USA > Rhode Island > Memorial encyclopedia of the state of Rhode Island > Part 30
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In 1876 Mrs. Mann began extensive tours of travel and in 1880 made her first appearance on the Pacific coast. During this period she was a member of Mrs. John Drew's company and of the companies headed by Jacob Barrow, Julia Bennett and Charles Fletcher. She became very popu- lar with the profession and with the theatre-going public and always found her services in demand by managers. Later she became a member of Den- man Thompson's "Old Homestead" Company, and for twenty-two seasons portrayed the character of "Aunt Matilda," a part in which she appeared in every theatre of consequence in the United States. It was prior to her engagement with Denman Thompson that she appeared with the elder Sothern in "Lord Dundreary" and the "Crushed Tragedian." It was dur- ing the early years of her career that she portrayed "Eliza" and every other adult female part in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," a play it is said that has been witnessed by more auditors than any other, and for many years was a lead- ing favorite at the best theatres.
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Mrs. a. Louisa (Worse) Mann
Mrs. Mann continued her stage career until her retirement to her home in Providence, where she spent a happy and contented evening of life, loved and honored by all who knew her, reigning a queen in the hearts of those of her profession. It had ever been her pleasure to aid the young women of the stage in every way and this practice she continued after leaving the stage. All deserving women, however, she felt had a claim upon her sympathy and not only in Providence but all over the country were women to be found whom she had assisted.
Miss Morse married John Mann and their only child, Louisa Mann, is a resident of Providence. Mrs. Mann enjoyed excellent health up to the day of her death, when stricken with apoplexy she survived by twenty-four hours.
John Shambolo
ROM 1869 until his death in 1912, John Shambow was a resi- dent of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and from 1881 was allied with the manufacturing interests of the city, the plant he operated holding representative position in the industrial world as the leading one of its kind. He was a self-made man in the best sense of the term, beginning humbly as a workman, and taking advantage of his skill as a mechanic and the ability he possessed as a business man to build up a profitable enter- prise on a sound basis, which in turn he passed into the hands of a capable son. But not only as business man was he a success, but as a man and a citizen, noted for his fair dealing, his public-spirited citizenship and concern for whatever was for the best interests of his adopted city.
He did not create a new business or a new demand, but took an old business that had passed through two years of precarious existence and as a manufacturer of power and hand-loom shuttles, reeds and other weavers' accessories, furnished the mills with a product, standard wherever intro- duced. Woolen, worsted, silk and cotton mills throughout the United States and Canada gave his goods preference over others, and with the demand created he was farsighted and progressive in his plans to meet it rapidly with goods of superior quality. He had a large factory equipped with the newest and most up-to-date machinery and as long as he lived his genius, energy, skill and executive power were exerted to keep the name of Sham- bow a synonym for high quality.
A history of the business which he built up is of interest. David Bass and Benoni Hawkins began the manufacture of reeds and shuttles in Woon- socket in 1879, under the name of the Woonsocket Shuttle Company. They were succeeded in 1880 by Messrs. Thissell and Lamson and they in 1881 by John Shambow and John Johnston, who had worked side by side in the shuttle-making shop owned and conducted by A. D. Clark, Mr. Shambow since 1869, Mr. Johnston since 1871. Under the last-named two men, the life of the plant was marked by unusual activity and the Woonsocket Shut- tle Company prospered for ten years, when the partners sold advantage- ously to the American Bobbin, Spool and Shuttle Company, a syndicate with offices in Boston. With that sale the Woonsocket Shuttle Company passes out of this story, although the sequel is pertinent. The new owners ran the business for fourteen months, then made an assignment. John Johnston, Mr. Shambow's former partner, bought the old company after the assignment and ever since the plant on Winter street has been operated by him as the Woonsocket Shuttle Company. This must not hereafter be con- fused with Mr. Shambow's business, which he started after the sale, as the Woonsocket Reed and Shuttle Works, later changing the name to the Sham- bow Shuttle Company, of which his son, Christopher J. Shambow, is presi-
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dent and manager, succeeding his honored father, who was his preceptor and business mentor.
John Shambow was born in Vergennes, Vermont, April g. 1846, died in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, February 7, 1912, one of the eight children of Joseph and Sophia Shambow. His early life was spent in Vergennes, where he was educated, and at the age of twenty-one he married in Grafton, Massa- chusetts. At the age of twenty-three, in 1869, he located in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, which was his home until his death, forty-three years later. His first job in Woonsocket was with A. D. Clark, a manufacturer of shut- tles for weaving mills, and with him he worked as a day mechanic for twelve years, becoming an expert in the making of all kinds of hand and power shuttles then in use. In 1871 another workman was employed, John John- ston, and side by side the two men worked for Mr. Clark until 1881, becom- ing of course very intimate. In ISSI there was an opportunity to buy the small plant started by a rival of Mr. Clark, the Woonsocket Shuttle Com- pany, and the fellow workmen, who in their confidential talks had consid- ered the plan of starting in business for themselves, both being expert shuttle-makers, decided they would make a bid for the plant, which had never been profitable to the two different firms which had operated it.
They were successful in obtaining the plant and in 1881, with a boy to assist them, John Shambow and John Johnston began business. As they were both practical mechanics and were the entire shop, office and selling force, with the exception of the boy mentioned, their venture carried no overhead expense and they prospered. For ten years they continued in business together with ever increasing success, their product meeting with favor from the textile manufactures. They made hand and power loom shuttles of every description, the partners bringing to the business their practical skill and knowledge of every department of the business. At the end of ten years they had a well appointed plant, a trained shop and office force and had become widely known in the mill trade. This naturally attracted the attention of rivals and when the American Bobbin, Spool and Shuttle Company of Boston made the partners an attractive offer, they sold and temporarily retired from business. After fourteen months as stated, Mr. Johnston bought back his interests in the old plant and resumed, Mr. Shambow starting for himself as the Woonsocket Reed and Shuttle Works, locating his plant on North Main street. His business grew at a rapid rate as mills were multiplying all over the country, and in the business he built up he erected a fitting monument to his sagacity and foresight, to his energy and skill as a manufacturer. In 1906 the name of the company was changed to Shambow Shuttle Company, as at present. Mr. Shambow was also an active member of the Woonsocket Business Men's Association and in every way possible aided in Woonsocket's industrial development. He was a member of Woonsocket Lodge, No. 850, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and it was ever a pleasure for him to meet his friends in social inter- course. .
He was married, on September 12, 1867, at Grafton, Massachusetts, by Rev. Mr. Bullock, of Boston, to Jeannette Weir. Their only child, Chris- topher J. Shambow, became his father's trusted business associate and is
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president and general manager of the Shambow Shuttle Company, an able executive, continuing the business along the lines so successfully followed by his honored father. There are two grandsons associates in the business, who constitute the third generation of Shambows to engage in shuttle manufacture in Woonsocket: John C., a graduate of Dartmouth College, class of 1910; Wallace A., who began a college course at Dartmouth, but through ill health was obliged to abandon a college for a business career, joining his father and brother in what may be called the family business.
Nearly half a century has elapsed since John Shambow came to Woon- socket and thirty-five years since he first made the name of Shambow known to the manufacturers as a maker of appliances needed in their business. That he built so wisely and so well is cause for Woonsocket congratulation, and that he left a son and grandsons to perpetuate his name and fame assures the mill trade he served so long and faithfully that in the future as in the past the name will mean standard of excellence. Happy is the city whose sons rear their monuments in her industrial greatness and transmit to posterity their virtues.
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Patrick Henry Parker
HERE is probably no other profession in this practical and prosaic age in which there is so much of the romantic to be found as that of the detective, no other calling, since the old sailing vessel took its departure from the high seas to make way for the modern steamer, that holds out so powerful a lure to the youth of an adventurous turn. Nor does this romantic quality exist merely in the chance of danger that it offers, the adventures that are its daily routine, but in the sense of battle for a cause which it possesses in the strongest degree. And, indeed, there is something exceptionally inspiriting in the knowledge that one's task is the safeguarding of so vital a thing as law and order, the safety of the com- mon weal, something inspiriting and wholly satisfying to feel that whatever one's own fate, the battle is being waged for something that in its very nature is sure to be the victor. It was distinctly the spirit of adventure that was the main spring in the actions of Patrick Henry Parker, late of Provi- dence, Rhode Island, when as a youth he sought for admission into the army of the Union then engaged in its terrible struggle with the South, and which later turned his activies into the detective force of his native city. For many years he gave faithful service to the community and was con- nected with many of the most noted criminal cases of the time.
Born in Providence, in 1847, Mr.Parker passed his childhood in his native city and attended the local public schools for his education. The schools were primitive enough at that period and the advantages somewhat meagre, but the lad proved himself a bright scholar and quick to learn anything that was put before him. It was more in the great school of experience which the world provides for us all, however, that he distinguished himself, for he possessed that quickness of wit and boldness to venture that insures rapid progress in that hard school. He did not remain a pupil of any other school for long, as he was but fourteen years of age when he went to work for his living. He secured a position in a local factory and was thus employed when the Civil War broke out. This was the occasion for the spirit of ad- venture which burned so bright in him to display itself and Patsey Parker, as he was called, determined to run away. Patiently he awaited his oppor- tunity and at length attached himself to a Rhode Island Regiment on its way to embark for the front. Alas for his hopes, upon reaching Stonington where the regiment was to take ship he was quickly singled out, his age, which was only fifteen, was discovered and he was refused permission to sail. He returned home temporarily, but nothing daunted, ran away again and this time succeeded in getting aboard the vessel and as far as New York City, when he was once more sent back. A third attempt resulted in his reaching Jersey City, where the troops entrained for the South, but that was all and he was returned again and this time with an admonishment not to make another attempt until he had reached the legal age for enlisting. It is characteristic of the determination of Mr. Parker which so strongly
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marked him in later life that he would not give up his attempt even after these successive discouragements, but with a persistence worthy of success started forth once more. And this time he really gained success. After numerous adventures and many narrow escapes from being returned once more ignominiously to his home, he actually arrived in Washington and presented himself for admission to one of the Rhode Island regiments which contained a number of his friends. Struck by the lad's courage the officers of the regiment decided to make an exception in his favor and he was duly enrolled in the ranks. It was in the First Rhode Island Cavalry that the lad enlisted and it was not long before he saw the active service he was anxious for. But he was "game" in the popular phrase, and took a soldier's full share of the perils and hardships of war and played a soldier's part on many hard-fought fields, and among them such famous engagements as those at Cedar Mountain, the second Bull Run, Chancellorsville, Fredericks- burg, Kelly's Ford and others. At the last named of these battles Mr. Parker had two horses shot under him, but was himself unhurt. Among other experiences of this period were the terrible ones of confinement in the Confederate prisons at Belle Isle and Libby, where he suffered all the dread- ful hardships that have made those names fearful. Upon his release from the latter. he was in so weakened a condition that his life was well-nigh despaired of and for a considerable period hung in the balance. Mr. Parker's constitution was of the strongest, however, and as soon as the causes were removed he rapidly gained his strength and health and was soon as well as ever. He received his honorable discharge and was mustered out just three years and two months after his enlistment, or two months over the time for which he had enrolled, and was still but eighteen years of age when he once more entered civil life.
He returned to Providence at once and for some years was engaged in business there. In 1874 he entered the Providence police force and was for a short time on duty as a night patrolman from the Fifth Police Station. He was thence transferred in a few months to Richmond street, completing his first year on this beat. He was then placed on the day force and patrolled the Plain street district for the better part of another year. It was during this period that he began to display his great talent for detective work, doing such admriable work on a number of cases that he attracted the atten- tion of the authorities. In September, 1876, he was transferred to the old railroad station, where there was a great deal of opportunity to combine the function of the detective with the ordinary work of the patrolinan, an opportunity of which he quickly availed himself. He soon showed so much skill in the tracking and capture of criminals that he was recognized as in line for advancement and somewhat later, with the growth of the city and its police force and the consequent greater organization of the latter, Mr. Parker's peculiar ability as a detective received the public recognition it deserved in appointment to the captaincy of the plain clothes men. In this office he continued to distinguish himself on a larger scale and gained a reputation, not only as the most efficient officer on the Providence force, but as one of the cleverest detectives in the country. It would, of course, be out of the question to give anything like a complete record of the cases in
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which Captain Parker figured, since to do so would be to publish practically the entire criminal records of the State for some three decades, but certain of the more important cases, especially those involving murders of more than local interest, should be instanced as examples of the kind of work he was at his best in, and the important matters which he was largely instrumental in clearing up. Among cases dear to the heart of the criminalogist and expert were the Barnaby case and those involving the deaths of Emily Chambers and Waterman Irons. The first of these, that involving the details of the murder of Mrs. Josephine A. Barnaby in Denver, Colorado, was one of national importance, and in it Captain Parker worked with the Pinkerton detectives in collecting the evidence that eventually led to the arrest and conviction of Dr. T. T. Graves, of Providence.' From the time of Dr. Graves' return to the eastern city after the crime, during his stay there and until the time of his second trip to Denver, when he was arrested and brought to trial, he was never out of the surveillance of detectives and in this difficult and long drawn out task Captain Parker was conspicuous. It is perhaps natural that his connection with the case has been somewhat overshadowed by the famous detective agency with which he was associated, the name of which has such a world-wide reputation, yet there is not the slightest ques- tion that his work therein was of the utmost value and did much towards the ultimate elucidation of the mystery. In June, 1904, Captain Parker was retired from the force at his own request. He had seemed a man in good health at the time of his retirement, suggesting even the robust in his ap- pearance, yet it was but little more than six months later, on January 12, 1905, that his death occurred, and that while he was a man comparatively young, not yet having attained his sixtieth year. He is survived by his widow and four children : Charles H., Louise, Anna and Ethel K.
The impression made by Captain Parker on all those with whom he came in contact was that of power. Large of frame and extremely strong and energetic physically, he coupled to this an extremely forceful personal- ity which made his words and deeds weighty in any environment. He was the ideal person to deal with the violent types that he was obliged to meet in the discharge of his duty, to handle crime and criminals with something of the firm grasp which was attribute to the law. Though early ended, his career was early begun and the city of Providence has reason to remember with gratitude the long years of effort given in its behalf by one of the most efficient of its appointed guardians.
Allen Pettis Doung
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TO THE older members of Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, Providence, the name Allen P. Young recalls memories of their old-time choir leader and associate in church work, particularly in their labors in raising funds and planning ways and means for the erection of the new church edifice; of the faithful superintendent of the Sunday school where the children,. now . themselves pillars of the church, were taught. He was a son of Martin and Arceneth (Phetteplace) Young, both born in Burrillville, Rhode Island, later residents of Smithfield, who had other children, Seth, Horace, Alex P., Louise and Clarissa.
Allen Pettis Young was born at Smithfield, Rhode Island, September. 16, 1838, died at his home, No. 184 Camp street, very suddenly, December 24, 1893, being found lifeless in his bed by his son. He attended public school until fifteen years of age, then began working in a cotton mill. He possessed great adaptability and mastered the intricacies of cotton manu- facture so quickly that at the age of nineteen he was made overseer of the carding room at the Slatersville mill. He continued in that position four years, until 1861, then came to Providence and entered the employ of the Providence (later the Rhode Island) Tool Company, then largely engaged in the manufacture of rifles for the United States government. Mr. Young was a good woodworker and was engaged in making rifle stocks as long as the war lasted, then was transferred to the department manufacturing clothes wringers. He continued with the tool company for many years, then for a time was partner in a business in Pawtucket, later returning to Providence. The latter years of his life were spent in the real estate and brokerage business with offices in Providence.
Mr. Young was exceedingly versatile in his accomplishments, although entirely self taught. He was expert with tools of all kinds, was a good vocal musician and for several years leader of the choir of Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church; he painted in oils and there are specimens of his work in the decoration of his home which denote a real talent although he never took a lesson. Had wealth been an accompaniment of his early life, he would have been a great artist or musician. He was a devout Methodist and a pillar of strength to the Asbury congregation, giving freely of per- sonal service as choir leader, Sunday school superintendent and also con- tributing liberally of his substance toward the erection of the new church edifice. He was a member of the Masonic order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, very quiet, modest and unassuming, but bore well his part in everything he undertook. He was a Republican in politics, serving for several years on the school board.
Mr. Young married, September 1, 1863, Mary E. Colwell, born in Glou- cester, Rhode Island, daughter of William and Lucy (Whelock) Colwell, who had children: Charles, Henry Francis and Mary E. To Allen P. and
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Mary E. (Colwell) Young an only son was born, Walter A. Young, a gradu- ate of Brown University, where he also took post-graduate courses; a teacher for many years, superintendent of Block Island schools, 1914-15, now regaining health and strength by a year's rest in Providence with his widowed mother. He married Margaret Mack and has a son, Courtney Parker Young, a student at Brown University. .
Walter Augustus Crandall
T HE Crandall family of Rhode Island are mostly descendants of Elder John Crandall, a minister who came from Wales to Boston, Massachusetts, 1634-35. He fled to Rhode Island in 1637, being persecuted in Boston for his devotion to the Baptist faith, and became the first elder of the Westerly Baptist Church. He was a man, "who in all stations and and under all circumstances, however adverse, stood up nobly and boldly for the right."
Walter Augustus Crandall, of a later day generation, exemplified in his life the virtues of his hardy Welsh ancestor and left a record of half a cen- tury of faithful devotion to duty that won him the affectionate regard of his community, and the unbounded respect of his business associates. He was a son of Joseph Augustus and Catherine (Mosher) Crandall, his father, a cabinetmaker, born in Providence, Rhode Island, his mother born in Maine. They were also the parents of two daughters, Lydia E., wife of Samuel Mal- colm, and Ada.
Walter Augustus Crandall was born at Royalston, Massachusetts, Jan- uary 3, 1849, died at his home, No. 12 Elton street, Providence, Rhode Island, September 6, 1912. He was brought to Providence a few weeks after his birth by his parents and there his after life was spent. He was edu- cated in the public schools and began his wage earning experience as errand boy, with a tailoring establishment, shortly afterward he was employed as office boy by the old Providence Tool Company, an association that only was broken by Mr. Crandall's death forty-eight years later. He was pro- moted in succession to posts of responsibility, and when the company re- organized as the Rhode Island Tool Company he was retained as one of the valued members of the old organization. In 1897 he became treasurer of the company, an office he honorably filled until his death. He had worked his way from the bottom, and by his conscientious devotion to duty earned the position of honor and trust he filled. He had many warm friends, but his home was his greatest pleasure and there he spent most of his hours of leisure. He was a member of Saint John's Protestant Episcopal Church of Barrington, but an attendant of Grace Church, Providence, and vice-presi- dent of the Men's Club of that church. In political faith he was a Repub- lican, but never sought public office.
Mr. Crandall married, November 8, 1883. Martha S. (Woodhull) White, born in Birmingham, England, daughter of Henry W. and Jane (Musgrove) Woodhull, her mother a widow bringing her to the United States when a baby. They settled in New York City, Mrs. Crandall being now the only survivor of her family. She continues her residence in Provi- dence, with two daughters, Ida Susanna and Marian Augusta, all attendants of Grace Episcopal Church.
The following tribute to the memory of Mr. Crandall was presented Mrs. Crandall by the board of directors of the Rhode Island Tool Company :
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