USA > Rhode Island > Early Rhode Island; a social history of the people > Part 22
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Perhaps the best-dressed couple were Robert Brown, who expended in clothing £303., and his more luxurious helpmate, who had appropriated £358. There was only £63. in silver plate, but a gold necklace at £45. In £96. worth of pewter were included 12 hard metal plates. A large farming outfit had an item of £56. in eight bushels of wheat. The worthy pair were entitled to their small luxuries, for their personal estate amounted to £29,416.
As we have noted in Doctor MacSparran's farming, there was a small quantity of wheat grown on most places, probably for use in the family.
In 1762 the record makes 100 Spanish milled dollars equal to £600. Old Tenor bills. A tape loom occurs 14 S. K. MSS. Probate Rec., II., p. 177.
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worth 5s. and a China punch bowl at £30. Benjamin Babcock had the unusual volume, a " Gazzaite Tear," at £8.10., with other books at £11. Possibly a sailor, for he had a Callender and Compass at £8.15.
In 1767 Susannah Hazard, widow of Richard, mounts the record with a wardrobe of £714. The husband had been content with £110. A high case of drawers cost £100. The Madam's riding mare, saddle, pillion, and a young mare were valued at £480. The personal estate was moderate, £5806., with £8. O. T. rated at 1 Spanish milled dollar.
Slaves were often £1100. and £1200., with girls at £800. in 1770. John Gardner, with £250. in clothing, rode a horse costing £600., including saddle and bridle. He was well supplied with silver plate at £952., which embraced 8 porringers, a " teapot and milk." In addition a large tankard was appraised at £256. and a smaller one at £224. A clock £200., China and earthen ware in the closet £72., Table Linen £71. He had a large stock of cattle and sheep and four slaves. His personal estate was £71,002 O. T.
After Doctor MacSparran's death, regular services at St. Paul's Church were long suspended. Rev. Samuel Fayerweather, sent out from England, administered the sacrament in 1761, with only 12 participants. In the following year he preached to a congregation of 100. His preaching must have commended itself, for in the autumn of 1761 he served in the pulpit at King's Chapel, Boston, with Governor Bernard for an auditor. He was the pastor of St. Paul's until 1774.
George Rome (Room), " a Gentleman of Estate from Old England," afterward a noted Tory, was literally an alien character in our colonial life. Coming to Newport in 1761 as agent for Hopkins and Haley, he represented
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many British houses. He secured much real estate in dealing with debtors and about 1766 possessed himself of Henry Collins' farm at Boston Neck. We have noticed 15 this Newport magnate, who deserved a better fate than to be sold out by Rome under assignment. Mr. Rome appears on the Narragansett church records, as he spent his winters in Newport and his summers at Bos- ton Neck, where he had 700 acres. His bachelor quarters were in a large mansion house, the equipment of which was far beyond the life of Narragansett, and yet further ex- aggerated by local tradition. But in fact,16 as actually appeared a generation ago, there was a vast fireplace in the kitchen, where a man could walk in with his hat on. Cord-wood was burned without interfering with the back oven-door on one side of the fire, or the favorite ingle- seat on the other side. Along the kitchen and in rear were a number of small plastered bedrooms for slaves. There was a large annex in rear of the main building.
The garden was famous. A stately avenue of button- woods led to the mansion through fish-ponds, and through flowers in the formal arrangements of the time. A box- tree fifteen feet high and more than thirty feet around exists to-day, as it was removed by Mr. Perry to the grounds of the John Brown house in Providence.17
In this enchanted dwelling-place, the host gathered guests, not only from Newport and Narragansett, but from far-away Boston. He asked Colonel Stewart and another at Christmas " to celebrate the festivities of the season with me in Narragansett woods? A covey of partridges or bevy of quails will be entertainment for the Colonel and me, while the pike and perch pond amuse
15 Ante, p. 272.
16 Updike, Goodwin, Vol. II., p. 317.
17 Ibid., p. 318.
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you." The brew of punch was famous, and it was served at very extravagant entertainments. Ladies often en- livened the society of the place.
Mr. Rome's interests, as well as inclinations, caused him to become a bitter Tory. We cite below 18 from his opinions expressed in a letter written from the Narragan- sett villa December 22, 1767. In the agitations concern- ing the Stamp Act, he was very conspicuous. For oppo- sition to the charter and other misdemeanors, he was im- prisoned in 1775. After release, fearing further prose- cution, he fled on board the British man-of-war Rose. His estates were confiscated with those of other Tories.
Block Island, home of the Manissean tribe, always affected the mainland and South County. It early at- tracted attention as a fishing station, being settled in 1662 and a harbor begun in 1670. Their distinctive boats were a remarkable production. From the keel rose stem and stern posts at an angle of 45°; the bow and stern were nearly alike and the sides of lapstreak cedar. Open with no deck, the two masts carried narrow tapering sails. Having no shrouds or stays, the masts bent with peculiar elasticity as the storm-winds strained every fiber of the structure. One has never been swamped in the open sea. In the largest waves running as " three
18 " The colonies have originally been wrong founded. They ought to have been regal governments, and every executive officer approved by the King. Until that is effected, and they are properly regulated, they will never be beneficial to themselves, nor good subjects of Great Britain. . They obtained a repeal of the Stamp Act by mercantile influence, and they are endeavouring, by the same artifice and finesse, to repeal the acts of trade, and obtain a total exemption from all taxation. . . . The temper of the country is exceedingly factious, and prone to sedition: they are growing more imperious and haughty-nay, insolent-every day. A bridle at pres- ent may accomplish more than a rod hereafter."-Updike, Goodwin, Vol. II., pp. 83-84.
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brothers," the steersman generally waits for the last, and from its high crest usually lands in safety. The family apparel was carried in a band-box, "a Block Island trunk," and when they reached home they feasted on a " Block Island turkey," i. e., Codfish. The fishing was a great resource, and as the boat filled, they threw out the pebble-ballast. The best fisherman was " high-hook." The hardy masters of these boats were literally masters of the sea.
The ocean likewise furnished seaweed and fish to fer- tilize the fields, as was the custom on the mainland. Large swamps afforded peat, commonly called tug, which they began to burn in 1721, and used for their only fuel for a century.
The island was a most exposed point in the Revolution- ary War, and the colony was obliged to remove the sheep and cattle, to prevent the enemy from appropriating them. The authorities paid £534.9.6. for 1908 sheep and lambs ; the number of cattle taken was not recorded.
The " Palatine Light," seen for at least three-quarters of a century, affected the main shore as well as the island ; a curious romance, it was treated by Whittier in his poem bearing the same name. Doctor Aaron C. Willey, a com- petent observer, wrote a scientific account 19 of the phe- nomenon in 1811. " This curious irradiation rises from the ocean near the northern part of the island. Its appearance is nothing different from a blaze of fire; whether it actually touches the water or hovers over it is uncertain. It beams with various magnitudes, when large (as a ship with canvas spread) it displays either a pyra- midical form or three constant streams, often in a con- stant state of mutation. The duration is not commonly more than two or three minutes. This lucid 19 Arnold, " R. I.," Vol. II., pp. 88-91.
غداد الحصرى الماضية
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meteor has long been known by the name of the Palatine light. By the ignorant and superstitious it is thought to be supernatural. Its appellation originated from that of a ship called the Palatine, which was designedly cast away at this place, in the beginning of the last century, in order to conceal, as tradition reports, the inhuman treatment and murder of some of its unfortunate passen- gers. From this time, it is said, the Palatine light ap- peared, and there are many who believe it to be a ship of fire, to which their fantastic and distempered imaginations figure masts, ropes and flowing sails."
Mr. Livermore,20 writing in 1876, denies the burning of the vessel, claiming that the Dutch ship Palatine touched at the island about 1752, leaving Kattern, a negro woman, who married there and was a so-called witch, fortune-teller and opium-eater; adding in her way to the hazy mists of tradition and the actual appearance of the Palatine Light. Besides, there were landed some logs of lignum vitæ. Certainly this timber was actual, for the present writer has within reach of his hand, his grand- mother's mortar and kitchen rolling pin made from the Palatine relics. The actual phenomenon of the light was remarkable, and it was strange that the cause, as well as the effect, disappeared entirely early in the nineteenth century.
In 1765 Mr. Fayerweather went over to Westerly to serve at the marriage of Dr. Joshua Babcock's daughter. Let us study the Doctor, an example of the men gifted with almost universal capacity-the makers of these United States. His father, Captain James Babcock, of Westerly, died in 1736-7, owning 2000 acres of land, horses, slaves and stock in proportion. Joshua, born 1707, dying in 1783, was said to be the first native of 20 " Block Island," p. 121.
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Westerly to practice medicine there. He graduated at Yale College, completing his medical education in Bos- ton and in England. Notwithstanding his extensive prac- tice he opened at Westerly one of the largest retail stores. In 1747 he was an associate justice in the Superior Court of Rhode Island, and for three or more years, between 1749 and 1764, he was chief justice.21 He represented his native town in the General Assembly for more than forty years. Knowing many prominent men from New London to Boston, especially Doctor Franklin, he enter- tained them in the old mansion, where the box-trees still line the approach to the hospitable door. Being Major- General of the militia in 1776, he entertained General Washington. He was an ardent patriot in that stirring time, pushing the cause of his country in every way.
Dr. Levi Wheaton lived in his family in 1779 as a medi- cal student and as preceptor to his grandchildren. Dr. Wheaton's reminiscences are exceedingly interesting. At the age of seventy-two, Dr. Babcock was vigorous in mind and body, mounting his horse sixteen hands high from the ground. Methodical in his habits, he spent an early hour on the farm, then took breakfast of bread and milk, with apple-pie or fruit. He disdained coffee, saying, this porringer and spoon has furnished my breakfast for forty years. For dinner at an excellent table, he partook of one dish only, whether fish, flesh or fowl. He drank cider commonly, and a glass of good wine. At tea he drank " exactly three cups." It was customary to enter- tain handsomely at supper, but whatever he gave to guests, for himself he took bread and milk.
Weekly, he had prayer for the family and read a chap- ter from the Bible. Noticing that the reading was not in common English, the young doctor looked into the 21 Updike, Goodwin, Vol. II., p. 47.
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Bible and found that it was in Greek text. Heterodox theology was creeping in. The Doctor was a professed Christian, but Wheaton found in his library, Clarke on the Trinity, " which cost him a Bishopric," and Foster's ser- mons, " which lost him fellowship with orthodox Bap- tists." These works were greatly admired by Dr. Bab- cock; whatever his inner opinions, " his moral character was irreproachable, and he was an honest man."
Dr. Franklin was his friendly correspondent and vis- ited him on his yearly visits to Boston. Dr. Babcock told a story well and had many anecdotes of Franklin. Mrs. Babcock-superior in that time of superior women- asked the philosopher if he would have his bed warmed. " No, Madam, thank'ee, but if you will have a little cold water sprinkled on the sheets I have no objection." Folly goes with philosophers as well as with common men.
Physician, man of business, jurist and patriot, the family cares of this representative American went far beyond those of most men. Wheaton found him sur- rounded by some fifteen grandchildren, whose education he was superintending as minutely as he had done in the case of his own children.
Colonel Babcock-" Handsome Harry," his eldest son- born in 1736, took his graduating degree at Yale College at the age of sixteen.22 At eighteen he was made Cap- tain of a company in the Rhode Island contingent against the French in 1756. In the campaign against Ticon- deroga, 1758, he was promoted to be colonel of our regi- ment. Leading 500 men, he had 110 killed and wounded, and received a musket ball in his knee. Altogether he served five campaigns in the old French war " with great reputation." In the Revolution, a staunch patriot, he was appointed to the command at Newport in 1776. 22 Updike, Goodwin, Vol. II., p. 56.
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He had learned artillery at Woolwich in England, and drove off the British man-of-war Rose with an eighteen- pounder, fired by his own hand from the open beach. A severe illness in the winter incapacitated him from further service. A practicing lawyer, he was most eloquent when he spoke before the General Assembly. Some fifteen years earlier he had spent a year in England and was most hospitably received. Tradition commonly ran that, when presented at Court, instead of kissing the Queen's hand, he saluted the royal cheek, and " the liberty was not re- sented." This myth at least shows how popular the hand- some Colonel was.
The record of St. Paul's Church, March 31, 1771, when Mr. Fayerweather baptized Elisha, son of Benj. Nasons, " the Gossips " being Mr. Rovyer, Mrs. Jefferson and the Grand Father, enables us to note this interesting term. " It's old Saxon meaning was for sponsors or sureties at baptism." 23 At these christenings, there were often pre- sented the " apostles' spoons," nowadays in great demand for mementos.
The record of St. Paul's April 16, 1772,24 is worth observing, both for the essential matter, and for its evi- dence of Royalist and Tory sentiment among the Narra- gansett Anglicans. Mr. Updike 25 says the substantial fact of the regicide's residence at Pettiquamscutt was never questioned until Dr. Stiles raised the doubt. The
23 Updike, Goodwin, Vol. II., p. 97.
24 " Married Mr. Sylvester Sweet to Miss Martha Whailey. The bride Being given away by her Father, Jeremiah Whailey, one of the descendants of old Col. Whailey, 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'd and Condemned, and Who was Called prover- bially one of King Charles's Judges."
25 Updike, Goodwin, Vol. II., pp. 100-103.
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careful Arnold 26 leans toward the tradition. Dr. Good- win 27 says the romantic tradition is not strictly authenti- cated, " yet the persistence with which it has been believed seems to point to an element of truth in the story."
The colonies had been drifting away from the mother country ; the action of Philadelphia and Boston, culminat- ing in the " Tea Party " at the latter place, brought the incipient rebellion to a head. In 1774 the towns of Rhode Island, beginning at Westerly, where ex-Governor Samuel Ward led the patriots, held meetings condemning the import of tea and rallying all citizens to a common cause against Great Britain. The resolution of Middletown was one of the best, "We will heartily unite with our American Brethren in supporting the inhabitants of this Continent in all their just rights and privileges ; and we do disown any right in the Parliament of Great Britain to tax America." In September all the towns contributed liberally, sending 860 sheep, 13 oxen, and £417. in money for the relief of Boston. In 1776 the British fleet made a descent on Point Judith, taking off a number of sheep and cattle. Some prominent persons, suspected of being Tories, were charged with connivance and were arrested.28 The committee of safety often had to look into such mat- ters. South Kingstown asked Governor Cooke for addi- tional guard for the coast.
Doctor MacSparran's criticism of Narragansett as the natural producing ground of sects and sectarians received some support in the career of the noted Jemima Wilkin- son. She was born in Cumberland, R. I., in 1752, and was related to David Wilkinson, one of the greatest geniuses in mechanics in all America. But her stamping-
26 " R. I.," Vol. II., p. 413n.
27 Updike, Vol. II., p. 338.
28 Arnold, " R. I.," Vol. II., p. 368.
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ground and field of greatest success was in North and South Kingstown. In early womanhood she became reli- gious and studious, reading the Bible closely. In 1776 she was seriously ill, and after a trance she awoke, claiming to have been to heaven and to have become a new Christ on earth. Her own family were converted to be disciples. She traveled throughout the state and in adjoining dis- tricts, holding large meetings, which she addressed in a very eloquent and persuasive manner. She claimed to work miracles. When she failed, as in attempting to raise the dead, it was for lack of faith in the lookers-on. Three or four meeting-houses were built for her.29
On horseback, especially, her appearance was very im- posing. Of fine form, fair complexion, with florid cheeks, dark and brilliant eyes, her auburn hair falling on her shoulders in three full ringlets, her voice sounding clear and harmonious ; if not a prophetess, she was at least a natural orator of great power. Her dress was rich, but plain, in a style entirely her own ; a white beaver hat, sides turned down, a full, light drab mantle ; a unique underdress and cravat around her neck.
The greatest dupe of this imposing creature was one whom you would least expect to be so credulous. William Potter was chief justice of the county court, with a large estate easterly from the present village of Kingston. For Jemima and her followers, he built an addition to his " already spacious mansion," 30 containing fourteen rooms. She dwelt here six years, controlling master, household, and the income of the good property. Like other impostors, she separated husbands and wives, while children left their parents. She induced many to sell their estates and with Judge Potter and some fifty families
20 Greene, " East Greenwich," p. 130.
30 Updike, Goodwin, Vol. I., p. 267.
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she migrated to the Genesee country. She seems to have been a shrewd manager in affairs, but Judge Potter finally lost his property. Her enemies attacked her at all points, but her moral character was irreproachable. In 1818 she made a will signing herself " the person once called Jemima Wilkinson, but since 1777 called the Public Uni- versal Friend." Neither she nor her family had any con- nection with the Society of Friends.
Naturally, we have dwelt on the deficiencies and imposi- tions of her character and career. There is another side. There must have been something great in her, though she prostituted it in the career of adventure. Sometimes she must have touched the best in her hearers, or she would not have had so many innocent followers. Every generation has spiritual hunger of its own, which often satisfies itself with unworthy objects.
The War of the Revolution brought many troubles to the non-resistant Quakers so largely represented in the South County. "College Tom " 31 expressed himself in the record against "Carnal War and Fightings." The paper currency " issued Expressly for carrying on war" was discussed in the public meetings of the Friends. " The money itself became a difficulty to a tender con- science." It were to inquire too curiously to ask how far conscience, Tory predilection, and fear of losing property in the war-like struggles were intermingled in the Quaker mind.
In 1786 the Assembly issued £100,000 in paper, to be a legal tender, and with all sorts of forcing acts to compel creditors to receive it. Providence, Newport, Westerly and Bristol opposed in vain.32 Toward the agitation of these questions, South Kingstown furnished one of the 31 " Hazard," p. 200.
32 Brigham, p. 254.
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worst demagogues civilization has ever known. Jonathan J. Hazard was a staunch patriot in the struggle against Great Britain. He represented Rhode Island in the Con- federated Congress. He was a natural orator, ready, subtle and ingenious in debate; the "idol of the country interest, manager of the State, in fact, the political dic- tator in Rhode Island until his course in the Constitutional Convention " 33 ruined him. In economic matters, he was fairly representative of those insane sciolists who vex the political situation whenever irredeemable paper money is mooted. In 1786 he beat down the "Hard Money " or mercantile party by sheer demagogic force. He strongly advocated the curious, pernicious illusion that merchants designedly create scarcity of specie in the course of trade. He argued that the state currency based on real estate was safer than the obligation of any bank; that it could be opposed only by avarice and prejudice.
Esther Bernon Carpenter, a descendant of Gabriel Bernon, the Huguenot, with fond enthusiasm collected the sayings of her "South County Neighbors." They belong strictly to the beginning of the next century rather than the period of this chapter. But they are mostly hereditary and always idiomatic, indicative of the talk, which prevailed among College Tom's spinners and ditchers. Many of these idioms came directly from Devonshire, and they prevail there to-day.
Sally " the help " was buried with all the formal cere- mony of the local funeral; " a strange mingling of the gloomy and the abhorrent of the tasteless and grotesque, of the sympathetic and the matter-of-fact," the whole being custom strictly observed. Every generation had a stroller or two of its own, selling simples, presumed to 33 Updike, Goodwin, Vol. II., p. 74.
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have occult powers of healing, and with all the acces- sories of a quack. Such an one was a fanatical adherent of old customs. When the farmer's daughter offered his dinner on a tin plate (an innovation) he said, " Gal, hain't you no trencher?" As the maiden did not respond, " Then gimme a chip," which was done, and his antique dignity was appeased.
The girl Ad'line addressed a late schoolfellow, "how d' do, Ad'line, how be you? " This be is used to-day, and has some dim, mystic reference to a sense of being.
Ailse (Alice) Congdon, the tailoress, had a sharp tongue. Izrul Barnes was the sly-humored old Yankee " hired man "; Huldy, not so intelligent, feared them both. " Ailse Congdon mought skeer her Huldy Pawnses, but she couldn't drive no Barneses." Quoth Izrul, "Say, Huldy, Elder Springer berried his wife, y' know three months ago come nex Sa'a'd'y. He looks chipper ez a crow-blackbird in plantin' time. Tell ye what, you better sprunt up, n' fly roun'." "I don't want no Elder Springer. Tain't no such smart doings to get married. Ailse Congdon she ain't married." Izrul retorted, "Wal, I sort o' thought she was onct." This was true, for Ailse did marry and live with Jim Castle, when the groom departed, saying, "he guessed he'd ruther stay with his own folks, and she wouldn't lift a finger agin it." Ailse expressed herself judicially that she " didn't better her- self, noways, when she took him." Elder Springer met some rebuffs, when in the legitimate functions of his min- istry. Ailse was quite ill and he called to ask if she " was prepared for a change." With a steelly glance the frail mortal replied, " I'd have you to know that we're a very long-lived family, and if you hain't nothin but that to say, you'd better go back where you come from."
The poor woman was actually in extremis and went into
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more practical matters with the excellent old Quakeress, who asked if she was resigned. With panting breath, " resigned to die! d'you think, Friend Dempsey, that any- body oughter to be resigned to die with the sullar only half cleaned and the backyard not cleared up."
Some brighter and more cheery influences animated this sordid life. . Nature occasionally crept in. "Harty's ez chipper ez a quonqueedle, and thet's a real harnsum toon she's a singin'." Says Steve "quonqueedle was the name the old Injuns giv' 'em. I sh'd reckon it come from their n'ise, when they 'm a sorter tunin' up. The' was a man come here from some o' them northern parts, called 'em bob-o-links. I expect thet ar' outlandish name come right down from some o' them old Massachusetts Prisbyter'ans."
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