USA > Rhode Island > Memorial encyclopedia of the state of Rhode Island > Part 9
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There was a solid quality about Andrew A. Kimball which shone forth through every department of his life. He was an able business man and a successful merchant. He was highly regarded in the business world and it was in that world he was best known. He was a man of quiet domestic tastes, and outside of acting as church organist he held no society affiliations. His great interest was his home and there he spent the hours "off duty" and there found his greatest joy. He was a Republican in politics but never accepted public office. He was organist for the Church of the Messiah for several years, but later with his wife attended Grace Protestant Episcopal Church. He was very generous and kindly-hearted, holding the high regard of a very wide circle of friends.
Mr. Kimball married, June 15, 1864, Lucy Hammond Talbot, born July 5, 1833, who survives him, daughter of Samuel Hammond and Mary (Scott) Talbot, of East Machias, Maine. Two children were born to Andrew A. and Lucy Hammond (Talbot) Kimball: Mary Talbot, born March 2, 1867, died December 19, 1914, and Walter Hammond, born May 10, 1870, graduate of Brown University, Ph. B., class of 1894. He succeeded his father in the management of the Kimball estate, and resides at the old home, No. 462 Broadway, with his mother, now (1916) in her eighty-third year.
Samuel Hammond Talbot, born in East Machias, was a lumber dealer and ship owner, prominent in business and a man highly respected. His wife, Mary (Scott) Talbot, was born at St. Stephens, New Brunswick, Canada. They were the parents of ten children, two of whom are now living, the eldest, Lucy Hammond, widow of Andrew A. Kimball, and the youngest, Elmira T., widow of Rev. Edgar Foster Davis, who resides in Boston with her daughter, Mrs. Frank B. Granger.
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Robert 6. Nonfram
Robert Edwin Rortham
A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS man who won his way upward through sheer ability, a wise financier, a citizen of high char- acter and a man faithful to every obligation, Robert E. Northam left a record of a well spent useful life, worthy of emulation. He was the son of Rev. Robert Edwin Northam, a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal church, who died at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1840, at the early age of twenty-eight years, a career of brilliant usefulness just opening before him. He married Catherine E. Burdick, daughter of Isaac Burdick, of the New- port, Rhode Island, family of Burdick and to them two sons were born: William B., who died at the age of eighteen years, and Robert Edwin.
Robert Edwin Northam, Jr., was born at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, August 24, 1840, his birth following the death of his father by only a few weeks. He died at his home, No. 8 Young Orchard avenue, Providence, Rhode Island, July 15, 1902, after a long period of illness. The first eight years of his life were passed at the home of his grandfather, Isaac Burdick, in Newport, but in 1848 his mother removed with her two sons to Provi- dence which was ever afterward their home. Robert E. attended public schools of Providence, going from the Fountain street grammar school to the old high school where he finished at the age of sixteen years. From high school he entered at once upon his business career, beginning as office boy with the old Atlantic Delaine Company, the office of the company then being located at the corner of Dyer and Westminster streets. The company, at that time, was largely owned by A. & W. Sprague, of the famed Rhode Island family of that name, the product of their inill being sold through the New York commission house, Hoyt, Sprague & Company. Beginning at the bottom, the young man demonstrated his ability and through successive. promotions reached a confidential position and acquired a thorough business training. In 1873 the Spragues failed and left their affairs in a very tangled condition. The aid of the courts was invoked, and as the regularly appointed trustee, Mr. Northam spent six years in the bankruptcy proceedings before being released by the bankruptcy court. This long time was rendered necessary by suit brought against the bankrupt company by General Charles J. James, and fought through the various courts until final decision was rendered in the Supreme Court of the United States. As trustee in bank- ruptcy, Mr. Northam faithfully discharged his trust and at times employed as counsel the eminent lawyers, William M. Evarts, Abram Paine and Win- gate Hayes. When settlement was finally effected and Mr. Northam released from his obligation as trustee, he engaged in private business only, with the exception that from time to time he was called upon as executor, administrator or trustee to administer or settle estates. He was connected with the Weybosset National Bank as a director for twenty-five years, and served the Merchants' Insurance Company in a like capacity until it was merged with another company. For many years prior to his death, he was
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Robert @omin Botham
a member of the finance committee of the Equitable Fire and Marine Insur- ance Company. He was held in high esteem as a man of clear sound judg- ment and his opinion in matters of finance was deferred to by his associates.
He was a Republican in politics and deeply concerned in public affairs, but had no desire for political office. He was a member of Grace Episcopal Church, a member of the vestry and for a time librarian of the Sunday school. His charity was widely dispersed but in a very quiet manner, his name never being allowed to appear on public lists as a contributor. So with his private benefactions, the giver and the beneficiary alone knowing the facts. Although a member of the Squantum Club for many years, and of social, kindly nature, he preferred the quiet of his home and there spent his hours "off duty." To all who knew him he was most gracious and he rejoiced in the possession of a wide circle of friends by whom he is remembered as a true friend and courteous gentleman.
Mr. Northam married at Grace Church, Providence, Rev. D. Otis Kel- logg officiating, Louisa J. Phetteplace, daughter of James Smith and Louisa (Appleby) Phetteplace, both born in Smithfield, Rhode Island, of ancient and honorable Rhode Island families.
The Phetteplace family is an ancient English family said to trace to Fetteplace the Norman who came to England with William the Conqueror. The founder of the family in Rhode Island was Philip Phetteplace, who was a witness to a will in Portsmouth, July 30, 1681. His son, Walter Phette- place. bought land in Providence in 1711, later was of Gloucester, Rhode Island, representative to the Colonial Assembly in 1731, 1736, 1745 and 1746. He died December 29, 1753. His wife, Joanna, daughter of Nathaniel and Joanna (Inman) Mowry, bore him four sons and three daughters.
Their son, Jonathan Phetteplace, married, March 26, 1750, Susanna Smith, and among their children was a son, Eliakim Phetteplace, born March 3, 1755, died in February, 1831. He married, October 8, 1775, Lucretia Evans, and their youngest son, Asahel Phetteplace, born in what is now the town of Burrillville, Rhode Island, engaged in farming all his life. He married Nancy Smith, born January 14, 1783, and died February 18, 1873, daughter of Captain James and Nancy (Waterman) Smith, of Smithfield, Rhode Island. After their marriage, they lived for a time in Burrillville, then moved to a farm in Smithfield where he died November II, 1838, and was buried on his own farm. They had issue: Henry M., a manu- facturer, died in 1897; James Smith; Thurston, a merchant; Ann Maria, married Burrill Bartlett; Zalmon, died young; Caroline Lucretia, married Lemiel M. E. Stone.
James Smith Phetteplace was born near Greenville in the town of Smithfield, Rhode Island, June 12, 1814, died at his home in Benefit street, Providence, December 6, 1900. He was a merchant of Providence becoming a partner with his first employer, Daniel Angell, a grocer, in 1836. Later he was a member of the wholesale grocery firm, Phetteplace & Seagrave, until 1872, both members of the firm also interested in woolen manufacture at Granite, Rhode Island. They sold their grocery business in 1872 and thereafter engaged in the manufacture of fancy cassimeres at their Graniteville plant, acquired in 1850. In 1870 they built a mill at Central Falls,
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Robert @omin Mortham
conducting it under the name of the Central Falls Woolen Mills, James S. Phetteplace, president. He was also president of the Rhode Island Safe Deposit Company ; president of the Merchants' Savings Bank of Providence; director of the Lime Rock Bank from 1848 until his death in 1900; director of the American Screw Company, 1869-1897; director of the Merchants' Insurance Company ; president of the American Mutual Insurance Com- pany. In religious faith he was affiliated with the Westminster Congrega- tional (Unitarian) Church.
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Mr. Phetteplace married, August 25, 1840, Louisa, daughter of John Smith and Patience (Harris) Appleby, of Smithfield, who survived him until January 7, 1908, their married life covering a period of sixty-two years. John Smith Appleby, farmer and mill owner, born August II, 1787, near Stillwater, Rhode Island, died at his farm, May 17, 1857, son of Thomas and grandson of James Appleby, of Smithfield. His wife, Patience Harris, to whom he was married June IS, 1809, was born March 22, 1789, died October 26, 1873, daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Jencks) Harris. She was the mother of ten children, Louisa, wife of James S. Phetteplace and Loann, wife of Lewis Thayer, being twins and sixth and seventh in order of birth. James S. and Louisa (Appleby) Phetteplace were the parents of seven chil- dren, all residing in Providence: Isabella, widow of James Tucker; Louisa J., widow of Robert E. Northam; Georgina H., widow of Benjamin F. Chace; Jessie C .; Frances H., widow of Charles B. Fry; Gertrude; James Foster. Mrs. Northam continues her residence at No. 8 Young Orchard avenue, Providence, Rhode Island.
Tra Ramstell Wilbur
ROM THE TIME of his return from the army after three months service under President Lincoln's first call, a lad of but eighteen years, until his death in 1905, Mr. Wilbur was engaged in the wholesale shoe business in the city of Provi- dence. Sixty-two years was his span in life, and half a century of those years were spent in useful and energetic effort to rightfully occupy the place in life to which he had been assigned by an All Wise Power.
He was of ancient and honorable family, a descendant of Samuel Wild- bore, who came to Boston not later than 1663. The name has passed through frequent mutations as have many equally well known and from Wildbore became Wilbur as we now have it. Samuel Wildbore was one of the pur- chasers of the Island of Aquidneck, and moved his family there in 1638. He did not long remain in Rhode Island, but returned to Massachusetts in 1645 and is credited with putting into operation in Taunton the first iron furnace erected in that part of Taunton, now Raynham, and said to have been the first erected in New England. From Samuel Wildbore sprang the several Rhode Island branches of the Wilbur family, Ira Ramsdell Wilbur of the eighth American generation being a son of Ezra Wilbur, born in Coventry, Rhode Island, but as an infant moved back to Scituate.
Ezra Wilbur married Mary Champlin Greene, of an equally ancient and honorable ancestry, and became a carpenter and builder at Scituate, Rhode Island, his wife's birthplace. They were the parents of two daughters and one son: Susan Greene, married Richard M. Sanders; Ira Ramsdell; and Phoebe E.
Ira Ramsdell Wilbur was born at Scituate, Rhode Island, October 15, 1843, died in the city of Providence, Rhode Island, February 28, 1905. He passed the intermediate and grammar school grades of the public school and spent one year in high school before beginning life as a wage earner. His first work was with a Mr. Lowe, but shortly afterwards the Civil War broke out and with other school boys of about his own age, eighteen years, he enlisted in the Tenth Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers and saw three months inilitary service. After his return home the young veteran entered the employ of Shepard Carey Kinsley, a well known wholesale dealer of boots and shoes, a business established in 1832. He began as clerk, won the confidence of his employer, was raised to positions of trust and respon- sibility, finally being admitted a partner of the firm of S. C. Kinsley Son & Company. This very favorable connection continued very profitably for all until the death of Mr. Kinsley in January, 1881. After that complete disarrangement of his plans, Mr. Wilbur reorganized his business and con- tinued in the shoe business as a wholesale dealer under the firm name of Congdon & Wilbur. After the death of Mr. Congdon Mr. Wilbur reorgan- ized as the Wilbur Shoe Company, and continued as a wholesale dealer of shoes until 1902, shortly after which he retired from active pursuits. Mr.
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Ja Ramsbell Wilbur
Wilbur organized the Shawomet Water Company of Harwick, Rhode Island, and became its first president, continuing as such until his death.
He was a man of great energy and fine business ability, his rise from lowly positions to a partnership in one of the largest wholesale boot and shoe houses in Rhode Island being attributable only to his own sterling merit. He was devoted to his business and had few other interests outside of that business and the home he had created and dearly loved. Men of the business world respected him for his manly uprightness of character, his direct, outspoken method of dealing with the problems of business life. His friends were many and his passing was a matter of genuine sorrow to his community. Mr. Wilbur was a member of the Masonic order, the tenets of that admirable institution particularly appealing to his warm heart and friendly spirit. He belonged to What Cheer Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Providence Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Providence Command- ery, Knights Templar; and was a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. In religious faith he was affiliated with Grace Protestant Episcopal Church, faithful and devoted to all its interests.
Mr. Wilbur married, January 19, 1876, Susan Frances Clark, born at Richmond, Rhode Island, daughter of Halsey Perry and Mary (Greene) Clark. . Halsey Perry Clark, born at Richmond, Rhode Island, was a farmer and for fifty-six years served as town clerk and was also prominent in other ways, his family an old and respected one. His wife, Mary (Greene) Clark, born at Charlestown, bore him eight children: Susan Frances, widow of Ira Ramsdell Wilbur; George Perry; Dorcas Ann; David; Mary Eliza; Ida Sarah; Lois, wife of Dr. James N. Lewis; Mabel Perry, wife of Charles Kenyon. Ira R. and Susan Frances (Clark) Wilbur were the parents of two daughters, one living in Providence with her widowed mother. Mary Greene, a graduate of Brown University, married Prince H. Tirrell, of South Weymouth, Rhode Island, an attorney-at-law. They have four children: Ruth, Frances, Prince H., Jr., and Wilbur Greene Tirrell. The second daughter, Amey Clark, for the past twelve years has been an assistant in the Public Library at Providence. All are members of Grace Protestant Epis- copal Church.
R I-Vel 1-6
William @. Alored
1 HE CAREER of William E. Aldred includes birth in a for- eign land, education in public schools, and a business experi- ence in several cities as clerk, purchasing agent, proprietor and corporation treasurer. He began at the bottom, but so thoroughly did he master the dry goods business that pro- motion soon carried him to better position. As purchasing agent he served large mercantile corporations conducting department stores in Newark, New Jersey, Baltimore, Maryland, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, securing in that capacity the experience that completed the business equipment which later made him one of the most successful merchants of Providence, placing the B. H. Gladdings Dry Goods Company in leading position in his adopted city. His life was one of chang- ing location for many years, which fact precluded the forming of those ties which lead to civic prominence, but had this not been the case it is doubtful if public office would have lured him, for he was a lover of home and its quiet surroundings, his business and his family filling the full measure of his life.
His father, John Aldred, was an English cotton finisher, who in 1854 came to the United States with his wife, Emma (Ormston) Aldred, and son, William E. He settled at Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he became man- ager of the finishing department of the Pacific Mills Print Works, holding that position for forty years. He was a man of superior intelligence, thor- oughly understood his business, and was a citizen honored and respected. His children were: William E., to whose memory this sketch is dedicated; John Edward, a resident of New York; Arthur Leonard, president of the B. H. Gladdings Dry Goods Company of Providence; Frances Emma, a resi- dent of Lawrence, Massachusetts; Florence A., wife of John P. Walworth, of Lawrence.
William E. Aldred was born in Bolton, England, October 5, 1852, died suddenly at Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he was sojourning for his health, May 7, 1913. Early in the year 1854 he was brought to this country by his parents, the family settling at Lawrence, Massachusetts. There he attended the public schools, completing the grammar school course. His first position was as clerk in a Lawrence dry goods store, and although then but a boy he was ambitious to himself become a merchant. He seized every opportunity to learn the details of the dry goods business, not only in his own but every department, with the result that promotions came to him unsolicited until he reached the position of manager. He finally reached a point where the way opened for him to go into business for himself and for three years he was a partner in the firm of Oswald & Aldred, of Lowell, Massachusetts. Results not meeting his expectations, he withdrew and for the next ten years he was purchasing agent for the large department house of L. S. Plaut & Company ("The Beehive") of Newark, New Jersey. From Newark he went to Baltimore, Maryland, in a similar capacity, thence to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where as purchasing agent he was employed
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William @. Mored
for several years. In 1905 he came to Providence, Rhode Island, where with his brother, Arthur Leonard Aldred, he purchased a controlling interest in the B. H. Gladdings Dry Goods Company, the brothers securing two-thirds of the stock. Both threw their entire energy and ability into the business and had the satisfaction of seeing their efforts crowned with success. In 1910 they purchased the remaining one-third interest and became sole owners, Arthur L. Aldred assuming the executive control as president, Wil- liam E. Aldred taking financial control as treasurer. Modern methods of store management were installed in the store and no detail that tended to better merchandising was omitted. William E. Aldred made several trips abroad in the interest of the business and from his rich experience for- mulated the plans upon which success was built. He was thoroughly modern in his views and as a business man had no superior in his own line.
He was a member of the Masonic order, Central Congregational Church, the West Side and the Rhode Island Country clubs. Broad-minded and liberal in thought he was equally so in his practice, giving freely to benevolent causes, but very quietly and without display. Warm-hearted and genial, he had a host of friends by whom his memory is warmly cher- ished.
Mr. Aldred married, in August, 1875, Emma Lizzie Carr, born in Whit- ingsville, Massachusetts, but then living in Lawrence, daughter of George Meardin and Prudence (Towne) Carr. George M. Carr was of a Maine family, for many years overseer of cotton mills, later station agent for the Providence & Worcester Railroad Company. His wife was of a Connec- ticut family. They were the parents of four sons and two daughters, Mrs. Aldred the last survivor. Two sons were born to William E. and Emma L. (Carr) Aldred: Frederick W., who was associated with his father in busi- ness and is the present secretary of the B. H. Gladdings Dry Goods Com- pany, a graduate of Harvard; Ralph Herbert, now residing in California, musical director and instructor.
Amos Dennison Smith
T HERE is a certain truth in the dictum of that great apostle of aristocracy, Thomas Carlyle, to the effect that majorities are always in the wrong. It is certainly true that there are always, in every age, a few men ahead of their time who perceive more truly than their fellows the rights and wrongs of the questions that are raised as issues. It is certain, also, that in the decisions that they make in all such questions the great mass of mankind include many blunders and misjudg- ments which become the wonder of future ages. Yet all this is, as a matter of fact, but a superficial truth, and the saying is in a much more funda- mental sense quite inaccurate. In spite of their mistakes, in spite of their blunders, numerous enough in all conscience. the average men of a commun- ity or an epoch are in the profoundest sense right in their decisions and judgments. It is this fact that the true democrat recognizes, it is this that republican institutions are designed to express, that men are not only the arbiters of their own destiny, but the best arbiters, that men not only must work out their own salvation, but that no one else could possibly do it so wisely or so well. Indeed, in spite of tyrannies and aristocracies, which can- not bear to adınit this simple truth, the people have in all ages of history very largely directed their own affairs, and without regard to how much individuals may have been slaves, the opinions and desires of them collec- tively are the chief factor in determining the aims and methods in vogue. If under the adverse conditions of past times this was true, it is certainly still more so to-day when we are all in the habit of attending to our own business. Thus to-day, as always, the world goes its own way without regard to the ideals of theorists, paying in wealth, honor and position for the things they desire, the men who can supply them therewith. The things that the world wants to-day are not the same as it did yesterday ; like an individual man, it outgrows in each successive age the desires of the preceding one, and like him seems to be growing more practical as its age advances. The qualities that insured a man recognition were, for a long period, those elements of strength and courage that made him successful in war, to-day it is more those that form the merchant, the financier, the leader in industrial enter- prise. And in this, as in its other judgments, the world is undoubtedly right beyond the power of any individual to claim the contrary, in its knowledge of what is best for it, not for ever, of course, but for the present. The men whom the world favors to-day are those who can supply the things that it desires, the men with a broad grasp of material affairs and with an imagina- tion sufficiently constructive to make them original in these matters. Such a man was the late Amos Dennison Smith, of Providence, Rhode Island, whose death there on January 22, 1912, was a severe loss to the whole com- munity.
Amos Dennison Smith was born January 7, 1835, in Providence, Rhode Island, a son of Amos D. and Sarah Ann (Franklin) Smith, old and highly
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Amos Dennison Smith
respected residents of that city. Mr. Smith, Sr., was twice married, the sub- ject of this sketch being a son by the first marriage, the only surviving chil- dren being his half-brothers. Mr. Smith's education was received in the local schools of Providence, both public and private, where he prepared for a collegiate course. In 1850 he was matriculated at Brown University and graduated therefrom with the class of 1854 and the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Mr. Smith's father and uncle, the latter ex-Governor James Y. Smith, of Connecticut, were engaged in an extensive cotton business in Providence under the firm name of A. D. & J. Y. Smith & Company. It was in this well-established business that young Mr. Smith made his entrance upon the business world in which his career was to be so brilliant. His beginning was made in a humble clerical position, but it was not long before he demon- strated his usefulness and was soon promoted to the responsible position of wharf manager, where he remained until 1862. Like so many young men at this period, Mr. Smith's business was rudely interrupted by the Civil War. His enlistment in the army was in response to a special call made by Gov- ernor Sprague upon the receipt by him of a communication from the Secre- tary of War announcing the defeat of General Banks by Stonewall Jackson and the threat made by the latter upon Washington. The danger in which the capital was placed was the cause of a large number of recruits and Mr. Smith enlisted as second lieutenant in a battery company. On August 30, 1862, the acute danger to Washington being over, the special troops were disbanded and Mr. Smith among the rest was mustered out. Returning to the North he formed with his father a partnership under the firm name of Amos D. Smith Company, which acted as agents and directors of various manufac- turing concerns. This company it was that organized the Whitestone Mills in 1883, which operated the old mill that stood on the property at the corner of Dexter and Cranston streets, Providence, for a number of years, and of which Mr. Smith, Jr., was president and treasurer for a long period. The property was sold in 1896 to the State of Rhode Island, which erected the present State armory building there. Besides the Whitestone Mills Mr. Smith was associated as a partner with Smith Brothers, manufacturers on a large scale of cotton dress goods. was the treasurer of the Fulton Land Company and a director of the Blackstone Mutual Fire Insurance Company and the Merchants' Mutual Fire Company, all of Providence. Mr. Smith was a conspicuous figure in the social world and a prominent member of several important clubs, among which should be mentioned the Hope Club and the Squantum Association.
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