USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > History of Providence County, Rhode Island, Volume II > Part 55
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Mr. Freeman also took a great interest in military affairs in his younger days and worked his way up from the ranks to be colonel of the Union Guard, one of the oldest and best of the chartered compa- nies of the state, which disbanded upon the enactment of the present militia law.
In educational matters, also, he has been active, and served for several years as school trustee. For 19 years he was a member of the board of firewards of the Central Falls fire district, a body having en- tire charge of the police, water works, fire department, street lights, and public library, and the results of his labors may be seen in the present condition of these important departments.
Mr. Freeman joined the Congregational church in 1855 and has ever since been an earnest and helpful member. In the Sunday school he has been active and faithful, teaching for many years a large class of boys and young men, until 1883, when he was chosen superintendent, a position which he still holds.
Mr. Freeman has always been greatly devoted to Masonry and has received at the hands of the craft the highest honors in their gift to bestow. He was initiated in 1864, in 1868 was made worshipful mas- ter of his Lodge-Union, No. 10, of Pawtucket-and in 1879 was made grand master of Masons in Rhode Island and was reelected the follow- ing year. In 1885 he was elected grand high priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Rhode Island. In Templar Ma- sonry, also, Mr. Freeman has been deservedly prominent. In 1870 he was chosen eminent commander of the Holy Sepulchre Commandery of Pawtucket and was twice reelected. After holding various posi- tions in the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the oldest in the country and having in its allegiance 8,000 Templars, in 1888 he was chosen grand commander. In all these positions, but one of which is rarely held by one man, Mr. Freeman has done excel- lent work for the institution. He has always been ready to render his best service, and his knowledge of Masonic work, history, and law has given him deserved rank among the best informed of the order. He is also a member of several other secret societies.
November 10th, 1858, Mr. Freeman was married to Emma Elliott Brown, of Central Falls. They have had seven children, three sons and four daughters, five of whom are living. The eldest son, William C., is a member of the firm of E. L. Freeman & Son; the second, Joseph W., a graduate of Brown University, is editor of The Weekly Visitor, and the third, Edward, is a Methodist clergyman.
Mr. Freeman has been emphatically a busy man, active and inter- ested in many lines of human effort and association. In them all he has been influential, because of his warm heart and generous sym- pathies, which, united to quick perceptions and large executive ability,
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have enabled him to command the respect and confidence of his com- panions and the public. Of him it may be truly said, in the words of Terence, " humani nihil alieni."
THE HARRIS FAMILY .- The ancestor of this family was Thomas Ilarris, who came to America from Bristol, England, in the ship "Lyon" in December, 1630. On the same ship was his brother Wil- liam, and Roger Williams. He came to Providence in 1637 and died June 7th, 1686. His wife's name was Elizabeth, and they had three children: Thomas, Mary, married Samuel Whipple, and Martha, mar- ried Thomas Field. Thomas, son of Thomas, died February 27th, 1711. He married Elnathan Tew and had the following children: Thomas, Richard, Nicholas, Henry, Amity married a Morse; Job, died single: Elnathan, married Nathaniel Brown; William, who has no decendants living, and Mary, married Gabriel Bernon. Richard, son of Thomas, was born in 1668, and died in 1756. His first wife was a King, and their children were: Uriah, Richard, Jonathan, Amaziah, Preserved, Elnathan, married Joseph Guile; Amity and Dinah, both of whom married Smiths. Richard married for his second wife the Widow Susannah Gorton. Richard, son of Richard, married for his first wife Martha Foster. His second wife was Mary Colwell. His children were: Richard, Jeremiah, Anthony, David, Jabez and Abner. David, son of Richard, married Abigail Farnum. She lived to be 93 years of age. They had two sons, besides daughters. The sons were Farnum, and Welcome who married a Sayles and their children were: John, who died in Johnston; George, left no male issue; David; Edwin, left no male issue; Anna (deceased) married Simon Aldrich; Rachel, wife of Albert Keene, of Woodstock, Conn .; and Amanda (deceased), mar- ried Stephen Barnes. David, son of Welcome, married Amy, daugh- ter of Bial Mowry, and their children were: Manton, Crawford, a bachelor residing in Lincoln; Abby, wife of Nathan Foster of Charles- town, R. 1 .; Emily, married James Greene, and resides in Brooklyn, N. Y., and Susan (deceased), married Thomas Maine. Manton, son of David, was born April 8th, 1824. His present wife is Margaret McQuestion. They have no children. He resides in Lincoln on part of the original land once owned by his ancestor, Thomas Harris. Robert Harris, another descendant of Thomas, had the following children: Amy, married Daniel Angell; Robert; Phebe, married Caleb Farnum; Jenckes, William, Thomas and Ethan. Robert, son of Robert, married Martha Smith and had four children: Raymond P., died single in Providence; Elizabeth, wife of Stephen Olney of North Providence; Benjamin F., has no children, resides in Lincoln, and Elisha S., resides in Smithfield.
ALVIN JENKS .- Some surnames are synonyms. They suggest genius, skill, capability or integrity. The original holders of them were men of mark, and have transmitted names that enrich our vocab- ulary. Of the workers in iron who have won renown in our land not
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a few have borne the name of Jenks. Among the earliest settlers of the Bay State was Joseph Jenks, who received the first patent that was granted in this country. His son, bearing the same name, came to Providence plantations in 1655, and founded the hamlet of Pawtucket, By a kind of heredity, skill in iron working seemed to mark his de- scendants. One of them, a kinsman of the illustrious Governor Jenks, was born about 13 years before the death of that official, and was marked by a patriotism and capability for public affairs like his rel- atives. He bore the name of Stephen, and usually presided in the public meetings of the town. In the revolution he was specially active, and manufactured muskets for several of the companies of the colony. Though residing in the village of Pawtucket, in North Prov- idence, lie built and operated a trip hammer and blacksmith shop in Central Falls. Dying in the last year of the 18th century, he be- queathed his business to his son, who bore the same Christian name. He also won fame as a contractor with the government in 1811 to furnish 10,000 muskets at $11.50 apiece. The building reared for the manufacture of those guns was afterward used by Stephen Jenks & Sons for a machine shop and for the manufacture of cotton cloth. It stood on the site of what was afterward the Duck Mill, and was burned in 1829.
One of these sons, whose name is still a household word in Central Falls, bore the name of Alvin, and was born in the village of Paw- tucket, July 24th, 1798, and died in Central Falls, January 15th, 1856. In 1830, in company with David G. Fales, his brother-in-law, he began the manufacture of cotton machinery in Central Falls. They adopted the style of Fales & Jenks, which has given a name to one of the most flourishing corporations of Pawtucket. They commenced business in a hired shop, and made as their first piece of work a spooler for a firm in Richmond, Va. In 1833 they began the manufacture of Hub- bard's patent rotary pump. Of course the patent long since expired, but they added so many improvements to the original design, and so perfected the machine as to gain almost a monopoly of the manufac- ture of such pumps. In 1845 they began to make ring spinning frames, and in 1846 made ring twisters, which were among the first of such machines in the country.
In process of time Mr. John R. Fales, son of the elder Mr. Fales, and Messrs. Alvin F. Jenks and Stephen A. Jenks, sons of Alvin Jenks, were admitted to the firm; and as death removed the elder Mr. Jenks and Mr. David Fales retired, they constituted the company and retained the old name. In 1859 they built a furnace for castings, and two years afterward they enlarged their operations to a considerable extent. In 1865 they bought several acres of land in Pawtucket, and reared their extensive machine shops and large foundry on Dexter street in that city. In 1876 they obtained an act of incorporation under the name of Fales & Jenks Machine Company. They manufacture
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cotton machinery, many kinds of which are of their own device. Five hundred workmen are in their employ. The officers of the corpora- tion are: Alvin F. Jenks, president; John R. Fales, vice-president, and Stephen A. Jenks, treasurer. The officers of this company hold the same offices in the United States Cotton Company and in the Lilly Pond Land Company.
Mr. Alvin Jenks married for his first wife Abigail Comstock, who bore to him two children. One of them, Nathan Comstock, is still living. He married subsequently Elsie Briggs, who bore to him one child that died in infancy. His third wife was Sallie Fales, who was spared to him several years, and became the mother of eight children. She outlived him 30 years or more. Four of their children died young, but four still survive. Two of them, Alvin F. and Stephen A .. are officers in the energetic corporation which perpetuates their father's fame, and the other two, Sarah A., wife of John R. Jerauld, and Mrs. Ida E. Beede, hold their parents' memory in affectionate remem- brance.
HENRY JOLLIE was born in England, in June, 1806, and emigrated to America about 1823, locating at New York city. He was till 1840 engaged in the grocery business. His brother-in-law, Joseph Pim- bley, having started at what is now Saylesville, R. I., a bleachery, in 1840 Mr. Jollie joined him. Subsequently a print works was added, but the latter adventure proved a failure, and the plant was disposed of to William F. Sayles, in whose employ Mr. Jollie continued till his death, July 17th, 1853. He left a widow and three children. Thomas L. married Laura Whipple. and has a family of six, viz .: Mary E., Nellie A., Isabella D., Thomas L., Ettie E. and Eva M. James Henry married Harriet B. Short and has two children, Arthur W. and Wil- liam Henry. The two brothers are engaged in the mercantile busi- ness at Saylesville under firm name of T. L. & J. H. Jollie. Martha A. married William W. Spaulding, of Central Falls.
THE KEENE FAMILY .- The first member of this family we are able to give any account of is John Keene, who married Sally Potter. and lived in Providence. He owned at one time a large tract of land on the west side of the river. On part of this land the Arcade, in the city of Providence, is now located. He had a family of eleven children, among whom were the following: Robert, John, Lydia, who married Philip Tillinghast; Sally, married Edward Arnold; Betsey, married Joseph Randall; Marian, married William Weaver and emigrated to Illinois, and Aldrich and William, who were lost at sea. John, son of John, was born in Providence, February 19th, 1776, and died July 15th, 1869. His wife was Lavinia Williams, and they had twelve children: Sally, died aged 12 years; Philip. lives in Lincoln; Mary, died aged ten years; William, died in Providence; George H .; Daniel, went west; Albert, lives in Woodstock, Conn .: Ann, widow of Burnham Par- rish of Lincoln; Rebecca, died young; John, died in the West; Char-
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lotte (deceased ) married Mason Whipple, and Lavinia, wife of Henry Studley of South Providence. George H., son of John. born in Cum- berland, November 14th, 1813, married a Lapham. They had seven children: Olive, wife of Daniel Bennett, of Woodstock, Conn .; Re- becca, wife of Ira Mallocks, of Woodstock, Conn .; Ada, wife of Joseph Wilbur, of Lincoln; Elizabeth. wife of Herbert T. Blackington, of Lincoln; George Henry, Jr .; Walter, died aged 19 years, and Samuel, a resident of Milford, Mass. Mr. Keene is a farmer, and has resided in Lincoln since 1834. George Henry, Jr., son of George H., was born February 15th, 1854, and has two children, Walter B. and Chloe V. He is a farmer, and resides in Lincoln.
ALFRED HENRY LITTLEFIELD was born in Scituate, R. I., April 2d. 1829. He is the son of John and Deborah (Himes) Littlefield, and one of the descendants of Edmund Littlefield, who came from England to Boston in 1637. Caleb and Nathaniel Littlefield settled at Block Island in 1721, but the family was obliged to flee from there during the revolution. Governor Littlefield's father was born in South Kings- town, R. I., July 15th, 1798, and his mother was born at North Kings- town March 30th, 1798. The former died June 23d, 1847, and the lat- ter is still living. They were married March 11th, 1816, and removed to Scituate a short time before the birth of Alfred H. In 1831 they removed to Warwick, where Alfred was educated in the public schools at Natick. In 1845 he began his business career as a clerk for Joseph M. Davis, a dealer in dry goods at Central Falls. In 1851 he became one of the partners of Littlefield Brothers. The style of this firm was changed in July, 1889, to the Littlefield Manufacturing Company, of which corporation he is president. The company manufacture cotton yarns and thread. Governor Littlefield was one of the incorporators of the Pawtucket Hair Cloth Company, of which he has been a director since its organization. He is also a director of the First National Bank of Pawtucket, and the Pawtucket Gas Company. During the rebellion he was very active in aiding the Union troops, and in 1864 was appointed division inspector of the Rhode Island militia, with the rank of colonel, which position he held for five years.
In politics Governor Littlefield was a whig until the formation of the republican party, with which he has since been identified. He belongs to a family of political distinction. Nathaniel Littlefield was a member of the general assembly from New Shoreham in 1738, 1740. 1746, 1748 and 1754; Nathaniel, Jr., in 1758 and 1762: John, from 1747 to the revolution; Caleb, Jr., was a member of that body, and was on the committee to oppose the tea tax. William Littlefield was the father-in-law of General Nathaniel Greene. He was captain of the Rhode Island Battery. Others of the family have also become dis- tinguished. Governor Littlefield's public career began in 1873, after the town of Lincoln had been set off from Smithfield, when he was
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elected a member of the town council, and subsequently re-elected four times, thereafter declining all further nominations.
In 1876 he was elected to represent the town of Lincoln in the gen- eral assembly, and was re-elected in 1877. In 1878 he was elected to the state senate, and was re-elected in 1879. In March, 1880, he re- ceived the republican nomination for governor, and at the election in April received 10,224 votes, while Horace A. Kimball, the democratic nominee, received 7,440 votes. There being no choice by the people, as the law required a majority instead of a plurality vote, the election of governor and lieutenant governor devolved upon the general as- sembly, and Mr. Littlefield was chosen governor by a vote of 82 out of a membership of 109.
In 1881 the republicans and democrats again chose the same nom- inees as before. At this election Governor Littlefield received 10,849 votes, and Mr. Kimball 4,756 votes, the republican candidate being elected. In the gubernatorial election of 1882 the two parties again for the third time pitted their favorite candidates, at which election Governor Littlefield received 10,056 votes, and Mr. Kimball 5,311, giv- ing the former 4,589 votes for a majority over all the competing can- didates in the race. The three terms of service as the chief executive of the state were acceptably rendered by Governor Littlefield, and he has become one of the most popular ex-governors the little state has ever had. In recognition of his services the Grand Army elected him an honorary member of a number of the veteran organizations of the state. Governor Littlefield is regarded as an able financier, as a man of sound judgment and great executive ability. all of which emi- nently qualified him for the duties of the high office.
February 9th, 1853, he married Miss Rebecca Jane Northup, of Central Falls. They have had four children: Ebenezer N., Minnie J. (deceased ), George H. (deceased), and Alfred H., Jr. Ebenezer N. is now treasurer of the Littlefield Manufacturing Company, and Alfred H., Jr., is secretary. .
DANIEL GREENE LITTLEFIELD, lieutenant governor of Rhode Island, is a manufacturer, and is distinctively a self-made man. The Little- fields of Rhode Island are supposed to be descendants of Edmund Lit- tlefield, who came from England and landed at Boston in 1637. The family has always been conspicuous in Rhode Island history. In colo- nial and revolutionary times, and even to the present day, they have been repeatedly elected to the general assembly, and to other promi- nent positions in the state and nation. The wife of General Nathan- iel Greene was a descendant of Caleb Littlefield. Governor Alfred H. Littlefield is a brother to the subject of this sketch.
Daniel G. Littlefield was born in the town of North Kingstown, November 23d, 1822. He is the third and oldest living son of the family of eleven children of John and Deborah (Himes) Littlefield. His mother, an active and vigorous woman, is still living at the age
OG Rulefield
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of 92 years. Left to the sole care of his mother, Mr. Littlefield was brought up according to the accepted New England idea of youthful training. His early advantages for obtaining an education were very limited. In reality he had none of the advantages accorded the youth in our public schools of the present day, and from necessity was put to work in the mills when but eight years of age. Yet notwithstand- ing, this is the man who has been devoted to the upbuilding and man- aging of various manufacturing corporations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island for the past 30 years and more, and whose success in life has been such that at the present time he holds the presidency of a number of prosperous concerns. The great success of Mr. Little- field's life seems to have been due largely to those sterling qualities that have been characteristic of him throughout his whole business career. From the time he first went to work as a bobbin boy in the Jackson Mill in the town of Scituate, where his parents then resided, he gave such evidence of fidelity in the mastery of every detail of the business, as to lead to rapid and continued promotion. For over 20 years he labored in cotton and woolen mills and machine shops, and made himself thoroughly acquainted with whatever business he was engaged in, and whatever machine he operated. Naturally of a me- chanical and inventive turn of mind, his early training and experi- ence proved of great value to him in after years. In 1846 he went to Florence, Mass., and assisted in starting a cotton mill, and from this little village he went to Northampton Centre and engaged in the dry goods business, and subsequently engaged in a country variety store in Haydenville, where he had a large trade for those days. He then became agent for the cotton mill of Hayden & Sanders, selling their goods in New York and other cities. In 1856 he returned to Florence and engaged in the manufacture of daguerreotype cases, sewing machines, etc., and became president of the Florence Sewing Machine Company. In 1863 he came to Pawtucket, at the repeated solicitation of gentle- men representing the Pawtucket Hair Cloth Company, to undertake the work of perfecting the complex machinery of that company. He made arrangements to stay but one year, but his success in putting the machinery in running order was so marked the plant had soon to be expanded, and through his foresight and energy the fine large brick factory was projected and built, the charge of erection and the ar- ranging of all the machinery being left to him. Since that period his life has been identified chiefly with this corporation, of which he is now president. In this work he has met with great success, and he has continued to reside here, having become identified with a number of industries of the city, which he has been the means of putting on a permanent and paying basis. From an editorial in one of the leading papers of the state we copy the following:
"In 1865 Mr. Littlefield visited Europe in the interests of the Hair Cloth Co., and repeated the trip in the years 1866, 1868, 1871 and 1872,
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visiting all the principal countries of Europe, and tarrying in South- ern Russia, at the great horschair mart of the world. Each time he returned with valuable information for his company, the result being an increase of business, and making the concern the only complete plant of its kind in the world. .
"Mr. Littlefield's last journey across the Atlantic was in the year 1878, when he went to France as Honorary Commissioner from this State to the Paris Exposition, under appointment of the United States Government on the nomination of Gov. Van Zandt. Here his reputa- tion as a mechanical expert had preceded him, and immediately upon his arrival Commissioner-General McCormick appointed him as an American Juror of Class 58, small and fine machinery and mechanism for all nations. He devoted eight busy weeks to such investigations as exhibitors craved, and successful work was done in the interests of American inventors and manufacturers, some of whom secured valu- able awards, favorable notice, medals and diplomas. His travels in European countries enlarged his knowledge of the world's various in- dustries, of machinery and raw materials and new processes in the arts and manufactures, in the application of which to practical uses he is unexcelled."
Mr. Littlefield's journeys for business and recuperation have ex- tended through many states and as far west as Montana, where he studied the processes of mining and manufacture. In 1861, and again in 1862, he was a representative from Northampton to the legislature of Massachusetts. This was during the time when the country was in the first throes of civil war. In his legislative work he exhibited that same fidelity and mastery of detail that characterizes all that he undertakes. In 1879 and 1880 he was chosen a member of the town council of Lincoln, and in 1889, during the May session of the general assembly of Rhode Island, there being no election of lientenant-gov- ernor by the people on the first Wednesday in April previous, he was elected to that office.
In 1878 he was elected president of the Providence County Savings Bank, which office he still holds. Politically Mr. Littlefield is a re- publican, and was formerly a whig. In religious preference he is a Congregationalist. Socially he is a man of the people-modest and unassuming, a delightful host, at all times approachable, and a cour- teous gentleman.
HAZEN W. MAGOON was born in the Province of Quebec, Canada, April 8th, 1848, and is the second son of Wilder and Electra ( Blake) Magoon. He came to Lonsdale in 1870 and has had charge of the Lonsdale Company farms ever since. He married Ophelia Orcutt and has one child, Emma Adela.
THIE MANN FAMILY. The first person that appears on the Rhode Island records bearing the above name was James Mann, or Man, who was enrolled a freeman at Newport, May 17th, 1653. Thomas Man was
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a land-holder in Rehoboth, Mass., where he died. He had a son John, born about 1694, married Abigail Arnold and purchased a farm in the northwestern part of what is now Lincoln, which property is still owned by his descendants. He died December 17th, 1782. His family were all daughters excepting the youngest, a son named John, who died October 9th, 1807, aged 72 years. John's first wife was Marcy Stafford, and their children were: Samuel, Hannah, married Jonathan Lapham, died in New York state, and Thomas. John married for his second wife a widow, Anna Aldrich. Thomas, son of John, was born September 2d, 1769. He married Lydia, daughter of Augustus Lapham. He was a manufacturer and farmer, and was chief justice of the court of common pleas for Providence county. His children were: Job Scott and Arnold; Ruth and Mary, single ladies residing in Providence; Stafford, born February 21st, 1814, died unmarried August 23d, 1888, and Abigail Lapham, died single. Job Scott, son of Thomas, was born March 21st, 1803, and married Olive L. Hill. He resides in East Providence and his children are: Thomas Stafford, Arnold Augustus, and Adelia Chase, who is single and resides in Lincoln. Arnold Augustus, son of Job Scott, was born April 12th, 1836, and married Philena A., daughter of Stillman Estes, of St. Albans, Vt. Their children are: George E., Bertha I. (died young), Frederic A., Mabel A., Elgie A., Grace I., John S. (died young ), Ervin H and Herbert H. Hle is a farmer in Lincoln. Arnold, son of Thomas, was born June 1st, 1804, and married for his first wife Ann Chase. Their three children all died young. His second wife was Mary Smith, daughter of Samuel L. Hill, and they had four sons: George, died young; Samuel H., resides in Lincoln; Charles Arnold, resides in Providence, and Herbert, died unmarried. Arnold died July 11th, 1888.
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