USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Lafayette, Rhode Island; a few phases of its history from the ice age to the atomic > Part 3
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This famous North Kingstown personage died in 1792. His will mentions a son named Beriah Brown and a grandson of the same name. This grandson's daughter married Isaac Hall whose son, William Hall, with a maiden sister, Anna Hall, were the last of the
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Brown line to occupy the Beriah Manor. During the Hall occupancy of the Manor, the Sheriff's ivory- headed, silver-ferruled cane, with the original script- type inscription of the owner's name, was suspended by two hooks, from a ceiling beam. It was placed there by the old Sheriff just before his death.
9. Captain Jimmy Huling
Enterprising Business Man of Early Lafayette
ALEXANDER HULING, THE original settler, had numerous descendants. For the most part, this off- spring seems to have become scattered by marriage and emigration, through neighboring territory and even into other States such as Vermont, New York, and farther west. But the Huling branch represented by the subject of this sketch remained in the Lafayette neighborhood for generations.
Captain Jimmy was born in 1784, of the fifth genera- tion of Hulings. His father, Andrew Huling, of the fourth generation had built a house, in 1764, on Huling land opposite the present "Hazard Hall" (the old Lafayette schoolhouse). The house and site as well as two barns and 63 acres of land adjoining, were sold by Captain Jimmy and his wife to Robert Rodman, in 1861. This sale included the land on which the row of
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CAPTAIN JIMMY HULING
Rodman residences was built later. The house re- mained on its original site for some 20 years when it was moved to land of Gardiner C. Huling, north- west of the Wickford Junction railroad station, and was afterward demolished.
The extensive land holdings of the Hulings, to some of which Captain Jimmy fell heir, must have occupied his time in planting, cultivation and the marketing of produce therefrom. But it appears from the records that he was one of the earliest residents to engage in industry in the immediate locality. In one land sale, where he was the purchaser, he is described as a "cordwainer" (shoemaker), and in another transaction as "tanner and currier." Since there is a tradition that the present site of the old Lafayette mill was used as a tannery, prior to the establishment of textile manu- facturing, the coincidence implies Captain Jimmy's early interest there. It is significant, too, that Captain Jimmy's son, Gardiner C. Huling, was a shoemaker.
When the Stonington Railroad was opened up for traffic in 1837, Captain Jimmy was appointed the first local official at what is now known as Wickford Junction, and served the Company for several years. "Huling's Crossing" was an early name for the train- stop. This was due to the crossing of the Ten Rod Road at that point, and the prevalence of the Huling name among the land owners in the vicinity. When a station was built later, it was officially named "Wick- ford Depot," since it was the nearest approach to Wickford, three miles away.
The Captain must have taken a prominent part in military matters, for he is mentioned in a Rhode Island publication, in 1810, as Lieutenant James Huling. In
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18II, he is mentioned as Captain James Huling, while his tombstone in the East Greenwich Cemetery bears the inscription "Major James Huling."
His death occurred in 1865, so that he witnessed the beginnings of industry in Lafayette, in fact shared in them. He saw the development of the village and the surrounding territory into a thriving center of farm- ing, business and transportation activity. His wide acquaintance gained from his own land and business dealings, and from his position as station master, is evident from the name by which he was so familiarly known. He was a shining link in the human line be- tween the adventurous agricultural settlers to the west, and the far-seeing minds that harnessed the Shewatuck at the spot we now call Lafayette. He heard the whirr of the first spindle and the "clack" of the first loom. He and his line cover the whole span from the taming of a wilderness to the making of a spreading and prosperous village.
Captain Jimmy and his wife Elizabeth (Clark) had Io children, while he himself was one of 9 children in his father's family. Such of the Hulings as remained in these parts appear to have located on the north side of the Ten Rod Road, the site of the original "Huling Purchase." Captain Jimmy's oldest son, born in 1809, and locally known as "Garner C.," occupied a con- siderable piece of ancestral land along the Ten Rod, northwest of the present Wickford Junction station, and built houses and other buildings thereon. As noted previously, he carried on the business of shoemaker for many years. He married Rhoda King Collins, one of whose ancestors was a man of means and loaned money to the Colony for the purchase of arms in the
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CAPTAIN JIMMY HULING
Revolutionary War. Gardiner himself was rated as an ensign when he was 21, thus following his father's military career. Both Gardiner and his wife were of small stature but their five sons were of tall, sturdy physiques. These sons were:
Hiram, born in 1839 (who, from an accident in early childhood, was crippled by the resulting phys- ical handicap but was of powerful frame otherwise), Azor, Burrill, Erie, and Clark. All were schooled in the newly established district school. Hiram was em- ployed in the Lafayette mill, at a sitting job, for some years. Later, he was a correspondent for Providence and local newspapers. He lived many years in the Cap- tain Jimmy house, next to the then newer schoolhouse, and occupied it during the time it was being moved up the Ten Rod Road and across the railroad tracks onto the "Garner C." property. He and his wife Annie had two children, John C. and Ada. Hiram died in 1888.
The four other sons of Gardiner C. and Rhoda Huling were all stone-masons. Their humble, hard- working part in the building of the budding village was a most essential one, though essential parts like this are rarely brought out by historians. If there was a wall to be put up, a cellar foundation to be laid, a house to be plastered, a chimney to be built, a well to be dug and "lined," or brick construction of any nature to be undertaken, it is safe to say that one, if not all, of these four brothers had a hand in it. Their skill in these lines, heightened by experience, brought them contracts outside the village and town, in addi- tion to the home work. Many bridge foundations, mills, storehouses, public buildings, roadwork and
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similar "heavy" jobs still stand as lasting tributes to their craftmanship.
Azor, born in 1844, lived at his father's estate near the Junction. He was married three times and had one daughter, Nina. He met an untimely death through the fall of a stone-hoisting derrick at Washington, R. I., in 1901.
Burrill, born in 1841, lived for some years in a large house (now destroyed) situated on the north side of the Ten Rod Road, just across the railroad tracks at the Junction. He and his wife Martha (Northup) had two daughters, Rhoda and Etta.
Erie, born in 1846, commonly known as "Deed," built a house on the north side of the Ten Rod Road just east of the Junction. He and his wife, Sarah (Tourgee) had 12 children, Alzadie, Lillian, James, Vira, Edwin, Bertha, Jesse and Jennie (twins), Ralph, Arthur, and Lola. One child died in infancy. Erie died in 1904 from injuries received in wrecking the walls of the old Oak Hill mill.
Clark, born in 1848, lived in the Sylvester Franklin house on the north side of the Ten Rod Road, in East Lafayette, for many years. He had bought the Frank- lin farm although his father had built a house for him at the Junction. The Ten Rod frontage of part of the Franklin farm is now occupied by Bailey's garage. Clark was twice married but had no children. He died in 1925.
The various marriages of the several descendants in this line of the Huling family have resulted in the disappearance of the family name in many cases. It is odd to note that out of all of Captain Jimmy's de- cendants, the only one listed in Lafayette today, with
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MEN OF MARK IN THE PHILLIPS FAMILY
the family name, is a great, great grandson, Leon Huling, son of Edwin W. and Mary Kenyon Huling. He operates a filling station on the south side of the Ten Rod Road, just west of and across the road from the former site of the Captain Jimmy Huling house that was built 184 years ago.
IO.
Men of Mark in the Phillips Family
ONE OF THE most hated men in the British occupa- tion of Newport during the Revolutionary War was General Prescott. Particularly was this true in the Narragansett country where enemy raids despoiled the countryside of provisions, and especially of cattle and horses. The famous Narragansett pacers had be- come numerous, and, prior to the War, had been an important item of the export trade to the West Indies. The British not only destroyed many of these animals, but they broke up the breeding farms. This resulted in the extinction of the breed soon thereafter.
It is related of General Prescott that he became offended because a certain old Quaker who owned a fine pair of Narragansett pacers refused to lift his hat in obeisance to the General. Prescott ordered his servant to "knock off that old rebel's hat," and the next day sent for the pacers which were ridden with- out rest until one was exhausted and left dying at the roadside.
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Similar instances occurred in raids along the West Shore of the Bay, from Point Judith to Quidnesset, until the residents in all that section, aroused by the pillage and burning of the invaders, and the seizure and carrying off of some colonists, formed organiza- tions for the defense of their homes and property.
Samuel Phillips, great grandson of the original settler bearing that name, was commissioned captain of a company in the First Rhode Island Regiment in 1776, and served in the Continental Army. In 1777, he was commissioned captain in Col. Stanton's regi- ment of Rhode Island infantry which was operating in the neighborhood of Tiverton. Col. Barton of the same brigade had been thinking up a plan to capture Prescott whose headquarters were at a farmhouse in Portsmouth. Confiding the plan to Col. Stanton, the latter lined up his regiment and called for 40 volunteers "upon an expedition against the enemy," without giv- ing its real purpose.
"The entire regiment stepped forward as one man to volunteer," and Capt. Phillips was one of the 40 chosen. Five whaleboats were procured and Capt. Phillips was placed in charge of one of these. After some delay caused by storms, Col. Barton led his ex- pedition across the Bay, by night, from Bristol to Warwick. On the night of July 9, 1777, he set out from Warwick on his now celebrated and daring journey which resulted in Prescott's complete surprise and capture. It is hinted that the General's capture may have been aided by his sound sleep induced by the distribution, the day before, of a prize cargo of rich wines and spirits the British had seized at the mouth of the Bay.
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MEN OF MARK IN THE PHILLIPS FAMILY
Prescott was rowed over to Warwick without mis- hap, was landed there, and taken to Providence. A further instance of his arrogance is related as an in- cident of the trip to Providence. The party had stopped at an inn for rest and refreshment, when the innkeeper brought a bowl of broth for Prescott. The latter, with indignant disgust at such homely fare for a British general, threw the contents of the bowl in the landlord's face. Whereupon, the innkeeper retired from the room, wiped his face, and knowing then the identity of the prisoner, returned with a horsewhip which he vigorously applied to Prescott's body un- til restrained by the jubilant captors who were anx- jous to deliver their prisoner in good physical con- dition.
1134257
Prescott was later exchanged for the American General Lee, of equal rank, who had previously been captured by the British. This abduction of Prescott was of great moral effect on the Continental Army as well as upon the American public. One historian has described the daring and heroic feat as worthy of "epic verse or literary ballad." And while the glory of it justly goes to Col. Barton for the planning, the execution of the scheme should bring at least a re- flection of that glory to the "40 men in the whale- boats." For all of them returned safely from the long, arduous trip in utter darkness, in the face of a fleet of British war craft patrolling the waters of the Bay. And Capt. Samuel Phillips held an important com- manding position among the 40.
One year later, Samuel Phillips appears as a captain in General Sullivan's expedition which developed into the battle of the Island of Rhode Island. Somewhere
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along the line, he acquired the title of Major and by that title was familiarly known.
After an Army service of 2 years, and possibly in- fluenced by his experience in the Prescott affair, he seems to have sought a wider field for warfare adven- ture in the American Navy. His career there shows that he found it. His first commission was as Lieutenant under Commander George Waite Babcock, of North Kingstown, on the "Mifflin." In a cruise off the New- foundland Banks and the Azores, the "Mifflin" ar- rived at Boston with a number of prizes and nearly 200 prisoners.
Next he made a cruise as Lieutenant in the "Tartar," off Jamaica, and took several prizes into Haiti. The "Tartar" was later wrecked after a fierce battle at sea with a superior British fleet, but Lieutenant Phillips took one of the prizes and sailed her into Boston.
Then back to the "Mifflin" again as Lieutenant, he cruised off South Carolina and was captured by a British fleet, but was soon exchanged. Next, as Lieu- tenant on the "Waxford," he cruised in St. George's Channel, between Wales and Ireland, was captured again and taken to Kinsale prison in Ireland. From his confinement there, he was taken to Portsmouth, Eng- land.
At Portsmouth, his British captors put him on board different guard ships, from the last of which he escaped and boarded a neutral ship which took him to Orient, in France. There he boarded an American ship which took him to Philadelphia, whence he re- turned to his North Kingstown home. A short stay there and he went as Lieutenant on the "Assurance." He cruised off Jamaica and took a prize which he
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MEN OF MARK IN THE PHILLIPS FAMILY
sailed into Campeche, Mexico, where, later, he heard of the Provisional Peace Treaty of 1782 and returned home in August, 1783. He had thus completed 4 spec- tacular years in the American Navy.
He remained on his farm at Belleville station for several years, successfully managing his business affairs but always maintaining an interest in the public affairs of the new nation, formed in the meantime. President John Adams, in 1799, at the time of a threatened war with France, commissioned him anew as Lieutenant in the U. S. Navy, and he served for a while on the U.S.S. "General Greene." With the signing of a "convention" at Paris in 1800, peace with France was assured, and he returned once more to his farm. He died there in 1808 and was buried in the family bury- ing-ground on the farm.
In compiling a journal of his services, he wrote: "I have striven hard and suffered much to help to gain the independence of my country. I am ready to step forth again and oppose any power whatever that shall endeavor to trample or otherwise injure my country and her rights." What an heroic career and what a noble sentiment to hand down to his Town, State, and Country, as well as to his descendants!
Peter Phillips, uncle of Major Samuel and grandson of the original settler, Samuel Phillips, was born in 1731. He received a good education and as the clouds of the American Revolution were forming, he took an active part in public life. In the early 1770's, he was elected Representative in the Rhode Island General Assembly from North Kingstown, and in 1775 was promoted to Senator. In the latter year he was elected Commissary of an "Army of Observation," under
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LAFAYETTE, RHODE ISLAND
General Nathaniel Greene. He was re-elected State Senator for four succeeding terms. In 1780, he was elected a member of the Rhode Island Supreme Court where he served for 5 years, declining a re-election in 1786.
During this time, he had built a fine residence on Pleasant Street in Wickford, on a spacious lot com- manding a splendid view of the Bay. The gardens and grounds were famous in their day and gave to the estate the reputation of being "the handsomest in Wickford." The description we have from writers of that time must have made the Hon. Peter highly de- sirous of enjoying it. The Rhode Island General As- sembly, however, was anxious to keep him in the public service and elected him Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Washington County. He served in this position for only a short time, and then again retired to private life.
Judge Phillips died in 1807 and was buried on a spot near his Wickford residence, which he had selected previously. A large stone slab, appropriately inscribed, marked the grave for many years, but his remains and the slab were removed to a cemetery some time ago. The Judge never married. His house and grounds fell into decay and the once fine residence of this dis- tinguished "gentleman of polished manners and neat- ness of dress" was torn down and replaced by a modern structure on the same site.
Thomas Phillips, son of the first settler, Samuel, as elsewhere mentioned, removed to what is now Exeter, where he died in 1772. He was a prominent figure in the Town's affairs and acquired a sizeable estate in land. His descendants were numerous, and some of
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MEN OF MARK IN THE PHILLIPS FAMILY
them, like their ancestor, became large landholders both in Exeter and North Kingstown.
One of these descendants, a Thomas Phillips, of the 6th generation, became one of the most prominent men in Exeter's history. He was born in 1799, and through inheritance and industry, came to be one of the wealthiest men in the Town. He was postmaster at Pine Hill for 40 years, served about the same length of time as Town Clerk, was Cashier of the Exeter bank which was located at Pine Hill for 32 years, and held other positions. He owned the Pine Hill tavern, a famous hostelry for years, and lived in a fine residence at the foot of the hill. He died in 1872.
Another descendant, Peter Phillips of the 5th gen- eration, had four sons, John W., Thomas, George W., and Peter T. They inherited considerable property in the Lafayette region, including their father's house formerly standing on the corner of the Ten Rod and Swamptown roads, just across from the present "Hornbeam" chapel. (It was burned in 1936.) These sons of Peter were all farmers and older residents of Lafayette will easily remember them and their chil- dren. Peter, the father, died in 1865 and is buried in the family lot near the Wickford Branch railroad in Lafayette. His four sons, now dead, lived at the fol- lowing locations; John W. on the original Fones farm just over the Exeter line, Thomas in the Codner house at the bridge where the Swamptown Road crosses the Shewatuck, George W. at the house next above Hazard's Hall, and Peter T. at a farm on the west side of the Ten Rod just below the second Rotary.
Thus it came about that the Phillips family which in the beginning owned most of the land in the south-
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LAFAYETTE, RHODE ISLAND
eastern part of Lafayette, later owned the most of the land in the northwestern part of the village also.
II. The Hendrick Family
THE NAME "HENDRICK" is a variation of the Dutch word "Hendrik," the equivalent of the English name "Henry." In various forms it appears as the names of early Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam (New York). It was quite a common name in Massa- chusetts and northern Rhode Island from the late 1600's on, the different families there stemming from a Daniel Hendrick who appeared at Haverhill, Mass., around 1645. His origin is uncertain, but his name indi- cates he was of Dutch descent, and it is possible he may have been connected with the New Amsterdam Dutch. In Rhode Island, there were instances of Dutch names appearing in the early settlements, and at least two such cases appeared in North Kingstown. Since Dutch ships were trading out of New Amster- dam, along the Rhode Island and Massachusetts coasts, from about 1615 on, either sailors or traders may have used that means of joining the English settlements that later sprang up along those coasts.
Daniel Hendrick's son, Israel, was among the Massa- chusetts troops taking part in the Great Swamp Fight in Rhode Island, in 1675, and 100 years later several of
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THE HENDRICK FAMILY
Daniel's descendants figured prominently in the Amer- ican Revolution. These latter were mostly from the western part of Massachusetts, from whence one branch afterwards settled in Smithfield, R. I. The descendants of this branch became prominent in Cum- berland and Woonsocket, and more modernly spread southward in the State to Pawtucket, Providence, Cranston, Johnston, and East Greenwich. It is not known, however, that any of them reached South County.
The Hendrick family in the Lafayette vicinity had its origin in a historical romance. From the traditions of the Slocum family (whence the village of Slocum gets its name), and from statements of modern mem- bers of the Hendrick family, it appears that a Slocum daughter, Sarah, met and married a James "Andrick," while the Slocum family was living at Jamestown, R. I. This was just before the American Revolution. One family tradition has it that "Andrick" was a sea cap- tain. Another says he was a member of the crew of a British war-ship then stationed at Newport where the clouds of the impending war were getting rather thick. A son was born to this couple in due course, and the boy was named James.
Varying traditions account for the disappearance of the boy's parents while the child was small. A Hen- drick version is that both parents went on a voyage together and were never heard from. Another tale is that they went away on different ships and both were lost at sea. Anyway, the traditions agree that the boy James was brought up by the Slocum family who had removed to Slocum, R. I.
With the Slocum family, the boy was known as
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LAFAYETTE, RHODE ISLAND
James "Hendrick." This fact may indicate that the "H" had been dropped, in true English cockney fashion, from the father's true name, and the "e" broadened, in true Dutch style, into an "a," to result in "Andrick." This might also suggest a clue to a Dutch origin of the father. And, of course, the Slocum family would have had close knowledge of the father's real name.
When this orphan boy, James Hendrick, grew to manhood, he married Hannah Greene of North Kings- town. She was related to General Nathaniel Greene of Revolutionary fame, which accounts for the appear- ance of the General's name among the couple's descend- ants. James and his wife came to be well known in the Town, where they lived for many years at what is still known as the "Doughnut Hollow Farm." They had bought this farm early in their married life, and the Town records show that while the name of the pur- chaser is given in the body of the deed as "James Andrick," the signatures on a mortgage given at the same time appear as "James hendrick" and "Hannah hendrick," with the small "h."
The farm involved in these transactions contained nearly 100 acres, with a dwelling house and other buildings. It was a fertile piece of land, adjoining the "Great Plain" and what are now the rich potato fields just to the west. James was a thrifty, hard worker, and a most successful farmer. He and his wife reared a large family of 9 children, to all of whom they gave the education the times and facilities of- fered. As mentioned elsewhere, the "Doughnut Hol- low Farm" is now the North Kingstown Town Asy-
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THE HENDRICK FAMILY
lum, having been purchased for that purpose when the old institution and grounds were absorbed by the Quonset Naval Air Station.
Historically, the "Doughnut Hollow" region was the scene of many legends involving witches, Indians, and weird manifestations of strange blue lights. But as the most of these fabled occurrences were related by patrons of an old-time tavern a short way down the road, their actuality probably faded a good deal "the morning after." These tales, however, do not in- volve the Hendrick family, for they were too busy with the hard facts of life to be concerned with such frivolities.
The 9 children of James and Hannah (Greene) Hendrick comprised 5 daughters and 4 sons. The daughters were Patience, Ruth Greene, Sarah Shaw, Mary W. and Hannah A. The sons were Greene, Na- thaniel Greene, James, and Paul Greene. A grandson, James, son of James (III), was a well-known resident in Lafayette for several years.
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