USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > History of Providence County, Rhode Island, Volume I > Part 17
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
George B. Peck, M.D., eldest son of George B. and Ann Power Smith Peck, was born in Providence, August 12th, 1843. Manifest- ing an unusual fondness for books at an early age, his parents deter- mined that his inheritance should be a good education. He was kept at school from an age so young that he was excused daily at eleven o'clock for a morning nap, until he was graduated in letters (with a civil engineer's diploma additional) at Brown University in 1864. During his university days the war was raging, and though it was not convenient for him to go to the front he joined the noted Provi- dence Marine Corps of Artillery in the early part of 1863, and in subsequent years became an active and prominent member of it. He also had a record in the field during the latter part of the war. Availing himself of the first opportunity after the completion of his college course he was mustered, December 13th, 1864, as second lieutenant of Company G, 2d Regiment R. I. Vols., conditionally on raising a company to refill it. March 13th, he sailed with the com- pany to City Point. A few weeks later he received a bullet wound through his left side, on the field of Sailor's Creek, which termi- nated his active campaigning. He rejoined the regiment at Wash- ington in a weak condition and poor health, but soon after resigned and received an honorable discharge July 5th, 1865. He soon after entered the office of Peck & Salsbury, as a bookkeeper in their coal and wood business. During the season of 1869-70 he attended lectures at the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia. both the winter and summer courses, and followed that by a similar double course at the Medical School of Yale College, where he received his diploma in June, 1871. He spent the next year in the laboratory of the Sheffield Scientific School, devoting himself chiefly to chemistry. From August, 1872, to June, 1874, he served as assistant chemist at the United States Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, R. I., and during the fall of 1874 had charge of the chemi- cal department of the University of Vermont at Burlington, during an illness of the professor, Peter Collier, Ph.D. June 1st, 1875, he opened an office in Providence as a general practitioner of medi- cine, and this occupation he still pursues in the very place where his maternal grandfather kept store for some 40 years, and in which his mother was born. His residence is the house built by his paternal grandfather, and in which his father and himself alike were born. He is a member of the Rhode Island Homeopathic Society, of the Western Massachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society, and an hon- orary member of the Homeopathic Society of the State of New York. He has filled many important professional positions, and served on the school committee for the last nine years, is a prominent member of the Baptist church, and has devoted himself considerably to liter- ary work, which has commanded a very favorable reception.
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
Ara Marshall Paine, son of Ara and Lydia M. Paine, was born Oc- tober 31st, 1836, in Burrillville, R. I. His boyhood was spent upon his father's farm, where he attended the district school. He after- ward attended the Providence Conference Seminary of East Green- wich, for several years. After teaching school for a short time in his native town, he engaged in mercantile business, previous to com- mencing the study of medicine. He attended lectures at Albany Medical College, of New York state, and Harvard Medical College, where he was graduated March 6th, 1861. In the following winter he began the practice of medicine in Providence. Beginning with Sep- tember, 1862, he served three years as acting assistant surgeon at the Lovel General Hospital at Portsmouth Grove, R. I. At the close of the war he settled in Woonsocket, where he has ever since practiced medicine with encouraging success. He has served the town as member of the town council, and of the school committee, and as health officer. He was married in Blackstone, Mass., August 17th, 1861, to Henrietta, youngest daughter of Rufus and Susan Jefferds. They have two daughters: Evelyn W. and Alice J., the latter being married August 22d, 1888, to George W. Green, of Woonsocket.
Albert Potter, M.D., of Chepachet, is a descendant of the seventh generation from Robert Potter, and through the maternal lines, a descendant of Roger Williams, of the eighth generation. The line of descent, as far as we have learned, was as follows: 1, Roger Wil- liams; 2, his daughter Mercy, who married Samuel Winsor; 3, their son. Samuel Winsor, whose wife was Mercy Harding; 4, their daugh- ter Mary, who married Fisher Potter; 5 and 6, we have not learned; 7, John Waterman Potter; 8, his son, Doctor Albert Potter, the sub- ject of this sketch. He was born in Sturbridge, Mass., February 28th, 1831. He graduated at Harvard in 1855. In 1861 he joined the 5th R. I. Regiment, as assistant surgeon, and in 1863 was promoted to be surgeon of the regiment, serving till the following year. In 1865 he settled in Chepachet, where he is still in practice. He recently held the office of president of the Rhode Island Medical Society. In 1855 he married Urania T., daughter of Daniel and Mary Harris.
Albert Orlando Robbins, M.D., was born in Providence, March 25th, 1840. He was the second child of Horace and Julia Emily (Hop- kins; Robbins. Horace Robbins carried on the tin and sheet iron business, in connection with a retail grocery, and at the time of his death, in August, 1844, was in fair circumstances. The mother took care of the children and administered the property after the death of the father, our subject being then but about four years old. He was given a liberal education in the public schools of the city, including the high school, and an academic course at the New Hampton Insti- tute, of Fairfax, Vt. This was followed by a medical training under the instruction and direction of Doctors Usher and Charles H. Par- sons, and at the medical school and medical department of Harvard
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
University, from which he graduated in 1866. He then located in the town of Harwich, Mass., where he married Zulette, daughter of Thomas and Hope D. Eldridge, returning to Providence in 1870. Here he remained until the death of his wife, in 1873, when he removed to the town of Sutton, and practiced there until 1878. He then returned to his old home, and there has remained until the present time. In 1861 he enlisted in the First R. I. Cavalry, and remained with them until November 19th, 1863, when he was commissioned an assistant surgeon of the Second R. I. Infantry, and shortly afterward resigned and went home. Doctor Robbins is a lineal descendant on the mater- nal side, in the fourth generation, from Stephen Hopkins, signer of the declaration of independence. On the paternal side he is related to Asher Robbins, and later, Winfield Scott was own cousin to Horace Robbins.
Edgar W. Remington, M.D., son of Horatio A. and Martha A. Remington, was born in Warwick, August 27th, 1862. He entered Mowry & Goff's Classical School, and graduated in 1881. He entered Brown University the same year, and graduated in 1885, with the degree of A.B. In the fall of that year he entered Bellevue Hos- pital Medical College, and taking there a three years' course, gradu- ated in the spring of 1888. He began practice in Providence in April, 1888, and there continues, He married Miss Dilla Ralph, of Phenix, April 16th, 1888, and they have one son, Edgar Demarest Remington.
James M. Ryder, M.D., was a native of Pawtucket, and was a grad- uate of Woodstock (Vt.) Medical College. He began the practice of medicine at Woonsocket, but during the gold mania of 1849, went to California. After a residence of a few years there he returned to New York state, and finally died in London, England, in 1886.
Samuel Starkweather, M. D., was a practitioner of medicine in Pawtucket for a short time between the years 1830 and 1840. He re- moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he became mayor of the city and one of the associate judges of that state.
George Henry Stanley, M.D., is a graduate of Harvard Medical College, and has practiced medicine with flattering success in Paw- tucket since 1870.
Waldo Hodges Stone, M.D., was born July Sth, 1855, at Olean, N. Y. His father was Samuel Hollis Stone, and his mother Betsy Cope- land Stone. In 1860 his parents moved into southwest Missouri, where in 1861 they were driven from their home by the rebels, find- ing refuge in western Illinois. There they remained, and amid the rugged surroundings of that life our subject passed his boyhood until 1873, working on the farm summers and attending school in the old log school house winters whenever there was no work to do to pre- vent. So the little hamlet of Hamburg became the scene of his child- hood. In 1873 he came East and entered Bridgewater (Mass.) Acad- emy, where he spent two years, and then took a two years' course in
4
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
the Bridgewater Normal School. After that he taught school two years, a part of which time he was superintendent of the public schools in the town of West Bridgewater, where he taught. In 1879 he entered Boston University, where he graduated in 1882, with the degree of M.D. In the fall of 1882, by invitation of J. W. Hayward, M.D., of Taunton, Mass., he settled there as his assistant, a position which he continued to fill until January, 1886, when he moved to his present field in Providence. He was married June 13th, 1882, to Miss Mary E. Goss, of Danvers, Mass. They have two children-George B. and Samuel H. Stone. Doctor Stone recently took into his office as an associate in medical practice, Doctor C. H. Hadley, who occu- pies the field with him.
Samuel Fuller Stowe, M.D., was born in the town of Providence, October 6th, 1814. His father was Samuel Stowe, a native of Stonington, Conn., and his mother's maiden name was Catharine Ham, a native of Providence. Doctor Stowe left Providence in 1829, and attended a school in Worcester county, Mass., return- ing to Providence in October, 1837. At that time he turned his attention to physiology, and later took up chemistry. He located in New Bedford in December, 1844, and continued a general and successful practice in medicine, in New Bedford, Dartmouth, Fair Haven and Westport. In February, 1859, he sold out his botanic store and returned to Providence, where he practiced medicine until the spring of 1866. He then went to Boston and engaged in other business. Returning again to Providence in 1874, he commenced business in the line of his former botanical practice at No. 555 High street, where he remains. He was never married.
Grenville Smith Stevens, M.D., of Providence, was born in Rayn- ham, Mass., July 10th, 1829. He was sent to school at an early age, and at that time manifested that eagerness for knowledge which has been a marked characteristic with him through life. In 1845 he attained a remarkable degree of proficiency in the common English branches and entered upon an academic course preparatory for college, having then the medical profession in view. After three years thus spent he entered Brown University in 1848, and graduated therefrom in 1852. During his college vacations he pur- sued his preliminary medical studies in the office of Doctors Bar- rows & Graves of Taunton, Mass. In the fall after his graduation he entered the office of Doctor Okie, in Providence. In 1853 he attended his first course of medical lectures, in Pittsfield, Mass. He afterward attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city, where in 1854 he graduated. In July of the same year, during the prevalence of the great cholera epidemic, he went to Chicago, but being taken ill after a brief residence he returned to the East, and in August, 1854, he opened an office and com- menced practice in Providence. He soon gained a good reputation
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for professional skill, and had the confidence and esteem of his friends. After some 13 years of close application to the calls of his practice, he found his health failing, and retired to his farm for the space of two years. In 1869, his health having been re- stored, he again entered the field of practice in Providence, and has since continued in a successful and prosperous career of practice. He has been twice married: first, to Hannah Wheaton Smith of Warren, R. I., February 3d, 1859; and second, to Lydia Browning White of Providence, March 18th, 1869.
Esek P. Sumner, M.D., was born in Eastford, Windham county, Conn., January 29th, 1821, being the son of Samuel and Sally Clapp Sumner, whose maiden surname was Preston. He worked on his father's farm and attended the district school until 15 years old, learned to make shoes and followed that a year or two, and then learned to manufacture carriages, and worked at that business a year or two. Then he studied at Plainfield Academy for a year, and then taught school for a while, meanwhile taking up the study of medicine. He attended medical lectures at Pittsfield. Mass., and Woodstock, Vermont, graduating at the latter college in 1847. He commenced the practice of medicine in September, 1847. and con- tinued in the adjoining towns of Seekonk, Rehoboth and Swansea, Mass., and Barrington, R. I., till 1859. He then settled himself in the business of pharmacy and office practice at 381 High street, Providence, where he has remained to the present time, with a fair measure of success. He has from boyhood been a keen lover and student of history, general literature and the Greek and Latin and English classics. He has been president of the Rhode Island Phar- maceutical Association and has filled some minor political and educational positions. He was married November 24th, 1853, to Cor. nelia Hall Munroe. They have one daughter, now married, Minnie Preston Moulton, and her five year old son is named, in perpetuation of the family names involved, Preston Sumner Moulton.
Henry W. Stillman, M.D., was born in Hopkinton, R.I., in 1824. He was the son of Ezra and Charlotte (Wells) Stillman. He was educated at the public schools of Jewett City, Conn. He began the course in medical study in the medical department of Yale College, and graduated at Berkshire Medical College, Pittsfield, Mass .. in 1845, being then 21 years of age. He began practice in Pawtucket, and afterward practiced in Lime Rock, in the town of Smithfield, for 11 years. In 1858 he removed to Cumberland Hill, and practiced there 27 years, and in 1883 removed to Woonsocket. He was one of the first members of the hospital staff, and is a member of the state medical society. He was married in 1847, to Harriet N., daughter of Roswell Downing, of Lisbon, Conn. She died in 1849. He was married again, in 1852, to Clara, daughter of Benjamin Lindsey, of Smithfield, and she died in 1882.
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
Walter J. Smith, M.D., of Scituate, was born in Berkley, Mass., in 1857. He was educated at Bridgewater High School, and graduated at Vale College Medical School, taking his degree of M.D. in the class of 1878. He came to North Scituate in the same year, and has been there ever since. His father, John D. Smith, was a surgeon in the navy during the war, and his grandfather, Prof. Nathan Smith, be- longed to the faculty of Vale College in the medical department. His wife was a daughter of Doctor Charles Fisher, of Providence.
Thomas J. Smith, M.D., of Valley Falls, was born at Adams, Mass., April 18th, 1859, and is the second son of Michael and Bridget. He has been a student at the West Farnum Academy, at the St. Patrick Institution of Granby, and at the Ottawa University, all located in the province of Quebec, Canada. He also attended La Salle Acad- emy, of Providence, and studied medicine with Doctor L. F. C. Gar- vin. He then took a course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore, Md., graduating in 1884. He commenced the practice of medicine in Cumberland in the same year, and still continues in that town, being a resident of Valley Falls. He is a mem- ber of the state medical society.
Doctor George R. Smith, son of George A. and Caroline A. (Salis- bury) Smith, was born in Greenville, R. I., December 26th, 1856. After a preliminary education in the village academy he studied two years at the Coddington School, in Newport. After this he spent three years at the State Normal School, and subsequently taught school for three years. He then entered the office of Doctor J. W. Mitchell, of Providence, where he remained as a medical student nearly two years. He then entered the medical department of Bowdoin College, spending two years there. He then spent one year at the medical department of the University of Vermont, graduating in the class of 1882. He immediately commenced practicing with his preceptor, Doctor Mitchell, but after six months removed to Woonsocket, where he has ever since remained. He became a member of the state med- ical society in 1883, and the same year was appointed medical exam- iner for the Fifth district of Rhode Island, also elected a member of the school committee. George A. Smith, father of our subject, was a soldier in the war of the rebellion, and served with General Banks in the Red River expedition. The house now in possession of the Smith family is one of the oldest in Rhode Island, having been in the hands of the Smith and Mowry families over 200 years.
Doctor Stephen Slater was born in Foster, R. L., in 1817. His father, also named Stephen, was born in 1779. Doctor Slater in early life worked at the business of a cabinet maker. While a youth he moved with his parents to Slatersville, in 1825. He attended the Medical Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio, for about two years, but his health forbade his pursuing the course quite to its completion. He began to practice medicine in 1858. He married Sally B. Caroll, November 28th, 1839, and has two children-James S. and Emma L.
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
Dennis Jerome Sullivan, A.B., M.D., was born in Providence, in 1850. He was the son of Daniel and Alicia Sullivan. He entered St. Charles College, Ellicott City, Md., in 1865, and graduated with honors at Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass., in the class of 1870. He studied medicine under George E. Mason for two years, and gradu- ated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1876. From that time to the present he has practiced medicine in Providence.
Charles A. Stearns, M.D., was born in West Medway, Mass., in 1858. His ancestors on both sides came to America in 1630, or just previous to that date, and settled in Massachusetts. His father, An- drew J. Stearns, was a merchant, and his mother was Mary M. Stearns. Doctor Stearns was educated in the public schools of Worcester, whither the family had moved, and after graduating from the high school in 1877, entered Amherst College in the fall of that year, and graduated in 1881. In the fall of that year he entered the medical department of Harvard University, graduating thence in 1884. He was then serving in the out-patient department of Boston City Hos- pital. He began the practice of medicine in Shrewsbury, Mass., in 1884, but in the fall of that year changed to Providence. In 1885 he removed to Pawtucket, where he has since been settled. He was married to Miss Anna E. Greene, October 22d, 1889, at Pawtucket, and is a member of several social and beneficial societies.
Doctor William H. Sturtevant, of Pawtuxet, was born at Centre- ville, Mass., April 10th, 1823. His parents' names were Josiah and Lucy Sturtevant. His father was a clergyman settled in Centreville at the time. He was left fatherless at an early age, and removed with his mother and his six brothers and sisters to Plymouth, Mass. The names of the family in the order of their ages were: James, Thomas, Josiah, George, Lucy, Eunice and William. At the age of 12 years our subject left home barefooted and with 50 cents in his pocket, de- termined to make his own way in the world. He secured employ- ment in a grocery store in Nantucket, Mass., and remained there two years. His employer failed and he was again out of a position. He found his way to New Bedford, and there learned the trade of a painter, being seven years employed in it. At the age of 21 he com- menced business for himself. His health failed. By advice of his pastor he undertook to study for the ministry. He was, after some preparation, licensed to preach. After preaching in the suburbs of the city for ten years he received a call to the Congregational church of Vineyard Haven, Mass .. where he was ordained and installed as pastor. After four years spent there he was called to the Congregational church in South Dennis, Mass., where he remained four years more. He was then called to the Congregational church at West Tisbury, Mass., where he remained 18 years. In 1863 and 1864 he was a representa- tive to the state legislature, and at the close of the war was appointed on the committee to revise the valuation of property in the state. He
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also served on other important commissions in behalf of the town of West Tisbury. During that time he also turned his attention to the study of medicine under private tutorship, having become a disciple of Hahnemann, and there being no physician of that school within 36 miles of his home. He gradually fell into the practice of answering calls from neighboring families in addition to the treatment of his own family, which was his original design in the study of medicine. His next pastoral field was Tiverton Four Corners, R. I., where, after spending four years, he removed to Pawtuxet and gave his attention to the practice of homeopathy. There he has remained for the last five or six years. He married Sarah Hilliard, of North Charlestown, N. H., January 1st, 1845, and they have four children, the two oldest of whom are married-Louise B. Potter, Olive C. White, Sarah E. Sturtevant and Alfred G. Sturtevant.
Thomas H. Shipman, M.D., was born in New London, Conn., September 9th, 1851, being the son of Joseph A. and Abbey J. Ship- man. His parents were hard working people, his father being a blacksmith, having a family of seven children. He attended the public schools of his native city until 13 years of age, and then went to live with his great-uncle, Leander Kenny, in New York city. After spending four years in the grammar schools of New York, on the death of his uncle he returned to New London. Two years after- ward he became a drug clerk in Colchester, Conn., and then he de- cided to study medicine. He pursued preliminary studies under tutorship of Doctor S. E. Swift, while in the drug store, where he remained three years. Ile entered the Homeopathic Medical Col- lege of New York, in October, 1874, and graduated in the spring of 1876. In October of the same year he married Addie C. Chapman, of Colchester, and immediately settled in Bristol, R. I., where he prac- ticed 12 years. In March, 1888, he located in Providence, where he is now practicing. In December of 1888 he was called to suffer the loss of his beloved wife, leaving one child, Ethel C., now three years of age. Another child, Thomas H., died when but one day old. Doctor Shipman was the first homeopathic physician ever appointed on the state board of health in Rhode Island, being appointed to that position in 1878. He is a member of the Rhode Island Homeopatliic Medical Society.
Alzaman Sawyer, M.D .. was born in Worcester county, Mass., January 5th, 1828, being the son of James and Naomi Sawyer. He received his early education in the country schools, and at the age of 20 commenced the study of medicine. In 1850 he entered the office of Doctors Poor & Mitchell, of Saratoga. At the end of that season he went to New York, and continued the study of medicine under the direction of Doctor A. Upham, giving his attention particularly to diseases of the eye. In 1852, he located in Newark as an occulist. In 1855 he removed to Syracuse, N. Y., continuing the practice of his
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specialty and pursuing studies of medicine and surgery under in- structions of Doctors Foote and Van Slyke. He afterward spent two years at the Philadelphia University of Medicine and Surgery, 10- ceiving there his diploma. Successive fields of practice, mainly as an occulist and aurist, after leaving Syracuse have been, to Dixon, Il1., in 1857; to New Bedford. Mass., in 1860; to Providence in 1863, where he remains in practice.
Henry Arthur Sherman, M.D., was born in Stafford Springs, Conn., in the year 1860. He was the son of Charles W. and Virtue Sher- man, being next to the youngest of a family of five children. After the civil war the family removed to Putnam, Conn., the father having been shot during the war. Our subject grew up in the public schools of Putnam, receiving additional instruction in French, German and Latin, and studied medicine and surgery with Doctor F. A. Bos- worth, of Webster, Mass., for two years. At the age of 23 he entered Jefferson Medical College, and after being there two years entered the medical department of the University of Vermont for one year. Returning again to Jefferson Medical College he graduated there. He received his diploma April 9th, 1888, and located in Providence, for practice, on the first of June following. Here he has been to the present time.
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