USA > Rhode Island > Kent County > East Greenwich > History of the town of East Greenwich and adjacent territory, from 1677 to 1877 > Part 15
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tunate and afflicted he was ever ready with his sympathy and substantial aid ; a terror to the truant boys and vaga- bond men, he often took upon himself their guardianship, and succeeded in improving and sometimes in permanently reforming them.
Although he could find time to interest himself in the affairs of the town, by far the largest share of his time and thoughts were absorbed in professional duties. Commenc- ing business when a malignant epidemic was raging over New England, he was soon engaged in an arduous practice, with all of its cares and responsibilities. A disciple of Dr. Rush, his treatment of disease was marked by the peculiar- ities which distinguished the teachings of that wonderful man, and he was subjected to the severe criticisms of the physicians, and severe remarks from some of the intelligent people. He soon, however, gained the respect of one and the confidence and esteem of the other. The character of Dr. Rush he always held in the highest esteem, and pro- fessed himself a follower of his school of medicine; but he was not a blind follower of any school or theory. His habits and powers of observation enabled him to notice and to appreciate every variety which disease assumed. The epi- demic tendency and influence of the season, the peculiar constitution and habits of the patient were always his care- ful study, and his prescriptions and treatment were adapted to their condition, never hesitating to use potent means when the necessity of the case seemed to require it. It was not his custom to give medicine to satisfy a caprice of the patient, or to keep up appearances among the friends. He kept himself well informed in the progress of medical science, and every thing new in the way of improvement which his judgment and his experience could approve, he readily adopted. For the practice of surgery he was physi- cally and and mentally fitted, and although he did not de- vote himself to it specially, his reputation and extensive acquaintance called him to all critical cases within a circuit of many miles. It was his pride rather to avoid than per- form heroic operations, and he would speak with pride and satisfaction of the limbs he had saved after those frightful injuries which so often occur in the cotton mills. Dr. El- dridge was one of the petitioners for the charter of the Rhode Island Medical Society, and was among its first mem- bers. In 1834 he was chosen President, and continued to hold the office for three years. He was an honorary mem-
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ber of the Connecticut Medical Society, and in 1835 re- ceived the degree of M. D., from Yale College.
In the winter of 1837-8 he became involved in his pecun- iary affairs, having taken stock in a manufacturing company which had become bankrupt. Harassed by this unexpected change in his condition, a latent organic disease of the heart began to manifest itself. His hitherto robust consti- tution, which had withstood the wear and tear of thirty years of hard labor, began to show signs of decay. He soon became aware of the fatal tendency of his disease and submitted with Christian resignation to the will of Provi- dence. At times his sufferings were severe, but he contin- ued to visit patients until a few weeks before his death. He was comforted in his days of illness by the kind attentions of his professional brethren. His death occurred on the 15th day of September, 1838, in the fifty-fifth year of his age, after a residence in this town of twenty-eight years.
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CHAPTER XIII.
LAWYERS.
ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL.
THE earliest lawyer of whom we have any account in East Greenwich was Archibald Campbell. He settled here about the year 1750, and commenced the practice of law in Kent County. Whether Mr. Campbell was liberally educated or regularly studied law, is unknown. He con- tinued in his profession at East Greenwich until his death. His practice was large in the county, and not inconsider- able on the circuits. He was popular and greatly esteemed by the public. The Town of East Greenwich, in 1768, elected him its representative to the General Assembly of the Colony. Mr. Campbell was a valuable member of the Legislature, and was appointed on various important com- mittees. He was reëlected to the same honorable office as long as his health permitted, but his constituents were shortly deprived of the benefits of his talents and useful- ness. Mr. Campbell died in 1769, leaving one son, named Jacob, and three daughters. In the Baptist cemetery in East Greenwich a handsome grave-stone is erected to his memory. More information is transmitted to us respecting him from the following inscription upon it than from any other source now extant :
" IN MEMORY OF ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, ESQUIRE, Son of Archibald, and Grandson of the Rev. Daniel Campbell, and nephew of the Rev. John Campbell Late President of the College of Glasgow, who departed this life October 16th, 1769. in the 41st year of His Age. Viator ecce patria columen Juris pressium benignum genitorum Et indulgentissimus maritum." [Englished thus :" Traveler, behold the patriot, the lawyer, The kind father, and the most indulgent husband.]
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JACOB CAMPBELL
was the only son of Archibald Campbell, Esq., and was born in East Greenwich in 1760, and graduated from Rhode Island College in September, 1783, with the reputation of a fine scholar. After he graduated he was preceptor of a classical school in East Greenwich for a short period, and then entered the office of General Varnum as a student of law. Daniel Updike, William Greene, Ray Greene, John Bowman and George Tillinghast were his fellow students. Jacob Campbell was admitted to the bar, opened an office in East Greenwich, and had some success in his profession. His talents and acquirements entitled him to a full share of practice, but General Varnum, who resided in the same town, overshadowed all his brother lawyers.
Mr. Campbell devoted many of his leisure hours to classic literature and poetry. In his nervous temperament he was very unfortunate, for he was proud and yet often dejected, was early and deeply imbued with jealousy. With a mind sensitive and nervous, he was borne down by fancied in- juries and neglect. The ostentatious manner of Mr. Ray Greene filled him with an unbearable antipathy. If they met in the social circle, Campbell felt that any solitary re- treat would be more soothing to his sensitive nature.
The Legislature, after the peace of 1783, ordered the sheriffs to read the treaty between England and America at the court houses of their respective counties. At this time Mr. Campbell, by request, delivered to the inhabitants of East Greenwich an address.
The oration was considered a wonderful production, and Mr. Updike in his " Memoirs of the Rhode Island Bar," publishes the whole speech, from which we introduce a single extract showing its general tenor :
" Under the auspices of your illustrious chief, you have suffered the vicissitudes of war, borne its fatigues, braved its dangers, have fought, bled and conquered. Through every stage of its progress, East Greenwich has stood unrivalled. When we consider the early and decisive part she took, the unanimity and exertions of her inhabitants, the number and abilities of her officers, we shall conceive her entitled to a splendid page in the annals of the Revolution; and should she now pursue her advantages in commerce with that spirit and perseverance with which she has followed freedom her eminence in retirement will equal her glory in the field."
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Mr. Campbell, having but little practice in his profession, indulged his innate taste for the muses. He published a small volume entitled "Poetical Essays." To what extent and with what success this talent was cultivated, the selec- tions which found a place in a well known school-book, " The Speaker," will demonstrate. Besides the small volume of "Poetical Essays," Mr. Campbell was the author of a number of essays in prose. Some letters of his were a few years since in the possession of a relative. Upon en- quiry he told the same repeated story, that upon his fre- quent removals these papers were so troublesome, that to relieve himself of the burden, he had burned them. Elegies written upon the death of Campbell, and of his fiancée, Miss Russell, had shared the same fate.
When relieved from the influence of his accustomed mel- ancholy, Campbell enraptured every circle with the spright- liness of his fancy and the fascination of his genius. His conversation was rich, his language vivid, his style lofty, accompanied by a captivating sweetness that went directly to the heart; but when mentally depressed, he was silent and retiring, or disposed to pour into the bosom of some intimate friend the murmurings of his fancied griefs.
During his residence in college he became attached to Miss Eliza Russell, daughter of Joseph Russell. Their love, growing out of a long friendship, was mutual. He was of a feeble constitution, and was inclined to consumption. During his lingering illness she was constantly with him, and with her own hand ministered to the object of her plighted love, and her delicate attentions and watchfulness were unceasing. His sickness was dubious and flattering for a long period, and she continued her affectionate efforts for his restoration with unremitted devotion, sometimes hoping for the joys of a speedy recovery, at others despair- ing of a hopeful termination. If she could not arrest dis- ease, she could relieve its pains, and with a holy affection smooth the pillow of death, pluck out its thorns, and deal out the consolations of the gospel. After his death and funeral she retired to her room, and darkening it to her feel- ings, admitted only a few select friends, and particularly those who could discourse of him, and like her of old, refusing to be comforted, she remained there until her death. A lady of East Greenwich, who had been intimate with them both, called to see her, and was admitted to her chamber with scarcely light enough to distinguish an object. Her
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whole conversation was of the sickness, suffering and death of Jacob Campbell. She was waiting, with patient resigna- tion, the arrival of the wished for hour, when she should join him in heaven. She caused a very handsome tomb- stone, as the last tribute of affection, to be erected at his grave in the old Baptist cemetery in East Greenwich, next to his fathers, with this inscription :
IN MEMORY OF JACOB CAMPBELL, Son of Archibald Campbell, Attorney-of-Law, Who departed this life March 5th, 1788, in the 28th year of his age. " Oh faithful memory may thy lamp illume, The sacred sepulchre with radiance clear, Soft plighted love shall rest upon his tomb, And friendship o'er it shed the fragrant tear."
The suicidical course adopted by this devoted woman upon this eventful occasion should not be allowed to pass without reproof. The dispensations of Heaven, however severe, are to be met and borne with Christian resignation. The in- fliction of self-injury or immolation, proceeds upon a princi- ple of retaliation or revenge utterly at variance with every feature of the Christian character, and must impress the con- viction that its doctrines have been defectively inculcated or grossly misunderstood. That she should have bitterly wept to be bereaved of the object of her tenderest affections ; that her wounded heart should have heaved with the deepest emotions upon their earthly separation, is what all would expect, and in which all would sympathize. But to in- carcerate her person, and prematurely terminate her exist- ence, because the Deity, in his visitations, had disappointed her hopes, all must equally condemn.
JAMES MITCHELL VARNUM.
James Mitchell Varnum was born in Dracut, Massachu- setts, in 1749. He entered Rhode Island College-now Brown University-(then located in Warren), and was in the first class that graduated from that institution, in 1769, at the age of twenty. Soon after his college course he en- tered the office of Oliver Arnold, in Providence, then at- torney-general of the Colony. William Channing, Thomas Arnold, John S. Dexter, and himself, were fellow students at the time of Mr. Arnold's death, in 1770, and in the suc- ceeding year Mr. Varnum was admitted to the bar. He
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settled in East Greenwich, where his talents acquired for him an extensive practice, and he traveled the circuits of the State, reaping the honors and emoluments of his profes- sion.
Mr. Varnum had a great taste for military life, and early joined the "Kentish Guards," and in 1774 was appointed commander of that company, which, from their superior acquirements in military tactics, became the nursery of so many distinguished officers during the Revolutionary War- General Greene, General Varnum, Colonel Greene, Colonel Crary, Colonel Whitmarsh, Major Dexter, Captain Arnold, and others making thirty-two in all, who entered the patriot army, as commissioned officers from this . company. The prominent part General Varnum took in the colonial con- troversy, inspired him with an ambition to enter the mili- tary service of his country.
The venerable John Howland, President of the Histori- cal Society in this State, in a communication, says, that " when the news of the battle of Lexington reached East Greenwich, General Varnum's company mustered and marched to Providence on their way to the scene of action. I recollect seeing them on their arrival, Nathanael Greene, afterwards the famous general, was a private with a musket on his shoulder, and Christopher Greene, afterwards Colonel Greene, who defended Red Bank, was also there, a private in the same company. They marched beyond Pawtucket, and hearing that the enemy had returned to Boston, they returned to East Greenwich. The following week the Gen- eral Assembly convened, and resolved to raise three regi- ments of infantry and a company of artillery. Mr. Nathan- ael Greene, then a member of the House of Representatives, was appointed brigadier-general, and James Varnum, col- onel of the regiment to be raised in the counties of Kent and Kings, Daniel Hitchcock to be colonel of the regiment to be raised in Providence, and Church to be colonel of the regiment to be raised in the counties of Newport and Bris- tol. Varnum took rank over Hitchcock and Church from having comanded in the 'Kentish Guards,' with the rank of colonel.
" The time for which these troops were called out expired December 31st, 1775. The State raised two regiments for the year 1776. Varnum commanded the first, and Hitch- cock the second.
"The officers of these troops afterwards received com-
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missions from the President of Congress, when General Washington was appointed commander-in-chief. They were then styled Continental troops. In January, 1776, the State raised a regiment called State troops, to be sta- tioned at Newport. They remained there until the disas- trous battle on Long Island. General Varnum then suc- ceeded to the command of the brigade; but the necessity of the case, and the perilous situation of the country, in- duced General Washington soon after to send General Var- num to the Assembly of Rhode Island for the same pur- pose, selecting for this all-important mission those officers for their well-known influence with their respective legisla- tures." "You may ask," continues Mr. Howland, "why I have recited this long piece of old history, when the sub- ject on which I am engaged is merely a notice of Varnum, as a Rhode Island lawyer, to which I reply, that his military history is so intimately connected with his civil pursuits, that they cannot be properly separated; and in this detail Varnum and Hitchcock, as two Rhode Island lawyers, re- flect no small honor on the Rhode Island bar."
The Legislature of this State, in consideration of General Varnum's national services, and effectually to secure them in defence of the State, in May, 1779, elected him major- general of the militia of the State, to which office he was unanimously reelected during the remainder of his life. In April, 1780, the people of the State, in grateful recollection of his eminent services in the cause of public liberty, and desirous to throw into the national councils those distin- guished talents which could be spared from the field, elected him their delegate to the confederated Congress of that year. As that body sat with closed doors, his voice could not be heard by the public, but his name appears oftener on the published journals than many others of that body.
After the war, General Varnum recommenced the prac- tice of law at East Greenwich with increased reputation, and was promptly engaged in all the important cases in the State. At that period great and important cases arose, growing out of the new position in which the State and Nation were placed.
Congress, by the ordinance of 1787, established the Northwestern Territory. General St. Clair was appointed Governor, September 5th, 1787, and General Varnum and Samuel Parsons, judges, in October following. General Varnum left this State to assume his official duties in the spring of 1788, and arrived at Marietta, the established
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HISTORY OF EAST GREENWICH.
seat of government, in May or June. St. Clair did not ar- rive until the middle of July, and the Governor and judges being empowered conjointly to adopt laws for the govern- ment of the Territory, no duties were performed by the judges until his arrival.
Marietta was selected by General Rufus Putnam, agent of the New England Land Company, for the site of a great city. The settlers of Ohio congregated there. It was built at the confluence of the Muskingum with the Ohio rivers, and was named after the unfortunate Marie Antoinette. It was projected on a magnificent scale. They had their Campus Martius, Sacra Via, Capitolenum, inscribed upon the plat. But it was an unfortunate location, upon a sterile soil, and it remains to this day an inferior village.
General Varnum was in feeble health on his arrival, and continued to decline during the autumn and winter season, until some time in the month of March, 1789. During the winter he was under the care of Mrs. Cushing, wife of Colonel Nathaniel Cushing, until his death at Campus Martius, a stockade built by the first settlers under Putnam. His funeral was attended by the military officers of the Revolution, (Colonel Harmer's officers), and an escort from his regiment in military form, and he was buried on the ridge northeast of the mound. Whether there was, or is now, any monument erected at the place, is very doubtful.
It might have been gratifying to his vanity, but General Varnum committed an unfortunate error in accepting the office to which he was appointed. He had impaired his constitution by a free and liberal life, and with an en- feebled physical system, to leave his family, his circle of friends and the comforts of an old State, and a delightful mansion, erected in accordance with his own taste and ornamented to his fancy, to become a kind of pioneer in a new and unsettled country, among strangers, and in a society uncongenial to his habits, was delusive-fatally de- lusive. Professional pursuits in our populous cities are both more reputable and profitable than any of our national appointments. Yet the overpowering charm of being pre- distinguished from among the people, as capable, or being selected from among our associates, as entitled to public honor, is too alluring to individual vanity. But the abandonment of our country, our friends, our firesides, and the endearing connections of home, is a sacrifice too dear for it all; and so the unfortunate Varnum found it. On
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horseback, and attended by a solitary companion (Griffin Greene) he left a country which honored him and an idolizing people, and traversed eight hundred miles of wilderness, mostly devoid of the comforts of life, and at, his journey's end was tabernacled in a rude stockade, and surrounded by excitements, his disorders aggravated for the want of retirement and repose, breathing the deadly exhalations of a great and sluggish river, and protected by military array from the incursions of the western savage. The issue proved that he had no chance for life, and with a constitution too much impaired to return, he there lin- gered and expired.
The career of General Varnum was active and brief. He graduated at twenty ; was admitted to the bar at twenty- two; resigned his commission at thirty-two; was member of Congress the same year; resumed his practice at thirty- three, continued his practice four years ; was elected to Congress again at thirty-seven ; emigrated to the West at thirty-nine, and died at the early age of forty. From the time of his admission to the bar, to his departure from the State, was seventeen years. Deducting the four years he was in the military service and three years he was in Con- gress, his actual professional life was only ten years. He died in the year 1788.
Early in life General Varnum married Martha, the eldest daughter of Cromwell Childs, of Warren, Rhode Island, a family of considerable distinction. Mrs. Varnum was an amiable and high-minded woman, and one of the most cheerful, sociable, and best of wives. She survived her husband forty-eight years, and died at Bristol, October 10th, 1837, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. General Varnum was represented to be a kind and affectionate hus- band, a steady and useful friend, highly esteemed and respected by his professional brethren, and a gentleman of very courteous manners.
He built the large and elegant house on Pearce street, opposite the Court House, in East Greenwich, now owned and occupied by George A. Brayton, Ex-Judge of the Su- preme Court, of Rhode Island. It is a very handsome structure even at the present time, and when it was erected, more than a century since, was considered one of the hand- somest houses in the Colony. The magnificent elm trees now standing in the front yard, were set there by the gen- eral's direction, before the Revolutionary War.
Since the preceding sketch was written, the following in
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relation to General Varnum has been discovered in the " Memoirs of Elkanah Watson " :
" James Mitchell Varnum was appointed a brigadier- general in the Rhode Island line at an early period of the Revolution. He resided in East Greenwich, and was one of the most eminent lawyers, and distinguished orators in the colonies. I first saw this learned and amiable man in 1774, when I heard him deliver a Masonic oration. Until that moment I had formed no conception of the power and charms of oratory. I was so deeply impressed, that the effect of his splendid exhibition has remained for forty- eight years indelibly fixed on my mind. I then compared his mind to a beautiful paterre, from which he was enabled to pluck the most gorgeous and fanciful flowers, in his progress to enrich and embellish his subject.
" He marched into Providence, with his company on the evening of the 20th of April, on his way to Lexington. General Nathaniel Greene marched into Providence with General Varnum on that occasion, although it was as a private, and while he still held his connection with the Quaker Society. Greene and Varnum were soon after ap- pointed brigadiers and attached to the army besieging Boston. Varnum continued some years in the army, and saw some service ; he was a good disciplinarian, and invalu- able in council. He held an excellent pen, commanding a rich flow of language and eloquence, embellished by all the ornaments and graces of rhetoric.
" While in command at Taunton, he addressed an admir- able letter to the commanding officer of the Hessians, on Rhode Island, and sent it in by a flag of truce. The letter was a transcript of his views of the great controversy with England, and was considered an able argument on the sub- ject. It was subsequently published in England, and reflected very much credit on the author. At the close of his military career, he resumed his professional attitude, and often came into conflict with Henry Goodwin, his great rival in eloquence, but of a totally distinct school. While Varnum's oratory was mild and conciliatory, and flowing in majestic and persuasive eloquence, Goodwin's was wrapt in fire and energy, mingled with the most burning sarcasm.
" In the year 1785, General Varnum formed the project of establishing a colony on the north branch of the Ohio River, and erecting a city at the mouth of the Muskingum. He urged me to unite with him in the adventure. He car- ried out his design and founded Marietta, which he named
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in honor of the Queen of France. After my return from North Carolina in 1788, I was present when his wife received a letter from him full of pathos and sensibility, and highly impressive in some of its aspects. She allowed me as the intimate friend of her husband, to read it; it subsequently found its way into the newspapers. The following is worthy of preservation :
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