi nary, and probably eighty or ninety private schools. In 1821 a regu lar return was made of all the schools in toAvn. Exclusive of the public schools, there were then ten men's schools and forty-four kept by females. Since then this number has greatly increased. The ex pense of the public schools' paid by tax on the inhabitants is not much short of $5,000. The amount paid by parents for private tuition is doubtless double that sum, making at the lowest estimate $15,000 an nually paid for the tuition of the children of Providence. It is ob vious, therefore, that in a pecuniary point of view, Providence AviU gain nothing by the system of free schools becoming general, as she would pay much more into the treasury, toward the support of schools in other towns, than she would be entitled to draw out. ' ' The editor then proceeds to estimate the population of Providence at that time as about 17,000, and the number of children in the State to be educated as 35,843. It is also stated by the writer that there had been "a much larger number of school houses erected than has been generally supposed, and but few additional ones wdU be required". The total number of school houses in the State is given as 181, besides ten academies. This newspaper article was called out chiefiy by the measures adopt ed to procure the passage of the Free School LaAv of 1828, under which the State was to appropriate annually $10,000 in aid of the public schools. Among the important provisions of that laAv may be summar ized the following : Providing for the payment to the various towns in proper proportion of all moneys paid into the general treasury by managers of lotteries, by auctioneers, and for duties accruing to the State, for the ' ' exclusive purpose of keeping public schools and paying the expenses thereof", the gross sum so appropriated not to exceed $10,000 ; empowering the towns to raise money by tax to the amount of double the suhi received from the general treasury, to aid in sup porting the schools ; providing for the annual appointment of a school PLAN OF A PROVIDENCE SCHOOL HOUSE OF 1819 Fkom the Orioina. Design among xhe Providence Town Papers Na 00B3801. 232 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. committee for each town, consisting of not less than five nor more than twenty-one persons, to act without compensation, and defining their duties, and their powers ; providing for an annual report by the gen eral treasurer to the General Assembly of the moneys received by him that were to be applied to the support of schools ; and providing for the appropriation of $5,000 from the general treasury at that time for the foundation of a permanent fund, to Avhich should be added from year to year the moneys received from the several sources before men tioned, over and above the regular appropriation of $10,000. This act, inefficient as it was for its purpose, was the foundation of the existing school system. Its passage created dissatisfaction in some sections, it being claimed that it gave Providence advantages over the country towns. Previous to the passage of this law the schools of the State were under no general systematic control; they were not only isolated geographically, but varied in character, government, and in terest, each dependent upon the public spirit, liberality, and enlighten ment of its particular toAAm.. But from that time forward the schools were to constitute a State system which, Avith all its imperfections, was far in advance of former educational conditions. During the succeeding decade educational progress throughout the State was encouraging. Population increased, involving the need of more or larger schools, especially in the important business centers, and calling for greater liberality on the part both of the State and of the town authorities. This led to the passage, in 1839, of "An act to revise and amend the several acts relating to Public Schools". The more important features of this law, and those which differed from the old one, were : The appropriation by the State of $25,000 an nually for school purposes, instead of $10,000 ; making the town school committees to consist of not less than five nor more than thirty mem bers, instead of twenty-one ; extending the powers and duties of the school committees to include the selection of text books, the expulsion of unruly scholars, etc. ; restricting the number of schools in any dis trict to one, unless otherwise ordered by the committee; placing the distribution of all school moneys under control of the school commit tees ; providing for the diAdsion of towns into districts by the freemen in toAvn meeting; providing for official returns by aU school commit tees to the secretary of state on or before the first Wednesday of May, annually; giving full details of school statistics, on blanks to be pro vided for that purpose ; appropriating $100 annually in support of a school for the Narragansett Indians ; providing for the union of two or more adjoining districts, as a corporate body. Growth of Public Education. 233 At this point it is necessary to note the intervening school legislation from the passage of the act of 1828 to that of 1839. At the same session in which the first law was enacted, the freemen of the tOAvn of Providence were authorized to assess and collect any amount of tax for free schools, notwithstanding the limitation in the law. In June, of that year, Newport was authorized to appropriate its share of the State school money toAvards finishing a school house and maintaining the free schools already established. In October, the two districts of the village of Pawtuxet, one in Cranston and the other in Warwick, were united in one district ; this arrangement was discontinued by an act of 1832. At the October session of 1828 the school committee of any town was authorized to make arrangements with the committee of an adjacent town for the education of their children in the schools of the latter, by paying a portion of the cost. At the June session of 1829 the districts into which the school com mittee might divide the town of Hopkinton were directed to erect a school house at the expense of the districts, on penalty of losing their share of the State appropriation. In 1830, at the January session, the town of Westerly was empow ered to pass the necessary laws for building and repairing school houses. At the June session the school committees were made to consist of not less than five nor more than thirty members. At the June session of 1831 the distribution of the public money was ordered made according to the number of persons under fifteen years of age [instead of sixteen] in each town. At the October ses sion that year a special act deprived those inhabitants of district No. 11, in Hopkinton, who had refused to aid in building a school house, of the use of it and of the benefit of the school money. In 1832 the town of East Greenwich was authorized to build school houses; at the same session the rule for the distribution of school money that continued in force until 1844-5 was adopted, viz., the number of the white inhabitants under the age of fifteen years, and the number of colored persons under ten years, together with five-four teenths of the said population between the ages of ten and twenty-four years. In 1834, at the October session, the districts of the town of Cumber land were authorized to collect taxes to build and repair school houses. At the June session of 1835, it was provided that in Hopkinton the assessors should assess the value of such portion of any person's prop erty situated in different school districts, as may lay in the school dis trict ordering a tax. At the same time the several districts in Rich- 234 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. mond were directed to erect school houses, and in January, 1846, the penalty of losing their school money was appended. At the session last named the districts in BurrillviUe were authorized to build school houses, and in October the same authority was given to the first district in North Providence. At the October session, also, the interest on deposits of United States funds deposited in the several banks was set apart for the support of schools. At the June session, 1837, the town of Charlestown, a district in Richmond, and (in January, 1838) the districts of Exeter and Smith- field were authorized to build and repair school houses ; and at the May session, 1838, district No. 7, North Providence, was given similar au thority. In June of that year all school committees were directed to make proper returns on forms supplied by the State, under penalty of losing the public school money. At the October session (1838) a part of district No. 9, Hopkinton, was annexed to district No. 7, Richmond, and at the same time the fourth district of Cumberland was author ized to purchase as well as build and repair school houses. Also, the inhabitants of the fourth Richmond district and the seventh South KingstOAvn district were authorized to unite in one district. In 1839, at the January session, the district in Exeter was given one year from the time set in a former act in which to build school houses before forfeiting the public money in case of neglect. The act provid ing for the disposition of United States deposit funds was amended so as to authorize the loan of any money relinquished by any bank, or withdraAA'n from any bank by the loan commissioners, to any town or city applying for it, upon giving bonds for payment of interest at five per cent., and to employ the money so received exclusively for educational purposes. The amount to be loaned to any town or city was not to be in greater ratio to the whole sum on deposit from the United States than the ratio of the population of such town or city to the population of the State. Under the provisions of this legislation the school system was oper ated about five years. Improvement was made during that period, but to the more progressive and broad-minded friends of education throughout the State, the conditions were still far from satisfactory.^ During the period under consideration, Massachusetts and some of 'The History of Public Education in R. I. by Thos. B. Stoclcwell contains a series of tables which show in condensed form school statistics in all of the towns of the State in three different years, 1832, which was the first report giving definite statistics given to the public; in 1839, and in 1844. To the special investigator of the school system of Rhode Island these tables are of great interest. Growth of Public Education. 235 the other New England States were making enormous strides in educa tional advancement. In the first-named State, especially, during the decade from 1837-48, the school system Avas revolutionized and placed upon a most efficient basis. This acted as a stimulant to the other New England States, a stimulant that vs^as needed in Rhode Island more than in any other CommouAvealth, and here the imperative demand finally came for more vigorous, liberal, and united action. Wilkins Updike, an enthusiastic friend of education residing in South Kingstown, introduced a bill in the General Assembly in October, 1843, which was the stepping-stone to a radical change. In addressing the Assembly he condemned the existing laws and the results obtained through their administration in harsh terms and in all of their phases. Said he, "Our self-respect should be roused by a knowledge of the fact brought out by the last census of the United States, from which it appears that Rhode Island is behind the other New England States in this matter. With a population of 108,830, we have over 1,600 adults who cannot read or write, while Connecticut with a population of 309,978, has only 526".^ Mr. Updike's biU was entitled, "An Act to provide for ascertaining the condition of the Public Schools in this State, and for the improvement and better management thereof". In brief it provided for the appointment by the governor of an agent, whose duty it should be to thoroughly examine all of the schools of the State in all of their features, and make a detailed report thereon, with suggestions as to the best methods for their improvement. The act was passed at the October session of 1843, and under date of December 6, of that year. Gov. James Fenner appointed to this responsible position, Henry Barnard,' a man of experience in educational affairs and admir ably equipped in every way for the task. He began his work and made his first regular report to the General Assembly in 1845. It covered the entire ground in the fullest possible manner and demonstrated clearly the need of a radical change in the school system. Many of the statements contained in the report were almost startling in their repre- 'This was hardly a fair arraignment of Rhode Island, from the fact that the speaker did not take into account the difference in the general character of the adult population of the two States, a difference caused largely by the foreign element that is characteristic of all manufacturing districts. ^Mr. Barnard devoted his superior Qualifications and best energies to the improvement of Rhode Island schools with signal success, as will presently appear. He remained in oflice until 1849, when he retired on account of fail ing health. His successors as commissioners of public schools have been Elisha R. Potter until 1854; Rev. Robert AUyn, 1854 to 1857; John Kingsbury, 1857-59; Dr. Joshua B. Chapin, 1859-61 and 1863-69; Henry Rousmaniere, 1861-63; T. W. Bicknell, 1869-75; Thomas B. Stockwell, 1875 to the present time. 236 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. sentation of the educational conditions found by him. The report is a lengthy one and can be found in many of the libraries of the State. Only brief allusion can here be made to its more important features. One of the radical defects of the former school law found by him was the absence of any effectual system of inspection or any provision for the examination of teachers by competent persons. The new law made it illegal for any one to teach without a previous examination and a certificate of competence. Lack of uniformity in text books was another weakness, which was remedied to some extent, at least, by authorizing the State commissioner to recommend proper books, and making it the duty of the tOAvn school committees to adopt suitable regulations for their use. The new law provided that the commissioner of public schools should decide without appeal and Avithout cost all controversies submitted to him. Provision was made for the election of three school trustees in each district, one to be elected each year, the term of office being three years ; for the election of town school committees to consist of three, six or nine members, to have charge of and inspect the schools, the care of the school money, the examination of teachers, visitation of schools, formation of districts, location of houses, etc., and to report to the commissioner of public schools. A board of county school inspectors was provided for, their appointment, number, and tenure of office to be left with the commissioner of public schools. The State commis sioner received his appointment direct from the governor, his duties being to apportion the school funds, prepare forms and instructions for the uniform administration of the law, visit schools, remedy de fects, introduce improvements, recommend text books, aid in estab lishing libraries, grant certificates, establish teachers' institutes, and a normal school, etc. At the time Mr. Barnard was making his investigation through the State he found that in eleven towns the school houses, such as they were, were owned by proprietors to whom "in many instances, was paid in rent a larger amount than would have been the interest on the cost of a new and commodious school house ' '. At the same time, Mr. Barnard found that there were in the State about 30,000 children over four and under sixteen years of age, while the whole number attending any kind of school, public or private, in any part of the year, was only 24,000; 3,000 of these obtained instruction at home or in private schools. It is well known that the great number of private schools opened in early years and down to about 1850, was due largely to the wretched condition of the public schools. Growth op Public Education. 237 In referring to the necessity of grading the schools, Mr. Barnard stated that in 1844, out of 314 districts in which schools were taught, only fourteen had more than one teacher, resulting in the necessary formation of numerous classes to include varieties in age, impossibility of enforcing proper discipline, and all the other well-knovsm evils. In relation to text books, incomplete returns from teachers showed that there were in twenty-three tovsms, one hundred and twenty differ ent kinds of school books; fifty-three of these were in reading and spelling.^ This seems incredible to the modern educator. One of the methods of school improvement recommended by Mr. Barnard in his report was the giving of all possible aid to school com mittees in the selection of proper teachers ; also, the more extensive and permanent employment of women teachers. He Avrote : ' 'In all of the schools visited the first Avinter, or from which returns were received, out of Providence, and the primary departments of a few large central districts, I find but six female teachers. ' ' There was at that date, in the whole State, not more than twelve employed, while, in Mr. Bar nard's opinion, two-thirds of the schools visited would have been better taught by women. The report also advocated "a gradation of schools in the manufac turing and other populous districts", in order to avoid the crowding of masses of children of all ages under one teacher. He recommended also the formation of an "itinerating normal school agency", thus foreshadowing the need of a State normal school. Through the co-operation of the Washington County Association, before noticed, the commissioner reported that a weU-qualified teacher had been employed to visit every town in that county, to expose defects in school management and introduce improvement. Another important measure of the commissioner was a recommenda tion that better plans for school houses be devised and introduced. He recommended the passage of a law authorizing districts to levy a tax for repairing and erecting school houses, and an educational tract on this subject was sent out. He wrote, ' ' during the past two years more than fifty school houses have been built, or so thoroughly repaired as to be substantially new". One of these in each county had been made in such dimensions and style as to serve as a model. Under his appointment, Mr. Barnard covered the whole field of his duty, as far as it could be understood at that time. An account of the varied details of his labors would occupy too much space for these 'Barnard's report, p. 67 — foot note. 238 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. pages. At the January session of the General Assembly (1845) a resolution was adopted directing Mr. Barnard to draw a bill to be enacted into a law, which should supersede all existing school laws and provide for the improvements suggested in his report. Mr. Barnard drew the act, Avhich was passed at the June session of 1845. It covered the whole subject from the standpoint of that date, and became the foundation of all subsequent school legislation in this State. A few of the principal sections in which changes were made may be noticed here. It was made a condition that the towns, in order to be entitled to State financial aid, should raise by tax one-third as much as the State supplied, or more. The regulations for the distribution of the school funds were extended and improved. The amount received from the State was denominated "teachers' money", and was to be divided among the districts one-half equally, and one-half according to the daily average attendance during the next preceding year. This was a wise provision intended to stimulate and increase the average attend ance in the schools. In addition to making a great number of personal visits, Mr. Bar nard began the publication of a series of Educational Tracts for gratui tous distribution, besides circulars and books of various kinds, all directed towards the diffusion of knowledge upon the subject in hand. He recommended the establishment of school libraries in every town, and the formation of Associations for Educational Improvement. This latter measure was productive of great good. The earliest one was organized in Washington county, and at the date of the report, a little more than a year from its formation, twelve general meetings had been held in various towns, most of which continued two days, a local agent had been employed to visit and inspect the schools and to lecture in each district, distribute circulars, etc. A high degree of local interest was thus aroused. The Kent County Association was formed in February, 1845, and had held several general meetings in most of the populous neighbor hoods, which were numerously attended. The Smithfield and Cumberland Institute was formed at about the same time and had held ten public meetings. Among its members and officers were some of the most active and earnest friends of education in the State. But what was of still more far-reaching benefit to the cause in gen eral throughout the State was the organization, on January 24, 1845, of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction. A pubUc meeting of PROVIDENCE PRIMARY SCHOOL BUILDING IN 1842. From an Old AVood Cut in Barnard's School Report 240 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. the friends of popular education was held on the date named in West minster Hall, Providence, and a constitution adopted, announcing the principal object of the institute to be the improvement of the pubUc schools, providing for the election of officers annuaUy in January, and naming and describing the duties of various committees. The officers of the institute for 1845 were: President, John Kingsbury; vice- president, Wilkins Updike, Washington county; vice-president, Ariel Ballou, Providence county ; corresponding secretary, Nathan Bishop ; recording secretary, J. D. Giddings ; treasurer, Thomas C. Hartshorn. There was also a board of nine directors. In the appendix to his report Mr. Barnard has the foUowing relating to the school expenditures, which is of interest at this point : "1. The amount received from the State has been the same since 1840, and is continued under the new school law. 2. The amount voluntarily raised by tax has been increased since 1840, in Providence, Cumberland, Newport, Warren, Bristol, and Tiverton. 3. The avails of the registry tax ^ varies from year to year, and bears no fixed pro portion to the number of children to be educated in the different tovsms. "In several towns the public schools, after the close of the free school, are continued by subscription or rate bills, which amounted in 1844 to upwards of $5,000. "In addition to the sources of income for the support of pubUc schools, in Newport, the avails ($600) of a Local School Fund, amount ing to $10,000, and in Bristol, the rent of certain school lands, are appropriated to the same object." Mr. Barnard retired from office early in 1849, the report for which year was made by his successor, Elisha R. Potter. While the fuUest measure of praise is due to Mr. Barnard for the enormous quantity of intelligent and effective labor performed by him during his term of office, it is nevertheless true that his work was largely preliminary. He erected the school system and prepared the way for its later devel opment, but was forced to abandon his task before it was fuUy com- 'This registry tax was provided for by the following section from the second article of the Constitution: "Sec. 3. The assessors of each town or city shall annually assess upon each person whose name shall be registered a tax of one dollar, or such sum as with his other taxes shall amount to one dollar, which registry tax shall be paid into the treasury of such town or city, and be applied to the support of public schools therein. But no compulsory process shall issue for the collec tion of any registry tax." Provision Avas made exempting soldiers and sailors under certain condi tions from the payment of the tax. Growth op Public Education. 241 pleted. The extent and character of his labor is noticed in a historical work as follows: "During the five years of service by Mr. Barnard, more than eleven hundred meetings were held, expressly to discuss topics connected vsdth the public schools, at which upwards of fifteen hundred addresses were deUvered. One hundred and fifty of these meetings continued through the day and evening ; upAvards of one hundred through two evenings and a day ; fifty through two days and three evenings ; and twelve, in cluding Teachers' Institutes, through the entire week. In addition to this class of meetings and addresses, upwards of two hundred meet ings of teachers and parents were held for lectures and discussions on improved methods of teaching and for public exhibitions or examina tions of schools. Besides these various meetings, experienced teachers were employed to visit particular towns and sections of the State, and converse freely with parents, on the condition and improvement of the public schools. By these agencies a meeting was held within three miles of every home in Rhode Island. In addition to all this, more than sixteen thousand educational pamphlets and tracts were distrib uted gratuitously through the State ; ' and one year not an almanac was. sold in Rhode Island without at least sixteen pages of educational read ing attached. ' This statement does not include the official documents published by the State, nor the Journal of the Institute, nor upwards of twelve hundred bound volumes on teaching purchased by teachers or added to public or private libraries. . . . Before Mr. Barnard left the State a library of at least five hundred volumes had been secured for twenty-nine out of thirty- two towns''.^ In his report covering the year 1849 Mr. Potter stated that nearly all the districts had organized and elected their officers under the law ; but a few still remained under control of the town committees, thus shoAving that after Mr. Barnard's five years of effort, the work was stiU incomplete. Of the 332 districts in the State in 1849, 231 only OAvned school houses ; in the others they belonged to private individ uals. During the preceding six years there had been expended in building and repairing school houses about $150,000; to this sum should be added $210,000 which had been expended vsdthin a few years in Providence. All of the towns in the State excepting East Green wich had in the preceding year raised the amount of money necessary to entitle them to the State appropriation. The amount expended for schools in the year (1849) vsms $86,550, as shown by the returns; but in many towns no return was made of the amount raised by rate-bills. The number of scholars registered was 22,477. In relation to libraries the commissioner wrote : 'ffisf. of Rhode Island Institute of Instruction, by Rev. Edwin M. Stone. 16 242 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. "As public libraries constitute an important part of the means of public instruction, it may be well to state, that it appears from a table prepared and published by my predecessor, that there are now in public Ubraries in this State, including the College, Athenaeum, and Redwood libraries, about 85,000 volumes. Nearly every toAAm in the State has now a town or village library, for many of which we are indebted to the generosity of a single individual, Amasa Manton, Esq., of Providence." In his report for 1850 the commissioner called particular attention to the advisability of forming Union School Districts, wherever the situation made it feasible ; he mentioned Pawcatuck Bridge, Wickford, and Woonsocket, as points where districts had been consolidated. The amount of money received from the State that year was $34,548.71; from town tax, $50,332.73 ; from the rate biU, $8,949.08 ; from the registry, etc., $4,208.19. About $20,000 was expended during the year for school houses. The total number of children attending school during the year was 28,331. The condition of the school finances of the State was a subject of inquiry in 1851, in response to a resolution passed at the June session that year, the committee on finance making an investigation and report. The investigation was directed more particularly towards the status of the permanent school fund, which was founded in 1828. The committee found "that since May, 1839, notwithstanding certain speci fied sources of revenue, set apart for that particular purpose— no addition whatever had been made to the permanent school fund— the amount thereof, as reported by the late treasurer, in May of the present year, being $51,300, the same sum that was reported in May, 1839". The investigation showed further that the school fund at that date (1851) should have been $133,787.96, Avhile it had been reported annuaUy since 1840, as $51,300.00, showing a deficiency of $82,487.96. It was not assumed by the committee that this condition of the fund was due in any respect A\'hatever to dishonesty on the part of any person, but rather to a failure to keep a separate account of moneys that should have been placed to the credit of the fund, and alloAving them to be disbursed at various times for various purposes. In this connection the foUoAving table from the general treasurer's report is of very great interest : A statement of the annual amount of revenue from lotteries, of the annual amount of revenue from auctioneers, of the dividends, etc., received from the permanent school fund, and of the annual interest received on deposit of State revenue. Growth of Public Education. 243 Year. Month. Lotteries. Auctioneers. DividendSch'l F'd. Int. on Revenue. Total. 1828 May $4,138.02 $1,399.99 $5,538.01 ii October 5,784.98 1,250.79 7,035.77 1829 May 5,728.63 805.60 6,534.23 il October 5,666.13 574.47 $ 477.75 6,718.35 1830 May 7,991.61 619.13 318.50 8,929.24 { I October 7,647.42 716.05 273.00 8,638.47 1831 May 5,028.28 275.93 423.00 5,727.21 li October 12,046.56 572.17 423.00 13,041.73 1832 June 14,970.32 271.32 623.00 15,864.64 1833 May 15,418.62 555.50 2,121.00 $158.35 18,253.47 1834 i I 10,000.00 681.72 2,416.50 169.50 13,267.72 1835 5,000.00 372.07 2,612.00 208.65 8,192.72 1836 10,000.00 219.35 3,093.50 313.56 13,626.41 1837 10,000.00 333.95 3,360.50 353.12 14,047.57 1838 10,000.00 415.42 3,345.50 257.02 14,017.94 1839 9,750.00 554.80 3,416.00 264.44 13,985.24 1840 9,000.00 682.75 3,591.00 446.95 13,720.70 1841 9,000.00 274.85 4,303.00 720.13 14,297.98 1842 9,000.00 180.15 3,844.00 320.00 13,344.15 1843 9,000.00 52.47 3,078.00 100.00 12,230.47 1844 6,750.00 34.92 2,565.00 330.60 9,680.52 1845 101.99 2,482.00 64.08 2,648.07 1846 964.30 2,986.50 3,950.80 1847 1,785.06 3,167.00 276.48 5,228.54 1848 1,837.30 3,202.50 5,039.80 1849 1,254.92 3,244.00 4,498.92 1850 1,234.26 3,334.50 4,568.76 1851 1,157.93 3,591.00 148.82 4,897.75 Mr. Potter's entire fitness for the office of school commissioner is indicated by his labors in codifying the school laws of the State ; in his recommendation, in 1850, of the establishment of a Board of Edu cation, and in his persistent advocacy of a State Normal School. It was largely through his efforts that a normal department was first established (in 1850) in Brown University, which was placed under charge of Prof. S. S. Greene, then superintendent of the Providence schools, as described in later pages. Mr. Potter was also instru mental in settling the long-agitated question of religious service and Bible reading in the schools. This subject was under discussion as far back at least as 1838, when, on January 28, a report was made to the State Legislature by the committee on colleges, academies and common schools, on a memorial presented by William G. Griffin, and 244 State of Rhode Isl^vnd and Providence Plantations. others. The burden of the memorial was to the effect that "reUgious exercises are tolerated in those public schools Avhich participate in the public bounty". This was regarded by the petitioners as a "violation of the law of equality and the rights of conscience ' ' ; that the Chris tian reUgion was thus being aided at pubUc expense. The report was against granting the petition of the memoriaUsts, for the reason that the matter was not under State control ; that the local authorities had it in their poAver to permit prayer and Bible reading in the schools, or the reverse, as they deemed adAdsable ; that the vdshes of the majority must decide the question in each instance ; that the use of the Bible as a class book Avas advisable, and that its infiuence was a part of moral education. In his report for 1854 Mr. Potter Avrote as foUows upon this question : "Although it is a repetition of Avhat has already been said, I avUI again state, in conclusion, the principles upon which I consider that aU these cases should be decided, viz. : that aU public religious exercises, by which I mean prayer and the reading of the Bible, or any reUgious book by the teacher and the whole school, the school boy being required to listen to it, can only be had by general consent. And it does not remove the difficulty to authorize a scholar who has conscientious objections, to leave the school room Avhile the exercises are proceeding. Por school purposes, the house is his house, as much as his private dweUing-house, and he has a right to be there. "But if objection be made, which would seldom be the case if a teacher manages properly, then the Bible, or any reUgious book may be used in classes, like any other book, by those whose parents do not object to it. "If any other grounds than these can be supported at the present day, it would imply a most wonderful change in the feelings of the people of this State. We should need to reprint and restudy the noble words of John Milton, Jeremy Taylor and John Locke in defence of reUgious freedom, to bring us back again to the doctrines avowed by our ancestors when they first settled this colony. The total separation of religious and civil affairs was with them their cardinal principle".' "'The constitution and laws of the State give no power to a school commit tee, nor is there any authority in the State by which the reading of the Bible, or praying in school, either at the opening or the close, can be commanded or enforced. On the other hand, the spirit of the constitution, and the neglect of the law, to specify any penalty for so opening and closing a school, or to appoint or allow any officer to take notice of such an act, do as clearly show that there can be no compulsory exclusion of such reading and praying from our public schools. The whole matter must be regulated by the consciences of the teachers and inhabitants of the district and by the general consent of PROVIDENCE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BUILDING IN 1842. From an Old Wood Cut in Barnard's School Report. 246 State op Rhode Island and Pro-vidence Plantations. Rev. Robert AUyn, of East Greenwich, succeeded Mr. Potter as commissioner of public schools in 1854, and continued until 1857. The new official gave earnest attention to measures for improving the school system, particularly in regard to attendance. In his report for 1856 he showed that less than half of the children of school age in the State attended school at any one time. The cost of the entire school system for the preceding year was $153,431.10, and the average cost of instructing a scholar throughout the State was $4.90, while the cost based upon attendance was $6.93. The causes of so large a ratio of absenteeism were noticed as varied and the possible remedies sug gested were little less so. Among the latter were legislation to pro vide for more uniform visitation of schools ; more intelligent and active co-operation of the entire community ; public discussion of the evils resulting from ignorance, etc. Mr. AUyn noticed the success of the Normal School, which had been in operation about two years, opening on May 29, 1854. He believed the school system to be nearly perfect, only deploring the great increase of manufactures which brought in so large a foreign element of population. Mr. AUyn was succeeded by John Kingsbury, who held the office to and including the year 1859. He entered upon his work with earnest vigor, visiting in person nearly every school house in the State. He showed in his reports that he considered the school law comprehensive and complete and that under its workings the educational affairs of the State had made wonderful progress. But he did not spare criti cism of those districts that still lagged far behind in the construction of good and convenient school houses. Said he : ' ' The most remarkable circumstance to be noticed in this connection, is the great contrast, not so much between the structure and condition of the school houses of the different towns, . . as between the structure and condition of the school houses of the same towns, and sometimes between those of adjacent districts. Why is it so? Here is the same school law operating equaUy for the good of both, the same school committee to whom the supervision of each is committed. In the one district you will find the school house beautiful, commodious, everything without and within being so arranged as to attract and Avin the hearts of the young. In the very next district everything is re versed. Instead of attraction, the prevailing principle, as seen in the school house and its surroundings, is repulsion." the community. Statute law and school committee's regulations can enforce neither the use nor disuse of such devotional exercises. School committees may recommend, but they can go no further." R. I. School Manual (1873), pp. 198, 258. Growth of Public Education. 247 It would seem that the commissioner need not have sought so anx iously for the answer to his question. Why is it so? It simply meant that those in charge of school affairs in the one case were progressive, enterprising, broad-minded men, while in the other they were the opposite. In those adjoining districts, where he found such contrasts, he would probably have found the same in the condition of buildings and improvements on adjoining farms; or at least on those of the persons who had charge of the schools. From 1859 to 1861, and from 1863 to 1869, the office of commissioner of schools was filled by Dr. Joshua B. Chapin, the interval of two years being filled by Henry Rousmaniere. The report of 1860 shows that the State appropriation of that year was $49,996.82 ; the total resources were $162,687.18 ; there was expended on school houses, $612,456.73 ; the number of scholars attending summer schools was 25,576 ; in the winter schools, 26,876 ; the number of children under fifteen years of age was 56,934. In his report Dr. Chapin alludes to the increased number of women teachers employed and the better results on that account. Dr. Chapin was succeeded in June, 1869, by Thomas W. Bicknell. By this date greater thoroughness had been attained in the reports made by the commissioner, and for the first time, in his first report, every town in the State was represented by a detailed report. Mr. Bicknell at once urged the creation of a State Board of Education and the re-establish ment of the Normal School. Both of these measures were soon carried out, the former in 1870, and the latter in 1871. Prom that time forward reports of the State Board of Education accompanied those of the commissioner. Mr. Bicknell was instrumental in procuring liberal legislation in support of public libraries ; also in the extension of the term of school committees from one to three years, and authori zation of a school superintendent for each town. He also urged the appointment on school committees of a reasonable proportion of women. His report for January, 1872, contained valuable data as to evening schools in various towns of the State, some of his figures caus ing much surprise among friends of education. On this subject he Avrote : "It may occasion surprise in many minds to learn that more than one in eight, of all the people of this State over ten years of age, cannot read nor write, and that more than one in nine of all the popu- tion of the State will remain for life unable to read a page of the simplest reading, or to sign a document, except with their mark. ' ' He then shows the increase of illiteracy by the following figures : STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, PROVJ HENCE. Growth op Public Education. 249 1850, Illiterates (over 20 years), American born, 1,248 ; foreign, 2,359 1860, " " " " " 1,202; " 4,910 1865, " " " " " 1,522; " 8,629 1870, " (over 21 years), " " " 16,786 1870, " (over 10 years), " " 4,444; " 17,477 Mr. Bicknell 's most practical remedies for Uliteracy Avere the en forcement of a law against alloAving children under twelve years of age to be employed in manufactories ; the enforcement of a law requir ing children employed in manufactories to attend school at least five months in each year ; and the enactment of a suitable truant law. In the commissioner's opinion, also, the establishment of evening schools in every tovm would greatly reduce illiteracy. It is, perhaps, proper to caU attention to the fact that in his figures above quoted, there is no opportunity for comparison with the increase of population, nor refer ence to the great increase of foreign-born inhabitants in all manufac turing centers during the period of which he was writing. It is a fact that Rhode Island, in respect to ilUteracy during that period, was in as commendable condition as many other parts of New England. In the year 1870, which was the first year for which the Rhode Island State Board of Education made a report, the number of districts in the State was given as 422 ; the number of summer schools taught, 583 ; the number of Avinter schools, 635 ; the number of children under fifteen years of age, 56,934; number of children between five and fifteen years (census of 1865), 38,788; number of children in private schools, 6,336; amount of State appropriation, $90,000; amount of toAvn funds, $246,046.05; raised by registry tax and other sources, $44,799.96; amount of district taxes, $82,196.95; amount of total expenditures, $529,054.08. The law establishing the State Board of Education was passed at the January session of 1870, and fuUy defines the scope and duties of the board. The members were directed to serve without compensation, outside of their necessary expenses, and quarterly meetings were ordered held. The first board consisted of Fred W. Tilton, for New port county; Rev. A. P. Spaulding, for Bristol county; George W. Greene, for Kent county ; Samuel H. Cross, for Washington county ; Rev. Daniel Leach and Charles H. Fisher, for Providence county. The high schools in existence at the time of the creation of the State board were situated in ProAddence, NcAvport, Pawtucket, Woonsocket, Bristol, Warren, Westerly, and Smithfield— eight in all. The incorporating act of the Normal School, passed March 14, 1871, appointed as trustees of the institution the members of the State 250 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Board of Education, and the commissioner of public schools. These trustees visited the cities of Albany and OsAvego, N. Y., and various towns in New England where normal schools were in existence, in order to acquaint themselves with the best methods of conducting such schools. The further history of the institution is given later in this chapter. In Mr. Bicknell 's last report he called particular attention to the need of teaching drawing in the schools, especiaUy in communities where many of the children must of necessity obtain their liveUhood in mechanical occupations. He showed that the population of the State in 1870 was 217,353, of which number more than one-fifth, or 47,007, were engaged in mechanical and allied industries. At that time Newport was the only community where drawing was systemati cally taught. At the close of nearly six years' service as commissioner of pubUc schools, Mr. Bicknell retired from the office in January, 1875, to be come the editor of the New England Journal of Education. His labor was alluded to by the Board of Education as having been prosecuted "with a diligence, a wisdom, and a contagious enthusiasm, which, it is believed, have resulted in lasting benefit to the cause with which his name is identified". Meanwhile, in 1873, the General Assembly ap pointed a committee, consisting of Elisha R. Potter, associate justice of the Supreme Court; T. W. Bicknell, school commissioner; and J. M. Addeman, secretary of state, to publish a School Manual of all laws relating to education in the State, with such forms and decisions as might seem necessary. The laws of the State had been revised in the previous year (1872), and as far as they relate to schools remain in their general and more important features in 1900 as they were then enacted. In January, 1875, Thomas B. StockweU succeeded Mr. BickneU as commissioner of public schools, and during the past quarter of a century has held the office. From the commissioner's report of 1880 the foUovring facts and figures are obtained: The number of children in the State between the ages of five and fifteen years (census of 1880) was 52,273; the number enroUed in the schools was 40,604; the number of graded schools was 530, and of ungraded schools, 294; number of evening schools, 40 ; number of school houses, 453 ; State appropriation for day schools, $90,000 ; for evening schools, $3,248.34 ; receipts from registry tax and other sources, $26,390.16 ; total receipts, $558,450.86 ; receipts from district taxation, $49,429.46 ; town and city appropriation, $342,- 972.48 ; town and city appropriation for buddings, sites, etc., $22,450 ; Growth of Public Education. 251 paid for wages in day schools, $390,558.34 ; in evening schools, $15,- 047.50 ; estimated value of all school property, $1,894,122. Por purposes of comparison, similar statistics are here given for 1890, and 1899, as follows : In 1890 the number of children between the ages of five and fifteen years, inclusive, Avas 64,960, an increase in the decade of about 12,000 ; the number enrolled in the schools was 52,774; the number of graded schools was 785, and of ungraded schools 266, showing a marked increase in the number of graded schools ; the number of evening schools was 45 ; the number of school houses was 482, an increase of 29 ; the number of teachers was 1,378 ; the State appropriation for day schools Avas $120,000, and for evening schools, $2,894.19 ; there was received from the district tax, $61,382.09, and the total receipts from all sources were $1,091,993.86 ; there was paid to teachers, $549,367.38 ; appropriated for sites and buildings, $142,173.74; estimated value of aU school property, $2,739,672. In 1890 there were 39 libraries reported with a total number of volumes of 165,080. In 1899 the number of children enumerated, between the ages of five and fifteen years inclusive, was 79,825 ; the number enrolled in the day schools was 64,537 ; the number of graded schools was 1,187, an increase during the decade of 402 ; the number of evening schools was 65 ; the number of school buildings was 1,913, showing an increase of nearly 600 ; the State appropriation for day schools was $120,000, and for evening schools, $6,000 ; the total amount of district tax was $175,- 383.44, and the total receipts amounted to $1,665,609.35; there was paid to teachers, $917,118.58 ; appropriated for sites and buildings, $274,113.99 ; estimated value of all school property, $5,175,045. Comparative statistics of schools in the various towns, high schools, parochial schools, libraries, etc., will be later referred to. The earliest existing record of a measure for the establishment of schools in Providence is found in the f oUoAving : "Att A Towne Meetting May the 9th 1663 Thomas Olney Senior Moderator; It is ordered by this prsant Assembly, that 100 acrs of upland, and 6 Acres of Meaddow, or low land |to| the quan[]tye of Eight acres in lew of meaddow Shall be Laide out within the bounds of the Toune of ProAddence ; The which land, shall be reserved for the maintenance of A Scoole in this Towne. "And that after the said Land is Laid out, and the bounds thereof sett; it shall be Recorded in o'r Towne Record according unto the bounde ffixed, and shall be called by the name of Scoole Landes of Providence."^ 'Early Records of Providence, vol. iii, p. 35. 252 State op Rhode Island and Proa^dence Plantations. While this proceeding laid the foundation for support of a school, it does not appear that anything was done under it for some years. The following petition refers to the grant of land : "To ye Towne of providence mett at a quarter meeting the 28th of this Instant January 1683 :84. "My request is whereas there is an order formerly made, in this Towne, of a Grant of a purchase right of land to be layd out in this Towne for ye use and Bennefitt of a Schoole; which hath nott bene yett done, my Humble request is that the same may be fuUfiUed or accomplished according to the tenner of the sayd order, and in soe doeing you will oblige your Servant to Command "Jon Whipple Jun'r."^ There is nothing in the records to indicate whether the grant referred to in this petition is the one named in the order above quoted, but it probably was ; nor is there anything to show what action, if any, was taken upon Mr. Whipple's petition. The first school teacher in Providence, if the earliest existing record is relied upon, was William Turpin. His request to the authorities is handsomely written in Old English, and reads as foUows : "The humble request of WilUam Turpin, now schoolmaster of the said town, is, that whereas there was a parcel of land formerly granted by the ancestors of said town and was to be to the use and benefit of a schoolmaster, as by the records of the town book will more at large appear, which said order or grant was read to me in the presence of several gentlemen, that were the occasion of my settling at this tovm, who promised to be instrumental in the performance thereof. Gen tlemen, my desire is, that the aforesaid land 'be forthAvith layd out according to the said Order or grant', and that the said master or his heirs may be invested in the said land, so long as he or any of them, shall maintain that worthy art of learning. Thus leaving it to you, gentlemen, to give a speedy answer, according as you shaU think meet, I rest yours to command. William Turpin.'" Previous to the date of the above request, on June 11, 1684, Mr. Turpin made a contract to supply Peregrine Gardner with board and schooling one year for six pounds; forty shiUings in beef and pork, twenty shillings in corn, and the remainder in silver money. This fact 'Prov. Town Papers, No. 418. ''A note in Stockwell's History of Public Education, p. 133, has the foUowing; "Beides teaching Mr. Turpin kept an ordinary, or house of public entertain ment. His dwelling stood on the west side of North Main street, nearly opposite the Fourth Baptist meeting-house. At one time the General Assembly met there. It was a sightly place, and one of considerable business. He died July 18, 1709, leaving a widow (Anne, his second vsdfe), and three children." Growth of Public Education. 253 gives Turpin the honor of having been the first active teacher in the place, as far as knoAvn by the records. Whether any answer was given to the petition is not shown. The next recorded action regarding schools is the foUowing: "Towne Meeting Jan. 27, 1695-6. Where as, there hath ben a Re quest made unto ye Town by Jon Dexter, William Hopkins, Epenetus Olney, Willm Turpin, Joseph Whipple, John Smith, Philip Tilling hast, and Joseph Smith, that the Town would accommodate them with a SmaU spot of Land to set a School House upon in some place in this ToAvn about ye Highway called Dexter Lane or about ye Stampers hiU, The ToAvn have Considered of the matter and Do by these presents freely Grant unto ye aforesaid persons . . a Spot of Land of Forty foot square . . . about the place where it may be most conven ient".^ Dexter 's Lane was what is now Olney street. There is no recorded evidence that a school house was built, as permitted by this grant. In 1735 George Taylor was given the privilege of keeping a school in a chamber room of the state house. On the plat made of the warehouse lots laid out on the west side of "the ToAvn street", as what are now North and South Main streets were called, under date of 1747, a lot was left opposite the west end of the court house parade for a school house site. The date when this lot was set off for that purpose is not known, or whether it was done in answer to either the petition of Mr. Turpin or that of Dexter and his associates above named ; nor can it be determined just when a school house was built there ; but it was prior to 1752, as shown by the follow ing record of a proceeding in a meeting held October 30, of that year, when it was announced by Stephen Hopkins that the last preceding Assembly passed an act to "build a new Goal", if the toAvn would find a convenient place; he then moved that "the flats in the Salt River being the west end of the Lott that was formerly Granted for the use of a schoole whereon the Towne Schoole house in s'd Providence standeth to be a proper place". This motion was unanimously agreed to." In the same year (1752) Nicholas Cooke, Joseph Olney, Esek Hopkins, Elisha Brown, and John Mawney were appointed "to have the care of the town school house, and to appoint a master to teach in said house". In 1753 the school committee consisted of Nicholas Cooke, John Mawney, Nicholas Brown, Elijah Tillinghast, and Daniel Abbott.* •Providence Town Paper, 31. 'Providence Town Paper 0069. Providence Town Paper, 0975. 254 State of Rhode Island and Pro-vidence Plantations. On January 8, 1753, leave was given tp George Taylor by a commit tee duly appointed "to order and direct and manage all matters and Things relating to the Town SchooUiouse, so-called", to teach until the first Monday of the f oUoAving June. On his part ' ' the s 'd George doth hereby promise, and Oblige himself to school or teach one poor Child, such as the s'd Committee shaU recommend, Gratis, or for nothing during all sd Term". This was probably the first step towards pro viding free education for the poor. On February 22, 1754, a lease was made to "Stephen Jackson of said Providence School Master", of the town school house for three months from March 1 ; the yearly rent was £45 old tenor, which was ordered to be used for repairs on the school house.'- No further action regarding this school house appears in the records until 1763, Avhen the town clerk was directed to lease the building again. The teacher probably received his pay from scholars. The following from the records shows what was first done to pro vide a school on the west side of the river : ' ' To the Moderator and freemen of the ToAvn of Providence Convened together at the Town meeting on the 17th day of April, 1751 "Gent 'men "We the Subscribers Humbly Shew that there is Great Necessity of haveing a Schoole house Built in this Town on the west side of the River and that we togeither with other of the Inhabitance there about : have agreed and Subscribed money for that purpose, and that Ave Should be very Glad if we may be so to Build it on the vacant Land at the Sowdy hill, a little above Joseph Snow jun'rs Dwelling house; there Being Room to set it on and Leave the Road feet wide on each side— which being will oblidge us the subscribers and others the Inhabitance who are willing to spend their money to Leirn- ing and for publick good. "Gideon Comstock "Alexd'r Frazier "James Field "Thomas Angel "Barzillai Richmond "Nehemiah Sprague"" After the court house was burned in 1758 the town began proceed ings to obtain possession of the site, in place of the school lot on North Main street. These efforts were successful in February, 1765, when a 'Providence Town Paper 0974. ''Providence Town Paper 0821. Growth op Public Education. 255 committee of the toAvn transferred the fee of the school house lot and purchased the other.^ At a town meeting held on December 8, 1767, measures were adopted to provide education for the children of all the inhabitants of the place. It was there resolved to build three school houses for small children and one for youth, the cost to be paid from the treasury, and the schools to be placed under control of a school committee. John Brown, John Jenckes, Nathaniel Greene, Charles Keene, and Samuel Thurber were appointed to select the sites for school houses, to pur chase land, and make other necessary arrangements. Another com mittee was appointed consisting of Darius Sessions, Samuel Nightin gale, Jabez Bowen, and Moses Brown, to prepare ordinances for the government of schools. Both of these committees reported at a meet ing on January 1, 1768, and both reports were rejected. The report of the first named committee appears to have not been discovered by either Mr. Barnard or Mr. Stone in their researches; but the work of the Record Commissioners of Providence has brought to light the following : "Providence, January 1, 1768. "Whereas, this Town has Voted that they will purchase or erect Three School Houses for the Education of Small children and one for the Education of Youth, and we the subscribers being appointed a Committee at a toAvn meeting the 2d of December Last past to inquire and find if any Suitable Houses for this End may be purchased and at what Rate, and being Directed in said Vote to apply to the proprietors of the Private School Houses in the Town to agree with them about the purchases of the same, allso to agree with some proper person or per sons for Building such House or Houses as are to be built, agree on Situations, procure Titles, &c".'' The report then continues to the effect that the committee had exam ined the "school house down town", which would cost too much; had agreed with John Smith to build one ' ' at the upper part of the Town, of the same Dimentions as the School House on the west side of the Grait Bridg, viz. 26 feet Long, 18 Peet Avide, and ten Feet post".' They agreed with John Spooner ' ' to Build one at the Lower part of the Town, of the same Dimentions and on the same Terms". Also, they agreed Avith "Mr. Jonathan Hammond, in company with Mr. Benjamin Talbot, to Build the School House near the Court House, 'Barnard, on the Schools of Providence, p. 34. 'For vote on this measure see Providence Town Paper 403. 'For account of John Smith see Providence Town Paper 412. 256 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. agreeable to the Dimentions Voted by the Town for £482, or £12,875 0. Tenor if Built of Brick, or £416—14 if built with wood". They examined the school house on the west side of the bridge and found it "very convenient", but after consulting found a part of the proprie tors "will not sell their rights in said school", and the committee therefore advised postponing the matter of ' ' contracting for a House to be Built on that side of the River till after the ToAvn Meeting". They also agreed with Joseph Whipple "for two Letts for the small school Houses, that is, one at the upper part of the Town",' and one in the lower part. To aid in completing the school house to be built by Jonathan Hammond, a tax was authorized, on January 1, 1768, of £100, on condition that a subscription of the value of about £182 be obtained vrithin thirty days. This was not accomplished, but the amount was raised by the middle of July and a contract was made with John Smith to build the house that still stands near the Friends' meeting-house. A company of proprietors of the school numbering fifty-four was chartered in 1770. Stephen Hopkins, Jabez Bowen, and Moses Brown were a committee to prepare regulations for the school. The report of the second before named committee is found in the records, in the writing of Moses Brown, and recommended in brief susbstance, the building or purchase of four school houses; one on "the west side of the great bridge, a.t or near the place where the school house at present stands ' ' ; one in the southerly part of the tOAvn, in the back street, near Power's Lane; one in the northerly part of the town, in the back street, near Richard BrOAvn's lot ; and one larger one on the lot where the old court house stood, the latter to be built of brick. That £520 be levied and collected, to be used in these building operations. That the school house on the west side of the bridge should remain under direction of the proprietors until the other houses were completed. That a school committee should be chosen annually, etc. The following endorsement was made by Mr. Brown on the report: "1768. Laid before the town by the committee, but a number of the inhabitants (and what is most surprising and remarkable, the plan of a free school, supported by a tax, was rejected by the poorer sort of the people) being strangely led away not to see their own as well as the public interest therein (by a fcAv objectors at first), either because they were not the projectors, or had not public spirit to execute so laudable a design, and which was first voted by the toAvn Avith great freedom. M. B." 'Providence Town Paper 403. Growth of Public Education. 257 Another committee reported at the same time that there were on the west side of the river 102 houses, 911 inhabitants (including 189 be tween the ages of five and fourteen years) fit for schooling. The rejection of the above noticed reports nullified action that had previously been fallen (in December, 1767) for building three school houses, as detailed in the foregoing report of the committee appointed for that purpose. But the progressive portion of the inhabitants were not disposed to abandon efforts to provide better educational facilities, as appears by the organization of a company of proprietors in the north part of the town, in 1768, who procured the building of what was knoAvn as Whipple Hall, the lot having been donated by Captain John Whipple. The names of the proprietors were as follows : Edward Thurber, Jr., Jonathan Arnold, Benjamin Thurber, Captain Nathaniel Wheaton, Daniel Cahoon, Samuel Thurber, Jr., Obadiah Sprague, Timothy Mason, Stephen Carpenter, Coomer Haile, Dexter Brown, George Payson, Major Samuel Currie, Captain Ephraim Wheaton, Joseph Wilson, Amos Horton, Major Simeon Thayer, George Whipple, Colonel David Burr, Abner Thayer, John Smith, PhiUp Mason, Ezekiel Burr, Captain Benjamin Shepard, Joseph Olney, Jr., Benjamin Cozzens, Moses Hearne, Joshua Burr, Levi Burr, Captain Amos Allen, Nehemiah Sweet, Comfort Wheaton, Charles Keene, Mrs. Comfort Wheaton, John E. BroAra, EdAvard Knowles, Captain James Olney, Benjamin Allen, WiUiam TUer, Charles Keene, Aaron Mason, Peter Randall.^ A committee was appointed, consisting of Joseph Nash, Charles Keene, Samuel Thurber, jr., Samuel Currie, Benjamin Cozzens, Com- 'fort Wheaton and Jonathan Arnold, to prepare regulations for the 'It Avill be seen that this list of proprietors contains only forty-tAfo names, but a manuscript book of proprietors' records, in the library of the Historical Society, in Providence, states, among other facts, that the property was divided into fifty rights, and that forty-eight of these were divided among pro prietors according to their subscriptions. The other two rights were to be disposed of for the purchase of a lot. Bach right carried the privilege of send ing "one SchoUar to the Master's Apartment and one to the Mistress's apart ment and no more". 17 258 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. government of the school, and the latter were made extremely rigid, particularly in the interest of morality, poUteness, and general good conduct. The building was one story high, having a hipped roof, with a belfry; it was designed for two schools and was finished in Novem ber, 1768, at a cost of £120 old tenor, to each proprietor. George Taylor, jr., was the first teacher in the upper grade, and was compen sated by tuition fees of four shillings sixpence for each scholar; an additional charge of two shilUngs was made to parents who were not proprietors. Sally Jackson taught first in the lower grade. The committee on regulations clearly defined the duties of the trustees, also, making them responsible for the financial interests of the school, the efficiency and conduct of the teachers, etc. In this school Mr. Taylor was succeeded by John Barrows, Nathan DoAvne, Sumner Wood, Joseph Balch, Solomon Bradford, Abner Tucker, and John Dexter.'^ A "Discourse on Education" was delivered on November 16, 1785, by Rev. Enos Hitchcock, in Rev. Joseph Snow's church on the west side of the river, upon request of the inhabitants, which suppUed a new stimulus to the cause and aroused the community to renewed efforts ; but the oncoming of the Revolution, with its anxiety and ex citement, so absorbed pubUc attention as to greatly retard school development. Prom 1773 to 1781 school in Whipple HaU was closed and the building was occupied by the Council of War for a magazine ; the Meeting Street house also was used for a similar purpose.^ The damage to Whipple Hall was placed at "one hundred and thirteen Spanish milled dollars, and one-third of a dollar". At a little later 'Following is a specimen of the recommendation, or certificate given to a teacher in the old times: "Warwick, May 14, 1782. "Mr. Christopher Hill having teached a school for us at Warwick for the Term of One year (and has given general satisfaction we should have been glad to have continued him longer if his Price had suitetd.) He proved ATith us Master of indefatigable Industry and good economy in his school, his Scholars learned fast and to the satisfaction of his Imployees. We A^rill do him the justice to say that he is a Young Gent'n of a Good Character: that of an honest man. "Adam Comstock, Gideon Arnold, "Joseph Bsown, Samuel Gorton. "Nathaniel Miller." "A warrant for a town meeting was issued September 6, 1780, "to take into consideration the Dangerous and alarming situation of the Lives and Property of the Inhabitants of the northerly part of the Town occasioned by the con tinuance of a very large Quantity of Military stores in the School House called AVhipple Hall", etc., and to provide ways and means for the removal of such stores. See also Prov. Town Paper 2181, and paper 2182 for request to call the meeting. Growth op Public Education. 259 date the town set apart all money "which should be received of the State or the United States, for damage done the brick school house during the revolutionary war, all rents to be received for Market-house cellar, chambers and staUs, and all wharfage to be received on the Mar ket-house lot, as a fund for the support of public schools". This seemingly important appropriation brought in only about sufficient revenue to keep the school buildings in repair, but it also drew public attention to the distinction between schools owned by proprietors and those supported and fostered as free schools. The following is entered upon the records of a meeting of proprie tors held July 30, 1785 : "It being represented to the Propriety by a Committee of the Town that it is thought a plan of Government of all the Schools in the House may be hit upon more advantageous than the manner this House has hitherto been Improved, provided this Propriety will jdeld the use of their part to the Town for a limited time. ' ' This was followed by a vote^ that if the toAvn would re pair the whole house (Whipple Hall), and keep a school at least one year, the proprietors would give the use of their part (the upper part) for two years ; and that if the results were satisfactory, the arrangement would be continued. But this partnership business did not prosper, and various committees were appointed from time to time charged Avith the task of improving the school conditions. One of these was to visit the schools quarterly and to pass upon the quali fications of applicants for teachers ' positions ; at the quarterly visita tions it was provided as a stimulus to scholars, that "they shall exhibit such specimens of their improvement as shall be found most conducive to that purpose". The committee were also to give the masters in structions for the conduct of the schools, and it was further ordered "that the Town recommend the same regulations to all the other schools in the proprietary school houses in Town". Another comnut- tee of 1785, consisting of Joseph Snow, James Manning, Enos Hitch cock, J. Fitch, Oliver, Jabez Bowen, Moses Brown, Nicholas Brown and John J. Clark, appointed to take into consideration the condition of the schools, reported among other things, recommending "that no person be allowed to keep any school in the house belonging to the Town but such as have a fair moral character and are of ap proved abiUties". All of these too feeble efforts were a part of the long continued 'Providence Town paper 0914. 260 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. struggle towards free education for all. Progress was slow. In 1791 the school committee, consisting of James Manning^ (chairman), Enos Hitchcock, Joseph Snow, Moses Badger, Jonathan Maxcy (all pastors), Jabez Bowen, Moses Brown, John J. Clark, David HoweU, Theodore Foster, John Dorrance, Welcome AngeU, and Benjamin Bowen, took into consideration a petition presented at a town meeting held June 6, 1791, praying that a sufficient number of teachers be employed to instruct all the children in the town at public expense. Here was a step in the right direction. The subject was discussed in the press and the committee earnestly studied it in several meetings, finally reporting on it in July. The report, as might have been ex pected from such men, strongly urged the establishment of free schools; recommended the purchase of the proprietors' interests in the brick school house and Whipple Hall; the building of school houses by the town on the west side of the river and in the lower part of the town ; the annual appointment of a Town School Committee to have charge of the employment of teachers, and other matters; the payment of a share of the money raised by the town for school pur poses to the authorities of the Friends ' School ; the appointment of a committee to contract in behalf of the town for sites for the two pro posed school houses and arrange for their erection. This report was adopted August 1, and a committee appointed to procure the school lots, to learn the terms on which the proprietors would relinquish their rights in Whipple Hall and the brick school house, estimate cost of new houses, etc. But strange to say, but little progress was made, after this fair beginning, during several succeed ing years. The cause of this Avas, to some extent, the serious objection raised to the clause in the report relating to the Friends' School; it was claimed that a favor granted to one sect, as proposed, could be justly demanded by another, and might lead to the creation of a num ber of sectarian schools, maintained at public expense, and hampered by rivalries. In 1798 a ncAv force for the promotion of education appeared. In March, 1789, the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufac turers was chartered and it has kept up its existence to the present. 'Rev. Dr. Manning was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, October 22d,. 1738, and received a liberal education at Princeton College, where he APas graduated September 29th, 1762, and the same year was ordained as a Baptist minister. He was elected president of Rhode Island College (Brown Univer sity) in 1765, of Avhich he was the successful and honored head until his death„ which occurred suddenly, Sunday morning, July 24, 1791, in the 54th year of his age. As an educator he occupied a leading rank. Growth of Public Education. 261 time. Prom the beginning it joined heartily in all movements for the welfare of the community and wielded a poAverful influence for good. It was consistent with its purposes that it should enter into the task of providing free schools. One of the more prominent members of the association was John Howland, a descendant in the fifth generation from John HoAvland, one of the Pilgrims of 1620. In 1798 Mr. How land, who was made chairman of a committee appointed for the pur pose, prepared a memorial to the General Assembly, praying for "legal provision for the establishment of free schools sufficient to educate all the children in the several towns throughout the State". Mr. Howland had been advocating more and better public schools almost from the date of organization of the Mechanics' Association, and now entered still more earnestly into the Avork. The memorial prepared by him Avas presented to the Assembly in the name of the association and after debate was referred to a committee with instruc tions tp report by bill. A bill Avas accordingly draAvn by James Bur rill, jr., then attorney-general of the State, embodying a general school system, and was printed and sent out to the freemen of the various toAvns for their consideration. After commendable efforts on the part of Mr. Howdand personally and the association as a body, the bill passed the House at the autumn session of 1799 and was sent to the Senate. There it was laid over until the next session, when, after further labor on the part of Mr. HoAvland and others, it became a law. Ten days after the passage of the free school act of 1800 (February) the Providence committee to AA^hom was referred the school subject reported as follows: "1. That it Avill be expedient to open and establish through the year four Free Schools ; one to be kept in Whipple Hall ; one in the brick school house; one in a ncAV school house to be built at the south end of the town ; and one in a new school house, to be built on the west side of the river. "2. That a committee or committees be appointed to build the new school houses, and that these houses ought to be of brick, and be built immediately, and that Whipple Hall ought to be repaired. "3. That until these houses can be built, the toAvn council be re quested to provide proper places for the schools, at the south end, and on the west side of the river. ' ' 4. That there ought to be four Principal Masters appointed at a salary of five hundred dollars per annum each, and to be paid quar terly and so many Ushers, or Assistants, as the town council shall find necessary, at such salaries as the council shaU allow. '5. That so far as relates to expense, the town ought to be one 262 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. school district, and that the town council be requested to decide ac cordingly. "6. That the town council ought to be empowered to appoint, and if need require, to suspend or remove the Masters and Ushers, and that the council be requested immediately to make the necssary ar- rangments for carrying the system of Pree Schools into complete execution and effect. "7. That a tax of four thousand dollars ought to be now ordered and assessed, and that the same and all other taxes hereafter imposed for like purposes, ought to be paid in money into the toAvn treasury, and be exclusively appropriated to the erection of school-houses and the support of Pree Schools". The main features of this report were carried out. A tax of $6,000 was voted, and the treasurer was directed to collect certain money due the town from the Great Bridge Lottery, and from the sale of the "Walker lots", and devote the whole to support of schools. The freemen of the town bought Whipple Hall and refitted it, and also the school house on Meeting street. A new house was built on Transit street and another one on the west side of the river, on an eminence near the present corner of Friendship and Claverick streets. The following first school committee was appointed on the 26th of August, 1800: Jonathan Maxcy, Enos Hitchcock, Stephen Gano, WiUiam Jones, James Burrill, John Howland, Jabez Bowen, David L. Barnes, Amos M. AtweU, and John Carlisle ; all staunch friends of free edu cation. On October 13, 1800, this committee and the council appointed Jonathan Maxcy, Enos Hitchcock, Joseph Jenckes, and John How land a committee to frame rules and regulations for the government of the schools, which was done and such rules were adopted.^ The four schools were opened on the last Monday of October, 1800, under most encouraging conditions and prospects. There Avere four masters on salary of $500, and four ushers, with salary of $200 each. Early in 1800 an auxiliary school was opened in the fourth district and a teacher appointed at a salary of $400.^ This arrangement continued until 1812. During those twelve years the number of scholars attend ing the schools rarely exceeded 800. In 1812 to 1818 there were five 'See p. 41, Barnard's account of the Schools of Providence, in library of R. I. Hist. Society, Providence. ' In connection with the school system at the beginning of the century the manuscripts arranged by the Record Commissioners of the City of Providence contain many old documents of much interest, which will throw additional light on the movement for public education. Growth op Public Education. 263 schools, with masters and ushers drawing the same salary as before. In 1819 the stone school house on Summer street was built, one story high, and a second story was subsequently added. Prom that time until 1824 the number of schools and teachers remained unchanged; in that year an additional teacher was appointed at a salary of $300, to teach a part of the school in the first district.^ From that date until 1840 no important changes were made in the school system as a whole. In this connection the following statistics are of value : Voor Average No. Amount paid Annual expense Xcdrl. during the year. for tuition. for each scholar. 1819 830 $3,750 $4.51 1820 846 3,750 4.42 1821 796 3,750 4.71 1822 845 3,750 4.52 1823 812 3,750 4.61 1824 852 3,750 4.34 1825 806 4,050 5.02 1826 744 4,050 5.44 1827 886 4,050 4.46 1828 1000 4,800 4.80 1829 1260 4,100 4.05 1830 1205 5,300 4.40 1831 1127 5,700 5.06 1832 941 5,700 6.27 1833 1129 5,700 5.05 1834 1222 5,700 4.66 1835 1266 6,900 5.45 1836 1271 6,900 5.42 1837 1536 7,400 4.82 1838 1717 7,400 4.31 1839 1740 7,400 4.18 Under the law of 1800 the schools of Providence prospered; but opposition to the law in the country districts was extreme and suffi ciently powerful to compass its repeal in 1803. In that year the cause of education lost a strong helper in the death of Rev. Enos Hitchcock, who died on February 27. Among the early features of school support was an assessment made on each scholar to purchase 'Following is a nearly complete list of teachers who acted as principals in the schools from 1800 to 1828, most of whom had been promoted from the posi tion of usher: John Dexter, Moses Noyes, Royal Farnum, Rev. James -Wilson, Richard Briggs, Oliver AngeU, Liberty Ransom, AVilliam E. Richmond, Noah Kendall, Rev. Thomas AVilliams, Joseph -W. Torrey, Christopher Hill, Elisha R. Atkins, Thomas C. Hartshorn, Thomas C. Fenner, Joseph Beverly, Edward Beverly, George Taft, Cyrus Grant, Daniel Baker, Martin Snell, Jedediah L. 264 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. fuel ; this continued in operation until 1833. The scholars were also compelled to furnish their OAvn ink, or "be debarred from writing". In 1804 measures were adopted to supply the children of poor parents with books. The repeal of the school law did not affect Providence. The author ities were already too well satisfied with its workings and too appreci ative of its importance to permit a change to be made, and the schools went on as before. This action could not fail to exert a salutary infiuence upon neighboring towns and partially open the way for still greater improvement that was to be inaugurated a quarter of a cent ury later. In 1816, it having been decided that special supervision of the schools would be advantageous, the committee voted to place them "under the superintending care of the Reverend Clergy interim be tween the several quarterly visitations ' '. The assignments to the dis tricts were as follows : First district. Rev. Dr. Edes ; second district, Rev. Dr. Crocker ; third district. Rev. Dr. Gano ; fourth district. Rev. Mr. James Wilson, and Rev. Mr. Preston. General improvement in school visitation, methods of teaching, discipline, etc., continued until 1828, when the important school law of that year was passed, as described on a preceding page. Soon after the passage of this law a proposition to reorganize the Providence school system ' ' and place the schools in a condition of greater usefulness to all classes of the com munity", was referred to a committee consisting of the foUoAving: Francis Wayland, William T. Grinnell, and Thomas T. Waterman, with instructions to investigate and report on the subject. An ex haustive report was presented on the 22d of April, which was printed and circulated.^ This report is too long to be given place here, but one of its more important recommendations was the establishment of graded schools, a sufficient number of primary schools in different parts of the tovm, and "a single school of a more elevated character, to enter which it shall be necessary to have been a proficient in aU the studies of the grammar schools". The committee also favored the monitorial system in teaching. The report closed Avith four recom mendations as follows : Stark, Richard Battle, Calvin Barnes, Sumner W. Arnold, Benjamin Allen, Stephen Rawson, Hezekiah Battle, Samuel P. BuUard, Nehemiah B. Rogers, Samuel Stetson, Daniel G. Sprague, AVilliam S. Boss, Charles Arnold, Joseph Shaw, Steuben Taylor, Jesse Hartwell, Moses Curtis, Esek Aldrich, Jr., Sylves ter R. Aborn, Origin Batcheller, Joseph L. Shaw, Edward Seagrace, John Hol royd, Oliver C. Shaw, Noah Smith, Jr., Elisha AV. Baker, Barnum Field, Joseph C. Gardner, Thomas -Wilson. 'See Hist. PubUc Ed. in Rhode Island (Stockwell), pp. 164-8. Growth op Public Education. 265 "1st. That the school committee should be so divided as to consti tute a primary and a grammar school committee, and this committee in conjunction with the town council, to be charged with the whole business of the public education. "2d. That primary schools for the instruction of children from four to seven years of age, be established in various parts of the town under the superintendence and direction of the primary school com mittee. "3d. That the monitorial system be immediately tested in one of the common schools. "4th. That a public high school be established, in Avhich shall be taught all the branches necessary to a useful, mercantile and classical education. ' ' These recommendations were adopted and the changes introduced. Primary schools were established for children between the ages of four and eight years, and placed in charge of women teachers, thus reliev ing the grammar school masters of the care of large numbers of small children. New and improved text books Avere introduced, and the monitorial system was given a fair trial ; but after a few years it was abandoned. In the year 1828 a school for colored childen was opened with a teacher who was paid $400 a year ; it was situated in Meeting street, and was supplemented by another in Pond street in 1837. Both were abolished in 1865.^ A meeting of men Avho Avere deeply interested in the cause of educa tion was held at the ToAvn House in May, 1831, at which two commit tees were appointed; one to report upon the usefulness and manner of conducting lyceums and other similar institutions, and the other to consider and report upon the existing state of the schools and recom mend improvements. Both committees reported on May 17, 1832, and the report of the second committee was printed, that of the other committee being subsequently withdrawn. The printed report can be referred to by the reader ;^ but it may be said in brief that it recom mended abandonment of the prevailing method of discipline over small 'Providence had an "African Union Meeting and School-House" about 1816. A "Short History" of Providence, printed in 1821 (in the R. I. Historical So ciety library), states that "about five years since, the ladies of the town of Providence (R. I.) formed a society for the instruction of the colored part of the population. A school was established under the patronage of the society, in the west part of the tOAvn, and Miss Sarah Latham of Smithfleld was en gaged as Preceptress". Another building was begun in 1819 and flnished a year or t-wo later, on a lot, donated by Moses Brown, "conveniently situated in the east part of the town", according to the same publication. This build ing -was used for both educational and religious purposes. 'Hist. PubUc Education in R. I. (StockweU), pp. 170-5. 266 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. children, in which the "passion of fear" was strongly appealed to; the extension of the school curriculum; greater attention to securing teachers of better qualifications and higher character ; the introduction of simple school apparatus, and less insistence upon committing to memory "the solid contents of books", etc. In 1832, when Providence became a city, the first school committee consisted of the following: Samuel W. Bridgham (mayor and presi dent) ; Dexter Thurber, Charles Holden, John H. Ormsbee, WilUam T. Grinnell, Henry R. Green, Asa Messer, George Curtis, Moses B. Ives, Robert H. Ives, Peter Pratt, Thomas H. Webb, Frederick A. Farley, William Aplin, George Baker, Alexis CasweU, David Picker ing, Pharcellus Church, Robert Knight, Robert E. Patterson. In 1835 the school committee recommended the estabUshment of a high school ; but the matter was long delayed. In the same year the salaries of masters was increased to $600 and of ushers to $300. In 1836 women teachers were for the first time employed as assistants in the grammar schools ; whenever a vacancy occurred in the place of an usher, it was filled by a woman. The first one appointed was Miss Avis W. Lockwood, who had been preceptress of the girl's school established in the fourth district in 1827, and continued in the same place when that school was made a primary in 1828.^ The time arrived, of course, Avhen the city schools became over crowded and the demand for more and better acommodations was imperative. This subject was brought to the attention of the City Council by the Mechanics ' Association early in 1837, whose president, George Baker, wrote a strong memorial, the foundation of which was a series of resolutions adopted by the Association on January 30, 1837, Avhichtookthe ground that the public schools were not adequate to meet the needs of the inhabitants ; that ' ' the public schools ought to be made equal to the private schools ' ' ; that ' ' an increased number of public schools ought to be promptly established"; etc. Mr. Baker's memor ial showed, among other facts, that in 1836 the number of scholars attending the public schools was 1,456, while the number in private schools was 3,235, and there were 1,604 attending no schools. In the 'From 1828 to 1836, the teachers of the primary schools, so far as ascer tained, were: Carr, Ann J. AVare, Sarah P. Church, Mary Ann Davis, Avis "W. Lockwood, Harriet Fisher, Eliza P. Delano, Sarah Pratt, Abby R. Thornton, Mary Godfrey, Emily PhiUips, Hannah Parnum, Ann Page, Rosa A. Grafton, Elizabeth E. Brown, Sarah A. Hayford, Eliza Thurber, Ruth Winchester, Abby S. Cooke, Abby B. Hayford, W. "Walker, Elizabeth R. Little, Tillinghast (colored school), Almy E. Spaulding, Diana Bragg, Sarah -W. Arnold, Emeline A. Vinton, Harriet A^'^ood, Mary C. Bragg, L. G. Lincoln, Susan Lincoln. Growth of Public Education. 267 same year there was paid by the city and State for public schools, $7,461.99 ; while for private schools the amount was more than $20,000. He showed also that the proportionate number attending the public schools in Boston was much larger than in Providence. He recom mended the establishment of a grade of schools between the primary and the so-called writing schools, for reading, writing and arithmetic only. This memorial, with its almost startling facts, awakened the pubUc and commanded the respect of the Council. A committee of that body took the matter in hand and reported a plan of improvement; but it was unsatisfactory, and a second one was presented, comprising twelve primary, eight intermediate, and four upper schools ; this was sent to the Board of Aldermen, who reduced the number of schools to twenty, and the salary list, proposed by the committee, about ten per, cent. The bill was thus returned to the Common Council, who refused to concur. Various meetings were held, the subject was discussed in all of its bearings, and finally the Board of Alderman dcAdsed another plan, which included ten primary schools, six intermediate, two upper schools, and two schools for colored children. This was voted doAvn in the Common Council by a large majority. The next municipal election (for 1837-8) turned somewhat upon the school question, and a board of aldermen and coimcilmen were elected who favored by a majority a complete school reorganization. Soon after the organiza tion of the city government a joint committee from both chambers was appointed to act in the matter, and after visiting other cities and making thorough investigation, they made their report. It concluded with a series of resolutions to the effect that the number of schools should be increased to seventeen— one high school, six grammar and writing schools, and ten primary schools ; recommended the payment of salaries of $1,000 to the principal of the high school ; $750 to his assistant; $800 to masters of grammar and writing schools; $200 to two assistant female teachers; $250 to the principals of primary schools; and $175 to assistant teachers. Recommended the appoint ment of a superintendent of schools at a salary of $800 ; that the high school should be instituted for the purpose of fitting young men for college and giving others, who were not to enter college, a good Eng hsh education, etc. This report precipitated a warm contest and developed a large element of opposition to the proposed improvement; the opposition was based mainly upon the fact of the greatly increased expense 268 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. involved. But the friends of the cause, prominent among whom were John L. Hughes, Simon Heni-y Greene, and Seth Padelford, persisted in their task, and finally succeeded in securing the adoption of an ordi nance involving broad principles and important changes. Conspicu ous among these was a section fixing the number of schools at seven teen ; another for the establishment of a high school ; another stating the number and character of teachers in all of the schools; another fixing the ages of scholars who might attend the various schools; establishing the office of superintendent of schools; others fixing the salaries of all teachers; defining the duties of the school committee, etc.^ This ordinance was passed April 9, 1838, and under its pro visions the primary and the grammar schools went into immediate operation; subsequently an intermediate grade was established, and later the high school was opened. Immediately after the passage of this ordinance a committee was appointed by the Common Council to make a thorough examination of all of the school houses and report upon their condition and Avhat was needed to fit them for the introduction of the changes contemplated by the new ordinance. This committee reported that all of the school buildings were ' ' unfit for use in their present condition ' ', being small, dilapidated and badly constructed. In June, 1838, a joint committee was appointed to report plans for new school houses, estimates of cost for erecting them, etc., in connection Avith a bill recommending the appointment of a building committee. This recommendation was adopted and the building committee was authorized to proceed in the demolition or rebuilding of school houses, or erection of new ones, as might be necessary to provide for the new system. Within two years from that time thirteen new school houses were built, and on the first day on which the system went into operation more than 1,000 scholars entered the public schools who had never attended one before. All the rooms were over-crowded and it was necessary to open additional primary schools and build houses for their accommodation. Within two years the number of scholars in the schools more than doubled, and the grammar schools were so filled that many students who desired admittance could not be accommodated. The reports for 1839, 1840 and 1841, show marked progress and generally satisfactory conditions in the city schools, excepting in rela tion to lack of room. In the latter year there were in the city six districts and nineteen schools ; on account of the pressure in the gram- ^Hist. of Public Education in R. I. (Stockwell), pp. 183-6. OLD HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING, PROVIDENCE, R. I. 270 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. mar schools, some of the scholars in the third, fifth, and sixth districts were placed in the ward-rooms under assistant teachers. Eleven school houses were the property of the city, and the number of teachers had increased to forty-three, only seven of whom were men ; the num ber of scholars in the primary schools for the last quarter of 1841 avbs 1,674, and 1,361 in the grammar schools. The amount of money re ceived from the city in support of schools for the preceding year was $12,377.67 ; from the State, $3,818.20. After prolonged effort on the part of progressive friends of educa tion, a high school was established. It is fair to state that much of the opposition to the project arose from ignorance of the character and purposes of the school. A site was purchased at the corner of Benefit and Waterman streets, on which the building still standing was erected, and the school opened March 20, 1843. During the succeeding year 164 pupils were admitted— 80 boys and 84 girls. The school at once took a high position among New England educational institutions, and has ever since gone rapidly forward. A large number of teachers, who subsequently attained eminence in their profession, received their education in the first high school. A high school building was erected in 1877-8, corner of Pond and Summer streets, supplying accommoda tions that were sufficient until 1892, when the Manual Training High School was opened. This was followed by the opening of the Classical High School in September, 1897, and of the Hope Street High School in September, 1898. On June 10, 1844, a code of by-laws and regulations was adopted for the schools in Providence, under which marked progress was at once made. This code provided, among other things, for a school committee consisting of thirty members, to be elected by the Common Council. In the first district, vrith five schools, the committee consisted of Richmond Brownell, Elisha Dyer, jr., Amos D. Smith, and Shubael Hutchins. In the second district, with four schools, Isaac Thurber, Alexander Duncan, Edward P. Knowles, and Stephen T. Olney. In the third district, with four schools, Alexis Caswell, William T. Dor rance, John A. Wadsworth, and Joseph G. Metcalf. In the fourth district, Avith three schools, Edward B. Hall, Moses B. Ives, Amherst Everett, and Gamaliel L. Dwight. In the fifth district, Avith four schools, Edward R. Young, Barzillai Cranston, Amasa Manton, George H. Tillinghast, and John R. Burrows. In the sixth district, with seven schools, William G. Goddard, Samuel Osgood, Esek Aldrich, Robert Knight, John P. Phillips, and William C. Snow. The executive and Growth of Public Education. 271 high school committee consisted of John Barstow, John J. Stimson, and Thomas M. Burgess. Thomas M. Burgess was elected president of the committee and Nathan Bishop was superintendent of schools. In accordance with the ordinance of 1838, before noticed, the first superintendent of schools was appointed in 1839 in the person of Nathan Bishop, who had been a tutor in Brown University. He effi ciently performed the duties of his office until 1851, when he resigned Nathan Bishop, LL. D. Superintendent o£ Schools of Providence, 1839-1851. to accept a similar position in Boston. He was succeeded by Samuel S. Greene, who had gained large experience in Boston schools. Some of the improvements introduced by him were : Bringing the various city teachers together at stated times, to receive from him instructions in their duties ; the formation of a normal class of such graduates of the schools as desired to become teachers to receive systematic drill in the art of teaching ; and the introduction of a course of written exam- 272 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. inations as the best test of quality of the work done by scholars in the grammar schools. Mr. Greene filled the position three and one-half years, when he was appointed to a professorship in Brown University, and was succeeded by Rev. Daniel Leach, D. D., who continued in the office until 1884. Dr. Leach's successor was Horace S. Tarbell, the present superintendent. The enrollment (or attendance in a feAV of the earlier years) for the period covered by the following figures has been as follows : 1841, 3,527 1863, Winter term, 7,752 1 885, Whole No. 16,803 1842, 3,822 1864, 7,588 1886, 17,322 1843, 4,284 1865, 7,588 1887, 17,229 1844, 4,499 1866, 1888, 18,105 1845, 4,900 1867, 7,356 ]889, 18,880 1846, 5,227 1868, 7,438 1890, 18,271 1847, 5,904 1869, 8,324 1891, 17,638 1848, 6,005 1870, 8,210 1892, 18,236 1849, 6301 1871, 8,536 1893, 18,772 1850, 6,353 1872, 8,580 1894, 19,651 1851, 6,808 1873, 8,749 1895, 19,799 1852, 5,811 1874, Whole number 11,320 1896, 20,997 1853, 5,838 1875, 12,507 1897, 22,883 1854, 6,264 1876, 13,213 1898, 25,053 1855, 6,620 1877, 13,500 1899, 25,812 1856, 6,623 1878, 13,821 1900, 27,412 1857, 6,600 1879, 14,211 1858, 7,250 1880, 13,261 1859, 7,135 1881, 14,462 1860, 7,352 1882, 14,542 1861, 7,602 1883, 15,427 1862, 8,066 1884, 16,814 To supply accommodations for elaborate classification, which in volved the placing of smaller numbers of scholars in each room, with a teacher upon whom full responsibility rested, required extensive alter ations in many of the school buildings. These changes were made in a spirit of liberality, and the remarkable growth of educational facil ities in all directions, from the four humble buildings and their ill- conditioned schools in 1800, to the magnificent equipment of to-day is, perhaps, the city's greatest honor. During the first twelve years after the schools were established, the attendance rarely exceeded 800 ; from 1819 to 1827 it ranged from 744 to 886 ; in 1836 it was 1,456 ; in 1848 it was 6,005 ; and ten years later was 7,257. In 1848 the cost of main taining the city schools was thirty per cent, of the whole city expenses ; Growth op Public Education. 273 in 1858 it was only fourteen per cent., while in 1874 it was only 2.7 per cent, for school instruction and in total was only 3.1 per cent. Between the years 1838 and 1844 there were erected a high school building, six grammar, and six primary school buildings, at an aggre gate cost of about $100,000. Between that date and 1876, thirty-seven school houses were built. All of this wonderful growth and improve ment is more clearly shown in detail by preceding statistics. In the year 1850 the schools received from the State, $7,081.53 ; from the town, $29,926.02 ; total receipts, $37,361.90. The amount expend ed on school houses was $6,717. The number of school houses was then twenty-two, and the number of teachers was ninety-eight. The num ber of scholars in attendance was 6,393. For the school year of 1860 the State appropriation was $10,609.83 ; toAvn, $50,000; total receipts, $65,565.19. There was expended on school buildings, $22,064.89. There were registered in the vsdnter term, 7,352 scholars, and the average attendance was 6,617. At the January session of 1869 the Legislature passed the bill estab lishing the State Board of Education, which was made to consist of the governor and the Ueutenant-governor, ex officio, and one member from each county in the State excepting Providence county, which was given two. The board was directed to hold quarterly meetings in March, June, September, and December. The first board consisted of the f oUoAving : Newport county, Fred W. Tilton ; Bristol county. Rev. A. P. Spaulding ; Kent county, George W. Greene ; Washington county, Samuel H. Cross ; Providence county. Rev. Daniel Leach, and Charles H. Fisher.^ During the school year 1869-70 there were many complaints of over crowded school rooms. The new grammar school building, corner of Federal and Dean streets, was finished and dedicated December 14, 1870. Better ventilation in all school buildings was urgently recom mended by the superintendent, and also the introduction of physical exercise in the schools. The State appropriation for the school year was $20,761.95 ; the city appropriation, $140,000 ; total receipts, $171,- 771.45. The registration for the winter term was 8,210, and the average attendance 7,389. There were 160 schools, and six evening schools ;^ in the latter were registered 1,407 boys and 542 girls ; 165 'For text of law establishing the State Board of Education, see report of the board for 1869-70, pp. 15-16. 'It is not known just when the evening schools of Providence were first established, but one was taught in 1840 by Samuel Austin. They are first 18 274 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. teachers were employed. A normal school was among the changes recommended in the reports; also the establishment of an industrial school and the introduction of compulsory education. Por the school year 1870-71 the State appropriation was $20,754.20 ; town, $200,000 ; total receipts, $227,144.20. There were enroUed in the winter term 8,536 scholars, and the average attendance was 8,262 ; there were 200 schools and 200 teachers, with six evening schools, the latter having a registration of 1,660. The annexation of territory to the city intensified the urgency for more accommodations. The State appropriation for 1871-2 was $20,261.44; city, $185,000; total receipts, $213,547.19. Enrolled in the winter term 8,580 ; aver age attendance, 7,730. There were now owned by the city thirty-six school houses having a valuation of about a milUon dollars, and two others were hired. One high school, seven grammar schools, thirty- four intermediate schools and twenty-eight primary schools were taught, with eight evening schools. The enroUment in these latter numbered 2,195, and the average attendance was 709. An evening polytechnic school was opened October 16, 1871, which was reported as supplying a much- felt want; dravring, penmanship, bookkeeping, mathematics, chemistry, etc., were taught. In 1872-3 the State appropriated $20,257.69 for schools in the city and the city appropriated $277,000 ; the total receipts were $303,195.- 69 ; the registration for the winter was 8,749, and the average attend ance 8,225. There were 187 schools and 184 teachers. More thorough grading was advocated in the reports, and a high school building was demanded. There were ten evening schools, in which were enroUed mentioned in reports in August, 1847, when a communication regarding them was referred to a committee, who recommended a postponement of the subject. On September 18, 1849, a communication, signed by a committee appointed by the Common Council, asked for the use of two grammar school rooms for an evening school; it was voted inexpedient, but a resolution was adopted that the committee will co-operate with the Council in establishing and carrying on a school. On September 27 the executive committee was instructed to open two evening schools and two sub-committees were appointed to take charge of the matter. In August, 1850, it was voted that evening schools not exceeding four be opened, and in November of that year one for colored children was authorized. In 1852 and 1853 there were no evening schools. On November 14, 1854, a special meeting was called to consider the subject, at the request of certain citizens. A resolution was adopted and referred to a committee of three, who reported recommending the opening of two schools, one on each side of the river. In 1855 there were two schools; in 1856-58, inclusive, there were four; in 1859 there was none; in 1860-61 there were six. In the latter year there were about 1,000 in attendance. During the war period these schools were not opened, but in 1866 they were reopened and have continued in gradually increasing numbers, as elsewhere stated. (See School Report for 1870-71, pp. 29-35.) Growth op Public Education. 275 2,566 scholars, with average attendance of 900. Six vacation schools, also, were opened this year in July and continued six weeks. For 1873-4 the State appropriation was $20,261.43, and the city $170,000; the total receipts w^ere $369,241.48. There were enrolled 11,320 scholars, with an average attendance of 8,607. There were 193 schools and 233 teachers. The high school had so increased in attend ance that it was divided and part of it taught in the Avard room on Benefit street, demonstrating the need of a suitable building. The State appropriation for 1874-5 was $24,561.02, and from the city was $194,000 ; total receipts, $418,866.44. The school property of the city had now reached a valuation of $1,245,000 and comprised forty-five houses. There were expended in the year for permanent improvement, new buildings, etc., $200,000. The enrollment was 12,507, and average attendance 11,000. There were 210 graded schools, seven evening schools, and the polytechnic in the Fountain street building. A new house was erected, corner of Point and Plane streets, at a cost of $109,000, and a new house on Jackson avenue, costing about $17,000. (Por description of buildings see Report, pp. 127-32.) 1875-6.— State appropriation, $24,556.83; city, $194,000; total re ceipts, $344,927.84; valuation, $1,300,000. The enrollment was 13,213; average attendance, 10,486. The number of children not in attendance at any school was reported as increasing, and pro visions for compulsory education were recommended by the superin tendent. A new building was erected on Manning street, and one on Doyle street. About $200,000 Avere expended on permanent improve ments. There were six evening schools and seven vacation schools. The State appropriation for 1876-7 was $25,287.34 ; city, $182,000 ; total receipts, $348,388.48 ; valuation, $1,450,000. The city now owned forty-nine houses, and during the year $119,530.45 were expended on permanent improvements. The enrollment Avas 13,500 ; average at tendance, 10,886. Very extensive improvements were effected this year, six new buildings being completed. A grammar school building was erected on Oxford street, for which $50,000 were appropriated ; another on Candace street, for which $45,000 were appropriated. The new high school building, so long needed, was begun, with capacity for 700 scholars. The other buildings were those situated on Manning, Admiral, Julian, and Aldrich streets, for primary and intermediate schools. The city had 236 graded schools and eight evening schools. The report announced that eight towns in the State had adopted the toAvn system, supplementing the district system; this was a change 276 State op Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. which at that time was a subject of wide-spread discussion. The need of a school census was noticed in the reports. For the year 1877-78 the State appropriation was $25,283.11 ; city, $210,720.64; total receipts, $358,409.45. .There were fifty school houses and the property valuation was $1,450,000. Expended on permanent improvements, $113,138.12. The enrollment was 13,821; average attendance, 9,490; average attendance in the nine evening schools, 1,302. The new high school building was about finished and was formally opened in the next year. It stands on Summer, Spring, and Pond streets, on a lot costing the city $56,974.64, and the building cost $160,000. It is three stories high, with nine rooms on the first and second floors, for 900 pupils, and a hall on the third floor. 1878-9. — State appropriation, $25,783.11; city, $177,754.20; total receipts, $278,953.91; valuation, $1,500,000. The enroUment was 14,211 ; average attendance, 9,415. The first school census published in the reports was for 1879, and enumerated 49,562 from five to fifteen years of age inclusive. In attendance in public schools, 32,793; at tending Catholic schools, 4,374 ; attending select schools, 1,728 ; not in any school, 10,549. 1880 (report of January 1, 1881).— State appropriation, $26,283.11; city, $180,046.83 ; valuation (estimated on assessors' valuation), $833,- 046 ; total receipts, $236,482.29. EnroUment, 13,261 ; average attend ance, 9,659. Nine evening schools with average attendance of 1,020; the cost of these was $12,414.68. 1881. — State appropriation, $25,278.91; city, $193,964; total re ceipts, $254,949. Enrollment, 13,462 ; average attendance, 9,914. Por a few years prior to this the great need of a truant law was felt and the passage of one urged. The subject, as was stated in the reports, had been before the Assembly for twenty years. 1882.— State appropriation, $25,553.50; city, $201,377.16; total re ceipts, $249,174.30. Enrollment, 14,542 ; average attendance, 10,248. The number of evening schools had increased to ten, with an average attendance of 968, involving expenses of $12,048.66. The report for this year contains a comparative statement containing the facts that in 1855 the city population was 47,785 ; now it was nearly 112,000. Then there were forty-seven schools, while now there were eighty-five. In 1855 there were 113 teachers and 6,620 scholars, while in 1882 there were 283 teachers and 12,874 scholars. During this period there were built twenty- four school houses, and the whole school system was mate rially changed. A class in mechanical drawing was organized Decem ber 7, 1881, by Eben Rose, and thirty-seven scholars attended. Growth op Public Education. 277 1883.— State appropriation, $25,553.50 ; city, $208,890.99 ; receipts, $279,224.05 ; expended on permanent improvements, $55,446.94. En rollment, 15,427; average attendance, 10,758. There were now 246 graded schools taught, and ten evening schools with an average attend ance of 870, supported at a cost of $13,443.40. On AprU 12, 1883 (in this school year), the General Assembly passed a compulsory educa tion bill. At this time it had been shown that Rhode Island had the largest proportion of illiterates of any Northern State. Of course, this condition should be considered in the light of the great manufacturing element of population. The schools were reported as over-crowded, and a special committee was appointed by the school committee to con sider remedies for this condition. The report of the committee was strongly in favor of prompt action in enlarging school facilities. 1884.— State appropriation, $25,549.31; city, $219,662.10; receipts, $292,323.06 ; expended on permanent improvements, $52,547.32. En roUment, 16,814 ; average attendance, 11,716. There were 246 schools, with eleven evening schools ; the latter had an average attendance of 1,037, and cost for maintenance, $13,621.87. It was stated that there were at least 2,000 more scholars in school in November, 1884, than in April, 1884, a fact that was due to some extent to the effects of the compulsory education law. The adoption of a truant ordinance by the city and the establishment of a kindergarten were recommend ed. A new grammar school building was erected on Vineyard street, to accommodate 400 pupils, and costing with land and equipment, $59,000 ; and another on Berlin street for 217 pupils, the building and equipment costing $10,698.80. 1885.— State appropriation, $25,499.31; city, $218,797.14; receipts, $347,789.72 ; valuation, $974,454. Expended on permanent improve ments, $92,448.12. Enrollment, 16,803; average attendance, 12,043. Twelve evening schools with average attendance of 1,416, and costing for maintenance, $14,573.76. The number of city school buildings was now fifty-one. Instruction in sewing is noticed in the report for this year. This was first taught in the schools in 1866, but was abol ished in 1875, to be renewed this year and continued to the present time. 1886.-State appropriation, $30,488.90 ; city, $222,430.31; receipts, $348,030.25. Expended for permanent improvements, $81,254.14 ; val uation, $1,001,490. Enrolled, 17,322; average attendance, 12,938. Evening schools same as preceding year. The report for this year (page 31) notes the fact that the truant law had been in operation three years without the slightest effect on Providence, the provisions 278 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. of the law being evaded in various ways. Two new buildings were erected on Sayles street, giving better but not increased accommoda tions in the 9th ward. A new building was completed on Smith 's Hill, which was pronounced one of the finest for its purpose in the city. A kindergarten was established, which met vsdth such success that a sec ond one was opened in the next year. 1887.— State appropriation, $30,045.26; city, $225,345.35; receipts, $339,765.01. Expended for permanent improvements, $67,789.95; valuation, $1,041,249. Enrolled, 17,229; average attendance, 12,358. Evening schools, twelve, with average attendance of 1,385, and costing $15,535.69. Object teaching had been introduced in the primary schools and was reported as gradually increasing. 1888.— State appropriation, $29,989.82; city, $226,337.32; receipts, $369,854.17. Expended for permanent improvements, $91,287.48; valuation, $1,041,249. Scholars registered, 18,105 ; average attend ance, 12,839. In May, 1888, an amended truant law was passed, mak ing it obligatory on the Common Council to pass ordinances to prevent violations of the law. Such an ordinance was passed and it had an immediate effect upon attendance. There was now such a demand for larger accommodations in the 3d, 4th, 6th, 7th, and 10th wards that the Council Avas requested by the school committee to appoint a special committee to make an investigation in those sections and determine what new buildings were needed, where to locate them, their cost, etc. The result of this action appears a little further on. 1889.— State appropriation, $29,229.69; city, $234,078.53; receipts, $382,460.81; valuation, $1,136,787. Expended for permanent im provements, $96,488.09. Enrolled, 18,380 ; average attendance, 12,861. There were now 316 graded schools, taught in fifty-nine school build ings, and twelve evening schools, with average attendance of 1,108, costing for maintenance, $16,857.36. In the superintendent's report the importance was urged of adding to the high school courses another course bearing the same relation to industry that the English and scientific department does to trade. Higher education was once sup posed to lead to the professions only ; in course of time, trade claimed many thoroughly educated bien, while now industrial operations de manded them. A manual training school Avas cited as the means through which these demands could be met. New buildings were opened this year on Atwell's avenue and Veazie street. The school census for 1889 gave the number of children of five to fifteen years inclusive as 64,960, a gain of about 15,000 in ten years. Of these 43,163 attended public schools, showing a substantial gain Growth op Public Education. 279 in percentage. Attending Catholic schools, 8,275; select schools, 1,478. 1890.— State appropriation, $28,645.34; city, $245,941.26; receipts, $403,154.47. Expended for permanent improvements, $101,773.74. EnroUed, 18,271 ; average attendance, 12,924. Valuation, $1,095,331. There was at about this period, as seen in the figures, a large and rapid growth in school attendance. The intermediate grade was abolished this year, the primary grade being found sufficient for the two. 1891.— State appropriation, $28,872.93 ; city, $302,956.96 ; receipts, $497,732.65. Expended for permanent improvements, $142,484.04; valuation, $1,214,810. Enrolled, 17,638 ; average attendance, 13,360. The city now owned sixty-seven school houses, in which were taught 359 graded schools and fourteen evening schools ; the average attend ance in the latter was 1,624, and their cost was $20,497.01. One of the evening schools (Public street) was graded this year, eight classes being graded and two remaining ungraded. An advanced evening school was opened in the Bridgham Street school house, with seventy- three pupils, under three of the best of the city teachers, beginning December 30, 1890, ^f or seven weeks; these changes placed the evening schools upon a thoroughly efficient basis. Also, steps were now taken for the founding of a manual training school and deep interest was evinced in the undertaking. It was opened with several grades and began mainly with instruction in industrial draAving. The three city kindergartens were reported as in a flourishing condition. The As sembly was petitioned for leave to borrow $300,000 with which to provide the new school buildings, which the rapidly increasing attend ance demanded. The number of the school committee was reduced from sixty to thirty. 1892.-State appropriation, $27,732.46 ; city, $309,238.07. Of this sum, $141,445.80 was appropriated for sites, buildings and permanent improvements. Receipts, $706,266.11. Total expended for perma nent improvements, $338,960.03; valuation, $1,353,899. EnroUed, 18,236; average attendance, 14,958. There were sixteen evening schools Avith average attendance of 1,815 and costing for maintenance, $20,264.48. At this time there was much feeling in the committee and throughout the community upon the subject of punishment and disci pline in the schools. The committee had, during the preceding two years, adopted by-laws relating to the matter. In 1884, the year in which the present superintendent took charge of the schools, he found that corporal punishment was tolerated in all of the schools and rec ords were kept of each case. He introduced the plan of permitting 280 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. such punishment, but only in extreme cases, gradually developing among the teachers a sentiment against it. Subsequently it was abol ished in the grammar schools and grades, while it was permissible in the primary grades, with consent of parents. 1893.— State appropriation, $28,327.83; city, $347,151.38; receipts, $555,675.65 ; valuation, $1,639,859. Expended on permanent improve ments, $157,517.54. Enrolled, 18,772; average attendance, 13,862. Sixteen evening schools were taught, vsdth average attendance of 1,481, and fourteen kindergartens. Since January, 1890, said the superin tendent's report, there had been added to the value of school property about $600,000, and within the then coming year about $300,000 would be added to that. The manual training school was first opened Sep tember 12, 1892, and 107 students were admitted the first year, twenty- five of whom were from the high school. A department of physical culture also was established and an able teacher employed for it. New school houses were occupied on Charles street, Niagara street, Almy street, and Manton avenue, aU for primary schools, and a grammar school building on Messer street. 1894.— State appropriation, $29,189.10; city, $426,218.76; receipts, $774,778.72. Expended on permanent improvements, $267,722.95; valuation, $1,732,096. The city now owned seventy-four school houses. Enrolled, 19,651 ; average attendance, 14,906. Sixteen even ing schools, with average attendance of 1,712. 1895.— State appropriation, $29,192.08; city, $451,888.18; receipts, $664,210.95. Expended for permanent improvements, $124,871.53. Enrolled, 19,799; average attendance, 15,703; valuation, $1,787,045. Four school houses were added, making the total number seventy- eight. Twenty-one evening schools, with average attendance of 1,582. The first cooking school in the city was opened as an experiment, by the women of the Domestic Training Association, in an old school house on the site of the present police station. After continuing three months with fair success it was decided to continue the school. In September, 1889, the school was adopted by the city, and in 1893 a second one was opened, conferring great benefit upon the community. 1896.— State appropriation, $27,075.86; city, $474,060.01; receipts, $904,069.73; valuation, $1,892,285. Expended for permanent im provements, $337,486.19. The city now owned eighty-two school houses. Enrolled, 20,997; average attendance, 16,123; twenty-two evening schools, with average attendance of 1,479, and costing for maintenance, $30,932.62. A special evening school was opened for children of Swedish parents. Growth of Public Education. 281 1897.— State appropriation, $27,860.63; city, $591,201.24; receipts, $904,385.10; valuation, $2,011,837. Expended for permanent im provements, $357,999. Enrolled, 22,883 ; average attendance, 17,098. There were twenty-eight evening schools with average attendance of 2,271. In December, 1896, a school Avas opened on Burnside street at the fire station, for feeble-minded pupils. There were seventeen en roUed ; there was also a class of eight in the Mt. Pleasant special school. 1898.— State appropriation, $27,544.29; city, $565,083.20; receipts, $901,310.38; valuation, $2,168,527. Number of school houses owned by the city, eighty-seven. Expended for permanent improvements, $288,355.34. Enrolled, 25,053 ; average attendance, 18,911. Number of evening schools, twenty-nine, Avith average attendance of 2,643, and costing for maintenance, $40,832.46. There were now sixteen kinder gartens. The building for the classical high school was finished, hav ing been first opened in September, 1897, and the one for the Hope Street high school was opened in September, 1898 ; also a six-room primary building on Montague street, and one on Mt. Pleasant avenue. A grammar school building was in process of erection and has since been completed on Manton avenue, and a primary building on Ives street. The opening of the Hope Street high school in September, 1897, gave the city the three high schools, now in existence. The following figures give the high school enrollment from 1889 to the present time: 1889, 848; 1890, 841; 1891, 905; 1892, 847; 1893, 1,083 ; 1894, 1,330 ; 1895, 1,427 ; 1896, 1,533 ; 1897, 1,674 ; 1898, 2,013 ; 1899, 2,119. 1898.— State appropriation, $30,536.58; city, $560,704.81; receipts, $797,081.84; valuation, $2,705,808. Expended for permanent im provements, $150,146.30. EnroUed, 25,812; average attendance, 19,- 102. The city now owned ninety-seven school buildings, containing 26,350 sittings. The number of evening schools was twenty-six, with a total enroUment of 4,461, costing for maintenance, $40,986.14. The number of graded schools in the city at the close of the century is 535. The whole number of teachers for the year was 705. It AviU be seen that the schools of Providence have been kept abreast of munici pal development in other directions. The cost of their maintenance has increased with almost startling rapidity. While there has been complaints from time to time of the great cost of the city schools, they have not been more prevalent than in other cities of healthful growth. There could be no escape from large expenditures where the increase of school attendance has been so great as the foregoing figures show. This increase, A^dth the effect of recent legislation, which places the 282 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. care of school property in the hands of the school committee; the increase of clerical work in the office of the secretary of the committee, and in the superintendent's office ; the recent appointment of supervis ors of primary and grammar schools, etc., are given in the report of January, 1900, as some of the causes of the heavy cost of the city schools. A mass meeting of citizens was held on October 19, 1898, at which a resolution was adopted that the mayor be requested to appoint a committee of five citizens to investigate the whole system of school management in the city, and make such suggestions as they should deem best for the public welfare. The mayor appointed Prof. N. P. Davis, Miss Sarah E. Doyle, M. J. Harson, C. S. Sweetland, and Rev. Dr. J. G. Vose as such committee. This committee performed its task in a most thorough manner and made an extended report, containing various recommendations, none of which was revolutionary in charac ter. The report may be found in full in the school reports for 1899. The centennial of the establishment of free public schools in ProAd dence was appropriately celebrated in October, 1899. The arrange ments for the celebration were placed in charge of a committee con sisting of Walter H. Barney, president of the school committee, Lester S. Hill, Hunter C. White, Charles A. Catlin, and Stephen 0. Edwards. The celebration continued through October 22, 23, and 24, Avith an exhibition of school work in Infantry Hall, which continued from the 22d to the 27th inclusive. The programme for the first evening comprised singing by a chorus from the English and Classical high schools; prayer by Rev. S. H. Webb ; addresses by Walter H. Barney on the Development of School Adnunistration in Providence ; and by David W. Hoyt, on the Development and Infiuence of the Providence High Schools; and by Superintendent Horace S. Tarbell on A Cen tury of Growth. On Tuesday evening the 23d, a prayer was spoken by Rev. James G. Vose, D. D. ; an address was delivered by Prof. Ben jamin P. Clarke, on The Infiuence of Brown University upon the School System of Providence ; an address by William A. MoAvry, Ph. D., on Forty Tears Ago ; an address by Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer on Women in Our Schools ; an address by Rev. Henry W. Rugg, D. D., on Administration of the Providence Public School System ; an address by Rev. WilUam H. P. Paunce, D. D., on The Opportunity of the Teacher in the Twentieth Century. These were interspersed Avith singing and instrumental music. The programme for the evening of the 24th consisted of school gymnastics, by fifty pupils of the fourth and fifth grades from Beacon Avenue and Warren Street schools; Wand Exercises by sixty pupils of the eighth and ninth grades from Growth op Public Education. 283 the Thayer Street grammar school ; Gesture Drill, by sixty pupils of the ninth grade from the Peace Street grammar school. The exhibi tion of school work was very instructive and served to give the large numbers who attended a clear comprehension of what is being done in the city for the proper education of their sons and daughters. Barrington. — This tovsoi was formerly a part of Massachusetts and was not set off to Rhode Island until 1747, about a century after its settlement. A record exists of the first school in this immediate re gion, as foUoAvs: "Dec. 19, 1673. It was voted and ordered, nemine contradicente, that a school be forthwith set up in this town for the teaching of Grammar, Rhetoric, and Arithmetic, and the tongues of Lattin, Greek, and Hebrew, also to read English and to write, and that a salary of forty pounds per annum, in current country pay, which passeth from man to man, be duly paid from time to time, and at all times hereafter, to the schoolmaster thereof", etc. John Myles, at that time pastor of the church, was appointed school master. Parents of children attending the school were obliged to pay a rate for tuition. In 1698 Jonathan Bosworth was employed as schoolmaster. His salary was only £18 per annum and only one- quarter of that was paid in money. In 1702 the town was fined by the Court of Quarter Sessions at Bristol for lack of a grammar school master, in the sum of five pounds. In November of that year John Devotion was employed at a stiU lower salary— only £12 a year; but this was raised four pounds the next year. John Devotion taught the school many years and probably until 1723, when a Mr. Andrews was employed. In 1729 John Webber was teacher, and Nathaniel Peck was allowed fifteen shillings for keeping a school in his house in the Asdnter of that year. With occasional interruptions one or more schools were thereafter maintained at public expense. The town was divided into three districts soon after 1770, and so remained until 1873, when a fourth was formed to accommodate the increasing popu lation in the vicinity of Drownville. Probably no school houses were owned by the districts before 1840. Soon after the appointment of Henry Barnard as school commissioner of the State, two new school houses were erected in this town and a third was extensively improved. In 1844, according to reports, the number of children in the toAvn under fifteen years of age was 188 ; the amount expended for schools, $241.56, of which $115 was raised by taxation. The statistics reported for 1850 show that the State appropriation that year was $177.57 ; town, $200 ; receipts, $569.22. EnroUed, 127 ; 284 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. average attendance, 100. There were then three organized districts and four teachers Avere employed. In 1860 the State appropriation was $265.03 ; town, $300 ; receipts, $835.63. Enrolled, 135 ; average attendance, 110. 1870-71.— State appropriation, $485.36; town, $700; receipts, $1,- 478.64. Enrolled, winter term, 128; average attendance, 89. In 1874-5 new houses were built in districts Nos. 1 and 4, and in 1878-9 the house in district No. 3 was removed to a better site and remodeled. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $525.33; town, $845; receipts, $2,447.05 ; valuation, $8,500. EnroUed, 188 ; average attendance, 102. DoAvn to this time all the schools of the toAvn were ungraded, but in 1884-5 a graded school was established at Barrington Center, with high school features. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $943.50; town, $3,650; receipts, $5,030.56 ; valuation, $9,500. Enrolled, 245 ; average attendance, 159. The town now owned five school houses. 1899.— State appropriation, $1,002.76; toAvn, $4,200; receipts, $6,512.43 ; valuation, $7,000. EnroUed, 267 ; average attendance, 173. Average number of teachers, eight. Bristol.— As seen in the following, from the records of this tOAvn, steps were taken at the fourth town meeting, held September 7, 1682, to provide for the education of children : "Voted, That each person that hath children in town ready to go to school shall pay 3d. the week for each child's Schooling to a School master, and the Town by Rate according to each Rateable Estate shall make the wages amount to twenty-four pounds the year. The Select Men to look out a Grammar School master and use their endeavor to atain five pounds of the Cape Money granted for such an end." Samuel Cobbett was the master engaged to teach under this vote, and a house lot, a ten acre lot, and "commonage" were purchased for the schoolmaster. Mr. Cobbett taught from 1685 to 1694, when he was succeeded by Josiah Hervey ; he was followed by a Mr. Esterbrooks as early as 1698. In that year the town was divided into two districts, the North Creek being the dividing line, and schools were estabUshed in both. In 1702 the sum of £20 was appropriated to build a school house in the compact part of the town. After two or three changes in teachers, Samuel Howland was chosen in 1709, and taught on the Neck the three winter months and in toAvn the remainder of the year ; he was succeeded in 1712 by Timothy Pales. In 1714 Nathaniel By- field, "for and in consideration of a due regard which he had for the Growth op Public Education. 285 advancement of learning and good education", conveyed to John Nutting, then teaching the grammar school, certain land that has ever since been known as the ' ' school lands ' '. These comprise " a lot lying between Church and Byfield streets ; a lot at the east end of the town ; a lot between State and Bradford streets, and a lot on the main road to Warren".^ Prom the income of this land the schools were long supported without taxation of the inhabitants. Among the teachers in this tOAvn during the first half of the seventeenth century were Amos Throope, 1724-26; John Wight, 1728 to about 1740; a Mr. Hovey, to 1742; Shear jashub Bourn, to 1747, and other successors for short periods. In 1727 the town bought a school house on the Neck which had been erected by private individuals, and in the same year £50 was appropriated to build a school house in town. It stood on King street, between the court house and High street. During nine years, beginning with 1772 and ending in 1781, there was no school master engaged in the toAvn. In 1802 Peter Church, WilUam De Wolf and William Coggeshall, with others residing on the Neck, petitioned the toAvn meeting for permission to build a school house on the ten acre lot on the main road to Wajren; the privilege was granted, and a brick building was erected, which was used until 1841, when a new one was built nearer the town. In 1803-4 a new school house was built in the South district. In 1811 a committee was appointed to divide the town into districts and to report upon the advisability of leasing the school lands for a long period. The report recommended doing so, and also recommended the division of the town into three districts — the North, the Middle and the South districts. Nearly all of the lands were leased for a long term of years, excepting that in the toAvn, which was sold. In 1815 the people of the North district built a school house at their own expense ; this was the first one in the district. The build ing in that district known in later years as the North District school house, was built in 1844. Between the years 1788 and 1838 there is no record of the town or village schools in existence as far as known, and what is known of their history has been drawn from memory of old inhabitants. _ About the year 1826 a Mr. Storrs opened a private school in the academy on the Lancasterian system. The school was a marked success, and in 1828 the school committee asked him to take the town school and include female scholars in his classes ; he accepted, and the brick school house was enlarged for the purpose. Mr. Storrs was succeeded by John Cross and he by James E. Hidden. In 1836 'Hist. Bristol Schools, in Hist, of Public Education in R. I. (Stockwell), p. 288. 286 State op Rhode Island and Proa^dence Plantations. Dennis S. Gushee became teacher in the grammar school, in the lower part of the academy. The accommodations there were insufficient and in 1837 the school was removed to the brick school house, which was again altered, Mr. Gushee not being a believer in the Lancasterian system. His school was called the Select school until 1848, when one more advanced took that name and the one taught by him was caUed the Grammar school. The report for the year ending April, 1838, shows that there was an average attendance in the grammar school of 240. In 1840, Capt. James De Wolf presented the tovsTi with the academy building, which was more or less improved and used until 1873. In 1853 the North district was divided by the creation of the Northeast district. In 1848 three school houses were built, one each for primary schools in the North and the South districts, and one in the Northeast district. In 1849 a superintendent of schools was first elected in this town, and Thomas Shepard was chosen. The high school was established in 1848, with forty-five students selected from the other schools. William E. Jillson was the first principal. The school at first occupied the lower part of the academy, which building was enlarged in 1852 and the school moved up stairs. In 1851 a school for colored children was opened and in 1853 a sec ond grammar school was established. Evening schools were first opened in the fall of 1871, one each for boys and girls. In that year steps were taken which resulted in the erection on the Common of a three-story brick school building, at a cost of $40,000, which was first occupied in August, 1873, by the high school, the three grammar schools, three intermediate schools, and the advanced primary school. The school report for this town for 1850 shows that the State appro priation was $1,146.06 ; town, $2,217.56 ; receipts, $3,913.62. Nearly all of this sum was expended about that time for new buildings, or repairs. Enrolled, 588 ; average attendance, 510. There were eleven teachers employed. I860.— State appropriation, $1,275.16; town, $3,637.39; receipts, $5,581.88. Expended on houses, $354.27. Enrolled, 715; average attendance, 674. Teachers employed, seventeen. 1871-2.— State appropriation, $1,806.53; town, $7,091.75; receipts, $9,850. Enrolled, 737; average attendance, 572 in the winter term. There were then open fourteen schools employing seventeen teachers. In this year $500 were appropriated for night schools, and two were successfully conducted. This sum was increased $100 for the same purpose in the following year, and the Byfield school house was erected at a cost of $45,000. In 1876-7 a building was erected for the ac commodation of the Rogers free library. Gro-v\'^th op Public Education. 287 1879-80.— State appropriation, $2,065.92; town, $7,477.20; receipts, $10,942.47; valuation of school property, $61,100. EnroUed, 1,107; average attendance, 711. There were now thirteen graded and two ungraded schools taught, and two evening schools ; attendance in the latter was gradually declining in number. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $2,882.94; town, $8,908.40; receipts, $3,370.03; valuation, $65,000. Enrolled, 980; average attendance, 746. There Avere then fifteen graded and three ungraded schools, and the average number of teachers employed was twenty-four. In 1892-3 drawing was introduced in the schools and in the foUowdng year physical training was taught. 1899.— State appropriation, $2,794.12; toAvn, $12,000; receipts, $16,332.04 ; valuation, $85,000 ; number of buildings, seven, containing 1,044 seats. Enrolled, 1,109 ; average attendance, 784. Average number of teachers, twenty-seven. Warrew.— Authentic history of such private schools as existed in this town previous to 1828 is difficult to obtain. As described in later pages of this chapter, the town has the honor of having been the home of the University Grammar School, founded in 1764, and the scene of the first Commencement of Brown University in 1769. In the avUI of Nicholas Campbell, who died July 21, 1829, at the great age of ninety- seven years, was a bequest to the effect that ' ' the residue of my estate shall be by my Executors placed in some public funds, the interest thereof to be appropriated to the schooling of indigent children, both male and female, of the town of Warren, and for other charitable pur poses". This fund amounted to about $5,000, the avails of which have been mainly devoted to the payment of tuition of scholars in private schools in difi'erent parts of the toAvn. No public education was provided for in this town prior to 1828, when free schools were established, and no school houses were erected or provided at the ex pense of the town until 1842. Previous to that date, both in the vil lage and the rural districts, the schools were taught in buildings hired by the town. In 1832 there were four public schools and nine private schools in the town. The appropriation by the town in support of schools in 1828 was $325 ; in 1838 it was $360, which sum was not in creased until 1844, when it was made $650. In 1842 the town pur chased the lower story of the Masonic Hall building in Warren viUage, which had been erected by the Masonic fraternity and an academic association, and there an exceUent school was opened. At the town meeting of 1844 there was voted an appropriation of $600 for the erection of two school houses, one in the East and one in the North 288 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. district. On the 7th of April, 1847, the town voted $10,000 for the erection of a school building in the West district ; this resulted in the building of a fine and commodious brick structure, which was dedi cated September 11, 1848. In this building an excellent high school was established and is now maintained. Isaac P. Cady was appointed the first principal, and held the position many years. The statistics of the schools for 1850 are: State appropriation, $641.13; town, $1,000; receipts, $1,851.46. Enrolled, 297; average attendance, 226. There were then employed eight teachers. During the ensuing decade there was only slight change in the school condi tions of the toAvn. In 1860 the State appropriation Avas $699.89 ; town, $2,500 ; receipts, $3,324.45. Enrolled, 385 ; average attendance, 296. The number of schools was increased and tAvelve teachers were employed. 1869-70.— State appropriation, $1,197.95; town $2,500; receipts, $5,180.71. Enrollment, 349 ; average attendance, 273. In 1870, after twenty years of faithful and efficient service as principal of the high school, Isaac P. Cady resigned. A fine school bidlding was erected that year in the Miller district, and dedicated October 15, 1871. A graded school was opened therein, vsdth three departments. At about the same time the school house in the East district was removed to a more convenient site. In the winter of 1871-2 music was introduced as one of the school studies, and two evening schools were opened. In 1875-6 a school house was built in the South district and an addition made to the one in the North district. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $1,520.60; town, $3,800; receipts, $6,847.94. EnroUed, 524 ; average attendance, 360. During the pre ceding decade there was very little change in educational conditions in the toAvn. Larger accommodations were called for, but it was not until 1891-2 that money was appropriated for the purpose to the amount of $6,000. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $2,087.26; town, $5,500; receipts, $8,872.76. Enrolled, 735 ; average attendance, 408. There were then seven graded and three ungraded schools, employing fourteen teachers. The valuation of school property was $29,000. 1899.— State appropriation, $2,003.32; town, $8,600; receipts, $11,439.78 ; valuation, $27,500. Number of school houses, seven, Avith 688 seats. Enrolled, 732 ; average attendance, 493. Total number of teachers, nineteen. New and improved school houses are greatly need ed in this town at the present time, as stated in the last reports. Coventry.— The toAvn of Coventry was formerly a part of WarAvick, Growth op Public Education. 289 from which it was set off in 1741. The first school houses within Cov entry territory were built about 1760 ; one of these was situated at the foot of Waterman's Hill, another near Spring Lake, and a third on the main road leading from Washington over Harkney Hill. Aaron, Israel, and Ichabod Bowen, brothers, Richard Waterman, Joseph Mat- teson, and Caleb Vaughn, jr., were prominent in efforts to improve educational facilities in the town in early years. Two men, named respectively Crocker and Knox, natives of Ireland, taught an early school at Bowen 's Hill, and Lemuel Spaulding taught in different school houses early in the present century. James Mathewson was another pioneer teacher at what is known as Whaley Hollow. At the date of the establishment of free schools, in 1828, there were nearly as many schools in the town as at any later date. AU of the school houses built previous to 1846 were held in shares by proprietors. When the reforms of 1845-6 were introduced the school committee divided the town into eighteen districts ; four of these had then recent ly built new school houses ; six of them did not yet OAvn school houses. The report for 1846-7 shows the total appropriation from town and State to have been $1,317.50; number of scholars registered, 1,205. The report for 1860 gives the State appropriation as $699.48 ; town appropriation, $841 ; total receipts, $2,715.08. There was expended in that year $260.55 on school houses. Enrolled, 634 ; average attend ance, 414; number of teachers, nineteen. 1870-71.— State appropriation, $2,548.38; town, $2,000; receipts, $4,675.94. Enrolled, 452 ; average attendance, 301 ; twenty-five teach ers. The school houses were reported in good condition. An evening school was opened in the winter of 1873-4 at Quidneck. During that decade many of the schools were graduaUy graded. In 1878-9 a school house was built in district No. 9, and the one in No. 10 was wholly remodeled. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $2,212.55 ; town, $2,578.89 ; receipts, $7,112.84; valuation of school property, $19,200. Enrolled, 762; average attendance, 497. There were then eight graded and fourteen ungraded schools, and the average number of teachers was twenty- two. In this year a school house was built in district No. 4 (Rice City), and the one in No. 11 (Coventry Center) was enlarged. 1889-90.-State appropriation, $2,703.92; town, $3,650; receipts, $7,488.79; valuation, $16,775. EnroUed, 690; average attendance, 353. There were then eight graded and thirteen ungraded schools, the average number of teachers was twenty-one. There has been very httie change in the schools in the town in recent years. 19 290 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 1899.— State appropriation, $2,487.65; tovsm, $4,202.74; receipts, $9,854.85 ; valuation, $19,925 ; number of school houses, eighteen, con taining 862 seats. Enrolled, 771 ; average attendance, 452. Average number of teachers, twenty-three. East Greenwich. — Almost nothing is on record regarding the schools of this tOAvn during a century after it was settled. They were, doubt less, of the same general character as those noticed in other towns. One George Anderson Casey was an early teacher, whose memory was long kept alive among old residents. Kent Academy was founded in 1802, as described in another part of this chapter. Under the law of May 27, 1828, a school committee of six members was chosen, and their first report states that they had divided the town into five districts, but had not attempted to locate school houses, "hoping that the inhab itants would reUeve them from that duty". The town received from the State fund that year $181. In 1829 schools were taught in all of the five districts. Measures were adopted towards building school houses, which extended over several years, until August, 1833, when the committee reported that it would cost $1,300 to build school houses in the five districts; four of these were contracted to be built on or before October 1, 1834; the fifth one was erected the next year in district No. 1. At a tovsm meeting, held August 8, 1846, it was voted among other proceedings that all school funds, from whatever source, be divided equally among the districts ; the amount appropriated by the town that year was $112.50. A toAvn meeting was held October 31, 1849, to make arrangements for use of the bequest from Mary Max well, amounting to about $2,400; it was voted to keep the principal intact and that the interest be devoted to support of schools, particu larly for the education of poor children. Dr. James H. Eldredge was trustee of this fund until 1874. Under the new law of 1845, pro ceedings took place in all of the districts tending to better organiza tion. In 1848 arrangements were made for opening a second school in district No. 1, and ten years later the old academy building was purchased by this district, moved to a better site and repaired for school purposes. The school house in district No. 2 was burned in 1855 and a new one erected. The school house in district No. 3 was thoroughly repaired in 1875. The house in district No. 4 was burned in January, 1865, and a new one erected the same year. In April, 1855, the house in district No. 5 was deeded to the district by the tOAvn. The report of the school committee for 1850 gives the State appro priation as $465.18 ; the town fund, $150, and the total receipts, $704.- 18. The registration was 356 and the average attendance, 242. There Growth op Public Education. 291 were ten teachers employed. The report stated that there were five districts— one district organized and four unorganized. These figures were considerably increased at the close of that decade, when the State appropriation was $739.12; the town, $400; receipts, $1,495.39. Registration, 408 ; average attendance, 297. Only eight teachers were employed. These conditions continued vsdth little change many years. 1869-70.— State appropriation, $1,240.10; town, $620; receipts, $2,492.68. Enrolled, 358 ; average attendance, 222. The number of teachers was reduced to four in 1871-2, the attendance remaining about the same. In that year a free library was established. In 1872 an evening school was opened, beginning in December. The report for 1874-5 gives the number of schools as four graded and four un graded, and the number of school houses as &ve. There was no even ing school that year. In 1877-8 a school house was built in district No. 1, and the need of a high school was urged in the report. The other school houses were in somewhat dilapidated condition. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $1,025.76; town, $1,230; receipts, $2,692.11. EnroUed, 557; average attendance, 310. There were at that time five of the schools graded. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $1,636.16 ; town, $1,686.16 ; receipts, $3,777.79; valuation, $13,475. Enrolled, 395; average attendance, 236. Another graded school was added to the former number during the preceding decade and the average number of teachers employed was now ten. Six school houses were OAvned by the tOAvn. In 1891-2 the library was the recipient of a liberal bequest from Dr. Charles J. Thurston. In 1893-4 the first diplomas were awarded in the grammar school, and about $4,000 were expended on the school building in the village (district No. 1), and it was dedicated March 31. In 1897-8 a new primary building was erected for this district at a cost of $7,500. 1899.— State appropriation, $1,980.67; town, $3,192.60; receipts, $21,466.98; valuation, $27,800; number of school houses, seven, con taining 612 seats. Enrolled, 595 ; average attendance, 396. The total number of teachers employed is sixteen. West Greenwich.— This town was set off from East Greenwich in 1741. One of the earliest schools of which there is present knowledge was kept in 1790 at what was known as Kit's Corners ; but there were no school houses until after that date. After the passage of the act of 1828 the town was divided into twelve districts, at which time there were eleven schools in the tOAvn. In 1832 there were the same num- her, Avith five private schools. The report for 1860 shows that the town received from the State in 292 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. that year, $791.02 ; tovsm, $162.35 ; receipts were $1,626.43. Registra tion, 291 ; average attendance, 196. There were then twelve teachers employed, and eleven schools. 1871-2.— State appropriation, $1,089.60; town, the same; receipts, $3,208.68. Enrolled, 171 ; average attendance, 117 in the vsdnter term, shovsdng a decrease during the decade. In 1873-4 a new house was built in district No. 7 ; No. 8 still had no school house, but one was built in 1877-8, at a cost of $575. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $1,032.05; town, $1,007.05; receipts, $2,612.66 ; valuation, $3,915. Enrolled, 241 ; average attendance, 133. The number of schools was twelve, all ungraded, and kept in twelve houses. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $1,433.95; town, $1,458.95; receipts, $3,399.06 ; valuation, $4,800. Enrolled, 219 ; average attendance, 123. Other conditions were unchanged. 1899.— State appropriation, $1,321.84; town, $1,392.99; receipts, $2,886.03 ; valuation, $2,575 ; number of school houses, twelve. En rolled, 155 ; average attendance, 88. Warwick.— As far as known the first school house built in what is known as Old Warwick was in 1716 ; it was used both for school and meeting purposes. How long it was in use cannot now be told, but another one was erected before the close of that century in the same district. Among the early teachers were Joseph Carder, Charles Morris, Thomas Lippitt, and Ephraim Arnold. In 1798 a school house was built about a mile east of the site of Crompton village, which was supported by a tuition tax ; this school sufficed for aU of the inhabitants in that part of the town. The building Avas occupied for a school until about 1830. Among the early teachers there were James Pollard, Bennet Holden, Lucy Glover, Oliver Johnson, and a Miss Pond. In 1803 a school building was erected in the village of Centerville, in which religious meetings also were held. Joseph B. Pettis was the first teacher there, and other early masters were Samuel Greene, Sabin Lewis, and Oliver Johnson. In May of that year the Warwick Educational Society was incorporated vsdth nineteen charter members. As early as 1818 schools were taught in Phenix in private houses and leased rooms. Miss Amy Gorton, Elisha W. Baker, and a Mr. Austin were among the early teachers. The first buUding erected in that village for school purposes was built by the "Lippitt and Phenix Sabbath School Society ' ', in 1827. Samuel Briggs, and Peter D. Healy taught there in early years. This building was sold to the district in 1847 for $800. A school house was built in Natick in 1850, Growth op Public Education. 293 at a cost of over $2,000, and William B. Spencer, Rev. Arthur A. Ross, Rev. Jonathan Brayton, Alanson HoUey, E. M. Tappan, and E. M. Hopkins were among the early teachers at that place. A school house was built in the Arctic district in 1875. In 1828 the town was divided into eleven districts, and Crompton district was set off from Center ville and CoAveset in 1830 ; since that date Pontiac, River Point, Cen tral, Hill's Grove, and Arctic districts have been set off from other districts. In 1845 a new school house was built in Crompton district at a cost of $3,000 including the lot ; this building was burned in 1867 and the present one erected on the site. In 1829-30, according to the report, there were 763 scholars in attendance, and the money expended for schools amounted to $908.50. The report for 1847, accompanying Mr. Barnard's report, shows that the average attendance was 890 ; the whole number registered, 1,245 ; appropriated by the State, $1,556.44 ; by the town, $500 ; registration tax, $203.13. The report of 1850 gives the State appropriations as $2,178.99 ; town, $650 ; total receipts, $3,116.43. Enrolled, 1,205; average attendance, 806. There were then fifteen districts in the town and twenty-three teachers were employed. I860.— State appropriation, $2,338.76; town, $1,500; receipts, $4,271.76. EnroUed, 1,284 ; average attendance, 934. 1871-2.— The lapse of another decade shows considerable growth in the schools of the town. The State appropriation was $4,102.82 ; town, $3,500; receipts, $9,468.65. Enrolled, 1,740; average attendance, 1,184. In this school year the boundaries of districts Nos. 3, 6, 13, and 16 were somewhat changed to better accommodate the inhabitants. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $4,150.84; town, $5,000; receipts, $13,231.99; valuation, $29,100. EnroUed, 1,822 ; average attendance, 1,086. In 1872-3 a tax was laid to raise $2,200 for building a school house in district No. 3. It Avas also voted in that year to open an evening school in addition to the four then in operation ; the first of these was opened in the preAdous year. As the school attendance increased there were loud complaints of lack of accommodations and the poor character of the school houses. The subject of having a high school was also agitated at this time. In 1881-2 a school house Avas built in district No. 2 (Spring Green) and dedicated November 8, 1881. In 1885-6 one was built in district No. 1 (PaAvtuxet), at a cost of $6,000; another in No. 7 (Phenix), costing $8,000, and another in No. 14. Nearly $50,000 were expended on school buildings within two years, giving the town facilities that were wholly satisfactory. In 1887-8 a house was built for district No. 6 (Natick), costing $5,500, and one in No. 8 (CenterviUe) . 294 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. 1889-900.— State appropriation, $5,962.94; toAvn, $1,100; receipts, $32,832.87 ; valuation, $84,725. Enrolled, 2,687 ; average attendance, 1,320. There were now thirty-three graded and seven ungraded schools, taught by an average number of teachers of forty. More and better evening schools were demanded. In 1891-2 a school house was built in district No. 1 (Pawtuxet), in place of one burned August 3, 1891. In 1893-4 a house was built for district No. 18 (Norwood). 1899.— State appropriation, $6,819.80; town $23,300; receipts, $41,690.85 ; valuation, $87,925 ; number of school houses, twenty, Avith 3,125 seats. Total number of teachers employed, sixty-eight. En rolled, 3,691; average attendance, 2,249. Jamestown.— This town had its share of early private schools, of which no records were kept and little is now knovsm of them. It is a tradition that somewhere in the town a stone school house was built before the beginning of the present century ; but the first one of which anything positive is knovsm was erected in December, 1802. At about the end of the first quarter of the century there were only three school houses in the town, and one of these subsequently went out of use, there being only two in 1832 and for many years thereafter. In the year 1846 the State appropriation was $66.33 ; the town, $24.57. In 1850 the State appropriation was $92.90; the tovsm fund, $23; total receipts, $289.16. The registration was only fifty-eight, and the average attendance, forty-eight. Two teachers were employed. In 1860 the State appropriation was $145 ; town, $23 ; receipts, $344.75. Enrolled, twenty-one; average attendance, eighteen. There has been very little change since in the schools of the town. 1871-2.— State appropriation, $254.50; town, $128; receipts, $523.- 79. Enrolled, forty-three; average attendance in the vsdnter term, twenty-seven. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $228.74; tovsm, $250; receipts, $544.21; valuation, $1,700. Enrolled, eighty-four; average attend ance, forty-three. 1889-90. — In the decade closing with this year a grammar school was established and a new house built, making three in the tOAvn. State appropriation, $409.48 ; town, $625 ; receipts, $1,119.33 ; valua tion, $3,250. EnroUed, eighty; average attendance, forty-three; two of the three schools were graded. 1899.— State appropriation, $420.93; town, $2,025; receipts, $2,- 768.0 ; valuation, $10,400. Enrolled, 151 ; average attendance, ninety- four ; number of teachers, eight. Growth op Public Education. 295 Little Compton.— In this tovsm eight schools were taught in the winter of 1828, and most of them were open in the summer. In 1844 there were nine districts and a school in each. The State appropriated in that year, $323.21 ; the town, $41.29 ; the registration was 285 and the average attendance 200. In 1850 the State appropriation was $452.50 ; town, $120 ; receipts, $1,500. EnroUed, 337 ; average attend ance, 212. In this year the number of organized districts was nine and one unorganized. From this date forward during many "years there was a slow decline in school attendance. In 1860 the State appropriation was $745.48 ; town, $300 ; receipts, $1,579.01. Enrolled, 277; average attendance, 222. 1870-71.— State appropriation, $1,075.09; town, $1,200; receipts, $2,346.09. Enrolled, 235 ; average attendance, 181 in the vsdnter term. There were twelve schools, but in the next year there were only ten. In 1875-6 a new school house was built in district No. 3. A free library was opened July 14, 1879. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $862.31; town, $1,540; receipts, $2,582.27 ; valuation, $7,095. Enrolled, 242 ; average attendance, 155. In 1881-2 a school house was built in district No. 6. In 1889 an ad vanced school was opened with fair attendance, but it was abandoned in the following year. For 1889-90 the State appropriated $1,234.02 ; town, $1,864.87 ; receipts, $3,833,90 ; valuation, $3,630. EnroUed, 216 ; average attendance, 150. This year the school in district No. 8 was graded. 1899.— State appropriation, $1,094.57; town, $2,067.92; receipts, $3,625.54. Enrolled, 225; average attendance. 147. Middletown.— This town was erected from the northerly and eas1> erly parts of Newport in June, 1743, but there are no records of schools in the territory before that date, excepting as noticed in pre ceding pages relating to Newport. At the Quarter Meeting of April 24, 1723, it was "Ordered that twenty pounds apiece be paid out of the Town treasury for the building the school-house in the woods in accordance with the plea of petitioners". The expression, "in the woods", alludes to that part of Newport which was set off to form Middletown. At the meeting of April 26, 1832, it was ' ' Ordered, that the two schoolmasters in the woods part of the tovsm, have ten pounds apiece out of the treasury for their good service to that part of the toAvn for the time past". This, it should be remembered, Avas prior to the erection of Middletown. In April, 1744, after the creation of the toAvn, it was "Voted, that the Eastmoss School House be Repaired so much as there is a present necessity, and paid out of the Town Treasury. ' ' 296 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In August, 1745, it was voted that a schoolmaster be employed to teach ' ' one-half the time in the East School and the other half of the time in the West School House". The committee to employ the teacher were also given charge of the school lands and other school matters. Various proceedings in this connection, but of little impor tance, took place down to 1786, when the east school house was burned, and "the old stuff which is left from the ruins" was sold at pubUc auction. The next year the east school land was rented to Salisbury Stoddard for "six bushels of good Indian Corn". Other minor pro ceedings took place through the remaining years of the last century, and in April, 1805, it was "Voted that the Deputies be Instructed to caU up the Petition at the next General Assembly, which is now before the House, relating to the free school, and that they use their endeavors to recover what was granted the town for the purpose of said school". At about that date investigation was made to learn the status of what were known as the east and west school lands, and the courts decided that each of these grants of land was to be used and controlled for school purposes by the proprietors of each section. In August, 1819, Alanson Peckham and others were granted a piece of land thirty feet square on the Common on which to build a school house. The town tax voted in 1829 for support of public schools amounted to $119. In 1832 there were five public schools in the tOAvn and the same number of private schools ; the number of scholars in the public schools was 210. Under the new law of 1845 the town was organized into five school districts. In the next year the amount raised by tax for schools was only $125. The statistics for 1850 show that the State appropriation was $356.36; the town, $150; the total receipts were $798.11. The registration was 217, and the average attendance, 159. There were then five organized districts and eight teachers. The figures for 1860 were : State appropriation, $383.71 ; town, $200 ; receipts, $960. Enrolled, 138 ; average attendance, 100, thus showing considerable decline. There was little change in the schools during the succeeding decade. 1871-2.— State appropriation, $589.50; town, $1,500; receipts, $2,143.68. Enrolled, 165 ; average attendance, 127 in the winter term. None of the schools was graded during this decade and there was little change. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $540.81; tovsm, $1,520; receipts, $2,276.25; valuation, $7,650. EnroUed, 170; average attendance, ninety-four. 1889.90.- State appropriation, $741.01; town, $1,891; receipts. Growth op Public Education. 297 $3,285.15 ; valuation, $8,300. Enrolled, 178 ; average attendance, 108. In 1890-91 a new school house was built in district No. 2. 1899.— State appropriation, $726.39; town, $2,120.00; receipts, $4,846.48; valuation, $12,000; number of school houses, five,, with 203 seats. EnroUed, 188 ; average attendance, 131 ; number of teachers, five. Portsmouth.— That there were early schools on Portsmouth territory is seen by the following record : "On the 30th of ye 7th month 1716 it was ordered that a new school house be built upon an acre of land belonging to the town, situated in the northern part of said tOAvn. On the 16th of ye 2nd month 1720 another house was ordered built situated on the south side of the island and in the southern part of the town. ' ' On March 18, 1722, two more school houses were ordered to be erected. On August 31, 1733, William BroAvn and others petitioned for the building of a school house in the extreme southern part of the toAsm, asking for £30 towards the expense and offering to bear the remainder of the cost themselves. The prayer of the petitioners was granted. On August 26, 1746, a school house Avas ordered to be built near the Bristol ferry. One June 6, 1763, it was ordered that a school house be erected on Prudence Island. The plan upon which these schools were supported was continued in operation until the estab hshment of free schools in 1828. The toAvn was then divided into eight districts and good schools have since been maintained in most of them. The tables on a preceding page give the statistics in 1832 and 1844. In 1850 the State appropriation Avas $374.49 ; the town, $150 ; receipts, $1,631. EnroUed, 311, and average attendance, 228. There were seven organized districts and seven teachers. There was little change during the next decade. In 1860 the State appropriation was $721.04 ; town, $300 ; receipts, $960.20. Enrolled, 230 ; average attend ance, 156. During the succeeding decade a school house was built in district No. 3. In 1869-70 the State appropriation was $1,120.81 ; town, $2,800; receipts, $3,998.21. Enrolled, 366; average attendance, 236. There were now eight districts and a graded school in No. 5. A house was built in the following year in district No. 6, and in 1871-2 another in district No. 4. In 1874-5 the house in district No. 2 was condemned, and in the next year a house was built in the McCorrie district. 1879-80. -State appropriation, $958.80; town, $3,000; receipts, $4,099.35; valuation, $12,250. EnroUed, 373; average attendance, 238. There were two graded and eight ungraded schools. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $1,200.05; town, $2,551; valuation, 298 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. $13,400 ; receipts, $5,683.38. Enrolled, 277 ; average attendance, 165. The number of ungraded schools had been reduced to six. In 1897 new houses were built in the Prudence Island district. 1899.— State appropriation, $1,169.79; tovsm, $2,944.44; receipts, $4,691.50; valuation, $12,400; number of houses, seven. Enrolled, 270 ; average attendance, 181. Twer^om.- Records of early schools in this town are meagre. In 1799 WiUiam Humphrey, Thomas Durfee, Edmund Estes, and John Howland were appointed a committee to "take under consideration the Bill for an act for supporting a free School in the State ' ', etc. A record is found, under date of December 2, 1820, stating that "Brother Taggart, the young man preaching to us is keeping a school". In 1828 it was voted "that a Tax of Three Hundred and Sixty Dollars be assessed upon the Rateable property of this Town for the support of Publick Schools". The table for that year on a preceding page, shows that there were ten school houses in which regular schools were taught. In 1844 the State appropriation was $804.43 ; the tovsm fund was $639.37. There Avere then sixteen districts, and nineteen schools were in existence. The registration was 698, and the attendance 434. In 1850 the State appropriation Avas $1,132, and the town, $1,500; the total receipts were $,247.43. There were seventeen districts, and the enrollment was 953, with an average attendance of 697 ; seventeen teachers were then employed. Ten years later (1860) the State appro priation was $988.73 ; the toAvn, $1,000 ; receipts, $2,031.78. There was expended that year on school houses, $850. EnroUed, 460; average attendance, 354 ; number of teachers, twelve. 1869-70.— State appropriation, $1,524; tovsm, $1,000; receipts, $2,545.69. Enrolled, 383 ; average attendance, 285 in the vsdnter term. There were twelve districts and a school in each. The school houses of the tovsm at this time were in bad condition, and in 1871-2 repairs were made in districts Nos. 1, 2, 4, 8, and 11. In 1873 a new house was built in district No. 3, and the building in No. 10 was removed to a better site and remodeled. In 1873-4 a new house was built in the Bridgeport district at a cost of $4,600. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $1,281.38; tovsm, $2,500; receipts, $4,094.13 ; valuation, $8,850. EnroUed, 464 ; average attendance, 293 ; all of the schools were ungraded. In 1886-7 a proposal was made to enlarge the school house in district No. 3 and establish a school of a higher grade. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $1,893.78; town, $3,800; receipts, $7,325.89. EnroUed, 271 ; average attendance, 254. In 1893-4 consid- Growth op Public Education. 299 erable improvements were made on the school property, and in 1895-6 a new house was built in district No. 5 (Gardner), at a cost of $6,595. 1899.— State appropriation, $2,284.98; town, $5,365.37; receipts, $9,764.13; valuation, $28,700; number of school houses, twelve, con taining 635 seats. Enrolled, 676; average attendance, 426; teachers employed, an average of seventeen. There were seven graded and nine ungraded schools. Education in Newport.— In the earlier pages of this chapter, devo1> ed to education in colonial times and during the first quarter of the present century, it was necessary to the completion of the narrative to write of the schools of Newport. For present purposes, therefore, it is requisite to follow their history only from 1828 to the present time, beginning vsdth the date when the general school system was inaugu rated. In 1825 the town was authorized by the Assembly to raise by tax $800 ' ' for educating the white children of the town who are not otherwise provided with the means of instruction", and to apply to this object the avails of certain lands which had been bequeathed to the town, as described in earlier pages. The tovsm voted in February, 1826, to buy a lot on MiU street for a school site, and a committee was appointed to supervise the erection of a building. In March, 1827, the committee reported that they had built a school house of brick and stone, two stories high, sixty feet long and thirty-six feet wide. The cost of the lot and building up to that time was about $2,750. To meet this expenditure the following funds were used by the com mittee : Net sales of Gallow field $ 891.24 Appropriation by tax of 1825 800.00 Net balance of rent of theater 180.00 Donation of Mr. William Vernon 100.00 Appropriation of 1826 800.00 $2,771.24 It was estimated that it would cost $200 to "finish the upper room for the accommodation of the boy's school, and fence in the lot". At the same time measures were adopted to establish a school fund from sale and rent of school lands, avails of licenses, etc. At the same meeting of March 27, 1827, a resolution was adopted to the following effect: That a school for boys on the Lancasterian system be com menced as soon as practicable ; that a school committee of five members be appointed to have general charge of the schools ; establishing certain 300 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. low rates of tuition, so that children of poor as well as rich might be benefited, etc. ; the school committee appointed to serve until the fol- lovsdng June were Nicholas G. Boss, Edward W. Lawton, George Engs, James B. PhiUips, and Theophilus C. Dunn. The committee's report for 1828 showed that the number of applications for the Lancaster school was 337; of these thirty-three were rejected; twenty-five sus pended for further consideration, and 279 admitted. The receipts from the toAvn treasury ($600) and from tuition were $988.01. The condition of the school fund for 1828 is shown in the foUowing :^ Donation by Governor Fenner $ 100.00 Donation by Governor Collins 50.00 Licenses 154.37 Legacy of Constant Taber 1,500.00 Sale of Warden (school) lot 325.00 Estate I. Begna, having no being in the United States 23.63 $2,153.00 The foUowing facts relating to the schools of the city in 1844 are drawn from the report of the school committee appointed for the pur pose of investigating the educational situation. The committee was "astonished to learn that there are nearly 900 children in this town, between the ages of five and fifteen, for whom no schooling is pro vided". At that time the total number of children in the town over five and under fifteen years, was about 2,000, only 680 of whom were in the public schools ; the other 450 who received any schooling were in the thirty private schools then in existence. The committee recom mended the immediate establishment of two primary schools, one in the lower part of the town near the factories, and the other in Broad street; also another intermediate school as soon as practicable. An extension of teaching in the higher branches was also recommended. The financial report of the preceding year showed that the State appropriated for the Newport schools, $1,766.59 ; the tovsm, $1,600, with $203.21 from the tax levied on scholars ; of this amount of $3,569.- 80, there were paid for salaries $3,000. The committee consisted of R. J. Taylor, William Brownell, C. T. Brooks, Joseph Smith, David King, C. P. Newton, C. G. Perry, William Gilpin, Augustus Bush, Thatcher Thayer, and James A. Greene.^ This report was printed in a pamphlet and circulated, and its recommendations were acted upon. The school committee reported in 1848 (the year in which extensive 'Barnard's Journal, iii, pp. 148-9. 'Barnard's Journal, iii, pp. 143-4. Growth op Public Education. 301 changes were made in the school system of the State) that there were under their care, seven primary schools, a school for colored children, three intermediate or grammar schools, and a boys' and girls' senior department, all of which contained nearly 900 scholars. The course of studies had been enlarged since the report above noticed, a more rigid classification of scholars instituted, and careful examination exacted for admission to the higher schools. Attendance had in creased to such an extent as to demand larger accommodations, and the public schools no longer felt the competition of private schools. To accommodate the existing over-crowded schools the committee rec ommended the erection of a school building large enough to contain 200 scholars. In that year the State appropriated $1,766.02 ; the town, $2,500 ; the registry tax was $259.83, and the school tax, $447.09, mak ing a total fund of $4,975.77. Por purposes of comparison it may be stated that in 1855 there were in Newport 873 pupils in the seventeen public schools then in exist ence, who were taught by twenty-two teachers. There were two high schools, four grammar schools, two of which had an intermediate department, and seven primary schools, besides separate primary and grammar schools for colored children. The receipts in that year were $9,729.25, or about double what they were in 1847-8. The city appro priation was then $6,500, but the committee recommended that it be increased to $10,000. At that time the PareweU Street school house, built about 1833, was still occupied and in fair condition. The Clarke Street school house was built in 1852, and the Thames Street building in 1859-60. The WiUow Street, Edward Street, and the Parish school houses were erected in 1863 ; the one on Cranston street in 1867 ; the Coddington in 1870. The Lenthal school house (Avhich was named in honor of Robert Lenthal who, in 1640, opened the first school in America) was erected in 1885 and was formally transferred to the school authorities in 1887. It had its origin in 1884, when the Com mon Council, in view of the rapid growth of the southern part of the city, submitted to the taxpayers a proposition to borrow money with which to provide additional school accommodations for that section. The vote was in favor of the measure, and in the succeeding year a further sum was borrowed and the site and building paid for. The building cost with furnishings about $50,000. The Newport High School was originally established under that name, but as a measure of economy was soon changed to a "senior department" of the grammar schools. In 1863 it was reorganized into a high school, the sexes being separated in its departments. In 302 State op Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. 1864 another change was made, when it became a so-called "mixed school". In 1873 the Rogers High School was founded, through the generosity of William Sanford Rogers, of Boston, whose bequest of $100,000 became available in 1872. The bequest required from the taxpayers the erection of a suitable building, for which purpose the sum of $30,000 was voted. A site was purchased on Church street and the building was promptly erected. In December, 1872, Fred erick W. Tilton was chosen head master, having served in that capacity since 1869; he was succeeded in 1872 by A. D. Small, and he was followed in 1874 by Thomas H. Clarke, who held the position until 1882. George A. Littlefield was then chosen and held the position until 1889, when he Avas succeeded by Henry H. Fay. One year later the present principal, Benjamin Baker, was chosen. The following brief notes show the progress of the Newport schools during the last half century: The State appropriated in 1850 for support of the schools, $2,482.42 ; the town appropriation was $3,000 ; total, $6,191.30. Of this sum, $553.29 was devoted to improvement of the school property. There were registered 834 scholars, and the average attendance was 792. The number of teachers employed was sixteen. Por the year 1860 the State appropriation was $2,355.33; town, $8,000; total receipts, $12,490.39. There were expended on school houses, $2,687.37. Registered, 931 ; average attendance, 810. Num ber of teachers, twenty-six. School year 1869-70.— (The year in which the State Board of Edu cation was created), the State appropriation was $4,923.24; town appropriation, $20,500 ; receipts, $38,743.19. Enrolled, 1,280 ; average attendance, 1,124. During the winter term of that year, twenty-four schools were taught. In the previous year a joint building committee was appointed from the Common Council and the school board ; the old brick school house was to be demolished, additional land purchased and a new house erected at a cost of $31,500. The building contains eight rooms, and was given the name Coddington school. One evening school was opened in the winter. In the year 1870-71, the State appropriation was $4,920.11; toAvn, $24,000 ; receipts, $30,055.28. Enrollment, 1,364 ; average attendance, 1,083. 1871-2.— The Willow Street school house was altered and made to contain four rooms, by the trustees of Long Wharf, and the sum of $10,000 was given by William S. Rogers for the support of the Rogers High School. Charles Bird King made a bequest in his vsdll, dated in Growth op Public Education. 303 1861, which founded a fund for premiums to be given to "two New port-born girls", for educational proficiency. In the year under con sideration the fund amounted to over $10,000. State appropriation, $5,093.96 ; town, $22,667.66 ; receipts, $28,462.62 ; scholars registered, 1,336 ; average attendance, 1,062. 1872-3.— State appropriation, $5,090.50 ; town, $26,150 ; receipts, $30,197.56. Registered, 1,293 ; average attendance, 928 in the Avinter term. Preparations were made this year for the erection of the Rogers High School building, as before noticed. The city issued bonds for $30,000, and the building cost about $25,000. There were now in existence in the city one high school, eight grammar schools of four grades, seven intermediate schools of two grades, eight primary schools of two grades, one mixed primary school, five sub-primary schools of two grades, and two evening schools, all employing thirty-nine teach ers, involving a salary list amounting to $18,799.80. 1873-4.— State appropriation, $5,093.95; town, $24,000; receipts, $63,151.77. Enrolled, 1,475 ; average attendance, 1,017. State appro priation for evening schools, $350. A free library w^as established and largely maintained through the generosity of Christopher Townsend. His sister, Ellen Townsend, offered the city a farm, provided the city would erect buildings thereon for habitual truants. The plan was defeated. The Rogers High School was opened September 8, 1873. A change in the city charter gave the election of the school committee to the people. 1874-5.— State appropriation, $5,073.32; town, $24,000; receipts, $40,500.56. EnroUed, 1,769 ; average attendance, 1,203. The report of the superintendent states that ten years had elapsed since the grad ing of the schools was introduced ; at that time there were in the city only one graded school with four departments, while in 1875 there were thirty-two graded schools, and only one ungraded. Provision was made this year for extensive repairs to some of the school property. 1875-6.— State appropriation, $5,070.04; town, $27,500; receipts, $40,368; valuation of school property, $190,007. EnroUed, 1,837; average attendance, 1,274. The number of school houses ovsmed by the city was nine, and a building on Broadway of eight rooms, to cost not more than $18,000, was provided for. 1876-7.— State appropriation, $4,725.47; town, $34,000; receipts, $64,482.35 ; valuation, $208,700. Cranston Avenue school house was dedicated March 5, 1877 ; its cost was nearly $12,000 besides the site, at $6,000. 1877-8.— State appropriation, $5,072.13; town, $27,000; receipts, 304 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. $39,061.75 ; valuation, $205,006. Enrolled, 1,934 ; average attendance, 1,325. 1878-9.— State appropriation, $5,072.13; town, $30,000; receipts, $42,763.13 ; valuation, $208,007. EnroUed, 2,044 ; average attendance, 1,261. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $5,072.13 ; town, $32,038.55 ; receipts, $44,791.41 ; valuation (estimated) $122,460. Enrolled, 2,097; average attendance, 1,429. During the decade of 1880-90 there was not much change in the Newport schools. On August 30, 1882, the Potter school house on Elm street, which Avas built with the Long Wharf fund, was dedicated. In 1887-8 the Lenthal school building was erected, as before noticed, and a kindergarten was opened. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $6,239.17; town, $42,000; receipts, $87,165.44; valuation, $178,250. EnroUed, 2,512; average attend ance, 1,804. There were now forty-four graded and one ungraded schools, vsdth an average number of teachers, fifty-six. The city OAvned eleven school houses, with 2,426 sittings. During the next decade somewhat extensive changes and improve ments were made in the schools. On December 2, 1890, the Calvert school building was dedicated; it is a two-story building and cost $26,000. The Industrial School of Newport was originally due to private enterprise. In 1886 W. P. Sheffield, jr., and Charles E. Hammett, jr., opened an industrial school in the Perry mill building and conducted it a few months. As before stated, Katharine P. Wormeley opened a girls' industrial class in 1887 and continued it until 1890, when the school committee took it under their charge and made it a part of the educational system. Miss EUen Townsend died in 1886, leaving to the city an estate on Broadway and providing that most of her other property should go to the city, the income to be applied to "aiding boys to learn useful mechanical trades ' '. The income is about $1,300 a year. When the school committee took Miss Wormeley 's school, in 1890, the Common Council made a larger appropriation for its support, and in 1891 the people voted the sum of $18,000 for erecting a building for the Industrial School. After various delays, a vote in April, 1893, was in favor of adding $20,000 to the appropriation for the school. A contract was let for erecting the building for $26,925. It was suc cessfully opened and in the year 1894-5 there were in attendance 1,138 pupils. This is the first industrial school wherein boys and girls are taught in one building in industrial studies under maintenance of a Growth op Public Education. 305 municipality. The school was given the name, Townsend Industrial School, in honor of Miss Townsend. In 1893-4 a manual training teacher was employed by the city at a salary of $1,000, and a room in the lower part of the Farewell Street school house Avas devoted to the classes. In 1896-7 the Henry A. R. Carey building was erected and dedicated March 5, 1897 ; it is a fine structure Avith all modern improvements and cost about $36,000. In 1897-8 a ncAV school building was erected in the ninth ward, at a cost of $40,000 ; it is of brick and stone and con tains eight rooms. An Association for Decorating Newport Schools was formed and made its first report in 1897. It began practical work in the' summer of that year. Money was solicited and obtained for suitable decora tion of one room in each school house in the city. 1899.— State appropriation, $5,810.51; town, $76,000; receipts, $131,904.29; valuation, $399,600. Enrolled, 3,239; average attend ance, 2,458. The city owns fourteen school buildings, containing 3,481 sittings. The number of different teachers employed is 116, to whom are paid $59,724.20. The NeAvport Teachers' Association was formed on the 2d of Feb ruary, 1899. Some of its principal objects are the promotion of social intercourse, the study and discussion of educational problems, the promotion of a spirit of co-operation between teachers and parents, and the increase of the teachers' retirement fund. Instruction in sCAving in the lower school grades was introduced Avith the beginning of this school year. A teacher for this purpose is paid by the Charity Organization Society. Through the continued efforts of the Newport Association for Decorating Schools, twenty rooms were decorated, making thirty-three in all that have been thus improved. The new Coggeshall school building was opened in the last year of the century; it is of brick and stone, and contains eight rooms, and was dedicated June 23, 1899. Neiv Shoreham.— The lapse of the past half century has occasioned httie change in the schools of this toAvn, and their early history is now unattainable. In 1828 there was only one school house in the town and only four schools of any kind were taught. In 1839 the town was divided into four districts and a school was open in each, with an average attendance in all of 200 scholars. The toAvn in that year received from the State, $84. A fifth district was added before 1844, in which year there were nine schools taught ; the registration was 232 and the average attendance, 171. The State appropriated $299.82. 20 306 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In 1850 the town school fund was $100 ; the registration had increased to 500, and the average attendance to 216 ; there were then six teachers employed. In 1860 the State appropriation was $563.61 ; town, $200 ; total receipts, $950.74. Enrolled, 347 ; average attendance, 216. 1872-3.— State appropriation, $728.97, and the town the same; re ceipts, $1,814. EnroUed, 280 ; average attendance, 205. A sixth dis trict had by that date been created in the toAAm, but only five schools were open. In 1874-5 the house in district No. 1 was reported as unfit for use and was unoccupied. District No. 6 had no school house. During this decade considerable improvement was made in educational facilities, particularly in repairing school buildings, and the need of a school of a higher grade was urged in the report of 1877-8. In the following year an evening school was opened for twelve weeks and a high school was established with the title Island High School, which has been maintained to the present time. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $821.92; tovsm, $594.60; receipts, $2,315.95; valuation, $4,800. The enrollment was about 250. In 1887-8 the high school was reported as in great need of a separate building. In 1889-90 the State appropriation was $790.42; toAvn, $825.42; receipts, $1,726.98; valuation, $6,200. Enrolled, 237; aver age attendance, 156. 1899.— State appropriation, $733.67; town, $2,251.01; receipts, $3,224.97 ; valuation, $5,200 ; number of school houses, five. Enrolled, 307 ; average attendance, 180. Gloeester and Burrillville. ^Gloeester was one of the tovsms into which Providence was divided in 1730, and included the territory of Burrillville until 1806. Of the very early schools in the old toAvn of Gloeester, very little can now be learned. In the part set off to con stitute Burrillville there is record of a school house beu^ built in 1806, the year of the division, and within the next decade it is knoAvn that several others were erected, as weU as in the Gloeester territory. In the old town of Gloeester and down to 1828 in the new town, the only schools were of a private character, depending for their support upon tuition collected from parents. The town in 1828, after BurriUville was set off, was divided into districts under the school act of that year, and free schools were established. Money was raised, but in small amounts from year to year, ncAv school houses were built, and the cause advanced, as in other toAvns. From 1846 to 1856 the money expended for schools amounted to $12,604.15 ; from 1856 to 1866, it was $16,253.05; and from 1866 to 1876, it was $32,727.83. These figures do not include the sums raised by rate bills, and private con- Growth op Public Education. 307 tributions, nor the amounts appropriated to building and repairing school houses. The report for 1850 shows that the State appropria tion for that year was $745.92 ; town, $200 ; receipts, $1,205.59. There was expended on houses, $450. Enrollment, 554 ; average attendance, 399. There were thirteen districts, and seventeen teachers. In 1859-60 the State appropriation was $1,206.70 ; town, $312 ; reg istry tax, $181.80. Districts Nos. 3, 4, and 5 had been recently con stituted one district with the number five. In 1871-2 the State appropriation was $1,627.02 ; town, $1,700 ; re ceipts, $3,949.21. Enrolled, 349 ; average attendance in the winter term, 256. Only two of the schools Avere graded in that decade. In 1879-80 the State appropriation was $1,404.77 ; town, $1,604.77 ; receipts, $3,426.66. Enrolled, 410 ; average attendance, 248 ; valua tion, $9,800. There were then twelve school houses in the town and thirteen teachers were employed. In 1874-5 the school houses were reported in bad condition ; one of these was repaired two years later. In 1889-90 the State appropriation was $1,717.88 ; town, $1,889.88 ; receipts, $3,841.97 ; valuation, $7,685. Enrolled, 381 ; average attend ance, 251. In 1891 a new building was erected in the consolidated district and others were placed in better repair. 1899.— State appropriation, $1,471.55; tovsm, $2,423.58; receipts, $4,489.70; valuation, $8,200. There were then twelve school houses with 495 seats. Enrolled, 277 ; average attendance, 172. Total num ber of teachers, sixteen. In the year 1828 two committees were appointed for the town of BurrillviUe, one consisting of twenty-three persons, to divide the tOAvn into school districts, and the other of twenty-one persons, to act as school committee. Nothing appears upon the town records relating to schools until the year 1828. On September 8, of that year, the town appropriated $300 for schools, and there was received from the State, $199.80. Eleven school houses, with winter school taught in all, were reported. The school committee of the next year was reduced in number to sixteen, and this number was chosen annually until 1846, when the number was further reduced to six. Prom 1847 forward the number was three. The yearly appropriation for schools by the town from 1828 to 1846 inclusive was $300 ; in 1847, $100 was added. Of some of the very early schools in this town brief historical notes have been preserved.^ In district No. 1 there stood on "the Com mons" an antique school house which was occupied until 1823, when ^By Rev. -William Pitz, superintendent of schools for Burrillville in 1876. SeeffisJ. Pub. Instruction (Stockwell), pp. 312-339. 308 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. a second story was added to it underneath the other. Among the early teachers in that building were Rufus Smith and his son Jarvis, Israel Tucker, Charles Mowry, Betsey Brown, who taught in 1840, and others. In 1823 the farmers of the district collected a library of 300 volumes. The school house had a belfry and bell and was used for religious services, and was ultimately removed and the later building erected in 1863. In district No. 2 (Mount Pleasant) the house stood on ' ' the Commons ' ' in early years. In 1866 it was removed from the highAvay, placed on a more pleasant site and repaired. The school house in district No. 3 was built in 1806, thus being as old as the town ; it was repaired in 1867, in which year the average attendance was placed at only one, and the district discontinued. In 1871 the number 3 was given to district No. 16. In that district Leonard Nason donated a lot for a school house in 1849, and a respectable building was erected. In district No. 4 Mrs. Lydia Brown was a teacher in 1814; her daughter Betsey, before mentioned, taught in 1840. A new school house was built in 1860. The district was diAdded in 1868. The school house in district No. 5 dated from about 1830 and it was occu pied many years ; an addition was made to it in 1870. In district No. 6 the first school house was built in 1806 ; it was condemned by the committee in 1867 and was at once enlarged and repaired. The first school house in district No. 7 (Harrisville) was still occupied in 1848, but was superseded by a new one in 1849 ; to this a second story was subsequently added. In 1870 the larger of the two houses in the place was erected ; this is the first district in the town that established three grades of schools in as many rooms. Data regarding the erection of school houses and other matters in districts Nos. 8 and 9 are not accessible; in the latter district there was probably an early school house built prior to the one erected about 1842. The building in use in No. 8 was formerly a store, which was purchased in 1848. District No. 10 has two schools ; but data of the early affairs of the district are meagre. In the Pascoag district. No. 11, the "old red school house" Avas built about 1824. In 1862 it was reported that this district was ' ' entirely destitute of a house that will accommodate more than a fraction of its scholars". A fine new building was at once erected. The further growth of the school made larger accommodations necessarj', and in 1874 a three story structure of modern style was erected, which Avas occupied by three grades. There is no record for district No. 12 until 1847 ; the school has always been small. In 1873 the present school house was erected. The school house in district No. 13 was built in 1835, and was several times re- Growth op Public Education. 309 paired in later years. In No. 14 the school house was built in 1832 and extensively improved in 1848, and again in 1868. In district No. 15 the school house was built in 1840 ; previous to that date schools were held in private houses. In 1850 the State appropriation for schools in the tOAvn was $678.82 ; of this, $394 was expended on school houses. There were sixteen or ganized districts and one unorganized. The registration was 542 and the average attendance, 389. The State appropriation in 1854 was $865.86 ; in 1860 it was $1,487.62 ; in 1870 it Avas $2,571.97. The town appropriation for 1854 was $801.88 ; in 1860 and for several preceding years it was $800 ; from 1861 to 1870 it was $1,000 ; in 1870 it was $2,500. The number of scholars registered in 1859 Avas 691 ; at the close of the next decade the number was 725 at the winter terms. In 1871-2 the State appropriation was $2,592.99 ; town, $3,000 ; re ceipts, $6,103.97. There were then fifteen districts in the town, and twenty schools employing twenty-eight teachers, and four evening schools. Enrolled, 765 ; average attendance, 586. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $1,404.77 ; town, $1,604.77 ; receipts, $3,426.66. Enrolled, 410 ; average attendance, 248. There were then eleven ungraded and two graded schools, employing an average of thirteen teachers. The valuation was $9,800, and $330 was expended for evening schools. In 1874-5 a new house was built in district No. 12 at a cost of $2,000, and another at Pascoag, costing $7,500. 1890-91.— State appropriation, $2,800.38; town, $4,500; receipts, $9,389.84; valuation, $21,700. Enrolled, 970; average attendance, 569. There Avere twelve graded and eleven ungraded schools. In the next year there were only two evening schools open, at Harrisville and Pascoag, and the attendance was small. The report frequently ex pressed the need of a high school, and in 1892 a class in high school studies was organized at Pascoag grammar school. In 1893-4 a new building was erected at Pascoag for a grammar school, on the site of the former one, which was burned ; the new building cost $15,000. A new house was built also at Bridgeton. 1899.— State appropriation, $2,572.19; town, $10,000; receipts, $15,794.25 ; valuation, $36,000. There were thirteen school houses in the town with 1,153 seats. EnroUed, 1,312 ; average attendance, 733. The total number of teachers was thirty-six. Granston.—This town was set off from Providence in 1754, previous to which date its school and other history is a part of that of the parent town. Since inauguration of the free school system this town has shown a deep and active interest in advancing education. The 310 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. territory was divided into ten districts, and in 1832 there were eleven pubUc schools, for support of which the town appropriated $500. With the changes introduced under the law of 1845, stiU more rapid prog ress was made. There were, as shown by the report of 1848-9, eleven districts, in aU of which, excepting No. 3, schools had been taught during the year. The whole amount of the school fund was $1,630.98. The report for 1850 shows that the State fund was then $1,226.24; the town provided $800 ; the total receipts were $2,321.79. There was expended in the year for school houses, $1,220. The registration was 774, and the average attendance 560. The number of organized dis tricts was ten and the number of teachers twelve. There was a large increase in school attendance during the succeed ing decade, as well as in school accommodations, as seen in the statis tics. The State appropriation for 1860 was $1,543.42 ; tovsm, $4,000 ; receipts, $6,681.86 ; expended that year on school houses, $2,000. Reg istration, 1,314 ; average attendance, 887 in the vsdnter term ; number of teachers, twenty-four. 1870-71.— State appropriation, $1,461.32; town, $3,000; receipts, $12,385.56. Enrolled, 606; average attendance, 438. A new house was built in district No. 1, and one evening school was maintained at Spragueville in the Avinter. During the succeeding decade great improvements were made in the schools. By the year 1875-6, nine of the schools were graded, and in that year an addition was made to the house in district No. 3, with accommodations for fifty-tAVO pupils. In the following year the boundaries of all the districts were fixed (see report of 1876-7). 1879-80.— State appropriation, $1,988.62; town, $3,100; receipts, $5,619.53; valuation, $14,850. Enrollment, 661; average attendance, 512. The reports of that time notice the need of new school houses, and they were soon provided. In 1882-3 one was built at Auburn, and in 1886-7 another was erected in district No. 7, a modern and beautiful building. An evening school was opened in November, 1889, but only for a short time. In that year a new building was erected at Arlington, containing four rooms; one at Edgewood, vsdth the same number of rooms, costing $10,000. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $3,098.51; town, $6,650; receipts, $29,259.35 ; valuation, $50,700. Enrolled, 1,103 ; average attendance, 659. There were then twelve graded schools and eleven ungraded. In 1890-91 rooms for high school study were opened in the schools at Auburn, Arlington, and EdgCAvood. In 1892 a high school at Auburn was authorized (district No. 6), and the old school building was given Growth op Public Education. 311 to the town for the purpose. The school was opened in September and was very successful from the beginning. In 1894-5 a new school house was built at Laurel Hill, another at SpragucAdlle, and a third at Oak Lawn, with a combined seating capacity of 1,674. In 1897-8 four additional new houses were erected— at Eden Park, Meshanticut Park, Edgewood and Pawtuxet, while the high school was showing remark able growth. Por 1899 the State appropriation was $3,594.81 ; town, $41,184.30 ; receipts, $46,497.03 ; valuation, $147,000 ; number of school buildings, fifteen, containing 2,085 seats. Enrolled, 2,073 ; average attendance, 1,479 ; average number of teachers, fifty-nine. Average attendance in high school, 107. East Providence.— The territory of this town belonged to Massachu setts until January, 1862, and the early history of its schools is in volved in the records of the town of Seekonk. Since the town Avas set off to Rhode Island it has supported the public schools with great UberaUty. Within ten or twelve years after the change was made new school houses were erected in all of the eight districts of the town. In 1872 a union grammar school house was built for districts Nos. 2 and 8, and a flourishing school has since been maintained. In 1875, in district No. 1, in which the old house had been tAvice enlarged, a neAv grammar school building was erected at a cost of $12,500. The report for 1870-71 shows that the State fund in that year amounted to $1,230.25 ; the town raised $2,200 ; the total receipts were $3,783.94. A special tax was imposed of $1,400 in district No. 1. Enrolled, 440 ; average attendance, 340 in the winter term. There were eleven schools and twelve teachers. In 1872-3 an evening school was maintained through the winter, and new houses for advanced schools were built in districts Nos. 2 and 8. A new school house was built in district No. 1 and first opened November 29, 1875. Of the twelve schools, five were graded. In 1876-7 a new house was erected for district No. 6, by private capital, and leased to the town. By this year the number of graded schools was increased to eight, and six ungraded ; within the succeed ing two years three more were graded. 1879-60.— State appropriation, $1,631.61; town, $8,000; receipts, $12,602 ; valuation, $27,500. EnroUed, 932 ; average attendance, 618. A school house was built in district No. 2 at a cost of $1,800. There were then thirteen graded schools, and four ungraded. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $3,698.35; town, $20,170; receipts, $26,783.61 ; valuation, $81,545. Enrolled, 2,383 ; average attendance, 1,214. These figures show what a very large increase had taken place 312 State op Rhode Island and Providence Planta-hons. in the schools of the town during the preceding decade. The number of graded schools was now twenty-three, with three ungraded, and the average number of teachers was thirty-nine. The toAvn owned fifteen school buildings containing 1,442 seats. Two evening schools were maintained in 1889-90 with an average attendance in both of fifty-seven. In 1881-2 a school house was built at Riverside and dedi cated November 26, 1881, and in the next year a new one was erected at James street and Russell avenue. In 1884-5 a high school Avas established in the Mauran avenue building, Avhich was then recently erected. In 1891 a new house with eight rooms was erected and dedi cated September 4 of that year ; it was named the A. P. Hoyt Grammar School. In 1895-6 it was reported that eight of the fifteen school buildings owned by the toAvn had been erected since 1875, and addi tions made to others. In 1896-7 a new house was built in the Watche- moket district, costing nearly $6,000; it was dedicated September 4, 1896. 1899.— State, $4,040.74; town, $37,600; receipts, $43,584.71; valua tion, $143,650. Number of school houses, eighteen, containing 2,229 seats. Enrolled, 2,443 ; average attendance, 1,697 ; average number of teachers, fifty-seven, five of whom are employed in the high school. The enrollment in the high school is 178. Two evening schools are maintained. Foster.— The history of the early schools of this toAvn is little knoAvn, further than is shoAvn in the tables of statistics in preceding pages. There were fifteen school houses in existence in 1828 and that number of schools were taught in winter and most of them in summer terms. In 1844 this number had increased to eighteen and the tovsm was divided into nineteen districts. The State appropriation in that year for schools was $624.53. There were registered 495 pupils and the attendance was 304. In 1850 the State appropriated for schools $760.77 and the toAvn $181.11; the total receipts were $1,329.68. In that year $605 were expended on school houses. The registration was 492, and the average attendance 283. The number of teachers employed was twenty- four. The conditions changed but very little during the next ten years. In 1860 the State appropriation was $1,174.83 ; the town, $237.68 ; re ceipts, $2,026.11. About $800 were expended on permanent improve ments. Enrolled, 483 ; average attendance, 346 ; number of teachers, seventeen. 1870-71.— State appropriation, $1,928.50; town, $964.25; receipts, $2,932. Enrolled, 369 ; average attendance, 258. The number of dis- Growth op Public Education. 313 tricts and schools was unchanged. In 1879-80 the State appropriation was $1,444.56 ; town, the same ; receipts, $3,176.63 ; valuation of school property, $6,350. Enrolled, 342 ; average attendance, 205. There were eighteen districts and the same number of school houses. 1899.— State appropriation, $1,655.48; town, the same; receipts, $3,870.41 ; valuation, $4,350 ; the number of school houses had been reduced to sixteen, and the number of schools to eleven, all ungraded. Enrolled, 219 ; average attendance, 127. It will be seen that this is one of the towns of the State in w^hich for the several well knoAvn causes the school attendance slowly declines. Johnston.— The usual private schools were undoubtedly taught in the territory of this town to some extent in the last century, but very little progress was made until the free school system was established in 1828. The first meeting of the school committee was held June 2, of that year, and in August the town was divided into ten districts. School houses for these districts were located in the following month. It is believed that the first appropriation of money in support of the schools in this towm was made in 1833,^ the amount being $241.98 ; the town appropriation was $355. In the fall of 1831 tAVO schools were established in district No. 4, and in June, 1832, a new district was formed from parts of Nos. 2, 3 and 5, and numbered 11. The number of scholars in 1832 was 400. By 1837 the town appropriation was increased to $350, and the State appropria tion to $274.84. In May, 1843, the report states that there were thir teen districts, fourteen schools, and 560 scholars registered. In Jan uary, 1844, district No. 14 was formed in the western part of the toAvn. Under the new law of 1845 the number of members in the school com mittee, which had been ten or more, was reduced to three, with great benefit. The State appropriated that year (1845-6), $589.99; the toAsm, $500 ; registry tax, $174.46. In 1850-51 the State appropriated $825.97 ; the town the same, as above mentioned. District No. 7 built a new school house in 1850-1 ; district No. 3 built one in the following year, and district No. 13 followed with one in 1869. District No. 1 was divided in 1867, a new one formed and numbered 15, and two years later No. 16 was created also out of No. 1. In June, 1873, dis tricts Nos. 6 and 14 were consolidated, with the number remaining 6. Por the year 1850 the State appropriation was $825.97 ; the town fund, $500; total receipts, $1,456.17. Registered, 568; average attendance, 392. There were then fourteen organized districts, six school houses, 'William A. Phillips, in Hist, of Public Education in R.I. (Stockwell), p. 377. 314 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. and thirteen teachers. At the close of that decade, in 1860, the State appropriation had increased to $1,257.69 ; town, $600 ; total receipts, $2,037.41. Enrolled, 319 ; average attendance, 220. 1871-2.— State appropriation, $2,207.42; town, $2,500; receipts, $9,360.53. Enrolled, 677; average attendance, 505. By the changes before mentioned and others the number of districts was increased to sixteen, and the number of teachers in the vsdnter term was twenty. Extensive improvements were made in the houses in districts Nos. 3, 4, 8, 9, 11 and 12. In October, 1873, four evening schools were opened, located at Olneyville, Dry Brook, Merino, and Plain Farm, vsdth a registry of 341. About $6,000 were expended this year in school improvement. Only one of the evening schools was sufficiently suc cessful to warrant continuance the foUovsdng year— the one at Merino. There were now six graded and thirteen ungraded schools in the toAvn. No evening school was open in 1876-7. A new house was built in dis trict No. 5, and extensive improvement was made in district No. 7. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $2,342.61; town, $3,405; receipts, $7,882.33; valuation, $21,350. Enrolled, 933; average attendance, 542. At that time there were seven graded and thirteen ungraded schools in the town, and fifteen school houses. In 1884 steps were taken for establishing a high school, which was opened in 1886. During the year 1884-5 a school house was built in Olneyville (district No. 1) ; the house in district No. 7 was enlarged. In 1888-9 a new house was built in district No. 15. At this time a new building with larger accommodations for the high school was greatly needed. The State appropriation for 1889-90 was $3,405.89 ; tovsm, $10,475; receipts, $28,060.87; valuation, $41,600. Enrolled, 1,714; average attendance, 920. There were at that time seventeen graded and thirteen ungraded schools, employing an average of thirty- two teachers. In 1890-91 three evening schools were maintained; one at Olneyville, one at Thornton, and one at Merino. In that year Avas built the high school building, now occupied as a primary school, on account of the annexation of a considerable portion of the town to the City of Providence. In the following year a four-room building was erected in the consolidated district (the Thornton and the Viall dis tricts). In 1893 a school house was built in the Merino district, con taining four rooms, and occupied in September. A new brick school house in the Plain Farm district was first occupied in February, 1894. These figures are eloquent of the rapid development of educational facilities in this town in recent years. 1899.— State appropriation, $2,496.41 ; town, $8,000 ; receipts, $11,- Growth op Public Education. 315 645.96 ; valuation, $29,750 ; number of school houses, twelve, contain ing 732 seats. Enrolled, 822; average attendance, 514. Average number of teachers, tvyenty-one. Only one evening school is now maintained. Pawtucket and North Providence.— A historian of Pawtucket in writing of illiteracy in large manufacturing centers, says in substance : "The reasons why the village population of Rhode Island have not been adequately reached by public schools is only because the methods pursued have not been in agreement with the circumstances of the case. The average poverty, indifference of parents, and self-interest of manufacturers, have conspired to produce the average iUiteracy in factory centers".^ This was written, doubtless, in a spirit of apology for whatever conditions of average illiteracy that have existed in Pawtucket during the greater part of its existence as a manufacturing community. Through changes in the growth of the population a change of bound ary Unes was made on March 1, 1882, and Pawtucket, Mass., was set off from Seekonk, including the northwest corner of the former town along the river and around the falls; the remainder retained the old town name. The town of Pawtucket, Mass., continued until 1862 ; on March 1, of that year, Pawtucket on the east side of the river became a Rhode Island to-^n, through a change in boundary, which gave up to Massachusetts a part of the city of Pall River, and on May 1, 1874, was joined with the community on the west side of the river to consti tute what became the city of Pawtucket. At the same time that part of Seekonk transferred to Rhode Island became East Providence. When the town of North Providence was created, in 1765, out of the old town of Providence, the west side of the village of Pawtucket was the most populous place in the new town. The first school taught in Pawtucket was probably a Sunday school ; but that public benefactor, Samuel Slater, originated secular schools as early as 1791, in which the children AVorking in the mills were in structed in the rudiments of knoAvledge. In 1796 the firm of Almy, Brown & Slater were paying the expenses of such a school, some of the teachers being students in Brown University. The beneficial and humanitarian results thus obtained were appreciated by other mill OAvners, who adopted a similar course for their workers. About the year 1793 what was long known as the red school house was erected on the site of the city haU by contributions made by residents on both sides of the river. In that house the first regular day school was ^History of Pawtucket, Robert Grieve, pp. 184-5. 316 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. taught, and the building was open also for Sunday school. This was in all essentials a private institution, and other similar schools soon followed. An academy was founded in 1824, on Pleasant street, on the west side, in which year Eliphas Fay taught, and later Rev. George Taft, then rector of St. Paul's church. On the east side another academy was built in 1828, and previous to that date a brick school house was built on that side on the site of the old town hall. In that building the town meetings were held from 1828 to 1845. In the report of the school committee of Pawtucket for 1872-73 is found slight historical mention of the schools of the town. It is there stated that in the year 1828 (the year in which the town was incor porated) the sum of $350 was appropriated by the town for support of schools; this sum was reduced to $300 the next year and so con tinued through several successive years, varying only slightly until 1839. In that year $500 were appropriated, but "there was not a school house in the town deserving of the name. The old brick school house on School street was then in existence, but it was illy-deserving the name of a school-house". It was learned in that year by a curious investigator that the air space given to each criminal in the Massachu setts State prison exceeded that enjoyed by the children in the town schools, and that the money appropriated for schools was less than one dollar for each scholar registered. When this state of things avbs reported in open town meeting, the community was startled, and in 1840, as a consequence, the school money appropriated by the town was doubled in quantity; in that and the following years two good school houses were erected, the schools in them graded, and competent teachers employed. From that time forward appropriations were liberal. About 1855 a high school was established, Avhich was main tained in high excellence, and between that date and the year of the report (1872) three additional school houses were erected. The State appropriation for that year was $2,237.01, and town, $6,500 ; the total expenditures were about $9,000. The first school of a public character in Pawtucket was taught in the "red school house", which was built about 1793 with funds raised by subscriptions from citizens on both sides of the river. The old school building remained in use for that purpose many years. There were private schools in early years, one of which became widely known for its excellence. This was the so-called Jones school, which was opened about 1832 by Mary D. and Emily D. Jones, in the family dwelling on Main street, opposite the foot of Park Place. The school JONES SCHOOL HOUSE, FORMERLY STANDING ON MAIN STREET, PAWTUCKET. The Former Home of " Sam Patch", the Athlete and Jumper, who Lost His Life Jumping at Genesee Falls, Rochester, N. Y. The House was Said to Have Been Erected in 1677. It was Demolished in 1879. 318 State op Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. had at times as many as seventy pupils, and continued many years. The building was demolished in 1879. Under the school law of 1828, for the first time in its history the town of North Providence voted, on April 16 of that year, to "raise not to exceed $600" forthesupport of pubUc schools. The sum actually raised for this purpose was $350, while in 1829 only $300 was raised. (See school reports, 1873, p. 99.) From this time until 1839 there was not very much change in general school conditions in the town. In 1829 there were four schools besides the academy, and the share of money received from the State was $382.96. In the year 1832 the number of schools was eight, and the number of scholars 400 ; in that year the town appropriated $574. There were then ten private schools in the tovsm. In 1839 the cost of maintaining the tovsm schools was $1,215.38, the tovsm voting $500. There were only a few very poor school houses. During the succeeding decade the number of houses was doubled, and in 1841 two good buildings were erected and the schools graded. The first report made by the school committee of North Providence, after the reorganization under the law of 1845, was for the year 1848. On May 9, of that year, Joseph T. Sisson, who had been appointed by the school committee to make a thorough inspection of the toAvn schools, reported to the committee the conditions in ten districts. Two of these, Nos. 1 and 2, were in the village of Pawtucket and both had grammar departments. A new school house was found in district No. 4, while that in district No. 6 was reported as "a miserable old sheU", in which was taught a large school. Most of the ten schools were taught by women. The total school fund for 1848 was $3,272.42. In the report of 1850-51 the districts in this tovsm were designated as follows : District No. 1, High street, Pawtucket, and district No. 2, Church HiU, Pawtucket; district No. 3, Wenscott; No. 4, near White's; No. 5, Centerdale; No. 6, Triptown; No. 7, Fruit Hill; No. 8, near Olneyville; No. 9, East Turnpike; No. 10, Smith's HiU. The school fund of that year was $5,357.50. In a general way these conditions were maintained until the city of Pawtucket was erected in April, 1885. The State appropriation for schools in 1850 was $1,376.01; to-wn, $2,500; total receipts, $4,184.99. Expended on school houses, $150. The number of districts remained at ten, with ten school houses. The registration was 1,356, and the average attendance, 919 ; number of teachers, twenty-six. At the close of that decade, in 1860, the State appropriation was GR0A^'TH OP Public Education. 319 $2,246.10; town, $4,500; total receipts, $7,013.10. The registration for the winter term was 1,544, and the average attendance, 1,119 ; number of teachers, fourteen. For the year 1871-2, after the lapse of another decade, the report shows that there were still ten districts in the town. The State appro priation was $7,367.03 ; toAvn, $15,000 ; receipts, $24,037.29. Enrolled, 2,226; average attendance, 1,601. There were then being taught thirty-nine schools. The first evening school was opened in Pawtucket in 1870, and in 1871-2 there were four, which were largely attended. At the end of another decade, in 1879-80, the State appropriation was (excluding Pawtucket) $502.40; toAvn, $1,100; receipts, $2,325.14; valuation, $5,925. The school property consisted of three houses. Enrolled, 327 ; average attendance, 171. There were four schools, two of which were graded, and three districts. In 1885 a new school house was built in the Centerdale district, at a cost of over $4,000. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $1,364.09; town, $3,200; receipts, $9,755.51; valuation, $16,000. Enrolled, 481; average attendance, 267. At this time there were nine graded schools taught in the four school houses. A new house Avas built this year at Woodville, and in 1894 another was added at Mayville. 1899.— State appropriation, $1,993.72; town, $5,200; receipts, $7,632.80. Valuation, $30,000. Expended on sites and buildings, $474.15 ; on Ubraries, $180. Enrolled, 589 ; average attendance, 338. Total number of teachers, fifteen ; number of buildings, five. Continuing the history of the Pawtucket schools from 1873-4, their rapid development is shown by comparative statistics. In the year named the State appropriation was $4,758.35 ; town appropriation, $22,000. The school property was valued at $41,500. The schools consisted of one high school (opened about 1855), two grammar schools, three intermediate schools, and two evening schools. The number of teachers employed was nine. At the end of that decade (1879-80) the total receipts had arisen to $34,674.70. There were eighteen school buildings owned by the vil lage, which were valued at $175,281. There were forty graded and five ungraded schools, taught by fifty-four teachers, and the registra tion numbered 2,357, besides 428 scholars who attended the Catholic schools. There was a call upon the committee for economy. Two of the added school houses were erected in 1878-9, and two new evening schools were opened the same winter. Two other houses were built in 1876-7, and two in 1874-5. In this year the committee recom mended the purchase of the High street Baptist church property for 320 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. school purposes. The recommendation was carried out and the build ing was remodeled for the high school. In this year began the erec tion of new school houses, $20,000 being appropriated for the purpose. In 1889-90 the total receipts had advanced to $164,990.81, and the attendance to 3,849, Avith 820 attending Catholic schools. There were taught seventy-nine graded schools, by 102 teachers. The city owned twenty-four school buildings. Decided progress was made during this decade in various directions. In the Avinter of 1882-3 an evening school for mechanical drawing was opened, which was weU attended. Two new school houses were built in 1883-4, one situated on Broadway costing over $10,000. A statement issued in 1886 showed the number of graduates of the high school beginning wdth the establishment in 1875 of the regular graduation course. In 1878 there were five ; 1879, three; 1880, seven; 1881, ten; 1882, sixteen; 1883, four; 1884, four teen ; 1885, eight ; 1886, nineteen. The Middle Street house was built in 1886-7, containing four rooms, at a cost of $22,000; the Garden Street house at a cost of $25,000, and the Cherry Street house was in course of erection, at a cost of $25,000. These extensive additions brought the valuation of school property up to $285,057. In 1888 the Hancock Street house was built at a cost of $25,000 ; the house on Pidge avenue, costing $10,000, and the Wairing Street building was in process of erection. A kindergarten was added to the school sys tem in 1888-9, with twenty-nine children in attendance. 1899.— State appropriation, $8,828.16; toAAm, $110,800; receipts, $174,712.01. District tax, mainly for sites and buildings, $52,000. Valuation, $523,196. Number of school buildings, twenty-six. All the schools, thirty-nine in number, are graded. Total number of teachers, 140. These figures indicate remarkable growth in the Paw tucket schools in the last ten years. A training school was estabhshed prior to 1890, and in 1892-3 a school for Armenians was opened. In 1891-2 the new house on Grove street was occupied ; the training school was given accommodations in this building. A new kindergarten was opened and a teacher of physical training employed. The greatest improvement of recent years was the completion, in 1895-6, of the new high school building at a cost of $80,000, Avith $25,000 for the site. It is a splendid structure containing ten rooms— library, assembly hall, three laboratories, gymnasium, recitation rooms, etc., Avith aU modern conveniences. The enrollment for the high school for this year is 275. The present number of evening schools is seven, with a registration of 797. FoUowing is a Ust of school superintendents of Pawtucket : 1871-3, Growth op Public Education. 321 B. Carpenter; 1873-5, Dr. R. B. Bishop; 1875-84, Andrew Jencks; 1884-7, Alvin P. Pease ; 1887-9, Fred Sherman ; 1889-92, Henry Max- son; 1892-96, Gilman C. Fisher; 1896-99, Henry D. Hervey. Scituate.— The first school report for this town covered the year 1847. Under the act of 1828 a school committee was appointed for this town, one of whose acts was to divide the large town into twelve districts, each two miles square; this arrangement was not generally satisfactory, the school houses not being so situated as to properly accommodate the respective districts. Another committee, subsequent ly appointed, made a new division as it existed many years. The num ber of scholars registered in the tovsm in 1846-7 was 797, and in the foUowing year it was 840. At the time of this report there were seventeen districts in the town, and several of them had recently built new school houses or thoroughly repaired the old ones. In 1850 the State appropriation was $1,348.42; town, $321.06; receipts, $1,874.44. In that year there was expended on school houses, $827. There were seventeen districts and one unorganized. EnroU ment, 741 ; average attendance, 476 ; number of teachers employed, twenty-six. In 1860 the State appropriation was $1,765.08 ; town, $900 ; receipts, $4,137.45. There was expended on school houses, $184. Enrollment, 817 ; average attendance, 528 ; number of teachers, twenty-one. 1870-71.— State appropriation, $2,737.36; town, $1,800; receipts, $5,637.92. Enrollment, 540, winter term; average attendance, 389. There were then nineteen school districts and the houses were reported in exceUent condition. An evening school was opened in 1873-4, but it was unsuccessful. Two years later a small appropriation was made, and in 1877-8 three were conducted with a fair attendance ; the next year another Avas added. 1879-80. -State appropriation, $2,284.81 ; town, $2,348.62 ; receipts, $5,410.47; valuation, $14,300. Enrolled, 646; average attendance, 375. There were then four graded and seventeen ungraded schools, and the average number of teachers was twenty-one. There were nineteen school houses and two evening schools were open. During the succeeding decade the school houses began to get dilapidated, and in 1887 the report stated that the schools were not making satisfactory progress. 1899-90. State appropriation, $2,208.35; town, $2,600; receipts, $10,364.36; valuation, $16,700. Enrolled, 594; average attendance, 319. There were four graded and sixteen ungraded schools, taught by an average of twenty-seven teachers. 21 332 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 1899.— State appropriation, $2,079.08; tovsm, $4,000; receipts, $6,994.79; valuation, $15,200. The town has eighteen school houses containing 952 seats. EnroUed, 621 ; average attendance, 344. Aver age number of teachers, twenty. Smithfield, North Smithfield and Lincoln.— The first census taken in Smithfleld gave the number of inhabitants as 450 ; that was in the year 1748. Under the school law of 1800 the following action is re corded: "Smithfield shall cause to be established, and kept every year, so many free schools as shall be equivalent to three such schools six months in the year". There were at that time in what is now Smithfield five public school houses, in some of which the schools were free. The school act of 1800, as before stated, was repealed in 1803. Under the act of 1828 free schools were established in the town in 1830, and the local school interests in aU directions were advanced under that act and the one of 1839. In 1840 the school population of the town was 3,311, and there were nineteen districts in the toAAm ; most of these were organized in 1845 under the act passed the previous year. In the year 1845 there were ten teachers ' institutes held in Smithfield and much enthusiasm was manifested. In June, 1847, the first school committee report from the toAvn was made, it being the second one ever made in any form upon the subject of free schools. The State appro priation of that year was $2,175, and of the town, $2,500 ; the whole expenditure was $5,292.16. About $1,100 were donated for libraries, and the aggregate expended for school houses and repairs was $6,005 ; five new school houses were built during the preceding year, and fifty- four different schools were taught. The number of scholars regis tered was 2,012. In 1848 some of the schools of the tovsm were graded. Ten years later, in 1856, the State appropriation was $4,126.19, and from the town, $4,500 ; at that time there were thirty-five districts and forty-four schools. In 1860 the State appropriation was $4,119.29; town, $4,500; total receipts, $11,434.49. Enrolled, 2,444; average attendance, 1,902. The number of teachers then employed was forty- seven. 1870.— The State appropriation was $6,944.04; toAvn, $19,000. In this year the old tovsm of Smithfield was divided, the new towns of North Smithfield and Lincobi being set off. This change left the old town with only ten districts, with the local names of AUenville, StiU- water, Wionkhiege, Evans, Spragueville, GeorgiavUle, AngeU, Dexter, GreenviUe, and Woonasquatucket. A school census taken in 1871 showed that Lincoln had then 2,715 chUdren between five and fifteen years of age; North Smithfield, 826, and "Woonsocket set off" (a Growth op Public Education. 323 small area added to the town of Woonsocket), 985. "In 1869 and 1870 Smithfield held the post of honor in the school system of this State, having appropriated the highest per cent, on its valuation, having employed successful teachers, and attained to a high degree of profi ciency in the studies pursued".^ In 1874 a joint district was formed from Smithfield and North Smithfield, consolidating the old Andrews district as it existed before the town division. In 1874 a new school house was built in district No. 5 at a cost of $4,000, and three others were put in repair. A new house was built in No. 9 at a cost of $9,000. Enrolled that year, 539 ; average attendance, 283. The school property was valued at $21,300. Twelve teachers were employed. Coming down to the close of that decade, it is found that the State appropriation was $1,494.78 ; town, $2,700 ; valuation, $20,300. En rolled, 554; average attendance, 302. Meanwhile in 1876-7 districts Nos. 3 of Smithfield and 12 of Lincoln were consolidated. 1890.— State appropriation, $1,820.02; town, $2,650; total receipts, $5,749.66. EnroUed, 534 ; average attendance, 272. 1899.— State appropriation, $1,572.92; town, $3,500; receipts, $7,013.02; valuation, $23,700; number of school houses, nine; total number of teachers, fourteen. Enrolled, 440; average attendance, 237. Of the districts remaining in the town of Smithfield after the division, AUenville was the oldest in which a house was set aside for school purposes ; there was a school house in the district about 1776. The next one was known as the Barnes school, which was taught in the first decade of this century. In 1820 Philip AUen, once governor of this State, built a cotton mill here, and from him the district takes its name. He built, also, a school house, the use of which he gave to the people. The later school house was built in 1849. Georgiaville dis trict was formerly a part of No. 1, until about 1815. In 1820 a school was opened in a stone building near the river, then owned by Samuel A. Nightingale. In 1827 Mr. Nightingale built a larger buUding for week-day school and Sunday services. The later school house was built in 1850 ; it was raised and a story added in 1873. AngeU dis trict was an original district in 1766 and had a public school house. The later buUding was erected in 1832. In Dexter district, also, one of the very early schools was taught. A school house was erected in 1816. There was a public school house in Stillwater district in 1776. In 1830 another school house was built, which was in use until 1874, 'Sketch of Smithfield schools. Hist, of Pub. Instruction in R. I. (Stockwell), p. 421. 334 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. when a new one was erected. Wionkhiege district was organized as early as 1816, but had no house for public school until 1856. Evans district was formed as early as 1806, and schools for a number of years were taught in private dwellings and elsewhere. A private school house was in use for the first in 1830, which was purchased by the district in 1872. Spragueville district was formerly a part of Evans district, the division having been made in 1840 ; a school was taught in the territory of the district as early as 1808. A school house was erecti ed in Spragueville about 1844. GreenviUe district had the earliest school in this town, according to the record ; a public school house stood in 1750 on the site of the later building. An account of Greene academy will be found on another page. The statistics of schools in North Smithfield in 1871-2, immediately following the erection of the toAvn, show that the State appropriation was $1,438.69 ; town, $2,500 ; there was received from the old tovsm, $511.55. There were then fourteen districts in the new toAvn, and an average attendance of 254, with ten teachers employed. 1879-80.— After the lapse of a decade of its existence the State appropriation had increased to $1,447.97; town, $2,600; receipts, $4,355.62 ; valuation, $14,300. Enrolled, 548, average attendance, 319. There were eleven schools, six of which were graded, and twelve teach ers were employed. In 1884-5 the first evening school was opened, and in 1887-8 a new school house was built in district No. 3. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $2,461.38; town, $3,300; receipts, $6,080.74; valuation, $17,150. EnroUed, 569; average attendance, 322. There were fifteen schools, of which six were graded, and fifteen teachers were employed. 1899.— State appropriation, $2,243.73; tovsm, $4,700; receipts, $8,011.13 ; valuation, $18,350. There were eleven school houses in the town. Enrolled, 560; average attendance, 360. In 1890-91 the school houses in districts Nos. 7, 8 and 9 were much improved, and in 1897-8 the building at SlatersAdlle was enlarged. The school committee 's report for the town of Lincoln for the year 1871-72, the year following the erection of that toAvn, notes the election of Lysander Flagg, of Central Falls, superintendent of schools; also that the schools in the town were fully up to the average of those in other parts of the State. The State appropriation was $3,459.62, and the town, $9,500 ; other resources brought the figures up to $13,522.62. The number of districts was twelve, numbers 5 and 11 being joint dis tricts, and numbers 1 and 2 both situated in Central FaUs. With the exception of two, the school houses were public property. Districts 1 Growth op Public Education. 325 and 2, Central Falls, were consolidated. There was a high school at Lonsdale, in district No. 4. In the next year $1,000 were appropriated for evening schools, the need of Avhich had been apparent in the factory sections. Pour of these schools Avere opened, located at Lonsdale, Albion, Manville and Valley Palls. In 1875-6 a new school house was built at Central Falls at a cost of about $7,000 ; it was dedicated De cember 25, 1875. During this decade the growth of the schools in Lincoln was very rapid. In 1875 the enrollment was 1,884, and the average attendance 956. There were then twenty-three graded and four ungraded schools, employing twenty-eight teachers. In 1877-8 a new district was formed as No. 13 (Berkley), from joint district No. 5. Ncav school houses were built in this district and at Central Palls, the first costing $8,400, and the latter $10,000. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $3,986.55; town, $12,000; receipts, $27,157.55; valuation, $69,000. Enrolled, 2,164; average attendance, 1,178. The number of graded schools was now twenty-six, with four ungraded, and thirty-three teachers were employed. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $7,208.37; town, $19,400; receipts, $45,464.93. Enrolled, 4,072 ; average attendance, 2,005. The number of schools had increased during this decade to forty-eight graded and four ungraded, with fifty-nine teachers. The town owned sixteen school buildings with a valuation of $141,300. It was reported in 1881 that through the State aid for libraries, "every school house in the town had the beginning of a library ' '. In 1881-2 a school house was built in districts Nos. 1 and 2, of four rooms each, and the house in No. 8 was thoroughly repaired. In 1884-5 a ncAV house was built at Lonsdale (No. 4) at a cost of $6,660, and in the following year one was built at Central Falls which cost $10,000 ; this was the consolidated district 1 and 2, Avas rapidly increasing in population, and owned two- thirds of all the school property of the tOAvn. During the last decade a new school house was built in Central Falls and dedicated March 1, 1892 ; this was the finest school building in the town. The high school was reported as growing in favor and had a registration of sixty scholars. Evening schools were rapidly increasing in attendance. In the fall of 1896, a new school was opened at Fairlawn in a building with four rooms, relieving the Sayles- ville district; its cost was nearly $8,000. In that year the Broad street evening school was opened. Por the year 1899 the State appro priation was $3,370.70; town, $16,000; receipts, $23,529.93. Valua tion, $39,000 ; number of school houses, eleven, and thirty- three teach ers were employed. Enrolled, 1,260 ; average attendance, 803. 326 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. Prank 0. Draper was the first superintendent of schools in the city of Central Falls, after its organization as a city. The first report giving statistics is for the school year 1895-6, when the State appropri ation was $5,469.87; town, $29,474; receipts, $40,800.29; valuation, $169,000. EnroUed, 2,354; average attendance, 1,447. There were then thirty-eight graded and one ungraded schools, employing an aver age number of teachers of fifty. There were nine school buildings containg 2,059 seats. Two evening schools and a high school were maintained. In 1897-8 Mr. Draper resigned the office of superintendent and was succeeded by Wendell A. Mowry, the present incumbent. In 1896-7 a four years commercial course was introduced in the high school. 1899.— State appropriation, $5,065.87; town, $35,418.71; receipts, $42,542.27 ; valuation, $169,000. There are nine school buildings Avith 2,145 seats, and the total number of teachers is fifty-four. EnroUed, 2,379 ; average attendance, 1,572. These figures indicate the rapid growth of this immediate section, in population and wealth. Woonsocket and Cwm&erlamcZ.— Through the setting off of Providence Monthly Meeting of Friends from the Greenwich Monthly Meeting in 1718, Woonsocket became both the religious and the educational center of a large area now comprised in the counties of Worcester, Mass., and Providence, R. I. The old Woonsocket records show that as early as the 6th month, 1771, the freemen voted that "It is thought necessary yt poor children be schooled". Under date of the 4th month, 1777, appears the following: "Moses Parnum, Moses Brown, Thomas Lapham, Job Scott, Ehsha Thornton, Samuel Aldrich, George Arnold, Antepast Earle, and David Steere are appointed to draw up a plan for establishing a Pree school among Friends." Two months later these men reported in favor of appropriating the donation of Rachael Thayer towards the support of a school and the employment of a teacher ; also in favor of the appointment of a com mittee of "ten judicious Friends", to take charge of the whole school affairs. This was done. A school that was absolutely free to all was estabUshed and continued for a short period, when, "by a vote of the ignorant backwoodsmen of Smithfield, many of whom Avere unable to write their names'',^ the free school was closed. In the years 1800- 1801 the town of Smithfield appropriated $2,200 for free schools, the 'Sketch of the schools of -Woonsocket, by Erastus Richardson, in Hist, of Pub. Education (Stockwell), p. 440. Growth op Public Education. 327 money being distributed among twenty-four separate schools; the same amount was voted for 1802, but a month later the vote was rescinded; a free school was, hoAvever, successfully opened by the women of that vicinity and continued several years. But during a long period it was the private school to which the enUghtened portion turned for the education of their children. Elisha Thornton, son of Ebenezer, was born in Smithfield June 30, 1748, joined the Quakers at the age of twenty- three years and became an elder. In the mean time, having obtained a fair education, he had married, April 1, 1773, and opened an academy near the site of Slaters- viUe village, which gained a vsdde reputation for excellence. Mr. Thornton was an unselfish, earnest, and persistent friend of education, and a humanitarian on general principles, and it is said to have been through his infiuence with Moses Brown that the Friends School in ProAddence was established. After spending thirty years in doing good, with no adequate return, Mr. Thornton removed to New Bed ford. Not long after the academy was founded other schools were opened through the efforts of the inhabitants of several neighborhoods, who joined together, built houses, and employed teachers. One of these was in Union village, and another at the Globe. The Smithfield Academic Society was incorporated in 1808, and steps were taken for building what became the Smithfield Academy in 1810 ; the history of this institution will be found on another page of this chapter. Under the school law of 1828 the town of Cumberland was divided into sixteen districts, district No. 1 comprising what was then the village of Woonsocket, including the region extending from the Falls to the Social Village; district No. 2 comprised the Social and the JenckesviUe villages, and district No. 3 comprised what subsequently became the Union district. At the first meeting of the school commit tee the JenckesAdlle district was set off from district No. 2 and desig nated No. 17. The number of scholars in the four districts in 1829 was 423. A new district. No. 19, was formed in 1838, and in 1840 another was formed from No. 2, and made No. 20. At that date the number of scholars had increased to 827. In 1849 the voters in dis tricts 1, 19, 2 and 20 met and combined those four districts in what was called the Consolidated district. This important measure gave opportunity for properly grading the school and estabUshing a high school in Woonsocket. During the year 1848-9 the high school Uuild- mg was erected on land given to the district by Edward Harris. The amount of the school fund in the year in AA'hich the consolidation was 328 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. effected in Woonsocket, was for the whole town of Cumberland, $4,127.74. In 1850 the tOAvn received from the State, $1,635.41 ; from the town, $2,138; total receipts, $3,767.56. There was expended on school houses, $1,842.38. The registration was 1,327, and the average attendance, 390. The number of teachers Avas twenty-seven. Considerable advancement was made in the succeeding decade. In 1860 the State appropriation Avas $2,536.07; town, $2,500; total re ceipts, $5,569.50. There was expended on school property, $4,000. Registration, 2,425 ; average attendance, 1,877. In the mean time, in 1859, a fine school building was erected at Valley Palls, and various improvements had been made on other buildings. For the school year 1870-71, the total resources were $7,245.39. At this date there were fourteen school houses owned by the town, and sixteen schools were taught. In the mean time the tovsm of Woon socket was erected in 1867, including the two districts of Smithfield, the Globe and the Bernon, and six in Cumberland. This left Cumber land as above described. The statistics for Cumberland at the close of another decade are as follows: State appropriation, $2,513.23; town, $5,713; receipts, $9,643.15. EnroUed, 875 ; average attendance, 635, with 239 attending Catholic schools. The town owned fifteen school buildings and em ployed thirty-four teachers, to whom were paid $60,800. There were eleven ungraded schools, and one evening school. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $3,938.25; town, $9,775; receipts, $40,147.36 ; valuation, $66,050. Enrolled, 1,185 ; average attendance, 673. There were noAV twelve graded and eleven ungraded schools. A new house was built at Lonsdale and dedicated April 16, 1890, costing with the site about $20,000. There were four evening schools, located at Ashton, Berkley, Lonsdale, and Valley Falls. In 1895 the Razee school was closed and the pupils transferred to the Four Corners school. The report of 1894-5 states that the high school had been in operation one year, with fifty scholars at the beginning of the year. 1899.— State appropriation, $3,774.33; town, $20,500; receipts, $25,192.11; valuation, $70,000. There were sixteen school buildings in the town. Enrolled, 1,347 ; average attendance, 915. Total num ber of teachers, forty-two. The first public school house in the Bernon district (now in Woon socket) was built in 1841, and doAvn to 1858 the school there was mainly supported from the State fund. The summer terms were short and the attendance small. In 1858 a new impulse was given to the school, an appropriation was made by the town, and a teacher em- Growth op Public Education. 329 ployed at a salary of $500. A new school house Avas built and dedi cated April 22, 1875. Previous to this date the school was kept in a building leased of the Woonsocket Company. The Woonsocket high school building was erected in 1848-9 on a site donated by Edward Harris, and cost about $8,000. This building was burned October 16, 1875, and the present beautiful and commo dious structure Avas erected in its stead, at a cost of over $25,000. The registration in the high school during the past decade is shown in the following figures : 1889, 95 ; 1890, 114 ; 1891, 120 ; 1892, 151 ; 1893, 141; 1894, 142; 1895, 140; 1896, 134; 1897, 142; 1898, 152; 1899, 162. The school report for 1871-2 states that the school houses in the Jenckes, the Hamlet, the Bernon, and the Globe districts were all condemned. There were then two inefficient evening schools which were taught by some of the day teachers. The State appropriation was $4,053.86; town, $7,000. Enrolled, 955. There were nineteen schools, eight of which were kept in unsuitable places. A part of the condemned buildings was used a number of years longer; a new one was erected in the Globe district in 1874-5, at a cost of about $20,000, and another in each of the Bernon and Jenckes districts. In the next year the town appropriation was $14,000. Prom this time forward the school system rapidly improved. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $4,567.99; toAvn, $15,000; receipts, $38,008.04. There were uoav fifteen school buildings with a valuation of $130,650. EnroUed, 2,403; average attendance, 1,353, with 507 attending parochial schools, and 142 in a select school. 1889-90.— At the lapse of this decade the Woonsocket school system comprised one high school, ten grammar schools, twenty-three primary schools and two ungraded. The State appropriation was $6,505.67; town, $27,700; receipts, $50,782.50; valuation, $170,000: Enrolled, 2,249 ; average attendance, 1,395. Number of teachers employed, forty-four. An act of the Legislature of April 10, 1883, provided that the school committee should comprise nine members, and that the superintendent should be chosen by the school committee instead of the Common Council. An act of consolidation was also passed under which the districts with their distinctive names from one to nine inclu sive, were abolished, and the property formally transferred to the town. In 1885-6 a school house was built in the Jenckes district, cost ing about $6,000. In the winter of 1890-91 five evening schools were kept, and an Armenian class was formed of twenty-six pupils. A school house was built at Hamlet, costing with site about $6,000. In 1891-92 drawing was introduced in all of the grades below the high 330 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. school; the Swedish system of physical training was also introduced. Two ungraded schools were opened, at Arnold street and in Social Hall, for the benefit of the factories. In 1894:-5 the Rachael Harris Manual Training School was opened with 300 scholars enroUed and bright promise of success. Nature study also was begun in connection with the schools. In 1895-6 the new school house on Kendrick avenue was finished at a cost of about $23,000; the Sumner street building was nearly complete, and smaller houses were built on Park avenue and on Andrews street. In 1896-7, a four-room house was built on Boyden street. 1899.— State appropriation, $7,684.44; town, $52,300; receipts, $89,426.68 ; valuation of school property, $290,000. EnroUed, 3,583 ; average attendance, 2,376. The city now OAvns twenty school build ings containing 3,756 seats, in which are taught forty graded and twenty-five ungraded schools. There are six evening schools, vsdth a registration of 417. In 1897-8 a kindergarten was opened with a registration of forty-nine. Following is a list of the superintendents of schools in Woonsocket : Rev. C. J. White, 1871-78 ; John W. Rathbun, 1878-9 ; N. T. Verry, 1879-80; Rev. E. E. Thomas, 1880-84; Rev. Charles J. White, 1884-86; Frank K. McPee, 1886 to the present time. Charlestown.— This town was a part of Westerly until 1738, and Richmond was set off from CharlestoAsm in 1747. As early as 1815 the first school building was erected in the town^ and caUed the Narra gansett Indian School House, after the Indian tribe of that name. The building was the property of the Indians and in it they have held their school in recent years.^ Schools were taught in Charlestown territory long before the date mentioned, but they were of a private character, and little or nothing is knoAvn of them. On November 19, 1828, the town was divided into six districts, under the law establish ing free schools ; a seventh district was formed the next year. In 1828 a school house was built in Washington district in the northeastern part of the town, which was the first school house built by white men in the town ; the building was purchased by the district in 1871. In the Shumuncanuc district the school house was built in 1834 ; it was burned in 1845, and the later building erected on a piece of land nearer 'Sketch of Charlestown schools in Hist, of Pub. Ed. in Rhode Island (Stock- well), p. 340. ''Tradition fixes the date of the building of the school house about 1750. It is yet standing and is used as the club-house of Ninigret Lodge, a social or ganization. Growth op Public Education. 331 the center of the town. In the Quonocontaug district the school house was built in 1838, and in the next year one was built in Cookstown district. In 1840 a school house was erected in Watchaug district, and in 1843 one was built in the Cross Mills district. The house in Pasquesett district was built in 1850 and enlarged and improved in 1874. In January, 1872, district No. 8, Charlestown, and No. 2, Rich mond, were consolidated and made Carolina district. A school house was erected in 1845 on the Richmond territory by Rowland G. Hazard, to which an addition was made when the consoUdation took place. The State appropriation for this town in 1850 was $351.35 ; town, $83.65; receipts, $554.60. Enrolled, 206; average attendance, 164. The number of teachers then employed was seven, and there were six districts organized and one unorganized. There was little change dur ing the succeeding decade, the State appropriation for 1860 being $519.20; town, $123.59; receipts, $853.24. Enrolled, 186; average attendance, 129 ; number of teachers, six. 1871-2.— State appropriation, $777.23; town, the same; receipts, $5,004.16. Enrolled, 216 ; average attendance, winter term, 171. There was expended at this time nearly $1,000 on school houses, which had been reported as very inferior. In 1874-5, after the number of districts had been increased from seven to eight, the school house in district No. 5 was enlarged, and the one in district No. 1 repaired; those in districts Nos. 5, 6 and 8 were reported as ample and comfort able with modern seats. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $783.36; town, $858.36; receipts, $2,165.58 ; valuation, $6,000. Enrolled, 254 ; average attendance, 155. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $882.09; town, $957.09; receipts, $1,946.89; valuation, $2,400. Enrolled, 174; average attendance, ninety-three. There were one graded and seven ungraded schools. 1899.— State appropriation, $834.56; town, $971.84; receipts, $1,869.21 ; valuation, $4,200. Number of school houses, seven ; average number of teachers, eight. Enrolled, 145 ; average attendance, ninety- seven. Exeter.— This town was set off from North Kingstown in 1742. Little is known of its early schools, except that the town was somewhat backward in providing educational facilities. A gift of 500 acres of land in this town was made by Samuel Sewall, of Boston, for the main tenance of a grammar school ; but it was not fully accepted until the gift was revived by the General Assembly in 1766. At that session the toAvn was given leave to build a school house at the east end of the town, on the Ten Rod road. In 1828 there were only three schools in the 332 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. town; but by 1832 the number had increased to thirteen, with 390 scholars. Many of these schools were of a private character. When free schools were established the town was divided into thirteen dis tricts. The committee's report for 1850 shows that the State appro priation was $804.16 ; the town appropriation, $148.92, and the register tax, $79.25. The whole number of scholars in that year was only 368. In 1860 the State appropriation was $898.52; town, $216.10; re ceipts, $1,409.22. Enrolled, 331 ; average attendance, 221 ; number of teachers, eleven. In 1870-71 a new house was begun in district No. 13 and others were repaired. State appropriation was $1,448.57 ; town, $724.28 ; receipts, $3,937. Enrolled, 241 ; average attendance, 173. There were twelve schools and the same number of teachers. In 1875-6 the school house in district No. 12 was rebuilt on a more desirable site and other houses were improved. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $1,157; town, $1,207; receipts, $3,492.21 ; valuation, $7,900. On May 28, 1881, the members of the Manton Library Association voted to donate it to the town, and it was accepted as a free library, and additions made to its books. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $1,357; toAvn, $1,422; receipts, $3,303.62 ; valuation, $4,250. Enrolled, 272 ; average attendance, 145 ; average number of teachers, twelve. 1899.— State appropriation, $1,247.29; town, $1,336.11; receipts, $2,858.68 ; valuation, $5,291. There are twelve school houses vrith 358 seats. Enrolled, 162 ; average attendance, eighty- four. These figures show a decided decline in the toAAm schools. Hopkinton.— The known history of education in this toAvn begins substantially with the establishment of free schools in 1828, when the town was first divided into districts. At that date there were five school houses in the town. At a meeting held September 15, 1828, the school committee divided the town into eleven districts, and an examining committee gave authority to a man to teach in each district. The State appropriated in that year for school purposes, $329.80. In 1832 there were twelve schools in the town and about 550 scholars ; and there were then nine private schools. The statistics of the town for 1850 show that there was received from the State for schools, $591.43 ; the town fund was $140.81 ; total re ceipts, $787.32. There was expended on school houses in that year, $1,084. Registration, 535; average attendance, 331. There were eleven organized districts and one unorganized, and eleven teachers were employed. Growth of Public Education. 333 In 1860 the State appropriation was $1,121.56 ; town, $330 ; receipts, $2,052.92. Enrollment, 534 ; average attendance, 341. In the foUow ing year a new house was built in district No. 6. District No. 5 was made a joint district by the addition of territory from Richmond, and district No. 8 was abolished, its territory being added to 6 and 7. 1870-71.— State appropriation, $1,824.76; toAvn, $1,057; receipts, $6,922.14. Enrolled, 553 ; average attendance, 382. There were now twelve districts, ten schools and fifteen teachers. In 1873 districts Nos. 2 and 4, and No. 8 in Westerly were made a joint district, to which the stockholders of the old Hopkinton Academy donated their interest and a graded school was established, to which another was added in the following year. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $1,441.83 ; town, $1,547.83 ; receipts, $6,135.91; valuation, $12,450. EnroUed, 636; average attendance, 423. There were then eight graded and seven ungraded schools, em ploying an average of fifteen teachers. In 1887-8 an acre of land Avas procured in district No. 7 and a new house built. In the previous year a library was opened at Ashaway, and in 1888-9 a second one at Hope Valley. In the last named year a house was built in district No. 3. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $2,190.21; town, $2,210.08; receipts, $8,752.92 ; valuation, $15,650. Enrolled, 604 ; average attendance, 344. There were eight graded and eight ungraded schools. 1899.— State appropriation, $1,953.59; town, $2,783.40; receipts, $11,744.20 ; valuation, $12,900. There were eleven school houses Avith 694 seats. Enrolled, 593 ; average attendance, 389. Average number of teachers, twenty. North Kingstown. — In the first year of the present century there was not a school house in this town ;^ but Washington Academy was founded in that year and is elsewhere described. School houses were erected soon afterward, the first one about 1806 ; this was in use for school and other meeting purposes until 1837 ; it stood in the northern part of what became district No. 1 The second house was built by William Reynolds in 1808 ; it stood on the hill a little south of Potowo- mut Hill, and soon afterward was converted into a dwelling. About the same time a third school house Avas built near the site of the Davis- viUe depot. A few others were erected and some progress was made down to 1828 when the district system was founded. The State appro priated in 1828-9 about $330 in support of the schools, and a committee of fifteen was elected, who divided the town into ten districts ; another 'D. G. Allen in Hist, of PubUc Education in R. I. (Stockwell), p. 392. 334 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. was added soon afterward. In 1832 there were twelve public and eight private schools in the town. Por the year 1829-30 the State appropriated $378.84 ; the number of scholars under sixteen years of age was 1,184. In 1846, under the new law, the number of districts was fifteen ; number of children between four and sixteen years old, 449. In 1850 the State appropriation for the town amounted to $933.59; the tovsm raised for schools, $225; the total receipts were $1,610.72. There were then seven organized districts and the same number not organized. Enrollment, 609; average attendance, 454; number of teachers, seventeen. At the close of that decade, in 1860, the State appropriation was $1,255.60 ; town, $450 ; receipts, $2,482.91. Enrolled, 556 ; average attendance, 382. 1871-2.— At this time there Avere reported fourteen school houses in the town, eight of which were large and convenient. The State appro priation was $1,915.79 ; town the same ; receipts, $5,890.06. Enrolled, 466 ; average attendance, 346. Fifteen schools were taught in the Avinter. In 1872-3, $650 were expended in improving the school house in district No. 5, and smaller repairs were made in district No. 13. In 1874-5 a new school building was erected to take the place of the old Washington Academy, which was burned ; for this purpose an appro priation of $11,500 was made. A school house was built also in dis trict No. 6 (Boston Neck). Another was voted for in district No. 8 (Swamp ton). In 1877-8 the house in district No. 15 was extensively repaired and improved. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $1,812.51; tovsm, $2,600; receipts, $6,573.79 ; valuation, $25,650. Enrolled, 704 ; average attendance, 436. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $2,412.55; town, $3,725; receipts, $8,208.11 ; valuation, $36,550. EnroUed, 735 ; average attendance, 466. There were then eleven graded and nine ungraded schools in the town, and the need of a high school was urged in the report. In 1890- 91 the town appropriation was increased by $5,000 and general im provement in the school property was begun. A new building was erected in LaPayette district. 1899.— State appropriation, $2,240.40; town, $6,667.05; receipts, $14,123.65. Valuation, $43,250. Number of school houses, sixteen, containing 952 seats. Enrolled, 853 ; average attendance, 586. Aver age number of teachers, twenty-four. South Kingstown. — This large town was a part of North Kingstown until 1722. It has already been stated in connection with North Kingstown that at the beginning of the present century there was not a school house in that town (then including South Kingstown), other Growth op Public Education. 335 than Washington Academy, founded in 1800. Under the law of 1828 the town was divided into districts, and in 1832 there were twelve public and four private schools in the town. The report for 1850 gives the amount of the State appropriation for the year as $1,350.27 ; town, $325 ; receipts, $2,329.55. Enrolled, 819 ; average attendance, 588. There were then twenty school districts organized and one unorganized. The lapse of the decade showed very little change. The State appropriation for 1860 was $1,777.75 ; town, $481 ; receipts, $2,945.04. Enrolled, 748 ; average attendance, 534. In 1869-70 the report gives the State appropriation, $3,129.64 ; town, $1,564.82 ; receipts, $5,491.09. Enrolled, 593 ; average attendance, 453 in the winter term. There were twenty-one districts, twenty schools and twenty teachers. In 1871-2 a new district Avas formed at the south end (Boston Neck) and numbered 22. In 1873-4 the need of a high school was expressed and Rowland G. Hazard offered to donate a site, build a house and equip it for a high school, if the necessary funds be provided to pay teachers. A special committee was appoint ed to take the matter into consideration. A meeting was held Sep tember 10, 1875, at which a resolution adopted in the previous June favoring the undertaking was discussed ; it was rescinded at the Sep tember town meeting. Another was adopted that the board of trustees be authorized to use $5,000 from the Robinson fund with which to purchase land and build a high-school house. The trustees reported on September 10 that the necessary subscriptions to add to the above amount could not be obtained. The undertaking was therefore de layed until 1880-81, when, through the liberality of Mr. Hazard and the use of the fund left by Edward M. Robinson, a high school was es tabUshed. The State appropriation for 1879-80 was $2,533.47 ; town, $2,74"0.47; receipts, $7,601.10; valuation, $11,400. Enrolled, 977; average attendance, 672. There were eleven graded and seventeen ungraded schools. In 1882-3 new school houses were built in district No. 3, costing $3,000, and in No. 5, costing $2,600. 1889-90.— The report for this year notices an increase of interest in the high school. The State appropriation was $2,542.97; town, $3,091.57; receipts, $13,612.25; valuation, $22,950. Enrolled, 880; average attendance, 535. There were nine graded and fourteen un graded schools. 1899.— State appropriation, $2,606.31; town, $5,206.31; receipts, $11,320.67; valuation, $25,550; number of school houses, seventeen, with 1,015 seats. EnroUed, 938; average attendance, 603; average number of teachers, twenty-seven. 336 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. Richmond.— This town, originally a part of Westerly, and next a part of Charlestown, was erected in 1747. ' ' The early schools of this town were probably of a similar character to those in other towns, owned by proprietors, and supported by tuition coUected for schol ars".^ It is known thata school house was built in what became district No. 7, in 1806, by Amos LilUbridge, George Perry, David Kenyon, and Sprague Kenyon. There school was taught intermittently until about 1825, when the buUding Avas burned. In 1806, also, Caleb Barber built a stone school house near his dwelling, which was called Barber's Academy ; school was taught there a number of years. Within a few years after these buildings were erected Judge William James built a school house in what became district No. 8 ; it was subsequently moved to Tifft's Hill and used until 1838, when a new school house for that district was erected. A school house called Clark's school house was built about 1812, near Stanton's Corners, district No. 15, and about the same time another was erected in district No. 13. In 1826 a school house was built in district No. 9, Avhich was called the BeU school house. Shortly after the passage of the free school act in 1828 this house became the property of the district. Under this act the toAvn was divided into twelve districts, and three more were added by later subdivisions. In the several districts school houses were erected as follows: No. 1 in 1839; abandoned in 1859 and a new one erected; district divided in 1865, and a house built in the new district. No. 2 in 1836; stone house built by R. G. Hazard in 1845, bought by the district in 1871 ; made a joint district with No. 5 of CharlestoAvn in 1850. No. 4, in 1844 ; district divided in 1867 and a house built in the new No. 15 ; in 1868 a new house built in place of the old one in district No. 3. No. 4 became joint district, in 1838, with No. 17, South Kingstown; house in that town. Nos. 5 and 6, in 1836. No. 7, in 1837 ; burned in 1862 and new one built in 1864. No. 9, Hopkinton joined with this district in 1838, and in 1870 a nCAv Hopkinton district also joined with it. No. 8, in 1837. Nos. 10 and 11, in 1837 ; aban doned in 1869, and another erected. No. 13, in 1842 ; moved and en larged in 1851, and district joined Avith 3 and 4 of Exeter. Por the year 1850 the town received from the State $491.16; from the town, $120 ; the total receipts were $1,301.89. The enrollment in that year was 330, and the average attendance, 247. There were then thirteen districts and eleven teachers Avere employed. During the succeeding decade the schools increased considerably in attendance. 'N. K. Church, school superintendent, 1875, in Hist, of PubUc Education in R. I. (Stockwell), p. 404. Growth op Public Education. 337 The State appropriation for 1860 was $923.48 ; the town, $300 ; total receipts, $1,811.36. There was expended on school houses in that year, $756.49. Enrolled, 388; average attendance, 252, and thirteen teachers. 1869-70.— State appropriation, $1,751.22; town, $950; receipts, $3,142.21. Enrolled, 413 ; average attendance, 314. There were fif teen districts and the same number of schools, taught by sixteen teachers ; these figures are for the winter term. In 1871-2 in district No. 2 a school house was built in connection with the old one, the latter being refitted, at a cost of $3,159.27. In 1873-4 the house in district No. 8 was repaired and refitted. In 1875-6 evening schools were opened at Carolina and Wyoming. 1879-80.— State appropriation, $1,383.25; town, $1,408.25; receipts, $3,422.93 ; valuation of school property, $15,100. There were fourteen school houses and the average number of teachers was twenty-two. Enrolled, 440 ; average attendance, 275. In 1883-4 a school house was built in district No. 13 (Arcadia) on an acre of ground donated by David L. Aldrich. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $1,932.17; town, $2,100; receipts, $4,661.54; valuation, $16,375. Enrolled, 444; average attendance, 223. There were then four graded and eleven ungraded schools. 1899.— State appropriation, $1,792.02; town, $2,267.42; receipts, $5,139.70; valuation, $13,975. Number of school houses, thirteen, with 535 seats. Enrolled, 321 ; average attendance, 191. Average number of teachers, thirteen. Westerly.— The early history of education in this tovsm is mostly lost in the past. There are traditions of a "Master Slauterry", his first name Thomas, an Irishman of good qualifications for that time, who taught in the last century. There was the old red school house, which stood on the site of the Episcopal church in Westerly village ; religious meetings were held in it before a church edifice was erected. In 1814 a small academy was built near the center of the village, where Charles P. Otis was the first teacher, continuing with marked success during ten years. In 1832 the town had eleven public schools and eight of a private character. In 1839 the school expenditures were $598.68. In 1849 there was received from the State, $453.99; from the town, $1,393.01 ; the aggregate number of scholars was 504, and the attend ance 359. 1850.— The State appropriation was $635.58 ; town, $200 ; receipts, $1,656.29. Registered, 542; average attendance, 412. There were then ten organized districts, and thirteen teachers. 33 338 State op Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. I860.— State appropriation, $1,168.47; toAvn, $331.64 ; receipts, $1,594.15. Registered, 425; average attendance, 370. During the succeeding decade a remarkable impulse was given to the cause of education in this tovsm. In 1869-70 the State appropriation was $2,135.10; town, $1,100.30; receipts (inclusive of a district tax of $53,168.65), $56,590.05. There were now fourteen districts, seventeen schools and the same number of teachers. The registration was 786, and the average attendance in the winter term, 609. There Avas ex pended on school houses nearly all of the district tax fund before mentioned. In the following year the sum of $20,000 was expended on permanent improvements and a like sum in the next year. The Old High School Building, Westerly. number of schools was in the mean time increased to twenty-three. In 1872-3 the houses in districts Nos. 3 and 10 were condemned, and measures adopted for their rebuilding. A district tax of $25,000 was levied for the purpose and they were soon completed. Over $10,000 were expended on permanent improvements in 1873-4. In that year an evening school was opened. In 1874-5 a district tax of $13,000 was levied and about $3,000 expended on buildings. The valuation of school property had now reached $110,000. In 1875 the house in district No. 9 was burned. The State appropriation for 1879-80 was $2,216.03 ; town, $2,700 ; receipts, $17,989.19, including a district tax of $11,776.97. EnroUed, 1,142 ; average attendance, 874. There were fifteen graded and eleven ungraded schools. In 1886-7 a new primary school house Avas built and four rooms added to the Pleasant street Growth op Public Education. 339 school building. The house in district No. 9 was remodeled and others repaired. 1889-90.— State appropriation, $3,329.90; town, $4,000; receipts, $26,487.04, including a district tax of $14,609.88. Enrolled, 1,562; average attendance, 1,007. There were twenty-two graded and eleven ungraded schools. 1899.— State appropriation, $3,106.33 ; town, $6,800, and a district tax of $23,110.80; receipts, $36,311.57; valuation, $101,150. Number of school houses, sixteen, with 1,572 seats. Enrolled, 1,661 ; average attendance, 1,233 ; average number of teachers, forty-eight. The reg istration in the high school was 160. One evening school has been maintained for a number of years. Narragansett.— The first report for this town is for the year 1888-89, which gives the value of the school property as $205. The State ap propriated that year, $551.40 ; the town, $801.40 ; the receipts were $3,225.21. EnroUed, 191 ; average attendance, 131. At the close of that year, in 1890-91, there was Uttle change from these figures. The Ladies' Improvement Society, of Narragansett Pier, raised $1,000, which was devoted to improving the school building and grounds. In 1899 the State appropriated $911.85 ; town, $1,819.73 ; receipts, $3,215.- 14. Enrolled, 248 ; average attendance, 169. There are now five school houses in the town, vsdth a valuation of $13,500. The annual report of Commissioner Stockwell for the year 1899 closes a period of service by him in that position of twenty-five years, and he takes occasion to make note of the fact and refer to some of the more important measures adopted during that period for advanc ing educational facilities of the State and general improvement of the school system. He refers first to the great importance of the law abolishing the rate bill, passed in 1869, under Mr. Barnard's admin istration. In 1875 a law was enacted providing for granting State aid to free libraries, and the control of the matter placed in the hands of the State Board of Education ; the commissioner acts as secretary. Under this legislation the number of libraries has increased from seven to forty-nine. In 1878, after prolonged effort on the part of ardent friends of education, a law was passed establishing a yearly census of school children, from five to fifteen years of age inclusive ; this law has proved to be of great benefit. This became more fully apparent upon the enactment of the compulsory law of 1883, for reasons that may be inferred. The enactment in 1880 of the law making provision for annual 340 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. distribution of aid from the State among cities and tovsms for the purchase of school apparatus and books of reference has been of inestimable benefit. In 1884 a bill was introduced in the Legislature providing for an addition of $30,000 to the amount annually appro priated for public schools, making the total $120,000. At the same time another bill was brought forward changing both the plan of dividing this money among towns, and also the apportionment of the money in each town among the districts. Of the results of this legis lation the commissioner reports as foUoAvs: "Heretofore the school district formed one basis of the division, which proved to be quite an inequitable factor on account of the vary ing size of the districts. Again, in many tOAvns and all the cities there was no such thing as a school district. By the new law the 'school' was made the unit, instead of the district, and by trial a definite num ber was found by means of which the new division gave to those toAvns of similar circumstances very nearly the same amount of money, ren dering the distribution as nearly equal as it could be made. At the same time the school committees were instructed to so divide the whole money at their disposal that each school which was maintained should have for its support at least $180.00, that sum being deemed as small as could maintain any school for six months, the minimum time fixed by law. "By these means quite an additional amount of money was dis tributed among the smaller towns, and thus enough was secured for each district to enable it to continue a fairly good school for the re quired time." Other features of progress of the quarter-century are: giving the power to elect school superintendents to the school committees— 1884; the making text books and supplies free— 1893 ; the introduction in 1884 of the study of hygiene and physiology with special reference to the effects of stimulants and narcotics — the only study ever prescribed by law to be taught in all the schools ; the law of 1892 calling upon aU private schools to register with the secretary of State Board of Educa tion, and make annual returns to him; the founding of the several institutions that have been noticed in preceding pages ; the passage of the factory inspection act of 1894, and other more recent legislation. The latest important measure in school legislation, and one that is probably destined to affect the whole educational system of the State, was the passage in 1898 of Chapter 544, in response to a resolution of of the previous year, calling upon the State Board of Education to investigate into the educational conditions, particularly in the rural districts, and report thereon, vsdth suggestions for improvements. The Growth op Public Education. 341 report was forthcoming in due time and was a complete exposition of the prevailing conditions, and also named these five points as needing immediate attention : The consolidation of smaU and weak schools, and the development of the graded school; the determination of the qualification of teachers of the State by one central and thoroughly competent authority; trained or skilled supervision over all schools; recognition of high schools as a component part of the public school system; and, extension of State aid. Chapter 544 was the final out come of this movement, under which all of these five points, excepting the third, were provided for and an appropriation of $20,000 made to carry them into effect. The results thus far attained under the law have been most satisfactory and give promise of further benefit in the future. UNIVERSITY GRAMMAR SCHOOL AND BROWN UNIATERSITY. In the spring of 1764 Rev. James Manning settled in the town of Warren and opened a Latin school, in which it was his high purpose to fit students for college. In the same year Brown University was formally incorporated under the auspices of the Baptist denomina tion, as an institution "in which education might be promoted and superior learning obtained, free from any sectarian tests". James Manning was endowed with all the natural and acquired qualifications for an educator of the first rank. He had graduated in 1762 from the College of New Jersey at Princeton, and arrived in Newport, R. I., in July, 1763. It was through his personal influence, supplemented by that of Rev. Morgan Edwards, that the charter of what became Brown University was obtained. In the latter part of 1764 Mr. Manning was chosen pastor of a church which he had founded in Warren, and thither took his family in that year. His first act tending towards the establishment of a college was the opening of a Latin school. When the college was sub sequently removed from Warren to Providence (1770), it was appar ent that the Latin school should follow it in order to efficiently carry out the plans of its founder. Accordingly the change was made in 1770, the school occupying one part of the brick school house which has been so frequently mentioned in earlier pages of this chapter, while the college occupied the other part. In 1772 the school was removed to a room on the lower floor of the college building. On July 10 of that year the following appeared in the Gazette : "Whereas several gentlemen have requested me to take and educate 342 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. their sons, this may inform them, and others disposed to put their children under my care, that the Latin School is now removed, and set up in the College edifice ; where proper attention shall be given, by a master duly qualified, and those found to be the most effectual methods to obtain a competent knowledge of Grammar, steadily pursued. At the same time, Spelling, Reading, and speaking English with pro priety, will be particularly attended to. Any who choose their sons should board in commons, may be accommodated at the same rate Avith the students, six shillings per week being the price. And I flatter myself that such attention vdll be paid to their learning and morals, as Avill entirely satisfy all who may send their children. AU books for the school, as well as the classical authors read in College, may be had, at the lowest rate, of the subscriber. "Providence, July 10, 1772. James Manning." The presidency of the college, vsdth its attendant early struggles, demanded all the energies of Mr. Manning, and he placed the Latin school, as far as he consistently could, under the care of others. He wrote, on May 20, 1773, to Rev. John Ryland, Northampton, England, as follows : "I have a Latin School under my care, taught by one of our graduates, of about twenty boys ' '. The graduate he mentions was Rev. Ebenezer David, well knovsm as an excellent teacher ; he probably continued in charge of the school until the beginning of the Revolu tionary war. The following appeared in a number of the Gazette under date of March 22, 1776 : "A Grammar School was opened in the school-room within the College ediflce on Monday the 11th instant, in which the same mode of teaching the Learned Languages is pursued, which has given such great satisfaction to the inhabitants of this town. The scholars are also instructed in Spelling, Reading and Speaking the English lan guage with propriety, as weU as in Writing and Arithmetic, such part of their time as their parents or guardians direct. ' ' William Wilkinson, a former student in the Latin school and a graduate of the university in the class that entered in 1774, took the school in 1786 and continued at its head eleven years. He was a most efficient master, and during his administration many students who afterwards rose to eminence were under his instruction. In con nection vsdth his office of principal, he served as librarian of the col lege, occupying with his family rooms in the college building. He died in May, 1852, at the great age of ninety-two years. In 1786 Mr. Wilkinson announced to the public that by the advice of the school committee, he would remove the school to the brick school house, and had associated vsdth himself Asa Learned as an English Growth op Public Education. 343 instructor. On September 4, 1794, the foUoAving vote was passed by the university corporation : "Voted, That the President use his influence to establish a grammar school in this town, as an appendage to the college, to be under the immediate visitation of the President and the general inspection of the toAvn's school committee, and that the President also procure a suitable master for such school. ' ' The school accordingly was moved back to the college building, and a record shows that in 1803 it was in charge of Jeremiah Chaplin, and occupied the northAvest corner room of the college building. The college corporation on September 7, 1809, voted as follows : "Voted, That a suitable building in which to keep a Grammar School, be erected on the college lands, provided a sum sufficient to defray the expense of erecting said building can be raised by subscrip tion; that said school be under the management and control of the President of the College ; and that Thomas P. Ives, Moses Lippitt, and Thomas Lloyd Halsey, Esqrs., be a committee to raise said sum and cause said building to be erected ; and that they erect the same on the west line of the Steward's garden. "Voted, That the President be authorized to procure a Master to teach the Grammar School ordered at this meeting, and that if a suffi cient sum be not raised from the scholars to pay the salary of the Master, the deficiency be paid out of the funds of the University," The committee named collected the sum of $1,500, from 118 per sons, most of whom were citizens of Providence, and a brick building tAventy-four by thirty-three feet in size was erected opposite the site of the Mansion House on College street.^ During many years after this buUding was finished in 1810, the upper story was used for med ical lectures that were then given in connection with the university. The university catalogues from 1808 to 1824, contain the names of preceptors of the school in connection vsdth the names of the president and faculty of the university. It is believed that during the succeed ing twenty years there were interruptions in the school, but to what extent is not known. In 1837 Benjamin H. Rhodes, afterwards libra rian of Redwood Library in Newport, took charge of the school and continued two years; he was succeeded by Joseph S. Pitman for a short period. In 1843 Elbridge Smith, who had been a tutor in the college, assumed charge for two years, and Henry S. Frieze was asso ciated with him in 1844. When Mr. Smith left the school in 1845 his 'For list of subscribers, see Guild's Documentary Hist, of Brown Univer sity, 1867. 344 State op Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. place was supplied by Merrick Lyon, LL. D., a graduate of the uni versity class of 1841. This arrangement continued until 1854, when Mr. Frieze accepted a Latin professorship in the University of Michi gan, and was succeeded in the school by Dr. Emory Lyon. During the administration of Messrs. Lyon and Frieze the school enjoyed re markable success, the number of scholars becoming so large that in 1852, they, at their own expense, erected an addition to the school building thirty-five feet in length, and added largely to the equip ment. This building became Lyon Hall, which has recently been demolished to make room for a new administration building of BroAvn LTniversity. The catalogue of the school for 1852-3 gives the number of scholars in attendance as 119; past members of the school, 235. The number of students in 1871-2 was ninety, and the gross number from 1845 to 1870, 837. The school was ultimately consolidated with the English and Classical School, of Providence, as described further on. Brown University received its charter as the ' ' College or University in the English colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England, in America ; the Trustees and Fellows, at any time here after, giving such more particular name to the College, in honor of the greatest and most distinguished benefactor, or otherwise, as they shall think proper". The provisions of the charter which established the denomination of the college, read as follows : ". . the Corporation thereof shaU consist of two branches, viz.: That of the Trustees, and that of the Fellowship, with distinct separate and respective powers ; and that the number of the Trustees shaU and may be thirty-six ; of which twenty-two shall forever be elected of the denomination called Baptists, or An tipedobap lists ; five shall forever be elected of the denomination called Friends or Quakers ; four shaU forever be elected of the denomination called CongregationaUsts, and five shall forever be elected of the denomination called Episcopalians ; . . the number of the Fellows, inclusive of the President (who shaU always be a Fellow) shall and may be twelve ; of which eight shaU be forever elected of the denomination called Baptists, or Antipedobap- tists ; and the rest indifferently of any or all denominations, . . to whom the President, when hereafter elected (who shall forever be of the denomination called Baptist, or Antipedobaptist) shall be joined." The plan of the college was further broadened by making the posi tions of chancellor, secretary, and treasurer open to any reUgious denomination, and still further by the provisions in the foUoAsdng clause of the charter: Growth op Public Education. 345 "Furthermore, it is hereby enacted and declared: That into this liberal and catholic institution shall never be admitted any religious tests; but, on the contrary, all the members hereof shall forever enjoy full, free, absolute and uninterrupted liberty of conscience; and that the places of Professors, Tutors, and all other officers, the President alone excepted, shall be free and open for all denominations of Protest ants; and that youths of all religious denominations shall and may be freely admitted to the equal advantages, emoluments and honors of the College or University; and shall receive a like fair, generous and equal treatment, during their residence therein, they conducting themselves peaceably, and conforming to the laws and statutes thereof ; and that the public teaching shall, in general, respect the sciences ; and that the sectarian differences of opinions shall not make any part of the public and classical instruction ; although all religious controversies may be studied freely, examined and explained by the President, Pro fessors and Tutors, in a personal, separate and distinct manner, to the youth of any or each denomination ; and above all, a constant regard be paid to, and effectual care taken of, the morals of the College. ' ' The college so modestly founded, foretold at the beginning nothing of its future greatness. It opened vsdth a solitary student, and its first commencement, held in 1769, saw only seven young men graduated; most of these had been preliminarily trained in Mr. Manning 's school. Among them were Charles Thompson, who subsequently succeeded Mr. Manning in the pastorate of the Warren church ; William Rogers, who became an eminent preacher and a professor in the University of Penn sylvania; WiUiam Williams, many years pastor of a Baptist church in Wrentham, Mass. ; James Mitchell Varnum, a distinguished lawyer, judge, and an officer in the Revolutionary army. It had not been contemplated that Warren should become the perma nent home of the college, and when the time arrived for erecting a building, there was sharp rivalry among various localities to obtain the institution. Providence, Warren, NcAvport, and East Greenwich pre sented their claims. On the 7th of February, 1770, after an earnest discussion, the corporation decided by a vote of twenty-one to four teen, "that the edifice be built in the town of Providence, and that there the college be continued forever". The memorial from Provi dence stated that the inhabitants had subscribed £800 ' ' upon principles of regard and esteem for so useful and necessary an institution. ' ' After the location of the college was decided, prompt action was taken to provide for removal of the school, and the corner stone of University HaU was laid by John Brown on March 27, 1770. Prom the beginning the collecting of requisite funds for the institution was, 346 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. of course, an ever-present difficulty. Among friends of the eoUege about $1,000 were gathered soon after its estabUshment. Morgan Edwards went to England and Ireland and there obtained about $4,500. In the South Rev. Hezekiah Smith secured $2,500. The rec ords of the second meeting of the corporation, held in 1765, show that $1,992 had been subscribed for the building and for endoAving the college in Warren. Still, in 1769, Morgan Edwards wrote that "to the year 1770 this seminary was for the most part friendless and money less". President Manning even looked with favor upon the organiza tion of a lottery in aid of the college, and so wrote Rev. John Ryland, in England. The reply probably put an end to any project of that character ; said he on this subject : "As to raising money by lottery, I disUke it from the bottom of my heart. 'Tis a scheme dishonorable to the supreme head of aU worlds and of every true church. We have our fill of these cursed gambling lotteries in London every year. They are big vsdth ten thousand CAdls. Let the devil 's children have them all to themselves. Let us not touch or taste." The lot selected for the buildings in ProAddence originally comprised about eight acres and included a part of the home lot of Chad BroAvn, an original proprietor. The first building and the president's house were erected simultaneously, and the sum of $9,480 was expended, the firm of Nicholas Brovsm & Co. supplying many of the sundries needed. The graduating class of 1775 numbered ten, and that was the last commencement held until 1782. During the early part of the Revolution, the college was closed by public announce ment in the newspapers. An effort was made to revive the school in 1780, which would probably have succeeded ; but in June the college building was seized for use as a hospital for the French troops ; previous to that time it had been occupied as a barracks. The coUege was reopened in May, 1782, and the next graduating commencement took place in 1786. At the March session of the General Assembly, President Manning was unanimously chosen to represent Rhode Island in the Congress. He accepted for little other reason than the hope of recovering from the government the moneys due for the use of the college buildings in the war. In this he failed, and fourteen years passed before the insti tution was compensated in the sum of $2,000. From the reopening of the college until his death, on April 24, 1791, Mr. Manning continued at the head of the institution which he had been so largely instru- Growth op Public Education. 347 mental in founding, and which had received his constant and thor oughly efficient care more than a quarter of a century. The next president of the college was Jonathan Maxcy, who filled the position from 1792 to 1802. He was a very young man for the office, but seemed to have the necessary qualities to command success. It was written of his administration as foUows : ' ' He was one whose name and fame are identified with its reputation and whose mildness, dignity, and goodness, equaled only by his genius, learning, and eloquence, subdued all envy, made all admirers friends, and gave him an irresistible sway over the minds of those placed under Brown University, Providence, in 1832. Drawn by James Kidder. From a copy in the possession of the Rhode Island Historical Sociely.his care. Under his administration the college acquired a reputation for belles-lettres and eloquence inferior to no seminary of learning in the United States. His pupils saw in him an admirable model for their imitation, and the influence of his pure and cultivated taste was seen in their literary performances."^ Jonathan Maxcy was born in Massachusetts, September 2, 1768 ; he was ordained for the ministry in 1791 and at the same time was elected professor of divinity by the college. After leaving the university he 'President Maxcy's Remains, Elton, p. 15. 348 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. served until 1804 as president of Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., and left there to take the same office in the South Carolina College. He died in Columbia June 4, 1820. His successor in Providence was Rev. Asa Messer, who continued in the position until 1826. During his administration, and in 1803, the corporation voted that a donation of $5,000, made within one year from the preceding com mencement, should entitle the donor to name the institution. Nicholas Brown, son of John Brown (who had been an active friend of the college), made the donation, and the University was given the honored name it now bears. The fund thus established accumulated from year to year, and in 1826 a purchase of bank stock to the amount of $10,000 was made, and constituted a special fund for the professorship of ora tory and belles-lettres designated by Mr. Brown to be founded by his donation. The name of the institution was formally changed by vote on September 6, 1804. During President Messer 's administration the institution was ex panded in every direction. In 1810 the University Grammar School building, now knovsm as Lyon HaU, was erected at a cost of $1,450. In 1822 Mr. Brovsm built Hope CoUege at his ovsm expense, at a cost of about $20,000. By 1826 the permanent funds of the university amounted to a little over $31,000. In 1825 a class of forty-eight stu dents was graduated. A medical school was founded, which existed from 1811 to 1828, and graduated eighty-seven physicians. The spe cial professorships for this school were in materia medica, created in 1811; anatomy and surgery, the same year; chemistry, also in 1811, and the theory and practice of medicine, 1815. A professor of moral philosophy and metaphysics was appointed in 1811 ; one of oratory and belles-lettres in 1815, and one of the Latin and Greek language and literature in 1825. President Messer was bom in Methuen, Mass., in 1769, and gradu ated from Rhode Island College in 1790 ; from that year until 1796 he was a tutor in the college and Avas then elected professor of lan guages. When President Maxcy resigned in 1802 he was made presi dent pro tempore, and became president in 1804. He was succeeded by Francis Wayland, born in New York, March 11, 1796, a graduate of Union College in 1813 and a student at Andover several years and also a tutor in that institution. Prom 1821 to 1827 he was pastor of the First Baptist church in Boston. He remained president of Brown University until 1855, and during his administration introduced some important changes and greatly added to the prestige of the institution, particularly by introducing a new system of education, as it was caUed, Growth of Public Education. 349 designed to popularize the course, attract more students and thus add to the insufficient revenue of the institution. "In accordance with this new system the bachelor's degree was given for a three years' course and the master's degree for a course of four years. Graduate study and special study were both encouraged ; and the sciences, in accordance with the spirit of the Charter, were made prominent in the curriculum. This system Avas not put into operation until 1850, and Avas fully in force only five years. The amount and character of the increase in the scope of the curriculum during President Wayland 's administration are clearly shown in the following list of subjects to which professors or instructors were assigned at the dates annexed: Chemistry, physiology and geology, 1834 ; moral and intellectual phil osophy, 1834 ; belles-lettres, 1835 ; rhetoric, 1837 ; Hebrew lit erature, 1838 ; modern languages and literature, 1843 ; Greek, 1843 ; Latin, 1844; French, 1844; history and political economy, 1850; nat ural philosophy and civil engineering, 1850 ; chemistry applied to the arts, 1850 ; rhetoric and English Uterature, 1851 ; didactics (i. e., peda gogy), 1851; analytical chemistry, 1854."^ Substantial advancement was made also during this period in mate rial respects. The permanent funds were increased to $200,000, and three important buildings were erected: Manning Hall, given by Nicholas Brown in 1834, built at a cost of $18,500 ; Rhode Island HaU, erected in 1840, costing $14,000, the money raised among Rhode Island people by subscription; and the President's house, another gift from Mr. BroAvn, built in 1840 at a cost of $7,000 ; this latter building has been used as a refectory since 1869. It will be seen also that Mr. Brown's gifts amounted to not less than $160,000; he also gave the university the benefit of his services as treasurer from 1769 to 1825 ; was trustee from 1791 to 1825, and fellow from 1825 until his death in 1841. Dr. Wayland resigned the presidency in 1855, leaving it a distinguished heritage of high repute. He was succeeded by Rev. Barnas Sears, a native of Sandisfield, Mass., where he was born in 1802. He graduated from BroAvn and from the theological seminary at Newton, Mass., in the class of 1828. He also enjoyed a period of study in Europe and brought to the presidency ripe scholar ship and a strong intellect. His term of service included the CiAdl War period, and during it the institution made marked progress, in both its funds and its number of students. A system of scholarships ^History of Brown University, by Harry Koopman, librarian, in University Catalogue for 1899-1900, pp. 24-5. 350 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. was estabUshed and over $220,000 collected in subscriptions. The chemical laboratory was built in 1862 at a cost of $15,000. Three hun dred graduates and students entered the armies of the Union, of whom twenty-one gave up their lives for their country. The Rev. Alexis CaswelU succeeded Mr. Sears as president in 1868 and remained until 1872. He was a graduate of the institution in the class of 1822. Under his administration the department of physics was organized, and the endowment increased to more than $550,000. The Jenks Museum was founded in 1871, and in 1875, $8,800 was expended in enlarging Rhode Island Hall. Rev. Mr. CasweU resigned in June, 1872, and was followed by Rev. Ezekiel Gilman Robinson, who was a graduate in the class of 1838. His long administration of the office, covering seventeen years, was marked by gratifying prog ress in the institution in many directions. The class of 1889, at the close of his term of office, numbered fifty-six, and the plane of scholar ship was high. During those seventeen years the curriculum was extended to include the following subjects, some of which were taught by separate instructors: Special branches of agriculture, 1872; zoology and agriculture, 1874 ; physiology, 1874 ; botany, 1877 ; zoology and geology, 1878 ; elocution, 1880 ; astronomy, 1884 ; logic, 1886 ; his tory, 1888 ; political economy, 1888. The funds were increased to $980,000, and important additions were made to the buildings. The Library, a gift from the late John Carter Brovsm, was built in 1878 at a cost of $120,000. Slater Hall, given by Horatio Nelson Slater, was erected in 1879 and cost over $30,000. Sayles HaU, the gift of WUUam Francis Sayles, a memorial to his son, William Clark Sayles (class of 1878), was built in 1881 and cost $100,000. University HaU, which had been renovated in 1850, was again improved in a similar manner in 1883 at an outlay of $50,000. New courses of study were created and a beginning made in systematic graduate study. Rev. Elisha Benjamin Andrews, a graduate of the class of 1870, was chosen the eighth president of Brown University in 1889. The follow ing summary of the vast improvements and the remarkable growth of the institution since that year is from the short history before quoted : "With his accession in 1889 the modern life of the university properly began. In the year preceding his presidency three graduate 'Mr. Caswell acted as tutor in Columbian College, -Washington, in 1823-5, and as professor there in 1825-27. He accepted the pastorate of the Baptist Church in Providence in 1828. He was a member of the faculty of Brown (mathematics and philosophy) until 1863; He died in 1877. Gro-wth op Public Education. 351 students were enrolled; in the last year of his term of service the graduate students numbered 101 ; the total number of students for the same years being respectively 268 and 860. The officers of instruction for the corresponding years increased in number from 22 to 73. All the old departments were expanded, and the number of departments was increased from 16 in 1889-90 to 25 in 1897-98. The department of philosophy was enlarged by the addition of psychology and peda gogy. American and European history were assigned to separate professors, political economy was made a department, and the depart ment of social and political science and law Avas added. The depart ment of fine arts was created, including the history of art, and music. The new department of Indo-European philology was introduced. The departments of Greek and Roman literature and history, English literature and language, and Germanic and Romance languages and literatures were reorganized and extended. Rhetoric and oratory were made an independent department. The new department of Biblical literature and history was formed, including the Semitic lan guages and New Testament Greek; while a course in the philosophy of religion was offered. The departments of mathematics, mechanical engineering, astronomy, physics (including electrical engineering), chemistry, zoology, geology and anthropology, and botany were ex tended in scope and thoroughness. New departments were formed for the subjects of mechanical drawing, civil engineering, comparative anatomy, military science and tactics, and bibliography. The museum of fine arts was founded in 1899, and that of anthropology in 1891. "The funds were increased to $1,125,685, and important additions were made to the buildings and grounds. Hope College was renovated in 1891 at a cost of $35,000. Wilson Hall, the bequest of George Francis Wilson, was built in 1891, costing $100,000. The Ladd Obser vatory, the gift of Ex-Governor Herbert W. Ladd, was built in the same year at an approximate cost of $30,000. In the same year also the Lyman gymnasium, named in honor of its principal donor, was built at a cost of $70,000. In 1895 Maxcy Hall was built, its cost being $50,000. Pembroke HaU, costing $38,000, was built in 1897. Three buildings, knowm as the Howell, Messer and Brown Street Houses, were also secured for dormitory purposes. The old play ground of the university, now known as Lincoln Field, was graded and fitted up for ball games and other athletic purposes in 1889. In 1898 a new athletic field was laid out on Camp street, a mile from the University. ' ' During the last decade the funds of the university have been greatly augmented. In 1891 the Rhode Island department of the Grand Army of the RepubUc transferred its FeUowship fund of $10,000 to the institution. In 1894 the university returned to the State of Bhode Island the scholarship fund of $50,000, obtained from land 352 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. scrip received in 1863 under an act of Congress. At the same time the State paid the university $40,000 in requittal of its claim upon the Morrill fund, due to the State under another act of Congress. Fur ther financial statistics are herein referred to. The Women's College was founded in October, 1891, conferring in the beginning only the privilege of university examinations and certifi cates of proficiency; in June, 1893, all of the college and university degrees and the graduate courses were opened to women. In Novem ber, 1897, this institution was accepted by the corporation and officiaUy given the title, the Women's College in Brown University. It was placed in the immediate charge of the dean of the Women's CoUege, subject to direction by the president. Pembroke Hall, built by the Rhode Island Society for the Collegiate Education of Women, was transferred to the university in October, 1897, and accepted as the recitation hall of the Women's College. Louis Franklin Snow, a graduate in the class of 1887, served as dean of the Women's College from its opening in 1892, until 1900, when he was succeeded by Miss Annie Crosby Emery. In 1898 Dr. Andrews resigned the presidency and accepted the posi tion of superintendent of schools in Chicago. Dr. Benjamin Franklin Clarke, the senior member of the faculty, who had served as president pro tempore during the absence of Dr. Andrews in Europe in 1896-7, was appointed president ad interim and served during the college year 1898-99. Early in June, 1899, the Rev. WiUiam Herbert Perry Paunce, a graduate in the class of 1880, was chosen president. The University Library had its inception in 1767, when the Rev. Morgan Edwards began a collection of books in England for it. The library was formerly kept in University Hall. Upon its removal to Manning Hall in 1843 it contained 10,000 volumes. It Avas transferred to its new and present home in 1878, at which time the number of volumes had increased to 48,000. The present number, inclusive of the books in the twelve department libraries, is over 100,000. When the college was removed to Providence, in 1770, the professors and students enjoyed the hospitality of the Providence Library Company, now the Athenaeum, in extension of the limited resources of the college library. The library fund, established under President Wayland, has been supplemented by five special funds, devoted to the depart ments of European History, United States History, Mediaeval and Church History, Botany, and the Arts of Design. Gifts of $1,000 each have been made to the library in recent years by the classes of 1872, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, and 1888. The growth of the University from Growth op Public Education. 353 its foundation to the present time is shown by the following figures, givihg the number of graduates at the beginning of each decade : 1764-1769— Number of graduates. 1779-17891789-1799 1799-1809 1809-18191819-18291829-1839 1839-18491849-1859 1859-18691869-1879 1879-18891889-1899 60 67 195 253267297251309326382 494 524 1,151 Total number of graduates, 135 years, 4,576 ; living graduates in 1899, 2,747. In these figures the 69 medical graduates are not includ ed, nor the honorary graduates. Of these graduates, 885 became clergymen ; 705 lawyers ; 430 physicians ; 212 professors ; 574 teachers ; and the remainder followed other pusuits. Of the graduates, eighteen became governors of States, and many others held high offices. Nine graduates have held the office of governor of Rhode Island, and thir teen have fiUed the chair of chief justice of the State since the begin ning of the present century. The treasurer's report for April, 1899, shows the university funds now amounting to $604,965.52 for general purposes ; professorship funds, $178,325.80 ; library funds, $56,699.10. These sums are swelled by miscellaneous funds to $922,056.61, exclu sive of Aid, and Scholarship funds; with those funds included, the amount is $1,158,676.66. At the meeting of the Sons of Brovsm in Boston and vicinity on January 26, 1898, a vote was passed to under take the raising of $2,000,000 as an endowment for the university. The plan was subsequently endorsed by other associations throughout the country and the matter was placed in charge of various commit tees. The work progressed satisfactorily and will be carried to suc cess. It is the purpose of the authorities of the university that the principal of this endowment shall be kept intact, only its income de voted to college purposes. 354 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. academies, seminaries, select schools, and other educational institutions. Only comparatively brief space can be devoted here to sketches of the founding and maintenance of the many academies and other sim ilar educational institutions that have had an existence in this State. During many years some of these institutions filled a place of educa tional importance ; like the scores of private schools, they were brought into being because of the insufficiency and general inefficiency of the public schools. Their period of usefulness closed, as a rule, when the Friends School, Providence. public schools had become fully capable of fitting scholars for college or of giving them, by the best modern methods, education to enable them to properly perform their life-work in any station to which they might be called. One of the earliest of these higher institutions, and one that is still at the height of prosperity, is the Friends School in Providence. This venerable school was founded largely through the efforts and infiuence of Moses Brown, whose name appears so frequently in Rhode Island Growth op Public Education. 355 history ; it was opened in Portsmouth, R. I., in 1784, where it remained four years, the teacher being Isaac Lawton. The building was occu pied for both school and religious meeting purposes. In an early code of rules and regulations for teacher and scholars is found the foUow ing: "Besides the necessary literary instruction the children are to be taught habits of regularity, of decency, of respectful subordination to superiors, of forbearance, affection, and kindness to each other, and of rehgious reverence to their maker and those habits of silence and recol lection taught and practiced in the ancient schools and inculcated in the holy Scriptures." The school was forced to close for want of funds, but was re-opened in 1819, the small fund on hand having meanwhile been carefully guarded by Mr. Brown. In that year it amounted to $9,300. In 1814 he offered to the school a lot of forty-three acres of land in Providence and money sufficient to make, with that on hand, $20,000. The land was conveyed to the school in 1816, buildings were erected and, as stated, the institution opened in 1819. Mr. Brown donated also annually $100 for the education of poor children. He likewise gave another tract of land and $15,000 by legacy. To this was added $100,000 given by his son, Obadiah Brown, in 1822. Moses Brown died in 1836, at the great age of ninety-nine years, after witnessing this school, whose interests were so dear to him, in successful operation during the preceding seventeen years. When the school opened in 1819 there were eleven scholars; the teachers were Mary Mitchell and Dorcas Gardner, two Nantucket girls, who gave their services without compensation. The number of schol ars was largely increased before the close of the first year, and from that far away date the school has continually progressed towards its present high standard. Washington Academy.— This institution had its beginning in the first year of the century. It was founded in Wickford, through the efforts of a number of friends of education, who subscribed money and adopted measures to increase the fund by organizing a lottery. The early records are fragmentary, but it is believed that about $4,000 was raised by this means and the subscription for one hundred shares at $20 each. The first regular meeting of the stockholders was held March 10, 1800, when sixty-seven shares were represented. A com mittee was appointed to draw a charter and a petition to the General Assembly, and a board of twenty-five trustees was appointed. The first meeting of the trustees was held August 27, 1800, and the follow- 356 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. ing officers were chosen: Samuel Elam, president; Peter PhiUips, vice-president; Benjamin Fowler, treasurer; Daniel E. Updike, secre tary. At the same meeting the trustees received a gift of four acres of land by Nicholas Spink and John Franklin and their wives. Samuel Elam donated $100, and requested that the institution be named Elam Academy ; but Mr. Updike insisted on the name, Washington Academy. The building was finished about the end of the year 1800, more needed funds were raised by subscription, and the institution opened early in 1802 with seven scholars. Alpheus Baker, of Newport, was chosen the first principal, with Remington Southwiek, assistant. Mr. Baker con tinued principal five or six years and was followed by Wilbur TiUing- hast. Linden Puller, Amanuel Northup, Barton Ballou, Francis Chap pell, a Mr. Wood, and possibly others. The academy continued Avith a fair measure of success twenty-five or thirty years, when it declined in patronage and the buildings became much impaired. In April, 1833, the citizens renewed their active interest in the school, held meetings and asked aid from the wealthy inhabitants of Providence, Nevsrport, and elsewhere, and in October of that year a petition was sent to the General Assembly asking for a renewal of the charter. A new board of trustees was chosen, and John Brown Francis was elected presi dent; Jonathan Reynolds, vice-president; Pardon T. Hammond, sec retary ; Joseph C. Sanford, treasurer. Messrs. Francis, Reynolds, and Hammond were elected year after year until the institution became a part of the school system. The buildings were repaired, and WiUiam D. Upham, principal, and Caroline Whiting, assistant, were given charge of the school. Students came in respectable numbers and the institution continued successful about two and a half years. Mr. Upham resigned in November, 1836, and was succeeded by William H. Taylor. Prom that time other teachers were employed for short periods. Interest in the school soon waned. Francis Chappell occu pied a room in the building several years for a free school in connec tion with his select schools. On the 10th of June, 1848, the trustees voted to lease the academy to school districts 3 and 4, for ninety-nine years at one cent per annum. This arrangement continued until September 8, 1874, when the building was burned by an incendiary. With the insurance of $2,000 and $9,500 raised by tax on the districts, a beautiful building was erected in 1875, on the site of the old one. There an excellent graded school was estabUshed, as part of the public school system, which has continued to the present time. A library Avas established in the academy soon after its opening and about 300 volumes purchased with money subscribed ; but in course of Growth op Public Education. 357 time it passed out of existence. Another library was founded in 1821, by the Library Society of the town, at a cost of about $175. This was sold at public auction January 24, 1829. Kent {East Greenwich) Academj/.— This institution is situated in East Greenwich, on Narragansett Bay, and was founded in 1802. The incorporators were "Ethan Clark, William Arnold, Mathewson and Mowry, and Peter Turner, aU of East GreenAvich, and State of Rhode Island, and Ray Greene, Elihu Greene, and Christopher Greene, aU of Warwick'", as they are named in the articles of association. The school was conducted as a stock enterprise until 1839. The first teach er was Abner Alden, with Jeremiah G. Chadsey, assistant. From Providence Conference Academy, East Greenwich, R. I. From an old lithograph in the possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society. December, 1804, to December, 1806, the number of scholars ranged during the several quarters from seventy-two to one hundred and thirty-three. In 1822 Nathan Whiting was elected preceptor, and under his admimstration the school was remarkably successful. In 1839 the institution passed into the hands of Rev. Daniel G. Allen, who conducted the school as proprietor and principal about two years, when, in 1841, it became the property of Providence (now the New England Southern) Methodist Conference by purchase. Under these auspices it first bore the name, Providence Conference Academy ; next, in 1848, the Providence Conference Seminary, and in 1862 the Provi dence Conference Seminary and Musical Institute. In 1873 the man- 358 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. agement of the school was transferred to the Boston University, and was called the Greenwich Academy. In 1884 it was repurchased by a stock company ; but in 1888 the stock was surrendered. It was reor ganized under a board of directors, six of Avhom were selected by the corporation, six by the Methodist conference, and one by the alumni. Under this arrangement the institution has ever since prospered. Among the graduates ' names are found those of many men who became eminent in various walks of life, among them Nelson W. Aldrich, William Sprague, William Greene, Charles Matteson, Pardon E. Til linghast, Henry T. Sisson, Enos Lapham, Charles H. Payne, WilUam P. Warren, Samuel P. Upham, and many others. The academy is now conducted under the principalship of Rev. P. D. Blakeslee, D. D., Avith a total corps of twelve teachers. Greene Academy {Smithfield) .—A petition for the charter of this institution was sent to the General Assembly in 1812, in response to which that body enacted "that Duty Winsor, Daniel Winsor, Aaron Mowry, Elijah Day, Emor Olney, Nathan B. Sprague, Augustus Win sor, Ziba Smith, Abraham Smith, and Asa Winsor, and all others that may be hereafter admitted, shall be members of said corporation, by style and name of the Trustees of Greene Academy, and by name be perpetual, capable in law to hold any personal or real estate, not to exceed $5,000". The first officers of this academy were : Duty Win sor, president; Samuel Winsor, vice-president; Aaron Mowry, treas urer ; Asa Winsor, secretary. The Legislature, in 1812, authorized a lottery to aid in raising funds with which to erect buildings. A con tract was made Avith Elijah Day for the erection of a building "36 feet long and 28 feet vsdde, two stories high and 19 feet from bottom of sill to top of plate with a good substantial Geometry work roof and a portico in front 10 feet square, with a steeple, or Bellcony on the top sufficient for a bell and each end to be built of brick with a chimney at each end and one fireplace at each chimney in each story or room. ' '^ The building was finished in the spring of 1814 at a cost of $1,357. The charter was re-enacted in 1819, on account of failure to elect officers, and in 1836 the charter was amended, providing against a similar necessity in future. A meeting of the academy authorities was called September 23, 1843, to consider the question of conveying the institution to district No. 14, and it was ' ' Voted, That Asa Winsor be a committee to make, sign and acknowl edge a Deed of said Academy and lot to District No. 14 in behalf of said corporation agreeable to the above note and order." 'Manuscript book in possession of R. I. Historical Society. Growth op Public Education. 369 This closed the separate career of an institution that accomplished a good measure of educational benefit during the period of its exist ence. Smithfield Academy.— The founding of this institution was due to the efforts of Elisha Thornton, who has been noticed in earlier pages. In 1808 was incorporated The Smithfield Academic Society, one of the incorporators being Nicholas BroAvn. At the February session of 1810 of the Assembly a petition was granted, incorporating The Trustees of Smithfield Academy, and at the first meeting of the trustees the follow ing officers were chosen : Peleg Arnold, president ; Joel Aldrich, vice- president; Richard Steere, treasurer; David Aldrich, secretary. To aid in raising funds a lottery was organized, according to frequent custom in those days, and the school opened with a grade of prepara tory school for New England colleges. The first teacher was David Aldrich, who was succeeded by Josiah Clark, and he by John Thorn ton, son of Elisha Thornton. Among other early teachers were Ward Wilson, George D. Prentice, and Christopher Robinson. From its opening until 1830 the institution was without a settled teacher; in that year James Bushee took charge of it, and during the twenty-three years of his administration the academy flourished. Students came from many States, and particularly from the South, and arrangements were made under which they could be boarded in the house of the principal and with other families. In 1835 the existence of the old academy was brought to an end and the site is vacant. Hopkinton Academy.— This institution was founded in 1858, when a number of citizens of Potter Hill and Ashaway, in Hopkinton, con tributed sufficient funds to erect a substantial building for the school. It was opened on December 1, 1858, with Rev. J. W. Morton, principal, and Mrs. L. E. Coon, preceptress. Professor Morton continued at the head of the institution until 1862, and was succeeded by Prof. H. C. Coon. He and his wife, before mentioned, retired in 1864, and Prof. A. A. Palmiter took charge for two years, and was followed by Prof. Amos C. Lewis, who resigned in 1869 on account of ill health, and the academy was then permanentiy closed. With no endowment, no aid from the public treasury, and contending against the constantly im proving character of the public schools, this institution met the fate of many other similar ones in all parts of the country. Kingston Academy.— This Avas one of the early academies of the State and one that for many years fulfilled the purposes of its found ers in providing excellent facilities for education. The establishment of this institution was made possible through the generosity of Samuel Sewall, of Boston, as explained in the following : 360 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. "1695. Samuel Sewal, esq., of Boston, for the consideration of a nominal sum, and for the encouragement of literature and good educa tion and the maintenance of a learned, sober, and orthodox school master, conveyed 50 acres of land in Pettaquamscut, in special trust, to John Walley, for the procuring, settling, supporting, and maintaining a learned, sober, and orthodox person from time to time, and at aU times forever hereafter, to instruct the children and youths of the above-mentioned town of Pettaquamscut, as well as English there settled, or to be settled, as Indians, the aboriginal natives and proprie tors of the place, to read and write the English language and the rules of grammar. ' ' The school was situated in South Kingstown, and the instructor was to be appointed by Mr. Sewall and his wife Hannah, or their survivors, or by the minister of the Third Congregational Church in Boston, and the town treasurer, or their successors. All this Avas provided for in the terms of the gift. Nothing was accomplished until 1781, when a school house was built on Tower Hill, and there Constant Southworth, Increase Hewitt, John Hazard, William Nichols, Robert P. Noyes, and Benjamin Hill, taught until 1819, in which year the academy was established and removed to Kingston. In 1823 the school was incor porated under the name of the Pettaquamscut Academy. In the same year a petition was made to the General Assembly by the trustees for authority to sell the school lands donated by Mr. Sewall and apply the proceeds to the support of the academy. The petition was granted. Three years later, in 1826, the Assembly Avas petitioned for a change of name of the academy to Kingston Academy, which was granted. Prom the date of the establishment of the academy in 1819, to April, 1832, there had been 158 students. The successive principals had been Oliver Brown, A. M., Nathaniel Helme, A. M., Alfred Gardner, Hin man B. Hoyt, A. M., WiUiam G. Hammond, A. B., Asa Potter, A. M., William, Cragg, A. B., EUsha Atkins, A. B., Henry M. Davis, Christo pher Comstock, and William Gammell, A. B. Prom 1832, when Elisha R. Potter was instructor in the classical department, Christo pher Comstock in the English department, and Joseph Brayton, assist ant, a period of prosperity for the school foUoAved, and in 1836 the number of students was 116. At the May term of the Supreme Court for 1840 a decree was issued prescribing the manner in which the trustees of the academy should use the Sewall Fund, and a subsequent decree removed the academy trustees from the custody of this fund and appointed new ones for it for the purpose of keeping it distinct from the academy property. These two bodies Avorked together as best they could in providing Growth op Public Education. 361 teachers and in the management of the institution. This situation was embarrassing, and in order to improve it, the trustees determined to relieve themselves from the partnership in the Sewall Fund. For this purpose they erected in 1852 a new building near the old one, and the latter was sold to district No. 3, in which the district authorities and the trustees of the Sewall Fund worked together in harmony until the old edifice was burned in 1882. After alternate seasons of depres sion and success, the policy of the old academy was changed in 1855 and it was made an exclusively female institution ; this was its death blow, and in 1863 the building was sold on a mortgage. After being occupied for a private school about ten years, it was remodeled into a dwelling and is still used for that purpose. During the period of the final struggles of the academy, J. Hagadorn Wells kept a successful boarding school for boys in his residence five or six years. Fruit Hill Classical Institute. — This educational institution was founded at ProAddence and opened in 1835 in a building that had previously been occupied as one of the old stage coach taverns. As such it had a long and prosperous career and is said to have been one of the very earliest public houses to accommodate regular summer boarders in addition to transient guests. It was kept in early years by a Dr. Thayer and was known for many years as the old Thayer tavern place. In 1835 Henry R. Drowne, son of Dr. Solomon Drowne, then a resident at Fruit Hill, conjointly with his sisters, conceived the plan of establishing a school, and acquired the tavern property for the purpose. Stanton Belden, a graduate of Yale, was invited to accept the principalship of the school, which he did, and the institution was opened in April, 1835. It was called at first Fruit Hill Seminary, and was for many years very prosperous, closing the first year with an enrollment of forty scholars. The name. Fruit Hill Classical Insti tute, must have been adopted before the close of the first year, as a circidar signed by Mr. Belden is headed with that title, and Mr. Belden remained principal only one year. The circular states that the num ber of pupils Avas limited to forty "who are always under the superin tendence of the Principal and his Lady". Further it was stated that "the school is designed principally for males; but a few females are admitted, to board in private families in the vicinity ' '. Scholars were received by the year ' ' and furnished with everything necessary except books and clothing, at $160 per annum, exclusive of vacations". Mr. Belden was followed in the principalship by three or four successive persons, and in 1837 Amos Perry took the position, with Elizabeth A. Perry, associate principal ; Amasa DoAve, teacher of penmanship, and 362 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Oliver Shaw, teacher of music. In 1840 Mr. Perry retired from the school and Mr. Belden returned to it and remained at its head until 1861, when the institution closed its long and successful career, and the old building was demolished. Many men who afterwards attained eminence in the professional or business world acquired their education in this institute. In the latter years of its existence the attendance gradually decreased, as the public schools of the State increased in character. Young Ladies' High School. — In the early years of the century and long before the founding of many great colleges for women and the admission of the sex to many universities, there was a demand for separate schools for young Avomen where they could obtain higher education. One of these that had a long career of success was founded in Providence in 1828 by John Kingsbury,^ a man who seems to have been born for his work. He believed in the dignity and worth of his profession, and when he opened school, placed the quarterly tuition at $12.50, which was then considered almost an exorbitant price. The school was opened in a building which had been used for school pur poses by Oliver AngeU, in which new furniture, having some preten sions to elegance and comfort, was placed. The number of scholars was at first limited to thirty-six ; this was soon increased to forty, and finally to forty-three, which continued to be the size of the clasa through Mr. Kingsbury's long administration. No pressure could induce him to increase the number, as he believed better results could thus be realized. There was always a large number of applications in excess of the admissions. Mr. Kingsbury conducted this model school until 1858, a period of thirty years, during which the number of students was 557. The success of this school must in large measure be attributed to its governing principles, among which were the fostering of high moral sentiment, fixing exact habits of study, cultivation of all the mental powers of all the scholars, rather than the elevation of certain possessors of special genius, inculcation of a knowledge of the great value of common sense and of the elementary studies, etc. Mr. Kingsbury retired from the school in 1858 to accept the office of com missioner of public instruction. In February of that year the school passed into the hands of Amos Perry, but was soon transferred to Prof. J. L. Lincoln, LL. D., who opened it in September, 1858, as the 'Mr. Kingsbury was born in Connecticut May 26, 1801, graduated from Brown University in 1826, and after teaching in Providence two years, organ ized his Young Ladies' High School. He was one of the most successful edu cators that the State has ever had. Growtpi op Public Education. 363 Young Ladies ' School ; it was then the only institution of that charac ter in the city. Professor Lincoln had two assistants, and during his administration of about nine years his students numbered 214. At the close of his term the school passed to Rev. John C. Stockbridge, who continued it along similar lines until 1877, teaching during that period about 250 pupils. The benefits accruing to the community from the long existence of this admirable school is immeasurable. The estab hshment of many popular women's colleges and private schools throughout New England, and other considerations, caused Dr. Stock- bridge to close his institution. Before the erection of the present building, occupied as the Women 's College connected with BroAvn Uni versity, the Kingsbury school building was used as the Women's Col lege. Another school which attained a wide popularity was the Greene street school.^ It wiU be well remembered by some of the older citizens of the State. This school, modeled after certain Greek ideal standards, was the culmination of a series of schools taught by different princi pals, commencing with Rufus Claggett and ending with B. P. Jacobs and his sister, Miss Sarah S. Jacobs. The Providence Daily Journal of June 10, 1837, calls attention to a modest notice in its advertising columns, that the Greene street school Avill be dedicated that day at four o'clock p. m., that the house wiU be open to visitors aU day and that the school will commence on Monday the 12th. The surface of the school house lot sloped from Greene to Walnut streets, which circumstance afforded the construction of a basement, and this was divided into three rooms ; one was for a primary school, one was used for arithmetic classes which came from the upper or prin cipal room, and the remaining one contained the furnace and fuel. On each side of the front entrance to the principal floor were rooms for the outer garments of the scholars ; that on the right was used by the girls, and the left one was for the boys' caps, coats and street shoes. Stairs descending to the basement Avere in the latter room. The boys were required to remove their ordinary footwear and put on slippers before entering the school-room. This was carpeted and furnished with nice single desks and chairs for each scholar. In the rear of the main room were two recitation rooms, also carpeted, and between the doors opening into these rooms was a raised platform on which was Mr. FuUer's desk. Behind this desk was a handsome bookcase, sur- 'Hlstorical sketch of the Greene Street School, by Hon. Henry L. Greene in R. I. Historical Society publications, vol. vi, No. 4. 364 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. mounted by a bust of Sir Walter Scott and filled with a choice collec tion of books by standard authors. This was at the service of the school. At the opposite or front end of the hall, or school room, was a piano, which was between the doors which opened out of the two front rooms above described. Over the piano hung a fine portrait of Mr. FuUer, painted in 1838 by Prances Alexander, of Boston, and over the door leading into the girls' side of the room was an equally fine por trait of the poet Percival. The primary school and lower recitation rooms were not carpeted. The children here sat in little arm-chairs, and there were a few desks besides for the beginners in writing. Blackboards were fastened to the walls in the primary and all the recitation rooms. Greene Street School, Providence. From an old print in the possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society. It must not be supposed that Avhile entertainments were occasionaUy given in the school during recess time (even a musical pair, Monsieur and Madame Canderbeck, accompanied by trained poodle dogs, gave a performance lasting perhaps an hour, the affair closing by selections performed upon the piano by Misses Sarah Hoppin, Sophia BosAVorth and Mary Fiske), that the discipline of the school was at aU lax. On the contrary, punctuality in attendance, close appUcation to study, perfect recitations, quietness, politeness and good order during the sessions were strictly required. Growth op Public Education. 365 The text books used by the older scholars were Emerson's Readers and Arithmetics, Virgil, Dana's Liber Primus, Dillaway's Colloquies from Erasmus, French Grammar, La Bagatelle, Fenelon 's Telemaque, Malte Brun's, Olney 's and Woodbridge & Willard 's Geographies, Good's Book of Nature, BakeweU 's Philosophy, Smellie's Philosophy, Sigourney's Life of Marcus Aurelius, and several others not now re membered. The spelling exercises were conducted by Hiram Puller, the principal, who often selected the Avords from a dictionary and pronounced them to the scholars, Avho wrote them on their slates. A pupil then spelled them aloud, and others marking those they had misspelled, and reporting these afterAvards. Sometimes both the words and definitions were recorded in the journals. Recitations were divided among the different days, the order not being precisely the same for each day. Alternate Friday afternoons were devoted to drawing and dancing, but the scholars who preferred to study at those times were allowed to do so. The primary schoolroom was used by the dancing classes. The principal teacher was Daniel D. Capron, who was assisted by Mrs. Georgianna Nias. Margaret Puller taught geography, French and Latin, and perhaps German, to the advanced scholars. She came to Providence in 1837, when the new house was opened, and remained a year and a half, em ployed evidently not to her liking, for she was not in her sphere while teaching young people. Previous to this period of her life, she had formed an acquaintance with Emerson, HaAvthorne, Ripley, Channing, James Freeman Clarke, and P. H. Hedge, and in the society of these transcendentalists she stood as their equal, having already studied the writings of Schelling, Novalis, the brothers von Schlegel, Tieck, and others of that school of German philosophy who Avere caUed Roman ticists. With a mind imbued with abstrusely speculative, and even fantastic ideas, she was unable to comprehend the unformed mental condition of the youths who came before her for instruction. A friend says: "Miss FuUer speaks of a vast gulf between herself and her pupils, of their deplorable ignorance, absolute burial of the best powers, and the like. Is it not St. Paul who tells of some that 'measur ing themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among them selves are not wise?' Our Margaret was not wise in this matter of measurements and comparisons. ... At the end of a fortnight she sees that a new world has already been opened to them. I used to think that she overrated not the kind but the extent of the influence she exerted on these fifty or sixty young people. No doubt she did stimu- 366 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. late the minds of many of them, especially of the older and better informed among the girls, but I was guilty of being a little amused while watching her among a swarm of boys. She would awe them all into a stillness by a certain imperious look and gesture impossible to describe or to resist, then as she addressed them would grow more and more eloquent, and presently to most of them incomprehensible. The dear' fellows Avould say ' yes m 'm and no m 'm ', mostly at random, and oftenest in the wrong places, and take a long breath when dis missed to common people once more. Toward the principal of the school she seemed to exercise dignified tolerance. The two ladies, her associates from the beginning, she treated in a queenly, condescending way, and to them, alternately attracted and repelled by her, she was always a marvel and a mystery. "To the pupils she meant to be kind and was sometimes gracious, but teaching was not congenial to her, the teaching of children, that is. She craved foeman worthy of her steel, and did not always rightly approach the mind of a boy, and yet she had brothers of her own. "Por instance, after her departure from the school, though her successor had taken no special pains with him, one rather dull lad said to his mother, 'she (the successor) treats me like a human being'. The remark told its story of wounded feeling, or mortified self-love." After leaving Providence, Margaret Puller taught for some time in A. Bronson Alcott's school in Boston, then became the editor of The Dial, the organ of the Transcendentalists, which was under her charge from 1840 to the close of the second volume in 1841. In 1844 she became a contributor to the New York Tribune, and in 1846 she visited Europe, becoming finally a resident of Italy. She was married De cember, 1847, to the Marquis Giovanni Angelo d'Ossoli, a friend of the Italian patriot, Mazzini. In 1848-49 she took charge of one of the hospitals in Rome, during the confiict with the French, and gave her whole heart and thoughts to the care of the sick and wounded, her husband being on duty with the defenders of the city. When the city capitulated in June, 1849, she with her husband fied to Rieti, in the province of Abruzzi, where their little child was with his nurse. The Ossolis embarked May 17, 1850, in a merchant vessel. The Elizabeth, at Leghorn and sailed for New York. They had nearly reached the port when a hurricane wrecked the vessel on Fire Island Beach in the early hours of the morning of July 16th. The boy was drowned in the arms of the steward who was trying to reach the land, and the little one's lifeless body was dashed upon the shore by a great wave. The father and mother were never heard of more. Growth of Public Education. 367 Margaret Puller d 'Ossoli 's books were published in the order named : "Summer on the Lakes", "Woman in the 19th Century", and "Papers on Literature and Art". Her manuscript work on "The Roman Republic" was lost with her. Miss Sarah S. Jacobs succeeded Margaret FuUer in 1839, and in 1842 or thereabouts (after the retirement of Mr. Puller), in company with her brother, Bela P. Jacobs, carried on the school for a short time, but the brother had a better offer in Savannah, and Miss Jacobs went to Nova Scotia, and there was no longer a Greene street school. In 1856 she succeeded Mrs. Nias-Tyrrel and kept the Congdon street school until the breaking out of the Civil War. The school building remained closed after the retirement of Mr. and Miss Jacobs until 1847. In that year Daniel Paine purchased the estate, sold the building to Henry Marchant, who presented it to a Baptist society, and it was moved to a lot on Point street. It has since been converted into a dwelling house and is the house numbered 164. Mr. Paine erected a handsome brick residence on the lot, which is now standing. History has repeated itself in this case, for a portion of the house is now occupied by Mrs. Fielden and Miss Chace for a girls' school. Warren Ladies' Seminary.— This institute was founded in 1834 and opened on May 7, with a list of students who were almost wholly from that town ; of seventy-five entries only twelve were from other places. The principal and teacher of the classical and philosophical depart ments was Robert A. Coffin ; his wife took charge of drawing, painting and needlwork classes ; Miss Mary Ann Reed taught the historical and descriptive department; Miss Julia Ann Arms taught French and mathematics, and Miss Adaline Croode taught music. This school was owned by five proprietors and was directed substantially by a board of visitors of seven members. It was conducted as a boarding school and was for a period the only institution of the kind in Rhode Island. The catalogue of 1836 shows that there were 116 students, of whom forty-four were taking the regular course of three years. Between the date of the opening of the school and 1842 the successors of Mr. Coffin in the position of principal were Rev. Josiah P. Tustin, D. D., and Rev. John C. Stockbridge, of Providence. In 1842 the school property, then owned by Shubael P. Child, Henry H. Luther, John Luther, and Jeremiah Williams, was divided into stock shares of $200 each, and thirty in number. Persons who subscribed for these shares, with the original proprietors, became trustees and directors of the in stitution, and the school was incorporated in 1845. Shubael P. Child 368 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. was chosen president ; Henry H. Luther, vice-president ; Charles Ran dall, treasurer ; Thomas G. Turner, secretary. The board of directors consisted of Otis Bullock, G. M. Pessenden, Josiah P. Tustin, Samuel Hunt, John Norris, William H. Church, and A. M. GammeU. The last named man took the position of principal in 1842, and during about fifteen years thereafter the school enjoyed high repute and liberal patronage. Prom 1845 to 1857 the catalogues show an attendance of from 114 to 185. Girls were not received under fifteen years of age, and many States were represented in the classes. In 1855-6, when the attendance was 185, additional room was necessary, and twenty addi tional shares were issued at $200 each, most of which were taken by Mr. Gammell. The avails of the issue were used in enlarging the building. There was a subsequent issue of fifteen shares, but all were -Warren Ladies' Seminary. From an old print in the possession ofthe Rhode Island Historical Society. not taken. During the vacation of 1857 the buildings were burned, and although an attempt was made to rebuild and revive the school, the blow was too severe and it was abandoned. This seminary is said to have been "an important factor in the education of women. A great many of the students were preparing themselves to teach, and had their training here. The normal school was not established until 1854, so that in a measure its lack was supplied. ' '^ Lapham Institute.— This institution was originaUy caUed Smithfield Seminary and was opened in a building standing on an eminence over looking the village of North Scituate. It was founded in 1839 by the '^Hist. of Higher Education in R. I. (Tolman), p. 88. Growth op Public Education. 369 Rhode Island Association of Pree Baptists, mainly for the purpose of supplying facilities for a liberal education to students of both sexes. The commodious buildings erected cost nearly $30,000, and Rev. Hosea Quimby, a very successful educator, was the first principal. During the succeeding fifteen years the school fiourished under his direction. Three courses of study were provided— one for fitting young men for college; one for young women, covering four years; and a third, an adjustable course to meet the wants of students attending one or more terms. Prom the first the need of an endowment fund was seriously felt; the association was heavily taxed for the support of the institu- Lapham Institute, North Scituate. tion, and in 1850 sold the property to Mr. Quimby. After four years of anxious struggle he leased the school to Samuel P. Coburn, who acted as principal three years, maintaining the reputation of the insti tution. In 1857 Rev. W. Colegrove purchased the property and con ducted the school two years after which it was closed. In 1863 the Free Baptists again took it, and Benedict Lapham and others became responsible for any deficiency in income that might arise, Mr. Lap- ham's name being given to the institution for his generosity. Rev. B. F. Hayes was chosen principal and successfully conducted the school until 1865, when he was succeeded by his former assistant, 34 370 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. Prof. Thomas L. AngeU. He remained two years and was foUowed by Prof. George H. Richer, a thorough classical scholar and efficient teacher. He continued seven years and was succeeded by A. G. Moul ton, who died soon after the close of his first year. In the fall of 1875 W. S. Stockbridge took the position. Soon afterward WilUam Winsor, an earnest friend of education, took up the support of the school from his private means, but from the same causes that contributed to the extinction of so many institutions of a private character, the institute rapidly declined and soon closed. The following advertisement of this academy Avill convey some idea of its character in the days when it was such an important factor among educational institutions : "Smithville Seminary, "North Scituate, R. I., May 10, 1841. "This institution is pleasantly situated on the Hartford 'Turnpike road, nine miles west of Providence. It contains a male and female department, with ample accommodations for one hundred and fifty permanent boarding scholars. The school is under the management of Rev. H. Quimby, A. M., Principal ; Mr. S. L. Weld, A. M., Associate Principal, and Miss C. L. Johnson, female teacher. Instruction AviU be given in the common and higher English studies, the ancient and modern languages, and ornamental branches. "Tuition will be charged from four to seven dollars a quarter. Music and Drawing will be an extra charge, the price varying accord ing to the number instructed. "Board is furnished in the Seminary by the trustees, at one table, for $1.12 1-2 a week; at another table, for $1.50— a deduction being made in both cases of 12 1-2 cents, to those who take care of their OAvn rooms. ' ' The whole expense of a student wdll vary from $20 to $27 a quar ter. The next term will commence on Tuesday, the 25th of May. The fall term, on Tuesday, the 2d of September. Subsequent terms will commence very nearly with the seasons of the year, as December, March, June and September. Examination at the close of the summer term. "Lectures, and other special instructions, will be given in the au tumn of each year to those who are preparing to teach. Young per sons, of good moral character, of both sexes, who can read intelligently, are received into the school, and carried forward in their studies suffi ciently to enter college on an advanced standing; also prepared for school teaching or any branch of business, for which Literature and Science can fit them. "The teachers of this institution reside in the Seminary building, under whose constant supervision the students are kept until they Growth op Public Education. 371 leave the school. If any scholar continues to misimprove his time, or conduct improperly after suitable admonition and discipline, he is returned to his home without delay. "J. A. Harris, "Secretary." "Many of the best known citizens of Rhode Island have attended the North Scituate boarding school, which has not changed to any extent externally or internally in the past half a century. A delicious air of quaintness pervades everything about it. The institution includes five buildings joined together, the whole presenting a colonial front. In the centre of the group is the administration building, surmounted by a belfry in which rests, ready for use, a mammoth bell, the tone of which is of noted sweetness. The extreme wings were the dormitories —one for the boys and one for the girls. Each dormitory has 33 sleep ing rooms. Some of the bedsteads yet remain— old-fashioned wooden affairs, the kind you run across in country house garrets. The walls still are covered with old-style wall paper of large figure and perpen dicular stripes that look strange and unnatural when compared with modern artistic wall paper designs. In one large room may be seen a bunch of tiny wood stoves. At first, it is said, the students' rooms were not heated during the cold weather ; one can imagine how very chill it must have been in the dormitory wings before the stoves were acquired, for the buildings are perched right up on the tip-top of a goodly sized hill, and are exposed to the full blasts of Avinter. ' ' Mt. Pleasant Academy.— This school was established in 1865 by Jencks Mowry, who had gained a wide reputation as a teacher by his successful work of nearly twenty years in the public grammar school at Mt. Pleasant. It supplied a well-defined want of an institution for the education of pupils, w^hose ages or diversity of attainments in different branches prevented them from following the routine of the graded public schools. Pupils also from the ungraded schools in the rural districts here found an opportunity to study branches not taught in those schools. There was no fixed course of study, but it was main ly confined to English branches Avith the elements of alegbra, geometry and physics. In the fall of 1867 Joseph E. Mowry, A. M., became associate prin cipal. A more extended course of instruction was offered, including college preparatory classics, French, and higher mathematics. The school was a pronounced success, and, in 1872, a new school building was erected. Two parallel courses of study, a college preparatory course and a business course, each covering a period of four years, and a preparatory course for those not prepared for the academic courses, were now adopted. Equal advantages were offered to pupils 373 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. of both sexes ; strict discipline was maintained, and the school acquired a high reputation for the thoroughness of the training, especially in mathematics. In May, 1885, Joseph E. MoAvry withdrew from the school to become principal of the Federal Street school. Providence, and Jencks Mowry, with different assistants, continued the academy for about five years longer, when it Avas finally closed. During the twenty-five years of its existence many who are now successful business and professional men and women were enrolled on its register. English and Classical School {Providence). — A school, Avith this title, for boys, was opened February 22, 1864. It began with about fifty scholars and two teachers, but with passing years the number regularly increased by about twenty-five annually until it reached 250. Three departments were established— Preparatory, English and Classical, with courses of study beginning with the common English branches for boys about eight years old, and continuing through a period of nine years. Besides its regular corps of teachers, special instructors were employed in penmanship, elocution, physiology, vocal music and military drill. The school opened in two leased rooms in the fourth story of the Lyceum building, where it remained one year. During the next five years it was located in the Narragan sett block, then a new building on Westminster street. Outgrowing its accommodations there, it was removed to the new Fletcher building, on the same street, where it remained six years. Peeling the need of a permanent home and having confidence in the future of the institution, the proprietors erected a large brick building on Snow street, at a cost, including the site, of about $100,000. This bmlding and its equipment were made to conform to the best modern ideas of school architecture and needs. The school opened under the principalship of William A. MoAvry, A. M., and Charles B. Goff, A. M., with a corps of assistants. Messrs. Mowry and Goff' continued as proprietors of the school until 1884, when the latter retired, and Howard M. Rice and Richard W. Smith each acquired an interest. Mr. Smith retired in 1891, and Mr. Goff died in 1898, since which date Mr. Rice has been sole proprietor. In that year the school was consolidated with the University Grammar School, before described, and the name Avas subsequently changed to the University School. In the summer of 1900 the school was removed to the old Normal School building, corner of Benefit and Waterman streets. The catalogue for 1900 shows that there were 123 scholars registered, and seventeen instructors. Rhode Island Institute of Instruction.— This institution was one of Growth of Public Education. 373 the results of the efforts of that indefatigable worker for education, Henry Barnard. In the latter part of 1844, after his appointment as commissioner of public schools, he called a meeting of teachers and other friends of education in the city council chamber in Providence, to consider the formation of an association whose chief purpose should be the aAvakening of a broader and deeper interest in public schools and at the same time aid him in his official duties. Nathan Bishop, of Providence, presided at the meeting, and about thirty teachers and a few others were present. Mr. Barnard could not attend on account of illness, and Amos Perry, who had co-operated in arranging for the meeting, explained the contemplated purposes of the association, and the whole subject was discussed, with the result that a committee was appointed to consider the expediency of forming a State Educational Association; the committee consisted of John Kingsbury, Nathan Bishop, Amos Perry, Henry Day and John J. Stimson. They held several meetings and finally agreed that the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction should be founded. The second meeting was held in the State house in Providence, January 21, 1845, at which the committee to whom the whole subject had been referred, made a report; this report, after discussion, was referred to another committee of which Mr. Barnard was chairman, with instructions to report a constitution at a subsequent meeting. This meeting was held in Westminster Hall, Providence, on January 25, 1845, and a constitution, which had been prepared by Mr. Barnard, was adopted. At an adjourned meeting, held in the Baptist church on January 28, the organization of the institute was completed by the election of the following officers: President, John Kingsbury, of Providence; vice-presidents, Wilkins Updike, South Kingstown, and Ariel Ballou, Woonsocket ; correspond ing secretary, Nathan Bishop, Providence ; recording secretary, Joshua p. Giddings, Providence; treasurer, Thomas C. Hartshorn, Provi dence; directors, William Gammell, Amos Perry, Caleb Farnum, all of Providence ; Joseph T. Sisson of North Providence ; J. T. Harkness, of Smithfleld ; J. B. Tallman, of Cumberland ; L. W. Ballou, of Cum berland ; J. S. Tourtellott, of Gloeester ; and Samuel Greene, of Smith- field. Before the expiration of a year from this time spirited meetings had been held under the auspices of the institute in ProAddence, New port, Bristol, Warren, Woonsocket, East Greenwich, VaUey Falls, Che pachet, OUieyville, Scituate, Fruit Hill, Pawtuxet, Foster, and Kings ton. These were remarkable results for so young an institution, and the educational awakening that followed and was fostered through this association was no less remarkable. These local meetings were 374 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. held more or less in each year until after the inauguration of local teachers' institutes by the commissioner of public schools in 1870, un der State patronage. In these meetings teachers naturally took a lead ing part, but all friends of education were iuAdted to co-operate for the general welfare of the cause and to become members and officers of the institute. At the first annual meeting, held January 15, 1846, the president thus spoke of the results of the first year's labors: ' ' Through this Association, and county societies of a similar nature, a vast amount of voluntary labor, in this cause, has been performed; and, apparently, a very deep public interest has been created. By these means, united AAdth legislative action, a train of measures has been put in motion which already indicate a great improvement in the public mind— a train, which, if not prematurely interrupted, avUI idti- mately, and at no distant period, raise the public schools of this State to the highest rank among the means of popular education. It is not too much to say, that probably no State in the Union has made greater progress in the same space of time." In 1845 William S. Baker, of South Kingstown, was appointed by the institute as a special agent to promote its interests and carry on its work. In that capacity he traveled from town to town, visited schools, talked with members of families, and in every possible way endeavored to awaken interest in educational advancement. His services were of great benefit to the institution and materiaUy aided the commissioner. Arrangements were made for the publication of the Journal of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction, a serial con taining accounts of proceedings of meetings, papers read at such meet ings, and other educational matter, which was scattered throughout the State as far as the means of the society would admit. Prof. Samuel S. Greene, of Brown University, succeeded Mr. Kings bury as president of the institute in 1856, and held the office four years. The successive presidents since 1860 have been as follows: John J. Ladd, WilUam A. Mowry, Thomas W. Bicknell, Noble W. De- Munn, James T. Edwards, Albert J. Manchester, Merrick Lyon, Isaac P. Cady and David W. Hoyt. After the retirement of Mr. Barnard and the succession of Mr. Potter to the office of commissioner of schools, the Rhode Island Educational Magazine was started under the auspices of the institute and continued two years. In 1855 a third educational publication, called the Rhode Island Schoolmaster, was founded, which, in 1860, was made the official organ of the institute, and a board of editors was appointed. This mutual connection continued until 1874, when the Growth op Public Education. 375 institute voted to unite vsdth other New England States in founding the New England Journal of Education, and to transfer to it the good will of the Schoolmaster. These several publications served as a medium for the circulation of a large quantity of material that was very valuable in the promotion of the best interests of education. A condition of membership in the institute at the time of its organi zation was the payment of a fee, the amount of which was left optional with the individual ; this provision was repealed in 1853, but the con sequent abandonment of all distinction betAveen members and those who were not, proved unsatisfactory, and in January, 1872, the con stitution was amended making membership dependent upon the pay ment of one dollar by men and fifty cents by women. A capable writer on educational subjects,^ in 1875-6, made the following observations on the work of the Institute doAvn to that date : "Any sketch of the Institute would be incomplete without reference to the infiuence of the annual and subsidiary meetings of the Institute in multiplying friends to the cause of popular education, and in strengthening its hold upon the public mind. This is made evident by the increased attendance upon its meetings, as well as by the high character of the citizens who extended to them their cordial support. This has been a more distinctly marked feature within the last four teen years. Up to that time, with few exceptions, and those were even ings when a popular speaker from abroad addressed the Institute, the vestry of a church had furnished all needed accommodations. But year by year the circle of interest wddened until in 1870 it became necessary to transfer the annual meetings to Roger Williams Hall, capa ble of seating sixteen hundred people. A single year demonstrated that even this Hall was of too limited dimensions, and in 1872, for this reason, the evening exercises were held in Music Hall, the largest audi ence room in Providence, if not in the State. The annual meetings of subsequent years, held in this latter haU, have been pre-eminently distinguished for numbers and enthusiasm. Such gatherings of teach ers and the friends of education were never before seen in Rhode Island, if indeed, in any part of the United States. At the evening sessions, each year, not less than three thousand persons have been present. "In reviewing the work of the Institute a glance at the records of more than one hundred meetings, held in various parts of the State shoAvs that the Institute not only commenced its labors with the advo cacy of a Normal School, but has led public opinion in every movement originated for the improvement of the public school system. It early encouraged the formation of Town and District Libraries, the intro- 'Thomas B. Stockwell, Hist, of Public Education in Rhode Island, pp. 126-7. 376 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. duction of Music into the public schools as an important element of culture, the establishing of a Board of Education, 'by the aid of which the public schools would be safe from the influences of politics and the evils of sectarian prejudices', and the opening of Evening Schools in our manufacturing villages, to meet an imperative want of the operative population. The lecturers included many of the ablest edu cators in our country, while the range of topics considered at these meetings evinced a breadth of view not elsewhere surpassed, and touched upon every point vital to the advancement of our schools." Normal School.— The Rhode Island Normal School, to which some brief reference has already been made, was one of the educational projects that early claimed the attention of Henry Barnard, as weU as of other friends of education. One of the purposes planned by his first school act, it will be remembered, was ' ' to establish one thoroughly organized normal school in the State, where teachers and such as pro pose to teach may become acquainted with the most approved and successful methods of arranging the studies and conducting the disci pline and instruction of the public school". The Rhode Island Insti tute of Public Instruction, also, made the estabUshment of such a school one of its early purposes. In the school act of 1845 a normal school wEis authorized, but the object was not consummated, as no appropriation was made for it. In 1850, when there was a reorganiza tion of Brown University, the opening of a normal department was announced, or a so-called professorship of didactics, to the chair of which Samuel S. Greene was appointed. While this was a step in the right direction, the department did not meet the popular demand, and a change was made on October 24, 1852, when the Normal School was opened by Professor Greene as a private institution. He had three assistants, one of whom was Dana P. Colburn. The first normal classes were held in the old Providence High School building, which later became the home of the Normal School. Professor Greene con tinued his school until 1854, previous to which date the school com mittee adopted the following resolution: ^'Resolved, That, in the opinion of this committee, the time has arrived when a normal school for the education of teachers should be added to our system of pubUc instruction, and that it be recommended to the city council to establish such a school, either separately, for the exclusive benefit of the city, or in connection Avith the government of the State of Rhode Island, for the joint benefit of the city and the State, as in their wisdom they may deem best. ' ' In the spring of 1854, when Professor Greene had become fully Growth op Public Education. 377 occupied with his duties in the university, Dana P. Colburn was chosen principal of the Normal School at a salary of $1,200, and the institution continued in a very prosperous and encouraging condition. Among the instructors apd lecturers are found the names of many of the university professors and leading citizens of Providence and other places. In 1857 there arose a general feeling in favor of removing the school to some other point. Many towns made propositions for its location, but the preference finally fell to Bristol, where the Congregational society had recently erected a new church, and several of the proprie tors of the former one offered to surrender all of their interest in the property to the school. A committee was appointed to make arrange ments for the change. The church building stood on Bradford street, and the committee purchased of Allen T. Usher a lot of land on the north side of that street for $2,067.50, moved the building upon it, and fitted the upper part for the school. It was divided into four rooms, bringing the total cost of the change up to $2,496.65. In May, 1858, the rooms were placed in charge of the school committee and the be fore-named committee was discharged. In 1857 the General Assembly passed an act legally removing the school to Bristol. Dana P. Colburn served as principal until his death, in December, 1859, two years after the removal, and was succeeded by Joshua Kendall, who was elected chairman of the school committee of Bristol in 1862. The removal of the school to Bristol seems to have been a mistake, and the wonder is at the present day that it ever could have received the advocacy of prominent friends of the institution. Its growth was checked, and in 1865, at the close of the spring term, the school was closed five weeks. In July the trustees suspended it indefinitely. A long period of suspense and futile effort followed ; an act was passed by the Assembly in 1866 to provide instruction in the special prepara tion of teachers for their profession. About 150 were accordingly trained in the Providence Conference Seminary in East Greenwich and in the Lapham Institute, at an expense to the State of nearly $2,500. But there was stUl an insufficiency of good teachers, and the need of a normal school was just as imperative as ever and yearly becoming more necessary. Down to 1865 Arthur Sumner had served as assistant teacher with Mr. Colburn, and between 1855 and 1865, the female assistants were Misses Harriet W. Goodwin, E. T. Brown, A. P. Saunders, EUen R. Luther, and EUen G. LeGro. Plans were advanced during several years for the re-establishmeni of the Normal School, and finally, on March 14, 1871, an act of incor- 378 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. poration was passed by the General Assembly, and appointing as trus tees of the institution the Board of Education of Providence and the commissioner of public schools. An appropriation of $10,000 was made, and the opening exercises of the school were held on September 6 of that year in Normal Hall, which was formerly the High Street Congregational church, Providence. J. C. Greenough, A. B., was chosen principal, with Miss S. C. Bancroft, first assistant, and Miss M. L. Jewett, second assistant. At the beginning 150 appUcations were made by students and certificates were given to 106 ; before the end of that year the number of students was 115, of whom only eight were men. At the May session of the Legislature in 1877 an appropriation of $10,000 was made for the school with which to provide it with a permanent home. Por this purpose the old high school building, erected in 1843 on the corner of Waterman and Benefit streets, was purchased by the State, an addition built on its rear thirty-two by forty- two feet in size, in which were constructed a laboratory, a men's dressing room, etc., a study hall provided on the third floor, more per fect ventilating arrangements introduced, etc. Prof. J. C. Greenough was then principal, but he resigned in 1882 and was succeeded by Dr. Thomas J. Morgan. In the school year of 1883-4 several needed im provements were made in the building; the office and reception room were refitted, cases for books and minerals built, electric bells and programme clock introduced, and additions made to the library. The school increased in attendance as its value became more appar ent, and about 1891 the need of a more commodious structure was noticed in the reports. In 1892 a commission was appointed to pro cure a site for a new building and superintend its construction. In the following year the commission purchased aU of the land within the bounds of Francis, Gaspee, Promenade, Park and Lincoln streets. Plans were drawn by architects Martin & Hall, of Providence, and a contract for erecting the new building was let to Nathan B. Horton & Son, of Providence, on May 1, 1895. The building was dedicated on September 7, 1898, vsdth appropriate ceremonies. The prayer was made by Rev. E. C. Bass, and was fol lowed by the opening address by Gov. Elisha Dyer. The building committee then made their report. A dedication prayer was offered by Rev. Charles J. White, which was followed by an address by W. T. Harris, LL. D. The benediction was pronounced by Rev. H. W. Rugg. This building and grounds is one of the best in the United States for its purpose. It includes in its plan all of the most approved archi- Growth op Public Education. 379 tectural principles as applied to school buildings, and is equipped with every convenience for effective teaching and study, and to promote the health and comfort of its inmates. Its recent completion renders a detailed description of it unnecessary in these pages. For its out ward appearance the reader is referred to the illustration on another page. The number of students in the normal school from year to year since the figures previously given, is as follows : 1872-3 156 1874-5 80 1876-7 143 1878 145 1879 134 1880 136 1881 159 1882 124 1883 160 1884 160 1885 153 1886 150 1887 159 1888 180 1889 200 1890 203 1891 214 1892 : 191 1893 199 1894 196 1895 1896 251 1897 218 1898 247 1899 247 Dr Morgan continued at the head of the school until 1889, when he was succeeded by Prof. George A. Littlefield. He was followed in 1892 by Prof. W. E. Wilson, who continued in the position until 1899, when he was succeeded by Prof. Fred Gowing. Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. — Through the provisions of the land grant act of Congress of 1863, the State of Rhode Island came into possession of land scrip to the amount of 30,000 acres of government land, the act giving each State that amount for each senator and representative in Congress. This land was to be sold by the several States and the proceeds invested, and the annual 380 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. income "inviolably appropriated by each State which may take and claim the benefit of this act, to the endowment, support and mainte nance of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to Agricul ture and Mechanic Arts, in such manner as the Legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life." On the 2d of March, 1887, what is known as the Hatch act was passed, appropriating $15,000 annually to each State, for the purpose of establishing an Agricultural Experiment Station in connection wdth an Agricultural College or School. Long before the acceptance of this land scrip by Rhode Island there had existed a sentiment in the State that her young men were deprived of instruction in agriculture and mechanic arts to a greater degree than those of other States, where colleges of this character had been established. This sentiment crystallized in a determination to have the Hatch agricultural experiment station connected with a regular agricultural institution. In pursuance of this determination the Rhode Island State Agricultural School was established through the provisions of Chapter 706 of the public laws, passed May 23, 1888. On August 30, 1890, the so-called new Morrill bill was passed by Con gress, appropriating for the further support of agricultural and me chanical colleges a sum beginning with $15,000, and increasing at the rate of $1,000 annually until the appropriation reached $25,000. In order to give the Rhode Island school already founded the benefit of this appropriation, the chapter above mentioned was amended so as to incorporate the Rhode Island CoUege of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. On the 19th of April, 1894, the State Legislature passed an act authorizing the State treasurer to pay to the corporation of BroAvn University $40,000, in consideration of the transfer to the State of the proceeds of the original land grant of 1863 and vsdthdraw its suit for the Morrill fund from the United States Supreme Court. Suitable buildings were erected on a hillside in Kingston, where a station of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad is estab lished. Besides College Hall, a dormitory building was erected, which was burned on January 27, 1895. It was replaced by a fine granite building, called DaAds Hall, which was ready for use in October of that year. The number of graduates in 1899 was 236. The State Legislature, at the January session of 1897, made an ap- Growth op Public Education. 381 propriation to the coUege for the erection of a large three story stone building, the basement of which is used for instruction in photography and physics, Avith a large room for electrical engineering. On the second floor are recitation rooms, chapel, library and reading room, and a young women's study room. The third floor contains a large hall for drill and gymnasium purposes, and assembUes. This building was given the name Lippitt Hall. The growth and usefulness of this institution were marked from the very first ; modern out-buildings have been built, new courses of study added, the faculty increased in number, until at the present time it is one of the foremost of the similar schools of the country. John Hosea Washburn, Ph. D., has occupied the position of president and pro fessor of agricultural chemistry from the first, and with him are now associated a faculty of about twenty-five accomplished educators in the various departments. There are five courses of study leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts, besides short special courses. The courses offered to men are also open to women, thus greatly extending the benefits of the college. The reader will find the details of courses of study and all other matters connected with the institution in the annual reports. What is known as the Lippitt prize is the sum of $100 offered by Ex-Gov. Charles Warren Lippitt; it is divided into tAVO parts — the first of $60 and the second of $40, which are awarded to the best writ ten and delivered essays on the history of Rhode Island in the Revolu tion. Bhode Island School of Design. — This institution began operations under a charter dated January, 1877, and continued several years in a small way, but with encouraging prospects. The number of students was not large, but they made satisfactory progress and most of them found employment with large manufacturers upon the strength of the attainments acquired in the school. From about the year 1883 (in which there were 229 students) the prosperity of the institution was more marked. After occupying leased rooms about ten years the authorities and friends of the school felt that it was entitled to a per manent home of its own. The subject was discussed in 1889, 1890 and 1891, and finaUy its most liberal friend and supporter, Jesse Metcalf, came forward and provided means for the erection of the commodious and handsome structure on Waterman street, which was ready for occupancy at the opening of the October term of 1892. Mr. Metcalf had repeatedly shown his generosity to the school previous to this times, as also had Stephen Metcalf and Mrs. Gustav Radeke. The 382 State op Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. basement of the building comprises a large hall, a room thirty-two by thirty-four feet in size opening from it, the latter divided by a sash partition for modeling and wood carAdng; the janitor's room and the staircase. The first floor is devoted to a museum and office and the main public entrance. The second floor is occupied by the mechanical department; and the third is devoted to free hand dravsdng. The museum comprises three separate exhibition rooms. An exhibition was given in November, 1893. The new building was dedicated Octo ber 24, 1893, with appropriate exercises, including an address by James Macallister, and speeches by Governor Brown, President An drews of Brown University, and Bishop Clark. A large addition was subsequently made to the building. The annual report states that all of the graduating class of 1888 had obtained good positions ; indeed this has been the case in almost every year from the beginning. The department of design is in close touch with various manufacturers, to the great advantage of the school, and prizes offered by the Association of Manufacturing Jewelers, by the Rhode Island State Pair Association, and for textile designing have been productive of excellent work. The faculty, at the head of which Warren S. Locke remained until the close of 1900, numbers fifteen. The number of students from year to year is shovsm in the following figures : 1884 251 1885 226 1886 284 1887 227 1888 208 1889 212 1890 283 1891 315 1892 343 1893 370 1894 346 1895 417 1896 431 1897 422 1898 446 1899 456 1900 508 Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf.— The State has under its care several institutions that constitute a part of the system of public education. One of these is the Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf, Growth op Public Education. 383 which was first opened on April 2, 1877, with five pupils, whose parents were responsible for a petition to the General Assembly for aid in educating their children. An appropriation was made for the purpose, and the school was located at first in the school house at the corner of Benefit and Halsey streets, in Providence, the conditional use of a room having been granted for the purpose. The school is in charge of a board of eleven trustees, of which the governor and lieutenant-gover nor are members ex officio. The school was subsequently removed to a building on the corner of Fountain and Beverly streets and placed in a building ovsmed by the city and leased to the State free of rent. This was occupied until 1895, Avhen it occupied a special building on the comer of East avenue and Cypress street, the site of which Avas purchased for the purpose. In 1898 additional land was acquired and the building was extended so as to supply accommodations for fifty boys and thirty-five girls. In 1893 it was first given the title of Institute and was placed in charge of trustees ; in the same year it was opened as a boarding school. When the school was opened any child over four years of age in the State was admitted free of charges, provided the parents sub scribed to a certain form of application. Pupils were to be admitted from other States at an annual charge of $100. Joseph W. Homer was the first principal of the school, and was succeeded in 1882 by Katharine H. Austin. She was succeeded in 1885 by Anna M. Black, who fiUed the position until 1889, when the present incumbent, Laura De L. Richards was chosen. She is at the present time assisted by ten teachers, with two attendants, an assistant attendant and the janitor. The number of pupils from year to year is shown in the following statement : 1879 13 1880 28 1881 29 1882 33 1883 33 1884 30 1885 32 1886 32 1887 37 1888 34 1889 31 1890 41 1891 43 1892 43 384 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 1893 58 1894 57 1895 52 1896 62 1897 63 1898 68 1899 75 The annual appropriation for the Institute is now $19,000. Miscellaneous Schools.— Oi the very many educational institutions in a measure outside of the public school system, many of them of a strictly private character, there are now in existence twenty-eight; twenty of these are in Providence and four in Newport, leaving only four in all of the remainder of the State, according to the school re ports for the year 1899. The oldest and most famous of these schools is the Friends School, which has been noticed as founded in Provi dence in 1784. The total enrollment in this school for 1899 was 242 and twenty teachers are regularly employed. East Greenwich Acad emy, opened in 1804, is still in existence, and is the only one of the many old academies that survive. In Providence, Scholfield's Commercial College was founded in 1846, and the Bryant & Stratton Business College in 1863 ; both of these institutions have given valuable business training to thousands of young men and women from a vride extent of territory. The Eng lish and Classical School, Providence, elsewhere described, was opened in 1864, and Mrs. Marsh's Select School, of Newport, in 1867. Mrs. E. C. M. Flagg 's private school in East Providence, and one taught by Fanny W. Morse, were both established in 1872 ; the latter employs three teachers. Proebel School, Providence, was founded in 1876, and had seven teachers and an enrollment of sixty-two in 1899. The South Kingstown High School was established in 1880 at Peacedale, and enrolled 109 students in 1899 ; Stepping Stone Kindergarten, also at Peacedale, is taught by Anna Schliepstein, and had in that year fifty- one pupils. Cole's Private School, Pawtucket, was founded by Charles A. Cole, A. M., in 1881, and enrolled eighty-one students in 1899. The remaining private schools, all established within the last twenty years, are Miss Abby F. Holden 's private school, 1878 ; St. John's Kin dergarten, 1886; Miss Hannah E. Waterman's private school. Provi dence, 1887; Miss Charlotte B. Brown's Kindergarten, Providence,' 1887 ; Lincoln School, Providence, by Ednah G. Bowen and Margaret Gilman, 1888; Miss Mary C. Wheeler's school. Providence, 1890; Miss Growth op Public Education. 385 Mary A. Sayer 's school, Newport, 1891 ; St. George's School, Newport, by John B. Diman, A. M., 1896 ; Hope Nursery Kindergarten, Provi dence, 1896 ; the Misses Bronson 's Home and Day School, Providence, 1897; Lynn School of Oratory, Providence, by Mary Eleanor Lynn, 1897 ; Newport Business College, by A. M. Steed, 1898. The list of private schools that were conducted during periods of varying length and passed out of existence, can never be fully com piled ; it would be. a very long one, and much of it of little importance in this connection. Some of these schools were quite successful and continued a number of years. Among these were one conducted ten years in Pawtucket by Mrs. William B. Read, organized in 1858. In 1866 Miss Mary E. Shaw opened a school in Providence, which she conducted until 1874, when it was transferred to Miss Josephine Abbott. Miss Eliza Weeden conducted the Young Ladies' School in Providence from 1865 to 1878 ; Mrs. Fielden and Miss Chace opened a similar institution in 1871, and there were in the city several board ing schools at different times. Mrs. Thomas Davis was at the head of the Young Ladies' Seminary in Pawtucket, 1875-80, and there were numerous other private schools in all parts of the State ; but their usefulness practically ended when the present public school system became well established. Parochial Schools.— There are at the present time twenty-nine paro chial schools in the State, in which there was enrollment for the year 1899 of 9,940 scholars. By far the largest of these schools is St. Ann 's of Woonsocket, which has an enrollment of 1,273, consisting mainly of children of French parents. The Convent of Jesus and Mary, also in that city, founded in 1884, has enrolled 701 scholars. The earliest of these schools in point of establishment, as indicated in the school reports, is St. Xavier 's Academy, of Providence, which was opened in in 1851. St. Mary's, Newport, was opened in 1855, and St. Patrick's in Providence in 1851. St. Charles, Woonsocket, opened in 1860. These four were all the parochial schools in the State until 1867, in which year the Immaculate Conception Academy and the Immaculate Conception School Avere founded in Providence, and now have a large enrollment. The remainder of the twenty-nine parochial schools, with the year in which they were founded is as follows : Academy of the Sacred Heart, Providence, 1872 ; La SaUe Academy, 1872 ; St. Mary's Academy, Providence, 1873 ; St. Mary's Seminary, East Provi dence, 1874; St. Patrick's school, Cumberland, 1878; Cleary Grammar School, Providence, 1879; St. Edward's, Providence, 1881; Convent of Jesus and Mary, Woonsocket, 1884; St. Joseph's, Pawtucket, 1887; 35 386 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. St. John's, Pawtucket, 1886; St. Charles, Providence, 1886; St. John the Baptist, Warwick, 1889; Sacred Heart, Pawtucket, 1890; Tyler School, Providence, 1890; Hazard Memorial, Newport, 1891; St. Mary's, Pawtucket, 1891; St. Theresa's, Providence, 1891; Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Central Falls, 1892 ; St. James 's, Lincoln, 1893 ; Joseph G. Paquette 's school, Warwick, 1895 ; Our Lady of Consolation, Pawtucket, 1896. The position in the educational system of the State occupied by the parochial schools is well knovsm. They are treated in aU respects by the authorities in a broad spirit of liberality. :^ (^?:CzZ^ The Sea Trade and Its Development. CHAPTER IV. THE SEA TRADE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT. The original settlers, both at Providence and Rhode Island, were obliged to devote most of their energy to tilling the soil. Necessity compelled this course, as in all the settlements in America which suc ceeded in perpetuating their existence, since the first consideration was the securing of food, and the main supply could be obtained only from the soil. As a result, in the language of the times, the great majority of the American colonists were "planters". Under these circumstances, it, vs'as with peculiar fitness that the settlement at the head of Narragansett Bay by Roger Williams and his associates was named "Providence Plantations." Some of the planters in the four original settlements on Narragan sett Bay were probably familiar with seafaring life, as they had lived in English seaports and had "gone down to the sea in ships". Even if none of them were actually sailors, some must have known how to sail boats and small vessels and to engage in fishing. Their experi ence in the Massachusetts colony before coming to the shores of the Narragansett must have given them such knowledge even if they had not previously secured it by their life in England. Such limited skill as the settlers had thus obtained in seafaring came into immediate usefulness. As there Avere no highways, but only Indian paths or trails through the woods, the best, most direct and easiest way of reaching the other settlements on the bay Avas by water ; and the land locked Narragansett afforded unequaled opportunities for safe water communication. The Providence and Rhode Island settlers from the beginning made constant use of this means of communication and their resulting familiarity with navigation, acquired in the course of gen erations, culminated in their becoming a seafaring people to a much greater extent than any of their neighbors. At first the settlers Avere not very venturesome on the water. When the first General Assembly under the Parliamentary Charter was held at Portsmouth May 18, 1647, the town of Providence, in the instruc- 390 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. • tions to its representatives, said: "Desiring the Lord's Pro-vidence for your safe arrival there ... we commit you unto the protection and direction of the Almighty, wishing you a comfortable voyage, a happy success and a safe return unto us again." The trip was evi dently considered dangerous. It is supposed that it was made in canoes, and that the representatives "worked their passage at the paddles."^ As a further evidence that the facilities for travel were very limited it is related that Roger Williams, then seventy-three years of age, on August 8, 1672, rowed from Providence to Newport in a canoe, to engage in a religious discussion with George Pox, the Quaker apostle. Williams was all day in making the trip and did not arrive in Newport until near midnight. Much to. his disappointment Pox had gone, but the debate was held Avith two of his disciples and lasted three days. It was probably on this trip down the bay that Roger WilUams ob served that the coast line had been cleared of woods. While the English were the first white colonists to settle on Narra gansett Bay, the Dutch had preceded them as traders. In 1625 the Dutch West India Company secured a title from the Indians to the small island in the west passage of Narragansett Bay, between the mainland and Conanicut Island, and there established a trading post under the superintendence of Abraham Pietersen. Prom this fact the island has always been knoAAm as Dutch Island. It has one of the best harbors on the coast and is now a favorite haven for coasting vessels. The Dutch traders and sailors were evidently men of inteUigence and good judgment. Besides their post on the island the Dutch also had two fortified trading posts on the south shore within the Unfits of the present territory of Charlestown. The first merchandise exported from Rhode Island was probably lumber. By a Newport enactment in 1639-40 prices "were fixed at eight shillings the hundred for sawed boards, seven shillings for half inch boards delivered at the mill, and one shilling a foot for clapboards and fencing, ' ' and the cutting or exporting of timber AAdthout a license was forbidden. About the same time a ship load of pipe staves and clapboards was sent from Portsmouth. In 1646 a ship of 150 tons was built at Rhode Island for the New Haven colony. At this period Providence does not seem to have engaged in trading to any extent. On account of the controversies with the neighboring English colo nies in regard to territorial jurisdiction, the Rhode Island colonies, 'Staples's Annals, pp. 62-64. The Sea Trade and Its Deatelopment. 391 because of the jealousy and hostUity so engendered, had little or no trade Avith Massachusetts and Connecticut during the early years of their history. In order to supply their necessary wants, a trade Avith the Dutch at Manhattan was established, and in 1642 the governor and deputy of the tAvo Rhode Island colonies of Nevsrport and Ports mouth were instructed to "treat with the governor of the Dutch to supply us with necessaries and take of our commodities at such rates as may be suitable".^ This trade increased until in 1652 it had at tained considerable proportions, and social relations had thereby been so promoted that a number of marriages had resulted. The friendly feelings existing between the Dutch and the Rhode Island colonies and growing out of their reciprocal trade were exem- pUfied during the war between England and HoUand from 1651 to 1654. Trade seems to have gone on about as usual, both colonies ignoring to a great extent the war carried on by their respective gov ernments. The Rhode Island Assembly in 1652 voted that the presi dent of the colony be instructed to notify the governor of Manhattan, Peter Stuyvesant, that Rhode Island forbade the Dutch to trade vsdth the Indians within her boundaries. In May, 1653, after having been notified by the home government to annoy the Dutch, the Rhode Island Assembly (Newport and Portsmouth) "ordered that no provisions should be sent to the Dutch ; that each plantation should prepare for its defense; and that no seizures of Dutch property should be made in the name of the colony wdthout a commission from the General Court ".^ The next day the Island Assembly granted three privateer commissions, but in June, Providence and Warwick protested against this action. Nevertheless Captain Edward Hull, who held one of these commissions, captured a French ship in August, but this action was claimed by the Massachusetts colony to be unlawful. The Rhode Island privateers commissioned to operate against the Dutch were evidently not very particular so long as they secured prizes. Capt. George Baxter, under a commission from the Island tovsTns, captured a Massachusetts vessel in Hempstead, Connecticut, and this action resulted in much correspondence and negotiation, but the owner of the captured vessel does not seem to have obtained any redress. Cap tain Baxter also captured a Dutch vessel and carried it into Fairfield Harbor, where he is said to have been blockaded by Peter Stujrvesant, governor of New Amsterdam, with two war vessels. The records do 'Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 155. 'Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 245. 392 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. not disclose what the outcome of this adventure was. This appears to have been up to this time the only overt act against the Dutch, and the indications are that the prize was returned. The Rhode Island colonists were evidently not very strenuous in opposition to their friends, the Dutch, but would rather harass the French, or their coun trymen of the neighboring colonies, against Avhom they had many grounds of offense. Some plausibiUty is given to this view by the action of the General Assembly, May, 1654, in which the four colonies were all represented, when "some men were examined on a charge of illegal trading with the Dutch, and another commission of reprisal was granted against the enemy ".^ The law prohibiting trading A\dth the Dutch Avas repealed at the close of the war, but some "laAvless per sons", claiming to have commissions from Rhode Island, had been seizing Dutch goods and vessels. These outrages were denounced by the General Assembly in 1658, as felonious. These were the first instances of privateering by the Narragansett Bay colonies. The Royal Commission, appointed in 1664, to determine questions of appeal and jurisdiction and to settle boundary disputes between the colonies, reported in 1665 that Narragansett Bay was "the largest and safest port in New England, nearest the sea and fittest for trade. "^ Newport and Rhode Island in the beginning had practically all the commerce, but there is evidence that Providence sent out in these early years some goods to far away places, as the following document proves : "Shipped aboard the Providence of Pequitt, for Christover Almy, Ralph Parker, master, for Newfoundland, forty-nine roles of tobacco, one hogshead of floure and thirteene bushells of pease the hog: marked with C. A., which goodes are to pay after the rate of fifty shil lings the tun as also fifty shillings for his passage, and are to be deUv ered at Newfoundland safe and Avell, all danger of the seas excepted, dated the first of June, 1652. A true coppie. John Smith. "^ To the early colonists the fisheries Avere an important source of food 'Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 250. 'Rhode Island Colonial Records, vol. 2, p. 127-129. 'Early Records Town of Providence, vol. xv, p. 76. Town paper 065. There is an account of a lawsuit in the Early Records of the Town of Provi dence, in regard to a quantity of liquor hrought on this vessel from New foundland. The parties to the suit were John Smith, merchant of Warwick, and William Almy, father of "Christover." It was one of the earliest suits at law in the town of Providence and became of such consequence that a special act was passed by the town, founding a legal process, for AVilliam Almy to prosecute the suit in behalf of his son, who was a minor. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 393 supply, and had been so utilized from the beginning, on the rivers as well as on the bay. When famine Avas imminent in 1639-40 a "general assembly of the freemen" at Newport voted that "all the sea banks were declared free for fishing".^ Equal freedom was thus granted to all inhabitants of the colony to fish in the waters of the bay, and this right was perpetuated, and extended to include the shores likewise, by the King Charles II. Charter of 1663. The language of the charter is : " But that they and every or any of them, shall have full and free power and ability to continue and use the trade of fishing upon the said coast, in any of the seas thereunto adjoining, or in any arms of the seas, or salt water, rivers and creeks, where they have been accustomed to fish; and to build and set upon the waste land belonging to said colony and plantation such wharves, stages and workhouses as shall be i necessary for the salting, drying and keeping of their fish to be taken or gotten upon that coast. ' ' Under this provision of the charter the rights to the fisheries were interpreted to mean that not only could fish be taken from the waters by line and net, but the shores beloAV high water mark were free to all to secure every kind of shell fish that abounded there ; and further, that all the people had the right of access to and along the shore in order to avail themselves of these privileges. These shore and fishing rights had a great influence in developing the spirit of liberty ; they also furnished opportunity for the inhabitants to practice seamanship while making use bf a fine natural opportunity to earn a living ; and as a result they helped to school the commercial community and the hardy seamen Avho made the subsequent commerce possible. The early interest of Newport in seafaring was manifested by the fact that the first General Assembly under the Parliamentary Charter . adopted, in 1641, the Sea Laws of Oleron "for the benefit of the sea men upon the island," and t-jifo water bailies, John Cooke and Thomas Brownell, Avere appointed to see to their enforcement. At the same timean anchor Avas adopted as the seal of the colony. While it does not appear that a custom house was at this time established, duties were imposed upon all foreign goods except beaver, and foreigners were prohibited from trading with the Indians. A very good idea is given of the mercantile and commercial status of the Narragansett Bay colonies in the reply of Governor Peleg San ford, May 8, 1680, to the inquiries of the "Lords of His Majesties Most Honorable Privy Council, appointed a committee for Trade and For eign Plantations," and commonly known as the t^B*fi$of Trade. The portions of the reply covering these points were: 'Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 143. 394 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. "Our coast is Uttle frequented and not at all at this time with priva teers or pirates. "As for Forreihners and Indians, we have no commerce vsdth, but as for our neighbouringe English, wee have and shaU endeavour to keepe a good correspondency with them. "The principal town for trade in our CoUoney is the Towne of Newport. "Wee have several good harbors in the CoUoney of very good depth and soundinge, navigable for any shippinge. ' ' The principall matters that are exported amongst us, is Horses and provisions, and the goods chiefily imported is a small quantity of Barbadoes goods for supply for our familyes. "AVee have several! men that deale in buyinge and sellinge although they cannot properly be called Merchants, and for Planters wee con- ceave there are about five hundred and about five hundred men besides. "As for Merchants wee have none, but the most of our CoUoney Uve comfortably by improving the wilderness. "Wee have no shipping belonginge to our CoUoney, but only a few sloopes. ' ' The great obstruction coneerninge trade is the want of Merchants and Men of considerable Estates amongst us. ' ' A fishinge trade might prove very beneficiall provided accordinge to the former artickle there were men of considerable Estates amongst us and wiUing to propagate it. "As for goodes exported and imported, which is very little, there is no Custome imposed."^ Thus after the lapse of nearly half a century the colonies on Narra gansett Bay were still communities of "planters", vsdth little wealth but great opportunities in their possession. Their people had already received a training in the limited commerce to the Barbadoes and in the local trade with the neighboring colonies of English and Dutch that enabled them in the next generation to branch out into a considerable commerce. Although, as had been stated in Governor Sanford 's replies to the Board of Trade, Newport was the principal town for trade in the col ony, the people of Providence nov^ began to move in this direction. While the town had a good harbor, it had no docks or wharves, and such small vessels as occasionally came to the port were loaded or unloaded Avith great difficulty. The first wharf was built by Pardon Tillinghast, who was granted, January 2, 1679-80, by the tovsm meeting a "spott of land twenty ffoot square" on which to erect a warehouse, with "ye privilege of wharf alsoe".^ The location Avas opposite his 'Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 448. ''Early Records Town of Providence, vol. viii, p. 62. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 395 house and was near the foot of the present Transit street. In the next few years other citizens were granted similar priAdleges. They all likewise built wharves and warehouses on the shore and on the water side of the town street. Those who thus prepared for seafaring trade were Arthur Fenner, who obtained authority from the towm meeting, July 5, 1680; Thomas Harris, March 11, 1680-81; Samuel Winsor, Samuel Whipple, Thomas Hopkins, April 27, 1681 ; Zachariah Field, December 7, 1681 ; Providence Williams, January 27, 1681-2 ; Peter Place, March 13, 1681-2 ; Ephraim Pray and John Whipple, jr., July 17, 1681. Other applicants were George Sheppard, April 27, 1680; Thomas OUiey and Thomas Olney, jr., February 10, 1681-2; James Ashton and Daniel Abbott, jr., in 1703-4. If all these "proprie tors" built wharves and warehouses, as it is quite likely they did, there must have resulted quite a boom in the commercial facilities of the place, and its appearance was changed from that of a seaside vil lage with only moorings for vessels, to that of a seaport with a dozen or more wharves with warehouses thereon and narrow docks between. By the end of the century the wharves and warehouses had increased. A trade Avas maintained to the West Indies and to the other colonies, and the principal merchants were Pardon Tillinghast and Gideon Crawford. A custom house was established at Newport, March, 1681, by order of the Governor and Council, in order to carry out the provisions of a royal edict requiring the enforcement of the navigation acts. Every vessel above forty tons burthen was to pay a bond of six shiUings and all those of less tonnage two shillings and sixpence. The maximum size of the vessels then employed in the Newport seafaring trade is thus demonstrated by this enactment to have been forty tons. This ordinance of the Governor and Council was confirmed by the General Assembly in 1682, and the custom house continued to be maintained at Newport— making it the port of entry for all Narragansett Bay ports— until the Revolution. To increase the revenue of the colony the General Assembly passed an act, in 1696, imposing a duty upon all foreign wines, liquors and molasses imported into the colony. The duty on molasses was a half penny a gallon. During King William's War, in 1690, a tonnage duty of one shilling per ton was laid upon all vessels from the colonies that should break bulk in Newport, and the revenue thus derived was to be used to maintain a powder magazine on Rhode Island. The General Assembly, held at Providence, October, 1698, passed an act regulating the sizes of casks and barrels in which provisions were 396 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. packed and shipped and gaugers were appointed in each port to carry out the provisions of the law. This would indicate that the trade in the export of food stuffs was increasing. In Providence the interests of the "planters" were yet of sufficient importance to be considered before those of the merchants. The tOAvn meeting voted, July 27, 1704, that no more warehouse lots should be granted" along the water side by the town street" from the town wharf, near the present Crawford street, unto North Main street, near the present Arsenal lane, for the reason that the building of such wharves ^would prevent the cattle, Avhich were in the habit of swimming across, from making a safe landing, and would also interfere vrith the passage and landing of boats and the fording of the stream. This land along .shore Avas, according to the vote, to be common for the use of all the people, and Weybosset Neck on the west side was likewise to be com mon. The demand for shipping facilities, however, continued to be manifested, and was probably responsible for the law passed by the General Assembly, May 28, 1707, which gave to all the towns such control of their own shores in "rivers, coves and other waters", as was necessary, in order "to promote trade and navigation by building wharA'es and warehouses thereon. ' '^ The replies made at various times to the inquiries of the British Board of Trade present facts and figures that show the constant devel opment of the colony's commerce. Gov. Samuel Cranston reported December 5, 1708, that the annual exports to England by way of Bos ton amounted to £20,000 ; that the principal direct trade was to the West Indies ; and that during the preceding twenty years, because of the love the youth of Rhode Island had for the sea, shipping had ^ increased sixfold. The report goes on to explain that the Avhole island (Rhode Island) was already taken up by small farms, so that the young men were obliged to take to the sea. The claim was also made that only tA^'o or three of the colony vessels had ever been taken in war, because they were so "light and sharp . . . that very few of the enemy's privateers, in a gale of wind will run or outsail one of our loaded vessels ' '. Eighty-four vessels of all sizes had been built in the colony within eleven years, twenty-nine vessels were at this time o-wned in the colony, all of them but two or three hailing from Newport and the number of native seamen Avas 140. The next report to the Board of Trade, made in November, 1731, by Gov. Joseph Jenckes, shows that great strides had been made in 'Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 2, p. 29. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 397 the commercial development. In 1721 the shipping consisted of sixty small vessesls of a total burthen of 3,500 tons. This was a notable increase from 1708. In 1731, however, the colony's merchant fleet amounted to 5,000 tons, and consisted of two ships, a few brigs and many sloops, manned by 400 sailors. "Most of the supplies were received from Boston, but two vessels annually arrived from England, as many from Holland and the Mediterranean, and ten or twelve from the West Indies. The articles of export comprised horses, live-stock, logwood, lumber, fish, and the products of the field and the dairy, and amounted to £10,000 sterling annually. ' '^ Ten years later, 1740-1, according to the report made by Gov. Richard Ward to the Board of Trade, the shipping of the colony con sisted of 120 vessels employed in trading to the West Indies, Africa, Europe, and along the coast. "Seven or eight were employed in direct trade with England, heretofore chiefly conducted by Boston merchants. ' '^ Gov. Stephen Hopkins, in his memorial to the Lords of Trade in 1764, reported that "for the past year there were 184 foreign clear ances to Europe, Africa and the West Indies, and 352 vessels engaged in the coast trade and fisheries, employing an aggregate of 2,200 sea men".^ The report said further: "Of the foreign vessels, 150 are annually employed in the West India trade, which import into this colony about 14,000 hogsheads of molasses, whereof a quantity not less than 2,500 hogsheads is from English islands. It is this quantity of molasses which serves as one engine in the hands of the merchants to effect the great purpose of paying for British manufactures, for a part of it is exported to the Massachusetts Bay, to New York and Pennsylvania to pay for British goods, for provisions, and many arti cles which compose our West India cargoes ; and part to other colonies southward of these last mentioned, for such commodities as serve for a remittance immediately to Europe, such as rice, naval stores, etc., or such as are necessary to enable us to carry on our commerce. The remainder (besides what is consumed by the inhabitants) is distilled into rum and exported to Africa." This great development in commerce culminated at the time of the Revolution. Newport was the chief port in the colony, had more than twice the population of Providence, and the larger part of the com- ' Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 2, p. 106. 'Idem, vol. 2, p. 130. ^Idem, vol. 2, p. 248. 398 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. merce was carried on by the Newport merchants. Although Providence Avas sloAvly gaining in importance as a port, it had always in relation to Newport been a center of the ' ' planter ' ' or farming interests. At the height of its prosperity, about 1769, Newport had a population of over 11,000 ; manufactories of oil, candles, sugar, rum and hemp were car ried on ; nearly 200 vessels were engaged in foreign commerce ; there were between three and four hundred coasting vessels saiUng from the port and a line of packets traded direct to London. This Avas a wonderful growth and is not surpassed by the record of any of the other colonies in America. In 1680 there was "no ship ping, but only a few sloops." By 1708 a direct trade to the West Indies had grown up ; the shipping had in twenty years increased six fold ; the exports to England through Boston were £20,000, while ship building had greatly increased so that eighty-four vessels had been launched in eleven years. When 1721 arrived the amount of shipping had been doubled ; in 1731 it was three times greater than in 1708, the West India trade had largely increased and a direct trade vrith Eng land and Holland had been started. Along these lines the progress continued up to the time of the Revolution, and both the foreign and coastAvise trade constantly increased. Providence and Newport be came busy seaports, and in their retail shops during the middle years of the eighteenth century could be found goods of every description from nearly every part of the globe, brought into the ports by their own vessels. This commercial growth was very largely accelerated by the practice ^ of privateering, which grew out of the frequent wars waged by Eng land against Prance, Spain and Holland. In fact, privateering at times was almost the most important, as it was frequently the most profitable, of the ventures of the colonial merchants, and in the Ught of the times and circumstances it was legitimate "business", no more reprehensible to our ancestors than some of our "financial" operations are to us. Its effect on the evolution of commerce was very important, and the development of fair and equitable trade cannot be fuUy ex plained vrithout taking this legalized robbery, Avith its attendant piracy, into consideration. Another infiuence that exerted great force on the growth and direc tion of the colonial trade and commerce was the naAdgation laAS's. These Avere intended for the protection and benefit of English trade, but the hardy, self-wiUed, aggressive and independent colonists evaded and ignored them to a great extent. The governmental history of the later colonial period is largely a record of attempts to coerce the colo- The Sea Trade and Its Deatelopment. 399 nist by all sorts of measures to obey these laws. While trade was by this operation obstructed in a measure, it is a question whether the colonists were not thereby given a training that resulted greatly to their advantage in the struggle for independence which followed. During this same period— from the beginning of the eighteenth century until near its close— the importation of blacks from Africa, to be sold as slaves in America, was considered as legitimate as any other kind of trading and was participated in by Christian nations and humane merchants. The foundations of many great family for tunes, both in Europe and America, were laid by means of the slave trade. It was only after the inhumanity of the traffic, as exemplified by the horrors of the ' ' middle passage ' ', had been observed and com mented upon, that the consciences of men were aroused so that in quite recent times the traffic was abolished. During the period of the eighteenth century preceding the Revolution, the slave trade gradually became one of the chief branches of the commerce of the colonies on Narragansett Bay, and the vessels sailing from Providence, Bristol, Warwick or Newport to the West Indies often brought back slaves as part of their return cargo. Rhode Island vessels also traded direct with the coast of Africa, and disposed of their human freight in the West Indies or the Southern colonies. The building of ships was begun on Rhode Island vsdthin a very few years after the settlement had been made. Although no definite records prove that any considerable amount of shipbuilding was done previous to 1700, yet the probabilities are that such small craft, sloops chiefiy, as were used in the local trade with the Dutch and with the neighbor ing English colonies were built on Rhode Island and at Providence. In Governor Cranston 's reply to the Board of Trade in 1708 the state ment is made that in the eleven years previous to that date, eighty- four vessels of aU sizes had been built in the colony, and of these the larger part evidently had been built for other colonies, as only twenty-nine were then owned in this colony. The business of shipbuilding un doubtedly kept pace with the growth of shipping, and the people on Narragansett Bay not only built their ovsm vessels, but they supplied their neighbors. References in town records show that on many of the coves and har bors on the bay vessels were built during the early and middle years of the eighteenth century. At Providence, in 1711, Nathaniel Brovsm, who had been building vessels at Bullock's Cove, was granted, by vote of the toAAm meeting, two half acres of ground on Weybosset Neck ' ' so long as he shall use it for building vessels ' '. This location is now in 400 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. the most central part of the city of Providence, on part of the space fronting on Washington Row, Exchange Place and Exchange Street. V' ' The vessels built here were sloops and schooners, the largest of which were of some sixty tons burthen. They carried the colonial exports to the West Indies and the Spanish main, and even to the coast of Africa".^ The schooner was a new rig, an American invention, and the first one is said to have been launched at Gloucester, Mass., in 1714. In the middle years of the century at Providence the most of the ship building was done on the Mosshassuck River above the present Smith street. ' ' Ships, brigs and schooners were built here to serve in the foreign commerce of Providence and as privateers in the Spanish war".^ At this same period there was also a shipyard at Fox HiU. About 1750 Sylvester Bowers, a ship carpenter from Somerset, Mass., AA'here he had probably carried on his industry on the Taunton River, located at Pawtucket and began the building of ships on the east side of the river a short distance below the falls. He was the builder of the Providence, one of two frigates built in ProAddence in 1776, by order of the Continental Congress, and Benjamin Tallman was the master carpenter of the other one, the Warren. Whether Sylvester Bowers built the Providence at his own yard in Pawtucket or in one of the Providence yards is not known. He, however, in his Pawtucket yard must have built many of the privateers and vessels engaged in the foreign trade of the colony. A brigantine, to be used as a slave trader, Avas built at Warren in 1747. The first importation of slaves into Rhode Island was in 1696, when the brigantine Seaflower, Thomas Windsor master, brought forty-seven negroes from Africa, of whom fourteen were sold in the colony at £30 to £35 apiece, and the others Avere carried by land to Boston, where the owners of the vessel lived. In 1700 three slavers, a ship and two sloops, sailed from Newport for Africa. The ship was commanded by EdAvin Carter, who was part owner in the three vessels, and two Bar badoes merchants, Thomas Bruster and John Bates, who were likewise owners, sailed with the expedition. No negro slaves arrived in Rhode Island from Africa between 1698 and December 25, 1707. At this time the slaves received in the colony were brought in from Barba does to the number of from twenty to thirty annually, and were sold at from £30 to £40 each. The General Assembly, in February, 1707-8, imposed a duty of £3 on each negro imported in the colony. This law 'Providence Plantations, p. 50. ^Idem. p. 54. The Sea Trade and Its Deatelopment. 401 was successively amended in 1712 and 1715. The revenue from this source must have been considerable, as, in 1717, £100 was appropriated for paving Newport's streets, while in 1729 one-half went toward that same purpose and the remainder to repairing bridges on the main land. By order of the king, because it interfered with the success of the trade, this law was repealed by the Assembly in May, 1732. In the early years of the eighteenth century nearly every vessel returning to Newport from the West Indies brought a few slaves, who were either disposed of at home, or sold and sent to other colonies. The vessels engaged in the traffic were sloops, brigantines, schooners and snows, of forty or fifty tons burthen, the largest of which were about sixty feet beam, ten feet deep in the hold and three feet ten inches between decks. In these restricted quarters the slaves were confined, and because of the unsanitary conditions resulting, the mortality was great on extended voyages. In later years, when the trade was at its height, this space was in many of the slavers not above three feet three inches and the horrors of the voyages were intensified for the captives. From the time of the repeal of the duty on imported slaves, in 1732, Rhode Island seems to have sent ships directly to Africa after negroes. Gov. Stephen Hopkins stated ' ' that for more than thirty years prior to 1764, Rhode Island sent to the coast [Africa] annually, eighteen ves sels, carrying 1,800 hogsheads of rum. The commerce in rum and slaves afforded about £40,000 per annum for remittance from Rhode Island to Great Britain ' '.^ The rum was manufactured in New Eng land in all the principal places, and Newport in 1739 was largely en gaged in its distillation. The traffic in rum and slaves was, it may be said, carried on along a triangular course. The rum was shipped from New England and exchanged for slaves and gold dust on the Guinea coast in Africa ; the slaves Avere sold in the West Indies and in the Southern colonies and the vessels returned with a cargo of molasses, which was converted into rum that in turn was used to buy slaves. In these transactions enormous profits Avere made. Newport, in 1769, had twenty-two dis tilleries, and is said to have been the principal slave port and mart in" New England, both in tUe middle and the latter part of the eighteenth century; forty or fifty vessels were engaged in the traffic and nearly all her merchants were interested. ' ' During this period Bristol also became noted as a slave port, and Capt. Simeon Potter, one of her 'Rhode Island Col. Rec. vi, 380. 36 402 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. famous slave traders, flourished about 1764 ; but before this, by 1755, the trade to Rhode Island had begun to fail. ' '^ The demand for rum by the slavers was so great that sometimes they could not be supplied. In 1752 Capt. Isaac Freeman wanted to get a cargo of rum and molasses at Newport to ship on a coasting sloop, within five weeks, but his correspondent Avrote that he could not be supplied in three months, as "there are so many vessels loading for Guinea we can't get one hogshead of rum for the cash". The slavers that went thus equipped to the African coast were knovsm as "rum vessels". No other commodity was accepted so readily in exchange for negroes, and some traders who had taken dry goods found it diffi cult to secure slaves in return for such wares. The African Slave Trade had been a monopoly of the Royal African Company previous to 1698, but in that year it was throvsm open to all British merchants for a term of fourteen years. At the expiration of this time, in 1712, on the demands of the merchants the trade was allowed to continue open. At the close of Queen Anne 's War, in 1713, "The Assiento, a contract with the old French Guinea Company for furnishing Spanish-America Avith negro slaves, which had been in operation for eleven years, was conveyed to the English by the treaty of Utrecht and consigned to the South Sea Company, who thereby agreed to land 4,800 slaves annually for thirty years, or 144,000 Afri cans in the New World. By this treaty England became the great slave trader of Christendom, and from the spoils of African humanity perpetuated the system of bondage over both Americas ' '.^ Under this contract during the thirty years about 30,000 negroes were taken from Africa annually as against 15,000 annually for the previous twenty years by the Spaniards. Probably during these thirty years from 1713 to 1743, the number of Africans imported into the Spanish and English colonies in America by the South Sea Company, as well as by the Brit ish and colonial merchants, must have amounted to about two miUions. In this traffic the ships and merchants of the Narragansett Bay colonies took a leading part, and great wealth was thereby secured. ' ' At the time of this treaty London and Bristol were the slave-ship ports of England and Newport was the chief one in America. ' " When the colonists AA^ere agitating for their own liberties, a feeling arose that the importation of slaves was inconsistent Arith their aspira- ' Slavery in Rhode Island by -William D. Johnston, R. I. Historical Society Quarterly, July, 1894, p. 125. ••'Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 2, p. 48. *The American Slave Trade, p. 17. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 403 tions for freedom. In deference to this feeling a bill was introduced in the General Assembly, in 1770, which proposed to prohibit the bringing of slaves into the colony, but it failed to pass. A similar bill was enacted into law in 1774 ; but while it probably greatly lessened the general importation of slaves into the colony, it did not wholly prevent the local slave trade, for it expressly permitted slaves brought-* from the West Indies to be exported within one year. The Rhode Island merchants still continued to employ their vessels in the traffic^ and sold their cargoes in the West Indies and the Southern ports, where the demand Avas good and constantly increasing. That the importation of slaves into the State had never wholly ceased is made evident by the fact that the law against slavery and the slave trade, passed by the General Assembly in 1784, stated that ' ' the introduction of slaves for sale, upon any pretext whatever, was forbidden". While the slave trade was thus finally banished from Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, the capital of the merchants of the State and their vessels continued to be actively engaged in the traffic until 1808, when the United States Congress prohibited the importation of slaves. The Continental Congress, in 1774, had recommended the abolition of the slave trade, but nothing definite Avas done until after the adoption of the constitution. As a result of the growing abolition sentiment, the first national law against the slave trade was passed March 22, 1794. This was a very inefficient enactment, and in the opinion of a well-known authority on the subject, "it never injured the slavers to the extent of a dollar". A more stringent law was passed in 1800. During the course of the debate preceding the passage of this law, John Brown, of Providence, then a congressman from this State, said: "We want money; we want a navy; we ought therefore ' to use the means to obtain it. . . . Why should we see Great Brit ain getting all the slave trade to themselves— why may not our country be enriched by that lucrative traffic ? "^ These sentiments from a lead ing merchant undoubtedly represented the opinions held by his con stituents. The establishing of the cotton manufacture in England and New England, and the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, had given a great impetus to cotton planting in the Southern States, had created a great demand for slave labor, and had made it very profit able. On the other hand, under the economic conditions at the north, slave labor could not there be employed to advantage. Consequently 'The American Slave Trade, p. 116. 404 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. the attitude of mind in each section grew primarily out of the respec tive self-interest of the two sections. The Northern States gradually abolished slavery ; the Southern States just as steadily encouraged it. In order to provide labor for the cotton fields, South CaroUna repealed a laAV on her statute book prohibiting the importation of slaves and opened her ports to the traffic in 1804. "They remained open four years and during that period 202 A^essels with nearly 40,000 negroes on board entered the harbor of Charleston". A great many slaves were also smuggled into the Southern States by the New England traders. The extent to which the Rhode Island merchants were engaged in the slave trade during the early years of the nineteenth century was curiously brought out in a debate in the United States Senate in 1820. By that time the sentiment against slavery had become especially active in the North, and the Missouri Compromise passed by Congress was, as its title indicated, a veritable compromise between the opposing sentiments of the North and South. Judge Smith, senator from South CaroUna, in a speech delivered before the Senate in that year, said that the anti-slavery opinions expressed by the Northern senators and representatives could not be the sentiments of the Rhode Island people, as they had just elected James De Wolf as a senator, and "he ^ had made an immense fortune by the slave trade". Of the 202 vessels that brought slaves into Charleston between 1804 and 1808 ten and their cargoes belonged to James De Wolf. According to Judge Smith's figures, in these four years, of the 202 vessels, 59 belonged in Rhode Island, and of the consignees of the slavers, "88 were natives of Rhode Island, 13 of Charleston, 10 of Prance and 91 of Great Brit- ain". The total number of slaves imported by the Rhode Island ves- >>iSels was 8,238, of which Bristol was credited with 3,914, NcAvport 3,488, Providence 556, and Warren 280. Slave trading, as has thus been shown, was from the beginning of that traffic one of the most important branches of the commerce of Rhode Island. In fact, Newport was the leading slave port and mart during the eighteenth century, and she disposed of the slaves chiefly in the West Indies, where they were employed on the plantations. After the Revolution Newport did not retain the same rank in the trade, but her merchants still employed their ships and capital therein, disposing of the slaves in the southern ports. Bristol likevrise engaged in the business, and under the direction of James De Wolf outstripped Newport. Evidently Providence never was very active in this trade ; some of her ships were, in the colonial period, engaged in it, as well as The Sea Trade and Its Deatelopment. 405 afterward, but the particulars are not knoAvn, and the existence of the traffic is only proved by such sidelights as that thrown by Senator Smith's statistics and by circumstantial evidence. Although somewhat out of its chronological sequence, Rhode Island's connection with the slave trade has here been presented con secutively in order to give a clear view, if possible, of its influence on the general commercial development. While her merchants took part in this trade when it was considered legitimate commerce, there is no evidence that Rhode Island ships or capital were engaged in it when it became an outlawed traffic, and when the enormities that are usually associated in the minds of men with the slave trade became possible. In connection with this subject the following quotation is especially appropriate : "In 1808 the African slave trade Avas prohibited by law, and very shortly after that time the leading nations of the world united to suppress it. But because it immediately became more profitable than it ever had been before, men still continued to engage in it. Then came the 'horrors of the middle passage,' the recital of which even now curdles the blood. The old, easy going and comparatively comfortable vessels of former years were abandoned because unsuited to the changed conditions of the business. Ships built only for speed took their place. Into their shallow holds hundreds of human beings were remorselessly thrust, and over the stifling mass inhuman owners did not hesitate to shut the hatches whenever the dreaded men of war came in sight. "^ The infiuence of privateering on the development of commerce has already been alluded to. The first instance of this form of enter prise, Avhieh afterAvards became one of the most important of the col ony's maritime activities, occurred during the war with the Dutch, in the middle of the seventeenth century. Arnold says that in 1683 "privateers began to infest the seas, and often resorted to the Ameri can coast, where the laxity in regard to the acts of trade favored their unlawful operations." These vessels were in reality pirates, but some of them held commissions from English colonies, while others claimed to sail under such authority. The Island of Jamaica was then the headquarters of these proceedings, but the Rhode Island colonies"^ were undoubtedly sympathetic, as Avas manifest when, in that year. Governor Coddington refused to aid the deputy collector of customs Avho had come from Boston to NeAvport to make a prize of a privateer which had there arrived from Jamaica. As the home government 'Munro's History of Bristol, p. 351-3. 406 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. was not then at Avar Avith any of the other European powers, there was no justification for fitting out privateers in the colonies. Accordingly an order in council was sent from England to Jamaica and the New England colonies, directing them to pass laws against privateering and piracy. Such an act was passed by the Assembly at Newport in 1684. This act made it a "felony to serve under any foreign prisice against any power at peace with England, vrithout special license".^ Evidently some of the citizens of the colony had been engaged— probably in foreign vessels— in these enterprises, which might either be designated as privateering or piratical. Governor Sanford had replied to the inquiries of the Board of Trade, in 1680, "that our coast is little frequented, and not at all at this time by privateers or pi rates ", but judging from Arnold's statement and from this law, passed four years later, the conditions had changed. During King William's war between England and France, from 1689 to 1697, privateering increased greatly. In fact, it was the im petus given to a seafaring activity at this period that enabled the Nar ragansett colonies to get a good start on their career of commercial development. In 1690 seven French privateers captured Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Block Island, and committed many acts of cruelty and depredation at other points along the coast. Two sloops, AAdth about ninety men under command of Capt. Thomas Paine, Arith Capt. John Godfrey as second in authority, were sent out from New port against the French, and in a battle at Block Island with five of the French vessels, won a signal victory. The Rhode Island men lost only one man kiUed and six wounded, while the French, who num bered 200, lost about half their force. This is said to have been "the first victory of Rhode Island upon the open ocean", and it certainly gave the citizens of Newport a confidence in their ovsm prowess that. induced them to engage in the profitable warlike pursuit of privateer ing. A Rhode Island privateer, in 1696, captured, off the banks of Newfoundland, a vessel which had two years prcAdously been the Peh- can, a Boston vessel bound to London, but had been captured and fitted out by the French as a privateer. The privateers at this time did not clearly distinguish between the vessels of an enemy and those of a friendly or neutral power. Some times, indeed, they attacked and captured merchantmen flying the flag of their own country, thereby, even in the lax judgment of the time, being guilty of piracy. In order to prevent these illegal acts the Gen- 'Arnold's Hist, of R. I., vol. 1, pp. 469, 478. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 407 'eral Assembly, in 1696, "ordered that no new commissions should be granted without a bond of £1,000 not to exceed the powers therein conferred". Edward Randolph, the surveyor- general of customs, in a letter at this period to the Board of Trade, made the charge that the persons in authority in the colony were in league with pirates, and that privateer commissions had been issued irregularly. There seems to have been some foundation for these charges. After the close of King William's Avar, in 1697, many of the priva teers which had been preying on French commerce "had become open pirates". In response to the demand of the home government the Rhode Island Assembly, in May, 1698, passed a laAV dealing with this condition of affairs, which required the arrest of suspected pirates or of persons having foreign coin or merchandise in their possession for which they could not account satisfactorily. This action of the colony was communicated to the Board of Trade in a letter from Governor Cranston. Later, in the same year, the Board of Trade demanded that copies of all privateering commissions be sent to England, togeth er with "an account of the trials of Munday and Cutler, who had been arrested for exceeding the powers granted in their commis sions. ' ' At this time occurred the celebrated affair of Captain Kidd, which is of interest in connection herewith, because of his relations with Rhode Island people, and also because of the fact that in his action as a privateersman turned pirate, he was the typical figure of that period. WilUam Kidd Avas an Englishman who had been a privateer captain during King AVilliam 's war. The government desired to sup press the pirates, who then infested every sea, and Captain Kidd was selected as a suitable man to undertake the task. On the recommend ation of the governor of Barbadoes, on December 11, 1695, he was given a commission against the pirates, and received the title of ad miral. He sailed in a government vessel of thirty guns to New York, whence he went with a crew of between 150 and 200 men to Plymouth, England, and from that port started on his mission. Instead of directing his energies to the suppression of the pirates on the Amer ican coast, he spent three years in. the Indian Ocean, plundering the vessels of his own country, as well as those of other nations. His dep redations were so great that many vessels were sent out to capture him, but he evaded his pursuers and returned to America. The evidence would seem to prove that Captain Kidd was carrying out a previously arranged plan, and that his acts of piracy were simply the means of securing the wealth that the partners in the venture 408 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. expected to realize for their outlay and influence. The Earl of Bello- mont, then royah governor of New York and of all the New England colonies except Rhode Island and Connecticut, succeeded in inducing Captain Kidd to come to Boston, Avhere he was arrested, sent to Eng land, tried and executed in 1700. The documents coUected by Bello- mont proved that Captain Kidd had many friends in Rhode Island, had business relations Arith them, and these papers also contained "the names of accomplices of Kidd who at various times resorted to this bay and of those who harbored them, many of whom were arrested."^ The accusations brought by Bellomont against Rhode Island were scathing. He denounced the government as "the most irregular and illegal in their administration that ever any English government was", and accused Governor Cranston of "conniving at pirates and making Rhode Island their sanctuary".^ In fact, on account of these charges, there was great danger that the Rhode Island charter would be abrogated, and the liberties of the colony imperiled. The death of Bellomont, in March, 1701, averted this possible disaster. The people of Block Island had suffered so much from the French privateers during King WiUiam 's war that, in 1700, most of the able- bodied men on the island had shipped on privateers, probably sailing from Newport. The "War of the Spanish Succession," known in the colonies as "Queen Anne's War," in which England was pitted against Prance and Spain, from 1702 to 1714, afforded the Rhode Island people a great opportunity to engage in privateering and expand their com merce. William Wanton was the leading privateer captain at this ^ time. He was given a commission to sail in the brigantine Greyhound of 100 tons. After a tAA'o months' cruise in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, he returned vrith ' ' three French ships, one of them a privateer of 260 tons, carrying 20 guns and 48 men ; another was a vessel of 300 tons Arith 16 guns, and the third was of 160 tons, mounting 8 guns. They were loaded with dried fish".^ Joseph Dudley, the royal governor of Massachusetts, attempted to interfere with the admiralty proceedings at Newport incidental to the condemnation of these prizes, but Arithout success. In 1706 a French privateer captured a sloop loaded vrith provisions near Block Island. The news reached Newport immediately and Arithin two hours Capt. John Wanton, with two sloops manned by 120 'Arnold's Hist, of R. I., vol. 1, pp. 543, 546-7. ^Idem, vol. 1, pp. 551-2; R. I. Col. Rec. til, pp. 385-93. Udem. vol. 2, pp. 6, 9. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 409 men, was in pursuit, captured the French vessel and her prize and brought them into Newport. Other similar stories are told of the prowess of the two Wantons, both of whom were enterprising mer chants, and were also many years later successively governors of the Colony. Capt. WiUiam Wanton and Capt. John Cranston in 1708, in two sloops from Newport, chased French privateers that had cap tured colonial merchantmen at Martha's Vineyard and pressed the French so closely that they were obliged to burn their prizes in order to escape. There is no record of the number of privateers that sailed from Rhode Island during the Avar, but old Port Wolcott, commonly known as Port Dumpling, on Conanicut Island, at the entrance to Newport Harbor, "was built from the queen's tenth of the prizes" which were then brought into port. The Spanish War from 1739 to 1748, and the "War of the Austrian Succession" or "King George's War", 1744 to 1748, were utilized to the fullest extent by the Rhode Island merchants, and they did a great business in capturing French and Spanish ships. At the outbreak of the Spanish war Gov. John Wanton was instructed by the General Assembly to grant all the privateer commissions ' ' that he should deem needful, pursuant to the King's Warrant". A ship was immediately , sent out by Godfrey Malbone, John Brown and William Wanton, three of the principal merchants of Newport, and was fitted with an arma ment from the public stores. The next year five privateers, manned by 400 men, were sent out by Newport merchants to cruise against the Spaniards. So many Spanish prisoners were brought in by the privateers during the next fcAV years that the General Assembly, in 1744, passed an act providing for their maintenance, liberation and return to their homes. The prisoners were not always so weU treated for, in 1746, twenty-two Spaniards, who had been captured by Capt. John Dennis, were sold into slavery. In retaliation, one of Dennis 's prizes was recaptured, and the crew of twenty men were put on the chain gang at Havana. A§ a result of negotiations, both sets of cap tives were liberated. During the year 1744 French privateers did great damage along the New England coast and almost destroyed the fisheries, but the Rhode Island men did effective service against them. The Rhode Island privateers were also particularly successful in the West Indies. The foUoAring list of privateers, which sailed from Newport during these two wars, shows the extent to vs^hich the colonial merchants were engaged in privateering. This list does not cover the first two years of the war, and probably does not include the vessels already men- 410 State op Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. tioned. It, as well as other lists of Newport privateers and prizes in subsequent wars, is copied from WilUam P. Sheffield's "Privateers- men of Newport", and they present in clear detail the names of the merchants and sea captains of the period — the men who managed and carried out these enterprises. Rhode Island Privateers in Spanish and Spanish-French War, prom 1739 to 1748. 1741. NAME OP VESSEL. OAVNERS. MASTER. St. Andrews John Godfrey, Sueton Grant Charles Davidson. The Revenge John Brown, John Bannister James Allen. The -Wentworth Godfrey Malbone, Stephen Hopkins Esek Hopkins. The Triton John Bannister, John Brown Wm. J. Bonfleld. The Victory John Brown, John Bannister, Wm. Mumford Joseph Power. The Tartar The Colony Benjamin Wickam. The Tartar The Colony Daniel Fry. 1742. The Revenge John Potter, William Read Charles Dyer. The Castor John Brown, Philip Wilkinson Hugh Wentworth. The Pollux John Brown, Philip Wilkinson Richard Woolford. The Fame Philip Wilkinson, Daniel Ayrault, Jr John GriflSths. The Young Eagle Sueton Grant 1743. The Prince Frederick Peleg Brown, Nath. Coddington, jr William Hopkins. The Mary William Wilkinson. The Prince William John Brown, John Bannister, William Mumford William Allen. The Hunter Michael Clarke. The Prince Frederick Sueton Grant, Peleg Brown, Nath. Coddington, jr John Dennis. The Csesar John Griffiths. The Young Godfrey Godfrey Malbone, Sueton Grant Nicholas White. The Mary - William Wilkinson. The Hunter Gideon Cornell, William Read Michael Clarke. The Triton John Bannister, Joseph Harrison Thomas McFarland. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 411 VESSEL. OWNERS. MASTER. 1744. The CsBsar Philip Wilkinson, Daniel Ayrault, jr The Success Sueton Grant, Nath. Coddington, jr. Peleg Brown John Ellis. The Duke of Marlboro Robert Morris. King George John Brown, Thos. Coggeshall Benj. Cranston. The Prince William John Brown, Joseph Bannister, William Mumford William Allen. The Prince Frederick Sueton Grant, Peleg Brown, Nath. Coddington, Jr John Dennis. The Revenge John Freebody, Benjamin Norton James Allen. The Hector. Godfrey Malbone, Joseph Wanton James Thurston. The Queen of Hungary Solomon Townsend, John Channing, Jos. Tillinghast, Samuel Freebody Nathaniel Potter. The Phoenix Jonathan Thurston, Thomas Wickam, Evan Malbone Wm. Bennetlaud. The Duke of Marlboro Godfrey Malbone, Jas. Honeyman, Jr Robert Morris. The Csesar Philip Wilkinson, Daniel Ayrault, Jr John Griffiths. The Prince Charles of Sueton Grant, Lorraine Peleg Brown, Nath. Coddington, jr. Simeon Potter Simeon Potter. 1745. The Molly William Vernon Thomas Fry. The Prince of Wales Godfrey Malbone Thomas Brewer. The Ranger Job Almy, William Ellery Christopher Bennett. The Success John Nichols, William Read, William Corey Peter Marshall. The Deflance Joseph Tillinghast, Daniel Coggeshall, Solomon Townsend John Dennis. The Queen of Hungary Jona. Tillinghast, Solomon Townsend, John Channing, Samuel Freebody Thomas Conklin. The Britannia John Brown, William Mumford, Joseph Harrison William Allen. 412 State op Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. VESSEL. OWNERS MASTER. The Fame Philip Wilkinson, Daniel Ayrault, jr Thomas Thompson. The Queen Elizabeth John Brown, Peleg Brown Isaac Doubt. The Hector Godfrey Malbone, Joseph Wanton William Higgins. The Reprisal John Hopkins. The Duke of Marlboro Godfrey Malbone, Joseph Wanton Benjamin Carr. The Defiance John Tillinghast, Daniel Coggeshall, Solomon Townsend John Townsend. The Mary Godfrey Malbone, John Brown George Darricott. The King George John Brown, Thomas Coggeshall Nath'l Sweeting. 1746. The Charming Betty Godfrey Malbone, Joseph Wanton Thomas Fry. The Duke of Cumberland. .Henry Collins, Ebezener Flagg Peter Marshall. 1747. The Patience John Bannister, James Brown Robert Brown. The Prince Frederick Ebenezer Trowbridge. The Deflance John Tillinghast, Daniel Coggeshall, Solomon Townsend John Sweet. The King George WiUiam Richards. The Mary and Ann John Channing, Walter Chaloner, Moses Levy John Mawdsley. The Reprisal Daniel Updike, (180 tons) Jeremiah Lippitt, John Andrews William Dunbar. The Reprisal Joseph Arnold. (90 tons) The Lee Frlgott John Rathbone Latham Stanton. The Jonathan Jonathan Nichols, Robert Sherman John Dennis. The Henry Ebenezer Flagg, George Phillips Orthaniel Tarr. 1748. The King George John Mawdsley. The Rebecca John Channing, Walter Chaloner Robert Gibbs. The London Robert Murdie. "Two new brigs fitted out by Sueton Grant and others in 1745— one commanded by Captain Cranston and the other by Captain Brewer— were never heard of after sailing. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 413 "The Fame, Thompson, master, was at Louisburg; returned to NcAvport August 9, and sailed on a cruise Sept. 6, 1745. ' ' The story of the two brigs which sailed in 1745 is thus told by Arnold : "Tavo large privateers, chiefly OAvned by Colonel Malbone, each mounting 22 guns, and manned by over 200 men, sailed the day before Christmas, at the commencement of a violent northeast snow storm, bound for the Spanish main. The gale increased to a hurricane and lasted for tAvo days. The ships were never heard from and both probably went down in the storm with all on board. By this fearful disaster more than 400 lives were lost, and nearly 200 women in New port Avere made Avidows. The ships were just built and of great value. ' ' A List op Some of the Captures by the Rhode Island Privateers IN THE Spanish and Spanish-French Wars. DATE. VESSEL CAPTURED. CAPTOR. CAPTAIN. Sept. 9, 1740— The Soclete Tartar, Benjamin Wickam. June 6, 1741— The Amiable Theresa (6 guns, 8 swivels, 27 small arms) ; .St. Andrew, Charles Davidson. July 27, 1741 — The 'Triton and cargo. .Revenge, George Fox. July 27, 1741— The Three Sisters Revenge, James Allen. July 27, 1741 — Great Royal Revenge, James Allen. July 6, 1742 — St. Joseph, privateer. . . .Revenge, James Allen. July 19, 1742 — The Dove Revenge, James Allen. Aug. 11, 1742— Sea Flower , William Dyer. Sept. 17, 1742 — The Alexander and cargo Oct. 6, 1742— The Three Brothers. Oct. 8, 1742— De la Clara Oct. 29— St. Francis Nov. 11, 1742— Brig Friendship. . . May 30, 1743— The Angolae Aug. 5, 1743— The Caulker. Robert Flowers. C. Davidson. James Allen. John Griffiths. 1748 — Sloop and cargo King George, John Mawdesly. 1745— The Dreadnaught Charming Betty, Thomas Fry. 1747— Young Johanna Defiance, John Sweet. Dec. 1745 — Fortuna Duke of Marlborough, B. Carr. Sept. 1747 — ^Vessel and cargo Deflance, John Sweet. 1746— Pearl The Polly, Arthur Helmm. 1748— Vigilante Duke of Marlborough, B. Carr. 1748— Snow Willis Defiance, . 1747— The Greyhound Prince Charles of Lorraine, Simeon Potter. May, 1744— Fortune, after hard fight (specie $13,000— gold and silver, merchandise and three slaves) Revenge, James Allen. 1747— Victory , Samuel Thurston. Success , . Oct. 23, 1747— De le Conceptive Defiance, 1744— Serena Prince Frederick, 414 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. DATE. VESSEL CAPTURED. CAPTOR. CAPTAIN. Dec. 22, 1746 — Delaware (recapture) . .Defiance, . The Caesar Revenge, James Allen. The Snow Asboth . • A Spanish Ship (350 tons) Revenge, Peter Marshall. The Compt Toulousse (20 guns) .Revenge, John Dunn. July 6, 1743— Unf row Sara Prince Frederick, W. Hopkins. Sept. 13, 1744— The Britannia Revenge, James Allen. July 27, 1744— The Magdalena Phoenix, W. Bennetland. Dec. 1744 — Lady of Rosary The Caesar, John Griffiths. July 19, 1744— Vessel (Gonzales mate). King George, Benj. Cranston. July 18, 1744— St. Pierre Prince Frederick, John Dennis. Oct. 30, 1742— Godat St. Andrew, C. Davidson. Oct. 1743 — Vessel Prince Frederick, John Dennis. Aug. 1748 — New Britain Deflance, . July, 1744 — The Senior, ship Prince Frederick, John Dennis. July, 1744 — San Joseph and San Nich olas Prince Frederick, John Dennis. Oct. 1742— A sloop and a schooner Bonita, Robert Flowers. Nov. 1747— Young Benjamin The Reprisal, William Dunbar. Jan. 1744— St. Clair The Reprisal, John Hopkins. Dec. 1745 — The Hope The Reprisal, John Hopkins. 1741— The Octavia The Charming Betty, J. CoUingwood. Oct. 26, 1745— The Friendship .The Dolphin, Richard . June 2, 1746— The St. Jaques Prince Frederick, Peter Marshall. May 27, 1746 — Ship (engagement 8 hours Prince Frederick, Peter Marshall. May 7, 1748 — Elizabeth Deflance, John Sweet. May 10, 1745— Ship Wm. Galley Revenge, James Allen. Aug. 4, 1747— St. John Baptist St. George, Nathaniel Sweeting. Oct. 27, 1747 — The Position Deflance, John Dunn. 1747 — The Diana The King George, . 1746 — The Gertuda Young Eagle, Peter Marshall. Oct. 28, 1744— Ship off Newfoundland. .Queen Hungary, Nathaniel Potter. April 15,1745— Spanish ship (350 tons) Revenge, John Hopkins. French Ship Deflance, John Sweet. The Catherina Deflance, John Sweet. Sloop and cargo The Polly, Arthur Helme. The Victorine Prince Frederick, Trowbridge. French Schooner Charming Betty, Benjamin Fry. This Ust is undoubtedly incorrect and incomplete, as even a cursory perusal will show, but it demonstrates the extent of the enterprise of the NcAvport merchants. The principal privateers seem to have been \ the Revenge, commanded at various times by James Allen, John Dimn and Peter MarshaU ; the Defiance, Arith John Sweet, John Dunn and Mohn Dennis as commanders; the Prince Frederick vrith Peter Mar ¬shaU and John Dennis successively as captains; the Polly, Arthur Helme; the Duke of Marlborough, Benjamin Carr; the Prince Charles of Lorraine, Simeon Potter. Many other details of these captures are given in Sheffield's pamphlet on " Privateersmen of Newport". The Sea Trade and Its Development. 415 The colony in 1740 built the sloop Tartar as a means of defense against Spain. In June of that year the Tartar captured a French contraband schooner and brought her into NcAvport. In 1744 the sloop, in company with a similar vessel from Connecticut, cruised between Martha's Vineyard and the Jersey coast on the lookout for French privateers. The next year, Avhen these two sloops were con veying transports on the expedition that resulted in the siege of Louisbourg, they Avere attacked by the French frigate Renom- mee of thirty-six guns, but escaped with slight damage. The Tartar, with two other war sloops, under command of Capt. Daniel Fouls, on June 15, 1745, dispersed a French and Indian fleet of two sloops, two schooners, a shallop and fifty canoes, that was com ing to the relief of Louisbourg, and tAVO days later that stronghold surrendered. One of the last exploits of the Tartar was the capture, on May 22, 1748, off Point Judith, of a Spanish schooner, laden with sugar. The treaty of Aix-la-ChapeUe, in 1748, brought the wars with Spain and France to a close. The Rhode Island privateers thereby found their occupation gone, but they were refitted and sent on trading voy- "* ages to the West Indies, or after slaves to the coast of Guinea. The outbreak of the ' ' Seven Years War ", in 1756, between Great Britain and France, gave the privateers another opportunity, and many of the same vessels, as an examination of the lists will shoAV, again engaged in the profitable enterprise of preying on French commerce. Among the most notable of these vessels were the Revenge, the Defiance, the Suc cess and the Triton. "The practice was to capture a prize, have it condemned, and if adapted for the service, to have the prize fitted and commissioned as a privateer, and in this way the number of their cruisers A^as greatly augmented".^ While the Newport privateers harassed the French and captured many of their vessels, the French \ privateers did much damage to Newport's commerce.' At that period the slave trade was at its height, and Newport was the chief American port. The- French were eager to secure slaves, and their privateers captured many of the Rhode Island slavers. The foUowing lists, copied from Sheffield's "Privateersmen of New port", while they are undoubtedly incomplete and have been careless ly compiled, as the verbal inaccuracies plainly show, are yet so com prehensive in their detail, that they throw a great light on the com merce of the period by showing AA'ho the principal merchants were, 'Privateersmen of Newport, pp. 27-28. 416 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. what ships they owned, who the captains were, and indicating in a measure what the nature of the trade or enterprise was : Privateers Fitted and Sent Out prom Newport in_,the "Seven Years War," 1756 to 1763. 1753. VESSEL. OWNERS. MASTER. The Mermaid Oliver Ring Warner. 1755. The Prussian Hero Joseph Gardner. 1756. The Skip Jack William Richards James Young. The Triton Robert Jackson, John Mawdsley, Benjamin Church, William Pitt George Crosswell. The Prussian Hero Joseph Gardner. The Foy William Read, Jonathan Nichols John Dennis. The General Johnston Benjamin Almy. 1757. The Charming Betty Edward Church. The Deflance Joseph Wanton, Jr Thomas Taylor, Matthew Cozzens, Robert Stoddard, Walter Chaloner. The King of Prussia Robert Crooke John Roffe. The Hawke William Richards, John Coddington Mark Valentine. The Trumpeter William Richards. The Deflance Daniel Pones. The Prince Frederick Robert Crooke Benjamin Nichols, Isaac Steele, Metcalf Bowler James Potter. The Catharine Jeremiah Cranston. The Success Robert Elliot.' The Maggott John Lane. The Deflance Michael Phillips. The Prince Ferdinand Roderick McCloud. 1758. The New Concert Metcalf Bowler, Christopher Champlin Samuel Sweet. The Jolly Bachelor Samuel AngeU. The Scorpion Joseph Wanton, jr. Benjamin Nichols John Warren. The Ambercromble William Richards, John Coddington Joseph Rivas. The General Webb ; .Isaac Hart Israel Boardman. The Lord Howe Isaac Hart Roderick McCloud. The Maggott John Malbone John Lane. The Katharine James Gould, Augustus Johnston Robert Elliott. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 417 VESSEL. OWNERS. MASTER. The Mars John Brown. The Duke of Marlboro .... Isaac Stella John Miller Estes Howe. Othello Francis Malbone. The Rabbit Francis Honeyman, Isaac Hunt Peleg Easton. The Dolphin Napthali Hart, Isaac Hunt, Francis Honeyman Oliver Ring Warner. The Triton Walter Buffum. The Industry Aborn Page Joseph Owens. The Roby Martin Luther, Sylvester Child Mark A. DeWolf. 1759. The Defiance Benjamin Wanton. The Diana Metcalf Bowler Samuel Sweet. 1760. The Amazon John Franklin, Thomas Hazard, Henry Gardner John James. The Lydia William Ladd. The Success Abel Mincheson. The Three Brothers Joshua Stoddard. The Goldfinch George Jackson, Joseph Turpin William Metcalf. The Phebe Simeon Potter Daniel Waldon. The Success Daniel Fones. The Molly 1761. The Sarah Jonathan Burdick. The Wolf William Wanton James Potter. The Three Brothers Joshua Stoddard. 1762. The Pompey Robert Crooks Samuel Johnston. The Dolphin Napthali Hart, Gideon Sisson, Francis Honeyman Thomas Rodman. The Diana Thomas Hazard, Gideon Sisson, Coddington Job Easton. The Britannia James Redwood, Solomon Townsend, William Redwood Francis Coddington. The Diamond Joseph Wanton, Jr. Napthali Hart James Ramsey. The Polly Caleb Cranston. The Rising Sun William Pinnegar. The Polly and Sally Lovett Thurston. The Harlequin Thomas Richardson, John Lyon, Joseph Belcher Michael Ryan The Dove Thomas Hazard, Henry Wall Edward Dyer. 27 418 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. VESSEL. OWNERS MASTER. The Bearer John Oldfield, Nathaniel Clarke Walter Clarke. The Charming Polly Godfrey Malbone, Jr. John Malbone Lovett Thurston. The Harlequin Daniel Wilcox. The Nancy George Nichols. The Deflance Metcalf Bowler James Duncan. The Sarah John Thompson, The Africa John Easton. The Pompey Samuel Johnston. The Unity Zebedee Grinnell. The Conformator Benjamin Hicks The Wolf James Coddington. The Industry Thomas Underwood. The Foy, Capt. John Dennis, fitted out in 1756, 18 guns and 180 men, sailed for the Spanish Main, but was never heard of again. Captain Dennis had been a very successful privateersman, and had commanded 13 vessels. The following Newport vessels engaged in the slave trade were cap tured by the French privateers :^ "The Success, Seth Harvey, master, was captured vrith 96 slaves. May 30th, 1 757, and carried into Martinico. ' ' The Marygold, William Taylor, master, haAdng on board 80 slaves, was captured June 19, 1756, within twelve miles of Antigua. The captain wrote his OAvners that he left Captains James, Hammond (Palsgrave), Pinnegar, Rodman and Clarke on the coast of Africa; Clarke, when he left, had 40 slaves. "The Sierre Leone, David Lindsey, master, belonging to Philip Wilkinson, on May 27, 1756, on her voyage from the coast of Africa to St. Christopher's, was captured and carried to Guadaloupe. "The Hawk, Owen Morris, master, on a voyage from the coast of Africa Avith 75 slaves, April 4th, 1756, Avas captured and carried into .Martinico. "The Dolphin, George Nichols, master, was captured on the coast of Africa, December 3d, 1756, and carried into Goree and condemned. , "The Industry, Thomas Underwood, master, vrith a cargo of 107 slaves, bound from the coast of Africa to St. Christopher's, was cap tured April 10, 1758. "The Prince George, John Peck, master, was captured and plun dered on the coast of Africa, January 30th, 1761 ; voyage broken up. "The ship Caesar, of Newport, Jeremiah Clarke, master, left the coast of Africa September 22d, 1761 ; had on board 116 slaves, bound to the West Indies ; was captured by a French cruiser, October 30th, off Cape St. John. 'Privateersmen of Newport, pp. 55-56. The Sea Trade and Its Deatelopment. 419 "The Success, Nehemiah Rhodes, master, was captured on the coast of Africa, July 8th, 1761, having on board 43 slaves. "The Two Friends, Polypus Hammond, master, with 130 slaves and 28 elephant's tusks, was captured June 20th, 1727. "Annamaboo, Walter Buffum, master, with half a cargo of slaves, Avas captured July 23d, 1758. "The Fox, William Taylor, master, was captured at the same time and near the same place as the Annamaboo. "The King of Prussia, Joseph Wanton, master, wdth 54 slaves, twenty ounces gold dust, and 66 hogsheads of rum, was captured July 23d, 1758." The Following Vessels prom Narragansett Bay Ports were Cap tured BY THE French during the Seven Years' War: DATE. VESSEL. CAPTAIN. April, 1758 — The Sally, condemned at Cuba The London, taken on voyage from Surinam . . . The Fox, captured on coast of Africa Wm. Taylor. July 1, 1759— The Elizabeth Robert Burgess. May 18, 1759— The Daniel Robert Rodman. Dec. 5, 1758 — The Industry Robert Ferguson. June 26, 1759 — The Hare Ebenezer Tyler. April 28, 1761— The Sarah Caleb Cory. May 30, The Sloop Success Seth Harvey. June 20, 1757 — The Two Friends Pollipus Hammond. Dec. 20, 1757— The Charming Betty (horses, flsh and lumber) James Dixon. The Marygold (horses, oil, candles) William Taylor. Dec. 1, 1756 — The Bonitar (flsh, lumber, etc.) Peleg Easton. Mar. 25, 1757 — Sirre Leone David Lindsey. Dec. 3, 1756 — The Dolphin (rum, coast of Africa) George Nichols. Oct. 9, 1757 — The Prudent Hannah (ransomed) Ebenezer Vose. May 30, 1758 — The Hannah (West India Goods) Moses Bepnett. Dec. 26, 1761— The Portsmouth (West India goods) . .John Heffernan. July 28, 1761— The Lydia (wine from ) John Ellsbree. Oct. 22, 1761 — The Mayflower Thomas Child. July 14, 1761 — The King of Prussia (off Madeira) . . .Robert Rodman. Oct. 21, 1759- The Bachelor (Molasses) William Davidson. Oct. 4, 1761— The Penelope (money, bills of ex.) Robert Whately. Nov. 14, 1761 — The Four Brothers (near Surinam) . .Peleg Thurston. Dec. 8, 1761— The Rainbow (St. Thomas) Ebenezer Trowbridge. July 25, 1761 — The Caesar Jeremiah Clarke. The Peggy ^ Joseph Sheffield. Sept. 29, 1761— The Charming Betty (West Indies) . .Remembrance Simmons. Mar. 8, 1761— The Three Brothers (West Indies) John Coddington. May — , 1758 — The Fox Edward Bissell. Sept. 18, 1762— The Friendship (acquitted) John Duncan. Nov. 30, 1762— The Susanna (sugar and indigo) Stephen Goddard. June 22, 1762— The Black Prince (plundered and sent off) Daniel Hammond. July 17, 1762 — The Increase (in Jamaica once by French, twice British) Jirah Grinnell. May 30, 1762— The King George (molasses) Benjamin Wright. 420 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. DATE. VESSEL. CAPTAIN. July 8, 1762 — The Betsy (West India goods) William Robinson. The Speedwell (taken by French, retaken by British, liberated with salvage and again captured and ransomed, cap- turned after and plundered) Peleg Hall. July 5, 1762 — The Polly (plundered and set adrift; captured again Oct. 11, 1762) William Ladd. Aug. 21, 1762 — The Abby (captain killed in engage ment) John Donavan. Aug. 2, 1762— The Resource (West Indies) John Laner. Oct. 19, 1762 — The Dove (rum and salt) Remembrance Simmons. Mar. 3, 1763 — The Pitt (West Indies) Christopher Allan. Nov. 8, 1762 — The Nancy (spermaceti candles, ) . .George Nichols. Dec. 2, 1758— The Swan William Wall. June — , 1758 — The Swallow (from Surinam) Benjamin Gorton. June 14, 1753 — The Fanny Benjamin Wickham. Jan. 28, 1758 — The Jamaica Packet Anthony Blackstock. , 1758 — The Unity John Jones. Dec. 2, 1759 — The America Henry Jackson. , 1761 — The Hope (sugar and molasses) William Lawrence. Aug. 9, 1761 — The Dolphin Jeremiah Greene. "Some of these vessels were ransomed after capture, others were recaptured, and it was aUeged that some of them were vsrrongfuUy captured and carried to the French West India islands for condemna tions when the captains could not give the necessary bonds to defend them, and the vessels were wrongfully condemned by default. ' ' The following account of losses sustained by the port of Providence during the Seven Years War, was published in the Providence Gazette and Country Journal, January 21, 1764, and republished in the Rhode Island Historical Society's Quarterly for October, 1896. "A complete list of vessels fitted out of the Port of Providence (Arith the commanders names annexed), which have been taken, plundered, cast aAvay, and lost at sea, from the 20th of May, 1756 (the commence ment of the late Avar), to the present time. 1. Schooner Hannah. . . .Ebenezer Tyler taken. 2. Sloop Polly Jacob Carpenter taken. 3. Sloop Providence Thos. Manchester lost at sea. 4. Snow Squirrel Elisha Peck taken. 5. Schooner Rosannah. .Christopher Sheldon taken. 6. Sloop Dolphin William Chace lost at sea. 7. Snow Dolphin Christopher Sheldon taken. 8. Brig Hope William Donnison taken. 9. Sloop Success Benj. Wright taken. 10. Sloop Elizabeth Theoph. Williams taken. 11. Snow Desire Rufus Hopkins taken. 12. Schooner William. . . .James Hopkins taken. 13. Brig Wenscot Edward Dexter plundered. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 421 14. Ship Barque John Peck taken. 15. Sloop Endeavour Thomas Warner taken. 16. Sloop Dove John Dunwel taken. 17. Sloop George Joseph Bull taken. 18. Brig. Hannah Paul Tew taken. 19. Brig Britannia. Nehemiah Rhodes taken. 20. Brig Cumberland Samuel Angel taken. 21. Schooner Warren William Earle taken. 22. Privateer Sloop Black Snake J. Randal taken. 23. Sloop Prize Jonathan Pitcher cast away. 24. Privateer Brig Provi dence Silas Cook taken. 25. Schooner Good Intent Theoph. Williams taken. 26. Schooner Sarah Nehemiah Rhodes taken. 27. Sloop Raven Zacheriah Edey lost at sea. 28. Sloop Elizabeth Urian Davis taken. 29. Sloop Speedwell Silas Cook taken. 30. Brig. Providence John Randal taken. 31. Ship Diana Charles Rhodes taken. 32. Sloop Dolphin. Benj. Wright taken. 33. Schooner Nancy William Metcalf taken. 34. Sloop Catherine Joseph Arnold lost at sea. 35. Sloop Providence Daniel Bucklin taken. 36. Sloop George William Earle cast away. 37. Sloop Elizabeth John Lee taken. 38. Sloop Smithfleld Samuel Warner taken. 39. Priv. Sch. Goldfinch. . W. Metcalf taken. 40. Sloop Voluntier John Godfrey taken. 41. Sch. Wheel of Fortune R. Stonehouse taken. 42. Brig Seafiower George Hopkins taken and rans. 43. Sloop Pawtucket Rufus Hopkins taken and retak. 44. Sloop Simon Smith taken. 45. Schooner Game-Hen. .John Peck taken and rans. 46. Sloop Molly Moses Brown cast away. 47. Schooner Speedwell . . Simon Smith taken. 48. Schooner Rainbow . . . .Remington Arnold lost at sea. 49. Sloop Joseph Samuel Dunn cast away. 50. Sloop Abigail Nathan Arnold. . .• taken. 51. Sloop Speedwell John Updike taken. 52. Sloop Polly John Waterman taken and retak. 53. Sloop Recovery Thomas Sterry lost at sea. 54. Sloop Speedwell Gotlieb Bxtine taken. 55. Priva. SI. Revenge. . .Caleb Cranston taken. 56. Schooner Greyhound.. Jesse Jones taken. 57. Sloop Industry Anthony Tripp cast away. 58. Brig Industry Philemon Williams cast away. 59. Sloop Venus Joseph Kinnicutt taken and rans. 60. Sloop Molly James Franks cast away. 61. Sloop Mary Ebenezer Tyler taken. 62. Sloop Susannah Solomon Owen taken. 63. Sloop Speedwell William Waterman lost at sea. 64. Sloop Kinnicutt George Hopkins taken. 65. Sloop Voluntier George Hopkins cast away. 423 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. "About the latter end of the year 1755, the Sloop Annie, Thomas Lawrence, was lost at Sea. "N. B. These vessels mentioned to be cast away, were entirely lost to this Port, but the People were saved ; and those mentioned to be lost at Sea, never were heard of after they sailed from hence. ' ' The names of two sea captains, Esek Hopkins and Abraham Whip ple, who were afterward very conspicuous figures in the Revolution, V do not occur in any of the foregoing lists, yet they were among the most active and successful of the privateer commanders. Esek Hopkins, organizer and first commander of the American navy, sailed from Newport from 1741 to 1755 as a privateer captain and merchant ad venturer. His father-in-law, Ezekiel Burroughs, was a merchant of Newport. Hopkins removed to Providence in 1755 ; in 1756 he fitted out a vessel as a privateer, took command, and went out on a cruise. He soon captured a valuable vessel, brought it into Providence, and renaming it the Desire, in honor of his wife, converted it into one of his merchant fieet. In 1757 he brought prizes into New London, where the captured goods were sold at public vendue. The Hopkins family, including Esek and his older brother Stephen, one of the Rhode Island signers of the Declaration of Independence, were largely interested in commercial enterprises and are said at one time to have been interested in seventeen vessels sailing from Newport and Providence. Abraham Whipple is said to have captured twenty-three prizes during the "Seven Years War" in one cruise during 1759-1760. While the merchants of Providence did not begin to anywhere equal or rival those of Newport in their commercial or privateering enter prises, the importance of the place as a port was steadily advancing. , One of the evidences of this Avas the removal from Newport to Prori- '^ dence of such an enterprising seaman as Esek Hopkins in the middle of the century. The merchants of Providence, in 1757, in a memorial to the General Assembly, made the statement that "a large number of private men of war were owned in the colony". They petitioned for a judge of vice-admiralty, instead of a deputy, to condemn prizes. At this period the Narragansett Bay ports were nurseries of seamen; they furnished more than their share of seamen for the royal navy; and one-fif th of the adult males in the colony were engaged on board of private armed ships, and one-seventh of the remainder in the land service of the king. Truly the business enterprise of the Rhode Island people at this time was decidedly warlike. BetAveen the close of the Seven Years War, in 1763, and the outbreak of the Revolution commerce increased greatly, as all the energy pre- The Sea Trade and Its Development. 423 viously put into privateering found a vent in legitimate trade. The period of the Revolution, however, witnessed a revival of privateering, greater in amount than in any of the preceding wars, and this was not only participated in by Newport, but to a greater extent by Provi dence and Bristol than in previous wars. Privateering was author ized by an act of the Continental Congress passed March 18, 1776. The services that the Rhode Island privateers, as well as the Continent al cruisers, "rendered to the country, by obtaining supplies of many articles, which the colonial policy of England had prevented being produced in America, was incalculable. Without the supplies that were produced in this manner the Revolution must have been checked at the outset. Rhode Island was a rendezvous both for national and private cruisers, and the newspapers of the day are filled with the pro ceedings of the admiralty courts held at Providence, and with the reports of their maritime exploits."^ Privateering interfered materially with the success of the infant navy authorized by the Continental Congress. The wages paid on>^ the pri vateers were from one-half to twice as much more than Congress permitted to be paid on the Continental vessels, which only gave a share of one-third in all prizes taken and one-half in the case of armed vessels, while the privateers offered one-half in all cases, and occasion ally more Avhere there was extra hazard. These higher wages and greater chances were offered at the very time when the new navy was in want of men. Naturally the sailors flocked to the privateers and the government ships were shunned. The owners of the privateers were also, by their self-interest, opposed to the active operations of the naval fleet, as they did not want vessels to go out and capture all the best prizes. They naturally wanted to preserve that privilege for themselves. Commodore Hopkins made the charge, in a letter to the Marine Committee, that the two frigates built at Providence cost twice as much as their contract price ' ' owing to some of the very committee that built the ships taking the workmen and the stock agreed for off to work and fit their privateers, and even threatening the workmen if they did not work for them".^ These were grave charges to bring against the men on this committee, who were leading merchants of ProAddence, but as no explicit denial was made, it is fair to assume that there was some truth in the accusations. This committee con-^ sisted of Nicholas Cooke, Nicholas Brown, Joseph Russell, Joseph •Arnold's Hist, of R. I., vol. 2, p. 386. 'Staples's Annals of Providence, pp. 267, 268 ; Hopkins Papers, R. I. Hist. Society Cabinet. 424 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Brown, John Brown, John Smith, William Russell, Daniel Tillinghast, John Innes Clark, Joseph Nightingale, Jabez Bowen and Rufus Hop kins. When the General Assembly met in October, 1776, Commodore Hopkins made a request that an embargo be placed on privateering, ' ' in order that the continental ships might be manned, ' '^ but through the influence of the owners of privateers no action was taken, and the commodore by his course in the matter only succeeded in making ene mies for himself. The following list of privateers in the Revolution illustrates the growing importance of Providence as a port and the greater part her merchants were taking in the evolution of commerce.^ 1776. DATE. VESSEL. OWNERS. MASTER. July 25 — Revenge, John Sanford, Caleb Gardner Samuel Dunn, jr. Nov. 5 — Expedition, Samuel Brown, Jeremiah Pratt. .Eliphalet Ripley. Nov. 16 — Revenge, Samuel Dunn, Jr Joseph Sheffield. Oct. 7 — Minerva, Adam Babcock Joseph Rotch. Aug. 26 — United States, Joseph Belcher Benjamin Pierce. Nov. 20 — Greenwich, Silas Casey, Nath'l Greene & Co., Wm. Greene Joseph Gardner. Oct. 8 — Charming Sally, Isaac Sears Francis Brown. Aug. 8 — Montgomery, Nath'l Green, John Smith, Will- . , . . iam Wall ;.'. . .' William Rhodes. Nov. 21 — Oliver Cromwell, Nicholas Brown, William Russell Samuel Chace, jr. Sept. 24 — Yankee Ranger, William Wall, Nicholas Brown Samuel Tripp. Aug. 20 — Diamond, Nicholas Brown Thomas Stacy. Sept. Diamond, Nicholas Cooke, Thomas Hazard. Wm. Waterman. Sept. 17 — Broome, Zebulon Budlong Richard Whellon. Aug. 13 — America, Samuel Wyatt, et al William Dring. July 24 — Independence, Nicholas Cooke, et al Jabez Whipple. Nov. 20 — General Gates, George Corliss, Joseph Rus sell John Grimes. Nov. 20 — Favorite, John Brown George W. Babcock. Sept. Favorite, Abner Coffin. June 12 — Polly, Joseph Cooke Ezekiel Durfee. Aug. — — Joseph, John Innes Clarke John Field. Sept. 11 — Industry, Nich. Brown, et al Thomas Child. ' Oct. 16 — Retaliation, John Brown Isaac James. Snow Bird, Israel Ambrose. Nov. 20 — Hawke, John Brown James Phillips. Oct. 4 — Yankee Ranger, William Earle Daniel Simmons. Sept. 14 — Favorite, John Brown Abner Coffin. Oct. 28 — General Sterling, Silas Casey John Thomas. ' April 2 — Joseph, John Innes Clarke James Munroe. Nov. 12 — Lady Washington, Nathaniel Giles, et al Ishmael Hardy. Sept. 28 — Charming Sally, Isaac Sears Francis Brown. 'Hopkins Papers, R. I. Hist. Society Cabinet. '^Copied from Sheffield's Privateersmen of Newport. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 435 DATE. VESSEL. OWNERS. MASTER. Aug. 13 — Polly, John Brown Jos. Tillinghast. July 30 — Putnam, John Jenckes Chris. Whipple. War Eagle, Isaac Field. Aug. 27— Bachelor, John Collins William Ladd. July 6 — Diamond, John Brown William Chace. July 19 — Yankee Ranger, William Wallace John Warren. Oct. 11 — Broome, Isaac Sears Samuel Wanton. Aug. 14 — Hawke, John Brown Arthur Crawford. Sept. 29 — Eagle, John Mathewson, et al Isaac Field. Nov. 6 — Fanny, William Hart, et al Azariah Whitney. I Nov. 20 — Blaze Castle, Wm. Russell, Joseph Russell. .James Munroe. July 21 — Mermaid, John Innes Clarke Lemuel Bishop. Oct. 28 — General Warren, Silas Casey Silas Cooke. Sept. Gamecock, John Smith Timothy Pearce. July 16 — Defiance, John Innes Clarke Elijah F. Payne. Nov. 13 — Rover, Nicholas Brown John Home. Sept. 30 — Montgomery, John Smith, et al Thos. Rutenburg. June 8 — Snow Bird, Nicholas Brown Louis Thomas. Minerva, James Mowry. May 29 — Victory, Benjamin Lindsey. Aug. America, Abram Page Nathaniel Packard. Aug. 24 — Lady Washington, Samuel Wyatt James Godfrey. Nov. 12 — Adams, Jeremiah Platt George Shokely. July 3 — General Greene, Silas Casey John Garzie. May 15^Mpntgomery, John Southwiek Daniel Bucklin. Aug. 26 — GreenAv^ich; Jacob. Greene, et al Job Pierce. Nov. 20 — Sally, John Brown. Joseph Peck. 1777. Dec. 30 — Marlborough, John Brown George W. Babcock. July 11 — Swallow, John I. Clarke Benjamin Seabury. Sept. 15 — United States, N. Miller, et al Thomas Tillinghast. Nov.. 5 — Diamond, John Brown Thomas Stacy. ' Nov. 7 — Blaze Castle, Clark & Nightingale James Monroe. Aug. 4 — Oliver Cromwell, Nich. Brown, et al Samuel Chase, Jr. Sept. 26 — Victory, William Rhodes Jabez Westcott. Aug. 13 — Ranger, Anthony DeWolf Isaac Eslick. Aug. 13 — Swallow, Jeremiah Clarke, et al John Murphy. June 12 — Generous Friend, Joseph Webb Samuel Stillman. ' July 3 — Retaliation, John Brown John Tillinghast. April 30 — Eagle, Joseph Lawrence Mowry Potter. Oct. 28 — Fairfield, Amos Hubbard, et al James Hovey. Tartar, John Grimes. Spitfire, Sheffield Atwood. General Sullivan, William Wall, et al Henry Oman. Betsey, John Wanton Edward Dillingham. 1778. ApriM — General Stark, Cromwell Child, et al Benjamin Pearce. Jan. 28 — Sally, Jabez Bowen Lemuel Bishop. Mar. 16— Dolly, Andrew Caldwell, et al Ebenezer Williams. April 5 — General Stark, Nathan Miller, et al Benjamin Pearce. , Mar. 25 — Minerva, William Vernon John Grimes. f 436 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. DATE VESSEL. OWNERS, j' MASTER. April 20 — Mary, Peleg Clarke William Ladd. America, — ^ . . , William Dennis. Betsey, — '; Job Coggeshall. Two Brothers, — 7 Joseph Bell. May Flower,^ — 7^-7- Stephen Jenckes. Barton, ^. George Wanton. Weazle, '¦ — Joseph Mauran. Industrious 6ee, — -. Georg^ Allen. Jolly Robin, Timothy Lock. Congress, James Adams. General Arnold, A. Cartwright. General Sullivan, William Dennis. 1779. Sept. 4 — Providence, Robert Stevens James Godfrey. Nov. 8 — Count d'Estang, Caleb Gardner John Sanford. Sept. 21 — Flying Fish, Nathan Miller, et al Caleb Gardner. July 14 — General Lovell, Robert Slocum, et al Isaac Rider. Nov. 6 — St. John, William Creed Nehemiah Adams. Mar. 2 — Molly's Adventure, James Hood, et al Peter Day. Dec. 31 — Providence, John Brown Thomas Jackson. Oct. 4 — Pulton, William Wall, et al Richard Mass. June 26 — Dolphin, John Humphrey Isaac Tyler. Nov. 13 — Black Snake, Jacob Greene, et al Job Pierce. Feb. 26 — Wasp, Samuel Bailey William Cornell. June 11 — Wasp, Joseph Briggs. Oct. 13 — Black Snake, Jacob Greene Isaac Carr. Sept. 3 — Barber, William Richmond Michael Underwood. Sept. 4 — Providence, James Godfrey. July 14 — Hawke and Eagle, Henry Soule, jr. Feb. 24 — Weazle, Jonah Flagg John Wheaton. Aug. 18 — Retaliation, John Garzie Nathan Westcott. June 29 — General Gates, Robert Taylor Elisha Warren. Oct. 2 — Abigail, Nathan Miller John Hall. Mar. 3 — Hero, Robert Taylor Caleb Greene. May 11 — Friendship, John Brown Thomas Jackson. Mar. 30 — Bradford S., S. Royal Paine Sion Martindale. Sept. 13 — Macaroni, Jonathan Waldron Peleg Eldred. July 22 — Success, Richard Mathewson Isaac Carr. Aug. 25 — Marvel, Walter Burdick Elisha Bennett. April 17 — Happy Return, John Brown William Jacobs. Aug. 12 — General Wayne, Joseph Lawrence Nicholas Webster. Oct. 13 — Hero, Samuel Allen William Wardwell. July 10 — Barber, Thomas Stanton. April 19 — ^Providence, Samuel Aborn Dowry Aborn. April 3 — Lark, James Sabin Benjamin Butts. Independence, Joseph Almy. A privateer commanded by Nicholas Briggs. Saratoga, J. I. Clarke James Munroe. Prudence, Lowry Aborn. Happy Return, John Brown Jonathan Treadwill. Marvel, Elisha Bennett. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 437 1780. DATE. VESSEL. OWNERS. ' MASTER. April 14 — Argo, John Brown, et al Silas Talbot. April 25 — Chance, Clarke & Nightingale Daniel Aborn. Aug. 12 — Brig Providence, Ab'ijah Potter. Dec. 16 — Brig Marianna, "; . . . John Kendrick. May 10 — ^Adventure, John Brown Pardon Sheldon. Mar. 14 — George, Nathan Miller T Samuel Wardwell. Mar. 14 — ^Wayne, Benjamin Pierce. May 12 — General Washington, John Brown James Monroe. Mar. 20 — Betsey, John Brown Joseph Cooke. June 12 — General Gates, John Mumford Obadiah Wright. June 3 — Harbinger, John Brown William Malone. April 18 — Crawford, Nicholas Brown John Updike. 1781. Aug. 4 — Flora, Jacob & Griffin Greene Henry Johnston. Sept. 14 — Comet, Howland Coit, et al William Walters. July 25 — Marianna, John Williams, et al Christopher Whipple. Nov. 25 — Brig Hope, John Brown Simeon Smith. Aug. 11 — Sloop Hope, Clarke & Nightingale Christopher Smith. Sept. 27 — Rover, Joseph Olney. Sept. 7 — Wasp, Clark & Nightingale Peleg Greene. July 3 — Minerva, Jacob & Griffin Greene Benjamin Pearce. Dec. 6 — Greyhound, M. Mackay Philemon Haskell. 1782. May Chance, Clarke & Nightingale Benjamin Aborn. July 23 — Fair Play, James Phillips. Jan. 29 — Count de Grasse, John Channing Peter Aloph. Sept. 5 — Ladies' Delight, William Bucklin William Bucklin. Mar. 9 — Chance, Francis Mulligan Samuel W^atrous, Jr. Dec. 3 — Trimmer, Zebulon Story Samuel Jeffers. April 24 — Rising Sun, Nicholas Brown Thomas Jackson. Dec. 7 — Modesty, Morris & Man Alfred Arnold. Clemence, H. H. Tillinghast William Hopkins. Oct. 16 — Phoenix, William Creed William Corey. Sept. 5 — Elisha Greene, 2-mast boat James Anthony. Nov. 13 — General Rochambeau, John Topham Oliver Read. Oct. 4 — Unity, Cotton Gelston Jonathan Coffin. Dec. 3 — Trimmer, Richard Woodson Samuel Jeffers. Oct. 1 — Industry, Eleazer Warren. Aug. 5 — Baton, Daniel Collins. July 9 — Yorick, Welcome Arnold Charles Handy, Jr. Industry, Henry Wyncoop Peleg Greene. July 24 — Gamecock, William Hopkins. May 25 — Marquis de LaFayette, Miles Cooper. . .' Joseph Olney. June 20 — Sally, John Brown Jacob Westcott. July 23 — Fair Play, James Phillips. April 13 — Insurance, John Brown Isaiah Cahoone. Jan. 3— St. John, William Creed Oliver Bowen. Nov. 16— Scammel, John Innes Clarke Noah Stoddard. Sept. 13— Surprise, N. Silsby, et al Benjamin Warren. 438 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 1783. DATE. VESSEL. OWNERS. MASTER. Mar. 17 — General Greene, Griffin Greene John Remington. Mar. 9 — Vermont, William Barton Isaac Tyler. Jan. 1— General Washington, Christopher Hopkins .. John Wanton. Jan. 4 — Marie Antoinette, Thomas Jenkins Shubael Worth. Jan. 24 — Nancy, John Humphrey John Humphrey. Mar. 25 — Game Cock, John Smith John L. Tillinghast. Mar. 1 — Lively, John Dennis Jonathan Allen. Mar. 1 — Count de Grasse, Jonathan Dennis, et al Jonathan Dunham. Mar. 20 — Peacock, William Creed Joseph Olney. Mar. 17 — Neptune, John Smith, et al John Dalling. Mar. 12— Fulton, William Wall John Pond. Feb. 20 — Snake Fish, John Brown Josiah Cahoone. Mar. 5— General Washington, Chrastopher Ellery .... William Covell. Feb. 20 — ^Wonder, Zebulon Story Thomas Forrester. Feb. 5 — General Greene, Peleg Wood, et al Samuel Jeffers. Feb. 17 — Polly, Joseph West, et al Alfred Arnold. Jan. 24 — Modesty, W. Norris William Brown. Prizes sent into Rhode Island during the Revolution. June 13, 1775, two American vessels were said to be in the west pas sage, on the west side of Conanicut. At that time the British frigates Rose, The Swan, and a tender vrith five prizes were in the harbor of Newport. The two British vessels of war and the tender got under way and sailed around the north end of Conanicut to look down the west passage. In the mean time, volunteers from Newport boarded the prizes, overcome the prize crews, recaptured the prizes and took them to a place of safety." 1776. CAPTURED VESSEL. CAPTOR. MASTER. August — Two valuable prizes (sugar, cotton and coffee) Diamond, William Chace. August 17 — Nine prizes in Newport awaiting condemnation. Bark (sugar and rum) Montgomery. Rover Montgomery, Daniel Bucklin. Swallow Snow Bird, Israel Anderson. Brig Fanny Independence, Whipple. Betsey Montgomery, William Rhodes. Cool and Easy Montgomery, William Rhodes. Nov. 30 — Endeavor Montgomery, Thomas Rutenbergen. Dec. Frank Montgomery, Thomas Rutenbergen. Brig Rice Pongas The Eagle, Barzellia Smith. Friendship (transport) Independence. Live Oak Diamond, Thomas Stacey. April 9 — Brig and sloop from protec tion of Scarborough Row Gallies. The Crawford , Thomas Stacey. Ship Woodcock Diamond, Thomas Stacey. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 439 CAPTURED VESSEL. CAPTOR. MASTER. Oct. Hannah Favorite, Abner Coffin. Paisley Greenwich, Job Pearce. Brig Mary and Joseph Montgomery, Thomas Stacey. Nov. Phenix The Greenwich, Job Pearce. Aug. Triton Montgomery, William Rhodes. Brig Bee Montgomery, William Rhodes. Westmoreland . Esek Hopkins. Georgia Packet, condemned August 17. Speedwell, condemned Aug. 17. Cargo of Brig Union , James Monroe. Sept. 2 — Star and Garter Diamond, William Chase. Mar. 26 — Cabot True Blue, Elisha Herman. Sept. 27 — Ship Union Hawke, Arthur Crawford. Oct. 4 — Ship Belle The Greenwich, Job Pearce. Sept. 21 — Ship Thomas The Hawke, Arthur Crawford. April 11 — Georgia Packet Row Galley, John Grimes. Sally The Joseph, John Field. Dec. 3 — The ship Jane Property Montgomery, Rutenberger. Oct. 1 — British transport and supply.. The Independence. Dec. — The Syren wrecked on Point Judith. The Sisters and The Two Mates were condemned in 1777. . Mar. 11 — The Two Brothers, with cargo of provisions, was driven on shore at Westerly. The Kingston Packet. 1778. Aug. 8 — The Fanny The Hornet and Seven Brothers. Aug. 8 — Peggy The Dolphin, Isaac Tyler. Brig Sally Yankee Ranger. Delancy Dolphin, Isaac Tyler. 1779. Harlequin Glasgow Mifflin, George W. Babcock. Jan. 14. — Molly's Adventure (recap ture) Hornet, Charles Jenckes. Dolphin . Sion Martindale. Sept. 9 — British supply boat — four boats. The George, The Thomas Captured by Col. Christopher Greene. Dec. — Britannia Joseph and Jonathan. Rebecca -. 1780. Barrington General Washington, James Monroe. John Aug. 28 — Le Committe, recaptured ¦with cargo valued at £31,745 ster ling, by the Randolph. Industry Revenge. Spitfire , James Monroe. Surprise , Silas Talbot. Le Compt Hancock, Peter Richards. 430 State op Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. 1781. CAPTURED VESSEL. CAPTOR. MASTER. Rochester (brig) Young Cromwell, Jonathan Buddington Jan. 4 — Phoenix Marquis de Lafayette. Brig Rose Success, John Hopkins. Sept. 24— Rachel Hope, C. Smith. Jan. 2 — Betsey Morning Star, Jonathan Richards. April 16 — Union Protection, John F. Williams. Brig John Protection, John F. Williams. James , Jonathan Buddington. Aug. 30 — Sally Assurance, Isaiah Cahoone. 1782. America — recaptured. Fair America Rochambeau, Oliver Read. Dec. 1 — Defiance — recaptured Young Scammel, Noah Stoddard. Oct. — Truncator Surprise, Benjamin Warren. Friendship Modesty, Alfred Arnold. True Briton Deliverance. Manly Deliverance. Squirrel Young Scammel and Hero. Fox Insurance, Isaiah Cahoone. Oct. 12— Fly Hero, Oliver Read. Mar. 19 — Tyron , John Scranton. New York Packet Patty, Alfred Arnold. Speedwell , William Brown. March 17 — Leopard Rochambeau, Oliver Read. Sept. — Hamburg Polly, Alfred Arnold. Mar. 7 — Cool and Easy James Prior. Mar. 26 — Hope Polly, Alfred Arnold. Providence — recaptured Alfred Arnold. In court March 3, the Rebecca, the Mercy and the Patty were con demned as lawful prizes, and the St. James was condemned near the same time. Feb. — Leopard Success. Jan. — Lion Rochambeau, Oliver Read. Spy Rochambeau, Oliver Read. The foregoing lists of captures by no means include all the vessels brought into the Narragansett Bay ports. Providence was the prin cipal port during this period, as NcAvport for three years, from late in 1776, was in the possession of the British fleet. TDhe reports of the Admiralty Court held at Providence show that many important cap tures were brought into that port. The Independence, owned by Nicholas Cooke and others, and commanded by Jabez Whipple, cap- turned, August 14, 1776, the ship Aurora and brought her to Prori- dence, where the ship and cargo was condemned and ordered to be sold by the sheriff at vendue. Her cargo was sugar, rum and cotton from St. Vincent's to Glasgow. The brig Fanny, mentioned in the The Sea Trade and Its Development. 431 preceding list, was also one of the prizes of the Independence and was condemned at the same time as the Aurora. The brigantine Sally, cap tured by John Warner of the privateer sloop Yankee Ranger, with a cargo of sugar, whalebone, oil, etc., from Antigua to London, was con demned in the Admiralty Court at Providence and vessel and cargo ordered to be sold at auction. Warner was a partner Avith Mr. Rhodes and the Yankee Ranger was one of the most celebrated of the priva teers. She captured also the brigantine Bee, August 1, 1776, and other prizes. Despite the vigilance of the British cruisers at the mouth of the bay, the Providence privateers captured many prizes and successfully ran the blockade of the fleet. During the War of 1812, Bristol took the leading part in sending out privateers. Capt. Simeon Potter, who, in the Prince Charles of Lorraine, carried on private war against the Spanish settlements in the West Indies and the Spanish main during the Spanish and Span ish-French wars, was a native of Bristol, and his subsequent ventures in privateering, commerce, and the slave trade did much to bring the place into prominence as a port. A young man, Mark Anthony De Wolf, was vrith Capt. Potter on this celebrated voyage in 1744-5, as clerk or supercargo. He afterward married one of Captain Potter's sisters, who inherited a large share of her brother's fortune, and they founded a family which has since continued to be prominent in the history of Bristol. James DeWolf, the son of Mark Anthony De Wolf, was a very successful merchant. He was actively engaged in general commerce and in the slave trade in the early years of the nineteenth century. He probably had more capital and vessels en gaged in the latter trade than any other Rhode Island merchant. When the War of 1812 broke out he directed his energies to privateer ing. "The Yankee", a vessel in which he owned a three-fourths interest, set sail on her first voyage July, 1812, under command of Capt. Oliver Wilson. ' ' In three years she had taken more prizes than any other American privateer ever captured; she had destroyed British property amounting in aU to almost a miUion pounds and she had sent into Bristol a round million of dollars as the profit from her six cruises."^ Other privateers which sailed from Bristol during this war were the Hiram, Blockade, Macdonough, Water Witch, Yankee Lass and Ram bler, whose records are in existence ; and others, the Brutus, Saranac and Curlew, which are knovrai to have gone from Bristol, but whose 'Munro's History of Bristol, pp. 302-311. 433 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. papers cannot be found. Only one of these privateers was successful, the Watet Witch, and she sent in one prize. In privateering, as in the slave trade and general commerce, New port was conspicuously in the lead during the colonial period. At the time of the Revolution, Providence-had secured a large proportion of 4, the commerce, and because Newport was in the hands of the enemy, she was the center of the privateering interest. In the War of 1812 Bristol seems to have been the principal privateering port, ovring chiefly to the enterprise of James DeWolf. Providence, however, sent out some privateers at this time, but few in comparison vrith the Revolution. The story of privateering as here narrated has been presented con secutively in order to give at one view a connected idea of its influence on the evolution of the commerce of the Colony and State. This war like enterprise on the part of Rhode Island merchants had not only an important economic effect, but also far reaching political results which redounded to the lasting beneflt of the country and people. Dur ing the Revolution, says Judge Staples, ' ' many of the resources of the American army and navy were obtained by means of these [priva teers] , and most of the foreign merchandise in the country was intro duced here through their agency. By touching the pockets of British merchants, they did much toward influencing the British government to acknowledge the independence of these States, and to conclude peace with them. Privateering was almost the only business in which American merchants could employ their vessels. Patriotism and pri vate interest concurred in urging them to pursue it Adgorously. Good men of those days never hesitated to engage in it on account of any supposed moral wrong which it involved. Such an objection is of modern date. I would not be understood as justifying privateering. I only desire to restore it to its proper rank. The same code which says thou shall not steal, says also, thou shalt not kill. ' ' Among the important influences in modifying the development of colonial commerce were the Navigation Acts. These were framed in the interests of English merchants, their intent being to secure to British shipping the monopoly of the home trade. The author of the first naAdgation act was George Downing, of Salem, and it was passed by Parliament October 9, 1651. One of the results aimed at "was to weaken the overwhelming commercial and naval power of Holland, then the carrier of the world and mistress of the seas". This result was accomplished, partly as a consequence of the policy put into The Sea Trade and Its Development. 433 operation by the acts, but more largely undoubtedly because of the indomitable energy of the English adventurers, whose force was at this period directed into the domain of commerce. The act of 1651 Avas remodeled in 1660, and the clause was inserted that "no merchandise shall be imported into the plantations but in"< EngUsh vessels, navigated by Englishmen, under penalty of for feiture". Many articles chiefly produced in America could only be exported to England or countries under the rule of England. These "enumerated commodities" included sugar, tobacco, cotton, indigo, ginger, fustic, dyewoods, naval stores, etc., and the list was added to from time to time. Goods not thus mentioned could be exported to foreign countries, but only to points south of Cape Finisterre. "In 1663 another act confined all colonial imports to English bot toms, except salt for the fisheries, wine from Madeira and Azores, and prorisions from Scotland and Ireland. All imports not excepted paid five per cent, on a valuation fixed by adding five per cent, to cost at place of export. Colonists would thus be compelled to send their best wares to England only and to buy of England alone every foreign article needed for their own consumption, wherever it might be pro duced."^ These acts tended to cripple colonial commerce, but they were never rigidly enforced. When in the middle years of the eight eenth century attempts to enforce them were made, strenuous oppo- ition was encountered, which resulted in alienating the affection of the colonies for the mother country, and in precipitating the Revolution. The controversies resulting from the attempts to enforce the acts were a potent means of education for the colonists, and undoubtedly brought them to a realization of their rights and opportunities much sooner than otherwise would have been possible. Thus, while perhaps at times they lost in actual wealth by the attempts to enforce the acts, they gained an experience which they were eventually able to trans form into the most substantial benefits. The EngUsh government, by royal edict in 1681, notified the Amer ican colonies of its determination to enforce the navigation acts. In response to this mandate the Governor and Council established a cus toms house at Newport, April, 1681, and their action was confirmed by the General Assembly the following year. In 1693 the Board of Trade issued a circular to the colonies, calling attention to the fact that the navigation acts were generally disregarded, and Rhode Island was included in this condemnation. In reply to this complaint Gov. 'Weeden's Economic and Social History of N. E., p. 232. 434 State op Rhode Island and PROAaDENCE Plantations. John Easton wrote "that the collector [of customs], Jahleel Brenton, would shortly be in England and would represent the fact that for want of proper forts in the bay it w^as difficult to enforce the nariga- tion acts. "^ The right to establish admiralty courts for the condemnation of prizes brought in by privateers Avas in principle a prerogative of the home government; but the American colonies, and especially Rhode Island, assumed this function and, without seriously intending to do so, thereby provoked a great deal of antagonism vrith the English authorities. The operation of the colonial Courts of Admiralty made , privateering easier and more profitable; but at the same time they operated against the enforcement of the navigation acts, as they en couraged indifference to their provisions and also erected an inde pendent tribunal for matters that the colonists at first regarded as outside the jurisdiction of the acts. The first Admiralty Court was instituted in 1653, at the time AA'hen the first privateer commissions were granted, and it consisted ' ' of the general officers and three jurors from each town".^ Governor Sanford, in his replies to the inquiries of the Board of Trade in 1680, said that "coneerninge the court of admiralty wee answer that we have made provision to act accordinge to the Laws of England as neare as the constitution of our place Arill beare, havinge but little occasion thereof e". The General Assembly, on January 7, 1694-5, estabUshed an Admi ralty Court by a special act. This enactment, as well as the one imposing import duties passed in 1696, the tonnage act passed in 1690, and the act regulating the sizes of casks and barrels passed in 1693, all indicate that the Narragansett Bay colonies were actually in a large measure independent. The admiralty act is unique in its phraseology and is worthy of quotation, since it shows the spirit that animated the colonists at that period. They evidently had no desire to antagonize the home government, but were only anxious to do what was best for all concerned; and they conceived that they could accomplish this object by acting as representatives of the croAAm in accordance with their own interpretation of the charter. King William's War was then going on and the condemning of prizes brought in by the priva teers, which at that time had begun active operations, was likely to be an important and extremely necessary procedure. The foUoAring is the admiralty act : 'Arnold's History of R. I., vol. 1, p. 530. Udem, vol. 1, p. 24. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 435 "Admiralty Act of Rhode Island, Passed Jan. 7, 1694-5.^ "Whereas, Captain John Hore commander of the Dublin frigate of Jamaica hath by virtue of his commission granted by the Right hon ored Sir Wm. Beestow, Knt. their Maj 'ts Lieut. -Govr., Commander in chief in and over their Island of Jamaica and other the territories depending thereon in America and Vice Admiral of the same, bearing date the 21st day of January, 1694, hath taken a Prize from the French, his Majty. publick Enemies, subjects to the French King, as appears by evidence of the BoatsAvain, Quarter-Master of the said Prize, and prays condemnation of said Prize and goods unto her belonging of the honored Govr. of their Majts. Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and the Govr. Dep. Govr. and Generall Councill takeing the presentation and request of Captn. John Hore and Compy. into their serious consideration having not, since the grant of our gratious Charter from King Charles the second of Blessed mem ory, had the like occasion for precedent, and seeing a necessity in these times of War to encourage those who serve his Majty. against his publick Enemies, doe conceive that by virtue of our Charter giving full power to act in all things for the preservation of his Majtys. subjects and the Honor of the Crown of England, doe judge although in express words in our Charter we are not called nor mentioned an Admiralty, conceive we are in like manner authorized, and finding a necessity to encourage as aforesaid doe deem the General Council of this Colony to have the power of Admiralty of this Colony, that there may be a foundation laid to assist his Majts. subjects in these times of Warr until his Majtys. pleasure be further known. "These above written is voted an Act of the General Councill and is allowed and approved of by the General Assembly of the Colony, sitting on the 7th day of Janr. 1694, that the General Councill in such cases shall be deemed an Admiralty Court for the condemning "of prizes, and other seafaring actions as occasion shall require. "The above is a true copy, as attested, "Weston Clarke, Secretary." In 1696 the home government decided to establish Admiralty Courts in the American colonies for the purpose of preventing the existing irregularities in regard to privateering and also to aid in the enforcement of the navigation laws. Jahleel Brenton returned from England late in 1697 and brought a commission to Peleg Sanford as judge of admiralty. He was also authorized to administer to the governor the oath required by the acts of trade, but Gov. Walter Clarke, being a Quaker, would not comply. The governor also op posed the establishing of the Admiralty Court, but in this he was not sustained by the Assembly. 'Arnold's Hist, of R. I. vol. 2, pp. 48-49. 436 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The course of Governor Clarke eridently did not meet with ap proval, as when a new administration, with Samuel Cranston as gov ernor, came into power in March, 1698, an address to the king was prepared explaining and excusing the action of the Colony. The assumption of admiralty jurisdiction was defended during King William's War on the ground of necessity, and at the same time the confession was made that the Colony had been remiss in observing the naAdgation acts. This action Avas no doubt prompted by the fact that a royal letter the preAdous year addressed to the colonies had threat ened the abrogation of the charters if the navigation laws were not observed. None too soon did this change of front occur, for the Board of Trade, in December, 1698, in an address to the. king, made very definite charges against Rhode Island, enumerating "the refusal to take the oaths; their encouragement of illegal traffic; their assuming admiralty jurisdiction to themselves and resisting it from the croAvn, Arith other fiagrant acts of disloyalty, and recommending that a com mission of inquiry be sent to Lord Bellomont to examine into these matters with a view to the issuing a quo warranto against the char ter".^ This inquiry was at once ordered and the Colony was as a consequence in great danger; Lord Bellomont pressed the charges against Rhode Island with great ability, not only in regard to the violations of the acts of trade, but also in relation to privateering, piracy and local questions of administration. The letter of Governor Cranston to the Board of Trade, in reply to the charges of Edward Randolph, and the exertions of Mr. Brenton, later collector of New port, then in England, and who was appointed colonial agent in 1699, helped materially to prevent disaster to Rhode Island ; but it is doubt ful what would have been the outcome had not "the death of the Earl of Bellomont at New York, March 5, 1700-1, removed the most formid able opponent to the charter of Rhode Island who had ever ruled in New England. "2 The imminent danger thus averted by the death of Bellomont no doubt prompted the action that was taken by the General Assembly in May, 1701. "A bill to sustain the governor in enforcing the nari- gation act was passed. It required aU shipmasters to enter at the collector's office before breaking bulk; to report their passengers and to obtain permits for shipping seamen belonging to the Colony; that none but the regular boarding officers should approach any vessel off 'Arnold's History of R. I., vol. 1, p. 544; Historical Magazine, vol. vii, p. 112. ^Arnold's History of R. I. vol. 1, p. 558. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 437 the port without leave from the governor, or two assistants ; that the governor should establish a naval office, the fees of which were to be stated by a general council; that foreign traders, residing for one month in the Colony, should be subject to taxation as other inhab itants; that the commander of the fort, to be appointed by the gov ernor, should have power to bring to any inward bound vessel by the usual modes, and that the tonnage law enacted ten years before should remain in force. "^ Joseph Dudley, the royal governor of Massachusetts, had been appointed in 1701 vice-admiral of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. In his official capacity he attempted to interfere in Rhode Island affairs, particularly in admiralty matters, the chief instance of which was in the case of the three French' ships captured by Capt. John Wanton in 1702, and condemned in the long-established Admiralty Court at Newport. At Dudley's suggestion the Board of Trade asked the attorney-general whether Rhode Island, by passing the admiralty act in 1694, did not assume such powers as justified the repeal of her charter. Although the answer was in the negative, the suggestion was made that the act be repealed and an order in council to that effect was immediately passed. In addition a letter from Queen Anne was sent to the governor and council, directing that all admiralty matters be placed in the hands of Governor Dudley as vice- admiral of New England. The repeal of the admiralty act does not seem to have settled the question, for the Rhode Island authorities still continued to exercise admiralty jurisdiction, as was illustrated in the affair of the brigan tine Charles, Capt. John Halsey, which in June, 1705, had brought in a valuable Spanish prize from the West Indies. But ultimately the Admiralty Court acted under the jurisdiction of the home government. The quarrel with Governor Dudley seems to have rested until 1722, when disputes as to admiralty jurisdiction between Rhode Island and Massachusetts came before the Lords of the Admiralty, but no final settlement was made. Evidently the court at Newport continued to exercise jurisdiction, to condemn the prizes brought in by the priva teers and to aid as public opinion would permit in the enforcement of the narigation acts. The first judge of admiralty, Peleg Sanford, died in 1701. Nathan- ield Byfield was judge in 1705 and doubtless held the position many years, as he was in office in 1729 and also in 1733 at the time of his death; but John Menzies was appointed judge December 26, 1715, and 'Arnold's History of R. I. vol. 2, p. 3. 438 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. was, at his death in 1728, succeeded by WiUiam Whiting; George Dunbar succeeded Nathaniel Byfield in 1733. Samuel Pemberton was appointed judge March 22, 1741, but was superseded by Leonard Lockman August 24, 1741. William Strengerfield became judge of the court December 15, 1747 ; Robert Lightfoot April 20, 1753 ; John Andrews held the office from 1761 to 1763 and probably until 1768 ; Robert Auchmutty was appointed October 17, 1768. The Rhode Island authorities continued to act in a very independent manner in regard to the observance of the acts of trade and complaints were made against them from various sources. Caleb Heathcote, gov ernor of the colony of New York, in a letter to the Board of Trade in 1719, charged that the Rhode Islanders opposed the king's officers and considered them public enemies because they interfered vrith the "full freedom of iUegal trade ' '. He also relates how some smuggled claret, which had been seized at Newport by the collector of customs, Nathaniel Kay, was captured by a mob which carried the wine away or destroyed it. The collector was arrested immediately after on "a charge of extortion in clearing vessels", and this action, it was claimed, was taken to please the populace. This disposition of the Rhode Island people to act in opposition to the home government was forcibly exem plified in 1735, when the General Assembly passed an act empowering the judges of the Superior Court to issue injunctions against the Court of Admiralty, restraining it from exercising jurisdiction in cases not of a maritime nature. Leonard Lockman, judge of the Admi ralty Court, wrote to the Lords of the Admiralty in 1744, complaining of the independent legislation of Rhode Island on commercial affairs. A letter in reply was sent to England justifying the actions of the Colony. Smuggling was carried on during King George's War by vessels sailing to the West Indies from Newport. These vessels, "under cover of fiags of truce", and ostensibly conveying prisoners to the enemies ' ports, in reality carried merchandise in violation of the nari gation acts. This species of trade was especially active in 1747. The colony sloop Tartar captured in May, 1748, off Point Judith, a schoon er loaded Arith sugar, which was sailing under a fiag of truce. The colony seems to have insisted on its right to regulate custom fees. At a session of the General Assembly, held in Newport late in 1743, the tariff was raised and a table of fees to be charged by the Admiralty Court was also framed. Earlier in the same year the Assembly refused to recognize the appointment by royal authority of Leonard Lockman as clerk of the naval office at Newport, claiming this office had always been in the appointment of the governor. VIEW OF THE FOX POINT DISTRICT OF PROVIDENCE FROM FORT HILL IN EAST PROVIDENCE, TAKEN IN 1837. From an Old Painting by Kingsley C. Gladding, in the Possession of the Rhode Island Hist. Soc. 440 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In 1758 the General Assembly repealed an act, passed the previous year, forbidding trade with the Spanish settlements at Hispaniola, "as no such restrictions existed in the other colonies". This was evidently a direct violation of the acts of trade, but does not appear to have excited any special comment from the home government. From the close of the French War in 1763 to the outbreak of the Revolution in 1776 there was constant friction between the colonies and the mother country, grovring out of the attempts of the latter to enforce the narigation acts and other commercial legislation. Great Britain had in the French war gained jurisdiction over a large extent of territory, but her national debt had thereby been increased enor mously. In order to recoup herself she proceeded to tax the colonies on the plea that they should bear a part of the burden. The House of Commons resolved, in 1764, that "Parliament had a right to tax the colonies", and the prime minister, GrenviUe, brought in a scheme of colonial taxation, the principal feature of which was the stamp duties which were to be paid on all commercial and legal documents. The stamp act was not immediately passed, but was deferred to give the colonies an opportunity to suggest a more satisfactory mode of raising revenue. The sugar act was, however, passed at once (April 5, 1764), its object being, as announced in its preamble, to raise "a revenue for defraying the expenses of defending, protecting and securing His Majesty's Dominion in America". This act "reduced the duty upon molasses from sixpence a gallon under the old act, which amounted to prohibition, to three-pence, which was considered a revenue standard. It also placed a duty on coffee, spice, Arines and many foreign goods and prohibited the export of lumber or iron except to England. It strengthened the courts of rice-admiralty and provided effectual means of collecting the revenue. ' '^ The original sugar act, or "molasses act", as it was sometimes caUed, was passed in 1733 and imposed a heavy duty on products im ported into the northern colonies from the West India Islands which were not under British jurisdiction. This act seriously affected Rhode Island, as it interfered with her trade in rum and molasses Arith the West Indies. A protest against this act was sent to the Board of Trade and the Rhode Island agent, Richard Partridge, in presenting it, said in his letter, "that the bill divested the colonists of their right as Englishmen, in laying taxes against their consent and without their being represented on the floor of Parliament."^ The act expired by 'Arnold's History of R. I. vol. 2, p. 251. 'Idem, vol. 2, p. 124. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 441 limitation in 1764, but was at once revived with some changes. The General Assembly, at a special session held early in 1764, sent a re monstrance to Joseph Sherwood, then the Rhode Island agent in Lon don, directing him to present it to the Board of Trade. The governor also wrote to the Board of Trade, showing that the trade with the French sugar islands was of advantage to the colonies and to Great Britain and that this commerce should be left free instead of being hampered by a tariff. The remonstrance and letter, as well as other similar papers sent on to England, failed to prevent the passage of the act. The importance of the trade in molasses to the Rhode Island people is obvious froin the fact that the remonstrance to the Lords of Trade and Plantations stated that 14,000 gallons were annually imported into the colony from the West Indies, of which only 2,500 were from the English Islands, leaving 11,500 subject to duty. The original act eridently was never enforced, except perhaps in isolated cases, as no such volume of trade as existed in connection with the distilling of rum and the exchange of rum for slaves, could have been developed under the burden of the duty imposed. This is substantiated by the following language used in the remonstrance : "The present price of molasses is about twelve pence sterling per gallon ; at which rate only can it be distilled into rum for exportation ; wherefore if a duty should be laid on the article the enhanced price may amount to a prohibition, and it may with truth be said that there is not so large a sum of silver and gold circulating in the colony as the duty imposed by the aforesaid act would amount to in one year which makes it absolutely impossible for the importers to pay it. ' '^ Late in 1764 the Assembly adopted an address on taxation, which was sent to the king, and vrith this there was also forwarded two copies of the pamphlet by Gov. Stephen Hopkins, entitled ' ' The Rights of the Colonies Examined". In this address the right of Parliament to apply the acts of trade to the colonies was denied and a determination was expressed to preserve the ancient privileges of the colony. In obedience to a vote passed by a special town meeting, held at Proridence August 7, 1765, a committee consisting of Stephen Hop kins, Nicholas Cooke, Samuel Nightingale, jr., John Brown, Silas Dow ner and James AngeU, was appointed to draw up instructions to the representatives of the town in the General Assembly. This committee reported on August 13, the instructions they presented were unani mously agreed to, and with some changes they were adopted at a 'R. I. Col. Rec. vol. vi., p. 381. 442 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. special session of the General Assembly held at East Greenwich in September. Pour of these resolutions were similar to those passed by the Legislature of Virginia, but the fifth as passed by the Rhode Island Assembly was practically a declaration of independence. This legislation was the most notable and radical that had ever been taken in the colony. The preamble to these resolutions stated that the colo nists had always had "a full and free enjoyment of British liberty"; that the attempt to tax them without their consent AA^as an infringe ment of their rights as Englishmen, and that the passage of the stamp act, the enlargement of the admiralty jurisdiction and the burdening of trade, was against their rights. The first two resolutions were his torical; the last three declared the position of the colony and are worthy of being quoted in full : "Third— That his Majesty's liege people of this colony have enjoyed the right of being governed by their own assembly in the article of taxes and internal police ; that the same hath never been forfeited, or in any way yielded up, but hath been constantly recognized by the King and people of Great Britain. "Fourth— That therefore the General Assembly of this colony have in their representative character, the only exclusive right to lay taxes and imports upon the inhabitants of this colony; and that every at tempt to vest such power in any person or persons whatever other than the General Assembly aforesaid, is unconstitutional and has a manifest tendency to destroy British as well as American liberty. "Fifth— That his Majesty's liege people, the inhabitants of this colony, are not bound to yield obedience to any law or ordinance de signed to impose any internal taxation whatsoever upon them other than the laws and ordinances of the General Assembly aforesaid."^ A sixth resolution was added, ' ' directing the officers of the colony to proceed as usual in the execution of their trusts and agreeing to save them harmless for so doing". Similar action was taken by the other American colonies, and as a concession to the vigorous opposition thus manifested, the stamp act was repealed March 28, 1766, but the sugar act stiU remained in force. In May of the same year the Acts of Trade were revised, the duty on molasses was reduced to a penny a gallon, the tariff on spice, coffee and sugar was decreased and other changes made in the interests of the colonies. The colony agent, Joseph Sherwood, writing to the colonial authorities about these matters, said "that every grievance is now absolutely and totaUy removed." The British Parliament, while conceding a point in repealing the 'Staples's Annals of Providence, pp. 211, 213. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 443 stamp act, had expressly reserved the right to tax the colonies. The chancellor of the exchequer, Charles Townshend, determined to exer cise this right, and he proposed a small duty on glass, lead, paints, paper and tea. The act imposing these duties went into operation November 20, 1767, but it at once aroused the most determined opposi tion in all the colonies. In Rhode Island the resistance was chiefiy manifested by the non-importation agreements which were very gen erally signed by the citizens. These agreements bound the signers not to import or use British goods, especially those mentioned in the new act, and they were very generally observed. One of the results Avas, to encourage domestic manufactures, the effect of which was very marked in the subsequent development of the State of Rhode Island. The attempt of the British authorities to enforce the acts in regard to taxation and commerce was the cause of constant trouble. ' ' Disagree ments between the colonial and revenue officers were incessant and mutual recriminations were constantly made to the home government of hindrance in collecting duties and of tyranny in the mode of exact ing them. To trace the manifold phases that these troubles assumed would be both tedious and useless. They present the opposite sides of the same principle, resistance to the Acts of Trade on one hand and the determination to enforce them at all hazards on the other — vrith very much of wrong-dealing on both. "^ Among the incidents of this period that illustrate the friction be tween the colonies and the royal authorities were the scuttling of the armed sloop Liberty in Newport Harbor, July 19, 1769, and the burning of the armed schooner Gaspee, June 9-10, 1772, just below Providence. Both vessels had been attempting, in a way obnoxious to the traders and sailors on the bay, to enforce the revenue laws. Smug gling was carried on quite openly, but the people believed the laws were unjust and the whole community was in league against the authority of the crown as represented by the Admiralty Court, the revenue officers, and the naval vessels sent to enforce their authority. The hardy English settlers who founded the colonies on Narragan sett Bay developed an independent commonwealth under the forms of English law. They recognized the royal authority only so far as it was in agreement Arith their ideas of liberty ; the moment it interfered with those ideas they either ignored, evaded or resisted it. They es tablished their own admiralty courts, commissioned their own priva teers, made their own tariffs and collected their own custom dues ; and although they were time and again accused, and the charges proved, of 'Arnold's History of R. I., vol. 2, p. 276. 444 State of Rhode Island and PROAaDENCE Plantations. doing these things which were in contravention of the royal preroga tives, they still continued, by hook or crook, in their self-vrilled way. As time went on their persistence was less overt, but none the less effective, and by the arts of the politician— even at the royal court itself— they fought the battle for commercial liberty, and practically won the fight. The war of the Revolution was only the culmination of the long struggle. The Usts of privateers in the colonial wars and in the Revolutionary struggle, printed in the preceding pages, give the names of many of the merchants both of Newport and Providence. The leading mer chants of Newport at the beginning of her commercial development were John and William Wanton and Francis Brindley, while during the period of the colonial wars, Godfrey Malbone, John BroAvn, George Wanton, Joseph Wanton, Seuton Grant, Daniel Ayrault, jr., WilUam Mumford, Stephen Hopkins, Philip Wilkinson, William Ellery, were among the most conspicuous. In the middle of the eighteenth century a number of enterprising Jews became prominent merchants at New port. Of these the leaders were Aaron and Moses Lopez, "who at one time owned twenty-seven square rigged vessels, several of which were whaleships, besides many smaller craft. "^ Moses Hays, a Jew, was also a prominent merchant. In 1763 there were sixty families of Jews in Newport ; they were chiefiy engaged in commerce and had exerted a great infiuence in the development of the port. Th father of the commerce of Providence was Pardon Tillinghast, who built the first wharf and warehouse in 1679. Others of the toAvns- men engaged in commerce in a very limited way during the early years of the eighteenth century, as is evidenced by the building of whaijves and warehouses on the Proridence River at that period. It was not, however, until James and Obadiah Brown started in business as merchants, about 1733, that any great impetus was given to the commercial development of Providence. The subsequent history of this evolution centers around the achievements of the sons of James Brown, their associates and successors. James and Obadiah BroAvn were great-grandsons of Chad Brown, one of the first settlers of Prori dence, and James had married Hope, daughter of Nicholas Power and granddaughter of Pardon Tillinghast. The two brothers employed four sloops in the West India trade in 1736 and Obadiah was captain of one of them. James Brown died in 1739 and his three sons, Nich olas, Joseph and John, were, as they came of age and developed ability, taken into the business of their uncle, Obadiah. During this period 'Arnold's History of R. I., vol. 2, pp. 177, 447. The Sea Trade and Its Deatelopment. 445 the Browns extended their trade and sent vessels to Europe and Africa; they probably, like the contemporary merchants of Newport, engaged in the slave trade, and very likely they sent out privateers during the Spanish and French wars. Obadiah Brown died in 1761 and his three nephews then reorganized the house as Nicholas Brown & Co. They admitted, in 1763, as a partner their brother Moses, the youngest son of James Brown. The four brothers for a period of ten years, 1763 to 1773, worked together and greatly extended their business, which became the most important commercial house in the colony. Moses Brown retired from the firm in 1773 and thereafter interested himself in study, philanthropy, education and social and industrial progress. He furnished the capital Avhich enabled Samuel Slater to begin the spinning of cotton at Pawtucket in 1790, and without being directly engaged in this industry he did more for its successful estab lishment than any man except Slater. His papers and letters, many of which are in existence, throw a great deal of light on local contem porary history. He died September 8, 1836. The Brown brothers sent some of their ships out as privateers during the Revolution, but their business Avas much contracted during the war. At this period Joseph retired from the firm and became a professor of experimental philosophy in the local college. The two remaining brothers, John and Nicholas, separated about 1782, and John in 1787 started on the south shore of Tockwotton Hill the bold enterprise of trading direct to the East Indies. The locality was called from that fact India Point, which name it still retains. Nicholas BroAvn carried on the business of the old house, took as a partner George Benson and the firm became known as Brown & Benson. This firm followed the example of John Brown and engaged in the East India trade, with headquarters near India Point. Other merchants followed their exam ple, and after the close of the Revolution India Point Avas the most fiourishing section of Providence, and in the vicinity of its wharves there were distilleries, a glass manufactory, rope w^alks, ship yards, ship chandlers' stores and other places of trade. The present great manufacturing house of Brown & Ives, with its immense connected interests, is the lineal descendant of the commercial house established by the Brown Brothers, and then successively carried on by Nicholas Brown & Co., Brown & Benson, Brown, Benson & Ives, and Brown & Ives. The present owners, the Goddards and the Gammells, are the descendants of Nicholas Brown.^ 'Providence Plantations, p. 247. A VIEW OF SOUTH WATER STREET, PROVIDENCE, ABOUT 1857. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 447 Stephen Hopkins, governor of the colony for ten years shortly be fore the Revolution, and one of the Rhode Island signers of the Declar ation of Independence, was associated with the BroAvns in many of their mercantile ventures. Other prominent Providence merchants of the Revolutionary period were Nicholas Cooke, Welcome Arnold, Jo seph Russell, John Smith, William Russell, Daniel TilUnghast, John Innes Clark, Joseph Nightingale, Daniel Jenckes, Edward Kinnicutt, Jabez Bowen, Rufus Hopkins, William Wall and John Jenckes. At later periods, EdAvard Carrington & Co., Munroe, Snow & Munroe, Cyrus Butler, S. G. Arnold & Co., Humphrey & Everett, Aborn & Jackson, and others, were conspicuous. The following letter from Moses Brown in answer to questions from Tristam Burges, throws considerable light on the commerce of Provi dence and corroborates many of the facts already recounted, obtained from other sources. Mr. Burges, who represented the State in Con gress from 1825 to 1835, desired to prepare a historical lecture on commerce, and in order to get his material, addressed the following questions to Moses Brown. The originals are now among the Moses Brown papers in the cabinet of the Rhode Island Historical Society : Tristam Burges to Moses Brown, January 12, 1826. "1st. In what way can a correct and full knoAvledge of the mari time affairs of Rhode Island be acquired; so as to write an entire history of the Navigation and Commerce thereof, from the beginning of the State up to the adoption of the Constitution ? ' ' 2d. How numerous Avere the vessels of this State, to what ports or places either among sister colonies on the Continent or in the West Indies or in Europe, did they navigate or trade ? "3rd. Were they engaged in the fisheries and which and to what extent? "4th. Who were the principal merchants, shipowners and nautical , men? "5th. Was there a Custom House at which vessels entered and cleared and what were its regulations and where Avas it established? Who were its officers? Where is it probable its documents may be found ? ' ' 6th. How early had Rhode Island provided for defense ? What was that provision at any time either on land or water ? "7th. How many armed vessels were fitted out, to whom did they belong ? Who commanded each of them ? Were the officers and men mostly from Rhode Island? What vessels were captured by private armed vessels? What was their lading? "8th. What did Admiral Hopkins bring from New Providence and to where was his second cruise ? ' ' 448 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Moses BrowTi replied at length, interpolating some matters not directly connected with the questions. These have been omitted, as indicated, and the remainder forms an account that in this connection is of much value : "Providence 12th of 1st Mo. 1836. "Respected Friend: — ' ' Thy letter of this day is received and I much approve thy object of collecting material for a historical Lecture or History of the Navi gation and Commencement of Rhode Island from the beginning of the State up to the establishing the Constitution. It is but Uttle I can assist thee in, but so far as my knowledge and recollections may afford to thee will be cheerfully handed thee. "I conclude thatasNcAvport or Rhode Island was began to be settled, tho after our ToAvn, the first purchasers and settlers being much more welthy than Providence settlers, that Navigation was much larger and begun there earlier than here, their records and merchants afford more information than ours, and point out the first Collectors Office which is the best place to obtain this information needed. "In 1764 Daniel Jenks and Nicholas Brown were appointed by the General Assembly a Committee, to unite vrith others to be appointed by other States for petitioning his Majesty for a repeal of the Act of Charles 2d, called the Sugar Act, etc., and to prevent the Stamp duties which was then under consideration; accordingly extensive petitions were drawn by the Merchants of this Town, as well as Boston and probably Newport. That for the County of Proridence States there was fifty-four sail of vessels in our Town, 40 sail of which used the West India trade and the 14 are coasters; of the 40 sail, 24 vessels used the foreign trade as the Dutch, Danes, French and Spanish ports; the other 16 to the English. Our exports thou Arill of course know without naming, tho papers mention most all we have had to send. Our returns mentioned are Salt, Molasses, Rum, Sugar, Coffee, Cotton, Piments, etc. That committee of assembly reported in October, 1764, . . . and the Governor was ordered to transmit two copies of the request. This year, 1764, the General Assembly past an act stating the fees of the collector, controlor and searchers of the Customs and Naval officers. This year also November 1764 the Genr. Assembly ordered the piece Gov. Hopkins wrote entitled 'The Rights of Col- onys Examined,' to be printed and two fair copies were ordered to be sent to our Agent in England to be by him put in print and to use the same in conjunction with other Agents, most to the advan tage of the Collony. . . . "1765, October session, commissioners appointed to meet at New York such from the other States, drew up their opinions respecting the rights and liberties of the Colonists, an address to his Majesty & to both the houses of ParUament to procure a repeal of the Stamp Act, and all clauses of any other Acts appertaining, where the jurisdiction The Sea Trade and Its Deatelopment. 449 of the Admiralty is extended beyond its antient limits, and the late acts for the restriction of American Commerce. Copies were signed by Commissioners of 6 of the colonies, those from Connecticut, New York & So. Carolina not being impowered to sign. Copys sent to the Agents also. "N. B. At the time the 54 sail of vessels, before mentioned was numbered, our State was estimated to contain 49000 inhabitants. In August 31, 1748, I have an advertisement for the sale of the Brigan tine Hannah with all her appertinances as riging, sales, cables, an chors, etc. Signed by all her owners, ten in number which I preserve for the autograph of each as I remember them all, and as it shows not only who they were but is a pretty clear indication of the small prop erty then amongst our trade and Navigation. "More than 12 years before this date I find by my ancestors books, they owned or was principaly concerned in 4 sloops that used the West India Trade. My father Obediah Brown was captain in one of them and OAvned in part. "Thy first Interrogation Avill be difficult to Answer, that is from the beginning of the settlement of the State to the adoption of the Constitution, which made me think of Roger Williams, who says on our Records at a meeting of the Town, 29th of August 1676, that Providence Williams brought up his Mother from Newport and cleared the town of aU the Indians, and of Gov. Coddington 's going by water from Portsmouth to Newport in or about 1640, but we have an evidence here of one of our Town Clerks, Shadrick Manton being going to sea as early as 1669, so there was Navigation then, and I have the curiosity of a printed bill of Lading signed by Caleb Cranston for 14 barrels of cyder in the Good Ship called the Elizabeth & Mary, bound to Cattalina, consigned to the Master Caleb Cranston in 1690. As we never had in this Town a Custom House office untill after the Revolution when Col. Jeremiah Olney were chosen tho Ebenezer Thompson was Naval Officer a little before chosen by the State, After Wallis took the command of Narragansett bay, another Col lector one of the Commissioners was sent. Joseph Wanton the old and long collector was superseded. "As Henry Bull has the old Records of the Colony and has pub lished considerable out of them I should suppose he would be likely to give some acct of their previous Collectors, and of their Navigation, or some of thy Newport friends, they in that Town having had much more Navigation than we here till of late years ours have much in creased. . . . "There is somewhere in being a list of all the Vessel Sailing or OAvned from thence [Newport] CoUatted by Joseph Lawrence which contains the tonnage of each and the owners names, am'tng if I recollect right to upwards of eleven thousand tons which is double what the 54 vessels before mentioned was estimated to contain on an average 29 450 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. I think 90 tons only. I was in hopes of finding a copy but I have looked over where I thought most likely to find it, but in vain. Per haps a copy may be in the custom house where the most correct account may be expected to be found of all our Navigation since its establishment. . . . "1756 August 4th war against the French was declared in this ToAvn. 1757, January 30th arrived the prise. Snow Desire, taken by Captain Esek Hopkins the 8th inst, making 5 mo. 4 days from the dec laration to fit out, man and capture the prise, which was a valuable one, and began the privateering which was carried on and continued by a number during the war to the making many rich and some poor. The 10th of February 1769 the King 's proclamation for a general Ces sation of arms was publicly made by his Majesty officers and others in our public places. ' ' I find in our books only 84 vessels before the year 1760 vrith their names and mostly the masters. As to officers we have had no Custom House much to the dettryment of our concerns in navigation. Altho we sought it of the Commissioners sent out and set in Boston after the coUectorship was put in John Robinson's hands, who was made one. Jabez Bowen, Wm. Russell and myself were appointed to go doAvn to Boston and solicit the Commissioners for a collector and office but without any success. . . . "Our townspeople was very early engaged in the fishery for I recoUect an entry in our town records where appUcation was made for the Island of Starve Goat, for the purpose of drying of fish, and it was granted in early times, and Arithin my OAvn memory and knowl edge that has been the case ; beside Brother John, who was concerned in many vessels in that employ, as well as in the coasting. West India, European and India trades, but the particulars will be hard to get at as his books and papers were many of them burnt at Tockwotton when the Gin distillery and other buildings were burnt, as I have been informed. Othenrise his own transactions in Merchantile affairs might be better knoAvn. He built the largest ship for the India trade there before the distillery was built. . . . "Our first law for settling the fees of that [the collector's] office [at Newport] I think was in 1764, after Wanton was superceded, by I think John Robeson. My father's books shows eight vessels that he had the management of, viz. Sloop Dolphin, Obadiah BroAvn Master ; Sloop Mary Godfrey; Schooner Ann, Samuel Gorton, Master; Sloop PiUican; Sloop Mary Gould, John Hopkins, Master; Schooner Ann; Sloop Rainbow; Sloop Shearwater, John Hopkins. All West India vessels. Some to Surinam vrith horses, etc. Prom 1730 to 1748 I find 15 and from 1748 to 1760 I find about 60 vessels by my father Obadiah Brown book owned by him, Stephen Hopkins, Daniel Jencks, Nathan Angel and many other names, which may be mostly found by the books, the names of vessels, masters, and where they traded, may The Sea Trade and Its Deatelopment. 451 be found I expect by close inquiry, but some time will be required for it. "Navil officers was very early appointed perhaps about 1600 or 1602, and continued by the Governor. Perhaps the books of that office may be found in Newport. Port George was built at or before 1704, began I think by the Government, and I believe application was made for cannon to England. . . . "There is one vessel, or ship I think best to mention particularly; she was ovmed by the company of S. Hopkins, D. Jencks and 0. Brown about the year 1757, which was loaded with ship timber, chiefiy Avhich was floated doAATi Pawducket or Blackstone river and taken up in our East or Seconk river, and put on board the ships. Col. Edward Kinnicutt went in her to London, sold vesseU and cargo and bought goods which set up 3 shops; Daniel Jencks, Obadiah Brown 's, where I was brought up, and one for Col. Kinnicutt himself. Before this, shops of dry goods owned by people in Newport princi paly, supplied our county. Of these John Hadwen, my great uncle Jos. Tillinghast which was kept by Nicholas his son, Peleg Thurston most largely and was kept in the house where James Angel our town Clerk afterward lived, John Wanton, Thomas Robinson, and Daniel Marsh one after the other sold the goods for Thurston and used to ship him occasionally lumber as remittance, tho principally money. . "Prom thy friend, Moses Brown." After this letter there foUows the subjoined note and list of vessels : "As to privateers I expect others can better inform thee. ' ' Commodore Esek Hopkins brought away cannon from N. P. The toAvn was full of sugars brought in by privateers and when the British troops landed on Rhode Island the sugars was removed into the coun try generally. "Account of vessels named in our books — 1746 Schooner 3 Sisters, by Stephen Hopkins, etc. Brigantine Lydia, John Kilton, S. Hopkins, etc. 1749 Snow 2 Brothers, S. H., etc. 1747 Sloop Sarah Sloop Batehilder Sloop Warner 1749 Brigantine Staria Waterman 1745 Sloop Victory A. Brown Brigantine Hannah Schooner Ranger, John Kilton Brigantine Hope, Esek Hopkins 1746 " Desire " " Hope, Rufus Hopkins Schooner Ranger, James Mitchell 1747 Brigantine Hannah, Charles Field 452 State op Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. 1748 Brig Hannah, Eben'r Tyler Sloop Sally, Esek Hopkins Brig Hope, Jereme Jenkes 1753 Schooner Martha, fisher for macrial Sloop Charlestown 1756 New Brigg not yet named Sloop Mary a fishing vessell " Charming Molly 1733N0.1 " Dolphin, Obadiah Brown 1736 (My fathers book) Schooner Ann, Saml Gorton 3 " Sloop Mary and as early as 1734 and 33 ' ' Schooner Anna " Sloop Rainbow " Sloop PiUican 1737 " Sloop Marigold and sloop Shearwater J. B. Hopkins 1730 Ship PilUkin 1750 Sloop Preelove, Joshua Brown and Thomas Kilton, Masters 1749 Brig. Arthur, Joseph Arnold, 2V. Thomas Manchester 1749 Schooner Smithfield 1750 Sloop Kinnicutt, James MitcheU & 52-3 & 54 1750 Sloop Defiance Simeon Hunt 1752 Sloop Nightingale, Asa BroAvn 1750 Snow Squiril, Joseph Turpin " Brigantine Warrin, Nehemiah Rhodes " Snow 2 Brothers, John Hopkins " Snow Volney, and in 1751 do Gid'n Manchester " Brigt Winscot, Joseph Owen, Master " & 51 Sloop Sarah, Page Master 1751 Snow Providence 1751 Snow Dolphin, George Jackson " Snow Nipton, Jos. Wanton 1753 Sloop Charlestown, Nehemh Allen 1751 Brigt St. Eustatia, Smith & 1752 1751 & 2 Snow 2 Sisters 1752 Sloop Hanner, Joseph Sheldon 1754 Schooner Victory, Joseph Arnold 1753 Sloop Sammon. Job. Sweeting & 53 & 54 1752 Schooner 1752 Schooner Two Friends 1753 Schooner Martha 1753 Brigt. Grey Hound. Page 1753 Sloop Eagle. Kilton Master 1753 Sloop Amy, Chr. Hopkins 1754 Brigantine Brittania, Corlis Master and to 1754 1754 Sloop SpeedweU 1751 Brig. Hope The Sea Trade and Its Development. 453 1753 to 5 Snow 3 Sisters, Chris. Hopkins 1754 Sloop EUzabeth, Benj Wright do. Sloop EUzabeth, Benj A. Wright, and 1755 do. Sloop Volunteer, Daniel Tillinghast 1755 Snow Squiril, Paul Tew 1756 Brigt. Providence, Thomas Manchester do. Sloop Blacksnake. SAveeting 1759 Sloop Volunteer, John Godfrey 1750 Sloop Anna, Joseph Oavcus. 1750 Sloop Speedwell, CorUs. do. Sloop Ester, L. Hull. do. Sloop Deborah, Charles Read 1758 Brigt. Prudent Hannah, Paul Tew 1759 Sloop George, Page do. Brigt. Brittania, N. Rhodes do. Sloop Providence, building do. Brigt. Providence do. Ship Noble Galley, Simn Hunt do. Sloop Speedwell, Silas Cook 1760 Newflood, George A. Page 1761 Brigt. Dolphin, Abram Page 1762 Sloop SpeedweU, new 1762 Sloop Pour Brothers 1758 Brigt. Chester, Samuel AngeU. 1763 Mary Ann, Sloop do. Sloop Four Brothers 1764 Brig. George 1752 Brigantine Barberry, George Corlis, Surinam 1752 Providence Packett, Jeremiah Sprague 1753 Sloop Salinen, Job Sweeting Master 1752 Sloop Mary-Mack, Robert Lynden 1754 Good ship Caron, John Partridge 1758 Snow Friendship for London, Seth Crane Master do. Brig. Brittana, Nehemiah Rhodes, Hyspaniola 1755 Sent a load of lime to Boston to build the stone Chapell 1754 Sloop Amy, Woodberry Morris for Boston 1755 Sloop Amy, Thomas Lawrence for Boston 1754 Snow Squirrel, Wood Morris, Suranam 1742 bo't the WiUmaning of 90 tons by 0. B. of Nichs Power 1753 Sloop Charlestown. Nathl Sweeting, to Barbadoes four owti- ers. 1759 Sloop Speedwell, Silas Cook for St. Marks. Eight owners taken. l'i'59 Sloop Speedwell for Amsterdam. Uriah DaAds 1756 Sloop Deborah for Jamaica. James Warner M's. four owners Sloop Esther, Montichristo 1743 Obediah Brown bought Robt. Dean the sloop John 454 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 1748 Sloop Charming Sally for Gardyloup, Esek Hopkins, owners Hopkins, Jencks & 0. Brown 1753 Sloop Humburd. Newfoundland, for Edward Kinnicutt 1754 Sloop Christopher Sheldon do Snow Draggon for Jamaica 1754 There was a sloop Victory and a schooner Victory, first for So. Carolina, the last tiamaica do. Sloop Blackstone. Burges, Jamaica 1760 Sloop George, George Hopkins, Hyspaniola do Sloop Pawtucket, Rufus Hopkins, Montichristo do Brig. Seaflour, George Hopkins. South CaroUna. Up to the time of the Revolution Newport was not only the leading port in Narragansett Bay, but she was one of the most important on the American continent and Avas a close rival of both New York and Boston. She Avas occupied by the British forces from December 8, 1776, to October 25, 1779, and during these three years her commerce almost entirely ceased, while the property of her citizens was either destroyed or devastated. After the evacuation no immediate attempt was made to revive the old time commerce, because of the hazard in volved, as the British fleet was still on the coast. When the end of the war came, in 1783, many of the merchants of Newport had invested their capital and transferred their ships elsewhere. More than a third ¦^•of the population had gone away. The Jews, who Avere among tne leading merchants, had almost all emigrated. GraduaUy, however, there was a revival of business, and Avhile Newport never attained to her former rank, she was for many years a busy port, Avith some for eign commerce, which continued until general economic conditions brought about its decay. Proridence, however, after the Revolution became the leading port on Narragansett Bay, and the story of the evolution of the commerce of the community belongs principally there after to her history. While the Revolutionary struggle greatly harassed trade on Narrar gansett Bay, it by no means annihilated it and the Providence mer chants, despite the presence of the British fleet at the mouth of the bay, sent out some trading vessels and many privateers. FoUowing ancient precedent, the General Assembly acted like the Legislature of an independent nation, and two weeks before the Declaration of In dependence it passed an act "permitting commerce with all parts of the world except Great Britain or her dependencies and appointing two intendants, one at Newport and one at Providence, to superrise the same".^ These intendants were virtually collectors of the rev- ' Arnold's History of R. L, vol. 2, p. 878. The Sea Trade and Its Deatelopment. 455 enue. In 1784 intendants were appointed by the Assembly for Bristol and East Greenwich, but in 1787 the power of appointing intendants or their deputies was given to the governor. By act of the Assembly in 1789, Providence and Newport were made ports of delivery and entry and the other ports on the bay ports of delivery only. When the war was OA^er in 1783 the acts passed by the General As sembly against commerce with Great Britain were repealed and trade with the mother country was slowly resumed. The articles of con federation bound the States together very loosely, so that in many re spects each was independent. This was especially so in regard to com merce. The adoption of the constitution of the United States, March 4, 1789, changed this state of affairs and made possible what had been urgently needed— uniform commercial regulations for the whole coun try. Rhode Island, however, did not finally accept the new national constitution until May 29, 1790, and thus for an interval of more than a year she was in reality a totaUy independent government. Judge Staples uses the term "Empire of Rhode Island" to express the status of the little commonwealth at this time. Many of her wisest citizens, howcA^er, were in a very unhappy frame of mind over this condition of affairs. The foUowing extract from the instructions the citizens of Providence addressed to their representatives in the Gen eral Assembly at this juncture, presents in very clear language the danger to the community in a commercial sense : "Separated as we are from the States which compose the present union we stand perfectly alone, unconnected vrith any State or sov ereignty on earth. As we can claim no right to the flag of the United States, our commerce and navigation are deprived of national protec tion. The benefits of commercial treaties, formed by European na tions with the United States, will no longer be extended to the citizens of Rhode Island. All trade with the new confederated States AriU probably soon be interdicted to the citizens of this State, except on the footing of foreigners, and of course on the payment of exorbitant duties. Subjected to these injurious restrictions and disadvantages our commerce and navigation, already extremely embarrassed, must be annihilated and the ports of the State of Rhode Island, which but a few years since were crowded with shipping, will afford shelter to only a few fishing craft. ' '^ Prom the close of the war in 1783 up to the adoption of the consti tution in 1790 Rhode Island imposed duties on imports coming from other States, as well as from foreign countries. The General Assembly passed an act in June, 1783, levying a duty of two per cent, ad valorem on all imports and a year later this' Avas increased to two and a half 'Staples's Annals of Providence, p. 337. 456 State op Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. per cent. This duty was collected on all goods imported from the West Indies or from abroad, and on articles manufactured abroad but imported from the other States. "Country produce", including flour, corn, lumber, oil, fish, tobacco and all kinds of raw materials and articles of ' ' country manufacture ' ' from ports in the other States, were admitted free of duty. In January, 1787, the import duty was raised to five per cent. There is still in existence in the Providence custom house an old record, the "Book of Manifest", which contains the details of the business of the port from May 12, 1785, to July 20, 1789. According to this account, vessels arrived in Providence from Hyspaniola (Hayti), St. Croix (Santa Cruz), Gudaloup (Guadeloupe), Martinico (Martinique), Aux Cayes, Port au Prince, Cape Francois, St. Luce (St. Lucia), St. Estatia (St. Eustatia), St. Thomas, Trinidad and other ports in the West Indies, with cargoes of rum, molasses, coffee and spices; from Turk's Island with salt; from Surinam in Dutch Guiana and Demerara in British Guiana, with the same class of goods as from the West Indies ; from Virginia with tobacco ; from New York with fiour and shingles ; from New England ports Arith potash, lumber, fish and country produce. The majority of the vessels were from coastwise ports ; next in number were those from the West Indies and the coast of Guiana ; while occasionally vessels arrived from Europe. Among the European arrivals Avere the brig Hope to Clark & Nightingale, from L 'Orient, France, May 14, 1787, Arith a cargo of tea and other goods; the ship Warren to Brown & Francis, from the same port, on September 25, 1787, Avith a similar cargo; the ship Hope came in from Copenhagen to Brown & Benson and the brig Harriett from the same port to Welcome Arnold. Vessels also ar rived from Dublin and St. Petersburg. According to this old record a large amount of merchandise was brought from Boston by "Land Transportation" during these years, and on these goods duties were paid as on those brought by water. Dexter BroAvn CAddently was the principal carrier of goods by land and his chief rival was Moses Guild. Eventually they seem to have formed a partnership. The first entry of this overland trade with Boston is on May 17, 1775, as foUows: "Goods imported by land, viz. Brought from Boston pr. Jonathan Puller for Holroyd & Tillinghast sundry merchd as pr. Invs; whole value £234 19s. lid. ; impost 2 1-2 per cent. £5 17s. 6d". The Congress of the United States, in legislating for the eleven States that had come into the Union under the new constitution in 1789, was obliged to treat North Carolina and Rhode Island as foreign countries, and the tariff act, passed April 30, 1789, imposed a duty on The Sea Trade and Its Development. 457 aU goods, not of their own production, that these States should import into the Union. This would have operated with especial severity against Rhode Island, as she was at that time a commercial and not a producing community, and her people imported goods for the purpose of seUing to their neighbors in the adjoining States. The fear that the result of these conditions would be disastrous to the commerce of the State prompted the citizens of Providence, August 27, 1789, to send a petition directly to Congress asking ' ' that the vessels belonging to the citizens of this State may be admitted to entry in the ports of the United States, exempt from the payment of foreign tonnage in the same manner as vessels belonging to their own citizens ; and that for eign merchandise on importation by the citizens of this State, into the United States, by land or water, shall be subject only to the same duties and restrictions as by law required of their own citizens". This petition was presented to Congress by James Manning and Ben jamin Bourne. Similar petitions Avere sent by NeAvport and Bristol, and in September the General Assembly sent an address to Congress expressing the same desire. In response to these appeals Rhode Island commerce was put for a limited time on the same footing as though she was a member of the union. ' ' There were at this time 101 vessels, exclusive of river crafts, owned in Providence, amounting to nearly 10,000 tons, more than three-fourths of which were employed in for eign trade and on whaling voyages. All this was liable to ruin if the existing policy of the State should long be maintained".^ The adoption of the constitution in 1790 removed these difficulties in the way of the enterprising merchants of Providence and for the first time gave them a free hand. Commerce consequently increased by leaps and bounds and was, as Judge Staples says, ' ' the most direct road to affluence". The River Machine Company had been incorpo rated by the General Assembly early in 1790, for the purpose of im proving the channel of the river, and it was empoAvered in order to accomplish this object to collect Iavo cents per ton on all vessels of over sixty tons entering the harbor. After the constitution came into force this corporation petitioned Congress for the continuation of the right to assess harbor dues, and in the memorial accompanying this petition the statements AA^ere made that "there is a greater number of vessels belonging to this port than to New York ' ' ; that " it is a place of more narigation than any of its size in the Union", and that the shipping owned in Providence, March, 1790, "consisted of 9 ships, 36 brigs, 45 'Arnold's History of R. I. vol. 3, p. 555. 458 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. sloops and 20 schooners, being 110 sail in all and 10,590 tons burthen ; exclusive of river packets, boats and shallops".^ That commerce was increasing rapidly was manifested by the fact that a little more than a year later the shipping had increased by about 1,500 tons. The foUoAving list gives the names of the merchants who were then active. These are the same names, both of OAA^ners and ves sels, that are found in the ' ' Book of Manifest ' '. This document, pub lished in the Rhode Island Historical Society Quarterly for October, 1898, consequently shows at a glance the names of the mercantile com munity of Providence and the fleet at its command in 1791 : List op Vessels, Their Description and Tonnage, Belonging TO the Port of Providence the 20th Day op June, 1791. NO. by whom OWNED. vessel described, full tonnage and 95th part. name. 1 Messrs. Brown & Francis Ship 958 14 Pres. Wash- ton 2 ti li ii ii do 348 Genl. Wash ington 3 li il 11 a do 280 88 Warren 4 11 11 ii il do 250 Hope 5 Messrs. Clark & Nightingale do 230 28 Proridence 6 li il 11 ii do 159 71 Lark 7 Messrs. Brown & Benson do 186 57 .Hope 8 it 11 il 11 do 208 Hamilton 9 Mr. Cyprian Sterrey do 161 24 Enterprize 10 tc tt il do 137 19 Betsey 11 Messrs. Jos. & Wm. Russell do 146 37 Tristam 12 Brown, Rogers & Brown do 160 3227 7332 Union (sold) 13 Brown & Benson Brig 163 66 Commerce 14 do do 162 73 Rising Sun 15 Messrs PhiUp & Z. AUen do 166 56 Abigail 16 do do 117 90 Lydia 17 do do 110 90 Nancy 18 Welcome Arnold do 111 17 Rebeckah 19 do do 101 93 Neptune 20 do do 168 75 Harriott 21 Messrs. BroAvn & Benson do 160 8 Harmony 22 Thos. Lloyd Halsev do 141 77 Fanny 23 do do 104 SaUy 24 do do 151 30 Harriott 25 William Holuroyd do 129 72 Friendship 'Staples's Annals of Providence, p. 352. The Sea Trade and Its Deatelopment. 459 NO. BY WHOM OWNED. VESSEL described, FULL TONNAGE AND 95TH PART. NAME, 26 John Corlis Brig 130 . . Liberty 27 do do 103 Sukey 28 Edward Thurber do 161 2i Mary 29 Joseph & Wm. Russell do 120 Ranger 30 James Graves do 78 26 Betsey 31 Mowry Smith do 90 33 Nancy 32 Messrs. Young & Brown do 112 51 Betsey 33 Gideon Bailey do 126 19 Sally 34 Messrs. Fenner & White do 92 31 Clinton 35 Stephen Dexter do 107 36 Betsey 36 do do 139 Dolphin 37 Messrs. Brown & Francis do 80 86 Mercury 38 do do 86 55 Sophia 39 Messrs. Clarke & Nightingale : do 99 84 Prudent 40 do do 115 21 PoUy 41 do do 97 54 Chance 42 Joseph Martin do 84 Betsey 43 Messrs. Treadwell & Soule do 140 , , Paramaribo 44 Messrs. Wards & Brothers do 160 Tismigistus 45 Abijah Potter do 130 Fame 46 Messrs. Brovi'n & Francis do 83 4128 19 48 Friendship 47 William Rhodes Snow 141 Henry 48 John Hopkins Thomas Arnold PolacriSloop i 101 Sarah 49 84 72 Smithfleld 5i) Joseph Hoyle do 60 2 Gov. Fenner 51 Richard Jackson & Co. do 80 36 Peace 52 Jonathan Tillinghast do 88 72 Polly 53 John Mason do 71 90 Harmony 54 BroAvn & Francis do 65 70 Polly 55 do do 79 31 SaUy 56 do do 27 53 Nancy 57 do do 46 13 DeUght 58 Clark & Nightingale do 61 23 Polly 59 do do 28 19 James 60 do do 52 11 Humbird 61 do do 62 48 Ant 62 Samuel Aborn do 70 Charlotte 63 PhiUp & Zachary AUen do 83 48 Susanah 64 Welcome Arnold do 75 63 Samuel 65 Stephen Dexter do 66 8 Three Friends 460 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. VESSEL DESCRIBED . FULI NO. BY WHOM OWNED. TONNAGE AMD 95TH PART. NAME. 66 John Fitton Sloop 64 77 Betsey 67 Thomas Lloyd Halsey do 50 44 Hawk 68 TreadweU & Soule do 62 53 Surrinam Pk't 69 John P. Shelden do 79 27 Betsey 70 John Corlis do 57 36 Lively 71 Welcome Arnold do 101 27 Polly 72 Stephen Dexter do 73 25 Sally 73 Peleg Hull do 45 14 Nancy 74 Stephen Thurber do 46 13 DeUght 75 Samuel Currie do 39 72 Prudence 76 Malachi Rhodes do 31 74 Sally 77 John Updike do 49 32 Nancy 78 Joseph Peck do 29 14 Sally 79 Jeremiah Randall do 26 58 Delight 80 Joseph Peck do 25 43 Leopard 81 Christopher Capron do 14 53 Fox 82 Samuel Butler do 64 44 Polly 83 William Holuroyd do 50 39 Fanny 84 John P. Sheldon do 35 29 Joanna 85 Samuel Westcott do 29 64 Clementina 86 John Field do 38 51 Hannah 87 Thomas Carpenter do 29 35 PoUy 88 Jiufus Waterman do 56 60 Betsey 89 Christopher Godfrey do 54 58 PoUy 90 Joseph Rhodes do 36 41 Betsey 91 Samuel Aborn do 56 10 Nancy 92 Stephen Russell do 23 25 Nancy 93 Joseph Rhodes do 26 19 Sally 94 George Athern do 64 44 Diamond 95 Elisha Brown do 45 73 Hannah 96 Thomas Loyd Halsey do 23 22 Maria 97 Isaac BroAvn do 60 Hannah 98 James GraA'es do 50 Toby 99 Fenner & White do 60 Leopard 100 Benjamin Comstock do 50 2756 56 Nonesuch 101 Joseph Rhodes Schooner 66 89 SaUy 102 LcAvds Peck do 65 57 Federal 103 William Peckham do 72 45 Dean 104 Simon Smith do 73 29 Betsey 105 Brown & Francis do 60 10 Nancy 106 do do 61 23 DeUght 107 do do 74 68 Betsey The Sea Trade and Its Development. 461 VESSEL DESCRIBED, FULL NO. BY WHOM OWNED. TONNAGE AND 95TH PART. NAME. 108 Brown & Francis Schooner 62 23 James 109 do do 60 64 Alice 110 do do 60 21 Nicholas 111 do do 53 43 Esther 112 do do 61 84 Sarley 113 Samuel Butler do 56 8 Betsey 114 WiUiam Valentine do 37 83 Anna 115 Dennis Bishop do 46 3 SaUy 116 Joseph Rhodes do 66 89 Sally 117 Nathan Tingley do 37 83 Anna 118 Joseph Martin do 46 82 Polly 119 Daniel BuckUn do 25 82 Bob 120 Benjamin Smith do 31 54 Phebe 121 Ambrose Page do 35 50 Ranger 122 Eliza Nickerson do 38 Thankful 123 Benjamin Rhodes do 39 57' SaUy 124 Benjamin Smith do 34 1270 92 21 Polly 125 Samuel Godfrey Sloop 70 EUnor 126 Caleb Godfrey Schooner 50 Hope 127 Jenks & Winsor Brig 138 Preelove 128 Brown, Rogers & Brown Sloop 90 TriumAdrate 129 Robert & J. Rhodes do 41 Betsey 130 Welcome Arnold do 90 Sarah Total tonnage 12,103 and 65-95ths No. 12 Ship Union, BroAvn, Rog ers & Brown, sold Champlin & Dickason, deduct 160 and 73-95ths 11,943 tons nearest 11 Ships 3,066 54-95 tons 35 Brigs 4,266 48-95 tons 1 Snow 141 . . -95 tons 1 Polacre 101 . .-95 tons 25 Schooners 1,320 21-95 tons 56 Sloops 3,047 56-95 tons 129 SaU 11,942 84-95 tons With the thirteen States aU finaUy in the Union, Congress at once began to legislate for commerce, and an act was approved August 4, 462 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. 1790, which was designed "to provide more effectually for the duties imposed by law on goods, wares and merchandise imported into the United States and on the tonnage of ships or vessels". By the pro visions of this act Rhode Island was divided into the two customs dis tricts of Providence and Newport. The first records of the Prori dence custom house are contained in two ancient looking volumes, Im port Book A, covering the period from June 24, 1790, to September 15, 1796, and Import Book B, from September 16, 1796, to June 27, 1807. The first entry in Book A is that of the sloop Betsey, William Young, master, from Port au Prince, with a cargo of salt, molasses, sugar and oil, on which the duties paid were $244.45. During the year 1791 sixty-four vessels arrived from foreign ports and the duties on their cargoes amounted to $82,268. Of these vessels fifty-three were from ports in the West Indies, one from Canton, China, one from the Cape de Verde Islands and nine from European ports. About the beginning of the century the European trade began to increase and vessels arrived from Liverpool, London, Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Cron- stadt, St. Petersburg, Lisbon and other European ports, and their cargoes were chiefiy manufactured articles and cloths. The most interesting development of the commerce of Providence at this period was the trade Arith China and the East Indies, which was started by John Brovsm and participated in by BroAvn, Benson & Ives and Brown & Ives. John BroAAm took as a partner about this time a young Philadelphia merchant named John Francis, and the firm was knoAvn as Brown & Francis. Mr. Francis married, January 1, 1788, Abby, the eldest daughter of John Brown, and they had one son, John Brown Francis, who from 1833 to 1838 was governor of the State. Mr. John Francis died in 1796. The first ship to sail from Providence for the East Indies was the General Washington, belong ing to Brown & Francis and commanded by Capt. Jonathan Donni son. She sailed December 24, 1787, Arith a cargo of cannon shot, anchors, bar iron, tar, ginseng, Madeira vrine, brandy and spirits, Jamaica spirits and New England rum, and called at the ports of Madeira, Madras, Pondicherry and Canton, and on the way home at St. Helena, St. Ascension and St. Eustatia. According to her log she sailed a distance of 32,758 miles. She arrived in ProAddence July 5, 1789, with a cargo consisting of tea, silks, china, cotton goods, lac quered ware, gloves and flannels. On page 232 of the "Book of Mani fest ' ', in the Proridence custom house, the valuation of the cargo of the ship and the duties paid are given as follows, but in detail : MH O"Al-H Mo o «o cqWw Htftft>aH Q!zi<1 H O"AHQl-H>Otftf tfOh- 1 464 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Consignees. Value . Duties 5 per cent. Brown & Francis £14,604 13s. Od. £730 8s. 8d. Sam Shaw, Esq., and Edward Dowse, Esq 14,645 13s. 6d. 732 5s. 9d. Samuel Ward, Esq 819 Os. Od. 40 19s. Od Total £30,069 6s. 6d. £1,503 13s. 5d. There is a good reason to conjecture that the General Washington continued in the East Indian trade doAvn to 1802 and was probably constantly employed therein. She arrived in Providence from her sec ond voyage June 11, 1791, and from her third May 13, 1793 ; May 15, 1795, she cleared at Providence for Calcutta; and in 1801 and 1802 she is reported as being on the way to or from China. An examination of the custom house records would probably demonstrate the fact that in the intervals betAA^een these dates she was likewise engaged as an Indiaman. She returned from a voyage to Cronstadt, Russia, in Oc tober, 1803, and on December of the same year she was sold by the executors of the estate of John Brown and thereafter was used in the coasting trade. The ship Warren, also belonging to Brown & Francis, was probably the second vessel to sail from Providence for the East Indies. This conjecture is founded on the fact that the Providence Gazette of May 22, 1790, advertises for sale at vendue, "on the 8th of June next, a large quantity of India goods just imported in the ship Warren, Capt. Pardon Sheldon, directly from Calcutta". These goods, according to the advertisement, consisted of "Printed calicoes and Chintzes of every kind ; muslins and muslin handkerchiefs of aU sorts ; long cloths of different qualities and many other cotton cloths, which from their durability have been found very profltable for family use, either as shirting or sheeting; also Bandano and PuUcat silk handkerchiefs, Persians, Taffetas, Ginghams, Doreas, Bastas, East and West Indian cottons, excellent saltpetre, a few chests of best Bohea, Hyson and Souchong teas; window glass, an assortment of Manchester cotton goods and many other new goods which would not be generaUy known by their names, therefore we have omitted the particulars; all which will be sold in such lots and quantities as may best suit the purchas ers". While the General Washington was in the full glory of her career as an East Indiaman, her OAATiers, Brown & Francis, built for the same trade a new ship, the President Washington, which was the largest and finest vessel that up to that time had ever sailed from the port. The majority of the vessels, as the lists shoAV, then ownied in The Sea Trade and Its Development. 465 Providence were less than one hundred tons, and those that were con sidered large ranged between one hundred and three hundred tons, consequently a ship of nine hundred and fifty, the President Washing ton's tonnage, was a mammoth craft for the times. She was launched from the Brown & Francis shipyard near Pox Point early in January, 1791, and soon after sailed for the east. Both the ship and her cargo were sold at Calcutta in 1792 and she never returned to Providence, but in the Providence Gazette for September 14, 1793, the information is given that the Providence bank had received between fifty and sixty thousand dollars in specie, which Avas part of the price received for the ship and cargo. Brown & Francis built another ship, the George Washington, for the East India trade and she sailed from Providence January, 1794, on her first voyage, by way of Madeira. She made a voyage to Ba- tavia and China in 1796 and upon her return was purchased by the United States government and fitted up as a cruiser. Brown & Francis seem to have been the only Proridence merchants engaged in the East India trade at first, but they were soon foUowed by Brown, Benson & Ives. The first ship that the latter house sent out was probably the Rising Sun, which returned to Providence a short time previous to June 1, 1793, from a voyage to Canton vrith a large quantity of tea, china, silk and cotton cloths, spices and sugars. These goods Avere advertised in the Providence Gazette. The Rising Sun must have sailed late in 1791 or early in 1792 and probably returned in May, 1793. After the death of John Brown, in 1803, the firm of Brown & Francis does not appear to have continued very long in the East India trade. One of the most noted vessels engaged in the East India and China trade was the ship John Jay, Capt. Daniel Olney, belonging to Brown, Benson & Ives, which sailed from Providence for Bombay, India, De cember 28, 1794, with a cargo of pig iron, bar iron, cordage, rum, gin, porter, beef, pork, lumber, anchors, candles, Geneva tobacco, duck, masts and spars, valued at £10,365. She arrived in Providence in the spring of 1796, Arith a cargo consisting mainly of teas, whose value has been estimated at over $250,000. The John Jay cleared from Providence on her second voyage April 9, 1797, and returned by way of Russia, arriring in Providence March 23, 1799 ; in May, 1799, she sailed for Batavia and returned March 22, 1800 ; May 15, 1800, she sailed on her fourth voyage and arrived in Providence from Canton July, 1801, vrith a cargo valued at $318,315.08. On her fifth voyage she sailed from Newport, October 5, 1801, via Amsterdam, and from 30 A VIEW OF THE EAST SIDE OF PROVIDENCE RIVER LOOKING TOWARDS INDIA POINT, And Showing the Wharves Where Most of the Vessels Engaged in the Foreign Trade Formerly Discharged Their Cargoes. This Photograph is Taken From a Drawing Forming a Portion of the Certificate of Membership in the Providence Marine Society. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 467 that port to the Indies vrith a cargo to the Dutch East India Company on commission, and did not return to Providence until March, 1803 ; November, 1803, she sailed for Batavia and returned in September, 1804, Arith a cargo of coffee and sugar ; September 22, 1804, she again sailed for Amsterdam and shipped a cargo for Sumatra and China, but on her homeward voyage she was captured by the British sloop of war Driver, was taken into Bermuda January 12, 1806, was detained until June 19, when she was released on bail and arrived in Providence with all her cargo June 28, 1806 ; October 14, 1806, she again sailed for the East, but after taking on a cargo at Batavia, she struck on a coral reef off Pigeon Island and Avent to pieces August 22, 1807. The Jay treaty with Great Britain, signed in 1795, prohibited American ships trading to the East Indies from carrying their cargoes to Europe. The seizure of the John Jay was probably prompted by a belief on the I part of the British captain that the vessel had violated the provisions of this treaty. BroAvn & Ives built the ship Ann and Hope of five hundred and fifty tons in 1798, and sent her out July 9 of that year on a voyage to Can ton, from which she returned June 22, 1799, with a cargo valued at $314,987.50. She was a fast ship and made the round voyage in less than a year. August 10, 1799, she cleared for her second voyage and arrived August 16, 1800, at Newport, where she discharged her cargo, which was valued at $324,388.60. On her third trip, leaving Provi dence in April, 1801, the Ann and Hope went to London and there took on a cargo for Canton, returning the same way. She cleared from Providence for Manila in the Philippines May, 1802, and on this voy age traded from Amsterdam and the Baltic ports to the East, evidently making two trips to Batavia before she returned to Providence in August, 1804. November 10, 1804, she sailed for the East Indies by way of Lisbon, but on her return was wrecked on Block Island early in January, 1806, and her valuable cargo was nearly all sacrificed. The master builder of the first Ann and Hope was Benjamin Tallman, and the vessel was named after the wives of the owners, Nicholas Brown and Thomas P. Ives. Another vessel named the Ann and Hope, owned by Brown & Ives, was subsequently engaged in the East India trade. In the Providence Gazette for June 29, 1803, Benjamin Hoppin & Son advertised the entire cargo of the ship RoUo, Captain Arnold, from Calcutta. These goods consisted of cotton cloths, chintz, seer sucker, bandanoes, white sugar, forty thousand cigars and a variety of other articles. The ships engaged in the East Indian trade up to 1806 were, in the 468 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. order of their introduction, the General Washington, the Warren, the President Washington and the George Washington, all belonging to Brown & Francis ; the Rising Sun, the John Jay and the Ann and Hope, belonging to Brown & Ives ; and the ship RoUo to the Hoppins. ' ' The General Washington cleared for the East Indies in 1787 ; in 1789 two ships cleared for India ; in 1792 three ships went out ; in 1799 four ; in 1804, six. The largest number in any one year was seven, in 1806. The General Washington's first cargo was valued at $99,848. In 1795 the volume of imports was $311,910. In 1800 imports from the East Indies were valued at $726,924. In 1804 the volume of imports was $887,000 ; in 1806 $662,000, but in that year two of the largest In- diamen (John Jay and the Ann and Hope) failed to make their ex pected haven in safety. This A^'ould more than account for the de crease in the volume of trade. The enormous profits made were more than compensation, in the long run, for the frequent interference with American commerce on the part of European powers".^ The success of the great mercantile house of Brown & Ives was very largely due to the energy and ability of Thomas Poynton Ives, who became a member of the firm in 1792, at Avhich time he married Hope, the sister of his partner, Nicholas Brown. He directed the course of the house during the heyday of the East Inaia trade, and the success of the ventures then projected was the result in a great measure of the methods he put in practice. The following extract well describes some of these methods : "The mode of transacting business of this firm was different from that of previous times and entirely different from any now in use. A vessel would be fitted out Arith a cargo to the East Indies and placed in charge of a supercargo (and sometimes tAVo), who sailed on the vessel and was sent out with a 'roAdng commission', namely, to any port he saw fit to enter in that part of the world. The supercargo would go in the vessel to a given East Indian port, and, if he deemed adrisable, sell the cargo there. If he judged, from adAdces there ob tained, that some other port or ports would furnish a more desirable market, he would proceed to such port or ports, and sell there the cargo, or so much of it as he deemed expedient, replacing it vrith mer chandise there obtainable, with which he would proceed to still other ports, selling the rest of the original cargo or portions of it, as he deemed best, till he obtained a cargo suitable for some other portion of the globe, to which he would then sail, there re-exchanging cargoes, and start thence for the home port. The selling of cargoes and pur chasing new ones was subject to general instructions, left entirely to 'The East India Trade of Providence from 1787 to 1807, by Gertrude Selwyn Kimball. The Sea Trade and Its Deatelopment. 469 the supercargo. It was no unusual thing for a vessel to go to Batavia, in that neighborhood seU out its cargo, take a new one for the Russian North Pacific ports, there take on a third cargo for Copenhagen or St. Petersburg in Europe; then at these ports take a fourth cargo of European products for Providence, and arrive home after a voyage of two years, during which time the supercargo and the owners would have no communication with each other except at long intervals. It AriU be seen that an immense power and responsibility rested on the supercargo; and it was largely on their skill in the discernment of human nature and the choice of men for such posts that the firm of Brown & Ives depended for success. "This firm also extended their business by having fleets of smaller vessels in foreign countries, whose business it would be to take lesser cargoes from some central port to smaller markets, exchange these for the merchandise in such markets, and return therewith to the central ports, at which the larger vessels of the firm would call at stated periods to receive the gathered cargoes and transport them to other parts of the world. Brown & Ives was the first Providence house to introduce this system, and it is to Mr. Ives that the inception of the plan was due".^ The ships John Jay and the Ann and Hope evidently traded on some of their voyages in the manner above outlined. From 1787 to 1807 was the period of the greatest activity in the commerce between Providence and the East Indies. During the Napoleonic wars, by the retaliatory measure enacted both by Great Britain and France, the commerce of the United States was grievously injured. In 1806 Great Britain, by an order in council, ordered a blockade of all European ports in league vrith France, and the next year prohibited American vessels from entering any port in Europe except in Sweden ; Napoleon in 1806 issued the Berlin Decree, declar ing all British ports to be in a state of blockade, and in 1807 the Milan Decree, ordering the capture and sale of all American vessels intend ing to enter British ports. Recognizing the impossibility of carrying on commerce in opposition to such acts by the two leading nations of the world, the United States, December 21, 1807, passed the Embargo or Non-Intercourse Act, forbidding the departure of any vessel from the United States to a foreign country. This act was of course evaded, but in 1809 an enforcing act was passed, providing heavy penalties for its violation. The Embargo Act was repealed a few months later in 1809, except as to Great Britain and France, and was finally wholly repealed except as to the war ships of the two nations. It was a politi cal measure on the part of the United States, designed to bring the 'Providence Plantations, p. 247. 470 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. two European governments to terms; but it was not favored by the seaports, and the people of Providence were uniformly in opposition to the administration in regard to its poUcy at this period. These diffi culties, chiefly commercial in their character, between Great Britain and the United States, continued and culminated in the War of 1812. During the period from 1806 to the close of the War of 1812, in 1815, the foreign shipping of the United States was sadly interfered vrith. The Americans had been the leading neutral carriers of the world, but they lost this position as a result of these events, and the cessation of strife between Great Britain and France enabled the European nations again to compete for the ocean carrying trade. Providence suffered in common with other American seaports. Her East India and European trade, however, did not cease, but were re- rived in good volume after the war. Many of her merchants, however, lost heavily at this period, and never recovered their former status and wealth. The trade to the East Indies existed for more than half a century, the last arrival being the ship Lion, January 30, 1841. For a number of years the duties paid on the imports from Canton were as foUows : 1810, one vessel, $53,130.74 ; 1811, one vessel, $118,503.86 ; 1816, one vessel, $104,973.13 ; 1817, two vessels, $106,886.44 ; 1819, three vessels, $278,467.10. The cargoes brought from Canton were chiefly teas and the duties paid were more in amount than those paid on cargoes from other ports. In some cases a single vessel from Canton paid more duty than all the other vessels entered during the year. During the War of 1812 the duties paid on merchandise imported in foreign vessels into Providence largely exceeded the amount paid on goods imported in American ships. As a small compensation, some of the vessels captured from the British by privateers were brought into the port. In the year 1813 three such prizes were entered and the duties paid on their cargoes amounted to $28,127.49. In 1814 three more arrived, on which the duty was $12,495.66. In November, 1814, the private armed brig Scourge, Samuel Fames, master, returned from a cruise with seventeen bales of raw silk, captured from the enemy, on which the duty amounted to $488.31. Commerce revived rapidly at the close of the War of 1812. The Providence Gazette of February 25, 1815, says : ' ' The noise of the axe and hammer began again to be heard in our workships and on our wharves and the busy note of preparation presages the return of those halcyon days from which we have been too long and unnecessarily estranged. Already are a number of our best ships fitting up Arith every possible degree of dispatch, confidently expecting that no inter- The Sea Trade and Its Development. 471 vening cloud AriU obscure the bright prospect of free and uninterrupt ed commerce throughout the globe". These bright anticipations were realized and the commerce of Provi dence in the next few years increased rapidly. In 1820 the 'shipping engaged in. the foreign trade comprised seventy vessels, viz., thirty-one ships, two barks, thirty-one brigs, four schooners, two sloops, total tonnage, 15,491 ; and coasting trade, sixty vessels, viz., three ships, fourteen brigs, twelve schooners, thirty-one sloops, with a tonnage of 5,204, giving a total of 130 vessels with a tonnage of 20,696 tons. The following list of square rigged vessels belonging to the port of Proridence, about the year 1818, is copied from a manuscript in pos session of the Rhode Island Historical Society: Ship Ann & Hope, Brown & Ives, owners. " Patterson, Brown & Ives, owners. ' ' Asia, BroAvn & Ives, owners. " Gen'l Hamilton, Brown & Ives, owners. " Washington, Brown & Ives, OAvners. ' ' Charlotte, Brown & Ives, owners. " Packet, Brown & Ives, owners. Lost on Nantucket. Brig Rambler, Brown & Ives, owners. Sold to Bristol. " Nereus, Brown & Ives, owners. " Richard, Brown & Ives, owners. Worn out. Ship John Brown, E. Carrington & Co., OAvners. " Lion, E. Carrington & Co., owners. Gen'l Hamilton, E. Carrington & Co., owners. Two same name, one belonging to Brown & Ives, the other to E. Carrington & Co. " Integrity, E. Carrington & Co., owners. George, E. Carrington & Co., owners. Worn out. " TrumbuU, E. Carrington & Co., owners. " Christopher, E. Carrington & Co., owners. Worn out 1820. Nancy, E. Carrington & Co., owners. WilUam Baker, E. Carrington & Co., owners. Zephyr, E. Carrington & Co., owners. Sold in Boston. ". Mary Ann, E. Carrington & Co., owners. On Dutch Island. Panther, E. Carrington & Co., owners. Mercury, E. Carrington & Co., owners. Brig Viper, E. Carrington & Co., owners. Sold in S. America. Mary, E. Carrington & Co., owners. Ship Two Catherines, S. G. Arnold & Co., owners. Jansen, S. G. Arnold & Co., owners. Cut through and sunk by ice in the Texet in 1820. 472 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Ship Tyre, S. G. Arnold & Co., owners. " Caravan, S. G. Arnold & Co., owners. " Louisa, S. G. Arnold & Co., owners. Taken by Lord Cochran, South America, but Capt. Hicks ran away vrith him and es caped. Brig Perseverance, S. G. Arnold & Co., owners. Ship Hazard, Aborn & Jackson, owners. " Union, Aborn & Jackson, owners. " Hope, G. Taft & Co., ovraers. Brig Antelope, G. Taft & Co., owners. Ship Rising States, Humphrey & Everett, owners. Brig Gen '1 Jackson, Humphrey & Everett, owners. " Globe, Humphrey & Everett, OAvners. Ship Morning Star, Nath. Bishop, owner. " Maria Catharine, Nath. Bishop, owner. Lost on the Bonnet op posite Whale Rock. " Fame, Cyrus Butler, OAvner. " Neptune, Cyrus Butler, owner. ' ' Mary Olney, Richard Bullock, owner. " Pegu, Joseph Saunders, owner. Sold in Boston 1819. " Gov. Tompkins, C. Earle & others; owners. " Atlas, C. Earle & others, owners. Brig James Mauran, Jere Mauran, owner. " Francis, Caleb Earle, owner. " Mary, Caleb Earle, owner. " Emerald, Crawford Allen, owner. Sold in Boston. " Eagle, Cooke & Brown, owners. " Gov. Hopkins, Cooke & Brown, owners. ' ' Sall & Hope, William Church, owner. " Radius, William Church, owner. " Agenoria, William Church, owner. " Prince Eugene, Richmond & Andrews, owners. " Juno, Richmond & Andrews, owners. " Fame, Richmond & Andrews, owners. ' ' Only Son, Richmond & Andrews, owners. " Patriot, Richmond & Andrews, owners. " Bowdoin, Richmond & Andrews, owners. " Ann, David Cady, owner. " Pegasus, David Cady, owner. " Dolphin, William Church, owner. Capsized and lost, crew saved in the boats. " Zepphia, C. Butler, owner. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 473 Brig George Williams, Cyrus Butler, owner. Robarus, Cyrus Butler, ownqr. Robert Cochran, S. & A. B. Arnold, owners. Decatur, S. & A. B. Arnold, owners. Resolution, Dan'l Arnold, owner. George Washington, Dan'l Arnold, owner. B., J. Saunders, owner. Mount Hope, Nath'l Smith, owner. Hector, Brown & Ives, owners. Clarissa, C. & J. Mauran, owners. Venus, C. & J. Mauran, owners. Traveller, C. & J. Mauran, owners. RoUo, G. & 0. Earle, owners. Telegraph, G. & 0. Earle, owners. Lost on Jersey shore coming from Charleston. Hunter, Benja Gaston, owner. New Orleans, Richmond Bullock, owner. Beaver, Richmond Bullock, owner. Mary Ann, Benj. Clifford, owner. James, Benj. Clifford, owner. Ship George Washington, Whalen Martin, owner. BrigAbcona, Carpenter & Hodges, owners. " Brig Union, Carpenter & Hodges, owners. " Commerce, H. P. Franklin, owner. " Dover, Benj. Clifford, owner. " Amelia, Capt. Munroe & others, owners. " Ann, Jere. Munro and others, owners. " Antelope, G. Taft and others, owners. Aoiz, Capt. Jones, owner. " Pocahontas, Capt. Snow, owner. " Argus, Capt. Snow, owner. The author of this list remarks: "No schooners or sloops were thought of enough consequence to put down at that time, I suppose. ' ' The ship Governor Tompkins arrived at Providence in October, 1819, with a cargo of 1,981 bushels of coal from Newcastle, England, on which a duty of $99.20 was paid. During the early years of the century and until 1831, nearly every Liverpool ship brought coal as part of its cargo. In July, 1831, a vessel arrived from Sidney, Nova Scotia, Arith a cargo of coal, and from that time forth all the coal received in Providence from outside the United States came from Nova Scotia, principally from the port of Pictou. Since the develop- 474 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. ment of the Pennsylvania coal mines the Nova Scotia coal has been croAA^ded out by protective duties. It has been generally assumed that the commerce of Newport did not revive after the Revolution, and more or less explicit statements to that effect have been made and repeated.^ The facts, however, seem to be that she developed a great deal of her former vigor and was, up to 1820, a busy and important seaport. This is in a measure proved by the statement that in 1800 the tonnage of the Newport customs district, which then included Bristol and Warren, was 15,598 tons, while Providence in the same year is only credited with 9,788.^ This statement, however, can hardly be accurate as to Providence, since the list of vessels belonging to that port, as printed in the preceding pages, shows that, in 1791, she had nearly 12,000 tons, and between that year and 1800 it was hardly probable, in view of the development of the East India trade, that her shipping had decreased. Still the only vessel "deducted" from that list was the ship Union, which was sold to Newport merchants and thereafter sailed from that port. In 1810, according to the same authority, the tonnage of Providence was 15,864; NcAvport, 12,517; Bristol, 7,777. In 1820 the figures were, Proridence, 20,575 ; NcAvport, 10,702 ; Bristol, 8,037. It is knoAvn that between 1800 and 1810 many vessels belonging to Newport and Bristol were engaged in trade that kept them away constantly from their home ports, so that in this decade that fact would explain the greater ton nage of the Newport district, while ProAddence at the same time had much the greater commerce coming to her wharves. Newport un doubtedly had considerable commerce from the close of the Revolution until the time of the Embargo Acts and the War of 1812, but the duties paid on the imports into the port of Providence would indicate that that port was greatly in the lead. From 1795 to 1829 the average duties paid on foreign merchandise imported into Providence amounted to considerably more than $200,000 annually. In 1804 and 1819 the duties were over $400,000 ; in 1822, nearly $500,000 ; in 1805, 1806, 1810 and 1826 they exceeded $300,000 ; a few years went below $200,000, and the lean years were those of the Embargo, 1807, 1808, 1809, and of the War, 1812 to 1815. At the beginning of the nineteenth century much of Newport's old time commerce had been revived with the West Indies and a consider able trade vrith ports in the Southern States had grovra. up. Follow ing the example of the Providence merchants, ships were sent out to 'Arnold, His. of R. I., vol. 3, p. 447. «R. I. State Census, 1885, page 79, table compiled by Wm. F. Sirtzlet, Chief of U. S. Bureau of Statistics. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 475 the East Indies and China. The George and Mary, Capt. Samuel Law- ton, arrived from Russia October 22, 1798. Her ovraers were Gibbs & Channing. In 1799 there arrived in the port fourteen ships and brigs, nearly all from foreign ports, besides many schooners and sloops en gaged in the coastwise trade. June 9, 1799, the ship Semiramis, Capt. Jacob Smith, arrived from China; June 4, 1800, the ship Hope ar rived from Canton; July 27, 1800, the brig John arrived from the East Indies, and on August 16, the ship Russell came in from Batavia. The Russell was owned by Gibbs & Channing, George Champlin, Caleb Gardner, Peleg Clark, James Robinson, and the captain, William Wood. She had sailed from Newport March 10, 1799, but was cap tured by a French privateer on August 8, oft' the coast of Java, and carried to the Isle of France. After a number of trials she was re leased, but the voyage resulted in a considerable loss to her owners. The ship Ann and Hope, belonging to Brown & Ives of Providence, entered the port of NcAvport on her return from her second voyage to the East Indies, August 16, 1800. She probably discharged at NcAvport because part of her cargo was for Gibbs & Channing. These merchants seem to have been leaders in the East India trade, as besides the vessels already mentioned that they OAAmed or were interested in, they sent out on November 24, 1800, the ship Hercules Courtney, bound for Malaga, Barcelona and Leghorn, vrith a cargo of codfish and sugar ; she was captured by a French privateer, carried into Al geria, but was finally released. The Mount Hope, a ship of five hun dred and seventy tons, was built at Newport for Gibbs & Channing and sailed for Batavia, July, 1801. She was a very successful vessel and returned to Newport October 12, 1806, from her fifth voyage to the East Indies. The ship Semiramis made a number of successful voyages to the East Indies, but finally, when almost at her home port, she was wrecked March 2, 1804, on Long Shoal at the east end of Vine yard Sound, and the greater part of her valuable cargo of teas, sugars, nankeens and silks was lost.^ Christopher and George Champlain were among the most enter prising of the Newport merchants at this period. They had vessels trading to Savannah and Charleston and to the West Indies. Prob ably some of their vessels traded between the West Indies and the Southern ports and seldom came to Newport. They were also evi dently engaged in trade to the East Indies and Europe and had ex tensive dealings Arith Brown & Francis in 1792. Capt. Samuel Lawton Avrote, June 4, 1792, from Cronstadt to the Champlains, notifying them of his arrival in seven days from St. Petersburg ; that he had ' ' got 'George C. Mason's Reminiscences of Newport, pp. 149-153. 476 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. all his iron on board"; and that there were no less than fourteen sail of vessels in port and many more expected. The existence of a trade to Europe and the East Indies is made erident by an invoice of goods, dated March 15, 1805, which shows that Ebenezer Burrill, of Ncav York, John L. Boss, Jonathan BoAven, Christopher C. Champlin, Gil bert Chase, Edward Easton, Earle & Whitehouse, John Price and Benjamin Sexas, of Newport, sent on the ship Union, John Johnson, master, from Newport to AntAverp, 1,471 bales Bourbon coffee, 3,300 North Carolina white oak barrel staves, 10 tons St. Domingo logwood, all valued at $52,559.74. These same men shipped, January 8, 1804, by the same vessel from Newport to Batavia, Island of Java, sixty- four boxes of Spanish milled dollars, containing $30,000. Capt. Robert Robinson wrote the Champlins from Liverpool, July 3, 1798, that he had contracted "for a charter for our ship from this port to City Point, James River, Virginia, to sail positively Arith Con voy which is appointed and is to sail from Cork on the 25th inst. I have chartered the ship for nine hundred pound sterling for the run". Under date of Charleston, August 12, 1797, Robert Robinson wrote Christopher and George Champlin, Newport, that he had on board the vessel seventy hogsheads tobacco, bought at Savannah at $5.75 per hundred, and forty-five casks of rice at nine shiUings, etc. November, 1809, Simpson & Barker, NcAvport, furnished supplies to brig Hornet, including beef at six cents a pound, vegetables, fish hooks and "2 Barrels Rhode Island Coal" at $2.50.^ Newport was likewise still interested in the slave trade in the years between 1804 and 1807, although she then occupied a secondary posi tion to Bristol in this traffic. Of the slaves brought into Charleston, South Carolina, in those years 3,488 were on vessels belonging to New port merchants. With the general change in economic conditions brought about by the introduction of manufactures in the early years of the nineteenth century and the building of railroads about 1840, Newport's foreign commerce disappeared almost completely, but she still retained a considerable coastwise traffic. Next to Newport and Providence, Bristol was the most important of the Rhode Island ports. The first commercial venture was a ship ment by Nathaniel Byfield, November 6, 1686, of a number of horses on board the Bristol Merchant, bound for Surinam. In 1690 fifteen ves sels from Bristol were engaged in the trade to the West Indies and the Spanish main. The cargoes sent out were fish, horses, sheep, tim ber and produce, and the return cargoes were coffee, molasses, sugar, 'George C. Mason papers, R. I. Historical Society Cabinet. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 477 rum and tropical fruits. Onions as early as 1690 were a leading pro duct of the town and were exported in large quantities down to quite recent times. Under the leadership of Capt. Simeon Potter, Bristol vessels engaged during the middle years of the eighteenth century in the slave trade, and also in privateering during the wars Arith the Spanish and French. His celebrated voyage in the Prince Charles of Lorraine, in which he was accompanied by Mark Anthony DeWolf, was made in 1744, and on that voyage, when the rich settlements were plundered in the West Indies and on the Spanish Main, was laid the VIEW OF THE HARBOR OF BRISTOL. foundation of the fortune afterward utilized by the DeWolfs, who inherited a part of it, as the basis of their extensive mercantile opera tions. An account of the career of James DeWolf has already been given. During the latter part of the eighteenth century and' the early years of the nineteenth he was the leading merchant of Bristol, and his ships were actively engaged in the slave trade and during the War of 1812 in privateering. Other men of the DeWolf family followed in his footsteps and William, Charles and George DeWolf were each 478 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. enterprising merchants. The DeWolfs carried on mercantile opera tions along the same lines as Browa & Francis and Brown & Ives of ProAddence. James DeWolf in his youth had been a sea captain in the employ of John Brown, and in the West Indian and African trades had acquired the experience that he afterwards utiUzed in his career as a merchant. Following the example of the pioneer Providence merchants, the DeWolfs engaged in the East India trade and their ship, the Juno, brought into Bristol, in 1804, the first cargo to enter that harbor from China. The ship sailed from Bristol in August, 1804, under command of John DeWolf, bound on a voyage to the north west coast of America. After trading for a year Arith the Russian set tlements, for furs principally, the ship and cargo were sold to a Rus sian nobleman and Captain DeWolf returned overland through Siberia and Russia and arrived home in April, 1808, after an absence of three years and eight months. The OAvners, of whom James, Charles and George DeWolf were the principal ones, made a clear profit on this voyage of $100,000. Capt. John DeWolf was thereafter knovm on account of his exploits and the success of this voyage as "Norwest John". Other prominent names in the commercial annals of Bristol are Shearjashub Bourne and Samuel Wardwell, who, as the firm of Bourne & Wardwell, in the years immediately foUoAring the close of the Revo lution manufactured rum in Bristol and sent ships to the West Indies and Africa for merchandise and slaves. At one time this firm is said to have owned forty-two vessels. Bristol and Warren were erected into an independent customs district in 1801, being set off from the Newport district, and the custom house was located at Bristol. The first vessel to enter the port under these new conditions, according to the invoice book, was the schooner Isaac, John Weir, master, from Port Antonio, Jamaica, consigned to the mas ter and John W. Bourne. The foUovring statistics show the amount of duties collected from 1801 to 1825 and the number of foreign ar rivals : Year. No. of arrivals. Duties. 1801 23 $29,375.10 1802 41 32,805.40 1803 48 41,989.15 1804 56 82,531.28 1805 56 94,301.86 1806 61 118,964.89 1807 43 61,743.23 The Sea Trade and Its Development. 479 Year. No. of arrivals. Duties. 1808 48 91,349,95 1809 42 66,022.40 1810 96 152,380.92 1811 89 109,181.78 1812 55 100,137.61 1813 30 152,966.04 1814 19 72,468.42 1815 33 120,693.53 1816 48 78,543.97 1817 53 74,095.28 1818 68 103,665.69 1819 69 126,437.87 1820 50 121,570.40 1821 44 137,275.06 1822 48 95,561.42 1823 47 95,424.71 1824 53 111,116.64 1825 42 98,821.73 In common with the experience of the other ports, the commerce of Bristol began to decline after 1825. This was due to the general changes in economic conditions brought about by the increase in man ufacturing and the building of railroads. Bristol, however, continued to have some foreign commerce until 1873, when the firm of A. T. & T. J. Usher, which had been engaged in the West India trade, was dis solved. At the present time only a few hundred tons of shipping is owned in the district.^ Warren was at times a close second of Bristol in mercantile affairs, but the two ports were so near together — only four miles apart— and so closely related that they were not riA'als, but associates. From the beginning of the nineteenth century they formed one customs district and it cannot now be determined how much of the business already given as transacted in that district should be allotted to each place. Warren was in the lead in shipbuilding and in the whale fishery, while Bristol took precedence in the slave trade, privateering, and in the East India trade. Warren and Bristol suffered very severely dur ing the Revolutionary War, as they occupied a very exposed situation and the commerce of both places was almost annihilated. The extent of Warren's commerce at that time is indicated by the fact that up to January 1, 1783, the following vessels baiting from the port Avere lost: 'Munro's History of Bristol, pp. 178-185 ; 374-9 ; 333-5 ; 367-371. 480 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Schooner Roby, Captain Kingsley, cargo oil 100 tons Brig , Mason, cargo oil 120 tons Sloop United States, Coddington 45 tons Schooner Weasel, Paine 15 tons Brig , Mauran 120 tons Schooner Moses, Miller, cargo sugar, etc 60 tons Sloop Polly, Whiting 45 tons Sloop Gen. Stark (privateer), Pearce 120 tons Sloop George Champlin 60 tons Brig Gen. Wayne, Pearce 120 tons Sloop Abigail, MiUer 45 tons Schooner Swordfish, Collins 120 tons Sloop Rebecca, Champlin 60 tons Schooner Hunter, Crawford 60 tons 1,090 tons The merchants of Warren, however, did not alloAV their losses to dis courage them and business was resumed quickly after the close of the war. According to a report of the surveyor of the port the foUowing additions were made to the tonnage during the periods mentioned : 1790 to 1800, 62 vessels, 5,403 tons ; 1800 to 1810, 45 vessels, 4,505 tons; 1810 to 1820, 31 vessels, 4,533 tons ; 1820 to 1830, 39 vessels, 7,808 tons ; 1830 to 1840, 28 vessels, 4,727 tons ; 1840 to 1845, 14 vessels, 3,925 tons. In 1845 Warren's fleet of vessels engaged in the West India trade and as coasters consisted of two ships, six brigs, three schooners and five sloops, of a total burden of 2,082 tons. At the same time the whaling fleet belonging in the port was more than three times the tonnage of the merchant vessels, and the total tonnage of both fleets was 9,243 tons.^ From the earliest times until the decline of the foreign commerce and the introduction of steam vessels, shipbuilding was a leading in dustry on Narragansett Bay. The vessels used in the various mari time enterprises, whether as merchantmen, slavers, or privateers, were built in the locality from which they sailed. Because their construc tion was so much a matter of course, there are very few records of early shipbuilding. A ship was built on Rhode Island as early as 1646 for the New Haven Colony. Two vessels, the Grampus and the Dol phin, were built at Bristol in 1696 ; Nathaniel Brown located his ship yard at Providence in 1711, but he had built vessels elsewhere on the bay previous to that time. Sylvester Bowers had a shipyard at PaAA'- 'Fessenden's History of Warren, pp. 101-5. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 481 tucket in 1750. Benjamin Tallman was a master shipbuilder at Providence at the same time, and subsequently he built many of Brown & Ives' ships used in the East India trade, at his shipyard on the west side of the river, between the old steam mill and the present Point street bridge. At the time of the Revolution the mer chants of Providence built their own ships. Brown & Francis and Brown & Ives built at their yards at India Point the large vessels they employed in the East India trade, and Gibbs & Channing and the Champlins did the same at Newport. After the Revolution shipbuild ing was carried on quite extensively at Warren. The frigate General Greene, of six hundred tons and carrying thirty-two guns, was built there in 1799 for the United States government by Cromwell & Child. The privateer Macdonough, of three hundred tons, Avas built by Capt. Caleb Carr at Warren in 1813 and sailed from Bristol. She Avas a very fast vessel and was subsequently used as a merchantman. Captain Carr, in 1814, also built the U. S. sloop of war ChippcAva, of four hun dred and eleven tons and carrying sixteen guns. There were a number of shipyards about 1830 in Providence on the west side of the river, where many large vessels were turned out. At this period the American, a vessel of 600 tons, Avas built at the foot of Peck street, for S. & A. B. Arnold, and on Eddy's Point, foot of Point street, near the present bridge, the ship Eliza and Abbey, of 200 tons, and the Rhode Island of 400 tons, were constructed. There was also a large shipyard at India Point, where many ships and schooners were built. Eddy's Point was the scene of the construction of many large vessels up to and beyond the middle of the nineteenth century, among them being the steamers John W. Richmond and Kingston. The old Bowers shipyard at Pawtucket was also busily engaged in the con struction of large vessels at this period. At present no large vessels are built at any Rhode Island port, but a few sailboats and small crafts are turned out in the local yards. At Bristol are the shops of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, where the highest class of steam and sailing yachts are constructed. The Herreshoffs began building yachts and sailboats here in 1863 ; ten years later they began to build steam yachts, and during the last score of years they have built many racing yachts, including all the notable and successful defenders of the America's cup in the international yacht races. An interesting fact in connection with the Herreshoffs is that they are descendants of John Brown, the eminent Providence merchant, who built his own ships at India Point a hundred years ago. 31 482 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. John BroAvn Herreshoff and Nathaniel Greene Herreshoff are great- grandsons of John Brown. The whale flshery at various periods was an important branch of the maritime enterprise of the Rhode Island people. In the early days of the colonies whales were caught "off shore" from smaU boats and with very primitive apparatus. During the flrst half of the eighteenth century they were frequently captured in Narragansett Bay. A bounty of five shillings was offered by the General Assembly, in 1731, for every barrel of whale oil and one penny a pound for bone, taken by Rhode Island vessels and brought into the Colony. The first regu larly equipped whaling vessel of which there is any account was the Old Whalers and Casks op Whale Oil. sloop Pelican of Newport, owned by Benjamin Thurston, which brought into Newport, in June, 1733, one hundred and fourteen bar rels of oil and two hundred pounds of bone, on which the bounty was paid. Previous to the Revolution the Jewish merchants of Newport had a number of vessels engaged in the whale fishery. In 1775 it has been estimated there were about fifty whaling vessels belonging to the four Rhode Island ports of Newport, Proridence, Bristol and Warren. The war of the Revolution seriously interfered vrith the fishery, but soon after peace was declared, in 1785, record is found in the "Book "of The Sea Trade and Its Deatelopment. 483 Manifest" in the Providence custom house of the arrival of six vessels at that port from whaling voyages. The amount of oil the vessels brought was small, but with one or two exceptions they also brought cargoes from the West Indies and other foreign ports. May 30, 1787, the brigantines Happy Return and Ranger, belonging to Joseph and William Russell, arrived in Providence from whaling voyages and each had a cargo of two hundred barrels of ' ' oyl ' ' ; June 15, of the same year, the brig Rebecca, belonging to Welcome Arnold, ar rived with fourteen ' ' casks oyl ' ' and a cargo of general merchandise. In 1789 a number of whaling vessels were owned in Providence, ac cording to the report of the shipping made in that year to Congress. From that time very few vessels were fitted out until about the year 1820, when a slight revival occurred. BetAveen 1830 and 1840 a more marked revival took place, and in the year 1841 seven ships cleared from Providence on whaling voyages. Por a number of years there after there were nine vessels licensed to engage in the whale fishery, belonging to Providence, but the number gradually diminished, most of the vessels being sold to New Bedford and the remainder lost or burned at sea until not one remained. The last ProAddence whaler was the ship Lion, which sailed July 17, 1854, for the Pacific Ocean and was lost at sea November 10, 1856. The ship South America, which cleared at Providence November 10, 1843, for the northwest coast and arrived home March 5, 1846, made the best whaling voyage on record up to that date. She had sent home 800 barrels of whale oil, 100 barrels of sperm, 36,000 pounds of bone and had sold at Bahia, Brazil, 1,000 barrels of whale oU. Before the Revolution Warren had some A^essels engaged in the whale fishery, but these, fourteen in all, Avere lost during the war. The fishery was not revived until 1821, when the ship Rosalie was fitted out for a whaling voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Prom that time up to 1845 Warren sent out tAventy-one ships, six barks and three brigs, amounting to 9,000 tons, on Avhaling voyages, and in that year her whaling fleet consisted of seventeen ships and five barks, of a total of 7,161 tons. Warren continued to carry on the whale fishery- longer and on a more extensive scale than any other Rhode Island port, but her vessels were finally either lost or transferred to New Bedford. Bristol also had a number of vessels engaged in whaling previous to the Revolution, but she did not re-engage in the fishery until 1825, when a ship was fitted out and made a very successful cruise. In 1837 sixteen whalers arrived in the port, and in that year Bristol 's whaling fleet numbered nineteen vessels, as follows : 484 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Vessel. Tonnage. Ganges 380 MiUon 388 Gen. Jackson 329 America 258 Bowditch 399 Canton Packet 312 Corinthian 503 Anne 223 Roger WilUam 285 Leonidas 353 Balance 322 Essex 201 L. C. Richmond 341 Gov. Fenner 376 Fama 363 Gov. Hopkins Ill Sarah Lee 236 Golconda 360 Troy 156 Metacom Total 5,896 About 1845 Bristol's Avhale fishery began to decUne, and in a few years had utterly died out. The custom receipts at the port of Providence from 1790 to 1899 by periods of ten years were as follows :^ 1790 to 1799 $1,593,470.00 1800 to 1809 2,784,739.99 1810 to 1819 2,155,425.53 1820 to 1829 2,202,432.69 1830 to 1839 794,032.12 1840 to 1849 403,458.89 1850 to 1859 541,163.49 1860 to 1869 977,915.58 1870 to 1879 2,163,124.07 1880 to 1889 2,295,860.52 1890 to 1899 2,650,542.65 1900 337,624.00 'The figures for the flrst ten years are from Staples's Annals of Providence, p. 637 ; from 1800 to 1869 from State Census of 1885 ; and latter dates from U. S. Government Reports. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 485 These figures demonstrate that the East India and foreign trade of Providence endured from 1790 to 1830, and that this port was the leader and paid by far the larger part of the duties on goods imported by Rhode Island ports. During the War of 1812 there was a serious decUne in commerce, but a quick and substantial revival followed, and about 1820 the foreign trade reached its maximum. From 1820 to 1830 it continued at about the same volume and then began to decline until, in the middle years of the century, the imports did not amount to as much in value as the duties paid in many of the years from 1800 to 1831. This change, however, did not imply a decadence on the part of the Rhode Island communities, but was only the evidence of a change in the direction of the energy of the people. The foUowing list copied from the Rhode Island American of Nov. 17, 18*29, shows the tonnage of the port of Providence in 1829 in square-rigged vessels, registered and enrolled at the Custom House, exclusive of schooners, sloops and river craft : SHIPS. Asia .351 tons Hazard 333 tons Ann and Hope 558 Atlas - 361 Envoy 391 Eliza and Abby 340 Edward 374 Franklin 396 Gen. Hamilton... 396 George 389 Lion 297 MaryAlmy _ 388 New Jersey 514 Providence -.. 346 Panther _ 409 Washington 343 William Baker 334 BARQUE. Cyrus Butler 360 tons. BRIGS. Antelope 183 tons Ann Celia 153 " Abeona 337 " Agenoria. 165 " Brilliant 334 " Blackstone 358 " Charles Joseph 314 ' ' Cobbossee Contee 156 " Charles and Ellen 183 " Clyde ..187 " Decatur .117 " Eagle .340 '• Enterprise _ 166 " Fame 168 " George 148 " George Washington 95 " Havre 397 " Horizon 350 " Helen 130 " Harriet .385 " Independence 199 •• Leopard 307 " Laurel 167 tons Mary Ann .145 Mary... 168 Mount Hope 93 Miles Standish.. .133 Marcia 304 Mordecai 143 New England ...161 New York.. 110 Nereus 335 Only Son 178 Prometheus 140 President M anning 138 Remp - 113 Rising States.. 198 Rising States 134 Robert Cochran 193 Sarah Lee ...335 Shibboleth .319 Savannah 133 Sampson ..158 Union 319 486 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. RECAPITULATION. 17Ships 5,807 tons IBarque 360 " 44 Brigs 7,938 " 63 Vessels 14,095 tons " There are also belonging to this port 29 schooners and 30 sloops, making in the whole 122 vessels." The cotton manufacture, introduced by Samuel Slater at Paw tucket in 1790-1, under the enlightened patronage of Moses BroAvn and aided by his capital, had by 1830 so increased in amount and im portance as to absorb the energy of the community. The Providence merchants had gradually transferred their capital from_ ships into mills, the most notable example being that of the great house of BroAvn & Ives, which acquired interests in cotton mills early in the nineteenth century and in 1827 established the first mill at Lonsdale in the Black stone Valley, from Avhich has developed a great manufacturing busi ness. This house sold its last vessel, the Hanover, in 1838. AU the mercantile families followed suit, the Aliens, the Arnolds, the Night ingales, the Lippitts, the DeWolfs of Bristol and others, either engag ing directly in manufacturing or using their capital, acquired as mer chants, in the operations of the new men that manufacturing had brought forAvard, and as a result the community between 1810 and 1840 gradually changed from a mercantile to a manufacturing basis. This change was not a retrogression, but an advance, as it brought in creased wealth, enlarged opportunities for the mass of the "people, and made possible the successful evolution of the various towns and cities in the State. After 1840 foreign commerce practically ceased to come to Rhode Island ports. Direct trade with the East and West Indies and with Europe had died out almost entirely. After 1835, Avhen the railroad to Boston was opened, and more especially after 1837, when trains be gan running on the railroad to Stonington, making quick connection thereby with Ncav York by the Sound steamers from that place, a very small amount of foreign goods entered Providence, and it ceased to be in any important Avay a port of direct entry. Since 1870, under the act of Congress passed July 14 of that year, foreign goods arriring by steamers in New York and Boston have been forwarded by rail or steamer to this port and entered at the local custom house. This fact accounts for the large increase of duties since 1870. The direct foreign importations into Providence now are chiefiy The Sea Trade and Its Development. 487 lumber and shingles from the British provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. This is a coastwise trade, in no essential— except that the vessels have to enter the custom house— different from the similar trade to the Maine, Florida, Carolina and Virginia ports. Occasionally a vessel arrives from Europe with some special cargo, such as salt or sulphur from Italy, or liquorice from Russia, but these are so infrequent that they are noticed at length in the newspapers when they occur. The only survivals of the old trade to the West In dies are the importations of salt from Turk's Island or logwood from Jamaica and Hayti, cargoes of which arrive occasionally. The ship ping that enters Rhode Island ports at the beginning of the twentieth century is consequently almost wholly engaged in the coastwise trade and it nearly all comes to Providence. The cargoes brought in are chiefly raw materials, including lumber, lime, mortar, plaster, cement, bricks, grain, corn and coal. Bricks are brought in from New Jersey, Long Island and Taunton, Mass. ; lime, cement and blue stone come from Rondout on the Hudson, from New Jersey and from Rockland, Me.; plaster and mortar from New York; lumber from Maine, Flor ida, the Carolinas, Virginia and the British Provinces, and oil from New York and Philadelphia. Both in amount and value, coal is the most important commodity brought into Providence. The city is the center of one of the most active and extensive manufacturing districts in the United States, es pecially in textiles, machinery and jewelry, and is also so situated geo graphically as to be an effective distributing point for coal to supply communities and factories in a wide radius of country. Under these conditions an immense trade in coal has grown up and from a million and a half to two million tons are now received annually. A large proportion is shipped by rail from the Wilkes-Barre pier, the Harbor Junction pier and the coal pockets of the local companies, to the inland cities of New England. The principal features of the harbor frontage of Providence at the present day are the great coal pockets with their improved appliances for unloading vessels. During the year 1896 the total receipts of coal at Providence were 1,237,778 tons, of which 802,- 494 tons were bituminous and 435,284 anthracite. The bituminous was brought in 285 schooners and 244 barges, while the anthracite came in 8 schooners and 485 barges. The reason that most of the bitu minous was brought in schooners and the anthracite in barges was that the former came mainly from Newport News and Philadelphia, while the latter was brought from the Amboys and other New Jersey ports. In 1897 the receipts of coal were 1,386,488 tons, of which 908,361 were 488 State op Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. bituminous and 478,127 anthracite. The bituminous was received in 243 schooners, 340 barges, 2 steamers and one brig, and the anthracite in 46 schooners and 523 barges. A noticeable feature of the evolution of the coal trade has been the increase in the size of the vessels and the substitution of barges for schooners. A "string of barges", usually two or three, is towed from the coal ports by a powerful tug, in this way in one trip bringing from 3,000 to 6,000 tons or more. The economy of this method is evident when compared vrith the prerious way of shipping in schooners which carried a few hundred tons. Large schooners are now in use for the long deep water voyages, which carry from two to three thousand tons. One of the pioneers of this type of schooner is the Governor Ames, a five master, which for some years has brought coal from Newport News to Providence. Her ca pacity is about 2,700 tons. Still larger schooners, of six and seven masts, are in contemplation to be used in this trade. The number of vessels arriving in the port of Providence in 1897 was 1,630, of which 619 were schooners, 977 barges, two barkentines, one bark, 25 steamers and six brigs. This number did not include any of the arrivals of the large steamers of the regular lines which brought in large quantities of goods from New York, Philadelphia, Norfolk and Baltimore. Coal was the commodity of which the largest amount was received; lumber was next in value and amount; while building material, including brick, lime, cement, plaster, was next in impor tance. A large amount of cotton is received in Proridence, but it comes either by rail or by steamer from Norfolk, Va. The great bulk of the foreign importations entered at the Provi dence custom house comes by steamers into Ncav York or Boston and is sent on to Providence in bond. From Bremen and Hamburg are received precious stones, metal and glassware, crockery and hosiery; from Genoa, embroideries ; from Havre, vrine, laces, precious stones, glassware ; from Liverpool, London and Glasgow, tea, coffee, liquors, Arines, beer and manufactured articles ; from Southampton, laces and millinery; from Copenhagen and Christiania, machinery; from Ha vana, cigars ; from Amsterdam, liquors. The following merchandise was imported directly into Providence in vessels during the year 1897 : Salt 1,456,543 bushels Scantlings 252,262 feet Shingles 19,976,000 Laths 17,883,000 Boards 2,323,065 feet A PORTION OF THE MAIN HARBOR FRONT OF PROVIDENCE, BETWEEN INDIA AND FOX POINTS. 490 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Planks 28,649 feet Logwood 1,496,936 pounds Piling 222 pieces Potatoes 2,850 bushels Shad 200 pounds Emery stone 120 tons Fustic 89,600 pounds Licorice root 2,556,638 pounds rbwarehoused goods. Rum 323 gaUons Bay Rum 23 gaUons Gins 572 gallons Grease 6,600 pounds Brandy 474 gaUons The total number of vessels arriving in Providence from foreign countries in 1897 was seventy-seven, of which eighteen were Ameri can ; number of vessels hailing from the port, 142 ; steam, 49 ; sailing, 93 ; steam tonnage, 19,312 tons ; sailing tonnage, 11,159 tons.^ According to a report by J. T. P. Bucklin, harbor master of Prori dence, 3,528 vessels, including steamers, entered the port in 1899. These brought: Coal, 2,038,489 tons; cement, lime, sand, etc., 65,863 tons; bricks, 4,130,536; oU, 13,363,606 gallons; lumber, 24,964,582 feet ; laths and shingles, 19,208,254 ; merchandise by steamers, 615,000 tons ; total tonnage, 2,823,308. A comparison of these figures vrith those for 1819, when the direct foreign commerce of Providence reached its maximum, shows that at the present time the foreign commerce, both direct and in bond, is actually £is great as in those years, but its character is entirely differ ent. Then most of the ships were American bottoms and came in from long voyages and the importations were direct ; now the arrivals are mostly coastwise, there are few from deep sea voyages and they are mostly foreign bottoms, while the great bulk of the importations are in bond from other ports. The tonnage owned in the port is about twice the amount of that owned in 1820, but the shipping used in the business of the port, steam and sail, is enormously greater. To sum up the situation: While the direct foreign trade of Providence car ried on in the deep sea vessels of American registry has wholly dis appeared, the shipping of the port is many times greater than ever be fore and is constantly increasing Arith the growth of the city. It is now nearly all coastwise in character, engaged in the trade in coal, 'Providence Journal of Commerce, February, 1897, and February, 1898. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 491 lumber and building material, brought in by barges and sailing craft, and manufactured goods and general merchandise carried in steamers to and from New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Norfolk. In this connection the following comment is worthy of quotation: ' ' Of late years a great deal has been said of the decay and falling off of Providence commerce, meaning thereby its maritime interests ; but the fact is that the maritime commerce of to-day (1886) is greater than it ever was before, and that it has never for any long period declined during the past century. There has been simply a change of direc tion and methods. Instead of a few scores of thousand tons of freight from foreign shores annually landed at our wharves, there are now milUons of tons from points on the coast of the United States. This consists largely of merchandise of which our ancestors scarcely knew the use : as an illustration, anthracite coal, of which seventy years ago scarcely one ton was brought here, while in 1885 820,510 tons were delivered by vessels at this port ; or cotton, of which in 1815 less than 10,000 bales were received, while in 1885 245,605 bales were re ceived".^ Pawtucket, although it had some shipping in colonial times, prob ably never had any foreign commerce. At the time of the Revolution Sylvester Bowers built ships on the east side of the river, and during the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early years of the nineteenth George Robinson and Thomas Arnold built vessels on the west side a short distance below the falls. Nathan Daggett is said to have had a Avharf at the landing on the Rehoboth side of the river some time preceding 1800, and to have carried on a commercial business there, but his headquarters were at Seekonk Cove, the mouth of the Ten Mile River. He had a packet which made regular trips to New port, and other vessels belonging to him Avere engaged in the West India trade. The first utilization of the Pawtucket River in a modern way was in 1827, when Joseph Smith and Clark Sayles began the business of bringing coal and lumber up the river and distributing these staples to manufacturers and others in Pawtucket and the adjacent territory. After 1840, when the modern diversification of industry at Paw tucket may be said to have begun, the navigation on the river rapidly increased. Joseph Smith, in 1838, had six small vessels discharge coal at his wharf, the largest one of which had a cargo of 175 tons, while the smaUest one had only 50 tons. In 1867 there arrived 29 vessels, the smaUest with 105 tons of coal and the largest vrith 317 tons. The 'Providence Plantations, p. 87. THE HARBOR OF THE CITY OF PAWTUCKET. The Buildings on the Right Have Been Destroyed by Fire and New Structures Erected Since This Photograph was Taken. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 493 development of the shipping of Pawtucket Avas retarded by the nar- roAvness of the draws in the Washington and Central bridges at the mouth of the river, but after a lawsuit between Pawtucket and Provi dence in 1867 these were widened. Since that date the channel has also been greatly improved. Pawtucket now has a large coastwise commerce of the same nature as that of Providence, and the com modities brought in are chiefly coal, lumber, bricks, lime and cement. There are no railroad connections to Pawtucket 's wharves, so conse quently most of the material received is for the supply of local de mands. Other minor ports on Narragansett Bay which have had some ship- Upper Cov:e, Wickford, North Kingstown. ping are East Greenwich, Apponaug, Wickford, Westerly, Tiverton, Narragansett Pier, Saunderstown and Block Island. Apponaug, at the head of Cowesett Bay on the west side of Narragansett Bay, was the port of the Colony of WarArick, and had some commerce vrith the Dutch as early as 1652, in which year John Warner had a dispute which resulted in a lawsuit Avith his brother-in-law, a Dutch trader who had brought in some goods in a small vessel. East Greenwich, also on Narragansett Bay, at one time had considerable shipping. Jacob Greene & Co., of Warwick, just previous to the Revolution, were the chief merchants in this neighborhood, and their vessels probably 494 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. sailed from both Apponaug and East Greenvrich. Lieut. Dudding- ston, the commander of the Gaspee, seized a sloop belonging to this shipping firm, which was on its way from East Greenwich to Newport with a cargo of rum and sugar, and sent it to Boston for condemnation. An action was brought in the Common Pleas Court in Kent County by Greene & Co. against Duddingston, and a verdict was given the plaintiff for £295 damages and costs. That East GreeuArich was of some importance as a port after the Revolution is made evident from the fact that it was one of the places for whom an intendant of trade was appointed by the General Assembly in 1784.'^ East Greenwich and Apponaug are both included in the Providence customs district. They have always had a small amount of shipping, but the former was and is the most important. Small vessels can go up to the wharves at East Greenwich, and the cargoes brought there are coal, lumber and building materials. Wickford, on the west side of Narragansett Bay, has a good harbor, and in colonial times had some commerce. The planters of the Narra gansett country raised a celebrated breed of horses, knovm as "Narra gansett Pacers", which in the early part of the eighteenth century were exported in large numbers to the West Indies." This trade con tinued until the Revolution. Wickford was made a port of entry in 1808, within the Newport customs district, and under the control of William Ellery, the collector at that time. At present it receives a small amount of coal, lumber and other raw material, brought in by small schooners, and a steamer runs between the place and Newport, in connection with a branch railroad, forming the Newport and Wick ford Railroad and Steamboat line. Narragansett Pier, on the Atlantic coast, at the entrance of the Western Passage into Narragansett Bay, is about fifteen miles from Wickford and is now a leading summer resort with many hotels ahd palatial cottages. Lying exposed to the ocean from the east, no harbor is possible, but the place gets its name from the fact that at various times during the past hundred years stone piers have been built to form artificial harbors, in order to make a port for the Narragansett Country, as Southern Rhode Island is sometimes caUed. These have all been beaten down by the waves, but at the present there are two piers and a small dock, which makes a miniature harbor for coal and lumber vessels. A wharf 1,100 feet long, built of long wooden piles 'Arnold's History of R. L, vol. 3, pp. 311, 314, 508. 'Picturesque Rhode Island, p, 383. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 495 and extending into water of the depth of sixteen feet at low tide, was built here on the beach in 1898, and has survived the storms and ac tion of the sea since that time. It was erected by the Providence, Pall River and Newport Steamboat Company, and is used as a landing for excursion steamers. South Perry, now known as Saunderstown, on Narragansett Bay, between Wickford and Narragansett Pier, has a wharf, and schooners occasionally come in here with supplies. Fifty years ago several sail ing packets plied from here with produce to other places on the bay and along the coast. More recently quite a fleet of coasting schooners made the place their home port, and some shipbuilding was also carried on. A steam ferry runs from here to Conanicut Island and connects there by a stage Arith the ferry to Newport. Block Island has no natural harbor. Soon after its settlement its inhabitants, recognizing the utility of a harbor, in 1665 petitioned the General Assembly of the Colony to appoint a committee to see if an artiflcial harbor could not be made, for the purpose of encouraging the fisheries. John Clarke was appointed to visit the island to see what could be done. In 1670 a committee Avas appointed by the Assembly to receive contributions to pay for the construction of such a harbor. Nothing, however, was done until in 1876, when the United States government began, on the east side of the island, where there was a crescent-shaped indentation in the coast, the construction of a break water, which now extends 1,900 feet into the sea, and forms a fairly good artificial harbor, much resorted to by fishing boats and pleasure craft along the coast. On the west side of the island, about midway of its length, is Great Salt Pond, a body of deep water a mile by a mile and a half in area, which, many years ago, was connected with the sea, but by the action of storms the passageway was closed, leaving a narrow strip of beach between the pond and the ocean. The islanders desired the reopening of this beach, and accordingly the State of Rhode Island and the tovm of New Shoreham expended about $115,000 in opening the passage and building jetties, making the pond available as a harbor of refuge for light-draft vessels. The United States gov ernment took up the work in 1896 and constructed the jetties, accord ing to the original plan. The south or west jetty when completed will be 1,197 feet long, while the north jetty vrill be 500 feet, and the channel between will be twenty-five feet deep for a width of 150 feet. This harbor is of great importance to the coastwise trade, as many vessels here find refuge during storms. Westerly is an important viUage at the southwest extremity of the view of the harbor of westerly. The Sea Trade and Its Development. 497 State of Rhode Island, which had some commerce in colonial times. At present the place has considerable manufacturing of textiles, thread, and printing presses, and a number of extensive granite quarries are located in its limits. In connection vrith these industries some ship ping comes up to its wharves. The place is at the head of navigation on the Pawcatuck River, and has a good harbor. The channel from Little Narragansett Bay to the wharves at Westerly, a distance of about seven miles, has been deepened by the United States govern ment since 1871 to a depth of eight feet, and a vridth of one hundred feet, at a cost of $100,000 ; and according to the most recent plans the channel is to be made ten feet deep. Westerly is in the Stonington customs district. Tiverton is five miles south of Pall River, at the upper end of the Seaconnet River, and opposite the northern extremity of the island of Rhode Island. Two causeways, with bridges in the center, one for the highway and the other for the railroad, here connect the mainland with the island. The railroad bridge has been recently widened, in the interest of navigation, under instructions from the United States government, to 100 feet, and the channel deepened to 25 feet. The bridges are about a mile apart, and the space between forms a harbor, on the shores of which are a few wharves and coal pockets, to which a small amount of shipping comes in. Directly across from Tiverton is the fish-oil factory of the American Fisheries Co. The steamers of the Seaconnet Steamboat Co., running between Providence and Seaconnet Point, stop at the wharf at Tiverton between the bridges, and also at Humphrey and Church's Avharf, several miles to the south on the Seaconnet River. The Seaconnet River is the eastern arm of Narragansett Bay. It is about tAvelve miles long by about two in average width, the mainland being in the tOAAms of Tiverton and Little Compton, and the island in those of Portsmouth and Middle- town on Rhode Island. The landings at which these steamers call are the only shipping points on this river. The cities of Fall River and Taunton are on Narragansett Bay, and they have considerable commerce, an account of which, however, does not come within the scope of a consideration of the commerce of Rhode Island. An enterprise that was essentially commercial in its nature, although it was an attempt to develop internal trade, was the building of the Blackstone Canal from Providence to Worcester. A charter had been obtained from the General Assembly in 1796, authorizing the construe- 498 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. tion of a canal from tide water at Providence to the north line of the State, but the Massachusetts Legislature refused to grant authority for the portion of the canal within the limits of that State, and the project consequently fell through at that time. John Brown was the leading spirit in this movement, and was prepared to subscribe $40,000 to the stock of the enterprise. The project Avas revived in 1823, when char ters were granted by both Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and the companies formed under these charters were by their terms united in interest. Not until two years later, however, were active steps taken to organize a company. April 27, 1825, subscriptions to the stock, which had been placed at $400,000 from Providence and $100,000 from Worcester, were received, and in three hours $1,130,000 was offered, being considerable more than twice the capital asked for. The com pany was organized in May, vrith Edward Carrington, Stephen H. Smith and Moses B. Ives as commissioners empowered to build the canal. Work was at once begun and the canal was built along the course of the Blackstone River, portions of the river being utilized where it was considered feasible. More than 500 men were employed in its con struction. The length of the canal was 44 miles and three-quarters; its depth was four feet; its vridth 45 feet. At Worcester it was 450 feet above tide level at Proridence, and to reach this height there were forty-nine locks, all but one of which were of hewn stone and cost $4,000 each. The canal was opened for use July 1, 1828, when the packet boat Lady Carrington passed through the locks to Worcester, and returned the next day. This boat was seventy feet long, nine and a half feet wide, had a covered cabin for passengers, and could be drawni by two horses at the rate of four or five miles an hour. The canal did not prove a success, and the investment turned out a total loss. Yet for some years twelve freight boats and one packet belonging to the Providence and Worcester Canal Boat Company, and eleven private freight boats, were used on its waters. Each freight boat carried from twenty to thirty tons of freight, and the packet car ried passengers. The causes of the failure of the canal have been summed up as fol- loA^rs: First— It was built nine-tenths of the way, depended on slack water navigation the other tenth, and at low stages of the river the boats would ground on the bars and shoals of the slack water portions, and lie stranded for days and sometimes weeks. Second— The cost of construction was estimated at $500,000, but the actual cost was $750,- 000, while at the outset the projectors could have had all the money <1 Q;z; 526 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. the trips either to Narragansett Pier or Block Island and return by this means to Pall River. The facilities afforded by the frequent trips of the steamers to the resorts on the shores, a few miles below Providence, have been largely instrumental in helping the growth of those localities as residential suburbs. This has been especially true of the east shore of the bay from Providence down to Bullock's Point. From 1890 to 1895 steamers were run by the Continental Company, during the entire year, to the landings on this shore, and in this period there was a very noticeable increase in the population, and in the number of dAvellings erected. Since then the trolley lines have ministered to the transportation demands of this countryside, while the steamers carry the excursionists during the summer. The excursion traffic on Narragansett Bay has steadily increased with the growth of the population. For the season of 1881, the Con tinental Steamboat Company transported 75,000 more passengers than in any season during the previous ten years. The total number of passengers carried between Newport and Providence during 1881, was 156,105 ; between Rocky Point and Providence, 139,918 ; between other places on the bay and Providence, 278,374; making the entire number carried 574,397. For the season of 1882 a total number of about 600,000 passengers was carried on all the routes. In 1900 double that number, or about a million and a quarter persons, was carried on the bay steamers of the Providence, Pall River, and Newport Steam boat Company to and from the various resorts. The number carried to the principal resorts during the excursion season was : To NcAvport, on regular steamers, 158,882; on chartered steamers, 50,000; to Nar rangansett Pier, regular steamers, 33,536 ; chartered steamers, 19,200 to Block Island, regular steamers, 43,672; chartered steamers, 2,800 to Rocky Point, Crescent Park, and the east side shore places, 533,530 to and from. Fall River about 35,000; from Fall River to Newport, 50,000. Since the extension of the troUey lines the travel by boat to the east side shore places. Silver Spring, Riverside and Pleasant Bluff, has fallen off considerably, but as many people go by the steamers to Crescent Park as formerly, and the excursion traffic to Rocky Point has increased. A small freight steamer, the William Marvel, has plied between Fall River and Proridence for many years. It is now owned by the Dyer Transportation Company, which also utilizes two steam lighters, the Sagamore and the Isaac N. Veazie, in the same traffic. At various times there have been small steamers running between Travel and Transportation. 527 Warren and Providence. One was running in 1847, and, with some intervals, communication by steamboat was kept up for a number of years. For many years there have been no steamers on this route. Bristol is reached by the steamers plying betAveen Fall River and Providence, and also by the Seaconnet line steamers. East Green wich has had steamboat communication Avith Providence on several occasions for brief periods. A line of steamers was started in the '80 's to ply between Provi dence and Seaconnet Point at the eastern entrance to Narragansett Bay. The steamer Queen City for some years was the only steamer on the line, but a new vessel, the AAvashonks, was added several years ago. She Avas burned at the beginning of 1901, and her place was taken by the Islander. Excursions are made daily during the sum mer, while in winter the boats are run several times a week. The steamer General, at present running from Wickford to NcAvport across the bay, connects at Wickford Landing Avith the trains of the Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company, which was organized in 1870. This road, which is less than four miles long, connects vrith the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad at Wickford junction. Por a number of years the steamer Eolus ran on this route. For several years early in the '90 's two small steamers, the Wyona and the Anawon, were run by Stillman Saunders from Providence to Wickford and SaunderstoAvn. The latter was burned, but the former is still employed in freighting and to carry parties. Captain George B. Hull has, since 1897, had the small steamer Corsair on the route between Providence, Wickford and SaunderstoAvn. In 1897 and 1898 she ran to Saunderstown and to Wickford. Part of the time during 1900 and 1901 she ran in connection with the Sea View Electric line, thus making a through connection from Providence to Narragansett Pier. The Corsair is a converted steam yacht and was built in 1888. For some years during the summer, steamer Herman S. CasweU ran between Newport and Narragansett Pier, making con nections there with the Narragansett Pier Railroad, which connects at Kingston station with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. She was succeeded by the Manisees, which ran for several seasons, but since the building of the long pier, steamer Mount Hope suppUes all neccessary facilities between Newport and Narragansett Pier. There is a connection by a steam ferry between Newport and Narragansett Pier via Jamestown and Saunderstown. The steam ferry 528 State op Rhode Island and PROAaDENCE Plantations. boat Conanicut runs between Newport and Jamestown, connecting by a stage across the island of Conanicut — a distance of about a mile— with the steamer Beaver Tail, which runs over to SaunderstoAvn, where electric cars can be taken for Narragansett Pier, Wickford or Prori dence. Steamer George W. Danielson has for a number of years plied between Providence and Block Island, ria Newport during the winter, and in summer between Block Island and Newport, connecting there with the boats of the Proridence, Fall River and Newport Steamboat Company of Providence. Late in the summer of 1901 a larger steamer, the New Shoreham, owned by the town of New Shoreham, Block Island, began to make daily trips from Providence to Block Island, landing in Great Pond Harbor, thence going to New London and returning to Providence the same Avay. The Clyde Steamship Company began in May, 1900, to run one of its large steamers from Providence to Wilmington, N. C, Georgetown and Charleston, S. C, BrunsAvick, Ga., and Jacksonville, Fla. At all these places close connections are made with leading railroads, and consequently by means of this line direct communication is secured with the South and Southwest. With all these coastwise and local lines of steamers now sailing from her wharves Providence is a very busy port and her water front presents great activity. Commencing at Lonsdale wharf, on the harbor, is the new daily Une to New York, served by the sound steam ers Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Next adjoining is Ives Wharf, occupied by the Boston and Philadelphia Steamship Company, and then comes the immense wharf of the Providence, Norfolk and Balti more line. At the foot of South Main and South Water Streets is the long pier of the Providence line, where a palatial boat leaves every evening during the summer for New York. Turning out of the harbor into the river, a short distance up South Water Street is the wharf of the Clyde line, while a little further up is the wharf of the Joy Steam ship Company. A short distance above, at the foot of Transit Street, is the wharf of the New Shoreham. Near by is the dock of the Uttie steamer Corsair which runs to Saunderstovm, and still further up the street is the busy wharf of the Providence, Bristol and Pall River steamer, while a short distance away is the wharf of fhe Seaconnet Steamboat Company at the foot of Planet Street, and directly across the narrow channel of the river is the Avharf of the Providence, FaU River and Newport Steamboat Company. The latter wharf is the busiest place on the water front of Providence river during the sum- Travel and Transportation. 529 mer, as here the vast majority of all the excursionists come to embark for the various shore places. A small steam propeller, named the Pioneer, built by James A. Moncrief, Robert M. W. Horton and James McLay, Pawtucket me chanics, plied between Pawtucket and the shore resorts during the summer of 1882. The next year the same men built another vessel in East Providence, also named her the Pioneer, and she was used on the same route, taking the place of the first steamer, which had been sold. This company of men built the steamer Peerless in 1892, and these boats were all at first used to run from Pawtucket to the near by shore places on the bay, but were afterwards sold and transferred elsewhere. The Pioneer, built in 1883, is still in use on the river and bay, although she does not run regularly but is utilized occasionally for excursions. The building of roads always has had an important effect on the development of new communities. The Romans carried forward and maintained their civilization in the countries they conquered chiefiy by the aid of the great highways they built, many of which remain in use to this day as main traveled roads. Commerce was maintained by means of these roads, intercourse was rendered possible, and the action and reaction which toned down local differences, removed prejudices, and taught men to know each other, had thereby opportu nity to operate. The original New England settlements were on the seacoast, and communication between them at first was mainly by Avater. Massa chusetts Bay was the highway between Plymouth, Boston and Salem. Narragansett Bay was the highway between Providence, Newport, Portsmouth, Taunton and Warwick. While there were no roads in the modern sense of the term when the white man arrived, still the country was traversed in all directions by Indian trails, like the modern footpaths that run through the woods or along the river banks. Some of these trails Avere well traveled roads of from six to twelve feet in width, and were made use of by the first settlers. All the original highways were enlarged from these paths and usually foUoAved their Unes. A much traveled Indian trail led from Providence to Pawtucket Palls and thence on to Boston, while anpther trail, known as the Pequot path, led to the southwest "through East Greenwich, Wick ford, over Tower Hill and through Westerly into Connecticut". These trails and their continuations became, as the colony developed, 34 530 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. the highAvay between Boston and New York, through Providence, New London and other English settlements, and this road which ran through the low land along the coast continued for a long period to be the main artery of land travel. At the towns or settlements along this highway Avayside inns for the entertainment of travelers were es tablished, and these hostelries were important sources of social growdh, as by their means the people obtained news and glimpses of the out side world and in their common rooms the local social life centered and the gossip of the neighborhood circulated. The Indian trails, like the modern railroads, foUowed the lines of least resistance. Instead of crossing a swamp or bridging a river, they Ross Tavern, near Quonochontaug, Charlestown, erected 1770. This tavern was located on the old Pequot path, the original Indian trail from the Massachusetts Colony into Connecticut. went around the one and forded the other. These paths were con sequently very circuitous, but they followed the easiest course and Avere as dry and level as under the given circumstances could be secured. An excellent example of this principle is afforded by the old road between Providence and Pawtucket, which at present follows the original layout. It skirts the low land in the valley of the Mos shassuck, originally known as the great swamp, while on the other side it avoids the hills to the eastward, and to accomplish both these objects it makes a long detour, which in quite recent times was over come by building a graded road, Pawtucket Avenue, straight over the hill. Woodland paths wherever they exist at the present day Travel and Transportation. 531 are naturaUy developed on similiar lines, and many old highways throughout the country, with their easy grades and long roundabout ways, are developed from the original Indian trails. The English settlers developed the Indian trails into bridle paths over which horses could travel, as the horse Avas the only means the pioneers possessed for land travel or the carrying of burdens. Car riages or Avagons did not come into use to any extent until about the middle of the eighteenth century, Avhen horse chairs, and after them chaises, were in a very limited way utilized by the wealthier travelers, and were consequently popularly con sidered as evidences of great affluence and as exhibiting the highest degree of luxury. To travel on horseback was by or dinary people considered a very comfortable method, while the majority went on foot, and in that manner covered long distances. An evidence that wheeled vehicles were seldom used previous to 1740 is furnished by the fact that the tables of rates on the early ferries provide only for men and animals. Up to the period of the Revolution there were no good roads in the modern sense in Providence Plantations or on Rhode Island. By that time the main highways had been developed into cart tracks suitable for the passage of stages and wagons, but they were no better than the poorest roads that exist to-day in our mountain regions or in remote country districts. As population increased these roads were slowly improved, but in the latter part of the eighteenth century the main highway already mentioned, which passed through Providence and was then the most traveled way in New England, was in such a condition that a journey from Boston to New York, by the best con veyances then in use, occupied a Aveek. One of the first forward movements in the evolution of land travel and transportation was the establishing of ferries. Originally the paths all led to the easiest and safest places for crossing the streams, thereby making long detours to get around large and deep bodies of water. Under such conditions many of the most direct routes were unavailable, because there were no means of crossing the rivers except at the fords. To overcome this obvious disadvantage many ferries were put in operation at a very early period in the colonial history. In the settlements on Narragansett Bay ferries Avere from the very beginning essential, because the leading colony— Newport— being on an island could only be reached either by a long water voyage or by crossing from the mainland at some point, and then traversing the island to the town. The first ferry was established by the town of 532 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Portsmouth, September 7, 1640, between two and three years after the settlement of Pocasset, and it was operated at the narrowest part of the northern end of the Seaconnet River — where the distance across Avas only about a mile— near the location of the present Stone Bridge, and connected the north end of Rhode Island Avith the mainland. It Avas for a long period known as Howland 's Perry, and continued in use during the colonial period and until the building of Rhode Island bridge, in 1794-5. The General Assembly, in October, 1795, passed an act regulating the tolls on this bridge. The original bridge and its immediate successors- Avere destroyed by storms, aided by the strength of the tidal currents that here prevail, but finally, in 1806, by the construction of a huge stone causeway, wdth a draw bridge in the center for the passage of vessels, a permanent roadway across this strait was secured. Prom the character of its construction this bridge has ever since that time been known as the Stone Bridge, instead of by its legal name of Rhode Island Bridge. The rates of ferriage on this first ferry were determined by vote of the toAvn of Portsmouth at sixpence for a man, threepence each if more than three persons were taken at a trip, and fourpence a head for goats and svrine. It was for a long period the most important ferry in the colony, as it was a link on the main highway connecting Rhode Island Avith Bos ton. Taunton and Plymouth. The General Assembly established horse ferries upon a permanent basis, from the mainland to Conanicut Island, March, 1700, and from NcAvport to Jamestown in May of the same year. These two ferries were operated in conjunction and travelers had to cross the island of Conanicut; and they afforded a regular means of communication between the Narragansett Country and Newport, while they also furnished the people of Rhode Island with the quickest means of reaching the main highway between New York, Providence and Boston. Before this date these ferries had probably been main tained intermittently by private enterprises, as the vote of the As sembly was to put them upon a permanent basis. A new ferry was established between Kingstown and Conanicut in 1707, and a second ferry to run from Easton 's Point to Jamestown was established in 1725. Since that period, except when interrupted during the Revolu tion, these ferries, or at least one of them, have always been in operation. The steam ferry boats Conanicut and Beaver Tail are uoav employed on this route. About 1685 a ferry was started between Bristol and Portsmouth, and, like HoAvland's Perry, it afforded facilities for travel between Travel and Transportation. 533 Newport and the English settlements to the northward. Another ferry Avas estabUshed here by vote of the General Assembly in 1727, so that consequently at that time there were two ferries connecting the northern end of Rhode Island with Bristol Neck. This ferry was a popular route to Newport, and continued in use until the railroads and steamboat Unes afforded easier and better means of travel. Its memory is perpetuated by the name Bristol Perry applied to the old landing on the Portsmouth side of the strait, while the neighborhood on the Bristol side is known as Perry HiU. Bristol Perry landing is still used as a stopping place for the steamers that ply between Pall River and Providence. In June, 1724, the General Assembly voted to authorize a ferry to run from Warvrick Neck to the north end of Prudence Island. Eridentiy this ferry was not maintained, for late in 1742 steps were taken to establish two ncAV ferries, the flrst of Avhich was the same one that had been authorized in 1724, while the other ran from the south end of Prudence to Lawton 's Valley on Rhode Island. These two ferries, connected by a path the length of Prudence Island, made the shortest possible route for the people of Providence Plantations to reach Newport. Probably the ferry across the Seaconnet River to Portsmouth, from Fogland Point, in Tiverton, on the east side of Narragansett Bay, Avas also in operation at this period and it cer tainly was running in 1756. Another "new ferry" between South Kingstown and Jamestown was established in 1747-8 ' ' to accommodate •the increasing travel". In 1747 there were nineteen ferries in the Colony, thirteen of which connected with different parts of Rhode Island. The principal ferries were Howland 's across the Seaconnet River at the north end of the island ; the two from Bristol Neck to Portsmouth ; those running from Warwick Neck to Providence and from that island to Rhode Island ; and the two or three ferries operated between the Kingstown shores and Conanicut Island, with those that ran in conjunction from James town to Newport. These Arith Fogland, or Cook's ferry, as it was hkewise Imown, made five Avell established routes to Newport, then the principal town of the Colony. Of these routes two are still in use, namely, that which utilized Howland 's Ferry, which is now the only avenue of land travel to Rhode Island; and the steam ferries from Kingston to Newport. In 1712 the General Assembly enacted a law regulating the ferries and prescribing the rates, and their administration was placed in the hands of a committee. An act to regulate ferriage was passed in 534 State op Rhode Island and Proa^dence Plantations. 1744 and a special statute relating to ferries was passed in 1747, which took the place of aU the previous laws on the subject. Arnold says that the ferries previous to 1748 had been private property, and that the Colony in that year purchased the two running from Newport to Jamestown, but sold them at public auction in 1750. The Colonial Records however seem to show that the Colony had an ownership in some of the ferries previous to this purchase, as in the case of the horse ferry between Newport and KingstoAvn, established in 1700. The General Assembly certainly always exercised the right to regulate rates and the Colony spent money to repair landings and buy boats. The ferries were leased by the Colony to those who operated them, or as modern phraseology would express it, the ferry "franchises" were leased to private parties; in some cases the Colony owned the equipment, but, as a rule, with the exception noted from 1748 to 1750, they were undoubtedly conducted by private individuals, under leases from the Colony, which also reserved the right to regulate fares and establish conditions. The Assembly, in October, 1761, passed an act establishing the foUoAring rates of ferriage between Newport and JamestOA\'n, and between Jamestown and North and South Kingstown : For every footman 6s ; for every single person who shall put the boat off 12s ; for a man and a horse 12s ; for a draft horse 12s ; for a neat beast 14s ; for a calf 3s ; for every hog 3s ; for every sheep 3s ; for every lamb 2s ; for a horse and chair, or chaise, and the person in it 2s. This act demonstrated that carriages or chaises had at that time come into use. Similar acts were passed in 1752, 1754, 1756 and in other years, and the rates of ferriage were adjusted at different times to conform to the varying value of the circulating medium brought about by the issues of paper money. During the Revolution the ferries were only operated intermittently and some of them were abandoned for a time, but after the British fleet left NcAvport they were again put in operation. The General Assembly, in October, 1779, voted that the State repair the ferries between Newport and South Kingstown, and deliver them to the original owners, who Avere, however, to pay the cost of these repairs from the income of the ferries in the future. The State, also, in 1780, bought a boat on the same conditions for Mrs. Mary Franklin, ovmer of the ferry from the west side of Jamestown to Narragansett.^ 'R. I. Col. Records, vol. 13, p. 603; vol. 9, p. 172; vol. 5, pp. 74, 227, 317, 365, 378, 505, 563. Travel and Transportation. 535 The most important ferry in the neighborhood of Providence was maintained at "Narrow Passage", on the Seekonk River, near the present location of the Red or Central Bridge. Here a point of land projected so far into the stream that crossing was easier than elsewhere. One of the principal Indian paths, the Wampanoag trail, led from Providence Neck eastward, across this passage, and here, early tradi tion says, the Indians maintained a ferry, or at least kept canoes for crossing the river. The white men evidently did not at first utilize the old Indian ferry, for "Roger Williams in coming from Boston to Providence, in 1643, with the first charter, instead of cross ing at Narrow Passage, Avent to Seekonk Cove and thence by water around Providence Neck, to the landing on the main street of the new settlement of Providence". It is probable, however, that the old ferry was utilized by the whites in the same Avay as it had been by the Indians, as it was on the line of the most important path leading to the eastern settlements at Taunton and Plymouth. Travel along this route must have continued to increase, for soon after King Philip 's War a permanent ferry was established at Narrow Passage by Capt. Andrew Edmonds, who, on March 3, 1678-9, was by vote of the town of Providence granted a homestead of four acres along the river at this point in recognition of his services during the war, the understanding being as expressed in the town records that "he there intended the keeping of a ferry". The town increased the land grant in 1687 to a total of nine acres. This ferry from the time it was estabUshed by Capt. Edmonds was on the main road between Boston and New York, as the route through PaAvtucket was thereby in a measure superseded, and did not come into use again prominentiy until the building of the bridge at Paw tucket Palls after 1713. Madame Sa^^ah Knight, who made a journey from Boston to New Haven in 1704, traveled on horseback and took from 3 o'clock of October 2, until two hours before sunset of October 3, to reach Edmonds's Ferry. She did not arrive in New Haven until the foUowing Saturday at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, being five days on the journey. Her experience shows that the roads and the facili ties for travel then exisiting were primitive in the extreme. At this period the ferry boats were probably scows capable of transporting horses and cattle. Unlike the other important ferries in the Colony, all of which connected Rhode Island with the mainland, the franchise of this ferry seems to have been considered as appertaining to Edmonds's estate. In another respect it differed from the other ferries in that its eastern 536 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. side was originally in the Plymouth Colony, and afterwards in Mas sachusetts Bay, so that finally it was operated by a ferryman from each side. Captain Edmonds operated the ferry until his death in 1695, then his wife conducted it until her death the same year, when it passed into the hands of their son Andrew, then in his fourteenth year. He conducted it for ten years, when he leased the estate and ferry, October 11, 1707, to John Mason, and two years later sold the estate and ferry to Thomas Olney for £120. John Mason continued to operate the ferry until his death in 1716, when his brothers, Noai and Timothy, assumed the lease, and on February 15, 1716-17, they bought the estate and ferry from Thomas Olney for £150. Noah and Timothy Mason conducted the ferry until 1731, when Noah sold out his interest and Timothy operated it alone until his death in 1742, when he was succeeded by his son Timothy. The ferry continued in the possession of the Mason family and was knovra by their name until 1770, when it was sold to Nathan Daggett. The eastern or Rehoboth side of the ferry had been in the possession of Noah Mason in 1744, but in 1770 it had through a succession of owners come into the possession of Lemuel Wyatt. The two ferry men operated the ferry in company, one taking the receipts for one week and the other for the next week, and so on alternately, and this unique arrangement seems to have worked satisfactorily. The following description of this ferry and its landing as it existed at this period gives an excellent idea of its appearance and character, and no doubt other ferries similarly situated were much like this one : "The Avharves on the east and west sides of the river were some 600 feet apart and each built with a sloping surface, the highest part nearest the shore, such that a boat could lie along the side vrith its deck level with some part of its surface at any stage of the tide. A square ended deck scow, some thirty feet long and ten feet wide, pUed back and forth between these wharves by means of a rope stretched across from one to the other, and secured at both ends. This rope passed through a ring attached to the deck at one end of the scow, then along its deck, and through another ring attached to the further cor ner. By taking the rope betAveen these rings in hand and pulUng on it the scow Avas forced through the water. Whenever a vessel had occasion to pass up or down the river across the path of the ferry, the scoAv Avas secured to the shore and the rope 'slacked away' till it sank low enough to allow the vessel to pass over, after which passage the rope was hauled taut, made fast and the use of the ferry resumed." The rates of Mason's ferry Avere established by the General Assembly in 1743 at ' ' six pence for a horse and his load ; three pence for every Travel and Transportation. 537 foot person, and for every horse and chaise or chair, two shillings". In 1747 the rates were increased because of the depreciation of the currency; for every person four pence, and for all neat cattle eight pence each, and for all sheep, calves and swine two pence, and for every horse and chaise or chair two shillings and six pence. A bridge across the river at this point Avas proposed in 1773. With the growth of the population in Providence Plantations travel in creased and the ferry did not afford the facilities that were fast becoming necessary. The Revolution, however, prevented the carry ing out of this plan, and the ferry continued to be operated from the Providence side by William Daggett until the opening of the Central Bridge at this location, September 3, 1793. The ferry privilege and estate were bought from William Daggett by the bridge corporation, August 8, 1793, for $1,020.^ A mile below Mason's ferry there was another narrow place in the Seekonk River, just before it entered Proridence Harbor. Here the Indians had in pre-colonial times been in the habit of crossing the stream by canoes, as this passage Avas on the line of the Watchemoket on Montaup trail. Boats were undoubtedly kept here by the settlers for the purpose of crossing the river from the beginning of the Colony, but a regular ferry was not maintained until after 1740. Josiah FuUer and Elisha TilUnghast petitioned the General Assembly in 1739, for the right to establish a ferry here; but it was not started immediately. As it became known as Puller 's Perry, it was undoubt edly established by Josiah Puller whose name appears in the petition of 1739. The same rates were paid on this ferry as on Mason's, and its boats, landings and methods were Arithout doubt similar. The Washington Bridge, which Avas opened for travel April 12, 1793, sup planted Puller's Perry. Both the Red and Washington bridges were toU bridges, and charges were made for crossing similar to the rates on the ferries. These bridges Avere erected by private corporations, and the returns on the investments were obtained from the tolls. From the beginning of the Colony until the buUding of the bridge at Pawtucket FaUs, in 1715, the path leading to the ferry at Narrow Passage was on the main road into Providence from the east. During the entire colonial period the two ferries on the Seekonk and the ford and afterward the bridge at Pawtucket Palls were the only pubUc entrances or ways into the settlement of Providence, and the roads 'The account of this ferry is derived from an article entitled "History of a Ferry", by Welcome Arnold Greene, in Narragansett Historical Register, vol. 8, pp. 274-301. \ PAWTUCKET BRIDGE AND FALLS IN 1840. From an old Painting. Travel and Transportation. 539 leading to them were the only highways. These roads were, as we have seen, developed from the Indian trails, first into bridle paths over which a horse could travel, and by the middle of the eighteenth century into cart tracks passable for chaises, wagons and stage coaches. Thus by slow degrees the Pawtucket path, the Watchemoket or Montaup trail and the Wampanoag trail, became the roads of the white men, over which travel passed from Providence to Boston, Taunton and Plymouth and the minor English settlements, while the highways de veloped from the Pequot trail led westward. At the same time New port AA'as reached by similar roads which converged at the five ferries at Bristol, Tiverton, Fogland Point, KingstoAvn and Warwick Neck, the history of which has been recounted in the preceding pages. After the establishing of ferries, the next step in the improvement of the facilities for travel was the building of bridges. The General Assembly, on May 2, 1711, appropriated £200 for the building of bridges at Pawtucket, Weybosset and Pawtuxet. The citizens of Providence built a bridge at Weybosset in 1710-11, and no doubt obtained part of this appropriation. From the settlement of Prori dence until this time the only way of crossing the Providence River was by a ford. In 1711 the first bridge at Pawtuxet Palls is also said to have been built. The bridge at Pawtucket Falls was probably not built until 1713, and through the efforts of Major Joseph Jenks the Colony of Massachusetts shared the expense of construction with Rhode Island.^ Previous to this time the river at PaAvtucket was crossed either at wading places above or beloAV the falls, or, Avhen the state of the water permitted, on the rocks of the faUs themselves. The same conditions prevailed at the Pawtuxet FaUs, eight miles away and four miles on the other side of Providence. In the winter and spring, "because of the rising of the water and great quantities of ice coming down tho rivers ' ', such methods of crossing were difficult and hazardous.^ These disadvantages, and the fact that intercourse between the settlements Avas constantly increasing, prompted the construction of these bridges, in order to make "travelling more easy and safe". They were all on the main traveled way from Massachusetts through Providence to the Narragansett country, Connecticut and New York, and Avere potent factors in bringing about the development of this path into a highway over which wheeled vehicles could travel. The Pawtucket bridge was maintained at the joint expense of the 'R. I. Colonial Records, vol. 4, pp. 118-9; 135-6. "Mass. Col. Rec, vol. 9, pp. 273-4. 540 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. two Colonies until about 1728, when Massachusetts neglected to appro priate money for its repair. By 1730 it had become so unsafe that it was pulled down, but was rebuilt in 1731. It was partly carried away by a flood in 1738. From the time of the settlement of the boundary dispute with Massachusetts in 1746 that Colony would not contribute to maintain the bridge, but it Avas kept in repair by voluntary con tributions and by grants from the Rhode Island Colony. May, 1772, the General Assembly appropriated £90 to rebuild the bridge, prorided Massachusetts would build one of the abutments. The care of the bridge hereafter devolved almost wholly on the Rhode Island people. Sometimes the General Assembly voted money for repairs; at other times the town of North Providence footed the bills ; and occasionaUy part of the cost was paid by the voluntary subscriptions of the in habitants on both sides of the river. Finally, in 1840, the State of Rhode Island assumed the responsibility and from that time forward maintained the bridge. The history of the Pawtucket bridge Avas typical, as the other important bridges passed through like experiences. The importance of the bridges and of the main highways was early recognized in the history of the Colony. In 1729 the General Assembly voted that one- half of the duty of £3 a head on all slaves imported into the Colony be appropriated to repairing bridges on the mainland. During the colonial period the chief bridges, especially those connecting two towns, were built and maintained at the colony's expense, and the same was true of the main highways. The General Assembly, in 1713, ordered that ' ' the great highway from Pawtucket to Pawcatuck should be repaired, and a new one opened from Providence to Plainfield, through Warwick and West Greenwich". This "great highway" be tween the two places mentioned extended through the whole territory of the mainland of the Colony, and was the old road to which many references have already been made. The towns laid out and main tained their own local roads and built their own bridges, and the regulations in regard to the laying out and maintenance of high ways were enacted into a general law as early as 1725. Similar legislation was enacted at various times until the Revolution. By tho highway act of 1771 the inhabitants in the towns were required to work four days annually upon the roads. During the War of the Revolution the highways in all the States were improved to a greater extent than ever before, as a matter of military necessity, because traffic by sea was largely prevented through the presence of the British fleet on the coast. With the coming of Travel and Transportation. 541 peace the energy of the people found vent in new industries, and soon manufactures sprang up. Cotton spinning was the pioneer industry, and as it was first successfully started in Rhode Island at Pawtucket in 1790 by Samuel Slater, it had a marked effect on the community. In no particular Avas this more noticeable than in the improvement in the roads. When mills were started on the various streams throughout the State, their owners soon found that the existing roads were inade quate to the requirement of their industry, and rendered very difficult the transportation of the raAV material and the finished product. Consequently through the influence of the early manufacturers a movement to improve the roads set in about the beginning of the nineteenth century and resulted in the construction of a system of highAvays that ultimately traversed the State. As these roads were designed to aid manufacturing and general travel, and were not specifically of benefit to the rural population — at least that was the common view — the citizens along their lines did not feel called upon to build and maintain them. In order to meet these conditions the men engaged in manufacturing organized companies which built and maintained the roads. Frequently an old road was taken, rebuilt and improved, but not until a franchise had been obtained from the Legis lature. The owners of the road, in order to recoup themselves, col lected fees or charges, commonly known as toll, from carriages and wagons, so that travel and tratfic had to pay, but pedestrians were usually alloAved to pass freely. On toll bridges foot passengers had to pay as they did on the ferries. The first turnpike, as these toll roads were called, established in the State of Rhode Island, was the Providence and Norwich, which was in existence before 1798, under a charter granted by the General Assembly. A charter was granted in 1798 for a road from Chepachet to Gloeester, and the Gloeester Turnpike Society was incorporated in 1800. The Providence and Boston Turnpike Company was incor porated in October, 1800, and it was empowered to build a road from Jeremiah Sayles 's, in North Providence, through the towns of North Providence, Smithfield, Cumberland, Attleboro and Wrentham towards Boston.^ The Rhode Island and Connecticut Turnpike Com pany was incorporated in 1803, and it established a turnpike "from or near the west line of the town of Providence, through Johnston, Scituate and Foster". The same year the Greenwich Turnpike road was incorporated ; it ran from East Greenwich through West Green wich and Coventry to the Connecticut Une. The Smithfield Turnpike 'R. I. Acts and Resolves, 1798, 1800. 542 State of Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. Company, incorporated in 1805, built a road to Douglas, Mass. The Loisquissett Turnpike Company was also incorporated in 1805. . The Providence and Pawtucket Turnpike Company was chartered in 1807 ; the Powder MiU road in 1810 ; the Coventry and Cranston in 1813 ; the Foster and Scituate in 1814; the Providence and Pawcatuck in 1816 ; the Wickford and Pawcatuck in 1823 ; the Smithfield in 1823 ; the Pawtuxet Turnpike Company in 1825. The last turnpike charter was granted in 1842 to the Peacedale Turnpike Company. The principal turnpikes existing in Rhode Island in 1831, at which time the system was in the height of its development, were the Bast Social Street, Woonsocket. One of the ancient highways forming a portion of the old Boston road. Turnpike; the Pawtucket; the Mineral Spring; the Douglas; the Loisquissett; the NorAvich; the Pawcatuck; the Rhode Island and Connecticut ; the Central ; the Smithfield ; the Chepachet ; the Slaters, and the Powder Mill. The Providence and Boston Turnpike had the largest traffic of any of the roads, as it was a part of the old main highAvay. The rates on this road as established when the charter was granted in 1800 were as follows: "A wagon, cart, or ox sled not exceeding four cattle, i2i/^c ; a team of more than four cattle, 15c ; a sleigh with more than Traa^l and Transportation. 543 one horse, 121^0 ; a one horse sleigh, 614c ; a coach, chariot or phaeton, 40c; a chaise chair or sulky, 21/2C; a horse and horse cart, 614c; a person and horse, 6i/4c; draft horse, and neat cattle in droves, per head, 2c ; swine in droves for every fifteen, 10c ; for less number than 15, each, Ic ; sheep and store shoat, each, 1/2C ; mail stage, 614c. And foot passengers shall not be liable to any toll, nor shall persons passing in said turnpike road for the purpose of attending public worship or funerals; nor persons living wdthin four miles of the place of the turnpike, passing on said turnpike road for the purpose of attending town meetings or other town business, or going to or from mills, or for the purpose of husbandry. ' ' An illustration of the important influence the cotton manufacture exerted on road building is afforded by the work in this direction performed by the Wilkinson family of Pawtucket, who may justly be said to have been leaders in this great industry for forty years after it was established. About 1804 Oziel Wilkinson built thirteen miles of a turnpike leading from Pawtucket towards Boston, which took the place of the old road previously used, and he made all the shovels and picks used in this work in his own shop in Pawtucket. This improved road afforded facilities for the stages that at that time and in the next few years brought passengers to Proridence on their way to New York, either by packet or steamboat. The Valley Palls Turnpike was built by Isaac Wilkinson, the son of Oziel, about 1812. The Wilkin sons also aided in improving many of the other highways in the ricinity, and the other pioneer manufacturers in Pawtucket were likewise interested in road building as members of the turnpike cor poration, if not as actual road builders. One of the most important of the turnpikes was the Ncav London road, built and operated by the Providence and Pawcatuck Turnpike Company, which was chartered in 1816. The road was to be three rods wide, and extended from Providence southwesterly to West Greenwich, then southwesterly to Pawcatuck bridge in Westerly. The company was empowered to maintain six toll gates, and by various amendments to its charter was given permission to absorb portions of existing highways. This turnpike was not completed until 1820, when it became a great stage route over vA'hich the coaches from Boston passed on their way to connect at New London with steamers for New York.i This road was an attempt to secure a shorter route than that afforded by the old highway developed from the Pequot trail, but it 'R. I. Acts and Resolves, 1816 and 1820; Staples's Annals of Providence, p. 610. 544 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. was not a permanent success because it failed to follow the easy grades and conform to the natural principles of road evolution. .Although used for stage travel for a time, it never became a popular through highway. The Providence and Pawtucket Turnpike, incorporated in 1807, became, in 1833, the property of the State of Rhode Island, which from that time continued to collect toll on this highway until 1869, when it was surrendered to the city of Proridence and the town of North Providence, and became a free road. Thomas Burgess was State agent for this turnpike from 1833 to 1850. The income from October 24, 1835, to October 25, 1836, was $4,044.02, and the expense of maintenance during the same period was $878.33 ; but after the railroads were well established the revenue from the turnpike de creased greatly. The original charter of the Boston and Providence Railroad Company gave that corporation the right to acquire this turnpike, but the railroad people declined finally to avail themselves of this pririlege. The first mention of stage coaches in Rhode Island was in 1736, when Alexander Thorp and Isaac Cushno petitioned the General Assembly for permission to run a stage to Massachusetts. They were granted the right to do so for seven years. Judge Staples says that "this stage, if it ever run, went from Newport to Boston", but if it did, how did it get across Howland 's Perry? Thomas Sabin ad vertised in July, 1767, that he would run stage coaches between Proridence and Boston, and that one would "start every Tuesday morning from the house of Richard Olney, innholder, to carry travel lers to Boston on the most expeditious and cheap rate". The return trip was made from Boston on Thursday. Previous to this time stage coaches had been run between Providence and Boston, but at irregular intervals, and only when a load of passengers had been promised. "In those times it is said that the owner of a stage coach occasionally gave notice a week or ten days beforehand, that on a given day he would start for Boston if sufficient encouragement offered, taking care to give notice so that his passengers could settle aU their worldly affairs and make their wills before commencing such an arduous and dangerous journey". Col. William BroAvn, who owned a "curricle", draAvn by two horses, at this period carried people to Boston from Providence, and about three days were taken on the round trip. Travel increased after the Revolution so that two stages a week ran between Boston and Providence, and before the end of the century Travel and Transportation. 545 they were running in connection with the packets that plied between Providence and New York.^ The development of industry and the consequent improvement of the roads by the turnpike system after the beginning of the eighteenth century brought stage coaches much more largely into use than form erly. The larger part of the travel between New York and Boston passed through Providence. A great impetus was given to this travel by the improvement of the Providence packets, as these vessels carried passengers so much more comfortably than any other existing con veyances. The stage coach business Avas finally highly organized in order to accommodate the traffic. Many wayside inns were established for the entertainment of travelers and for the purpose of proriding the relays of horses requisite to secure the speed that had become necessary. When the sailing packets Avere succeeded by the steamers, after 1820, the business of the stages was largely increased. "During a part of the summer of 1829 there Avere 328 stage coaches a week to and from Providence, not counting the local stages running to points within a dozen miles of the city".^ The turnpikes Avere then in ex cellent condition, and on the journey from Boston horses Avere changed four or five times. Very exciting races often occurred between coaches of opposing lines when they happened to come together on the road. The arrival of a number in Providence at once, as Avas usual, to connect with the New York boats, was a daily event of great interest. It could not be otherAvise, Avlien ten or twelve large coaches, each drawn by four horses, all filled with passengers and their tops loaded with freight, came lurching and SAvaying down the street at a furious pace. The railroads in a few years after their advent drove the long distance stages off the main highAvays, and utterly killed the patronage of the wayside inns; but for two decades thereafter, stages, then known as omnibuses, were very generally used for local transporta tion, and continued to perform that service in centers of population until the beginning of the street car era in the '60 's. Since that time they have only been in use in remote localities, and have now almost wholly disappeared. The general introduction of railroads after 1835 ultimately did aviaj with the necessity for turnpikes maintained by private com panies. They continued, however, in existence as toll roads for many 'Staples's Annals of Providence, pp. 605, 608, 610. 'DoAy's History of Steam Navigation between New York and Providence, p. 10. 35 546 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. years thereafter. The General Assembly passed an act, March 23, 1864, authorizing turnpike and toll bridge corporations to sell their franchises to the toAvns in which their property was situated upon such terms as might be agreed upon. A joint special committee on toll bridges and turnpikes made a report to the May session of the General Assembly in 1870, which showed that there were then in existence three toll bridges, namely • The Stone Bridge between Tiver ton and Rhode Island, and the two bridges at Warren, one over the Warren and one over the Barrington River. At the same time there were six turnpike roads, namely: Gloeester to Chepachet, eight miles ; Chepachet to Connecticut line ; Rhode Island and Connecticut turnpike, from Olneyville through Johnston, Scituate and Poster to Connecticut line, eighteen miles; Loisquissett turnpike; Powder Mill Road, Providence to Greenerille, seven miles; Parnum road from Centredale to Mowry 's tavern in Smithfield, five miles. These roads and bridges, the committee reported, could be purchased at nominal figures. The Rhode Island and Connecticut turnpike was purchased by the State in 1872 for $1,500, and the other roads all soon after ceased to be private property. The railroad era began in Rhode Island Arith the building of the Boston and Providence Railroad, over which the first locomotive ran from Boston to Providence in June, 1835. This road entered Prori dence by a bridge over the Seekonk River, near the old location of Puller's ferry, and just below the Washington toll bridge, and its terminus and station were on the wharves at India Point. By this arrangement the railroad made close connection with the New York steamers, and in a short time it consequently totaUy displaced the stage coach traffic from Boston. The New York, Providence and Boston Railroad Company, char tered by the Rhode Island Legislature in 1832, built a line from Providence to Stonington, Conn., which was opened for travel Novem ber, 1837. The road ran along the west side of Providence harbor, and its passenger station was directly across the entrance of Provi dence River from Pox Point ; soon after this road was opened a steam ferry boat was put on to connect with the Boston and Providence Railroad, and by this means a through route was established between Boston and Stonington, where connection Avas made with the steamers running from that port to New York. The next railroad to enter Rhode Island territory Avas the Providence and Worcester, which was opened for travel in October, OLD UNION RAILROAD STATION, PROVIDENCE. 548 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 1847. Tins road entered Providence near the center of population, on the south side of the cove. The other tAvo railroads, recognizing the value of this location, united Avith the Providence and Worcester in building a union station to be used conjointly and into which all the roads entered. This station was completed in 1848. The Boston and Providence Railroad, in order to avail itself of this station, was obliged to build a road from East Junction to Central Falls, a distance of about five miles, Avhere a connection was made Arith the tracks of the Providence and Worcester. This was of great benefit to Paw tucket, as it brought that place into direct connection with Boston, whereas the original line of the Boston and Providence had passed some miles to the eastward. The New York, Providence and Boston Railroad also built an extension to secure entrance to the Union station, and this ncAv track led from the present location of Roger Williams park through Cranston and Olneyville in a semi-circle into the center of Providence. The freight stations of the three roads were grouped in the immediate vicinity of the passenger station. These improvements, Avhen completed in 1848, may be said to have furnished the "mainland" of the State of Rhode Island with first class railroad facilities, and to have inaugurated the modern system of travel and transportation. A railroad from Providence to Hartford, Avhich had been in process of construction for several years, was opened in 1854. It was known as the Providence, Hartford and Pishkill Railroad until 1873, when it became part of the New York and New England Railroad. This road also entered the Union Station, but had no ownership in the structure. The Proridence, Warren and Bristol Railroad was opened for travel July, 1855, and at first its trains were hauled by horses from its tracks in East Providence through the streets of the city to the Union station. Two years after the opening of the road a passenger station Avas erected at Pox Point. In 1860 a connecting line, known as the Pall River, Warren and Providence, was built from Warren to op posite Pall River, to which a steam ferry conveyed passengers across the harbor of that city. An all rail connection was secured to Fall River in 1875 by the erection of a bridge at Slade's Perry across the Taunton River. The Old Colony Railroad Corporation, which had been in existence for a score of years, and owned lines in southern Massachusetts, opened the railroad froin Fall River to Newport in February, 1864. This road crossed the Seaconnet River on a bridge similar in character to the Stone Bridge, and Avas about a mile north of the latter structure. It likcAvise had a drawbridge in the center of Travel and Transportation. 649 the causeway for the passage of vessels. For the first time, by means of this railroad. Providence and Newport w^ere connected by rail, but the steam ferry transfer existed at Pall River until the opening of the Slade Perry Bridge in 1875. The four railroads first established and now forming the lines to Boston, Worcester, Hartford and New York, are still the leading roads, and all the other railroads in the state are branch lines Avhich have been built to form connections or to reach points off the main lines of travel. Prom this generalization the road through Warren and Pall River to Newport should perhaps be excluded, as it is independent in a measure of the general railroad system of the state, and is a local route nearly all Avithin the territory of the state. The road from Boston forms with the one to New York a great trunk line,— the only one traversing the state, — as the line from Worcester is now simplj' a connecting or local road. This great railroad, strange as the asser tion may appear, parallels substantially the old Indian trail leading from Providence to the southern extremity of the state. The railroad to Pascoag, 23 miles in length, which crosses the state from Providence in a northwest direction, was originally projected as a through line to Springfield, Mass., with the idea of thereby obtain ing a western outlet from Providence independent of existing lines. On this account the road Avas named the Providence and Springfield, and was opened for travel in 1873. In 1893 it Avas extended from Providence to a connection with the New England at East Thompson, Conn. The Woonsocket and Pascoag Railroad Avas built in 1892, and connected with the Providence and Springfield at Harrisville, and with the New England system at Woonsocket, thereby forming a con tinuous line from Pascoag to Boston. The Rhode Island and Massachusetts Railroad Company constructed a line seven miles long from Franklin, Mass., to Valley Palls, R. I., which formed a connecting line between the Providence & Worcester Railroad and the New York & New England system. It was opened for travel in 1872, Avas leased to the Ncaa' York & New England in 1877, and thereafter in conjunction with the Providence & Worcester Railroad from Providence to Valley Palls and the main line of the New York & New England from Franklin to Boston, formed a through line from Providence to Boston, which is still in use. The most important branch road in the state is the Pawtuxet Valley. It reaches the factory villages in the PaAvtuxet Valley for a distance of fifteen miles from Providence. The company was incorporated in 1872. The railroad to Hartford passes through a portion of the Paw- THE PROVIDENCE COVE IN 1818. From an old Painting by Alvan Fisher, in the Possession op the Rhode Island Historical Society. Travel and Transportation. 551 tuxet Valley, and the PaAvtuxet Valley branch was originally a short line three miles long from the station at River Point on this line to the village of Hope on the north branch of the Pawtuxet river. In a short time, however, this branch road was united with a road con necting at Auburn Avith the main line of the Ncav York, Providence & Boston, and running from thence through Pontiac and Natick to River Point, and the connection at that station with the Ncav York & Ncav England Avas thereafter discontinued. The Warwick & Oakland Beach Railroad, built in 1874, and running from a half a mile to a mile from the shores of Narragansett bay, from below Pawtuxet to Warwick Neck, and terminating at Oakland Beach, was not at first a success, and was discontinued after running two summers. In 1880 it was reopened by the New York, Providence & Boston iRailroad Company, extended to Buttonvi'oods Beach, and has since that time been operated continuously. By means of this road an impetus was given toward the erection of residences on eligible sites along the adjacent shores, and as a consequence the region has been developed to a considerable extent and now contains many sum mer and permanent homes, scattered in various groups. The road has been operated by electricity since early in 1900, and is now under the control of the Rhode Island Suburban Railway Company. The Newport and Wickford Railroad arid Steamboat Company, organized in 1870, operates a railroad about three and a half miles long, from Wickford Junction on the main line of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, to Wickford Landing, where connection is made with a steamer that plies between that landing and Newport. By these means a through line of travel is maintained with Newport in either direction, and this route fulfills the same function as the ferries did in the colonial and antfe-railroad and steamboat days. The Narragansett Pier Railroad Company, organized in 1875, oper ates a railroad eight and a half miles long from Kingston, on the Shore Line Division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, to Narragansett Pier. The Wood River Branch Railroad, organized in 1872, runs from Wood River Junction on the Shore Line Division, to Hope Valley, a distance of nearly six miles. The Moshassuck VaUey Railroad tAVO miles in length runs from Woodlawn, Pawtucket, to SaylesviUe, and has been in operation since 1877. It was built by W. S". (| P. C. Sayles to reach their extensive bleacheries. The Providence & Worcester Railroad constructed a branch road from Valley Falls to tide water at East Providence in 1874, and this line is largely used for coal transportation. A VIEW OF EXCHANGE PLACE AND THE COVE BEFORE THE RAILROAD IMPROVEMENTS. Travel and Transportation. 553 All the principal railroads in the state have been operated since 1893 by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Corporation. Previous to that date, however, a number of important consolidations had occurred, Avhich paved the way for the final combination. The first step in this direction was the lease of the Providence and Worces ter to the Boston & Providence. The latter road, April 1, 1888, was leased to the Old Colony, and it in turn with all its associated lines, was on March 1, 1893, leased to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, which at the same time came into possession of the New York, Providence & Boston Railroad. The Providence, Warren & Bristol had been leased to the Old Colony in 1891. The Providence & Springfield Railroad was leased to the Ncav York & New England, Oct. 1, 1890. The New York & New England Railroad was reorganized as the New England Railroad in 1895, at which time its leased roads were the Rhode Island & Massachusetts, the Providence & Springfield and the Woonsocket & Pascoag. The New England is now operated by the New York, New Haven & Hartford. The total length of roads operated in Rhode Island by. the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Corporation is 189.69 miles, and includes the Boston & Providence, the Providence & Worcester, the New York, Providence & Boston, the Providence & Springfield, the Providence, Warren & Bristol, the Old Colony, the New England line to Hartford, the Pawtuxet Valley, the Rhode Island & Massachusetts, and the Woonsocket & Pascoag. The only steam roads operated independently by their own stockholders are the Narragansett Pier, the Wood River Branch, the Newport & Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company 's line and the Moshassuck VaUey, and their combined length is about twenty miles. The total steam railroad mileage in the state in 1900 was 209.29,^ which does not include the former Warwick & Oakland Beach road. The consolidation of all the railroads under one management aided materially in settling the questions involved in the negotiations for improved railroad terminal facilities at Providence. As far back as the early seventies it became apparent that better railroad facilities were needed. Various plans were proposed, and for years a discussion was carried on in regard to the matter. In December, 1888, a plan formulated by a commission of three engineers was adopted by the City Council. Although this plan did not prove acceptable to the railroads, its presentation paved the way for negotiations which event ually resulted in a beginning of the solution of the problem. This 'Railroad Commissioner's Report for 1900, p. 71 appendix. 554 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. plan provided for the location of the proposed new passenger station on the north side of the cove. As a substitute, in June, 1889, the Old Colony, the New York, Providence & Boston, and the Providence & Springfield Railroad Corporations proposed a plan locating the station in the center of the cove and providing for overhead tracks Avith wide streets underneath. This substitute was accepted and an agreement Avas entered into between the city and the railroads early in November, 1889, to the effect that certain land belonging to the city was to be exchanged for land belonging to the railroads, and the railroads agreed to build the new station and its approaches, and aU bridges over existing highways at their OAvn expense, AA'hile the city of Provi dence was to build the new highways and the bridges in connection with them. The first important work necessary to carry out this agreement was the filling of the cove basin, on AvUieh undertaking Avork was begun in 1888, and the extensive area was filled by the fall of 1892. The rail roads began work on their approaches in 1889 by widening the road beds and building retaining walls to hold back the steep sand hills. The building of the station was begun in 1896, and it Avas completed and occupied late in 1898. At the same time the freight facilities were greatly improved. The effect of all these changes was to put Prori dence, which was now the heart of the state industrially and commer cially, in a condition to handle its transportation in the best possible manner, as the facilities were now adequate and sufficient to proride for a large future increase in business and population. The first street railway in Rhode Island was the Une from Provi dence to Pawtucket and Central Falls, which Avas opened for travel in May, 1864. The Union Railroad Company, which was a consolida tion of the interests of a number of companies that had obtained char ters to build horse railroad lines, obtained a charter from the General Assembly in January, 1865, in which all the existing charters were merged except that of the Providence, Pawtucket and Central Palls Company. WilUam and Amasa Sprague were the principal promoters of the Union Company ; they owned a controlling interest, and Amasa Sprague Avas the first president, while William Sprague was a director. The first line that the Union Railroad Company put into operation was to Olneyville, at the west end of the city, Avhich Avas reached through Westminster, Weybosset and High Streets, and this route was opened for travel Feb. 22, 1865. By the faU of that year cars were running on Broadway, and to Elmwood, South Proridence and Travel and Transportation. 555 Cranston, and the equipment consisted of 35 cars and 250 horses. By the end of the first fiscal year 2,369,261 passengers had been carried over the lines. ' ' In 1870 authority was obtained to lay rails on Broad Street betAveen Thurber 's Avenue and the village of Pawtuxet, and on Friendship, Beacon and Eddy Streets and Thurber 's Avenue ; in 1871 on Richmond and Smith Streets and Prairie Avenue ; in 1873 on Elmwood Avenue to Roger Williams Park and on Public and Franklin Streets ; in 1875 on Mill, Charles, Orms and Smith Streets ; on Federal and Bradford Streets and Atwell's and Academy Avenues; in 1876 on South Main, Wickenden, Brook, Meeting, Thayer, Hope, Governor, Waterman, AngeU and Wayland Streets ; in 1880 on Olney and Camp Streets, Branch and Douglas Avenues; in 1883 on Tockwotton ajid India Streets into the town of East Providence, and in 1884 on Manton Avenue, Hospital and Bassett Streets. Prom that time up to 1893, when the general transformation to an electric system was well under way, but few extensions made".^ The Union Railroad Company purchased in 1872 the Providence, PaAvtucket and Central Palls road, and thereby became the owner of all the street car lines then existing in the state. The Pawtucket Street Railway Company was organized in 1885, and very soon had its lines in operation in the streets of that municipality. The horse car lines, on account of the steepness of the hills on the east side at Providence were laid out in a circuitous course, going around the hill instead of over them. This increased the distance two or three times, but thereby the residents along the lines were also accommodated. The long time required, however, to reach the important and populous section on and immediately beyond the hills opposite the centre of the city, caused a vrish to spring up that some method of transit might be devised. A tunnel at one time was talked of but on account of the expense and the many disadvantages a pro ject to build it came to nothing. Por some years the building of a cable road was agitated, and finally the Providence Cable Tramway Company Avas formed for the purpose of constructing it. The road was built in 1889, began operations early in 1890, and extended from Market Square up College Hill, along Prospect, then through AngeU, South AngeU and East River Streets, and back through Waterman Street to the point of departure. The Cable Company ran its cars by horse-power over the tracks of the Union Railroad Company from Market Square to OlneyviUe, on the High Street route. The car 'Street Railway Lines of Rhode Island ; by Henry V. A. Joslin, secretary of the Union Railroad Company, in The New England States, vol. 4, p. 3530. 556 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. house and power station for driving the cable was located on South AngeU near the Red Bridge on the Seekonk river. In 1891 the Union Railroad Company purchased the stock of the Tramway Company, and thereby became once more the owner of all the street railroads in Providence. Electricity was first applied to the propulsion of street cars in Providence, on Jan. 20, 1892, when the Broad Street Une to the viUage of Pawtuxet was put in operation, twelve twenty-five feet body cars forming the equipment. This was an experimental line, but it proved so successful that the Company determined to equip its entire system Avith electricity. In order, so it is claimed, to secure the large amount of capital necessary to introduce electric traction, the Union Railroad Company "obtained from the General Assembly authority to make contracts Avith cities and towns for franchises for a term of years, not exceeding twenty-five, and also the right to issue its bonds, secured bj'^ a first mortgage upon its property, rights, priAdleges and franchises, to an amount not exceeding $3,000,000". Under this authority con tracts were made with the city of Providence and Arith neighboring towns. Before, however, the work of equipping the lines with elec tricity Avas begun, a syndicate of capitalists had purchased the major ity of the stock of the Union Railroad Company at $250.00 per share and of the Pawtucket Company at $125.00 per share. This syndicate on March 1, 1893, organized as the United Traction and Electric Com pany, chartered under the laAvs of New Jersey, and is noAv the owner of all the stock of the Union Railroad, the Pawtucket Street Railway, and the Providence Cable Tramway Co., but the Union and the Paw tucket railroads are still operated under their own charters while the Union Railroad also operates the Cable Tramway Company's Une. As soon as this organization was perfected the work of equipping the lines Avith electricity was pushed vigorously, and electric traction was in general operation on aU lines in the city of Providence early in 1894. The last horse car was ArithdraAvn from the streets of Providence April 24, 1894, and in Pavducket a few months later. The cable road was also successfully operated by electricity, with the exception that on College Street, where there is a grade of 16 per cent., a counterweight is used to balance the car so as to enable it to over come the grade. Every section of the city of Providence, and all the suburban places are now reached by the electric street lines of the Union Railroad Company. Because of the topography of the city and its surroundings all the Unes radiate from the centre of the city, like the spokes of a Travel and Transportation. 557 wheel. On this account the problem of getting "across toAvn" is a serious one, and yet remains to be solved by the street railroad com pany either by the building of a belt line, or by inaugurating a system of transfers, or possibly by a combination of both these methods. The first electric railway to be put in permanent operation in the state was at Newport in 1889 by the Newport Street Railway Com pany, which since that time has continued to operate a little over four miles of street railroad by electric traction. The Woonsocket Street Railway Company, organized in 1886, experimented with an electric motor on its cars in 1888, but it is said did not adopt electricity as a motive power until after the NcAvport road was in operation. The Woonsocket road now has about seventeen miles of track in the state. The Pawcatuck Valley Street Railway Company was organized in 1893, and operates by electricity a line seven miles long from Westerly to Watch Hill. The PaAvtuxet Valley Electric Street Railway Company was organ ized in 1893, but the United Traction Company secured control, and the road was built under its direction. This road Avas opened July 21, 1894, has about twelve miles of track and runs through all the Paw tuxet Valley villages from Hope to Clyde and thence to Washington and Crompton. The Interstate Street Railway Company constructed an electric line from Pawtucket to North Attleboro in 1892, which was the first sub urban electric road of any considerable length that was put in opera tion in Rhode Island. Another line was soon after built to East Attle boro by this company. For some time the Interstate Company was in financial difficulties. Its Unes were finally purchased by a syndicate composed of capitalists interested in the United Traction Company, and the company Avas reorganized April 20, 1895, the Attleboro, North Attleboro and Wrentham Street Railway also being absorbed, and was thereafter known as the Interstate Consolidated Street Railway Com pany, Avhich noAV operates lines from PaAvtucket to Attleboro, North Attleboro and Plainville, Mass. The Cumberland Street Railway Company was organized in 1898, and operates a line from Lonsdale to Cumberland HiU, through the picturesque scenery of the Blackstone Valley. Jan. 1, 1900, the road Avas sold to the Rhode Island Suburban Railway Company. The Newport and FaU River Street Raihvay Company, organized in 1898, operates a Une from Newport to Pall River which traverses the island of Rhode Island and crosses to the mainland by the old Stone Bridge. From its connection with the Newport Street Railway until 558 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. it unites with the Pall River line, this road is about fifteen miles in length. The Sea View Railroad from Wickford to Narragansett Pier, a dis tance of twelve miles, was opened for travel in 1899. An electric line constructed by the Rhode Island Suburban Railway Company, and put in operation in 1900, runs from Providence through Norwood, Hillsgrove, GreeuAVOod, Apponaug, and East Greenwich to Potowomut Avhere connection is made with the Sea View Railroad. By this means a through electric line to Narragansett Pier has been secured. The Rhode Island Suburban Railway Company is, next to the Union Railroad Company, the most important electric railroad corporation in the State. Both companies are controlled by the same group of capitalists, have the same general officers and the roads are operated as one system. The Suburban Company, as its name implies, controls the long lines running to places at some distance from the city. The most important line this company now operates is the former steam road originally known as the Warwick and Oakland Beach, which was equipped with electricity by this company and put into operation as an electric line in 1900. This company also operates the line to Apponaug and East Greenwich, and a line to Barrington, Bristol, anri Warren, opened in 1900, while in 1900 it also acquired by purchase the Cumberland Street Railway and the Pawtuxet Valley Electric road. In 1900 an extension was built from Buttonwoods Beach— the terminus of the original line belonging to this company — to a connec tion with the River Point line at Westcotts, and by this means the inhabitants of the Pawtuxet Valley villages have a direct route to the shore places. Meanwhile the Union Railroad Company had built many lines into the suburbs of the city, among the most important of which are the lines to Centredale, Crescent Park and River Point, the latter the longest suburban line belonging to the company. The cars of several long lines from adjacent cities now enter Prori dence over the tracks of the Union Railroad. These are the roads to Taunton, which has been in operation several years ; the road to Pall River through Swansea and Somerset, opened in 1901, and the Prori dence & Danielson, Avhich runs from Providence through the hill country of Western Rhode Island. The latter road was opened in 1901. The total length of electric roads in Rhode Island at the end of June 30, 1900, was 218 miles, and the number of passengers carried for the fiscal year ending on that date was 52,922,041. Travel and Transportation. 559 The changes in the methods of travel and transportation in the period of less than three centuries comprised in the history of the state of Rhode Island, illustrates an evolution as striking as any that has taken place in any other department of human activity. From the foot path and birch bark or hollow log canoe of the Indian to the express train, the electric car, and the palatial steamboats of the present day, it is a change so great that its significannce and infiuence on human life can hardly be realized. By means of this evolution time and space have in a measure been annihilated, and the relations of men to each other have been radically altered. The interpretation of the meaning of these ncAV relations and the adjustment of society to the new status thereby brought about are problems that confront the world to-day. The white pioneer, as we have seen, improved on his Indian prede cessor, by being the possessor of the horse, which enabled him to travel farther and transport larger loads. He also had the skiU to start and manage ferries, to improve the roads, and to build bridges. Slowly the roads were developed into highways over which wheeled vehicles could travel, and both the road and the conveyance were gradually brought to such a high degree of perfection that the fast stage coach became a possibility. Mechanical invention at this point stepped in and by the use of the steam engine, at first applied to the steamboat and soon after to the railroad train, accelerated the evolution of the means and methods of travel in an immense degree over anything that had previously existed. Still this progress was similar in kind to that which had already taken place. The increase in the rate of progress, however, changed the conditions of life greatly in ways which as yet are hardly comprehended. The world thereby became one neighbor hood, and Avhile the struggle for existence did not lessen in its inten sity, yet economic opportunities were vastly vridened, and larger num bers of people were able thereby to accomplish results and secure for themselves the good things of life than was ever the case before. In the sense that human intelligence, comfort and happiness, were greatly increased by these material improvements, civilization has thereby been enormously advanced. One of the most noticeable recent economic effects of the improved methods of transportation has been the influence of electric street or suburban lines on the distribution of population. PreAdous to the introduction of electric traction the steam roads had aided in distrib uting population along their lines, and had m a measure thereby reheved the congestion of the cities. But their power in this direction 560 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. as we noAV realize, had very definite limits, as they could only afford an outlet along main lines of travel, where the conditions for Uying might not be ideal or even endurable. The horse car likewise could only operate within a very limited radius. With the advent of electric traction however, as applied to street or road cars, the possibilities became illimitable. Every section was open for settlement, and the outskirts and neighborhood of every city has thereby been brought Avithin the radius of the city as available places of residence for the population. The economic effect has been to lower rents and land values in the crowded quarters of the cities, to destroy the slums and to make life easier for large numbers of people. These effects have occurred in Rhode Island in a noticeable degree. The suburbs of the citj'' of Providence have grown greatly in many directions since the introduction of the electric cars in 1894, and the process is still going on rapidly. What the limit of urban growth vrill be only the future can determine, but already the electric roads are opening up the hill country which was neither accessible by the steam road or the ordinary highAvay. Undoubtedly the automobile Avill ultimately have an appre ciable effect in the same direction as the electric car. The Printer and the Press. CHAPTER V. THE PRINTER AND THE PRESS. The story of the beginning of printing in Rhode Island, the found ing of the first newspaper, and of the development of the art and industry in succeeding years, becomes almost a history of printing in America, and is laden vrith features of deep interest to the reader of the present time. Very few of the arts, industries or occupations have undergone so many and such startling changes. The leap from the rude wooden printing press of James Franklin and his illustrious brother Benjamin, to the modern web machine with its countless parts and its marvelous speed, is a grand one ; not less remarkable is the gulf that separates the imperfect types of the early printers, laboriously made by hand, and the product of the very modern linotype machine, whose almost thought-endowed mechanism not only places the type in reading order, but makes a metal cast of every line ready for the press, and with a degree of speed equaling the best efforts of half a dozen typesetters. The production of paper, too— that first essential of newspaper and book-making — has been revolutionized in a similar manner. The old, rough-surfaced, hand-made sheets of small size and doubtful color, are superseded by the great rolls each containing miles of smooth, Avhite fabric, which flies with almost inconceivable speed among the cylinders of great presses. Book-binding, also, has been amazingly changed in character, and particularly in cost. The beau tiful and artistic hand binding of old as well as modern times cannot, of course, be excelled ; but to meet the demands of millions of readers, machinery has been brought into use in almost every department of this industry, until noAv an attractive, substantial ordinary octavo book, with cloth covers, can be obtained for a fcAV cents. And it is the same story with engraving. Little of this was done in the early years, even for books and pamphlets— almost none at all for newspapers. When it did finaUy come more into use, it was of the crudest character. The artist took his wood block and slowly cut his coarse Unes, the printing foUowing directly from the wood, Avhich the slightest acci dent might destroy or a few hundred impressions greatly injure. To day, as is well knoAvn, the copper- faced electrotype takes the place of the wood block, the photograph of the pencil in draAving, and the mar- 564 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. velous half-tone processes bring out every detail of portrait or land scape with infallible fidelity upon a durable metal plate and at nom inal cost. The news-getting methods and facilities of the modern daily journal are so far removed from those of the early printer and publisher, that the contrast is amusing as well as startling; much of this change is due to the railroad and the telegraph. With all of these marvelous improvements the newspaper editor has taken on a new character. Prom the old-time citizen who issued the small weekly newspaper, with whom every townsman Avas acquainted and who met his neighbors every day to talk of public and private affairs, the modern editor of a great paper has grown to be an impersonal and almost intangible being who merely controls the actual pen-work of others. All of this would not, perhaps, possess paramount interest to the reader of these days or for rehearsal in these pages, were it not for the important fact that the dwellers in Rhode Island and Proridence Plantations during the past century and a half have seen all of these momentous changes take place on their own soil ; their own fellow citizens have contributed towards making them from their very incep tion. Newspaper establishments are still in existence wherein most of them have been developed. That should be sufficient. There were notable names closely associated with the introduction of printing into Rhode Island. It is now almost two hundred years since the first newspaper was issued in New England ; that was the Boston News Letter, the first number of which appeared April 20, 1704. Fifteen years elapsed before the second one was pubUshed— the Boston Gazette, founded in 1719, to be foUoAved in 1721 by the New England Courant, also published in Boston. James Franklin, a practical printer, came over from London, bring ing with him a Ramage press and a smaU quantity of type, settled in Boston and began doing job printing, in connection with the pubUca- tion of the Courant. With him as an apprentice was his brother Benjamin, who was destined to greatly outshine his master. James Franklin incurred the displeasure of the Massachusetts authorities through some of his criticisms of public affairs, and at one time was four months in jail, Benjamin conducting the newspaper meanwhile. Finally, Benjamin, as is well known, went to Philadelphia and started upon his famous career. James, hampered in his work and in con stant fear of arrest, was induced by another brother, John, who resided in Newport, to remove thither and establish a newspaper. This he did, and on the 27th of September, 1732, issued the first number of the Rhode Island Gazettte, the first newspaper in Rhode Island and the fourth in New England. This pioneer sheet was only 12 by 8 1-2 inches in size. The imprint reads, "Newport, R. I. Printed and sold by James FrankUn at his printing house under the Tovm School The Printer and the Press. 565 House, where Advertisements and Letters to the Author are taken in ' '. The Gazette lived only about seven months, and copies in existence show that it was not issued regularly during that period. After various published complaints by the editor of lack of support, the last number was printed May 24, 1733. The earliest of the imprints of James Franklin was a 16 mo. of seventeen pages. It is entitled "John Hammett 's Vindication and Relation Newport Rhode Island. Printed and Sold by James Frank lin 1727". Copies of this are extremely rare. Only one copy is known by collectors of Rhode Island imprints. Another of Franldin 's products was "An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, as the same is Held Forth, and Preached, by the Peoples called in Scorn Quakers: &c. By Robert Barclay. The Sixth Edition in English. Newport, Rhode Island. Printed by James Franklin 1729." This is a 12 mo. of 574 printed pages. Franklin's health failed and he died in February, 1735. His widow (Anna), his daughter, and later his son, who was also named James, continued the business and possibly attempted to revive the Gazette. While the elder James was publishing his paper he received a visit from his former apprentice, Benjamin, who returned to Philadelphia, taking with him his nephew, the younger James. There the latter learned the printing trade, which enabled him to take up the work in Newport, first as a partner with his mother. Books are in existence in the Redwood Library, Newport, bearing his imprint with date of 1752, and others with the imprint of "Widow Franklin".^ On the 19th day of June, 1758, this second James Franklin published the first number of the Newport Mercury, a font of type for the purpose hav ing been presented him by his uncle, Benjamin; but his physical con stitution seems to have been weak, and after gradually failing health he died, August 22, 1762. His mother again took up the business, but she soon committed it to Samuel Hall, with whom she formed a part nership under the name of Franklin & Hall ; this firm was dissolved in the following year. Hall continued the business in his name until 1768, when the establishment was sold to Solomon Southwiek. He was a sou of a fisherman and born in Newport. By his youthful inteUigence he attracted the attention of Henry Collins, who was sup posed to be wealthy, and who placed young Southwiek in an academy in PhUadelphia, maintained him through his period of study, and subsequently established him in mercantile business in Newport. In '"Acts of his Majesty's Colony, etc., with Charter prefixed. Folio, pp. Charter 15. Table 15. 308. Newport. Widow Franlclin. 1744". Also, "Acts of his Majesty's Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in NeAV England in America. From Anno 1745 to Anno 1752. Polio, pp. 110. Newport, Rhode Island. Printed by J. Franklin, at the Printing Office under the School House." — Hammett's Contribution to the Bibliography and Liter ature of Newport, p. 5. 566 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. this enterprise he Avas not permanently successful, and when the Mer cury was offered for sale he purchased it. Mr. Southwiek was a pat riot and a Whig. When the British entered Newport he buried his printing materials in the rear of the Kilburn house, on Broad street, barely escaped with his life on account of his outspoken loyalty to the patriot cause, and went to Albany, N. Y. In his absence the invaders dug up the press and type and published the Newport Gazette, which was printed and edited by John Howe. The first number of this paper bore date January 15, 1777, and it continued through 1778 and probably up to the time of the evacuation, October 25, 1779. Howe's office was in the Vaughan house, north side of the Parade, near Thames street. The Redwood Library contains a valued file of the paper from January, 1777, to January 15, 1778. After the evacuation by the British Mr. Southwiek returned, and on January 5, 1780, resumed the publication of the Mercury, in com pany with Henry M. Barber (firm of Southwiek & Barber). Mr. Southwiek was sole proprietor again in 1787 and so continued until 1795, when ill health and financial embarrassment caused by the great depreciation of the currency, forced him to give up his business, and it passed wholly to Mr. Barber. Mr. Southwiek died December 23, 1797. The files of the Mercury show that from December 16, 1800, to August 19, 1809, Ann Barber was its publisher. L. Rousmaniere and William Barber then became owners and were succeeded, November 22, 1817, by W. & J. H. Barber. On November 6, 1841, J. H. Barber became sole owner, and was succeeded January 2, 1847, by the firm of J. H. Barber & Son ; they were followed by William Lee Barber, who died after three years at the head of the business, and it was sold to George C. Mason and P. A. Pratt; they published the paper from February 22, 1851, to June 12, 1854, when it passed to the firm of CoggeshaU & Pratt. This connection continued to April 3, 1858, when P. A. Pratt & Co. became the publishers and so continued to January 4, 1862. On November 16, 1872, the Mercury appeared under oAvner- ship and control of John P. Sanborn, the veteran publisher, who has ever since, during a period of about thirty years, directed the course of the paper. Mr. Sanborn is now the oldest editor of the oldest news paper in the State of Rhode Island. The Newport Herald^ was the next newspaper published in that city, the first number appearing March 1, 1787. The avowed purpose of the Herald was opposition to paper money. The necessities arising from depression and the destruction of trade and credit, groAring chiefly out of the Avar, had driven the Rhode Island Legislature to issue »In Hammett's bibliography of Newport are reproduced two pages of the Herald (at pp. 109-10), and there are several numbers in existence. 4i >- ^U-*-~^'^'' .NEWPORl £ //i/jt/.^/ '7,''/ -•¦,;¦ MERCURYv THE. Advertifc.<', vices foreign und ihinrfU'-. MONDAY, JuNi Jp »7i«- J H S Advintjge »nd Utili y oE a>J,E.V^ S ] PAPFR ro C'iilp'd«itk till itsAiiiviI. AND as »V^ht> wijicft All' 111 aiicr Pj_(>fi», cjioflot at 4w|Sii Colony, Tfiii Msihod . wil) be riiro ; to fttid all iht PapRi btlonrina to eKh le-' . fpeflirtT«wn, with[heNameorcftli^ihfc(it>cf,f.foirtIieM- . on, undttOvei, »dH>ieQedi« rotfc^ropaiPrrron, refirfing - where it vltl bejiicDdcJ wich ibcleift OiSiculty (^.tlic I«h«- liitinrt (•icceiMfif ihem, which they will be ihe brff Judpo , •r; atid » Paper will be feOC RTStii te cKfy ifijc^ Pcifoiij for ' hit Tioiihtc and Oil c ill rfelircriog them, ^v- A NDaie«>y O'ljeaion wosHitilltDgly Vren^ii'M, whicS miy aiifi wi:h Ki'^•':(i tnthit Paper, in fri firft PuUlicitjaii ; ihcrefofc, if il ftinuj J he fjiiij, thiTrlie Mte it much rmiller than',^ Iho&atptffmrpohlilh'a in f^lHsMftia, Ifeo-rof*. awt fi»/?«i-, let^t he cTOlidri'.t, ihit the Pricc-iijlfo Icf.-ln Propottio.), . ;-- aad (hilt e^ni la tWrc iafge pl«c«, with PiavtKiK exicnrirc .^':-»)(lpopfll»tK, the PdpcmpubiiFh'd anjinijll them, in ih(ii Ui- ^fmcf e'w;aifl'>i b* mnre tjiin what tnight ba eompniM fS- ht\f^ Shcef ; but u the Number of SiiblcriKwi md AH«f- lirtnenii iwieaiM, (brtr Paptit were mlirjMin fiofoniha. And iHt fti,i>ol<1 litcc*iri).bc laid, fh«* ;^^»ai thii Ou^br 3lC> to h; c«oGdei'd, ihsi ihe JohibiwnM wht) fiiidc (t 4 D.O.ik- f,om (h^re iweTo-oi, cioiKH tofc ifiOf-pnnQliity lu be (o imnicdiatclY p*„or<;i,f,raiberi, *i'iKeO mefK«f(hiiPfl[> f M /„(«„„ Seine «den;iwe to .lie K«pen« andTfOnblewhi-rh mull cdnicciucnily be rfevoied to iId' v,- ^ Yi« TCt tt fl ngt rlo^h 9d bur ti,« ,ht Inhjb.tsni of ihji Colony will cica.rolly promotcm Undcn*kin£ .,t tliif KlKd .; ¦, 7 - THRRE muRnfm to Miew, that thii>»p*n»o..M; ¦tihwTimc, hi/( b o mioduc'd. to ihs Psblicv'tth r.«ff 3 kinnTfalrimtb, ttrm^bt iltfillMelnii'frtjb MvUtJ i -Fiotr I met Frrdinind* Head QQft«e« at Motlfter, Apiil 8. Tl « f. /rtl'-otVcchtehMfgjrcWWrta by Capimlaiicr ^tiihin cle (cw Diyc Ir was bcrtegcd ^a Capiat a wtrh a Dfuch- iTt-ni ot [j>.Mcrt Ifotn Brcnicn; /The tgrrifon confirted of -p Ompaniej^ bm wlijt will hantly bd'efedited.li, ihar up- ^ifdi dl loo'Piccn of CaDoon and Moitan kci* tosod in the . ' '""I.jit^m-(("Onw*«7) Mitcli 21. The King of Piuflia, tioamvcd hcict^ifc4>lb,'fetOi|tThe l^ih lof Crt/fau.wher^ "HMfT.QiianeajjftJm.JUAy will be cftibliihcd To- nwtrow - - T. ¦ " - .1 , "jMiiMwAdvJc^thatB large Bcdy of?iun heirg upon ihc March to leticte it ; and ai the King It cumiDR ai ihc Head ^ hii Army to niet Marfhil Daun, ' ue expc^ itmoft^veiy MotncBMo hear theNcatofabJi^ody B*iilc. .- ^ ,-'^ D.efden. Match n.'' 1"i* ftill fiid, that the Moliont of Maijhal Keith tend 10 foake ati Invnfioa in Bohcir.ia, in otder to favcDr ihc PiojeOi f-hicb the King r>f PiofTii ii going lo , ciccotathher a^iuQ Bohemia or Mowvia. Y- Jf.ii loitiufrtiec M.dehClueB[Ca.ili.;--ni. (i;i il.ci- C-- it- mf faUidron, ihry inrn-'-iIijtfljr di^'or-lcd. m.l nrpiri^rtl!.! ¦ cm coHifej ; nn «hi(h I driithrit livp :f er ^'X-'' • * ''¦ "¦ . whtJR toilh the m:iin bM)' r-l mv f.jm.ln n I I'-^od Ui i!.<- Im / ofCa'(ll"t:'T", tous'chihi-Snv.i:ii.mi;i7.( , .r,,'. ahn-i' L .rn Jn thee. ¦.line, Cftpl. Siorr, in ilw Rtven^^ gf ft.}, f.^'j'un.l by Capt. il"^''^ IBlh; Q<»>"'-^ 'j' 5+, a>.d U","^.. K-^i;' "> ^i^kSSd ¦^^^j^ mUk THE FIRST PAGE OF THE FIRST NUMBER OF THE FIRST NEWSPAPER Published in Newport. From the Original in the Possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society. 568 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. paper currency until the amount exceeded £153,000, or $500,000. A combination of merchants and other tradesmen had been made to prevent the circulation of this medium, and violent party spirit was aroused. The Legislature enacted laws to enforce the circulation of the depreciated currency at a certain fixed value. The Herald was established to oppose these measures, its motto being, " It is to contra diction consequently to the liberty of the press, that physics, morality and polities owe their improvement". The Herald was printed by Peter Edes, Thames street, and survived until August, 1791. Three other short-lived newspapers are to be credited to Newport before the close of that century. The first of these was the United States Chronicle ; but the founding of this journal belongs to Provi dence, where the first number was issued in January, 1784, under proprietorship of Bennett & Wheeler. It was published in Newport in 1791, where the editor was Henry Barber. The paper suspended in 1802. The Rhode Island Museum was published in Newport about six months, beginning in July, 1794, and closing in the following Decem ber. This was followed by the issue, on April 15, 1798, of The Weekly Companion and Commercial Centinel, by Oliver Farnsworth, ' ' Printer to the Honorable General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island". The first number appeared under direction of Oliver and Havila Farnsworth, but from April 6, 1799, the former was alone in the business. The paper suspended after about one year, and its ovsmers soon afterward published The Guardian of Liberty for a time; the first number was issued September 25, 1800. At about the same date was founded the Rhode Island Republican; this also was published by Oliver Farnsworth, "near the Coffee House", on Thames street. This journal had a longer career. Its editor, in 1841, printed the statement that the first issue was dated October 5, 1801, but the editor of the Newport Bibliography, by reckoning back from numbers now at hand, finds the date as first above given, a few days only before the date of the first number of The Guardian of Liberty. The latter paper was short-lived and probably was merged with the Republican, the motto of which was, ' ' An indissoluble JJnion of the States is essential to their liberty and existence"— a fact that had to be proven a half century later in the carnage of civil war. The origi nal Republican lived about two years; but another journal bearing the same title was started on March 22, 1809, by William Simons. The older one of that name is not mentioned by him in his early issues and seems to have passed out of memory. His office was at No. 5 Mill street. On July 23, 1812, the day of publication was changed from Wednesdayto Thursday, but on April 13, 1814, was again made Wednes day. The Republican was successful; it made the editorial claim of being actuated "by a zeal that knows no bounds, and governed by The Printbk and the Press. 569 principles which have no ends but the public welfare". We cannot wonder that the paper survived. Mr. Simons continued as publisher until 1825, when Atkinson & Read (James Atkinson, Wm. Read), bought the establishment and continued the business to 1830. Mr. Read was then alone two years and in 1832 sold to Francis B. Peck ham, in whose name it stood until August, 1833. Then A. B. Peckham appears as publisher until December of the same year, when Francis B. Peckham again assumed ownership, and in October, 1836, sold to Callender & Tilley. Mr. Callender was a bookseller and Mr. TiUey a practical printer. The last issue of the Republican bears the date April 21, 1841, and in its place the same firm published the Rhode Islander, the first number of which was dated May 4, of that year. This was a non-political journal and aimed to fill its columns with clean family reading. The Anti-Masonic movement had a memorable existence in this State and threatened to gain permanent political control. The party that was born of that movement, like all leading and ambitious politi cal organizations, needed newspaper "organs", as they are called. One of these was the Anti-Masonic Rhode Islander, the startling motto of which was, "Thou shalt do no murder". The first number was dated November 4, 1829 ; in No. 28 the publication day is given as Wednesday and the office location, 178 Thames street. Allen & Fol- som were the publishers. Dr. Benjamin Case, who was a very radical anti-mason, was the editor, and he waged a wordy warfare in his columns during the life of the party. A file of this journal was for merly in possession of St. John's lodge of Masons, but it has disap peared. The next newspaper established in Newport bore the resounding title, Freedmen's Advocate and the Impartial Inquirer, which began October 1, 1830, with William Cutter, editor and proprietor, "four doors north of the Custom House, Thames street". The paper was devoted to advocacy of the principles which led to the election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency of the United States ; but personal ities and political abuse soon occupied most of its columns, and it sus pended after a short career. On the 7th of April, 1830, James Atkinson issued the first number of the Herald of the Times. In 1846 the name was changed to the Herald of the Times and Rhode Islander, and from August 12, 1847, was published by S. S. Eastman, who sold it to Cranston & Norman in January, 1849, together with the Daily Herald, issued from the same office. The latter was consolidated later with the Daily News, and the Herald of the Times, shorn of its sub-title, was continued until the sale of the News in 1856, as noticed further on. On the 27th of September, 1834, William Barber & Sons issued the first number of the Rhode Island Gazette, as what they 570 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. called the new series of the Gazette that was established in 1732, as before noticed. This paper was started mainly on account of differ ences between its owners and those of the Mercury; the matter was soon settled and the paper stopped. The Newport Daily News was established May 4, 1846, by Orin P. Jackson, who came from Massachusetts for the purpose. The new daily was successful from the beginning and was continued by its founder until Septembr, 1848, when he sold it to William H. Crans ton, under whose management it became a fearless, able and popular modern newspaper. On January 1, 1849, George H. Norman, who had previously been financially interested in the business, was admitted as a partner. The treatment of local affairs in its columns was made conspicuous and their merits and demerits received courageous and untrammeled treatment, while the prominent features of affairs of more extended public interest were made the subjects of able edito rials. In 1856 the News was sold to a company who employed John Hobart as editor and under whose name the paper was published. Less than a year later it was sold to George T. Hammond, who con tinued it until 1866, when L. D. Davis and Rev. Micah J. Talbot became the owners. In the following year T. T. Pitman purchased Mr. Talbot's interest, and the firm of Davis & Pitman continued as publishers up to 1887, the former acting as editor and the latter as business manager. In that year Mr. Pitman became sole owaer and has continued so to the present time. Among the assistant editors during this period were John P. Sanborn, now the veteran editor of the Mercury, Fred P. Powers, J. E. Chamberlain and Fred M. Ham mett. In connection with the Daily News is published the Newport Jour nal, weekly, which was founded August 3, 1867, by Davis & Pitman. Its columns are largely compiled from the daily issues, and it has a widely extended country circulation. The Newport Enterprise, which was devoted chiefly to the advocacy of temperance principles, was started March 1, 1886, as a semi monthly, by B. W. Pearce, a veteran newspaper man. The paper was during its career a conservative and interesting supporter of general morality and during a number of years was fairly supported. It was discontinued in September, 1897. A large amount of intelligent effort has been put forth in Newport for the preservation in periodicals of valuable historical and genealog ical material. In July, 1880, Henry E. Turner, assisted by R. Ham mett Tilley, librarian of the Newport Historical Society, began pub lishing a quarterly, called the Newport Historical Magazine. In 1884 the title was changed to The Rhode Island Historical Magazine, and Mr. Tilley became sole editor; it was continued to April, 1887. In January, 1891, he began the publication of the Magazine of New Eng- The Printer and the Press. 571 land History, which was discontinued in October, 1893. In these publications the editor placed in permanent form a large quantity of historical and genealogical matter which had accumulated and was liable to loss or destruction. John P. Sanborn and Frank G. Harris began the publication of an eight-page daily paper on June 7, 1886, called the Season. Its title indicates its purpose. On the 16th of June, 1888, appeared the first number of the Daily Observer and the Season, with Prank G. Harris, proprietor and editor. In that year this paper supported the candi dates of the Republican party. It continued until 1894, when it was absorbed by the Herald. A religious paper named the Trinity Church Messenger was pub hshed monthly for some years by Rev. G. J. Magill, pastor of that church. The first number was dated May, 1886. The Naval Apprentice made its first appearance in May, 1901. It is issued from the Newport Training Station for the benefit of all naval apprentices. The first number of the Newport Daily Herald appeared on March 23, 1892, under the business management of the Herald Publishing Company, and with Horace B. Allen, editor. In the same month the publishers of the Democrat in Providence removed that paper to Newport, where it was issued during a few months as a weekly edition of the Herald. Mr. Allen continued to edit the Herald until May 4, 1892, and was followed in succession by C. T. Hammond, Matthew Hale, J. H. B. Robinson, William Pangborn, John Worthington, A. O'D. Taylor, and Horatio C. Wood, the present editor. The business managers of the paper since it was founded have been F. W. Greene, Charles CrandaU, A. O'D. Taylor and Horatio C. Wood. The Herald is an independent Republican journal and has met with deserved suc cess. The plant is a complete one, including type-setting machines and fast presses. Only the daily issue is now published. The Newport Union is a weekly summer paper devoted to the inter ests of colored people. It was established in July, 1901, by F. T. Small. The list of Newport newspapers and magazines that ended their existence after periods of greater or lesser length is not so long as might be expected in a city which had its first journal more than a century and a half ago. The following brief notes cover all, or nearly all, that have been issued in the city : A child's paper called The Gleaner was founded by George C. Mason, August 11, 1849 ; it was an illustrated weekly and only one number was issued. The same man began the publication of the New port Daily Advertiser, November 16, 1849, soon sold it to James Atkin son, who continued it daily a short time and in January, 1850, began the issue of the Newport Weekly Advertiser, the last number of the 572 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. daily having the date April 1, 1850. After the death of Mr. Atkinson, in 1879, the paper was published irregularly by his sons until 1882, when it was purchased by Remington Ward and six months later dis continued. The Ocean Wave was a temperance paper, published a short time in 1849 by T. F. Ash, jr. The Real Estate Record appeared February 15, 1872, and ten so-called monthly issues were published by Davis & Pitman. In February, 1873, the title was changed to The Seaside Record, and it was continued to the close of that year. The Newport Real Estate Record was begun as a weekly by Forsyth & Derby, in December, 1882, and subsequently was in control of other firms of real estate dealers. The Casino Bulletin, the summer official organ of the Casino, was started as a daily in 1882, by J. T. Cowdery. Providence Newspapers.— 'We have seen in the preceding pages that almost a century elapsed between the date of the arrival of Roger Will iams in Rhode Island, and the time when James Franklin established his newspaper in Newport ; and it was thirty years later before Provi dence had its first public journal. On October 20, 1762, appeared the first number of the Providence Gazette and Country Journal, pub lished and edited by William Goddard. He was a native of New Lon don, Conn., where he was born in 1740, came to Providence while yet a boy, and in January, 1762, began the printing business. He printed the first hand-bill in the place, which was headed, ' ' Morro Castle taken by Storm", and his next job was a play bill. The prospectus of his paper was issued on September 1. The first number contained a well- written address to his prospective patrons, and the announcement that the location of his office was ' ' opposite the Court House. 7s. shillings lawful money per annum or equivalent in currency". In July, 1763, the editor announced that he had removed his printing office "to the store of Judge Jenckes near the great bridge". In March, 1765, an other change was made by removal to ' ' the house opposite Mr. Nathan Angell 's " ; this was a little northwest of the Baptist church. There was no editorial and no local news in the first number of the paper and, indeed, none of the newspapers of the seventeenth century contained local news to any noticeable extent. The second number of the paper was dated October 30, the day of publication having been changed, as announced, so "that gentlemen in the northern and west- em parts of Connecticut may receive papers by post". There was a period of suspension of the paper from May 11, 1765, to August 9, 1766, caused by the operation of the Stamp Act. This pioneer Provi dence newspaper was edited with ability and acquired large influence. Stephen Hopkins, the Rhode Island statesman, contributed liberally to its columns, in his successful efforts to shape the course of the mo mentous events of those times. ^ 'In "Stephen Hopkins, a Rhode Island Statesman. A Study on the Politi- '"N,^^ .^aVIDLNCc'&l^^j G A Z ET T . lV^» COL N TR V g%0^^1 70UK .\ / r Vl\j) N £ <• O -I V, OLi-ODrB T, r 0 [Vol 1 ) io HIT *T ,„ ^-- , >/''-\ AptBR v>iatbw been alrw ' i,S£«tiJtetorso the T-iunoo 35J Hwreft o& m-f Coui?*^3i |*%»pLr t'l pert foo!df0-it ^^'•>«-^'* oqjg&nf *y, 1 Uvr.) Di the P iigBurn'-i a. • >¦ teioulc Colon? it 1,(1 ici-m f" lov jjiri If I p 1 >ft<.,^ ^*,^ J caAltjf to 1 J' i. Ill a It Jab r /^l^i/^ I "i ftfa uoii ( [t f 111. r CoJi'ryS^ ct hrat J'Wnti-r evert v ng fo ih f r) fe ts J-3cr-( of I n of PI/ T>ug^|^ the C'T)'" T jf Axjl hi' in (i| \ ) I jil uus tiT) and ^ OjTMtnfti , •da uo ahSa fj. c", «rl)e ofqu.int-t' i 1 iS^vT inn^Kt, muft U ptcu^t rja i,.! I;^ ' «]lo» » ro 5 itumij^ m n- lit « Jinw i' oer -^iS. jTWi^ n>«i 1 ^ct^.rf , f w wl ! 1 t " tJ P.^ xncft - - ¦ %«^ .^ayJ^nsprpJ54rw,..s,.. ,--. — gr-- ---,-- „ -„._ twjL' die ^(fifiUlloT 0^'m> JStrrg w J h- at nJ ''WKiiiMi" ocomiejiceflitt* jO h f j" t ^i ]ia th( Ocn it '^^tt^Covcroment,'*- 0 Uw-jk a/ v^tio ft 31 pJcafe tJ ti'Wr P ft \,nd M ic will cantu t-l \V(.lcnT Ad^¦'CtJ> wljich. wiH b?- r ai,Sf4R9iiI«Go*3i«eS. loa/ r£i, ash" Miifcst <¦ from t have; 'tabjtfh*. ^ididU " 7*!rt^^rin*/l yrtf £'*'**^^^% y J*«fai , iif^ fc^wtv"'' Will "ofi «).^ (A 'OK-w tr* rajt/iitt <.«« \7w'vo&n.i\^i-Ctin\ . .„ -oitiijKs^a^iftB, ^ -, ho h v«-t , - - - to 01IS C!^:^'^ ¦ " ^ (6-tl Sam Ptiii/(t i. yl^M -tiVfjn c » ft -y . . . — ., "S^J^^i^ ' "5a ^WW *» urixflnrirf two ' n^ ' f-lf^tnjV / Africa ,«,-• t, J- t r< «. ^fM/r-i 4aT /fro(a» h. c fclfoltflv (? «vi4. I r ^tVif, ^abittA^o ^\r£^A y i*,<£.^g^ THE FIRST PAGE OF THE FIRST NUMBER OF THE FIRST NEWSPAPER Published in Providence. From the Original in the Possession OF the Rhode Island Historical Society. 574 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. One of the important productions of the Goddard press v^as "A Discourse addressed to the Sons of Liberty. At a solemn Assembly, near Liberty Tree in Providence February 14, 1766." This was an 8 vo. of eight pages. It bears the imprint, "Providence, in New Eng land. Printed and sold by Sarah and William Goddard, at the Print ing Office— near the Court House." Another was the well known political tract by Governor Stephen Hopkins, entitled "The Rights of the Colonies Examined." It bears the imprint of Mr. Goddard, 1765. This tract was reprinted in most of the colonies and was also printed by Almon in London in 1766. Mr. Goddard left Providence in 1767 and was engaged in editorial work in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore many years. Return ing to Providence in 1792, he died in 1817, leaving a son, William, who inherited and cultivated his father's literary talent and newspaper ability, in which lines of work he for many years held a foremost position in this State, as will appear further on. Beginning August 9, 1766, after the interregnum, the Gazette was published by Sarah Goddard & Co. ; she was mother of William. In September, 1767, the firm was composed of William Goddard and John Carter, and in November following (Mr. Goddard having left Providence), Mr. Car ter became sole proprietor of the. Gazette. Preceding and through the Revolution the Gazette advocated Whig principles, but after peace was declared it opposed the paper money party in this State and also the adoption of the United States constitution. During a later period it became a supporter of the strong Federal political organization, and when the anti-Masonic movement came into exist ence it ably advocated the new party. In October, 1771, the paper was printed in "the new building on Main street, opposite the Friends' meeting house", and a little later, ' ' in Meeting street, opposite the Friends ' meeting house ". In Novem ber, 1793, J. Carter and William Wilkinson were associated as pub lishers of the Gazette, and their establishment was in the postoffice, "opposite the market". In May, 1799, Mr. Carter again became sole owner and so continued until February, 1814, when he sold the whole to Hugh H. Brown and William H. Wilson. Mr. Carter had been connected with the paper and the printing business forty-seven years, and under his control the Gazette acquired a large measure of influ- cal History of the Eighteenth Century (1884) by William B. Foster", pp. 46-8, the writer gives a very large share of the credit for making the Gazette what it was to Stephen Hopli;ins. The first number did contain No. 1 of a series of historical articles from his pen, entitled, "The Town of Providence from its Settlement to 1763". After allusion to the influence of Boston and Philadel phia papers, the writer of this work says: "The quick eye of Stephen Hop kins must have seen at once the pre-eminent advantage of this agency for shaping public sentiment"; and further, Hopkins's share in it was continuous and he contributed "a large share of its contents", etc. The Printer and the Press. 575 ence and success. He was a skillful practical printer, having served his apprenticeship with Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia, and his paper was noted for its freedom from typographical errors.^ Mr. Brown purchased Mr. Carter's interest in the business in June, 1816, and continued sole owner until January, 1820, when he took Walter R. Danforth as partner, giving him editorial charge of the paper. An effort had previously (1795) been made to publish the paper semi-weekly, but it did not receive sufficient encouragement; but when Mr. Danforth acquired his interest this change was success fully introduced. During about one year the paper was issued Mon days and Thursdays, and afterwards on Wednesdays and Saturdays. On January 1, 1825, Mr. Brown again became sole owner and em ployed Albert G. Greene as editor. On the 5th of October, of that year, a consolidation was effected by .the Gazette and the Rhode Island American, and the firm of Carlile & Brown (Francis Y. Carlile and Hugh H. Brown) was formed and conducted the business on the north side of Market square. The paper assumed the title. The Rhode Island American. The American was originally started October 21, 1808, by Dunham & Hawkins (Wm. W. Dunham (editor), David Hawkins, jr.), and was printed "at the sign of the American Eagle, opposite the Market. Three Dollars per Annum — half in advance". The editorial announcement in the first number stated, probably as the reason foi' establishing the paper, that the "pressing necessity of the present period, which is to decide whether the politicks of Washington shall once more regain their proper influence in the hearts of his country men, demands correspondent exertion". From October, 1825, during one year, William S. Patten edited the consolidated paper, and was succeeded by Christopher E. Robbins. In March, 1827, Mr. Carlile bought his partner's interest and employed Benjamin F. HaUett as editor. In July of that year the Microcosm, a weekly paper, estab hshed June 10, 1825, by Walter R. Danforth, was absorbed by the American, and two years later, July, 1829, the Cadet and Statesman was also absorbed and the title was changed to the Rhode Island American, Statesman and Gazette. The Cadet and Statesman was 'The town papers and records of Providence show that Mr. Carter and his business associates carried on a large business for those times and were favored with public patronage. While Mr. Carter was alone he rendered a bill to the town (Town paper No. 1,350), covering a period of about a year from the fall of 1774, which was mostly for advertising. Some of the items are of interest: "Advertising inhabitants to give an acct. of Strangers in their Families". "Relative to obnoxious Persons removing from other towns". "Relative to Shopkeepers raising the Price of Goods". "Advertising Arms distributed in the late Alarm to be brought in". "Advertising Assize of Bread", etc. Town paper No. 5,779, date of June, 1790, is a bill from Mr. Carter, among the items being one for "250 copies of the Order of Procession to be observed on receiving the President of the United States", 18s. Also one for "200 promissory notes for the Town Treasurer", 9s. At the January session of 1798 of the General Assembly it was voted that "fifty-two dollars & 576 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. founded as the Literary Cadet and Saturday Evening Bulletin, April 22, 1826, and was published by Smith & Parmenter (Samuel J. and Jonathan C), with Sylvester S. Southworth, editor; it was a weekly until 1827 and afterwards, until its absorption, a semi-weekly. At the same time (July, 1829) the publishers began issuing the Daily Adver tiser, which was continued until February, 1833. In November, 1829, Daniel Mowry, 3d, became sole proprietor of the business and issued the paper with the title. The Microcosm, American and Gazette, until April, 1833, when he sold to James S. Ham and Joseph Knowles (J. S. Ham & Co) . At the close of another year this paper was discontinued. During all of its twenty-six years of existence this journal retained the confidence and endeavored to promote the best interests of the public. During the period when William Goddard was its editor it attained its best position, and after he left it, it began to decline and was consolidated with the Gazette as before stated. The best literary talent in Providence and its vicinity contributed to the American; this fact, with the able editorials of Mr. Goddard, gave the paper high standing in the community. In the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society are files of a paper called The Literary Subaltern, the first number of which ap peared on January 1, 1829, and the files continue to August 31, 1832, which was probably the last number of the publication. William MarshaU was the first publisher, and was succeeded by Hall & Sim mons. Sylvester S. Southworth was editor, and the paper was ably conducted. There are features of historical interest in the printing business in Providence in early years, as distinct from newspaper publication. It has already been noted that the pioneer printers found a profitable part of their business in the making of almanacs. Prominent among the early almanac compilers was "Benjamin West, A. M., A. A. S.", as his name appears on various imprints. His almanac for 1770 was printed by John Carter at the " Sign of Shakespeare 's Head, near the Coffee House". In 1784 this almanac was printed by Bennett Wheel er and "sold by the Groce, Dozen or Single by Mr. Terence Reilly, opposite the Market, by Messrs. Thurber & Chandler, at the North Thirty-four cents, be allowed to Messeurs Carter and Wilkinson, out of the General Treasury, in Specie, or in the Bills of Credit emitted by this State, at the established Rate of Exchange; it being the Amount of their Account for Paper, Quills, Sand-Box, Ink and a Blank Book delivered to the Committee for Revising the Laws, . . and for Printing done for the State, from the fourteenth of November last, to the present time." Town paper No. 14,100, date of May 6, 1770, is a bill of Mr. Carter for the Providence Gazette for one year, to Henry Bowen, Mr. Bowen being then in public office. A similar charge is that of May, 1772, by Solomon Southwiek to Henry Bowen, for the Newport Mercury, one year, 6s. 9(i. In this connec tion may be properly given the bill of Samuel Nightingale to the town (Town paper No. 14,099), date of May 8, 1775, which includes "2 quire Paper", at lid. The Printer and the Press, 577 End, and by the Author". The first bookseller in Providence was probably Daniel Jenckes, who had a store about 1763, and others followed as the business developed. The second printing estabUsh ment opened in Providence was that of John Waterman, who had the popular title of "Captain". He also operated a paper mill, which was started in 1764 ; of this mill the New England Almanac for 1765 states that ' ' a spacious mill had been built in Providence, for making paper". Mr. Waterman advertised in the Gazette of August, 1764, for rags. He issued a volume of sermons about 1764-5 and also ' ' Songs composed for the Use and Edification of such as love the Truth in its Native Simplicity. Providence. Printed and sold by Waterman & Russell, at the new Printing Office at the Paper MiU". This book bears no date. In 1768 from the same press was published the famous discourse of Silas Downer, delivered at the dedication of the Liberty Tree in Newport, and a ' ' Catalogue of all the books in the Providence Library", same year. Among the works issued from- the press of John Carter was an "Account of the observation of Venus upon the Sun. by Benjamin West" (1769) ; "Poems by the late Josias Lyndon Ar. nold" (1797) were published by Carter & Wilkinson, with a number of addresses delivered by President Maxcy, Paul Allen, and various ministers ; these with almanacs and sermons covered most of the Provi dence imprints previous to 1800. J. Douglass M'Dougall was printing in Providence in 1776, in which year he issued "An Essay on Man in Pour Epistles, by Alexander Pope, Esq. Prov : Printed and Sold by J. D. M'DougaU, on the west side of the Great Bridge. 1776". In the early years of printing the business was almost invariably com bined with the selling of books, stationery, blanks, etc., and quite fre quently with publishing of books on the proprietor's account. In March, 1779, the American Journal and General Advertiser was started by Solomon Southwiek and Bennett Wheeler; the office was located at the comer of North Main and Meeting streets. Mr. South wiek left the business in the following November, and Wheeler subse quently removed to the west side of the river. The paper was a weekly and continued to about December, 1783. In the succeeding January Mr. Wheeler founded the United States Chronicle, "PoUtical, Com mercial and Historical". This weekly paper survived until some time in 1802, after about eighteen years of such success as the better jour nals of that period commanded. Now followed in Providence a number of short-lived journals, some of which deserved a better fate. January 4, 1796, Joseph Fry started a semi-weekly with the customary high-sounding title. The State Ga zette and Town and County Advertiser ; it was a small sheet, pubUshed Mondays and Thursdays, on the north side of Market square, and suspended before the close of a year. Next came the Providence 37 678 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Journal and Town and County Advertiser, a weekly, founded by John Carter, jr., on January 1, 1799, suspended January, 1802. The Im partial Observer was a weekly paper established in July, 1800, by Samuel J. Williams, and continued by him until March, 1801, when he was succeeded by Benoni Williams ; suspended in March, 1803. In the spring of this year Samuel J. WilUams started the Liberty's Cen tinel, of which a few numbers only were issued. A more promising and permanent journal came into existence as a Democratic organ, in the Providence Phenix, which was established in May, 1803, by Theo dore H. Foster and WilUam W. Dunham (Foster & Dunham). It was a weekly, issued on Saturdays from an office on Westminster street. Mr. Poster left the firm after one year, Dunham continuing alone to July, 1805, when William Olney took the business and continued to January 10, 1807. He was succeeded by Jones & Wheeler (Josiah Jones, Bennett Wheeler), who published the Phenix until 1816, when they changed its name to the Providence Patriot and Columbian Phe nix, and so continued it to January 1, 1819. Jones, Wheeler & Cran ston (BarziUai Cranston) then became the publishers and continued to January, 1820, when Cranston retired and Jones & Wheeler contin ued to May, 1823. Eaton W. Maxcy then succeeded to Mr. Wheeler's interest, but a year later transferred it to William Simons. Jones & Simons continued to December, 1829, after which Jones published the paper as agent, with James 0. Rockwell, editor. The paper suspended at the close of 1832 ; it had been issued semi-weekly after 1819. While this paper was not financially successful, it wielded large influence in the Jeffersonian political field and was sincere and aggressive. Mr. Maxcy was its ablest editor and an accomplished writer, but Avas with out the newspaper training so necessary for success in these later times. ' ' In fact the small success attained by any Providence newspaper prior to 1830, was largely owing to the fact that their editors were, in many cases, broken-down professional men who, aside from being hampered by a stilted and ponderous style, had no journalistic training. '"^ The next newspaper in Providence was the Rhode Island Farmer, which was published about one year from July, 1804, by David Hea ton and Benoni Williams (Heaton & Williams). At about the beginning of the war of 1812, Herman B. and Daniel Man started the Providence Centinel and War Chronicle, with George R. Burrill, editor ; only a few numbers were issued. The Manufacturers and Farmers Journal was founded in Provi dence, in response to the prevalent belief that the industrial interests needed a journal that would properly represent their affairs. During the years between the close of the War of 1812 and 1820, manufactures had been greatly increased in Providence and other parts of this State, the capital for the purpose having been drawn largely from commer- 'Providence Evening Bulletin, June 25, 1886. The Printer and the Press. 579 cial interests ; this was one of the business changes due to the war. The existing newspapers saw danger in this tendency and their col umns were not freely opened to opinions and counsel that opposed the theories of their publishers. Samuel and John Slater, who had estab lished the cotton manufacturing at Pawtucket and Slatersville, David Wilkinson, Amasa and William H. Mason, James Burrill, William Anthony, Samuel Arnold, William Valentine, Richard Anthony, Joseph Harris, Richard and Nathan W. Jackson, William Sprague, and others prominent in industrial operations, gave their support and sympathy to the project of founding a newspaper that would properly represent and advocate their interests. The full title of the paper, as finally decided, was the Manufacturers and Farmers Journal and Providence and Pawtucket Advertiser. It was a semi-weekly edition and is still issued on Mondays and Thursdays by the Providence Jour nal Company. The first number appeared January 3, 1820, with Miller and Hutchens (both named John), as publishers; the motto of the paper was, "Encourage National Industry". "Honest John Miller", as he was called, was a printer and Mr. Hutchens was a book seller. The office was in the old Coffee House, comer of Market Square and Canal street ; in 1823 it was removed to the Union building, west side of the bridge, in which year Mr. Miller, became sole proprie tor, and in the year following to the Granite building. Market Square. In May, 1833, the office was removed to the Whipple building. College street. From that date to January 1, 1836, George Paine was partner with Mr. Miller (Miller & Paine), continuing to February, 1836, when George W. Jackson succeeded to the business, continuing to July, 1838. He was followed by Joseph Knowles and William L. Burroughs (Knowles & Burroughs), who were succeeded in February, 1839, by Knowles & Vose (John W. Vose). In July, 1840, Henry B. Anthony acquired an interest, and the firm of Knowles, Vose & Anthony pub hshed the paper until 1848. Mr. Vose died in 1849 and the firm of Knowles & Anthony continued to January 1, 1863. From that date the publication was continued under the names of Knowles, Anthony & Danielson, one of the former publishers of the Evening Press, George W. Danielson, having acquired an interest from Mr. Knowles. The latter died in 1874, Mr. Danielson in March, 1884, and Mr. Anthony in September of the same year. In consequence of these deaths, the Providence Journal Company was incorporated in 1885. With the decUne of the American, as before described, the Manu facturers and Farmers Journal took its place in influence and public confidence. The Journal has been ably edited from the beginning and a number of gifted writers had charge of its columns ; among these were WilUam E. Richmond, Thomas Rivers, Benjamin F. HaUett, Lewis Gaylord Clarke, George Pairie, John B. Snow, Thomas S. Webb, 580 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Henry B. Anthony, James B. Angell, James S. Ham, George W. Dan ielson and Alfred M. Williams. In 1824 the Independent Inquirer, a weekly paper established August 27, 1823, by Barnum Field, was transferred to the publishers of the Manufacturers & Farmers Journal, and its name changed to the Rhode Island Country Journal and continued to be issued until 1897. On the 21st of July, 1829, the proprietors believed they were warranted in starting a daily issue, and the first number of the Provi dence Daily Journal was issued, which is still at the height of a pros perous existence, and the oldest daily newspaper in Rhode Island. During all of its long career the Journal has occupied the leading position in Providence journalism. In order to more completely cover the Rhode Island newspaper field, and particularly that of Providence, the publishers of the Journal began, on January 26, 1863, the issue of an evening edition, to which they gave the title. The Evening Bulletin. The exciting events of the Civil War and the necessity of giving the public the latest news, made the Bulletin a welcome addition to the local press, and it still continues with the largest circulation of any Rhode Island daily paper. From the birth of the Republican party, during many years, the Journal's publica tions have been earnest and able advocates of its principles, and their influence in the political field in this State was almost unlimited. The time came, however, when its own sense of independence and its loyalty to its own belief impelled it to change its policy as a strictly party organ. Since that time the papers have been independent to a marked degree, and have not hesitated to give their influence in support of those who were believed to be the best men for public station, regardless of their political affiliations. In facilities for news- gathering, partic ularly in regard to foreign and State dispatches, and in all modern mechanical appliances of improved presses, type-setting machines, etc., the Journal has been kept abreast of newspaper improvement in the great cities of the country. The office was removed in 1844 to the Washington buildings, where it remained to July, 1871, when it changed to the Barton block on Weybosset street. In May, 1889, the Fletcher building, corner of Westminster, Eddy and Fulton streets, having been purchased by the company and fitted up for its purposes, was occupied. It is one of the largest and most fully equipped print ing and publishing establishments in New England. The Providence Sunday Journal was first issued July 19, 1885. Besides the short-lived papers already noticed, only two others were established in chronological order before a second attempt was made to found a Democratic newspaper in Providence ; these were The Bea con, started December, 1823, by William Spear, and continued weekly to the early part of 1826 ; and The Investigator and General IntelU- gencer, established in October, 1824, with James B. Yerrington, pub- The Printer and the Press. 581 hsher, and WiUiam Goodell, editor; it was a weekly and in 1828 re moved to Boston. In August, 1828, John S. Greene began the publication of the Repub hcan Herald, a Democratic sheet. A year later he was succeeded by WilUam Simons, jr., who continued until January, 1842. This paper soon received the support that had been previously given to the Provi dence Patriot, and it capably filled its chosen fleld. But financial returns were meagre, comparatively speaking, and after a long strug gle the Herald, in 1850, was made a weekly edition of the Daily Post. The latter was established in March, 1850, by Sayles & Miller, and was pubUshed by them and by Anthony Miller successively until August 1, 1866, when Albert S. GaUup took it. The paper suspended May 11, 1867, but was practically succeeded by the Morning Herald. Among those who edited the Post were WilUam Simons, Welcome B. Sayles, "Clem" Webster, and Thomas Steere, and they made its columns sparkle with pungent humor and incisive comment. The Providence Morning Herald, which was printed with the material previously used on the Post, appeared May 20, 1867, with Noah D. Payne and Albert A. Scott, publishers. Mr. Payne was in sole control from September, 1868, until May 21, 1873, when the paper was discontinued, and many years passed before another attempt was made to establish a Demo cratic paper in the city. From the date of the founding of the Providence Journal during many years no permanent addition was made to the newspapers of the city; but the list of ephemeral publications during that period was a long one. Of these short-lived journals only brief record is possible or necessary for these pages. The Literary Subaltern was established January 1, 1829, by WiUiam Marshall, with Sylvester Southworth, editor. Under several different proprietors it continued three or four years. A few numbers of the Daily American were issued in 1831 ; and on September 18, of that year, Bennett Wheeler started The Chronicle of the Times, which also failed after the issue of a few num bers. It was in 1830 that the Providence Free Press was brought from Pawtucket to remain one year in aid of the anti-Masonic campaign. An, attempt was made to establish another daily paper by Sylvester S. Southworth and Stephen G. Holroyd, who issued the flrst number of the Daily Gazette on February 2, 1833 ; The Journal of the next day contained the following: "The City Gazette, the first number of a new daily afternoon jour nal, of the size of the Boston Atlas, published by Messrs. Southworth & Holroyd, made its debut yesterday. In politics it promises to sup port the National Republican cause. It is to be edited by Mr. S. S. Southworth, of the Literary Subaltern, which will be resumed, and published, as heretofore, once a week. "The Daily Advertiser and Semi- Weekly American, conducted by 582 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Mr. Daniel Mowry, 3d, were discontinued yesterday, according to previous notice, by the publishers. The Weekly Microcosm will be continued as usual, and sent to all subscribers of the Daily American. ' This is a clear statement of the changes made at that time. The Gazette was continued nine months, when it was made a weekly and the name changed to The City Gazette ; it was soon afterward discon tinued. The Voice of the People, started in 1834, was silenced after a few numbers ; it was published by a Mr. Doyle. The Evening Star was established in April, 1834, by Charles Haswell, editor and proprietor; a few weeks later Nathan Hall and Cornelius S. Jones took the paper and subsequently changed its name to the Daily News ; it was discon tinued in August, 1836. In June, 1834, a daily journal was started with the title. The Com mercial Advertiser, by Knowles & Burroughs ; it was published even ings until September of that, year. Prom the contents of the daily, a weekly was made up and issued under the name of The New England Family Visitor and Literary Journal. The Penny Post was founded in January, 1835, by Samuel S. Wilson, editor and publisher; in July of the same year the name was changed to The Weekly Visitor, and its visits ceased in the foUoAving November. One of the several newspapers that have been absorbed by the Journal was the Morning Courier, edited and published by William G. Lamed from June, 1836, to January, 1840 ; it was a weekly paper. A campaign paper called The Gaspee Torchlight was issued from the Journal office during the Harrison campaign of 1840 ; its opponent at the same time was pertinently called The Extinguisher, which eman ated from the Herald office. The New Age, established February 19, 1841, as a weekly was pub lished successively by the Rhode Island Suffrage Association, Millard & Brown, and MiUer, Low & Miller, until March 1, 1842. Prom the same office was issued The Daily Express for a short time after March 18, 1842. Joseph M. Church established The Evening Chronicle on March 30, 1842, but it suspended within the first year. The Narra gansett Chief was a weekly issue from the same office, a reprint from the columns of the Chronicle. A daily paper that had an existence of about ten years was estab lished in 1844 by L. Amsbury, with the name. The Daily Transcript and Chronicle ; it was an afternoon paper, and in July, 1847, the name was changed to The Daily Evening Transcript. From that date it was published by Green & Shaw, A. Crawford Greene, editor, until Decem ber 19, 1855, when it was suspended. ^ Between 1843 and 1850 several ephemeral sheets were started and doomed to early extinction. The Independent was issued weekly a short time in 1844 by W. S. Sherman. The Tribune of the People The Printer and the Press. 583 had a brief existence in 1846, and The Daily Sentinel was established in that year by S. M. Millard, but Uved only a short time. The Daily Star was published in 1849-50, and the Morning Mirror was issued for a short period in 1849 by Rowe & Co. One nearly permanent journal was founded during this period in the Providence General Advertiser and Weekly Gazette, which was estabUshed in 1847 ; as indicated by its title, it was devoted chiefly to advertising and was circulated gratuitously until January 31, 1886. The publishers at different periods were J. D. Jones, A. Crawford Greene, and A. Crawford Greene & Son. The decade from 1850 to 1860 was proliflc of newspapers, all of which were disappointing to their founders. The Providence Daily Tribune, however, narrowly escaped permanency, as it lived about six years. It was founded June 13, 1853, by A. Craw'ford Greene, editor and publisher ; he was followed in succession by L. Amsbury and Colby & Amsbury. The paper was discontinued in 1859. Prom the Tribune office was issued the United States Freeman, which was edited by Dunbar Harris and others ; it was an advocate of the abolition of slav ery and short-lived. The Providence Plaindealer Vsras published during the year 1855 by Howard Meeks. In 1857 N. Bangs Williams began sounding Bangs' Trumpet, which continued a year or two. The same editor, associated with Henry L. Tillinghast, published, during a part of 1859, The Evening Telegraph. The Providence Evening Press was established March 14, 1859, by Cooke & Danielson (Albert B. Cooke and George W. Danielson) ; it was edited several years by Sidney Dean. In 1880 Z. L. White be came the editor and later proprietor. This paper had a fluctuating existence of over a quarter of a century, during a part of which it enjoyed fair prosperity. Changes in its publishers and editors were numerous, and finally, through unsuccessful management, it was dis continued September 30, 1884. The Rhode Island Press was the weekly edition of the Evening Press and Morning Star, and was established in 1861 and continued to 1886, having been continued by Z. L. White & Co. after the suspension of the daily. The Providence Morning Star was estabUshed December 9, 1869, with the same pub- hshers and editors as the Evening Press, and continued to May 4, 1887. In 1876 a paper was established in Providence which was destined to serve as the foundation for a successful and permanent daily inde pendent Democratic journal. This was the Sunday Telegram, which was estabUshed in 1876 by C. C. Corbett & Brother. There were sev eral early changes in proprietorship, the founders being succeeded by Corbett & Spear, and this firm by Corbett & Black. The paper was continued with fair success until 1880, the office being located at the comer of Peck and Friendship streets. In the year just named a LOWER WEYBOSSET STREET AND POST- OFFICE NEWS AGENCY, PROVIDENCE. From a Photograph Taken in 1857, in the Possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society. The Printer and the Press. 585 daily edition was issued, and in 1881 the property passed wholly to David 0. Black. In 1886 P. A. Crandall acquired an interest in the business and for a time occupied the chief editorial chair. In October, 1889, the establishment was purchased by the Providence Telegram Publishing Company, and in 1891 the office was removed to Turk's Head. From this time forward The Telegram rapidly advanced in pubUc favor and acquired a large measure of influence in the field of Democratic politics throughout the State. Able writers were placed in charge of the various departments, a competent corps of reporters engaged, and all modern facilities for news-gathering were employed. The rapid increase in the circulation of the paper soon demanded not only the best and most effective mechanical appliances for producing a newspaper, but also more commodious quarters. To meet this de mand the establishment was removed, in December, 1899, to 136-144 Westminster street, where commodious quarters were specially fitted up for its permanent home. The Telegram building is admirably adapted for its purposes and is fully equipped with everything neces sary for the rapid production of a first-class modern newspaper. Upon the organization of the Telegram Publishing Company, Joseph Bani gan was chosen its president and served in that capacity until his death, when he was succeeded by Walter S. Ballou, the present incum bent. David P. Lingane was made managing editor at the organiza tion of the company, and since 1894 has filled the position of manager and editor-in-chief, with Burton Firman, managing editor. A weekly edition of the Telegram was begun on January 30, 1899. The Odd Fellows' Register was estabUshed in 1877 by the firm of Reynolds & Mackinnon. In May of the next year it was removed to East Greenwich, and continued to August, 1883, when it was sold to William H. Smith, of Portland, Me., where it was continued many years. The German newspaper, the Providence Anzeiger, was established as a weekly in 1876 and still represents the interests of that large element of citizenship. It has been edited successively by Gustav Saacke and Felix Hamberger, forming the Anzeiger Publishing Co. Another paper that survived the exigencies of the business a number of years was the Rhode Island Democrat, which was started June 14, 1879, by Albion N. Merchant. The establishment passed to John H. Seholfield and Peter Trumpler on July 10, 1884. On December 25, 1884, Mr. Seholfield became sole owner, forming the Democrat Pub- hshing Company. From September, 1891, the Rhode Islander Pub- hshing Company issued the paper, with Benjamin P. Evans, manager, and Josiah B. Bowditch, editor. In March, 1892, the paper was re moved to Newport where it was issued a few months as a weekly edi tion of the Herald. At the end of that time it was returned to Provi dence and continued about two years by the same company. 586 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The Times Publishing Company was formed in 1877, and during a short period in that year published the Providence Evening Times. On March 16, 1878, the first number of The Cosmopolitan, a weekly, was issued by AngeU, Hammett & Co. ; it continued to January, 1879. In September, 1879, P. E. Corbett took charge of a new paper, the Sunday Transcript, which was owned by Alonzo Spear, of Boston, who was succeeded by The Transcript Company; the paper stopped in 1886. The Providence Herald was established November 1, 1879, by Brown & Corbett, and a year later passed wholly to E. A. Corbett. In 1885 he was succeeded by Corbett & Sawin (A. D. Sawin) ; this paper has been continued to the present time, excepting for a few weeks, after which interim E. A. Corbett became sole proprietor and changed the name to Corbett 's Herald. The Narragansett Historical Register was a valuable pubhcation, issued monthly from 1882 to 1885, at Hamilton, R. I., when it was removed to Providence and continued to April, 1891. It was devoted to antiquities, genealogy, and historical subjects, chiefly of the south ern part of the State. James N. Arnold was editor. Bound volumes of this magazine are preserved in the library of the Rhode Island His torical Society, and in some of the other Ubraries of the State. Book Notes is the title of a fortnightly publication which has been issued by Sidney S. Rider since April, 1883. It is devoted to Uterary information and criticism, and historical sketches. A Sunday edition of The Star (before mentioned) was added in 1881, with the title The Sunday Star, and continued to about 1886. During a brief period in 1884 The Mail was issued daily from the Democrat office. Another short-lived daily was The Evening News, started October 1, 1884, by Z. L. White ; it was discontinued March 7, 1885. In April, 1886, C. C. Corbett started The Sunday World; he was succeeded by P. E. Corbett and the paper suspended in 1888. The Sunday Republican was established in 1887 by E. A. Corbett, which is still continued by him, with the name changed to the Rhode Island Republican and the publication day to Saturday. In 1883 Claude De Haven established a weekly called The Indicator, but it was suspended in 1888. The Providence Ledger was established as a weekly Republican paper in January, 1888, by J. D. Hall & Co., with J. D. Hall, jr., business manager. The paper was discontinued in 1892, at the time of the establishment of the Daily News. Among newspapers devoted to the various labor interests of Provi dence and its vicinity was The People, established December 5, 1885, by Robert Grieve, editor, and the Rhode Island Co-operative Printing and Publishing Company, proprietors. In May, 1887, Mr. Grieve was suc ceeded by John P. Smith, and he by Robert Greaves, a former member of the board of directors of the paper. At this time the business was leased to Holmes W. Merton, who has as associate, Henry Vrooman; IHE Ir'RINTER AND THE PrESS. 587 they continued the publication as a socialistic organ until 1888, when it was discontinued. The Paper was the title of another labor journal which was pub hshed for a time in 1888. The Evening Call was started July 4, 1889, as the outcome of a strike and lockout, and was under the management of the Typographical Union, with F. E. Jones, editor, and J. A. Addy, manager ; it Avas suspended at the end of flve months. B. S. Lake & Co. started The Rental Guide and Rhode Island Busi ness Journal in 1888, and still publish it, with the title changed to the Real Estate Register and Rental Guide, which explains its purpose. The Freemason's Repository, devoted to the interests of that Order, was founded in 1871 by T. S. Hammond, with Rev. W. H. Rugg, editor. It is now pubUshed by E. L. Freeman & Son. The Tiden was a Swed ish-American paper, which existed from 1889-1891, published by Dr. F. J. Haller. The Manufacturing Jeweler is a successful trade period ical, which was started as a monthly in October, 1883, by Albert UUman and John A. McCloy ; the present proprietor, W. B. Frost, took it about a year later, changed it to a semi-monthly October 1, 1889, and to a weekly October 1, 1890; Mr. Frost became editor November 1, 1884, and proprietor March 23, 1893. The Board of Trade Journal made its first appearance in November, 1889, AA'ith Little & BosAvorth, proprietors. It Avas the official organ of the Providence Board of Trade and supplied information of interest to the commercial, manufacturing, and flnancial circles of the city. The paper was continued until March, 1893. Two months later J. D. Hall & Co. began the publication of the Providence Journal of Com merce, of which Mr. Hall was editor; subsequently the Journal of Commerce Company was formed, Avith Mr. Hall at flrst as editor and later as business manager. Mr. Robert Grieve succeeded Mr. Hall as editor. In February, 1899, the paper Avas sold to the Providence Board of Trade, the title was changed to the Board of Trade Journal, and George H. Webb, secretary of the board, became the editor. The publication is now called the Journal of Commerce and Board of Trade Journal. With the exception of a short interval, Charles Bosworth has been connected with this publication from the beginning, and much of the credit for its artistic appearance and general mechanical excellence is due to his efforts. The Independent Citizen was the name of a weekly paper, started in Providence on January 5, 1889, with Rev. John H. Larry, editor, and the Independent Citizen Publishing Company, publishers. The gen eral purpose of the paper Avas reform in a broad sense and independent expression on political topics. Mr. Larry continued to edit the paper until September, 1895, when he was succeeded by W. H. S. Pittenger. He was soon followed by E. N. Casey. The paper was continued to 588 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. January, 1898, having been published during the latter part of its existence by a stock company. The Medical literature of Providence has included three or more periodicals which have ably represented the interests of the profession. Rhode Island Medical Science was the name of a monthly publication, which was established in January, 1893, and continued two years. It was at once succeeded by the Atlantic Medical Weekly, which con tinued to 1898. The Providence Medical Journal, a quarterly, was established in January, 1900, and continues in existence. An addition to the permanent daily press of Providence was made by the founding of the Providence Daily News on September 21, 1891, headed with the printed claim that it was to be "a clean family paper". Heaton, Langtry & Co. were the publishers and the office was located at the comer of Dyer and Pine streets. On October 6, 1891, The Providence News Company became the owner of the busi ness, the names of R. W. Bryant, publisher, and C. W. Bacon, editor, appearing under the editorial heading; S. A. Hopkins was business manager. On September 22, 1897, J. W. Watson became the pubUsher and manager, and Charles H. Howland, editor; the latter was suc ceeded by Charles P. Towle, who was foUoAved by the present editor, Thomas H. McElroy. Others who were associated Avith the business management of the paper are Torrey E. Wardner, R. W. Jennings, Charles Carroll, and George Lockhart Darte, the present incumbent of the position. In January, 1898, the title of the corporation was changed to the Providence News Publishing Company, of which D. Russell BroAvn is treasurer, and R. W. Jennings secretary. The News has gained a fair measure of popular favor. The L'Eco del Rhode Island has been published, in the interest of the Italian people of Providence, by Federieo Curzio & Co. since 1897. A Providence edition of Skandinavia, a Swedish paper, the headquar ters of which are in Worcester, was edited by C. J. Ljungstrom ; it was established in 1885. Svea is the name of a Swedish Aveekly paper, Avith headquarters in Worcester ; the Providence branch was established January 1, 1900. It is in charge of J. S. Osterberg. The Providence Watchman was started in November, 1900, and is issued from the Star printing office. Rev. W. S. HoUand is editor ; the paper is devoted to religious affairs and the interests of colored people. The list of religious, educational and strictly literary publications that have been founded in Providence is, like that of secular and news journals described, a long one. A very large majority of these had only brief periods of existence and many are deserving of notice only for reference ; a few only became permanent institutions and influen tial in their adopted fields. The Religious Intelligencer or Christian Monitor was probably the first paper devoted to religious affairs in Providence; it was issued weekly from the office of the American, in The Printer and the Press. 589 quarto form, by James D. Knowles, and failed for want of support at the end of six months. The first number was dated May 13, 1820. In May, 1821, Barber Badger revived it with the title abridged to Religious Intelligencer, which, after a few numbers, Avas changed to The Rhode Island Religious Intelligencer. In May, 1823, the form was changed to folio and enlarged, the title was made the Religious Intelligencer and Evening Gazette, and it so continued for about one year. The Rhode Island Baptist Avas established in October, 1823, as a monthly, by Allen Brown, and was printed by John Miller; it sur vived one year. The Christian Telescope was started August 7, 1824, and was edited by Rev. David Pickering, of the First Universalist church; Barzillai Cranston Avas the publisher, and later John S. Greene. In August, 1826, the paper was enlarged to eight pages and given the customary comprehensive title of The Christian Telescope and Universalist Miscellany. In December, 1826, P. C. Swain was associated in the publication with Mr. Greene, and from that date to September, 1827, it was printed by Cranston & Marshall; from the latter date Mr. Greene was the printer. In November, 1828, the paper Avas changed to folio form and the title still further extended to The Christian Telescope and Friday Morning General Intelligencer; it was discontinued in the following year. Jacob Frieze was associated with Mr. Pickering in the editorial work for a time. In opposition to the journal The Anti-Universalist, begun in 1827, with Origen Bach elor, editor and publisher, was removed to Boston in December, 1828, and there suspended. A religious journal that received considerable favor and lived about fifteen years was The Hopkinsian Magazine, published by Hugh H. Brown and edited by Otis Thompson, from 1824 to 1840. The Free WiU Baptist Magazine was established in May, 1826, as a quarterly ; it was made a monthly in May, 1828, and suspended in 1830. It was printed at different periods by Barzillai Cranston, James B. Yerring ton, and Marshall & Hammond ; Zalmon Tobey was the editor. The ReUgious Messenger was established July 2, 1825, with Origen Bach elor, editor, until January, 1826, and then by a committee of the Rhode Island State Convention to August 12, 1826. James N. Seaman then took charge and was followed the next year by William Goodell. The paper was a weekly and was discontinued in 1828. The Gospel Preacher had an existence of a year, beginning Decem ber, 1827, with David Pickering, editor, and John S. Greene, pub- hsher; it was a UniversaUst journal. One number only of The Union Conference Magazine was issued in August, 1829, by Rev. Ray Potter, Free WiU Baptist. During 1831 Rev. David Benedict pubUshed and edited The Rhode Island Journal and Sunday School and Bible Class Advocate, taking the honors in competition for extended titles. One 590 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. number only of the Sunday School Herald was issued April 26, 1832. Joseph A. Whitmarsh published The Light in 1835, but it was very soon extinguished. A rival of this journal was called More Light, by Jacob Frieze, which also soon flickered out. The Samaritan, a temper ance paper, had an existence of about two years, flrst as a weekly and then semi-monthly, beginning November 10, 1841 ; Samuel S. Ashley and Thomas Tew Avere editors. The Gospel Messenger, devoted ' ' to theoretical and practical religion and morality", was established November 28, 1840, and edited by Zephaniah Baker until January, 1842. He Avas associated with S. P. Landers from that date to January, 1843, and they were successively followed by A. A. Davis, Harvey Bacon and D. B. Harris ; it was a weekly journal, supporting Universalist doctrine. A religious paper called John the Baptist was started in 1840, edited by John Tillinghast and published by Benjamin T. Albro, advocating the Six Principle Baptist creed ; three years later it was removed to Pawtucket. The Christian Soldier was a fortnightly publication started Febru ary 18, 1842, Avith J. Whittemore and T. H. Bachelor, editors, and Hugh H. BroAvn, printer. It was a Pree WiU Baptist advocate, and in November, 1842, Avas issued from Pawtucket as well as from Provi dence. J. W. Holman and W. Colegrove became associate editors. In September, 1843, Providence and Boston are given as the publication offices, and in December of that year the title was changed to the Rose of Sharon and Lily of the VaUey. It is not known how long the paper continued. Another paper of similar character, called the Pree WiU Baptist Quarterly, was published from 1835 to 1856, in Providence, and was later removed to Dover, N. H. A CathoUc reUgious journal, of greater permanence than any of the foregoing, Avas estabUshed in 1875 by Rt. Rev. Thomas P. Hendricken, D. p., Bishop of the Diocese of Providence, and named The Weekly Visitor. It was at first a smaU three column foUo, but it soon gained a large circulation in this and adjoining States. At the close of the first year it Avas purchased by Dr. Michael T. Walsh, of the Morning Star staff, was enlarged, and its scope was broadened to include cur rent topics of importance. The circulation rapidly increased, and within a few years a plant was purchased and two editions printed— The Weekly Visitor going chiefly outside of Providence, and the Sunday edition into local circulation. In 1881 The Visitor Company was formed, and subsequently the two editions were amalgamated under the title. The Providence Visitor. The paper is now pubUshed by the Providence Visitor Publishing Company, of which the Very Rev. T. P. Doran is president; Rev. T. L. Kelly, editor and treasurer; Rev. J. C. Tennian, secretary ; W. F. Kenefick, business manager. The Voice of the Truth was started in 1864 by J. H. Lonsdale and was continued nearly ten years. The pubUsher announced that it The Printer and the Press. 591 would be supplied gratis unless the reader was anxious to pay 50 cents per annum for it. The Living Christian had a short existence in 1873, with D. Schindler, editor. The Church Union was published during the year 1875 by Edward B. Nickerson. The German Evangelical Church Messenger served the interests of that reUgious sect in 1895-6. The Black Board and Crayon was the original title of a quarterly publication which was flrst issued April 1, 1879. In January, 1881, the name was changed to the Sunday School Superintendent. It is published by the Providence Lithograph Company, chiefly as a guide to Sunday School teaching. E. G. Taylor, D. D., Avas editor from April, 1879, to March, 1887, Avhen Miss L. 0. OrdAvay assumed the posi tion. The Missionary Helper was published during a part of 1885 by Mrs. M. M. BrcAVster. The Association Notes is a monthly publication issued by the Young Men's Christian Association of Providence. The Beulah Items was established in September, 1888. by Rev. P. A. HiUery, as a religious paper, aiding also the cause of Prohibition. In May, 1892, it was consolidated with the Bible Christian, which was published in New Hampshire by Rev. E. B. Pike. The new journal was given the name, The Beulah Christian, and Mr. Pike acted as associate editor. The paper was issued by the Pentecostal Printing Company from 1898, of which Mr. HiUery was treasurer and manager. Faith and Works was started as a four-page weekly on November 21, 1896, with G. G. Praser, business manager ; John H. Larry, editor ; and J. 0. Randall, associate editor. In September, 1899, Mr. Randall be came editor, with G. W. Hope, associate. The official organ of the Young People's Societies of Christian En deavor is the Church Messenger of Rhode Island Christian Endeavor. It is now in its eleventh year of publication and is edited by Miss Cora A. WeUs. A number of newspapers devoted to the cause of temperance have been started, but few of them had long life. The Rhode Island Tem perance Herald was established October 13, 1838, and claimed to be edited and published "by an association of gentlemen". It was a weekly, and on October 30, 1839, the name was changed to The Olive Leaf and Rhode Island Temperance Herald. In May, 1840, it Avas consoUdated with the New York Weekly Messenger. Charles Jewett, Lorenzo D. Johnson, and Abel Stevens succeeded each other as editors. During 1838-9 the Providence Temperance Herald Avas issued. The Cold Water Gazette was started March 21, 1840, edited by Wyllis Ames ; it was a political campaign paper and suspended after election. Of papers that may be classed as literary, educational, or scientific, there have been a large number, but none that have attained much prominence and permanence in those vast fields. As far back as April, 1814, Martin Robinson and Benjamin Howland (Robinson & Hqw- land) had the temerity to start the Rhode Island Literary Repository, 592 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. which was edited by Isaac Bailey. In those days illustrations were almost impossible for such a magazine and the contents were mainly selections from other periodicals and books. It was an octavo monthly and lived only one year. Origen Bachelor was the editor of the Juvenile Gazette, which was printed a few months in 1818 ; he was succeeded by William H. Smith. The Ladies' Magazine, "edited by a lady", as announced, printed by John Miller, was estabUshed in March, 1823 ; only a few numbers were irregularly issued as a monthly. The Ladies' Museum, Eaton W. Maxcy, editor and publisher, was published from July 16, 1825, to July 22, 1826. The Juvenile Gazette was the title of a small weekly pub lished by 0. Kendall, jr., in 1828 ; it was sold to Smith & Parmenter, who began the publication of the Literary Cadet July 29, 1826. The literary culture of Rhode Island was further upheld by one of the long- named publications. The Toilet and Ladies' Cabinet of Literature which was established January 5, 1828. It Avas first published by Josiah Snow until August, 1828 ; by W. A. Brown to November, 1828 ; and finally by Smith & Parmenter. The flrst editor was Owen G. Warren, who was succeeded in November, 1828, by Samuel M. Fowler. On January 24, 1829, the name Avas changed to The Saturday Evening Gazette and Ladies' Toilet. It was a weekly" quarto and suspended soon after the change of title. Two monthly numbers of The Original were published in 1829 by Marshall & Hammond, Prances H. Wliipple, editor. A few numbers of The OUa Podrida were irregularly issued, probably in 1830, by John Bisbee ; also a few numbers in that year of The Juvenile Repos itory, by Samuel S. Wilson. The Literary Subaltern was established January 1, 1829, edited by Sylvester S. Southworth; it was a semi- weekly during the first year and a weekly thereafter. It had several different publishers, and suspended in December, 1832. On June 8, 1833, Albert G. Greene took the editorial control of the Literary Jour nal and Weekly Register of Science and Pine Arts, which was pub lished by Knowles & Vose. At the end of the first volume he expressed his regret that there was not in Rhode Island a sufficient degree of literary spirit to sustain such a publication, and it Avas suspended. This paper was succeeded by the New England Family Visitor and Literary Journal previously mentioned. On February 1, 1853, Mrs. Pauline Wright issued the first number of the Una ; it was editorially announced that it would be ' ' devoted to the interests of women as long as such a paper shaU be needed". It was a monthly and possibly fulfilled its mission. It was removed to Boston in January, 1855. The New World was originally a temperance advocate, started in 1870 by T. A. Carpenter, but it subsequently changed its character to an advocate of women 's rights, with two women as editors. It did not The Printer and the Press. 693 long continue. The New England Register was estabUshed in 1871 by T. a. Carpenter, in the interest of mill operatives who were striving to obtain a ten-hour day of labor. The paper was suspended when the object was accomplished. The Temple of Honor, a temper3,nce jour nal, was published monthly during a part of the year 1876 by IT. P. Ferrin. The Sun was started as a Aveekly on December 4, 1873, by Lester E. Ross, who continued it to November 20, 1876, after which date it was issued a short time as a daily and suspended. In 1874 James E. Hanrahan began the publication of the Providence Evening Chronicle, but it survived only a short time. In the same year the Sunday Dispatch was started by P. D. & E. Jones ; they were succeeded by P. D. Jones alone, and he by W. B. W. HaUett. Soon afterwards C. C. Corbett and Orville Remington became the OAvners, and the Dispatch Publishing Company Avas formed. During the period of their control they issued the Daily Dispatch. About the year 1890 the establishment passed to ownership of E. A. Corbett, who still continues it as a weekly. In 1875 S. B. Keach began issuing a weekly family paper called Town and Country, which was continued until 1879. The Weekly Visitor was started in October, 1876, but was removed to Central Falls soon afterward. The Item was first issued in 1886 from the office of the Press as a one-cent daily, but its career was brief. Brown University has contributed to the literary life of the com munity by the establishment of The Brunonian, in July, 1829. It con tinued until March, 1831, and in March, 1868, was revived by the undergraduates. The first competitor of the Brunonian was The Brown Magazine, started as a monthly in April, 1890. A year later the Brown Daily Herald was added to the list of college publications ; it appears every morning during the term period. In September, 1898, the Brunonian and Brown Magazine consolidated and the publication continues to the present time as a monthly. In July, 1900, the Brown Alumni Monthly made its first appear ance ; it is conducted by an advisory board of the alumni, Avith Henry R. Palmer, of the Providence Journal^ editor; Prof. J. N. Ashton, associate editor ; Robert P. Brown, treasurer ; Theron Clark, business manager. In April, 1901, the students at Pembroke HaU organized a magazine, known as the Sepiad. In 1855 the senior department of the Girls' High School began pubUshing The Gleaner, which lived about two years. The High School Magazine was issued a short time in 1858 by the EngUsh and Scientific departments of the Providence Boys' High school. The Rhode Island Educational Magazine was pubUshed from 1852 to 1854, with E. R. Potter, editor. This periodical exerted great influ- 38 594 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. ence in State educational affairs, which were about that time under going rapid change and development. It was the predecessor of The Rhode Island Schoolmaster, another very influential and able journal, established in 1855 by Robert AUyn; this was a monthly and was edited from 1858 to 1860 by William A. Mowry. During the succeed ing decade a board of editors was in charge, and in 1870 was followed by Thomas W. BickneU and Thomas B. StockweU to 1874. It was then merged with the New England Journal of Education. The students in the classical department of the High School started, on November 1, 1862, a paper called the Delphic Oracle. In 1877 they published the High School Budget, and during the school year of 1882-3, they issued The Hypophet. A paper called The Sentinel is now published by the University School. As facilities for engraving and electrotyping became locally accessi ble and at i«ss cost than formerly, a futile attempt was made to estab lish in Providence an illustrated periodical, which was named, "Ours Illustrated ' '. It had a brief career about 1870 under management of Webb Brothers & Co. The Art Folio was established by J. A. & R. A. Reid on June 1, 1883, as a handsome illustrated periodical, but it survived only a year or two.^ Outside of Providence and NcAvport, in the various cities and vil lages of the State, are maintained a number of excellent newspapers, 'In addition to the newspapers of Providence, of which more or less extend ed account has been given in these pages, there have been a large number of short-lived publications, of which little is now known aside from the mere mention of their names in directories or elsewhere. These are briefly men tioned here with such dates as are accessible. The Bibliomaniac was a publi cation, the character of which may be inferred from its title, which was first published by S. S. Rider & Brother in 1867. The Rhode Island Lantern was published in 1870 by the Rhode Island Lantern Association. Three Links, an Odd Pellowsjournal, was issued in 1871 by George T. Bradley and John C. Keer. A paper called Yours was published in 1873 by Trumpler & Birchfleld. W. G. Comstock published The Record in 1875. The Jeweler was a trade paper issued in 1877 by W. J. Pettis. The Parrott was a military paper established in 1878; it absorbed The Echo, started in January, 1879, and soon passed out of existence. The Cosmopolitan was established in March, 1878, and was sold to the Echo Publishing Company in January, 1879. The Confidential Report er was published in 1880 by J. C. Gooding. The People was issued in 1881 by J. F. Smith. A German paper, called the Rhode Island Wochenblatt, was pub lished in 1883 by William Alden Kirchen. The Comet was a paper that blazed for four numbers in 1883. The Outlook was a fortnightly publication issued by the Rhode Island W. C. T. U. in 1885, and subsequently became a monthly; it continues to the present time. The Helper was the name of a paper pub lished in 1885 by D. P. Buker. The Providence Labor Tribune was founded in September, 1886, by the Providence Tribune Company. The Rhode Island Farmer was published by P. B. Corbett during 1886-7. The Rhode Island Citizen was published for a short period about 1885, by Benjamin F. Evans. The Sunday Courier was established by A. D. Sawin and E. A. Corbett about 1887 and lived less than two years. D. P. Buker published Buker's Illustrated Monthly and Household Magazine a few years, and later issued The Commer- The Printer and the Press. 595 some of which have been in existence many years and have attained extended influence and gained the confidence of the public. The first issue of the first newspaper published in Pawtucket appeared Novem ber 12, 1825, with the title, The Pawtucket Chronicle and Manufac turers' and Artisans' Advocate. It was edited by John C. Harwood, and was located in a wooden building on the south side of Main street west of the bridge. The paper Avas a weekly with four pages of five columns each. A November issue of 1826 gives the name of William H. Sturtevant as editor, but soon after this it passed to Carlile & Brown of Providence, and was discontinued January 27, 1827. Three weeks later, on February 10, the paper was revived by Randall Meacham, who purchased the plant of Carlile & Brown. On Septem ber 22, 1827, Mr. Meacham purchased his, then, only newspaper rival, The White Banner (published in the interest of Masonry), which had been started a short time before. In July, 1829, S. W. Fowler became associated with Mr. Meacham, and January 1, 1830, Mr. Fowler's name appeared as editor. Beginning with the issue of August 6, 1830, the publication day was changed from Saturday morning to Friday evening and so continued while the paper lived under that distinctive title. On February 11, 1831, Mr. Fowler purchased his partner's interest, but his health failed, and in the summer of 1832 he went South, leaving his business in charge of John H. Weeden. Mr. Fowler died of consumption August 26, 1832, and in the following October the cial Bulletin from 1886 to 1890. The Rhode Island Military Journal was a monthly publication, the character of which is indicated by the title, which was established in November, 1889, and continued a few years under manage ment of Colman Wells and the Military Publishing Company. The Forester's Repository was issued by F. N. Shaw in 1888. The Financial News was estab lished by the Financial News Company in June, 1890; in the company were H. K. Stokes and 0. B. Munroe; Mr. Stokes acquired sole control in May, 1891. The New England Wine Merchant and Brewers' Gazette was published several years beginning with 1890, by F. E. Corbett. J. W. Henderson published the New England Torchlight from 1890 to 1896. The Home Guard was estab lished in 1891 by Mrs. B. J. Smith. The World was published in 1891 by Louis G. Phillips. A French paper, called Le Courrier du Rhode Island, was published in 1892 as one of the several journals that supported the Democratic party. The Evening Record was issued in 1892 by J. J. Monaghan. A paper tailed About Town was published in 1892-3 by W. W. Spencer. In 1893 was established The Greater Providence Magazine by P. W. Lovell. A Swedish paper, called Framat, was published in 1893 by M. Hulting & Co. The Rhode Island Israelite was a paper printed in the Hebrew language from August, 1894, edited by Samuel Mason. The Narragansett Observer was printed in Providence in 1894, under management of H. E. Lewis. Justice was a labor organ published in 1893-5 with George E. Boomer, editor, a part of that period. The Pointer was published from September, 1895, to September, 1897, by John H. Larry. A Swedish paper was published during 1895-6, with the title, Fol- ket's Rost, by John Charholm. An Italian paper, called L'Aurora Novella, was started in 1896 by Collano & Evans. The Providence Herold was a Ger man paper, issued in 1898-9. Club Life was 'established in 1898 by A. A. Fraser. The Rhode Island Picket is a monthly publication, established in May, 1900, in the interest of the Sons of Veterans; F. B. Carpenter is editor. 596 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. printing and publishing business was sold by Mrs. Fowler to Henry and John E. Rousmaniere, of Newport. They were unsuccessful, and in October, 1835, offered the establishment for sale. As no purchaser appeared, John E. Rousmaniere retired in November, 1836, while the brother continued alone until April 19, 1839, Avhen he announced a sale of the business and plant to the proprietors of the Gazette, and the consolidation of the two papers under the name The Gazette and Chronicle was effected. On August 3, 1838, two young men, Robert Sherman and Shubael Kinnicut, who had learned the printing business in the office of the Chronicle, began the publication of the Pawtucket Gazette, and Avithin the following year purchased the Chronicle, as just stated. The young men received substantial encouragement in their efforts to make a good local paper, and they prospered. They did most of their own work in type-setting and printed their edition on a hand press in the old way. In March, 1841, the office was removed to larger quar ters ; when Amos M. Read finished his brick block on the site of the old office, the plant was again removed into it and there remained until March, 1866, when it located in its present quarters in Manchester Hall. Three enlargements of The Gazette and Chronicle have been made— the first on January 5, 1855 ; the second June 29, 1860, and the third July 1, 1870, giving it nine columns to the page. During a part of the Civil War period the number of columns was reduced to seven ; it now has eight pages of six columns each. The first cyUnder printing press in Pawtucket was placed in the Gazette and Chronicle office and was first used on May 4, 1855 ; this Avas displaced for a larger one, Avhich was in use until December, 1886, Avlien a new and improved machine was introduced. Steam power was first used in the office November 29, 1866. During many years prior to January 1, 1866, the imprint of the Gazette and Chronicle gave the name of Robert Sherman as publisher; on that date the firm name was changed to R. Sherman & Co., through the purchase of a one-fourth interest, on January 1, 1864, by Ansel D. Nickerson, an employee of the office since 1846. On January 1, 1870, John S. Sibley purchased Mr. Sher man's half interest and Mr. Nickerson took Mr. Kinnicut 's quarter interest, and from that date until April 1, 1875, the firm of Nickerson & Sibley published the paper. On this date Charles A. Lee, an em ployee since 1863, purchased an interest from the senior partner, and the style was changed to Nickerson, Sibley & Co. Three years later, April 1, 1878, Nickerson sold out to Mr. Lee, and on the foUoAwng January 1, 1879, the firm name took the form of Sibley & Lee. Mr. Sibley died in 1893, having previously sold his interest in the business to his partner, who conduct-ed it to January 1, 1894, when he became associated with Lester W. Upham (Lee & LTpham), and so continued to Mr. Lee's death. May 16, 1900 ; since this date the paper has been pub- The Printer and the Press. 597 lished by The Chronicle Printing Co., consisting of L. W. Upham and George N. Burroughs. The semi-centennial of the Chronicle was becomingly celebrated November 12, 1875, Avhen a fac-simile sheet was issued of the first number of the paper. The semi-centennial of the Gazette also was celebrated August 3, 1888, when a souvenir sheet of a historical and illustrated character was published. Of the other weekly papers of Pawtucket the majority were short lived and of little historical importance. The Mercantile Reporter appeared about 1829, and seven numbers were issued. The Battle Axe was published for a time by Benjamin W. Pearce, in the interest of temperance, and his condemnation of liquor-sellers was so bitter that they or their representatives broke into his office and threw his plant into the river. The Business Directory was published and gratuitously circulated by Alfred W. Pearce, brother of Benjamin, and after several years was absorbed by the Gazette and Chronicle. Other former weekly journals, several of them temperance advocates, were Truth's Advocate, Midnight Cry, the Pawtucket Herald, Rose and Lily, Sparkling Fountain, Temperance Regulator, and the Paw tucket Observer; the latter was started in June, 1860, by George 0. Willard, who had learned his trade in the Gazette and Chronicle office. It was a Republican paper, but notAvithstanding that party won its first national victory in that year, the paper was not liberally sup ported and it was discontinued in March, 1861. From that date during nearly a quarter of a century the local field of journalism was ably occupied by the Gazette and Chronicle. On April 10, 1885, the first Pawtucket daily newspaper was issued from the Gazette and Chronicle office, with the title. The Evening Chronicle, Charles A. Lee, editor and proprietor. It acquired a fran chise in the United Press Association and was ably conducted, but its public reception did not warrant its continuance and the last number was printed May 2, of the same year. On the 30th of April, of the same year, the first number of the PaAvtucket Evening Times was issued, with George 0. Willard, editor and proprietor. Mr. Willard had been connected with the Providence Press during many years, and when that paper suspended he went to Pawtucket, where he received ¦encouragement in starting the Times. After a hard struggle of about two years he overcame his numerous obstacles and made his business prosperous. The paper was a one cent daily and it ultimately obtained a large circulation. WiUiam C. Sheppard was associated with Mr. Willard in the editorial management, with Seabury S. Tompkins, local ¦editor. On January 31, 1890, the Times was sold to David 0. Black, formerly owner of the Providence Telegram, and after March 26 of 1;hat year was issued by the Times Publishing Company, of which Mr. Black is the head, and Peter J. Trumpler, business manager ; Charles 0. Black, treasurer. The Times is ably conducted and largely success- 598 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. ful ; its handsome building was erected in 1895-6, and is fully equipped with modern web presses, type-setting machines, etc. A second one cent daily was established September 15, 1888, by Martin Murray, called The Evening Tribune. It answered for a time in an able manner the demand for a Democratic organ and received fair support from the first; but a combination of circumstances and political conditions caused its suspension in 1899. A small monthly publication, caUed the Pawtucket and Central Falls Real Estate Record, was started by H. H. Sheldon, a real estate dealer in Pawtucket. In a few months the title was changed to the Pawtucket Real Estate Record, and at the beginning of the second volume it was made a weekly. In December, 1886, I. A. Kearns was employed as assistant editor and a little later took full editorial charge. In May, 1887, the Pawtucket Record Company was formed, consisting of Mr. Sheldon, David J. White, and P. C. Sheldon, the paper was enlarged and its character broadened. In November, 1890, Mr. White became sole owner, and in the following year he purchased the Central Falls Visitor and consolidated the tAvo under the name of the Record- Visitor. The paper was stopped in 1895. The Pawtucket Commercial BuUetin was established in December, 1892, by J. D. HaU & Co., of Providence. J. D. HaU, jr., was editor for about a year when C. H. Bosworth assumed control of the paper. It was subsequently absorbed by the Providence Journal of Commerce. A Democratic daily paper Avas established in Pawtucket on Decem ber 11, 1893, with the title of Pawtucket Evening Post, by the Post Publishing Company. It was an eight-column folio, but later was changed to an eight-page sheet. While there was editorial ability shown in the columns of the paper, as Avell as mechanical attractive ness in its make-up, the business was unprofitable. In November, 1897, the establishment passed under management of L. B. Pease and the name of the paper Avas changed to the Sun. It suspended in a few weeks. A newspaper printed in the French language called Le Jean Bap- tiste, was started on January 1, 1897, by J. B. S. Brazeau, who is editor and proprietor. He has made the business a success and his publica tion creditably reflects the life of the French element of the population of Pawtucket and Central Palls. Another French paper, named L'Esperance, was started in March, 1891, by J. M. Authier, and con tinued a few weeks as a semi-weekly. Pawtucket and Central Falls have had several ephemeral publica tions that gained little influence or patronage. Among them were the Pawtucket Free Press and the Sunday Ledger, both issued in 1894, . and the Central Palls and Blackstone Valley Argus Advertiser, the ; Central Falls Weekly Herald, 1875, and the Family Guest, 1881. The first newspaper established in Woonsocket was The Weekly The Printer xVnd the Press. 599 Patriot, a family journal, started in 1833 by Sherman & Wilder, which has survived the usual newspaper fatality and is still in prosperous existence. A short time after the paper was founded Mr. Sherman purchased his partner 's interest, Mr. Wilder retiring to become one of the firm of Hapgood & Wilder, who, in 1835, established the Rhode Island Advocate as the second paper in the town. This publication ceased after about nine months, leaving the Patriot substantially the whole newspaper fleld during several years. About May 1, 1836, I. Robinson began the publication of the Rain- boAV, which, in its fifth number (April 16), claimed to have 1,000 sub scribers. It was devoted to ' ' literary miscellany and the arts ' ', and it is not strange that it was discontinued at the end of a year. N. Robin son was its editor. During the Dorr political excitement, in 1842-3, a free suffrage advocate, called the Independent, was removed to Woonsocket from Providence, and published only a few months by Walter Sherman. In 1842, also, the first issue of the Woonsocket Sentinel and Thompson- ian Advocate made its appearance, dated February 16; it aimed to reform the practice of medicine according to the theories of the Thompsonian system, and to provide reading upon subjects of hygiene and health, temperance, miscellany and news. It was a weekly, pub lished by Mason & Vose, the editors being William Vose and Dr. G. W. Davis; Josiah Perkins had charge of the Washingtonian temperance department. An associate editor. Dr. J. M. Aldrich, -was added to the staff in December, 1842, and in March, 1843, a new editorial force took the paper, but it was discontinued before the close -of that year. In 1850 Erastus Fisher began publishing the News Letter, a weekly, which survived less than a year. The next Woonsocket journal was a semi-monthly devoted to agriculture, called The Farm and Fireside ; it was started January 5, 1867, and pubUshed from the Patriot office, by S. S. & G. W. Foss ; this also was discontinued at the close of a year. The early and remarkable success of the Weekly Patriot was chiefly due to the energy and abiUty of Samuel S. Foss, its editor. He was a native of Boylston, Mass., born in 1821, and began his apprenticeship in the Patriot office in 1837. Three years later he became associate editor, and in 1841 purchased the establishment from WilUam N. Sherman. At that time the circulation was down to 500 and the plant was in poor condition. Mr. Foss at once improved the paper and graduaUy added to the material until the office became one of the best in the State. The circulation ran as high as 9,000 in some years prior to 1873. He removed the office to the Waterman block in 1855 and ten years later purchased the building, after which it was known as the Patriot building. Mr. Foss died August 16, 1879. He was a man of great public spirit and made his paper instrumental in advancing all local pubUc projects that merited his favor. Upon his death his twin 600 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. brother, German W. Foss, took charge of the paper and conducted it until his death in 1880. Herbert E. Holmes was then engaged to edit the paper for the Foss estate until 1881, when The Patriot Printing Company was formed, of which William H. Goodale, George B. Arnold and Elmer Ray were the principal members and directors. T. H. Mann and Warren Lee Goss entered the concern at a later date. On August 4, 1886, George B. Arnold became proprietor of the establish ment and L. B. Pease purchased the business and plant and since that date the paper was continued as the weekly edition of the Daily Even ing Reporter, retaining the old familiar title. The Daily Patriot Avas started in 1876 by S. S. Foss, the first issue bearing dated April 3 ; it was a small four-page sheet and sold for one cent. The new venture was fairly patronized, and with his usual enterprise Mr. Foss, at his own expens'e, constructed a telegraph line to Providence in order to get his news promptly. On April 3, 1878, the daily was enlarged and improved. On March 15, 1881, it was sold to L. B. Pease, who merged it with the Evening Reporter. The latter was the first daily news paper established in the place, the first issue being dated October 1, 1873, with Mr. Pease editor and proprietor. It AA^as only a four- column folio and sold for one cent, but it was ably managed, and on March 20, 1876, was enlarged by four columns. Further enlargements were made ia 1879, 1883, and 1884, one column to each page, in each of those years. In October, 1889, the paper assumed the eight-page form. On December 16, 1884, a morning edition was added, but only four numbers "were issued. The Reporter met with remarkable success, and in 1901 had a circu lation of about 7,000. Mr. Pease remained sole proprietor until 1890, when he organized the Woonsocket Reporter Company. He withdrew from this connection and from the conduct of the paper in the fall of 1897. The 'active conduct of the paper since that date has devolved upon Georgie A. Smith as editor, and Henry E. Whitney as business manager, both of these men having been connected respectively with the editorial and business departments of the paper during a long term of years. Besides the men named there have been engaged on the editorial force of the Reporter, J. W. Smyth, P. W. Thurber, B. R. Somes, Thomas Steere, Henry DeWolfe, Edw. P. Tobie, jr., P. M. Lally, and J. P. Kennedy. Among Mr. Whitney's predecessors as business manager have been Geo. A. Nason, E. B. Condon, and Arthur S. Pease. A file of one volume (III) of the Ladies' Mirror is preserved by the Rhode Island Historical Society. Number 1 of this is dated November 3, 1832, which will indicate approximately the date of its beginning. It was published at Woonsocket Palls, semi-monthly, by Sherman & Wilder. In the number just mentioned the name of G. W. H. Fisk is given as publisher, but it was taken out before the close of the year. The Printer and the Press. 601 An editorial begging for payment of subscriptions appears in the last number of the volume. The Valley Republican was a short-lived two-cent daily, started April 26, 1886, by Goss & Mann and printed in the Patriot office. The paper was discontinued when the Patriot Avas sold to George B. Arnold in August of that year. The first Sunday newspaper in Woonsocket was the Sunday Journal, started May 3, 1885, with Edward B. Condon and Maxime L. Bouret, proprietors. At the end of four weeks Condon sold to his partner and four weeks later the paper was discontinued. Newton's Textile Gazette, devoted to the interest of mill owners, was established in July, 1883, as a monthly. In April, 1885, it began, as a semi-monthly and after October, 1888, was issued weekly. Charles M. Newton is editor and publisher and the paper has gained a large circu lation and influence ; its title is now the Textile Manufacturers ' Labor Weekly. The Evening Call was established on May 30, 1892, by the Evening Call Publishing Company, Samuel E. Hudson, business manager, and Andrew J. McConnell, editor. It is an independent Democratic paper and has attained permanent success. On January 1, 1899, L. B. Pease, who was long associated with the Patriot and Reporter, started the Evening Sun, a one cent daily paper ; but the local fleld was already fully occupied and the paper suspended on March 17 of that year. "The Evening Star was started by a corpo ration early in 1899, with John R. Martin, editor, and continued until the ensuing fall. New England Siftings was a weekly journal, established in 1882, . with Charles A. King, editor ; its career was short. There is a large French element in the population of Woonsocket and its vicinity, for the beneflt of which several papers have been published in that language, only one of AA'hich now survives; this is named La Tribune, and was founded in April, 1895 ; it has been pub hshed by an incorporated company since May, 1896, and is the only French-Canadian daily paper in the State. "In February, 1897, it ab sorbed another paper, named Le Progres, which was established in the previous year. Charles C. Gauvin is general manager of the Tribune. Other French papers that were unsuccessful were the Courier Cana dian, established in 1880 by Gagnon & Archambault, and suspended at the end of six months, and the business was transferred to Worcester. La ReveUle was started in 1876, with Joseph Daignault, editor, and continued until 1897. The Courier de Woonsocket was established in 1822 by Belanger Brothers and was subsequently removed to Wor cester. Le Foyer Canadien was started in 1892 and lived less than a year. La Cloche du Dimanche, established in September, 1899, by 603 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. G. Vekeman, suspended in December of the same year. A paper called La Travailleur had a short existence also. The first newspaper claiming Burrillville as its field was started in 1880 by Smith B. Keach, of Harrisville, and called the Burrillville Gazette. Mr. Keach sold it in about six months to Whittemore Brothers, who, after an unsuccessful effort to profitably print the paper there, established a job printing business in Providence and issued the paper from that plant. The Gazette was continued thus until the fall of 1892, when they consolidated with the BurrillviUe News, which had been started eight months earlier by Edgar A. Math ewson, also of Harrisville. This was Mr. Mathewson 's second attempt in this line, he having started the first Burrillville News in 1880, soon after Mr. Keach began publishing the Gazette; the first News lived only a few months. After the consolidation of the two papers the title was made The Burrillville News-Gazette. In 1895 the patronage of the paper had declined until it Avas unprofitable, and the title and about 160 subscribers were sold to the publishers of The Pascoag Her ald. The latter paper was started by Arthur S. Pitz, in April, 1892, at the request of the business men of the town. Mr. Pitz had been conducting The Pomona Herald at Providence, but resided in Burrill ville, whence he removed to Pascoag, established a job printing busi ness and newspaper office and continued the Pomona Herald; this paper he made the only successful agricultural journal in Rhode Island. With two competitors in the local field, the Herald had a hard struggle, but finally outstripped them, and the consolidation resulted as just described. Mr. Mathewson started his third newspaper in Burrillville in 1895, calling it The Star, but it survived only a few months. In 1893 Mr. Pitz made a close corporation for his business, taking into it some of his employees, and P. L. Sayles acquired a small interest and was chosen president of the company; Mr. Pitz assumed the office of treasurer, manager and editor ; F. H. Potter, foreman and secretary. The plant and business was gradually largely increased, and an extensive printing patronage obtained from a wide field. To more effectively carry this on, a reorganization took place under the name of Herald Syndicate, with A. S. Fritz, president and manager ; T. W. Steere, treasurer; P. E. Fritz, secretary; E. P. Metcalf, auditor; and a board of directors, consisting of these and K. K. McLaren, John J. Watson, jr., and Daniel D. Waterman. A Providence office is kept open for convenience of customers in the city. Little Rhody is the name of a paper Avhich is pubUshed at North Scituate ; it was started February 6, 1891, by N. A. Angell, Avho stih continues it. The Telephone was issued during 1885-6 at Coventry by G. G. Cutting. During the years 1880 and 1881, Frank Potter pubUshed the Chepachet Weekly. A paper called the Woonsocket The Printer and the Press. 603 Union, bearing the imprint of Georgiaville (Smithfield), was started February 23, 1894, by J. Prank Masterson ; it did not long exist. A paper named the Blackstone VaUey Argus was established in Lonsdale on December 1, 1882, by Thomas W. Schurman and William H. Brown. It lived a little more than two years. East Providence has had a number of ncAA^spaper ventures, but the town depends mainly on city newspapers for its daily reading. The first number of the East Providence Eagle appeared on June 14, 1882, with E. A. Corbett, editor and proprietor. It was a six-column folio, but another column was added in December of that year. The pub lishers were Corbett & Sawin (A. D. Sawin) after 1886, and in Feb ruary, 1887, A. D. Sawin assumed the whole business. After various other changes the paper passed under control of George L. Fritz, of Providence, who still conducts it. The Rhode Islander, which was published a short time from an office in Providence by Benjamin W. Evans, was removed to East Provi dence in 1896, where it is still continued under the present manage ment of Mary Frost Evans. The East Providence Record was established in October, 1885, by E. F. Sibley. In August, 1887, the firm of Sibley & Johnson was formed, who continued the publication until October, 1889. The paper was finally merged with the Olneyville Times, which is now published by Mr. Sibley. The East Providence Mirror was started in April, 1896, and con tinues to the present time ; it is published by the Franklin Press Com pany, and Orland Freeborn is the editor. The Cranston City Times was established May 1, 1895, by Thomas S. Hammond, who has a large printing establishment in Providence. The paper still continues to represent the affairs of Cranston and its vicinity. A paper called the Cranston Leader had a short career, beginning in June, 1889, with the Leader Publishing Company pub- Ushers. Olneyville had its first newspaper established on January 4, 1884, and called the Rhode Island Citizen. It was issued by the Citizen Publishing Company, with Cyrus Walker, editor, and Benjamin W. Evans, business manager. Litigation over an alleged libel caused the suspension of the paper after about a year and a half. The OlneyvUle Tribune was started September 2, 1893, by David E. Parmenter, but it Avas short-lived. The first issue of the Olneyville Times appeared in August, 1887, with Sibley & Johnson, proprietors. Since the death of Mr. Johnson in 1891, the paper has been pubUshed and edited by E. P. Sibley, and creditably represents the interests of that suburb of Providence. In southern and central Rhode Island a large number of country journals have been offered to the reading people, meeting with differ- 604 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. ent degrees of success, a few of them attaining prosperity and influ ence in their respective fields. The first newspaper published, in Westerly was the Literary Echo, beginning in the spring of 1851, with George H. Babcock, editor and proprietor ; it was continued to 1858 by him, and by Edwin G. Champlin and James H. Hoyt successively, its name being changed in 1856, to the Westerly Echo and Pawcatuck Advertiser, and was then merged in and succeeded by The Narragan sett Weekly, the first number of which appeared April 29, 1858. This journal was published and edited about one year by J. H. Utter & Co. (John Herbert Utter), when it became the property of J. B. & J. H. Utter, Avho increased their facilities and continued the business nearly thirty years and to the death of J. H. Utter in October, 1887. His interest then passed to his partner, and by him Avas transferred to his own son, George H. Utter, the firm name being G. B. & G. H. Utter. In connection with this paper the firm began, in the fall of 1861, the publication of The Sabbath Recorder, a weekly Free Will Baptist advo cate. This paper had been published in New York about eighteen years, chiefly under the direction of George B. Utter, who removed it to Westerly and there continued it to 1872; it was then sold to the American Sabbath Tract Society and removed to Alfred, N. Y. Upon the death of George B. Utter the business was continued by the surviv ing partner. On the 7th of August, 1893, was issued the first number of the Westerly Daily Sun, the Narragansett Weekly being continued in connection therewith until March, 1889, Avhen it was suspended. For the publication of this bright daily newspaper a modern plant Avas installed, including a web press, and type-setting machines. The Sun is independent in politics, with Republican proclivities, and under Mr. Utter 's management has acquired large influence. The Westerly Enterprise was a monthly paper, established by T. A. Carpenter in November, 1867. It was distributed gratuitiously sev eral months. In 1884 The Rhode Island Telephone was removed from Wickford to Westerly and the name changed to The Westerly News and Rhode Island Telephone. It was edited and published by J. AVarren Gardi ner to January 7, 1888, when Alva C. Lowrey assumed charge and changed its title to The Westerly Tribune. The paper was continued as a weekly to September 6, 1888, when the first number of the West erly Daily Tribune was issued, with the Tribune Company, publishers, composed of Thomas H. Peabody and Alva C. LoAvrey. On January 3, 1889, Mr. Peabody purchased his partner's interest, and the paper continued to December, 1897. The plant remained idle a few months, when it was purchased by Brunner & Benson, who started the Westerly Herald, which lived nearly two years under their management, and that of the Herald Company. On February 20, 1885, E. Anson Stillman issued the first number The Printer and the Press. 605 of a semi-monthly sheet called Stillman 's Idea ; it Avas devoted mainly to advertising and continued a number of years. On June 19, 1888, the first number of the Westerly Journal, a weekly, was issued by Prank H. CampbeU ; this paper Avas removed to Arctic, town of Warwick. In Hopkinton, John Larkin established in October, 1890, a monthly called the Informant, which ran exactly one year, and was discon tinued in favor of a weekly called the Hope Valley Pree Press. This paper was first issued in July, 1891, has had as editors John Larkin and George H. Hadley, and is independent in polities. The Grange Visitor was a monthly established in Hope Valley by H. N. Phillips. The Wood River Advertiser Avas started at Hope Valley on January 1, 1876, by Lyman W. A. Cole. He was an energetic and able editor and soon obtained for his paper a large circulation. In 1881 Mr. Cole died and the business was purchased by Herbert N. Phillips, then editor of the Shannock Sentinel. He remoA'ed his plant to Hope VaUey and consolidated the two papers under the title, Sentinel- Advertiser. In July, 1894, he changed the name to Hope Valley Advertiser, as still retained. At the death of Mr. Phillips, E. T. Spencer became owner of the establishment in February, 1895, and so continues. The Advertiser is the official advertising medium for Hopkinton, Richmond, and Exeter, and enjoys a large measure of prosperity. The Narragansett Herald Avas established in April, 1875, by Dr. Irving Watson, who has continued in control of the paper to the present time. During about two years after he founded the Herald it was caUed the Narragansett Herald, Hopkinton Gazette and North Kingstown Courier. The Hopkinton Gazette had been previously started and was purchased by Dr. Watson, and the Wickford Tribune, which he established, were combined under the above title. The Block Island Budget was established in 1885 by AV. G. Craw ford, of Boston, and was sold by him to John P. Sanborn, of Newport, where it has since been printed in the office of the Mercury, the name having been changed to The Mid-Ocean. Charles E. Perry has edited the paper from the first, excepting one year. The Island Home is a paper made up chiefly from reprint, started by the pastor of the Bap tist church on Block Island a number of years ago. A paper Avith this title is now published by Littlefield & Lodge. The Watch HiU Surf, a semi-Aveekly, was published in the season of 1888, by George G. Champlin, at Watch Hill. A Aveekly is now pub hshed with the title, Block Island Surf, by The Croke Printing Com pany, Charles E. Perry, editor. The 1901 edition is called volume 1. The Narragansett Surf is published by the same company, with Charles B. Warren, editor. The Watch Hill Surf was succeeded July 12, 1894, by the Watch Hill Life, with J. C. Kebabian, publisher. 606 State op Rhode Island and Proatidence Plantations. It is issued only in the summer season, and still represents the interests of that popular resort. The Wickford Standard was established in August, 1888, by Cogge shall, Gardiner&Co.,and continued under their management one year, when the senior partner retired, leaving Claude Gardiner in charge. At a later date it passed to Chace & Young and was published by them in 1893, when James H. Coggeshall, the founder again assumed the proprietorship. The Standard is a reliable weekly journal and is cir culated throughout the State. The Portsmouth Chronicle was established at Portsmouth as a week ly journal in October, 1885. It is Republican in politics and is one of a number of similar journals published in various New England villages by S. E. Fiske, of FaU River. Little Compton had a newspaper, which was published in 1882 by Isaac B. Cowen. One of the very early attempts to found a newspaper in Rhode Island was made in Bristol, when Capt. Golden Dearth, in January, 1807, issued the first number of The Mount Hope Eagle. D. A. Leon ard, then postmaster, edited the paper, which survived one year. The Bristol Gazette was started in September, 1833, by Bennett J. Munro, editor and publisher, and AV. H. S. Bayley, printer. In the following January Mr. Bayley purchased the entire business and continued the Gazette four years. A few weeks later he issued the first number of The Bristol Phenix, which is still published, its exist ence covering a period of more than sixty years. Mr. Bayley con tinued publisher until his death in November, 1862, when it was pur chased by C. A. Greene, who conducted the business until October 21, 1893, when he sold it to the Herald Printing Co., of Pascoag, and three months later it was changed from a folio to an octavo. November 1, 1894, the establishment Avas purchased by Parrally Bros. (W. H. and J. P.), who at once changed from an eight-page weekly to a four-page semi-weekly, which greatly advanced the prosperity of the journal. The Clarion, or Bristol County Advertiser, was established about December 1, 1823. In number 27, dated May 22, 1824, the editor, Samuel Randall, said: "The Clarion has been transferred to us by the late editor ' ', and solicited the patronage of the public. The paper was printed by Levi Luther and published from the office of the Gospel Palladium. In May, 1840, The Bristol Eagle, a small sheet, was started by C. A. Greene and T. Rutherford ; it lived only one year. The town of Warren had a printing office before the beginning of the last century, when, in 1792, Nathaniel Phillips began the publica tion of a paper called the Herald of the United States. His office was situated on "Main street opposite Cole's Inn", as the imprint reads. In 1808 this business was transferred to John P. Phillips, son of Na thaniel, and the paper suspended in 1812. The Printer and the Press. 607 In 1809, on the 11th of March, appeared the first number of the Bristol County Register, a weekly paper. No name of editor or pub- hsher appears in the paper, one volume of which is preserved in the R, I. Historical Society library. The flrst number contains "An address to the Publick", in the Avhich the purpose of the paper is declared to be "to circulate correct views of the pursuit and policy of our own government, and wholly to keep up the independence of our own nation ' '. It was a Whig organ. The firm of Mason & Bird started The Columbian Post-Boy in 1812, but it lived only one year. On November 6, 1813, Samuel RandaU began the publication of The Telescope, which he continued until 1817. In the latter part of April, 1825, he again issued a small paper, bearing the title. The Telegraph ; the second number, preserved in the Rhode Island Historical Society library, bears date March 2, 1825. This paper lived only one year. In 1823 Reuben Potter started the Clarion. Six months later he sold out to Samuel Randall, who gave up the undertaking at the end of another six months. The last issue of The Telegraph, before mentioned, contained the prospectus of a paper that was to succeed it. This was the Northern Star, published by Samuel Powder and Charles Randall, a nephew of Judge Samuel Randall. Mr. Randall became sole proprietor a fcAV years later, and in 1855 the good will of the establishment was pur chased by Albert R. Cooke ; the paper was discontinued, and Mr. Cooke began the issue of a semi-weekly paper, called the Rhode Island Tele graph. A semi-weekly publication could not be sustained, and it Avas soon made a weekly, and was sold in 1859 to Edwin P. Applegate. The paper was suspended in 1862. In 1867 Capt. James W. Barton founded the Warren Gazette. In 1876 ill health compelled him to relinquish business and the establish ment was sold to George H. Coomer & Co. Three years later the estab hshment was purchased by William H. Martin, who has successfully conducted the paper to the present time. In the year 1849 John B. Lincoln established a printing office in Phenix village, the material having been purchased by the owner of the Spencer block and leased to Lincoln. In May, 1850, he began the pubhcation of The Kent County Atlas, which received popular local encouragement. Although Mr. Lincoln was a good practical printer, he was unable to make his venture a permanent flnancial success, and in 1852 the citizens of East Greenwich purchased his plant and on July 3 of that year he issued the first number of his paper from that village, retaining the former title. Failure soon followed here also, and in 1854 WilUam N. Sherman purchased the plant and on May 27 of that year began the publication of the Rhode Island Pendulum. Between that date and January 1, 1900, this paper had many owners and editors, among them Charles Carroll, Frank S. Adams, Josiah B. Bow- 608 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. ditch and William B. Streeter. On the date last named A. W. Laugh- lin purchased the establishment from Mr. Streeter, and has since ably conducted this journal, which has had an existence of nearly half a century. In 1879 the East Greenwich Enterprise was started by Thomas C. Brown, who continued it less than two years, when it was sold to the proprietor of the Pendulum and merged with that paper. Several school papers have been published by the East GreeuAAdch Academy in recent years. The Trio was one that made its appearance in 1879 and continued several years, and the Academian is now in existence and has been published a number of years. After Mr. Lincoln removed his printing office from Phenix, as before stated, and in 1860, Moses W. Collins began printing in that viUage, and on November 1, of that year, issued the flrst number of The Phenix Weekly Journal ; the first three numbers bore no name of editor or publisher. The number dated December 19, 1861, appeared with the name of Ira 0. Seamans as editor and proprietor. The paper was continued about one year, when the plant was sold to E. L. Freeman, then of Central Palls. On February 22, 1876, Reuben E. Capron and John H. CampbeU (Capron & Campbell) began printing at Harris, and on March 25 of that year, published the first number of The Pawtuxet Valley Gleaner. On August 1, 1878, Mr. Capron sold his interest to his partner, who is still publishing an excellent country Aveekly in his own building, erected for the purpose. The removal of the plant of The AVesterly Journal to Arctic has been noticed. Frank H. Campbell, who had published the Journal, started, on July 2, 1892, The Pawtuxet Valley Daily Times, which he has published at Arctic since. The paper is capably edited and supports Republican principles. The first paper in South Kingstown was published in Wakefield, June 12, 1858, with the title. The South County Journal. Duncan Gillies was announced as publisher, with Thomas P. Wells, Isaac M. Church, and A. G. Palmer, associates. One June 11, 1859, the name of the paper Avas changed to The Narragansett Times, Avith Thomas P. Wells, publisher ; he was succeeded April 26, 1861, by David Dunlop. Mr. Gillies had returned to his Scotland home, but in August, 1864, he came back by urgent request and became the owner and publisher of the paper, which he continued until his death in August, 1881. The establishment was burned in April, 1880, but was immediately re newed. Upon the death of Mr. GilUes his sons took charge of the busi ness (D. Gillies' Sons), and have continued it to the present time. The vast improvements made in the art of printing and its alUed industries in this country since the first meagre outfit Avas brought into Rhode Island, have already been briefly alluded to in this chapter. The Printer and the Press. 609 Some of the details of these improvements as they have been gradually developed in this State are not without historical interest. The form and construction of the ancient printing presses of James Franklin and his distinguished brother are well understood by persons familiar with the art. They were operated only by hard labor and their daily product was extremely limited. The press was made mostly of wood, with a,n iron screw to produce the impression. On such a press less than 200 small sheets could be produced in an hour. If the sheet was longer than the bed of the press, two impressions were necessary to complete it. The inventive genius of the Yankee soon took hold of the printing press problem; the iron frame, with powerful lever and knuckle joint to produce the impression, constituted an important for ward step ; but even these presses Avere crude and slow at first ; still it should not, therefore, be inferred that most excellent work could not be produced on them, for it is difficult even at the present day to excel some of the beautiful printing of the old masters of the art. It was on one of those improved hand presses that the Providence Journal and other early publications were printed when the Journal was started in 1829. In 1836 one of the then celebrated Adams bed and platen power presses was introduced in the Journal office ; this was a remarkable machine and kept its place, especially for book work, for nearly half a century. By producing the impression on a flat bed, the best of AVork could be done, while the operation of the bed and platen by rotary motion greatly increased the speed. About 800 impressions per hour were easily produced. The old Adams press in the Journal office was turned by hand poAver until 1856, AA'hen a steam engine was installed, and also one of Hoe's early cylinder presses. As is well known, the impression on aU of the cylinder presses noAv in use (and they include almost the entire range of printing machines), is given by an iron cyhnder turning above a flat bed or against another cylinder, the flat bed having a reciprocating motion. This plan opened the Avay to far greater speed, but still the early single cylinder presses produced only about 1,000 impressions per hour. To further increase capacity the Hoes brought out their double cylinder press, using two cylinders above one bed, which doubled the output ; one of these was placed in the Journal, and as the circulation of the paper increased, presses of stiU greater capacity were installed. FinaUy, when inventive genius had perfected what is known as the web press, which prints from a continuous roll of paper, and cuts, pastes and folds the sheets as they pour in a rapidly flowing stream from the wonderful machine, one of the best of these was placed in the Journal office, and has been added to the equipment of the Telegram estabUshment, and other prosperous daily newspaper plants in the State. The use of this kind bf press involves a stereotyping plant, as the sheets are printed from a curved 39 610 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. plate, cast from the type, and fltted around the surface of one or more of the cylinders. Another very important feature of daily newspaper work in Rhode Island to-day, is the almost entire abolition of type-setting by hand. After years of effort and the expenditure of large sums of money, ruining his health and contributing to his recent death, Otto Mergen- thaler, of New York, perfected the so-called linotype machine which bears his name. The operator Avorks upon a key-board, causing the rapid placing in line of brass dies of the letters, from each line of which is cast a solid line with the words upon one of its edges ; these are placed in columns and used thereafter the same as type. This wonderful piece of mechanism seems almost endowed with thought, and no person interested in mechanics can spend an hour more profit ably than in witnessing its beautiful and effective operation. One or more of these machines is operated in most of the large printing establishments of the State. Most successful daily and weekly newspapers carry more or less iUustrations ; these are made possible only through the great improve ments and inventions of comparatively recent years. All such pic tures in former times were made only by engraving them on wood, at great expense, from which an electrotype was made. The printing was done from this copper-faced plate, thus saving Avear and other damage to the wooden block. Early wood engraving in this State was very crude, as seen by the cut used in the title to the Newport Mercury. But artists rapidly advanced in their skill and methods, until wood- engraving became, and still is, one of the most beautiful and effective means of art-expression. But it is very costly. Finally, and just when the necessity was at its highest, ingenious inventors and experi menters found a method of making a metal reproduction of a photo graph by a process too intricate to be explained here, and at nominal cost. This is one of the great art achievements of modern times in its relation to ncAvspapers, books and periodicals; the illustration of all of these was at once revolutionized. By this beautiful half-tone pro cess, as it is commonly called, any photograph or black and white drawing can be faithfuUy duplicated in a few hours, ready for the printing press, and instead of paying from ten or twenty to a hundred or more dollars for a wood-engraved portrait or other picture, the publisher obtains an exact reproduction of the photograph for a mere fraction of such figures. Half-tone work is now produced in a number of large establishments in the cities. Facilities for obtaining late news in the early years of the journalism of the State were very meagre, and it Avould seem that more effort was expended in securing and printing foreign advices, than in affairs of our own country. We look in vain in the papers of those times for New England news, unless it was the brief notice of some important The Printer and the Press. 611 national event, Avhile of what would now be termed local news, Rhode Island affairs in Providence or Newport, there is almost nothing to be found. The slow-going mails Avere the only resource of the editor, and Providence and Newport papers appeared regularly containing infor mation that was printed a day earlier in New York journals. Rhode Island publishers Avere not exceptionally slow in this respect, and measures for improvement Avere adopted here about as early as any where. The Providence Journal, previous to 1840, organized expresses to aid in gathering election returns, sending them to Boston for this purpose, where the Atlas Avas noted for its enterprise. In 1840, when it appeared that the triumph of the AATiig party depended on the result in Pennsylvania, the Atlas sent expresses over the whole State, char tered a steamboat to bring the nCAVs to Providence, where it was sup pUed to the Journal and carried forward to Boston by riders with relays of horses. And when the day line was established from Ncav York to Boston by Avay of the Sound, Norwich and Worcester and the Worcester and Boston railroads, the Providence Journal regularly expressed Ncav York morning papers from Danielsonville, Conn. Ad ditional and more rapid-running railroads gradually improved these conditions and finally, in 1848, the telegraph began operation between Providence and Ncav York, just in time to supply news of the presiden tial election of that year. The marvelous groAvth and improvement in faciUties and methods in news-gathering since that time, the laying of the Atlantic cable, the formation of various press associations, etc., are well understood. The newspapers of Rhode Island that have become permanent insti tutions have an average of high standing in the broad field of journal ism at the present time, in the closing years of the century. Their most conspicuous characteristic, speaking in general terms, is, perhaps, their freedom from unworthy literature, scandal, and the like, and the general efficiency of their editorial management. The large reading public of this State has never shown much disposition to accept news papers the contents of which were not suited to the family circle, and the universal law of supply and demand has here accomplished the usual result. :i/. (PcLzic^ The Growth of the Library. CHAPTER VI. THE GROWTH OF THE LIBRARY. The establishment of libraries in the early years of colonial life in Ncav England constituted a part of the feeble and vacillating efforts for the promotion of education and the diffusion of knowledge— efforts which, to a great extent, emanated from, and Avere instigated by, the clergy, and the institutions were in many instances dependent upon some kind of church connection or influence for their existence and growth. In later years by far the larger part of the libraries of Rhode Island, as well as of other New England States, were made an important part of the educational system, and their estabUshment and development received watchful attention and energetic action from the school authorities. The first public library founded in Rhode Island Avas a parochial institution located in Newport, where it vi'as established, in 1700, through the eft'orts of Rev. Thomas Bray, a minister of the Church of England. It contained less than one hundred books, fifty-seven of which were of a theological character for the use of preachers, and forty- two of similar character for a "layman's library" ; besides these books there Avere about one hundred pastoral letters. The reader of those days sought in vain, if he sought at all, for Uterature to amuse ; books were printed solely to instruct and to inculcate religious truths and doctrines.^ The second library in the Colony originated in the formation of a society by Bishop Berkeley, in Newport, for the purpose of discussing philosophical subjects and collecting books. Prominent in the found ing of this society, and long one of its most active officers, Avas Edward Scott, a granduncle of Sir Walter Scott. He taught for many years a classical school in Newport and held public office. As one of the important purposes of this society was "the promotion of knowledge and virtue ' ', the gathering of a library came to be considered by the 'Prof. J. F. Jameson, in the Rhode Island Historical Society's Quarterly for January, 1887, calls this library the "flrst public library established within this colony", and gives a catalogue of books sent November 12, 1701, "by Mr. Lockier to augment the Library at Rhode Island in America". There were only six of these and all were of a religious character. The Annals of Trinity Church, Newport, mention the existence of a parochial library there in 1709. 616 State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. members as one of the most influential measures they could adopt for that object. Ultimately the holding of debates ceased and the whole energies of the association Avere devoted to the accumulation of books. This work attracted the attention of Abraham Redwood as early as 1747, and he gave £500 with Avhich to purchase books in London, at the same time advocating the erection of a building suitable for their preservation. In August of that year the Redwood Library Company was incorporated by the General Assembly. Plans for the beautiful Doric structure of the RedAVOod Library were drawn by Peter Harri son, an eminent English architect, to which additions were subse quently made to bring the building to its present form. This structure was somewhat damaged in the Revolutionary War and some of the books were carried away by the British soldiers. The General Assem bly met in the building on September 11, 1780, the state house being unfit for the purpose on account of it having been occupied by the enemj', in common Avith all of the churches excepting Trinity. The library and the company were left in a discouraging condition, but a disposition was at once manifested to improve it ; to this end a commit tee was appointed in September, 1785, to procure from the General Assembly a renewal of the charter, which would restore the institution to its former condition, and under which it could be permanently established. This measure was not accomplished until 1790, when the Assembly granted the petition for a charter, and an amendment was made in the following year. In order to raise necessary funds for the library, application was made to the Legislature in 1806 for the privilege of raising $3,000 by a lottery, and for the admission of thirty new members upon their payment of $25 each. In 1813 Solomon Southwiek, then of Albany, presented the library vrith one hundred and twenty acres of land in New York State, one purpose of which was to perpetuate the memory of Henry Collins, one of the founders of the library. In 1834 the institution received a further donation from Abraham Redwood, of England, in honor of his distinguished grandfather, its founder ; this gift consisted of the Redwood homestead estate, in Newport, which the donor had inherited from his father, Jonas L. RedAvood. In 1837 Baron HoUinguer, a wealthy banker in Paris, Prance, gave 1,000 francs to aid in improving the library building; and in 1844 Christopher G. Champlin bequeathed to the company $100 and some valuable books. In the same year Judah Touro, then a resident of New Orleans, but formerly of Newport, made a donation to the institution of $1,000 ; in 1854, at his death, it was found that he had bequeathed the further sum of $3,000 for the benefit of the library. In addition to all of these gifts, and others, there have been received by the library, from time to time, many valuable paint ings, manuscripts, pamphlets, engravings, statues, etc. In 1856 the charter of the company was so amended as to allow it The Growth op the Library. 617 to elect from its members at the annual meetings a president and eleven directors, instead of five as before. In 1861 an additional act was passed authorizing the corporation to elect annually a vice- president, and not to exceed eight directors. Again, in January, 1867, an act was passed by the Legislature granting the right to issue so- called "preferred shares", and to increase the number of directors to twenty-five. After various additions and improvements had been made to the buiding, a new structure of stone and brick was completed in the early part of 1876, giving tne library a beautiful home that is Redwood Library Building. The General Assembly of Rhode Island met in this building September II, 1780. weU adapted to its purpose. Pounded in colonial times by a man whose foresight and UberaUty were in advance of his day, this historic institution has been upheld under all circumstances and conditions by enhghtened pubUc spirit, and has conferred inestimable benefit upon the community during more than a century of existence. The first catalogue of Redwood Library was printed in 1764, pre pared by Elnathan Hammond, showing 1,516 volumes. The appendix to the second catalogue, printed in 1829, contained 1,067 volumes, and 618 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. was prepared by the librarian, Robert Rogers. The third catalogue was issued in 1843, and was prepared by Christopher G. Perry, David King, Mr. Prioleau (of South Carolina), and Nathan H. Gould; it contained then 4,047 volumes. A fourth catalogue was printed in 1858 by Benjamin E. Thurston, under direction of the library board, and was finished in 1859 by Benjamin H. Rhoades, librarian, and included 9,504 volumes. Additions have been made since that date, from year to year, until now the library contains nearly 50,000 volumes. Among the other very early libraries in the State was one which Avas established in Gloeester iij 1794, for the incorporation of AA^hich sixty-four persons petitioned the Assembly. It was named The Union Library Coinpanj'^, and Avas authorized to hold property to the value of $5,000. Books were purchased and kept in a private school house at Chepachet. The library continued in existence about thirty years, when it declined and the remaining books were divided among the owners. Other early libraries of which little can now be learned was one established by the Johnston Library Company and incorporated in 1794, Avhich Avas in existence later than 1815; the West Greenvrich Library Society was incorporated in June, 1804, and the Foster Social Library Company was chartered in February, 1806; the Scituate United Library Avas incorporated in 1808 and continued many years; the Poster AA^est Library Society received a charter in 1830, and in June, 1847, the Foster Manton Library Society was organized and united its interests Avith the old Social Library; the BurrUlville Library Company Avas chartered in January, 1822, and the Lime Rock Library, Smithfield, was incorporated in 1838. The Act of the General Assembly of January, 1840, provided that the school committee in each toAvn might apportion out of the school money distributed to each district the sum of $10 for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a district school library, ' ' for the use of the children therein ' '. Following this, and as part of his labor in the interest of the schools of the State, Henry Barnard, who was appointed by the governor, in 1843, as an agent to investigate the condition of the schools and afterwards served as school commissioner, devoted much effort to the establishment and encouragement of school and other libraries. Among the many libraries established directly after the appointment of Mr. Barnard, before mentioned, and largely through his influence, Avere one in Portsmouth, towards which Miss Sarah Gibbs donated $100, and others in Burrillville, Gloeester, Cranston, Hopkinton, Rich mond, Charlestown, Exeter, Little Compton, New Shoreham, and per haps others. In 1848 there were in North Providence four smaU libraries in four school districts, two of them in the then viUage of The Growth op the Library. 619 Pawtucket. In Smithfleld was founded, in 1847, the Lonsdale Athenaeum, with 900 volumes, and the Slatersville Lyceum, with 750 volumes. Between 1840 and 1850 there were small libraries at Globe ViUage, AVoonsocket; at Hamlet, and at Bernon. The late Amasa Manton contributed money to many libraries in various towns, and they were given his name. Many of these, after conferring more or less benefit on the communities where they were established, either passed out of existence or became absorbed in later institutions. In the town of Charlestown there was formed in the year 1849 a library association called The CharlestoAvn Library Association, and a meeting of the subscribers was held on the 17th of January of that year. A committee was appointed to prepare a constitution, who duly reported. There Avere seventeen members at the beginning. The organization Avas perfected and placed on a sub stantial basis in the next year, largely through the generosity of Amasa Manton, who gave $150, and twice that amount was otherwise raised. About 500 good books were purchased. Contrary to the con stitution, the library was made itinerant for a time. The first library in the toAvn of Warren was established by the Warren Library Society, which was organized in 1798 by John Croade, Sylvester Child, Nathan M. Burr, John Child, John Pes senden, and others. This Avas known, also, as the Pessenden Library, perhaps because John Pessenden was librarian. The town of Warwick has been prolific in libraries, most of which were early and small in influence. The Warwick Library Society was incorporated in 1804, and probably was directly connected with the Warwick West School Society. While it was in existence many years, it never assumed large proportions. It was probably founded mainly through the influence and effort of Col. Job Greene.^ A second library was established probably near Apponaug, which was incorporated in 1806 under the title of the Warwick Central Library Society ; it was doubtless connected with the Warwick Central School Society, incorporated, like the one before mentioned, in 1804. The Old Warwick Library Association was organized December 4, 1847. The first names apearing on its record are those of William AVarner, Nathaniel Durfee, Alfred Colburn, Rebecca Perkins, Nancy LockAvood, Samuel Low, and Amos Lockwood. The last meeting of this association, of Avhich there is record, was held November 9, 1881. About the year 1851 the late Gov. John Francis Brown gave $100 to this library for the purchase of books on condition that a like sum should be raised ; this was accomplished mainly through the efforts of Rev. Alfred Colburn, of the Old Warwick Baptist church. 'Col. Job Greene lived at Greeneville (now called Centreville), and his is the only name appearing in the petition to the Legislature for a charter for this society. 620 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The first library in the toAvn of Bristol was established in 1798. A number subscribed for shares at $5 each and a charter was granted at the May session of the Legislature. Of the 500 shares originally subscribed 300 were given by Col. Simeon Potter and 121 by Capt. Charles De Wolf. In honor of the principal donor the name of ' ' The Potter Library Company" Avas adopted. Nearly all of the money subscribed Avas invested in books and a large and excellent collection was secured. Yearly dues of twenty-five cents from each member Avere collected. Thomas Richmond Avas the first librarian. The Ubrary was open only on Saturday afternoons. This company dissolved in 1837 and the property was divided among the shareholders. At a later date a library was owned by the King Philip Fire Engine Company, in Bristol, to which the public had access. This was ulti mately transferred to the library of the Young Men 's Christian Asso ciation, and both were finally merged in the Rogers Free Library. The Rogers Pree Library Avas founded in Bristol in 1877, and the handsome stone library building was erected and completed in the same year and dedicated January 12, 1878. Robert Rogers was born in Newport in 1792 and there passed his youth and young manhood, serving a part of the period as clerk in the commission business. He settled in Bristol in 1815 and engaged in mercantile trade, in which he achieved success. During the later years of his life he frequently spoke of founding a library, and after his death this purpose was manifest in various papers left by him. His vrife was formerly Maria De Wolf, daughter of William De Wolf, who was in entire sympathy with her husband's expressed intention in the matter. After becom ing fully assured of her husband's plans, which had been thwarted by ill health and business cares, she undertook to carry them out as he intended. To this end she purchased a site on Hope street, Bristol, and supplied the means for erecting a building at an expense of $20,000 ; she also donated to the library the private collection of books of Mr. Rogers, which had a value of $3,000. Since its estabUshment the library has been liberally maintained as a free institution and has greatly increased its sphere of usefulness. The will of WiUiam San ford Rogers, son of Robert, bequeathed $4,000 to the library, the income of which was to be devoted to the purchase of books. Through this and other gifts the number of volumes has greatly increased. It is proper, perhaps, in this connection to state that William San ford Rogers also bequeathed $50,000 to Brown University, in memory of his father and his uncle, Rev. Dr. William Rogers, both of whom Avere graduates of the institution. He gave, also, a large sum for the endowment of the Rogers High School, in NcAvport, as described on a preceding page of this work. The Newport Historical Society possesses an excellent and valuable library and many relics of great historical importance. The society The Growth op the Library. 621 was organized March 8, 1853. At a public meeting, held in the office of George C. Mason on the 14th of that month, the constitution was adopted and Dr. David King was chosen president ; William Littlefleld, vice-president; Robert J. Taylor, recording secretary; George C. Mason, corresponding secretary; Nathan H. Gould, treasurer; Benja min B. Howland, Ubrarian. The society was incorporated in 1854. Results of its work were not important until 1884, and were limited to the collection of a few books and some valuable manuscripts. In the year just named the society purchased the old Sabbatarian church building, erected in 1779, restored it to its early condition, and began very active work to carry out the purposes of the organization. A hmited income is provided by an annual charge of $2 to members, with a fee of $50 for life memberships. The Charles H. Russell and the Mechanics' Association funds provide further income, which together have enabled the society to make excellent progress. In 1886 the Mechanics ' Association voted to dissolve and transfer its funds to the historical society, in consideration of which the surviving members were made life members oi the latter society. State Record Commis sioner R. Hammett Tilley is the librarian, and to him is due a large share of the prosperity of the society in recent years. The People's Library in Newport was incorporated in January, 1867. The inception of this valuable Ubrary Avas due to Christopher Townsend, a philanthropic native of NoAvport, who founded a small hbrary at an earlier date. About the same date the citizens of NeAv port adopted measures to establish a Ubrary which should be wholly free to the public ; about 3,000 volumes were procured and a charter incorporating the institution. Mr. ToAvnsend determined to retain control and direction of the library founded by himself, and to that end purchased about 7,000 additional volumes of carefully selected works. This action led the authorities of the free library to turn over to him their collection, thus creating the People 's Library, which was dedicated in 1870. At the time of Mr. ToAvnsend's death, in 1881, the collection of books numbered 25,000 volumes, on which about $80,000 had been expended. One of the most valuable and useful libraries in the State is OAvned by the Rhode Island Historical Society, in Providence. This society had its inception at an accidental meeting held in the office of William R. Staples, on April 19, 1822. The great need of such a society had long been felt, not alone in Providence, but in surounding cities and villages, to provide an organization under the authority of which a large quantity of most valuable historical material and relics could be permanently preserved. At the meeting named a committee was ap pointed to prepare a charter, and a numerously signed petition was presented to the General Assembly, which, at the June session of 1822, was granted. The first meeting of members and officers was held at 622 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. the old Manufacturers ' Hotel on June 29, and a number of new mem bers were admitted. Soon after the organization was perfected, the valuable Poster, the Brown, and the Hopkins manuscripts were pre sented to the society, AAdth many files of newspapers and other his torical material. AU of these were kept at first in apartments in the old state house; from there they were removed to the business place of Brown & Ives, next to the Arcade. In 1824 a stone building was erected on Waterman street, which has served the purposes of the soci ety many yeare. To accommodate the increasing stores of books, relics, etc., additions to the building were made to bring it to its existing form and dimensions. The most important enlargement was completed and dedicated in 1891. There are now accommodations for 100,000 volumes. The library has increased from 400 volumes and several manuscripts in 1839 to 20,000 volumes, 45,000 pamphlets, 15,000 manuscripts, and 2,000 curios in 1900. In 1826 there were 65 resident members ; in 1839 there were 94; in 1876, there were 175, and in 1900, there were 331. The society has published many important works, including nine volumes of CoUections, and its Quarterly since 1893. It is a noticeable fact that nearly all of the important books credited to Rhode Island authors have been written by members of this society. The presidents of the society have been: James Fenner, 1822-33; John Howland, 1833 to his death at 98 years of age; Albert G. Greene, 1855-68; Samuel G. Arnold, 1868-80; Zachariah Allen, incumbency closed by his death in 1882 ; Prof. A\''illiam Gammell, incumbency closed by death in 1889; Horatio Rogers to 1896, and succeeded by John H. Stiness. The librarians have been : W. R. Staples, 1822-23 ; Walter R. Dan forth, Joseph HoAvard, John G. Anthony, Albert G. Greene, 1826-36 ; W. R. Staples, George Baker, Thomas C. Hartshorn, George W. Greene (1849-51), Edwin M. Stone, 1851-80; Amos Perry, 1880 to 1899, when he was succeeded by Clarence S. Brigham. The fine library of Browu University had its origin in an order sent by the corporation to Rev. Morgan Edwards, then in England, "to purchase such books as he shall think necessary at this time, not exceeding 20 pounds value". This is the only appropriation recorded previous to 1784, but doubtless books Avere donated during that period, for there was a library in 1776 that was removed into the country for safe-keeping during hostilities. Concerning the library in its early years, Hon. Asher Robbins wrote as follows : ' ' At the reorganization of the College, in the autumn of 1782, I was appointed to the office of tutor, and took charge of the Library as librarian. It Avas then kept in the east chamber on the second floor of the central building ; the volumes it contained were quite limited in number— these mostly the primary editions of the Avorks in folio and quarto." The Groavth op the Library. 623 Not long after this John Brown made it known to the corporation that he would subscribe an amount equal to whatever they could collect for enlargement of the library. This resulted in quite a large pur chase of books in 1783. In the foUoAving year valuable donations were received, and the corporation appropriated $350 for books. Others folowed from year to year, including those from John Francis, Gran ville Sharp, Nicholas Brown (of a law Ubrary), Rev. Isaac Backus, of Middleborough, Mass., and many others that need not be mentioned here. In 1815 Nicholas Brown gave $500 for purchase of books, and the will of Rev. William Richards, who died in 1818, bequeathed his hbrary of about 1,300 volumes to the library. What is knoAvn as the subscription of 1825 was due to the efforts of Horatio Gates Bowen, who was librarian from 1824 to 1841. He collected subscriptions of $840, which was expended for books, and from that time forward donations were reasonably frequent. What is known as the library fund was founded in 1831-2 through efforts to raise $25,000. Sub scriptions amounting to over $19,000 were obtained, which money was placed at interest until it amounted to $25,000, when it was invested in the stock of the Blackstone Canal Bank ; the proceeds of this fund have since been devoted to the purposes proposed by the donors. The library at the time the fund Avas raised was kept in an apart ment in University Hall, which was wholly inadequate and unsatis factory. To remedy this condition Nicholas Brown erected a beautiful edifice for a library and chapel, to which he gave the name Manning Hall; it was dedicated February 4, 1835. The first catalogue of the hbrary was published in 1793, the list containing 2,173 volumes; the second, published in 1826, contained 5,818 volumes. In 1843 the collection had increased to 10,235 volumes, and tAventy years later, in 1860, there were nearly 30,000 volumes. By the will of Henry B. Anthony the library, in 1884, came into possession of his collection of American poetry, consisting of about 5,000 volumes— a most complete and valuable acquisition. There are now (1900) about 110,000 volumes. In the course of time Manning Hall became unsuited to the needs of the library, and, moreover, it was not a modern fire-proof structure. John Carter Brown came forward in February, 1860, and subscribed conditionally for the coUege the sum of $25,000, $15,000 of which was to be devoted to the erection of a new building. He had previously purchased the site at a cost of $12,000, and when the conditions of the subscription had been met, in November, 1869, Mr. Brovm deposited with the treasurer of the university, $15,000. This founded the fund for the building, and before his death, in 1874, Mr. Brovm donated the site and also provided in his will the further sum of $50,000 to be added to what he had already given with its accumulations for the 624 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. building.^ Steps were at once taken to begin the work of erecting the structure. The plans of Gen. William R. Walker were adopted and the work went forward under direction of a building committee of which Howland Hazard was chairman. The final report of this committee was made June 20, 1878, showing that the building was turned over to the university authorities on February 16 of that year, and the removal of the library into its spacious and handsome rooms was finished April 29. The whole value of the property is about $120,000. The Apponaug Free Library found its inception in the mind. of Stephen T. Arnold, who, as early as 1867, suggested to Alfred A. Read, then owner of the Oriental Print Works, the need of such an institu tion in the community. Mr. Read encouraged Mr. Arnold to soUcit aid in the village and promised to help the cause himself. Many con tributions were received and a suitable room was rented and the library was opened. On February 18, 1885, a meeting of citizens was held to consider the propriety of establishing a free library, an under taking that was urged by Mr. Arnold. It was voted upon favorably and a committee was appointed to solicit money and books. At an other meeting in that month a code of by-laws and a constitution were adopted, and officers elected. The free library was opened in a room in Oriental Hall, but was subsequently given commodious quarters in the new town hall. It was chartered in 1898, and now contains 3,567 volumes. Arlington Public Library — The first meeting of this association was held April 9, 1895, at which eleven of the incorporators were present, and the act of incorporation was accepted. By vote of the town council the use of the upper room of the district hall, in Arlington, was given to the library. Under the regulations the number of members reached fifty-six soon after the incorporation ; membership is now secured by paying flfty cents annual dues. The toAvn of Cranston gives the library $700 annually, and its total income is about $1,000. The number of volumes is 2,530, and a popular reading room is kept open. Ashaway Free Library— At a meeting of the citizens of Ash away, held October 29, 1871, a vote was taken and resulted favorably upon the organization of a library and reading room association. A ^Through the wise generosity of the late John Nicholas Brown, son of John Carter Brown, this library is to become the owner of the valuable Brown col lection of books. In American history it is one of the most complete in the whole country and has a value that has been estimated as high as $1,000,000. This library was left by Mr. Brown in charge of his executors, with the ex pressed wish that it be kept open for the beneflt of the public and retained together. At the same time the executors were given authority to donate the library to any institution they thought best, and a money bequest of $150,000 was made for the erection of a library building. The announcement has been made while this work is in press that this priceless collection of books will go to Brown University library. The Growth op the Library. 625 committee to prepare constitution and by-laws was appointed, which at a later meeting were adopted. Forty of the proposed one hundred shares were at once sold at $5 per share, books were obtained and in the winter of 1871-2 the library was opened to the public. The asso ciation had a precarious existence until 1877, when a new constitution, in conformance with the State laAV, was adopted and the association was duly organized under the statutes and the constitution recorded in the office of the clerk of Hopkinton. Since that date aid has been regularly received from the State and the library has been freely used by the community. The increase of books has been steady and there are now over 5,000 volumes on the shelves. The Auburn Public Library was orgamzed in 1888, when about 200 books were placed before the public, having been contributed by friends of the young institution. The library was controlled by an association, the members of which had free use of books, while others paid a small fee. The institution was kept alive by a few enthusiastic workers until 1892, when it was made a free library and began receiv ing State aid, and now gets also $1,000 annually from the toAvn. The library contains 5,300 volumes and an associated reading room is of great benefit in the community. The Barrington Library Association was formed during the min istry of Rev. Samuel Watson, in Christ's church (1798-1817), and mainly through his efforts. The books were kept in his house. The date of the beginning was in the very early years of the century, and it was chartered as The Barrington Library Society in 1806, with the right to hold property of the value of $6,000. It finally declined and the books Averq scattered. The Barrington Public Library was founded in 1880 through the personal efforts of Isaac P. Cady and David A. Waldron. Mr. Cady served as the first librarian, the Ubrary being then kept in a school house which Mr. Cady owned. In 1887 the tovra built a handsome structure which contains the town hall, clerk's office, council chamber, museum, and other apartments, besides ample accommodations for the library. The books were transferred to it in 1888. The number of volumes has increased to nearly 8,000 ; it has never received a bequest, but has been liberally maintained by private effort. The Carolina Public Library came gradually into existence in the fah and winter of 1881, the first meeting for taking up the work being held November 28 of that year. A committee was appointed to pre pare a constitution and by-laws, and another one to ascertain if the CaroUna division of the old Charlestown Library Association would be transferred to the new organization ; a third committee to solicit funds was also appointed. Officers were elected on December 5. The pay ment of one dollar secured membership in the association, and the 40 626 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. library and reading room were opened in apartments in the Carolina Mill Company's office, Avhich with fuel, lights, etc., were given free by the company. The larger part of the 800 volumes with which the library opened Avere received from the old association just mentioned, and through many gifts and purchases the number has increased to a little more than 3,000. The towns of Richmond and CharlestoAvn have for several years made small annual appropriations in aid of this library. The Central Falls Free Public Library was established under the provisions of an act of the Assembly at the January session of 1882, conferring authority upon the Central FaUs Pire District to raise by tax upon the district funds for the maintenance of such an institution. Previous to this time there had been feebly maintained a small library by Pacific Pire Engine Company, the books of which were given to the ncAv organization. The library Avas opened in 1882 in a small room in an engine house with 867 volumes. After two years the sum of $500 was voted annually by the town for library purposes and the institution rapidly extended its usefulness. In February, 1895, Central Falls was incorporated as a city and $1,500 appropriated for library expenses, AA'hich sum has been annually appropriated since that time. The number of volumes is nearly 9,000. By the will of the late Stephen L. Adams a legacy of $25,000 is left for the erection and maintenance of a public library, to be controlled by a board of three trustees. The library now receives $200 annually from the State. Crompton Free Library — In 1876 a free library was established at Crompton, and a building for its accommodation was erected AA'hoUy at the expense of Prank E. and Howard Richmond. When finished the building and its equipment Avere presented to the Crompton Company, which since that time has assumed all expenses of the library except what has been received from the State and the town of AVarwick. The establishment of this library so soon after the destruction of the Phenix library, gave the people of that section access to good books, and supplied a demand which the old library unfortunately could not. The library was originally intended for the use of employees of the Crompton Company and residents of that village. It has been in continuous operation since it was opened for use and is located in a well-equipped and well-lighted building. The books now number over 5,000 and the library has an annual circulation of between 6,000 and 7,000. East Greenwich Free Library.— With the founding of the East Greenwich Academy in 1804 the need of a local library became greater than formerly and measures Avere adopted to secure one. This resulted in the organization of the East Greenwich Social Library (association), Avhieh consisted of about the same persons interested The Growth op the Library. 627 in founding the academy. Among them were Dr. Peter Turner, Stephen and Perry Arnold, David Pinniger, Jonathan SaUsbury' Nathan Whiting, and other friends of education. A Ubrary was soon gathered in which were many well-chosen works ; but interest in the undertaking ultimately waned and the books became scattered. The East Greenwich Free Library Association was estabUshed in March, 1869, by WilUam Greene, George W. Greene, Daniel H. Greene, Joseph W. Congdon, Richard G. Howland, Silas R. Crane, Samuel M. Knowles, James T. Edwards, and others. The association organized March 23, 1869, vrith William W. Greene, president; George W. Greene, vice-president ; J. T. Edwards, secretary ; James H. Eldredge, treasurer; Joseph W. Congdon, librarian. In June, 1869, the Schroeder Ubrary was purchased for $1,100, and in November of the same year a site was purchased, and at a meeting held Febmary 7, 1870, the president advanced a proposition to erect a library building at a cost of $5,000, of which he offered to pay one-half. This proposi tion was accepted and carried out, and the building was opened to the public in February, 1871. The library labored for a period in its early history under a charge of exclusiveness in the membership of the association; but after a few years the more stringent regulations were relaxed and greater prosperity followed. In 1877 Hon. William Greene declined the presidency and James H. Eldredge was chosen; he was succeeded in 1879 by Thomas W. Chace. More than 3,000 volumes were accumulated, which number has increased to nearly r 6,000. In 1889 Dr. Charles J. Thuraton bequeathed the library about $13,000, which cleared up an indebtedness and placed it on a firm foundation. The funds were further increased in 1897 by a gift of $1,000 from Mrs. John J. Pry. East Providence Free Library. — In what is now Bast Providence (then in the town of Seekonk), Sept. 1, 1819, a library was founded by the Ladies ' Reading and Library Society, composed largely of members of the Baptist and Congregational churches. Beginning with twenty- four books, which were kept in a small trunk and carried from house to house every two weeks, the number gradually increased until it reached 800 volumes. Meetings of the early members were held every two weeks and paid into the treasury three cents, or braided straw valued at that sum ; while the members worked in these meetings, one of them read aloud. This society subsequently bore the title, the Female Benevolent Library Society, and still later, the Female Library Society. Again, upon reorganization in 1883, it took the name, the Seekonk and East Providence Library Association. In 1885 the books were divided, the Seekonk division taking its share of them, while the other section took its present name, the East Providence Free Library Association. The association was incorporated in 1886. At the time of the division there were on hand 1,014 volumes, which has 628 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. since increased to 4,000. The books and property are kept in rooms in the old town hall in East Providence, but a special building is in contemplation. The Edgewood Free Public Library Avas an outgrowth of public sen timent that had long existed in the place, which finally crystallized in action in 1896. The necessary measures were adopted for organiza tion and securing State and town aid. The institution was opened March 13, 1897, in a school house. The association promptly erected a suitable building, and in November of that year the books and prop erty were removed thither. At the time of the opening there were on hand about 800 volumes, which number has increased to about 1,700. Greenville Public Library (toAvn of Smithfield) was chartered by act of the Assembly in January, 1882, and a suitable building was pur chased in the center of the village and fitted up for its purpose. About 500 books were donated by the people of the town, Avith $300 in money. In the foUovring year the library was greatly benefited by receiving through William Winsor (who has been treasurer of the institution from the first) the entire library of the Lapham Institute. A reading room is connected vrith the library, both being whoUy free ; and from the situation of Greenville, near the south line of the town, its field includes parts of Johnston, Scituate, and Gloeester. Harris Institute Library. — Library measures were adopted in Cum berland before the last century. A so-caUed Social Library was established in the northern part of Cumberland in 1792, and during about a quarter of a century a small library was maintained at Woon socket, which developed into the Carrington Library. Its final estab lishment was due to repeated agitation in the pubUc press, until in 1853 the late Edward Harris, George S. WardweU and others took an active interest in the movement. Mr. Harris gave $500 upon condi tion that a Uke amount should be contributed by other citizens; this was soon done. George S. Wardwell, then manager of the Hamlet Mills of the Carrington estate, now came forward with a proposition to donate another $1,000, provided the library was given the name of Carrington; this proposition was accepted. With this fund was established the Carrington Library Association, of which Edward Harris was the first president. In the year 1855 the library contained 3,000 volumes, which were free to those who were members of the association upon payment of two dollars each per year. This Ubrary eventually became the property of the Harris Institute. As prehmi nary to his new plans for the good of the community, Edward Harris, in 1856-7, erected the Harris Institute building, and in 1863 obtained an act of Legislature incorporating Ariel BaUou, Oscar J. Rathbun, Joseph E. Cole, Samuel S. Foss, and Reuben G. Randall as The Harris Institute. In June of that year he presented these trustees vrith a deed of the building and property mentioned, which was valued at The Growth op the Library. 629 $70,000. In September, 1863, Dr. Ariel BaUou Avas elected president; R. J. Randall, secretary; 0. J. Rathbun, treasurer. In 1865 Mr. Harris added to his original gift the sum of $2,500 with which to purchase books, and about 4,000 volumes were added to the library. The library was formally opened in October, 1868, and was the first whoUy free Ubrary in the State of Rhode Island. The absorption of the Carrington Library raised the number of volumes, and in 1878 there were 9,166, which number was increased nearly 3,000 during the next ten years. In 1873 a large reading room was opened in con nection with the library, and both are weU patronized. The first librarian was Miss Anna Ballou, who was succeeded by her sister. They occupied the position until 1873, when Mrs. Ellen M. Bosworth was appointed, and was succeeded in 1884 by Miss Anna Metcalf, the present librarian. The number of volumes is about 16,000. Other libraries that were founded in the town of Cumberland many years ago were the Cumberland Library in 1812, the act of incorpora tion having been passed at the May session ; the Cumberland Literary Society and Union Library, founded in 1820 ; the BurriUville Library Society, incorporated in 1822 ; the AVoonsocket Palls Library, incor porated in 1830. The Island Free Library, on Block Island, was estabUshed in the fall of 1875, through personal effort by several of the leading citizens. A small sum of money was obtained by solicitation, and many books were donated. In 1878 the library was placed under control of the tovra authorities and was made free to all town residents and to all pubUe school teachers. Subsequently and several years ago the library was made wholly free, giving access to its shelves by many summer and transient residents. The number of volumes is about 3,000. Jamestown Philomenian Library. — In 1849 was organized The Philo- menian Library Association, funds for its purposes having been raised by subscription. The association was organized by the election of Geo. C. Carr, president; William A. Weeden, vice-president; John E. Watson, secretary; John S. Cottrell, treasurer; Robert H. Watson, Ubrarian. This library was reorganized in 1876 under its present name, and after various removals was, in 1883, placed in the toAvn hall, where it remained until 1898 ; at this time the town purchased a build ing for a permanent and exclusive library home. The library now contains 4,680 volumes. Kingston Free Library— In the year 1825 a Rev. Mr. Brown, of Kingston (town of South Kingstovm), gathered among his interested friends about 300 volumes, which were kept in dweUings of the differ ent librarians and given out after the custom of book clubs. In 1836 Elisha R. Potter estabUshed a circulating Ubrary with what then re mained of these books, vrith additions made by him. This library was kept in the Congregational Church. In 1873 this church held a meet- 630 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. ing "to take into consideration the proposition to establish a reading room and library". This appears to have been consummated, and in 1877 its management was transferred to the church corporation, and the late Judge Potter made a trust deed to the society of such books as he had previously loaned the library. The library and reading room were incorporated in 1891 as the Kingston Pree Library, and in 1893 Judge Potter's books were transferred to it. In 1895, the State having built a new court house near Kingston Station, a petition was presented to the General Assembly for the use of the old court house for the library. A perpetual lease was granted to the association and the people of the village expended $1,400 in putting the historic structure erected in 1776 in repair. The current expenses of the library are now provided for by a tax of one dollar and the proceeds of an annual fair. Lakewood Free Library— In 1834 Dr. Rowland Green, a Quaker preacher, induced a number of women of Old Warwick to form a society with the title of Old Warwick Female Temperance Society. He then presented the organization with a number of books which became the nucleus of a library. A year later the name of the society was changed to the Old WarArick Ladies' Library. Funds were raised by the Ladies' Circle of Industry, whose members met and knit hosiery, which was sold at a profit by local merchants. During this immediate period there was also a Gentlemen's Library in existence, and in 1857 an effort was made to consolidate the two ; but it failed, the women insisting that as their library was free it would not be fair to give their books, acquired at the cost of so much labor, to a taxed library. This dissension led to a dissolution of the society and the books were distributed among the members. The late Richard Greene was chiefly instrumental in gathering and preserving these volumes, enlarging the library, and in obtaining aid from the State under the law of 1875, and later from the town of War wick, liberal appropriations for this and the other libraries of the town.^ In 1890 about thirty residents of Lakewood were elected to member ship in the old Library Association, and half of the Ubrary was re moved thither and opened to the public in a small room of the chapel. About two years later, the town haU having meanwhile been erected, the upper story was secured as permanent home for the library, and J. A. Whitman contributed $100 for its furnishing. Since that time the number of books has more than doubled. Langiuorthy Free Lib 7'ary— After much consideration, prominent residents of the town of Hopkinton, particularly in the vicinity of Hope Valley, determined to found a free public library and took up '^Address delivered by Henry L. Greene before the Providence Veterans' Historical Association, May 11, 1900. The Growth op the Library. 631 the matter in earnest in 1887. Articles incorporating an association were adopted and organization was effected on February 18, 1888, under the title, the Langworthy Public Library, in honor of Joseph Langworthy, who contributed substantial aid to the institution. The hbrary was opened and in its early years its privileges were extended to residents of the adjacent part of the town of Richmond. Rooms were fitted up in Odd Fellows' block and the opening took place on July 7, 1888, with 794 volumes on the shelves ; to this number 510 were added during the first year, and since that date the number has increased to 5,041 volumes. In January, 1901, a juvenile department was added, alloAving children of from nine to fourteen years to take books. The library is maintained by an annual appropriation of $100 from the town and by voluntary contributions, Avith the State aid of about $150 a year. The League Library, in the toAvn of Warwick, Avas founded in 1886, under the auspices of the Old Warwick League, an association of benevolent men formed for social and intellectual improvement in 1882. What is known as League Hall was erected in 1885. Books were purchased at the expense of $368.68, and many others were received from friends of the association, with donations from various individuals. 0. Perry Sarle, jr., Avas appointed librarian and the rooms were opened to the public February 25, 1886. At the close of the first year tiere were reported on hand 1,117 volumes, all cata logued. On March 11, 1889, Mr. Sarle resigned as Ubrarian and Miss Mary A. Sarle was appointed. There are now in the library 3,480 volumes. Little Compton Free Public Library Association was organized about 1845 by a number of shareholders Avho suppUed the needed funds. Upon receiving $100 from Amasa Manton the institution took the name of the Manton Social Library. At the time of the passage of the act granting State aid to Ubraries, this one had about 500 volumes, which were in storage and without benefit to the community. Frederick BrowneU then called a meeting of stockholders, who Avere readily induced to give it to the town to aid in establishing a free pubUe library. The gift was accepted and a committee appointed to purchase additional books. The town clerk acts as Ubrarian and the books are kept in apartments adjoining his office. There are now 1,000 volumes on hand. The Manton Library Association (Exeter) -One of the first towns to avail themselves of the generosity of the late Amasa Manton to estabhsh libraries throughout the State Avas Exeter, Avhere the Manton Library Association was estabUshed soon after his offer of aid was made. The coUection of books was selected by Henry Barnard and Judge EUsha R. Potter, and with additions reached about 700 volumes. In course of time interest in the work decUned, many books Avere lost and the 632 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. institution was neglected. On May 3, 1881, a few of the old members of the association met and voted to give the books to the tovm, under the law granting State aid. In annual town meeting, June 7, 1881, the gift was accepted and the library was placed in charge of the school committee. A Ubrarian was appointed and the books removed to the toAvn clerk's office on Pine Plill; only about 500 volumes could be found, but additions were made and now the number is a littie more than 3,000. When the clerk's office was removed to its present loca tion the library was taken with it. The library is rich in history, biography and has an abundance of fiction. The Manville Library was incorporated in March, 1873, as a result of efforts made by Samuel Austin, of ProAddence, who had urged the subject upon the people of the village, while visiting there in 1872, and offered to donate about one hundred valu able books as a nucleus of a library. Soon afterward the association purchased a quantity of books from the Harris Institute Library, at Woonsocket, incurring considerable debt. The purchased books num bered 1,000 volumes. The debt was finally liquidated by the public- spirited citizens, and by their energy and State aid the institution now has about 2,500 volumes. The library is largely patronized by the English-speaking people, and to some extent by others. Middletown Free Library was founded in January, 1848, as one of the many due to the labors of Henry Barnard. Associated with him in this town were Richard K." Randolph, Rev. Dr. Wayland, Rev. Charles T. Brooks, Rev. J. 0. Chowles, and others. A number of donations of books were received and in 1851 the organiza tion was changed into a stock company. In 1856 it was incorporated as The Miantonomi Circulating Library. The library was maintained until 1875, when the corporation transferred its property to Middle- towQ Free Library Association. Donations and purchases of books were made from time to time until there are now 1,600 volumes iu the library. The institution is about to benefit through the generosity of William E. Bailey and his sister, who have offered $2,500 for the erection of a building for its permanent home. The Narragansett Library Association— The first actual movement towards establishing a library at Peacedale, South KingstOAvn, was made by the Sons of Temperance in 1853. At Rocky Brook, February 11, a resolution was adopted by them that "whenever the inhabitants of this village and vicinity shall raise the sum of $1,000 for the pur pose of building a lecture hall or room, and establishing a public library for the use of the said inhabitants, that this dirision AriU and do hereby appropriate all funds which it has now, or may have in vested up to the time of building said room or hall, and estabUshing said library, to be applied conjointly with said sum raised by the inhabitants for the purpose aforesaid". It Avas also resolved "that The Growth op the Library. 633 the building or hall, and said Library shall be within one-half mile of the Peacedale post-office". A committee headed by the late Gen. Isaac P. Rodman was appointed to act under these resolutions. The Sons of Temperance then disbanded. A meeting was held May 25, 1855, in the Baptist church, which was addressed by Rowland g! Hazard, and a committee was appointed to ascertain how much money could be raised for building purposes. On June 9 the committee re ported unfavorably on the building project, but recommended the establishment of a library. On October 25 a society was organized, a constitution adopted, and books ordered purchased. In 1856 there were in the library 900 volumes ; this number was increased by 1875 to 1,569 volumes, when it became a free public library under the State law. In the winter of 1856-7 a hall was completed by the Peacedale Manufacturing Company for a lyceum, lectures, etc., in which Ubrary apartments were also provided. Here the books have since remained. The number of volumes is now more than 6,000. The title of the corporation is The Narragansett Library Association, and it receives, besides the income from the gift of the Sons of Temperance, the income from a bequest of $3,000 made by Isaac Peace Hazard in 1879. In 1890, upon retirement of Rowland Hazard from the presidency, he made a like trust gift to the institution of $3,000. It was always the Avish of Rowland G. Hazard that this library should have an appro priate and permanent home. He died June 24, 1888, and in 1890 his sons, Rowland and John N., proceeded to carry the wish of their late father to consummation, by erecting the handsome Hazard Memorial Building, which was dedicated October 9, 1891. In 1892 the library received a gift of $5,000 from Miss Anna Hazard, of NcAVport, and in 1898, by the vrill of the late Rowland Hazard, the institution received a bequest of $20,000. There are about 8,000 volumes on the shelves. The Natick' Free Library was organized May 6, 1887, in ac cordance with its articles, and officers were elected. A suitable building was fitted up and given free of rent by the Natick Mills Company. A fund of money was raised by subscription and enter tainments, and a first purchase of 500 volumes was made. In July, 1887, the library was opened to the public, vrith Stephen W. Thornton librarian. The number of volumes has since increased to 2,500. Dur ing recent years the library was kept open several evenings each week as a reading room. North Kingstown Free Library— ¥ov some time prior to 1890 the guild connected with St. Paul's Church at Wickford had maintained a smaU library. In the early part of that year a number of the members determined upon an effort to enlarge its scope and obtain aid from the State. To this end a series of resolutions was adopted making it a free library, and soon afterward it was named the Wick ford Pree Library. Its management was placed in charge of a com- 634 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. mittee of eight members. At that time there were 1,145 volumes, which had increased in 1898 to about 2,000. Upon the death of C. Allen Chadsey, of the village of Wickford, it was found that he had bequeathed to the town $10,000 for the purpose of erecting a free library building and aiding in maintaining the institution. In 1898-9 the trustees elected by the Council under the provisions of chapter 43 of the general laws caused a building to be erected, arranged for the transfer to it of the books of the guild library, and the North Kings town Pree Library was opened to the public in the early part of 1899. The building is in the colonial style, and contains all the usual library accommodations, with two halls on the upper floor, one of which is devoted to the use of the North Kingstown Historical Society. The library now has 2,673 volumes. Oaklawn Free Public Library— For the purpose of organizing a free library, a meeting was held Jan. 23, 1889, and on Feb. 27 folloAv- ing fourteen charter members signed the constitution of the Oaklawn Free Public Library Association. A small money contribution was made at the preliminary meeting, and a little later the flrst donation of books was received from Rev. W. A. Briggs. By January, 1896, there had been collected about 250 volumes and there was a smaU fund in the treasury; in the month named a book social was held, which resulted in gifts of 150 volumes. Other donations foUowed and the library was opened to the public May 20, 1896, with 850 volumes. The old school house is used as a library building. Pawtucket Free Library— In Pawtucket was a library early in the last century. An act of incorporation was granted to the Pawtucket Library Society in 1809, but little further is known of it. The inception of the present Pawtucket Library was a suggestion made informally at a meeting of a debating club, which led to an application for a charter, which was granted by the Legislature in January, 1852. The first meeting of the corporators and subscribers for stock was held on February 3, 1852, and Thomas K. King was elected the first presi dent. A little more than $1,000 were raised by the sale of about 200 shares, and the library of the Masonic Society Avas purchased as a foundation. The Central Palls library was then bought and added, the two associations thus becoming amalgamated. More than 200 volumes were donated from the library of Rev. George Taft, and about 200 more were donated by various persons. All this gave the library at the date of the first annual meeting (April 6, 1852) about 1,200 volumes. Suitable rooms were leased in the John B. Read block, which were occupied until 1876, when Gideon L. Spencer offered the association a five year lease of a large room in the Spencer block, then just erected, and the library was removed to it in April. This library was the first public library to inaugurate the open shelf system, and was introduced under the administra- The Growth op the Library. 635 tion of Mrs. Minerva A. Sanders, its librarian. Meanwhile the association voted to transfer the library to the town for a public institution ; the offer was accepted, the lease was also transferred and the present Pawtucket Free Public Library was established by charter. William P. Sayles was elected president, remaining in the office until his death. May 7, 1894. In January, 1888, the library was again re moved, taking apartments in the Sheldon building, Avhere it will re main until it occupies the handsome structure in course of erection for it. On June 1, 1898, Frederick Clark Sayles offered to the city a library building, to be called the Deborah Cook Sayles Library, as a memorial to his wife, with land sufficient for a site ; the gift was with out conditions and was accepted. The building is a beautiful example of pure Greek Ionic architecture and the material white granite. It contains the book room, reference room, periodical room, children's room, and ncAvspaper room, all of which are large and well adapted to Pawtucket Public Library. their several purposes. There is also room for the public school teachers in which they can follow special lines of study, a large haU for lectures, and an antiquarian room. Paivtuxet Valley Free Library (The Howard Lyceum)— About 1850 some young men organized a debating club called the Howard Lyceum. Among them were many who became prominent citizens- George P. Wilson, Calvert B. CottreU, David S. Harris, WilUam S. Harris, Thomas P. Lamphear, Dr. John McGregor, Horace Clarke, Rev. George Uhler, Rev. E. H. Hatfield, and Henry L. and WilUam R. Greene. There was then no pubUc library in the vicinity of Phenix and the need of one was frequently discussed in the lyceum. Finally a meeting was called for September 7, 1851, where a committee was appointed to solicit subscriptions for the purchase of books. The Union Library Association was then formed and its Ubrary made a proprietary one, 270 shares being sold at one dollar each ; from other 636 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. sources about $125 were raised. One hundred books were donated by Benjamin C. Harris and Simon Henry Greene. A large number of lecturers were employed at different times down as late as 1859, and the library Avas largely maintained from their proceeds. The poUcy of keeping the library in a business block, without expense, proved an unfortunate one, for the building was three times burned, the last time March 3, 1873, when all of the library property was destroyed, and closing career of the institution for a period of eleven years. In April, 1884, the association was re-organized and with the aid of town and State appropriations it entered again upon a career of use fulness. A year after its doors were opened fire destroyed a portion of its collection, but steps were at once taken to equip and start it again. The library was removed from the half burned building, and suitable quarters obtained in Lawton 's block, Phenix, where it is now located. There are at present 5,437 volumes in the library. Pbntiac Free Library Association — An informal meeting was held in the village of Pontiac on August 6, 1884, to consider the expediency and ways and means of establishing a public library. A committee was there appointed, consisting of Rev. L. B, Thomas, David Alex ander (superintendent of the Pontiac Mill), and Dr. D. 0. King, vrith power to draw a constitution and, if sufficient interest was manifested, to report at another meeting. A verbal and favorable report was made at the next meeting and a soliciting committee was appointed, after which a constitution and by-laws were adopted. The organiza tion Avas perfected on September 18, under the name of the Pontiac Free Library Association. Funds were raised by solicitation, enter tainments, etc., books were purchased and received as gifts until the number of volumes is now more than 3,000, which are kept in com modious rooms in a building owned by the company and given rent free to the library. The Riverside Free Public Library was founded largely through the efforts of Rev. William M. Chapin, of Barrington, who had laid the foundation of a church in that Adllage. A few hundred volumes were collected and the library was opened in July, 1881. In 1883 the association was incorporated under the title, the Riverside Pree Public Library Association. It was kept in limited apartments until 1892, when the association took steps to erect a suitable Ubrary building, which Avas finished and occupied in 1894. There are now about 4,000 volumes on the shelves. Summit Free Library— The toAvn of Coventry had two very early libraries, the history of which is not now accessible. One of these was established by the Coventry Library Society, which was incor porated in February, 1806, by Joseph Rice, Joseph Bowen, Enoch King, and others. Bowen 's Hill had an early library to which the late TuUy P. BoAven, of Providence, was a liberal contributor. Also, what The Growth op the Library. 637 was called the Anthony Lyceum Library Avas chartered in January, 1868. The existing Summit Pree Library was the result of a meeting held May 27, 1891, at which a soUciting committee was appointed, and another to prepare a constitution and by-laws; these latter were adopted at a meeting held June 27 and received forty-two signatures ; officers were elected on July 6. The annual membership fee is fifty cents, and over 2,000 volumes have been gathered. Union Public Library— Its predecessor of Tiverton Avas a so- caUed social Ubrary, establishea in March, 1820, by the United Society. A somewhat remarkable constitution, consisting of twenty-four articles, was drawn and adopted, which estabUshed rather exclusive conditions as to the kinds of books to be admitted, methods of admit ting members, etc., which hampered the usefulness of the institution, and the last meeting of the society was held January 11, 1845. In March, 1860, the society reorganized, the stockholders voting to sell sh^ires at one dollar each and to circulate books for five cents a week. A 'fair degree of prosperity followed until 1876, after which the library and its welfare were neglected. In 1889, through efforts of Eliner A. Wilcox, of Providence, and Mary C. Gray, of Tiverton Pour •Corners, the present Union Public Library was established, to which A\'as given the hooks of the old library. It opened in April, 1889, and now has 2,239 volumes. The Valley Falls Free Library Association was formed in 1880, and during a number of years successfully maintained a library and read ing room. Finally interest declined and the institution was abandoned for ;a time, after which it was taken in charge and maintained a few years by the branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. In 1899 renewed interest was manifested in having a good library, and an .organization with the same title as above given took the affairs of the institution in hand and, has since maintained it successfully. Watchemoket Free Public Library— In February, 1871, a num ber of women met in Lyceum Hall, on AA^atchemoket Square, East Proridence, chiefly by request of Mrs. Rhoda R. Bassett, vrife ¦of Dr. Ahaz Bassett, and there a society was formed called the Ladies' Library Association, with Mrs. Bassett, president. The purpose formed was to make a collection of books for a circulating library, for which small fees would be charged, and ultimately to establish a free pubUc library. Many books were gathered and the library began business in 1872, but was entirely burned in 1876; with money re ceived for insurance another collection of books was purchased, and now the effort began to carry out the original free library project. In May, 1885, the Watchemoket Pree PubUc Library was incorporated, the town of East Providence appropriating $200, and the opening took place in January, 1886. In 1890 the library was removed to more 638 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. commodious apartments in the new town building. The institution noAv receives from the toAvn $500 annually and has on hand 5,870 volumes. The Westerly Public Library Association— In connection with his great work upon the educational system of Rhode Island, Henry Barnard devoted much energy and effort to advancing library interests throughout the State. It was in 1847, while he was thus engaged, that some of the prominent citizens of the toAvn of Westerly adopted measures for establishing a public library. Rev. Frederick Denison was chosen treasurer and $1,100 were expended for books; these were selected by Mr. Barnard. Among those who took the Westerly Public Library and Park. requisite number of shares to insure the establishment of the library were Rowse Babcock, John Hobart Cross, Nathan P. Dixon, Thomas Perry, and 0. M. Stillman. The name, Pawcatuck Library,^ was adopted and the library began its successful career of half a century. At a meeting of the association on June 12, 1893, it Avas voted to give a bill of sale of all the books and other library property to the West erly Memorial and Library Association upon receipt of a sum of money just sufficient to pay all claims against the old association. This transfer included 5,000 volumes and various pamphlets, etc. 'It should be stated that the Pawcatuck Library Company was incorpor ated in October, 1797, but what it accomplished or how long it existed is not now known. The Growth op the Library. 639 Through the generosity of the late Stephen Wilcox and an appropria tion by the town of $25,000, a commodious and handsome brick memorial building was erected, which Avas opened on August 15, 1894. It contains, besides the usual library accommodations, an assembly haU, two small halls for the use of the G. A. R. Posts, with a gym nasium, bowUng alley and baths. All this is free to residents of the town and of Connecticut within the Pawcatuck voting district, except ing the bowling alley and baths, for which an annual charge is made. The original cost of the building was about $85,000 and an important enlargement has since been made to it. The number of volumes has increased to 14,000, besides several thousand pamphlets and rare his torical documents. In the year 1899 Mrs. Wilcox purchased the Rowse Babcock property in the village, comprising about eight acres of land and several buildings, and presented it to the Library Associa tion for a public park; the library building occupies a site on this land. Whitridge Hall Library, of Tiverton, was founded in 1875, and occupies a part of the building OAvned by the AVhitridge HaU and Bowen Memorial Chapel Association ; it is under charge of a committee of members of that association. The books of the Unitarian Sunday School and various contributions were opened to the public, and in 1881 the institution began receiving small annual appropriations from the State, which has enabled the directors to increase the number of volumes to over 4,000. Willetteville Free Library — The plan of forming a free public library in Saunderstown, North KingstoAvn, originated in 1885 at a meeting of the so-called Circle for Mutual Improvement, a literary organization of young people. The undertaking was started and money raised by entertainments and solicitations, and on May 8, 1885, a' good library was opened to the public, with one hundred standard bound books. The name, WiUetteville Pree Library was adopted and the institution was kept alive by energy and public spirit. In 1893 it was found that the library still lacked forty volumes of enough to obtain State aid, in which emergency George T. Baker, of Barrington, sent forty volumes of unbound Harper's Maga zines from the library in that town, and the State appropriation of $50 was received. The neat building occupied by the library was erected in 1891. There are now 1,429 volumes on the shelves. c^ (P:C^^ 640 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. providence public libraries. the providence athenaeum and its predecessors. (1) The Providence Library, 1753 to 1836— The beginning of the lending library as a permanent institution was due to the same causes in Providence as in Philadelphia, Newport and other towns in the American Colonies. A desire on the part of the more active spirits to read more widely than their individual resources would warrant, led them to send across the water for books. Benjamin Franklin was the moving spirit in the Philadelphia library enterprise of 1731, and he has left on record the causes and motives which led to the formation of the Philadelphia library. Stephen Hopkins was one of the leading spirits in the formation of the Providence Library, his name heading the list in the petition to the General Assembly in 1754, not long after the founding of the library association in 1753. Like Franklin, Hopkins and his associates found no good book seller's shop^ in their own toAvn at flrst, and, in consequence, "raised and sent to England a sum of money sufficient to purchase books to furnish a small library, and, before Ipng, advanced to the point of making it a public subscription library". Like Franklin, also, they looked about for "a proper place to keep the books in". A promising depository Avhich offered was the council chamber in the Providence Town House of that day (known and used also as a "Court House" and a ' ' State House " ) , which stood on the site of the Meeting street school-house (so called) on Meeting street, next above the Friends' meeting-house. This proved, however, a delusive place of deposit, for the building was burne'd, with the books in it, on Christmas eve, in 1758. AVhen the successor to this building was erected (the old "State House", so called, or, in legal writs, the "Sixth Judicial District Court House"), still standing on the lot stretching from Benefit street to North Main street), the library at once made its home there. ^ This was in 1764, and it so continued until 1816. The early record-books of this library are still preserved in the archives of the Providence Athenaeum (the "Register" and "Minute book", respectively). The earlier of these, the "Register", extends from 1753 to 1835,' and opens vrith a copy of the subscription Ust, which had been circulated March 22, 1753, the names of the subscribers here being entered alphabetically. The first meeting of the subscribers was held December 15, 1753, at the "house of Joseph Angel". At a meeting held August 2, 1754, a committee headed by Stephen Hopkins 'The first bookseller in Providence appears to have opened a shop about ten years later than this, in 1763, namely, Daniel Jenckes. His bookshop, accord ing to the late Henry C. Dorr, was near the Great Bridge, at the sign of Shak- speare's Head. (Dorr's "Planting and growth of Providence", p. 197.) ^Sketch of the "Providence Library", at p. 27 of the "Appendix" to the 1st annual report of the "Athenaeum", 1837. ^The other volume, (the "Minute book"), extends from 1774 to 1835. The Growth op the Library. 641 Avas appointed, on "rules and orders". Nicholas BroAvn was appointed the first librarian. An absolutely complete roll of the successive librarians is perhaps not accessible, but the names of at least twenty are found between 1753 and 1835, comprising, among others, SUas Dovmer (the orator of the Sons of Liberty in 1768), David Rowland, Theodore Poster, George R. Burrill, Walter R. Danforth, Charles P. Tillinghast, and Horatio Gates Bowen.^ The total number of volumes belonging to the library at the time of the fire, in 1758, is not known. About seventy of the treasures of the library, however, were at that time in the hands of readers, and were thus preserved.^ An asterisk has been used to indicate these interest ing survivors of a primitive period, not only in the manuscript "(Catalogue" of the books belonging to the library in 1762 (entered at pages 40 to 56 of the manuscript "Register" mentioned above), but in the printed catalogue of 1768, which reprints the manuscript list. An earlier list is copied at pages 15 to 34 of the same volume. Some of these books also are still preserved on the shelves of the Providence Athenaeum of to-day, as well as a copy of this printed catalogue of 1768. The valuable library thus founded was apparently well cared for in its early years, but, like many other American institutions of the eighteenth century, it did not survive the American Revolution with out serious detriment. It had, however, performed a useful serrice on the removal of Rhode Island CoUege to Providence from Warren, in 1770. ' ' On this occasion ' ', to quote from the historical sketch prefixed to the "Charter" of 1818, by John Howland, "the Library Company offered the use of the books to the officers and students of that institu tion", until a library could be procured sufficient for it.' (Page iv.) Some light is thrown on the conditions of the library's decline by Mr. Rowland's remark that, "the doors being left open to accommodate the members of the Legislature, other persons, in the absence of the Librarian, had access to the books", and many, he adds, "were lost". This catalogue of 1768* is a publication of uncommon significance, as shoAring the subjects and authors that interested the men of that day. It is entitled a "Catalogue of all the books belonging to the Providence Library". Providence: Waterman & Russell, 1768. >Mr. Bowen was also librarian of Brown University, 1824-40. 'Sketch of the "Providence Library" at p. 27 of the 1st annual report of the Athenaeum. nt appears, however, that the college possessed at least a small collection of books, at the time of removal. (Guild's "History of Brown University', p. 66-67.) The first librarian, John Dorrance, was appointed in 1773. (Koop- man's "Historical catalogue of Brown University, 1764-1894", p. 19, 29.) *This catalogue, which is a rare publication, is found in the Providence Athenaeum and the John Carter Brown Library. 41 642 State op Rhode Island and Proatdence Plantations. The library in 1768 contained full sets of Pope, Swift and Addison, the Spectator, the Tatler, and the Guardian. It contained Homer, Plato, Shakspeare, Milton and Bacon. History was represented by Thueydides, Xenophon, Plutarch, Sallust, Tacitus, Clarendon, Hume, and Burnet. Prince's "New England Chronology" appears to be the only work of American history comprised, except Herrera and La Hontan, which last entries would seem to show that there were critical scholars in the membership of tnis society. Other lines of reading are represented by Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Gay's "Beggar's Opera"; others by Coke, Vattel, Puff endorff , and Grotius, and Thurloe 's ' ' State papers"; others by Baker on the "Microscope", AVoodward on "Fos sils", Boerhave on "Chemistry", Sir Isaac Newton's "Principia", and Benjamin Franklin's "Experiments and observations on electricity", then of very recent publication. There was also a work, now very rare, entitled ' ' Lex mercatoria rediriva ' '. On several occasions the Providence Library seemed likely to obtain a new lease of life. In 1798, for instance, a new act of incorporation was considered desirable, and it wa's also thought necessary, says Mr. Howland, ' ' to adopt such other measures as might render the Institu tion more useful and respectable, and to bear some proportion to the progressive increase of the toAvn". (Page iv.) It appears from the act of incorporation in 1798 that the ' ' Standing Committee" of the Providence Library Company consisted of Jabez Bowen, Moses Brown, William Richmond, John Smith, Nicholas Brown, Joseph Jenckes, and Paris Jenckes Tillinghast. The board of "Directors" comprised the above-named members, together Arith Joseph Tillinghast and Theodore Foster. (Charter of 1818, p. 7, 10.) The ncAv charter was granted at the October session, 1798, and soon afterwards ' ' subscriptions were opened for new shares, for the purpose of increasing the library; and a considerable number of books" were obtained; but, it is added, experience proved that "the valuable objects contemplated by the liberal spirit of the Proprietors could not be realized while the Library remained in a place so inconvenient", to which the proprietors had access only a few hours in each week. Accordingly, in 1816, measures were taken "to add to the Provi dence Library" a very respectable literary establishment which had been purchased by a number of gentlemen in this tOAvn, "and these gentlemen were admitted as Proprietors, on their transferring the same to the Corporation". It was at this time that the books were finaUy removed from the state house and transferred to the new library quar ters. The charter was amended in 1817, and again in 1818, at which time the pamphlet, above quoted from, entitled "Charter and by- laAA's", Avas published^ (including also a "Catalogue" of 28 pages). From time to time a proposition looking to the erection of a separate '"Voted that Mr. John Howland be requested to" . . . "cause a cata- The Growth op the Library. 643 building was brought up. In 1809 an offer of a lot of land, "North of AngeU Street", was made by Moses Brown. Later, a deed, dated Oct. 14, 1830, from the heirs of Nathan Waterman to the Providence Library Company, conveyed to the proprietors the Waterman homestead (uoav occupied by the University Club), at the corner of Benefit and Water man streets, providing that if a library building should not be erected on the lot within the next five years, the deed should lapse.^ On March 31, 1831, H. G. Bowen, Moses B. Ives and Charles P. TilUnghast were appointed a committee "to procure drafts and estimates of a bmlding". On September 5, 1831, Zachariah Allen,^ Moses B. Ives, and Richard J. Arnold Avere appointed a committee "to erect a build ing for a library". On October 13 of the same year this committee reported plans for a stone building, to cost about $6,000, and their report was ' ' approved, ' ' Avith the hope that the funds might be raised. The conditions, however, were unfavorable for the continued pros perity of the Providence Library, especially in vicAv of the fact that in this same year, 1831, a rival institution had been incorporated under the name of the "Providence Athenaum", its object being to provide a library more nearly up to date. The records of the next five years comprise repeated entries in regard to "treating with" the Athenaeum Library ; and the final entry on the minutebook is dated May 14, 1836, at which date the "meeting adjourned sine die". The officers of the Providence Library Company in this final year of its existence were as follows : Directors, Joseph Mauran, Joseph L. Tillinghast, Joseph K. Angell, Welcome A. Greene, AVilliam Giles Goddard, Richard J. Arnold, Zachariah Allen, Moses B. Ives, and Thomas B. Fenner. Treasurer, Allen 0. Peck; secretary and librarian, Horatio Gates Bowen. (2) The ''Providence Athence.um"'—{1831 to 1836.) The existence of this institution was apparently due to the inade quacy of the efforts of the Providence Library to serve the public. Four names are mentioned in its act of incorporation, in 1831, as rep resenting the organization, — Cyms Butler,* John Maekie, Charles Dyer, and Richard W. Greene. The officers elected at the first organ- logue of the Books together with the Charter and amendments thereto to be published"- "Minute book", Nov. 3, 1817. 'It did lapse— no building having been erected by the year 1835. =Mr. Allen's name appears in connection with library matters in Providence more than forty years later, as an organizer of the Providence Public Library, in 1871. "The name borne by this early institution was not immediately duplicated by the new organization, which was known as "The Athensum". In 1850, however, Ihis name was changed to "The Providence Athenaeum." 'Founder of the Butler Hospital. 644 State op Rhode Island and Proa^dence Plantations. ization under the charter, June 18, 1831, were as foUoAvs: Tristam Burges,^ president; John Maekie, first vice-president; Rev. Frederick- A. Farley,^ second vice-president; Thomas H. Webb, secretary; and John R. Bartlett,^ treasurer. This library was shorHived, as a sep arate organization, since steps were almost immediately taken looking to the consolidation of the tAVO rival libraries. (3) The Movement for Uniting the Two Libraries. It is fortunate that such an enlightened view of the matter was taken by the representatives of the two libraries. "These institutions", to quote from one of the early accounts, "which had, for several years, divided the patronage and the sympathies of the community, gener ously relinquished their separate organization, that no obstacle might exist to a union". After several successive conferences the books of both libraries were purchased, and the sum total thus secured for the new library was about 4,080 volumes. Of these about 1,680 were pur chased of the Providence Library Company (for the sum of $1,000.00) ; and about 2,400 were purchased of the Providence Athenaeum (for about $4,000.00). The signers of the call for the first of these conferences (fifty-nine in all) included Moses Brown, Charles F. Tillinghast, Benjamin Hoppin, Thomas H. Webb, Philip Allen, John Whipple, Moses B. Ives, Robert H. Ives, Nicholas BroAvn, John Carter Brown, and other well-known names. At this meeting, held January 25, 1836, Zachariah Allen was chosen chairman, and William S. Patten,* secretary. A draught of an act of incorporation was laid before the meeting by William R. Staples,^ and was adopted in an amended form. The peti tion to the General Assembly for the passage of the charter is stUl preserved in print, and contains the signatures of 283 persons, many of them very well known in the life of the city of that day. The charter was granted by the General Assembly at the January session, in 1836, and the library was incorporated under the name of "The Athenaeum". An amendment to the charter, in 1850, changed this name to "The Providence Athenaeum". 'Mr. Burges was a graduate from Rhode Island College, in the class of 1796, and served in the National House of Representatives, from Rhode Island, 1825-35. ^'Mr. Farley was a graduate from Harvard College in the class of 1818, and was an eminent clergyman in Providence from 1828 to 1841. "Mr. Bartlett was later connected with the John Carter Brown Library, as librarian, and served as Secretary of State of Rhode Island, from 1855 to 1872. *Mr. Patten was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1818, and served as Chancellor, from 1867 to 1873. 'Mr. Staples was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1817, and served as chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, 1854-56. The Growth op the Library. 645 (4) The Present Library {The Providence Athenceum) —1836 to 1901. Shortly after the granting of the charter, the association was or ganized by the election of the foUovring officers: President, John Pitman ;^ vice-president. Professor William Giles Goddard ;^ treasurer, WiUiam R. Staples ; and secretary, Thomas White. Later in the same year Stephen Tripp was elected treasurer, in the place of WilUam R. Staples ; and Samuel W. Peckham in the place of Thomas White ; and Mr. Peckham 's connection with the institution continued unbroken until his death in 1895. The library was thrown open for use, October 10, 1836, in the second story of the Arcade, and in these quarters the library remained until July, 1838. The new institution was fortunate in its infancy in securing valuable gifts for its better accommodation. The Board of Directors received a communication from the heirs of the late Thomas Poynton Ives, on the 9th of March, 1836, offering "to furnish a lot of land opposite the ToAvn House^ at the junction of Benefit and College streets, for the site of an edifice to be erected of stone or brick for the suitable accommodation of the Athenseum, His- toricaP and Franklin^ societies — the lot and building to be owned by the Athenaeum, and the other societies to be accommodated therein, upon terms to be agreed on". They also offered, the lot being valued by them at $4,000, to pay $6,000 towards the erection of such a build ing, and $4,000 towards the purchase of books for the Athenaeum, making a total of $14,000, "upon condition that the sum of ten thou sand dollars more be made up, to be applied to the same building, and four thousand dollars more towards the purchase of books, by the sub scriptions of responsible persons (and exclusive of moneys received for shares to be sold in the Athenaeum, prior to 1st of June next) ". AVhen the building thus planned was completed and occupied, it was found that its cost was ' ' about $15,000 ' ', a sum which seems small at the present day. Yet it was sufficient at that time to erect a building which was not only creditable, but which has stood as a cherished archi tectural monument on two of the principal streets of the city from that day to this. The two other societies, which were named in con nection with the Athenaeum, were at that time in search of permanent quarters for their belongings. Por many years, however, the Rhode Island Historical Society has occupied a building of its ovm, on Water- 'Mr. Pitman was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1799, and served as judge of the United States District Court, 1824-64. ^William Giles Goddard was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1812, and was a member of the faculty of Brown University from 1825 to 1842. "The second ""Town House", (occupied from 1795 to 1832). *The Rhode Island Historical Society was incorporated in 1822. "The Providence Franklin Society, founded in 1821, under the name of Philosophical Association", received its present name in 1823. 646 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. man street, next east of the Brown University Library, erected in 1844. The Providence Franklin Society, though still in hired quarters, has for many years had its museum, specimens, and other exhibits in its own hall, first at 27 North Main street (1849-79) and later at 54 North Main street (since 1879) . This institution was founded in 1821, under the name of ' ' The Philosophical Association ' ' ; and in 1823 it was incorporated under its present name. A lease of a part of its premises to the Proridence Franklin Society, by the Providence Athenseum, was executed July 16, 1838; Owen Mason and George Baker signing in behalf of the latter, and John Pitman and Stephen Tripp in behalf of the Athenseum. The joint tenancy thus planned for did not prove Providence Athen^um, erected 1837. permanent, and by 1849 the entire building was left in the possession of the Athenaaum. Ground was broken for this elegant structure April 4, 1837, and it was occupied July 16, 1838. The plans Avere drawn by William Strick land, of Philadelphia, assisted by Russell AA^arren. The building com mittee consisted of Zachariah Allen, John J. Stimson and William S. Patten, and the contractors Avere Samuel B. Durfee and Ebenezer Carpenter. "The building", to quote the descrip tion supplied by the building committee, "is of the Grecian Doric order of architecture, constructed of granite. It is forty-eight feet in width and seventy-eight feet in depth. The front The Growth op the Library. 647 is fine hammered granite, from Quincy, Massachusetts, from the quarry owned by Nathaniel P. Potter, of Providence". . . "The side- waUs of the bmlding are of granite, from Johnston, in this State, from a quarry of Amasa Sweet" (rought ashler). The cost of the entire work, including grounds, fences, etc., was $18,897.18. The building was completed in 1838, and dedicatory exercises were held in the First Baptist meeting-house, on the afternoon of July 11. The principal address was by Dr. Francis Wayland, at that time the president of Brown University, and this address was subsequently published as a pamphlet.^ The buUding was opened for the use of the proprietors July 16, 1838, the books having been removed from their temporary quarters in the Arcade. While the general otitline of the bmlding has remained unchanged to the present day, various changes in detail have been rendered neces sary. In 1841 the east room, then separated from the main room by a masonry partition, was finished, and occupied with books. In 1849 the Proridence Franklin Society, by removing to other quarters, left the library free to occupy the basement rooms. In February, 1869, ex tensive changes were completed, which had occupied about five months. At this time the masonry partition on the principal story was entirely removed, making nearly the whole story one large room, as at present ; and the gaUery was added, increasing the shelving capacity very largely. In 1897 better aeebmmodatiians were obtained by fitting up additional shelving in the basement, and especially by the addition of the attractive art room, at the west end, nearly on a level vrith the gallery, the latter being made possible by a generous gift of more than $2,000 from Mrs. Thomas P. Shepard. In honor of the donor's father this room will henceforth be knoAvn as the "William Giles Goddard memorial room". Two reference rooms near the main entrance were fitted up respectively in 1894 and 1897, and an entrance to the building was for the first time provided at the eastern end in 1897. About this time also (in 1898) a "Children's Alcove" was established, electricity was introduced, the heating improved, the grounds put in better condi tion, and the very convenient room for bound volumes of periodicals finished for use, in the basement. Space was provided for more ade quate bulletins of new books in 1895, and the card-catalogue cases were enlarged in 1901. The policy of the library, as a shareholders' library, was clearly outlined from the beginning; and, while it has not attracted to itself gifts of so great magnitude as in the case of the Boston Athenffium, the service which it has rendered to the community is of much the same character and scope. When, in the middle of the century, the present 'A discourse delivered at the opening of the Providence Athenaeum, July 11, 1838, by Francis Wayland. Providence: Knowles, Vose & Company, 1838. 37 pages. 648 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. "public library" movement made its appearance in this country, the question of transforming the existing library into a free public library was several times seriously agitated in the case of the Boston Athenseum, but it does not appear that the suggestion was made in Providence with equal seriousness. But when, in 1878, the Providence Public Library opened its doors to the public, from no source did it receive a more hearty welcome than from the Proridence Athenaeum. The first president of the library, in the reorganized form, in 1836, was John Pitman. His term of serrice extended over twenty years, to 1856, during which the amendment to the charter brought about the change, by which the Ubrary has since been knoAvn as ' ' The Proridence Athenseum". His successors have been William S. Patten, 1856 to 1870 ; WilUam GammeU,^ 1870 to 1882 ; Alexander Parnum,^ 1882 to 1883 ; Augustus Woodbury,^ 1883 to 1888 ; Samuel L. CaldweU,* 1888 to 1890 ; Samuel AV. Peckham,^ 1890 to 1895 ; Joseph C. Ely,° 1895 to 1897 ; Royal C. Taft,' 1897 ; and Alfred Stone,* since 1897. The direct ors have comprised nearly one hundred and fifty of the most respected citizens of Proridence. The finances of a Ubrary Uke this are intimately connected Arith the number of shareholders, which for many years increased but slowly. In 1837 there were 292; in 1846, 429; in 1850, 516; in 1861, 584; in 1886, 696 ; in 1901, 771. There was expended in 1840 $2,545.19 ; in 1850, $5,009.22 ; in 1870, $6,072.25 ; and in 1900, $7,280.77. The number of volumes was 4,162 in 1837 ; 10,485 in 1843 ; 20,267 in 1856 ; 40,734 in 1882 ; and 63,354 in 1901. Among the earlier gifts to the library, in money, was one of $10,000 from Alexander Duncan, for Cyrus Butler, in 1849. A gift of $10,000 was received in 1866 from the executors of the late Captain Thomas ^Professor Gammell was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1831, and was a member of the faculty of Brown University from 1832 to 1864. ^Mr. Farnum was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1852, and was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Providence Public Library from 1875 until his death, in 1884, serving as treasurer from 1876 to 1884. "Rev. Dr. Woodbury was a graduate from the Harvard Divinity School in 1849, and was settled over the Westminster Church (Unitarian) in Providence from 1857 to 1892. "Rev. Dr. Caldwell was a graduate from Waterville College (now Colby College), in the class of 1839, and was settled over the First Baptist Church, Providence, from 1858 to 1873. From 1878 to 1885 he was president of Vassar College. 'Mr. Peckham died in office in 1895, having witnessed nearly sixty years of the history of the library. He served as the first librarian, from 1836 to 1838, and held nearly every other position connected with the institution. *Mr. Ely was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1870, and was a lawyer of high standing and accomplishments. 'Mr. Taft served as governor of Rhode Island, 1888-1889. •Mr. Stone served as secretary of the American Institute of Architects from 1893 to 1898; and was the architect of the Providence Public Library building, completed in 1900. The Growth op the Library. 649 Poynton Ives (grandson of the Thomas Poynton Ives, mentioned above). In 1867 a considerable number of subscriptions were made for the increase of the permanent fund, amounting to $3,285. In 1880 the Ubrary received from the executors of the late Carring ton Hoppin a book fund amounting to $3,000, to be used for works on Italy and ItaUan art, and to be known as the "Carrington Hoppin fund". In 1889 it received from Thomas Poynton Ives Goddard a hook fund of $10,000, the income to be used for purchasing "standard works of permanent value". From individual friends of the library also have been received a large number of special collections of books of exceptional value, from their illustrations or their rarity. Besides the gradual increase in the collection of books, there was for many years a gratifying development of works of art. No art museum was to be found in Providence until a comparatively recent period in the history of the Providence Athenseum, and the gift of a copy of Stuart's portrait of Washington, in 1838, by Mr. Samuel Larned, was hailed with pleasure, and proved to be the first of a long line of gifts of paintings, busts and other works of art. One of the most note- vforthy of these was the celebrated painting by Edward G. Malbone ("The hours"), secured by subscriptions from various friends of the library, and presented in 1854. The generous gift of Mrs. Thomas P. Shepard, in 1896, of more than $2,000, already mentioned, for the ^'WiUiam Giles Goddard Memorial Room", has most fortunately pro rided an appropriate and attractive place for nearly all the library's art treasures, whether in the form of books, paintings, or other valu able objects. The use of the books has represented a steady, though not rapid increase, comparing very favorably with the circulation of similar libraries elsewhere. There was a circulation of only 3,684 in 1837 ; but 12,506 in 1840; 19,707 in 1850; 22,902 in 1870; 40,800 in 1886; 53,327 in 1899 ; and 50,832 in 1900. Catalogues have been published as follows : The first catalogue in 1837; the second (supplementary), in 1839; a consolidated catalogue in 1853, and a supplement to this last in 1862. Beginning in Septem- her, 1860, the annual additions to the library formed an appendix to the annual reports of the library until 1895, when the publication of a monthly "Bulletin" was begun. Reports have been published regu larly since 1836. The first librarian, who was also one of the latest presidents, was the Jate Samuel W. Peckham, elected in 1836, a man of uncommon gifts, vi'hose whole active career may be said to have been intimately con nected with the history of the Providence Athenaeum, and who pre pared the first catalogue. On the opening of the present building, in 1838, Stephen R. Weeden was chosen librarian, serving until 1845. 650 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Mr. Weeden was succeeded by Thomas Hale Williams, who served until 1854. In this year Mr. Josiah Dunham Hedge was elected, whose term of service of twenty-five years is thus far the longest in the history of the library— from 1854 to 1879. Mr. Hedge was a graduate from Harvard College in the class of 1828, and a brother of Rev. Dr. Fred eric Henry Hedge, for some time ( 1850-56 ) a distinguished clergyman in this city. Mr. Hedge Avas about forty-five years of age on assuming the duties of librarian, and was a man of uncommonly vride reading and profound learning. His administration was a period of notable development in the history of the library. His careful report, made April 6, 1868, on the condition of the library, is a valuable contribu tion to our knowledge of its chief departments. The present excellent development of such departments as the French and German literature received a notable impulse during Mr. Hedge's term of service through the efforts of Mr. Stephen H. Arnold, then a member of the Board of Trustees, and now vice-president. On Mr. Hedge's lamented death, in 1879, Mr. Daniel Beclrvrith succeeded, serving until 1894. Mr. Beckwith was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1870, and, besides a wide acquaintance with literature, had had repeated opportunities of European travel and study. His administration was coincident with some of the most noteworthy stages of development in the American library movement, and was marked by the strengthening of several important departments. On Mr. Beckwith 's resignation in 1894, due to long-continued ill health, Mr. Joseph Leroy Harrison, of Albany, N. Y., was elected his successor and is still in service. He was a member of the class of 1886, at Cornell University, and a graduate from the New York State Library School at Albany in 1893. The present librarian is pre-eminently a man vrith a genius for organization, and for the more helpful forms of library work ; and his accession marks the application of distinctly modern methods to this ancient institution. Every department of the work has felt the impress of his rigorous policy, but chiefly the methods of the delivery desk and the administrative measures which have been undertaken. The library has been re-classified by the Dewey system, and the card-catalogue has been well advanced towards completion. The measure which is perhaps the most noteworthy one of his administration thus far, is the adoption of the constitution and new by-laws, in 1895. This admirable instrument, drawn up by the president, Mr. Joseph C. Ely, but also emphatically embodying the ideas and beliefs of the librarian, was immediately put into operation. It may almost be regarded as embodying the application of the most intelligent treatment thus far given, not merely to the problem of this particular library, but to American proprietary libraries in general. In the light of the principles here embodied, the modern proprietary library may be said to have ' ' oriented ' ' itself, and to have placed itself The Growth op the Library. 651 in proper relations, not to the colonial community of two hundred and fifty years ago, but to the community of to-day, with its pubUc library and other provisions for the public on a general scale. One of its most important results has been to assist in unifying the resources for serious study, accessible to the community, in the three largest libraries of the city. In all other co-operative measures, including those con nected with the Providence Public Library, Mr. Harrison, the libra rian of this library, has been intimately interested'; and when in 1900 the "Go-operative Bulletin of the Providence Libraries" was estab hshed, he was appointed to the position of managing editor, a place which he still continues to fill. Mr. Harrison received a leave of absence in 1900, to accept an important appointment as the director in charge of the American Library Exhibit at the Paris Exposition, being absent at Paris for several months. The present force comprises the following, in addition to the libra rian : Grace P. Leonard, cataloguer ; Mary H. Balch, delivery desk ; Abbie C. Harkness, delivery desk; Everett T. Whitford, delivery desk (evenings) ; Catharine P. AVhitaker, assistant. The library is open daily, except Sundays and holidays, from 9 A. M. to 10 P. M. (except from about June 15 to September 20, when the library closes at 7 P. M. ) . The present list of officers (Sept., 1901) comprises the foUowing: Alfred Stone, president; Stepheii H. Arnold, vice-president; Charles R. Stark, treasurer ; Pardon S. Jastram, secretary ; and the following directors: Augustus M. Lord, Theodore P. Green, Augustine Jones, Albert G. Harkness, Lorin M. Cook, Henry B. Gardner, W. Whitman Bailey, Frederick H. Jackson, Fletcher S. Mason, John C. Pegram, Howard M. Rice, Robert W. Burbank, and Horatio N. Campbell. THE PROATIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY. Introductory Sketch, 1871 to 1878.— The history of the Providence Public Library, as an institution in actual operation, dates only from February 4, 1878, on which day its doors were first opened to the public. The roots, however, of the movement leading to this event are to be looked for much earlier than 1878. The manuscript records of the library, now in its archives, date from June 15, 1871, on which date the meeting of an informally chosen committee is recorded. Yet even before this there were occasional meetings of citizens informally held, at the Brown University Library and elsewhere, during the years 1870 and 1871. Of this preliminary movement the late Dr. Welcome 0. Brown appears to have been one of the most determined promoters, and his relation to it is thus stated by Judge Stiness : "About 1870, as the interest and membership in the Providence Pfanklin Society had been gradually decreasing. Welcome 0. Brovm, 652 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. M. D., its president, with other members, felt that it would be better to disband and put the society's library and valuable museum of natural history where they would be open to all. Dr. BroAvn conceived the idea of making these the nucleus of a public institution, and he worked zealously to create interest in the project. Zachariah AUen,^ always large hearted and alive to the welfare of the community, gave his earnest help and strong influence ; Reuben A. Guild, LL. D., librarian of Brown University, acted as a committee on publicity, and wrote many articles for the newspapers; while others, too many to name, cordially approved and aided the movement. Under this inspiration the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers offered to contribute its library, and thus the beginning of a Pree Library and Museum was at hand".^ It has sometimes been remarked as a striking fact that the outcome of this library movement in Providence, in its final form, was Aridely different from the aim at first proposed ; and the successive changes in the charter certainly confirm the statement. Yet it should perhaps be noted also that there was at first much indefiniteness as to the question of what precise form was most desirable for the institution, and it would appear that, in Dr. Brown's mind, an institution of the type of the Cooper Institute^ in New York seemed the ideal one, whUe in Dr. Guild's mind the ideal type was that of the Boston Public Library.* The former type was indeed embodied in the charter as first dravm, but the latter was recognized in the charter as amended. That the Cooper Institute type should have been that first recognized would appear to have been ineritable from the nature of the various societies represented on the Joint Committee. These pubUc-spirited organizations, each one of which had not merely an honored name, but much vigorous life behind it for at least a part of its history, included the following : The ' ' Providence Association of Mechanics and Manu facturers ' ', founded in 1789, and organized for the purpose of promot- 'Zachariah Allen, who died March 17, 1882, at the age of eighty-seven, was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1813, and formed a most interesting link between the past and the present, having been active on com mittees of the Providence Library Company, which came to an end in 1836, and also one of the joint committee which organized the Providence Athe naeum in the same year. Mr. Allen was a director of the Providence Athe nseum in 1836-49 and 1865-69. ^Chief Justice Stiness's "Historical Sketch", at p. 39-40 of the pamphlet entitled "The new building of the Providence Public Library", (1901). 'The Cooper Institute is cited with emphatic apprbval at p. 17-18 of the pamphlet (prepared by a committee consisting of Zachariah Allen, Rev. Edwin M. Stone, and Dr. Welcome O. Brown), entitled "Free public library, art-gallery, and museum, in the City of Providence, R. I.", (1871). *See the articles by Dr. Guild, in the Providence Journal, especially those of Sept. 10, 1874, and Oct. 30, 1875, emphasizing this point. Other articles by Dr. Guild, on the general suliject of the proposed enterprise are found in the Providence Journal, June 17, 1871; June 13, 1872; Feb. 4, 1873, and Nov. 25, 1874 ; and in the Providence Press of Nov. 20, 1871. Dr. Guild died May 13, 1899. The Growth of the Library. 653 ing manufacturing industries in Providence; the "Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry", organized in 1820, for similar purposes to those of the society just named, yet with an aim to include a wider local field; the "Rhode Island Horticultural Society", organized in 1845, for the development of local interest in fruits and flowers, and landscape gardening ; the ' ' Providence Frank lin Society ' ', organized in 1821, under the name of the ' ' Philosophical Association", and under its present name in 1823, for the promotion of researches in natural science; and the "Franklin Lyceum", or ganized in 1831, for the purpose of debating questions of the day. Each one of these five societies^ possessed "a local habitation", as a place for meeting, and possessed a library. One of them, the Provi dence Franklin Society, possessed a museum of natural history. There was, as yet, in Providence no art m\iseum^ to be represented on this joint committee, and this factor also was not lacking, in the general scheme proposed, since one public-spirited individual, the late Henry J. Steere, a member of one of these "society committees",' expressed his willingness to contribute towards an art gallery as one of the features of the proposed institution. It will readily be seen, as stated by Judge Stiness, that, if the societies had joined under this charter as first proposed, "the combination would have been a sort of poly technic institute. Agriculture and art, natural science and rhetoric, mechanical industries and horticulture would have been represented".* The report adopted at the meeting of the above named Joint Com mittee early in 1871 is printed in full in one of the pamphlets already cited.^ Four resolutions were presented, one of which advocated ap plying for an act of incorporation; and accordingly there was pre sented and passed, at the January session of the Rhode Island General Assembly, in 1871, a charter, organizing the new institution under the corporate name of ' ' The Board of Trustees of the Free Library, Art GaUery, and Museum, in the City of Providence" ; and thus the shape which the movement should take was committed to the " polytechnic "^ type of institution. The draft of this charter was prepared by a committee of unusual ability and efficiency, their names being entered in the following 'Later, one other organization, the Providence Board of Trade, was repre sented in the membership of the Joint Committee (Dec. 8, 1871); and one of its representatives, Mr. William Binney, became one of the permanent members of the Board of Trustees. The Providence School Committee also took action on the subject, but without choosing a representative. "Free public library", p. 15. =The Rhode Island School of Design was incorporated in 1877, and opened in 1878. The Providence Art Club also was founded in 1878, and incorporated in 1880. 'That of the Providence Franklin Society. '"The new building of the Providence Public Library", p. 46. '"Free public library", etc., p. 4-6; also at p. 40-42, of "The new building."^ 654 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. order, in the printed record: John R. Bartlett,^ John H. Stiness,^ William T. Nicholson,^ Henry Staples,* and William P. Chan ning.^ As has been noted by all who have written on the subject, one of the names deserving to be borne in highest honor on the roll of the library's benefactors is that of Dr. W. 0. Brown, Arithout whose effective services as promoter the original impulse would have been wanting, but there is another name entitled to high honor in these early stages of the enterprise, in supplying the needed financial im pulse. This is the name of Joseph A. Barker," who, as well as Dr. Brown, represented the Providence Franklin Society on the Joint Committee. Mr. Barker— to quote from Judge Durfee 's account of the matter— "a man of moderate means, strongly emphasized some hopeful words which he uttered, with a pledge of $10,000 for the enterprise; and" at a later meeting, " 'having come to the con clusion', as he informed his associates, 'that he could not better dispose of his little property than by giving it for a free Ubrary ', he promised $15,000 more, on condition that $75,000 should be contributed by others, and that the city should give a lot for the building".^ Mr. Barker's definite and carefully considered proposition had the effect of clarifying the ideas of those who were interested in the move ment. It was clearly seen that their proposed enterprise, vrith its exceptionally comprehensive scope, was of so great magnitude that nothing short of a fund of $100,000, exclusive of the land for the building, would be of any avail. With determination and courage the committees appointed to obtain subscriptions at once entered on their Avork. Some progress Avas made towards the desired end, but it was made slowly. A subscription of $10,000 from the late Alexander Duncan and his wife was announced at a meeting held January 1, 'John Russell Bartlett, secretary of the state of Rhode Island, from 1855 to 1872, was, for several years before his death, the librarian of the John Carter Library. Thirty-five years before thus assisting at the foundation of the Providence Public Library, he had performed a similar service as a member of a committee formed to organize the Providence Athenaum. Mr. Bartlett died May 28, 1886. ''Judge Stiness has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of this library since 1882; and has served as justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court since 1875, and chief justice since May, 1900. ^Mr. Nicholson served as a member of the Board of Trustees of this library from 1877 to his death, Oct. 17, 1893. He served as treasurer from 1884 to 189L 'Mr. Staples was the son of Hon. William R. Staples, one of the founders of the Providence Athenaeum. "William Francis Channing, M. D., a son of Rev. Dr. William Ellery Channing, was a resident of Providence from 1861 to 1884. He died in Boston, March 19, 1901. "Mr. Barker served as a member of the Board of Trustees of this library, from 1874 until his death, Oct. 14, 1892. 'Judge Durfee's address; p. 6 of "The new building". The Growth op the Library. 655 1873 ; and on February 26 of the same year $10,000 more, from the late William S. Slater,^ was announced. At about the same time $10,000 was subscribed by the late Mrs. Anna Richmond. Yet, up to the date of the meeting held November 13, 1874, more than three years after the passage of the act of incorporation, at Avhich date the charter Avas formally adopted, and reports of progress were made, the sum total thus far secured was only $44,500. The next stage in the movement represents the enlightened action of men Avho were unwilling to see the results of so much effort come to nothing, through persistence in a policy which Avas now plainly hopeless. If the ' ' polytechnic institute ' ' type of organization must be admitted to be beyond our reach, with our limited funds— they ap parently reasoned— surely the "public library" type is not an un attainable one. Largely through the conscientious efforts of Mr. Frank E. Richmond^ (representing one of the three largest gifts already made) it Avas decided to apply for an amendment to the charter of 1871, providing chiefly^ for a public library; and this amendment was passed by the General Assembly at the January ses sion, 1875. The signifleance of this amendment is thus characterized by Judge Durfee : "The amendment was unquestionably wise, since it enabled the trustees to concentrate their efforts, and the contributors to contribute only to their favorite object. Nevertheless it also had an effect of a more dubious character. It took from the five societies, originally named in the act, their special interest in the undertaking, and con sequently, as societies, they ceased to co-operate in it. Their earlier efforts, however, had been exceedingly valuable and merit our grateful recognition and remembrance".* To this judgment a hearty assent must be given by all who have carefully studied the steps leading to the final establishment of the library. The action of those who saw the necessity for the amendment of 1875 was precisely the action needed at a critical moment in the history of the movement, but the action of the men who had directed the co-operation of the five societies up to this stage was of scarcely less rital importance to the existence of the institution. Enduring honor and gratitude are due to both. With the change from one form of institution to another, involved 'Mr. Slater's public-spirited beneficence was strikingly shown in the manu facturing villages in which he was chifly interested. He served as the first president of this library, from 1874 until his death. May 28, 1882. =Mr. Richmond served as a member of the Board of Trustees of this library from 1875 to 1892. He was the secretary of the board from 1874 to 1884, and the president from 1884 to 1892. 'Section 4 of the charter provides that the trustees "may, if they shall see fit" establish also the other features of the institution originally contemplated. 'Judge Durfee's address, at p. 8 of "The new building". 656 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. in the amended charter of 1875, came also the change in corporate name. The institution was no longer to be known as ' ' The Board of Trustees of the Pree Library, Art Gallery, and Museum in the City of Providence", but as the "Providence Public Library".'- It is sig nificant that, while, in respect to use, the institution was thus placed within the category of the ordinary American public library (of the type of the Boston Public Library), in respect to control it was left where it was before, outside of the city government— an incorporated institution, with only the mayor, ex-officio, representing the city officials in its membership, and filling its own vacancies, instead of having them filled by the City Council. The granting of the amended charter of 1875 found the institution already in possession of an organization, the necessary officers haring been elected under the original charter. At a "meeting of the con tributors ' ', held November 13, 1874," for the purpose of accepting the charter of 1871, the four trustees entitled to hold office under the terms of that charter were duly chosen; and at a meeting of these trustees immediately afterwards, the following officers were elected: Presi dent, William S. Slater; and secretary, Frank E. Richmond. The trustees then chosen were the following : Alexander Duncan, William S. Slater, Mrs. Anna Richmond, and Joseph A. Barker. To these should be added the Mayor (chosen in accordance with the terms of the charter), the late Thomas A. Doyle, whose connection with the early stages of the library movement was an important one. Mayor Doyle gave much time and interest to the matter, presiding repeatedly at the preliminary meetings. AVhile it is true that, as societies, the five societies heretofore repre sented on the Joint Committee ceased to hold official connection with the institution after the charter amendment of 1875, yet individual members of these society committees still remained among the most cordial supporters of the library. The names of eight of them are found among the members of the Board of Trustees of the library.' The object of the change in the charter was entirely a practical one, being intended as an effective measure to bring about a result which 'The phraseology is that of "public library"; rather than -'free Public library", as in some instances, but the library is none the less a free one. Be ginning with the 8th annual report, in 1885, the "Form of bequest" has been printed on the outside of the rear cover of the annual reports, stating the exact phraseology of the library's name, "Providence Public Library." =This date, therefore (1874), is appropriately taken as that of the founding of the library, and is the date inscribed on the library seal, designed for the library by Mr. Bertram G. Goodhue, of Boston, in 1895. See Judge Stiness's historical note on the "date of organization", at p. 7 of the 18th annual report. 'Namely, Joseph A. Barker, 1874-92; Thomas A. Doyle (Mayor), 1874-81, 1884-86; George A. Leete, 1875-84; Zachariah Allen, 1875-82: William Binney, 1875-83; Amos C. Barstow, 1875-77; William T. Nicholson, 1877-93; and John H. Stiness, since 1882. The Growth op the Library. 657 had long been "hanging fire"; and there is perhaps no evidence to show whether in retaining the feature of independence of municipal control there was a full appreciation of its significance. It at once differentiated this "pubUc library" from aU the others in New Eng land, with the possible exception of that at Waterbury, in Connecticut. The results have, however, been far-reaching. The funds at the dis posal of the Ubrary have doubtless been more limited than might OtherAvise have been the case, but, on the other hand, there are few libraries in which questions of administration have been decided on a basis so unbiased and so absolutely free from political consideration as in this instance. The next two or three years were in part devoted to securing the necessary funds for ensuring the opening of a library to the pubUc, and partly to measures for actually carrying that design into execu tion. In order to attain this result there were needed books, a place for the books, and a librarian. An encouraging step in this direction was taken February 17, 1875, in accepting the offer of the Proridence , Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, one of the five societies which had been acting in co-operation. The proposition made by this so ciety included the offer of "ten thousand dollars in money and books" ; and, as it proved, the books comprised 6,222 volumes. AVhen the library opened, these books formed about sixty per cent, of the total ; and they were thus much more than a respectable nucleus. A vigorous step in advance was also taken, in the appointment, February 8, 1877, of a committee ' ' to derise a plan for establishing a Public Library as soon as possible". The membership of this committee was worthy of the vigorous purpose embodied in the resolution, namely, Alexander Par num, Joseph A. Barker, and Prank E. Richmond. Their report was made May 5, 1877. It embodied a careful canvass of all the funds in hand, $73,750, and the suggestion of two possible locations in which to open the library. Following its adoption, a series of supplementary resolutions was adopted, creating an Executive Committee, a Finance Committee, and a Library Committee, and also providing for the election of a treasurer. A few days afterAvards, May 7, 1877, the members of these committees were appointed by the president, and their work was at once vigorously prosecuted. Mr. Alexander Farnum had also been elected treasurer, Sept. 29, 1876. At the next meeting. May 19, 1877, Mr. Parnum, for the Library Committee, reported a nomination for the position of librarian; in accordance Arith which Mr. William E. Foster, a graduate of Brown University in the class of 1873, who had been engaged in library work in Massachusetts for four years, was elected. The librarian entered on his duties June 1, 1877, establishing himself for the present in rooms hitherto occupied by the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, in 43 658 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. the third story of the building at the south corner of Weybosset and Orange streets. The volumes owned by that association were carefully compared Arith lists of supplementary purchases to be made. These purchases Avere received and catalogued, with the volumes already in hand; and a system of classification was also adopted for the whole. One of the tAvo locations which had been suggested was selected by a vote passed May 19, 1877, and this room, at the Exchange Place end of the second story of the Butler Exchange, was supplied Arith the necessary book-cases and other fittings. Lastly, two assistants and one messenger were engaged, the books transferred from the Weybosset street quarters to the new library quarters, and a date announced for opening the library to the public. On the evening of February 4, 1878, accordingly, the new quarters were thrown open to the pubUc, with no formal exercises, but for inspection and for the issue of library cards; and on the foUovring morning, February 5, 1878, the library Avas opened for circulation. The library in operation, 1878 to 1901.— The library was thus placed at the disposal of the public; its development has depended on the efforts of those who have served it as officers. The first two presidents died in office, Mr. Slater in 1882, at the end of the library's fourth year, and Mr. Leete,^ who succeeded him, two years later, in 1884. Mr. Leete was succeeded as president by Mr. Prank E. Richmond, who had for ten years discharged the duties of secretary. Prom this time on, by the new by-laws adopted at this time, the president has been the ex-officio chairman of all the standing committees. AVhen Mr. Richmond, on account of confining business cares, vrithdrew from the Board of Trustees in 1892, he left behind an enviable record of un remitting service to the institution, as secretary and president, extend ing over nearly seventeen years. Mr. Richmond was succeeded as president, in 1892, by Hon. Thomas Durfee,^ for many years chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, who had been elected to membership in the board in 1888. His term of service as president at the time of his death, in 1901, was longer than any that had preceded it. The library has had but two secretaries in a period of nearly twenty- seven years. Mr. Frank E. Richmond's difficult and extraordinarily useful service as secretary extended from 1874 until his election as president in 1884, when he was succeeded by Mr. Edward I. Nicker son,' who had been chosen a member of the Board of Trustees in 1878. 'Mr. Leete, who at first represented Mr. Duncan's interests on the Board, was elected a member in 1875, serving until his death, April 12, 1884. ''Judge Durfee was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1846; and served as chief justice from 1875 to 1891. He died June 6, 1901. "Mr. Nickerson's membership in the board represented the bequest of $10,000 from the late Joseph R. Brown, of the firm of Brown & Sharpe, who died July 23, 1876. The Growth op the Library. 659 His secretaryship has already passed the seventeenth year, which is longer than the position of either president, secretary, or treasurer has been held by anyone else. The position is noteworthy in that respect, among libraries in general, and also for the increasing and absorbing demands on the time of the holder. The records of the board and also of the Executive Committee are a striking testimony to the exceptional interest and industry of this member of the board. The Finances of the Library.— The Finance Committee.— The choice of the Board of Trustees for its first treasurer fell upon Mr. Alexander Farnum,^ who had been elected a member of the board, at large, in 1875, at the first meeting held after the amendment of the charter. The choice was a most fortunate one, ovring to Mr. Farnum 's long experience with investments and the conducting of financial institu tions on a large scale. Mr. Parnum 's service as treasurer was of extraordinary value, and lasted until his death, in 1884, when he was succeeded by Mr. AVilliam T. Nicholson. Mr. Nicholson's service, which continued until 1891, was also of great value to the library, owing to his minute familiarity with all the details of organizing industry. The blank forms used in all the financial operations of the library, as well as the auditor's records, kept at the library, were derised by Mr. Nicholson, and bear witness to his intelligence and skill. Mr. Nicholson was succeeded in 1891 by Mr. Samuel H. Tingley,^ at that time cashier of the Mechanics' National Bank, whose term of service has continued to the present time. Mr. H. E. Thurston was appointed assistant treasurer in 1897, and he still holds the position. The library has also been most fortunate in the membership of its Finance Committee,^ one of the three "standing committees". Not until 1889 was any appropriation received from the city of Providence. The sum of $125 was received from the State of Rhode Island at the end of the library's flrst year, in 1879, in virtue of the State law respecting public libraries, a sum Avhich was increased to $150 in 1880, as the number of volumes in the library increased, and in 1882 to $200, beyond which, as a "maximum", the State could not go. AU the resources of the library consequently during its first eleven years, 'Mr. Farnum was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1852, and served as speaker of the house, in the Rhode Island General Assembly, in 1865. He was a director of the Providence Athenffium, 1860-65, 1866-70, and was president in 1882. He died May 11, 1884. ''Mr. Tingley had been active as a member of the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers. "The members of the Finance Committee have comprised the following: William S. Slater, William Binney, George A. Leete, William T. Nicholson, John H. Stiness, Benjamin F. Thurston, Frank E. Richmond, Nicholas Shel don, George F. Leete, Cornelius S. Sweetland, and Thomas Durfee. From 1879 to 1885, there was also an Audit Committee, comprising the following: Joseph A. Barker, William T. Nicholson, George A. Leete, Edward I. Nickerson and Nicholas Sheldon. 660 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Arith the exception of this small sum from the State, were drawn from the income of gifts and bequests,^ as they accumulated, none too rapidly, it is true, but in a steady and almost continuous stream. It is therefore fortunate that the Finance Committee has from the start comprised men who were not only familiar with the most intelligent methods of investment, but who were also able to deal in an enlight ened manner with the far more difficult problem of deciding when aii institution is justified in encroaching on its capital. There has hardly been a time, from the financial report of March 12, 1878, until that of March 15, 1900, when this practical and ever- present question has not been seriously and anxiously debated. That the question has been decided so many times in the affirmative has, however, been due not only to the fact that the expenditure has been so urgently demanded at the time, but also to the strikingly significant fact that the library has never yet been vrithout a promising financial future opening before it, even in its most seriously straitened years. Prom the generous bequest of Moses B. Lockwood,^ antedating even the opening of the library, and paid over in 1882, to that of Henry L. Kendall,^ whose death occurred in 1883, and whose estate was settled in 1889, and still further to that of John Wilson Smith,' who died in 1891, and whose bequest became partly available in 1893, and is ex pected to yield still more in future (as is also true of other estates stiU unsettled), the library has never been without a more or less definite assurance of funds to be provided in future. The Lockwood bequest comprised $32,021.92; the KendaU bequest upwards of $275,000 (the largest thus far), the Smith estate,^ thus far, $101,856.45. With these generous gifts received from men no longer living should be mentioned that of the late John Nicholas BroAvn, for the purpose of completing the library building, a munificent gift footing up to $268,595.75. 'Mr. Joseph A. Barker's generous bequest, in 1877, was followed, five years later, by an offer, dated Aug. 5, 1882, to contribute $10,000, if an equal sum is contributed by any other person or persons by the 1st of January following. A printed appeal to the public (a copy of which is annexed to the "Records", under March 14, 1883), was thereupon prepared and circulated. A few gener ous sums were subscribed, but the amount fell far short, and it was only through Mr. Barker's liberal construction of the offer that the KendaU be quest, announced in July, 1883, was regarded as complying with the condi tions. Mr. Barker's subscription of $10,000 was promptly paid over, on the payment of the first installment of the Kendall gift, in December, 1883. ''Mr. Lockwood, who was not only a public-spirited manufacturer of Provi dence, but an active member of the Providence Franklin Society, died May 13, 1872. "Mr. Kendall was a distinguished citizen of Providence, actively engaged in manufacturing and flnancial enterprises, and died July 10, 1883, at the age of 78. ¦¦Mr. Smith was a lawyer of much ability, averse to prominence, but of much keenness of discernment. He died Aug. 6, 1891, at the age of 78. "From a bequest of Mr. Smith's sister, Miss Mary A. Smith, has also been received $500. The Growth op the Library. 661 Besides these larger amounts, there has been from year to year a succession of most generous and heartily appreciated gifts. In 1877, the year before the Ubrary was opened, there was received a gift of $10,500 from Miss JuUa Bullock ; in 1878, a bequest of $1,852.86 from Miss Fanny Mason ; in 1879, $1,000 from the late Henry J. Steere ; in 1889, $5,000 from the late Samuel M. Noyes; in 1891, $2,000 from the late Albert J. Jones, as "book-funds"; in 1893, $1,000 from Mrs. Benjamin P. Thurston (for industrial books) ; in 1895, $1,000 from Misses Clara A. and EUzabeth A. Hoppin (for a "book-fund") ; in 1896, $1,000 from Mrs. Thomas P. Shepard (for the library building) ; in 1898, $10,000 from the late B. B. Knight ; and in the same year $1,000 from Hon. Thomas Durfee, the president of the board,^ and also in 1900 a bequest of $10,000 from Mrs. Adah Steere. To these should be added also the other sums, varying in size, which represent a Uvely interest in the library on the part of the public, bringing up the entire amount paid in, from private generosity, to $819,895.70.^ It is true that a sum as large as this, received at one time, would have yielded a larger income than has ever yet been at the disposal of the library. It seems equally certain that these gifts would not have been received through these successive years if the library had not expended what it received in service to the public. It was the spectacle of a library, in actual operation, which appealed to the generosity of these donors. As regards the question of municipal support, the library has passed through two successive stages. The first of these extended from the foundation of the library to the year 1889, and was characterized not only by entire independence of the municipal organization on the part of the library, but by the absence of any municipal appropriations for the library. In other words, the library had been in operation for eleven years, for the benefit of the citizens of Providence, before re- ceiring a dollar of money from the city. The second stage extends from 1889 to the present time, during which the library has remained on an equally independent basis, but has received each year an appropriation from the city, varying in amount, not "for the support of the library", but "in aid of" it. 'There is not included in the above the amount left for the purposes of a public library by the will of the late Seth Padelford, dated Nov. 24, 1877, the conditions of which are not yet fulfilled, and are perhaps unlikely to be. The donor, who served as governor of Rhode Island, 1869-73, was a member of one of the "joint committees", in 1871, mentioned on p. 652, above. ^"Report of the Finance Committee", at p. 14-17 of the pamphlet, "The new building". Mrs. Steere's bequest was received later. Steps have been taken for supplying the library with portraits of several of these generous donors. That of Henry L. Kendall was painted, in 1895, by John N. Arnold; that of John Wilson Smith in 1897, by Mr. Arnold; that of Alfred M. Williams in 1899, by Hugo Breul; and that of Joseph A. Barker, in 1900, by Miss Cornelia Green. 662 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The steps leading to the action taken by the city government in 1889 represent a movement very natural in its development, and originating largely outside of the library. In November, 1888, the needs and claims of the library had been made the subject of discussion, at a gathering of some of the most influential citizens, at a dinner of the Providence Commercial Club. In the inaugural address of the incom ing mayor, the late Hon. Henry R. Barker, January 7, 1889, attention Avas called to the needs of the library, and the Mayor asked the Council to consider whether the advantages conferred does not "warrant the giring of pecuniary aid thereto".^ Meanwhile, a bill, prepared vrith the approval of the president and other members of the Board of Trustees of the library, had been introduced into the Rhode Island General Assembly, relating to appropriations for public libraries. In place of this bill, however, a later biU was substituted, the conditions of which were to apply only to this library, and which authorized the city of Proridence, through its City Council, "to appropriate in any year a sum not exceeding twenty cents on each one thousand doUars of the ratable property of said city." This act was passed by the General Assembly, April 24, 1889. At a meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 27, 1889, a committee was appointed to present a petition to the City Council, requesting it to act in accordance vrith the prorisions of the act of the General Assembly. This committee consisted of two members of the board, Messrs. Richmond and Nichol son, together with the librarian, Mr. Foster. The petition came before the City Council in the usual manner, and was referred to a "Joint Committee on the Public Library", which had been appointed January 11, 1889. This committee comprised the following members : Edward G. Burrows and Henry T. Root, of the Board of Aldermen, and Messrs. Samuel T. Douglas (chairman), John AV. Angell, and Mortimer H. Hartwell, of the Common Council. The report of this committee was presented June 10, 1889. In consequence of this recommendation, the City Council appro priated to this library $3,500, July 8, 1889, and $7,500, Decem ber 7, 1889. The sum of $7,500 was appropriated the next year, 1890, and thereafter for the next four years, including 1894. In 1895 this annual sum was increased to $10,000, a sum which was appropriated in each successive year until 1899. In 1900, after the occupation of the new building, the sum was again increased, making it $20,000. The sums received from the city of Providence have, from the start, been regarded as "for the general purposes of the library", and not for the erection of a library building. The question of receiving city aid for the latter purpose was not unnaturally several times under consideration, and the proposition at one time was urged with the 'Mayor Barker's "Inaugural address", 1889, p. 14-15. Mayor Barker's ser vice lasted from 1889 to 1891. He died March 17, 1901. iHB weowth op the Libraky. 663 strong recommendation of the city officials ; yet, as a matter of fact, the building was flnally completed and occupied by the library without the expenditure of a dollar by the city for that purpose. Growth of the Library.— The number of volumes in the library after two years, in 1880 (the year in which the removal was made from the Butler Exchange to the Snow street quarters), was 18,029, of which only about one-third had been purchased. In subsequent years this large percentage of gifts has been maintained, forming, in the report for the year 1900, two-thirds of the total. Not only has this phase of the library's increase stood for a share of the whole which is proportionaUy large, but the nature of the acces sions made to the library, either in the form of gifts, absolutely, or in some analogous manner, has been most noteworthy, from the very beginning. Of the various separate Ubraries in Providence several have been absorbed in the public library's collections,^ including that of the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers,^ and that of the Franklin Lyceum,^ while that of the Rhode Island Soldiers ' and Sailors' Historical Society,* though preserved as a distinct "col lection", has also become the property of the Providence Public Library, by gift from the society. Four others have been deposited Arithin the walls of the Providence Public Library, thus adding to its resources for reference, while still remaining the property of the societies which deposited them, including those of the Rhode Island Medical Society,^ the Rhode Island Chapter of the American Institute pf Architects,^ the Rhode Island Horticultural Society,'' and the Barnard Club,* (an educational collection).^ Equally noteworthy have been the "collections" developed by private ownership, or in some 'Beside those below mentioned, the larger part of the Woonasquatucket Library, one of the free libraries of the city, on being discontinued in 1889, was transferred to this library, (more than 600 volumes), as a gift from the Richmond Manufacturing Company. ^Six thousand, two hundred and twenty-two volumes, received in 1877. "Three thousand and eighteen purchased in 1890. ("Records", June 6, 1890.) •Six hundred and nine volumes, transferred to the custody of this library in June, 1900. "More than fourteen thousand volumes, transferred to the library building in July, 1900. The first negotiations in regard to this transfer date from May 9, 1890; and the final papers were signed June 2, 1900. 'About seventy-five volumes, transferred to the library building in March, 1901. 'One hundred and forty-eight volumes, transferred to the library building in July, 1900. "Sixty-eight volumes, transferred to the library building in November, 1900. With them is placed the library's own collection of works on education, bring ing the total up to considerably more than one thousand volumes. "Three other collections which are placed "on deposit" in the library build ing are "The George H. Smith collection of scrap-books relating to the Ameri can Civil War" (29 vols.) received in June, 1900, and still remaining the prop- 664 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. way representing private collecting, which have become the property of this library. One of the earliest additions to the library, on any very large scale, was from the Cooke library. In 1883, this libraiy, with several others, availed itself of the provisions of the wiU of the late Mr. Joseph J. Cooke,^ in bidding, at auction sales, on the books from his private library, to the amount of $5,000, thus securing an accession of 2,596 volumes. In 1884 another of the choice private libraries described in Judge Rogers 's volume was sold at auction, namely, that of Mr. Alex ander Parnum, an eminent member of the Board of Trustees of this library from 1875 until his death in 1884. Prom this sale 244 volumes were secured, representing, with scarcely an exception, the choicest editions^ of the works purchased. In 1884, also, another of the choice Ubraries described by Judge Rogers was broken up, namely, that of Mr. Caleb Fiske Harris. Mr. Harris's collecting propensity led him in two different directions, each of them noteworthy. Within the limits of Proridence is still preserved his unique collection of "Ameri can poetry", on the shelves of the Brown University Library. Within the same city is also preserved his invaluable collection on "Slavery and the Civil War", on the shelves of the Proridence Public Library. This accession to the library, in 1884, is properly spoken of as a pur chase, and yet when it is considered that out of the entire sum paid for it ($2,000) the sum of $1,909 was offered to the trustees as a gift' for the express purpose of securing this collection, thus leaving only $91 to be directly appropriated for it from the funds of the library, it almost requires to be classed as a gift. Of the various "collections" secured by the library during its first twenty- three years, this "Harris collection" still stands as, on the whole, the most noteworthy and most valuable. It is numbered among the eight libraries in the country which are richest in this department of history, the others being the Boston Public Library, the Boston Athenseum Library, the Massachu- erty of Mr. Smith's heirs; the duplicate set of the Providence Journal (in part), comprising 139 volumes (the property of the Providence Journal Com pany), and the duplicate set of "Records of the North Burial Ground" (5 vols.), the property of the City of Providence. 'Mr. Cooke, who died July 8, 1881, at the age of 68, was a book-collector of wide expe];-ience, as well as a man of prominence in public life. ^Notable instances are cited in the 7th annual report of the library, p. 4, foot-note b. Some of these sets are now on the shelves of the "Standard Library." "As actually paid over, it amounted to $2,221.47. The circumstances of this gift are explained at p. 5 of the 7th annual re port of the library, the money having accumulated from the "Hospital Li brary" fund at Portsmouth Grove, undertaken during the American Civil War, in 1862. As early as 1871, the proposition to transfer this fund to the public library had been discussed ("Records", Nov. 14, 1871), but no decisive action was taken until 1884. The papers relating to the fund are deposited in the archives of the library. The Growth op the Library. 665 setts Historical Society Library, the Harvard College Library at Cam bridge, the Cornell University Library at Ithaca, N. Y., the Oberlin College Library at Oberlin, 0., and the Howard University Library at Washington, D. C. On the principle that "to him that hath shall be given", important additions have been made to this invaluable nucleus, including several hundred rare volumes and pamphlets on the subject from the heirs of the late Sullivan Dorr, in 1884; newspapers and periodicals from Mr. Henry G. Russell, in 1886, and the 609 volumes already mentioned, from the library of the Rhode Island Soldiers ' and Sailors' Historical Society, in 1900, and still others from the heirs of Alphonso R. Janes in 1900. AVhen, as has at least once been the case, all of the library's volumes (so far as practicable) on the same subjects have been brought in from the stack and placed with these collections, there is found to be a total of more than 11,500 volumes on this partic ular department of history. The departments of statistics and gov ernmental administration were strengthened, in 1884, by a bequest of 1,323 volumes from Hon. Henry B. Anthony, United States senator from Rhode Island from 1859 to 1884 ; by 35 volumes from Miss M. J. Blackwood in 1887, and by about 1,800 volumes from the library of Dr. Edwin Miller Snow,^ received from his widow in 1889 ; also by many volumes from Hon. Oscar Lapham in 1896. Another note worthy gift is that of 670 volumes from Mr. Albert J. Jones,^ a former citizen of Providence, who died at Florence, in Italy, in 1887, having, however, previously announced his intention of making this gift. The Jones library may be characterized as an Italian collection, all but about twenty-five of the books being in the Italian language, and most of the standard Italian authors being represented. In 1887 also were received from the Perkins Institution for the Blind, in South Boston, twenty-four volumes, printed in raised letters, for the blind, as the nucleus for the library's collection of these works, now numbering 138, which have carried pleasure to the minds of so many readers to whom the gift of sight is denied.' In 1888 were received nine volumes, aU of exceptional value, in the field of architectural study, presented to the library as a memorial of Paul D. Allen. In 1891 were received 'Twelfth annual report, p. 8. Dr. Snow, who died Dec. 22, 1888, was a graduate from Brown University in the class of 1845, and served as Superin tendent of Health, of Providence, from 1856 to 1884. 'The treasures of the Jones library are described by the librarian, in the Providence Journal, July 27, 1887. See also the 10th annual report of the library, p. 4-5. Mr. Jones, who died May 25, 1887, left also to this library, by will, two book-funds, of $1,000.00 each, the incomes of which should be used respectively for Italian books, and books on art. Mr. Jones had also been a generous donor to the Providence Athenseum. "By the generosity of a friend of the library (Mr. Robert Grieve), a beau tifully printed catalogue of these books was published and distributed in 1900 ("List of books in raised type for the blind"). See also the Monthly Bulle tin, V. 4, p. 89-91. 666 S'TATE OP Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. about 150 publications designated by the donor as "The Updike pamphlets", presented by Mr. Daniel Berkeley Updike,^ of Boston. These volumes, representing the accumulations, through five successive generations of a single Rhode Island family, possess a value of no common order, as showing what matters occupied the attention of thinking men in Rhode Island from 1640 to 1820. In 1893 this library received from Mrs. Benjamin P. Thurston,^ the widow of a former member of the Board of Trustees, a gift of $1,000 to be spent outright for ' ' books illustrating modem applications of science. ' ' In 1894 a beginning was made in collecting the library's present collection of trade catalogues, which has become a group of works of exceptional value and utility, all of which, however, with but few exceptions, are gifts to the library. In 1896 the library received, by bequest, the very valuable private library of Mr. Alfred M. Williams.' Mr. Williams had been a member of the Board of Trustees from 1888 until his death, on the Island of Saint Kitt's, March 9, 1896; and his library, numbering more than 3,000 volumes, was especially rich in folk lore and in Irish, Scotch, and Celtic literature. In 1898 the very useful working library of the late Mr. Robert Bonner was received as a gift from Mr. Bonner's family. This very welcome musical coUec tion comprises about 500 musical scores, and about 150 volumes about music; and supplements in a very desirable manner the collection of several hundred musical scores, etc., which had already been pur chased by the library in 1895. This collection has been stiU further supplemented by the large gift of music from Mr. Walter I. French, in 1900, bringing the collection of musical scores up to more than 1,500.* The above list is far from exhaustive. Welcome gifts, smaller in amounts, but emphatically appreciated, have included the valuable collection of publications, largely bibliographical, presented by Mr. George T. Paine, ^ in 1878, and continued to date ; and a bibUographical gift of great value from Mr. Frederick A. Arnold, in 1901, vrith many another gift of great value and serviceabieness from a multitude of different readers. One of the most delightful of the library's ex- 'Mr. Updike, the founder of the Merrymount Press, in Boston, has not only bound these "pamphlets" in a most tasteful manner, but has placed inside each volume an appropriate label descriptive of th€ collection. See the 14th annual report of the library, p. 5. ''Mr. Thurston was a lawyer of great eminence, and widely known outside of his city and state. He served as a member of this board, from 1883, until his death, March 13, 1890. "Mr. Williams, who was the editor in chief of the Providence Journal, from 1884 to 1891, also made this library his residuary legatee. See the Monthly Bulletin, v. 2, p. 75 ; also, R. S. Howland's "Memoir" of Mr. Williams, p. 26-28. *This includes valuable gifts from Mr. John H. Mason and others. ¦^Mr. Paine served as one of the members of the "Joint committee," in 1874 representing the Providence Franklin Society. In 1883, the firm of which he is a member (the Akerman Co.), began the practice of an annual gift to this library, which has now amounted to a large sum. The Growth op the Library. 667 periences, since occupying the new building, has been the great number of small gifts made by visitors immediately after visiting the building. Mention has been made of the two book funds from the bequest of Mr. Albert J. Jones. A third was received in 1895 from Miss Clara A. Hoppin and Miss EUzabeth A. Hoppin, who in the sale of one of the lots on which the library building stands set apart $1,000 as a fund whose income should be used for the purchase of books on art. In 1901 a fund of $3,000 was received from a Providence lady who prefers to remain anonymous, though already one of the library's generous benefactors, the income of which shall be used "for the purchase of books", but without specifying any classes of books. The New Building.— A detailed account of the library building, completed in 1900, and of the steps leading to it will be found in the pamphlet published in 1901, entitled ' ' The new building of the Provi dence Public Library". The essential characteristic of the library scheme advocated in the years 1871 to 1875 by Dr. Welcome 0. Brown and his associates was the grouping of widely different coUections of books under one roof. AVhen it is remembered that, of the separate libraries established in Proridence at the time that this library was opened m 1878, three are now a part of this library in its new building, and three others are deposited under its roof, it would at first seem that there had been a return to the "polytechnic" idea. There is, however, this difference, that, while the public Ubrary was at first only one feature among half a dozen, it has here been recognized as indisputably the dominant feature, and these others are valuable in so far as they minister to it and facilitate its development. In this naturally evolved relation of the two, lies the promise of that Arider development which is sure to open before a public library like this in the future.^ the olneyville pree library. This free library, organized in 1875, stood until 1898 within the limits of the town of Johnston, but is now one of the free pubUc Ubraries of the city of Providence, this part of Johnston haring been annexed to the city. It is under the control of the Olneyville Pree Library Association. The reading room and library were first opened to the public 'Owing to need of condensation, the following items in regard to the Provi dence Public Library are here presented in the briefest possible form : Present officers. President (vacant by death of Judge Durfee) ; Secretary, Edward I. Nickerson ; Treasurer, Samuel H. Tingley ; Assistant Treasurer, H. E. Thurston ; Librarian, William E. Foster. Present number of volumes, January 1, 1901, 93,368, of which nearly all are catalogued in print in the " Finding List " and "Author Index," (down to March, 1900). Circulation in 1900, 106,453. Cost of maintenance, 1900, $37,983.03. Location of building, Washington street, corner PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY. The Growth op the Library. 669 February 20, 1875, the nucleus of the library being fifty volumes given by the Sunday School of Grace Church in Providence. The number of volumes increased slowly. There were 600 in 1877, 1.500 in 1887, and in 1901 there are 8,044. The library was at flrst opened in the building at No. 12 Hartford avenue, and was afterwards for some time in the Irons Block ; but in 1891 the attractive Library Building, an interesting example of mediaeval Flemish architecture, was erected by the Library Association in a commanding portion of OlneyriUe square from plans by Stone, Carpenter & Willson, of Providence. The Ubrary has since then found a permanent home within its walls, occu pying a part of the second story, the remainder of the building being rented for offices and other purposes. The correction of boundary Unes, which was effected by the annexa tion act of 1898, was an exchange of unnatural conditions for natural ones, the former boundary running through a thickly settled territory possessing as much community of interests as is the case with the territory through which passes the former boundary between Boston and Roxbury. In the work of the Proridence PubUc Library the artificial nature of this barrier was recognized from the very first. From time to time suggestions were made for extending the privileges of the registration to this part of Johnston. The case is stated in the 13th annual report of the Providence Public Library (1890) as follows: "The Olneyville Pree Library, situated as it is on the very edge of the city limits, though having no organic connection with this library (the Providence Public Library), performs many of the functions of a branch library. Although the building stands within the limits of the town of Johnston, the greater number of the borrowers— about sixty per cent.— are residents of Proridence. The library is used constantly and largely— as this library is— by the teachers and pupils of those public schools of Proridence which are situated nearest the Johnston line" {i. e., the Bridgham Street, Federal Street, and Academy Avenue grammar schools, and since then the Messer Street Grammar School) "in con nection with their studies. The library acts as a feeder to this library, as a branch to the Boston Public Library does to the main library, and the coming of some reader to this library who says that he has been referred here from the Olneyville Pree Library for Avorks of a more special character than are contained therein, is a matter of frequent occurrence. Repeatedly also references on special subjects posted at this library have been posted there also".^ In this year also (1890) Greene street. Building occupied March 15, 1900; cost, ?460,000; architects, Stone, Carpenter & Willson. The building is open every day in the year ; from 10 A. M. to 9 P. M. on ordinary days, and from 3 to 9 P. M. on Sundays and holidays. 'Thirteenth annual report of the Providence Public Library, p. 12. 670 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. about 2,200 volumes received by the Providence Public Library from the sale of the Franklin Lyceum Library, being duplicates of works already in this library, were given to the OlneyviUe Pree Library. The community of interests was regarded as in every way very close. Accordingly, in 1891, the Board of Trustees of the Proridence Public Library extended its privileges to all residents vrithin a defibaitely specified territory on the Johnston side of the line. Registration slips were signed by these residents, and also signed by the librarian of the Olneyville Pree Library, and, on being presented at the Proridence Public Library, cards were accordingly issued to the readers. The Olneyville Pree Library was an outgrowth of the peculiar local conditions. The community that it was designed to benefit was dis tinctively a mill population, and the first founders of the library were philanthropic persons, including the proprietors of the mills them selves. The library has always been maintained— as the Proridence Public Library has been— by private generosity for the most part, assisted in part by municipal appropriations. During the twenty- three years in which the OlneyriUe Pree Library remained in the town of Johnston it received a municipal appropriation from that town only in the years 1879 to 1895, inclusive. The work of the Olneyville Free Library has from the first been of a peculiarly interesting nature. The present librarian, Mrs. Harriet H. Richardson, was appointed in 1887, and brought to the library a rare endowment of sympathetic insight and devotion to the details of a confining but infinitely fascinating work. Successive classes of boys and girls, and of older readers as well, will remember such a guide and friend with affection. The use of this collection of books has always been large, proportionally, reaching 20,322 in 1894. In 1900 it was 13,242. When the annexation was effected, in 1898, the natural and obvious step Avould have been to make the Olneyville Free Library a definitely recognized branch of the Providence Public Library. That this has not been done is hardly to be accounted for, except on the ground of the painful inadequacy of funds by which both institutions are em barrassed. The OLuejrville Free Library is open daily, from 2 to 9, and also on Sundays. The librarians, from the beginning, have included the foUowing: Miss F. Wirsch, 1875 to 1885 ; Albert Rider, 1885 to 1886 ; Nathan M. Wright, January to November, 1886; Miss Sarah Potter, 1886 to 1887; and Mrs. Harriet H. Richardson, 1887 to the present time (1901). The present trustees are as follows: W. A. H. Grant, president; Dr. A. H. Longfellow, vice-president; Dr. Prank A. TAvitchell, treasurer; Prank A. Spratt, secretary. Trustees: James The Growth op the Library. 671 A. Pirce, William S. Steere, Edward P. Sibley, John E. Bowen, Miss S. J. Eddy, John T. ColUson, Thomas Cloxton, Thomas Wilkinson. Tho origin of the institution is largely due to Miss Sarah J. Eddy, and Miss Rosamond R. Leavens, who have also been among the most constant supporters of the library. The selection of the books has been chiefly in the hands of Miss Leavens. THE UNION por CHRISTIAN WORK LIBRARY. The Union for Christian Work, as its name indicates, is an organiza tion formed for other purposes than that of a library; and yet a library has from the first been one of its main features. Moreover, although the membership of the organization which supports it has always been chiefly of one form of religious belief, yet its library has always been free to the entire community. This organization (sup ported by those who are connected with churches of the so-called Liberal faiths) was founded in May, 1868, having evidently been modeled on the analogous institution in Boston, known as the Young , Men's Christian Union, which was organized in 1851. The library plays its part, and a most effective part, in the general scheme of an institution which has comprised a "boys' club", a ' ' fruit and flower mission ", " fresh air outings for invalids and others", and "the distribution of reading to seamen and others", in suburbs remote from libraries. It has occupied quarters, since October, 1868, in the second story of the building at 151 Weybosset street (the west corner of Eddy street). The library now numbers 5,362 volumes (December 31, 1900), and is open daily, from 3 to 9 P. M., except in July and August, when the work is done on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 4 to 8 P. M. It began the circulation of books in 1869, and has since continued it. During the year 1900, 11,400 volumes were circulated, the number of different readers drawing them being about 1,500. The hours of the reading room connected with the library are the same as in the case of the library, with the addition of Sundays and four of the holidays. The reading room is open on Sundays from 2 to 9 P. M., except in June, July, August, and September. It is to be gratefully remembered that this Ubrary opened its reading room on Sunday, October 5, 1884— earlier than any other in Proridence. Like other Ubraries, public and otherwise, the distribution of read ing no longer desired by its original owners, forms a part of the work of this institution. One of the members, as stated in the "Manual" for 1900, "dis tributes regularly in families, endeavoring to counteract the taste for the cheap, trashy stuff" found in so many homes. "Some of our school-teachers", also, it is stated, "in the more outlying districts have 672 State op Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. been of assistance in indicating localities where our gifts of reading matter are proving helpful auxiliaries to right liring". The work of the "Boys' Room", opened December 3, 1870, has- recently been merged in one of larger scope, established by the National Boys' Club Association. The "Boys' Club" is now installed in separate quarters, in the building directly opposite, on the south. corner of Weybosset and Eddy streets; and the Board of Control includes several members of the Union. The work of the Union for Christian Work throughout aU its dif ferent channels is characterized by an enlightened sympathy which is beyond praise. The librarians, from the beginning, have included the foUowing: Miss JuUet E. Graves, 1869-79; Mrs. Martha W. Greene, 1879-80 ; Mrs. EUza J. Lee, 1880-88 ; Miss Mary C. Lee, 1888-92 ; Miss L. Sophia Tingley, 1892 ; and Mrs. Anna M. Arnold, from 1892 to the present time. The other officers of the Union at present are as follows : President, Zephaniah Brown; secretary, Miss C. K. Clarke; treasurer, William T. Crandell. Miss Katharine H. Austin has rendered invaluable ser vice from the beginning, as did also the late William M. Bailey, Jr. Index Abbott, Daniel, L't;i, l:i(!, •j,'-,:t. 305 Adams, John, Rev., 130. Seth, 508 Stephen L., (llJd .Addy, A. ,T., 587 Admiralty courts In tho colonics, strife ovi'i- the cst:abUshment ot, i:)! 438 Adventists, the, 210 Alters, James II., l)i-., 68 AUlcn, Abner, ;!ri7 Charles 11., Rev., 17^ Aldrich, David, 350 Esek, 270 Joel, 35!) Joseph It., GO Alexander, David, 036 Allan, John, 100 Allen, Daniel O.. Rev., :i:i:!. note :t.")7 B. Aug., 65 George P., Rev., 171 Horace It., 571 Hiram, Dr., 55 James, 414 Paul D., 665 Philip, 644 Reuben, Elder, lO:! Thomas «., 185 Zachariah, 622, 64:t. 646, (i52 note & Polsom. 560 Allyn, Robert, Rev., 102 : commissioner ot public schools, work ot, 216 Almanacs, making of curly. In I'rovldeuce. 576, 577 American Steamboat Company, 52;i Amsbury. L., 5.S2, 583 Andrews, Elisha Benjamin, Rev., 350, 352 John. 438 Ausell, James. 441 James B., 580 Joseph K., 648 N. A., 602 Thomas I... ;wO Welcome. 260 Anthony, Ileni-y It., 570, 580, 665 Hezekiah, 192 John G., 622 Richard, 579 Thomas, 110 Waller E., Dr., 44; note 53 AVlUlam, 570 Aplln, William, 266 Armington, Hervey. Iti-., .",0 .Anns, JuUa Ann. Miss., 367 Arnold, Anna AL, Mrs., 672 Ephraim, 202 Frederlik A., 666 George It.. 600 James N., 5S(! Jonathan, 257 Nathaniel, 187 IVleg, .'t.^O Perry, 627 Rli'hiird J., t)43 Samuel G., 622 Steplieu, 02(t Stephen II„ 650, Or.l Stephen T., 624 S. Au.ijnstus, Dr., 55, 50 Thomas, 401 Welcome, 4 47. 483 William, 86, 357 Asbury. Bishop. 1.S2 lS(i. ISS. 100 Ash. jr., T. l'\. 572 .Ashton. James, 305 .Associations for educational improvement. 238 Athenffium. Providence, the, 645-657 art work In the, 640 building, the, 645-047 catalogues ot the, 640 finances ot the, 648 gifts to the. 648, 640 Interior alterations In the, 647 librarians of the, 649-651 policy of the, 647 .\tklns, Elisha, 860 674 Index. Atkinson, James, 569, 571 Atwell, Amos M., 262 Auchmurty, Robert, 438 Austin, Katharine H., Miss, 383, 072 Samuel, 116, 119, 632 Ayrault, jr., Daniel, 444 Pierre, 153 Babbitt, Benjamin B., Rev., 177 Babcock, D. S., Capt, 519 Rowse, 638 Bachelor, Origen, 589 Bacon, C. W., 588 Badger, Barber, 589 Moses, Rev., 165, 260 Bailey, William M., 515 AVilliam M., jr., 672 W. Whitman, 651 Baker, Alpheus, 356 C. C, Capt., 507 Elisha W., 292 George, 266, 622 Lincoln, Capt, 507 Thomas, Rev., 97, 98 William S., 374 Balch, Joseph, 258 Mary H., 651 Balfour, George, 159 Ballou, Anna, 629 Ariel, Dr., 53, 55. 69, 240, 373, 628, 629 Barton, 356 George C, 69 Latimer M., 69 L. W., 373 Walter S., 585 Bancroft, S. C, Miss, 378 Banigan, Joseph, 67, 69, 585 Baptist Church in Rhode Island, 85-104 branches of the, 96-104 First, at Newport, 87 First, at Providence, 85-87 formative period ot the, 85 germ, the, of the, 86 meeting-houses of the, 89, 90 Williams's withdrawal from the, and its results, 87 in the eighteenth century, 89-93 in the nineteenth century, 93, 94 present condition of the Second, in Newport, 87 Baptist Churches, growth in number of the, in the eighteenth century, 89 in the nineteenth century, 93 in the seventeenth century, 80 Baptist clergymen, distinguished, 06 Social Union, Bhode Island, 95 State Convention, Rhode Island, 94 Young People's Union, 95 Baptists, devotion to Orthodoxy by tbe, 95 efforts of the, to secure an educated clergy, 96 Baptists, interest and zeal of tbe, in for eign missions, 95 Pree (Freewill), the, 102-104 Pree Communion, the, 104 Seventh Day, the, 100-102 Six Principle, the, 96-100 Barber, Ann, 566 Caleb, 336 Henry, 568 Henry, M., 566 J. H., 566 AVilliam, 566 WUliam Lee, 566 AVilliam, & Sons, 560 Barker, Joseph A., 654, 656, 657 Barnard, Henry, 235 ; note, 240 ; synopsis of report of, upon the schools. 236, 237 ; educational publications of, 238 ; school expenditures, report of, by, 240 and note ; extent and character of tbe work of, 241 ; 37.3, 376, 618, 632, 638 Barnes, David L., 262 Barney, Walter H., 282 Barrington, schools, beginning of, in, 283 ; statistics of schools of, 283, 284 Congregational Church, 123 Barrows, Elijah, Rev., 205 Ira, Dr., 73, 74 John, 258 Thomas, Dr., 51 Barstow, Amos G., 146 John, 271 Bartlett Charles F., Dr., 32, 33, 36 John R., 644, 654, and note Bass, John, Rev., 134, 147 Bassett, Rhoda R., Mrs., 637 Bates, Lewis, Rev., 184 Baxter, George, Capt., 391 Beckwith, Amos N., 61 Daniel, 650 Belden, Stanton, 361 Bellomont Lord, 436 Benedict David, Rev., 93, 94, 06 Bennett S. H., Capt, 507 Berkley, George, Rev., 154 Bernon, Gabriel, 157, 159, 162 Bicknell, Thomas W.. commissioner of public schools, work of, 247-250, 374 Billings, Richard, Rev., 126 Bishop, Nathan, 240, 271, 373 Black, Anna M.. 383 Charles O.. 597 David O., 585, 507 Blackstone canal, the. 497-500 WUliam, Rev., 150-152 Blackwood, M. J., Miss, 665 Blake, John L., Rev., 168 Blakeslee, F. D., Rev. Dr., 358 Bliss, J., Capt., 506 Blodgett, Constantine, Rev., 141 Blumer, G. Adler, Dr., 58 Index. 675 Bonner, Robert, 666 Bonney, Isaac, Rev., 183 Books, flrst published in the State, 565 publishing, early, 576, 577 Borden, Richard, Col., 524 Boss, Nicholas G., 300 Boston and New York Transportation Company, 514, 515 Bosworth, Charles, 587 Ellen M., 629 Jonathan, 283 Nathaniel, 124, 160 Bourne, Benjamin, 457 John W., 478 Shearjashub, 285, 478 Bowditch, Josiah B., 585 Bowen, Aaron, Ichabod and Israel, 280 Benjamin, 260 Horatio Gates, 623, 641, 643 Jabez, 255, 256, 261, 262, 424, 447 John E., 671 Joseph, 636, 642 Nathaniel, Rev., 165 Pardon, Dr., 29, 55 Richard, Dr., 5 T. D., 595 Tully 1'., 636 William, Dr., 22, 23, 55 William C, Dr., 50, 53 WiUiam H., 507 Bowers, Sylvester, 400, 480 Bradford, Solomon, 258 Braman, John C, 190 Bray, Thomas, Rev., 615 Brayton, Jonathan, Rev., 203 Joseph, 360 Brazeau, J. B. S., 598 Brenton, Ebenezer, Major, 100 Jahleel, 434, 435 Bridge, Christopher, Rev., 156 Bridges, 537-540 Bridgham, Samuel W., 266 Briggs, Alexander, Dr., 56 Charles, Eev., 149 Samuel, 292 W. A., Rev., 634 Brigham, Clarence S., 622 Brindley, Francis, 444 Itrinley, William, 153 Bristed, John, Rev., 173 Bristol Congregational Church, 123-126 early proceedings regarding schools in, 284-286 sea trade of, 476-479 statistics of schools ot 286, 287 Brooks, Charles T., Rev.. 140, 300, 632 Brown, Allen, 589 A. W., Dr., 74 Beriah, 119 Betsey, 308 Chad, 87 Brown, Dexter, 456 D. Russell, 588 Elisha, 253 B. T., Miss, 377 George L., Capt, 506 Hugh H., 574, 589 James, 444 John, 255, 345, 403, 400, 424, 441, 444, 462, 465, 501, 623 John Carter, 350, 623, 044 John Francis, 010 John Nicholas, 660 Joseph, 423, 444 Joseph M., Rev., 174 Lydia, 308 Marmaduke, Rev., 154 Moses, 113-116, 119, 255, 256, 259, 260, 354, 355, 445 ; letter ot, upon the early commerce of Providence, 447-454 ; 486, 642, 644 Nathaniel, 399, 480 Nicholas, 57, 253, 250, 348, 359, 423, 444, 445, 623, 641, 642, 644 Obadiah, 119, 355, 444, 445 Oliver, 360 Thomas, 61 University, founding of, by the Bap tists, 80, 92 ; library, 352 ; medical department of, 50 ; 341-343 Welcome O., Dr., 59, 651, 653 Whipple, Capt., 507 WUliam, 297 William, Col., 544 Zephaniah, 672 BrowneU, Richmond Dr., 55, 59, 172, 270 Thomas, 393 AVilliam, 300 Bryant R. W., 588 Bucklin, J. T. P., 400 Buffum, Benjamin, 516, 517, 519 David, 115 Bullock, JuUa, Mrs., 65, 661 Otis, Dr., 55 William P., Dr., 62 Bunker, Elihu S., 513 Burbanlj, Robert W., 6.A1 Iturge, Lemuel, Rev., 170 Burges, Tristam, 447, 044 Burgess, Thomas, 58 Burnyeat, John, 107 Burr, Nathan M., 610 Burrill, George R., 578, 641 James, 263, 579 BurriUville, general school history ot, 307- 300 statistics ot schools ot, 309 Burrough, B. S., Capt., 508 Burroughs, Ezekiel, 422 George N., 507 William L., 570 Burrows, John R.. 270 676 Index. Burt, John, Rev., 125 Bush, Augustus, 300 Bushee, James, 359 Butler, Cyrus, 58, 643 Hospital for the Insane, 57, 58 Byfield, Nathaniel, 284, 437, 476 Cady, Isaac P., 374 Israel P., 625 Maria L. H., 65 Calder, E. AV., 47 Caldwell, Samuel L., Rev., 96, 648 Callender, John, Rev., 128, 129 & Tilley, 569 Campbell, Frank H., 608 Horatio N., 651 John H., 608 Othniel, Rev., 126 Caner, Henry, Rev., Dr., 161 Capen, E. H., Rev. Dr., 206 Capron, Daniel D., 365 F. P., Dr., 63 George, Dr., 55, 59 Carder, Joseph, 292 Carey, Henry A. R., 305 Carlile, Francis Y., 575 Cariin, Charies A., 282 CarUsle, John, 262 Carpenter, Ebenezer, 646 William, 86 Carr, Benjamin, 414 Caleb, Capt., 481 George C, 629 G. W., Dr., 61 Carrington, Edward, 498 Carroll, Charles, 588 Cartet John, 574, 576, 577 John, jr., 578 Cartland, Joseph and Gertrude, 117 Moses, 116 Carver, R. H., Dr., 66 Cary, John, 124 Case, Benjamin, Dr., 569 Casey, B. N., 587 George Anderson, 290 John, 119 Wanton, 174 Caswell, Alexis, Rev., 61, 62, 96, 266, 270, 350 B. T„ Dr., 55, 61 Central Palls, school statistics ot 325, 326 Chace, Davis, Capt., 508 George I., 62, 63 Thomas W., 627 Ch.adsy, C. Allen, 634 Jeremiah G., 357 Chalmers, John, Rev., 185 Chamberlain, J. E., 570 Champlain, Clirlstopber and George, 475, 476 Champlin, Christopher G., 616 John, Dr., 56 Channing, George G., Rev., 223 William P., 654 Chapin, Charles V., Dr., 42 Joshua B., Dr., commissioner of pub lic schools, 247 Josiah, 146 WilUam M., Rev., 636 Chaplin, Jeremiah, 343 ChappeU, Francis, 356 Charlestown, school statistics of, 330, 331 Chase, Jonathan, 517 Julian A., Dr., 57 Checkley, John, Rev., 162, 164 Cheney, Martin, Elder, 103 Child, John, 619 Sylvester, 619 Childs, George, Capt., 507 Cholera, visitations ot in 1832 to 1854, 38-42 Christians, the, 203-205 Broad Street Church ot the. Provi dence, 204 Portsmouth Church of the, 205 Rice City Church of the, 204 South Church of tbe, Bristol, 204 Westerly Church of the, 205 Church, Benjamin, 124 Joseph M., 582 N. K., 336 note Peter, 285 Pharcellus, 266 Claggett, Rufus, 363 Clap, Nathaniel, Rev., 128-130 Clapp, Sylvanus, Dr., 55 Clark, Ethan, 357 James, Rev., 97 John, Dr., 87 John A., Rev., 172, 173 John Innes, 424, 447 John J., 252, 260 Josiah, 359 Peleg, Dr., 74 Thomas, 87 Thomas March, Rt. Rev., 179 Clarke, Benajmin Franklin, Dr., 282, 352 C. K., Mrs., 672 Elisha P., Dr., 55, 56 John, Dr., 4 John, 495 Lewis Gaylord, 579 Thomas H., 302 Walter, Gov., 435, 436 Claxton, Thomas, 671 Clyde Steamship Company, 528 Cobbett. Samuel, 284 Coburn, Samuel P., 369 Cocroft Thomas IL, Rev., 177 Coffin, Robert A., 367 Coggeshall, James H., 606 William, 285 Coit, J. II., Rev., 167 Index. 677 Coke, Bishop, 182 Colburn, Alfred, 619 Dana, P., 376, 377 Colby, John, Rev., 102, 103 Cole, John, Judge, 159 Joseph E., 69, 628 Robert, 86 Colegrove, W., Rev., 369 College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, Rhode Island, 379-381 Collins, Amos R., Dr., 56 George L., Dr., 4, 55, 59, 61 Henry, 616 CoUison, John T,, 671 Commerce, cessation of foreign, 486 development of. as shown by replies to Board of Trade, 396-398 early, 392 of the minor ports of Narragansett Bay, 493-497 Commercial Steamboat Company, 516, 517 Comstock, Christopher, 360 Cone, William, Rev., 185 Congdon, Gilbert 119 Joseph W., 627 Congregational Church, the, 122-146 at Bristol, revival of, after the Rev olution, 139 at Bast Greenwich, 140 at Newport, the flrst, 128-131 at Pawtucket, 141 in Kingstown, 126-128 In Providence, 131-137 Beneficent, the, Providence, 143 Bristol, the, 142 Central, the. Providence, 142 (Church of Christ), Bristol, 123-126 Elmwood, the, 141 genesis of the, in Rhode Island, 122 High Street, the, Providence, 141 Newport, the, 143 Park Place, the, Pawtucket, 144 Peacedale, the, 142 Richmond Street, the. Providence, 143 Union, the. Providence, 143 Congregational Churches at Kingstown, Newport and Providence, 126-137 at Newport, revival of, after the Revolution, 138 at the opening of the Revolution, 137 in Providence, revival of, after the Revolution, 139 of Barrington, Bristol and Little Compton, 123-126 revival of, after the Revolution, 137 Congregational ministry, first ordination to the, in Rhode Island, 131 Congregationalism at the beginning of the twentieth century, 144 Congregationalism, during the nineteenth century, 141-144 Introduction ot Into Providence, 136 Congregationalists, services of the, to the State, 144, 145 Continental Steamboat Company, 523, 526 Cook, James S., Rev., 208 Lorin M., 651 Matthew, 185 Willis, 69 Cooke, Albert B., 583 James W., 175 John, 393 Joseph J., 664 Nicholas, 253, 423, 430, 441, 447 Coon, H. C, and wife, 359 Cooper, Ezekiel, 182, 184 Corbett, C. C, E. A. and F. B., 586 Corrigan, John P., Dr., 57 Corry, John, Rev., 197, 198 Cotton, Josiah, Rev., 133-135 Nathaniel, Rev., 125 Cottrell, John S., 629 Coventry, schools, flrst in, 288, 289 statistics of schools of, 289, 290 Cowdery, J. T., 572 Cozzeno, Benjamin, 257 Cragg, WiUiam, 360 Crandall, P. A., 585 Henry L., 61 Crandell, William T., 672 Crane, Silas A., Rev., 174 Cranston, Barzillai, 270, 578, 589 John, Capt., early physician, 4 John, Capt, 409 Samuel, Gov., 396 William H, 570 & Norman, 569 Cranston, statistics of schools of, 310, 311 Crawford, Gideon, 395 Croade, John, 619 Crocker, George H., Dr., 68 Nathan B., Rev., 167, 178 Rev. Dr., 264 Croode, Adaline, Miss, 367 Cross, John, 285 John Hobart, 638 Samuel H., 249, 273 Cumberland, school statistics of, 328 Currie, Samuel, 257, 507 Curtis, George, 266 Cushman, H. I., Rev. Dr., 206 Cushno, Isaac, 544 Custom house, establishment ot, at Newport, 395 Customs districts of Rhode Island, creation ot 462 Cutler, Stephen, Rev., 206 William, 569 Daggett Nathan, 491, 536 William, 537 g78 Index. Danforth, Walter R., 575, 622, 641 Danielson, George W., 579, 580, 583 Darte,' George Lockhart, 588 Davenport J. H., Dr., 62 David, Ebenezer, Rev., 342 Davis, Henry M., 360 L. D., 570 N. P., 282 Day, George T., Dr., 103 Henry, 373 ^ Israel H., 508 Dean, Sidney, 583 De Haven, Claude, 586 Dehon, Theodore, Rev., 168 De iAIunn, Noble W., 374 Denison, Frederick, Rev., 638 Dennis, John, Capt., 400, 414, 418 Devotion, John, 283 De AVolt Charles, 620 Erastus, Rev., ,175 Halsey, Dr., 68 James, Capt., 286 James, 404, 481, 432 John, Dr., 50 Marl? Anthony, 431 William, 285 De Wolfe, John J., Dr., 74 De Wolfs, the, 477, 478 Dexter, Gregory, 87 John, 258 Diphtheria, 43, 44 Dlxim, John. Rev., 210 Nathan F., 638 Donnison, Jonathan, Capt., 462 Doran, T. F., Rev., 500 Dorr, Sullivan, 665 Dorchester, Daniel, Rev., 101 Dorrance, John, 260 Samuel R., 62 WilUam T., 270 Dow, Lorenzo, 187 Dowe, Amasa, 361 Downe, Nathan, 258 Downer, Silas, 441, 641 Doyle, Sarah E., Miss, 282 Thomas A., 656 Draper, Frank O., 326 Drowne, Henry R., 361 Solomon, Dr.. 50 Duane, Richard B., Rev., 178 Dudley Joseph, 437 Dunbar, George, 438 Duncan, Alexander, 58, 270, 648, 654, Dunham, WUUam W., 575, 578 Dunn, John, 414 Theophilus C, Dr., ri5, 300 Dunne, H. Russell, Dr., 56 Durfee, Nathaniel, 610 Samuel B., Rev., 142 Samuel B., 645 Thomas, 208, 658, 661 656 Dutch settlement in Narragansett harbor, 390 Dwight, Gamaliel L., 270 Dyer, Charles, 643 Elisha, jr., Dr., 46, 270 Mary, 106 Transportation Company, 526 Earl, Pliny, Dr., 116 East Greenwich, beginning ot the school system ot 290 statistics of schools ot 290, 291 East Providence, statistics of schools ot, 311, 312 Eastman, S. S., 569 Eaton, Rev. Mr., 209 Eddy, .John B., 511 S. J., Miss, 671 Edes, Henry, Rev., 147 Peter, 568 Rev. Dr., 264 Edmonds, Andrew, Capt., 535, 536 Educational facilities, development of, 217 progress succeeding the passage of the act of 1828, 232 Edwards, James F., 374 James T., 627 Morgan, Rev., 341, 346, 622 Stephen O., 282 Blam, Samuel, 356 Iflldridge, Charles, Dr., 55, 174 James H., Dr., 44 note, 55, 174, 290, 627 Ellery, Willam, 444, 404 Ely, James W. C, Dr., 55, 58, 59, 61 Joseph C, 648, 650 Embargo act and Its results upon Rhode Island sea trade, 400 Emery, Annie Crosby, 352 English and Classical School, Providence, 372 Engraving, process, 610 Episcopal Church, the, 150-181 condition of, at the opening of the twentieth century, 180 condition of the. In 1829, 170 Diocesan Convention, flrst, ot tbe, 165, 166 Diocesan bishop, flrst, ot the, 166, 167 founding ot the, in Rhode Island, 151, 152 general history of the Diocese of the, from 1829 to 1900, 178, 180 period ot expansion ot the, 170, 171 transition period ot the, 164, 165 Society for the Propagation ot the Gospel, 164 Index. 679 Episcopal Church, All Saints' Memorial, Providence, 176 Christ Lonsdale, 174 Christ, Westerly, 175 Grace, Providence, 171 of the Messiah, Providence, 176 of the Redeemer, Providence, 177 St. James's, Woonsocket, 174 St. John's, Providence, 161- 164, 178 St. Luke's, East Greenwich, 174 St Mark's, Warren, 173 St. Michael's, Bristol, 160, 161, 177 St. Paul's, Narargansett, 156- 160 St. Paul's, Pawtucket 168 St. Paul's, Wickford, 177 St. Stephen's, Providence, 175 Trinity, Newport 152-156, 168, 177 Tower Hill, the, 170 Episcopal Churches, later growth ot the tour colonial, 177, 178 Estes, Edmund, 298 Evans, Benjamin P., 585 Mary Frost, 603 Everett Amherst, 270 Daniel, Rev,, 99 Excursion business on Narragansett Bay, 522, 526 Exeter, school statistics of, 331, 332 Exports, the flrst, 390 Pabyan, Charles W., Dr., 59, 61, 62 Fales, Timothy, 284 Parley, Frederick A., Rev. Dr., 149, 266, 644 Parmer, Henry, Capt., 508 Thomas, Capt, 508 Farnsworth, Havila, 568 Oliver, 568 Farnum, Alexander, 648, 657, 650 Caleb, 373 Darius D., 69 Douglas, Rev., 204 Moses, 115 Parrally, W. H. and J. P., 606 Paunce, WilUam Herbert Perry, Rev., 282, 352 Fay, Henry H., 302 Fayerweather, Samuel, Rev., 159 Fenner, Arthur, 395 James, 622 Thomas B., 643 Fernald, Mark, Elder, 204 Perries, 531-537 Pessenden, John, 619 Field, Barnum, 580 Field, Daniel, 192 Zachariah, 305 Pifleld, Moses, Rev., 191 Firman, Burton, 583 First Baptist Church, Newport, 87 Providence, 85-87 Fischer, J. B., Rev., 188 Fisher, Charles H., Dr., 46, 47, 55, 249 George W., Rev., 142 Fisheries, Importance of the early, 302, 303 Fisk, Isaac, Dr., 74 Fiske, Caleb, Dr., 53-55 Samuel, Rev., 99 Fitch, J., 259 Fltz, Arthur S., 602 William, Rev., 307 note Flagg, Josiah P., Dr., 70 Flint, Henry, 127 Flood, E., Dr., 66, 68 Forsyth & Derby, 572 Foss, German W., 600 Samuel S., 599, 600, 628 Foster, George V., Dr., 56 Samuel, 519 Theodore, 260, 641, 642 Theodore H., 578 WiUiam B., 657 Poster, statistics of schools ot 312, 313 Fothergill, Samuel, 111 Fouls, Daniel, Capt., 415 Fowler, Benjamin, 356 Ezekiel, Dr., 61, 69 Fox, George, 105, 107, 108 Thomas, early schoolmaster in New port 220 Francis, John, 462, 623 John Brown, 356, 462 Franklin, Benjamin, 565 James, the elder, 564, 565 James, the younger, 565 John, 356 Leander S., Capt, 508 Widow, 565 Free Baptist (Freewill) Church, the, 102- 104 R. I. Quarterly meeting of the, 104 Young People's Union ot the, 104 Free Communion Baptists, the, 104 Free school law of 1800, 223 of 1828, 230, 232 Freeborn, Orlando, 603 Freeman, B. L., 587 Isaac, Capt., 402 French, Daniel, 510 Walter I., 666 Friends School, Providence, origin and de velopment of the, 115-118 ; 354, 355 Friends Society, arrival and organization ot the, 105-107 date of earliest organization of the, in Rhode Island, 107 680 Index. Friends Society, during the eighteenth cen tury, 111-114 during the nineteenth century, 114- 118 general condition of the, in the nine teenth century, 118-122 Hicksite schism in the, 119, 120 Meeting for Sufferings of the. 111 meeting-houses of the, 112 persecution of the, in Massachusetts, 105, 106 polity of the, 110 tenets of the, 109 Frieze, Henry S., 343, 344 Jacob, Rev., 206, 589 L. B., 517 Fritz, P. B., 602 George L., 603 Frost W. B., 587 Fruit Hill Classical Institute, 361 Fry, John J., Mrs., 627 Joseph, 577 Fuller, Frank B., Dr., 57 Hiram, 365 Josiah, 537 Linden, 356 Samuel, jr.. Rev. 172 Gallup, Albert S., 581 Gammell, William, Rev., 96, 98, 360, 373, 622, 648 Gano, Stephen, Rev., 93, 96, 262, 264 Gardiner, Henry K., Dr., 57 J. A., 517 SUvester, Dr., 159 Gardner, Alfred, 360 Dorcas, 355 B. C, Capt, 506 George, Mrs., 106 Henry B., 651 Joseph L., 515 PhUip S., 172 Robert, 153 Garretson, Freeborn, 188 P. G., Rev., 186 Garvin, L. P. C, Dr., 46 Gibbs, Benjamin, Capt., 508 Gardner C, Capt., 508 John, Capt., 508 Sarah, 618 Giddings, Joshua D., 240, 373 Gillies, Duncan, 608 Gilpin, WUliam, 300 Gladding, Daniel, Capt, 182 John, 182 Gloeester, statistics of schools of, 307 Glover, Lucy, 292 Goddard, Thomas Poynton Ives, 61, 68, 65, 649 William, 572, 574, 576 William, tbe younger, 574 William Giles, 270, 643, 645 Godfrey, John, Capt., 406 Goff, Charles B., 872 Goldsmith, William B., Dr., 58 Goodale, WUliam H., 800 Goodell, WUliam, 581, 589 Goodrich, Massena, Rev., 208 Goodwin, Harriet W., 377 Gorton, Amy, Miss, 292 Samuel, 83 William A., Dr., 55, 58 Gortonianism, 88 Goss, Warren Lee, 600 Gould, Nathan H., 618, 621 Gowing, Fred, 379 Granger, James N., Rev., 95, 96 Grant, Seuton, 444 W. A. H., 670 Graves, John, Rev., 164 Juliet B., Miss, 672 Gray, Mary C, 637 Greaves, Robert, 586 Green, Henry R., 266 John, 86 John, surgeon, 4 Rowland, Dr., 630 Theodore P., 651 Greene, Albert G., 575, 622 A. Crawford, 582, 583 Daniel, 174, 185, 187 Daniel H., 627 George W., 249, 273, 622, 627 Henry L., 368 note James A., 300 Job, 619 note John S., 581, 589 Joseph, Mrs., 184 Martha W., Mrs., 672 Nathaniel, 112, 255 Paul, 69, 119 Ray, Elihu and Christopher, 357 Richard, 630 Richard W., 648 Rowland, 119 Samuel, 168, 292, 373 Samuel S., 271, 874, 376 Simon Henry, 268, 636 AVelcome A., 643 William, 627 Greene Academy, Smithfleld, 358 Street School, Providence, 863-367 Greenleaf, R. C, jr., Dr., 62 Greenough, J. C, 378 Grieve, Robert, 815 note, 586, 587 Griffin, William G., 243 Grinnell, William T., 173, 264, 266 Griscom, John, Dr., 116 Griswold, Alexander Viets, Bishop, 166, 167 Guild, Moses, 456 Reuben A., 652 note Gummere, Samuel J., 116 Gurney, Joseph, 120 Index. 681 Gushee, Dennis S., 286 Guy, William, Rev., 156 Hacker, Joseph, 505 Hale, Mathew, 571 Hall, Ahirah, Capt., 507 Edward, Capt., 507 Edward Brooks, Rev., 148 Edward B., 270 Joshua, Rev., 189 J. D., 586 J. D. & Co., 587 Nathan, 582 Robert, 119 Robert B., 185 Samuel, 565 HaUett, Benjamin P., 172, 575, 579 Ham, James S., 576, 580 Hamberger, Felix, 585 Hammett Charles E., jr., 804 Fred M., 570 Hammond, C. T., 571 Elnathan, 617 George T., 570 Pardon T., 856 T. S., 587, 603 William G., 860 Harden, John, 97 Hardon, Joshua, Capt., 507 Harkness, Abbie C, 651 Albert G., 651 J. T., 373 Harrington, Francis M., Dr., 57 Harris, Benjamin C, 636 Caleb Fiske, 664 Dunbar, 583 Edward, 327, 628 Elisha, 187 ' Frank G., 571 Joseph, 579 Stephen, 61 Thomas, 106, 395 William, 86 Harrison, Joseph Leroy, 650, 651 Harson, M. J., 282 Hartshorn, Isaac, Dr., 40 Thomas C, 240, 373, 622 Harwood, John C, 595 Haswell, Charles, 582 Hatfleld, Robert M., Rev., 190, 192 ¦ Hathaway, George W., Rev., 174 Hawkins, David, jr., 575 Hayes, B. P., Rev., 369 Hays, Moses, 444 Hazard, Anna, Miss, 633 Howland, 624 Isaac Peace, 633 Jeremiah, 190 John, 360 John N., 633 Rowland, 633 Rowland G., 335, 633 Healy, Peter D., 292 Heath, Peleg, Rev., 123 Heaton, David, 578 Hedge, Josiah Dunham, 650 Helme, Arthur, 414 Nathaniel, 360 Hendricken, Thomas P., Rt. Rev., 201 Henshaw, John Prentiss Kewley, Bishop, 107, 178, 176, 179 Herreshoffs, the, 481 Hersey, George D., 53, 55 Hervey, Josiah, 284 N., Rev., 210 Hewitt, Increase, 360 Hidden, James E., 285 Higgins, Charles W., Dr., 68 HiU, Benjamin, 360, 508 Lester S., 282 Parris, 146 Hiscox, William, Rev., 100 Hitchcock, Enos, Rev., 134, 189, 258-260, 262 Hobart John, 570 Holden, Bennet 292 Charles, 266 HoUand, W. S., Rev., 588 HoUey, Alanson, 293 Hoilinger, Baron, 616 Holmes, Herbert E., 600 Holroyd, Stephen G., 581 Holyman (HoUiman), Ezekiel, 86 Homeopathic Dispensary, Providence, 76 Homeopathy, 69-77 American Institute of, 75, 76 course pursued by the R. I. Medical Society towards, 71-78 Homer, Joseph W., 383 Honyman, James, Rev., 153, 154, 161, 162 Hopkins, Asa, Rev., 141 Esek, 253, 422-424 E. M., 293 Rufus, 424, 447 Samuel, Rev., 126, 130, 131, 138 Stephen, 256, 397, 401, 441, 444. 447, 572, 640 Thomas, 395 Hopkinton Academy, 859 school statistics ot 332, 888 Hoppin, Benjamin, 644 Carrington, 649 Clara and Elizabeth, 661, 667 Washington, Dr., 74 Hospital, Butler, for the Insane, 57, 58 Newport, 68 Providence Lying-in, 66-68 Rhode Island, 58-66 Woonsocket, 69 Houghton, E. L., Rev., 208 Howard, Henry, 517 Joseph, 622 Joshua, 507, 508 682 Index. HoweU, David, 260 Howland, Benjamin, Daniel and Thomas, 119 Benjamin B., 621 Charles H., 588 John, 222, 261, 262, 298, 622, 641 Samuel, 284 Hoyt David W. 282, 374 Hinman B., 860 Hubbard, Reuben, Rev., 189 Huggins, Blizabeth, 66 Hughes, John L., 268 Hull, Abner, Capt., 507 Edward, Capt., 391 George B., Capt., 523, 527 Gideon, Capt., 506 Thomas, Capt., 507, 515 Humphrey, William, 208 Hunt David W., 185 Gideon S., 187 Hutchins, John, 579 Shubael, 270 IlUteracy, 247, 249 Indians, religion of the, 82 Influenza, 44 Ingalls, William, Dr., 50 Institute for the Deaf, Rhode Island, 382- 384 Irons, Arnold, Capt, 508 Ives, Moses Brown, 40, 58, 59, 266, 270, 643, 644 Robert H., 60-62, 266, 644 Thomas Poynton, 59-61, 468, 649 , hickson, Benjamin A., 66 Frederick H., 651 George W., 579 Henry, Rev., 96 Orin P., 570 Richard and Nathan AV., 579 Stephen, 254 ,Iacobs, B. F. and Miss Sarah S., 868, 367 James, Thomas, 86 William, Dr., 56 William, Judge, 336 Jameson, J. P., Prof., 615 Jamestown, statistics of schools of, 294 Janes, Alphonso R., 665 Jastram, Pardon S., 651 Jenckes, Daniel, 447, 577 George W., Dr., 46, 55 John, 255, 447 Joseph, Gov., 262, 396, 642 Jenkins, Annie, 119 Jennings, R. W., 588 Jethro, John, early schoolmaster in New port 220 Jewett M. L., Miss, 378 Jews, the, 211 Jillson, Franceilo G., 69 WiUiam E., 286 Johnson, Oliver, 292 Johnston, early school history of, 313 statistics of schools of, 313, 314 Jones, Albert J., 661, 665 Augustine, 117, 651 Cornelius S., 582 F. E., 587 Josiah, 578 J. D., 588 Mary D. and Emily D., 316 William, 262 Joslin, Israel L., Capt., 508 Samuel B., Capt, 508 Willard, .508 Joy Steamship Company, 520 Kay, Nathaniel, 161 Keach, Smith B., 602 Keene, Charles, 255, 257 S. S., Dr., 61 Kelly, T. L., Rev., 590 Kendall, Henry L., 660 Joshua, 377 Kenefick, W. P., 590 Kenney, James R., Capt., 507 Kent, Asa, Rev., 188 County Association, 238 Kenyon, David, 336 B. E., Dr., 56 Sprague, 336 Kidd, Captain, the case of, 407 King, David, Dr., 46, 55, 300, 618, 621 D. O., Dr., 686 Enoch, 636 Thomas K., 684 William J., 146 Kingman, Eugene, Dr., 63, 68 Kingsbury, John, 146, 240 ; work of, as commissioner of pubftc schools, 246, 247, 362 ; 373 note Kingston Academy, 359-361 Kingstown, Congregational Church In, 126- 128 Kinnicutt, Edward, 447 Shubael, 596 Knapp, A. M., Rev., 148 Knight, B. B., 661 Joel, Rev., 190 Robert, 266, 270 Knowles, Edward P., 270 James D., 589 .Joseph, 576, 579, 627- - Ladd, Herbert W., Gov., 351 John J., 374 Lake, B. S., & Co., 587 Lanahan, Patrick, Rev., 201 Lapham, Benedict 369 Institute, 868-371 Oscar, 665 Larned, Samuel, 649 William G., 582 Larry, John H., Rev., 587 Laughlln, A. W., 608 Index. 683 Law, George, 69 Richard, Capt, 513 Lawton, Edward W., 300 Isaac, 115, 855 Samuel, Capt., 475 ¦¦Laying on of Hands," the tenet ot 97 Leach, Daniel, Rev., 249, 272, 273 Learned, Asa., 342 Leavens, Rosamond R., Miss, 671 Leavitt, Jonathan, Rev., 143 Lee, Charles A., 596, 597 Constantine, Rev., 197 Eliza J., Mrs., 672 Jesse, 181-185, 187-189 Samuel, Rev., 124 Le Gro, EUen G., 377 Leete, George A., 658 Lenthal, Robert, Rev., 219 Leonard, Charles H., Dr., 62 Grace P., 651 Lewis, Amos C, 359 Edwin R., Dr., 52 James N., Dr., 57 Sabin, 292 Libraries, early and extinct, 618 established through the effort and influence of Henry Barnard, 618 first lu Rhode Island, 615 movement for uniting the two Provi dence, 644 Library, Apponaug Free, 624 Arlington PubUc, 624 Ashaway Free, 624 Association, Barrington, 625 Association, Charlestown, 619 Association, Little Compton Free, 631 Association, Manton, 631 Association, Narragansett, 632 Association, Old Warwick, 619 Association, Pontiac Free, 636 Association, Valley Palls Pree, 637 Association, Westerly Public, 638 Auburn Public, 625 Barrington Public, 625 Brown University, 622-624 Carolina Public, 625 Central Falls Free Public, 626 Company, Potter, Bristol, 620 Company, Union, Gloeester, 618 Crompton Free, 626 East Greenwich Pree, 626 East Providence Pree, 627 Edgewood Pree Public, 628 Greenville Public, Smithfleld, 628 Harris Institute, 628 Island Pree, the. 629 .Inmestown Philomenian, 629 Kingston Pree, 629 Lakewood Pree, 630 Longworthy Pree, 630 Library League, the, Warwick, 631 Manville, the, 632 Middletown Pree, 632 Natick Free, 633 Newport Historical Society, 620 North Kingstown Pree, 633 Oaklawn Pree Public, 684 Olneyville Free, 667-671 Pawtucket Pree, 684 Pawtuxet Valley Free, 635 People's Newport, 021 Providence, the, 1753 to 1886, 640- 643 Providence (The Providence Athe- nasum), 645-651 Providence Public, 651-668 finances ot 659-668 growth ot 668-667 in operation, 1878 to 1901, 658, 659 new building of the, 667 present ofBcers of, 667 note sketch of, from 1871 to 1878, 651-658 Redwood, the, 616-618 Rhode Island Historical Society, 621 Riverside Pree Public, 636 Rogers Pree, Bristol, 620 Society, Warren, 619 Society, Warwick, 619 Society, Warwick Central, 619 Summit Pree, 636 Union for Christian Work, 671, 672 Union Public, Tiverton, 687 Watchemoket Pree Public, 637 Whitridge Hall, 639 Willetteville Free, 688 License, the flrst, issued to a physician, 4 Licensing of physicians, 4 Lightfoot, Robert, 438 LilUbridge, Amos, 336 Lincoln, John L., 94, 363 school statistics ot 324-326 Lindsey, Benjamin, 505 Lingane, David P., 585 Lippet Moses, 159 Lippitt, Charles Warren, Gov., 381 Christopher, Gen., 186 Henry, 517 Thomas, 292 Little Compton Congregational Church, 126 school statistics of, 295 Littlefleld, George A.. 370 WilUam, 621 Livesey, Richard, Rev., 185 Ljungstrom. C. J., 588 Lockm,an. Leonard, 438 Lockwood, Amos, 619 Avis W., 266 Moses, 116 Moses B., 660 684 Index. Lockwood, Nancy, 619 Lockyer, John, Rev., 153 Longfellow, A. H., Dr., 670 Lord, Augustus M., Rev., 148, 651 Luker, Mark, 87 Luthet Ellen R., 377 Lyman, Daniel W., 67 Lyon, Emory, Dr., 344 Herrick, 344, 374 JlcCallion, Michael, Rev., 200 AleCloy, John A., 587 McElroy, Thomas H., 588 McKenzie, James A., Elder, 103 AlcKnight, Charles G., 74 McLaren, K. K., 602 McVickar, William NeUson, Rev., Dr., 180 McDougall, J. Douglass, 577 Maekie, John, Dr., 51 John, 643, 644 MacSparran, James, Rev., 125, 156, 158, 159 Magill, George J., Rev., 177, 571 Malaria in Providence, 42. 43 Malbone, Godfrey, 409, 444 Man, Herman B. and Daniel, 578 Manchester, Albert J., 374 Mann, Augustine A., Dr., 57 T. H., 600 Manning, James, Rev., 92, 96, 99, 259, 260, 341, 842, 346 James, 457 Manton, Amasa, 58, 242, 270, 619, 681 Manufacturing, absorption of commercial capital by, 486 "Marine District" of the, N. Y.. N. H. & H. Railroad, 520 Marshall, Peter, 414 WUliam, 576, 581 Martin, WiUiam H., 607 .Alarvln, Richard, 511 Jlason, Amasa and William H., 579 Fanny, Miss, 661 Fletcher, S., 651 George C, 566, 571, 621 G. E., Dr., 61 John, Noah and Timothy, 536 Stephen N., 69 Mather's, Cotton, opinion of religious liber ty, 83 Alathewson, Edgar A., 602 James, 289 lAIatteson, Joseph, 289 Mauran, Joseph, Dr., 39, 40. 52, 53, 55, 50, 648 Mawney, John, 258 Alaxcy, Eaton W.. 578 Jonathan, Rev., 96, 260, 262, 347 Maxson, John, Rev., 101 Maxwell, Mary, 290 Meacham, Randall, 595 Medical Association, The Pawtucket, 57 Medical Association, The Providence, 55 department of Brown University, 50 Society, Rhode Island Homeopathic, 73 Society, The Newport, 56 Society, The Rhode Island, 50-55 Society, The Wasliington County, 56 treatment, methods of, among the the flrst settlers, 3 Aleeks, Howard, 583 Menzies, John, 487 Mercantile and commercial status of the Narragansett colonies in 1080, 393, 394 Mercer, Alexander, Rev., 177 Jlerchant, Albion N., 585 Merchants' and Miners' Transportation Company, 521 Steamship Company, 517, 518 Alerton, Holmes W., 586 Messer, Asa, Rev., 96, 266, 348 Jletcalf, Anna, 629 E. P., 602 Harold, Dr., 57 Jesse, 881 Joseph G., 270 Spellman, 508 Stephen, 381 Methodist Episcopal Church, the, 181-193 Arnold's Mills, the, 189 Bristol, the, 182, 188 CentreviUe, the, 190 Chestnut Street, the. Providence, 188 East Greenwich, the, 184, 185 First, Newport, 189, 190 First, Pawtucket, 192 genesis ot the, in Rhode Island, 181, 182 Grace, the. Westerly, 192 Hope Street, the. Providence, 192 Little Compton, the, 191 Mathewson Street, the. Providence, 192 Phenix, the, 186 Portsmouth, the, 185, 186 Thames Street the, Newport, 193 Trinity Union, the. Providence, 193 Warren, the. 183, 184 Wickford, the, 187, 188 Woonsocket, the, 192 Methodists, characteristics of the, 194 Metropolitan Steampship Company, 518 Aliddletown, early measures to promote . schools in, 205, 296 statistics of schools ot 296, 297 Miliar, Robert Dr., 61 Jlillard, S. M., 583 Aliller. Anthony, 581 Horace G., Dr., 53. 55, 61, 68, 65 John, 579, 589 Lewis Dr., 52 Lewis L., Dr., 55, 59-61 Indk.x. 685 AllUlken, Ai-nold, Capt., 508 Martin, Capt,, 508 .Miscellaneous schools, 384, 385 .Mitchell, John AV., Dr., 55, 63, 60, 67 Mary, :!ri5 .MiMidy, Haiiuicl, Rev., 133 iMooie, William 11. , Rev., 174 iVloi^avians, the, 2 1 1 Morgan, ,lameM, Dr., (;:t J. Howard, i"!!; 'I'homas J,, lir., IIT.S .Mnirlll, C, It., Rev., 2 Id Morris, Charles, 202 Marvin, 511 iMiirl.on, Lloyd, Dr., 55 J, W., I!ev., :'.50 Jloulton, A, ti., 370 .Mt. I'leasant Aciuleiiiy. 371, :172 Mowry, Aaron, :i.~i8 Charles, 308 Jencks, 371, 372 Joseph 10., 37 1, :172 Wendell A., :!2(; WUUam A., 40, 282, :172. 37 1 Muml'oiil, iteujamln, liio Ituth, Mrs., LSI Samuel B., 507, 515 Steiiluni, 100 William, 4 I I Jluiiro, Nathaniel, 182 Sylvi'ster, 182 AVUllam, 100 Muui'ee, Jei-enilah, (^iipt, 507 Murray, John, Itev., 205 Martin, 598 iXarragansctt Uay Sleamboat roiiipaiiy. 523 SteiiiiiMlilp Ciimpany, 518 seliciol statistics ot, :f:t!l X.'l.sh, J().sepli, 257 Sylvesler. l!ev., 17 1. 175 X:isnn, l.ennaid, :10.S .N'.'ivlgatliiu acts, tbe. and their ell'eil upon colonial eomnien'<\ .|:12, 433 nels. troubles over !illeiii[)ls to en I'ori'e Ihe, 440 Xoplune .'^teniniishlp Company. 517 N'ew lliiveu Steinubnat Company, 520 ¦¦N'.'w Light Stlr,^' llie. ,s:i Newell, T. 10., Dr., ,'-i3 Newport and the sliive trade, 170 .Asstieijil ion tor Deeoratin,^ .Selion's ol', 305 I'oninierce of. al'lor I hi' Ri'volullon, 174 470 dec'idenee of the eoniiuei'ee of. 151 estabiisiiment of custom house at, :',05 estnbllshnieut of the first school In, 21 0 fli'sl allotment In. for si'liool pur poses, 219 .s'cwporl, tirst and second libraries in lUiiiile Island (wtabllslic'd al, i;i5 tlrst Congregational Church at, 128- 131 llrsl. school house in, 220 Hospital, 08 Industrial School of, 3(il leading merchants of, before the Itevolutlon, I 14 Lonn' Wharf and Public School Lot tery, 224, 225 .Medical Society, The, 50 proeeedlugs relative to schools In, between 1828 and LSOO, 299 :i02 priivisions for early schools In, 220, 221 i-epiirt ot committee on schools of. In I.S24, 220 Itogers lllgh .School at, 301 slavi> ships captured by the Ifronc-h, list of, 418, 419 sliitistics of schools of, 302-305 Tenrhers .Association, :!05 yellow fever, 32-34 ,\ew Shoreliam, school stiitistlcs ot 305, 300 \ews .^-.illiei Inii: modern, 010, Oil Xi'wspiipers, brief mention ot extinct, nO-l. ."I'.i.A note Itloek Island Budget, OO.A I'.rlstol Phenix, 606 Cranston City Times, 60:! lOast Providence : IOmsI rruvldence lOngle, 603 lOast rrovldencc Mirror, 003 lOast Providence Record, 003 Rhode Islander, The, 003 extinct lllernry, educational and scientific, 502-504 exiliiet, of Chepachet 002 exilnct, of Coventry. 002 extinct, of (ieorglavIUe, 00:i extinct of Lonsdale, 003 exiliiet ot Pawtucket, .107. ."lOS exilnct of Woousockcl. 500-001 extlnci relb;1ons. nl' rrovidence, .180- .101 llrst 111 the colonies. ."lOI Hope A':llley .\dverllser. 60.A Kent Coiinly Atlas. (!ii7 Lllierty^s Cenliuel, 578 l.llei'iiry Subilllern. The. 570. 581 1,11 lie Ithody. Scituate, 002 N:irr:i:i:inset t Herald. 00.", Narra,sj:ansott Times. 608 Newport : .\ntl-Masonlc Rluide Islander, 509 I'reemnn's Ad\'ee..ite and the Imperial Inquirer. .AOO Cnardian of Liberty. The. 508 Ileriild of the Times. 500 686 Index. Newspapers, Newport : Magazine of New England His tory, 570 Naval Apprentice, The, 571 Newport Daily Herald, 571 Newport Daily News, 570 Newport Gazette, issued by the British during their oc cupancy of the city, 566 Newport Herald, 566 Newport Historical Magazine, The, 570 Newport Journal, 570 Newport Mercury, 565, 566 Newport Union, 571 miscellaneous and extinct of, 571, 572 Rhode Island Museum, 568 Rhode Island Gazette, the flrst newspaper iu the State, 564 Rhode Island Gazette, 569 Rhode Island RepubUcan, 568 Season, The, 571 Trinity Church Messenger, 571 United States Chronicle, 568 Weekly Companion and Com mercial Centinel, The, 568 Olneyville Times, 603 Pawtucket : Evening Chronicle, The, 597 Evening Tribune, The, 598 Le Jean Baptiste, 598 Pawtucket Chronicle and Manufacturers' and Arti sans' Advocate, The, 595 Pawtucket Commercial Bulle tin, 598 Pawtucket Evening Post, 598 Pawtucket Evening Times, 597 Pawtucket Gazette, 596 Pawtucket Real Estate Record, 598 Pawtuxet Valley Dally Times, 597 Pawtuxet VaUey Gleaner, 608 Portsmouth Chronicle, 606 Providence : American Journal and General Advertiser, 577 Antl-Unlversaiist, The, 589 Anzeiger, 585 Atlantic Medical Weekly, 588 Beacon, The, 580 Beulah Christian, The, 591 Black Board and Crayon, 591 Board of Trade Journal, 587 Book Notes, 586 Brown Alumni Monthly, 593 Brown Daily Herald, 593 Brunonian, The, 593 Cadet and Statesman, The, 575 Newspapers, Providence : Christian Telescope, 589 Church Messenger of Rhode Island Christian Endeavor, 591 Commercial Advertiser, The, 582 Cosmopolitan, The, 586 Daily Express, 582 Daily Sentinel, 583 Daily Star, 583 Daily Transcript and Chroni cle, 582 Daily Tribune, 583 Evening CaU, 587 Evening Chronicle, 582 Evening Press, 583 Evening Star, The, 582 Evening Telegraph, 588 Evening Times, 586 Pree WiU Baptist Magazine, 589 Freemason's Repository, 587 General Advertiser and Week ly Gazette. 588 Gospel Preacher, The, 589 Herald, 586 Hopkinsian Magazine, The, 589 Impartial Observer, The, 578 Independent, The, 582 Independent Citizen, The, 587 Independent Inquirer, 580 Indicator, The, 586 Investigator and General In telligencer, 580 Journal of Commerce, 587 L'Bco del Rhode Island, 588 Ledger, 586 Manufacturers and Farmers Journal, 578 580 Manufacturing Jeweler, The, 587 Microcosm, The, 575 Morning Courier, The, 582 Morning Mirror, 583 Morning Star, 583 Narragansett Chief, 582 Narragansett Historical Reg- istet 586 New Age, The, 582 Odd Fellows' Register, 585 Paper, Tbe, 587 Penny Post, The, 582 People, The, 586 Plaindealer, The, 583 Providence Centinel and War Chronicle, 578 Providence Chronicle ot the Times, 581 Providence Daily American, 581 Index. 687 Newspapers, Providence : Providence Daily Gazette, 581 Providence Daily Journal, 580 Providence Daily News, 588 Providence Dally Post, 581 Providence Free Press, 581 Providence Gazette and Coun try Journal, 572, 574 Providence Journal and Town and County Advertiser, 577 Providence Medical Journal, 588 Providence Morning Herald, 581 Providence Phenix, 578 Providence Visitor, The, 590 Providence Watchman, 588 Real Estate Register and Rental Guide, 587 Religious Intelligencer or Christian Monitor, 588 Religious Messenger, The, 589 Republican Herald, 581 Rhode Island American, ."175 I{hode Island Baptist, "i.S!) Rhode Island Country Jour nal, 580 Rhode Island Democrat, 585 Rhode Island Farmer, 578 Rhode Island Medical Science, 588 State Gazette and Town and County Advertiser, 577 Sunday Dispatch, 593 Sunday Republican, 586 Sunday Star, 586 Sunday Telegram, 583 Svea, 588 Tele.gram, Daily and AVeekly, 583, 585 Transcript, Sunday, 586 Tribune of the People, 582 United States Chronicle. 577 United States Freeman. 583 Voice ot the People. The. 582 Warren, 606, 007 Watch Hill, 605 AVesterly Daily Sun, 004 AVlckford Standard, 606 A\''oonsocket : Daily Patriot The, 600 Evening Call, The, 601 Evening Reporter, The, 600 La Tribune, 601 Textile Manufacturers' Labor Weekly, 601 Weekly Patriot The, 509 Newton, Charles M., 601 C. P., 300 Nichols, John, 511 William, 360 Nicholson, Francis, Sir, 152, 156 WUliam T., 654, 650 Nickerson, Ansel D,, 596 Asa, Capt., 507 Asa II., Dr., 57 Edward I., 658 Hardon. Capt., 507 Nightingale, George C, 519 Joseph, 424, 447 Samuel, 255 Samuel, jr., 441 NUes, Samuel, 127 Normal School, Itliode Island, 876-379 incorporation of the, 249 Norman, George H., 570 Norris, Thomas, 85-87 North Kingstown, school statistics ot, 333, 334 North Smithfleld, school statistics ot 324 Northrup, Amanuel, 856 Noyes, Robert F., Dr., 55, 360 Samuel M.. 65 Nutting, John, 285 Okie, Abraham Howard, Dr., 71, 78, 74 u'l.eary, Ciiai'les, Dr., 55 Oliphant, David, Capt., 508 Olney, Daniel, Capt., 508 Joseph, 253 Stephen T., 67, 270 Thomas, 85-87, 895 William, 578 Ordway, L. O., Miss, 591 O'Reilly, James K., Rev., 201 Orem, James, Rev., 160 Ormsbee, Elijah, 510 John H., 266 Osborn, EUzabeth. 116 Van Rensselaer, Rev., 188, 189 Osgood, Samuel, 270 Ossoli, Margaret Fuller d', :!05-367 Osterberg, J. S., 588 I'acket lines, 505-510 Padelford, Seth, 268 Pnlne, George, 570 George T.. 666 Thomas, dipt, 406 Palmer, Nathaniel B., 517 William H, Dr.. 5.". Palmltet A. A., 359 Pangborn. AVilliam, .'>71 Parker. J. N., Rev., 206, 208 Parlin, Lewis. Dr., 70 Parmenter, Jonathan C, 576 Parochial schools, 385. 386 Parsons, Charles W., Dr.. 52. 55, 61 Usher, Dr., 4, 50, 52, 55. 59, 60 Partridge. H. G., Dr. 68 Richard, 440 Patterson, Robert E., 266 I'atten. William. Rev., 138 William S., 575, 644, 646, 648 688 Index. Pawtucket and Bast Providence, general history of the schools ot 815-318 commerce and shipbuilding of, 491 Medical Association, 57, school statistics of, 818, 319 (City) school statistics ot 819-321 Payne, Noah D., 581 Pearce, B. W., 570 Dutee, J., 190 Pearse, William, 182 Pease, L. B., 600 Peck, Allen O., 643 Ira B., 69 Jonathan, 182 Nathaniel, 288 Peckham, Alanson, 296 A. B., 569 Fenner H., Dr., 55 Francis B., 569 Frank E., Dr., 63 John, 87 Samuel W., 645, 648, 649 Pegram, John C, 651 Pemberton, Samuel, 438 Perkins, Rebecca, 619 Perry, Amos, 361, 362, 373, 022 Charles B., 605 Christopher G., 300, 618 Blizabeth A., 361 George, 336 Thomas, 638 Peters, John M., Dr., 63 Pettis, Joseph B., 293 PhUlips, James B., 800 John P., 270 Peter, 187, 356 Wnilam A., 818 note Phinney, Barnabas, Rev., 141 Pliysiclans, licensing of, 4 no record of. In north part of State previous to 1700, 5 struggles of early, with epidemics, 5 the eariiest, 4 the early homeopathic, 70 Pickering, David, Rev., 206, 266, 589 Pietersen, Abraham, 890 Pigot, George, Rev., 162 Pike, Ada B., 68 Pinniger, David, 627 Pirce, James A., 670 Pitman, John, 645, 648 Joseph S., 848 William R., 190 Pittenger, W. H. S., 587 Place, Peter, 395 Pollard, Ezra, 185 James, 292 Pollen, Thomas, Rev., 154 Pomroy, George W., Dr., 56 Porter, George W., Dr., 62, 66 James, Rev., 190 Portsmouth, early schools of, 297 school statistics of, 297, 298 Potter, Asa, 49, 860 Biisha R., 217-219 ; commissioner of public schools, 240 ; report of, in 1849, 241; In 1850, 242; in 1851, 242; in 1854, 244; 360, 629 James R., Capt, 508 Ray, Elder, 103 Sarah, Miss, 670 Simeon, Capt., gift of, for school purposes, 225 ; 401, 414, 431, 477. 620 WUUam, 84 Powell, J. C, 190 Powers, Fred P., 570 Pratt, F. A., 566 James, Rev., 175 Peter, 266 Pray, Ephraim, 895 Prentice, George D., 859 Presbyterian Church, the, 210 First, of Providence, 210 Narragansett Pier, 210 United in Providence, 210 Preston, Henry C, Dr., 73, 74 Priest, Zadock, Rev., 185 I'rinting and kindred arts, the beginning of, 563 press, evolution of the, 609 Privateering, 405-409 against tbe Dutch, 891, 392 effect of, upon the young navy of Congress, 423 revival of, during the Revolution, 428 the moral and political status of, 432 Privateers from Newport in the "Seven Years War," list ot 416-418 In the Revolution, list of, 424-428 in the "Seven Years War," 415 In the War of 1812, 431 list of captures made by Rhode Island, 413, 414 list of. In Spanish and Spanish- French war, 410-413 Propellor Baltimore, 523, 524 ; Favorite, 524 ; Osceola, 516 ; Pelican, 516 ; Petrel, 516 : Philadelphia, 523 ; Pioneer, 529 ; Pomham, 523 ; Rambler, 524 ; Squantum, 523. 524 ; Washington, 515 Providence, advancement In commercial en terprise of, 422 and New York Steamship Company, 518, 519 and Stonington Steamship Company, 520 Association of Mechanics and Man ufacturers, efforts of, to promote free schools, 260, 261 Index. 689 Providence Athenaeum, the, 1831-1836, 576 577 Cable Tramway Company, 555 centennial celebratioli of the estab lishment of free schools in, 282 coal trade of, 487 code of by-laws of 1844 for the gov- erment of the schools of, 270 commerce of, during the Revolution ary period, 454 commerce of, during the War of 1812 and immediately after, 470, 471 comparison of the commerce of, in 1819 with the present 490, 491 Congregational Church in, 131-137 customs receipts of, from 1790 to 1899, 484 development of the trade of, with the Bast Indies, 462-469 eariiest record for establishing a school in, 251 effect of the Napoleonic wars upon the sea trade of, 469 evening schools of, 273 note FaU River and Newport Steamboat Company, 524 first employment of women teachers in the schools of, 266 flrst improvement In the harbor of, 457 flrst newspaper of, 572 first school teacher in, 252 Friends School at, 854, 355 High School, establishment of the, 270 importations of coal into, from for eign ports, 473 importance of municipal ownership of water front of, 504, 505 improvements in the schools of, after adoption of law of 1828, 265-273 Interests of "planters" paramount in. In 1704, 396 leading merchants of, before the Rev olution, 444-447 Ust of school teachers of, from 1800 to 1828, 268 note list of square-rigged vessels belong ing to the port ot in 1818, 471-473 list of square-rigged vessels regis tered at the custom house of, in 1829, 485, 486 list of vessels belonging to the port ot in 1791, 458-461 Lying-in Hospital, 66-68 malaria In 42, 43 Medical Association, The, 55 memorial of the Mechanics' Associa tion ot and its effects. In 1837, 266-268 Providence, Norfolk and Baltimore Steam ship Line ot 521 petition of John AVhipple for school land in, 252 petitions and proceedings regarding schools In, during the eighteenth century, 251-261 present commerce of, 486-490 progress of the schools of, from 1838 to 1850, 208-273 Public Library, 651-667 report of committee of, on the free school law of 1800, 201 report of committee of, on school law of 1838, 264, 265 River, improvements to facilitate the navigation ot 500-503 sanitary condition of, in early days, 11-22 school enrollment of, from 1819 to 1839, 263 school statistics ot, from 1819 to 1839,! 263 schools of, placed under supervision of clergy, 264 seafaring trade of, as evidenced by wharf building, 394, 395 statistics, etc., of schools of, for 1850, 1860, 1870, 273; for 1871, 1872, 1873, 274; 1874, 1875, 1876, 275; 1877, 1878, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, 270; 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 277 ; 1887, 1888, 1889, 278 ; 1890, 1891, 1892, 279; 1898, 1894, 1895, 1806, 280; 1897, 1898, 1899, 281. steamer lines, and wharves of, in 1900, 528 Whipple Hall school in, 257-259 women teachers in primary schools ot from 1828 to 1836, 266 note yellow fever in, 23-32 Public schools, close of the first, in New port, 221 Public schools, reasons for delay in estab lishing, 217, 218 Purington, Matthew and Betsey, 116 Quakers, see Society of Friends Quimby, Hosea, Rev., 369 QuInn, John, Rev., 201 Radeke, Gustav, Mrs., 381 Railroad and Steamboat Company, Newport and Wickford, 551 Company, Narragansett Pier, 551 Company, New York, Providence and Boston, 546 Company, Rhode Island and Massa chusetts, 549 Company, Union (street), 554. 555 consolidations, 553 Boston and Providence, 546 Moshassuck Valley, 551 690 Index. Railroad, Pawtuxet VaUey, 549 Woonsocket and Pascoag, 549 Providence and Springfield, 549 Providence and Worcester, 546 Providence, Hartford and Fishkjll, 548 Providence, Warren and Bristol, 548 terminal facilities in Providence, 553, 554 Warwick and Oakland Beach, 551 Wood River Branch, 551 Railways, electric street, 557-558 Randall, Reuben G., Elder, 69, 102, 628, 629 Randolph, Edward, 407 Richard K., 632 Rathbun, Oscar J., 628, 629 Ray, Elmer, 600 Isaac, Dr., 4, 55, 58 Read, Alfred A., 624 John, jr., Capt., 507 William, 569 Redwood, Abraham, 616 Reed, Mary Ann, Miss, 367 Registration of births, marriages and deaths, 49 Religious Liberty the corner-stone of Will iams's foundation, 82 societies, general remarks upon, 212- 214 vagaries and their causes in the times of Williams, 83, 84 Reynolds, Jonathan, 356 Nathaniel, 124 Rhoades, Benjamin H., 343, 618 Rhode Island, a geographical expression ot a. principle, 81 and New York Steamboat Company, 512, 513 Hospital, 58-66 ; statistics ot 66, 68 Institute of Instruction, 238, 372-376 Medical Society, The, 50-55 ; Chase Wiggin library fund of the, 54 ; censors of, and their duties, 51 ; flrst officers of, 51 ; PIske library fund of the, 54 ; influence ot In establishing the State Board of Pharmacy, 53 ; library of, growth of the, 53-55 ; Ust of charter mem bers of, 50 ; list of presidents of, 55 ; measures adopted by, to secure registration of births, marriages and deaths, 52 and note ; power of, to examine and license candidates, 51 status of the commerce of, from the close ot the Revolution to the adoption of the Federal constitu tion, 455 Rhodes, B. H., Capt., 507 Rice, Howard M., 372, 651 Joseph, 636 Richards, C. A. L., Rev. Dr., 178 Laura De L., 388 William, Rev., 623 Richardson, Erastus, 326 note Harriet H., Mrs., 670 Richmond, Anna, 655 Frank E., 626, 655-658 Howard, 626 John, Capt., 508 school statistics of, 386, 337 Thomas, 620 William, 642 William E., 579 Ricker, George H., 870 Rider, Albert 670 Sidney S., 586 Risley, John E., Rev., 184 Rivers, Thomas, 579 Roads and trails, early, 529-531 Robbins, Asher, 622 Christopher E., 575 Onesiphorus, Rev., 192 Robinson, Christopher, 359 Edward M., 335 Ezekiel GUman, Rev., 96, 350 George, 491 J. H. B., 571 Robert Capt, 476 Rockwell, James O., 578 Rodman, Isaac P., Gen., 688 Rogers, C. J., Rev., 200 F. T., Dr., 56 Horatio, 662 Robert 618, 620 William, Rev., 98, 845 William Sanford, 302, 620 Roman Catholic Church, the, 195-203 ; be ginning of the, 195, 196 ; beginning of the Newport, 197, 198 ; Cathedral, the, 202 ; Cheverus, Bishop, of the, 195, 196 ; Diocese of Hartford of the, 200; Diocese of Providence of the, 201 ; flrst pastor ot the. In Rhode Island, 197 ; first public service of the. In Rhode Island, 197 ; East Greenwich, 201 ; Phenix, 201 ; Pawtucket, the, 198 ; St. Joseph's, Providence, 201 ; St. Mary's, Providence, 201 ; St. Patrick's, Providence, 200 ; SS. Peter and Paul, Providence, 198 ; South Kingstown, 200 ; AVarren and Bristol, 200 Churches, later, in Providence, 202 Boss, Arthur A., Rev., 293 Rouse. John H., Rev., 177 Rousmaniere, Henry, 247, 596 John B., 596 Rowland, David S., Rev., 134, 641 Rugg, Henry W.. Rev. Dr., 208, 282, 5.'^7 Russell. Henry G., 665 Joseph, 423, 447, 483 Martha M., 68 William, 424, 447, 488 Index. 691 Sabin, Thomas, 544 Salisbury, Jonathan, 627 Sanborn, John P,, 566, 570, 571 Sanders, Minerva A., 635 Sanford, Governor, replies ot, to the Board of Trade concerning commerce, 393, 394 ; 434, 435, 437 Joseph C, 356 Sanitary surroundings of Providence in early days, 11-22 work by cities and towns, 49 Sarle, Mary A., 681 O. Perry, jr., 631 Saunders, A. A., Dr., 56 A. P., Miss, 377 Sawin, A. D., 586 Isaac, Dr., 74 Sawyer, John W., Dr., 58 Sayles, Clark, 491 Frederick Clark, 635 P. L., 602 Welcome B., 581 William Francis, 850, 635 William T., 05 Scarlet fever, malignant, 48 Seholfield, John II., 585 School land, flrst allotment ot, 219 Manual, 250 of Design, Rhode Island, 881, 382 statistics in 1828, 226, 228-230 Schools, net providing for appointment of agent to inspect, 32i'> acts ot the Geueral Assembly affect ing, in 1828, 1829, 1880, 1831, 1832, 1834, 1835. 233 ; 1837, 1838, 1839, 284 ; 1843, 235 : 1845, 238 flrst public action in behalf of, in various towns between 1663 and 1773, 221, 222 in Newport in 1824, report of com mittee on, 220 in Providence from the earliest date to the present, 251-282 lotteries for the promotion ot in the eighteenth century, 224 private, early. 222-224 provisions for early, in Newport 220, 221 .synopsis of bill drawn by Henry Barnard for the improvement of the, 238 synopsis of Henry Barnard's report upon the condition of the, 236, 237 the Bible in the, 243, 244 Scituate, statistics of schools ot 321, 322 Scott, Albert A., 581 Catherine, 106 Edward, 615 Seabury, Samuel, Rev., 166 Seafaring, causes leading early settlers to resort to, 389 Seafaring trade of Providence, as evidenced by wharf building, 894, 395 Seaman, James N., 589 Sears, Barnas, Rev., 96, 349 Sea trade, change ot capital from, to man ufacturing, 486 of Rhode Island, status of, from the close of the Revolution to the adoption of the Federal constitu tion, 454 with the Dutch, 890, 891 Second Baptist Church at Newport, 87 Seidel, Charles F., Rev., 211 Selleck, AVillard C, Rev., 208 Senter, Isaac, Dr., 22 Sessions, Darius, 255 Seventh Day Baptists, 100-102 General Conference of, 102 Sewall, Samuel, 359, 360 Sharp, Granville, 623 Shaw, Oliver, 362 Samuel Brenton, Rev., 126 Slieffleld, W. P., jr., 304 Sheldon, Edward, Capt.. 507 Mary Jane, 65 Shepard, Elizabeth A., Mrs., 62 Mase, Rev., 120 Thomas, Rev., 142 Thomas P., 61, 647 Thomas P., Mrs., 649, 661 Sheppard, George, 395 AVilliam C, 597 Slierman, Robert, 596 Samuel N., Capt., 508 AV. S., 582 Sherry, Rev. Father, 201 Sherwood, Joseph, 441, 442 Shipbuilding in Rhode Island, 480-482 Ships, beginning of the buUding ot 399, 400 Shore Transportation Company, 523 Sible.y, Edwin F., 603, 671 John S., 596 Simons. William, 568, 578 AVilliam. jr., 581 Sisson, Joseph T., 318, 378 Lemuel, 191 Six Principle Baptists, 96-100 Slack, David B., Dr.. 40 Slater, Horatio Nelson, 350 John, 579 Samuel, 94, 168, 486, 579 WUliam S., 655, 656, 658 Slave labor, different views of the North and South upon it 403, 404 trade, effect of the, upon commercial development. 405 trade, extent to which Rhode Island ers engaged in the, 404 trade, final banishment of the, 403 trade. Interests ot Newport in the, 476 692 Index. Slave trade, the, in the eighteenth century, 399 Slaves, importation of, 400-402 Slicer, Thomas R., Rev., 148 Sloop Tartar, 415 Small, A. D., 301 F. T., 571 Small-pox hospital, 6 and note in 1899, 44 inoculation for the, 6 and note public proceedings concerning the, in early times, 8-10 reappearance of. In 1799, 29 visitations of the, 5-8 Smiley, Albert K., 117, 120 Alfred, 117 Smillie, Elizabeth B., 68 Smith, Amos D., 61, 62, 270 Daniel, Rev., 182, 186 Elbridge, 343 George A., 600 Hezekiah, Rev., 846 Jacob, Capt., 475 John, 424, 447, 642 John P., 586 John Wilson, 65 J. Wilson, 060 Joseph, 300, 491, 507 Lemuel, Rev., 182, 183-185, 188 Richard W., 372 Robert Capt., 507 Rufus and Jarvis, 308 Russell B., Dr., 57 Samuel J., 576 Sidney, Capt., 508 Stephen H., 498 William, Rev., 165 Smithfleld Academy, 359 and Cumberland Institute, 238 school statistics of, 322-324 Smuggling during "King George's War," 438 Snelling, Joseph. Rev., 183 Snow, Edwin Miller, Dr., 38, 41, 42, 46, 49, 665 John B., 579 Joseph, Rev., 183, 259, 260 Louis Franklin, 352 William C, 270 Soul liberty, Rhode Island the exponent of, 82 Soule, Joshua, Rev., 189 South Kingstown, school statistics of, 334. 335 Southwiek, Isaac H.. 519 Josiah. 106 Remington, 356 Samuel, 565, 566 Solomon, 577, 616 Southworth, Constant, 360 Ephraim, 511 Sylvester S., 576, 581 Spalding, Lovwell, 190 Spaulding, A. P., Rev., 249, 278 Lemuel, 289 Sparhawk, John, Rev., 124 Spear, William, 580 Spellman, J. E., Capt., 508 Spencer, Anna Garlin, Rev., 249, 273 E. T., 605 Gideon L., 634 William B., 293 Spink, Nicholas, 356 Sprague. Albert G., Dr., 46 Amasa, 61, 519 Jonathan, Rev., 99 William, 519, 579 Spratt, Frank A., 670 Stage coaches and stage lines, 544-546 Stanley, George H., Dr., 57 Staples, C. A., Rev., 180, 181 Henry, 654 William R., 622, 645 Stark, Charles R., 651 State Board ot Education, establishment of, 273 ; flrst report of the, 249 Board of Health, 45-49 Steam navigation on Narragansett Bay, gen esis ot 510-512 Steamboat Albatross, 516 ; Anawon, 527 : Awashonks, 527 ; Babcock, 523 ; Balloon, .123 ; Bay Queen, 528, 524 ; Beaver TaU. 528, Belle. 515; Benjamin Franklin, 513, 514 : Boston. 514 ; Bradford Durfee, 524 ; Bristol, 518, 523 ; Canonicus, 524 ; Chan ceUor Livingston, 518, 514 ; Charter Oak, 515 ; City of Lowell, 520 ; City of New port, 523. 524 ; City of Worcester, 520 ; Cleopatra. 514, 5151 Commodore, 517. 518: Commonwealth, 517. 518: Conani cut. 528 ; Connecticut 512, 513, 520 ; Cor nelius A'anderbilt, 515 ; Corsair, 527 ; Crystal Wave. 528 ; Curlew, 516 ; C. H. Northam, 520; Day Star, 528; Doris. 517 ; Eagle, 516 ; Electra, 517 ; Falcon. 516 : Firefly, 512, 523 : Fulton, 513 : Galatea, 517 ; George W. Danielson, .12S ; General, 127 ; Gladiator. 515 ; Glaucus, 517. 518: Hancock, 524; Herman S. Cas well. 127 ; Tolas, 523 ; Islander, 127 ¦ John W. Richmond, 514 ; King Philip, 124; KIngflsher, 516: Lexington, 514; Long Branch. 118 ; Jfaine, 520; Manisees. 127 ; Alarco Bozzaris, 518 : ATassachusetts. 514. 520; Metis, 517, 519; Montpelier, 123 ; Alount Hope, 524, 527 ; Narragan sett. 514, 519 ; Neptune, 515, 517, 518 ; Xerens, 517, 518 ; New Hampshire. 120 ; New Haven, 515 ; New Jersey, 515 ; New Shoreham, 528 ; New York, 513 ; Oceanus, 517. 519; Oregon. 515; Osprey, 516; Peerless, 529 ; Perry. 528 ; Plymouth. 520 ; Plymouth Bock, 517, 518 ; President, Index. 693 513, 514; PrisciUa, 520; Providence, 514, 518, 523; Puritan, 520; Queen City, 527 ; Rhode Island, 514, 510, 520; Richard Borden, 524 ; Riihard Peck, 520 ; River Belle, 523 ; River i.>ueen, 123 ; Roger WiU iams, 523; Rushlight, 52:1; Seayull, 116; Stonington, 519, 520; Telegraph, 515; Thetis, 517; Triton, 517; Wadsworth, 123; Warrior, 517; AVarwlrk, 524; AVash- Ington, 513 ; AVestchester, 510 ; AVhnr Clieer, 523, 524 ; William Marvel, 520 ; Worcester, 51 5 ; Wyona, 527 first in Narragansett Bay, 512 lines and equipment, 512-529 lines, local, 523-529 lines, tho present, 520 Stearns, Charles A., Dr., 57 Steere, Adah, Mrs., 061 Henry J., 013, 661 Richard, 359 Thomas, 69, 581 T. W., 002 WilUam S., 671 Stevens, Granville S., Dr., 74 Stiles, Ezra, Rev., 130, 131 Stillman, O. M., 638 Stimson, John J., 271-278, 646 Stiness, John H., 022. 651, 658 Stockbridge, John C, Rev,, 868, 367 AV. S., 370 Stockwell, Thomas B., 234, 250, 251, 339- ,341, 375 Stone, Alfred, 648, 651 Bdwln M., 622 Stonington Steampship Company, 519 Street railroads, 554-560 railways, electric, economic effects of, 559, 560 Strengerfield, William, 438 Stuart, Gilbert the painter, 159 Sturdevant T. D., Rev., 211 Sturtevant William H„ 595 Sugar act, the, and its effects, 440, 441 Sullings, Harvey, Rev., 204 Sumner, Arthur, 377 Sunday School Convention, Rhode Island, 94 movement, origin of the, 84 origin ot the, 94 Swain, F. C, 589 Leonard, Rev., 142 Swarts, Gardiner T.. Dr., 47, 48 Swedenborgians, tbe, 21 1 Swedish Lutheran Church, 211 Sweet, James, Mrs., 184 Jesse B., 508 John, 414 Richard, Rev., 98 Sweetland, C. S., 282 Taft, Cyrus, 519 Edward P., 517 George, Rev., 168, 175, 634 Taft, Royal C, 63, 648 ¦r.ilbot, Micah J., Rev., 570 Tallman, Benjamin, 400, 407, 481 J. B., 373 Tappan, E. M., 293 Tarbell, Horace S., 272, 282 Tariff act of 17.S0 and Its effect upon Rhode Isl.ind, 456 Taylor, A. O'D., 571 Barnabas, Rev., 125 E. G., Rev., 501 ¦¦Father," 18:1 George, 254 George, jr., 258 Philip K,, Dr., 56 Robert J., 300, 621 William H„ 356 'Taxation by Parliament, measures adopted against, 441-444 'I'ennent, (Jilbert, 134 Tennian, J. C, Rev., 590 Thayer, Rachael, 326 Seth, Capt., 506 Thacher, Rev., 143, 300 Thomas. L. B., Rev., 636 Thompson, Charles, 845 Otis, 589 Thorndon, John, 87 Thornton. Elisha, 327, 359 John, 859 Stephen AV., 683 Tliorp, Alexander, 544 Throop, Amos, Dr., 51, 55, 285 Goodman, 124 Thurber, Dexter, 266 Isaac, 270 Samuel, 255 Samuel, Jr., 257 Thurston, Benjamin, 482 Benjamin B., 618 Benjamin P., Mrs., 661, 666 Charles J., Dr., 291 H. E., 659 WUUam T., Dr., 62 Tilley. R. Hammett, 570, 621 Tillinghast Charles P., 641, 648, 644 Daniel, 424, 447 Elijah, 253 EHsha, 537 George H., 270 Henry L., 583 Joseph, 642 Joseph J., 174 Joseph T... 64:1 Pardon, 304. 305. 444 Pardon, Rev., 89 Paris Jenckes, 642 Wilbur, 240. 273, 301 Tilton, Fred W., 249, 273, 301 'ringley. L. Sophia, Mrs.. 072 Samuel H., 659 694 Index. Tiverton, Congregational Church at, 126 first measures to promote schools in, 298 school statistics ot 298, 299 Tobey, John F., 61 Samuel Boyd, Dr., 39, 40, 59 61, 116, 119 Sarah F., 119 Zalmon, 589 Tompkins, Seabury S., 197 Torrey, Joseph, Rev., 127 Samuel, Rev., 123 Touro, Judah, 616 Tonrteilot J- S., 373 Towle, Samuel, Rev., 211 Townsend, Christopher, 621 Ellen, Miss, 304 Solomon, Rev., 145 Travel and transportation limited to water ways in the beginning of settlement, 390 Tripp, Stephen, 645 True, Herbert O., Dr., 57 Trumpler, Peter, 585 Peter J., 597 Tucker, Abner, 258 Israel, 308 Rev. Father, 201 Thomas W., Rev., 183 Turner, Henry E., Dr., 55, 570 Peter, Dr., 357, 627 WUUam, Dr., 51 Turpikes and turnpike companies, 540-544 Turpin. William, 253 and note Tustin, Josiah P., Rev., 367 Twitchell, Frank A., Dr., 670 Tyler, WiUiam, Rt. Rev., 200 Tyng, Stephen H., Rev., 167 Type-setting machines, 610 UUman, Albert 587 Unitarian Congregational Church, the, 147- 150 First, the. Providence, 147, 148 Newport, the, 149 Olney Street, Providence, 149 Westminster Society, Providence, 148 Unitarians, characteristics of the. 149 Universalist Society, the, 205-210 BaUou Church of the. Providence, 209 Church of the Mediator of the. Prov idence, 208 First the. Providence, 205, 206 High Street. Providence, 206 Second, of Providence, 208 Woonsocket, 208 organizations, general, 209 University Grammar School, the, 341-344 Unsanitary conditions in Providence in the latter part of the eighteenth century, 21 Updike, Daniel, Col., 159 Updike, Daniel Berkeley, 666 Daniel E., 356 William, 235, 240, 378 Upham, Lester W., 596, 597 William D., 856 Usher, John, Rev., 160 Utley, Leander, Dr., 40 Richard, Rev., 211 Utter, George B., George H. and John Her bert, 604 Vail, Thomas H., Rev., 175 Valentine, William, 579 A^arnum, James Mitchell, 345 A'aughan, Howland, 119 William, 87, 97 Vaughn. Caleb, Jr., 289 Vessels captured and sent into Rhode Island during the Revolution, list of, 428-480 from Narragansett Bay ports cap tured by the French in the "Seven Years War," list ot 419, 420 from Providence captured and lost during the "Seven Years War," list of, 420-422 Vinton, Alexander H., Rev., 178, 171 Francis, Rev., 175, 177 Von Gottschalk, William, Dr., 75. 76 Vose, James G., Rev. Dr., 66, 282 John W„ 579 A^rooman, Henry, 586 Wadsworth, John A., 270 Walcott Edward, 173 AValdo, Daniel, Rev., 140, 146 Waldron, David A., 625 WUliam Throope, 182 Walker, Edward P., 66, 68 William, 160 WiUiam R., 624 Wall, WUUam, 447 Walley, John, 124 Wanton, George, 444 John, Capt. 408, 431, 444 Joseph, 444 William. Capt., 408, 409, 444 Wardner, Torrey E., 588 Wardwell, AUen, 182 George S., 172, 628 Samuel, 478 WUliam T. C, Dr., 46 Waring, George E., Jr., 46 Warnet William, 619 Warren, commerce of, 479. 480 Ladies' Seminary, 367, 868 schools, beginning ot, 287 statistics of schools of, 293, 294 Russell, 646 Warwick, early schools and teachers of, 292 statistics of schools of, 293, 294 Washington Academy at, 355, 356 Water supply, work done by the Board ot Health to improve the, 48 Index. 695 Waterman, Daniel D., 602 Henry, Rev., 174, 176 John, 577 Richard, 86, 280 Thomas T., 264 Watson, John B., 629 John J., jr., 602 J. W., 588 Robert H., 629 Samuel, Rev,, 021 Wayland, Francis, Rev., 86, 264, 848, 349 Francis, Dr., 647 Weaver, H., A'ernou, Dr., 57 Webb, George II. , 644 S. H., Rev., 282 Thomas I-L, Dr., 39, 40, 266, 044 Thomas S.. 579 AVebber, .\nnle M., 67 John, 283 Webster, "Clem," 181 Levi, 192 AA'eeden, Samuel and William, 87 Stephen R., 649 WUUam A., 629 Weir, John, Capt., 478 AVells, J. Hagadorn, 360 Phineas Parkhurst, Dr., 70 Wesley, John, 181 West, Benjamin, 576 Nathan, 87 Greenwich, school statistics of, 291, 292 Westcott, Stuckley, 86 Westerly, school statistics ot 337-339 Weston, Francis, 86 Whale flshing interests ot Rhode Island, 482-484 Whatcoat Richard, Rev., 184, 186 Wheaton, Comfort, 257 James L., Dr., 74 Levi, Dr., 29, 31, 39, 50, 55 Salmon, Rev.. 166, 177 AVheeler, Bennett, 177. 578. 581 Pallas S., Mrs., 67 Whipple, Abraham, 422 Jabez, 430 John, 644 .John, Jr., 395 John, Capt., 257 Samuel, 395 Sarah S., 65 Whitaker, Catherine P., 651 White, Charles J., Rev. Dr., 208 Hunter, C, 282 Isaac P., Rev., 177 Thomas, 645 Z. L., 583 Whitford, Everett T., 651 Whiting, Caroline. 856 Nathan, 357, 626 William, 438 Whitman, J. A., 630 Whitney, Henry B., 600 Wickenden, William, 87 Wickes, Oliver, 185 Sylvester, 110 XA'iggin, Chase, Dr., 54 Oliver C, Dr., 53, 55, 66, 07 Wight Henry, Rev., 130 John, 285 Wilbur, John, 120 Wilcox, Elmer A., 637 Stephen, 689 Wiley, AVUllam, Rev., 200 Wilkinson, David, 168, 198, 510, 511, 579 Edward L., 168 Lsaac, 548 Jemima, and her religious system, 84 Oziel, 543 Philip, 444 Thomas, 671 William, 342, 574 Willard, Gardner, Capt, 506 George O., 597 John, Capt., 507 WUlet Francis, Col., 159 Williams, Alfred M.. 580, 666 Benoni, 578 B. C, 517 N. Bangs, 583 Providence, 395 Roger, 81-83, 85-87 ; and the Bap tist Church, 85 ; as a "Seeker," 87 ; purpose of. in founding the commonwealth, 81 ; 106, 108 ; as an educator, 210 ; 390 Samuel J.. 578 Thomas, Rev., 146 Thomas Hale, 650 William, Rev., 345 AA'UlIam P., 516, 517, 510 Zephaniah, 519 Wilson, George Francis, 357 James, Rev.. 123, 139, 140. 264 Oliver, Capt., 431 Samuel S., 582 Ward, 819 WUliam H.. 574, 575 Winsor, Duty, Samuel and .Aaa. 318 Line of steamers, 521 Samuel, 395 Samuel. Rev., 99 William, 370, 628 Winter, Alexander K., Dr., 68 AVIrsch, P., Miss, 670 Wood, Horatio C, 571 Sumner. 258 Woodbridge, .Augustus, 648 Benjamin. Rev., 124 Woodbury, Augustus. Rev.. 1 49 Charles B., Dr.. 62 Hugh, 124 696 Index. Woodley, Robert D., Rev., 197, 198 Woodward, Rev., Mr,, 127 Woonsocket and Cumberland, early school history ot 826, 827 Woonsocket Hospital, 69 school statistics ot -326, 327 Wormeley, Katharine I'., 304 AV^orthington, John, 571 Wright, Frank, 517 Jane A., 571 Nathan M., 670 Yellow fever, hills for services, etc., in connection with the, 27, 28, 87, 38 flrst cases of the, 22 in Newport 82 In Providence in 1797, 23-28 ; in 1798, 28, 29 ; in 1799, 29 ; in 1800, 80-82 list of deaths from, in Providence in 1800, 84-36 Yerrington, James B., 580 Young, Edward R., 270 3 9002 00551 4188 Mr ;',.".i'. SS^ImSt.^^" dilute' >'^'' 'u M > • Ui'<'' t^'-si^ffl^ .L^;tU' n .U. U^