USA > Rhode Island > Kent County > Warwick > The history of Warwick, Rhode Island, from its settlement in 1642 to the present time; including accounts of the early settlement and development of its several villages; sketches of the origin and progress of the different churches of the town, &c., &c > Part 1
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Gc 974.502 W26f 1142555
M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01067 6705
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COCOSEL CHIRI STOPTIFT. CELLEN
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THE
HISTORY OF WARWICK,
RHODE ISLAND,
FROM ITS
SETTLEMENT IN 1642 TO THE PRESENT TIME;
INCLUDING ACCOUNTS OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOP- MENT OF ITS SEVERAL ' VILLAGES; SKETCHES OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE DIFFERENT CHURCHES OF THE TOWN, &c., &c.
BY
OLIVER PAYSON FULLER, B. A.
" Colligite fragmenta ut non quid pereat.
.
PROVIDENCE : ANGELL, BURLINGAME & CO., PRINTERS. 1875.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1875, by O. P. FULLER, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
1142555
PREFACE.
The present work was commenced as a means of relaxation from professional labors, with simply the intention of furnish - ing a series of historical sketches for a country newspaper. I had only pursued my inquiries for a brief season when I found the field so rich in interesting and important historical matter, that I was led to believe that even a poor reaper might gather a considerable harvest. It was a matter of surprise that one of the constituent towns of the colony of Rhode Island, and one that throughout its history has exerted so important an influ- ence upon its prosperity, and produced so many men of talent and influence, should not have found among them some one to perform this work many years ago. It was not, however, until a large portion of the material of this volume had accumulated upon my hands that I concluded to publish it in its present form.
The amount of biographical and genealogical matter that I have allowed to come in, may be regarded by some as excessive for such a work, and the separate accounts of the villages, instead of incorporating them into the general history of the town, may be open to criticism. I preferred this arrangement, as I conceived it would give me a better opportunity to intro- duce many items of a semi-historical and traditional character with which the several villages abound. It would have been an easy task to have filled a much larger volume than the present with the published documents relating to the town, with which the Colonial Records and other works abound, but I preferred to leave that which is already well preserved, and secure a portion of that which, from the nature of the case, was liable to be lost.
-
iv
PREFACE.
Special assistance in the preparation of this volume has been derived from the very able and comprehensive "History of Rhode Island," by Lieut. Gov. Samuel G. Arnold, from whose careful statements I have never seen cause to differ; and also from the works of Judge Staples, the valuable biographical notes connected with his Gorton's "Simplicitie's Defence " being found of special use. In the preparation of the local accounts, my acknowledgments are due to Mrs. Joseph Bos- worth, of Providence, for placing in my hands " Letters from the Pawtuxet," prepared by her brother, the late Hon. Henry Rousmaniere, also to Ex-Lieut. Gov. Wm. Greene, Hon. Wm. B. Spencer, of Phenix, Deacon Pardon Spencer, of Crompton, Hon. Simon Henry Greene, of Clyde, Mr. and Mrs John W. Greene, of Old Warwick, and others.
Should the present work awaken an interest in the history of the town, and lead some abler pen to do well what is here done so imperfectly, I should have no reason to be dissatisfied.
Centreville, October, 1875.
O. P. F.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Page. Condition of the country previous to 1642. Its aboriginal
inhabitants. .
1
CHAPTER II.
From the first settlement in 1642 to the granting of the Town charter, March 14, 1648 8
CHAPTER III.
From the granting of the Town charter in 1648 to the adoption of the Royal charter by the R. I. Colony in November, 1663. 34
CHAPTER IV.
From the year 1663 .to the close of Philip's war ... 60
CHAPTER V.
From the close of Philip's war to the Declaration of Ameri- can Independence, July 4, 1776 81
CHAPTER VI.
From the breaking out of the Revolutionary war to the year 1800 .. 106
vi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
Page.
From the year 1800 to the present time .. . 125
SKETCHES OF THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SEVERAL VILLAGES OF THE TOWN.
Old Warwick, or eastern part of the town. 137
Apponaug and Cowesett Shore. 150
Crompton 162
Centreville 179
Arctic. 202
Phenix. 206
Lippitt Village 225
Clyde Works 233
River Point 235
Natick. 245
Pontiac
259
Hill's Grove.
268
A COMPLETE LIST OF WARWICK SOLDIERS IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.
APPENDIX.
HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS OF THE SEVERAL CHURCHES OF WARWICK.
ERRATA.
On 126th page, 11th line from top, for "father" read-brother. On 146th page, 8th line from bottom, for "'cove" read-cave. On 152d page, 8th line from bottom, for "north" read-east. On 165th page, 4th line from bottom, for "16)?" read-1697, On 183d page, 21st line from top, for "Pawcatuck" read-Pawtuxet. On 185th page, 9th line from top, for "six" read-four. On 185th page, 14th line from top. for "four" read-six. On 192d page, 6th line from bottom, for "1812" read-1822. On 196th page, 5th line from top, for Allen Waterhouse, read-Allen & Waterhouse.
vi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
From the year 1800 to the present time .. .
Page. 125
SKETCHES OF THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SEVERAL VILLAGES OF THE TOWN.
Old Warwick, or castern part of the town. 137
Apponaug and Cowesett Shore 150
Crompton 162
Centreville 179
Arctic.
202
Phâniv
HISTORY OF WARWICK.
THE HISTORY OF WARWICK, R. I.
CHAPTER I.
Condition of the Country previous to 1642. Its Aboriginal Inhabitants.
BEFORE referring to the settlement of Samuel Gorton, Randall Holden, John Greene and their associates, which resulted in the present flourishing town, let us glance at the previous condition of the country, and its aboriginal inhabitants.
The first permanent settler in the State of Rhode Island was William Blackstone, who, in 1634, left Bos- ton, where he possessed a large landed estate, and took up his solitary abode at Study Hill, in the present town of Cumberland. About two years later, Roger Williams with five companions, crossed the Seekonk river, and began the settlement of Providence. In 1638 William Coddington and a few others, found a home on the Island of Aquidneck, and at about the same time a few fami- lies might have been found at Pawtuxet. The causes that led to these several settlements will appear in the course of this narrative.
With the above exceptions, the territory included within the present boundaries of the State of Rhode Island, was the abode only of the red man. Here he roamed unfettered and undisturbed. His wigwams dotted the hill tops and valleys in every direction. The forests, which abounded with game, resounded with the excite- ments of the chase. Over the waters of the Narragan-
.
2
HISTORY OF WARWICK.
[1642.
sett in his canoe, or bounding along its beach, he moved as free as the fox or the deer in the forests. He had never doubted his right to the soil, which had been trans- mitted to him by unnumbered generations, as each in turn had gone to the " new hunting grounds." And when in the course of time a few distressed white men came and begged a little of his ample domain, and he had given them, or sold at a nominal price, its fairest por- tions, it was beyond the limit of his fear, that he or his descendants, would ever live to see them become his masters and succeed him in the possession of his terri- tory. Such, however, was destined to be the case, even before the pappooses then swinging in their hammocks should arrive at the age of their venerable chief Canoni- cus.
The three principal tribes inhabiting southern New England at the time of the settlement of this town, were the Pokanokets of southeastern Massachusetts, which in- cluded among its subordinate tribes the Wampanoags, who inhabited the eastern shore of Providence river, and around Mount Hope Bay ; the Narragansetts who with its tributary tribes, possessed nearly the whole of the present State of Rhode Island, and the Pequots, who with the Mohegans, with whom they became blended, occupied Connecticut. Among the tributaries of the Narragan- setts were the Shawomet or Warwick tribe and the Paw- tuxet. In the early records Pomham or Pumham and Sacononoco are named as two sachems, near Providence, " having under them two or three hundred men." The former was sachem of Shawomet, and the latter of Paw- tuxet. The Cowesets "occupied the easterly part of Kent County." These three tributary tribes seem to have been the occupants of the territory inclosed within the present limits of the town, with the exception of that portion known as Potowomut, which was held by Tac- comanan, a sachem residing in that region. They also formed a part of the great Narragansett nation, whose chief sachems were the noble and peace loving Canoni- cus and his generous but ill-fated nephew Miantonomi.
3
ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.
1642.]
It is difficult from the varying accounts to determine with much accuracy the number of the Narragansetts. Brinley, in the Massachusetts collection, states it at 30,000, while Callender, perhaps at a later date, says on the au- thority of Roger Williams, that they could raise 5,000 fighting men. Williams said " one would meet a dozen of their towns in the course of twenty miles travel." The ravages of disease and the defection of their tribu- taries even before their sanguinary war in 1676, greatly reduced their strength, which may account for the differ- ence in the statements.
Williams bears generous testimony to the hospitality and general integrity of the natives, and after a residence of some years among them, during which time he had ample opportunities to study their habits, expressed the following opinion of them, in his KEY to their language : " I could never discern that excess of scandalous sins among them which Europe aboundeth with. Drunken- ness ind gluttony, generally, they know not what sins they be, and although they have not so much to restrain them (both in respect of knowledge of God and laws of men) as the English have, yet a man shall never hear of such crimes amongst them as robberies, murders, adul- teries, &c." Williams, however, modified his statements concerning them subsequently, and gives a less favorable view of their character and habits. Perhaps in coming in contact with their new neighbors their character and habits were themselves modified, and made necessary a corresponding change in the estimation of Williams. Intemperance, especially, was a vice of which they had been happily ignorant, and which, in common with their new associates, they found it difficult to resist. Gookin, as late as 1774, after referring to the difficulty of con- verting them to the gospel, says : "But let me add this, by way of commendation of the Narragansett and War- wick Indians who inhabit in this jurisdiction, that they are an active, laborious and ingenious people."
In regard to their religious belief, several writers, and especially Roger Williams, give us considerable informa-
1
HISTORY OF WARWICK.
[1642.
tion. They evidently held to a plurality of gods, chief of whom were Cowtantowit, who was their good deity, and dwelt in the balmy regions of the Southwest, and Hobbamocko, whom they regarded as an evil spirit, but rendered him a certain kind of homage, to keep his fa- vor .* Beside these there appear to have been other deities, of minor consideration, of whom Williams ob- tained the names of thirty-seven. They held the tradi- tion that Cowtantowit in the beginning made one man and one woman, of stone, but afterwards becoming dis- satisfied with them he broke them in pieces, and made another couple of wood, from whom have sprung all the races of men. There is here a faint suggestion of the Mosaic account, with its original creation of one pair and the subsequent partial destruction of the race at the deluge.
Their system of religion included the great doctrine of the soul's immortality, which they affirmed they received by tradition from their fathers. Their supreme deity, Cowtantowit, presided over their destinies, gave them fruitful fields, success in war, and at death received them to his happy abode, if they were good. Williams says, " they believe that the souls of men and women go to the southwest: their great and good men and women to Cowtantowit's house, where they have hopes, as the Turks have, of carnal joys. Murderers, thieves, and liars, their souls, say they, 'wander restless abroad.'" They held annually a feast of thanksgiving for the fruits of harvest, and also after a successful hunt, or at the conclusion of peace with their enemies. At such times they were accustomed to kindle large fires in the fields, about which they sang and danced in the most violent manner, the pawwaws or priests directing the services. Frequently on such occasions valuable articles were thrown into the fire, as if in sacrifice.
While the voice of the sachem was the law of the tribe and the lives and interests of his subjects were at
* No Indian shall at any time be suffered to powaw or perform out- ward worship to the devil in any town in this government .- [Ancient laws of New York, called the " Duke's laws."
5
RELIGION OF THE INDIANS.
1642.]
his disposal, he was accustomed in all matters of impor- tance to confer with his counsellors, who were termed the Paniese. These were selected from among the wisest and bravest of the tribe, and were usually men of com- manding presence. They were not only his council of state but also the immediate guard of his person. Their chiefs were termed sachems or sagamores. The govern- ment at the time of the first settlement was made in this town, was divided between Canonicus, who was an aged man, and his nephew, Miantonomi, between whom there was perfect harmony. Williams says, " their agreement in the government is remarkable."
The revenues of the sachems consisted of the contri- butions of his subjects, which appear to have been chiefly voluntary. As their generosity would tend to secure his favor, he was usually well supplied. Beside " whatever was stranded on the coast, all wrecks and whales found floating on the sea and taken, were his." *
The Narragansetts were the principal manufacturers of the established currency of the country, which was called wampumpeage, or abbreviated to wampum or peage. There were two kinds, the white and the dark, the lat- ter being of double the value of the former. It was made from the shells abounding along the shore, the white from the periwinkle, and the dark from the poqua- hock, or quahaug. The dark part or eye of the shell was cut out, ground smoothly and polished, and often strung and worn about the person. In 1649 the value of the black was equal to one-fourth of an English pen- ny ; the white one-eighth. Gov. Arnold says, "this currency was used by the Indians for six hundred miles in the interior, in trading among themselves, and also with the English, French and Dutch, who made it legal tender. Its manufacture was not restricted. A string of three hundred and sixty pieces made a fathom, and in the large payments it was reckoned by the fathom.
From the large deposits of shell dust along the Nau- sauket shore, reaching from Apponaug to Warwick Cove,
* Magnalia, Book IV., p. 51.
-
6
HISTORY OF WARWICK.
[1642.
as well as from the rich deposits of these shell fish in the vicinity, it is probable that a large and lucrative busi- ness was carried on in this vicinity in this manufacture.
The Indian languages are said to have been rich and varied in their vocabularies, enabling the natives to ex- press themselves with accuracy and force. The Narra- gansett, which was spoken with some idiomatic variations in the different tribes over a large extent of country, was a variation of the Delaware. About the only remnants of it remaining are to be found in Roger Williams' Key, the missionary Elliott's Bible,* and Cotton's Vocabulary. +
The Indians decreased rapidly from the war of 1676, at which time, according to Hubbard, they had about 2,000 fighting men. In 1766 they were reduced to 315 persons, residing on their reserved lands in Charlestown. In 1832 they remained the same in number, but only seven of them were of pure Indian blood. In 1861 their number was found to be reduced to two of three-fourths blood, ten of half blood, and sixty-eight of less than quarter blood .¿ Thus in less than two centuries from the time that Roger Williams was greeted by the red man, with " What Cheer, Netop ! " as he crossed Seekonk river, to find a home in this wilderness, the brave and hardy natives had nearly all passed away.
With the exception of a few names of places or bodies of water, (which will appear in subsequent pages), and an arrow head or other implement, occasionally found, about all the mementos of this once numerous race
* While Elliott, the Indian missionary, was engaged in translating the Bible into the Indian language he came to the following passage in Judges, v. 28: "The mother of Sisera looked out at the window and cried through the lattice," etc. Not knowing an Indian word to sig- nify lattice, he applied to several of the natives, and endeavored to de- scribe to them what a lattice resembled. He described it as a frame work, netting, wicker, or whatever occurred to him as illustrative, when they gave him a long, barbarous and unpronouncable word, as are most of their words Some years after when he had learned their dialect more correctly, he is said to have laughed outright upon find- ing that the Indians had given him the true term for eel-pot. . He had translated the passage, "the mother of Sisera looked out of the win- dow and cried through the eel-pot."-[ Bigelow's History of Natick, Ms. t Arnold, vol. 1.
# Dr. Usher Parson's Account.
7
RAPID DECREASE OF THE NATIVES.
1642.]
have disappeared from the town. Their places of burial are unmarked, and the sites of their villages unknown. Occasionally their bones are exhumed but not frequently. Last fall, while a Mr Briggs, who lives on the Coweset road, a couple of miles east of the village of Crompton, was digging a cellar on a dry sandy knoll, he found the bones of two persons that were evidently of this race. Those of one of the persons when laid in their natural position, measured six feet and four or five inches. The others belonged to a smaller individual. The high cheek bones, the absence of all signs of a coffin, and the position of the bodies, indicated their race. Mr. Brigg's grand- father built the house which stands a few rods from the spot where the bones were found, some seventy or eighty years ago and the spot had often been plowed over with- out knowing of their presence.
Among the few natural curiosities relative to the In- dians, may be mentioned several " Drum Rocks," one of which is situated about half a mile south of the residence of Gen. Alphonso Greene, and not far from Walla Willa pond, in the southeast corner of what is familiarly known as drum rock pasture. The rock is about eight feet long by three wide, weighing several tons, and so poised on another that a person of ordinary weight standing on one end of it will cause it to come down upon the under one with a considerable sound ; passing along the rock to the other end will produce a similar effect. Appleton's Gaz- etteer says, "the sound produced may be heard at the distance of twelve miles." A rare state of the atmos- phere and rare qualities of hearing we should deem neces- sary to meet this statement. A couple of miles west of this rock and near the residence of Mr. John Foster is another of much larger size, that is so poised upon one beneath it that a person of ordinary strength may move it. It is evidently out of position for " drumming " pur- poses, having probably slipped a few inches from its foun- dation. These rocks were probably used by the Indians to give alarm in time of danger and to call the people together at their pawwaw gatherings.
8
HISTORY OF WARWICK.
[1642-48.
CHAPTER II.
From the first Settlement, in 1642, to the granting of the Town Charter, March 14, 1648.
THE same general reasons that led Roger Williams to form a settlement at Providence, induced Samuel Gorton and his companions to take up their abode in the wilder- ness at Shawomet. The former found his religious views at variance with those of the standing order in Massa- chusetts, and he was banished out of their jurisdiction. Gorton was also a preacher and founder of a religious sect, and his views, both ecclesiastical and political were not only obnoxious to the colonists of Massachusetts but also in a less degree to those of Providence and Aquid- neck. Both had sought the more hospitable regions among the Indians where they hoped quietly to enjoy that freedom in "religious concernments " which they were denied among their own countrymen.
Samuel Gorton came to this country from London in 1636, and landed in Boston, whence he soon removed to Plymouth. There his religious opinions soon brought him into collision with the authorities, and he was ban- ished from among them .* Morton, in his "New England's
* It is ordered by the Court, that in case any shall bring in any Qua- ker, Rantor, or other notorious heritiques, either by land or water, into any p'te of this government, shall forthwith upon order of any one magistrate, returne them to the place from whence they came, or clear the gov'ment of them, on penaltie of paying a fine of twentie shillings for every week they shall stay in the government after warn- inge .- [Plymouth Col Rec., 1657.
9
1642 -- 48.] SAMUEL GORTON - PERSECUTIONS.
Memorial," giving the side of Gorton's opponents, says he fell "into some dispute with Mr. Ralph Smith, who was an elder of the church there, and was summoned before the court to answer Smith's complaint. He there carried himself so mutinously and seditiously as that he was for the same and for his turbulent carriages toward both magistrates and ministers in the presence of the court, sentenced to find sureties for his good behavior during the time he should stay in that jurisdiction, which was limited to fourteen days and also amerced to pay a considerable fine." Gorton himself, in his " Simplicities' Defence against a Seven Headed church government united in New England," says of his experience in Mas- sachusetts, " plainly perceiving that the scope of their doctrines was bent only to maintain that outward form of worship which they had erected to themselves, tend- ing only to the outward carriage of one man toward another, leaving those principles of divinity wherein we had been instructed in our native country, tending to faith toward God in Christ ; and we finding no ground or warrant for such an order in the church to bind men's consciences unto, as they had established among them- selves, our consciences could not close with them in such practices. Which they perceiving denied us the common benefits of the country, even so much as a place to reside in and plant upon for the maintenance and preservation of ourselves, our wives and little ones, as also proceeded against us as they had done to others, yea with more severity, unto confinements, imprisonments, chains, fines, whippings and banishment, to wander in the wilderness in extremity of winter -- whereupon we were constrained with the hazard of our lives to betake ourselves unto that part of the country called the Narragansett Bay."
He appears to have been warmly received at Aquid- neck, though he soon found himself again in difficulty. He ignored the civil authority established there as not being properly derived. " After the charter was received from the English crown his mind was relieved upon this point." He afterwards removed to Providence, where he
.
10
HISTORY OF WARWICK.
[1642-48.
experienced similar difficulties. Though the utmost relig- ious freedom was a distinguishing characteristic of the colony at Providence from its origin, its civil government lacked due authority in the opinion of Gorton and his associates, which led him to say in reference to that at Aquidneck, that they had " no authoritie legally derived to deal with me, and I thought myselfe as fitt and able to govern myselfe and family as any that were then upon Rhode Island." The result of holding these sentiments was to bring him again into collision with the constituted authorities. Arnold, in his "History of Rhode Island," says that " so great was the contention caused by his presence that Mr. Williams (Roger) seri- ously thought of abandoning his plantation and removing to Patience Island." The contention assumed eventually such serious dimensions that thirteen of the settlers finally petitioned, (Nov. 7, 1641,) Massachusetts for assistance. The petition set forth "the insolent and riotous carriages of Samuel Gorton and his company," among whom are mentioned John Greene, Francis Weston and Randall Holden, who were afterwards among the original purchasers of Warwick. The answer returned was " that they could not levy any war, &c., without a General Court. For counsel we told them." says Winthrop, " that except they did submit themselves to some jurisdiction, either Plymouth or ours, we had no calling or warrant to interpose in their contentions." Gorton and his companions soon after removed to Paw- tuxet, where their conduct led four of the settlers there to put themselves and their estates under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and seeing the complications that were likely to ensue, they purchased Shawomet, " beyond the limits of Providence, where English charter or civilized claim could legally pursue them no longer."
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