USA > Rhode Island > Memorial encyclopedia of the state of Rhode Island > Part 38
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The first great international triumph of Mr. Corliss, when his success began to be recognized upon something like the scale that it deserved, was at the World's Exposition held at Paris in the year 1867, when he won the highest award that was granted in that department, the first prize in a com-
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petition of the one hundred most famous engine builders in the world. The words of Mr. J. Scott Russell, the designer and builder of the huge steam- ship. "Great Eastern," that afterwards laid the Atlantic cable, and who was sent by the English government as one of its commissioners to the exposi- tion, deserve quotation, written by him, as they were, in the report sent by him to his government. Speaking of the valve gear of the Corliss engine Mr. Russell said: "A mechanism as beautiful as the human hand. It re- leases or retains its grasp on the feeding valve, and gives a greater or less dose of steam in nice proportion to. each varying want. The American engine of Corliss everywhere tells of wise forethought, judicious propor- tions and execution and exquisite contrivance." On January II, 1870, just one hundred years after Watt had patented his steam engine, Mr. Corliss was awarded the Rumford medals and it was upon this occasion that Dr. Asa Gray, the president of the academy that awarded the medals, remarked that "no invention since Watt's time has so enhanced the efficiency of the steam engine as this for which the Rumford medal is now presented." In 1872 the State of Rhode Island appointed Mr. Corliss its commissioner to take charge of the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, and he was chosen one of the executive committee appointed to look after the preliminaries. Upon the great task of arranging the exhibition, he worked with his usual indefatigable energy and it was his suggestion that the Centennial Board of Finance be organized, a body which had no little to do with the insurance of the financial success of the exhibition. It was also in his own depart- ment as engineer that Mr. Corliss contributed largely to the success of the great fair, and it was he that supplied, after the plans of all other competitors proved inadequate, the great fourteen hundred horsepower engine which supplied the power used in Machinery Hall. This engine, unequalled in size at that time, was installed by Mr. Corliss at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars to himself and without additional expenditure to the exposition. This great engine was afterwards used to operate the Pullman Car Works at Chicago. The Corliss Company supplied the United States government with machinery during the Civil War. When the "Monitor" was being constructed it was found that a large ring must be made, upon which the turret of the "Monitor" could revolve, and the Corliss Engine Works were found to be one of the very few plants in the country that had the necessary machinery large enough to "turn" up the large ring. When Mr. Corliss found out what the work was for he put aside other work, worked his plant day and night to get this important ring completed, which was done on time, sent to New York, placed on the "Monitor" and the "Monitor" was thereby enabled to go forth and meet the "Merrimac" in that historic naval fight. Mr. Corliss always took pride in the fact that he was in no small measure responsible for the successful outcome of that historic fight.
The practice, already noticed, among some European manufacturers of imitating the Corliss engine in their own shops and then placing his name upon them led to a remarkable and somewhat amusing event which re- dounded greatly to his honor. This was the award to Mr. Corliss of the Grand Diploma of Honor by the Vienna Exposition at Vienna in 1873, although he was not even an exhibitor. This surprising action was ex-
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plained by the fact that the European manufacturers above mentioned ex- hibited their engines with the Corliss name upon them, and displayed so great a superiority over all their competitors that the authorities held it to be fitting that the original designer should get the benefit of genius. An- other honor, perhaps the greatest of all done to M :. Corliss, was the con- ferring upon him by the Institute of France by public proclamation, March 10, 1879, of the Montyon prize for the year 1878, the most coveted prize for mechanical achievement awarded in Europe. He received this honor, by a peculiar coincidence, on the thirtieth anniversary of the granting of his first patent.
Although it might well be supposed that the demands made upon his time and energies by the inventive work, the superintendence of the great industrial works, and the business with every part of the world would have been so exacting as to have precluded the possibility of Mr. Corliss taking part in any other activity, yet, as a matter of fact, he was keenly alive to everything that was going on in his adopted city and State and took a lead- ing part in many movements undertaken there. Especially was this true in the case of politics in which he was a leader in the Republican party, of the principles and policies of which he was a strong supporter. He was elected three consecutive times to the Rhode Island General Assembly as the representative from North Providence, his term of service including the three years 1868-69-70. In 1876 he was chosen presidential elector, casting his vote for President Hayes. In the matter of his religious belief he was a Congregationalist, and attended the Charles Street Church in Providence from the time of its organization. He was keenly interested in the cause of religion and gave liberally both to his own and to other churches.
Beyond doubt the service done by Mr. Corliss for the material advance- ment of his fellows was a great one: for the material advancement directly, and indirectly for the intellectual and spiritual advancement, for all material progress reacts upon the mind and spirit particularly such as tend to bring the ends of the earth into communication and teach strange peoples toler- ance first, and then love for each other. And truly there are few of the de- vices of men that have done more to bring this about than the steam engine. Those men, therefore, who have labored at the perfection of this and the other wonderful contrivances of the great scientific epoch of history may certainly lay claim to much of the credit for the growth of sympathy and understanding among peoples that has taken place during the same period, and of these Mr. Corliss deserves to stand high in our regard. Of him a local publication said, immediately after his death, that: "The community loses one of its master minds and a man who has done more for the develop- ment of the steam engine than anyone who has yet lived in this country. His fame was world-wide and his years were devoted to the very end to the one purpose of his life. To say that he has left a void which it is impossible to fill is simply to reveal the poverty of language in the presence of an irre- parable loss."
But there was another manner in which the influence of Mr. Corliss was effective, namely through the subtle medium of personality. No one could look into the well marked, expressive face without feeling himself in the
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presence of a man of strength, of one who had fought and mastered diffi- culties which might have overcome another man, or without perceiving the still rarer quality of tolerance and charity for all nien. In his relations with his fellows was realized the earthly part of the message to the waiting shep- herds of peace and good will toward men. It has already been mentioned that he possessed the power of persuasion, but this was by no means con- fined to the realm of business, extending rather into every department of life so that others hearkened unto and believed him with an instinctive depend- ence upon his wisdom and honor.
Mr. Corliss was twice married, the first time in January, 1839, to Phebe F. Frost, a native of Canterbury, Connecticut, and a daughter of Daniel and Louisa (Clark) Frost, of that place. Mrs. Corliss died on March 5, 1859, and in December, 1866, he married Emily A. Shaw, of Newburyport, Massa- chusetts. Mr. Corliss was the father of two children, both of whom were born to his first wife. They are Maria Louisa, now residing in Providence, and George Frost, who makes his home in Nice, France.
Charles Sereno Smith
T 'HE rapid and almost spectacular rise into prominence of some of our successful men is such that we are often tempted to imagine that such achievement is the result of powers scarcely normal, as we are acquainted with the normal in the average man, and that it smacks rather of the miraculous and an intervening fate, so easily, apparently, are obstacles overcome, and so completely does every factor seem to bend itself and contribute to the foreordained result. In the great majority of cases, however, such appearance is entirely deceptive and the brilliant out- come is the result of events as logical and orderly as any in our most com- mon experience, and of effort as unremitting and arduous as any accom- plished by the average man. Often the most startling coup has been planned and pondered through long and dark preliminaries, like the meteor which only bursts into spectacular display after a protracted and chilly journey through outer space. Yet though such is the case and though a large proportion of the success won by every man must be thus explained, yet there is still a margin left which must be referred to unusual talents or powers on the part of specially able men. This is particularly true where the achievement is in many different lines and reflects a remarkable versa- tility and when it is of so complete a character that even the intervention of untimely death cannot diminish its value or detract from its completeness. It was thus in the case of Charles Sereno Smith, the distinguished gentle- man whose name heads this brief appreciation, and whose success was of such a varied character that he might well stand as a type of Carlyle's dic- tum that great ability expresses itself almost equally well in any direction that it attempts, Although his rise to influence was doubtless the result of consistent effort and labor, although there were doubtless times when he felt discouragement and grieved for his limitations, for how else can we explain the kindly tolerance, the broad human sympathy and understand- ing which he exhibited in all his checkered intercourse with his fellowmen, and which can only rise in tasting of their trials and difficulties, yet in spite of this we must still grant that he was endowed with exceptional talents and a nature sufficiently strong to exert them to their fullest and always in the direction of the good.
Charles Sereno Smith was born July 21, 1867, at Waterbury, Connecti- cut, the third of the four children of Carlos and Isabella (Maltby) Smith, old and highly respected residents of that city. His parents were both members of good old New England families and his father was a well known man in the community, a State Senator and a successful manufacturer. He died at New Haven, Connecticut. The three children other than the Mr. Smith of this sketch were: Stella, deceased, who became Mrs. James Pres- ton Strong, of New Haven, Connecticut; Douglas; and Frederick C., of Honolulu, Hawaii Islands.
While still very young Charles Sereno Smith accompanied his parents
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who removed to New Haven, Connecticut, and it was in this city that he received his education, attending the excellent public schools for the pur- pose. After completing his studies in the high school he 'entered, at the age of sixteen years, the employ of the Winchester Arms Company in the capacity of machinist, and there remained for something above two years, becoming familiar with machines and the principles of mechanical construc- tion. This experience he greatly increased and perfected when later he be- came associated with the Thompson-Houston Electrical Company of Bos- ton. He was sent by the Thompson-Houston people to Rio Janeiro in Brazil to establish a large electrical plant for the Brazilian government. The re- sponsibilities of this task, almost too heavy, one would think, even in normal circumstances, for a mere youth, were rendered almost insurmountable in this case by the fact that there broke into action, shortly after his arrival there, the revolution which was directed against and finally overthrew the empire of Dom Pedro. It may be imagined what the difficulties were which confronted Mr. Smith in his efforts to complete a contract with a govern- ment the very existence of which was problematical, but he persevered with the utmost courage and consistency and finally accomplished his task to the entire satisfaction of the contractee and to the admiration of his own employers. He remained in South America until comparative quiet had been restored to Brazil and then set out for a trip around the world. It was at the time of the Paris Exposition, and Mr. Smith went from Brazil to Eng- land and then to Paris, where he remained for a time and then went back to England and sailed to Australia through the Suez Canal. He spent a year in Australia, mostly at Sidney and Melbourne. Having relatives at Hono- lulu, he went to Hawaii, touching at Samoa on the way. He spent several weeks in Honolulu, where he has a brother who is engaged in the railroad business.
Upon his return to the United States and to Waterbury, Connecticut, Mr. Smith accepted a position as designer and assistant superintendent with the American Mills Company, engaged in the manufacture of elastic webbing. He continued in this employ for four or five years and was con- stantly extending his reputation as an expert in his line and a man of origi- nal mind and genius. Receiving an excellent offer from the Edgerton Manu- facturing Company of Shirley, Massachusetts, he became associated with that concern, and remained for a few years, making his home in the Massa- chusetts city. About the year 1898, however, a new phase of Mr. Smith's achievement was initiated and he began his highly successful career as an organizer of industrial concerns, displaying a talent as a business man not less than in his technical calling or as inventor. The fact of his having married some years previously a Providence lady was undoubtedly the chief factor in directing his attention to that city as the scene of his new enterprise, but, however, he came there in 1898 and made it his home during the remainder of his life. At about the same time he established the Smith Webbing Company at Woodlawn, Rhode Island, and held in that the offices of president, treasurer and general manager until his death. He was also the organizer of the Tubular Woven Fabric Company of Pawtucket and the
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Chernack Manufacturing Company of the same city, and held important offices in both of them. Besides these industrial companies, he was a direc- tor of the Manufacturers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Rhode Island.
Despite the great demands made on Mr. Smith's time and energy in the superintendence of the business of these great and successful concerns, he found it possible to take a very considerable part in the social life of the city and was a prominent figure in the club life thereof. He was a member of the Turk's Head and Rhode Island Country clubs of Providence, the Providence Art Club, and of the Pawtucket and T. K. clubs of Pawtucket. In his religious belief he was a Congregationalist, attending for a number of years the Central Congregational Church in Providence and proving himself a liberal supporter of its philanthropic work.
It was while a resident of Waterbury, on November 14, 1893, that Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Elizabeth Parsons, of Providence, Rhode Island, a daughter of P. F. and Helen (Bronson) Parsons, old and highly regarded residents of that city. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith was born one son, Emerson Parsons Smith, now a student at Yale University, class of 1917.
The death of Mr. Smith on December 2, 1913, when he was but forty-six years of age, cut short a most brilliant career in the time of his greatest achievement and when the future seemed most propitious. His life cannot be properly identified with any one community, not even with Providence, where he spent the last fifteen years or so of it. His work should rather be referred to the records of a whole district such, let us say, as Southern New England, upon the industrial development of which he had an effect. He was a man who possessed in a large degree the constructive imagination of the inventor, which, in his case, however, expressed itself in the greatest variety of directions. It was this versatility that made the influence of Mr. Smith at once so great and so difficult to accurately estimate. But though it involves this difficulty, there is no doubt whatever about the fact that it is large, perhaps more in virtue of his personality and character than in virtue of the concrete things that he accomplished. He may long remain in the memory of the many communities with which he was identified as an exam- ple of union of venturesomeness and prudence that seems best calculated to result in worthy success.
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George Mortimer Griffin
H OW worth has won its way from the humblest beginnings up the ladder of success is no uncommon story in this western land of ours, but like many others of the common things of life it is perennially interesting to us and with each repeti- tion, each reappearance under new circumstances and condi- tions, we feel a reawakened sympathy, a renewed wonder- ment concerning the forces and traits of character that have thus triumphed over obstacles and difficulties and won recognition from a none too willing world. In the career of George Mortimer Griffin, whose death on December 17, 1910, in Providence, Rhode Island, removed from that city one of its most public-spirited citizens and successful merchants, we may note clearly the qualities that forged a path for him from small things to large, from obscurity to a conspicuous place in the regard of the community.
Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, January 12, 1849, George Mortimer Griffin was a son of Ira S. and Betsy (Bucklin) Griffin, well known residents of that city, though not natives of Pennsylvania. Mr. Griffin, Sr., was born in New Haven, Oswego county, New York, and had been a schoolmaster in his early life, but afterwards became a farmer. His wife was a member of the Bucklin family of Providence, Rhode Island, the city in which her son made his home for the major part of his life, and with the business interests of which he identified himself so closely. George Mortimer Griffin was the eldest of three children, the others being Mary A., a resident of Providence, and Alice, now Mrs. George W. Tupper, of Edgewood, Rhode Island. When Mr. Griffin was still a very young child, his parents moved to the town of North East, Pennsylvania, from Erie, and it was here that he was educated in the local schools and grew to manhood. He was an enterprising lad and possessed a shrewd eye for opportunities and a prompt decision in taking advantage of them. An uncle of his, Mr. C. H. Morse, conducted a thriving business as commission merchant in Providence and when he was no more than eighteen years of age, Mr. Griffin engaged in supplying him with produce, which he shipped from North East, Pennsylvania. This relation continued for a time and in 1871, when he was twenty-two years of age, his uncle, being much pleased with his business-like methods, invited him to come to Providence and accept a partnership in his business there. Of this invitation the young man hastened to avail himself and thus it came about that he found himself a partner in a flourishing business in early youth. The commodities dealt in especially by the firm were butter, eggs and poultry and the trade in these rapidly increased after the enterprising young man became a factor in the situation. Indeed the partnership was a great suc- cess from the outset and eight years later, in 1879, when Mr. Morse desired to withdraw from active life, Mr. Griffin was able to buy him out and con- tinue the business alone. The development of the business continued un- interruptedly after this event and the house became known, not only as one
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of the oldest and most reputable of its kind in the city, but as one of the largest as well. At the time of his becoming sole owner, Mr. Griffin re- moved the establishment from its original location to No. 183 Canal street, Providence, where it has remained ever since and where Mr. Griffin's two sons have been successfully conducting the business since their father's death. While Mr. Griffin was a prominent figure-in the mercantile world in virtue of his position as head of this important house, it was not the only direction in which he was a factor in the material development of the city. Perhaps even more conspicuous were his operations in real estate which were carried on in such a manner that they contributed to the progress of the community not a little. He was extremely keen sighted in all business transactions and his judgment in selecting real estate for investment was of the best. He came thus, eventually, to own a large amount of the most valuable property in the city, and left at his death a very large and valuable estate. So great were the demands made by his business upon the time and strength of Mr. Griffin, that it was out of the question for him to take the part that his inclinations urged him to in other aspects of the community's life. He was a Republican in politics, but did not take part in the conduct of local affairs and possessed no ambition whatever to hold office.
On April 26, 1877, Mr. Griffin was united in marriage with Annie Louise Taft, of Uxbridge, Massachusetts. The Taft family is particularly promi- nent in that part of the State and ex-President William Howard Taft is a member of it. Mrs. Griffin died in Providence, December 18, 1898. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Griffin as follows: I. Clarence A., now one of the owners of the old commission house; married Rhetta M. Jones, who has borne him two children: Charlotte Louise and Clarence A., Jr. 2. Bessie M., who resides with her aunt, Miss Mary A. Griffin, in the old Grif- fin homestead on Dexter street, Providence. 3. Alice L., who also resides with the same aunt. 4. Ira S., who with his brother conducts the old busi- ness ; married Myrtie Feltham, of Providence.
Mr. Griffin was in every sense of the word a self-made man. Starting as a youth in the country, shipping produce to the city, he worked his way up, step by step, until he reached a position of prominence and influence in so important a city as Providence, and established a reputation second to none for probity and upright business methods. Although it was out of the question for him to participate to any extent in the social life of the place, he had a strong taste for informal social intercourse and was a delightful host and a charming companion. He was the fortunate, but deserving possessor of a very large number of devoted friends, whose devotion he returned in kind. But there was no happiness that he prized so greatly as that he gained from the society of his own home and family and it was there by his own hearthstone that he elected to spend such time as his exacting business spared him. In all the relations of life he gave an exam- ple of right doing that may well be prized by his fellow citizens.
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Captain Rathan A. Briggs
T HAT genius and ability in men is rather a potential power ready to find its way into the realm of the actual against every obstacle and express itself in any form so that the poet is only the poet by chance, as it were. and might have been a general or business man under other circumstances, is a view held by many and which has for its sponsor no less an authority than. Thomas Carlyle. And when we peruse the lives of the successful men of this country and note the many departments of activity in which they achieve names for themselves, and the wonderful versatility of their accomplishment, we are prone to agree. The alternate theory is that genius is a slight thing, however beautiful, depending, like the soap bubble, upon a nicely balanced set of conditions, but ready to burst and vanish upon the least change. The actual truth is probably somewhere between the two and may be best expressed by saying that while ability will make itself felt to some degree in whatever path is open to it, yet its full and most characteristic expression can only occur in one.
The career of such a man as Captain Nathan A. Briggs, master pilot of the port of Providence, Rhode Island, for many years, is well calculated to illustrate the truth of this contention. Captain Briggs was a man of the most various talents, who took part in the most diverse activities and made a success in all, yet it was none the less true that his own tastes ever led him to the sea and boats and all that accompanies these, and that it was when engaged in something that had to do with sailing or navigation that he was at his best. His death at Providence on May 30, 1915, was felt as a serious loss to the whole community and especially to its harbor and water front interests.
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