USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Narragansett > A history of the Episcopal church in Narragansett, Rhode Island, including a history of other Episcopal churches in the state > Part 10
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
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him by the legislature or by the people, he discharged with ability and fidelity.
Mr. Phillips was a man af considerable property. He owned the handsomest estate in Wickford, his house was neat and pleasantly situated, and his gardens and grounds tastefully arranged. Since his death, all has gone to decay. He was a gentleman of polished manners, very spare in person, wore a bagged wig, and always dressed with great neatness. He lived a single life, and died at an advanced age, and was interred near his residence in Wickford, on a spot which he had previously selected.
" March 15th, 1732, in the morning, died Mr. George Balfour, a gentleman much beloved and heartily la- mented by all that knew him. He was aged - years, and interred under his own pew in the Church of St. Paul's, Narragansett-17th day."
" Dec. 14th, 1732, on Thursday night, between eleven and twelve o'clock, departed this life, Mr. William Gardiner, of Boston Neck, in the sixty-first year of his age. And was interred the Sunday following, viz: the 17th, in the church yard of St. Paul's, Narragansett."
William Gardiner (the eldest son of Benoni, and grandson of Joseph Gardiner, an emigrant from England, and one of the first set- tlers of Narragansett,) was born 1671, and died 1732. His first wife was Abigail Rennington ; after his death she married Capt. Job Almy. They left seven children :
Ist-John, born 1696, died 1770 ; his first wife was Mary Hill. She left three children. His second wife was Mary Taylor, of Jamaica, Long Island, and niece of Francis Willet, Esquire. She left seven children : 1st-Austis, married Rowland Robinson, issue. 2nd- Thomas, died without issue. 3rd-Amos, issue. 4th-William, married Enuice Belden, of Hartford ; Gen. Wyllys, of Hartford, who was slain in the battle on the Western frontier with the Indians
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in 1793, married her sister-issue one son, James Gardiner, he died without issue thirty or forty years ago, at Hartford. 5th-John, married Sarah Gardner, issue. 6th-Benjamin, married Elizabeth Wickes, daughter of Thomas Wickes, of Warwick, issue. 7th- Abigail, married Lodowick Updike, issue. 8th and 9th-Mary and Sarah, died single. 10th-Lydia, married first Robert Champlin ; he left one daughter, now Mrs. Mary McRea, widow of Col. McRea, of the U. S. Army, now living at Newport-second husband, John Faxon, several children.
2nd-William Gardiner, married Elizabeth Gibbs, issue.
3rd-Thomas, died without issue.
4th-Sylvester, noticed below.
5th-Abigail, married Caleb Hazard ; afterwards, Gov. William Robinson.
6th-Hannah, married Dr. McSparran.
7th-Lydia, married Josiah Arnold, grandson of Gov. Benedict Arnold, issue, died.
Sylvester Gardiner, the fourth son of William, was born in South Kingstown at the family mansion on the farm next South of the Ferrey estate, in 1717, where his health was feeble and his consti- tution slender. His father was apprehensive that his system was not sufficiently robust to constitute him an efficient farmer. Upon the expression of these apprehensions, his son-in-law, Dr. McSparran, suggested the propriety of educating his son for some professional pursuit, and that the expenses of obtaining such an education should be deducted from the proportion of the estate intended for him. He promised, if his father-in-law would permit him to have the direction of the education of Sylvester upon these terms, he would make him more of a man than all the rest of the family. His father replied, " then take him." Dr. McSparran placed him in Boston to com- plete his primary education, and subsequently directed his attention to the study of medicine. He was then sent to England and France, where he enjoyed the best advantages for eight years, and returned to Boston an accomplished physician and surgeon. He not only practised successfully, but promoted the knowledge of the healing art, by reading lectures, illustrated by anatomical preparations. He was among the most distinguished of his profession in the day in which he lived. By his professional success, and by the means of a
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large establishment for the importation and sale of drugs, he accu- mulated an immense estate, and purchased large tracts of land in Maine. In the revolution, he adhered to the royal cause, and when the enemy evacuated Boston he went to Nova Scotia, and finally to England, and his great estates were confiscated and sold, embracing one hundred thousand acres in Maine. In a letter to Mr., after- wards Gov. Bowdoin, dated Poole, England, April 10th, 1783, he says: "There is now an entire change in our ministry, which you will hear of before this reaches you, and with them most likely a change of political measures. God grant us all grace to put an end to this devouring war, so contrary to our most holy religion ; and unite us all once more in that bond of peace and brotherly union, so necessary to the happiness of both countries, which God grant may soon take place, and give us all an opportunity once more to greet one another as friends." Upon the conclusion of peace, he returned to this country, and resided at Newport, in his native state, where he took a house and resumed the practice of physic and surgery, which he followed until his death, which took place after a short illness, August 8th, 1786.
The following obituary notice appeared in the Newport Mercury of Aug. 14th, 1786 :
"On Tuesday last, departed this life, in this city, Doctor Sylvester Gardiner, in the eightieth year of his age:
" He was a native of this state, but for many years prior to the revolution, an inhabitant of Boston, in the state of Massachusetts, where in the line of his chirurgical and medical profession, he long stood foremost. He was possessed of an uncommon vigor and ac- tivity of mind, and by unremitted diligence and attention, acquired a large property, which, though much injured by the late civil war."is not wholly annihilated. His christian piety and fortitude were exam- plary as his honesty was inflexible and his friendship sincere. He has left behind him to deplore his loss, a truly excellent lady and a numerous posterity.
" His remains, attended by many of his relatives, and of the most respectable citizens, were removed to Triuity Church on the Friday following, where the funeral service was read, and a sermon suita- ble to the solemnity, at his particular desire, delivered to a very crowded audience ; after which the body was interred under the
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church. The colors of the shipping in the harbor were displayed half-mast high, and every other mark respect shown by the inhabi- tants on the mournful occasion."
Dr. Gardiner was a munificent patron of the church and contri- buted ten acres of land for a glebe at Gardiner, in Maine, and twenty-eight pounds sterling for the minister, forever, which has been the partial means of sustaining a respectable church in that state.
His first wife was Anne, daughter of Dr. Gibbons, of Boston, by whom he left six children, as follows :
I .- John, father of Rev. J. S. J. Gardiner, of Boston.
II .- William, died without issue.
III .- Anne, married John Brown, brother of the Earl of Altemont, afterwards created Marquis of Sligo. Her children were, 1st- John, married a daughter of Lord Howe. 2nd-James. 3rd- Ann. 4th-Louisa.
IV .- Hannah, married Robert Hallowel. They had one son, Robert Hallowell, who took the name of Robert Hallowel Gardiner, and married Emma Tudor.
V .- Rebecca married Philip Dumarisque. Her children were 1st-Philip, died without issue. 2nd-James. 3rd-Francis. 4th -Rebecca.
VI .- Abigail married Oliver Whipple of Cumberland, R. I., af- terwards a Lawyer in Portsmouth, N. H. He wrote a poem, now extant, dedicated to President John Adams. They left three chil- dren. 1st-Sylvester G. Whipple, died without issue. 2nd-Han- nah, married Frederic Allen, a Lawyer of distinction, of Gardiner, in Maine. 3rd-Anne. In 1803 Oliver Whipple removed from Ports- mouth to Hallowell, in Maine, and since deceased. Dr. Sylvester Gardner's second wife was an Eppes, of Salem. His third wife, Catharine Goldthwait, survived him, and married Mr. Powell. He had no children by his last two wives.
John Gardiner, the eldest Son of Dr. Sylvester, and Grandson of William Gardner, of Narragansett, " was born in Boston about the year 1731, was sent to England to complete his education ; studied law at the Inner Temple, and was admitted to practice in the Courts of Westminster Hall. He was an intimate associate at this time with Churchill, the poet, and John Wilks, the reformer, in whose
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cause, at the time, politics ran high, he appeared as junior Counsel, and attracted the notice of Lord Mansfield, who expressed a high opinion of his natural endowments for eminence in his profession, although his political connections were not such as to secure his Lordship's favor, or his own rapid advancement. He practised a short time in the Welch circuit with success, and married a Miss Harris, of respectable family, in South Wales ; but being impatient at once to get into lucrative practice, he procured the appointment of Attorney General of the Island of St. Christophers, in the West In- dies, where he removed with his family, about the year 1765. He practised law with great success at St. Christophers and the Island of Jamaica, until the termination of the American revolution by the peace of 1783, when he removed with his family to his native town. After practising for two or three years with much celebrity, he re- moved in 1786, to an estate left by his father at Pownalborough, in the then district of Maine, where he also practised law, and whence he was sent as representative to the Massachusetts legisla- ture, from the year 1789, to his death, which happened by the loss of a packet in which he took passage for Boston, for the purpose of attending the General Court in 1793-4. In the legislature he ob- tained the name of the law reformer, in consequence of the zeal and eloquence with which he advocated several important changes in the laws of the state. One, the abolition of special pleading, in which he failed-others, in which he was successful, were the re- peal of the laws of primogeniture, of statutes for the more early breaking of entailments, and the repeal of the laws against threatri- cal representations. On the latter subject he made a speech very cel- ebrated for the learned account it gave of the Grecian and Roman theatre. He was a thorough republican and violent whig in poli- tics; and in religion was a Unitarian, in consequence of which he ยท took a leading part in the alteration of the liturgy of Kings Chapel, Boston, and other changes by which that became a Uni- tarian Congregational Society. He had an astonishing memory, was an admirable belles lettres scholar, learned in his profession, and particularly distinguished for his wit and eloquence."
"From a dislike of his principles, both in politics and religion, his father by will, settled the greater portion of his estate upon his sister's son, Robert Hallowell, now Robert Hallowell Gardiner, of 16A
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Gardiner, Maine. The forfeited property in Maine was chiefly re- covered by his heirs, in consequence of some informality in the legal process of the Attorney General."
In a letter from him to his father, in England, on his arrival from St. Kits, dated Boston, July 14th, 1783, he writes: "I arrived on Wednesday, and as I traversed the town, I saw your confiscated houses and possessions, sold by the state, and now held and occupied by strangers, here did my heart sink within me. I had an interview yesterday with your friend Hancock, and with Mr. John Pitts ; they both seemed inclined to do you any service, but both agreed, that it would be best not to attempt to return until matters were more set- tled, and the passions of men were some cooled. My countrymen here, have received me with open arms, and I have all the in- terest that the French court or ministry can give. If it will serve you, I should be happy that you would point out in what way. Gov. Hancock, Samuel Adams, Dr. Cooper, &c., have all received me with the greatest cordiality, and General Washington, in consequence of a letter from the French Ministry, overwhelmed me with civili- ties for the four days I staid with him. Mr. Pitts would have writ- ten to you, had he not been afraid of giving offence to a jealous people. Although I was in a French government, the last two years, and an officer of the French king, yet so cautious were all in this state that I could not receive an answer to any of my letters to Gov. Hancock, Pitts, Dr. Cooper, Col. Hitchburn, &c., even though my friend Count Dillon wrote the strongest letters in my favor to Gov. Hancock and to the French Minister.
Adieu, my Dear Sir,
And believe me most affectionately, J. GARDINER.
To Dr. SYLVESTER GARDINER,
POOLE, ENGLAND.
The Late John Sylvester John Gardiner, D.D., was son of John and grandson of Dr. Sylvester and great grandson of William Gardiner, of Narragansett. He was rector of Trinity Church, Boston, from 1805 to his death, in 1830. He was born in Wales in 1765, was sent to Boston for his early education, and before the revolutionary war, was sent to England and placed under the in-
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struction of the celebrated Dr. Parr, until he was eighteen. He went to England for the benefit of his health and died there in 1830. He was an eloquent divine and was highly esteemed by society for his talents and virtues. He read the church service with extraor- dinary solemnity and affect. He wrote the English language with great purity and elegance, and was not without a happy talent for poetry. He was reputed to be a sound divine and a classical scholar of fine taste and acquirements. He left one son, the present William H. Gardiner, an eminent lawyer in Boston, who married Caroline Perkins, and two daughters, Louisa, who married John P. Cushing, Esq., and Elizabeth.
"Dec. 21st, 1732. At the house of Mr. Samuel Brown, of South Kingstown, Jonas Minturn was married to Penelope Brown, the daughter of said Samuel."
The ancestor of the Minturn family in this country was a na- tive of England, and was one of the early settlers of Narra- gansett :-
Jonas Minturn married Penelope Brown, of South Kingstown. He afterwards lived and died on his own farm in Narragansett ; he left three children ; William, Hannah, and John, the latter of whom died at the early age of twenty-one years, and was a young man of great promise, having sustained an excellent character. Hannah remained unmarried, and died at an advanced age in Newport. William early exhibited that energy and decision of character which were so conspicuous during his life. Being of an enter- prising disposition, and wishing to see more of the world than his circumstances permitted, he made several voyages from Newport in a ship, of which he soon became mate. During one of these voyages to a port in England, the vessel in which he sailed had the misfor- tune to be captured and taken into France; England being at that time at war with that country. The voyage was thus in dan- ger of being broken up, threatening great loss to those who were concerned in its success. The French commander offered t
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accept a ransom for the vessel, which, though ardently desired by the American captain, was deemed by him to be entirely out of his power to accomplish at this juncture. Mr. Minturn seeing how vitally important was the measure, presented himself before the master of the ship. "Captain," said he, "land me on the Coast of England-I will go to London ; I am certain that I can effect this desirable result through a commercial house in that city." It was done. Dressed as he was in his sailor clothes, he proceeded on foot to London ; found out the firm he was in search of, and by his in- telligence and perseverance, was able to convince them of the im- portance and feasibility of the object. He then re-crossed the chan- nel, paid the ransom money, and arrived safely with the vessel at Newport.
In testimony of the high opinion which the owners of the ship entertained towards him for this signal service, he was immediately made captain of the same vessel ; and so fortunate was he that he was soon able to become himself a ship owner and to establish him- self at Newport, where becoming a successful merchant, he was greatly distinguished for benevolence and public spirit.
In 1788, many of the first citizens of Rhode Island and Massa- chusetts associated themselves together for the important object of founding a city on the Hudson River. In this undertaking, requiring prudence and foresight, the sagacity of Mr. Minturn was eminently conspicuous. The agricultural and other resources of the county of Columbia, and country adjacent, being considered particularly favorable to the enterprise, an elegible site on the east bank of the river was selected, and here was founded what is now the city of Hudson. Mr. Minturn being at the time extensively en- gaged in navigation, embarked with his family, in one of his own ships, and arrived safely, after a passage of thirteen days from New- port. Finding, however, that the branch of mercantile business in which he was more especially engaged, that of commerce and navi- gation, could be prosecuted with more success at a point less remote from the sea, he concluded upon a change of location, and finally fixed upon the city of New York as possessing those superior com- mercial advantages which have since been accredited to it by the world. Hither he removed in 1791, continuing his successful career, and realizing all the advantages which he had anticipated
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from this new abode. Having amassed a large estate for the times in which he lived, he retired from the active duties of commercial life, enjoying the respect, the esteem, and the affection of his fel- low citizens.
In 1799, Mr. Minturn's health so rapidly declined that he ar- dently longed to breathe once more his native air ; confidently be- lieving that it would bring with it, healing on its wings. He was also anxious to consult with Dr. Senter, of Newport, the physician of his early life. In this desire he was warmly encouraged by his friend, and former partner in business, George Gibbs, Esq., who kind- ly procured a commodious house for his reception ; but his cherish- ed hopes and those of his attached family, were destined to be soon destroyed. His disease increased in severity, and he died in August of that year, universally lamented. Justice, firmness and charity were the distinguishing traits of his character.
William Minturn married Penelope, daughter of Benjamin Greene ; she was a near relative of Major General Nathaniel Greene of the revolution, with whom she spent a considerable part of her early life at Potawomut. After her husband's decease, Mrs Min- turn returned to New York, where she resided till her death, in 1821, dying in that humility and faith which her christian life had so pre-eminently exemplified.
William Minturn left ten children : 1st-Penelope, married to John T. Champlin. 2nd-Benjamin Greene, married to Mary, daughter of Robert Bowne. 3rd-Hannah, who died in 1817. 4th-William, also married to a daughter of Robert Bowne. 5th- Jonas, married to Esther, daughter of William T. Robinson. 6th- Mary, married to Henry Post. 7th-Deborah, married to Robert Abbott, jr. 8th-Nathaniel G., married to Lydia, daughter of Samuel Coates, of Philadelphia. 9th-Niobe, who resides in New York ; and 10th-John, who in 1817, removed to New Orleans, where he is now living in the enjoyment of the respect and confi- dence of that community ; he married Lydia, daughter of James Clements, of Philadelphia.
The descendants of William Minturn have numbered one hun- dred and forty-six persons.
" May 27th, 1733, were intermarried in Narragansett,
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by Mr. McSparran, the Rev. Mr. Samuel Seabury, min- ister of the Church at New London, in Connecticut, and Mrs. Elizabeth Powell, of Narragansett."
The Rev. Mr. Seabury was born in 1706, and was graduated at Har- vard University, in 1724. He settled at Groton, Connecticut, as a Congregational minister, and is said to have married Abigail, the daughter of Thomas Mumford, of North Groton. William Gardi- ner, of Boston Neck, Narragansett, married Abigail Remington, the aunt of Mrs. Seabury. From intercouse with Dr. McSparran, who married Hannah, the daughter of Willam. Gardiner, Mr. Seabury became an Episcopal clergyman, and was appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in 1728, the first missionary of St. James' Church, then at New London, which Dr. McSparran had been instrumental in erecting. His first wife died in 1731. In 1733, he married Elizabeth Powell, the daughter of Adam Powell, a merchant of Newport, and grand daughter of Gabriel Bernon. He remained rector of the church at New London thirteen years, and removed to Hemstead, on Long Island, in 1742, where he died, June 15th, 1764. The following letter from Mrs. Seabury to Judge Helme, of Tower Hill, Narragansett, who married her sister, Esther Powell, announcing to him the death of her husband, and the an- swer, conveying to her the affecting intelligence of the decease of her sister, and the adjustment of her legacy, notwithstanding the depreciation and loss of interest, is so highly honorable, that it is but justice to his memory that it should be inserted.
HEMPSTEAD, July 15th, 1764.
DEAR BROTHER, as you are to me in a double capacity, both in regard to the relation between us, and in regard to our unhappy con- dition, for I heard, by report, that my sister is dead ; but I have not had a line from you, at which I am somewhat surprised. As to my own deplorable state, my dear husband left me and his family, the 19th of June, to go to England, from whence he returned, the 7th of June, a sick, and I may say, a dying man, for he lived one pain- ful week, and then resigned his soul into the arms of his dear Saviour.
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Dear Sir :- Your own heart will better suggest to you what I feel, than any words I can make use of. I can only say, I have lost one of the best husbands, and am left with six children ; the eldest son and daughter married-the youngest son with a merchant in New York, and the other three with me-one of which is a daughter of nineteen, one a son of seventeen, and the other a daughter of six years.
Dear Sir-I am both a widow and a stranger. My husband did not lay up treasures on earth ; though, I have reason to think, he did in Heaven, where no rust doth corrupt ; and my whole trust is in Him, who hath said, " He is the Father of the fatherless, and the widow's God.
Sir-as there is in your hands a legacy left me by my mother, I should be glad to know of you what I am to expect from it, for I shall be in want of it by next May.
If you write to me, please direct to the care of Mr. Henry Rem- sen, jr., Hanover Square, New York, the gentleman with whom my son lives, and he will forward the letter.
I have no more to say, Sir, but to commend you and your chil- dren to God Almighty, and begging your prayers for me and mine.
I am, Sir, Your affectionate Sister, and Humble Servant, ELIZABETH SEABURY.
To JAMES HELME, Esq., South Kingstown.
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, JULY 23d, 1764.
MY DEAR SISTER :- I have received your letter of the 5th cur- rent, though the melancholy news with which it was charged had reached our ears before that came to hand. I heartily condole with you on the mournful occasion.
I wrote brother Seabury a few broken lines the 23d of March last, (which I find has not come to hand,) giving an account of the severe stroke of afflictive Providence, which happened to us the day before, in the death of the dearest of women, the tenderest of mothers, and the sincerest christian. Her state of health had been interrupted at times, during the fall and winter past, and on Sunday, the 11th of March, she was taken with a pain in her shoulder and
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breast, with great difficulty of breathing. On letting of blood, she was somewhat relieved ; but being about seven months in her twelfth pregnancy she still continued very ill, until Monday, the 19th, when she was delivered of a male child, which lived about five hours. As she was much better upon her delivery, herself and all of us enter- tained hopes of her recovery, and the physicians imagined that the danger was over,-but on Tuesday night her pains and difficulty of breathing returned, and she remained with great patience under inexpressible anguish, until Thursday, the 22d, when, (oh, how shall I relate the distress of that melancholy day,) after taking a final and affectionate farewell of the whole family, in full assurance of a blessed immortality, she breathed her pious soul into the arms of her Redeemer.
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