USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Scituate > An historical address, delivered in Scituate, Rhode Island, July 4th, 1876, at the request of the town authorities > Part 2
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The house now standing on this farm is quite a large one, as are also the barns. The house has been twice repaired and enlarged by additions, but no part of the old Wilkinson house is retained in it. Two magnificent chestnut trees are standing in a lot opposite the house, of apparent great age.
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Some anecdotes connected with his wife, whose maiden name was Martha Pray, illustrate the perils and heroism of the early settlers. Her husband, being absent at work some two miles off, she discovered a bear upon a sweet apple tree, shaking off the fruit that he might devour it on the ground. As it was the only tree of the kind they had, and highly valued, Mrs. Wilkinson not a little regretted the absence of her husband, whose gun kept loaded for such emergencies, was in its place on the pegs at the side of the wall. The apples continued to fall and rattle on the ground, and there was no other help at hand but the gun, which Martha, in a fit of desperation, took into her hands and going out the door which stood open, she took aim and fired. Dropping the gun on the ground immediately after the discharge, alarmed and trembling at what she had done, she ran back into the house and shut the door, afraid to look back and see what she had done, or the effect of the shot. When Mr. Wilkinson returned home, and was informed by his wife of what she had done, he went out to the tree and found the bear dead on the gronnd, so that his faithful and resolute wife had not only saved the cherished apples, but had secured some good meat as a supply.
This young married couple had also to guard their sheep by night from bears and wolves by putting them in log enclosures near the house. On one occasion they were awakened by a bear rolling the logs away in order to get at the sheep, and had to get up and drive him away.
Another incident called for his wife's coolness, courage and wisdom. Roving Indians sometimes called at the houses of the first settlers-a large party called at Mr. Wilkinson's house when none but his wife was at home. From their appearance, as she could not understand their language, she guessed that they wanted food, and she gave them all the provision she had in meat and meal. They took it and withdrew into a field near, made a fire and cooked and ate what had been given them, with great relish. It was no small relief to Mrs. Wilkinson, though she manifested no alarm, when they took their departure.
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They came back after a few days and brought some fine veni- son, which they left, apparently as a return for Mrs. Wilkinson's favors, and as an expression of their grateful sense of her kind- ness. In this way a friendship was created with the Indians, and they were often welcome and happy inmates of the Wilkinson household, and brought their baskets, moccasins and manufactures to barter off for food and other things which they wanted.
Mr. Wilkinson appears prominent in the first town meeting of Scituate after it was set off from Providence. He is called Lieut. Wilkinson, was elected a member of the Town Council and chosen Deputy.
Mr. William Hopkins, the only child of Major William Hop- kins, of Providence, married Ruth Wilkinson, daughter of " Capt. Samuel Wilkinson, Esq.," as he was styled in public records, and immediately after his marriage removed to a farm in Scituate in the neighborhood of Lieut. Joseph Wilkinson, the brother of his wife. His house was small, but the land was good-probably, not much cleared for tillage-in 1765, or thereabouts, when he took the place.
He is not much spoken of in the town records, and probably did not seek office, but gave himself steadily to the work of his farm and the care of his family. His memory is chiefly connected with some of his children who became illustrious and reflected great honor on their parents, and on the state and nation. William was the first born. He went abroad, and was presented at the court in England, and so took the favor of the King from his fine manly appearance, that he was appointed Major by him. A part of the coat he wore at court has been preserved by his descendants, and I have seen it on exhibition at one of the late antiquarian exhi- bitions in Providence. Ilis other children were Stephen, John, Eseck, Samuel, Hope, Abigail and Susanna.
Eseck, soon after the death of his father, in the summer of 1738, a stout, tall and handsome young man, then in the twentieth year of his age, bid adieu to the old. homestead and journeyed to Providence and became a sailor, soon rising to the position of Cap-
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tain. He married when he was twenty-five years of age, Miss Desire Burroughs, daughter of Mr. Ezekiel Burroughs, of Newport, and took up his residence there. His conspicious services in the war of the revolution, as the first commodore of the navy are well · known. His fleet, consisting of the ships Alfred, Capt. Dudley Saltonstall, and the Columbus, Capt. Whipple, the brig Andrew Doria, Capt. Nicholas Biddle, and the Cabot, Capt. John B. Hop- kins, son of Eseck, and the sloops Providence, Fly, Hornet and Wasp, put out to sea Feb. 17, 1776, with a smart north-east wind, and cruising among the Bahama Islands, captured the forts at New Providence, Nassau. This was a very fortunate affair, for the heavy ordinance and stores taken proved quite acceptable to the country. He captured two British armed vessels on his return.
The Commodore, or Admiral, as Washington addressed him, met with difficulties in creating an efficient navy, and his force was wholly inadequate to protect the long line of coast and meet the vessels of the English navy, and he soon resigned and engaged in private armed vessels, as did his lieutenant, the famous John Paul Jones. He was successful in capturing many British vessels. In the collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society is a French engrav- ing of him, which has a splendid figure and a handsome open counte- . nance. It was circulated in France and this country in the carly part of the war. The Commodore's family clock has been pre- sented to Brown University, by his grand-daughter, Miss Elizabeth Angell. He died in 1802, and was buried at North Providence.
Stephen Hopkins was still more distinguished than the Com- modore. He was born March 7, 1707. But little is known of his boyhood, but he must, with the other sons of William, been early taught to labor on the farm. There were no schools in his day, but his mother was a woman of marked talents and character, and no doubt instructed him in many things. It has come down to us that he inherited hisabilities from her. His uncle Wilkinson, the survey- or, probably instructed him in that art, for we find him, still a youth, engaged in surveying. A strong passion for reading characterized his mature life. I was permitted to examine his library, which
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was large and valuable for the time. It would be interesting to know what books he read when a boy-procured at home, or ob- tained from connections and friends,-scarce, they probably were, and mostly of a religious character, but we may be sure he searched them thoroughly. Other means of culture were at hand. The conversation of parents, of visitors at his father's house, with vis- its to other families, added to his store of knowledge. Letters were arriving from England ; men and boys were returning from voyages at sea. Rhode Island being quite a maritime place, a minister would occasionally arrive from abroad and preach at a private house. If the school master passed through the place he may have said something. What other means had the boy Stephen Hopkins of education ? Nature spread before him a beautiful pan- orama. His father's house, built on high land, overlooking a wide extent of country, presenting a succession of wooded summits, rounded in the blue sky, the aspect of the heavens, radiant at night, and the seasons,
" Whither the blossom blows, the summer ray Russets the plain, inspiring autumn gleams, Or winter rises in the blackening east,"
all teaching some important lesson, and moulding the character : thus grew up that youth, who became fond of poetry, and the au- thor of some fine pieces, which have been preserved. I have stood upon the spot where the birth place of this signer of the Declara- tion of Independence drew out my thoughts to consider the local- ities of the place as sending their influences to act upon his child- hood. The foot-worn paths to the well, to the barn, and to the road, on account of a change of houses, the old one being much smaller, and built a little on the one side of the present structure, are not discernible. The garden in front of the house, on the op- posite side of the road, and the family burying place, just outside of the garden walls, reach back to ancient times. The graves of successive residents are there, but no lines are on the stones that mark the last resting place of William and Ruth Hopkins, the pa- rents of Governor and 'Admiral Hopkins. Would it not be well
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for the town of Scituate, on this centennial year, to put up in that ground a monument of honor and gratitude to the memory of those parents ?
Stephen Hopkins married, June 27, 1726, Sarah, the youngest daughter of Major Silvanus Scott, of Providence. He married early, being only nineteen years of age-his wife was about the same age. To create a home and a support for the newly married ones, the father of Stephen made him a gift of seventy acres of land, and his grandfather, Thomas Hopkins, bestowed upon his " loving grandson," as the will reads, an additional grant of ninety acres. The grandfather of Sarah was Mr. Richard Scott, of Provi- dence, "gentleman," the term used to show his quality.
Four years after this marriage, the portion, now Scituate, was set off from Providence, and Stephen Hopkins, then only twenty-three years of age, was the Moderator chosen. This fact is significant of the very high opinion entertained of him in his native town, as a man of business and competent to preside over public meetings. Joseph Brown was chosen Town Clerk for the first year, an office which included the registration of deeds, and Stephen Hopkins was elected the year after, and this office he held for ten successive years, and then resigned.
Mr. Hopkins removed to Providence in 1744, and purchased an estate on South Main street, at the corner of what is now Hop- kins street, named after him, but formerly Bank lane, because the first bank in Rhode Island was located at the foot of it. .
He engaged in commerce at Providence, but was soon called to fill important places in the State, as Chief Justice and Governor, -appointed to the Judgeship in 1739. No man was so often chosen as Moderator of Town Meetings in Providence. He assisted as- tronomers in making observations on the transit of Venus, at Provi- dence, having a high mathematical reputation. His zeal for liberty led him in early life, and later, to write and publish papers on the " Rights of the Colonies," and to hold correspondence with distin- guished patriots in various parts of the land. His memory was very retentive, and his capacity great. He died July 13, 1785.
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Stephen Hopkins may stand forth as a representative of Rhode Island. Born and educated there amid hardships and perils, and believed in and honored by its people ; his whole life, as it were, spent within its boundaries, and in its service, in the critical and forming period of its history, he represents its people.
Connected with the early settlers of this colony, on both the paternal and maternal sides ; his birth reaching back to its simplest or rudest condition, and forward to the close of the American Revo- lution ; his long, active, conspicuous life, spent among its people, moving and acting among them in constant and intimate contact with all classes and denominations, in domestic relations, business operations, and political and religious actions ; assisting in framing, interpreting and executing their laws, and trusted by them with almost every office in their gift, we may consider him as a fair specimen of native growth, showing all the capabilities of soil and culture.
It is to the honor of Rhode Island that she produced Stephen Hopkins; that he was the son of immigrants who selected her terri- tory for a home, and that he was cradled, nurtured, approbated, exalted, and kept in public service so long, with her full consent and honest pride. The existence of such a man under such cir- cumstances may certify, as a volume of true history may declare, to the character of her settlers and the influence of her institutions. There were true men and women who sought an asylum and built their homes on the Narragansett Bay; and they were not wanting in mental power, moral principle and heroic devotion to duty.
If these settlers maturing in their own native soil, and from their own native seed, had produced no other evidence of their worthiness to take an honorable place with the other New England colonies, the production of Stephen Hopkins would of itself suf- fice. IIe was a working man, beginning early and continuing late, covering half a century with his record of diligence.
His farming and mercantile operations absorbed much of his time and thought and strength. The business of surveying in the
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rough country in which he lived involved much hardship and labor, and he had much of it to perform. He was early engaged in at- tempts to develop the resources of the State in mining. His pub- lic life made him the servant of all ; and he was a close and severe student, filling up all the spare hours of his life with reading. The town records of Scituate attest that he was familiar with drudgery, and his committee labors in Congress won for him the praise of John Adams, as a business man. He owed much to his fine natural gifts, to the reputation and assistance of his family connections, and to the open field which Rhode Island offered at the time to a man of talent, tact and ambition-all three of which he possessed. But he, nevertheless, was indebted to his close application, inde- fatigable labor, and resolute persistence in toil, for his advancement. He thought it not beneath him to perform well the humblest duty, to execute faithfully the smallest trust, to excel in little things, and he never dreamed of idleness as his portion, or conceived that he could float into public favor and maintain influence without exer- tion. He had a small and obscure position, like a rill on a wooded . mountain side, but he worked himself out of it, despite of obstacles, and became like a river growing wider and wider as it proceeded from its source to the place where it passed into the sea.
He was one of the people at all periods of his history. He had long been placed over them in office, but he never outgrew his place among them, and never lost his sense of fellowship and sym- pathy with the toil, exposure and privations of the humblest citi- zen. His heart beat responsive to the hearts of men ; he was ever fighting their battles, considering them as his own; therefore it was that he had such a weight of influence-such a power of direct- ing movements, and dared to act with so much decision. As an illustration of his readiness to bear his part in all the burdens of the people we find his name, in 1757, heading a list of thirty-six men-his son George one of them-who were ready to march against the French and Indians, who had invaded the northern frontier, possessed themselves of Fort McHenry, and were carrying death and devastation on their way. The tidings of their retreat prevented the party from setting out.
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In the taking of the Gaspee, in which his son, John B. Hop- kins, took a leading part, Mr. Hopkins being Chief Justice he asked the advice of the Assembly what course he should pursue if the British government should demand the men who destroyed her. He was told to use his own discretion, to which he answerd, -- ' " Then, for the transportation for trial, I will neither apprehend any person by my own order, nor suffer any executive officer in the colony to do it."
In the North Burial Ground, of Providence, is his grave; and there his State has erected a monument to his memory, on which, with other commendations, is inscribed these words: " His name is engraved on the immortal record of the Revolution, and can never die."
The children of Stephen Hopkins were "Rufus, the first child, born Feb. 10, 1727 ; John, the second son, was born Nov. 11, 1728. Ruth, the eldest daughter, was born in 1729, and named after her grandmother Hopkins. She died in infancy in 1731, and was buried in Scituate. Lydia, the fourth child, was born in 1732, and probably died young. Silvanus, the third son, was born Oct. 16, 1734. Simon was born Aug. 25, 1736, and George, the seventh and youngest child, was born in 1739. All the sons ex- cept Simon, who died while a lad, were sailors, going to sea while boys, and all became masters of vessels but Silvanus, who became mate at eighteen, and would have been captain soon after, had he lived. Rufus was so far successful that he invested five hundred pounds in the Hope furnace, Scituate, 1766, and became its super- intendent. This furnace cast cannon which were used in the army and navy during the revolutionary war. There were two cannon usually cast at one time, and they were afterwards bored.
While living at the furnace he received the appointment of Judge, which he held for several years. He was one of a commit- tee appointed by Congress, Dec. 14, 1775, to superintend the build- ing of vessels of war. He was concerned in the first cotton factory put up near the Hope furnace in 1807. Silvanus, one of his sons, was the first agent of the Hope Manufacturing Company. Rufus
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Hopkins died in August, 1809, at the house of Mr. Andrew Ralph, and was buried in the North Burial Ground, Providence. He is said to have greatly resembled his father, and the likeness in the picture of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, pur- porting to be that of Gov. Hopkins, is his.
Capt. John Hopkins, the second son of Stephen, in 1753, sailed for Cadiz, Spain, and died there July 20th, with the small pox, aged twenty-four years. Silvanus, the third son of Stephen was killed by Indians after he was cast away on the Cape Breton shore. Of the remaining children, Simon died at Providence, at the age of seven years, and George, the youngest, who married Ruth Smith, was lost at sea in the year 1775, with the vessel he commanded.
JOHN HULET, GOV. WEST, AND HUNTING GRAND OLD FURNITURE.
As the land was being cleared, with here and there, at irregu- lar places, a clearing made or commenced,
" Where not a habitation stood before, Abodes of men irregularly massed."
One of these, whose chimney smokes were illuminated by the morning sun in the woods of Scitaate, in its early settlement, was John Hulet and Berenice, his wife, who, about 1740, resided in the north-western part of the town. His grave is pointed out in a pas- ture back of the house of John Harris, Esq., a short hillock, marked by two walnut trees, and lying on the westerly side of the most northern one. Two rough moss covered stones, one at each end of the grave, and without inscription, designate the last resting place of one who owned large tracts of land in the vicinity, but now sleeps unnoticed and unknown by the living generations about him. His transactions in deeds were numerous, and run from 1743 to 1763. In 1744 he bought one hundred and fifty acres of Stephen Hopkins for three hundred pounds, land commonly called " Oyster- shell Plain." We find him, among others, taking the oath against bribery, Aug. 15, 1747, an example which might be followed at the present day for the advantage of the country.
Benjamin Gorton, of Warwick, married John Hulet's daughter
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Avis, July 18, 1762. His son Mason married, the year following, Oct. 23, 1763, Elizabeth Mathewson, of Johnston. Elder Reuben Hopkins performed the marriage service on both these interesting occasions. Mason Hulet removed to Vermont and settled at Wal- lingford, on the Otter Creek, and has left numerous descendants in that State. John Hulet, March 1761, sold to Col. Wm. West the farm of two hundred acres which he bought of Stephen Hopkins. He sold it for forty thousand pounds, a price not to be accounted for, except, we admit, the great depreciation of the currency. Mr. Hulet was appointed, with Thomas Angell, pound keeper, in 1747. He is called "Captain " in his appointment of fence viewer in 1750. He was undoubtedly a man of considerahle property for those days, and quite a dealer in lands. He sold to Boylston Bray- ton, of Smithfield, May 28, 1763, two tracts of land,-one lying in Glocester, according to the deed, "the half of a farm whereon Ralph Wellman did formerly live, and bounded as in deed of Wil- liam West to Eliphalet Eddy, Feb. 16, 1760, and also more particu- larly by the said Eddy to me, the said John Hulet, containing three hundred acres, more or less. The other tract is in Scit- uate, and is my homestead farm, and the same whereon I now dwell, and contains about two hundred and fifty acres, bounded northerly on land of James Wheeler, easterly on land of the same, and on land belonging to Capt. John Whipple, southerly on land of William West and westwardly on . land of Charles Hopkins and Barnes Hall, and on land belonging to heirs of Joseph Wilkinson." This homestead farm would seem to have been very near to the place of his burial. We find him buying at the same time of Benj. Anthony, of Swanzea, for 1800 Spanish milled dollars, 229 1-2 acres of land, where Thomas Knowlton once dwelt in Scituate, in part bounded by territory of heirs of Joseph Wilkinson. Mr. Hulet must have died soon after these last trans- actions, as we find no further mention of him in the town rec- ords. He is said to have died of fever after a very short illness.
Licut .- Gov. West, who, purchased the old homestead which Gov. Hopkins sold to John Hulet, had for some time previous to
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1761, been living in Scituate, and had resided a little west of said farm, where his son John afterwards lived. He removed from North Kingston to Scituate, and was chosen Deputy. He was also elected to represent the town in a General Convention held at East Greenwich, Sept. 26, 1786. In the appointment by the Governor in 1775, of Eseck Hopkins to be General of troops to be raised for the defence of the shores of the Narragansett, Col. West was placed second in command. We find him very active in town af- fairs during the Revolutionary war. In May, 1777, he was made chairman of a committee to ascertain the number of effective sol- diers still wanting to complete the Continental battalion, then rais- ing by the State. He was several times chosen as Moderator of the town, and was a man of intelligence and enterprise, infusing energy and courage in the people.
In 1775 he put up the largest and most showy house that had ever been erected in Scituate. Mr. Welcome Arnold, who died some twenty years ago, was at the raising of this house, and used often to speak of the great gathering and interest of the occasion. Liquors of all sorts were furnished, but while rum was very plenti- ful there was a choice kind of wine, of which the people were only permitted to take a little. This house is on the Providence and Hartford turnpike, three miles west of the village of North Scitu- ate. It is a gambrel-roofed house of two stories as it fronts the road, and of four stories on the end opening to the east, including the basement and the attic story. The rooms in the house are very spacious, and the attic seems as large as many meeting houses, it being all in one room. It was quite a museum, with old fashioned looms, spinning wheels, chests of drawers, and other articles, when I saw it.
A very interesting historical place is this house, built by Lieut. Gov. William West, coeval with our centennial year, and it is a very pleasant coincidence that one of our committee lives in the house with his brother-in-law, Mr. Richard A. Atwood. I rather think that not a few rebels were quartered there at times in the Rev- olution, and seditious conversation indulged in, and even rebel-
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lion openly talked of, and schemes devised against the British troops and vessels. I don't see why that house, built on the prem- ises where Gov. Stephen Hopkins and . Commodore Eseck Hopkins were born, should not be placarded, these centennial days, with the noble and patriotic words of Rhode Island statesmen and heroes as is the case to-day with the Old South Church in Boston, and flags and streamers displayed upon it. The old house was raised and built by patriotic men who knew how to handle the musket and the sword, and doubtless did, most of them, serve in the American army and navy. If the old folks have gone to their reward in heaven they have left us a memorial of their day, in this edifice, and may it stand a century longer.
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