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 85
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99
The early manuscripts contain repetitions of these names as men of affairs in the town, and in 1698 the records show that John Searle, Josiah Stafford, Benjamin Chace, Robert Dennis, Samnel Hix, Gersham Manchester, William Durfee, Thomas Cook, Jethro Jeffries and Samnel Snell were residents and property owners at that time.
The vexations questions growing out of the uncertainty of
903
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
the bounds of the town as Massachusetts had created it, have already been considered. Its survey in December, 1746, was followed, on the 27th day of the following month, by its formal annexation to Rhode Island ; hence the Rhode Island histories frequently cite this as the date of incorporation. No doubt Rhode Island then intended to include more in this town and in Little Compton than the two towns had comprised up to that time. The general assembly was convened in special session to organize these and the three other towns annexed from Massa- chusetts. So much of the act as relates to these towns is in these words:
" That part which was heretofore known as Tiverton, with a part of Dartmouth and Freetown adjoining thereto, be incor- porated into a Township by the name of Tiverton ; and that part which has heretofore been known as Little Compton, and a part of Dartmouth adjoining, be incorporated into a Town- ship by the name of Little Compton ; and that the line which formerly divided Tiverton and Little Compton be extended easterly to the colony line, and the whole to be the dividing line between said towns. * Every man possessed of lands or an estate sufficient by the laws of this colony to qualify him for a freeman, and the oldest son of such freeholders, be, and the same are declared hereby, freemen of the respective towns."
At the same session John Manchester was appointed justice of the peace for Tiverton, and William Richmond for Little Compton.
The machinery of the town government was already in mo- tion, and so generally like that of Massachusetts was the genius of the institutions of Rhode Island, that transferring the juris- diction was of very slight concern to the people. The first town meeting under the new regime was held on the 10th of February, 1747. It was subsequently seen that the towns an- nexed to the colony had not been made a part of any county ; accordingly the Rhode Island general assembly was again con- vened, on the 17th of February, and the bounds of Newport connty changed to include Tiverton and Little Compton. Two companies of militia were to organize in this town and one in Little Compton, and both companies were to be made a part of the Newport county regiment.
In 1758 JJohn Wilcock, Edward Sowle, Ebenezer Fish, Samuel
904
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Crandall, William Wilcock, Jr., Thomas Tripp, Daniel Fish, Thomas Gray, Jr., and Stephen Gifford, of Tiverton, were ad- mitted freemen of the colony by the general assembly at the May session. During 1759 Walter Cooke, Benjamin Crandal, John Weight, Nathaniel Crandal, Jonathan Hart, Jr., Sion Seabury, George Crocker, Bennett Bailey, Christopher Borden, David Manchester, Recompence Gifford and Nathaniel Pettey were admitted; and in the following year Jonathan Greenhill, Daniel Dwelley and Nathaniel Greenhill were also approved as citizens and freemen of the colony. In May, 1757, the names of John Negus, Peleg Barker, William Durfee, Robert Barker, William Woodel, Jr., Thomas Hicks, Abraham Brown, and John Davenport were added to the list of freemen.
At this time the population of Tiverton was 842 whites, 99 negroes, 99 Indians, a total of 1040, which then was over three per cent. of the population of the colony. In 1885 Tiverton contained less than one per cent. of the population of the state. The taxable property of the town in 1748 was two and four- fifths per cent., and in 1751 three per cent. of the taxed property of the colony. The valuation in 1887-real estate, $1, 457,551 ; personal property, $802,527-was together less than four-fifths of one per cent. of the taxed property of the state.
The two southeastern towns of the smallest of the New Eng- land colonies, so near the fountain head of those great influ- ences which were destined to give birth to a republic, were among the first to take active public measures in behalf of a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people." Two years before Stephen Hopkins and William Ellery, as their representatives in Independence hall, had pledged " their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor," the honor and fortune of these people had been pledged by acts of their own. So fully were the interests of Tiverton and Little Compton during that period identified with each other that the stirring local events of those times are found to have included alike the sturdy patriots of both the towns in almost every event to be recorded here. Agreeably to the recommendations of a continental con- gress of May, 1774, Tiverton and Little Compton held public meetings, and while the people of Boston, after their tea-party of the 16th of the preceding December, were suffering for having done what the men of Tiverton and Little Compton would be glad to do, they, on the 3d of February, 1774, voted
905
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
to send aid to the Boston people. Tiverton sent seventy-two sheep, and Little Compton sent money.
That these people appreciated the exigencies of the hour and the solemn significance of submitting their canse to the grim arbitrament of war, is apparent from various records of those days. The town meeting on the 5th of June, 1775, " Voted Benjamin Jenks, Gilbert Davol and Captain John Cook be and Hereby are appointed a Committee to Deal out the Town's stock of powder, ball and flints to such persons as shall enlist into a Company to be always ready in case of alarm to Repair to any part of the Town where they may be wanted."
This from the Puncatest proprietors, from whose records we have previously quoted: "March 29 1776. Voted That after this meeting be recorded this book be put into the care of Capt. Isaac Manchester for its safety on account of diffienlt times."
Prior to this, in the same month, John Cook, of Tiverton, and Perez Richmond, of Little Compton, were appointed to procure arms and accontrements for their respective towns. In May the general assembly voted to divide the Newport county regiment into two regiments, and put the companies of Tiverton and Lit- tle Compton into the Second regiment, with John Cook as colonel; David Hilyard, lieutenant-colonel; and Pardon Gray, major. The Tiverton company was officered by Isaac Cook, captain; Philip Corey, lieutenant; Philip Manchester, ensign. The second company officers were Benjamin Durfee, captain; Ebenezer Slocum, lieutenant; Daniel Davol, Jr., ensign. Colonel Cook was a man of ability and fit to command such a regiment. He was made a member of the committee of safety, and did con- spienous service during the war. Major Gray, afterward known as Colonel Gray (36), had charge of the commissary headquar- ters in the old house, immediately south of the present resi- dence of John S. West. This Philip Manchester had been for forty years a man of affairs in Tiverton. He was appointed in 1757 to enlist volunteers for the war with the French, in which the colony had voted to raise, clothe and pay 450 able-bodied men. A third company was organized in Tiverton before the close of the war, to which, in July, 1781, Jeremiah Dwelly was appointed ensign.
June 3d, 1776, the town "Voted that a bounty of thirty shil- lings lawful money shall be given to each Soldier that shall en- list into Colonel Richmond's Regiment."
906
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
"Voted that Coll. William Cook and Major Pardon Gray be a committee to Equip the said soldiers agreeable to Law and to draw the money out of the Town Treasury."
"Voted that the Town Clerk be Impowered and Directed to Draw an order in behalf of the Town for the Quantity of Salt proportioned to the said Town &c."
"Voted Wm. Cook Mr. Cook and Gilbert Devol be a commit- tee to proportion the salt among the inhabitants of the town &c."
The general assembly having, on the 10th of June, 1776, or- dered a census of the colony, as recommended by congress, John Cooke and Walter Cooke, of Tiverton, and Thomas Brownell, of Little Compton, were appointed to "take an ac- count of the number of inhabitants in the two towns." Their returns show a population of 3,393, which, at the close of the war, was found, in 1782, to have decreased 3 per cent.
The strategic value of Tiverton heights as a location for a fort overlooking the ferry must have been early appreciated, for in March, 1776, fortifications were raised there, the importance of which became very apparent during the succeeding twenty months. The second Newport county regiment, under Colonel Cooke, was encamped here in December, 1776. In March, 1777, an expedition, not carried into effect, was planned to dispossess the British of the island, which they had held since the Decem- ber previous. Tiverton was made the mustering point on the 12th, and was to have been the base of the attack. Here Colonel William Barton was stationed when, on the fourth of July, 1777, with thirty- four men and six officers, in five whale boats, he started by a circuitous route on the expedition which resulted twelve days later in the capture of the British general, Prescott, on Rhode Island. Captain Dyer, of Tiverton, with sixty men, crossed the Seconnet on the 5th of August and had an engagement with a British outpost of superior numbers, which they drove into intrenchments at Butt's hill. Captain Dyer was wounded during this raid. In the following year, July 30th, the British, on the approach of two French ships, "blew up the King Fisher, of sixteen guns, and two galleys, in the Seconnet river." In October, 1778, a British galley, "The Pigot," of two hundred tons, armed with eight twelve-pound- ers, blockaded the Secounet river. Major Silas Talbot, in a small sloop, with two three-pounders and sixty men under
907
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Lieutenant Helme, descended the Seconnet on the night of the 28th, and after passing Fogland ferry under cover of the dark- ness, surprised "The Pigol" and captured the whole crew without the loss of a man on either side.
The thirty-four months during which the British held the is- land were dark days for the people of Portsmouth and Middle- town; Tiverton became the asylum of such as might get to her shores. The general assembly of Rhode Island provided in March, 1777, for the general election of those two towns to be held in Tiverton by such as could find it practicable to attend, at the house of William Durfee. The same session of the general assembly appointed Walter Cook of Tiverton and Philip Taylor of Little Compton to enroll in the two towns all persons able to bear arms.
The first meeting of the Puncatest proprietors after the war was on the 21st of Angust, 1789, at the house of Captain Isaac Manchester. In a town meeting on the 18th of October, 1790. this vote was recorded: "Major Christopher Manchester be and hereby is appointed to receive and Collect all the Guns and ac- contrements belonging to the Town of Tiverton."
The fortifications at Tiverton heights continued of importance, especially while Butt's hill, to the westward, was occupied by the British. Here, in 1778, Generals Sullivan, Green and La- fayette were rendezvoused on the eve of August 9th with ten thousand men, prior to the battle of Rhode Island, and to this encampment they returned on the night of the thirtieth, after their ill-starred work was over. General Stark was encamped here in October of 1779, and from here with his troops crossed the Seconnet to take possession of Newport after the evacuation by the British. The barracks at Tiverton were occupied by the troops during the terrible winter following. Ice locked the waters of the bay and the river for nearly two months, and ex tended far out to sea. The suffering of the citizens and the soldiery was unprecedented. Wood was worth twenty dollars per cord, and corn sold for four dollars per bushel, silver money.
The barrack here was made one of the hospitals for the French soldiers in June, 1780, and the resources of the people were taxed to the utmost capacity; but they made their sacrifice in the cause of colonial liberty a religions duty, and their sanctu- aries were held sacred to the uses of the soldiery. The meeting
908
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
house of the peace-loving Friends was arranged for a hospital, the pulpit and pews of the Congregational church were removed and the buildings occupied to the close of the war for military purposes.
The question of fidelity to the interests of the colony was, toward the close of the war, becoming a serious one, and the few who had been known or suspected of open or secret tory proclivities were placed in an unpleasant relation to the great body of the people. Their estates were confiscated, their lands were sold or appropriated to pay wages and bonnties to the soldiers. In October, 1779, the general assembly passed an act providing for a special court of adjudication to be held in Tiv- erton, to receive complaints about forfeitable estates in Newport county. This court was held on the first Monday of the following January before a jury of citizens of Tiverton and Little Compton, as provided in the act creating the court.
The general assembly in October, 1781, resolved that Daniel Brown of Tiverton had been concerned in fraudulently enlisting men in the continental service and had absconded so that a war- rant could not be served on him, and ordered that the sheriff of Newport county take possession of his lands in Tiverton in be- half of the state and report to the next session of the general assembly. Subsequently he paid $450, silver, to the state, and gave the government evidence against a gang he knew, and hence his lands were returned to him. Others appear to have been suspected; some wrongfully, as this from the town records in- dicates: " Nov. 5, 1781. Whereas Gilbert Manchester of Tiver- ton appeared in the meeting and requested the moderator to take the opinion of the Freemen of the Town then present whether lie the said Gilbert Manchester was a Tory or not and whether he was a Freeman of the Town or not. Voted unanimously that the said Gilbert was not a tory also the said Gilbert is a Freeman of this Town."
Andrew Oliver, who at this time owned the Nanaqnacket peninsula, was one of those whose property was confiscated. From the deeds recorded in the transaction it appears that his heirs or some of them were provided for, by lands at the south- ward being set off for them, and that the bulk of his property was taken by the state of Rhode Island. On the 23d of No- vember, 1782, Joseph Clarke, as general treasurer of the state, deeded the property to "Colonel Israel Angell, Major Cog-
909
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
geshall, Jeremiah Olney and Captain William Tew, in trust for the use of the officers and soldiers of the state's regiments, lately commanded by the said Col. Angell, on account of mon- ies due to them from the state and in part compensation of de- preciation of money due to them for their services." [Tiverton Land records, Book IV., page 116, et seq.]
How this trust was discharged is not made fully to appear, but on the fourth Monday in February, 1791, the general as- sembly at East Greenwich passed an act "by force and virtne of which " Jeremiah Olney and Thomas Hughes, on the 25th of March of the same year, conveyed this tract to John Cook, Na- thaniel Briggs and William Humphrey (57) "for and in con- sideration of eight-thousand-seven-hundred-fifty Spanish Milled Dollars paid by John Cook esquire, Nathaniel Briggs, mariner, and William Humphrey all of Tiverton * * unto them the said * * * as tenants in common and not as joint Ten- ants." [Land Rec., Bk. IV.] A mortgage for $5,834 was a part of the purchase consideration.
In June, 1783, after congress, in April, had ratified the arti cles of peace, the Rhode Island general assembly appointed " Benjamin Howland and Lemuel Bailey to sell the bake- honse, oven, platform and beacon-pole, in Tiverton, belonging to the state."
An interesting list of the voting freemen of Tiverton is ob- tained from the yeas and nays on the question of adopting the federal constitution. The vote was taken in town meeting on the fourth Monday in March, 1788.
Yeas :- Joseph Durfee, Peleg Simmons, Jr., John Negus, Abner Wood, Peleg Sanford, William Cory (son of Caleb), Ed- ward Woodman, Relford Dennis, Isaac Cook, Daniel Dwelly, Gideon Durfee, Thomas Cook, Philip Corey, Abraham Brown, Abraham Barker, Thomas Barker, Lemnel Bailey, Isaac Brown, Joseph Barker, Pardon Gray, Joseph Seabury, John Perry, Lemuel Taber .- 23.
Nays :- Benjamin Jenks, George Crocker, Paul Mosher, John Durfee, Joseph Sowle, Benjamin Sawdy, Jr., Joseph Taber, William Wodell, Daniel Round, Jr., Scriton Hart, Benjamin Hambly, Elihn Gifford, Ephraim Davenport, John Hicks, Jere- miah Cook, Benjamin Chace, Thomas Sisson, Godfrey King, Stephen King, Stephen Mosher, Stephen Hicks, Zebedee Mosher, William Corey (son of David), Zuriel Fisk, William Wilcox,
910
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
William Gifford, Isaac Case, Philip Sisson, Abner Sherman, Olphree King, AAbner Crandall, Thomas Corey (son of T.), John Tripp, Edward Bailey, John Borden, Isaac Jennings, Hol- der Almy, Isaac Hart, Isaac Wilcox, Michael Macomber, Daniel Brown, David Eddy, Gilbert Manchester, Gershom Wodell, Jr., Daniel Grinnell, Christopher Wodell, John Jenks, Aaron Bor- den, Obediah Dennis. Richard Sherman, Benjamin Sawdy, Paul Crossman, Thomas Wilcox, Daniel Sherman, Jotham Round, Eber Crandall, Gamaliel Warren, Israel Brownell, Gideon Grin- nell, Benjamin Borden, Ephraim Chamberlin, Sampson Sher- man, Gideon Almy, Thomas Cory, Samnel Sanford, Prince Durfee, James Durfee, Daniel Devol, Gershom Wodell, Knowles Negus, Walter Cook, John Freeman, James Tallman, Weaver Osband, Benjamin Borden (son of James), Philip Manchester, Wanton Devol, Pardon Cook, William Sawdy, Thomas Durfee, Gilbert Devol, Benjamin Howland, Lot Sherman. Christopher Manchester, Ichabod Simmons, Nathaniel Shaw, Abraham Bar- rington, Abner Simmons, Godfrey Perry, Benjamin Hambly, John Stafford, Constant Hart .- 02.
The Abraham Barker voting "Aye" in this list, and Isaac Manchester, were, two years later, the delegates to speak for Tiverton in the constitutional convention at Newport. After the twelve other states had ratified the great organic law of the new republic, they, on the afternoon of Saturday, May 29th, 1790, voted "Aye" with the majority for the ratification of the federal constitution.
The allotment of the thirty honse lots at Pocasset in 1681 was the prophecy of a village to be built. In the development of the idea, and while a ferry was the only means of intercourse with the island, the village took the name Howland's Ferry. Later on the ferry gave place to a bridge, and the place was generally referred to as Howland's Bridge, but since a more permanent structure has linked the town to her political sisters to the westward, the term " Stone Bridge," as the name of the rugged tie, has naturally come to signify, also, the village at its eastern approach.
The 'erry was operated by Isaac Howland's brother, a bache- lor, who, at his death, gave it to John Howland. The Tiverton landing was about forty rods north of the present stone bridge, and west of Major Hambly's shop (50), at a point, as the old measurements would show, some distance west of the present
911
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
shore line, where stood a fine row of poplar trees. The shore changing, the poplars were carried away by the encroaching tide, and the boys are catching " tantog" to-day in fifteen feet of water under the spot where once the poplars grew.
Where now stands the post village of Tiverton was the site of the hamlet of one hundred and fifty years ago, known as Howland's Ferry. Of it and the interests it included, very little has been retained in the memory of the present generation, but the family giving name to the old ferry and hamlet, which grew np here, produced some of the leading characters of that time. One of the Howlands (55) was a member of congress. At Daniel Howland's house, which was doubtless a public inn, the town elections were held as early as 1703. The Howlands of Little Compton (132) are a collateral branch of the same old family.
The ferry was of great importance to the settlers on the Tiver- ton side of the Seconnet as a means of intercourse with their western neighbors on the island, who had many comfortable homes before the first white man's habitation was reared in the eastern land of the Pocassets. The people of the island were benefitted quite as much by this link connecting them with the mainland, and the ferry was maintained in their mutual interests, while one generation after another laid down the oars, until near the close of the eighteenth century, when, in 1792, a peti- tion from citizens of the town of Newport, for liberty to erect a bridge between Rhode Island and Tiverton at Howlands Ferry, was presented at the June session of the general assembly at Newport, and referred to the next session for consideration.
The legislature passed the enabling act, and within two years a wooden bridge was completed, which was the first driveway leading to or from the island of Rhode Island. The existence of this bridge was very brief. It was soon so weakened by being worm-eaten, that, despite the efforts to strengthen it by addi- tional piles supporting a sidewalk, an extraordinary rise of water in 1796 carried it away. It was immediately rebuilt, but in the following year it was again swept away, and for a long time the idea of maintaining a bridge was abandoned. In 1807 a proposition to build a stone bridge was made; a subscription of 800 shares at $100 each was soon filled, and its construction commenced in the summer of 1808, under the superintendence of Major Daniel Lyman. The structure was completed in July, 1810, but the September gale of 1815 carried away about two
912
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
hundred feet of the structure. To repair this and other damages an assessment was made, and the bridge was repaired and re- opened in the fall of 1817. For half a century it now stood firm against the dashing waves, but in a severe gale in Septem- ber. 1868 or 1869, the draw was taken off.
Prior to this time it had been a toll bridge, but now the state assnmed control, repaired and greatly strengthened it, made it a free bridge, and it now seems of sufficient strength to with- stand any attack of the elements. It is over two thousand feet in length, with , walls of heavy split stone, railing and sliding draw. Some 280,000 tons of stone have been used in its con- struction, and the cost has been over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It spans the Seconnet river, a beautiful sheet of water twelve miles long and a mile wide, which forms the eastern boundary of the island of Rhode Island and connects Mount Hope bay with the ocean.
The first post office was established in Tiverton in 1811. It was given the name of the town and located near Howland's ferry. The first postmaster was William Norton, who, ap- pointed April 1st of that year, served for over forty years. The office has been administered by the following named ap- pointees : Samuel Seabury, who was appointed June 8th, 1841; William Hodges, April 12th, 1850; Charles F. Seabnry, Sep- tember 27th, 1852; John W. Almy, March 25th, 1856; Henry Gray, June 21st, 1861; Asa Gray, February 18th, 1864; Charles F. Seabury, January 9th, 1868; Samuel Seabury, March 2d, 1868; Edwin Hambly, September 29th, 1869; Samuel Seabury, February 19th, 1883; Samuel Seabury 2d., February 26th, 1883.
The extension of the Old Colony railroad from Fall River to Newport in 1864 gave the community a railroad station and a Western Union Telegraph office. It has also the same stage connections with Fall River as have the villages to the south- ward, and is connected by telephone with Boston and Newport.
The following is a copy of a curious document, the original in possession of Mrs. Benjamin Barker. Joseph Anthony, in 1749, owned land in both Tiverton and Portsmouth, although it is not clear that this writing relates to the ferry between them: " Whereas my near neighbour, Joseph Anthony, desired me to give from under my hand something concerning his ferry -- This may certify whom it may concern that I the subscriber have known it to be a ferry maintained by s'd Anthony's father
913
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
and by him for fifty years or upwards constantly. As witness my hand at Portsmouth, the 7th day of the Third month called May, 1745.
" THOMAS HICKS."
We have remarked the impulse which business interests re- ceived at Puncatest in 1710. Here was a valuable water power which bore an important relation to the development of Little Compton, as well as of the town in which it was located. On the 21st of March a committee of the Puncatest proprietors was appointed to act with Captain Benjamin Church and a commit- tee from Seconnet and measure out and bound, as had been previously agreed, a mill lot, to include the mill then in pos- session of Joseph Taber. Three days later eighty acres were laid out as a mill lot, located "south of the highway that goeth to Dartmonth." An allusion to the mill in a paper written in April, 1710, calls it Taber's saw and grist mill. Holder N. Wilcox, whose knowledge on this subject gave weight to his opinions, said that the two committees, Puncatest and Secon- net, had granted one hundred and sixty acres to Benjamin Church, as a subsidy for establishing a grist mill for the two sections of the peninsula; that Mr. Church bargained with Mr. Taber to take half the land and build the mill, and that the transaction above recorded was to give effect to those purposes and intentions. This mill lot of eighty acres included what is now the home of Mr. Wilcox's widow and the residence of Pardon Cory.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.