USA > Rhode Island > Memorial encyclopedia of the state of Rhode Island > Part 6
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Governor Dyer married, October 8, 1833, Anna Jones Hoppin, daughter of Thomas C. Hoppin, Esq., and granddaughter of former Governor Wil- liam Jones, a prominent man in his day, captain of Marines in the Revolu- tionary War, and who was taken prisoner at Fort Moultrie. He is said to have been the first officer who ever wore the American uniform abroad, when he was sent as the bearer of dispatches to the commissioners then in France. He made the voyage in the frigate "Providence," sailing from Providence, and he was presented to Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette. Governor and Mrs. Dyer were the parents of seven children.
Notwithstanding his active business and public career, Governor Dyer was an invalid for more than thirty-five years preceding his death. During his travels in search of health he crossed the Atlantic eighteen times, and in 1854 visited Egypt. He had been in all the places of note on the usual routes of European travel, and though traveling for health always had his eyes open, and note-book in hand, to glean whatever of value or interest he could preserve for others. He was an effective speaker, and made a large number of public addresses, on political, educational, musical and miscellaneous subjects. In the "Rhode Island Schoolmaster" of November, 1861, he pub- lished a charming sketch of his school day experiences at "Black Hill," and in 1864 published a book entitled "A Summer's Travel to Find a German Home." Governor Dyer died May 17, 1890.
Robert E. Drayton
Robert E. Brayton
F ANCIENT and honorable New England ancestry, and inheriting the best traits of his sires, Robert E. Brayton lived a most useful and exemplary life. His business life was connected with the interests of Riverpoint and no single individual, his father excepted, did more to promote its wel- fare. Highly respected and esteemed for his many public and private duties, his accidental death on March 4, 1902, was regarded as a public calamity.
Rhode Island has benefited from an early day by the residence within her borders of many of the Brayton name, a list of the leading public men of the State since the middle of the seventeenth century including many of the name. In the professions and in business life they have been equally prominent. The coat-of-arms of the Brayton family is as follows: Azure, two chevrons (or) between as many mullets, or.
Lodowick (2) Brayton, of Cranston and Providence, 1815-24, was one of the leading men of his day, rising to positions of prominence and respon- sibility in municipal government, in the financial and in the business world. His mantle fell upon his sons, to one of whom, Robert E. Brayton, this appreciation of a good man is dedicated.
The line of descent is from Francis Brayton, an early settler of Ports- mouth, Rhode Island, where he was made a freeman in 1665. He later became commissioner, and several years served as deputy to the General Court. His wife, Mary, bore him two sons. Francis (2) Brayton, son of the founder, was made a freeman of Portsmouth, in 1672. He married Mary Fish, and was the father of Thomas (I) Brayton, of Portsmouth and East Greenwich, Rhode Island, who married Mary Freeborn. Their son, Thomas (2) Brayton, was a large mill owner of Washington village, town of Coventry, Rhode Island. He married Mary Phillips, of Portsmouth. Their son, Jonathan Brayton, inherited a large part of his father's estate, married Freelove Brayton and was the father of Lodowick (1) Brayton, the grandfather of Robert E. Brayton. Lodowick (1) Brayton, born in Wash- ington village, May 27, 1770, married (second) Elizabeth, daughter of Deacon Stephen Knight, of Scituate.
Their son, Lodowick (2) Brayton, born in Cranston in 1815, died at his home on High street, Providence, Rhode Island, June 21, 188.4. Reared on the farm it was not until he had attained middle age that he became identified with the business interests of Providence. As the years passed, his horizon widened, until he became financially one of the most solid and substantial men of the city. He was president of the New England Butt Company, president of the Union Horse Railway Company, member of S. Colvin & Company, member of the L. Brayton Company, president of the Union Railway Company. In 1868 he was elected alderman, and reelected in 1870- 71-72. From October, 1876, to November, 1880, he was water commis-
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Robert @. Brapton
sioner; from 1872 until his death, trustee of the mortgage of the Providence & Springfield railroad; commissioner in 1883 for building the bridge over the Seekonk river. Tall, large, well proportioned and commanding in figure, genial and kindly-hearted in nature, he was loved personally as greatly as he was admired for his enterprising and progressive business ability. He was a member of the Baptist church, and to the Oak Lawn con- gregation presented a house of worship, purchasing the old Quaker Meeting House for their use.
He married (first) Ruth, daughter of Matthew Sweet, who bore him six children. He married (second) Laura N., daughter of Stukley Turner, who bore him two daughters.
Robert E. Brayton, second son of Lodowick (2) Brayton, and his first wife, Ruth (Sweet) Brayton, was born at Cranston, Rhode Island, June II, 1843, died March 4, 1902, his death caused by a train as he was crossing from the station at Riverpoint to his near-by factory. When still a young boy he was placed in school at East Greenwich Academy, there continuing a student for several years. He then completed a course at Scholfields Busi- ness College in Providence, after which he became associated in business with his father in his enterprises in and around Providence. At the age of twenty-one years he was placed in charge of the foundry at Riverpoint, removing from his father's shoulders the cares of supervising that plant. He thoroughly understood the foundry business, having learned it from the bottom as a workman. There was a strong feeling of comradeship existing between father and son and each depended upon and trusted the other implic- itly. Prior to the removal of the machine shop to Riverpoint he and his father were sole owners of the foundry, but at that time became interested in the machine, his brother, William, acquiring an interest in the foundry. The corporation, Stephen Colvin & Company, operated the machine shops, the L. Brayton Company owning and operating the foundry. In both of these corporations the Braytons were large stockholders, especially the latter, which they entirely controlled. Both plants were located at Riverpoint.
Robert E. Brayton developed strong business ability, and after the death of his father in 1884, succeeded to the position he held as one of the solid and substantial men of Providence. His sound judgment and wise counsel was constantly sought by his friends and business associates. At the time of his death, in addition to his large Riverpoint interests, he was a director of the Globe Bank of Providence, and for many years was a director of the Centreville Bank. For a number of years he made his home at Riverpoint, but the last decade of his life he lived in Providence, selling his handsome Riverpoint home to Stephen S. Colvin. His home in Providence was at No. 459 Broadway and there lie was the happiest of men, his tastes thoroughly domestic. He loved his home, and was very fond of a good horse, owning and driving several during his lifetime. Outside of his Riverpoint interests, there was little that attracted him with the exception of real estate and in that he invested heavily. He was of quiet, retiring disposition, but most genial, kindly-hearted, approachable, and charitable. He was a lover of good literature, especially fond of French history and biography. In political faith he was an ardent Republican. He continued
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Robert &. Brapion
in active business until his death, his last errand to Riverpoint being on business and to save time he took a short cut to the factory, as he had often done before, with the sad result, as told.
Mr. Brayton married, December 12, 1866, Lavina, daughter of William and Hannah P. (Cudworth) Elsbree, her father a contractor and builder of railroads, bridges, dams and roads. Mrs. Brayton survives her husband, a resident of Providence, where almost her entire life has been spent. She is a woman of education and culture, a member of the Rhode Island Women's Club, and of the First Universalist Church.
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Dabio Ring, Att. 2
D R. DAVID KING, distinguished in his profession and as a litterateur, was a worthy representative of the King family, of Puritan origin, noted for their public spirit and for their Christian and social virtues, and conspicuous in the annals of Newport, Rhode Island, for more than a century past.
The head of the Newport branch of the family was the eminent Dr. David King, Sr., who was born in 1774, in the town of Raynham, Massachusetts. His early life was passed amid influences auspicious to the growth of the best elements of character. He was prepared for college at a grammar school under the direction of the Rev. Peres Forbes, LL. D., in September, 1792, entered Rhode Island College (now Brown University), and graduated in 1796. Choosing medicine as his profes- sion, he became a pupil of Dr. James Thatcher, of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Diverted by some accidental circumstances from the navy, which he was inclined to enter as surgeon, in the autumn of 1799 he sought professional employment in Newport, Rhode Island. Early in his professional career, his attention was drawn to the consideration of the vaccine disease, then first introduced into the United States. Regarding it as an invaluable discovery, he proceeded, notwithstanding the strong opposition of popular prejudice, to benefit his fellow citizens by the application of the newly discovered principle in his science, and in October, 1800, he vaccinated Walter Cornell, of Newport, who was the first person vaccinated in the State of Rhode Island. For several years he held the appointment of sur- geon to a detachment of United States troops stationed at Fort Wolcott. He was one of the earliest promoters of the Rhode Island Medical Society, in which he successively held the offices of censor, vice-president and presi- dent. He married Anne, daughter of General James Gordon, of Plainfield, Connecticut, and they were the parents of five children. Dr. King died at Newport, November 14, 1836.
Dr. David King, Jr., second son of Dr. David, Sr., and Anne (Gordon) King, was born in Newport, Rhode Island, May 12, 1812. He was prepared for college at a classical school in Newport, and entered Brown University, from which he was graduated in 1831, with second honors. He began the study of medicine under the direction of his father, and also attended lectures at the Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, from which he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1834. He commenced the practice of his profession in his native town, and there continued to the end of his life. He entered upon his career just as Newport was beginning to assume the position which it has now long occupied, as a leading place of summer resort in the United States. His practice early became extensive, not among his fellow townsmen alone, but also among the summer visitors, who would naturally compare his methods with those of physicians of other places, and he won the confidence and esteem of families from nearly every part of the country, and even from foreign lands. Thoroughly educated and devoted
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Davio King
to his profession, he also possessed in an unusual degree the kindly disposi- tion, the varied intelligence and the exalted character which made the trusted friend of persons in every condition of life. In 1850 Dr. King went abroad for professional improvement, and spent a year and a half largely in the hospitals of London, Paris and Dublin, and in observing the most approved methods of medical practice. He also made important additions to his well-stored medical library. In 1872, with his family, he again visited Europe for a somewhat longer period, making this visit the opportunity for still wider professional observations in Great Britain, France, Italy and Ger- many.
Dr. King became a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society in 1834, and soon began to make special investigations as to medical science and practice, and for which he won society prizes in 1836, 1837 and 1839, his prize essays being all published. He also filled in succession nearly every office in the society, was repeatedly chosen president, and three times delivered the address at its annual meetings. He was also one of the founders of the American Medical Association, and a frequent attendant at its meetings. On the creation of the State Board of Health by the Legis- lature of Rhode Island in 1877, he was appointed one of its members, and filled the office of president for the remainder of his days. He felt a warm interest in the objects which this board was designed to promote, and in 1880 went a third time to Europe, and informed himself fully as to sanitary methods and regulations.
Though occupied through life with a large professional practice, Dr. King also gave much attention to the study of American history, especially of the history of his native State, with which no man of his time was more familiar. He read numerous papers before the Rhode Island Historical Society, on characters and events in Colonial history. He was also the lead- ing founder of the Newport Historical Society in 1853, and was its presi- dent to the end of his life, and while in England prosecuted important inquiries relating to the local history of the town. He was also a member of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, and a contributor to its journal. He devoted much time to the Redwood Library in Newport. of which he was long the president, and to which he left a legacy in his will, as he did also to the Newport Historical Society. In the creation and organi- zation of the Island Cemetery, in his native city, he took a leading part, and by his judicious counsel and exertions he contributed materially toward making it the beautiful spot it has now become. He was chosen president of its corporation at its organization in 1848, and continued to hold the office until his death, a period of nearly thirty-four years.
In addition to his medical library, Dr. King made a large and costly collection of books of general literature, especially of English and American history. He was a member of the ancient parish of Trinity Church of New- port, and did much to promote its prosperity, and to all the higher social and moral interests of his native city he was warmly devoted. Dr. King was much attached to the place of his education, and at the college com- mencement in 1881, less than a year before his death, he attended the meet- ing of his class on the fiftieth anniversary of their graduation, and prepared
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Dabio Ring
for that occasion a touching tribute to the memory of his deceased class- mates, and to the honored instructors of his college days.
In 1837 Dr. King was married to Sarah Gibbs, daughter of Rev. Salmon Wheaton, D. D., of Newport, Rhode Island, and they were the parents of seven children, three sons and four daughters. Dr. King died at Newport, November 14, 1886.
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Henry Bomen Anthony
F ENRY BOWEN ANTHONY, statesman, journalist and eighteenth Governor of Rhode Island (1849-51), was born in Coventry, Rhode Island, April 1, 1815, son of William and Mary Kinnecut (Greenc) Anthony; grandson, on the maternal side, of James Greene, who was a member of the Society of Friends, and a lineal descendant of John Anthony, of Hampstead, England, from whence he emigrated to the New World, coming on the "Hercules," landing in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1634, and locating in Rhode Island about 1640, and of John Greene, one of the associates of Roger Williams, and an original purchaser of Shawo- mut, later called Old Warwick. William Anthony (father) was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and was the manager of the third cotton manu- factory erected in his native State.
Henry Bowen Anthony received a liberal education at a private school in Providence, entered Brown University in 1829, and was graduated there- from in 1833. He first directed his attention to the manufacture of cotton in Providence, joining his brother in this enterprise, and he spent the greater part of his time in Savannah, Georgia, where he was a casual contributor to newspapers and magazines. Journalistic work proving more to his liking than the manufacturing business, he turned his thoughts in that direction, and in 1838 assumed editorial charge of the Providence "Journal," to which he had contributed during his college days. His success as an editor being instant and marked, he acquired an interest in the publication in 1840, be- coming joint proprietor with Joseph Knowles and John W. Vose, and retained his proprietorship throughout life, the firm style becoming Knowles & Anthony in 1848, and Knowles, Anthony & Danielson in 1863. His jour- nalistic course in 1841-42, during the discussions which arose in the struggle to change the government of the State for the avowed purpose of securing an enlarged suffrage, and which brought the contestants, known as the "Dorrites" and "Algerines" to the verge of civil war, was marked by cour- tesy, sound common sense and practicability. As a champion of "law and order." he aided greatly in educating public opinion, and was largely respon- sible for the triumph of his party. He gave the "Journal," already one of the leading newspapers in New England, a still higher position in the jour- nalistic field, and tempting offers to edit newspapers in other cities frequently came to him.
Mr. Anthony was a genuine son of Rhode Island, and held closely to its traditions ; thinking no change in its landmarks desirable, he wished to pre- serve the institutions which its history had made memorable. He desired no extension of suffrage, and no change of commercial policy. In 1849 he was elected as a Whig to the governorship of the State, and held the office for two years; at the first election he received a majority of 1,547, and at the second 2,760. He declined a third term, and returned to his editorial work and devoted himself to it until 1854, in which year he travelled in Europe, and upon his return he again resumed his chosen line of work, his faithful labors building up greatly the Providence "Journal."
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henry Bowen Anthony
In 1859 the General Assembly elected him United States Scnator, and he was reelected five consecutive terms. He was elected as a Republican, but at the same time was not openly allied with the Abolitionists. Hc was a firm supporter of President Lincoln, and throughout the Civil War he gave ardent support to the government. He was chairman of the committee on public printing for twenty-two years, during which time the contract system was abolished and the great government printing office cstablished-thc largest printing house in the world. He suggested many reforms and re- strictive acts not carried out, and endeavored to have the public printing restricted to the legitimate demands of the government. From 1863 he served on the committee on naval affairs, and was for many years its senior member. In March, 1869, he was elected president pro tempore of the Sen- ate, and reelected in March, 1871, serving throughout the Forty-first and Forty-second Congresses ; and was again clected in 1883, but on account of ill health was obliged to declinc. He also served on committces on mines and mining and on post offices and post roads. He was a member of the congressional committee appointed to accompany the remains of President Lincoln to Illinois for interment in 1865; and was one of the Senators appointed to attend the funeral of General Winfield Scott in 1866. In the latter year he was a delegate to the Loyalist convention in Philadelphia.
Governor Anthony's style of oratory was eloquent and graceful, and repeatedly, upon the decease of members of the Senate, he was called on to deliver memorial addresses. Among his best known oratorical efforts were his address on the occasion of the presentation by the State of Rhode Island to the national government of the statues of Roger Williams and Nathanael Greene, which were placed in Statuary Hall in the capitol at Washington; and tributes to Stephen A. Douglas, delivered in the United States Scnate on July 9, 1861 ; to John R. Thompson, December 4, 1862; to William Pitt Fes- senden, December 14, 1869; to William A. Buckingham, in December, 1875; to Henry Wilson, January 21, 1876; and thrce addresses on Charles Sumner -on the announcement of his death in the Senate on his delivery of the Senator's body to the Governor of Massachusetts, and on the presentation by Senator Boutwell of resolutions of respect to Mr. Sumner's memory ; and on the occasion of his presenting to Congress a bill to provide for repairing and protecting the monument at Newport, Rhode Island, erectcd to De Tiernay, the commander of the naval forces sent out by France in 1780 to aid the Revolutionary cause. Governor Anthony left to Brown University the "Harris Collection of American poetry," numbering about six thousand volumes. This collection was begun by Albert G. Grecne, continued by Caleb Fiske Harris, and completed by Governor Anthony.
Governor Anthony was married, October 16, 1838, to Sarah Aborn, daughter of General Christopher Rhodes, of Pawtuxet, a descendant of Zachariah Rhodes, an associate of Roger Williams. She died in New York City, July 11, 1854. Governor Anthony died in Providence, Rhode Island, September 2, 1884. The President of the United States, a large number of Senators and the officials of his native State and city attended the funeral. A memorial volume was published by the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island in 1885.
Roscoe Ormsbee WHooD
T HE strong character, firmness and devotion to principle which ever characterized Roscoe O. Wood in every detail of his life, was exhibited even on his death bed, when, urged to allow his attendants to administer liquor to stimulate his failing powers, he said: "No, I have lived all my life with- out it." A contractor and builder in association with his father for many years, he established a reputation for relia- bility and integrity which independent of his high quality as a builder brought him a large patronage. Many of the fine residences of Warwick and Providence stand to-day as monuments to the skill and fine taste of the Woods, father and son. This branch of the Wood family early settled in Warwick, Rhode Island, where they held lands and favors by royal grant.
- Roscoe Ormsbee Wood was born in Providence, February 22, 1850, died in his native city, March 12, 1888, son of William Henry and Ann E. (Thornton) Wood, and grandson of Stukeley Wood, of Warwick, Rhode Island. . William Henry Wood, a contractor and builder, was head of a family of children: Roscoe O .; William ; Louis; Jane, married ( first) George Reynolds, (second) Professor Oliver Dorney, of Philadelphia ; Mary, mar- ried Curtis Reynolds.
Roscoe O. Wood attended public schools in Warwick, his parents mov- ing to that city when he was seven years of age. After completing his school years he began learning the carpenter's trade under his father's instruction, and in due time became an expert workman. As his father's eldest son he became his business partner, and until his death engaged in contracting and building in Warwick and Providence, principally in the latter city, their latter day home. The firm bore an honored name and erected many of the fine residences in their section of the city.
Roscoe Wood was a member of lodge and encampment of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows: member of the Cranston Street Baptist Church; the Order of Good Fellows; was exceedingly strict in his temper- ance principles, and of high moral character. He had many friends, was fond of his home, and through a wide course of reading became one of the well informed men of his community.
He married, at Providence, October 30, 1871, Rev. Moses H. Bixby. D. D., officiating, Lydia O. Pearce, daughter of Allen S. and Almira (Wight) Pearce, her father a man of education and culture, for many years a school teacher. He was a native of New York State, his wife of Rhode Island. They were the parents of Jason S., Willard A., Henry B., Lydia O., Ivanhoe G., and Herman S. Pearce. To Roscoe O. and I.ydia O. Wood there were born: Elizabeth Hill, married James R. Fairley; Arthur Pearce, now a jewelry manufacturer of Los Angeles, California, married (first) Anna Richards, who died leaving a daughter, Hazel Dean Wood, married (sec- ond) Christina Kiess; Henry Allen, who died September 9, 1876; Mabel
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Roscoe Ormsbee Caood
Emma, died July 3, 1881 ; Lydia Almira, married Eugene Cotton, and has a daughter Esther Christine; Ellen Stella, of Providence, a stenographer ; Ann Thornton, a teacher in the public schools of Providence. Mrs. Wood survives her husband, a widow, residing at 113 Laura street, Providence.
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