USA > Rhode Island > Memorial encyclopedia of the state of Rhode Island > Part 36
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That these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of this Association, the court of said Twelfth District Court be requested to order them entered upon its records, to be given to the local press, and a copy of the same engrossed and sent to family of our late brother, Erwin J. France.
Stanton Browning Champlin
W JE ARE very popularly full of praise in this country and time for the man who has started from small beginnings and worked his way up to a place of prominence in the com- munity. Very properly, because indubitably such men are praiseworthy, their conduct being based on those elemen- tary and fundamental virtues of courage and consistency which are the admiration of all places and ages, and which men have worshipped since the beginning as instinctively as they seek food or draw back from fire. But there is a more special and peculiar factor in the special praise we give to such a man to-day, a factor that has to do with our- selves as a people, a people of the modern era, a people of the western hemis- phere. The man who of his own unaided efforts has worked himself from the bottom to the top of the ladder is in a very real sense the type of what this nation stands for; he is the expression, the proof, as it were, that what we have labored for has been accomplished, that the sacrifices and toils we have expended in the past have not been in vain. From the outset we have stood for the right of the humblest to develop himself unrestrictedly, for the lowest to become the highest, and when we see him taking us at our word and actually doing the deed, we not unnaturally feel disposed to congratu- late him and ourselves. Such a man was Stanton Browning Champlin, late of Providence, Rhode Island, whose death there on November 16, 1895, removed from the community one of the most prominent of its merchants and public-spirited of its citizens.
Stanton Browning Champlin was born in 1826, at South Kingston, Rhode Island, a son of Elijah and Susan Champlin, old and highly respected residents of that place. The elder Mr. Champlin was a farmer, and his son was reared among the simple but healthful surroundings of rural life, attend- ing the somewhat primitive district school in the winter and doing the light work of the farm during the vacation, with as much time as he could man- age given to the healthful outdoor sports and pastimes of the country boy. After completing his studies he went to work more consistently on his father's farm, it being the expectation of the elder man that the youth would follow in his footsteps and take up farming permanently. The latter was ambitious, however, of winning his way in the great world and living his life in a large sphere, and, while still a mere youth, left the parental roof and came to the city of Providence. where he apprenticed himself to a jeweler and learned that trade. About the time of the close of his appren- ticeship, an opportunity arose for Mr. Champlin to engage in the market business, and he established himself therein in the Swarts estate on Pine street. He did not remain a very great while therein, however, but returned to his first trade and for awhile worked for others. Later Mr. Champlin founded a jewelry business on his own account under the name of S. B. Champlin, Jewelry Manufacturer, and was eminently successful from the
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outset. He was most industrious and applied himself in the closest manner to his work, letting no detail escape his personal notice. He was conserv- ative in his methods of conducting his business, but not to such an extent that he was slow to accept improvements. On the contrary, he was a close observer of every new method introduced, and ever ready to adopt such as he approved. Indeed, he was considered one of the most progressive men in the mercantile world of Providence, and his establishment was considered one of the best and handsomest in the city. His reputation for straight- forward dealing and capacity was an enviable one, and he became one of the most conspicuous figures in the business world. Mr. Champlin subsequently took his son, George B. Champlin, into the business as a partner, the firm becoming S. B. Champlin & Son, a name which it bears to this day, along with the splendid reputation that it has enjoyed from the first.
Mr. Champlin was possessed of too keen a business sense to overlook the great opportunities for investment offered by the developing real estate in a growing city like Providence, and accordingly he became greatly inter- ested in property there, and owned much of the valuable land in and about the city. Indeed, the city owes much to him in the matter of the develop- ment of several tracts, notably the farm plot in Edgewood. He also erected a handsome business block opposite the Beneficent Church on Weybosset street, and a large brick structure on the corner of Chestnut and Ships street, a part of which he occupied with his own jewelry establishment, which remains in that location to this day.
The part played in the general life of the community by Mr. Champlin was not so varied as both his tastes and talents would have warranted, although in certain directions it was very important. The demands made upon his time and attention by the exigencies of his business were most exacting, and there were many departments of the city's complex life that he was obliged to stand aloof from, even though his inclination was to enter actively. Such was the case with politics, in which, especially in local issues, he was keenly interested. He was a pronounced Republican, and his promi- nence in the city brought him to the attention of the local organization as a possible candidate. He was actually offered a nomination for alderman, but refused to accept it, because he felt that it would be practically impossible to devote the attention that he believed proper to his duties in that connec- tion; felt, in short, that either his interests or the public's would of necessity be neglected to a certain extent. The same was true in his social relations, so that although he greatly enjoyed the more informal kind of social inter- course, he never joined any fraternities or other organizations of the sort. His private charities were large, but carried on in so quiet a manner that very few realized their extent.
Stanton Browning Champlin was united in marriage to Miss Waity A. Dyer, a native of North Kingston, Rhode Island, and a daughter of Amasa and Lydia (Essex) Dyer, lifelong residents of that place, where her father was engaged in agriculture. To Mr. and Mrs. Champlin was born one son, George B. Champlin, who now conducts the great jewelry business. George B. Champlin was married to Miss Carrie Pabodie, and they have three children: Florence Hamilton, George S., and Hope.
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Stanton Browning Champlin had the reputation among his numerous associates of a man who attended most strictly to his business and always fulfilled his obligations of every kind. It used to be said of him that he could always be found either in his office or at home, and this really expressed the truth of him very aptly, his interests being centered chiefly about these two things. Towards the latter end of his life, Mr. Champlin, who was always very fond of rural life and surroundings, used to spend his summers on his farm at Warwick, which he purchased and fitted up delight- fully. A man of sterling character and genial disposition, Mr. Champlin possessed many devoted friends, and he never was happier than when by some simple act or word he could bring happiness to those about him. He was, indeed, one who put the ideal of Christian charity into daily practice, and there have been but few men of his community who have been missed so greatly as he by so large a circle of associates.
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Amasa Mason Eaton
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HERE has been no member of the Rhode Island bar of modern times who has won a greater or more well deserved reputa- tion than Amasa Mason Eaton, whose death on October 3, 1914, deprived not merely the community of which he was a member, nor even his native State of Rhode Island, of one of their most conspicuous and public-spirited citizens, but
the bar of the whole country of a leading member. Mr. Eaton may truthfully be said to have been one of the few figures who main- tained with any degree of completeness the splendid traditions that have grown up about the practice of the law in the United States, to have con- tinued and added to the tradition of the great figures of our legal history. It is not for nothing that the Law has hedged her office about with obliga- tions of the strictest, for it has been thus that in the past she has assured herself of worthy votaries who would not be deterred by difficulties from the service they had chosen, and if these obligations are interpreted with unbe- coming laxity to-day, so that the unworthy are permitted to creep in and find a place beside the chosen, it is all the more a cause for gratulation when we perceive such men as Mr. Eaton devote their energies to a cause so high and who, by their very presence there tend to bring back old meanings to the obligations and the old force to great associations. And with these associa- tions, with this tradition of the law which is the material of which a certain atmosphere is formed which surrounds the whole profession, and the definite character and potency of which can be realized only by those who come into direct contact with it, Mr. Eaton was in the profoundest sympathy, yet there was nothing in his attitude toward the past that diminished his independ- ence in dealing with the present or prevented him from meeting new prob- lems with new solutions.
Amasa Mason Eaton was born in Providence, Rhode Island, May 31, 1841. He was a member of an honorable old New England family, and was descended from many of the most famous men in the early period of Rhode Island history, among whom were John Brown, the organizer and leader of the "Gaspee Expedition" and a deputy of the Rhode Island General Assem- bly which passed the "Rhode Island Independence Act," May 4, 1776; Chad Brown, Roger Williams, Noah Eaton, and others almost equally celebrated. His parents were Levi Curtis and Sarah Brown ( Mason) Eaton, themselves well known residents of Providence for many years. Mr. Eaton's education was a splendid one, its foundations being laid by private tutors at home, after which he studied in various institutions in Europe for about three years. He then returned to the United States and entered Brown Univer- sity, from which he graduated with the class of 1861, later taking the degree of A. M. It was at this time that the Civil War broke out, and Mr. Eaton enlisted with the First Rhode Island Volunteers, which responded to Presi- dent Lincoln's first call. The Rhode Island troops, indeed, were almost the
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very first ready for action, this preeminence being due to the patriotic action of Governor Sprague, who defrayed the whole cost of their equipment him- self, thus sending them to the field much more rapidly than could have been accomplished in any other manner. After a service of some three months in the army, during which time he took part in the battle of Bull Run and other engagements, Mr. Eaton entered the business world, forming with a Mr. Bailey the firm of Bailey & Eaton, dealers in oils. This enterprise, however, did not last long as the discovery of the great Pennsylvania oil fields brought about an entire change in market conditions and forced the firm to retire. What at first sight seemed a misfortune, however, was perhaps nothing but a blessing in disguise, for from that moment Mr. Eaton devoted himself to the law which, beyond all cavil, was the most fitting sphere for his endeav- ors. He matriculated at the Harvard Law School, where he distinguished himself as a brilliant member of a brilliant class, and graduated with the degree of LL. B. in 1877. He was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in the same year, and, opening an office in Providence, became almost at once one of its recognized leaders. During the long career that followed Mr. Eaton established a reputation which outside of the limits of his own State was probably greater than that of any other member of the Rhode Island bar. The work which led more directly to the growth of his national fame was that which he did before the United States Supreme Court in Washington in connection with the French spoliation claims. Mr. Eaton also took upon himself the task of collecting the moneys that were due to the State of Rhode Island from various sources, and was successful in recovering for the State what was due. He was also very active as a member of the Ameri- can Bar Association, and the work that he did in the cause of uniform legis- lation, both within his State and without, made him still better known throughout the country. He was for many years Rhode Island member of the National Commission for Uniformity of State Legislation, and for eight years was president of the National Conference and chairman of the com- mission's important committees. He was also the chairman of the National Committee on Uniformity of Judicial Decisions in cases arising under uni- form laws.
But Mr. Eaton had not waited to enter the legal profession before he came into the public notice. As early as 1863. but two years after his gradu- ation from Brown University, he was the successful candidate from his ward to the North Providence Town Council, and served until 1865, when he was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives. From 1872 to 1874 he was a member of the Common Council of the city of Providence, and from 1874 to 1875 was alderman. A member of the Democratic party, his elec- tions were won on its ticket, and, although not strictly to be regarded as a party man, he was a strong supporter of the principles for which that party stands. He was a member of many very important organizations in many departments of activity, and in all was a leader. Besides his association with the Commission on Uniformity and the American Bar Association, he was at various times first vice-president of the National Divorce Congress, secretary of the Rhode Island Historical Society, member of the Metropol-
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itan Park Committee in his own city, the Committee on Marking Historic Sites in Rhode Island, the American Historical Association, the. Rhode Island Horticultural Society, the Rhode Island Bar Association, and the University Club. He was a charter member of the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and served that organization succes- sivelv in the capacities of secretary, vice-president and president, and a member of the Municipal League of Rhode Island, the National Municipal League, and a member and director of the Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Rhode Island.
In addition to his many other achievements in connection with the subject of the law, Mr. Eaton was an author of great merit and power, his standing as a student of legal principles giving his words a high degree of authority. Among the best known of his writings should be mentioned "Constitution Making in Rhode Island," "Development of the Judicial System in Rhode Island," "The Origin of Municipal Incorporation in Eng- land and the United States" and a treatise on the "Conspiracy to Commit Acts not Criminal Per Se." Besides these legal subjects, he wrote of a number of more general matters, his able work, "Free Trade versus Protec- tion," appearing only one year before his death, as well as many notable contributions to periodicals on various subjects.
Mr. Eaton was inarried, September 15. 1873, to Miss Maude Dunnell, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, a daughter of Jacob and Amy Dexter (Brown) Dunnell of that city. There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Eaton six children, as follows: Amasa Mason, Jr., who served as a lieutenant in the United States army during the Spanish-American War, and died of consumption contracted during his service in the Philippine Islands; William Dunnell, also served in Spanish-American War, a graduate of the Harvard Law School, and editor of the "Harvard Law Review," married to Mrs. Maude McIntosh Porter; Sara Brown, now Mrs. Martin More and the mother of one child, Evelyn, Mr. More being an instructor in fine arts at Harvard University ; Charles Curtis, associated with the General Electric Company at Schenectady, New York, married Miss Louise Herreshoff; Lewis Dia- mond, died in Nevada; Amy Brown, who married Frank Decker Watson, of Haverford, Pennsylvania, Associate Professor of Sociology in Haverford College, to whom she has borne two children, Mason H. and Roger Eaton.
It seems appropriate to close this brief appreciation of Mr. Eaton with a number of the tributes that came in such quantities from his friends and associates at the time of his death, thus allowing those who knew him best and can speak with most authority to have the final word in his praise. The resolution passed upon that occasion by the First Regiment and First Bat- tery, Rhode Island Detached Militia Veteran Association, was as follows:
On the third of October, 1914, Conrade Amasa Mason Eaton answered to the roll call in another world. A member of one of the prominent families of the State, a grad- uate of Brown University, he was a sincere and earnest patriot, and responded promptly to President Lincoln's call for troops in April, 1861. He enlisted in Company C of the First Rhode Island Regiment, and with scrupulous fidelity attended to the duties imposed upon him by his enlistment, and became a good and efficient soldier, and served faith- fully with the regiment until it was mustered out of service. He took the greatest inter-
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est in the formation of this Veteran Association, and never failed in attending our reunions, and for many years was a member of the executive committee. He was always ready to respond to any call for his opinion and advice on matters that were brought before the association, and took pleasure in preparing records of events connected with the regiment. In 1904 he was elected president of the Association, and while president gave a cordial invitation to the Association to hold our annual reunion at his house, "Oaklands." in the northwesterly part of Providence, on July 21, 1905. The association can never forget the hearty, whole-souled reception given to it in his home by Comrade Eaton and his wife and the members of his family, and the generous hospitality with which we were treated and made to feel that his house was for the time the home of the regiment. At one annual reunion, in 1906, the Association showed its sincere apprecia- tion of this warmhearted hospitality by unanimously voting that Mrs. Eaton shall be called an honorary member of the Association. In 1911 Comrade Eaton again invited the Association to hold our annual reunion at his house and we all remember the welcome we received there and the splendid entertainment that was given us.
Comrade Eaton stood very high in his profession, and was always ready to devote his time and his knowledge of the law to the best interests of his city and of his State. The Legislature appointed him for many years a member of the commission to repre- sent this State in the effort to introduce uniformity into the statute laws of the several States of the Union, and he was eminently successful in the work he did, especially in securing uniformity in the laws relating to bills of exchange.
This Association wishes at this time to enter on its records its sincere grief at the loss of our former comrade, and to convey to Mrs. Eaton and her children our heartfelt sympathy for them in their bereavement.
Voted, That the above minute be adopted and entered on the records of the Associa- tion, and that the secretary be instructed to sign a copy and send it to Mrs. Eaton.
Another tribute which should be quoted is that which appeared as an editorial in "The News" of Providence, for October 5, 1914, and which read:
Not only his own city, but the whole country, loses a valuable citizen in the death of Amasa M. Eaton. He was probably the best known member of the Rhode Island bar outside of the State, and his study and work were on the broadest possible lines. Mr. Eaton happily combined study and public service. He was a man who made up his own mind as to which side was right on a controverted point, and defeat was by him as lightly thought of as victory ; probably because he believed that some defeats were even more useful than victories.
As a young man, Mr. Eaton served in the Legislature, and later in the Common Council and Board of Aldermen. His work in behalf of uniformity of legislation was of great value to the commercial interests of the whole country. The people of the State will not soon forget his valuable contributions to the agitation for constitutional reform. Mr. Eaton had all the qualities which go to make ideal citizenship. He proved all things ; he feared neither opinions nor the men who stood behind them, and his sterling independence in all things never made him enemies, because in all controversies, though noted for the earnestness with which he maintained his convictions, he was ever a con- siderate and courteous opponent.
A personal friend, the editor of "The Journal," of Providence, thus speaks of Mr. Eaton in an editorial in that paper, and with his words we bring this sketch to a close:
Mr. Eaton was by training and temper, as well as in personal appearance, "a lawyer of the old school." He was widely read in the law, had a special fondness for constitu- tional questions, and labored unstintingly for the cause of uniform legislation.
Controversy never dismayed him ; an enemy's superiority of numbers or resources never held him back from what he regarded as a righteous attack. He had the courage of his convictions and was accustomed to present them with vigor and confidence. He retained, withal, a native dignity and courtesy that will be gratefully remembered by his friends. He was an extraordinarily good citizen, and his death is a distinct loss to Provi- dence.
Edward Parkinson
T THE LATE Edward Parkinson, of Providence, Rhode Island, was a native of England, born in 1839; at Manchester, the great center of the textile industry of the British Empire. The name Parkinson appears to be of Scotch origin, and was well represented among the Scotch-Irish immigrants who came from Londonderry, in the North of Ireland, and set- tled in Londonderry, New Hampshire, very early in the eighteenth century. Representatives of this family did valiant and effective service during the war for American independence, and have been noted for high qualities of citizenship throughout the generations.
This description may be applied with great propriety to the character of the late Edward Parkinson, who died at his home in Providence, August 27, 1897. He was the youngest son of Robert and Ann Parkinson, of Man- chester, and under their care as a youth received very good educational advantages, attending the public schools of his native city. While still a youth he entered upon a seven years' apprenticeship at tool making, and became a skilled worker, in metal. After completing his apprenticeship he engaged in the manufacture of tools in a small way in Manchester, and was subsequently settled in the same line of endeavor in Liverpool, England. He was about thirty years of age when he removed to America, accompanied by his bride, and located in Providence, Rhode Island, where he continued to follow his trade for some time as a journeyman. Subsequently he went into business on his own account, and in 1871 established the business which is still conducted under his name, The Edward Parkinson Manufacturing Company, which makes a specialty of mill supplies and the manufacturing of loom forks, reed hooks, burling irons, and other requirements in the weav- ing business. Mr. Parkinson was blessed with high native mechanical gifts, and'was very skillful in all matter of working iron, which occupied his time during the greater part of his active life. He made a name for himself in Providence, where he was highly respected. While he could not fail to appreciate the commendation of his fellows, Mr. Parkinson did not seek for any political honors or participate in public affairs. He preferred the quiet of his happy home during his leisure moments. He was a deacon of the old Richmond Street Evangelical Free Congregational Church, and was ever ready to promote any undertaking which promised to advance the welfare and moral improvement of the community.
He married, in Manchester, England, Prudence M. Etchells, who accompanied him to this country, and still survives him, residing in Provi- dence. To Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson was born a daughter, Prudence M. Parkinson, who is now the wife of George C. Clark, who continues the great industry established by Mr, Parkinson. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have a son, Edward Parkinson Clark.
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