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 64
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IHISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
pany'abandoned this spot in the early part of the century, and commenced operations on the west side of the island. The charter was amended in June, 1811, and under this the company was also permitted to carry on the work of melting, refining, making or manufacturing iron or other metals or minerals. The term of this charter was to run sixty years from January 1st, 1812.
Another company, under the name of the Portsmouth Mining Company, was chartered in January, 1840. Another charter in the same name was granted in May, 1864, naming Benjamin Finch, Samnel West, Almerin Ackley, Samuel L. Crocker and William Cobb as incorporators. The purposes of this company were mining coal and smelting copper, zinc, iron and other metals, and their works were on the west side of the island at. what is now called the "Coal Mines." The capital stock was $500,000, and the charter was amended in 1868. The Ports- mouth Coal Company was chartered in June, 1842. These mines were worked until about the year 1883, since which time they have been abandoned and the settlement of miners deserted. In the days of their flourishing about thirty men were employed in the mines. A small Catholic church was built in their settle- ment. This is under the charge of a priest from Newport.
The Taunton Copper Company having for several years used Rhode Island coal in some of their processes, decided in 1865 to build smelting works near the Coal Mines at Portsmouth, and in February, 1866, the works were started. Copper ores and mattes from South America, Canada, California, Colorado, Utah, North Carolina, Maryland, Vermont and New Hampshire were largely treated here. The works were fitted with eight blast furnaces and twenty-two kilns, and employed sixty hands. Four thousand tons of copper ore and one thousand tons of matte were smelted annually and the production of copper therefrom was about two million pounds. The duty on foreign ores stopped importation, and the suspension of several small mines and the erection of smelting farnaces at other mines caused a scarcity of ores and in 1883 the last ore was received here. The company purchased the property known as the "New Mine" in 1866. Some of the works remain, but they are silent and forsaken now, and the former scenes of activity are exchanged for the singing of the crickets and the creeping of an occasional reptile or the flitting of a bird among the grass and weeds that cover the grounds.
43
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IHISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
This town has no mannfactures except that of fish oil and fertilizer. This enterprise is largely carried on at the extreme northern end of the island by the Messrs. Church Brothers. This firm not only carry on here the work of manufacturing, but own outfits of fishing vessels and apparatus, operating by steam and sail. They employ a large number of men, and their vessels are cruising in the waters of this and neighboring states and out on the ocean. The first vessel built by them for the purpose was named in honor of the firm, the "Seven Brothers." To the enterprise of these gentlemen many of the people of this town and Tiverton are indebted for employment, and the public in both towns in general for the liberal improvements which they have inaugurated or been largely instrumental in sustain- ing.
Fish factories have for many years been in operation upon the shores about the north end of this town. Chapter 499 of the laws of 1864 forbids making oil from menhaden or any other fish on any vessel, or depositing offensive matter from such manufacture upon the shores or in any of the waters of the state, but excepts from this injunction the water between the railroad bridge and the stone bridge, against this town. The Rhode Island Oil & Guano Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $100,000, for the purpose of manufacturing oil and guano from fish, and to carry on its operations in this town. The incorporators were Jesse Boynton, Caleb Farnum, Charles Emerson and Phineas S. Fiske, with their associates, and the date of their charter was May, 1865.
The Boyd mill was built in 1810 by a Mr. Babcock who com- pleted it after one Brayton had failed. They both were em- ployees of John Peterson who came from Bath, Me., about 1800 and kept a hotel and bowling alley in the house now owned by Mr. Boyd, south of his residence. Peterson's heirs sold this property to William Boyd about 1830.
CHAPTER XIII.
TOWN OF PORTSMOUTH (Concluded).
The Outlying Islands .- Churches of Portsmouth .- Societies .- Henry C. Anthony. -Jolin F. Chase .- Robert D. Hall .- Thomas Robinson Hazard .- Thomas Holman .- William M. Manchester .- Isaac M. Rogers .- Alfred Sisson .- William L. Sisson .- Personal Paragraphs.
T HIS town is entirely insular. Besides the main part of it, which lies on the island of Aquidneck, there are several smaller islands in the bay which belong to it. The largest of these is the island of Prudence, which is about six miles long, and in the widest part more than a mile in width. It is said that this was the first land purchased of the Indians within the present limits of this county. More full particulars of this are given in the part of this work devoted to the general history of the county. The Indian name of the island was Chibachn- wesa. Abont the year 1636 it appears to have been given by the Indians to Roger Williams. In 1669 we find it, or a part of it at least, in the possession of John Paine and William Allin, who were admitted free inhabitants of this town June 7th of that year. There were several persons living upon it then or soon afterward. In 1671 the inhabitants of this island could not agree amongst themselves as to the proportion of tax each should pay. Complaint was made to the town, and a com- mittee, composed of John Sanford and John Tripp, was ap- pointed to go over and adjust the rates. In 1681 William Allin and John Pearce, both of whom were said to be inhabitants of Prudence, were appointed " surveyors of cattle" for that island. No officers of this name or kind had been heretofore appointed for that island. A constable was also regu- larly chosen. The island was, as all the records show, largely devoted to grazing, and in that use it has always been employed. Within a few years past a summer resort has been started. Grounds have been laid out, and several cottages have been built. At the commencement of the
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
revolutionary war a considerable number of stock were pastur- ing on the island, and a company of state troops was stationed there to guard them, but a raid of the British drove them away and seized and carried off a large amount of property.
Patience island, lying on the west side and near the north end of Prudence, contains about two hundred and ten acres. It was joined to the town of Portsmouth by an act of assembly, October 26th, 1664, which was in the following words:
"Ordered that the Island called Patience is added and ad- joyned to the towne of Portsmouth."
Hog island lies west of the north end of the town, about one mile from Bristol Ferry. It contains two hundred and twelve acres and is devoted to grazing. The circumstance of its being occupied by swine in early times doubtless suggested the name. It was claimed to have been included in the purchase of Aquid- neck, but the claim was disputed by Massachusetts, and con- troversy over it was sharp, but this town has held it in jurisdic- tion and possession. The name is always spelled in the old rec- ords with only one g. By what authority it is now sometimes spelled with two g's does not appear. The island was annually leased by the town about the year 1675, and for several years before and after. The contest over the ownership became so strong that in 1687 Massachusetts arrested John Borden, who was exercising possession of the island under lease from the town. The light which the following records throw on the sub- ject will be of more interest than a condensed abstract would be; hence they are inserted.
At a town meeting, September 1st, 1687:
"Major John Albro and John Borden are chosen and ap- pointed to go to Boston and Rightly Inform his excellency con- cerning the affairs of Hog Island for which now John Borden is arrested."
Jnne 28th, 1682, the assembly voted:
" Whereas, this Court having been informed that the Collony of New Plymouth, or some one of their Assistants, doth claime jurisdiction of Hog Island, by declaring in a warrant under the hand of James Browne, Assistant, the same to bee in New Plymouth Collony, this Assembly doth thereupon desire the Governor to write unto the authority of New Plymouth about the same, and to acquaint them of our just Pattent right therennto; as allsoe the settlement of his Majesty's Commissioners of the
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
same; and that the Governor lett the Commissioners' acts be coppyed ont, attested and sent unto them; and allsoe to lye in the records of Portsmouth, under the seale of the Collony."
Something of the other side of the question is seen in a peti- tion to Governor Andros, December 22d, 1686, in which one Richard Smith declares, "That there having been long hanging in contest and suit between some the inhabitants of Rhode Is- land and your petitioner, a claim and pretence of title made by them, unto a small Island lying near the town of Bristol, com- monly called Hog Island, alias Chesawanock, which your peti- tioner many years since purchased of the Indian natives, and had confirmation thereof from the General Court of New Plym- outh. But of later time hath been forcibly kept out, and in- terrupted in his peaceable possession and improvement thereof, by the Rhode Islanders, from which tiresome contest and un- just molestation, your petitioner hopeth, by your Excellency's happy access to the government, speedily to be relieved, and to have a just and final issue put thereto."
The " just and final issue" prayed for left the island in pos- session of the town of Portsmouth, and at a special town meet- ing called for the purpose, January 17th, 1674, it was "voted that Hog Island shall be divided." This vote, however, does not seem to have been carried ont at that time, but the custom prevailed for many years after of turning the rams belonging to the townspeople upon it. In 1701 complaint was made that many persons were in the habit of turning cattle and other stock upon it in violation of the town's order respecting its use. When the island was sold by the town has not been learned; but in time it passed into private possession, and now appears in the name of Herbert M. Howe.
Hope island lies west of Prudence, nearly abreast of the cen- tral part of the town. It was also among the early purchases of Roger Williams. A deed from Miantonomi to Williams for it was exhibited by the latter to the assembly at Portsmouth, March 13th. 1658. We have no other clue to its title, but it is now in possession of Mr. Hiram B. Aylesworth. It contains about sixty acres.
CHURCHES .-- The first ecclesiastical body in the town was that of the Quakers or Friends, as they are now called. Their re- cords, especially such as appertain to genealogical matters, marriages, birth and deaths, are very complete and voluminons.
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
They have ever maintained a name and a standing among the people of the town, though never aggressive in their character or habits. They stand to-day with perhaps no more strength than they possessed two hundred years ago. Through the generous patronage of a wealthy member of the seet the society has no lack of material support. The old meeting house, which stands against the fork of the East and Middle roads, near the summit of Quaker hill, has recently been put in excellent re- pair by the expenditure of several thousand dollars, and ser- vices are regularly maintained in it. This quaint structure is a curiosity in its way. A plain, square building, withont cornice or other ornamentation, but of liberal size, its upright siding as well as its hipped roof are covered with substantial shingles, and a lean-to on the side toward the road forms a vestibule which is entered by two large plain doors. The large square windows, above and below, contain each twenty to thirty squares of glass of a small size. The interior has been refitted and refurnished in a style almost out of harmony with the pro- verbial characteristics of everything pertaining to the sect. The grounds have been nicely graded, and ample sheds evince the consistent character of the Friends in observing the scrip- tural adage that a " merciful man is merciful to his beast."
Behind the meeting house, that is on the western side, in an enclosure of half an acre, surrounded by a neat and plain stone wall, sleep the forefathers of the Friends. A rigid plainness marks the spot. The older graves are marked only by unhewn slabs of native stone, devoid of any semblance of ornamentation, polish or inscription. It is only the later generation that have ventured to place smooth stones with inscriptions upon them at the graves of their dead, and these, though neat and substan- tial, are mostly of the plainest sort. Art has been forbidden to desecrate the ground with any attempt at ornamentation, even to the planting of flowers, trees or shrubs of any kind. Nature has, however, strown the ground with tansy and wild flowers, which, in the sombre days of autumn, lift their modest faces awhile before the early blasts of winter lay them in the dust with those whose graves they cover. Among some of the in- scriptions are the following: Anna D. Wing, died 1854, 7th mo., 28 d., age 61 yrs .; Hannah Dennis, died 1852, 7th mo., 24 d., age 83 yrs .; Jonathan Dennis, died 1850, 9th . mo., 17 d., age 83 yrs .; Asa Sherman, died 1863, 12th mo., 29 d., age 84 yrs.,
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
7d .; Elizabeth Sherman, died 1858, 4th mo., 22 d., age 75 y., 6 mo., 5 d .; Robert A. Sherman, son of John and Mary Sherman, died 1884, 5th mo., 11 d., age 62 y., 7 m., 1 d .; Peter Chace, died 1876, 5th mo., 9 d., age 83 yrs .; Catharine T., wife of John C. Mott, died 1859, 12th mo., 14 d., age 26 y., 9 m .; Anna Mott, died 1876, 6th mo., 17 d., age 78 y., 11 mo., 19 d .; Eliza, wife of Jacob Mott, died 1858, 12th mo., 2 d., age 52 yrs .; Anna Borden, died 1861, 3d mo., 25 d., age 66 yrs .; Mary, wife of John Ham- bły, died 1861, 7th mo., 25 d., age 63 yrs .; John Hambly, died 1874, 10th mo., 16 d., age 72 y., 8 d .; Isaac Borden, died 1870, 2d mo., 9 d., age 82 yrs., 5 mo .; Julia, wife of Edward Anthony, and daughter of Benj. T. and Mary Sheffield, died 1849, 3d mo., 11 d., age 40 yrs .; Salome, wife of Thomas S. Anthony and daughter of Rev. John Burnett, died 1875, 6th mo., 15 d., age 27 yrs .; Benjamin F. Chase, died Oct. 3, 1884, age 72 yrs .; Ben- jamin C. Sherman, died March 25, 1876, age 79 y., 2 mo., 23 d .; Levi Almy, died 1886, 7th mo., 15 d., age 76 yrs .; Sanmel Cory, died Ang. 26, 1885, age 88 yrs .; Lydia, wife of Samnel Cory, died -, age 34 yrs; George Hathaway, died 1827, 7th mo., 27 d., age 59 yrs .; Susanna, wife of Geo. Hathaway, died 1857, 4th mo., 8 d., age 76 yrs .; Isaac Hathaway, died 1878, 6th mo., 13 d., age 73 yrs .; Isaac Sherman, died 1817, 10th mo., 5 d., age 81 yrs .; Margaret, wife of Isaac Sherman, died 1798, 5th mo., 1 d., age 51 yrs. ; Hannah, wife of Isaac Sherman, died 1835, 8th mo., 23 d., age 90 yrs .; Mary Hathaway, died 1854, 11th mo., 18 d., age SS yrs. ; Charles II. Carr, son of Richmond and Jemima F. Carr, died 1885, 4th mo., 30 d., age 71 yrs .; Parker HIall, born 1784, 7th mo., 29 d., died 1859, Ist mo., 14 d .; Ilannah, wife of Parker Hall, born 1787, 10th mo., 6 d., died 1871, 10th mo., 5 d .; Rebecca Chace, died 1858; Shadrach Chase, died 1841; Zacheus Chace, died 1876, 5th mo., 3 d., age 87 yrs .; Hannah, wife of Isaac Almy, died 1865, 11th mo., 22 d., age 92 y., 8 m., 16 d. ,; Susan, daughter of Isaac and Hannah Almy, died 1872, 11th mo., 31 d., age 65 yrs.
The facts contained in the following paragraphs concerning the history of the Friends in Portsmouth have been furnished by Mr. Isaac B. Macomber, whose untiring devotion to the in- terests of the sect is well known to the people of the town.
In 1672 George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends visited the island, attending a " Yearly Meeting " at the house of William Coddington, at Newport, and another meeting in
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
the old Mott house on the west side of the town of Portsmouth. Meetings of the society were originally held at the honses of Friends, very frequently at the houses of John Easton, Matthew Berden and Jacob Mott. In the early part of 1692 a lot, two and a half by six rods in size, with a house upon it, was pur- chased of Robert Hodgson for seven pounds. Necessary re- pairs were made, which swelled the cost to thirty pounds, eighteen shillings, one pence.
Under date of 8 mo., 17, 1699, is found this record: "Friends have laid out and appointed the place where the meeting house shall stand, and have brought great stones and other stones to lay the foundation." About April, 1700, the old meeting house was sold to Joseph Mosey for eleven pounds, fourteen shillings, and the proceeds applied to the new meeting honse. The new house was probably so far completed as to be used within a year or two after the date last mentioned. In 1703 John Warner, a Friend from North Carolina, kept a private school in the meeting honse. Sheds for horses were provided near the house in October, 1701, at which time it is probable the house was in use. April 19th, 1705, the " Monthly Meet- ing " granted liberty to the Portsmonth Friends to build an ad- dition to their house " for the convenience of the women's meeting."
It may be appropriate to say that the organization of Friends consists of a " Yearly Meeting" which comprehends a large section of this part of New England, and embraces a num- ber of " Quarterly Meetings," which in turn embrace " Month- ly Meetings," and these are subdivided into "Preparatives." The Rhode Island " Monthly Meeting" is composed of the " Preparatives " of Newport and Portsmouth.
Some of the original members of the Portsmouth Preparative whose deaths are recorded previous to 1688 are as follows: Alice Cowland, Ralph Cowland. Thomas Cornell, Mary Freeborn, William Freeborn, Nathaniel Brownell, Sarah Brownell, Rob- ert Dennis, Richard Berden, Rebecca Cornell, Abraham An- thony, Alice Anthony, John Anthony, Mary Woodle, William Woodle, Joshua Coggeshall, Sarah Freeborn, Gideon Freeborn, Adam Mott, Mary Mott, Giles Slocum, Joan Slocum, Sarah Sanford, Samuel Sanford, John Anthony, Mary Anthony, Joan Berden, Mary Freeborn, Gideon Freeborn.
Under date of 12 mo., 30, 1776, is found-
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PROPERTY OF CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. OAKLAND FARM, PORTSMOUTH.
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
" As onr meeting house hath at this time a number of sol- diers in it renders it inconvenient to proceed to business, there- fore this meeting is adjourned to the breaking up of the meet- ing for worship at Newport next 5th day."
The Friends addressed a memorial 1 mo., 2, 1777, to Lient. General Henry Clinton, then in command of the British forces. asking for protection. The record, 8 mo., 25. 1778, speaks of communication between Newport and Portsmouth Friends being "obstructed." On the 9th of the 9th month the meeting was very small, on account of the " difficulties remaining." Jacob Mott, who died 1 mo., 24. 1779, was not buried at the Friends' burying ground because it and the house were "occupied by a number of German troops." Tradition states that the American troops also occupied the house at one time. This was doubtless true when Sullivan and his army were upon the island just before the memorable battle of August, 1788.
The Friends' yearly meeting boarding school was founded at this house November 8th, 1784. It was reopened at Providence January 1st, 1819. To this school each monthly meeting of the yearly meeting was entitled to send one " charity scholar." The centennial of the founding of this school was celebrated three years ago in Providence, at which time photographs of the ex- terior and interior of the old meeting house here were taken.
The present officers and ministers of the Rhode Island monthly meeting are as follows: Clerk, Joseph E. Macomber; recorder and correspondent, Isaac B. Macomber ; overseers, William II. Beale, Ruth Wetherell, Joseph S. Anthony and William Weaver, of Newport, and Lydia K. Chase, Margaret Sherman, Charles E. Boyd and Isaac B. Macomber, of Portsmouth; re- corded ministers, William Jacob, Annabella E. Winn, Thomas B. Buffum and Mary Alice Gifford, of Newport, and Abner Potter. Jr., of Portsmouth. The present membership of the monthly meeting is one hundred and forty-seven, of which about seventy belong to Portsmouth.
The Rev. lesse Lee was the first Methodist preacher that traveled in New England. He preached in Newport June 30th, 1790, and at Bristol July 2d of the same year. In 1791 there was occasional preaching. The Providence cirenit, established that year, comprehended nearly all the towns ou the Narra- gansett bay, and the Rev. Lemnel Smith was placed in charge. It is supposed that Portsmonth was a station on this cirenit as
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
early as 1792, and that a class was formed in 1793, when the cirenit was being traveled by Rev. E. Mudge. The inhabitants were in great need of a house in which to hold religions services, and after a while subscriptions were obtained for the purchase of a house which had been raised and partly finished for other purposes. They then appointed six men to take the deed for the property and hold it as trustees for the subscribers. The honse was finished and used for a meeting house. It was soon found to be too small, and in 1806 it was enlarged and made more convenient. It was again repaired in 1834.
Among the first members of the society in this town were Matthew Cook and Mary his wife, John Earle and Deborah his wife, Peter Barker and his wife, John Anthony, an exhorter and class leader, Nathan Brownell, and a colored woman by the name of Violet, who belonged to the family of Matthew Cook. Mr. Cook lived in the old ferry house which stood a little east of the present house. This humble dwelling, which was consecrated by the prayers and labors of such men as Bishop Asbury, Jesse Lee, John Chalmers. Zadoc Priest, Daniel Ostrander, John Broadhead and George Rich, all of blessed memory, was afterward removed to the road leading to the stone bridge. It is a small, one-story, gambrel-roofed honse of the style of the revolutionary period, entirely unpretentious in appearance, but rich in historic associations and honored above its fellows as the cradle of Methodism in Portsmouth.
The first house of worship owned by the members, of which mention has been made, occupied a lot on the turnpike nearly opposite the cemetery, and was fitted in the interior with gal- leries on three sides. This humble temple served the purposes of the society for forty-two years.
In 1825 this church was joined with Little Compton in one circuit. An interesting and profitable revival occurred during the labors of two brothers, Reverends Newell S. and Nathan B. Spaulding. A flourishing class then existed on Prudence island, which had probably been formed by Reverend Joel McKee as early as the year 1823, at which time a great revival had spread over the town. This class has long since become extinct. Another class was at one time in existence at Stone Bridge, and a weekly lecture was sustained there. In 1800 the whole society numbered fifty-four members.
In 1838 a new board of trustees was elected according to the
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
discipline of the Methodist Episcopal church. They were: Oliver Brownell, Jonathan Tallman, William E. Cook, John B. Cook, Jolm Tallman, Joseph B. Corey, Benjamin Tall- man, John S. Brownell and Barzilla Fish. They decided to erect a new house of worship and appointed a building com- mittee consisting of Reverend Jonathan Cady, John B. Cook and William E. Cook. They purchased the present lot of Haw- kins Greene for $120.50, the deed being dated September 13th, 1838. The frame was raised October 9th, and the completed house was dedicated on the 25th of December following. The house is very conveniently situated, facing the east, is furnished with a tower and bell and cost $2,020. Besides the revivals already noticed, others occurred in 1829, 1843, 1853, 1857 and 1858. The membership in 1809 was seventy-seven; in 1840 it was forty-seven; in 1850 it was fifty; in 1855 it was seventy-two; in 1870 it was fifty-seven, and in 1887 it was eighty in full membership and seventeen probationers.
In 1871 some improvements were made on the church, and abont $500 were spent in wiping out the debt, leaving the church free from a burden which had rested on it for more than thirty years. A ladies' benevolent society was organized that year, and has done efficient service. Through their efforts in the year 1875 a parsonage was purchased at a cost of $1,400. The society was incorporated under the state law in May, 1871. The present value of the church building is estimated at $3,000, and that of the parsonage $1,700. A Sunday school numbering one hundred and twenty-five is connected with the church.
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