USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Lafayette, Rhode Island; a few phases of its history from the ice age to the atomic > Part 14
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This change brought about the abandonment of the older Lafayette schoolhouse, since the "Castle Hill" structure could accommodate the lower grades. The site of the old building was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Rob- ert Downs, whose residence adjoined it, and the build- ing was bought by Andrew Hazard. He moved it across the Ten Rod onto land he bought of the George W. Phillips heirs. Known as "Hazard's Hall," it was used for some time as a moving picture house, and for social affairs. Later it was acquired by a local labor union, the present owner, and its name was changed to "Union Hall." After 80 years of service to the com- munity, it is still used as a meeting place for the union members and as a hall for dances and like occasions.
Lafayette has shared to the full in the modern methods and facilities of North Kingstown's progres- sive system of education. At the same time the village has freely contributed in taxes and land and buildings its material share for the local furtherance of the
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Town system. Its present-day youth thereby enjoy every advantage and opportunity which the sound and well-administered management of North Kingstown's schools affords.
A Lafayette Parent Teacher Association, recently formed, with Mrs. Marion Vaughn as President, co- operates with other similar organizations in promoting child education welfare, and has already successfully accomplished the adoption of measures and means which make for a better understanding between local teachers and parents, and the 'enjoyment of added facilities for pupils.
23. Amusements, Entertainments, Games and Sports
"LOAFING" WAS NEVER very popular or prev- alent in this region, from Colonial days down. In the early times, everybody who was able had to work to get something to eat, or clothes to wear, or a place to sleep. There was little "hand-out," except for the helpless, the extremely aged, and the infirm. The most of that help was from family, relatives, or kind-hearted neighbors. Work was hard and tiring, both indoors and out. This meant there had to be some relaxation, even though primitive and meagre.
One of the earliest diversions was a house or barn
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"raising." This brought together, in a social way, the sparse neighbors from near and not so near. They did a community job with dispatch by their added numbers, and feasting followed in recognition of the help received. Similarly, when a new home was com- pleted, a "house-warming" was featured, with a more extensive program of feasting, dancing, games, and other primitive entertainment. Then there were the various "bees," such as "stonewall bees," "chopping bees," "husking bees," for the men, with "sewing bees," "spinning bees," "quilting bees," and such like, for the women.
Much was made of the Christmas season when the feasting and merry-making prevailed in the house- hold for a week or more, and, if the weather per- mitted, there was considerable "visitin' 'round." At least one day in mid-summer, when haying was over, was devoted to a shore party, where bathing, light sports and games on the sandy beach, and, above all, a clambake or oyster roast and fish-fries high-lighted the day. This practice grew with the years and con- tinued down to modern times, especially with folks in the most western sections.
The spacious houses of Colonial days afforded plentiful room for dancing, and as the community grew, Saturday night dances became in vogue in the cooler seasons of the year. The first of these events had a lone fiddler for music. Some of the dances of the period suggest much more lively and romping move- ments than the stately minuet, with its 36 different positions and changes. The latter was limited to the more aristocratic homes of the lower Narragansett country. But in the humbler households in this upper
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region, one can imagine that such dance titles as "Pea Straw," "Boston's Delight," "Haymaking," "Lady Hancock," and "I'll Be Married In My Old Clothes," created a rollicking jollity among the wholesome set of young folks, where everybody knew everybody else present.
Weddings, too, were gay occasions, when hilarity reigned in the bride's home and the feasting taxed the limited larder of the day. As the generations grew, everybody down to a fifth cousin attended, to dance and dine, and the affair was talked of for days.
The theatre was unknown in these parts then, even at a reachable distance. It was familiar entertainment in New York and Virginia in the middle 1700's. But a strolling company of players who ventured into Rhode Island in 1762, met with determined opposition in Providence. Their entertainment was assailed as an "expensive amusement," and an "idle diversion," when there existed "an uncommon drought and a very great scarcity of hay and provisions." A Town Meeting banned the show and the General Assembly passed an act approving the ban, with severe penalties.
For the men, there was from the beginning, the re- laxation in hunting, trapping and fishing, in the well- stocked forests and ponds and streams. These ac- complished the triple purpose of ridding the com- munity of predatory animals, of utilizing a wide variety of food supply, and of procuring furs, hides, skins and feathers for general use. Days of the "Gen- eral Muster" made another relaxation, when target shooting, wrestling, and other athletic contests af- forded trials of skill and entertainment. Later came appointed days of horse-racing, like the annual affair
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on the sandy shore of Beach Pond, while pitching quoits, high jumping, and foot-races enlivened various gatherings.
For the younger folks there was kite-flying, ball- playing in the English style of "rounders," checker boards and dominoes (for older folks as well), the different children's games wherever two or three or more were gathered together, skating and sliding down hill in winter, with all the wide-open spaces in which to enjoy such sports.
When young and old had an occasional joy-day, it was most welcome in the hum-drum life of hard work, in household and field. Such occasions as given above answer the natural question "What in the world did these people do to vary the monotony of such a toil- some life?"
More modern times greatly enlarged the oppor- tunities for relaxation, although the necessity for steady work never relaxed. Lafayette, with the com- ing of the 1800's, sprang into existence as a village. The first group of a few houses clustered around the mill-site, expanded into a community where neighbors were within call of a human voice and where social associations became more intimate. Better highways and the railroad came to make outside contacts pos- sible, and enlarged the field for entertainment and social enjoyment.
Still there was need for relaxation within the vil- lage. Mill employment was hard and monotonous work, with its then long hours and steady applica- tion. For one thing, books and newspapers provided a diversion that had been sorely lacking in previous generations. There was still game in the near-by woods
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and fields, fish in the ponds and streams, and wild fruits, berries, and nuts in the pastures and wooded lands. In sight of the Ten Rod Road, snares were set by boys, in which quail, partridge, and rabbits were caught plentifully. Muskrats were trapped all around the Old Bog and their hides sold for furs. Wild ducks were bagged by patient hunters. Foxes were captured by skillful marksmen and a knowing hound dog or two. "Bee tree" hunting sometimes produced pailfuls of wild honey.
There was relaxation in the Sunday School concerts and tableaux, especially at Christmas time. Picnics and clambakes, the oyster suppers of the Church, the surprise parties "on" some particular person or house- hold, a Fourth of July celebration with sky-rockets set off from the top of Liberty Hill, evoking long drawn-out "Ohs" and "Ahs" in the warm summer night, the country dances in old farmhouses, with transportation in the form of a "hay-ride," later in a 'real moving-van, skating parties on the Old Bog with huge brush fires on the water's edge, a Punch and Judy show of a traveling ventriloquist, at night, the circus at Wickford (on the lot where the Town Hall now stands), when elephants were used to haul the gaudy circus wagons over the rough roads, moonlight sails to Newport when the steamboats came, the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" show, with real bloodhounds, and "Ten Nights in a Barroom," at old Vaughan's Hall in Wickford, the Kingston Fair for which local horses were trained for months, while preserves and fancy needlework by housewives took as many prizes as the racing steeds, the singing school and revival meetings in the "Old Hornbeam," the baptisms in the
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mill pond, both summer and winter, buggy rides and carryall trips to the Pier, the "Jingle Bells" sleigh rides, long walks to the "Wintergreen Swamp" at Stony Lane in June, for the fresh, peppery green leaves, and for the spicy red wintergreen berries in the fall, basketfuls of pond lilies from the Old Bog, armfuls of horse violets from the railroad banks, card games such as Euchre, Old Maid, High Low Jack, and plain whist, croquet, foot-races at Kingston Fair and at Wickford, where George Ammons, the Narragansett Indian, and George Allen of Stony Lane vied with each other, roller skating at the rink at Cedar Grove in Wickford-all these and others afforded entertain- ment and pleasure to young and old, and gave real spice to rural life in medieval Lafayette and the im- mediate vicinity.
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Music was a growing feature of the times. The fiddle predominated in the early days, and fiddlers were numerous. Most of the tunes played were in jig time or reels, for dances and general gatherings, with many old ballad tunes. The Huling family was par- ticularly noted for proficiency on the fiddle, and one descendant, Erie Huling, achieved the title of "Pro- fessor" for his skillful performance, and tirelessness. The banjo, jew's-harp, fife, and accordion were oc- casionally heard but could not compete successfully with the old reliable and historic fiddle in the hands of a real master like Professor Huling.
The sewing machine, in a curious way, led to the introduction of the melodeon, the house organ, and ultimately the piano. The cost of any one of these articles was prohibitive for the ordinary person or household, although the production and marketing of
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them had progressed in both quantity and quality. The sewing machine people were among the first to introduce the system of "installment payments." This enabled many folks to acquire a machine on "easy terms." Then the melodeon, organ and piano people adopted the "partial payment" plan, and house-organs in particular became quite common. Thus many homes came to have pleasure and entertainment in real music which theretofore had been a luxury.
With the coming of the 1880's, and the adding of much budding musical talent to Lafayette's growing population, a suggestion for a village brass band de- veloped into a real modern accomplishment. The or- ganization was formed under the name of Lafayette Cornet Band, with Prof. James Carpenter of Peace Dale as instructor. James Hendrick was made leader (he was a cornet player, a skilled fiddler, and well versed in music), and he selected a competent list of players. The late Ernest L. Rodman was a cornetist, William Warburton piccolo player, Benny Bray snare drummer, James Phillips bass drummer, Irving (Doc) Rose horn player, while the trombone, trumpet, bass horn, and other instruments were played by other well-known men of the village and the times. The members practiced enthusiastically in the room over Arnold Brothers livery stable in the Vale of Pero. In fair weather, they drew crowds of promenaders along the road and sidewalks, to listen to the music. The Band became famous throughout the southern part of the State, gave many local evening concerts in all parts of the village, played at the Kingston Fair and other important affairs, and was a success from the start. It is still in existence and in active service.
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A big and surprising boost in Lafayette's entertain- ment facilities came about 1890 when Robert Rodman announced his plan to build a large hall on land north- east of the new Advent Christian Church. Construc- tion work soon followed the announcement and from the timber and other materials used, it was apparent that the building was to be of the strongest construc- tion from basement to roof. It had every facility for community use, from church suppers to balls and dances, from social and club meetings to theatrical performances. It had a seating capacity on the main floor and balcony of 750, and an ample stage with stock scenery. There was a kitchen equipment suit- able for preparing and serving for any ordinary gather- ing, and space for group meetings and general pur- poses. It had interior decorations in becoming colors, had a modern heating equipment, and was lighted with a gas plant.
It was opened with several evenings' performances by a nationally known magician, and was filled to capacity with attendance from the home community and from neighboring towns and villages. Other occa- sional professional performances followed, while local entertainments had free use of Rodman's Hall, as it came to be known, from time to time. It was much used during World War I by the various war agencies, and some of the church societies have used it for their meetings of a social character. A few years ago it was ruthlessly damaged for further use by an incendiary's evil torch.
The big feature of Lafayette sports has been base- ball. The early settlers, it has been said, brought the English game of "rounders." This was played with a
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soft ball and a thick stick. New England developed the so-called "townball" game, in which there was a square field, with 4 ft. posts at each corner. A player making the circuit around these 4 posts scored I run. If he was hit by a thrown ball while running, he was "out." The first side that scored 100 runs won the game.
The sport known as "One Old Cat," "Two Old Cat" or "Three Old Cat," which was in vogue among boys in the 1800's, also lent some of its features to the regulation baseball game invented by Col. Doubleday of the U. S. Army, in 1839. Bases were substituted for posts and the familiar "diamond" of today adopted. A code, or set of rules, was adopted in 1845, and from there on, baseball became a national pastime.
Lafayette had its baseball teams from a time soon after the Civil War. These were genuine sport aggrega- tions, "for the fun of the thing," playing with "scrub" teams of the village, or with teams of neighboring towns. Some years, great enthusiasm was aroused when the home team was uniformly a winner. But the mem- bers changed from season to season, and so the for- tune of the team varied.
The "diamond" was located at different places in the village. One site was on the Thomas lot, near the present sand and gravel pit. Another was at Wedge- wood Park, so-called, on the Old Baptist Road, a short way in from Huling's Corners. While playing on the latter field, the Lafayette nine was named "The Moguls," and that title stuck for a long time. Ste- phen L. Straight was manager of the team in those days. Another field was on the former site of the East Lafayette schoolhouse. Later, the team used as a base-
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ball field the lot on the Cocumcussoc Farm, now part of the site of the Wickford Housing Development be- low Talbot's Corner. The team also used the grounds at Allenton. Games were usually played on Saturday afternoons, when all the Town mills were closed, while in recent years, afternoon games on Sunday have been the fashion. Expenses were met by passing the hat during the game, especially after some brilliant play had stirred up the enthusiasm of the spectators who lined the outer reaches of the field.
Prominent among the players of the olden time were the Boyce Brothers, William and Arthur, Mike Golden, Tom Dawley, the late Col. Robert F. Rod- man, John Dillon, Pat Kelly (a fast base-runner), Will Hammond, Herb Worden, George Gavitt, Charles Warburton, and many others. Of the numer- ous "fans" who attended every game within reach, and followed up all aspects of the sport, locally and nationally, two remained enthusiasts through the years, James McCombs and the late Stephen L. Straight.
All this goes to show that Lafayette has had a fair share of diversions. Electric light and power, with many gadgets, the automobile, the telephone, the radio, the "movies," and other devices have made many addi- tional diversions for the ordinary household and family. What magic and miracles these would have been to the primitive households of Beriah Brown, Alexander Huling, Abigail Phenix, and Samuel Phil- lips, the adventurous pioneer founders of the present Lafayette domain!
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24. Doctors
"AS MANY PERSONS who in their Sickness and Extremity would send for me to Administer help unto them which Under God's Goodness I have been a help to raise many from Extreme Sickness, yet have they soon forgot my Labour & rewarded me with Endeavors to root me out of my habitations & by flynging down my fences that I might not have any subsistence by my Land."
So wrote Doctor Pierre Ayrault in 1705. He was one of the Huguenots settling at Frenchtown in 1686, and remained there for some time after the settlement was broken up in 1691. He afterward removed to East Greenwich where he died in 1711. It is apparent that he practiced his profession in both Frenchtown and East Greenwich, as well as in surrounding territory. Madame Knight, who made her famous horseback tour from Boston to New York in 1704, and stopped over- night at Haven's Tavern near Devil's Foot, mentions Dr. Ayrault as a fellow tavern guest. To him the Tavern hostess recounted her various bodily ills, while other guests shared the confidences of the con- sultation in the "great room" of the tavern.
As the agreement for the purchase and sale of the Frenchtown land mentions the near-by house of John Fones, and the signing of the document is witnessed by Lodowick Updike (of Cocumcussoc) and Alexander
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Huling (the original settler and Lodowick's nephew by marriage), it is reasonable to suppose that these gentlemen were in nowise displeased at the prospect of having a physician (in the person of Dr. Ayrault) as a near neighbor. It is likely, too, that they and others of this sparsely settled region of North Kingstown, availed themselves of the doctor's professional services when the emergency arose.
In the next century of the 1700's, various physicians appeared in more distant parts, such as Providence, Newport, Westerly, and other well-settled places. Following the example of Roger Williams who kept a supply of medical drugs (and had the help of Mrs. Williams as nurse in the application of them), Dr. McSparran of St. Paul's Church in Narragansett, and Dr. Torrey of the Tower Hill Presbyterian Church (the latter a physician as well as preacher), ministered medically and spiritually over the wide areas of their respective parishes. Herbs of fancy names (as well as prices), and the common garden or field variety, were employed for various minor ills, by skilled housewives, but distant doctors had to be summoned by horseback messengers in serious cases.
In these same times, the famous Sweet family of natural bone-setters was located on a farm at Ridge Hill, just south of Allenton. Benoni, of the second generation, was called "Doctor Sweet" but practiced only in bone-setting. Job Sweet, another one of the family, was known far and wide for this natural talent. He set dislocated bones for French officers at New- port, during the Revolution, when their own surgeons were unable to do so. After the War, he was called to New York to set a dislocated hip bone of the daugh-
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ter of Aaron Burr. Descendants of this famous family lived at Sugar-Loaf Hill, Wakefield, for years, and many people from near and far visited them to have bone-dislocations replaced. In passing, it may be noted that Henry Ford purchased the old Benoni Sweet house at the foot of Ridge Hill, and transported it else- where, probably to his colonial New England village at the "Wayside Inn," Sudbury, Mass.
By the 1800's, Dr. William G. Shaw was well es- tablished as a physician at Wickford. He covered much of the countryside in his professional visits. He did his early traveling on horseback, with his medi- cines in his saddle-bags. His daughter, Elizabeth, married Rev. Lemuel Burge in 1820, and their daugh- ter, Mrs. F. Burge Griswold, is the author of that de- lightful book of reminiscences, "Old Wickford, the Venice of America." The Rev. Burge was rector of old St. Paul's Church in Wickford, and for a short time he and his bride lived at the old "Glebe" at Pettaquamscutt.
"Young Doctor Shaw," or William A., succeeded to his father's practice, and became as well known as his famous sire, throughout the Town and neighboring country. He died in 1879, at which time, Dr. Samuel B. Church had started on a long career of practice in Wickford and in the near-by villages and farming country. Dr. Robert K. Sunderland also located a residence and office on the Tower Hill Road, near Collation Corners. His covered buggy was a familiar sight on the country roads. Dr. Oscar Myers was a practicing physician in Wickford in the '80's, and made many visits to Lafayette and vicinity, while Dr. George C. Soule located at the Johnny Cranston
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place at the foot of Distillery Hill. A Dr. Maryott had an office in the Clarke Gardiner house at West Wick- ford for a while, then built a house on the Tower Hill Road near the Belleville depot, where he resided and had an office. A Dr. Stillman, of Hopkinton, opened an office in the Vale of Pero at Lafayette in the '80's and practiced there for a time.
Dr. Harold Metcalf, of Providence, came to Wick- ford in 1889, and immediately entered upon a large practice. He was appointed Medical Examiner for District No. 4, comprising the Towns of North Kings- town and Exeter, succeeding Dr. Samuel B. Church who had resigned. He led a strenuous professional life for many years, maintaining a stable of three or four horses (later adopting the automobile then com- ing into use), covering Wickford and a wide area of countryside. There were times when he made as many as 50 calls in a day and night. He was a general prac- titioner and became acquainted with nearly every household in his territory. He died in 1923.
Dr. Patrick J. Manning came to Wickford in the early 1900's. He served as Medical Examiner for the District for several terms and is still engaged in active practice. Dr. Alexander McDonald opened an office in Wickford about this time and had a long term of practice. Dr. Richard J. Kraemer has been a practicing physician in Wickford during recent years, and is Medical Examiner for the District. Dr. Albert C. Henry has been a prominent physician in the Town for several years. His home and office are on West Main Street, Wickford. He was very active professionally in the World Wars. The Menzies, father and son, have also been general practitioners in these
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later days, with an office in Wickford. The Pelsers, father, mother, and son, practiced Osteopathy in Wickford for a number of years, the mother and son still continuing at their offices in Wickford. Dr. John Cartwright, a Chiropractor, with a residence and office on Prospect Avenue, in Wickford, has had a large clientele in his profession, many patients coming from a distance.
Dr. F. Roland Goff, of Providence, bought a resi- dence on Exeter Hill, in the early 1900's, and later opened an office there for general practice. He served the country district at first, but gradually extended his field to Lafayette where he maintained an office for some time.
And so, from the earliest days, the vicinity now known as Lafayette has had medical attendance avail- able within a reasonable distance and time, all things considered. It has never had a serious epidemic.
25. Courts and Judges
LAFAYETTE NEVER HAD a jail, although tradi- tion tells of Sheriff Beriah Brown's locking up a pris- oner in the cellar of the Beriah Manor, when it was inconvenient to take the culprit to the old jail in Wickford, or to the historic hoosegow on Little Rest, now Kingston, Hill. Major crimes and criminals have been rare indeed in the Lafayette community, while
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the few cases of minor offenses have usually been handled tactfully by Sheriffs, Town Sergeants, and like officials, so that resort to the courts in such cases has likewise been rare.
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