USA > Rhode Island > A history of Block Island : from its discovery, in 1514, to the present time, 1876 > Part 21
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291
SIMON RAY.
such was his benevolence that besides the care he took of their civil interests, he frequently instructed them in the more important concerns of our Holy religion.
" He was deprived of his eyesight many years, cheer- fully submitting to the will of God. His life being in this a living instance, as in all others, of a lovely example of Christian virtue."
For many years, probably on account of his blindness, the town meetings were held at his house, though remote from most of the other houses, and such was the venera- tion of the people for him that they continued to elect him as chief warden almost continuously for about half a century, and for about thirty years he was their repre- sentative in the Rhode Island General Assembly. His name is still a common household word, even where all knowledge of him has faded away, and " Ray " seems to be destined to continue here as long as names for infants shall be needed. The outlines of his cellar, and the deep old well still mark the place of his dwelling. His blood relatives, however, are nearly, if not entirely, extinct from the Island.
Simon Ray, Jr., succeeded his father in local offices, and in distinction for personal excellences. His daugh- ters were greatly admired, and married eminent persons; his estate was large, and he is entitled to an honorable remembrance. His son-in-law, Samuel Ward, known as Gov. Ward, of Revolutionary fame, was Mr. Ray's ad- ministrator. After his death the following inventory of a part of his " movable estate " was recorded in 1757:
" 24 Cows, [probably old tenor] £1246 .
4 Oxen, 340 .
4 Heifers, .
225
1 pr. of Steers, . .
.
.
116
10 2-year olds, . 540
14 Cattle 1 year old, 110 .
292
HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
200 Sheep, .
£900
10 Hogs,
.
72
2 Chains and 2 yokes, .
.
.
8
1 Plough, .
.
6
1 pair shod wheels, .
12
Dick's time for 10} months,
100
THOMAS DICKENS, - Appraisers."
ABEL FRANKLIN,
The following letter from the Hon. William Greene, Ex-Lieut. Gov. of Rhode Island, of East Greenwich, is here inserted with great pleasure, and will doubtless be read with much interest.
EX-LIEUT. GOV. GREENE'S LETTER. " EAST GREENWICH, Nov. 8th, 1876. " REV. S. T. LIVERMORE.
" Dear Sir :- A painful attack of rheumatism prevented my sending you the enclosed paper last week, as prom- ised. I have compiled it from family records in my pos- session and believe it to be correct. I am the grandson of Catharine, daughter of Simon Ray, Jun", whose widow -a granddaughter of Roger Williams-died in this house, and was buried in my grandfather's family burial ground, from which her remains have never been removed.
" In April, A. D. 1661, Simon Ray, with fifteen others, emigrated to Block Island. At his suggestion the prop- erty was divided into seventeen parts, and one was set apart for the support of the gospel. He was an excellent and highly useful man. The records of the Island bear ample testimony to his activity and importance in its settlement, and show him to be chief and leader of the company. His life was prolonged far beyond the usual span, and it was not until he was nearly ninety years of age that he ceased to hold the principal office in the com- munity to which he had for sixty years been a father.
293
SIMON RAY, JR.
Meantime he had reared a son to fill his place; and in outward darkness-for he had become blind-he waited for long years for his summons home. Ten years before his death he made his will, in which he gave freedom to his negroes, for the respect he held for them, they having been brought up with him from their infancy; giving them also whatever they had been able to produce for themselves by their own labor during his life.
"Some of the ancient records of Block Island are appar- ently in the handwriting of Simon Ray, or Raye, as his name was sometimes spelled. He died in March, 1737, in the one hundred and second year of his age. He was buried in the cemetery on the Island, and a monument, now almost illegible, was erected over his grave. He left four children, viz .: Sybil, Mary, Dorothy, Simon.
SIMON RAY, JR.
" Simon Ray, Jr., or Captain Simon Ray, as he was com - monly called, was born April 9, 1672, and was a worthy assistant and successor of his father, though he attained not the same great age. He passed the allotted term of three score years and ten, and filled with credit to him- self, and usefulness to others, the most important offices in his native Island. He was twice married, and outlived his father only eighteen years, dying at the age of eighty- six years. He, too, sleeps in the rough sea Isle where he first saw the light, dying on the 19th of March, 1755. His name stands on the book of records, at first, Simon Raye, or afterwards, Simon Ray the second.
" His children were, Judith Ray, born October 4, 1726; Anna Ray, born September 27, 1728; Catharine Ray, born July 10, 1731; and Phebe Ray, born September 10, 1733. Judith married Thomas Hubbard of Boston; Anna married Governor Samuel Ward of Rhode Island; Catha- rine married Governor William Greene of Rhode Island; 25*
294
HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
and Phebe married William Littlefield of Block Island. Catharine, daughter of Phebe and William Littlefield, was early left an orphan, and was adopted by her aunt Catharine, wife of Gov. Wm. Greene; and while a resi- dent in that family, was married to Major-General Na - thaniel Greene of the Revolution. After the death of Gen. Greene she married Phineas Miller and resided in Georgia until her death.
Very respectfully,
W. GREENE."
CATHARINE RAY.
In reference to the last-named lady, and native of Block Island, the following extract from the Life of Major-General Nathaniel Greene, written by George Washington Greene, is here added. He says of her:
"The maiden's name was Catharine Littlefield, and she was a niece of the Governor's wife, the Catharine Ray of Franklin's letters. The courtship sped swiftly and smoothly, and more than once in the course of it he fol- lowed her to Block Island, where, as long after her sister told me, the time passed gleefully in merry-makings, of which dancing always formed a principal part. She was an intimate acquaintance of General Washington's wife, Martha, meeting her many times at Army Headquarters, whenever the army rested long enough to permit the officers' wives to join them. An intimacy sprang up between her and Mrs. Washington which, like that be- tween their husbands, ripened into friendship, and con- tinued unimpaired through life. His first child, still in the cradle, was named George Washington, and the second, who was born the ensuing year, Martha Washing- ton."
As the daughter of the honored Simon Ray, Jr's, daugh- ter Phebe, as the wife of the famous General Greene,
295
FRANKLIN'S CORRESPONDENCE.
and as an intimate friend of the wife of Washington, she has reflected honor upon the little Island of her child !- hood and ancestors. Her aunt Catharine has an equal claim upon the kind remembrance of the Islanders.
FRANKLIN'S CORRESPONDENCE.
Catharine Ray, mentioned in the above extract from the Life of General Greene, was the granddaughter of the venerable Simon Ray, and the third daughter of Hor. Simon Ray, Jr. She was born on Block Island, July 10 1731, and married Governor William Greene, famous for a long period as the chief magistrate of Rhode Island. She was also much admired by Dr. Franklin, who wrote some pleasant things to her, and about her; and she cor- responded freely with Mrs. Franklin. This friendship between the Doctor and the Block Island maiden was strengthened by the pleasantry that originated from the gift which she made him of some cheese from her father's farm, concerning which the distinguished philosopher and statesman wrote:
" Mrs. Franklin was very proud that a young lady should have so much regard for her old husband as to send him such a present. We talk of you every time it comes to the table. She is sure you are a sensible girl, and a notable housewife, and talks of bequeathing me to you as a legacy; but I ought to wish you a better, and hope she will live these hundred years; for we are grown old together, and if she has any faults, I am so used to them that I don't perceive them. As the song says:
" Some faults we have all, and so has my Joan, But then, they are exceptingly small ; And now I'm grown used to them, so like my own, I scarcely can see them at all."
" Indeed, I begin to think she has none, as I think of
you. And since she is willing I should love you as much
296
HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
as you are willing to be loved by me, let us join in wish- ing the old lady a long life and a happy, etc."
Subsequent to this Dr. Franklin wrote to his wife in a more serious tone concerning his young friend on Block Island, dating his letter, London, Dec. 3, 1757, and say- ing: "I am glad that Miss Ray is well, and that you cor- respond. It is not convenient to be forward in giving advice in such cases. She has prudence enough to judge and act for the best."
In January, 1763, the Doctor wrote to her from Phila- delphia, saying: " Mrs. Franklin admits your apology for dropping the correspondence with her, and allows your reasons to be good; but hopes when you have more leis- ure it may be resumed."
It is also complimentary to Block Island that Mr. John Bigelow, one of Franklin's biographers, says of one of its daughters: "Franklin had a remarkable affinity for superior people," and "it is pleasant to follow the growth and loyalty of his friendship for Miss Ray."
The same friendship and intimacy continued after Miss Ray's marriage to Governor William Greene, and surely it is not a little remarkable that the first families of this little Island have held rank with the first families of America; for we find the descendants of Simon Ray inti- mately associated with the families of Franklin, of Wash- ington, of Roger Williams, of Gov. Wm. Greene, of Gov. Samuel Ward of Revolutionary fame, and of Major- General Nathaniel Greene of military renown.
THOMAS TERRY.
No one, perhaps, took a more active part than Thomas Terry in the settlement and improving of Block Island during his short residence here. He seems to have been a man of very different bearing from the high-toned statesman-like Capt. James Sands, and the more quiet,
297
THOMAS TERRY.
even-tempered, moral Simon Ray. Mr. Terry had great self-possession, shrewdness, and withal a daring unexcelled by the bravest. Thus in these three men we find the little Block Island colony of sixteen families favored with the three important characters of statesmen, moralist, and hero. That Thomas Terry was the latter none can doubt who properly estimate the few incidents of his life that we are able to gather.
He was present at the house of Dr. John Alcock in Roxbury, Mass., the 17th of August, 1660, "then and there to confer about " the purchase of Block Island. He was from Braintree, Mass., and was one of the six who built a " barque for the transporting of cattle to said Island for the settlement thereof," and in April, 1661, left Braintree with others for Block Island, stopping on their way at Taunton.
In May, 1664, he, with James Sands, petitioned the Court of Rhode Island for the admission of the Islanders as freemen of the colony, and in response was appointed by said court to proceed with Mr. Sands to inaugurate the first steps of civil government on the Island, and they did accordingly. At the same time Mr. Terry was ad- mitted freeman of the colony. In 1665, as representa- tive from Block Island in the Rhode Island General Assembly, he was intimately associated with Roger Wil- liams, John Clark, and other distinguished persons. During that year he petitioned the Assembly for assistance in building a harbor on the Island, and thus secured a visit of inspection from a committee consisting of Gover- nor Benedict Arnold, Deputy-Governor William Bren- ton, and Mr. John Clark. In 1670, Mr. Terry presented a similar petition. In 1672, he was one of the foremost in obtaining a charter for the Island to become a town- ship.
His one-sixteenth of the land here purchased was
298
HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
located in different parcels, the largest two of which were the extreme south end of the Island, extending from the east to the west shore, and the narrowest part of the Neck, embracing Indian Head Neck. On the northerly part of the latter his house was located. He seems to have been quite forward in making slaves of the Indians, for as early as 1669, six of his Indian slaves escaped from him and caused considerable trouble in the colony. Mr. Terry wrote to Francis Lovelace, then governor of New York, concerning these six Indians, and said governor wrote to Governor Arnold, of Rhode Island, about the matter as follows: " Mr. Thomas Terry, of Block Island, informs mee that hee hath had six Indyans servants run away from him, which Ninicraft [Chief of the Narragan- setts] protects and keepes, though none of his Indians. I think you may do well to admonish him of it, and that hee ought not to doe the least injury to the English under whose protection he lives, without giving satisfaction for it. It may be by his answer you may judge of his intent."
The substance of the above the governor of Rhode Island, by an interpreter, communicated to Ninicraft, a very artful chief, who replied " that he had had a great deal of trouble about these servants, and that he did re- ceive an order about them from Mr. Brenton in the win- ter time, when the snow was knee-deep; and that then he did send out to look, but could not find them, and that he did order them oftentimes to return to their master; but they did run away, some to Connecticott, and some to the Massachusetts. That Thomas Terry had done very badly with him in the business, and caused him a great deal of trouble; that once an old man, one of his Indians, did complain to him that Thomas Terry had taken two chil- dren out of his house by force, which were now grown young men, and were two of the six that Thomas Terry
:
299
THOMAS TERRY.
did now demand; and that he did advise the said Indian to complain to the Governor against him; that he might hear them both; further, he saith that yesterday he met one of the four Indians that were brought to Thomas Terry upon Quononicutt, and did intend to have brought him over with him, and did bring him some part of the way; but he run from him, and that he would have had the English there to have got on horseback and rid after him, but they said it was no matter. He also said if Thomas Terry had not intended to have taken away my life, he might as well have informed you that I, being at a dance on Block Island about three or four years since, I seeing a servant of his there, sent him home to him, to his house; but the next morning the said servant came again, and I sent him to his house again; and he return- ing, I sent him back again the third time. This I believe he did not acquaint you with, although there are several witnesses that can testify to the truth thereof."
The above transactions not only give us a glimpse of personal characters, and of those peculiar times, but they also point to the cause and mode of exterminating the Indians of Block Island. Slavery was the cause, and running away was the mode, evidently. Mr. Terry seems to have been more familiar than any others of his fellow- citizens with the language and habits of the Indians. He conversed with them in their own tongue, and knew well how to take advantage of their ignorance, and how to manage their passions. Amidst the greatest perils he was master of the situation. The following incident given by his friend Rev. Samuel Niles is in point. At the time referred to, the Indians on the Island were about twenty to one of the settlers, and they had become so turbulent that the women and children of the latter were collected at the Sands' Garrison, and a close eye was kept upon the savages. Says Mr. Niles:
300
HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
"They therefore kept a very watchful eye on them, especially when they had got a considerable quantity of rum among them and they got drunk, as is common with them, and then they are ready for mischief. Once when they had a large keg of rum, and it was feared by the English what might be the consequence, Mr. Thomas Terry, then an inhabitant there, the father of the present Colonel Terry, Esq., of Freetown, who had gained the Indian tongue, went to treat with them as they were gath- ered together on a hill that had a long descent to the bot- tom; [Beacon Hill ?] where he found their keg or cask of rum, with the bung out, and began to inquire of them who had supplied them with it. They told him Mr. Ar- nold, who was a trader on Block Island. Upon which he endeavored to undervalue him and prejudice their minds against him; and in their cups they soon pretended that they cared as little for Mr. Arnold as he did. He told them that if they spake the truth they should prove it, (which is customary among them,) and the proof he di- rected was, to kick their keg of rum, and say, Tuckisha Mr. Arnold ! The English is, 'I don't care for you Mr. Arnold; ' which one of them presently did, and with his kick rolled it down the hill, the bung being open, as was said, and by the time it came to the bottom the rum had all run out. By this stratagem the English were made easy for this time."
Another account of Mr. Terry's tact and bravery is given by Mr. Niles, which helps us also to understand some of the trials of the first settlers. He says:
"Another instance of the remarkable interposition of Providence in the preservation of these few English peo- ple in the midst of a great company of Indians. The attempt was strange, and not easily to be accounted for, and the event was as strange.
" The Indians renewing their insults, with threatening
301
THOMAS TERRY.
speeches, and offering smaller abuses, the English, fear- ing the consequences, resolved, these sixteen men and one boy, to make a formal challenge to fight this great company of Indians, near, or full out three hundred, in open pitched battle, and appointed the day for this effort. Accordingly, when the day came, the fore-mentioned Mr. Terry, living on a neck of land remote from the other English inhabitants, just as he was coming out of his house in order to meet them, saw thirty Indians, with their guns, very bright, as though they were fitted for war. He inquired from whence they came. They replied, from Narragansett, and that they were Ninicraft's men. He asked their business. They said, to see their relations and friends. And for what reason they brought their guns ? They replied, because they knew not what game they might meet with in their way. He told them that they must not carry their guns any farther, but deliver them to him; and when they returned, he would deliver them back to them safely. To which they consented, and he secured them in his house, and withal told them they must stay there until he had got past the fort; as he was to go by it within gunshot over a narrow beach between two ponds. The Indians accordingly all sat down very quietly, but stayed not long after him; for he had no sooner passed by the fort but the Indians made their ap- pearance on a hill, in a small neck of land called by the English Indian-head-neck. And the reason of its being so called was, because when the English came there they found two Indian's heads stuck upon poles standing there. Whether they were traitors, or captives, I know not. When they at the fort saw those thirty Indians that fol- lowed Mr. Terry, they made a mighty shout; but Mr. Terry had, as I observed, but just passed by it.
" However, the English, as few as they were, resolved to pursue their design, and accordingly marched with their
26
302
HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
drum beating up a challange (their drummer was Mr. Kent, after of Swansey), and advanced within gunshot of it, as far as the water would admit them, as it was on an island in a pond, near to, and in plain sight of the place of my nativity. Thither they came with utmost resolution, and warlike courage, and magnanimity, stand- ing the Indians to answer their challenge. Their drum- mer being a very active and sprightly man, and skillful in the business, that drum, under the over-ruling power of Providence, was the best piece of their armor. The Indians were dispirited to that degree that they made no motions against them. The English after inquired of them the reason of their refusing to fight with them, when they had so openly and near their fort made them such a challenge; they declared that the sound of the drum terrified them to that degree that they were afraid to come against them. From this time the Indians became friendly to the English, and ever after."
The above occurrence passed entirely from the knowl- edge of the Islanders, so that it was news to every one of them when related by the writer in his centennial address to them on the Fourth of July, 1876. So imperfect is tradition, without a written record.
That Mr. Terry was more than an ordinary man it is easy to see from the foregoing. His coolness and nerve were exhibited in starting from his house alone to walk within arrow-shot of the enemy's fort to join his com- rades. His presence of mind and wonderful courage were demonstrated in boldly, single-handed, facing thirty strange Indians armed with new guns. His daring and magic power were unexcelled by Ethan Allen at Fort Ticonderoga. See him, in an open field commanding thirty strange savages armed for battle! Behold him confronting the whole band, and disarming them one by one, and before their faces carrying their guns into his
303
THOMAS TERRY.
house ! Hear him then ordering them to stay just where they were until he had passed the fort and joined his comrades! By this strategy he kept them out of the sight of the Indians in the fort until he was beyond the reach of their guns and arrows. At the same time his mind must have been upon the battle of himself and six- teen companions, with three hundred Indians now reën- forced by thirty more. His heroism that day will bear comparison with any upon the pages of history, and he and his few associates were no less tried and daring than were Leonidas and his followers. The story of Mr. Terry to his fellow-Islanders, acquainting them of his power over the thirty whom he had just disarmed, infused, doubtless, his own spirit into them. We can imagine him in consultation with Mr. Sands, Mr. Ray, Mr. Rath- bone, and others, and as he was familiar with the Indian language he understood their temper better than others, and they probably agreed with him that a show of cour- age was their greatest weapon. Drum for your life ! was probably the only music that inspired Mr. Kent, the drum- mer, and the beating of his drum helped the little isolated band to march the more boldly within " gunshot " of the enemy whose barbarity was striking terror to the English throughout the country.
A short distance from this fort was another scene which no pen has described, and none could portray. There in the Sands' Garrison, at the foot of the hill just below the mill-pond, and on the easterly side of the outlet, were hearts of wives, mothers, and children throbbing with anxiety over the issues of that day. Prayers, sighs, tears, and crying were there sadly commingled, until they were exchanged for rejoicing over the friendly hand shaken by Thomas Terry and others with the Indians of Block Island.
It is not so probable that the Indians told a true story
304
HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
when they said: "The sound of the drum terrified them to that degree that they were afraid to come against " the white men, as it is that the thirty new comers, direct from Ninicraft their chief, informed them of the punishments inflicted by the whites upon the hostile tribes on the main-land. Moreover, Ninicraft may have sent them word to be at peace with the Islanders lest he should become involved in a war with the colonies, a disaster which he studiously avoided while his neighboring tribes were being exterminated.
The locality of Thomas Terry's heroism is easily identi- fied. The Indian fort was on Fort Island, an elevated plat of about five acres, now belonging to Mr. Samuel Mott, and in a pond a little south of the Great Pond. These two ponds are separated by a narrow neck of sand over which the road now passes, and that neck is the " narrow beach between two ponds " in Mr. Niles' account quoted above. From this " beach " the road passes up the hill upon Indian-Head-Neck, on the northerly part of which was Mr. Terry's residence, said by Mr. Niles to be "remote from the other English inhabitants," as none then lived upon the Corn Neck, but about the central and westerly parts of the Island. The place of rendezvous for the heroic sixteen and a boy, was probably in the vicinity of Mr. Samuel Mott's residence, as Mr. Terry had to go there to join his comrades. The earthworks of the fort have all been leveled down, and the writer has been able to find no relics of it except some small pieces of rude pottery, although in former years the plow fre- quently brought to light there various evidences of In- dian warfare.
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