USA > Rhode Island > Reminiscences of Rhode Island and ye Providence Plantations > Part 1
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Go 974.502 P948no 1781115
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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} ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
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F845.636
Reminiscences of Rhode Island
and Ye Providence Plantations.
Carne Pitman Nova
563
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1781115
r- 345 .636
Noyes, Isaac Pitman] 1840- Reminiscences of Rhode Island and ye Providence Plantations. (Washington, 1905] 47 p. 22cm. Caption title. Historical and biographical reminiscences of Providence. Signed : Isaac Pitman Noyes.
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- (Supplement) ... [Washington? 1905] 16 p. 22en Caption title. Signed : Isaac P. Noyes,
F89.PON61 (Continued on next card) Ir 25f21
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F845.636
Reminiscences of Rhode Island
and Ye Providence Plantations.
When the country is new the people who become settlers there- in, as a rule, have little ability or inclination to put their personal knowledge into writing. Very much is lost. Many facts and statements, however, are handed down from parents to children ; and some, having a good memory these statements of the early settlers go down to many generations, when the historian appears and puts them into the enduring form of print. The majority of these histories are short and personal or local. Later the general historian appears, who collects the parts and combines them into one grand whole. Our colonial fathers were men of strong indi- vidualities. After what is legitimate history has been written, there remains the reminiscences, or events, that form the minor details of history-some instructive, interesting, or perhaps hu- morous, as well as instructive or interesting. These reminiscences have been written on the foundation of various sources. All the older ones I got from Mr. Amos T. Jenckes and my aunt, Mary Noyes. A few I gathered from other sources; but the
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most, all of the later ones, from 1849 and through the fifties, I knew of from personal experience.
Amos Troop Jenckes was born in Providence in 1809. He was a man with a good memory. Whatever he heard from the older folks he never forgot. He had no inclination to put these tales into writing ; but he was a good talker, and of an evening he would relate what he had heard, and what, in the course of his years, was personal experience. Mr. Jenekes had the faculty of seeing the humorous side of things, so in his tales there was much humor. It is doubtful if there was ever a man who, in the course of seventy years, had experience in so many occupa- tions. He had been a clerk in different kinds of stores ; he had worked in a printing office ; had some experience on a farm ; went to sea as captain, supercargo and passenger ; was familiar with many things on sea and land. He superintended the build- ing of some of the Brown & Ives vessels. Later he devoted considerable attention to medicine, whereby he became known as Doctor Jenekes. He put up for sale a yellow fever mixture. His mother was a Carter, the aunt of John Carter Brown, whereby he was cousin to John Carter. The Browns, Carters, Crawfords, Updykes, Pitmans, Jenekes and Goddards, all old families and all intermarried. The old Crawford house, now torn down, stood on North Main street near Mill. Captain Crawford, or Uncle Crawford, as he was called, bought the lot at the southeast corner of North Main and Meeting streets. He had his cut tinber and materials gathered for building the new house on this lot. While he was off' on his voyage the timber would season. But he never returned ; he was lost at sea, and nothing was ever heard of his vessel, himself or crew. So his nephew, Captain Updyke, built the house, long known as the Updyke house. Here the family lived for two generations. When this Updyke house was built it was the finest house in town. Next above it was the Carter house-a very large three-story house, with a long back building, which was built for a printing office-the first printing office in Rhode Island and one of the first in New England. The Craw- ford, or Updyke estate, extended from the line of North Main street to the Seekonk River. Benefit street was then known as Back street. When the estate was divided it was divided into three parts, which at that time were supposed to have equal money value. The Updyke estate was given to one daughter,
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the Carter estate to another, reaching to Back street ; the third portion, then a wilderness, from Back street to the river, includ- ing what in a generation or two was known as the Moses Brown farm, was given to the third daughter. When Brown University was to be built it was to be named after the man who would con- tribute the most money toward building the old " Hope College." Nicholas Brown was the man who contributed the most, thereby the university came to be known as Brown University.
The Episcopalians gradually became a strong factor in the State. Old St. John's Church, on North Main street, was the first, and one of the first, Episcopal Churches in New England. In the early days the Episcopal Church was not very strong ; the Baptists were the dominating party; there were a few Quakers. A young Baptist man fell in love with a beautiful young Quakeress. It was not lawful in those days for a Baptist to marry a Quaker. So the young Baptist said to his affianced, the Quakeress, " Ruth, we'll join the Episcopalians, and both go to hell together." It seems that she assented, for they very soon married. In colonial times John Brown, the head of what was afterwards the house of Brown & Ives, was a thrifty man. When the Revolutionary War ended he bought up all the soldiers' certificates he could get hold of. As the Govern- ment cashed these certificates he made a great deal of money, and soon was the richest man in Providence. In those days a young man hired himself out to some well-to-do man-was general chore boy, helped about the house or the office, as he was called upon. In this capacity young Mr. Ives went to live with Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown had a daughter. After awhile the young couple fell in love with each other. Miss Brown was, for those days, very wealthy, while Mr. Ives was poor. But Miss Brown loved him. The people began to talk. While the old folks liked Mr. Ives, they did not desire their daughter to marry so poor a man. " Well," said Miss Brown, " I will make hin rich," so she made over to him her fortune of $75,000, which in those days was equivalent to a million now. They were married, and Mr. Brown took young Ives into partner- ship with him, so the house of Brown & Ives was established and continued for some three generations. The house is now extinct-died out. The last, or the one who would have been the last, of the Ives branch, young Robert Ives, was killed at Antie-
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tam, while acting as a member of Brigadier General Rodman's staff. The Goddard family, who had married into the Brown family, now control the old Brown & Ives works. In colonial times, and for two generations after, the house of Brown- later, Brown & Ives-was largely interested in shipping. Their ships were mostly in the East Indies trade, though they also sailed to other ports. About 1806, one of their vessels visited Odessa, the port of St. Petersburg-the Ann & Hope, I think-a large ship for those days, built at Warren, Rhode Island.
In those days such large ships, in addition to a captain, had a supercargo, who was surgeon of the ship and business manager for the owners. The captain navigated the ship, but the super- cargo attended to the business part-looking up cargoes and to the general business of the freight department. While this vessel was at Odessa nearly every day a gentleman came aboard and made himselfquite familiar with Mr. Benjamin Carter, the super- cargo. The gentleman spoke English. He was very much in- terested in America and the ship. He was a Mason, so was Mr. Carter, and this is probably why they became so intimate. How long the vessel was at Odessa I do not know, but two weeks would be an average time for such a vessel to be in such a port. When the vessel was about to sail the strange gentleman ap- peared ; in his hand was a roll. As he took leave of Mr. Carter he handed him this roll. Mr. Carter was too busy to look at it then, so he threw it in on his bunk. The next day, after being out to sea, and having time, he looked at the roll. It was a fine steel engraving of Alexander I, Czar of all the Russias, and the man who nearly every day had been to see Mr. Carter. This picture is now in the cabinet of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
In connection with these Brown & Ives vessels were humorous things as well as grave ones. Mr. Brown did not like the mate of one of his vessels, so he decided to get a new man. The new man was engaged and the old one discharged. It was near the time of sailing ; the ship was to sail at noon of a certain day. The new mate could not be found. Mr. Brown was troubled, indeed, dis- gusted, for he liked a punctual man. The old mate was on hand, and condescended to ship again. As the new man could not be found, Mr. Brown was forced to retake the old man. Some hours
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after the ship had sailed the new man appeared, but it was too late. He had been asleep in a loft within a hundred yards of the wharf. It seems that the old mate got him good and drunk, then put him to bed in the loft of a warehouse near by, taking care to darken all the windows. The new mate awoke, but as it was still dark he took another nap and another. After awhile, thinking it a very long night, he got up to investigate, and found that it was long after noon. He started for the wharf, but the vessel was gone. Then it bloomed upon him that something was wrong. " Where was the old mate ?" he asked. "Gone in the ship," was the reply. Too late-all owing to rum.
When Mr. Brown was making so much money out of the sol- diers' certificates, some people did not like it. He bought a new carriage. As he rode down by an old cooper shop the cooper remarked, in an audible tone, "Soldiers' blood makes good var- nish." Mr. Jenekes said that Mr. Brown put his carriage in the carriage house, and that it was never out again. Yet we can see no necessity for such sensitiveness. Mr. Brown had a right to buy these certificates. He was a benefactor to the soldiers. There was no one else to buy them up; thereby they got some ready money, which otherwise they might not have got in their lifetime. The Government was poor; Mr. Brown bought them all up-all he could get-evidently at a discount. After some waiting he got the Government to cash them. We see nothing wrong in this transaction, nor any cause for sen- sitiveness, as stated by Mr. Jenekes, on the part of Mr. Brown.
In those early days there were some queer characters about Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations-some very in- telligent, like the Mann family; some exceedingly eccentric and cross-grained, while others were half-witted. In the thir- ties to fifties the Mann family was very prominent. George Mann was learned-a college graduate, I believe, but eccen- tric, as were all of the Manns. Tom was prominent, even after the war. He disliked President Johnson. He wrote a poem on him ; had it published in a " broadside," which he sold, peddled from office to office and store to store-everywhere, on the street or in buildings, wherever he could sell one for ten cents. One of the verses ran thus :
"May he be ten million miles from shore,
Without helm, sail or oar !"'
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In those days the Manns lived in a small house on North Main street, about half way up the hill from Mill to Benefit. One day Ann Mann was out. A friend called. The furni- ture was dusty, so on the table, with her finger, she wrote "SLUT." Some days after she was in a friend's house, where she met Ann. She said to Ann: "I called on you some days ago, but you were not in." "Yes," said Ann, "I saw your card."
In the Mauran family were twins-Nathaniel and Carlo. They kept a store. One day a stranger called. He desired to see one of the brothers, and asked the colored janitor to describe them, so that if he should meet them on the street he would know them. The colored janitor's statement was unique : "Deys be berry much alike, especially Carlo!"
Then there was a Mr. Burrows, who was an exceedingly cross man. His servant described him thus: "He's der most eben- tempered man you eber seed. He's as mad as der debil all de time."
Then there is Mr. Waterman, of Johnston, of whom Mr. Jenckes spoke. Mr. Waterman kept a great many hogs. People were desirous of finding out how many hogs he had, so thereby they could the better estimate his worth. One day they got a simple fellow to go to Mr. Waterman and ask him. "Mr. Wa- terman, how many hogs have you got?" " What do you want to know for?" "People are all the while asking me, and I don't know what to tell them." "You can tell them you don't know, can't you ?" So Mr. Waterman's neighbors got no satis- faction.
In the early part of the century there was a queer old gentle- man living in Providence. What his name was I know not. It would seem as though it should have been preserved. It was then the fashion for young men to go about the streets with their handkerchiefs sticking well out of their pockets. He went along with his so far out that the boys throught that he would lose it ; so they cried out to him, " Mister, mister, you'll lose your hand- kerchief!" "Never mind, boys; never mind ; it's pinned in- it's pinned in !"
In those days we had the dandy-the fellow who got himself up in the most attractive manner. The dandy has passed ; we no longer see him, and seldom hear the word; and when used it
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is not used in its old sense. To say now that a man is a dandy, to the world it means that he is a smart fellow. He may or may not pay any attention to dress. The term dude has taken the place of dandy. Yet the dude, too, is passing ; indeed he has already passed. As people become cultivated they pass beyond the stage of the dandy or the dude.
The colored church up near Meeting street was to have an entertainment for the benefit of the church. This is the way the preacher advertised the bill that was to form a part of the enter- tainment : " The first ladies and gentlemen, ten dollars ; the sec- ond ladies and gentlemen, five dollars; the third ladies and gentlemen, two dollars and a half; (with great disgust,) the rufty seuff's, fifty cents!" It is said that there were no rufty- seuff's at the ball.
A half-witted fellow by the name of Beany Daniels would put his hat, in winter time, over an cel hole cut in the ice, then go and hide himself for some days, so as to make people think that he had been drowned. Then, after a few nights, he suddenly appeared on the hill, with his sled, and began sliding with the rest, and as he slid he sang :
"Some folks thinks Beany Daniels dead, But here he comes himself a sliding on his sled."
Then there was Ben Kit, who used to go about the streets with a paper crown on his head.
One day I saw Daniel Pratt come to town. He came up South Main street in a four-wheeled cart. On the seat with the driver, bareheaded, was Daniel, with a garland of flowers, roses, about his head. He was solemn and grand in countenance, as some old Roman might have been who was being honored with a triumphant entry into Rome. Some years later I saw Daniel in Washington, D. C. The young law students got him to come in carly, before the professor arrived. When the professor came in there was Daniel on his platform talking to the students, and the students applauding vociferously. For a moment the pro- fessor was dumfounded. He knew not what to make of the man or the boisterous applause of the students. But he soon advanced to the platform, and Daniel greeted him in a gentle- manly manner and retired. I was glad to witness this, for by it I saw that Daniel Pratt was an intelligent man. The professor
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himself could not have given the young men better advice as to how to live and to be upright in their doings with all men.
"Lives there a man, lean or fat, Who has never heard of Daniel Pratt?"
Yes, we have heard and seen Daniel Pratt. He was harmless, genial, and wise; queer-yes, queer. In these days of kodaks, Daniel, as he sat in that cart, decorated with a garland of roses, would have been taken, and we should now have a number of these pictures. But the kodak had not appeared, so we must trust to our imagination.
There was Johnny Keeth, a harmless, foolish fellow ; harmless until some foolish boys taught him bad tricks. In the fifties he used to gather swill (garbage) for his father's hogs. He was faithful; very strong ; molested no one, But later some smart boys thought it cunning to teach John all sorts of tricks, one of which was to pull door bells, then run. After awhile he became dangerous, so was taken to the Dexter Asylum, where he ended his days. John had immense perceptives and large form, whereby he saw a great deal, and he had a fine memory ; he never forgot any one.
In later years there was Charley Cutter, the clam digger, who lived at Warwick. Charley was a most untidy person in regard to his clothes, but his untidiness never reached his clams. These were gotten out and cared for in the best and neatest manner. Charley Cutter was an honest man. Recently his picture in Chicago sold for $25. There are few men in the world whose picture-a good size photograph-will sell for such an amount. Charley Cutter was an unique and original character.
To come back to earlier times. If one desires to read about the early colonial times, read William Jeffery's Journal. One quite intelligent man said that the book was made up. To make up such a book would be impossible. It is too true to nature and to the times in which it was written. It is a work that every Rhode Islander should read. In the forties and fifties, and thereabouts, Providence, and, indeed, the towns along the bay, were interested in whaling. I remember the ships Lyon and South America. The Lyon, when she was lost, was quite forty years old. She was lost on her last voyage, somewhere off the southern coast of Africa. The South America, in 1849, was fitted out as a California vessel.
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These California vessels were put on the market in shares. As a rule the men who bought the shares were the ones who went in the vessel to California. My father, Captain John U. Noyes, took the brig Hallowell to California on this share principle. The shares for this vessel were $250 apiece. This made each stockholder a part owner in the vessel. A good part of the cargo was Inmber. The Hallowell also took a small steamer for river use, probably about forty feet long. About this time, or just before, Kossuth came to America. He wore a black felt hat with a black ostrich feather. This set the fashion for many of the young men. It was quite a common sight to see young men on the street with a black felt hat and black ostrich feather.
Providence in those early days being quite a whaling port, the cooper business was quite active. The coopers of Providence were Messrs. Sherman & Howard. In the fifties there were three memorable steamboats running on the bay-the old Argo and the Bradford Durfee, and the Perry. The Perry ran to New- port, the Durfee to Fall River, while the Argo ran to the smaller places along the bay, and during the summer was much used as an excursion boat, running to Rocky Point and to the shore places nearer the city. The Argo was the smallest of the three. She and the Durfee were propelled by crosshead engines, a style of engine now out of date. The Perry was a fast boat. In those days the water in the Providence River was clear; the boats running in the bay and river were clean, quite unlike the boats of to-day, with their dirty freeboards. Prior to the war, and for some twenty years after, Providence was well supplied with fine sailboats to let. On the east side two parties, Mr. Benja- min Appleton, who was a boatbuilder as well as a letter of boats, Messrs. Orinsbee & Sayres, who kept a ship chandler's store, with a bar in the rear. Over on the west side, Childs & Davis, like Benjamin Appleton, were builders and letters of boats-row- boats as well as sailboats. Parties would chip in and hire one of the large sailboats for a number of days, and go down the bay, sailing and fishing. They would take a small rowboat in tow for the purpose of going ashore to dig clams, &e. To-day this is all changed. Last season (1904) I learned that there was only one sailboat in Providence to let. In those days there were no steamboats running to the shore places along the bay ; it was all sailboat. The Clam House was anchored off the shore,
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just above Field's Point. This was a favorite resort, especially on a Sunday. Jerry Angell, with his boat, and Mr. Ormsbee with his, were the two large boats. Then there were numerous small boats, some hired by private parties, others competing with the large boats for passengers. "All aboard for the Clam House !" was then a familiar cry. Across the bay from the Clam House was the Lionshore, or Crosses, where some went. But in those days the Clam House was the favorite. At first the Clam House was on an ordinary scow ; but somewhere about 1854 or '55 Mr. Salisbury bought the old flat bottom steamer Merrimack. This steamer formerly ran on the Merrimack River. She made a fine clam house, and was in use up to the last. The Clam House is no more ; the sailboats that were to let are no more; but the private yachts have greatly increased. All interested in yacht- ing now own their own boats, and they are of all sizes and kinds- from the little cat to the ocean steamer-steamers and sailing vessels of all kinds.
In those days of the fifties there was considerable interest in boat racing. Benjamin Appleton was the finest boat builder of his day. His boats won the prizes. The Old Witch won more prizes than any other boat on the bay. She was about fifteen feet long, clinker build, painted in stripes of various colors- green, red and white. Later Mr. Appleton built the Nonantum, the Lurlene, the Owl, and Ole Bull. The last large boat he built was the Oneco, but she was never known by her name, as she was painted light blue. She was always spoken of as "the blue boat." The Squantum Club was started in the Appleton boats. Every year the men who founded Squantum would come at times during the summer and hire one of his boats-sometimes the Owl, sometimes the larger boats, then Lurlene or the Nonan- tum. Mr. Frank Mauran was always the captain on these occa- sions. It was he who hired the boat and attended to the things essential for the comfort of the men during the day. Prominent among them was Captain Cady. While Mr. Frank Mauran was so prominent on these occasions, it seems that he did not become a member of the celebrated club which he was so active in bring- ing about. It would seem that the Squantum Club should honor Mr. Frank Mauran, and have his picture hung in the rooms of the club. All sorts of stories have been told about these old Squantum gentlemen, some implying that they were a drunken
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crowd. I often saw them coming home of an evening. They were sober, and when the wind had died out they took turns in rowing the boat-using the " white ash breeze." So much for the story. They were a sober lot of gentlemen.
The first boats that Mr. Appleton built were keel, but not like the old-fashioned keel boats, such as the Swallow and Lucy Long. Their bottom was the same as the center-board boat. The keel was like a huge fin. About 1853 or '54 Mr. Appleton began to build center-board boats. Then he altered his keel boats into center-boarders. The Witch, Senator, Skinner and Owl were of this class.
In those early days all the oysters were collected by small rowboats. Old Mr. Smith could have been seen every morning, quietly sculling his boat down the river, and towards evening he would scull back, going down to " Longbed," just below Field's Point. In those days Stargot Island was not so much of a place. There were a few trees, a rude wharf and a small building. The name of this island is said to be a corruption of the words starve goat ; that is, the island was so poor that it would not even keep a goat ; he would starve there. Starve goat became "Stargot."
Prior to the war, and for some years after, there were no steamers, as now, carrying freight. All the freightage was by sailing vessels. In the fifties Providence gradually became a great coal port ; at times the river would be full of schooners. Then gradually the schooners became larger. One of 250 tons came. It was a curiosity ; many went to see it, and it was town talk. That was before the time of the three-master. A 250-ton schooner was considered immense ; to-day it would be small. Now they have three, four, five, and even seven masters, carry- ing thousands of tons. The coal market of Providence has grown, but there are comparatively few sailing vessels in the business, and every year they get less and less, the transporting of coal now being mostly by- barges that are towed around Point Judith from New York. Even in New York city the barge has so en- croached upon the sailing vessel that few such vessels are to be seen. The steamer and the barge have driven the sailing vessel out of business.
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