USA > Rhode Island > A history of Block Island : from its discovery, in 1514, to the present time, 1876 > Part 19
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
approaching and fording the river at the end of life's journey.
The present officers of the church are, Deacons Richard Steadman, Robert T. Sands, and Samuel P. Dodge; Clerk, Edward Mott, and Mrs. Alma Hayes, wife of John Hayes, Jr., organist.
Order of religious services: Sabbath-school at 10 o'clock A. M .; preaching at 11 A. M .; short discourse and confer- ence-meeting in the evening. Covenant-meetings on the Saturday before the first Sunday of each month, and prayer-meetings Thursday evenings.
In all of the meetings of the church a competent ob- server sees that the emotional element exceeds the intel- lectual, a preponderance far preferable to that of the re- verse. During the sermon the best of attention is given by the congregation, nearly all of whom seem to be hun- gering and thirsting for the bread and water of life, regardless of the baskets and pitchers in which their spir- itual food is presented. Scripture matter, not scholastic manner, is their desideratum. To them a few sailor phrases properly used for communicating the gospel are far more valuable than flowers of rhetoric and syllogisms of logic, and the inimitable force and beauty of their use of such phrases must be heard by appreciating minds in order to be properly understood. "Shipped for the voy- age; " " fair winds for a while; " "shipped to work, not simply as a passenger ;" "the old ship has never foun- dered;" "to have good sailing, we must launch out into deep waters;" " when troubles would sink me, religion buoys me up; " "I have sailed most happily while on my watch, keeping the star, King Jesus, in view;" "my course is laid for the heavenly harbor; " "the Bible is my chart and compass; " "in storms and fogs I have sailed safely, while following the chart; " " I expected storms as well as fair weather when I went aboard for the voyage; "
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FREE-WILL BAPTIST CHURCH.
"the old ship has never lost a true sailor overboard; " "poor steerage;" "going astern;" "in too shallow water; " "out of the course; " " sailing by false lights; " " meeting head-winds and back-flaws; " " slept off prayer, and was grounded-am on a new tack headed off shore for deep water;" "I saw the rocks and breakers ahead, and went about; " "our ship has a safe Captain; " "the dying brother was aked-how about that anchor ? He answered-she holds!"-these are some of the phrases which are frequently heard in the covenant and con- ference meetings, and none can appreciate their force unless they are familiar with sailing. Occasionally a few are so happily combined, and filled with such ardent and sacred emotion as to make some of the refined and pet terms seem very tame. Such an utterance enforced by a corresponding character of its author, and this utterance instantly followed by a hearty Amen from the audience, have often produced more apparent good than an entire discourse of cold and dry speculations, or of word paint- ings.
This church insists upon having unwritten sermons. The present pastor, once questioned by a member as to the extent of the notes which he used in the pulpit, satis- isfied the inquirer by saying, "my notes are about like your lobster buoys."
FREE-WILL BAPTIST CHURCH.
We are not able to give the precise date of the origin, or organization of this church. According to McClintoc's Cyclopædia there were no Free-Will Baptist churches in North America previous to 1780. A disinterested writer who gave an account of the churches of the Island in 1860, did not mention the date of the organization of this church, although he had free access to its records,
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
and speaks of them as the "records in the hands of Mr. Allen, which I perused with care."
Rev. Enoch Rose, the principal originator of this church, was a member of the First Baptist church of New Shore- ham until February, 1818. Not long after that date the Free-Will Baptist church originated, previous to which there had been but one church on the Island. Mr. Rose became the first pastor of the new church, and continued such until the year 1835.
Rev. Elijah R. Rose, was the second Free-Will pastor, and was ordained April 3, 1835, and continued his pas- torate about ten years, during which the church joined the Rhode Island association of Free Baptist churches.
Rev. Ezekiel R. Littlefield, the third pastor, was ordained June 17, 1845, and continued as such only a few years.
Rev. Jacob Harvey, the fourth pastor, was ordained in June, 1849, and closed his pastorate in 1852. For some time thereafter the church was supplied by Rev. Wm. Taplin. For several years, previous to 1874, it was in a declining condition, weakened by division and want of a pastor. In 1860, Mr. Potter wrote: "I am informed that the attendance of the Free-Will Baptists on Sundays is small, and that the church has very much declined from its former prosperity."
Rev. George Wheeler, of Providence, was called to the pastorate of this church, Oct. 25, 1874. Its members then were fifty-four. His labors were blessed, in the winter of 1875-6, with a precious revival, in which he baptized forty-two. The church now numbers one hun- dred and twenty-four, and is in a peaceful, prosperous condition. Its house has been repaired, and refurnished, and its Sabbath-school is full of life and progress. Noth- ing is clearer than the good evidence that this church was fortunate in obtaining the services of its present pas-
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SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS.
tor. Its first house of worship was built in 1853, and burned in 1863.
SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS.
Seventh-Day Advent Baptists, on Block Island, were self- organized into a worshiping body in April, 1864. Al- though not generally known as a church, having had no house of worship, there are devoted Christians among the few now remaining. There were about twenty-six of them in 1874.
23
THE INHABITANTS.
It is a difficult and delicate task to describe an individ- ual, and much more so to give an accurate representation of a community. A gentleman once remarked, “ Island- ers are always peculiar." It was much easier for him to say this than to point out their peculiarities. For as Islands differ from each other in products, climate, and employment, so do their inhabitants. Their present char- acters are also modified by the original stock from which they have descended.
The Block Islanders are almost wholly descendants from genuine, primitive New Englanders. No other part of the United States, probably, has so light a sprink- ling of foreign elements as has Block Island. Here, in a population of 1,147, one Portugee, one Irishman, one Swede, and a few English, nine in all, constitute the for- eigners. 1,138 American born, out of 1,147. Of this number 1,032 were born on Block Island.
Physically, the men are uncommonly vigorous. With their industrious habits, healthy air, freedom from the anxieties of speculation, excessive strife for display, and the fears of want while fish traverse the ocean, they can hardly be otherwise than healthy, and of long life. By deducting from the population three-fifths as children we have left about six hundred and ninety adults. Sixty-one of these are between the ages of 60 and 70; thirty-six · between 70 and 80; thirteen between 80 and 90; and of the six hundred and ninety adults, one hundred and ten cre over sixty years old, or nearly one-sixth of the adults
.
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THE INHABITANTS.
are of this age; and ninety-seven out of a hundred of the whole population are American born. The good health and vigor of the men are the result of good living as well as of a good climate. No tables are furnished with a healthier diet. If salt pork has been more common than in other places, an abundance of fresh fish has greatly prevented its evil consequences.
Intellectually, the men of Block Island are in advance of country towns on the main. Their frequent visits to ports along the coast from Portland to New York, and the longer voyages that some have taken to foreign coun- tries, have given them a good practical knowledge of men and things which makes them persons of better judgments than many who are more extensive readers, and more highly refined. They know how to drive a good bargain as well as to steer a vessel, and they have the excellent faculty of keeping what they have gained, and of living within their means. A more independent community can hardly be found. Their courage, how- ever, is mainly exhibited in battling with the sea, which requires all that can be cultivated. One writer has said of them: "They are a clanish race; think themselves as good as any others (in which they are quite right); their ambition is to obtain a good plain support from their own exertions, in which they are successful to a man; they are simple in their habits, and therefore command respect ; they are honest, and neither need, nor support any jails; they are naturally intelligent." The Island has never had a lawyer for a citizen.
The women of Block Island, like mother Eve, seem to be made from the ribs of their husbands. The wives are true, genuine "help-meets," in every sense of the word. With no thoughts of menial inferiority, but with a con- sciousness of their legitimate sphere of cooperation, they respect themselves and "reverence their husbands." Not
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
one of them evinces the notion that she was made to be an idler or to busy herself in devising ways and means to spend the earnings of others. They are vigorous, indus- trious, virtuous, dignified, and genial. They are tidy, but not gaudy; frank, but never simpering; if lacking in refined education, this is compensated for by a large supply of common sense and native genius. There has never been a milliner's shop, nor a dress-maker's, nor a tailor's on the Island, and although there are ladies here able to keep three servants, these ladies can do their own cooking and chamber-work, their own dress-making, and keep their children well clothed by their own personal efforts. Neither do they seem to feel any more degraded by doing this than did Eve whose husband owned the whole world. Another has well said of them: "The women are healthy with bright eyes and clear complex- ions, virtuous and true, and as yet without the pale of the blandishments and corruptions of fashion." It is refresh- ing to find the women of an entire community so happy in the enjoyment of true independence, and in coming so near to filling the pattern: "In her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her house- hold, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her." A newspaper correspondent, who seems to be a very competent judge, says: " The women are gene- rally good-looking, with here and there a beauty." What more can be said of the women of any locality? The greatest numbers of the Island "beauties," are described in the saying:
"Pretty is that pretty does."
CAPTAIN JAMES SANDS.
The Sands family is traceable back into English history seven or eight centuries, and at various times some of that
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CAPTAIN JAMES SANDS.
name acted conspicuous parts in national affairs, especi- ally in the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Sir William Sands, at that time, had much to do in securing the downfall of Cardinal Wolsey, and in sustaining charges against Pope Clement the VII. The American family of this name probably sprang from that of a Mr. James Sands of Staffordshire, England, who died in 1670, aged 140 years, and his wife lived to the age of 120. Forty-eight years previous to his death the subject of this sketch, Capt. James Sands, was born in Reading, Eng- land, and his father, Henry Sands, the first of the name in New England, was admitted freeman of Boston in the year 1640, thirty years before the death of the elder James Sands. Thus we may infer, if not demonstrate. the line of relationship between the English and Ameri- can families of Sands.
Capt. James Sands, born in 1622, was a young man at the time the noted Ann Hutchinson made so much dis- turbance among the good people of Massachusetts, who banished her from the colony on account of Antinomian preaching. She went to East Chester, N. Y., there settled, and employed Mr. Sands to build her a house, the follow- ing account of which is given by the Rev. Samuel Niles, who was the grandson of Mr. Sands.
" In order to pursue her purpose she agreed with Cap- tain James Sands, then a young man, to build her a house, and he took a partner with him in the business. When they had near spent their provisions, he sent his partner for more which was to be fetched at a consider- able distance. While his partner was gone there came a company of Indians to the frame where he was at work, and made a great shout, and sat down. After some time they gathered up his tools, put his broad-ax on his shoulder, and his other tools into his hands, and made signs to him to go away. But he seemed to take no 23*
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
notice of them, but continued in his work. At length one of them said, Ye-hah Mumuneketock, the English of which is, 'Come, let us go,' and they all went away to the water-side for clams or oysters. [They were near the Hudson river.] After some time they came back, and found him still at work as before. They again gathered up his tools, put them into his hands as before they had done, with the like signs moving him to go away. He still seemed to take no notice of them, but kept on his business, and when they had stayed some time, they said as before, Ye-hah Mumuneketock. Accordingly they all went away, and left him there at his work-a remarkable instance of the restraining power of God on the hearts of these furious and merciless infidels, who otherwise would doubtless in their rage have split out his brains with his own ax. However, the Indians being gone, he gathered up his tools and drew off, and in his way met his partner bringing provisions, to whom he declared the narrow escape he had made for his life. Resolving not to return, and run a further risk of the like kind, they both went from the business." Mrs. Hutchinson hired others to finish her house. Soon after she with her whole family, sixteen in all, was murdered by the Indians.
It was in 1658 that Mr. Sands with his wife came from England and landed at Plymouth, and soon after this he undertook the building of the house for Mrs. Hutchinson.
A short time after his return from that undertaking to Massachusetts, he became identified with the enterprise of settling Block Island, three years after his arrival from England. In what year he came to the Island we are not certain, for his name does not appear among the sixteen who came here in April, 1661, nor is it in the list of those who met August 17, 1660, at the house of Dr. John Alcock of Roxbury to buy the Island; and yet, in the memorandum of the survey, his name is mentioned, and
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CAPTAIN JAMES SANDS.
also the numbers of the lots that constituted his sixteenth part of the Island. This is sufficient to identify him with the first purchasers and settlers thereof. His lots were numbered 12, and 14, and 15, the latter two owned by him and John Glover. He came from Taunton to the Island, and was soon distinguished as a prominent citizen.
In March, 1664, the General Assembly of Rhode Island notified the inhabitants of Block Island that they were under the care of the Rhode Island government, and at the same time informed James Sands, then a freeman of Rhode Island, to come "in to the Governor or deputy. Governor, to take his engagement as Constable or Conser- vator of the peace there."
In May, 1664, Mr. Sands with Mr. Joseph Kent, pre- sented to the General Assembly of Rhode Island, a petition in behalf of the Islanders that Joseph Kent, Thomas Terry, Peter George, Simon Ray, William Harris, Samuel Dearing, John Rathbone, John Davies, Samuel Staples, Hugh Williams, Robert Guthrig, William Tosh, Tollman Rose, William Carboone, Tristrome Dodge, John Clark, and William Barker might be admitted as freemen of the Colony of Rhode Island. The Assembly referred the petition to a committee consisting of Roger Williams, Thomas Olney, and Joseph Torrey, who reported favor- ably upon all the above names except Hugh Williams, against whom was a rumor of his having said some words reproachful of the colony. After further examination as to his loyalty, however, he was admitted freeman. Mr. Sands had been previously admitted, and he is probably the James Sands mentioned as a freeman in 1655, and as a representative of the General Court of Commissioners, held at Newport, May the 19th, 1657. (Col. Rec., I, p. 300, 355.) Capt. James Sands, with Thomas Terry, was the first representative from Block Island to sit in the Gene- ral Court of Commissioners of Rhode Island, admitted
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
such in 1665. In 1672, he was foremost in presenting the petition to have the Island incorporated under the name of New Shoreham, and the General Assembly granted the request, but in so doing preserved the old name Block Island, the chartered name being "New Shoreham, otherwise Block Island."
He understood the carpenter's trade, as is evident from what has been said of his undertaking to build a house for Ann Hutchinson. This knowledge helped him in erecting his own house on Block Island. He located it a few feet east of the house now occupied by Mr. Almanzo Littlefield, close to the mill and bridge on the road from the Harbor to the Center, or Baptist church. He built it of stone, and Rev. Samuel Niles, his grandson, frequently speaks of it in his history of the Indian and French Wars. Our evidence of its location is circumstantial, but conclusive.
There is not an individual on the Island, besides the writer, probably, who can say with any degree of certainty where the "garrisoned " house stood.
Mr. Sands was brave, humane, and a devoted Christian as well as an enterprising citizen. There was difference of opinion between him and his grandson, Mr. Niles, to preclude the suspicion that might arise in the minds of some that the latter overpraised the former. Moreover, the latter wrote at too advanced an age to be prejudiced, or biased from the truth by personal considerations. Mr. Sands' courage is seen in the following extract concerning the Indians here and the few settlers: "The English, fearing what might be their [the Indians'] design, as they were drinking, dancing, and reveling after their usual customs at such times, went to parley with them, and to know what their intentions were. James Sands, who was the leading man among them, entered into a wigwam where he saw a very fine brass gun standing, and
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CAPTAIN JAMES SANDS.
an Indian fellow lying on a bench in the wigwam, proba- bly to guard and keep it. Mr. Sands' curiosity led him to take and view it, as it made a curious and uncommon appearance. Upon which the Indian fellow rises up has- tily and snatches the gun out of his hand, and withal gave him such a violent thrust with the butt end of it as occasioned him to stagger backward. But feeling some. thing under his feet, he espied it to be a hoe, which he took up and improved, and with it fell upon the Indian."
In another connection Mr. Niles says of him: "He was a benefactor to the poor; for as his house was garrisoned, in the time of their fears of the Indians, many poor peo- ple resorted to it, and were supported mostly from his liberality. He also was a promoter of religion in his benefactions to the minister they had there in his day, though not altogether so agreeable to him as might be desired, as being inclined to the Anabaptist persuasion. He devoted his house for the worship of God, where it was attended every Lord's day or Sabbath."
"Anabaptist" was then a term used to designate such as are now called Baptists, and Mr. Sands' powerful influ- ence did much to establish Baptist sentiments on the Island.
That he was an enterprising citizen is evident from the simple statement: " Mr. Sands had a plentiful estate, and gave free entertainment to all gentlemen that came to the Island." To this it is added: " When his house was gar- risoned it became a hospital, for several poor people re- sorted thither."
Such are the facts that furnish the outlines of one of the noblest characters of New England. An intimate friend of Roger Williams, the first freeman on the Island, the first representative from it in the Rhode Island As- sembly, the one who procured the citizenships to the Islanders as freemen and presented to the State the peti-
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
tion for the chartered rights of a township; making his house the hospitable home of visitors from abroad, the garrison, and the place of worship for the Islanders, and a hospital for the poor and suffering. "He died in the 72d year of his age," (Niles) and instead of the humble slab, from which the letters and figures are so worn by time, in the Block Island cemetery, lying over his grave, there should be erected a monument more expressive of his great excellences. His simple epitaph reads:
HRE LYES INTVRRED THE BODY OF MR JAMES SANDS SENIOVR ADED 73 YEARS WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE MARCH 13 A. D. 1695.
He represented Block Island in the Rhode Island Gen- eral Assembly in the years 1678, 1680, and 1690. His descendants are very numerous, and some of them distin- guished. Three of his four sons, during the French privateering on the Island removed to Cow Neck, now Sands Point, on Long Island. At the same time they retained their farms and cattle on Block Island, to which they annually returned in the summer. Their kinsman and intimate acquaintance, Rev. Samuel Niles, says of them: "Captain John Sands, Mr. James, and Samuel Sands, each of them leaving a farm at Block Island, which they stocked with sheep, were wont to come once a year at their shearing-time on the Island, to carry off their wool and what fat sheep there were at that time and market at New York." One of them, it seems, re- turned to remain permanently after the French had ceased their depredations, and of him we give the following items.
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HIS DESCENDANTS.
HIS DESCENDANTS. CAPT. JOHN SANDS.
Mr. Niles describes him as "a gentleman of great port and superior powers," as the eldest son, and successor of his father, the original settler of Block Island. He was admitted freeman here in 1709, and in the years 1713 and 1714 was representative of the Island in the Rhode Island General Assembly. His brothers, James and Sam- uel, removed to Cow Neck, now Sands Point, Long Island, and there remained permanently, while the youngest of the four brothers continued with his father on Block Island. His name was EDWARD, was born in 1672, ad- mitted freeman in 1696, died in 1715, aged forty-three years. He probably left a child bearing his name, for another
EDWARD SANDS
Came upon the stage of public life in 1734, being then admitted freeman from Block Island. He was its repre- sentative in the General Assembly from the year 1740 to the year 1760. In the meantime he had a son born who was named
EDWARD SANDS, JR.
Of him we have a brief record in a ponderous old tome now in the possession of Mr. Simon Ray Sands of Block Island. It is an immense quarto, heavily bound in boards, richly ornamented with heavy corner pieces and clasps of brass, printed in 1715, the year the senior Edward died, and by him was presented to the younger Edward. Its title is "The Book of Common Prayer, and Psalter." It is carefully kept as a precious heir-loom, and has been visited by persons of distinction in latter years. In it is the following record of the subject of this sketch: " Ed- ward Sands Born ye 2 Day of April A. D. 1748. Also: " Edward Sands, Jr. was Married to Deborah Niles and
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
eldest Daughter of Paul Niles, Esq. the 14th Day of De- cember 1769 by John Littlefield, Warden."
During the stormy time of the Revolution he was well known by his patriotism, and in 1774 was appointed by his townsmen on the committee of resistance to the Eng- lish tea-tax in favor of the East India Company. In 1776, he with others protested against the bill passed by the Assembly of Rhode Island for the establishment of small- pox hospitals in the various towns. In the same year he was appointed by the Rhode Island Assembly to take the census of Block Island, and by a special act was allowed to carry on trade with the colony. By the same authority in 1777, he was "surgeon of the regiment of artillery;" in 1779, by an act of the Assembly, was permitted to return to the Island, showing the vigilance kept upon all move- ments in those times of military rule; and in 1785, repre- sented his town in the General Assembly.
RAY SANDS.
Of him, in the old book above described, is this record: " Ray Sands, Borne January ye Fifth at Eleven o'Clock in the Morning, A. D. 1736." He was a cotemporary of Edward, Jr., and was a man of great energy and influ- ence. Made a freeman in 1759, at the early age of twenty- four, he began his public career as representative in the Rhode Island Assembly, in 1761, and held it also in 1767. At the time post-offices were first established in Rhode Island, Mr. Ray Sands was appointed post-master at Tower Hill, in 1775. When the muster-rolls were filling up for the Revolution, Ray Sands, by both Houses of the Rhode Island Legislature, was appointed captain of a military company of South Kingstown. In 1776, his was the third company of that town. During that year he was appointed to the office of Major, and before its close was promoted to that of Colonel, and was brought into
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