USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > History of Newport County, Rhode Island. From the year 1638 to the year 1887, including the settlement of its towns, and their subsequent progress > Part 14
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Doctor Benjamin Waterhouse, son of Timothy and Hannah (Proud) Waterhouse, and grandson of Timothy and Ruth Waterhouse, of Portsmouth, N. H., was born in Newport, March 4th, 1754, and died at his residence at Cambridge, Mass., October 2d, 1846. Having prosecuted his medical studies under Doctor Haliburton, at Newport, he visited Europe, and was a student in the office of his relative, the celebrated Doctor Foth- ergill, of London. He went to Edinburgh and Leyden, and was a graduate at the latter place. In 1783, having been for several years a practitioner in Newport. he was offered the professorship of theory and practice at Cambridge, and from that time was identified with Cambridge and Boston. He retained this pro- fessorship for nearly thirty years, during part of that time de- livering lectures on natural history in the college. His style and delivery were much admired. He was also professor of botany in Brown University. In 1812, having long previously been surgeon of the marine hospital in Charlestown, he was ap- pointed director-general of all the hospital ports in New Eng- land. This appointment he held for many years. to 1820. He was a voluminous writer on medical, scientific and political sub- jects, and published quite a number of books, besides contribut- ing largely to magazines and newspapers. His father's house was on south side, Liberty square. Newport.
Doctor John A. Wadsworth practised medicine in Ports- month. R. I., for a few years, between 1820 and 1828, and mar-
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ried, October 2d, 1822, Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Chase) Mott. After leaving Portsmouth he established a druggist's business in North Main street, Providence, where lie was well known for many years after.
Doctor Daniel Watson. son of Robert Watson of Jamestown, was born in that town, April 13th, 1801. His education he oh- tained chiefly at Plainfield Academy, Connecticut, and after- ward entered the office of Doctor Charles Eldredge of East Greenwich, as a student of medicine. Subsequently he con- tinned his studies in Newport, in the office of Doctor William Turner of the United States army. He attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated there in the spring of 1834. During his residence in Philadelphia he was a private pupil of Doctor Chapman, then professor of theory and practice in the university. After his gradnation he went to East Green- wich, and soon after, March 1st, 1824, married Sarah G. C., daughter of Captain Perry G. and Priscilla (Cook) Arnold of East Greenwich, who survived him for several years. They had eleven children, of whom five sons and two daughters are still living. After remaining at East Greenwich for a year or two Doctor Watson removed to Little Rest, now known as Kingston hill, in South Kingstown. Here he remained until he removed to Newport, about 1834, practising his profession and giving a good deal of attention to polities, for which he always retained a strong penchant. At his coming to Newport he occupied the louse so remarkable in its traditional association with the med- ical profession, at the corner of Thames street and the parade, and which had lately been vacated by the decease of Doctor Benjamin W. Case. In 1836 he purchased and removed to the house formerly the Mawdsley house, at the corner of Spring and John streets, where he died and where his family still reside. His death occurred May 17th, 1871, in the 71st year of his age. He still retained his political tendencies after he came to New- port, and was several times a representative in the general as- sembly. In his professional relations he was a most exemplary and judicious man, and very tenacions of old-fashioned ideas of professional etiquette. He was a great favorite with his em- ployers, and very diligent in his attentions to his patients, and never more sought after than immediately before his fatal at- tack which preceded his death by about three months. During his active life in Newport he had the whole practice on the is-
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land of Conanient, with very rare exceptions, as had Doctor William Turner for thirty years previously.
Doctor William AArgyle Watson, son of Doctor Daniel and Sarah (Arnold) Watson, of Newport, was born at Kingston, R. I. At a very early age he came. with his father's family, to Newport, where he acquired his early education, and having studied with his father, he graduated in medicine at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. For a number of years he was a resi- dent and practitioner at Newport. At the commencement of the war, he entered the service of the United States as a naval surgeon, and performed much and very valuable and creditable service, chiefly in the Gulf of Mexico. His health suffered very material impairment in the service from the consequences of which he is still suffering. After the war, he made his resi- dence in the city of New York, where he is well and favorably known, and enjoys a large practice. Doctor Watson is a bach- elor. He passes a few months in every year at his father's homestead in Newport.
Doctor Richard M. Webber, who had been for several years a promising young practitioner at Tiverton, R. I., died at the Stone Bridge, in that town, in the early part of 1828, of Phthisis.
Doctor John E. Weeden, son of Wager and Sarah (Hull) Weeden, of South Kingstown, R. I .. studied medicine with Doctor William Turner of Newport about 1830-3, graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, and settled in Bristol, R. I. In 1836 he removed to Westerly, R. L., where he practised fif- teen years, when he retired from professional work, and applied himself to manufacturing pursuits. lle is still a resident of that town. Doctor Weeden married Eliza, only daughter of Judge Amos Cross, of Westerly.
Doctor Samuel West, Jr. (see town of Tiverton).
Doctor William Lamont Wheeler was born at Mansville, New York, and graduated at McGill College, Montreal, Canada. He studied medicine in the city of New York, where he re- ceived his medical degree. He took honors at the Opthalmnie College, and studied at Partish's School of Pharmacy. He was connected with Bellevue Hospital for three years, and held a post at the small pox hospital at Blackwell's island. Early in the war Doctor Wheeler was appointed an assistant surgeon in the navy, and was at Newport when the naval school was there,
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temporarily. He was severely wounded at Fort Sumter, and had a prominent scar on his forehead thereafter. He settled, after leaving the service, at Ithaca, N. Y., and practised there for several years. Abont 1872, he married Miss Hester Gracie, daughter of Hon. William Beach Lawrence and settled in New- port, where he practised, excepting a year spent abroad, until his death, October 15th, 1887. He had no children.
Doctor George F. S. White, son of William and Cynthia White, was born in Westport, Mass., August 6th, 1818. He at- tended the Middleborough, Mass., academy, and afterward tanght school for several years. He then prosecuted the study of medicine in the office of James H. Handy, M. D., and re- ceived the degree of M. D., at Berkshire Medical College, at Pittsfield, having also attended lectures at the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, at New York. At the age of twenty six, Doctor White married Mary Corey, of Westport Point, and at about the same time began the practice of medicine at West- port, removing, however, soon after, to Adamsville, in Little Compton, R. I., where he continued to practice until his de- cease, which occurred on the 5th day of May, 1881, at Adams- ville, having been in practice 37 years. Doctor White was, for several years, a useful member of the school committee. " He was a man of warm and sympathetic nature, and was greatly esteemed by a large circle of friends. He had an extensive prac- tice and rode a large circuit for nearly forty years, yet he did not lay aside his medical books, nor lose his zeal in his chosen profession."
Doctor Thomas Wilbour was born in Little Compton, R. I., in 1718. It is not known where he was educated. He married Edith Woodman in Little Compton, in 1740, and practised medicine in that town until 1760, when he removed to Hopkin- ton, R. I. In 1770 he married a second wife and had a son William born in 1771, who also became a physician and contin- ued practice in the same field as his father, Doctor William Wilbour, who had three sons who were physicians ; Thomas and Amos practised in Fall River, Mass., and William, in Westerly, R. I. This second William had a son, John, who now practises in Westerly.
Doctor Norbert Felicien Vigneron, or Wigneron, a native of France, Province of Artois, Diocese of Arras, Parish of la Ventie, was born and baptized June 2d, 1660. He was a son of
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Antoine and Marie Therese (nee De Beanssart) Vigneron. He had several brothers and sisters. The date of his arrival in America is not known, nor of his advent at Newport. He married, at the age of 40 years (1704), Susanna, daughter of John and Joanna Pierce, and had four children. He was in Newport probably early in the eighteenth century, Doctor William Turner, of Newark, N. J., who was born in 1710, grandfather of Doctors William and J. V. Turner, having been a student in his office as early as 1730. He had a very high reputation as a physician and surgeon. ITis resi- dence was the house northeast corner of Marlborough and Farewell streets, Newport, lately occupied by Capt. Gilbert Chase, now by William E. Dennis. Doctor Vigneron was the great-grandfather of Commodore William Vigneron Tay- lor, who was sailing master of the " Lawrence" at Lake Erie, commissioned for gallantry in that action, and great-great- grandfather of Admiral William Rogers Taylor, U. S. N. By a singular coincidence, the same house, Doctor Vigneron's, in which his grandfather had studied medicine, was occupied by Doctor James V. Turner in 1834-35-36, and in it his seventh son, Doctor Francis L. Turner, also a physician, was born.
Doctor Charles Antoine Vigneron, eldest son of Norbert Feli- cien, was born in Newport in 1717, and succeeded to his father's profession and field of practice. He married, at the age of 21 years (1738), Hannah, daughter of Jonathan and Mary Irish, of Little Compton, R. I., then Massachusetts, and died at New York November 10th, 1772. They had eleven children. In October, 1772, Doctor Vigneron went to New York, and was inoculated for smallpox, of which he died November 10th l'ol- lowing, and was buried in St. Paul's churchyard. The New York Gazette and Weekly Register of November 16th, 1772, says, in an obituary notice: " In the medical and chirurgical arts, which he professed and practised for many years, he shone with superior lustre."
Doctor Stephen Vigneron, a younger son of Doctor Norbert Felicien, was surgeon of a ship, probably a colonial letter of marque, commanded by Captain Bennitland, in the old French war, and she never was heard from after leaving port. He had previously served at Cape Breton, and was at the fall of Louis- burg.
Doctor Stephen Vigneron, son of Doctor (. Antoine, and
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grandson of Doctor N. F. Vigneron, was born at Newport Nov- ember 25th, 1748. He succeeded his father in practising sur- gery and medicine at Newport. He was in active service in the revolution. on the patriot side, and his record. according to Bartlett's R. I. Colonial Records, is as follows: "In Jannary, 1776, inspector of salt petre; in February, 1776, surgeon's mate, 2d regiment Colony's brigade, vice Ebenezer Richardson; in Octo- ber, 1776, chosen surgeon Col. Cook's regiment; in November, 1776, chosen surgeon of all the forces, to be stationed on Rhode Island; in December, 1776, chosen surgeon Col. Tallman's regi- ment; in June, 1778, chosen surgeon Col. Topham's regiment; in February, 1779, chosen surgeon Col. Topham's 2d battalion of infantry." When the British occupied Newport he escaped on horseback, leaving his books and instruments, which were confiscated. He died of typhus on board the " Jersey" prison ship, at New York, August 24th, 1781, aged 33 years.
Doctor Thomas Weston Wood, son of Horatio G. and Mary (Weston) Wood, was born at Middleborough, Mass., July 26th, 1818, graduated A. B. at Brown University in 1840. He received his diploma from New York State Medical Society, June 14th, 1844, having previously pursued a course of medical studies with Doctor Needham, of Pawtuxet, R. I. Ile commenced prac- tice, which he continued only a few years, as a botanic physi- cian, in Newport. In 1857 he was elected clerk of the county of Newport, for the court of common pleas and supreme court, and was incumbent of the same places for thirty years, and performed his duties to the entire satisfaction of the public nn- til May, 1887. Doctor Wood is very highly esteemed as a citi- zen and as a man. He is a prominent member of the United Congregational church, and for many years its secretary.
Doctor Aaron C. Wylley was born in or near Lyme, on the Connecticut river, in 1776, and died at New Shoreham, R. I., March 27th, 1826. His father was also named Aaron. Doctor Wylley married, first, Joanna, daughter of Edward Hull, Esq., and sister of the wife of Doctor George Hazard, of South Kings- town, and sister, also, of Mrs. Wager Weeden, of Jamestown and South Kingstown, and had two daughters. After her death he married a Miss Dodge, of New Shoreham, and had one son and several daughters. Doctor Wylley was esteemed as a man of great acquirements and decided genius. He wrote and pub- lished an article on the yellow fever at Block Island, which was
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highly thought of, and later an account of the Palatine light, which attracted much attention and discussion. He was the only medical practitioner on Block Island for thirty years, and had the unlimited confidence of the population. He was pas- sionately fond of the study of the natural sciences, and had a high reputation for proficiency in that department of knowledge. He was an intimate friend of Doctor William Turner, of New- port, and was highly appreciated by him. On his gravestone, the conclusion of a long and enlogistic epitaph is: "There were but few who have been more generally useful, who were pos- sessed of more good qualities, or who have by their acts con- ferred greater blessings on their fellow men."
CHAPTER III.
THE FOUNDERS OF NEWPORT.
BY JOHN AUSTIN STEVENS.
The Settlement of Aquidneck or Rhode Island .- William Coddington .- Nicholas Easton. - John Coggeshall .- William Brenton .- John Clarke .- Jeremy Clarke .- Thomas Hazard .- Henry Bull .- William Dyre .- Samuel Gorton.
S IXTEEN YEARS had hardly passed since the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock (December 11th, 1620), exiles, as they styled themselves, for conscience' sake, before Roger Williams, banished from the communion of Salem so- ciety, found a resting place on Slate rock and began the set- tlement to which he gave the name of Providence. On his ar- rival in the waters of this beautiful region he was warmly re- ceived by Massasoit, the powerful sachem who welcomed the Pilgrims on their first arrival, and whom Williams had already met in a friendly way at Plymouth. Results of infinite conse- quence to the New England colonies sprung from the meeting of these two men. It was in June, 1636, that Williams, with lis four companions and a young lad, began his plantation on lands granted to him by Canonicus and Miantonomi, sachems of the Narragansetts, whose sway extended over all this region, Early in the spring of the next year (1637-8) a band of exiles, likewise seeking peace and that freedom of conscience which the saints of Massachusetts only permitted under limitations, visited Providence. They were led by John Clarke and Wil- liam Coddington. Their original intention was to settle further to the southward, on the Atlantic coast, but attracted by the genial climate, the independence of the situation, weary, per- haps, of wandering, they, after some exploration, in which they were aided and accompanied by Williams in person, selected the island of Aquidneck (Rhode Island). On their return to Providence a body politic was entered into by agreement.
The first settlement on the island was begun at Pocasset, at
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the cove on the northeast part of the island. The colony seems to have increased rapidly. as a second settlement was projected in the following spring. The record reads :
"Pocasset on the 28 of the 2d 1639. It is agreed-By us whose hands are underwritten to propagate a plantation in the midst of the island or elsewhere ; and doe engage ourselves to bear equal charges answerable to our strength and estates in common ; and that our determinations shall be by major voice of judge and elders ; the Judge to have a double voice. Present William Coddington Judge : Nicholas Easton, John Coggeshall, William Brenton, Elders ; John Clarke, Jeremy Clarke, Thomas Hazard, Henry Bull. William Dyre, Clerk."
"On the 16th of the 3d It was agreed and ordered that the Plantation now begun at this south west end of the island shall be called Newport : and that all the lands lying Northward and eastward from the said towne toward Pocasset for the space of five miles and so cross from sea to sea with all the lands south- ward and westward bounded by the maine sea together with the small islands and the grass of Cunnunneqott is appointed for the accommodation of ye said towne. It was also ordered that the Towne be built upon both sides of the spring and by the sea-side southward."
The town was no doubt named after Newport, the capital of the Isle of Wight, which the island of Aquidneck greatly re- sembles in its situation and climate. The founders of the new settlement, being the most important of the colony, carried with them to Newport the records of the Pocasset settlement, which, on the first of the fifth month, 1639, changed the name of their town to Portsmouth. after the English seaport of that name. Newport and Portsmouth, England, are in the same county of Hampshire ; and, like their American namesakes, sister towns. ยท The records of the Ist of the 8th month, 1639, give the names of fifty-nine persons admitted by the general consent of the com- pany " to be Inhabitants of the island now called Aquednecke having submitted themselves to the Government that is or shall be established according to the word of God therein," and the record following gives the names of fifty-two inhabitants ad- mitted at the " Towne of Nieu-Port since the 20th of the 3d 1638." This seems to have been preliminary to a joint gov- ernment of the two towns, Newport and Portsmouth, as the next record bears the caption, "By the Body Politicke in the
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Ile of Aquethnec Inhabiting this present 25th of 9th month 1639 In the fourteenth yeare of ye Raign of our Sovereign King Charles It is agreed that as natural subjects to our Prince and subject to his lawes all matters that concerne the Peace shall be by those that are officers of the Peace Transacted ; and that all actions of the case or debt shall be in such Courts as by order are here appointed and by such Judges as are deputed ; Heard and legally determined-given at Newport on the Quarter Court Day which was adjourned till ye Day
"WILLIAM DYRE Secretary "
At this meeting Mr. Easton and Mr. John Clarke were "de- sired to inform Mr. Vane of the state of things here and desire him to treate abonte the obtaining a Patent of the Island from his Majestie." Governor Vane was now in England, where he had been made a member of parliament. Up to this time each of the towns had its own local government of judge and elders. Now general quarter courts were held, and on the 6th of March, 1640, a general assembly, which received the report of a committee, consisting of Nicholas Easton, John Clarke and William Dyre, appointed to lay out the lands " pro- portioned forth " by the judge and elders, together with a map and schedule. The schedule was entered on the records. The names of the proprietors were : William Coddington, John Coggeshall, William Brenton, Nicholas Easton, William Dyre, John Clarke, Jeremy Clarke, William Foster, George Gardner, Robert Stanton and Robert Field. It was ordered at this time that all the sea banks were free for fishing to the town of New- port. At a general court of election, held on the 12th of the 1st month, 1640, a number of persons presenting themselves and desiring to be re united to the body were "readily embraced by them." These, without doubt, were those of the original com- pany, who had remained behind at Pocasset, at the time of the second settlement, at the southern end of the island. A num- ber of others were received as freemen, and it was also agreed that "if there shall be any person found meet for the service of the same in either plantation (Newport or Portsmouth) if there be no just exception against him upon his orderly pre- sentation he shall be received as a freeman thereof." It was then ordered that the chief magistrate of the island "shall be called Governour and the next Depnty Governor, and the rest of the Magistrates Assistants."
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An election was then held, when Mr. William Coddington was chosen governor for the year ; Mr. William Brenton, deputy governor : Nicholas Easton, John Coggeshall, William Hutch- inson and John Porter, assistants ; Robert Jeoffreys and Wil- liam Balston, treasurers ; William Dyre, secretary ; Jeremy (arke, constable of Newport, and Mr. Sanford, constable of Portsmouth ; Henry Bull, sergeant attendant. At this session the change of name of the Pocasset settlement to Portsmouth was confirmed.
At the general court held at Newport May 6th, 1640, partic- ular courts were ordered to be holden on the first Tuesday of each month ; one court at Newport, the other at Portsmouth. The government of Aquidneck was now definitely constituted. The right which the body politic held or asserted over their members is shown by the disfranchisement of four at the court of sessions, March 16, 1641, when their names were "cancelled ont of ye roll." On the 19th of the same month the form of engagement of the officers was agreed to be in these words : "To the Execution of this office I hereby judge myself bound be- fore God to walk faithfully and this I profess in ye presence of God."
The necessity of bringing under one government the several local governments of Narragansett bay was early perceived, and Roger Williams was for some years engaged in England in se- curing a patent for the colony. This charter of incorporation, as it is described in the instrument, included the inhabitants of the towns of Providence, Portsmouth and Newport, under the name of the "Incorporation of Providence Plantations in the Narragansett Bay in New England." It was granted in the name of King Charles the First in 1643, by " Robert, Earl of Warwick, Governor in chief and Lord High Admiral of the American Plantations ;" and his associate commissioners. At the general court of election held at Newport March 13th, 1644, it was "ordered that the Island commonly called Aquid- neck shall be from henceforth called the Isle of Rhodes, or Rhode Island." There is a blank in the records from this date until the meeting of May, 1647, when the general court "agreed that all should set their hands to an engagement to the charter."
It was now settled that the councils of Newport and Ports- mouth were to agree as to their courts of justice, the "sea
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Lawes" were to govern seamen on the island, and Newport was to take into their custody the trading house or houses of Nar- ragansett bay. A body of laws was established, and the old declaration that the form of government was democratical. " that is to say a Government held by the free and voluntary consent of all or the greater part of the free inhabitants," was re-affirmed.
The want of precision in the geographical limitation of the new government in the charter instrument allowed, if it did not encourage, endless dispute and bickerings, not only with the neighboring governments of Massachusetts bay, Plymouth and Connecticut, but also among the towns of the Rhode Island plantations. These came to a crisis in 1649, when the struggle in England between the king and his parliament was drawing to its fatal close. At the May election, in 1648, Mr. William Coddington was elected president, but on the meeting of the general court bills of complaint were made against him, the nature of which is not specified (the pages containing them having been later cut from the records and given to Coddington), but to which he made no answer and was in consequence sus- pended from the ollice.
In January, 1649, Coddington went to England. On his ar- rival he found Cromwell's government in full sway. In August, 1651, Coddington returned with a commission from the par- liament to govern the islands of Rhode Island and Conanient with a council of six men to be named by the people and ap- proved by himself; the commission to run for his life. This was considered to have vacated the previous charter, and President Easton, with the island towns of Portsmeuth and Newport, withdrew from the general government. Providence and War- wick dispatched Roger Williams and certain citizens of the island also sent over John Clarke to recover their charter. This they succeeded in doing on the restoration of Charles the Second. This instrument, more precise in its terms and more liberal in its principle, was signed by the king on the 8th of July, 1663, and remained the fundamental law of the colony until the adoption of the present constitution of the state of Rhode Island in 1842. Only a summary is here presented; the details of these various fragments of local history appear in the following sketches of Coddington, Clarke and Gorton.
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