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 3
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COLWELL, FRANCIS, City Solicitor of Providence, was born in Cranston, R. I., April 7, 1833, the son of Francis and Harriet B. (Tucker) Colwell. He is a lineal descendant of Robert Colwell, who came to Rhode Island with Roger Williams, and the family became connected with that of Williams by mar- riage, and located in the town of Glocester. His father, Francis Colwell, was a prominent physician of Providence for many years. The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools of Provi- dence, and entered Brown University in 1852, but did not graduate. He adopted the law as a pro- fession and entered the office of the late Hon. Abraham Payne, whose partner he became after his admission to the Rhode Island bar in 1856. He has since practised his profession in Providence, and has taken a somewhat active part in public affairs. Early in his professional life he was elected Judge of the old Court of Magistrates, and held the
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office for several years under re-election. He was elected City Solicitor in 1866. He was a member of the House of Representatives in the General As- sembly for several years, and was elected Senator in 1875-76 and again in 1884. He was a member of
FRANCIS COLWELL.
the Common Council in 1870 and President of that body in 1875-76, was again elected to the office of City Solicitor in 1892, and has since held that posi- tion. He is a member of the Rhode Island Bar Club, and of several social associations. He was for four years President of the Unitarian Club. In politics he is a Republican. He married, March 17, 1864, Miss Anna F. Packard, daughter of Henry Packard of Providence ; they have had two chil- dren : Augusta M. (deceased) and Henry F. Colwell, a banker in Boston.
CHILD, BENJAMIN HAM, Chief of Police of the City of Providence, was born in Providence, May 8, 1843, son of John Griswold and Mary Ann (Ham) Child, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of Providence. He attended the common schools in Providence until fourteen years of age, when he was apprenticed to Granville Greenleaf, a wireworker in Westminster Street. He was a youth of eighteen at the opening of the civil war, and in June 1861 he enlisted as private,
and was mustered into the United States service in the Second Rhode Island Battery, afterwards Bat- tery A, First Regiment, Rhode Island Light Artil- lery, for three years, or for the war. At the first Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, he was slightly wounded, and in August following was promoted to corporal. He was again slightly wounded at the Battle of Antietam, on which occasion he was pro- moted to Sergeant. At Gettysburg, in Pickett's charge, he received a severe wound - " shot through the left shoulder," - and was sent to the Satterlee Hospital at West Philadelphia. And in August 1863 he was commissioned Second Lieutenant of Battery A (afterwards transferred to Battery H, same regi- ment) by Governor James Y. Smith. After serving forty-three months in the Second Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, and three times wounded, he was honorably discharged on account of wounds, by special order of General Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac. In 1868 he was ap- pointed patrolman in the police department of Providence, by Mayor Thomas A. Doyle, and was successively promoted to Doorman of Station I in
B. H. CHILD.
1874, Sergeant of Station 4 in 1877, Captain in 1879, and was appointed Chief of Police, January 5, 1881. He is Past Department Commander of the Rhode Island G. A. R., Past Grand Chancellor K. of P. of Rhode Island, also a member of Swarts Lodge No.
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
18, I. O. O. F., and Massachusetts Commandery of the military order Loyal Legion of the United States. In politics he is a Republican. He was married November 14, 1872, to Mrs. Ruth Avery ; they have one daughter : Mary Elizabeth Avery, who married Abner E. Claflin, of Providence, November 12, 1895.
COGGESHALL, CHANDLER HALL, farmer, Bris- tol, was born in Bristol, son of Wilbour B. and Eliza J. (Coggeshall) Coggeshall. He is descended
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C. H. COGGESHALL.
from an old and honored Rhode Island family, his ancestor, John Coggeshall, having been the first President of the Colony of Rhode Island. He received his early education in the public schools of Bristol, and graduated from the high school, and subsequently from Schofield's Commercial College of Providence. He has since successfully followed agricultural pursuits in Bristol. He has taken an active part in public affairs. He has been a member of the School Committee since 1884. He has been a member of the Board of Managers of the Rhode Island College of Agricultural and Mechanic Arts since its establishment and is now President of that body. He was a Representative from his native town in the General Assembly for seven years from 1883 to 1890, and has served as State Senator since
1893, being on various important committees and now a member of the Finance Committee. In politics he is a Republican. He is not married.
CARPENTER, PHANUEL BISHOP, physician, was born in Seekonk, Mass., January 8, 1832, son of Job and Eliza (Bishop) Carpenter. He is the de- scendant of William Carpenter, one of three brothers, who left England on account of the perse- cution of the Quakers, and settled in Weymouth, Mass., in 1838. His son William settled in Reho- both, now Seekonk, in 1645, where he was town clerk and delegate to the Plymouth General Court. His descendants occupied prominent positions in town affairs and took part in the Colonial and Rev- olutionary wars. Dr. Carpenter received his early education in the public schools and took a course in Worcester Academy. He began self-support at an early age, and was four years in the dry-goods business. For six years he conducted a boot and shoe business in Providence and Pawtucket, and for
P. B. CARPENTER.
five years was engaged in the manufacture of jewelry. During his active business life he was pursuing a system of self-education with a view to the adop- tion of the medical profession, and in 1868 he com- menced the regular study of medicine in the office
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
of Dr. George D. Wilcox of Providence where he re- mained for two years. He entered Harvard Medi- cal College in 1870 and took a course of study in the Eclectic Medical College of New York, and a course in the Eclectic Medical College of Pennsyl- vania, graduating from the latter in 1872. From 1872 to the present time he has been in active practice in Providence. He has been a member of the Rhode Island Homoeopathic Medical Society for twenty-two years. He is a member of Union Lodge, No. 10, A. F. & A. M., of Pawtucket, R. I .; Unity Lodge, I. O. O. F .; Mazeppa Encampment, I. O. O. F .; and Excelsior Lodge, Knights of Honor, of Providence, R. I. He has not taken an active part in public life, but in politics he is a Republican. In his religious views he is " broad, liberal, and modern." " Although his ancestors were Quakers in the strictest sense, and worshipped under the rigid doctrine of that sect, he himself throws aside all creeds and dogmas, believing earnestly in the progress of the human race and of the spirit after death, which, together with the daily practice of the Golden Rule, must ultimately bring man to that perfection in the future world as designed for him by the Creator." He has had five children : Lita Barney, died in 1866 aged two years, William Huckins, Phanuel Bishop, Jr., Mary Eliza and Hattie Ella Carpenter.
CARROLL, HUGH JOSEPH, attorney-at-law, was born in Lippitt, one of the villages of the town of Warwick, R. I., October 29, 1854, the son of Hugh Carroll and Ann (McElhaney) Carroll. His parents came from County Monayhan, Ireland. He was edu- cated in the public school at Phenix, near by, and pre- pared for college by Rev. John A. Couch, Catholic pastor of that place and an old time classical scholar. He received his college training at Niagara, N. Y., University and at St. Laurent's College, near Mon- treal, P. Q. He studied law with Attorney-General Willard Sayles and his partner, Judge Wm. H. Greene, and was admitted to the bar August 27, 1877. In 1888 he located in Pawtucket where he has since resided. When he attained his majority Mr. Carroll entered heartily into politics as a Democrat, his chief object being the abolition of the property qualification, then a requisite for voting in Rhode Island, for natural- ized citizens of all kinds, but now repealed. Since then he has served his city in the General Assembly several terms and has been Mayor twice. During his last term of office in 1890 occurred the centen-
nial of the founding of the cotton industry in the United States by Samuel Slater. Mr. Carroll obtained a large appropriation from the General Assembly, which with a similar amount appropriated by the city, enabled Pawtucket to have a week's exhibition which extended the reputation of that busy city through- out the mechanical and manufacturing world ; Rev. Edward Everett Hale assisted at the celebration and took a most lively interest in it. As Mr. Carroll's people were of the hardy, working peasant class of Ireland, he has always been active in Irish national and laboring matters. He introduced the present
HUGH J. CARROLL.
ten-hour law for the state, and has always tried to settle any differences between capital and labor, and has succeeded whenever his advice prevailed among strikers. He takes pride in the development of Pawtucket, and is always active in promoting its interests. In 1880 he married Sarah M., daughter of James and Alice Washerton of Phenix, R. I; they have a family of four children.
CHAGNON, CHARLES EMILE, physician and pharmacist, was born in St. Dominique, Province of Quebec, Canada, October 7, 1863, son of J. B. and Victoria (Des Noyers) Chagnon. His family is of old Norman descent and came to Canada in 1750. He
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
received his early education in the common schools. He attended the Seminary of St. Hyacinthe, Can- ada, from 1875 to 1879, and the college of Ste. Marie de Monnoir in 1883-85. From 1879 to 1883 he was engaged in the drug business with his father in
CHAS. E. CHAGNON.
Fall River, Mass. In 1885, shortly after leaving col- lege, he went to New Orleans during the World's Exhibition, and while there became interested in a company to explore the gold region of Honduras. He remained in Central America for three years, visiting all five of the republics and travelling in all parts of that wild country. While there he perfected his linguistic acquirements, so that he speaks fluently Spanish and Portuguese as well as French and English. On his return to New England he en- tered the Medical Department of the University of Vermont, and continued the study of medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore from which he graduated in 1890. After gradu- ating he entered his father's office in Fall River, and practised with him for six months, after which he opened an office in Centerville, R. I. He is a registered pharmacist and proprietor of the " Family Drug Store," one of the finest drug stores in the Pawtuxet Valley, with one of the best clientèles of any young physician in the state. He is now serving his third term as Councilman for the town of War-
wick. In politics he is a Republican " in every sense of the word," but does not let party govern his actions in matters of public welfare. He is a member of the Odd Fellows fraternity ; of Washing- ton Lodge, No. 11, Knights of Pythias ; Red Men ; Foresters ; St. John the Baptist Society of Center- ville ; the Providence Athletic Association, and the Rhode Island Mortar and Pestle Club. He married, August 4, 1891, Miss Victorine Beaudry ; they have three children : Estelle, Colombe, and Jeannette Chagnon.
COOK, SAMUEL PENNY, City Treasurer of Woon- socket, and banker, was born July 20, 1852, in Albion, R. I., the son of Ariel Lindsey and Mary Harris (Phillips) Cook. He received his early education in the public schools of Woonsocket, and entered the high school, but did not complete the course. He commenced his business career in July 1870 as clerk in the Producers' National Bank, which position he held until August 1885, when he was elected Treasurer of the Producers' Savings Bank, and later Cashier of the Producers' National Bank
S. P. COOK.
He has been a Trustree of the Producers' Savings Bank since 1874, and Director of the Producers' National Bank since 1886. He has been Treasurer of the Woonsocket Opera House Company since 1889. He was a Director in the Woonsocket Elec-
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
tric Machine and Power Company from 1888 to 1894; has been Treasurer and Director of the Woonsocket Land Company since 1893 ; Treasurer and Director of the Rhode Island Granitc Presscd Brick Company since April 1895, and a Director in the Perforated Pad Company since November 1885. He was Town Treasurer of Woonsocket from August 1885 to January 1889, and since that time City Treasurer, and has been Trustee of the Consolidated School District since April 1889. He was recorder of Woonsocket Com- mandery Knights Templar from October 1876 to October 1878, and from October 1883 to October 1889. In politics he is a Republican. He married, January 31, 1883, Miss Lucia Grey Moses ; they have two children : Theodore Phillips and Gertrude Nourse Cook.
COYLE, PHILIP HENRY, late Manager of the National Rubber Company, was born in Bristol, R. I., March 31, 1858, son of Philip and Sarah Anna (Rohan) Coyle. His father was born in Ireland of old his- toric ancestry, and came to this country when a young man ; he was for a time an instructor in St. Louis, and afterward entered the manufacturing business ; he was killed by an accident before he was forty. His grandfather was never in active business, other than the management of his own estate, and was killed at an early age by being thrown from his horse. His mother was born in Manchester, England, and brought to this country when a child ; she was descended from the early English Methodists, and her ancestors were promi- nent in many notable religious and political move- ments. He received his early education in the public schools of Bristol and afterward at the Rhode Island School of Design. He continued the study of art in the Boston Art School, and later with Jug- laris of Paris. He received many gratifying testi- monials for his talent, but on account of weak eye- sight at the time determined to take up a business career. He entered the employ of the National Rubber Company at Bristol at an early age, and made a thorough study of the business in all its branches under some of the most experienced work- men. He labored in every department and was steadily advanced to positions of responsibility. In 1879 he entered the office of the company and was rapidly advanced in important positions until 1889, when the company met with financial losses, and was reorganized. He was the only one of the old
staff who was retaincd, with the superintendent, to operate the new concern. In 1892 the superintend- ent died suddenly, and he carried on the business without interruption. In 1893 he was elected Man- ager, and under his management the concern met with great success, the product being doubled, and the factories reconstructed and largely increased. The present capacity for boots and shoes alone is fifty thousand pairs per day, and in addition to this there are other departments, manufacturing a large line of clothing, druggists' goods, mechanical appli- ances, etc. The plant covers about twenty acres, and employs about fifteen hundred people. In 1895
PHILIP H. COYLE.
he resigned and entered business for himself. He has taken an active part in public affairs. He was President of the Town Council from 1887 to 1891, a member of the School Committee for six years, and has filled various other political and civic offices. He is a member of a large number of clubs and socie- ties in the state. In politics he is a Republican. He is not married.
CRAFTS, ALBERT BARNARD, attorney-at-law, was born at Milan, N. H., September 4, 1851, son of Frederick A. and Maria L. (Soule) Crafts. He received his education in the high schools of Edgar-
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
town, Martha's Vineyard, and Brockton, Mass. He graduated from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., in the class of 1871, afterwards receiving the degree of A. M. in course. He adopted the law as a profession, studied in the office of the
كتف .
A. B. CRAFTS.
Hon Thomas H. Peabody, in Westerly, R. I., and was admitted to the Connecticut and Rhode Island bars in 1875. He has been a member of the firm of Peabody & Crafts and Crafts & Tillinghast, and has since practised by himself in the Rhode Island, Connecticut and United States courts. He has not taken an active part in public life. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows, and the Westerly Business Men's Association. He married, October 1, 1881, Miss Jennie Louisa Blake of Ashaway, R. I, who died November 19, 1884. He married, December 17, 1892, Miss Mary Amittai Stark of Mystic, Conn ; he has no children.
DAVIS, WILLIAM DEAN, woolen manufacturer, Providence, was born in Davisville, North Kings- town, R I., January 26, 1813, son of Jeffry and Elizabeth (Mawney) Davis. He is descended from Aaron Davis, who, November 13, 1694, became one of the proprietors of Dartmouth, Mass., in the confirmatory deed of Governor William Brad-
ford. Joshua, the son of Aaron, bought the property in North Kingstown, now Davisville, and had a grist- mill there. This property Mr. Davis now owns. His grandson Joshua, Mr. Davis's grandfather, was Major of the Second Regiment of Kings county in the war of the Revolution, and was afterward a Deputy in the General Assembly from North Kings- town. Jeffry, Mr. Davis's father, was for many years a Senator from North Kingstown in the General Assembly. He received his early education in the public schools and in Kingstown Academy. At six- teen years he went into a store in New York and then into one in Philadelphia, remaining in both places about three years. Returning to North Kings- town he took an interest in the manufacturing of woolen goods, which business had been established by his father and uncle in 1811, with carding machines for custom work. and which was afterward developed into spinning, weaving and cloth finish- ing. In 1850 he bought a woolen mill in Centre- ville, Warwick, R I., which he sold in 1860. In 1861 he bought the Uxbridge Woolen Mill in Ux- bridge, Mass., which he sold in 1885. In 1884 he
W. D. DAVIS.
bought, with others, the Quidnick Mills, and formed the Quidnick Manufacturing Company, in which he still retains an interest. He has been a Represen- tative in the General Assembly from North Kings-
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
town and afterward from Warwick. He has been a member of the Squantum Club since 1872. He married, in September 1849, Miss Mary Eleanor Congdon ; they have had four children : Jeffry, Elizabeth Le Moine, William Albert and Mary Congdon Davis ; the last named died in infancy.
DOWNES, LEWIS THOMAS, President of the What Cheer and Hope Mutual Fire Insurance Companies, Providence, was born in Waterbury,
L. T. DOWNES.
Conn., July 9, 1824, the son of Anson and Eveline (Welton) Downes. He is a direct descendant in the seventh generation of John Downes, one of the early settlers of New Haven colony, whose first child was born in 1659. Mr. Downes' family is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and has an authentic pedigree from A. D. 1243. His grandfather, great-grand- father and other members of the family took an active part in the early colonial wars and in the Revolution. His early education was obtained at the Cheshire Academy, the Waterbury Academy, and afterwards at the Newtown Academy, in Con- necticut. He entered Trinity College, Hartford, and graduated in 1848 with the degree of A. B., receiving that of A. M. in 1851, After graduation
he studied law in the office of Judge Francis Parsons of Hartford. He went to Providence in 1855 and soon afterward entered the office of Royal Chapin, wool-dealer and manufacturer. In 1861 he became associated with George W. Chapin in the manufac- ture of woolen goods, and the firm soon after built the Riverside Mills. Previous to this he had spent some time in Europe, studying the methods and processes of the woolen manufacturers in England, France, Belgium, Germany and Austria. This resulted in his introducing into this country several machines and processes in the manufacture of woolen goods, not before known in the United States, among which may be mentioned the Bollette First Breaker Card Feeder, the first self-operating woolen mules, the Houget double-cylinder gig, now generally known as the Downes gig, as well as several other woolen finishing machines. Among the goods which were first produced in this country at the Riverside Mills were wool and mohair astra- khans, also worsted coatings and Austrian cloakings in great variety. In 1872 he left the Riverside Mills, and in 1873, with Elisha Harris, organized the What Cheer Mutual Fire Insurance Company, now one of the New England factory insurance companies, and in 1875 he organized the Hope Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and is now Presi- dent of both companies. Since his connection with the business he has brought into the mutual system upward of $65,000,000 of insurance on manufactur- ing property. For a great part of his life Mr. Downes has been known as a church musician and organist. Having received a careful musical train- ing as a portion of his early education, under some of the most noted masters of the organ and voice, he has cultivated this taste in several trips abroad by careful study of the music in the most famous cathedrals and churches in Europe, and has done much toward raising the standard of church music in this country, particularly in the Episcopal church. He was for several years a member of the School Committee of Providence and Chairman of the Committee on Music. He is a member of the Advance Club, being one of its Executive Com- mittee and Chairman of the Committee on Muni- cipal Reform. He has also been a member of the Churchman's Club since its organization. In poli- tics he has always been a staunch Republican. In 1857 he married Miss Sarah Chapin, daughter of Royal and Maria T. Chapin; they have had four children : Ellen M., Herbert C., Emma W. and Louis W. Downes, the two latter now living.
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
DUBOIS, HENRY JOSEPH CHURCH, Assistant At- torney-General of Rhode Island, was born in London, England, June 22, 1850, during the temporary ab- sence of his parents from the United States. His parents were Edward Church and Emma (Davison) Dubois. On his paternal side he is of American descent ; his paternal grandfather, Edward Church, was a native of Kentucky, and was United States Consul at L'Orient, France, for many years, being first appointed thereto by President Madison On his maternal side he is of English ancestry, his mother being descended from the English families
H. J. C. DUBOIS.
of Davison and Moore ; the family name, Church, was changed to Dubois in 1857. The subject of this sketch received his early education at Russell's Academy (the Collegiate and Commercial Institute), New Haven, Conn .; the Grove-street Grammar school of Pawtucket, R. I., and the Friends' Acad- emy in New Bedford, Mass. He commenced reading law in the office of John E. Risley, Jr. Providence, and afterward read in the office of Hon. William W. Douglas and Hon. James C. Collins. He was admitted to the Rhode Island bar at the October term in 1871, and afterward on September 22, 1880, to the United States Circuit Court in Providence. He commenced the practice of his profession in Providence, where he has since suc- cessfully practised. In 1872 he was appointed by
Governor Padelford, Clerk of the Justice Court of the Town of North Providence, and at the May Session of the General Assembly in 1873, was elected to the same office, and held the position until the division of said town. In 1873 he was elected by the Town Council of North Providence, Trial Justice of the Justice Court, of the Third Voting District of said town, and also Coroner, which positions he held until the division of the town. In January 1893 he was elected by the City Council of Providence one of the Justices of the Police Court, and in May 1894 was appointed by Hon. Edward C. Dubois Attorney General, Assistant Attorney Gen- eral. He was for several years a member of the Republican City Committee from the Tenth Ward of Providence. He was one of the organizers of the British American Association of Rhode Island and was its president for several years. In politics he has always been a Republican. He married, October 23, 1872, Miss Eoline Glenmore Dean ; they have had eight children : Henry Dean, Russell Charles, Edward Davison, Eoline Beatrice, Daisy Alice, Edward Gordon, Gladys Hope and Constance Glenmore Dubois, all of whom are now living ex- cepting Edward Davison, who died in infancy.
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