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 72
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The children of Joshua Coggeshall and Deborah, his wife, were : George C., David, Hannah, Mary, born January 6th, 1820, married George G. Chase, March 16th, 1843; Ann Eliza- beth and Sarah Dennis.
Sarah Coggeshall, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth, married Isaac A. Dennis December 25th, 1814, and had two children : Ruth A. C. and Joseph C. Ruth married Joseph W. Chase, October 14th, 1841, and Joseph C. married Mary G. Chase, March 2d, 1851.
The children of Simon and Phebe Coggeshall were : John, Mary, William, Thankful, Edward, Josiah, Albert, Phebe Ann and Sarah (born January 12th, 1821).
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Joshua Coggeshall, from whom sprang this branch of that family, owned and occupied lands on which the Coggeshall burying ground was afterward laid out.
For the history of the Barkers, which follows, we have drawn largely from an article published by Mr. J. O. Austin in the " Historical Magazine" for July, 1880. Joli Barker married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Hill. She was the sister of Sir Rowland Hill, the first Protestant lord mayor of London. John Barker and Elizabeth had a son, Edward, who had a son, Row- land, to whom a coat of arms was granted December 17th, 1582. There are some twenty or more coats of arms and ten or eleven crests of different Barker families in England, but the one just alluded to is distinctive in this, that it was conferred-not wrongfully assumed, as many another was and still is-by the king's appointed " Clairencieux," Robert Cooke, when making one of his regular visitations.
James Barker, of the fourth generation from the original au- cestor mentioned, is called in family history a "legal descend- ant of Rowland Barker." He came from Harwich, Essex county, England, took passage from Southampton in the ship "Mary and John," and sailed March 24th, 1634, for New Eng- land, but died on the passage. His daughter, Christianna, the wife of Thomas Beecher, had preceded him, coming with her husband in 1630, and his son, James, accompanied him on the ship " Mary and John." The daughter, Christianna, had first married Thomas Cooper, then Thomas Beecher, and after his death, in America, she married Nicholas Easton in 1638, and died February 20th, 1665. Her brother, James, who survived his father and reached America safe, being then about seven- teen years of age, married, in 1644, Barbara, daughter of Thomas and Frances Dugan, and died in Newport in 1702.
Thomas Beecher, the husband of Christiana Barker, had been captain of the ship "Talbot " in 1629, engaged in bringing pas- sengers to America. The next year he came with his wife to Charlestown, Mass. He was a freeman there in 1632, one of the first selectmen of the town, a representative to the first general court of Massachusetts and for seven following sessions, " Cap- tain of the Castle" in 1635, and died in 1637 leaving an estate valued at a little over four hundred pounds. His widow, Chris- tianna, married Nicholas Easton in 1638.
From notes made by Peter Easton is obtained the following
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concerning that family. He says: "Came ashore in New Eng- land 14th of May, 1634; wintered at Ipswich; thence Newbury in 1635; Hampton 1638, and built there first English house." From here, in consequence of the Antinomian controversy, they removed to Pocasset (Portsmouth), R. I. Under date of May 1st, 1639, he says: "Gave the name Coaster's Harbor Island when on the way by boat from Portsmouth to Newport." He speaks of building the first wind mill in 1663. Peter Easton died December 12th, 1693, aged 71 years. He left a large estate and a numerous posterity.
Returning to the Barker family, we learn that two of the children of Peter Easton married the children of James Barker. Doubtless Peter and his brother John Easton, who was for a time governor of the colony, were intimately associated through life with James Barker, being of about the same age, and from early life more or less brought together in one family. The Eastons and Coddingtons became Quakers, while James Barker and John Clarke were Baptists. A certain manuscript calls James Barker "a teaching brother amongst the Baptists many years."
In 1644 James Barker was a corporal; in 1648 a member of the general court of elections; in 1655-61 and 1663 a member of the court of commissioners; in 1661 a member of the committee to receive contributions toward raising the £50 for the agents to England in relation to the charter; in 1663 one of the men named in the royal charter; from 1663 to 1678 one of the gov- ernor's assistants; in 1669-77 and 1681-86 a deputy; in 1678 deputy governor, acting after the death of William Cod- dington.
James Barker had eight children: Elizabeth, married Nicholas Easton, son of Peter and grandson of the first Nicholas; James, Mary, William, married Elizabeth Easton, daughter of Peter and granddaughter of the first Nicholas; Joseph, Peter, Chris- tianna and Sarah. There were nine James Barkers in direct line of descent through as many successive generations, and at least seven of them were eldest sons. Another peculiar cir- cumstance is that during the time of the early generations all the brothers of a family refrained from naming their sons James, except the eldest brother, thus by common consent leaving to him the monopoly of that name. The ninth James, however, refused to name his eldest son after himself, which
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refusal, it is said, was so offensive to his father that he ignored him in his will.
The first of these nine Jameses was the one on whom the coat of arms was conferred. the James of Harwich, England. The second was the James who died on his passage to America. The third was his son who was on the ship with him. The fourth, James Barker of Newport, born in March, 1647, married Sarah, daughter of William and Mary Jeffrey, in 1673, died in 1722. James Barker the fifth, of Newport and Middletown, was born in 1675, was fifty years a member of the Second Baptist church, married in 1699, Mary, daughter of Robert and Tamar (Tyler) Cook, and died in 1758. Ilis eldest son, James Barker the sixth, of Newport and Middletown, was born in 1700, married first Mary, danghter of William and Mary (Tew) Peckham, second, Margaret, daughter of Jeremiah Weeden, and died in 1722. llis eldest son, the seventh James Barker of Middletown, R. I., and Lanesboro, Mass., was born in 1725, married Anne, daughter of Isaac Peckham, and died in 1796. His eldest son, James Barker the eighth, of Middletown, R. I., Lanesboro, Mass., and Utica, N. Y., was born in 1749, married in 1770, Rhoda Mason of Swansea, Mass., and died in 1830. His eldest son, James Barker the ninth, born in 1773, married Susanna Greene, and died in Rochester, N. Y., in 1840.
Isaac Barker, the son of James Barker and Anne Peckham, his wife, was born May 21st, 1752, married first to Sarah, daugh- ter of Stephen and Amy Peckham ; second, to Wealthy Peck- ham. widow, and died in 1834. He lived through the times of the revolution and rendered his country's friends valuable serv- ice by communicating to them facts in regard to the movements or position of the enemy. While the British had possession of the island (Rhode Island) British officers were quartered at his house. Barker, by pretending sympathy with their cause, gained the confidence of these officers, and being allowed passes, was in a position to know much of the movements and designs of the British. Such information as was of any valne to the Americans he communicated to Lieutenant Chapin, who had command of the American troops stationed at Little Compton for fourteen months from Angust, 1778. This correspondence was effected by letters which Barker deposited in a cleft of a rock at a certain point previously agreed upon, which was on the east shore, toward the north end of the island. Having depos-
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ited a letter there, he then made a signal to let Lieutenant Chapin know that it was there, and the latter would send his men to get it. The shore was guarded by the British, but by using cantion and proceeding under cover of night, they were able to reach the " post office " and secure the letter. The sig- nal used by Barker was a simple one, consisting of an under- stood arrangement of a stake and bars upon a stone wall on a hill near Barker's house, all of which could be plainly seen through Chapin's spy-glass. General Gates recognized this service of Isaac Barker as one of great importance.
Jeremiah and Priscilla Gould, the heads of this numerous family now in Middletown, came from England hither in 1637, with their three sons, Daniel, Thomas and John. Of this jndi- cions patriarch it is said on some old papers that have lately been brought to light, "This man's Armour seems to be Per Saltire Azure and Or. A Lion Rampant." Daniel was abont sixteen years old when he came to this country. The father afterward returned to England and died there, but the mother remained with her sons. Here she died and was buried in " John Gould's Old Orchard."
The son Thomas became the owner of an estate at a place called Quidnessett neck, in Narragansett county. He married Eliza- beth, youngest daughter of William Boulston, of Newport, in 1755. Having no children, he gave his estate to his brother Daniel. JJohn, the third son, was settled on land situated about four miles from Newport, and he likewise, not having any chil- dren, gave his estate to his namesake and nephew, John, a son of his brother Daniel.
Daniel, the eldest son of Jeremiah and Priscilla Gould, was settled by his father in that part of Newport now called Mid- dletown, on lands a portion of which is still in possession of his descendants, Sanmel and John Gould. Daniel married Wait, daughter of John Coggeshall (first president of the col- ony), in 1651, and lived with her to an advanced age. After coming hither he became a Quaker, and was a minister of that faith and a sturdy adherent to its principles. He was a man of ready wit, deep penetration and sound judgment, and served the Friends both publicly and privately.
The general interest which attaches to the subject of the treat- ment received by the early Quakers is our apology for turning somewhat aside at this point to quote from the language of
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this man a brief account of some of the experience of himself with Marmaduke Stevenson, William Robinson and others, in Boston, at the time of the persecution of the Quakers. After they came from Salem to Charlestown Ferry, he says:
"There meets us the constable and a rude company of people with him and takes ns all up (about 10 in number besides the two banished friends) and after much scoffing and mocking ex- aminations all of us were led to prison, and God doth know who is a just rewarder of all, how Harmless, Peaceable & innocent we came into the town, behaving ourselves in much fear and humil- ity of mind. Yet notwithstanding, being Quakers, to prison we must go, where we remained some days-it may be 3 or 4 or a week; then the Council sent searchers to search us and our pockets and took our papers and whatever they pleased, carry- ing them away among which was William Robinson's Journal of places where he had been. After that our pockets had been picked we remained in prison till the pleasure of the Court was to send for any or all of us, or sometimes for one alone, for I was sent for sifted and tried, being examined about many things. And seeing that they were as a company of Fowlers to draw the Bird into their net, I was spareing of speech; Then they called me 'Dumb Devel' that could not speak & some said I was simple and ignorant and had no great harm in me, but that I was beguiled & led away by others that were more subtle.
" Then I said to them, if you think I am simply beguiled & not willfully in error how have you showed kindness to me ? or where has your love appeared to help me out of the ignorance & delusion yon suppose I have fallen into? How have your endeavors appeared to open my understanding-to show me better ? Do you think your prison, whips and base usage are the way to do it? Is that the way to begin with, to restore any one from the error of his ways? Then some one cried out and said: he is more knave than fool ! Then I answered again and said, If I hold my tongue I am a Dumb Devel, a fool and ignorant, If I speak I am a knave.
" After this Richard Bellingham, the deputy Governor, being full of Envy said to me, ' Well Gould, you shall be severely whip- ped;' which was afterwards done, with 30 stripes upon my naked back, being tyed to the carriage of a great gun. And this is my comfort to this day & I bless the Lord for it, that my sufferings
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were in great Innocence. There were five others whipped at the same time there; each having ten stripes-except the two men, fifteen for no other cause than being Quakers. And after we were whipped we were all led to prison, where our lodgings were with our sore backs upon the boards, where we remained until after the execution which was in the year 1659."
This good man departed this life on the 26th of January, 1716, and was buried in the Friends' burying ground near the meet- ing house. He was nearly ninety years of age. On the night he died he was in a sweet frame of mind, and imparted much good advice in the course of the night to those about his bed- side, and he finished his life in a full assurance of life eternal, which he signified on his death bed. His widow, Wait Gould, died on the 8th of May, 1718, aged 84 years, and was buried by the side of her husband. The names of their children, taken from the Friends' record, are as follows: Mary, born May 2d, 1653; Thomas, born February 22d, 1654; Daniel, born August 24th, 1656: John, born March 4th, 1659; Priscilla, born April 30th, 1661; Jeremiah, born March 3d, 1664; James, born May 5th, 1666; Jeremiah, 2d, born December 2d, 1668; Content, born March 23d, 1671, and Wait, born August 3d, 1676.
Mary Gould, the eldest daughter as above, married Joseph Bryer April 22d, 1672. This ceremony was performed at the house of William Coddington, and George Fox was one of the signers of the marriage certificate. Their only child, Elizabeth, married Joseph Birdin.
Thomas Gould, the eldest son of Daniel, inherited the home- stead. Ile married Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob and Joanna Mott, of Portsmouth, January 13th, 1690, and died March 11th, 1734. His wife died January 22d, 1749, aged 78 years. Their children were : Priscilla, born December 3d, 1692; Marcy, born October 13th, 1694 ; Daniel, born December 18th, 1696 ; Thomas, born Jannary 10th, 1698 ; Joanna, born August 24th, 1700 ; Ja- cob, born September 21st, 1704; Elizabeth, born March 4th, 1707 ; John, born December 15th, 1708 ; and James, born May 5th, 1711.
John Gould, third son of Daniel, was settled by his uncle John, as has been stated, on an estate about four miles from Newport, on the east road. Hle was an active member of the society of Friends and had a good repute among men. He mar- ried Sarah, daughter of Matthew Prior, of Matinecock, L. I.,
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November 26th, 1685. After his death, which occurred January 5th, 1704, his widow married Walter Clarke. The children of John and Sarah Gould were : John ; Mary, born November 29th, 1688 ; Wait, born March 28th, 1691 ; and Content, born Febru- ary 25th, 1695.
John, son of John and Sarah Gould, married Ruth Easton. Their children were John and Sarah. Mary, daughter of the same, married George Lawton ; and Wait married Richard Coggeshall.
Marcy, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Gould, married William Cranstone. She died in 1747, in the 53d year of her age. Daniel, eldest son of Thomas and Elizabeth, married Mary, eldest danghter of Captain John Browne of Swansea, Mass., in 1717. The greater part of the farm was bequeathed to him. He was a prominent man in the community, and spent much time in settling differences as an arbitrator. For a num- ber of years he was one of the justices of the court of common pleas. He died in 1765, in the 60th year of his age. His chil- dren were: Abigail, Priscilla, Daniel, Mary, Jeremiah, Thomas, Anne, Waite and Bathsheba, all of whom were born in Middle- town except the eldest daughter. Here they lived and married, and a numerous progeny remains to the present day. Daniel Gould, a descendant, married Mary Weaver; Thomas, a later descendant, married Phebe Slocum; another Thomas, still later, married Olive Coggeshall. Susan, a daughter of Daniel and Mary Gould, married John Chase of Middletown. Others have intermarried with different families until the Gonld blood may be found in nearly all the old families of the town.
The Peckhams of Middletown are descendants of John Peck- ham, who came from England at an early period. He was given thirty-two acres of land lying sontherly on Hambrook mill, the east end of it butting on Stoney river, having the lands of John Lawton on the south, and of Thomas Clarke on the north. He was made a freeman of the town in 1641, and in 1648 became one of the ten male members of the First Baptist church. He resided in that part of Newport which afterward became Mid- dletown, and a stone marked " J. P.," standing on land now of William F. Peckham, is supposed to mark his grave. He died July 12th, 1696, having become an inhabitant of Newport in 1638. Ilis wife was Mary Clarke, and they had children: John, William, Stephen, Thomas, James, Sarah, Rebecca, Deborah,
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Phebe and Elizabeth. John, the eldest son, was born in 1645, and was one of the forty-eight to whom a tract of five thousand acres was granted for the founding of East Greenwich. Wil- liam married first a Miss Clarke and second Phebe Weeden. In 1708 he and others, acting on behalf of the church, sold to John Vaughan, for £IS, a house at Green End which had been their meeting house. On the 15th of November, 1711, he was ordained pastor of the First Baptist church.
Each of the children of John Peckham raised a large family, and many of their descendants are at present living in this town. Jethro Peckham, a biography of whom appears in this work, was a descendant of Joseph Peckham on his father's side and of William Peckham on his mother's side. Beginning with his maternal ancestor, we have William Peckham, whose son, Augustus, married Esther Pratt, and they had a son, Fe- lix, who married Tryphena Stockman. Of the large family which they raised one son, Gideon, married Cynthia Barker ; one daughter, Lydia, married Benedict Barker ; another daugh- ter, Rnth, married Christopher Shearman Barker, and another son, Abner, married Rachel Barker. The last named had a son, Samnel, who was married four times: first, to Sabrina Dewey ; second, to Lydia Rider; third, to Amelia Dewey, and fourth, to Mary Young. Of his children, Nancy married John- son Whitman, Hannah married Benjamin Smith, the million- aire, of Newport, lately deceased, and Tryphena married Jethro J. Peckham and became the mother of Jethro Peckham, men- tioned above.
The Chase family in the United States are nearly all descend- ants of three progenitors, William, Thomas and Aquilla. The two latter settled in New Hampshire. William Chase came from England in 1630, in the fleet which brought over Governor Winthrop and his colony. He was at that time about thirty- five years of age. Soon after his arrival he became a member of the first church in Roxbury, Mass., of which the Rev. John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, was pastor. There he applied for admission as a freeman October 19th, 1630, and May 14th, 1634, took the freeman's oath. He went to Yarmouth, Mass., in 1638, and after having in various official capacities served the new settlement, he died there in 1659. His son, William, died there February 27th, 1685.
The descendants of William are numerous. James Chase,
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the fifth by name of that family, was born February 12th, 1706, in Swansea, Mass. May 11th, 1727, he married Alice, daughter of William and Mary Coggeshall. IIe died in this town April 20th, 1782, having resided here since the year 1740. His daugh- ter Alice married, March 3d, 1757, Thomas Gould; Mary, an- other danghter, married Edward Sisson; and Zachens, a son, married Elizabeth Gould. All these children left descendants common to these names in this part of Rhode Island. James Chase, born in Portsmouth, R. L., died in Middletown January 31st, 1848, aged 88 years. Of his children, Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Dennis, of Newport, and Daniel Chase and John Chase, have left descendants in Middletown. John Chase was born August 8th 1786. He married, July 9th, 1810, Susannah, daughter of Daniel and Mary (Weaver) Gould, of this town. He was repeatedly elected to the general assembly from Middle- town, and held that office when he died. He and his wife lie buried on the farm now owned and occupied by Daniel Chase.
The Eastons of Middletown are descendants of Nicholas Eas- ton, who was born in England in 1593, and died here August 16th, 1675. A sketch of his life is given in Chapter III. of this volume. In his will he gave his farm to his two sons, Peter and John, and the twenty acres on which his dwelling house stood to his grandson, Nicholas Easton. His children were: Nicholas, John, Mary, Peter, Ann and John second. Nicholas was married to Elizabeth Barker, and died March 12th, 1677, at the age of twenty-three years. In his will he made bequests for the benefit of Quakers.
The first mention found of the family name of Weaver is in the name of Clement Weaver, who made his will Angust 28th, 1680, giving to his son Thomas his homestead, farm and build- ings, to his sons Clement and Benjamin certain other lands, to his son John fifty shillings, and to his daughter, Mary, five pounds. He held the office of a deputy in 1696, 1710, 1715, 1721, 1722 and 1723. Thomas Weaver died in 1753. There are now living in the town a mumber of the descendants of Clement Weaver.
This town has probably never had a resident whose associa- tion with it has brought the locality more conspicuously to the notice of the world than that of the celebrated Irish prelate and philosopher, George Berkeley. Some notice of the circumstances connected with his residence
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here will enable the reader better to understand the man and his motives in coming here. He was born in the county of Kilkenny, Ireland, March 12th, 1684, belonging to a family noted for their loyalty to Charles I. He received his early education at Kilkenny school and at Trinity College, Dub- lin, of which he became a fellow in 1707. About this time he began to write and publish discussions of philosophical and metaphysical subjects, which soon bronght him into contact with many of the most profound thinkers of Europe, and in- volved him in earnest controversies with prominent literary men. After spending several years in Italy and Sicily he re- turned to England, where, in 1724, he was made Dean of Derry, which gave a living worth £1,100 per annum. The energies of his mind were directed toward some scheme for Christianizing the new world, and he finally determined upon the plan of es- tablishing at the Bermuda islands a college for the purpose of training pastors for the colonial churches, and missionaries to work among the Indians. Being recommended by Swift, his intimate friend, he at length gained the consent of Lord Carta- ret to aid the plan with government patronage. In anticipation of the happy results of his scheme, he wrote the stanzas "On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America," one of which is familiar, in part at least, to most of our readers:
" Westward the course of empire takes its way- The four first acts already past, The fifth shall close the drama with the day- Time's noblest offspring is the last."
He later seems to have changed his plan, as far as the location of the proposed college was concerned, and directed his atten- tion toward Rhode Island instead of the Bermudas. In August, 1728, he married the daughter of the Right Honorable John Forster, speaker of the Irish house of commons, and in the fol- lowing month set sail for Rhode Island, arriving in Newport harbor on the 23d of Jannary, 1729. He soon after bought a farm of ninety-six acres about three miles from what was then the village of Newport. By the growth of the city the distance is less at the present time.
On the eastern slope of Honeyman's hill he built a comfort- able mansion, in which he made his home during his sojourn here. The house is still standing-an object of intense interest to the thousands who annually visit Newport. He named his
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country seat Whitehall, in honor of the residence of the English king. Here two children were born to him, one of which, dying in infancy, was buried in the grounds of Trinity church in New- port.
Many interesting reminiscences of the sojourn of Berkeley on the island exist. Not far from his house are the so-called " Hanging Rocks," from whose jagged crown the outlook sea- ward is broad and free. At their most elevated point nature has provided a sort of alcove, roofed with the overhanging rock and open toward the sea to the southward, where it commands a wide expanse of the ocean. Tradition says that in this alcove he had a table, and there he was wont to sit and meditate and write. It is said the "Alciphron, or the Minute Phylosopher," which was a defense of religion in the form of a dialogue, was produced here.
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