USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the state of Rhode Island and Providence plantations > Part 21
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ATWOOD, HENRY CLINTON, Providence, was born in the village of Williamsville, Killingly, Conn., February 12, 1856, son of William A. and Caroline A. (Hargraves) Atwood. His education was ac- quired in the Williamsville grammar and Danielson, Conn., high schools, the Friends' School and Uni- versity Grammar School of Providence, and at Brown University, from which he graduated in 1878. Following graduation he had charge of the Williamsville Manufacturing Company's store until 1881, when he assumed the position of Superin- tendent of the company's mills. In 1886 he was made Agent and Superintendent, and in 1890 be- came Treasurer, Agent and Superintendent, in which capacity he has served until the present time. He is also a Director and Trustee of the Windham County Savings Bank. Mr. Atwood is a member of the New England Cotton Manufacturers'
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Association, the Textile Club of Boston, the " Hope, Union and Athletic clubs of Providence, the Prov- idence Board of Trade and the Rhode Island Busi- ness Men's Association. He is also prominent in Masonry. In politics he is a Republican, and was
H. C. ATWOOD.
a member of the Legislature in 1888 and of the School Board of Killingly four years. He was mar- ried in 1878 to Miss Lillian B. Whitford ; they have two children : Clinton William and Harold Brad- ford Atwood.
BABCOCK, JOSEPH ALONZO, Secretary and Treasurer of the Dixon Granite Works, Westerly, is the seventh in descent fromn John Babcock, second son of James, who with his family emigrated from England in 1630 and settled in New England. He therefore comes from lineage well represented in the struggles waged in behalf of civil and religious liberty, on account of which many fled to seek a refuge upon these shores. At the session of the General Assem- bly of Rhode Island, held on the first Monday in July, 1780, "both Houses being resolved into a grand committee," with other officers chosen to fill up the vacancies in Col. Christopher Greene's regi- ment, his great-grandfather, Ichabod Babcock, Jr., was elected Cornet of a Troop of Horse ; and it was "recommended to His Excellency General Washing-
ton to commission them accordingly." His grand- father, Joseph Babcock, son of Ichabod, Jr., and Es- ther (Stanton) Babcock, was born April 1, 1762, and married Sarah, daughter of Christopher Babcock, Esq, August 10, 1782; he died in Westerly of smallpox, December 22, 1796, in the thirty-fifth year of his age. His father, Joseph Stanton Bab- cock, son of Joseph and Sarah Babcock, was born in Westerly, June 3, 1792 ; when a small boy he re- moved with his mother and other members of the family to Otsego county, New York; in 1825 he settled in Cannonsville, a small village on the banks of the Delaware river, in Delaware county, N. Y., and May 10, 1827, he married Abby, daughter of
J. A. BABCOCK.
John Owens, a prominent citizen of that locality ; here he passed the remainder of his life, highly re- spected by all who knew him, because of his spot- less character, and here he died February 5, 1855. In this retired and picturesque little village Joseph Alonzo Babcock was born March 9, 1833. He re- ceived his education in the public schools and in the Delaware Literary Institute at Franklin, N. Y. At twenty years of age, in 1853, he came to West- erly and was soon engaged as teacher in the public schools, receiving his first certificate from Rev. Thomas H. Vail (afterwards Bishop of Kansas), Rev. Frederick Denison and Rev. A. L. Whitman, who were at that time the town school committee.
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He has continued to cherish the liveliest interest in the schools of the town, and the opinions which he entertains concerning matters of education always command respectful attention. When the call for three hundred thousand volunteers was issued by the President, in the summer of 1862, he enlisted " for three years, or during the war," and was mustered into the service August 8, by Captain Silva, at Providence. He joined Troop A, First Rhode Island Cavalry, and first answered at roll- call in Poolville, Maryland. He was in the ranks during the march to Falmouth, when the regiment was constantly on the flanks of the army and doing picket duty. During the battle of Fredericksburg, ; the regiment was sent to Dumfries to protect the trains. From this time until the March following, the regiment was engaged in hazardous out-post duty, rendered doubly trying by the severity of the weather. March 10, 1863, he was promoted to a position on the non-commissioned staff. In May he was with the regiment at Chancellorsville, in June at Brandy Station and Middleburg, and on the 17th, when the fight was raging with the rear guard of Stewart's command, he was prostrate on the ground with typhoid fever. Unable to ride his horse he was placed in an army wagon, and finally reached Alexandria, Virginia. For a month and a half he received in his tent the attentions of Dr. Albert Utter, the Assistant Surgeon of the regiment, but when, about the Ist of August, the regiment having been recruited and new horses provided, it was ordered to rejoin the Army of the Potomac at Warrentown, he was unable to proceed, and was sent to the Queen Street Hospital in Alexandria, where he was admitted August 8, 1863. Perhaps no war and no government had ever before devel- oped a more perfect and efficient hospital service than that which then ministered to the Army of the Potomac ; and added to this, the constant attend- ance of his wife at his bedside for two months made it possible for him to receive his discharge from this hospital October 6, 1863, though he carried with him a surgeon's certificate of disability. Inheriting a sound body he entered the service in splendid health, and at the expiration of fourteen months found himself at home a shadow of his former self, with his right limb paralyzed from the effects of the fever, and remained an invalid for more than two years. His love for the old regi- ment still remains, and he is now a member of the First Rhode Island Cavalry Veteran Association, and was elected its President in 1890. He joined
Vincent Post, No. 6, Grand Army of the Republic, upon its formation in Westerly in 1867, and re- mained a member until it surrendered its charter and was disbanded in 1870. When Budlong Post, No. 18, was instituted in 1874, he became a mem- ber, and has always remained in sympathy with the objects and purposes of the order. In 1877 he was Aide-de-Camp on the staff of the Department Commander ; in 1879 was Senior Vice-Commander of Budlong Post ; in 1885 was elected Post Com- mander, and by unanimous re-elections held the office for four years. He then peremptorily de- clined a fifth election, but after an interval of one year, he consented to again accept the office and was unanimously elected. He was elected Captain in the Westerly Rifles in 1872, and served two years, when he resigned to accept the position of Chief of Staff in the Third Brigade, with the rank of Major, which he held for four years ; and when the militia was reorganized into one brigade, he was elected and commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, and commanded the Third Battalion from 1879 to 1881. In politics he is a staunch Republican. In 1873 he was elected a Representative to the Gen- eral Assembly of Rhode Island, and was re-elected in 1876 and 1877. He served on the committees on Education and Militia, and during his last term was Chairman of the latter. He was Trial Justice of the Justice Court of the town of Westerly from 1881 to 1884, when other engagements compelled him to place his resignation in the hands of the Governor ; was trustee of School District Number One from 1885 to 1889, and Chairman during the last two years ; is now, and has been since 1890, a member of the town School Committee, and is at present Clerk of the board. He was Moderator of the Westerly fire district from 1878 to 1891, and is now, and has been since 1882, Moderator of the town of Westerly. He has long been prominent in Masonic circles. He is a member and Past Com- mander of Franklin Lodge, No. 20, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; is a member and has served as High Priest of Palmer Chapter No. 28, Royal Arch Masons ; is a member, and is reckoned among the earliest in the list of Eminent Com- manders, of Narragansett Commandery No. 27, Knights Templar. Among Masons he is recog- nized as one who makes thorough preparation for work ; his literary culture and tenacious memory se- cure for him a mastery in all declamatory parts, while the preciseness and freedom with which he delivers the splendid ritual contribute to make it
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most impressive. Mr. Babcock is not less known and respected as a religious man. He is connected with the First Baptist Church in Westerly, and for twenty-two years has been Secretary of its Corpora- tion. He has been repeatedly elected Superintend- ent of the Sunday School, and as teacher for many years has held with unflagging interest a large class in the study of that book of which he is not ashamed. At the beginning of the Fifty-second Congress, in December, 1891, he went to Washing- ton as Private Secretary to United States Senator Nathan F. Dixon, and soon after became Clerk to the Senate Committee on Patents. His term of service there closed with the final adjournment of the Fifty-third Congress, in March, 1895, when he returned to his Rhode Island home. As an ac- countant he has been connected with some of the largest manufacturing establishments in Westerly, and he is now the Secretary and Treasurer of the Dixon Granite Works. Mr. Babcock was married, September 1, 1856, to Miss Elizabeth M., eldest daughter of Isaac C. Burdick of Westerly, who was also a teacher, and who in intellectual pursuits has always thoroughly shared his tastes and inclinations ; they have had two children : Edward H., born November 21, 1857, and Mary A., born June 10, 1860, who died in Washington, D. C., January 20, 1892.
BABBITT, EDWARD SPAULDING, insurance agent, Providence, was born on Mount Pleasant farm, one mile east of Bristol, R. I., July 20, 1829, son of Jacob and Abby E. (Briggs) Babbitt. Jacob Babbitt was the son of Jacob Babbitt, who removed from Taunton, Mass , to Bristol the latter part of the last century, and was there a silversmith, then in the general mercantile business, and subsequently engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods. Abby E. Briggs was the daughter of Dr. Lemuel W. Briggs, who removed from Middleboro, Mass., to Bristol early in the century; he was the son of Lemuel W. Briggs of Middleboro. E. S. Babbitt received his early education in private schools in Bristol, and took a two years' course in Brown University from 1845 to 1847, since which time his life has ever been that of an active business man. Removing to Boston in 1852, he became junior partner in the firm of Page, Briggs & Babbitt, large importers of metals and other supplies for ship- building and machine shop purposes, during which time he was also interested with his father in the
rebuilding and operating of a cotton mill in his native town, under the name of the Pokanoket Steam Mill Company. In 1863 he became the manager and executive officer of the City Insurance Company, of Providence, continuing in that capacity until 1880, when the company retired from business, dividing to its stockholders more than the par value of its stock. From that time forward he has main- tained a most successful insurance agency in that city. He was elected a member of the school committee of Bristol, in which town he resides, in 1884, and now holds that office. He was elected a trustee of the Juniper Hill Cemetery in 1865 and still holds that position. From an early age he was
EDWARD S. BABBITT.
connected with St. Michael's Church at Bristol. On his removal to Boston he became vestryman of the Church of the Messiah and delegate to the Diocesan Convention. Since his return to Bristol in 1863 he has served St. Michael's Church as ves- tryman, clerk, warden, and as delegate to the Di- ocesan Convention from that time to the present. Like his father and grandfather he has expressed the Democratic belief in politics, but was never so bound to the party as to feel compelled to vote for its candidate, always claiming the right to cast his ballot for the most reliable man. He was kept from active service in the war of the Rebellion by the enlistment of his father and the subsequent
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death of the latter, events which rendered his presence at home absolutely necessary for the care and settlement of the estate. He was however alive to the wants of those at the front and did much in obtaining and providing means for the Christian Commissions. While in Boston he was active in the Young Men's Christian Association, and on his return home, with the aid of others, organized one in Bristol, which has done much successful labor among the young men of that place. He married, January 4, 1853, Miss Arselia, daughter of Daniel N. Morris ; they have no children living. At his death and that of his sister, the name of Babbitt, which has held' a prominent position in Bristol for a century, will cease to be known there.
BALLOU, CHARLES OLNEY, M. D., Providence, was born at Cumberland Hill, R. I., June 10, 1830, son of Barton and Sarah (Rathbone) Ballou. He
C. O. BALLOU.
is a descendant in the sixth generation from Maturin Ballou, who was a contemporary of Roger Williams in the first settlement of Providence. His father, Barton Ballou, was born at the old Ballou home- stead in Cumberland, was graduated at Brown University in the class of 1813, and acquired promi- nence as a citizen of the town and state. His mother was a native of Wickford, North Kingston,
R. I., his maternal grandparents being Abraham Borden and Deborah (Cook) Rathbone. His early education was acquired in the public schools, sup- plemented by a course at an academic school in Dudley, Mass. He taught school several years in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, his occupations prior to the war being teaching and farming, and clerking in drygoods stores in Providence, R. I., and Detroit, Mich. In 1861 he enlisted in Com- pany I, Eleventh Rhode Island Regiment Volunteers, and was in active service some eleven months, returning home early in 1863. From about 1864 he was engaged for the next ten years in the manu- facture of cotton goods at Weare, N. H., where he ' was a member of the School Committee three years, Representative to the General Court at Concord two years, Justice of the Peace, and active in town matters and to some extent in politics. In 1874 he returned to Providence to reside, and entered the Medical Department of Harvard University. In earlier life he had studied medicine with Dr. Ballou of Woonsocket, but not having the means to pursue a thorough medical course, his professional aspir- ations were temporarily set aside, and meanwhile having entered into commercial business, his entrance upon a medical career was postponed be- yond his expectations. Graduating from the Har- vard Medical School in June 1877, he at once commenced practice in Providence, where he has now been established nineteen years. Dr. Ballou is a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society and the Providence Medical Association, also of Rising Sun Lodge of Masons, the United Order of Amer- ican Mechanics and the Grand Army of the Repub- lic. In politics he is a Republican. He was mar- ried, November 17, 1857, to Miss Sarah Emily, daughter of Welcome and Seriah Olney Darling of Providence ; they have two daughters : Anna Dar- ling and Kate Stuart, the latter now the wife of William G. Payton of Providence.
BARKER, HENRY RODMAN, Mayor of Provi- dence for two terms, 1889-1890, was born in Prov- idence, September 15, 1841, son of William C. and Sarah A. (Jenks) Barker. His father came from Newport about 1810, and was a member of the first city government of Providence. He is a descend- ant of John Barker of Harwich, England, who married Elizabeth Hill, sister of Sir Rowland Hill, first protestant Lord Mayor of London (1549), and whose grandson James Barker sailed on the ship
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Mary and John from Southampton in March 1634, and settled in Rhode Island, at Newport, in 1639. James Barker was Assistant Deputy Governor for many years, also Deputy Governor, and he with his son James occupied one of these offices for a period of about twenty-five years; he was fre- quently associated on committees with Roger Wil- liams, Governor Coddington, Governor Benedict Arnold and other noted men of the times, and his name appears in a royal charter granted by King Charles Second. Mr. Barker is also descended from Nicholas Easton and John Coggeshall of New- port, and Giles Slocum, Thomas Lawton and Richard Borden of Portsmouth, the early settlers.
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HENRY R. BARKER.
On his mother's side he comes from the noted Jencks family of northern Rhode Island. He re- ceived his early education in the public schools of Providence, graduating from the high school in 1859. Immediately following graduation he entered the office of the Providence Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and since 1883 he has been President and Treasurer of that corporation. In 1864 he entered into the insurance agency business with J. T. Snow, which business is still continued by Mr. Barker, under the same firm name, Mr. Snow hav- ing died in 1883. Besides his insurance business and connections, Mr. Barker is President of the Rhode Island Investment Company, a corporation
owning large business properties in Providence, and of the Roger Williams Savings Fund Loan As- sociation, a very successful institution having assets invested in mortgages in the city of Providence and its immediate vicinity to the extent of about a million dollars. He is also a Director in the In- dustrial Trust Company, the Rhode Island Electric Protective Company and the Narragansett Electric Lighting Company, is Vice-President of the Old Colony Co-operative Bank, and has been for several years President of the Insurance Association of Providence, an organization formed of the under- writers of the city. Mr. Barker was a member of the Common Council of Providence from 1873 to 1880, and of the Board of Aldermen from 1880 to 1883 ; in 1879 he was unanimously elected Presi- dent of the Council, and in 1882 was elected with similar unanimity to the Presidency of the Alder- manic Board. He served as Mayor of Providence two terms, from January 1889 to January 1891, and has been a Commissioner of Sinking Funds of the city from the latter date. He is a charter member of Corinthian Lodge of Masons, and was its Master in 1872-73 ; is a member of Calvary Commandery Knights Templar, and was its Commander in 1889- 90, and is a Thirty-second Degree Mason. He is a charter member of Slocum Post No. 10, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was Commander in 1870-71-72 and has been Quartermaster twenty- four terms. In 1879 he was elected Commander of the Department of Rhode Island G. A. R. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Barker was mar- ried, October 24, 1864, to Miss Annie C. Tripp of New Bedford, Mass .; they have two children : llenry A. and Jessie I. Barker.
BARNABY, ABNER JONES, merchant, and many years a prominent citizen of Providence, was born in Freetown, Bristol county, Mass., May 23, 1834, son of Stephen and Lucy (Hathaway) Barnaby, and died in Providence, June 29, 1882. He was a descendant in the sixth generation of James Barnaby, one of the early settlers of Plymouth colony. James Barnaby married, in 1664, Lydia Warren Bartlett, daughter of William Bartlett of Plymouth, who arrived at that place in 1623, a passenger in the ship Mary and Ann ; William Bartlett's wife, Mary Warren, came to Plymouth in 1620 with her father, Richard Warren, in the Mayflower. Abner J. Barnaby attended the district school of his native town until the age of fourteen, when he became a
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student in the Mount Hope Academy at Fall River, and afterward pursued a course at Pierce Academy in Middleboro, Mass., from which he graduated in 1853. Following graduation he taught school at Westport, Mass., for a time, and then removed to Providence and entered upon mercantile life, being employed for six years by his brother, J. B. Barnaby, in the clothing business. In 1861 he started for himself in the clothing trade, and established a large and successful business in the location where he continued up to the time of his death in 1882. Mr. Barnaby's interest and labors were not, however, limited to the demands of his private business. His nature was social and public-spirited ; he was
ABNER J. BARNABY.
possessed of strong political principles and views as to governmental policy in municipal affairs, and the popular appreciation of his sturdy integrity and business ability brought him at an early period of his career into activity and prominence in public affairs. He was elected to the Common Council in 1866, and held his seat uninterruptedly for twelve years, in 1876 serving as President of that body. The following year, 1877, he was the Democratic candidate for Mayor, the first election resulting in a tie vote, notwithstanding the city was strongly Re- publican ; a second election was necessary, which resulted in the election of Mayor Doyle by less than fifty majority. In 1879 he was elected Alderman
from the Fourth Ward, and for several years he served as Chairman of the Democratic State Cen- tral Committee. Mr. Barnaby was a thorough and steadfast Democrat, but won and held the respect and esteem of both parties by being upright and honorable in his political life, as in his business career. A writer of the period says of him : " Mr. Barnaby did a great deal to uphold and strengthen the Democratic party in Rhode Island. In muni- cipal matters he showed rare discriminating sense and keen insight, and in business affairs manifested great enterprise and tact. He was for years cham- pion of the West Side in the long and determined controversy over the location of the City Hall. In this as in every other public question he represented the interests of his constituents with assiduous and unfailing fidelity, and many a weary hour he talked against time to prevent a vote, when the other side happened by some chance to have a majority present. But no matter how long his speeches, Mr. Barnaby was always listened to with pleasure, for his voice was pleasing, his style attractive, his eloquence effective and his words to the point." Mr. Barnaby was a Mason, and was a member of the First Light Infantry since 1858 and of the United Train of Artillery since 1862. He was married, December 31, 1863, to Miss Jennie Wallace, daughter of Dr. Merrick Wallace, a prom- inent physician of Ashburnham, Mass. ; they had four children : Philenia A, Grace E., Jennie W. and Fannie L. Barnaby.
BIXBY, REVEREND MOSES HOMANS, A. M., D. D., Pastor for twenty-six years of the Cranston Street Baptist Church, Providence, was born in Warren, N. H, August 20, 1827, son of Benjamin and Mary (Cleasby) Bixby. He was the fifth of eight sons, of whom five were preachers. He united with the church at the age of twelve, and feeling called to the gospel ministry, he entered at once upon a preparatory course of study. He was the youngest theological student that ever entered the Biblical Institute, now Boston University. At sixteen he was a Sunday-school superintendent, and at seven- teen was licensed to preach the gospel. For several years he paid his way by teaching vocal music, and he was never aided by any education society or church during the twelve years of his preparatory studies. He was ordained pastor of a church in Vermont at twenty two, and continued in the pas- toral office about four years. In January 1853 he
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sailed for Burmah as a missionary of the American Baptist Missionary Union. Stopping on the way at Cape Town, South Africa, and being detained there a month, he preached repeatedly to a little company of believers, who were soon after organized into a Baptist church, and it is said that more than twenty Baptist churches have since been formed there. He reached Maulmain, Burmah, in June 1853, where he found the English church without a pastor and wellnigh extinct. Within a few months, under his preaching, the chapel was filled, and the mem- bership increased from nine to forty-five. After this he travelled extensively for several years in the Tenasserim and Martaban provinces, preaching the
M. H. BIXBY.
gospel to many thousands. But the failing health of his wife compelled him to return to this country, and he landed at New York only to see his beloved helpmate breathe her last before they could pos- sibly reach home. In 1857 he became Pastor of the Friendship Street Baptist Church in Providence,
torate. But his pastoral relations were always held seventy-six members being added during his pas- labors were greatly blessed, one hundred and where he remained over three years and where his
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