USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > History of Providence County, Rhode Island > Part 28
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
Catharine C. Steere is a sister of Stephen Steere and lives with him Their father was Elisha Steere, who was born in 1783, and their mother was Esther Appleby. They were married in 1815, and had six chil- dren: Sarah A., born in 1816; Catharine C., born in 1817; Simon S., born in 1820; Harriet S., born in 1823; Stephen, born in 1824; and Waity, born in 1825. Stephen Steere married Mary E. Arnold, and they have had one son, Elisha A., born in 1854. Elisha A. married Phebe O. Mathewson in 1879, and has three children: Mary M., Ruth E. and Charles A.
Stafford G. Straight, born in Kent county, R. I., in 1838, is a son of Palmer and grandson of Daniel, whose father, Nathan, was a son of Henry, who emigrated from Ireland about the year 1690. Stafford G. was married to Amanda Green in 1860. They have had seven children: Ida A., Mary L., Daniel P., William L., Mehaley P., Eva A. and Lilla A.
Ira B. Sweet, born in 1848, is a son of Loring B. Sweet, and grand- son of Brown Sweet, all born in Smithfield. Loring B. was born in 1829, and married Lucy M. Manchester, of Providence, R. I. They had four sons: Ira B., born 1848; Edward E., born 1850; Philip M., born 1854; and Loring B., born 1856. Ira B. Sweet married Almira T. Sweet in 1869. They have had two children: Clara M., born in 1871, and Carlton B., born in 1880. Mr. Sweet has held the posi- tion of postmaster at Enfield since the office was established in 1882, and is also engaged in the general merchandise business in that place.
Charles Tucker, son of Jackson and Freelove Tucker, was born in 1847, and married Ellen C. Jones in 1875. They have two children: Cora E., born 1877, and George E., born 1883.
Thomas Tucker is a son of Jackson and Freelove Tucker, who had ten children. Mary E. was born in 1839, Thomas in 1842. William A. in 1845, Charles in 1847, Daniel in 1854, and James in 1856. Thomas is a bachelor, and lives on the old homestead, near Greenville in the town of Smithfield.
Edmund C. Walling was born September 18th, 1851, and was mar- ried in 1872 to Harriet V. Angell. They have two children: Cora A., born July 22d, 1875, and Herbert E., born June 23d, 1878. The father of Edmund Walling, Reuben, was born July 23d, 1821; his father, Clark Walling, was born in 1803, and his father was Ishmael. They were all born in Providence county.
John E. Whipple is a descendant of Captain John Whipple, who was born in England in 1617, and came to Massachusetts in 1630. He was married to Sarah, at Dorchester, about 1640, and moved to Provi- dence county in 1658. Mr. John E. Whipple was born in Smithfield in 1842, in the house where he now lives, His father's name was
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
Ephraim Whipple, and his mother was Susan Farnum. John E. married in 1865, Anna M., daughter of Reuben Arnold. They have three sons: John H., William A., and George F. Mr. John E. Whip- ple is a prominent republican, and has held several town offices.
Ezra Whitford, born in 1815, is the son of Joshua, born in 1781. Ezra Whitford has lived on the farm he now owns 44 years. He has followed blacksmithing and farming all his life. He was married in 1841 to Lydia, daughter of Ephraim Young. They have two children: Dorcas Ann, born 1842, and Amey Josephine, born 1851. Mr. Ezra Whitford has a collection of Indian relics he picked up near his farm in Smithfield.
Edwin P. Williams, born in Providence county, in 1883, is a son of Cyrus Williams, born in 1795. He married, in 1850, Nancy, daughter of Thomas Smith. They have five children: Hannah L., Doxy A., Andrew J., Nellie T. and Nannie. Mr. Williams served in the war of the rebellion.
NICHOLAS STEERE WINSOR, deceased, father of Josephine E. Winsor of Greenville, belonged to one of the oldest families in the state. He was a descendant of Joshua Winsor, who came to America either as one of Roger Williams' first party or the second, as supposed by some. He located at Providence, making a purchase of the Indians there in the wilderness about the year 1638, being one of 20 who paid the £30, the amount of the first purchase of Providence, with Roger Williams as the first purchaser. He built his first dwelling house on the site of that now occupied by the late Arnold Brown. Samuel Winsor, son of Joshua, married Mercy Waterman, widow of Resolved Waterman of Warwick, and youngest daughter of Roger Williams. He was the first to settle in the town of Smithfield. He was born in 1644, and died September 19th, 1705. William Winsor, grandfather of Nicholas, married Abigail, daughter of Daniel and Lydia Whipple, and their son, Duty, was the father of the subject of this sketch. Duty Winsor married Abigail, daughter of Jonah Steere of Glocester, R. I., a revolutionary soldier.
Nicholas Steere Winsor was born October 10th, 1797. He was a native of the town of Smithfield, and died there February 15th, 1885. In common with most farmers' sons, he received as good an education as the country district schools afforded, after which he attended the Leicester Academy in Massachusetts. Following this he taught school, and was at one time principal of the popular academy at Greenville. At the age of 25 he became associated with the Green- ville Bank, and was its cashier thereafter for a period of 23 years, from 1822 to 1845. He was also a director in the bank, and one of its stockholders from the time of its organization. He was postmaster of the village for 15 years. In 1845 he went to New York and be- came bookkeeper and corresponding clerk in the banking office of his brother-in-law, Amasa S. Foster, and remained there 15 years. At
15
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
the expiration of that time he removed to Elmira, N. Y., and re- mained there 20 years, from 1861 to 1881, in charge of his father-in- law's farm; then he returned to Greenville to pass the few remaining years of his life in the quietude of his old home.
Mr. Winsor was a republican in politics but no politician, and cared nothing for political preferment. In 1820, under Governor Nehemiah Knight, he was appointed adjutant of the Sixth Regiment of the Second Rhode Island Brigade, and held that position still when ordered out in the Dorr War. He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, but he cared more for the inner circle of his own domestic hearth than all these, and was generally found pass- ing his evenings quietly at home.
He married Elizabeth, daughter of William Foster, of Smithfield, R. I., November 13th, 1831. She was born December 19th, 1806, and died in February, 1842, 43 years before her husband died. Miss Josephine Winsor, the only one of the family surviving, was born April 17th, 1837.
WILLIAM WINSOR, son of Asa and Elizabeth (Foster) Winsor, and for 45 years cashier of the National Exchange Bank, was born at Greenville, R. I., November 12th, 1819. His father died in Septem- ber, 1870, aged 82 years. He was the son of Duty and a descendant of Joshua Winsor, one of the early purchasers of Providence from the Indians with Roger Williams, as before mentioned. The old home- stead now occupied by William Winsor was probably erected by the father of Duty Winsor. Asa and Elizabeth Winsor had six children: Elizabeth, Emily, William, Ethelbert, John and Richmond.
William Winsor was raised a farmer's boy, receiving his educa- tion at the common district school, and at the Smithfield Seminary, in 1841-2, after which he taught school one or two terms. In March, 1845, he entered the Smithfield Exchange Bank, becoming its cashier in July of that year as the successor of his uncle, who had held the position from 1822 to that time. He has also been treasurer of the Smithfield Savings Bank since its organization in 1872. He has been for many years the treasurer of the town of Smithfield. Under Mr. Winsor's term of official life, the National Exchange Bank has en- joyed unprecedented prosperity. The increase in its capital stock and the dividends are found to be as great as in other institutions similarly circumstanced.
Mr. Winsor has been for many years a member of the First Free Baptist church of Smithfield, having been under the ministerial labors of the Reverend Richard Woodward converted to God April 4th, 1858. He is an earnest supporter of all gospel institutions, has been trustee of his church since 1872, and was a delegate to the general conference in 1874. He has always been a liberal man with his means, when necessity called. His interest was manifested in the cause of educa- tion in purchasing the buildings of the Lapham Institute, and gener-
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Minson
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ously supporting the institution himself for some time. He has also been generous in his gifts to Bates College and to Storer College.
Mr. Winsor married, April 11th, 1844, Harriet, daughter of Elisha and Esther Steere, of Smithfield. Her father was a Quaker and a descendant of one of the oldest families in New England. By this marriage Mr. Winsor has one son, Nicholas, born May 15th, 1865.
CHAPTER VII.
THE TOWN OF CUMBERLAND.
Description,-Connection With Rehoboth. - Early Town Action .- Town Officers .- William Blackstone .- Other Early Settlers .- Transportation .- The Blackstone River. -Bridge .- Mills and Manufactories .- Mines and Quarries .- Valley Falls .- Manville. -Lonsdale .- Ashton .- East Cumberland .- Diamond Hill .- Hawkins .- Berkeley .- Cumberland Hill .- Education .- Churches .- Societies .- Biographical Sketches.
C UMBERLAND was one of the five towns received from Massa- chusetts and incorporated January 27th, 1746-7. It became a
part of Providence county February 17th the same year. It was called in earlier times Attleborough Gore. It took its present name from William, Duke of Cumberland. A part of the town was annexed to Woonsocket January 31st, 1867, and the town has since then been styled the mineral pocket of New England on account of the variety and richness of its minerals.
The places of note are as follows: Villages .- Valley Falls (Cumber- land side); Lonsdale New Village; Berkeley; Ashton (Cumberland side); Manville (Cumberland side); Arnold's Mills; Diamond Hill; Abbot Run; Cumberland Hill; Robin Hollow; Happy Hollow: East Cumberland. Brooks und River .- Abbot Run (Indian name Wawe- poonseag); Burnt Wood Swamp; Grant; East Sneech Pond; West Sneech Pond; Whipple; Blackstone river. Hills .- Cumberland; Beacon Pole; Granite Quarry; Copper Mine; Iron Rock. Ponds .-- Sneech (Indian, Senetchenet, and proposed name Echo Lake); Little; Valley Falls; Manville; Ashton; Abbot Run; Robin; Happy Hollow; Burnt Wood Swamp; Lonsdale New Reservoir. Swamps .-- Burnt; Nine Mens' Misery. Historic .-- Nine Mens' Misery and Nine Mens" Grave, with notable rocks on Amasa Whipple's farm. Catholic Oak at Lonsdale New Village, so named by the late Reverend James C. Richmond. Unity Furnace, where Manville now is, was well known before the revolutionary war and was removed about 1825. Diamond Hill Plains; Old Ballou meeting house, built about 1740, near Iron Rock hill; Duel Hollow; Study hill, the site of William Blackstone's residence from 1635 till his death 1675, and also the site of his burial.
The population of the town at various dates since it was set off by itself lias been as follows: 1782, 1,548; 1790, 1,964; 1800, 2,056; 1810, 2,210; 1820, 2,653; 1830, 3,675; 1840, 5,225; 1850, 6,661; 1860, 8,339; 1865, 8,216; 1870, 3,882; 1875, 5,673; 1880, 6,445; 1885, 7,163.
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
The town of Cumberland is situated in the northeast corner of the state. It is bounded on the north and east by Massachusetts, on the west by Woonsocket and the Blackstone river, which separates it from Lincoln, and on the south by the same river. It is irregular in shape, resembling a gore. The town has excellent roads and a special appropriation is made annually for the purpose of improving the highways. Two beautiful structures span the Blackstone, one at Manville, the other at Valley Falls. In all there are 12 bridges in the town.
The early history of this town is intimately connected with that of Rehoboth, Mass. About the year 1641 a company was formed at Wey- mouth, Mass., consisting of the Reverend Samuel Newman and a part of his congregation. They purchased a tract of land of Massasoit and three or four years afterward removed to this new purchase, which, at the time, was called Secuncke. Here around the Great plain (Seekonk plain) they erected their dwellings, with their meeting house in the center, and named their settlement Rehoboth. Here the first settlers pitched their tents on a tract which was afterward found to be a barren spot, owing to the fact that the Indians had nearly exhausted the fer- tility of the soil. Having need of more fertile fields on which to pas- ture their cattle and plant their corn, the town employed Captain Thomas Willett to make a new purchase from the natives. This was consummated in 1661, and Wamsutta, the son of Massasoit and brother of King Philip, yielded the large territory which was after- ward known as the " Rehoboth North Purchase," and which, in 1694, was incorporated into a township and named Attleborough.
That portion of this territory which afterward became Cumberland was for many years in controversy between Rhode Island and Massa- chusetts. To the ignorance and carelessness of English sovereigns these troubles were mainly due. Probably supposing that the Narra- gansett (Blackstone) river flowed due south, they bounded Plymouth colony on the west by the river and Rhode Island on the east by a line extending due north from Pawtucket Falls to the southern line of Massachusetts. They defined the southern line of Massachusetts to be a line from a point three miles south of the southernmost waters of the Charles river.
As might have been anticipated, this carelessness resulted in Mas- sachusetts claiming her southern line to be nearly as far south as where the village of Manville now is, and in Rhode Island claiming her northern line to be even farther north than where it is established. The locality, therefore, became famous as disputed territory, and was known as the Attleborough Gore. As the inhabitants of the Gore were more in sympathy with their neighbors of Rhode Island, the officers from Massachusetts were frequently sent away with empty hands, and sometimes with sore heads. At the annual Rhode Island elections officers were appointed for the territory, which tended to
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
increase the strife, and conveyances of real estate thereon were placed upon the records of both Rhode Island and Massachusetts, containing the clause: the "Gore of land in controversy between Massachusetts Bay and Rhode Island." The northern line of the Rehoboth North Purchase has never been definitely settled. The point "three miles south from the southernmost waters of the Charles River " could never be satisfactorily found. Petitions were frequent and numerous, signed by the inhabitants of the Gore, praying to be set off to Rhode Island. In 1729 Attleborough herself prayed to become a member of our little colony. At last, in 1746, by a decision of George II., in council, the Gore was detached from Attleborough, annexed to the county of Providence, and named in honor of William, Duke of Cumberland.
The first election of officers for the new town of Cumberland was made February 10th, 1746-7, the inhabitants of Woonsocket living east of the river participating in its annual elections till they began housekeeping for themselves January 31st, 1867.
The town of Cumberland passed through a period of agricultural development after the war of the revolution until, in the course of time, the water power of the Blackstone river was devoted to textile industries, when the northern portion of it, now known as Woon- socket, received an impetus which enabled it to absorb and control the political power of the town. But the element of growth for this town has been the water power of the Blackstone and its affluents, and this growth has been co-extensive with that of Lincoln. These towns being so homogeneous, attempts have been made repeatedly to have them, or portions of them, consolidated, but as yet no such results have been attained.
The first officers of the town of Cumberland were: Job Bartlett, moderator and town clerk; Job Bartlett, Joseph Brown, David Whipple, Jacob Bartlett, Jr., Nathaniel Ballou and William Walcott, council; James Bartlett, town treasurer; John Grant and Nathaniel Cook, constables; David Jenks and Richard Darling, overseers of the poor; Nathaniel Sissons and Jeremiah Whipple, fence viewers; Job Bartlett, Israel Whipple and Samuel Peck, deputies; Jeremiah Wilk- inson, Ichabod Peck and Solomon Aldrich, surveyors of highways. It was voted that the next town meeting be at the house of Joseph Brown.
A List of Town Officers (1746-1889) .- Town Clerks: Job Bartlett, 1746; Daniel Peck, 1748; John Dexter, 1751; David Dexter, 1766; John Dex- ter, 1768; John Singer Dexter, 1785; Jonathan Carpenter, 1791; John Rogers, 1799; Stephen Joslin, 1804; Pardon Sayles, 1830; Lewis B. Arnold, 1842; Pardon Sayles, 1854; William G. Arnold, 1855; F. G. Jill- son, 1865; Horace A. Potter, 1865 to 1887; Patrick F. Kinion, to 1888; John F. Clark, to 1889; Patrick F. Kinion, 1889. Town Treasurers: Samuel Bartlett, 1746; Uriah Jillson, 1755; Abner Lapham, 1764; Isaac
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
Kelley, 1769; Abiel Brown, 1770; Philip Capron, 1775; Nathan Staples, 1778; Abner Lapham, 1783; Elijah Brown, 1788; Colonel Simon Whipple, 1790; Elijah Brown, 1794; John Rogers, 1798; Stephen Joslin, 1799; Isaac Raze, 1804; Ariel Cook, 1814; Isaac Raze, 1815; Ariel Cook, 1816; Isaac Raze, 1818; Arnold W. Jenckes, 1821; Barton Cook, 1838: G. O. Thompson, 1842; William Whipple, 1852; George Cook, 1855 to 1885; John F. Clark, to 1887; Conrad Cook, to 1888; Charles O. Flagg, to 1889; Cyrus Taft, 1889. Presidents of the Council: Job Bartlett, 1746; Joseph Brown, 1747; Job Bartlett, 1748; Jeremiah Whipple, 1754; Nathaniel Robinson, 1764; Jeremiah Whipple, 1767; Daniel Wilkin- son, 1770; James Dexter, 1771; John Lapham, 1779; Levi Ballou, 1789; John Lapham, 1790; Levi Bartlett, 1810; Davis Cook, 1816; Levi Bart- lett, 1818; William Whipple, 1819; Jabez Armsbury, 1821; Levi Cooke, 1823; Levi Ballou, 1824; Job Jenckes, 1828; Levi Ballou, 1829; Davis Cook, 1835; Joseph A. Scott, 1839; Davis Cook, 1840; Joseph A. Scott, 1842; Olney Ballou, 1846; Abner Haskill, 1849: Lyman Burlingame, 1852; Fenner Brown, 1854; W. H. Whiting, 1855; Davis Cook, 1856; Turner Haskell, 1861; W. E. Hubbard, 1862; Nathaniel Elliott, 1863; James M. Cook, 1864; J. B. Aldrich, 1865; James C. Molten, 1866. After the division of the town frequent changes were made in this office, Andrew J. Currier probably holding the position a longer time than any of the others.
At the first meeting of the town council it was decided to give Daniel Peck a license to keep a tavern for one year. Benjamin Tower was given a license for a similar purpose. These applicants for licenses were required to pay 40 shillings for the privilege granted. The attention of the town council for the first few years was directed toward public highways. There are now 22 highway districts in the town, and sufficient labor and money are expended annually to keep them in the best of repair.
Cumberland was undoubtedly the first of the towns now in Rhode Island where a permanent settlement was made by English white men. The particular locality was at Study hill, where William Black- stone erected his mansion which he named Study Hall. Just when he came is unknown, but it was between the years 1634 and 1636. For 30 years Blackstone with his family and dependents lived alone and in amicable relations with the Indians, his only intercourse with white men consisting in occasional trips to Providence or Rehoboth and more rare visits to some one of his few friends in Boston. Owing to the importance of this character we append some account of the events of his life.
Mr. William Blaxton or Blackstone, sometime a student of Eman- uel College, Cambridge, took his bachelor's degree at the Univer- sity in 1617, and his master's degree in 1621. When less than 30 years old he came to America with his friends Maverick and Walford, accompanying Robert Gorges in the expedition which left Plymouth, England, in the midsummer of 1623. This expedi-
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
tion represented the whole power and dignity of the council of New England. In 1624 Blackstone built himself a cottage on the peninsula of Shawmut, on the south side of the Charles river, called Blackstone Point. He was hated because he was alleged to be trying to bring the established church 'to the new country. He was charged with various crimes, his house burned by order of the court, and he suffered numberless indignities. In 1838 Maverick, becoming discouraged, went back to England. Thomas Walford was settled at Wishawamet, now Charlestown. About 1630, a most important event for Blackstone happened in the arrival of Governor Winthrop, with 12 vessels at Salem. The Puritans at that time were divided into large classes. In the class of Pilgrim fathers were those who had fled from England to Holland, whence they came to the colony. They were most bitter against having the Episcopal church brought to the new country. The other class were like Blackstone, favorable to the church and the Book of Common Prayer.
To this class Governor Winthrop and his followers joined them- selves. In October, 1630, Blackstone was made a freeman, the only objection to him being that he wore a canonical coat, as a clergyman of the Episcopal church. He was on the best terms with the Indians, but after a few years of religious intolerance he was compelled to sell his property and move to a new home in the wilderness. In 1634 he sold his property and with the proceeds bought a herd of cows and went to the south. He resided at Boston about ten years. Then he took up his journey southward, taking his beloved books with him and driving his herd before him. On he went until he came to what is now Lonsdale, where he settled permanently on a place he called Study hill. The cottage was placed near the foot of the hill overlook- ing the river. Higher up the hill he made a well and planted the whole hill over with a famous orchard, which bore the first apples in Rhode Island. They were of the kind called Yellow Sweetings. Then came Roger Williams and settled Providence. Blackstone would at the request of Williams come to Providence and preach. His library contained about 200 volumes and six paper covered books, and was at that time probably the largest library on the continent. It was destroyed by fire with his house in King Philip's war, which came after his death.
In time there gathered around Blackstone a little community to hear the words of common prayer and be instructed out of the scrip- tures. On July 4th, 1659, he married Mistress Sarah Stephenson, Governor Endicott himself performing the ceremony. By her he had one son, John. After his marriage he continued to live the life of a student till he died, May 26th, 1675. In Blackstone there was the highest type of character. He had that perfect combination of gentle- ness and bravery which most becomes a Christian man. Blackstone's grave was opened May 6th, 1886. The Lonsdale Mills occupy the land where he lived so long ago.
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
In the contest with Philip's men above referred to, 11 men only, out of 69, survived. This, the greatest battle of the war against King Philip, was fought in Lincoln, two miles south of Blackstone's former home. Of the men above referred to, nine were taken captive by the Indians and led to the " Nine Mens' Misery," one mile north of Study hill, and there tomahawked. Their lifeless remains were a few days afterward found by a searching party of whites and interred upon a little knoll north of the "Nine Mens' Misery " rock, and the spot is now marked by a rude mound of loose stones. After the war the members of the Blackstone family returned with other families and settled upon the tract of land known as Attleboro Gore.
The Ballous settled in the northern portion of the town, adjoining Woonsocket. To the south of them a family by the name of Cook settled. Around Diamond Hill the Whipples first settled, and their descendants are found in this vicinity at the present time. To the south of them settled the Rogers, while to the east the Tingleys made a settlement. The Metcalfs took up a tract of land lying south of the village of East Cumberland. The Wilkinsons and Pecks took up a section of land and made permanent settlement also in the town. Jeremiah Wilkinson was born July 6th, 1741, and early developed a great inventive genuis. He was a worker in iron, silver and gold. He made the first silver spoons used in this vicinity. At an early age he made hand cards and invented a machine for bending wire and cutting it at the same time. He made cards for carding cotton and wool and also for carding horses and cattle. He afterward invented a machine for punching holes in leather, into which the wires were fastened. He also invented a machine for stretching the wire or drawing it, which was the first machine of the kind attempted in America. His invention of cold cut nails is of world wide fame. In April, 1776, he made tacks with a machine of his own invention. He invented a machine to grind stalks, and the pomace was pressed in a common cider mill. He made needles and pins, and sold darning needles during the revolutionary war for one dollar each.
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