USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > History of Providence County, Rhode Island > Part 58
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CHRISTOPHER WILBUR married Rachel Sayles and had the follow- ing children: Reuben, Rachel, married Eleazer Shuman; Ann, mar- ried George Brownell; David, Sayles, and Mercy, married John Smith. David, son of Christopher, married Phebe Brown and had a family of 12 children: William, died single; Christopher, Martin, Jane, married first Orin Wright, second Richard Lincoln; Reuben, lives in New Milford, Conn .; Benjamin, Dexter, Esther (deceased), married Craw- ford Manton; Rachel, wife of Andrew B. Whipple of Smithfield; Thomas, died young; Phebe Ann (deceased), married William Ald- rich, and David. Benjamin, son of David, married Augusta Richards and had eight children: Joseph B., Maria J., wife of Edward Ford of Pawtucket; Ada R., married a Bolster; Charles E., Howard, Walter B., William E. and Flora E., died aged 18 years. Joseph B., son of Ben- jamin, born December 17th, 1850, married Ada A. Keene, and has four children: Edward R., Clarence, Joseph B., Jr., and George. Dexter, son of David, born November 20th, 1831, married Sarah Harris and has two children: Harriet and George.
HENRY B. WOOD, a highly respected citizen of Central Falls, was born in the town of Rehoboth, Mass., February 14th, 1803, and died September 27th, 1886, in the 84th year of his age. He was a member of a large family and a son of Jonathan and Betsey Wood, whose res- idence at the time of his birth was on a farm about six miles from Pawtucket. Here was the place where the late and venerable Mr. Wood spent the earlier years of an active and highly useful life. Hard work on the farm, interspersed with a few months of each year at the district school, constituted the employment of his time when a mere lad. Possessed of a studious mind, apt in learning, and ever
Curry 03 Hood
ARTOTYPE, E. BIERSTADT, N. Y
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
restive under intellectual restraints, he sought and obtained means of acquiring a broader education, even when a mere youth. His father being a poor man and unable to assist him financially, he was per- mitted to find employment during the summer months away from home, and in the winter time to study and teach school. He pursued this course until he had taught school ten winters. He was very fond of mathematics and excelled in those branches of study. His time during the summer months was employed in various occupations. He worked as a mason for some time and helped to build the wharf at Providence.
Mr. Wood was a very thoughtful man, a deep thinker, and during all these earlier years of his life, by his wisdom in husbanding and expending his financial resources became eminently successful in laying that foundation of his business career, from which in later years he reaped a great reward. As means would accumulate he would invest as he could, mostly at first, on account of his limited resources, in wood lands. The wisdom and foresight of these ven- tures soon became apparent. Having some taste for farming, he began to make clearings. The logs were drawn to mill. shingles were manu- factured, and in 1832 he erected for himself a neat cottage, still standing on Centre street, Central Falls, near the depot. From this time fortune began to smile upon him, and he commenced to ex- pand his energies, engaging for a time in the manufacture of cotton eloth. Soon after this he started his lumber yard, a business which he subsequently conducted with great success for half a century. His beginning in this line of business was in copartnership with Gideon Smith, an honest, upright old Quaker, who died shortly after- ward, leaving Mr. Wood as the head of the now long established and well known firm of H. B. Wood & Co. As the sole owner of this enterprise for many years, Mr. Wood constantly added to all his former gains until he acquired an independent fortune.
Mr. Wood was one of the earliest temperance advocates of the state. As a man he was remarkably simple in his habits, thoroughly genuine in his character of manliness and uprightness and was one of nature's noblemen in the true sense of that term. Possessed of a sound mind, of a healthy body and correct habits, he enjoyed the best of health throughout his long life. He was an exemplary member of the Bap- tist church many years. He was one of a band of men who left the First Baptist church, Pawtucket, to form a similar society in Central Falls, now known as the Broad Street Baptist church. Honesty was Mr. Wood's policy, both in and out of the church. He was also dis- creet as well as honest. Retentive in memory, learned in the school of experience, he wisely assisted those in need-and to such an extent his right hand did not know what the left did. In his domestic life he was known only as the complete man that he was. There he was kind and generous, even to a fault. There charity abounded in the
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plenitude of its beauty, and there this man's legacy is greater than his uncounted thousands.
Mr. Wood was married in the 29th year of his age to Miss Eliza Gage, a very loveable and amiable woman. Four children were born to them. Mrs. Wood died October 27th, 1878. His second wife was Minnie C., daughter of the late Henry H. and Emily G. Wightman of North Kingstown, who survives him. Mr. Wood was a genial, kind- hearted husband, full of sympathy, treating the rich and the poor with the same hospitality, and always having a word of encouragement for the depressed. During the later years of his life he was fond of riding and spent much time in this way out of doors. "Old Ned," his favor- ite horse, survived him but a few years, and when he died, out of regard for his master, this old servant of the family was decently interred, with his head carefully pillowed to rest. And thus it is, the good and the just ever receive our highest tokens of esteem in the remembrance even of the small things of life.
CHAPTER XI.
THE TOWN OF NORTH SMITHFIELD.
Description. - Division of the Town .- Places of Interest .- Town Meetings .- Ordinances. -Town Officers .- Slatersville .- Stores .- Post Office .- Hotels .- Bank .- Library .- Slatersville Cemetery Association .- List of Physicians .- John Slater .- Industries .- Union Village. - The Friends. - Forestdale. - Branch Village. - Waterford. - Churches .- A Sketch of the Various Denominations Now Extinct .- The Congrega- tional Church .- Sabbath School .- The Catholic Churches .- Schools and Academies.
N FORTH SMITHFIELD was taken from Smithfield and incorpo- rated as the town of Slater March 8th, 1871. The present name, adopted on the 24th of the same month, gives a correct idea of its position relative to the town of Smithfield. The town is bounded on the north by Massachusetts, on the east by Woonsocket and Lin- coln, on the south by Smithfield and on the west by Burrillville. Before the division of the town of Smithfield the census report gives a population in 1865 for that territory, of 12,315; when North Smithfield was set off it contained a population of 3,052; in 1875 it was 2,797; in 1880, 3,088; in 1885, 3,077. The total valuation of real and personal property in 1888 was $2,294,825. The tax assessed was $12,851.02, the rate being 56 cents on each $100.
There had been for several years a feeling on the part of many of the inhabitants of the town that it should be divided. Various attempts had been made to set a portion off to Woonsocket, and the aid of the general assembly had been invoked to favor such a project, but it was opposed by the representatives and senator from the town, acting under instructions from the tax-payers, and was defeated. The matter, however, was not allowed to drop, and on Saturday, January 21st, 1871, a special meeting of the freemen was called at the town house. After a full and free discussion, the question "Shall the town be divided ?" was carried in the affirmative by a vote of 111 to 33. The following resolution was then adopted without a dissenting vote: " Resolved, That this meeting favors a division of the town of Smithfield, according to the act now on the moderator's table, making the new towns of North Smithfield and Greenville." Afterward the act was amended so as to leave the old name Smithfield to that portion of the town designated in the act as Greenville, giving the name of Lincoln to that portion which had been designed to be left as Smithfield.
The act setting off a portion of Smithfield to Woonsocket and divid-
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ing the remainder into three towns was passed March 8th, 1871. By this act the town of Woonsocket gained something like 3,000 in popu- lation and two millions of taxable property, making its population in round numbers twelve thousand and its valuation six millions of dol- lars. Folowing is section 2d of the act dividing the town of Smith- field, showing the boundary lines of North Smithfield.
"SEC. 11. All that part of the town of Smithfield lying and being within the following limits, to wit: beginning at a point on the state line between the states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, being the point where the towns of Uxbridge, in Massachusetts, and Smithfield and Burrillville, in Rhode Island, meet, and are bounded, it being the northwest corner of the town of Smithfield; thence running southerly, on and with the west line of said town of Smithfield to a point being the northeast corner of the town of Glocester, where the northerly line of said Glocester and the southerly line of the town of Burrillville meet the westerly line of said Smithfield; thence running easterly to a point where the road leading from the Providence and Worcester road (so-called), by the house of Ephraim Sayles, crosses the Crook Fall river, near the house of Simon Newell; then with said Crook Fall river, and the center thereof, to a point being the center of the mouth of said Crook Fall river, and the center of the Blackstone river; thence in a straight line westerly to a point on the southerly line of the Providence and Worcester road (so-called), at the Booth pond (so-called); thence with the southerly line of said road, exclud- ing said road, to a point on the same, where the road leading from Woonsocket Falls village to the Union Village enters said road a little northerly of the Friends' meeting house; thence northerly in a straight line toward the easterly corner of the covered bridge, near the Black- stone Manufacturing Company's mill, until a point is reached due west from the center of the dam of an ancient grist mill; thence running due east to the center of Blackstone river; thence running with said river on the present town line of Smithfield, to the state line, it being the northeast corner of the town of Smithfield; thence running westerly on and with the northerly line of said town of Smith- field to the place of beginning, is hereby set off and incorporated into the township by the name of Slater; and the inhabitants thereof shall have and enjoy the like benefits, privileges and immunities, and be subject to like duties and responsibilities as the other towns in this state generally enjoy and are subject to."
The town of North Smithfield, being the northernmost of the towns carved out of old Smithfield, comprises about 25 square miles, and its valuation, in the act of division, was $1,762,443. Within its limits is that portion of the Waterford Woolen Mills which lie in Rhode Island, a valuable but unimproved water power at Branch Village, the Forest- dale Cotton Mills, the village of Slatersville with its busy mills, and the beautiful Union Village, which, although now deserted by trade,
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was once a more important place than Woonsocket. The farmers are all well-to-do, the town is largely agricultural, and they find a ready sale for their produce in the adjoining villages.
The following list gives the principal places of interest in the town :-- Villages .-- Slatersville; Forestdale; Waterford (North Smith- field side); Union Village; Branch Village. Hills .- Woonsocket; Sayles. Rivers .- Branch; Little; Blackstone. Brooks .- Dawley; Trout: Mathewson; Crookfall. Swamps .- Cedar; Pine; Mattity; Nipsachet. Slatersville Reservoir. Woonsocket hill, which is 576 feet high, and has a pond near its top. Boiling Spring. "The Blunders." At Han- ton City, which is a corruption of the family name Herrenden, is a granite ledge that was at one time worked.
The first meeting held in the town of North Smithfield was on April 5th, 1871, when Byron A. Andrews was chosen moderator, pro tem., and Albert A. Mowry clerk, pro tem. At this meeting an election took place for state officers. June 5th, 1871, a meeting of the legal voters of the town resulted in the following officers being elected: Town councilmen, Arlon Mowry, Smith Thayer, George Johnson, Joseph D. Nichols, Jacob Morse; town clerk, Albert A. Mowry; town treasurer, William H. Seagrave; justices of the peace, William H. Sea- grave, James I. Hotchkiss, Wellington Aldrich, Nelson Taft, Hiram F. Thayer, George Johnson.
On June 12th the council met and made the appropriations for the year, of $2,500 for school purposes, and $3,000 for highways, the tax- payers having the privilege of working out or paying the tax as they chose. At this time the following resolution was made: Resolved, That the town council be requested to grant license for the sale of in- toxicating liquors of any kind, and to cause to be prosecuted all per- sons violating the laws of the state regulating the sale of liquors, and also all persons keeping houses of ill-fame, and to draw on the town treasurer for the expenses of such prosecutions, to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated."
The legislature of the state having ordered a commission to consist of one member each from the towns of Smithfield, North Smithfield and Lincoln, and from the " set off " to Woonsocket, so called, to set- tle all matters pertaining to the old town of Smithfield, and in accord- ance with this movement the town voters elected Arlon Mowry a member of that commission.
The town council passed ordinances as follows: An ordinance in relation to the ordinances of the town of North Smithfield; an ordi- nance defining the compact part of the town; an ordinance to prohibit improper conduct: an ordinance to prohibit the opening of places of trade or entertainment on Sundays or late at night; an ordinance against bathing in public places; an ordinance concerning the burial of dead animals; an ordinance in relation to street lamps, posts, lamp- posts, signs, sign-boards, fences and buildings; an ordinance in rela-
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tion to streets and highways; an ordinance for the suppression and prevention of certain nuisances.
The ordinance prohibiting the opening of places of trade under certain conditions is worthy of mention. It is as follows: " No store, shop, or other place of trade, entertainment, or place of business in this town, shall hereafter be opened or kept open after eleven of the clock in the evening, nor be opened before daylight in the morning; nor shall any such shop, store or other place of trade, entertainment or place of business, be opened on Sunday, nor any article sold there- in on that day; Provided, that druggists may open their shops at any time for the purpose of selling medicines for the use of the sick, and provided also that barbers and bakers may keep open their shops on Sunday until ten of the clock in the forenoon; and further provided, that licensed victualers may keep open their shops on Sunday from seven to nine of the clock in the forenoon, from twelve to one and one-half of the clock, and from five to seven of the clock in the after- noon. The provisions of this section shall not apply to keepers of licensed taverns."
The town clerks of the town of North Smithfield have been as fol- lows: Albert Mowry, 1871 to 1872; Ansel Holman, 1872 to 1880; Byron A. Andrews, from 1880 to the present time.
Town treasurers: William H. Seagrave, 1871 to 1880; Charles S. Seagrave, 1880 to 1882; John F. Mansfield, 1882 to 1886; Arnold Wake- field, 1886 to present time.
Senators: Arlon Mowry, 1871 to 1873; George Johnson, 1873 to 1875; William H. Seagrave, 1875 to 1877; Smith Thayer, 1877 to 1880; Albert Mowry, 1880 to 1883; Arthur Young, 1883 to 1885; Metcalf Comstock, 1885 to 1886; Byron A. Andrews, 1886 to
Representatives: George Johnson, 1871 to 1873; Joseph D. Nichols, 1873 to 1874; Jacob Morse, 1874 to 1876; Arlon Mowry, 1876 to 1877: Charles A. Smith, 1877 to 1879; Davis Aldrich, 1879 to 1880; David S. Wilkinson, 1880 to 1882; George W. Lovell, 1882 to 1883; Walter M. Smith, 1883 to 1885; William F. Comstock, 1885 to 1886; George Hen- drick, 1886 to
Slatersville is the most important village in the town. The site on which the village is located was a dense forest in the beginning of the present century, and the beautiful basin in which these factories are nestled was then a tangled swamp. In the country round, here and there was a cleared field settled by the Buffums, the Inmans, the Thorn- tons, the Cruffs, the Smiths, the Comstocks, the Rathbones, the Car- rolls, the Manns, the Bowditches, the Buxtons, the Dodges and others.
In 1805 Mr. Samuel Slater with his brother John, both men of limited means, passed through all this region prospecting for the site of a mill. In the year 1806 Mr. John Slater and wife made this their home. Immediately following them were those bearing the names of Johnson, Baxter, Trip, Wright, Cupples, Moffitt, Hill, Farnum, Stiness.
-
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Dawson, Dawley, Tracy, Bacon, Capron, Ray, Tabor and others. In 1806 under the firm of Almy, Brown & Slater, was built the first cotton mill of Smithfield, and from this time the village history of Slaters- ville properly begins. In 1815 there must have been considerable business carried on here, as at that time the present bank was incor- porated and three taverns had a good trade.
Slatersville has long been a center of trade for this region of country, and merchants of this place have usually been successful in their business. The store formerly stood down on the flat till the erection of the new block in 1850, when it was moved. After the company gave up the business Mr. George Johnson, their former clerk, came in, leased the building in 1840, and carried on trading for a period of 19 years. He was a successful business man and made money, but afterward went into wool speculation, and to the regret of everybody, lost it. Mr. Johnson came to the village when a mere boy .- In 1834 he married Harriet, daughter of Colonel Ralph Tracy, and still resides in the place. In 1863 James E. Simmons bought out the stock and good will of the business, and during war times he made himself rich. The present firm of H. W. Parkis & Co. took the stock of Mr. Simmons in 1868, and they are doing a flourishing business. Mr. George Helm has also a store in the village.
Charles E. Farnum was an early postmaster in Slatersville. Arthur Young took the office in 1850 and kept it till 1883, with the exception of two years when he was state senator, during which time it was kept by Joshua Ballou. It passed from Mr. Young's hands to the present incumbent, H. W. Parkis, in 1882. The office was kept at the old tavern stand till the building of the block now occupied in part by H. W. Parkis in 1850, when it was removed to its present quarters. Arthur Young, who was so many years postmaster and clerk of the village, is a native of Griswold, Conn. He came here in 1848, and re- mained till 1885, when he moved to Providence, where he now re- sides. He was a notary public about 30 years.
There is at present no hotel in the town. The old tavern in the village has been run for many years as a boarding house and accom- modates the traveling public. Formerly the business carried on in this line was very good. There were in all three hotels. Samuel Ray kept one at the west end of the village for many years. A portion of this house is now occupied by George Helm as a store. The Brick Tavern was on the great highway between Providence and Worces- ter, and one of the stations on the stage route, and in the village was the hotel built by John Slater. Abram Winsor kept it till 1824. Thomas Andrews followed for a year or two. Warren Sweetzer kept it a number of years. He was there in 1843. The house went into disuse as a hotel over 20 years ago.
The First National Bank of Smithfield was originally incorporated and chartered as the Burrillville Agricultural Bank in June, 1815. It
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
did not commence business until 1818, when under the name of the Burrillville Agricultural and Manufacturers' Bank, it issued its first bills. In 1822 its name was changed to the " Village Bank," and in May, 1865, to the First National Bank of Smithfield. The presidents of the bank have been: John Slater, who was chosen as director in place of Reuben Walling and then chosen president, and William S. Slater. The cashiers have been: Henry S. Mansfield, 1818 to 1839; Henry S. Mansfield, Jr., to 1846; William H. Seagrave, to 1880, and Charles S. Seagrave, the present incumbent. For the past 24 years this bank has paid a dividend of 8 per cent. on the par value of the stock.
A library was established in the village of Slatersville by A. D. Lockwood & Co. and Mr. Slater as early as 1840. Books have been added from time to time, till now they number 1,900 volumes. Most of these books have been purchased by the company, which has sup- ported the enterprise. Mr. John W. Slater bears all the expenses of the library. He gives the hall free for its use and employs a librarian, Mr. Archie M. Clark.
The Slatersville Cemetery Association was formed in 1886. Under the present management the old graveyard has been enlarged, the grounds improved, and much has been done to beautify the place. Charles S. Seagrave is treasurer and secretary of the association. The trustees are Deacon S. O. Tabor, W. H. Sandford and Byron A. Andrews.
The physicians of the place have been: Doctors Eleazer Bellows, Gideon Frost, William Richardson, John Pond, Horatio Stockbridge, Metcalf Marsh, John Fellows, Elam C. Knight, Enoch Thayer, A. H. Flanders, George W. Stanley and S. Slater.
Mr. John Slater, under whom the enterprise of the village was commenced and carried on for nearly 40 years, came from his birth- place in Derbyshire, England, in the year 1803. In the prime of his manhood he entered on this enterprise and gave to it all the energies of his strong mind and vigorous body. Mingling with the workmen as one of their number, they partook of his zeal in the work. He gathered around him a worthy class of laborers, many of them of a decidedly religious character, and by his regard for their interests secured their hearty co-operation in promoting his own.
Mr. Slater was a man of marked humanity. As an evidence of this the old ledgers of the company bear witness that many a poor widow's grief was softened by a generous gift. In the interests of the cause of education he early erected a school house in the village, and his grandson, J. W. Slater, in the same spirit manifested by his ances- tor, built the present large and commodious structure and donated it to the village in 1886.
Mr. John Slater was a constant attendant on divine worship. As soon as the circumstances of the place warranted, he complied with
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the call made for a place of public worship, and in 1838 the present house was erected. In 1842 he retired from business and on May 17th, 1843, he died.
Aside from the mills, which in an early day consisted of saw and grist mills only, the business of the community was chiefly farming. As soon as the cotton mills were erected a more extensive industry was given to those in search of work. The cotton to be carded and spun must first be picked over by hand. This was done in the sur- rounding farm houses at from five to six cents per pound. For the most part the cotton was spun into yarn, which was colored and sold by the skein. Having been spun, it was reeled by hand. The first work of this kind done here was by the late Mrs. Samuel Ray. Much of it was spun also into thread and then sent among the wives and daughters of the surrounding farmers to be woven by hand looms, at from 43 to 12 cents a yard, according to the kind of cloth made. This continued for upwards of ten years. The building of the western mill in 1821 brought a new era and the times changed.
The houses built in that early day had cellar kitchens in many cases, built in this way to secure rooms which by reason of their dampness should prove more favorable for weaving. Prices current, taken from the day book and ledgers of 1807 of Almy, Brown & Slater, were as follows: Wages of day laborers, from 75 cents to $1; domestics, from 1s. 9d. to 5s. per week; weavers, ordinary, from 43 to 12 cents per yard, for the higher numbers 1 cent per yard per number; cotton goods, muslins, from 30 to 40 cents per yard, calicoes, 26 to 40 cents per yard; wood, soft, $2, hard, $4 per cord; beef, 5 to 11 cents per 1b .; sugar, 12 cents per 1b .; molasses, per gallon, 50 cents; flour, per bbl., $9.50; rice, 5 cents per lb .; cheese, 10 cents per 1b .; codfish, 6 cents per 1b .; meal, per bushel, 96 cents; tea, per 1b., $1; coffee, per 1b., 38 cents; rum, per gallon, $1.17.
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