USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Rehoboth > Early Rehoboth, documented historical studies of families and events in this Plymouth colony township, Volume IV > Part 11
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"Most of the manufactures of this place have been carried on successfully. The number of workmen employed, the number of buildings, and the mass of capital, have therefore continually increased. But in the year 1806 [1807], the deluge of rain which fell in the beginning of February, raised the river to an unprecedented height; and swept away in a moment the laborious efforts of many years.
* See Early Rehoboth, vol. II, p. 9.
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Pawtucket
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A map of the Town of Pawtucket, Massachusetts, surveyed by L. M. E. Stone, Engineer, by order of the Town in July 1848.
This map shows the line due north from the east abutment of the bridge at Pawtucket Falls to the southern boundary line of Massachusetts which line marks the northerly end of the easterly boundary line of Rhode Island as set forth in its charter granted by King Charles II in 1663. Consequently, the territory west of this due north line was in Rhode Island and the territory, east of the line was in Massachusetts.
The above map is a facsimile of the map published in 1897 in the History of Pawtucket, Central Falls, and Vicinity, which was reproduced from the original map then in the possession of John F. M'Alevy. The present location of this original map is unknown.
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Early Rehoboth
"North-Providence was formerly a part of Providence. In 1790 it con- tained 1,071 inhabitants. In 1800, 1,067. And in 1810, 1,758" [Travels in New England and New York, by Timothy Dwight, S.T.D., LL.D., Presi- dent of Yale University, vol. II (1821), pp. 21-28].
Now that we know that the whole width of the river above the Pawtucket Falls for a distance of about a mile was in the town of Rehoboth, we are especially interested in Dr. Dwight's list of the twenty odd mills and shops he saw on this river in 1796. While most of them, with the exception of perhaps three, were built or financed by Rhode Island capital, they were all on Rehoboth soil. Thanks to the following records left by Dr. David Benedict *, an
* BENEDICT, DAVID, A.B. (Brown, 1806); A.M .; D.D., Shurtleff College 1851. Trustee Brown University, 1818-74. Ordained Baptist minister, 1806; pastor First Church, Pawtucket, R. I., 1806-28; postmaster [2nd], Pawtucket [13 years, 1831-1844]; member R. I. Historical Society 1825-1874. Author General History of the Baptist Denominations, 1813; History of all Religions, 1824; Fifty Years among the Baptists, 1860; Compendium of Ecclesiastical History; History of Donatists, 1875; Conference Hymn Book; b. Norwalk, Conn., 10 Oct. 1779; d. Pawtucket, R. I., 5 Dec. 1874 [Historical Catalogue of Brown University (1764-1914), p.78].
Son of Thomas and Martha (Scudder) Benedict, David Benedict was apprenticed at the age of fourteen to a shoemaker in New Canaan, Conn., and was afterward employed a short time as a journeyman. In 1802 he entered the academy at Mt. Pleasant, Sing Sing, N. Y., where he was prepared for college. In 1804 he became a resident of Pawtucket Village, Rehoboth, where he later gathered a church.
Dr. Benedict, an antiquary at heart, devoted much time to historical research. He was a writer of force and originality and his books had a wide circulation. He was also the author of several poems. Besides his other writings, he was a frequent contributor to periodicals and newspapers, the most valuable of which were his "Reminiscences of Pawtucket and its Prospects for the Fu- ture", some fifty articles printed in the Pawtucket Gazette and Chronicle in the years 1853, 1854, 1855, 1858, and 1864. Due to his long life spent in Pawtucket, from 1804 to 1875, and knowledge of the town, plus his antiquarian ability, these articles are prime sources for an eighteenth century history of the area.
These Reminiscences have never been assembled and printed in their entirety. An abridged form under the title Historical and Biographical Sketches of some of the Early and Succeeding Inhabi- tants of Pawtucket, by the Rev. David Benedict, D.D., were published in the Pawtucket and Central Falls Directory for 1869-70, pages 1 to 14. The first 834 pages are devoted to West Pawtucket and the next 514 pages to East Pawtucket.
The early files of the Pawtucket Gazette and Chronicle, "published simultaneously in Pawtucket, R. I., and Pawtucket, Mass., "are in the Deborah Cook Sayles Public Library at Pawtucket, R. I.
Dr. Benedict's General History of the Baptist Denomination in America, two volumes, published at Boston in 1813, was sold by subscription and a list of more than 3,000 subscribers is printed in the back of vol. II. Some of these local subscribers were:
Attleborough,-James Read, Margaret Blackington, John Sprague, William Everet, Jabel Ingraham, Nathan Robinson, Elijah Ingraham, Sylvester Clafton, Jane Hulton, Calvin Cleftin, and Mary Sadler.
Pawtucket, and near,-O. Starkweather, Esq., William Allen, Remember Kent, George W. Comstock, Benjamin B. Pierce, Jonathan Smith, Capt. Eli Messenger, Barney Merry, George W. Walker, Capt. B. S. Wolcott, Otis Wolcott, Daniel Sabin, Richard Waterman, Dan Robinson, Dr. A. Davenport, Sylvanus Newman, Otis Tiffany, Hanson Read, Joseph C. Wheaton, Col. Eliphalet Slack, Col. Simon Whipple, Eben. Tiffany, Esq., Nath'1 G. B. Dexter, Sylvia Wheaton, Rebecca Cole, Simeon Daggett, John Haley, Dr. Niles Manchester, John Coggeshall, Stephen Taber, Ichabod Taber, John Lever, Samuel Slater, Esq., David Bucklin, Jerahmeel Jenks, Bos- worth Walker, Uriah Benedict, George H. Hough, Comfort Barrows, William Chaffee, Thomas Welsh, William Hovey, Benjamin Bowen, John Miner, Samuel Cook, Jesse May, Esq., David Wilkinson, Maj. Ebenezer Tyler, Waterman T. Dexter, Lydia Creade, Thomas Spears, G. W. Tillinghast, Esq., George Jenks, William Tiffany, Phebe Carpenter, David Anthony, Isaac Wilkinson, James Daily, Hezekiah Howe, Jonathan Messenger, Jesse Hopkins, William Tiffany, 2d, Henry Taft, Mrs. White, John Lowden, Dana Gale, Ezekial Carpenter, Joseph Jenks, Capt. Caleb Drown, Mary Olney, Rhoda Jenks, Ezra Barrows, Maturen Ballou, Esther Cole, William A. Sheldon, Amos Read, William P. Henry, Betsey Greenleaf, and Moses Arnold.
Rehoboth,-Isaiah Lane, Benaiah Barney, Esq., John Jacobs, David Newman, Caleb Car- penter, David Kingsley, David Perry, Esq., and Thomas Bullock.
Seekonk,-Timothy Walker, T. Angell, Samuel Collyer, Sarah French, Thomas Munro, Maj. Allen Munro, Samuel Brown, David Brown, G. W. Carpenter, Israel Dagget, Benj. Corbin, Wm. Hammond, Joseph Bucklin, Church Grey, and William Collier.
Swansea,-Abner Lewis, Edward Mason, Cyrus Luther, and Ambrose Peck.
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early minister of Pawtucket, we have considerable knowledge of these mills.
On the east side of the river, south of the bridge, was the old John Bucklin grist mill. Next north was the Hugh Kennedy Oil mill for the manufacture of linseed oil, near which was his black- smith shop and a wheelwright shop where he made the old fashioned spinning wheels-the large for cotton and the small for flax. North of the bridge, near the river, he had a store which did a large busi- ness. Farther north on the river was a saw and grist mill.
On the west side of the river, just south of the approach to the bridge, stood Ezekiel Carpenter's clothing shop, fulling mill, and store. This was a building of considerable size for the day. It was two stories high above the road and three stories high on the river side. It was in this building that Samuel Slater spun his first yarn by water-power. The building was swept away in the flood of 1807. The clothier's shop of Pardon and Jabez Jencks was near by that of Ezekiel Carpenter.
Adjoining the Ezekiel Carpenter building and down a number of winding stairs and deep in the rock surrounded by rocky walls was the old forge originally started by Joseph Jencks and burned by the Indians in King Philip's War.
The old Jencks grist mill stood next south, and between this and the old forge, ran the road on the Rhode Island side. The bridge crossed the river below the falls and had the great rock for one of its supports.
The old anchor shop stood still farther down the river, probably among the earliest works put up by the Jencks.
Oziel Wilkinson, a blacksmith from Smithfield, began operations soon after the Revolution. Anchors were cast and mended; and cannon, screws of heavy kinds, bells for churches, etc., were made for various parts of the country. Abraham, Isaac, and David Wilkinson formed a company and operated the upper anchor shop which was the name given to the place to distinguish it from the lower. Thus the old forge and the lower and upper anchor shops appear to have been the locations of the principal iron business in this section of the village to which the name coal yard was applied because of the large piles of charcoal which were of necessity always kept there.
Next north of Ezekiel Carpenter's fulling mill was Thomas Arnold's flour mill and the old Slater Mill, built in 1793. Further up the river was an old snuff mill of very early date.
Around 1800, what is now Central Falls was known by the name of Chocolate Mill, due to a small chocolate mill located where the bridge over the Blackstone River now stands. In the same build- ing was a fulling mill. The building was afterwards turned into a snuff mill, and still later was filled with cotton machinery by Elisha Waterman, of Cumberland, Rufus Waterman, of Providence, and Benjamin Walcott. A forge and blacksmith shop were located nearby.
After the Revolution, the United States turned its attention to the
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manufacture of cotton goods. Notwithstanding the persistent ef- forts made in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and soon after, Pennsyl- vania, New York, and Connecticut, cotton manufacturers found it impossible to compete with the English product of the superior Arkwright machinery of Derbyshire, and repeated losses had dis- couraged the production of homespun cloth.
The first cotton mill in New England was the Beverly Cotton Manufactory, Beverly, Mass., built in 1787. Cotton spinning in this country, further than hand-card and one thread spinning wheel, was carried through its first struggles by this company, but the mill was unsuccessful as were all other similar mills built in the next two or three years. At the court held 2 June 1790, the proprietors of the Beverly Mill petitioned the Massachusetts legislature asking for financial assistance, saying that they had lost money "prin- cipally from the use of machines which they have as yet found too expensive to procure [meaning the Arkwright. Patents]; that expendi- tures had already amounted to £4,000; that the value of the remain- ing stock was less than £2,000, and that without aid from the court the mill could make no further advancement". The Court granted the company £1,000.
At the end of 1790, the net results were that every attempt in America to spin cotton warp or twist by water-power had been a total failure, as were also all efforts to import from England any of the patent water driven Arkwright cotton machinery.
Late in the year 1789, Samuel Slater *, a journeyman cotton spinner, a boy of little more than twenty years of age, sailed from London, England, and arrived in New York in November of that year fully determined to construct and erect in the United States the patent English Arkwright cotton machinery. He came to Paw- tucket Falls, North Providence, Rhode Island in January 1790.
Early in the following year-in the old fulling mill of Ezekiel Carpenter near the southwest abutment of the bridge-without plans or the aid of anyone who had ever seen this machinery, he built and put into operation the whole series of Arkwright patent machines in such perfection as to produce cotton yarn of various kinds equal to any produced in England at that time.
Two years later, in 1793, the Slater cotton mill was built further north of the Pawtucket Falls in the village of Pawtucket, town of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Slater built a second cotton mill in Rehoboth six years later. We know much about Samuel Slater from his own account. On 13 Dec. 1834 the Rhode Island Historical Society requested Samuel Slater to draw up and present to the society a history of the first introduction of cotton spinning into this country, together with such other incidents as he might deem
* The best account of Samuel Slater and the cotton spinning industry at Pawtucket Falls, partly in Rhode Island and partly in Massachusetts, is found in the Memoir of Samuel Slater, by George S. White, published in two editions, 1835 and 1836. The second edition, published at Philadel- phia, is the better of the two. Mr. White writes with authority for he was personally acquainted with Samuel Slater, Moses Brown, and other key men in the cotton spinning business and had most of his data at first hand. In the following pages the writer has drawn freely from the 1836 edition of Mr. White's book, hereafter cited as "White, Memoir of Samuel Slater".
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important or interesting to have preserved for the information of posterity. He died four months after this request, but a short time before his death at Webster, Mass., 20 Apr. 1835, he wrote the following account which was found among his papers *:
"Samuel Slater was born in the town of Belper, in the county of Derby, June 9th, 1768. In June 28th, 1782, being about fourteen years of age, he went to live with Jedediah Strutt, Esq., in Milford, near Belper, (the inventor of the Derby ribbed stocking machine, and several years a partner of Sir Richard Arkwright in the cotton spinning business,) as a clerk; who was then building a large factory at Milford, where said Slater continued until August 1789. During four or five of the late years, his time was solely devoted to the factory as general overseer, both as respected making machinery and the manufacturing department. On the 1st day of September 1789, he took his departure from Derbyshire for London, and on the 13th he sailed for New York, where he arrived in November, after a passage of sixty-six days. He left New York in January 1790, for Providence, and there made an arrange- ment with Messrs. Almy and Brown, to commence preparation for spinning cotton at Pawtucket.
"On the 18th day of the same month, the venerable Moses Brown took him out to Pawtucket, where he commenced making the machinery prin- cipally with his own hands, and on the 20th of December following, he started three cards; drawing and roving, and seventy-two spindles, which were worked by an old fulling mill water wheel in a clothier's building, in which they continued spinning about twenty months; at the expiration of which time they had several thousand pounds of yarn on hand, notwithstanding every exertion was used to weave it up and sell it.
"Early in the year 1793, Almy, Brown, and Slater built a small factory in that village, (known and called to this day the old factory,) in which they set in motion, July 12, the preparation and seventy-two spindles, and slowly added to that number as the sales of the yarn appeared more promising, which induced the said Slater to be concerned in erecting a new mill, and to increase the machinery in the old mill".
In addition to Samuel Slater's own terse autobiography, there are numerous other records which round out some events in his early life. On 8 Jan. 1783, he apprenticed himself to Jedediah Strutt, of New Mills, in the Parish of Duffield, County of Derby, Cotton Spinner, for the term of six and one-half years to learn the cotton spinning business. This engraved indenture t is still extant.
Jedediah Strutt saw a source of only moderate income in the cot- ton spinning business, but no great future. His apprentice, Samuel Slater, had different ideas, however, for in a Philadelphia paper he had read the account of a £100 bounty granted by the Pennsyl- vania Legislature for the construction of an imperfect carding ma- chine, also a notice in the same paper of a society authorized by the legislature to promote the manufacture of cotton. This wider field of opportunity made him decide to go to America. This was easier to plan than to accomplish, for not only was the exportation of textile machinery from England or the dissemination of informa- tion concerning it forbidden, but the cotton workers themselves were not permitted to emigrate. It was very difficult for textile workers to leave England, for the officials carefully scrutinized and searched all passengers sailing for America.
Slater told no one that he was leaving England. He left Derby-
* White, Memoir of Samuel Slater, p. 41.
t A reproduction of Slater's indenture is shown in White, Memoir of Samuel Slater, facing p. 33.
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shire on 1 Sept. 1789 saying he was going to London. Two weeks later, he sailed for New York arriving there in November 1789. The only paper he brought with him was his indenture which he kept concealed, for this was to be his only introduction and recom- mendation in the new world. It has been frequently stated in print that he came over in disguise but Slater himself makes no mention of any such thing. That he was very reticent and told no one anything about his affairs and intentions aided him greatly in getting out of England. He simply sailed from London as one more emigrant bound for America, and as he probably looked more like a big red-faced farmer's boy than a textile machinery mechanic or an experienced cotton spinner, he needed no disguise.
Immediately on his arrival in New York he was introduced to the New York Manufacturing Company and entered their employ. The state of their business was at a low ebb, and the water privileges in this part of the country were not at all to his liking. He later met a captain of one of the Providence packets who told him of Moses Brown, of Providence, who was endeavoring to do some- thing in the cotton business, and advised that he write him which he did as follows:
"New York, December 2d, 1789.
"Sir-A few days ago I was informed that you wanted a manager of cotton spinning, &c. in which business I flatter myself that I can give the greatest satisfaction, in making machinery, making good yarn, either for stockings or twist, as any that is made in England; as I have had opportunity, and an oversight, of Sir Richard Arkwright's works, and in Mr. Strutt's mill upwards of eight years. If you are not provided for, should be glad to serve you; though I am in the New York manufactory, and have been for three weeks since I arrived from England. But we have but one card, two machines, two spinning jennies, which I think are not worth using. My encouragement is pretty good, but should much rather have the care of the perpetual carding and spinning. My intention is to erect a perpetual card and spinning. (Mean- ing the Arkwright patents.) If you please to drop a line respecting the amount of encouragement you wish to give, by favour of Captain Brown, you will much oblige, sir, your most obedient humble servant,
(Signed) "Samuel Slater .*
" Mr. Brown, Providence." "N.B .- Please to direct to me at No. 37, Golden Hill, New York.
Providence 10th 12th month, 1789. "Friend,-I received thine of 2d inst. and observe its contents. I, or rather Almy & Brown, who has the business in the cotton line, which I began, one being my son-in-law, and the other a kinsman, want the assistance of a person skilled in the frame or water spinning. An experiment has been made, which has failed, no person being acquainted with the business, and the frames imperfect.
"We are destitute of a person acquainted with water-frame spinning; thy being already engaged in a factory with many able proprietors, we can hardly suppose we can give the encouragement adequate to leaving thy present employ. As the frame we have is the first attempt of the kind that has been made in America, it is too imperfect to afford much encouragement; we hardly know what to say to thee, but if thou thought thou couldst perfect and conduct them to profit, if thou wilt come and do it, thou shalt have all the profits made of them over and above the interest of the money they cost, and the wear and tear of them. We will find stock and be repaid in yarn as we may agree, for six months. And this we do for the information thou can
* White, Memoir of Samuel Slater, p. 72.
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give, if fully acquainted with the business. After this, if we find the business profitable, we can enlarge it, or before, if sufficient proof of it be had on trial, and can make any further agreement that may appear best or agreeable on all sides. We have secured only a temporary water convenience, but if we find.the business profitable, can perpetuate one that is convenient. If thy prospects should be better, and thou should know of any other persons un- engaged, should be obliged to thee to mention us to him. In the mean time, shall be glad to be informed whether thou come or not. If thy present situation does not come up to what thou wishest, and, from thy knowledge of the business, can be ascertained of the advantages of the mills, so as to induce thee to come and work ours, and have the credit as well as advantage of perfecting the first water-mill in America, we should be glad to engage thy care so long as they can be made profitable to both, and we can agree. I am, for myself and Almy & Brown, thy friend,
"Samuel Slater, at 37, Golden Hill, New York".
" Moses Brown *
Shortly after receiving this letter, Samuel Slater came to Provi- dence expecting to find the water frame ready for operation. He assured Mr. Brown that he could do all that he had promised in his letter and as proof of his qualifications showed him "his indenture" with Mr. Strutt, who had been a partner with Sir Richard Ark- wright, who had made the best stocking and twist yarn that was at that time spun in England.
Early in January 1790, Moses Brown, accompanied by William Almy, Obadiah Brown, and Smith Brown, took Samuel Slater to Pawtucket Falls and showed him the machinery that they had failed to operate as described in his letter. Moses Brown tells that when Slater saw the machinery he shook his head and said "these will not do; they are good for nothing in their present condition, nor can they be made to answer".t He further remarked, "if under my proposals I do not make as good yarn as they do in England I will have nothing for my services but will throw the whole of what I have attempted over the bridge".
On 5 Apr. 1790, an agreement # was signed by William Almy, Smith Brown, and Samuel Slater to carry on the business of spinning cotton by water-power "of which the said Samuel professes himself a workman, well skilled in all its branches". Almy and Brown agreed on their part to turn in the machinery already purchased at the price it had cost them; to furnish materials for the building of two carding machines, a breaker and a finisher; a drawing and rov- ing frame; and to extend the spinning mills, or frames, to one hun- dred spindles.
Samuel Slater agreed on his part to devote his whole time and service to the best of his ability in building cotton machinery sim- ilar to that used in England. It was mutually agreed that he would be owner and proprietor in one half of the machinery and ac- countable for one half of the expense of building the same. He was not to sell his one-half interest without permission in writing from Almy and Brown. In case he sold he was to instruct Almy and
* White, Memoir of Samuel Slater, p. 73.
+ White, Memoir of Samuel Slater, p. 74.
# For the complete agreement, see White, Memoir of Samuel Slater, pp. 74, 75.
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Brown, or others by them appointed, in the full and perfect knowl- edge of the use of the machinery and the art of water spinning. As a full and adequate compensation for his whole time and service, after every expense arising from the business was defrayed, includ- ing the usual commissions of two and one-half per cent for purchas- ing of stock, and four per cent for disposing of the yarn, Samuel Slater was to receive one-half of the profits and Almy and Brown the other half, they to be employed in purchasing stock and dispos- ing of the yarn. It was agreed that Almy and Brown could put in apprentices if they chose to do so, the profit or loss to be at the ex- pense of the business.
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