USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > History of Providence County, Rhode Island > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
24
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
picture by conceiving of the woods which crowned the ridge to the west of Broadway, and studded the swampy land that sloped to the Blackstone. A dense forest covered the region now occupied by the tasty grounds and extensive works of Colonel Dunnell. And between that forest and the present thoroughfare from the stone bridge to North Bend were three farms, stretching almost from the river to Seekonk Plains. These farms belonged to three brothers of the name of Bucklin. On the west of North Bend other farms run back to the river, save where they were afterward divided by the turnpike. A few years before, on that part of Cottage street where Mr. William P. Allen now lives, stood a majestic growth of hard wood; but the feller had meanwhile come up against it, and leveled the trees, and the region was a part of large farms, poorly cultivated.
"Perhaps the space may be profitably spared to give a livelier idea of the section east of the river, as it then existed. Be it recollected, therefore, that the house of Ephraim Starkweather stood at the apex of the triangle made by Main and Walcott streets. Just below that, on the site of the rectory of Trinity church, stood the tavern of Colonel Slack. From Mr. Starkweather's to North Bend there was no house. The upper part of Walcott street, from above Grove street to Otis French's, was open land on the north side, and belonged to Col. Slack. Beyond Mr. French's house, on North Bend, stood an old stone chimney house, long since torn down. It was then occupied, however, by a venerable colored man who bore a couple of names,- Prince Kennedy, or the Black Prince. The old Lyon house, the Dolly Sabin tavern, two or three farm houses between or in the neighborhood, the stone chimney house on South Bend, and N. Buck- lin's house, near Bucklin's brook, complete the list in that part of the hamlet. Stretching from North Bend to the Blackstone, a little be- yond the land mentioned as belonging to Col. Slack, was a strip of territory owned by Abiel Read and his sisters. Next on the north was the land of Ephraim Starkweather. Then came the farm of Baruch Bucklin. For years afterward it was in the possession of Mr. May D. Mason, who married the only daughter of Mr. Bucklin. Still north of this lay the farm of Ebenezer Bucklin. North of these were a farm of Samuel Slack, since called the Lavery place, and one of Ezra Barrows. Most of all of these stretched from the road named to the Blackstone, though destined soon to be cut in twain by the Norfolk and Bristol turnpike, which was on the eve of being built.
" This leaves but few of the seventeen buildings unmentioned in the east village, and one of them was occupied by a son of Hugh Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy's house stood a little to the east of the Ellis block, and was joined by a garden which run back to the Black- stone. It was then deemed the most attractive garden in the village, as it possessed a great many pear trees. To the south of the bridge stood his oil mill, and on the other side a blacksmith's and wheel-
25
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
wright shop. In the latter shop were manufactured a multitude of old-fashioned spinning wheels, both great and small.
"Of course, on both sides of the stream, in addition to the streets named, were a few lanes, which have since grown into streets. One ran, for instance, to the ship-yard at the Landing, and others in other directions. But most of the houses of the residents in the western village of Pawtucket, were upon the streets already named. High street, north of the present High School building, was covered by pines and scrub oaks. A few roads and thoroughfares, indeed, ex- tended toward Providence and Smithfield, but the rest of the land away from the river was occupied by farms or pastures, or covered with forests. Along the river's side, however, the din of industry was heard. What is now Jenks avenue led down to the coal yard, and here were stored huge piles of charcoal for the use of forges, fur- naces, and anchor shops; and the clangor of trip-hammers and anvils, the blows of ship-builders, and the buzz of machinery, told that en- terprise and toil were busy by the waters of the Pawtucket.
" About this time, however, an important convenience for the pub- lic was providing. It was the era of turnpikes, and the Norfolk and Bristol turnpike was chartered to open a more direct road to Boston. It was laid out four rods in width from the bridge at Pawtucket to the metropolis of Massachusetts. Oziel Wilkinson was always ready for any undertaking that promised to accommodate the public and put money into his own pocket, and took a contract for building thirteen miles of the road, nearest this place. This was about the year 1804. The spades, shovels and picks for the laborers were all furnished from his shops in Pawtucket. Greatly to the annoyance of some of the residents east of the river, the road, as it approached the bridge, was brought very near the stream, and spoiled some pleasant gardens. What is now known as Broadway is but the road-bed of the south- western part of the old turnpike. For some years, especially after steamboats were put on the route between Providence and New York, that turnpike was a great highway of travel. Scores of stage coaches, crowded with passengers, daily hurried over it, and scores of wagons, groaning under their loads, journeyed to and from Boston. But the march of improvement in less than two-score years blasted the fond hopes of its builders. The steam-car demanded the iron track, and turnpikes gave place to railroads. The result is adverted to in the account of a special town meeting held in Pawtucket, Mass., on Feb- ruary 11th, 1843, to consider whether the town should oppose the granting of the petition of the Norfolk and Bristol turnpike for au- thority to give up their road to the towns as a common highway. The town very sensibly voted to instruct 'their representative in the Gen- eral Court to appear before the Committee on the 15th instant, and to accept that part of the Norfolk and Bristol turnpike lying within the
26
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
town of Pawtucket as a public road, provided the Corporation guaran- tee the said road to the town free of expense.'
"Sturdy Oziel found the turnpike a great convenience while he lived, for he could transport his goods by it to a market in Boston. A kinsman of his, in describing the rugged independence of the old man, remarks, that he was wont to carry his own nails to the city named, and sell them in quantities to suit purchasers; and it shows the effect of modern inventions in cheapening the cost of articles of daily use, to mention that Mr. Wilkinson accommodated both large and small purchasers by selling his nails to them at 16 cents per pound.
"Turning for a moment from details of business, it may be re- marked that an incident happened early in the century, which lived in the memory of old citizens, and is so oft referred to in common speech that it deserves to be commemorated in history. An almost unparalleled freshet occurred on February 15th, 1807. It was a Sab- bath, whose quiet was broken by the foaming surges. The Black- stone, like most of northern rivers, is liable to be swollen by great masses of ice and water when a sudden thaw looses the frozen rivu- lets and brooks. The banks of the river at Pawtucket, however, are high enough to lift the houses above ordinary floods, but on the day preceding the Sabbath named a furious torrent plunging over the falls rose to an unwonted height, and reminded the beholders that the swollen waves can defy the interdict of any one save Him whose awful voice can say: Thus far, and no farther ! All night the torrent rushed and roared, and the trembling bridge warned travelers not to attempt to cross the stream. The bed of the river was filled to over- flowing; Sargent's Trench became a boiling flood; and the surging billows revealed the bed of still another stream which centuries ago ran parallel with the main river. Mills and shops were swept away; and a few families that had seemed to linger too long in their homes were hurried to places of safety by strong men, who were periling their own lives to save others. In the gray dawn of the morning a loud voice was heard shouting in the streets, 'Turn out, turn out; the water is running round Jerahmeel Jenks's stone wall.' In the very crisis of the freshet a sick mother, and her infant of a fortnight old, were moved in a chair across a ladder reaching from the window of an imperiled house to the top of a fence opposite, by men who stood in a roaring stream, and feared every instant that they were too late. The late Mrs. N. G. B. Dexter, whose parents lived in a house stand- ing where the Miller block now is, was accustomed to relate in her old age, that tall Colonel Stephen Jenks took both her and her younger sister in his arms and bore them away to a secure place. Another incident of a dramatic character happened.
" Mr. John Pitcher occupied a house that stood on a rock which forms a part of the foundation of Almy's block. He and his daugh- ter and little grandson lingered in the house till the evening of Sun-
27
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
day. But the billows were so threatening, the masses of ice were. crashing so furiously, that the daughter dared not spend another night in so lonely a place, especially as connection was cut off with the western shore. She therefore besought her father to leave and go with her, while the bridge yet stood, to the other side. While he hesitated and refused, she took her infant in her arms, waded through the water and crossed the bridge. The crazy structure trembled be- neath her steps; so, after bearing her boy to a place of safety, she took a lantern and returned for her father, to implore him to leave. She had scarce stepped on the bridge, when she discerned through the blinding spray a lantern. She knew that no one but her father could have gained a footing on the bridge, and eagerly hastened to him. She found him bewildered by the mist and roar, and hurried him across the trembling structure; and they had hardly stepped a dozen steps on the shore before the mad billows hurled masses of ice against the tottering fabric, and swept it, a heap of ruins, into the abyss.
"Through the mercy of God no lives were lost, but fourteen build- ings were swept away. None of them were costly edifices, and yet several of them were the seat of locally important industries, that were not merely gainful to their proprietors, but of great convenience to the public around. No such flood has since occurred; perhaps none. has approximated it more nearly than one that happened last spring. But the buildings which have been reared since the earlier freshet have been built so much more firmly, that but little loss was actually sustained, though some shops were in peril. The stately stone bridge which now spans the Blackstone near the falls is so much stronger than the crazy wooden structure that nearly perished in that former freshet, that beholders feared not to stand on it and gaze at the careering surges that plunged over the rocks.
"It may not be improper to remark, in illustration of the variety of industry that characterized Pawtucket, that an ingenious clock- maker, early in the present century, by the name of John Field, in- troduced here the casting of brass. He carried on his business in the anchor shop of the elder Mr. Wilkinson. And both the Wilkin- sons and the various spinners of cotton were extending their opera- tions. On the eastern side of the river, to the south of Main street, be- tween the bridge and the spacious mill recently erected by the Messrs .. Goff, are the sites of old mills. An early manufacturing company took the name of the Cotton and Oil Company. They bought and carried on the oil mill which had been owned by Hugh Kennedy. The company was composed of Nathaniel Croade, Major Ebenezer Tyler, Oliver Starkweather, Benjamin Walcott, Eliphalet Slack, Dr. Billings and others, and built the so-called Yellow mill in 1805 and the Stone mill in 1813. The company subsequently divided into two. sections, and each of them took control of a mill.
28
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
" The freshet spoken of above carried away all the buildings in the forge lot, from the bridge to what is now called Jenks avenue. The grist mill on the grist mill lot was also swept before the billows, but the grist mill house, which stood on the summit of the rock, remained. Although none of the buildings were very large, they were yet of such service to the whole neighborhood, by reason of the kinds of business carried on in them, that steps were taken to rebuild some of them without any delay. Eleazer Jenks and his sons, Eleazer, Jr., and Ste- phen, built the forge shop; Pardon and Jabez Jenks built the carding room, and Moses Jenks, the father of the two last named, reared, in connection with others, the grist mill, which stood till pulled down to build the flouring mill in 1863. The basement of the carding ma- chine building was used for a fulling mill and a snuff mill. The first floor was used for carding wool. The clothier's shop was on the corner of Main street and Jenks avenue, and the basement of the building was used for a coloring shop .. The first floor was employed for dressing cloth. The entire business was carried on by Pardon and Jabez Jenks, the latter of whom lived in the tenement above the dressing room. This continued the case till 1817, when Jabez Jenks died. Subsequently the business was carried on by others till 1821, when the shop was resigned to trade.
" And here it may be remarked that, though these details seem somewhat prolix, they are instructive for the present generation, by reminding them of the change which has taken place in manufactur- ing within 70 years. It was nearly a dozen years after the freshet be- fore power looms came into vogue. Before that time the farmers in this State and the neighboring part of Massachusetts raised their sheep, clipped their own wool, and had their cloth manufactured be- neath their own roof. But before their wives, daughters or domes- tics spun and wove their wool, it was brought to Pawtucket to be carded, and, after it was woven, was returned to the clothier's to be dressed and finished. The cloth thus made was very strong, and could be made very fine. Indeed, it is mentioned that when President Mon- roe was inaugurated in 1817 he wore a suit of clothes made of cloth manufactured in Pawtucket. But this means simply that the wool was carded here and the cloth finished, for no looms for weaving woolen goods by power had then been put in operation. The tenter bars of the clothiers were, at the early date named, on the lot whereon the stately edifice reared by the Dexter Brothers now stands.
" The basement of the forge shop was used for a trip-hammer shop to do heavy forging and to make mule spindles. This business was carried on by Eleazer Jenks, Jr., and others of the family, till his death in 1816. The first floor was used for various purposes; quite early by Stephen Jenks, who had a machine for cutting large spikes of his own device. Subsequently he used it for another purpose, to
29
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
be mentioned further on. On the second floor Otis and Benjamin Walcott had a machine shop prior to 1813.
" And here may appropriately be quoted an extract of a letter from John K. Pitman to Thomas Cole, Esq., under date of November 8th, 1809, in relation to the cotton manufacturing establishments in the neighborhood of Providence. It shows the comparative awkwardness of some departments of manufacturing at that time. The extract is borrowed from the Providence Journal of June 19th of the present year:
"' There are in this State sixteen cotton mills in operation, and seven more erected which have not yet begun to spin. Also without the State, and within about thirty miles of this town, there are ten at work and six not yet in operation. . . . The mills within the State contain between thirteen and fourteen thousand spindles, and con- sume about twelve thousand pounds of cotton weekly; those without the State contain upwards of six thousand spindles, and consume about five thousand pounds of cotton weekly. The produce of yarn is estimated at four-fifths of the raw material. The mills within the State employ upwards of one thousand looms, most of which are in private families, and wrought by females unoccupied by their domes- tic concerns. The cotton is picked by private families in the neigh- borhood of the mills, and in this State this branch gives employment to more than four hundred families a considerable portion of the year, to whom is paid upwards of twenty thousand dollars annually.'
" The war with Great Britain, which began in 1812, while it nearly swept American commerce from the ocean, gave an impetus to cotton manufacturing and kindred branches of industry in this neighbor- hood. Indeed, the embargo during Jefferson's administration had doubtless suggested to the shrewd men who had started cotton mills in this neighborhood that the yarns of their manufacture were likely to be needed to supply an imperious home demand. Hence in 1810 Oziel Wilkinson built another mill on Mill street, which still stands. It is now known as the Lefavour mill. For several years after it was reared the lower story was occupied by David Wilkinson for a ma- chine shop and the upper story for cotton spinning. The war, how- ever, stimulated manufacturing still more. On passing up Broadway one sees on the mill occupied by the Dexter Brothers the figures 1813. which indicate the time of the erection of that structure. It was reared originally by Wilkinson & Greene. It has been mentioned that to the south of the bridge a mill was also erected in the same year. About this time, also, Kent's factory was converted into a cot- ton mill. In 1813, too, a machine shop was built by Eleazer Jenks and family, which extended along the southern part of Main street, and to the east of the clothier's shop that stood on the corner of the present Jenks avenue. This shop, indeed, reached from Main street to the forge shop, and was occupied by David Wilkinson from the
1
:30
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
period of its erection till 1829. Subsequently, during the war, the Buffington mill, so called at a later date, was erected, and occupied the space between the machine shop and the bridge. Its owners were Pardon and Jabez Jenks. The first person to occupy it was Major Ebenezer Tyler, who was for years one of the most active men of the place. For a part of two seasons he carried on the business of spin- ning cotton yarns. After him a Mr. Taft occupied it, and was suc- ceeded, not far from 1821, by Mr. Buffington. The business of weav- ing cloth by power looms, as will be shown, had meanwhile been begun, and Mr. Buffington commenced the manufacture of cloth. He . continued to run the mill till it was burned in 1844.
" During the war, of course, invention was stimulated, and two men, in whose name Pawtucket has an interest, were busied in devis- ing valuable contrivances. The slowness of weaving cotton by hand had pressed the inquiry on hundreds of minds, Cannot a power loom be devised which shall expedite the work and lessen the expense? And among those who were haunted by this question was an in- genious mechanic in Pawtucket by the name of John Thorp. As early as 1814 he invented a power loom. It stood upright, and per- formed its work by perpendicular action. Though it was soon super- seded by a more skillful instrument, it yet showed the inventor's ability. Soon after he invented a machine for winding quills or bob- bins. He also invented a very ingenious braiding machine, and fol- lowed it by the ring spinning or spinning-ring which is now in gen- eral use.
" The other person referred to was Mr. Asa Arnold, a native of Pawtucket. He devised a machine for separating wool in carding into slivers, so as to be spun from the cards. This is believed to have been done during the war named. Subsequently he displayed his in- genuity by introducing compound motion or differential box into the Double Speeder. For this he obtained a patent in 1821. In the judg- ment of competent parties, both of these inventions possess great merit.
" The order of time requires, however, that more be now said of the third grand invention pertaining to the manufacture of cotton. So far as our own land is concerned, this, like the adoption of Ark- wright's patent, was rather a reproduction than an invention. Mr. William Gilmore had been working at Slatersville, and sought to in- troduce there the Scotch loom. No favor was shown to the proposi- tion, however, but Judge Lyman, of the neighboring town of North Providence, hears of the matter, and induces Mr. Gilmore to make the experiment in his mill. From some defect or derangement of the the loom, however, it does not work at first; but Judge Lyman thinks of David Wilkinson, and gets him to look at the machine. Mr. Wilkinson's keen eye soon discovers the difficulty, and his fertile mind devises a remedy. And it is an interesting fact, that Captain
31
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
James S. Brown, whose inventive genius and business talent have so helped the prosperity of Pawtucket, had just come to work in the shop of Mr. Wilkinson; and the first task he performed was to finish some patterns of the Scotch loom. This was in 1817, and marks an era in the business of manufacturing cotton in our land. Far and wide the news spreads that a power loom is successfully working in the neighborhood of Pawtucket, and manufacturers come to inspect it. The foundation of many a manufacturing village and city, in- deed, almost dates from that epoch.
" And the period reached requires that another person be now mentioned. In 1813 Mr. Larned Pitcher began as a machinist. Sub- sequently Mr. P. Hovey and Mr. Arnold became associated with him. Their first place of business was at the new mill on the west side of the river, but they subsequently moved to the Stone inill, and then to the Yellow mill. In 1819 Mr. Gay became a partner, and, the others named having retired, the style of the firm became Pitcher & Gay. Soon Mr. Gay devised a dresser, which still remains in use. He also invented a speeder. In September, 1824, Mr. Gay removed to Nashua; and, as Mr. Brown, who had been working for some years in the employment of the parties named, had become a partner on the previous month, the new firm took the well-known style of Pitcher & Brown, and continued in business till 1842.
"It was mentioned, in speaking of the forge shop, that Mr. Stephen Jenks occupied for a time the first floor of that building. One cir- cumstance deserves to be named in connection with that shop. The extract quoted from the letter of Mr. Pitman tells in how rude a way the business of picking cotton was carried on. Mr. Jenks in- troduced here a cotton-picker, which was the first started in this neighborhood. After that, cotton instead of being sent out to private families to be whipped, was brought to the forge shop from all the mills for miles around, and returned in bags to the various mills in condition to be used. Mr. Jenks continued this business till 1817 or 1818, when pickers came into general use in the various mills. The room occupied by Stephen Jenks was afterwards occupied by Abner Tompkins as a machine shop for finishing the iron work for looms, till about 1829.
" Prior to the war with Great Britain, as was intimated above, the business of cotton spinning was restricted to a narrow sphere in our land. Massachusetts was largely engaged in commerce, and had taken but little interest in the business wherein Rhode Island was reaping such a harvest. As showing to how small an extent Massa- chusetts had entered into rivalry with her diminutive neighbor, it may be mentioned that Rehoboth, in 1813, surpassed any other town in that state in the number of its cotton mills. Of course, the larger part of them where in what is now the eastern district of Pawtucket. But the war, by prostrating commerce, caused a diversion of capital,
32
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
and gave a great stimulus to manufactures. And the introduction of the Scotch loom confirmed the tendency.
" The same copy of the Providence Journal that contains the letter from Mr. Pitman, already quoted, contains extracts from the letter of another manufacturer, who speaks in the following strain. His letter was written in 1820:
"'' It will be observed that the foregoing estimate was made in the year 1809, when it may be considered the cotton manufacture was in its infancy. Since that period to the commencement of the year 1816, the increase exceeded all calculation. . . . Allured by the previous enormous profits, hundreds had rushed into the business, in many cases without capital sufficient successfully to conduct such an enter- prise, and a general embarrassment resulted [in 1815 and 1816]. The distress experienced at this time did not last long, however. Those establishments which had been managed prudently continued to operate a portion of their machinery, and the others gradually com- menced operations again, until, in a short time, nearly all the ma- chinery was at work.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.