USA > Rhode Island > Bristol County > Bristol > Celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the town of Bristol, Rhode Island : September 24th, A.D. 1880 > Part 13
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BENJAMIN BOSWORTH SMITH.
REV. JOHN BURT WIGHT.
WAYLAND, Mass., Sept 21st, 1880. To Mr. William J. Miller, Committee :
DEAR SIR :- My father's hand trembles so much that it is quite impos- sible for him to use it in writing, but at your request I will send you some of the recollections of his early boyhood.
He says : " I have never kept a diary, and must in my account be guided by definite impressions made on my mind by passing events. Bristol was purchased and settled by four English gentlemen. They probably were impressed by its commercial position and the remarkable beauty of its locality. In my boyhood I went frequently to a house near Mt. Hope, built by one of these gentlemen. It was then occupied by Governor Brad- ford. The walls of one room were hung with tapestry, representing the story of Jephtha and his daughter, the figures of life size. The streets were laid out with great regularity, and ornamented by hundreds of the
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mazzard cherry trees, brought from England; as these trees decayed from age, they were replaced by the Lombardy poplar.
"My mother was in delicate health, and some gentlemen of my father's society presented her with a chaise, which was the second covered wheel carriage in town; but in a few years chaises had become so numerous that a party of gentlemen and ladies rode out to meet my father on his return from his annual visit to Boston, and had a tea drinking at Warren.
"I went to school with other small children to Madam Burt, the widow of the former clergyman. Afterwards Mr. Joseph Rawson taught a pri- vate school in the Court House. He was a very able man, and a good teacher.
" Then a spacious academy building was erected. It contained a hall, used for occasional meetings of the Legislature, and other purposes; also a library room. This room was occupied by a Proprietors' Library.
"The town had been furnished with a few of the leading theological works, which were kept in the meeting-house for the perusal of the peo- ple who remained during the interval of religious services. The Proprie- tors' Library consisted of miscellaneous books, the popular tales, histo- ries, travels. At an early date Col. Simeon Potter, of Scituate, gave several hundred dollars and a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica, in twenty volumes, two with plates. These books were all imported from London. The Library was called the Potter Library, in honor of Col. Potter.
"Bristol, at an early period, was engaged in the slave trade. I recollect seeing on the wharf long rows of hogsheads of New England rum, to be sent to Africa for the purchase of slaves. My father took me with him to see the last slave ship fitted out. It was owned by Philadelphians, and in derision of scruples which were beginning to be felt, was called the ' Merry Quaker.' There were handcuffs hanging in the blacksmith's shop. There were in town a number of Africans regarded as belonging to particular families. These had special seats provided for them in the upper gallery of the Congregational Church. They were headed by Scipio Burt, the servant of the former minister. Scipio was generally esteemed for his good nature and honesty, and was several years sexton of the church.
" The neighboring ministers, acquaintances and friends of my father, or, rather, some of them, were Drs. Hopkins and Patten, of Newport, Mr. Watson, of Barrington, Mr. Pipond, of Taunton, Dr. Fobes, of Raynham, Dr. Wilson, of Providence. My early years saw the discovery of electricity by Dr. Franklin. There was much interest on the subject, and my father gave fifty dollars for an electrical machine. The ladies came once a year to visit at their minister's, each of them bringing two skeins of linen as a present to his wife. There were two chimneys in the centre of the house, and the doors could be opened all around. The favorite amusement was to form a circle and receive an electric shock.
" The people of Bristol held funeral services on occasion of the death of Washington. A coffin was carried in procession, an oration pronounced, then the coffin was deposited in a tomb."
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My father is not quite as well as usual, and what I send you is the best result I could obtain to-day. I do not know as it is at all what you want. At eighty years my father would have been able to be in Bristol on such an occasion, but at ninety, of course he has failed in body and mind.
Yours respectfully,
MARTHA B. WIGHT.
NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 1880. Le Baron B. Colt, Esq., President :
DEAR SIR :- I have received the invitation to attend the celebration of the Bi-Centennial of the town of Bristol, and must thank the Committee for the attention, wondering that I should, at this distance of time, have been found out as one of her sons.
Believe me, I have not, without pleasure, written my birthplace as Bristol, that sturdy little town, well known in the war of 1812, which then, asserting her own, has not ceased to assert it to this hour.
The day for their first settlement at Bristol was chosen by our progen- itors for good reasons doubtless; probably for the best of all reasons, necessity ; but (what they could not be expected to foresee), its two hundredth anniversary happens on a day when one of her sons, at least, will be so engaged as to make it difficult, if not impossible, for him to be absent from the home to which he has wandered.
It would give me great pleasure to visit my birthplace again. A town two hundred years old may be proud of its antiquity in a country where cities come to maturity in a decade, having hardly known infancy, and quite ignorant of such an idea as childhood.
I trust the day may pass to the satisfaction and triumph of those present sons and daughters of their venerable parent, who have had the courage, as well as filial affection, to undertake to do her honor.
I would be glad, under such auspices, to look again on the places which seem very distinct to my recollection, albeit the long shadows of nearly sixty years intervenc. I fear the remembered vastness of many of them would diminish greatly on actual sight. There was the Common, on which took place the general training, with the great cannon and the masterly manœuvres of the sham-fight, the journey across which was too great to be undertaken alone; the mighty harbor, the voyage over which to the opposite shore was only to be made in fair weather, and on a calm day; the lofty height of Mount Hope, reached with much climbing, rewarded by a fine lunch; the church, whose vast proportions were sel- dom quite filled by the congregation. Ah, sir, I fear the pleasure of the pictures would be destroyed by too great familiarity now. It is well, per- haps, that I cannot come.
Wishing every success to the effort to make the day worthy of the occa- sion, I am respectfully,
And cordially yours, MARLBOROUGH CHURCHILL.
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CALVARY CHURCH, RECTORY, MANHEIM STREET,
GERMANTOWN, Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 22, 1880. Messrs. LeBaron. B. Colt, Wm. J. Miller, Edward S. Babbitt, Committee :
DEAR SIRS :- Pardon my delay in replying to your gratifying invitation bearing date of September 1. My apology is absence from home, enforced by an inflamed knee joint, which disabled me and prevented my return until yesterday. I am still unable to walk, and accordingly am compelled to decline the invitation which you kindly extend to me.
I sincerely regret that I cannot participate in this anniversary of my native town, to renew early compansionship, and to recall pleasant mem- ories. Of these many cluster around the old Academy, which is now sup- planted by the Byfield School, and from which I passed to our Rhode Island college, having been prepared by him who is now in Paradise, exchanging the knowledge which is in part for that which is perfect. His diversified acquirements, and his marked abilities as a teacher, being joined with retiring, studious habits and great humility, never received that public recognition which they deserved. But those of his pupils who knew him intimately and affectionately, will, I am confident, feel that the name of the Rev. N. B. Cooke should have a grateful mention at this anniver- sary, and that his years of faithful and wise instruction made an enduring impression upon those Bristol youth, who were so fortunate as to come under the influence of his honest scholarship and of his manly meekness.
Other features of the town now erased recur to me as I write, such as the two old wind mills, standing like two sentinels at each end of the town, challenging the Quixotic exploits of us boys, who, disposed "to run amuck and tilt at all we meet," with the vandal spirit of youth, hastened their overthrow and gradual removal.
Amid these pleasant paths of memory one might wander on to the point of weariness. I will halt here, wishing God's blessing upon dear old Bristol, and a complete success for its Bi-Centennial Celebration.
Were I so fortunate as to form one of your goodly company, I would be disposed to offer some such sentiment as this : If Cowper said truly that " God made the country and man made the town," then should the moral architects and artizans of our community build in harmony with the design and beginning made by the Divine Originator, building up its morality pure and undefiled as the unpolluted waters which encircle the town for its protection and purification, -fostering manners gentle and graceful as the curving lines of her shores-maintaining the straight paths of virtue as her streets stand four square to all the winds that blow; and as her shores are ever ringing with the echoes and ripplings of the boundless sea beyond, so may the blending of thought and action, of earnest tongue and honest toil be telling of a near and larger future, and form a chime to
" Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good."
Yours very truly, JAS. D'WOLF PERRY.
21
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AKRON, O., Sept. 15, 1880.
Le Baron B. Colt :
DEAR SIR :- I received the kind invitation of your Committee to attend the Reunion of the Sons and Daughters of Bristol, and I sincerely regret that I cannot be present to celebrate with you that happy occasion.
Years have passed sinee I walked the shady streets of dear old Bristol. In fancy I stand onee more beneath the waving branches of the elms that shadow my childhood's play-ground, the grassy Common; again I linger by tlie shore, looking out upon the sparkling waves of old Narragansett, and take one long, delicious draught of that cool, invigorating air. I breathe again-alas, the vision has vanished, and the smoke and fumes of bitunrinous eoal are wafted to me on the evening air, reminding me that I am far away from those delightful ocean breezes, in the neighborhood of a busy, bustling inland town.
How gladly would I meet (were it possible) with the many dear friends and old aequaintanees who will, on the twenty-fourth day of September, throng the streets of our ancient town.
Hoping that the occasion may indeed be a joyous one to all present, I remain,
Yours respectfully, MRS. O. S. WARNER.
SYLVANIA, Bradford Co., Pa., May 7th, 1880. To B. J. Munro, Esq. :
DEAR SIR :- Yours of Ist inst. traveled slow, for some reason or other, only reaching me last evening, 6th. In reply, shall be pleased to give you any information that I can. I am always pleased to hear from any one in our " Father land." You said in your letter that you were going to have a Centennial Celebration to celebrate the two hundredth anniver- sary of its settlement (Bristol), and that you were going to invite all her sons and daughters to "come home" and join you in that celebration. Certainly it must be a pleasure beyond expression to those who have been long absent in other lands to visit the home of their ehildhood again on such a day, devoted to the reeolleetions of the past. Will it not be one of the grandest days in her history, for many a gray-haired old man, as he returns to the home of his childhood to stand again upon his native soil, to look again upon the waters of the beautiful Narragansett, and seek out his playgrounds of fifty years ago, though long absent, not forgotten? It will renew their attachment to old Bristol again, if anything were neees- sary to do it; but I do not know as there is, for her children, wherever they may wander or seek homes in far-off lands, will remember her with the same affectionate regard as the eaptive Hebrew remembered his mueh- loved Jerusalem. I send to you sueh names as occur to me now ; perhaps
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I shall think of some more, and will send them to you. Shall be pleased to answer any inquiries, and hoping to be able to join you in the reunion on the 24th of September next, I remain,
Very respectfully yours,
HENRY B. CARD.
NEW HAVEN, Sept. 13, 1880.
Messrs. Colt, Miller and Babbitt, Committee :
GENTLEMEN :- I thank you for the invitation to me to be present at the Centennial Celebration of the settlement of the town of Bristol. It would give me great pleasure on many accounts to be present on that interesting occasion. I hope that if my health, which has been and still is quite im- perfect, permit, I will comply with your kind invitation. Fifty-four years have passed since I resigned my pastorate in that agreeable place of resi- dence. Yet I have not lost my attachment to that town, and to its highly favored people.
It was through the kind ordering of a wise Providence that I was asso- ciated with the venerable, kind-hearted senior pastor, Dr. Wight, as col- league with him for eleven years. This pastoral relation was very agreeable and uniformly harmonious. He was willing to assist me in any of the ministerial labors incumbent on us. For many years he had been the sole pastor, and was capable of giving advice to his junior associate. We were together as mutual laborers in the same field of spiritual culture.
With him and his family we enjoyed that pleasant intercourse which becomes the household of faith. The memory of it has given me pleasure to this day.
The year 1820 was signalized by a precious and powerful revival of religion. It was a truly pentecostal season. It commenced in our con- gregation, and soon spread into the other congregations of the place. The whole population was aroused and deeply interested, and converts by the power of the Holy Spirit were multiplied. A deep solemnity and religious joyfulness pervaded the whole community. Worldly business was for a time laid aside as far as practicable. Stores and shops were closed, and attention to ordinary affairs was suspended. Attending relig- ious meetings from day to day became the most important. occupation. An aged wealthy man met me in the street, and said with surprise, " What does all this mean? It seems as if the people did not want to do much else than to attend religious meetings." It was even so.
May the God of all grace soon give you such another copious effusion of the Spirit which shall occasion great joy in fair old Bristol, and also joy among the holy beings in heaven.
I hope to be with you on the day previous to the celebration.
Yours respectfully, J. MANN.
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CHICAGO, Sept. 16, 1880.
GENTLEMEN :- I have received your kind invitation to attend the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Bristol. I regret very much my inability to attend. The name of the town, something of its history, and legends, were made familiar to me in childhood by the conversation of my father and mother, who were born in its neighborhood.
Certainly one of the most heroic and interesting characters in all our Indian annals was the great Chief of the Wampanoags. I hope to see the rocky heights of Mt. Hope crowned with a monument to King Philip.
The day you celebrate will be full of the memories of the past, and hopes for the future; not only for your town and State, but for the great Republic, which has grown so rapidly and become so great. You will join with me in the prayer that our country may continue to advance through other centuries, and that the principles of liberty, regulated by law, and based on virtue and intelligence, of which your State furnishes so bright an example, may extend over the whole continent of America.
With many thanks, I am, gentlemen,
Very truly yours, ISAAC N. ARNOLD.
Messrs. Colt, Miller and Babbitt, Committee.
PROVIDENCE, September 20th, 1880.
William J. Miller, Esquire, Bristol :
DEAR SIR :- Your communication, accompanied by an invitation to be present at the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the town of Bristol on the 24th instant, has been received.
I have waited thus long before replying, in order that I might be able to determine whether I could accept the invitation. My time, as I am now situated, is not my own.
It would give me great pleasure to be present on that occasion and revive some pleasant memories of men and things in Bristol forty years ago; but my official duties will require my presence in this city on that day.
Yours respectfully,
JAMES C. HIDDEN.
BROWN UNIVERSITY, PROVIDENCE, Sept. 21, 1880.
Messrs. Le Baron B. Colt, Wm. J. Miller, and Edward S. Babbitt, Com- mittee :
GENTLEMEN :- I have delayed replying to your polite invitation, in the hope that I might find myself able to accept it; but I regret to say at this late hour, that my college engagements for the 24th inst. compel me to forego the great pleasure of being present at the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the town of Bristol. I thank you for the invi-
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tation to be present on an occasion of so great interest and importance, and I pray you to accept my hearty wish, that the heavens may smile upon you on that day, and that all fortunate influences may conspire to make it a great and a good day in the history of your town.
I have the honor to be, Yours very truly,
J. L. LINCOLN.
PROVIDENCE, Sept. 18, 1880.
GENTLEMEN :- I am greatly obliged to you for your polite invitation to take part in the forthcoming celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Bristol. It would give me great pleasure to be present on the interesting occasion, but the state of my health compels me, very reluctantly, to decline. I have deferred replying sooner to your invitation in the hope that I might give a favorable reply.
Yours very respectfully,
JOHN R. BARTLETT.
Wm. J. Miller, Esq., for Committee.
PROVIDENCE, Sept. 24, 1880.
Messrs. Colt, Miller and Babbitt, Bi-Centennial Committee :
GENTLEMEN :- It is with deep regret that I find myself precluded the enjoyment of participating in your festivities to-day ; but a form of disease which has kept me within doors for several days, is not so far mastered as to render it prudent for me to risk the fatigue and excitement incident to the occasion. While, therefore, I cannot participate with the throng in the pleasures of the Bi-Centennial of your town, I feel prompted to con- gratulate you on propitious skies, the zeal with which the inhabitants of Bristol have entered into the work of preparation, and the skill, taste, and good judgment exhibited by the Committee of Arrangements in executing their plans. Bristol has an honorable history, and can justly boast a long line of noble representative men. In the Revolutionary struggle-a suc- cessful struggle for national life-no town in the Colony was more patri- otic, or resisted the assaults of the enemy with more firmness; and from the day that the late venerable President of our Historical Society, John Howland-then a mere stripling-joined the Company of Capt. Pearce, at the Battery, for the defence of the town against the apprehended attack of Wallace, until the present day, the patriotism and public spirit of its people have never been questioned. That the inspirations of to-day will energize that spirit for time to come, I cannot doubt, and that the Bristol inhabitants of 1980 will prove worthy descendants of worthy sires, the commemoration of the third century of the town's life will unquestionably make clear.
Very truly yours, EDWIN M. STONE.
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Messrs. LeBaron B. Colt, William J. Miller, Edward S. Babbitt, Committee :
GENTLEMEN :- Your Bi-Centennial Celebration will take place during the first week of the session of the Supreme Court in this county, which pre- cludes my accepting the very kind invitation with which you have honored me.
I have long been interested in the history of Bristol, and it would afford me great pleasure to receive instruction in its facts from its students, who in its study have had the aid and inspiration which locality always affords, and I very sincerely regret that this pleasure will be denied me.
Very respectfully and truly yours,
W. P. SHEFFIELD.
NEWPORT, Sept. 3, 1880.
PROVIDENCE, R. I., Sept. 14, 1880 Messrs. LeBaron B. Colt, Wm. J. Miller, and Edward S. Babbitt :
GENTLEMEN :- I am very sorry that previous engagements will prevent the acceptance of your invitation to be present at your Bi-Centennial. I cannot make arrangements to change them. I trust that it will be a glad and glorious day to the people of Bristol, and that from it may spring an inspiration to a grand and noble future for the old town. It has passed the period of adolescence; may its maturity be marked by perpetual fresh- ness and vigor, and by steady advancement in intelligence, morality, religion, enterprise, and all those elements of prosperity and excellence so tersely summed up in the motto of the town-virtue and industry.
Very truly yours,
D. A. WHEDON.
24 WEST ST., BOSTON, 18th Sept., 1880.
Messrs. LeBuron B. Colt, W. J. Miller, Edward S. Babbitt:
DEAR SIRS :- I regret that engagements beyond my control will prevent my acceptance of your very kind invitation to be present at the celebra- tion of the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Bristol, and to show my sympathy in an event so deeply felt by your community.
Hoping that the recollection and example of the good old times will not fade from the memories of the descendants of the fathers of New England, I remain, gentlemen,
Your obedient servant, WM. W. GREENOUGH.
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BOSTON, 14 September, 1880.
MY DEAR SIR :- I have delayed answering your note, hoping I might be able to attend your most interesting anniversary. But I find the severe illness in my family renders this impossible, and I am very reluctantly obliged to decline the part you honor me with.
Let me remind you that Mr. Henshaw B. Walley, of this city, (45 Kilby street, and Chestnut street), is the representative of the family, and will, in all probability, be able to attend.
Cordially yours,
Mr. E. S. Babbitt.
WENDELL PHILLIPS.
TAMWORTH IRON WORKS, N. H., Sept. 21, 1880. E. S. Babbitt, Esq., Committee :
DEAR SIR :- Your letter of 15th inst., enclosing invitation, was forwarded to me at this place.
I thank you most cordially for both, and regret exceedingly that ill health must prevent me from being with you on Friday next.
I have delayed answering your letter till I could hear from my brother, W. P. Walley, as I greatly hoped that he might be able to represent the family, but he writes me that he will be unable to go.
I have written my cousin, Wendell Phillips, requesting him to convey the invitation to Mr. J. C. Phillips. If he cannot be present, I don't know of any descendant who will be able to dedicate the Walley tree, which I deeply regret. I hope, however, the tree will bear the name of Walley, and that it may live and flourish for centuries, and I shall take great pleasure in visiting your town as soon as possible, and becoming acquainted with the place where my ancestor lived. I have long desired to do so.
There is an oil painting of General Walley taken when he was quite young, in the possession of a relative in California. I have a large photo- graph of this picture, which I shall be happy to loan you for your exhibi- tion.
Very truly yours, HENSHAW B. WALLEY.
Letters acknowledging receipt of invitation, and expressing regret at inability to be present, were received from Judges Potter, Burges and Knowles; Hon. W. B. Lawrence, Bishop Hendricken; Wm. H. Nelson, Esq., Chairman Board of Selectmen, Plymouth, Mass .; F. Walley Perkins, a descendant of John Walley ; Profs. Bancroft, Appleton, Davis, Packard and Blake, of Brown University, and others.
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FIRST LIGHT INFANTRY VETERAN ASSOCIATION.
PROVIDENCE, R. I., Sept. 8th, 1880. Col. L. B. B. Colt, Chairman :
DEAR SIR :- At a meeting of the First Light Infantry Veteran Associa- tion held last evening, it was unanimously voted to visit Bristol, September 24th inst., and participate in the celebration of the two hundredth anni- versary of the settlement of the town, and the Association would be pleased to accept such position in the column as may be assigned them by your Committee.
The Veterans have received and accepted an invitation from Col. A. C. Eddy, to make his house their headquarters during their stay in Bristol.
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