History of Providence County, Rhode Island, Volume I, Part 7

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather), ed
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: New York, W. W. Preston
Number of Pages: 1036

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"'In the class of 1838 was Mr. Justice Bradley of Rhode Island- the first scholar, I think, of his year, of whom we did predict great things. There is something pleasant in the loyal way in which lads in college recognize an associate of superior ability and special promise; so we all talked of Bradley. When he was to speak in the

HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.

chapel after evening prayers, how irreverently eager we were for the devotions to be over, that we might listen to our favorite. He hand- led all topics, philosophical, political and literary, with such force and ease, that we held the matter hardly second to the manner, though the manner was as nearly perfect as any elocution could be.'

"On his graduation he was appointed tutor and held the place for two years. He received the degree of A.M. in due course, and in 1866 the university conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. and also elected him a member of the Board of Fellows. He contin- ued, as long as he lived, a loyal and devoted son to his Alma Mater. Quite late in life, as chairman of the committee of the corporation for the renovation of University Hall, he raised nearly $50,000 for that purpose. He studied law in the Harvard Law School, and at Providence, in the office of Charles F. Tillinghast, whose partner he became, on his admission to the bar in 1841. He soon rose to the front rank of his profession-a position which he maintained to the day of his death.

"The best proof of the high place which he occupied, as a lawyer in his adopted state, is the fact that in February, 1866, a republican legislature elected him-a pronounced and influential democrat- chief justice of the supreme court of the state; and that too, as the successor of that most eminent and distinguished jurist, Samuel Ames. He administered that office with marked ability for two years, and then resigned on account of the pressure of his private affairs. On his retirement from the bench, the Providence Journal, then the lead- ing republican newspaper of the state, paid him the following tribute: -. He has discharged the duties belonging to that high position with a success, and, we may add, a judicial distinction in which the people of the state feel both a satisfaction and pride; and which they had hoped he would long continue to illustrate in a sphere so honorable and important.'

"Soon after his retirement from the judgeship he became one of the lecturers in the Harvard Law School, in which position he contin- ued for several years. In 1876 he succeeded the Hon. Emory Wash- burn as the 'Bussey' Professor in that institution, and held that posi- tion for three years. On his retirement the board of overseers, through their chairman, Judge Lavell, said: 'We have suffered a great loss in the resignation of the Hon. Charles S. Bradley, whose lucid teaching was highly appreciated by the students, and whose national reputation added to the renown of the school. We had hoped that some incidental advantage of quiet and freedom from care might be found to outweigh other considerations, and that the Professorship was permanently filled.'

"Mr. Bradley's scholarship was of a very high order, and he de- serves to be ranked with the men of the best culture in our land. " He read much, and reflected much: but it was lege multum non multa.'

Bradley.

HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.

He traveled extensively, not only in the United States, but in foreign countries. One of the most pleasant memories of my life is that of a journey I made with him the year he was admitted to the bar. It was during the extra sesion of congress, under President Tyler's ad- ministration, in 1841. Neither of us had ever been further from home than New York. Our first stopping place was at old Indepen- dence Hall in Philadelphia, and you should have seen and heard us there, recalling the scenes attendant upon the adoption of the decla- ration of independence in 1776. At Washington my intimate ac- quaintance with our four members of congress made us as much at home as we were in Providence. We saw all the 'giants'-Webster, then secretary of state, Calhoun, and others. Then we took steamer to Acquia Creek-thence by stage coach all through Virginia, stop- ping at Charlottesville and Monticello. Then crossing the Blue Ridge to Weirs Cave-the Natural Bridge, White Sulphur Springs, through the Shenandoah Valley, across Pennsylvania to Lake Erie, then to Niagara Falls and so on home. The famous line of Horace-

'Coclum, non animum, mutant, qui transmare current,'

could not be applied to him. He always returned from every jour- ney well stored with fresh treasures of knowledge, and often with works of high art, sculpture and paintings, which he enjoyed and appreciated exceedingly, and to which he devoted many leisure hours. His beautiful home, in the environs of Providence, was a treasury of works of great masters, both in literature, and in sculpture and paint- ing, and bore the highest evidence of the scholarly and refined tastes of its owner, and of the mental atmosphere in which he lived.

"As an orator, it would be too much to claim for Mr. Bradley a place with the most gifted-such as Mr. Webster and others we might mention-but he has left behind him, in his published discourses, ample evidence that he deserves a very high rank in this department. I will mention his oration before the alumni of Brown University in 1855; his oration on the 250th anniversary of the landing of the pil- grims, at Plymouth; his oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard in 1879; and his oration on 'The Profession of the Law as an element of Civil Society,' delivered in 1881, at the University of Virginia.

"Perhaps the reader will get a more just appreciation of Mr. Brad- ley as an orator, if I quote a portion of what the Boston Advertiser said of his oration at Harvard in 1879: 'If there were any need for the justification of the custom of annual addresses before the college so- cieties, such an address as that of Judge Bradley yesterday, gave that justification completely. It is remarkable to have so much good sense-so many important suggestions; nay, so many of the funda- mental truths upon which civil society rests, crowded into an hour. The power of the speaker upon his audience, the hold which he com-

HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.

pelled, their fascinated attention, were again and again referred to through the afternoon.'

"He was tall, erect, manly, and of commanding presence and fig- ure. He was always dignified, and commanded the respect of others wherever he moved. He was, withal, in truest sense of the word, a Christian gentleman. He was very fond of his friends, and of wel- coming them to his hospitable home. One of the most pleasant little meetings of my life was a breakfast given by him to his classmate, the Hon. George Van Ness Lothrop, then on his way to St. Peters- burgh as our minister to Russia. But alas! How many of that little party are gone in this brief period-our host, Abraham Payne, James H. Coggeshall and others !

"Mr. Bradley was thrice married: first to Sarah, daughter of Joseph and Mary Manton, of Providence, who bore him three sons, of whom Charles and George L. Bradley are now living. In 1858 he married Charlotte Augusta Saunders, of Charlottesville, Va., by whom he had one son, now deceased. He married in May, 1866, Emma Pendleton Chambers, of Philadelphia, who died in 1875. Mr. Bradley died in the city of New York on the 29th day of April, A. D., 1888, while on a visit there for the benefit of his health."

John Hull Weeden, of whom mention has already been made, was born at Portsmouth, R. I., February 10th, 1801, and died at Pawtucket, October 27th, 1870. He was educated at Kingston Academy, and at Brown University, where he graduated as valedictorian of his class, in 1827. He studied law in New York with one Mr. Lee, and was ad- mitted to the bar in Rhode Island in 1832. From that time he prac- ticed in Pawtucket, and was one of the foremost lawyers of the town. He was a member of the Rhode Island legislature for many years, either as representative or senator. He was married September 29th, 1832, to Sarah Bowen, daughter of Nathan Sweetland. His surviving children are: Eliza Freeborn; Caroline Soule, wife of J. Ernest Clar- ner; Ella Hull; Adelaide G., wife of Commodore Jeffres Mawry; Delia Dyer, wife of Reverend Emery H. Porter; and Jane Estes, wife of Fred. Sherman, Esq. Mr. Weeden for many years held the offices of town clerk, judge of probate, and other local offices in Pawtucket.

DANIEL, B. POND .- The Ponds are known to have come to this country from Groton, England, at an early date, as, from a letter of Governor Winthrop, it is known that two of that name came over with him in 1630. That they were neighbors and acquaintances of his is shown by his letter to his son prior to sailing for America, and his subsequent message to their father, after arrival here, as to their good health and fidelity to their " duty." Other letters and memoranda of the Winthrops show a neighborly acquaintance between the fami- lies running back to 1596.

In 1637 we find Robert Pond, probably one of the brothers who came over with the governor, settled at Dorchester. Daniel Pond,

HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.

who, according to Savage's Genealogical History was a son of Robert, was settled in Dedham, and, by the records, became a proprietor of land in that town in 1652. He was one of the selectmen of the town in 1660. In addition to his real estate purchases in Dedham, he im- mediately became an owner of real estate in Wrentham upon the division of that town from Dedham in 1661. He was present at the meeting of the proprietors of the new town January 15th, 1671, and took part in the proceedings. He was a lieutenant of the militia, and took the freeman's oath in 1690. He died February 4th, 1697-8, at Dedham. Daniel B. Pond, the subject of this sketch, traces his ancestry back in a direct line to Daniel Pond, the " Dedham settler."

Without going into details it may be truthfully said that the fam- ily name comprises in its list men who have been prominent in vari- ous walks of life. It can also be affirmed that the race has been an industrious, upright and honorable one, and that the name has rarely been dishonored by any of those who had the right to bear it. A special characteristic of the race has been their love of freedom and patriotic impulses. "In the struggle for national independence, they rose almost to a man in defence of their rights, and Revolutionary records bear ample evidence of their alacrity and zeal. Among the first to spring to arms at the receipt of the Lexington alarm, on the morning of the memorable 19th of April, 1775, there were those of the name who did not sheath the sword, until, long years afterward, peace had been declared through the length and breadth of the land, and the country for which they sacrificed so much, no longer needed their services."

Some of the immediate family of Daniel Pond went from Dedham to Wrentham, among them his son Robert Pond, who " became the possessor of a very considerable estate in that locality." In deeds he is styled "Captain." His son Ichabod in 1722 received from his father by conveyance, "his new house and lands, together with all the cattle, farming implements and personal property." He died at Franklin, May 2d, 1785. It was here that one of his sons, Eli Pond, the great-grandfather of Daniel B., finally settled, after having lived in Medway, Holliston and Bellingham, in each of which towns he seems to have become the owner of real estate. He was very active in the militia. He was a drummer in a company of minute men un- der Captain John Boyd, which marched from Wrentham, April 19th, 1775; was sergeant in Captain Josiah Fuller's company, Colonel Wheelock, which marched December 8th, 1776, from Medway to War- wick, R. I .; was lieutenant in Captain Amos Ellis's company, Colonel Benjamin Hawes, on service in Rhode Island from September 25th to October 31st, 1777; was lieutenant in a company commanded by Lieu- tenant Hezekiah Ware, on service in Rhode Island from June 20th to July 14th, 1778.

HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.

He married Huldah Hill, of Medway, by whom he had quite a large family. He died May 20th, 1802, and administration on his es- tate was granted to his son Eli. His sons were rather remarkable for their enterprise and business ability. One of them became largely interested in the lumber trade in Maine, another was sheriff of Han- cock county in that state, and a third was of the firm of Peters & Pond, respected and thriving merchants of Boston. During the war of 1812 he lost a vessel and cargo by French spoliation.

Eli Pond. grandfather of Daniel B., in addition to the name of his father, became possessor of his estate in Franklin, where he passed his days following the occupation of a farmer. The old homestead and other portions of his estate are still in the possession of his grand- children. He was a man of sterling good sense and probity, well known and influential in his neighborhood. He married for his first wife Hannah, daughter of Daniel and Mary Daniels of Holliston, by whom he had two children-Miranda and Eli Pond. Miranda mar- ried Cushman Thayer, of Mendon, and was the mother of Hon. Eli Thayer, of Worcester, at one time member of congress for that dis- trict, the founder of Oread Institute, and the author and promoter of organized immigration into Kansas, in the early history of that state, and by which it was doubtless made a free state. For a second wife he married Mrs. Ruth Wiswall Bullard, widow of Doctor Daniel Bul- lard, of Holliston. She had a daughter, Maria Bullard, who subse- quently became the wife of the son Eli, father of Daniel B. Pond. Maria Bullard's uncle, on her mother's side, was a graduate of Brown University, and her father, Doctor Bullard, was prepared for Brown, but was persuaded to remain at home with his father, by whom he was presented with the sum of $1,000 as a just remuneration for his disappointment.

Eli Pond and Maria, his wife, came to Woonsocket, then a small village, in 1827, soon after their marriage. Mr. Pond had previously pushed out from the parental roof, and served an apprenticeship to the trade of a painter. He immediately took up his calling, and was soon a contractor and employer of men. He early purchased land on Main street, where he built a residence and stores, and afterward built what is known as Pond's block, which he continues to own, he being one of the very few " old residents " now living in the city. (His age is 86.) He successfully conducted, for many years, a whole- sale and retail trade in paints, oils and manufacturers' supplies. He was also at one time engaged in the manufacture of "muslin de laines," being an original manufacturer of that class of goods in Rhode Island; and was subsequently engaged in cotton manufactur- ing. In his earlier days he was an active supporter of all the village interests, and especially interested in the fire department. The records show him to have been "first warden " for eleven years. Both he and his wife were active members of the Episcopal church, and

Lamit /3. Fond

ARTOTYPE HIERSTADT. N Y.

HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.

did much to promote its interests. In 1840 he purchased the Jona- than Russell farm in Mendon, Mass., where he moved his family, who continued to reside there until after his wife's death, which occurred May 7th, 1864. The children of this union were: Eli (deceased), Dan- iel B., Oliver (deceased), Hannah D. and Alex. V. G. Pond.

Daniel B. Pond was born in the town of Smithfield October 21st, 1830. He attended the common schools until the age of ten, when his parents moved to Mendon, Massachusetts. Here he continued at school until fifteen, subsequently becoming a pupil of Prof. James Bushee's school at the "Old Bank Village," and later of the Manual Labor School at Worcester, Massachusetts. Afterward he entered Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass., to fit for college, in which insti- tution he continued for two years, and then finished his preparatory course at a private institution in Concord, Mass., remaining there one year, during which time he made the acquaintance of Emerson, Haw- thorne and Thoreau. He next entered Brown University for a clas- sical course, Francis Wayland being then president. He graduated in 1857 with the degree of A.B., the celebrated Barnes Sears being president. He next entered the law school at Albany, N. Y., from which he graduated with the degree of LL. B., and was shortly after- ward admitted to the bar of the supreme court of New York. About this time he was engaged as attorney for the township corporation of Ceredo, Va., where he remained for a brief period, and then came east and entered into law partnership with P. P. Todd, Esq., in Black- stone. In 1859 he was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of Massachusetts. About this time a law and collection office for the United States was opened by the law firm of which he was a partner on State street, Boston, having full charge for one year. He then re- moved to New York, where headquarters were established in Wall street with seven clerks employed, and where claims against South- erners aggregating $1,000,000 were entered for collection. This was in 1860. The following year the war began and destroyed the busi- ness. He in 1862 came to Woonsocket and began the manufacture of cotton warps in what was known as Harris's No. 1 mill, afterward building what is known as Pond's mill on Bernon street, where he was engaged in manufacturing for several years. He was the first cotton and woolen manufacturer in the state to shorten the hours of labor. Mr. Pond was from the beginning successful, making $100,000 in a few years, but the failures of debtors caused a suspension of busi- ness, and he then divided his last dollar with creditors. This was in 1873, and he then resumed the practice of his profession, at the same time taking an active part in politics on the side of the laboring class against corporations.

His political history embraces an election on several occasions to the council, an election for the years 1864 and 1866 to the lower house of the general assembly, for the years 1867, 1868 and 1869 to the sen-

HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.

ate, which office he resigned January 6th, 1870. While in the house he formulated the enactments for the division of Woonsocket from the town of Cumberland, and was the first senator elected from the new town. He was also town solicitor for 1879-80 when there were claims against the town for damages amounting to $60,000, not one cent of which was ever recovered. He was chairman of the board of trustees of the Consolidated district, and chairman of the board of trustees of the fire corporation, as well as one of the original engin- eers of the fire corporation, which he was instrumental in establish- ing. He was appointed chairman of the committee to draw up a new charter for the fire corporation and obtained the necessary leg- islation by which it was effected in 1869. He served on several com- mittees, was chairman of the board when the transfer of the fire corporation property was made to the town in 1884, and served on the committee for the erection of the town asylum.

Mr. Pond represented his party and delivered an address on the occasion of the Garfield memorial services in Woonsocket Sep- tember 26th, 1881. He was also on the committee to locate the soldiers' monument, commissioner in the laying out of various highways, and chairman of the committee appointed to superintend the construction of the Summer Street school building. Mr. Pond was the candidate of his party for the office of general treasurer of the state in 1880. He was re-elected first councilman and president of the board in June, 1887, but resigned the office to accept that of high sheriff of Providence county, to which he was elected by the general assembly in grand committee at the May session in Newport. He was a member of the board of assessors of taxes for 1886, 1887 and 1888. Mr. Pond drew up the original charter for the city of Woon- socket and secured its introduction to the general assembly at the January session of 1888, from which it was continued to the May ses- sion and passed with slight changes. He was the candidate for state senator in April, 1889, and elected the first senator from the new city of Woonsocket by 226 majority. In the fall of 1889 he was elected mayor of Woonsocket by 442 majority. In politics the subject of this biography was a republican from the organization of the party until 1872, since which time he has acted with the democrats. He has labored hard to keep the party one of respectability and purity. He has been chairman of the democratic state central committee, chair- man of its executive committee, and was chairman of the democratic town committee until he declined further service.

Daniel B. Pond married Isadore Verry, only child of James Verry, Esq., and Nancy (Nolen) Verry. Mr. Verry was an expert and suc- cessful woolen manufacturer, for many years associated with Mr. Ed- ward Harris. He severed his connection with Mr. Harris in 1863. and became largely interested, as a stockholder, in the Merchants' Woolen Company at Dedham, Mass., where he was under a contract

HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.

for a term of years, at a salary of $10,000 per year, to take charge of the works. After a two years' residence at Dedham, he obtained a release from his contract, as manager, that he might devote more of his time to his home and to his private interests. The loss of his two grandchildren about this time, to whom he was devotedly attached. was a great shock to him, and had an apparent effect upon his health. He died in 1867, after a brief illness, comparatively a young man. His widow survived him for some years. The children of Daniel B. and Isadore V. Pond were Verry Nolen and Clarence Eli, unusually bright and interesting boys, both of whom died young, the shadow of whose loss has never been entirely removed: also three daughters- Isadore Maud. Nannie May and Grace Verena Pond. Of these daughters one is attending an art school, onc is at Wellesley College, and the other attends the high school in this city.

Benjamin T. Eames, son of James and Sarah ( Mumford) Eames, was born in Dedham, Mass., June 4th, 1818. He removed with his parents to Providence in 1820, they residing here during the remain- der of their lives. In early life Mr. Eames had the advantages of the schools in Providence and in some of the leading academies of Massa- chusetts and Connecticut. At the age of sixteen he was placed in the counting room of a prominent auctioneer, and then as book-keeper was employed in a wholesale dry goods house. Subsequently he was in the employ of the manufacturers' agents of the Blackstone Manu- facturing Company and other mills, and the American Paint Works and other manufacturing establishments of Fall River. In the fall of 1838 he began a preparatory course under Professor S. S. Greene, and in the following fall entered Vale College. He graduated in 1843, and immediately associated himself as a law student, with the late Chief Justice Ames, and engaged also as teacher in the academy at North Attleborough. In the spring of 1844 he went to Cincinnati, and entered the law office of Judge Bellamy Storer, where he remained until the following winter, when he was admitted to practice in the courts of Kentucky. Upon his return to Rhode Island, he was in 1845 admitted to practice in the courts of this state, and since then, except when in public service, has been engaged in his profession. From 1845 to 1850 he served as reading and recording clerk of the house of representatives in Rhode Island, and during a part of that time was the reporter of the proceedings in the general assembly for the Provi- dence Journal. He was elected state senator from Providence in 1854, '55, '56, '59 and '63. He was a representative in assembly in 1859. 1868 and 1869, during the last year serving as speaker of the house. He was one of the commissioners on the revision of the public laws of the state in 1857, and also a delegate to the Chicago convention in 1860, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency. He was elected, in 1870, a representative to the Forty-second congress from the First district of Rhode Island, and was reelected to the Forty-

HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.

third. Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth congresses. In these successive terms he served on important committees. Mr. Eames became iden- tified with the republican party at its first organization, and has ever since been a firm supporter of its principles and policy. In the fall of 1878 he declined to be a candidate for reelection to congress, and upon his return to Providence he resumed the practice of his profes- sion. Mr. Eames was married in Warwick, R. I., May 9th, 1849, to Laura S. Chapin, daughter of Josiah and Asenath (Capron) Chapin. Ilis wife died October 1st, 1872. Two children are living-a son Waldo, and a daughter, Laura.

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History of Providence County, Rhode Island, Volume I, Part 7

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather), ed Publication date: 1891 Publisher: New York, W. W. Preston Number of Pages: 1036

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather), ed
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: New York, W. W. Preston
Number of Pages: 1036