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 12
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The late Henry Bull, in his manuscript history of Trinity Church, says, Mr. Honeyman was a gentleman well calculated to unite his own society, which grew and flourished exceedingly under his charge, as well as to conciliate those of other religious persuasions, all of whom he embraced in the arms of charity.' In 1750, the Rev. Mr. Honeyman died, after having lived to an advanced age, and to see his church large and flourishing. He was buried at the expense of the church, on the south of the passage from the gate to the church, where his tomb-stone now lies, and which is engraved as follows :"
HERE LIES THE DUST OF JAMES HONEYMAN, OF VENERABLE AND EVER WORTHY MEMORY,
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for a faithful minister, of near fifty years, in the Episcopal Church in this town, which, by divine influence on his labors, has flourished and exceedingly increased. He was of a respectable family in Scot- land-an excellent scholar, a sound divine, and an accomplished gentleman. A strong asserter of the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, and yet, with the arm of charity, embraced all sincere followers of Christ. Happy in his relative station in life, the duties of which he sustained and discharged in a laudable and exem- plary manner. Blessed with an excellent and vigorous constitution, which he made subservient to the various duties of a numerous pa. rish, until a paralytic disorder interrupted him in the pulpit, and in two years, without impairing his understanding, cut short the thread of life, on July 2d, 1750.
There is a bust portrait of him in Trinity Church, Newport.
"Sept. 3d, 1734, at the house of Mr. Benjamin Mum- ford, in South Kingstown, were intermarried, by Mr. Mc- Sparran, Arthur Gates Auchmuty to Ann Dickinson."
Robert Auchmuty was the first of the American family of that name. He was the descendant of an ancient Scotch family, holding a barony in the north of that country. His father settled in Eng- land. Early in the eighteenth century, Robert came to this coun- try, and settled in Boston. He was considered a profound lawyer, and possessed remarkable talents, shrewdness and wit, and anecdotes of him have been handed down, from generation to generation, to this day. He was greatly respected and beloved, both in public and private life. His memory is held in high veneration by the bar in Massachusetts, and his opinions are still respected by the profession. He has many descendants still left there. He was Judge of Admi- ralty many years before his death.
Robert Auchmuty, son of Judge Auchmuty, was distinguished in his profession. "He held the office of Judge of Admiralty at the de- claration of Independence, when he left, and settled in England. He was one of the Commissioners, with Gov. Wanton, of Rhode Island, Samuel Horsemanden, Chief Justice of New-York, Frederic Smythe,
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Chief Justice of New Jersey, Peter Oliver, Chief Justice of Massa- chusetts, to inquire into the destruction of the Gaspee, 1772.
Speaking of the elder and younger Auchmuty, Wasburn, in his Judicial History of Massachusetts, says :
Upon the death of Judge Byfield, in 1733, "Robert Auchmuty was appointed to succeed him, as Judge of Admiralty, and his com- mission embraced Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Sherly, afterwards Governor, was appointed at the same time Judge Advocate of the same court."
Judge Auchmuty held the office until 1747, when he was super- seded by Chambers Russell.
He was an eminent barrister, but when he was admitted to prac- tice does not appear. He was in practice soon after 1719, and the profession owed much to his character and efforts for the elevated stand it was beginning to assume, and the system and order which now began to distinguish its forms of practice.
Among other public offices with which he was honored, he was one of the Directors of the Land Bank-was appointed, from time to time, to act as Attorney General, in the absence of that officer, and also, during the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Overing.
He was sent to England, in 1741, to settle the dispute between this province and that of Rhode Island, relative to the boundary line be- tween them. He resided at his seat in Roxbury.
It was while he was in England that he is said to have conceived and matured the plan of expedition against Cape Breton and Louis- burg, which crowned the Provincial troops with so much glory and renown.
He died in April, 1750. Mr. Bollan, so long the agent of the Pro- vince in London, studied his profession under Mr. Auchmuty's tuition.
His daughter married the distinguished Judge Pratt, of New- York, and his two sons, Samuel was minister in New-York, and Ro- bert became an eminent lawyer in Massachusetts, and was for many years Judge of Admiralty in that province.
Chambers Russell was appointed, in the place of the elder Auch- . muty, as a Judge of Admiralty, for Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, in 1747. He held this office until his death, in 1767.
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" Upon the death of Russell, Robert Auchmuty, the younger, was appointed to his place by the Governor. This was in April, but on the 6th of July he was duly commissioned as Judge of Admiralty, for all New England, with a salary of £300 a year. Previous to this time, the compensation of that officer had been a per-centage (usually five) upon all condemnations, and had not generally amounted to more than £100 per annum.
His commission was received in March, 1769, when his salary was increased to £600 per annum. He continued to hold the office as long as the authority of the British Crown was recognized, and being a zealous royalist, he left the country, in 1776, for England. Previous to leaving the country, his place of residence was Roxbury.
Although he had not the advantages of a collegiate education, he became an able and, eminent lawyer. As an advocate, he was elo- quent and successful. Among his cotemporaries were Otis, Quincy, Hawley, and Judges Paine, Sargent, Bradbury, R. Sewall, W. Cushing, and Sullivan, and though less learned than some of these, he was employed in most of the important jury trials.
It was to him, together with that class of lawyers above named, that the profession owed the respectability which since his day has characterized the bar of Massachusetts.
He held the office of Advocate of the Court of Admiralty from Au- gust 2, 1762, till his appointment as Judge, having been originally appointed in the place of Mr. Bollan, to hold the office during his absence."
It is to be regretted that of men as distinguished in their day as were the Auchmutys, father and son, so few memorials now remain. They will hereafter be found to have possessed a large share of the public confidence, and to have left a decided impress of their characters upon the profession which they adorned.
The Hon. James Auchmuty, another son of the elder Robert, was also a conspicuous lawyer, and a Judge in Nova Scotia, where he resided many years. He had a son, a very gallant officer in the British Army, who was killed when young, in a battle in the West Indies.
The Rev. Samuel Auchmuty was another son of the elder Robert, born in Boston, in 1725, graduated at Harvard University in 1742, and was taken by his father to England, where he was ordained a
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minister in the Episcopal Church, and was appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, an assistant minister of Trinity Church in New-York. He married, in 1749, a daughter of Richard Nichols, Governor of that Province. In 1764, at the death of the Rector, he was appointed to succeed him, and took charge of all the churches in the city, performing his arduous duties with faithfulness until the revolution. At that time he was making arrangements to return to England, in expectation of being consecrated Bishop of New-York. (By the old inhabitants of the city, he was always spo- ken of with the highest respect and affection, and as Bishop Auch- muty.) But that event rendered it necessary for him to stay by his devoted flock, and if possible, to keep the church together ; for he was a loya! subject of his sovereign, as well as a faithful minister of Christ. He continued his ministrations in the church, and succeeded in keeping his flock together.
Dr. Auchmuty opposed the revolution and adhered to the cause of the king and the mother country, and when the Americans took possession of New York city, in 1777, it is said that a message was sent to him from Lord Sterling, by one of his sons ; " that if he read the prayer for the king the following Sunday, he would send a band of soldiers to take him out of the desk." His son knowing his father's indomitable spirit, did not deliver the message, but with some of his class-mates from Columbia College, attended the church, with arms concealed under their gowns, and sat near the pulpit for his protection. He could not omit these prayers without, as he con- sidered, violating his ordination vows. As soon as he commenced reading it, Lord Sterling marched into the church with a band of soldiers, and music playing " Yankee Doodle." The Dr's. voice never faltered, but he went on and finished the prayers, and the soldiers marched up one aisle and down another, and went out again without any violence. After church, he sent for the keys of Trinity and its chapels, and ordered that they should not be again opened until the liturgy could be performed without interruption, and took them to New Jersey. When the British took possession of New York, he resolved at once to return to his beloved flock, and applied for leave to pass the American lines. This request was denied. With the unfailing energy that characterised his whole career, he determined to return on foot through circuitous paths to avoid
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the American lines. After undergoing great hardships ; sleeping in the woods, and heedless of exposure, he reached the city. During his absence Trinity Church and his parsonage had been burnt to the ground. His papers and the church records were all destroyed. The Sunday following, he preached in St. Paul's Church for the last time. The hardships he had undergone brought on an illness which terminated his life after a few days, March 4th 1777, in the fifty- second year of his age. He was buried under the altar of St. Paul's. Interesting notices of his labors, his sufferings, and death, may be found in Hawkins' "Historical Notices of the Missions of the Church of England, in the North American Colonies," London, 1845. Dr. Auchmuty received the degree of S. T. D., at Oxford, in 1766.
The children of the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty were, 1st-Mary Julianna, born 1750, married General Mulcaster, of the Royal Engineers, and left two sons and two daughters. 2nd-Margaret, died young. 3rd-Isabella, born 1753, married a Mr. Burton, of Kent, in Eng- land, and left no children. 4th-Robert Nicholls, born 1758, mar- ried Henrietta, daughter of Henry John Overing, his second cousin. He died at Newport, Rhode Island, January 28th, 1813, leaving eight children, one of whom is Mrs. Maria M. Wainwright, now living in Washington, D. C. He was a graduate of Columbia Col- lege, and served as a volunteer in the English army, at the time of the revolution. 5th-Richard Harrison, born 1756, a surgeon in the Royal army ; was taken prisoner at Yorktown, and died while- a prisoner on parole. 6th-Samuel, afterwards Sir Samuel, born 1758, graduated at Columbia College, served in Egypt, under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, was a Brigadier General and K. C. B., in 1807, and commanded the expedition against Montevideo, which he took. He was promoted to be Lieutenant General, received the thanks of both houses of Parliament and a service of plate. He was after- wards intrusted with a very important command in the channel, at the time of Napoleon's threatened invasion; was then Gover- nor of Madras, commander of an expedition against the Island of Java, which he took in 1811. On returning to England he again received the thanks of Parliament, and a service of plate from the East India Company. He retired for a while to his estate, in Kent, which he left on being appointed Commander of the Forces in Ire-
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land, where he died, August 11th, 1822, and was buried in Christ Church, Dublin. The inscription on his tomb is: "Sacred to the memory of the Right Honorable Sir Samuel Auchmuty, G. C. B., of his Majesty's seventy-eighth Regiment of Foot, who died on the 11th August, 1822, aetat sixty-four, whilst commanding his Majesty's forces in Ireland. He was a brave, experienced and suc- cessful officer, and victorious whenever he had the command. He twice received the thanks of Parliament for his services. The cap- ture of Montevideo, in South America, and the Island of Java, in the East Indies, added both to his fame and fortune. This monu- ment was erected by his relatives, as a tribute to his private as well as his public worth," 7th-Jane, married Richard Tylden, of Heversham, Kent, in England, and had two sons and a daughter.
Arthur Gates Auchmuty," says a correspondent, " must I think, have been the brother of the elder Judge Auchmuty ; he could have been only temporarily in Rhode Island, or I should have heard of his residing there, had it been otherwise. He was interred in Trinity Church yard, Newport.
" December 11th, 1735. Dr. Giles Goddard, of Groton, in Connecticut, was married to Miss Sarah Updike, at the house of her father, Captain Lodowick Updike, by Mr. McSparran.
Dr. Giles Goddard, immediately after his marriage, removed to New London, Connecticut, where he commenced the practice of medicine. He was also, for many years, postmaster of the town. In his professional character, he appears to have united much bene- volence with a considerable share of medical skill. He was from early life accustomed to the worship of the Church of England, and was a zealous defender of its doctrines and institutions, and on several occasions of pressing exigency, he proved himself a firm friend to its ministers. He continued to reside at New London un- til his death, which took place after a lingering illness, January 31st 1757, in the fifty-third year of his age. During his last sickness, he 19A
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became an earnest and heartfelt believer in the truths of revelation, and his dying words evinced in a remarkable manner, the power of divine truth, in sustaining the soul amid the struggles of the inevita- ble hour.
He left a widow and two children-Mary Catharine Goddard and William Goddard, of whom the former died unmarried, at an ad- vanced age.
William Goddard, the only son of Dr. Giles Goddard, was born at New London, October 20th, 1740. He was early in life apprenticed to James Parker, a printer, in New York, of whom he learned the practice of the art. Immediately, on becoming of age, he removed to Providence, Rhode Island, where he set up a printing press and established a weekly newspaper, called the " Providence Gazette and Country Journal," of which the first number was issued Octo- ber 20th, 1762. This paper was discontinued from May 11th to August 24th, 1765, in consequence of the excitement in the colony, occasioned by the Stamp Act ; and when its publication was resum- ed it bore the imprint of "Sarah Goddard & Co.," his mother having become associated with him in the establishment. The Gazette was the first paper ever printed at Providence, and at the period of its origin, there was but one other in the colony. When the differ- ences with the mother country began, it earnestly espoused the cause of the colonies ; and during the war of the revolution it was a faithful chronicler of events, and a firm supporter of the Declaration of Independence.
After the repeal of the Stamp Act, Mr. Goddard left the Gazette in the hands of his mother, who now received the assistance of Mr. John Carter, and repaired to New York, where he was for a short time associated with the proprietor of "Parker's Gazette and Post Boy." But leaving New York in the autumn of 1766, he set- tled in Philadelphia, associating with himself, as silent partners, the celebrated Joseph Galloway and Mr. Thomas Whaltur, a wealthy merchant, and commeneed the publication of " The Penn- sylvania Chronicle and Universal Advertiser." The first number was issued January 6th, 1767. It was conducted with ability and spirit, and soon gained a wide circulation. In consequence however, as is supposed, of a difference in political sentiments between Mr. Goddard and his partners, he withdrew from the establishment, in
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1770. In the year preceding, the firm of Sarah Goddard & Co., at Providence, had been dissolved, and the Providence Gazette was given up to the management of John Carter. After being forced into an unhappy and somewhat violent controversy with his former partners in Philadelphia, who had now arrayed themselves on the side of the crown, Mr. Goddard removed to Baltimore, where he soon became concerned in the publication of another newspaper. The first number appeared in August, 1773, and was styled "The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser." This paper he con- tinued to publish twice a week, with but little interruption, till August, 1792, when he sold the establishment and retired to a farm which he purchased in Johnston, Rhode Island.
In addition to his long connection with the public press of the country-a connection which he maintained with ability and distinc- tion-Mr. Goddard, soon after his removal to Baltimore, devoted himself with great earnestness, to the enterprise, then deemed of great importance to the colonies, of establishing, by subscription, a line of post-riders from New Hampshire to ,Georgia, in opposition to the English Post Office System, which was regarded as ill-arranged and oppressive in its rates of postage. He left the management of his journal in the hands of his sister, Mary Catharine Goddard, and travelled through the colonies for the purpose of forwarding the enter- prise. On the breaking out of the revolutionary war, however, the Continental Congress assumed the management of the Post Office, and Mr. Goddard received from Dr. Franklin, the Postmaster General, the appointment of surveyor of the Post-roads and comptroller of the Post Office ; an office which he held for several months, till becom- ing dissatisfied with the appointment of a successor to Dr. Franklin, he resigned the situation and returned to Baltimore. Here, amid the excitements of the revolution, he was more than once involved in fierce political controversies, and became, on several occasions, the object of a popular fury so serious and threatening, that he deemed it prudent to repair to Annapolis, the seat of government, and place himself under the protection of the Legislative Assembly. This protection was promptly afforded, and the tumult of angry pas- sions passed away with the trifling incidents which had pro- duced it.
He was married, May 25th, 1786, to Abigail Angell, daughter of
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James Angell, Esq., of Providence ; a lady of rare intellectual en- dowments, and of superior education, who survived him for twenty- eight years, and died in Providence, December 31st, 1845, in the eighty-seventh year of her age.
The death of William Goddard took place in Providence, December 23d, 1817, in the seventy-eighth year of his age .- He left to the care of their surviving parent, and for the solace of her advancing years, five children, one son and four daugh- ters.
Of the children of William Goddard who survived their father, the only son was WILLIAM GILES GODDARD ; a name which in Rhode Island has become associated with rare literary accomplishments, val- uable public services, and high social and moral worth, whose recent, sudden extinction will be long and deeply lamented. He was born in Johnston, January 2d, 1794, and spent his earliest years amid the scenes of the country. In 1803 his father moved the family to Providence, where under the tuition of the best instructors the town at that time afforded, he pursued the usual studies preparatory to a collegiate education. He entered the Freshman Class, at Brown University, in 1808, and after pursuing the prescribed course of study, received his first degree with his class, in 1812, in the nine- teenth year of his age. In college, his highest scholarship was in the Belles-Lettres, and his favorite exercises were in English com- position. Both his father and mother were persons of unusual ac- curacy and elegance in the use of the English language, and it is possible that their example, in this respect, may account for the early bias which he developed, and in some degree, perhaps, for the subsequent finish and beauty of style which he ac- quired.
Having already chosen the law for a profession, immediately on leaving college, he went to Worcester and entered upon his studies in the office and under the direction of the Hon. Francis Blake, at that time a distinguished advocate at the Massachusetts bar. But neither his health, which had already been undermined by a severe illness, nor the controlling tastes of his mind, were such as would fit him for the collisions of the forum, or for the wearisome routine of the attorney's office. He delighted rather to tread the serener walks of letters, and especially to exercise upon favorite topics, his pow-
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ers of composition, which were already of a high order. While at Worcester, he was a frequent contributor to the press of the town, and was at one time the associate editor of the Worcester Spy.
In 1814 he abandoned the study of the law, and returned to Pro- vidence with the intention of connecting himself with the press and becoming an editor as the occupation of his life. He immediately purchased the Rhode Island American, a paper already of good standing in Providence, and conducted it for a period of eleven years ; the greater part of the time as sole editor and proprietor, with such ability, discretion, and courtesy as soon won for it a place among the best papers in the Union. The American was zealously devoted to the support of the Federal party of that day ; but in the hands of Mr. Goddard, it was never a merely partizan sheet. It was at all times the earnest advocate of the interests of the com- munity, and even in the most exciting party disputes, its columns were never disgraced by personalities, or sullied by falsehoods. In the discharge of his duties, as an editor, and in maintaining the reputation of his paper, he was of necessity, as well as in accor- dance with his own tastes, led to the extensive reading of the best authors of English and American literature, and the thorough study of the principles of government, and especially of the theory and history of our own Federal Constitution. He was thus able to en- rich his columns alike with well selected passages from the writings of standard authors, and with the sound and carefully formed views of his own mind.
In the year 1821, Mr. Goddard was married to Miss Charlotte R. Ives, daughter of Thomas P. Ives, Esq., an eminent merchant of Providence.
In 1825, he was appointed by the Corporation of Brown Univer- sity, to the Professorship of Moral Philosophy and Metaphysics in that institution, then recently vacated by the resignation of Rev. Dr. Park. He immediately relinquished his editorship and entered upon the new sphere of duties to which he had been called. His instructions, however, were soon transferred from the department of Metaphysics to that of Rhetoric and Criticism, for which his tastes and acquirements admirably qualified him, and which, together with the American Constitution, formed the leading subjects of his teaching during his active connection with the University. In 1834, the
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style of his Professorship was changed to that of Belles-Lettres. In 1842, in consequence of protracted ill health, he resigned his place in the Faculty of the University, and withdrew from all participa- tion in its instructions. He was however, immediately elected to its Board of Fellows, and continued, till his death, to be one of its most faithful councillors and guardians. At about the same time he also received, from the President and Corporation of Bowdoin College, Maine, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
The students of the University, during the period of Professor Goddard's connection with its Faculty, were invariably impressed with the exquisite delicacy of his taste in English literature, and his unusual facility in composition. Most of his writings have been given to the public in forms not fitted for permanence. His few published discourses, however, have taken a high place among works of their kind in our literature, and have secured for themselves a wide re- putation. As a political writer, he often exerted an important în- fluence in relation to the public questions of the day, and he al- ways brought to the discussion of these questions, the spirit of an in- dependent and highminded man, as well as the pen of an elegant writer. No man was more devoted to the interests and honor of his native state, and no one ever maintained them by the public press, in language more chaste and dignified, or in a spirit more free from bitterness and personality.
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