USA > Rhode Island > Memorial encyclopedia of the state of Rhode Island > Part 29
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There is a useful lesson to be drawn from the life of John Milton Hath-
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away, and it is the lesson taught also by the parable of the talents in Holy Writ. He took his one talent and while he might have buried it in the nail mill and pleaded that poverty and lack of training made the talent valueless, he did not do so, but from an humble start improved it, increased it and went before the Great Giver of the talent with it magnified a thousand fold; his reward, a community more beautiful, a better community to live in, and the approving words: "Well done, good and faithful servant."
He was a man of very quiet nature, devoted to his home and family, and while he did not accumulate great wealth he provided well for those dependent upon him, invested wisely in real estate, and was able to leave them an estate of sufficient proportions to comfortably provide for their needs and pleasure. Truly was it said of him: "The world is better for his having lived." He was a member of Broad Street Christian Church, and in his daily walk a true exponent of the Christian faith. He was warm hearted and genial and possessed many sincere friends.
Mr. Hathaway married, January 1, 1851, Susan Ann Crowell, born in Yarmouth, Massachusetts. They were the parents of the following chil- dren: George M., married Mary Verrill; William, died young; Dora, mar- ried William Hicks, and left a daughter Grace who married Robert Gee, and has two children, Robert and Richard; Harriet, died aged thirteen; Charles, died young. None of these children are now living, but the mother is still a resident of Providence, the city to which she came a bride in 1851.
Amasa Curtis Courtellot
They never quite leave us, the friends that have passed Through the shadows of death to the sunlight above, A thousand sweet memories are holding them fast, To the place they blessed with their presence and love.
T HE career of Amasa C. Tourtellot will not be found among great captains of industry, great statesmen or military heroes, but his name and his memory are embalmed in the hearts of his fellowmen with whom he trod life's pathway for so many years and to his memory his brethren of the Masonic order, which he served so faithfully and so long,
have placed not an imposing monument of stone, but the more lasting tribute of the printed page, that has became a part of the rec- ord of the order "laid up in the archives," which shall forever endure.
The family seat of the Tourtellots for many generations has been Scit- uate, Rhode Island, and there Amasa Curtis Tourtellot, a worthy son of a worthy race, was born.
Amasa Curtis Tourtellot, son of Amasa Randall and Maria Ladd (Cur- tis) Tourtellot, was born in Scituate, Rhode Island, March 31, 1838, died at his residence in Providence, No. 32 Wesleyan avenue, October 16, 1912. He was two years of age when his parents moved to Providence and there seventy-two years were spent. After completing public school courses of study he entered business college, taking a commercial course, and after graduation taught bookkeeping for a time in the same institution. After teaching for a time he became a clerk in the Providence post office, then a clerk in the Bank of North America. He was at different times bookkeeper for Thomas Phillips & Company of Providence and for a plumbing concern in New York City. He also tried the manufacturing business and in Provi- dence, Simmonsville and Westerly was engaged in making braids and shoe laces. But banking was his true forte and about 1875 he became perma- nently fixed in a financial position which he filled until within a few years of his death. He was cashier of the Bank of America Loan and Trust Com- pany. Then was chosen treasurer of the new corporation and of the Union Trust Company, holding both offices until the year 1900, when he resigned. He was an able financier, and in all the years he was guardian to the bank's funds he exercised the powers his position gave him to wisely and carefully administer his trust and safeguard the bank's interests. He was highly esteemed in banking circles, his judgment was deferred to and the most implicit confidence placed in his wisdom and his integrity. He served a term of three months in the early part of the Civil War as sergeant-major of the Tenth Battery of Light Artillery, Rhode Island Volunteers, enlisting May 25 and serving until August 30, 1862, receiving an honorable discharge.
While yet a minor Mr. Tourtellot, or "A. C.," as he was familiarly and generally called, conceived a favorable opinion of the Masonic order and in
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1859, as soon as he reached legal age, which is also Masonry's legal age of admission, he petitioned for membership. He was accepted and in due sea- son received the degrees of Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery. He became a very zealous and devoted member of the order, thoroughly imbibed its spirit of fraternity and exemplified in his daily life the noblest tenets of the institution of which he was an honored member for fifty-three years. He was raised in What Cheer Lodge, No. 21, Free and Accepted Masons, by Worshipful Master William B. Blanding, the first master of that lodge, May 10, 1859; exalted in Providence Chapter, No. I, Royal Arch Masons, by Jerome B. Borden, most excellent high priest, March 13, 1860; knighted in Calvary Commandery, No. 13, by George F. Wilson, eminent commander, May 1, 1860, that commandery then working under dispensation. He was elected treasurer of the chapter, November 8, 1877, and held that office con- tinuously until November 21, 1895, when he asked that the companions would not again elect him, giving reasons that were respected. He was elected treasurer of the commandery in December, 1876, and served until December, 1895, when as in the chapter he declined reelection.
His zeal and high standing in the order brought the honor of election to the high office of grand treasurer of the Rhode Island Grand Chapter until his death. After his death a beautiful tribute to the memory of their long-time treasurer and beloved "Companion" was prepared by the grand secretary by order of the Grand Chapter and issued under the authority and seal of the Grand Chapter, October 31, 1912, signed by Herbert Bills, grand high priest and William R. Greene, grand secretary. From this tribute, now a part of the record of the Grand Chapter, much of the subject matter for this sketch has been gathered.
Noteworthy as was his record as a Mason, his life as a citizen and busi- ness man was not less honorable, nor was the esteem in which he was held confined by fraternity limits. His scrupulous honesty, his faithful perform- ance of every trust committed to him, his consideration for others, were beautiful traits of character known to all men, and so long as men value such virtues so long will his memory survive. Early in life he became a member of the Congregational church, and until his death he was a faithful, con- sistent member, showing forth his faith by his works.
Mr. Tourtellot married, February 7, 1894, Mary J. Blackwood, daugh- ter of James and Elizabeth (McDonald) Blackwood and a sister of Judge James W. Blackwood, of Providence. He was a man of domestic tastes and his home life was ideal. Having retired from business twelve years before the tie was sundered, they spent their summers at their farm about sixteen miles from Providence and there they dispensed a generous open-handed hospitality to their neighbors and many city friends. Mr. Tourtellot was a natural mechanic, and at his country home had a workshop fitted with tools of every description. He indulged his tastes in that direction to his heart's content and amid such congenial surroundings with his devoted wife as companion, freed from all cares of business, he spent perhaps the very hap- piest hours of a long, happy and contented life.
On October 19, 1912, all that was mortal of Mr. Tourtellot was borne
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to its final resting place in the North Burial Ground by four of his brethren, all past masters of Providence Masonic lodges and companions of the chap- ter. A simple church service with singing by the Orpheus Quartette con- stituted the services at the home, No. 32 Wesleyan avenue.
Thus lived a good man, quiet and unostentatious was his life, but one filled with kindly deeds and honorable service. Fidelity and faithfulness marked his course and in his character there was no flaw.
corge Harrison Peck
TT IS only of comparatively, recent years that the inestimable benefits conferred upon society by the quiet business man, the financier and merchant, are coming to have their due share of recognition, and that the records of these men are being set down along side those more showy ones connected with military service and the affairs of State, as most truly representative of human life in the aggregate, and most largely contributive to the sum of human happiness. Such a man, for in- stance, as George Harrison Peck, late of Bristol, Rhode Island, where his death on September 9, 1914, was felt as a loss to the community generally, such a man is obviously a more wholly pro-social character, if the expression be permissible, and a greater benefactor of his fellows, having ministered peacefully to their wants, than those who at the very least awaken wants and desires which they cannot gratify. This growing appreciation of the part played by those concerned with the commercial and financial interests of the community has been coincident with a profound change in the organ- ization of society itself, a change which has involved the shifting of its base from war to industry. In the process of such a change all sorts of sub- sidiary alterations have of necessity taken place, such as that in the type of men which has held the eye of public attention and commanded popular approval.
George Harrison Peck was born August 11, 1841, at Bristol, Rhode Island, a son of Albert and Sarah (Cartwright) Peck, and is thus descended on both sides of the house from fine old Rhode Island families. He and his brother Albert were the only children in the family and the two boys grew up together in the place of their birth, the best of companions and friends. George Harrison, the younger of the two, attended the local public schools and passed successively through the grammar and high schools, proving him- self an ambitious and industrious student and giving evidence of those powers of concentration and foresight that later marked him as a business man. Upon completing his studies in these institutions, he sought employment in some of the industrial concerns that are so important a feature of the busi- ness life of Bristol, and was successful in securing a position with the Burn- side gun shop, where he learned the machinist's trade. This he followed for some time until all thoughts of a peaceful career was abruptly broken by the outbreak of the Civil War. Mr. Peck was one of those patriots who first responded to the call for troops issued by President Lincoln and he enlisted in Company G, Second Regiment Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, June 5, 1861. Mr. Peck's health was, however, less robust than it might have been and the hardships of campaign life were too much for him so that after a little more than a year of active service he was honorably discharged on a surgeon's certificate, September 15, 1862. Unwilling to abandon a service to which he was so entirely devoted, Mr. Peck reënlisted in the Inde- pendent Company of Hospital Guards, Rhode Island Volunteers, Novem-
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ber 12, 1862, and was mustered in the following 6th of December. He was assigned to guard duty at the Lovell General Hospital at Portsmouth Grove, Rhode Island, and there remained until the end of the war, being finally mustered out August 26, 1865. Upon the completion of his military duties Mr. Peck returned to civic life and it was not long before he became a con- spicuous figure in the community. His business talents were very marked and soon gave him an important position in the financial world and he also entered public life and was eminently successful. His long association with the Industrial Trust Company as a trustee was at once most creditable to himself and advantageous to the concern which was able to avail itself of his energy and wise judgment. In the political world he was a strong sup- porter of the principles and policies of the Republican party and allied him- self with the local organization thereof. He was elected treasurer of the City of Bristol and filled that office with so much efficiency and wisdom that he was reelected to succeed himself until he had served in this capacity for more than twenty years.
Mr., Peck always kept alive the associations formed in the time of the Civil War and was an enthusiastic Grand Army man. He was a member of Babbitt Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and for above fifteen years was its commander. Another interest of Mr. Peck was the Roger's Free Library and of this institution he was a trustee for many years. In the mat- ter of his religious belief Mr. Peck was a Methodist and attended the church of that denomination in Bristol, as his family does to this day. He was very active in the work of the congregation and served in several capacities, nota- bly as church treasurer, in which he did invaluable work for the church. He was also closely identified with the Sunday school and was the superintend- ent thereof for more than twenty-eight years. He consistently made the interests of the church his objective and worked for that with unflagging zeal and indefatigable energy.
On April 19, 1866, Mr. Peck was united in marriage with Hattie Pres- cott Coggeshall, like himself a native of Bristol, and a daughter of Wilbur B. and Eliza (Coggeshall) Coggeshall, same name but no relation to her husband, old and highly respected residents of that place. Mr. Coggeshall was for many years a successful farmer in that region and he and his wife were the parents of eight children, only three of whom are at present living: Chandler H., George B. and Mrs. Peck. To Mr. and Mrs. Peck were born two children, both living: Albert P., educated in the schools of Bristol and Providence and now employed in a broker's office in the latter place; and Gertrude F.
Altogether one of the most prominent figures in the life of Bristol, Mr. Peck enjoyed the added distinction of having well deserved every iota of the recognition he received. A "self-made man" in the best sense of that term, he pushed himself forward from small beginnings to the position of prominence that he filled and yet without disregarding the rights of any other individual or thrusting aside any weaker brother in the race. On the contrary his course was marked by the gaining of new friends in great nun- bers but not by the loss of the old. There are few men who can boast of so
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many and so true friends as those Mr. Peck was privileged to point to, few who leave so many behind to mourn them and keep green their memory. Mr. Peck always retained his strong fondness for his home and family, and it was by his own hearth-side that he found his greatest happiness. In all respects his moral standards were high and he furthermore realized them with a remarkable degree of fidelity.
George Danforth
T HE death of George Danforth, of Providence, Rhode Island, on February II, 1851, deprived that city of one of its most useful and energetic citizens and one who, notwithstanding his birth in another town and State, was most closely identi- fied with its life and traditions. Mr. Danforth was sprung from fine old New England stock, his parents being Asa and Debora Danforth, old and highly respected residents of Massachusetts.
George Danforth was born at Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1800, where his father was for many years a blacksmith, and where he himself spent the major part of his childhood and early youth. He attended for a time the public schools of his native village, but the circumstances were such that he could not spend as much time as he desired in school, and he supplemented his studies there with much home reading, so that he may truly be said to be chiefly self-educated. He was always extremely ambitious and it was his belief that it might lead to a career that induced him to take up the print- ing trade. It was long before the day of mechanical type setting or any of the devices that have so greatly changed the character of the craft, and everything had to be done by hand, and young Danforth became remark- ably expert in the trade. He came to Providence, Rhode Island, while still a very young man and worked there at his trade for some years. He finally became associated with the "Providence Journal," a most progressive paper of Providence, and this connection continued during the remainder of his life. He was a most valued member of the staff and gave long and faithful service to the paper and to the city through its columns. He died at the age of fifty-one years, one of the well-known figures of the newspaper world in that region.
Mr. Danforth was married in Providence, in 1828, to Rebecca Bright- man Southworth, who was, like himself, a native of Massachusetts. She was a daughter of Ephraim and Rebecca (Simmons) Southworth, of Massa- chusetts. To Mr. and Mrs. Danforth seven children were born as follows: Harriet M., deceased; Caroline, deceased; George, deceased, formerly en- gaged in the grocery business in Providence ; Rebecca ; Mary ; Hannah ; and Ephraim, deceased, who was formerly connected with the Providence Elec- tric Railroad. For twenty-three years Mr. and Mrs. Danforth spent a most happy married life until his death brought an end to it and left her and her children in only very moderate circumstances. But Mrs. Danforth was a woman of unusually strong will and a most capable and practical mind and she at once set herself the purpose of leaving her children well off. She turned her attention to the growing prices in Providence real estate, and by a careful investment of her capital in this line, guided by an unusually keen sense and business foresight, she gradually acquired a considerable estate in the city. She devoted the remainder of her life to this ain and was extraordinarily successful, especially when the fact that she was a
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woman who had had no preliminary training in matters of business be taken into consideration. Mrs. Danforth was a type of, New England gentlewoman, whom many of us remember, but now unfortunately grow- ing somewhat rare. Intelligent and entirely capable, they possessed in the highest degree of all those domestic virtues and affections which are insepa- rable from our highest ideals of womanhood. She was a most affectionate and devoted mother and her children were justly proud of her. She died in the city of Providence at the old home in the year. 1891 at the venerable age of eighty-nine years. Three of her children survive her to-day, the Misses Rebecca, Mary and Hannah F. Danforth. For some time they continued to reside in the home of their parents in Providence, but in the year 1892 they built a delightful residence at Edgewood, Rhode Island, where they live together, although still retaining their ownership of the old home.
The place occupied in the life of the community by both Mr. and Mrs. Danforth was in many respects a remarkable one, and they might well serve as models for the youth of the community. They were both possessed of those sterling virtues that have been considered typical of the New Eng- land character, a simple, straightforward charity and tolerance for their fellowmen, a union of idealism with a practical grasp of affairs which marks the most successful persons of both sexes. Their place in the social life of the city was an'enviable one and they were universally respected and ad- mired and loved for the qualities they displayed in their dealing with all their neighbors. They were both fond of social intercourse, delighting greatly in the informal meeting of friends with the spontaneous relations that flow from them, although for the more formal kind of social function they had no great fondness. Their chief happiness was found in their home where their individualities found the readiest and most typical expression, not only in their conduct as parents, but in the moulding of the exterior features of the dwelling place to fit their taste and fancy. It was for this reason that their home at No. 198 Pond street, Providence, possessed a charm that many more pretentious residences lack, because it was a real expression of its cultured and enlightened inmates.
Wirs. A. Louisa (Morse) Mann
W THO of all the olden-time theatre-goers who have niade merry with Denman Thompson in "The Old Homestead" but re- member "Aunt Matilda," the part played for twenty-two seasons by Mrs. A. Louisa (Morse) Mann with such rare delicacy and skill. After leaving the company the most friendly relations existed between the two artists and but a few days before her death Mrs: Mann called on Mr. Thomp- . son. who was filling an engagement in Providence, and at the Narragansett Hotel the old friends enjoyed a pleasant hour seated where so many years before they arranged the terms of the contract under which Mrs. Mann became a member of the Old Homestead Company.
For more than fifty years Mrs. Mann occupied a leading position on the American stage, and at her death in her eightieth year she enjoyed the dis- tinction of being the oldest American actress; that honor passing to her upon the death of Mrs. Gilbert. She was known to all actors and actresses, the younger.set as well as the elder. They all revered her and looked up to her as they had to Mrs. Gilbert, and whenever Providence was on their itinerary a call was always made upon Mrs. Mann.
While on the stage Mrs. Mann usually presented "leading heavy" parts, critics pronouncing her at her best in those difficult characters. She ap- peared in many Shakespearian characters in companies with the elder Booth, his son, Edwin Booth, Edwin Forrest, Charlotte Cushman, and Wil- liam Mccullough. Her life experience, however, covered other phases of the drama and for a few seasons she appeared in an "Uncle Tom's Cabin" Company, taking at one time and another every female part in the play except "Topsy" and "Little Eva." She was seen in characters with the elder Sothern, the inimitable "Lord Dundreary," with Mrs. John Drew, Minnie Palmer, Jacob Barrow and his wife, Julia Bennett, Charles Fletcher, the French actor, and with many more of the famous actors of her period.
She did not come from a theatrical family, but embraced the profession on the advice of a friend, for being one of a large family she was obliged to seek employment. This friend was Mrs. N. C. Forbes, wife of the manager of the old Providence Museum, Miss Morse, then nineteen years of age, being employed as a dressmaker at the establishment where the Forbes Stock Company had a great deal of their costuming done. Mrs. Forbes told Miss Morse there was a future awaiting her upon the stage and from this conversation came the actress who was to become so bright a light in the theatrical firmament, Mrs. A. Louisa (Morse) Mann, of blessed memory.
Mrs. Mann was the daughter of George and A. Louisa (Remington) Morse, her father born and educated in Dunham, Massachusetts. He came to Providence, Rhode Island, when a young man and for several years there engaged in the oyster business. He married A. Louisa Remington, born in Pawtucket, daughter of Captain Charles Remington, a ship owner and deep sea sailor, master of his own vessel trading with Africa in ivory, gold
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dust and precious woods. He never returned from his last voyage, dying in Africa. George and A. Louisa ( Remington) Morse were the parents of eight children: Maria, married James C. Crandall; Stephen, married Eliza- beth West; A. Louisa, to whose memory this tribute is inscribed; George, died in youthful manhood; Charles, married Lydia Tabor; Mary, a resident of Providence; Edwin, married Mary Erskin; H. Amanda, married, Decem- ber 25, 1859, Lyman Stone, who died April 16, 1863, in his twenty-seventh year. He was born in Warwick, Massachusetts, son of William and Susan Stone. Mr. and Mrs. Lyman Stone were the parents of two children: Edwin, died in infancy, and Louisa Remington, died at the age of twenty-five years. Mrs. Stone, with her niece, Miss Louisa Mann, and sister, Miss Mary Morse, resides at No. 78 Broadway, Providence.
A. Louisa Morse was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1830, died at her home, No. 78 Broadway, Providence, in her eightieth year. She ob- tained a good education in the city schools, learned dressmaking and until her nineteenth year was so employed. She made the acquaintance of Mrs. Forbes, wife of the manager of the Providence Museum, in a business way and so impressed Mrs. Forbes with her grace and aptitude that she sug- gested a stage career. Miss Morse, having her own future to provide for, entertained the idea with the result that she became a member of a theatri- cal stock company, beginning at a salary of five dollars weekly. Her first appearance on the stage was in a comedy, "Victorine." At the age of twenty-four she became a member of the Howard Athenaeum Stock Com- pany of Boston and with that organization won recognition as a rising young artist, particularly effective in "leading heavy" characters. Later she played in company with the elder Booth, Edwin Booth, Forrest, Cushman and Mccullough in Shakespearian repertoire, and in the old comedies firmly established herself as an actress of sterling worth. Concluding her long engagement in Boston, she next appeared with Mrs. John Drew at the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, there winning popular favor and also filling engagements at the Chestnut and Walnut Street theatres, those three houses then being Philadelphia's most fashionable houses of entertainment.
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