USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Lafayette, Rhode Island; a few phases of its history from the ice age to the atomic > Part 13
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By 1847, industry and population had become so centered in the growing hamlet that Elder Preserved Green was persuaded to hold religious meetings in the old Lafayette schoolhouse then located at the junction of the present Oak Hill and Hatchery Roads. Elder Green was a Free Will Baptist and a successful ex- horter, apparently, for the small, one-story school- house soon proved to be insufficient to accommodate the congregations which were steadily increasing and
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spreading a genuine religious fervor in the community. Besides, for many the schoolhouse was not conven- iently located.
Enthusiasm and a local pride soon urged the build- ing of a church. A subscription list was started, the needed funds quickly raised, a site was chosen on the north side of the Ten Rod Road, near the present Ryan residence, and inside of a year the new building was completed and dedicated as a Free Will Baptist church. In its construction, several timbers of horn- beam (a fine-grained, hard wood from local trees of the birch family) were contributed by Nathan Rath- bun of Swamptown, father of Thomas W. D. Rathbun, and great-grandfather of Hazel Tisdale of Lafayette. These timbers gave the name "The Old Hornbeam" to the church in later years.
For some time there had been developing in neigh- boring Massachusetts and Connecticut new religious bodies known as Adventists. These organizations be- came active in spreading the doctrines of their founders and converted many persons to the new faith. At first, these converts were members of various existing churches, but they soon organized separate churches of the new beliefs.
The "Hornbeam," however, continued as a Free Will Baptist Church until 1857, when a Connecticut Adventist preacher, Rev. Eleazer Bellows, began preaching Adventist doctrines at Lafayette. The new faith appears to have become popular here, for in October, 1857, thirteen members withdrew from the Free Will Baptist Church and organized the Second Adventist Church. This action seems to have influ- enced the whole membership, for from then on, the
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church and its members were allied with the new prin- ciples.
The Church was reorganized in 1869 and its name changed to Advent Christian Church. Coincidentally, some of the members accepted the tenets of the Sev- enth Day Adventists and for some time held services in the "Hornbeam" on Saturdays, with Deacon John Brown of Swamptown, a descendant of Abigail Phenix and Charles Brown, as one of the prominent leaders. This latter off-shoot of the original Adventist belief allied itself with a similar movement which had been developed in certain sections of the United States. It was nationally organized in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1860. It had, and still has, many adherents in West- erly, Hopkinton, and that vicinity. It still has a church at Slocum where services are held every Saturday.
Another change came to the "Hornbeam" in 1874 when it was moved across the Ten Rod to its present location at the corner of the "Hatchery" Road. This action was at the suggestion of Robert Rodman who at that time had been operating the Lafayette woolen mill for more than 25 years. He exchanged land in the transaction and assumed all expense of moving, as well as a liberal part of the cost of the extension and repair of the church on its new site. Here it continues to serve the community. Some part of three or more generations have attended the services of preaching, Sunday School, prayer meetings, revivals, baptisms in the near-by mill-pond, church suppers, singing schools, and meetings of the various allied societies that have featured the active life of the "Hornbeam" over the years. A week's Centennial was observed in 1948.
Noted preachers who served over the period 1848-
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1880 were A. Durfee, E. Bellows, Rowland Perry, Jos. Northup, N. P. Cook, M. Grant, E. R. Wood, H. H. Tucker, J. F. Dixon, Sister Crumb, I. I. Leslie, and A. W. Sibley, with the famous Elder Hastings of Boston, as one of the most prominent and ablest.
Elder Stewart came to the church as a revivalist, in 1881, and held a series of meetings that filled the structure to overflowing. There were many conver- sions and a consequent large increase in membership. This resulted in his being called as pastor in 1882. He accepted and at once started a campaign for a new and larger church building. Again Robert Rodman came forward with a donation of land and a magnifi- cent contribution which, with community gifts, made it possible to erect the present Lafayette Advent Chris- tian Church. It was dedicated in 1883. The structure is 40 X 76 feet, with a roof height of 41 feet. The spire is 74 feet high. The interior was finished in ash, with open trusses of hard pine. The seating capacity of the pews is 330, with other auditorium space for 170 seats. The newspapers of that day put its cost at $10,000. After the new church dedication, the old "Hornbeam" came to be known as the "Chapel," and used as here- tofore described. Recently, it has been repaired and renovated extensively, with some interior changes.
Elder Stewart ended his pastorate after the building of the new church, and his successors were: Charles E. Preston, Rufus Wendell, C. T. Pike, A. E. Phelps, J. M. Goodwin, L. B. Rockwell, C. F. L. Smith, Frank J. Davis, Burton G. Robbins, F. G. Seifert, R. W. Linnell, L. W. Spencer, E. W. Blackstone, and the present incumbent, Robert C. Hewitt. Some of these occupied as a parsonage the house formerly oc-
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cupied by Franklin Rodman, and more recently by his son Ernest Linwood. In 1912, the Church pur- chased the residence of the late Edward S. Hall, and that has been the parsonage down to the present day.
After 25 years, the newer church was refurnished and redecorated in 1908, through the generosity of Walter Rodman, largely. In 1942, it was again re- decorated, repaired, and refurnished, and was rededi- cated.
The community influence of the Church has been greatly augmented by its auxiliary societies. In 1903, Mrs. Walter Rodman, Sr., organized a Junior Mission Society. It was composed of young girls from 10 to 12 years of age, who gathered weekly to sew and fashion garments. They held lawn parties and suppers and entertainments from which they acquired funds for their work, and for contributions to the Church and to charity. They adopted a Chinese girl in China as the object of their beneficence abroad, and sent her sup- porting gifts until she was married. She and her hus- band now have charge of the largest Protestant church in Nanking. Agnes Phillips (later Kettell) was presi- dent of the Society for nine years. In 1911, the group was reorganized as the Utopia Class, and changed its activities to educational purposes and home charities. Its annual turkey supper held in the old chapel is a real local event, so well patronized that tickets are limited. The proceeds are used for flowers and fruit for the sick and shut-ins and for Christmas baskets and other local charity. The Class has for years main- tained an invalid chair and a hospital bed for com- munity use in emergency.
A Ladies' Helping Hand Sewing Society was formed
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in the 80's and functioned for a number of years, holding suppers and entertainments from the proceeds of which garments were made for the needy at home and abroad.
A Women's Home and Foreign Mission Society, under Church auspices, was organized in 1902, with 32 charter members. The Society met for a while in the chapel or in the homes of members. In 1925, it oc- cupied a cottage it had built on the parsonage grounds, and continues to meet there. The Utopia Class, which has joint use of this cottage, built an addition thereto in 1931, for use as a kitchen. This provided for the serving of successful dinners which have added to the treasury of both organizations. The Mission Society, with its five sewing machines has earned thousands of dollars from the sale of quilts, aprons, holders, and such like. It has also made a specialty of chair-caning. The income from all these has been given to the Church, to missions, and to general charity. Promi- nent in this Society have been Mrs. George A. Rose, Mrs. William H. Sherman, Mrs. James Matteson, Miss Jennie Arnold, Miss Mary Webster, Miss Mattie Slocum, Mrs. Walter Rodman, Jr., Mrs. W. Frank Bliven, Mrs. Edwin W. Huling, and Mrs. Richard Potter-all familiar names in the history and families of Lafayette.
A Men's Brotherhood was organized in 1934, to aid the Church in a material and social way. It took on in part some of the interest of the Village Improve- ment Society which had functioned for some years. The Brotherhood has manifested a strong interest in the community welfare as promoted by the various Church auxiliaries. It has revamped the old chapel with
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the labor and other contributions of its members, sponsored a chapter of the Boy Scouts, and held regular meetings and dinners with noted speakers on current topics.
A Sunday School has always been maintained by the Church. In earlier years, its limited library was the only public source of good reading matter for the young folks. The Sunday School was a feature of the old chapel services. Later it was transferred to the new church for the space and conveniences required by its growing needs. Ambrose C. Taylor, George A. Rose, W. Frank Bliven and Ernest L. Rodman have been some of its superintendents. The present total enroll- ment is 144.
The Roman Catholics, who had begun to figure in the Town's population in the middle of the 1800's, had no church of their faith nearer than East Green- wich. In 1874, a church of that denomination was erected at Belleville station and was dedicated as St. Bernard's. The Rev. Father Halligan was its first pas- tor. The attendance increased rapidly with the in- dustrial and mercantile growth of the Town, and called for an extension of the church building, a pastor's residence, and more recently a large hall for the social work and entertainment of the parish. Dur- ing summer months of later years, extra masses were sung on Sundays, while with the swelled population arising from the construction and operation of the Quonset Naval Station, St. Bernard's has come to have congregations that tax the capacity of the church.
Methodist preachers were holding forth in the old Town Hall in Wickford in 1817. Later, Methodist services were held in private houses in Wickford, and
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eventually a church was erected on West Main Street, just above the corner of Main and Bridge Streets. A regular pastor was assigned this parish by the Method- ist Conference for several years, but of late the ad- herents of this faith have so dwindled that the church structure has been abandoned for religious services.
The Quakers, who, Dr. McSparran said, "were for the most part the people in power in Rhode Island," in his time, constituted almost a majority of the State's population then. As late as the 1800's, they had 18 meeting-houses throughout Rhode Island, one of which was in Wickford. From then on, the sect did not in- crease and many of its meeting-houses were closed and sold. The Wickford meeting-house which gave the name "Friend" to one of the streets on which it stood, was sold in the middle 1800's and removed to the road between Allenton and Hamilton where it was converted into a dwelling. It is said that in its last years as a church, only two members attended regularly, but they went through the usual silent service and hand- shaking.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Wickford estab- lished a mission, known as St. Gabriel's, at East La- fayette, in 1898, building a small chapel there. Sun- day services were held there for a number of years, with the rector of St. Paul's officiating. This congrega- tion, never a large one, became so small in time, through deaths and removals, that the chapel was closed and finally sold.
The first local meetings of persons interested in Christian Science were held on a yacht in Wickford harbor in 1921. Later, services were held in Wickford homes until the growing attendance necessitated the
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renting of rooms in the Avis Block in 1922. In 1928, the Christian Science Society of Wickford was or- ganized as a branch of the Mother Church. Afterward, the Society acquired the small building on the Ten Rod Road, just southwest of, the Wickford Grammar School, and held services there which were well at- tended. The building was damaged by the flood ac- companying the 1938 hurricane, but has been recon- structed and made into an attractive church edifice.
These various religious denominations and their churches have provided the Lafayette community with a wide choice of worship according to the respec- tive "persuasions" of the inhabitants. Their influence upon the people who attended the services or felt the urge for orderly living thereby created, has had a healthy moral effect upon the development of the vil- lage and community. Lafayette has had but one or two cases of serious crime within memory, and even minor infractions of the civil law have been few and far between.
2I. Elder Edwin R. Wood
OF ALL THE PREACHERS at the Old Hornbeam, and at the new Advent Christian Church, the most widely known locally, and throughout the greater part of South County, was Elder Edwin R. Wood. For many years he officiated at various country
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churches in this vicinity, as pastor or as a supply minister, and preached hundreds of funeral sermons. It is said that he married more couples than any other one clergyman in Washington County.
His conversion took place when he was 30 years old, after a knock-about life as a deep-sea sailor on voyages to distant parts of the world. At the age of 7 years, he was set to work in the mill at Anthony, R. I., near which he was born. He remained at this work until he was 15, with some intervals of school- ing. At the latter age, he shipped aboard a whaling vessel at New Bedford, for a long cruise to the South Atlantic, the Indian, and the Pacific Oceans, returning home after more than two years. Within a year there- after, he married Abby Reynolds of Exeter. They lived in Exeter and South Providence for 5 years, when he went to sea again, on a trip around Cape Horn to San Francisco where he joined the waning "gold rush" of that period. Next, he made two trips from San Francisco to China, on clipper ships of the day, finally shipping back to New York via Cape Horn, and then home after two and a half years of absence.
With his wife and children, he set up housekeeping at Kenyon, R. I., then moved to Exeter where, after study and serious contemplation, he was ordained as pastor of the Advent Church of Exeter in 1861, a posi- tion he held until his death. From Exeter, he radiated out as preacher and evangelist over a wide territory, maintaining a residence on his father-in-law's farm at the eastern foot of Exeter Hill. In 1888, he built a house at Huling's Corners and moved there, but con- tinued his ministerial work in all its phases. He
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preached his last sermon at the Exeter church on January 1, 1905. Two weeks later, he passed away at his Huling's Corners home.
Elder Wood was a powerful exhorter, with an im- posing presence in the pulpit or on the platform. He was tall and rather sparely built, with a long, flowing beard. He was given to long sermons (the custom of the older days), more or less doctrinal, even at fu- nerals. In his revival appearances, he was emotional at times, pacing back and forth, swinging his long arms in emphasis, and occasionally breaking forth into song as leader of his favorite old hymns such as "Rescue the Perishing" or "I Have Anchored My Soul in the Haven of Rest."
He was a great traveler throughout the country- side, in his preaching, ministrations, and attendance at funerals and weddings. This involved many long journeys over the rough roads, in his horse-drawn buggy, by day and night, in summer's heat and winter's cold, as duty called. His appearance was almost as fre- quent as that of the country doctor in his day. Thereby, Elder Wood's name became a familiar one in hundreds of households.
Elder and Mrs. Wood had four children, two of whom died when young. Two sons, Elwin and Walter, were well-known residents of the vicinity for some years. Mrs. Wood died in 1917. Walter was the victim of a railroad accident at Wickford Junction later, and Elwin removed to Jamestown, R. I.
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22. Schools and Schoolhouses
WHILE MASSACHUSETTS HAD a law requiring parents to provide instruction for children, as early as 1642, it didn't seem to work. For in 1647 the so- called "Deluder Satan" Act was passed. This famous law, in its preamble, avowed that the children of that day were living in the midst of worldly temptations, and were being led astray by the wiles of Satan. Hence each town was required to teach its children to read and write and to "set up 'gramer' schools to instruct youth."
In the Colony of Rhode Island, Newport provided for a school as early as 1640 when it allotted 100 acres of land for that purpose and designated 4 acres for the schoolmaster. Warwick and some of the Island towns had authorized schoolhouses in the late 1600's and early 1700's. These were for public use and no men- tion is made of private schools or tutors, although these flourished in many localities. Providence was much slower than Newport or the southern part of the Colony, in this regard, and did hardly anything sub- stantial in a public way, until the late 1700's or early 1800's. This does not mean that education was lacking in that city, for family instruction by parents or travel- ing teachers or even by private schools in certain dwellings was quite common.
Following the Revolution, there was a noticeable
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increase in public schoolhouses authorized by the several cities and towns of the State. North Kings- town's famous Washington Academy was opened in 1802. It was located on the site of the present Wick- ford grammar school. A lottery was granted for it in 1803, and it had a prominent career in the State until 1848 when it was taken over by the Town School Committee. In 1806, a schoolhouse was built in Quid- nesset, and in 1810 another was built at Davisville, both out of private funds. Frenchtown Academy was chartered in 1803, and Kent (later known as Green- wich) Academy was opened in 1804. These schools, though located at some distance, afforded the develop- ing Lafayette community at least some opportunity for the better instruction of its youth.
The General Assembly of Rhode Island took a long step forward in 1828 when it passed an act ap- propriating $10,000 from taxes on lotteries and auc- tion sales, to be apportioned among the several towns for the support of public schools. Each town was also authorized to add to this apportionment, when necessary, out of its own funds.
A School Committee had been created by the Town of North Kingstown under this Act, and this Com- mittee proceeded to divide the town into School Districts. The Lafayette area was designated as District No. 9. On January 31, 1842, Peter Phillips and wife Mary deeded to Marinus Gardiner "of the School Committee," 1300 feet of land for the purpose of building thereon a school house for District No. 9. This land was situated on the Swamptown Road at its junction with the road leading to Slocum, a locality now popularly known as "Sunnyside." Apparently,
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this location was chosen because there were more pupils in the Swamptown area at that time than there were in what was then the thinly-settled site of the present Lafayette village. The same land is now oc- cupied by two dwelling houses, now or formerly owned by the widow of Charles Arnold.
The schoolhouse erected thereon was a small, one- story building which served the community for both school and church purposes for several years. When vacated after a new schoolhouse was built, the land and building either reverted, or were sold, to the origi- nal owner's son and heir, Thomas Phillips, who, in turn, sold the site to Charles Arnold in 1884.
The old building, in the meantime, had gone to "wrack and ruin." In the 1870's, when the "hard times" produced many tramps who "trod the ties" of the main line railroad near-by, the dilapidated structure was a favorite summer-time stopping-place for over-night stays and for the primitive cooking for which the fra- ternity was noted. One passer-by of those days recalls seeing a man's red-flannel underwear hung up to dry in one of the breeze-swept window-openings.
On October 8, 1866, Robert Rodman and wife Al- mira deeded one-quarter acre of land, on the north side of the Ten Rod Road, to George O. Allen, School Trustee, for the purpose of erecting a new school- house for District No. 9. The building soon there- after constructed on this lot was a much more com- modious structure than the old one on the Swamp- town Road which was thus displaced. It was fitted with the then modern equipment of desks, tables and chairs. It was of one story and all grades of pupils occupied the one large room. It was heated with a
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large wood-burning stove (coal was used later), and a pupil was delighted, during a school session, when commissioned by the teacher to bring in a fresh supply of wood from the adjoining out-door woodshed. Its location next to the present Downs residence made the school much more central for the then existing village.
Two long-time teachers in this school, during the late 70's and early 80's, were Azel Tefft and Mrs. Eva L. Matteson. Teacher Tefft was a typical schoolmaster of his day. He lived at Oak Hill and made his after- noon and morning trips from and to the school over a long path through the woods adjacent to the west shore of the Old Bog. Sometimes, for an evening talk in the schoolhouse, to parents and pupils, he would carry a lantern on his dark journey. He was not an over-strict disciplinarian, but insisted on proper be- havior in the schoolroom and yard. He had been a deep-sea sailor in his younger years, and his classes in geography always enjoyed his telling of experiences in different parts of the world. He led the whole school in singing, using the famous "Golden Robin" song- book. He was well liked by parents and children, for any willing pupil was assured of a good basic educa- tion. He gave prizes for merit and study out of his own funds. The most welcome prizes were books, such as Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, and others of that type. For outside of the Sunday School library in the old "Hornbeam," books were rare, except as treasured Christmas or birthday gifts. Incidentally, parents had to supply text-books, pens, pencils, ink and paper in those days, and hand-me-down books from advanced or departing pupils were in great de- mand.
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Mrs. Matteson lived in East Greenwich and the train service of those days was convenient for her travel back and forth. Some of the time, however, she "boarded" in the Lafayette neighborhood. She was of a pleasing personality and was a popular teacher. Ex- ceedingly patient and encouraging in the classroom, she enlivened the dullness of the "three R's" with in- cidental features of singing and entertainment. Like teacher Tefft, she was not a severe disciplinarian, but insisted upon and maintained orderly behavior. She, too, gave books as prizes. Her pupils likewise acquired a thorough training in all the courses of both primary and grammar grades.
Among other teachers of this period, who taught a term or two, were a young man named Lincoln who boarded at the Beriah Manor, and Edwin A. Noyes who was later the publisher of the Wickford Standard.
The growth of the village consequent upon the con- struction of the new mill and the erection of many new homes, so increased the number of school children that the tax-payers of the School District, on April 15, 1882, voted to enlarge the schoolhouse. This was done by making it a two-story building, thereby affording space for separate grades which were established when school opened for the following fall term.
To grant convenient accommodations for the school children of the new village which had sprung up and had become known as East Lafayette, a new school- house was built in that section in 1891, on land do- nated by the Rodman Manufacturing Company. It accommodated nearly 100 pupils. The opening took place in September of that year, with Mrs. Walter Nichols of Wickford as teacher. The older school-
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house, farther west on the Ten Rod, continued to be used also.
In 1901, the school district system of the Town was discontinued, and a general plan of consolidation was put into effect. One result was the consolidation of the two Lafayette schools. The East Lafayette schoolhouse was moved to a new and more central location on "Castle Hill" where, with some changes and additions, it is still in use for primary and grammar grades. For the higher grade pupils, a High School was established for the Town at the old Wickford schoolhouse. Later the new High School building was erected at Colla- tion Corners and bus transportation was provided for all Town pupils in the higher grades.
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