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 28
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And that the "deeds by George Rome, Jahleel Brenton, Ralf In-
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man, Gilbert De Blois, Samuel Sewall, Thomas Hutchinson, Dr. Tho- mas Moffat, Andrew Oliver, and John Borland, made and executed since the 5th day of October, 1775, or not recorded before that time, be null and void."
The General Assembly in October, 1776, appointed " John Smith a committee to sell at public auction all the effects of George Rome, and Charles Dudley, in possession of this State, and pay the money into the General Treasury." Thus the great estates of Mr. Rome were lost to his family forever.
Scarcely any vestige remains of his " villa" at North Kingstown to recall the recollections of its former splendor. In appearance, it is republican enough to disarm the envy of the meanest Jacobin.
" September 17, 1770. Sat off for Boston to attend the Annual Convention of the Clergy, and preached there in the several churches. The Rev. Mr. Frontbeck, King's Chaplain, preached before the Clergy on said occasion, from the text-" What is truth ?"
" November 11, 1770. The Rev. Mr. Usher, of Bris- tol, preached, and read prayers for Mr. Fayerweather, in St. Paul's Narragansett, Mr. F. being a hearer."
" On the 12th of February 1771, Dr. Robert Hazard was buried, having a long and lingering illness, A considerable assembly present, and a funeral sermon preached ; and on Sunday 24, preached at the house of mourning of the late Dr. Hazard on mortality-a large congregation present. The Hon. James Honeyman was present, who came from Little Rest (Kingston) where the court had been sitting the whole week."
Mr. Honeyman was the son of the Rev. James Honeyman, Rector of Trinity Church, Newport. He was born in April, 1710, and was
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educated for the bar. In 1732, he was elected Attorney General of the Colony, and was annually re-elected until 1741, when the law appointing one Attorney General was repealed, and County Attornies substituted. He was one of the committee on the eastern boundary question in the controversy with Massachusetts, in 1741, and was junior counsel with Daniel Updike, who argued the case before the King's commissioners at Providence against Bollan and Auchmuty, the counsel for Massachusetts. The commissioners gave judgment in favor of Rhode Island. In 1755, he was appointed, with Gov. Hopkins and others, to attend the Congress of Governors and Com- missioners of the Northern colonies, at Boston, to concert measures against the French. In 1756, he was elected first Senator of the Colony, and was annually re-elected as first assistant in the Legisla- ture until 1764. The British government having enforced the rule of '56, it occasioned great losses to the merchants, and created great irritation in the colonies ; and this colony, as well as others, remonstrated against it with decision and firmness, and Mr. Honey- man being opposed to the remonstrance, declined a re-election.
Shortly after, Mr. Honeyman was appointed by the crown Advo- cate General of the Court of Vice Admiralty for the colony, which office he continued to hold-discharging its duties to public satisfac- tion-until the revolution.
Mr. Honeyman was a sound and able lawyer, and enjoyed an extensive practice through the colony. He married Elizabeth Golding, daughter of George Golding, of Newport. He died Feb. 15th, 1788, aged 67 years, leaving two sons and six daughters. His sons died in early life, and his daughters marrying persons adhering to the cause of the crown, the estates devised by Mr. Honeyman to his children were mostly confiscated, but upon petitions by his children, the Legislature restored them.
" On Thursday, the 21st of March, 1771, Mr. Fayer- weather being invited by a letter from the Church Wardens of Trinity Church, Newport, he attended as a pall bearer the funeral of the Rev. Marmaduke Brown, pastor of said church, when a sermon was preached by
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the Rev. Mr. Bissit, colleague of the Rev. Mr. Brown, to a very numerous and weeping congregation."
Under date of the 9th of January, 1767, the record says-" Mr. F. was sent for to attend the funeral of Mrs. Brown, the consort of the Rev. Mr. Brown, over whom he performed the funeral service in Trinity Church, Newport. An exceeding large concourse of people attended, but no sermon, as both the lady herself, and her husband too, had an utter aversion to pomp and show on those occasions, and utterly against all parad- ing."
The Rev. Marmaduke Brown was a native of Ireland, and came to America as a missionary in the employ of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, about the year 1730. He settled first at Providence, where he remained a few years, when he removed to Portsmouth, N. H. In 1760, on the resignation of the Rev. Mr. Pollen, he was unanimously chosen to officiate as minister of Trinity Church, Newport, and was appointed a missionary by the home society. The church flourished under his ministry, and, in 1762, the edifice was enlarged to the eastward, so as to admit of the erec- tion of thirty additional pews. The present steeple of Trinity was built in 1768. An act of incorporation was procured from the General Assembly in 1769.
Mr. Brown continued his connection with Trinity Church until his death, which took place on the 19th of March, 1771. He left an only son, who, in 1795, caused a marble tablet, with a raised profile likeness of his father, to be erected on the walls of Trinity Church, in memory of his parents. It bears the following inscription :-
TO THE MEMORY OF THE REV. MARMADUKE BROWN, .
FORMERLY RECTOR OF THIS PARISH,
A MAN EMINENT FOR TALENTS, LEARNING, AND A43
.
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RELIGION, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE ON THE 19TH OF MARCH, 1771, AND OF ANN, HIS WIFE, A LADY OF UNCOMMON PIETY AND SUAVITY OF MANNERS, WHO DIED THE 6TH OF JANUARY, 1767. THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY THEIR SON, ARTHUR BROWN, ESQ., NOW SENIOR FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, IRELAND, AND REPRESENTATIVE IN PARLIAMENT FOR THE SAME. IN TOKEN OF HIS GRATITUDE AND AFFECTION TO THE BEST AND TENDEREST OF PARENTS, AND HIS RESPECT AND LOVE FOR A CONGREGATION AMONG WHOM, AND FOR A PLACE WHERE, HE SPENT THE EARLIEST AND HAPPIEST OF HIS DAYS. Heu ! Quanto minus est, Cum aliis Versari, Quam tui Memisse. M.D. CCXCV.
His above-mentioned son is the subject of the following notice :
Hon. Arthur Brown, L.L.D., was at an early age sent from Newport to the care of a relative in Ireland for education. He was a man gifted with extraordinary mental powers, which he improved by almost incessant study, and by an intercourse with the most able scholars and politicians of the day. He soon rose to eminence- was Senior Fellow and Senior Proctor of Trinity College, a Doctor of Civil Laws, King's Professor of Greek, &c., &c. For a length of time he held the Vicar Generalship of the Diocese of Kildare, and also practised in the Courts, as an eminent though not a leading barrister.
For many years, no person in the University enjoyed greater popularity. They gave him their best and most honorable gift-they appointed him their representative in the National Legislature, and the Irish House of Commons for many years listened with sur- prize and admiration to his bold and powerful eloquence.
On questions of great national importance, Dr. Brown could speak with surprising effect. With little subjects he seldom inter- fered with the opposition it was his desire or chance to associate-
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he supported all their leading measures-on the place and pension bills, Catholic emancipation, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus, &c., he brought all his talents into action. He was a strong advo- cate of Parliamentary reform, an enemy to the abuse of power, and always stood forward as the champion of the people.
On the great question of the Union of Great Britain and Ireland, he took part with the ministry, and his support and example greatly contributed to that event.
Shortly after the Union, Dr. Brown was appointed Prime Ser- geant, and it is supposed, had he survived, he would have obtained a situation on the bench.
Besides various political pamphlets, Dr. Brown was the author of two volumes of miscellaneous essays and dissertations in which many questions of literature and criticism were ably discussed.
These volumes are now out of print, which is the more to be re- gretted as one of the essays was devoted to a picture of colonial manners, and habits, especially as exhibited by the society of New- port, Rhode Island. In a note he referred to many of the families with whom he was intimate-the Brenton's, Malbone's, Redwood's, etc. His great work, however, is that on the Civil Law, which has passed through various editions, and is considered by the profession as a standard.
This celebrated man died in Dublin in the summer of 1805, of a dropsical complaint, leaving a large property, which he acquired from his situations in the College and his exertions as a lawyer .- Newport Mercury.
" March 31, 1771. Mr. Fayerweather baptized a male child of Mr. Benjamin Nason, son-in-law of Capt. Benjamin Jefferson, by the name of Elisha ; the gossips being Mr. Bowyer, Mrs. Jefferson, and the grandfather."
The following information relating to this word was collected by Andrew A. Harwood, U. S. N., and may be interesting to many :--
Gossip .- This word is frequently found in the church records. It is used in its old Saxon meaning for sponsors or sureties at bap. tism. This use of the term gossip, as well as the usage which
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formerly prevailed at baptisms of giving spoons, called Apostle spoons, is referred to in the following extract from Hone's "Every Day Book," vol. 1, p. 175 :
" This is an opportunity for alluding to the ancient English custom, with sponsors, or visitors at christenings, of presenting spoons, because the figures of the twelve apostles were chased, or carved upon the tops of the handles. Brand cites several authors to testify of the practice. Persons who could afford it gave the set of twelve, others a smaller number, and a poor person offered the gift of one, with the figure of the Saint after whom the child was named, or to whom the child was dedicated, or who was the patron Saint of the good natured donor."
Ben. Johnson, in his Bartholomew's Fair, has a character saying, " and all this for the hope of a couple of Apostles spoons, and a cup to eat caudle in." In the Chaste Maid of Cheapside, by Middleton, " Gossip" enquires, " What has he given her ? what is it Gossip ?" Whereto the answer of another "Gossip" is, " A faire high standing cup and two great 'postle spoons-one of them gilt." Beaumont and Fletcher, likewise, in the Noble Gentleman say-
" I'll be a gossip, Bewford, I have an odd apostle spoon."
The rarity and antiquity of the apostle spoons render them of con- siderable value as curiosities, &c., (here follows a description of the weight, metal, &c., of the spoons.)
It seems from " The Gossip," a poem by Shipman in 1666, that the usage of giving apostle spoons at christenings was at that time on the decline.
" Formerly when they used to trowl Gilt bowls of sack, they gave the bowl Two spoons at least ; an use ill kept, 'Tis well if now our own be left."
An anecdote is related of Shakespeare and Ben Johnson, which bears upon the usage. Shakespeare was godfather to one of John- son's children, and after the christening, being in deep study, Johnson cheeringly asked him why he was so melancholy. " Ben,"
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said he, "I have been considering a great while what should be the fittest gift for me to bestow upon my god-child, and I have resolved it at last." "I pray thee, what ?" said Ben. "I faith, Ben," answered Shakespeare, " I'll give him a dozen good latten spoons, and thou shalt translate them."
The word latten, intended as a play upon the word latin, is a name for the iron tinned-of which spoons and similar small articles of household use are sometimes made. Without being aware of the origin, it is still a custom with many persons to present spoons at christenings, or on visiting " the lady in the straw," though they are not now adorned with imagery.
There is another ancient usage of which many people now may not understand the meaning. On our old church and town records, as well as in bible and family registers, will be found recorded not only the day of a child's birth, but also the hour and precise moment. The practice grew out of the prevalence of astrological notions. It was to enable the astrologers to calculate the nativity of the person. As in many other cases, the usage has remained, while the reason of it is forgotten.
" In advent, Mr. Fayerweather preached for the Rev. Mr. Bisset in Newport, by earnest desire. On the 25th Dec., 1771, it being Christmas, attended Trinity Church again, and administered communion at the altar, above 200 members present.
" Jan. 9, 1772. Received a letter from the church wardens of Newport to attend as pall-bearer to the Rev. Mr. Keith, my old friend, and once my predecessor in Georgetown, South Carolina, and to preach a funeral sermon on the occasion, which I did on the very day after the interment, in Trinity Church, to a full auditory."
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" April 16, 1772. In presence of many witnesses, Mr. Fayerweather married Mr. Sylvester Sweet to Miss Martha Whalley, of Narragansett, the bride being given away by her father, Mr. Jeremiah Whalley, one of the descendants of old Colonel Whalley, who came away from Great Britain on account of being one of the regicides of King Charles the First, of ever blessed memory, and who sat in the mock court before which that excellent Prince, that blessed martyr, was arraign- ed, tried, and condemned, and who was called prover- bially (in the day of it) one of King Charles' judges."
Who this Mr. Whalley really was is still shrouded in mystery. Until Doctor Stiles' " History of the Judges" appeared, there never had existed any doubt in Rhode Island, and particularly in Narra- gansett, that the Whalley who lived in concealment, at the head of the Petaquamscutt Ponds in Narragansett, was the real Colonel Whalley, one of the regicide judges, with the change of the chris- tian name of Theophilus for Edward. His children and descend- ants believed it, and those now living believe it, and are confident of the fact. Hutchinson, in his History of Massachusetts, states that the regicides lived upon remittances annually sent them by their friends in England ; and Colonel Willet-on the western borders of whose farm (the farm now occupied by Willet Carpenter, Esq., the descendant of Col. Willet,) Whalley had built his hut-says, that annually Mr. Sewall and other gentlemen came from Boston to his house, and would send for Whalley and privately confer with him, and after they left, Whalley would have plenty of money. That in Queen Ann's war, Col. Willet-who was educated a merchant and had retired from business, and was a man of information and reading -told Dr. Stiles that a ship of war anchored opposite the farm where Whalley lived, and a captain of the same name made him a visit, and they recognized each other with the affection of kindred. The
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captain invited him on board, but Whalley neglected to go, for fear it was a snare laid to take him. That he never would disclose to any one his history. Further, that he had an University education, and was a fine Hebrew, Greek, and Latin scholar ; and when he died, he was buried with the honors of war. The conclusion of Dr. Stiles is, that the Whalley mentioned by the Rev. Dr. Fayerweather was neither General Whalley nor General Goffe, the regicide judges ; but that Theophilus Whalley, of Narragansett, was an officer in the Parliamentary wars and through the Protectorate. " One of the same family of the Judge was Lieutenant Whalley, who served in Hacker's regiment. Hacker, though not a judge, yet commanded at the execution of the King, was himself executed in 1660. And Goffe's journal mentions Robert Whalley, (supposing Theophilus) then in Hacker's regiment, and active at the King's execution, he might be in danger, and so fled to escape from ven- geance." After the death of Whalley, about 1670, Gen. Goffe left Hadley, and went westward towards Virginia ; and as Theophilus Whalley appeared in Narragansett shortly after from Virginia, Gov. Hutchinson conjectured he might be Gen. Goffe, but was unable to procure satisfactory evidence for this conclusion.
That learned and indefatigable antiquarian, President Stiles, who spent thirty years of his life in collecting the materials of his history, has brought to light all the facts, circumstances, and traditions that could have been obtained ; but such was the designed obscurity that attended every movement of the exiles, that to obtain any thing definite was impossible ; and after collecting and arranging all his materials, he leaves every reader to judge for himself. The only evidence of the debility of Whalley from age, and finally of his death, is gathered from the letters of Goffe to his wife ; and if con- jecture is to have any weight, might not these statements have been feigned for the purpose of concealing the escape of Whalley with Goffe ?
On the other hand, it is strange that Major Richard Smith, who was an officer in Cromwell's wars, and assisted in establishing the Protectorate, and in the time of Richard Cromwell fled to his father's residence in North Kingstown, and resided within seven miles of Whalley, and died in 1692, never associated with or even mentioned any thing of him, when, from circumstances, they must have been
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connected in the same common cause. In addition to all this, it is singular that Dr. McSparran, whose farm was within one mile of Whalley's residence, and who was also intimate with Col. Willet, and a near relative by marriage, should never have mentioned in all his correspondence something about this extraordinary man.
COLONEL WHALLEY'S RESIDENCE.
Col. Whalley, when advanced in age, moved to West Greenwich, and resided on a farm he had previously purchased. " The assign- ment on the deed, dated Feb., 1711, was in his own handwriting," and Dr. Stiles says, " this was the first certain writing of Theophilus Whalley which I had seen." It was presumed that if this instru- ment could have been obtained and sent to some one in London, a comparison of hands would settle the question whether it was the handwriting of the real regicide judge, or whose it was. As an antiquarian fact, it was worthy of attention. On the 3d of July, 1843, the writer went to the residence of the late Judge Whalley, now in the possession of one of his descendants, and examined the old title deeds, and they were all there, except the one mentioned by Dr. Stiles. Mrs. Hopkins, then over 80 years old, stated that th
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deed missing was lent by the late Judge Hopkins, grandson of Judge Whalley, to Dr. Stiles, for the purpose of examination and compari- son, and that he promised to return it, or leave it with Gov. Green for them. Another member of the family said he understood that the deed had been left by Dr. Stiles with Gov. Green as he promised, but that they never went there for it. Gov. Green and Judge Hopkins having died long ago, and Mr. Ward, who is possessed of Gov. Green's papers, not being able to find it, it is now lost.
The aged Mrs. Hopkins above referred to, observed, that she well recollected Dr. Stiles visit at Judge Hopkins', at the house where Whalley died : that he rode in a gig, wore a wig and spectacles, and told them he should try to have a monument erected over the grave of Whalley, who was buried on his farm on Hopkins' Hill, in West Greenwich, now owned by Gideon Hopkins, a descendant of Whalley. The grave is near the highway that leads from Washing- ton Factory to the Ten Rod road, and so near the fence that you can see it sitting in your carriage. The grave is a very long one, lying north and south, with stones, but no inscription. "He was a large tall man, six feet high when an 100 years old, and then walked up- right ; not fat, but thin and lathy ; was 103 when he died."
" June 7, 1772. Having received two or three letters from an ancient and truly honorable society in Boston to preach to them on a particular and laudable occasion, viz., the 24th of June, I sat off on the 8th of the month for the purpose of taking Warwick and Providence on the way, and of officiating in both of those places, by desire of the Rev. Mr. Graves, from which two places he gained a most serious and a most attentive audience. But the occasion of my journey to Boston was to cele- brate the Festival of St. John, and deliver a discourse adapted to the occasion, and to that day observed throughout christendom, which I did at Christ Church,
A44
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and the Rev. Dr. Byles, the pastor, read prayers-where there was the most brilliant and splendid, as well as the most numerous, assembly. After divine service, a grand procession from the church, followed with all the grand officers, clothed and adorned with their robes and jewels, to illustrate the splendor and magnificence of the day, and do honor to John the Baptist-who both by precept and example ever inculcated the Christian doctrine with emphasis, 'OF LOVING ONE ANOTHER.''
" June 28, 1772. Mr. Fayerweather officiated in Kings Chapel for the Rev. Dr. Caner, and for the Rev. Mr. Walter in Trinity Church, Boston.
" July 18. Sat out from Boston on my return home by the way of Taunton, and administered there the sacred ordinance of baptism to a male child of Mr. James Hill, merchant, and grandchild of the late Rev. Doctor Sewall, an independent teacher in Boston, whose zeal was always remarkably distinguished against the church of England, and particularly her form and cere- monies, and that in special as to the rite of baptism. The ordinance was performed at Col. White's, in Taun- ton. The sponsors were Mr. Hill and wife, the child's natural parents, and aunt, and the name of the little infantile was JAMES, after its father's name."
" Dec. 13, 1772. Mr. John Gardiner, son of the late John Gardiner, Esquire, of Boston Neck, (so distin-
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guished) to Miss Sarah Gardner, eldest daughter of Capt. Samuel Gardner. The bride was given away by her father about half an hour after 4 o'clock, in the presence of sundry witnesses."
John Gardiner was the son of John, and the grandson of William Gardiner, one of the first settlers of Narragansett. Col. Gardiner was an accomplished gentleman of the old school, and of popular manners. He early rose into public favor, and was an active whig in the revolution. He was elected representative to the General Assembly from South Kingstown, his native town, for the years 1786-7, by the Paper Money party. In 1788 and 1789, he was elected by the popular vote of the State a delegate to the Confede- rated Congress, but did not take his seat in that body. Col. Gardiner inherited the patrimonial estate of his ancestors, the farm next south of the South Ferry, containing five hundred acres, reputed the most fertile tract in Narragansett. He died in October, 1808, aged 61- his wife survived him some years. They left seven children. 1st. Sarah, married Thomas Jenkins, of Hudson, N. Y., issue. 2nd. Robert, was some years United States Consul in Sweden-he mar- ried a Miss Day, of Catskill, N. Y., lost at sea-no issue. John and William died single. Emma married Philo Day, and Harriet married Russell Day, both of Catskill. 7th. Sylvester, nory living.
"Sept. 6, 1773. Mr. Fayerweather journeyed to Boston to attend the annual convention of the Rev. Clergy of the Episcopal church, and on Wednesday the 8th we met, and before the convention the Rev. Mr. Winslow preached from the words-' It is good to be zealously affected in a good cause.'
" The reverend convention having been applied to from the church of England at Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, in their destitute state-being deprived of
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their worthy pastor, the Rev. Mr. Browne-to be sup- plied with preaching. They agreed to supply them six Sundays, provided Mr. F. would consent to assist them one of the six, and to take the first for his choice. Accordingly, by the desire of the convention, then met at Dr. Caner's house, Mr. F. sat off from Boston Friday the 10th, and preached in Portsmouth Church, which he found to be a small, but a gay and shining congregation in respect to dress and appearance. In his way thither, through the falls of Newbury, he offered a young gentle- man-one of his neighbor's sons from his parish in the Narragansett country-as a pupil to the Dummer school, a most charitable foundation of the late Lieut. Governor Dummer, of Boston, and Mr. Samuel Moody, the pre- ceptor or master, kindly accepted him."
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