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 32
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March to September as rodman and leveler on the Lake Superior & Lake St. Croix Railroad, in Wis- consin. Following this engagement he was em- ployed under General G. K. Warren of the United States Engineers on surveys of western rivers, in Mississippi, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio, until 1871. In that year he came to Newport and took charge of the construction of the breakwater at Block Island. He continued in the service of the Government until 1883, being employed on various river and harbor and fortification works. In 1882- 3-4 he served as Commissioner and Engineer of the Seekonk River bridge at Providence. In associa-
JOSEPH P. COTTON.
tion with E. S. Cheesbrough he prepared a plan for sewering Newport, which plan, slightly modified, was adopted and the sewers built. Since 1883 he has been engaged in the private practice of engi- neering, and since 1890 has served as City Engineer of Newport. Mr. Cotton was a member of the School Committee from 1876 to 1883, and was Overseer of the Poor three years. He has been a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers since 1876, and of the Newport Business Men's As- sociation since its organization, is President of the Fish and Game Association, and has been President of the Association for Saving and Building since it was organized in 1888. He is also a member of G. K. Warren Grand Army Post and of the Newport
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Charity Organization Society. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Cotton was married, March 26, 1867, to Miss Isabella Cole ; they have two children : Frederic J. and Joseph P. Cotton, Jr.
EVERSON, EDWARD W., of Providence, con- tractor for public works, was born in Manlius, Onondaga County, N. Y., July 14, 1847, son of William and Adaline D. (DeLamater) Everson. He is of Dutch ancestry on the paternal side, and of French Huguenot on the mother's, and his pro-
EDWARD W. EVERSON.
genitors settled in New York city and in the Mohawk Valley before the Revolution. He was born and bred on a farm, was educated in the common schools, and from the age of nineteen has been actively employed on public works of varied character. Since 1873 he has been in business for himself, as a general contractor, and has had an extensive experience in New York, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine and Canada. Mr. Everson has executed large sewer work in Akron and Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo and Yonkers, N. Y .; Providence, R. I., and Bos- ton, Mass. He has the best known appliances for such work, which he performs by modern methods in part exclusively his own, and with
thoroughness and despatch. At present he is at work on a contract for building Section Two of the Boston Rapid Transit Subway, through Boston Common. He has lately completed a heavy con- tract at Pawtucket, R. I., for building a dam and power-station for the Bridge Mill Power Company, to which the builder may justly point with pride as an enduring example of his work. In 1894 Mr. Everson organized the Narragansett Improvement Company, of Providence, of which he is the Secretary, Treasurer and General Manager, to lay sheet-asphalt pavements in New England, with principal office at 17 Custom House street, Providence. The company have paved Broadway, Pine street, Washington Row and the Red Bridge in Providence with Trinidad Lake sheet-asphalt, on a six-inch base of cement-concrete, and the people of the city are now beginning to appreciate the good qualities and superior merits of a noiseless, smooth and impervious pavement, while wheelmen are en- thusiastic in its praise. The strongest surety companies write guarantees for long terms of years on this form of pavement, which is rapidly succeed- ing all other kinds wherever it is once laid and the people experience its advantages, not the least among which is its cheapness, as it is claimed that it can be laid and kept in good order for less money than any other pavement. At all events it has never anywhere been replaced by any other pavement, and is rapidly superseding all others. To Mr. Everson belongs the chief credit for the introduction of this valuable modern pavement into Providence and neighboring towns. In politics Mr. Everson is a Republican. He was married, October 21, 1875, to Henrietta Cady Liddle, of Duanesburgh, N. Y.
FARRELL, JOHN T., M. D., Providence, was born in Webster, Mass , September 11, 1858, son of Thomas and Catherine (Thompson) Farrell. His parents were natives of Ireland, and came to this country when children ; they are still living. His early education was acquired in the public schools of his native town, and after leaving the high school he entered a large drygoods store, where he rose in course of time from the position of store- boy to that of confidential clerk. His school-days were marked by evidences of ambition, energy and executive ability, and during summer vacations he published a small local paper, which yielded him some financial returns. An especial interest in
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physiological study awakened in his high-school course developing as he reached manhood, he re- linquished promising mercantile opportunities to enter Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. There after a three-years course he graduated in April 1886, and a month later came to Providence and opened an office at 1913 Westminster street, where he has remained, and by earnest application and an early-gained reputation for professional skill has established a large practice. Dr. Farrell is a member of the American, Rhode Island and Provi- dence medical associations, and served as delegate from the Rhode Island Society to the meeting of
J. T. FARRELL.
the American Association in Atlanta, Ga. He is also a member of the Providence Press Club and Ancient Order United Workmen, and Medical Di- rector of the Knights of Columbus, Good Fellows, Foresters and Catholic Benevolent Legion. He is also Medical Examiner for the Massachusetts Mutual and other insurance companies, and has served as Town Physician of the town of Johnston. In national politics he is a Democrat of the free-trade and sound money order, but in local affairs he is in- dependent. Dr. Farrell was the eldest of five sons ; and of his four brothers, Dr. Henry W. Farrell is associated with him in practice, the Rev. James J. Farrell is located in Everett, Mass., Dr. Geo. L. Farrell
is a physician in Malden, Mass., and Thomas Far- rell is a lawyer in Providence Dr. John T. Farrell was married, July 14, 1892, to Miss Mary A. Quinn of Providence ; she died June 21, 1894.
FULLER, MYRON HOLLEY, General Manager of the Providence Coal Company, was born in Hampton, Windham county, Conn., September 21, 1844, son of Elisha S. and Esther E. (Chester) Fuller. His ancestors on both sides settled in Windham county at a very early period, and were noted for being long-lived people, most of them reaching the nineties and many exceeding that age by from two to six years ; his mother died in 1895, aged eighty-five, and his father is now living at eighty-seven. His education was that of the country school, never having had any other except that which he has "picked up " himself. He worked on the farm until the age of eighteen, and in September 1862 came to Providence, where he secured a situation in a boot and shoe store as clerk. He worked a year in the store, when the proprietor sold out, and after remaining with the new one two months he hired with Bangs Williams as entry clerk. After a little over a year in this position he trans- ferred his services to the business in which he has ever since been engaged. This was in 1865, and the business was conducted by Henry C. Clarke, for many years one of the prominent merchants of Provi- dence. In 1870 Mr. Clarke sold out to Tucker, Swan & Company, who in 1878 were succeeded by the firm of Tucker & Little, and in 1880 the growth and transfers of interests in the business, which had meanwhile grown to extensive propor- tions, resulted in the organization of the Providence Coal Company, of which Mr. Fuller was made Gen- eral Manager in 1881. Mr. Fuller has therefore been identified with the business over thirty-one years, through all its successive changes, first as book-keeper, later in charge of the financial affairs, and finally as General Manager of what is now one of the largest coal distributing institutions of Rhode Island. Notwithstanding the magnitude of the business over which he presides, Mr. Fuller finds time to devote to other business interests, as well as to political affairs and social life. Since 1880 he has been connected with the firm of Royce, Allen & Company, manufacturers of jewelry novelties, and he is Treasurer of the Nelson's Improved Seam less Filled Ware Company, an enterprise started
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early in 1896. In 1890 he was elected Alderman from Ward Six, and served successively in 1891- 2-3-4, and was again elected in 1896. He is a Thirty Second Degree Mason, and a member of What Cheer Lodge and St. John's Commandery Knights Templar, also of Eagle Lodge of Odd Fellows, and the Athletic, Press, Union and Country clubs. He has also served as Commissary of the United Train of Artillery for the last two years. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Fuller was married, May 20, 1869, to Miss Sarah A. Martin, born in Camden, Alabama, a daughter of William P. Martin of Providence ; they have one child : Edward Martin Fuller.
GARDINER, ALDRIDGE BISSELL, retired manu- facturer, Providence, was born in Wickford, R. I., May 25, 1826, son of Beriah and Elizabeth (Ham- mond) Gardiner, being next to the youngest of eighteen children. His American ancestors for four generations were named Nicholas Gardiner, and the family originally came from Poole, England. He received his early education in the common schools and at Wickford Academy, and at the age of thirteen joined his elder brothers in following the sea. After a couple of years of seafaring life he came to Providence and apprenticed himself with Hunt & Owen, manufacturing jewelers, and remained with them nine years. In 1866 he entered into copartnership with Josiah W. Richard- son, in the jewelry business, under the firm name of J. W. Richardson & Company. This copartnership continued until the death of Mr. Richardson in 1881, when his son, George H. Richardson, suc- ceeded him. In 1893 Mr. Gardiner retired from the business, disposing of his interest to Mr. Richardson and two of the clerks in the office. The business is still carried on under the old firm name in Providence, with offices in New York, and has been very successful. For a long time they were the only concern in New England making a specialty of society emblems. Mr. Gardiner was for ten years an active member of the First Light Infantry, and since then a member of the Veteran Association up to the present time. He is promi- nent in Masonry, being a member of St. John's Lodge and the oldest Mason in the lodge, also a member of Providence Royal Arch Chapter, Provi- dence Council Royal and Select Masters, St. John's Commandery of Knights Templar, Rhode Island Consistory Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite,
and Palestine Temple Ancient Arabic Order of No- bles of the Mystic Shrine. He has the honor of being the first man to be made a Knight of Pythias in Rhode Island. He is also a member of the West Side, Pomham and Athletic clubs of Providence. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Gardiner was
A. B. GARDINER.
married, June 14, 1854, to Miss Agnes D. Jackson of Rockaway, Morris county, New Jersey ; they have had three children : Annie R., now Mrs. Frank T. Pearce, Laura C., now Mrs C. M. Lee, and John J. Gardiner, who died in his seventeenth year.
GARDINER, JEREMIAH BRIGGS, Superintendent of the Stonington Division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, was born in South Kingstown, R. I., July 15, 1831, son of Henry and Mahala (Briggs) Gardiner. He obtained his early education in the common schools of his native country district, until the age of fourteen, when he came to Providence. In 1849, then a lad, he was induced by Governor William Sprague, Senior, his friend and adviser, to go on the ship William Sprague and learn navigation, with the purpose of fitting himself for a ship-master. He was absent at sea two years, making a voyage around the world. In the fall of 1850, the ship being then at Manila, the young man of twenty was appointed master for
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the remainder of the voyage, and brought the vessel home to New York, arriving in February of 1851. But sea life was not in accordance with his health or inclinations, and he decided to abandon it for transportation business on shore. Soon after the close of his first and only sca voyage, he was ap- pointed to a position in one of the subordinate departments of the New York, Providence & Boston Railroad, where the fidelity and intelligence with which he served the interests of the company and the public secured him rapid promotion. Advanc- ing from one position to another toward the higher grades, he was in 1869 appointed Superintendent of
J. B. GARDINER.
the Neptune Line of steamers running between Providence and New York. After four years or more of efficient service in this office he was chosen, in 1873, Assistant Superintendent of the New York, Providence & Boston Railroad, and five years later was elevated to the position of Superin- tendent. The Providence & Worcester Railroad having been leased to the New York, Providence & Boston Company, this road, thereafter known as the Worcester Division, was in 1889 also placed in charge of Mr. Gardiner, and so remained until 1892, when the entire property was leased by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company. The New York, Providence & Boston Railroad be-
came known as the Stonington Division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford, and Mr. Gardiner remains Superintendent of that division. In 1873, Mr. Gardiner was appointed Agent of the Stoning- ton Steamship Line, which position he held for a number of years in connection with his railroad duties. In addition to the foregoing executive offices, he was in 1888 made Superintendent of the Newport & Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company, which position he held until 1894. Mr. Gardiner is a man of genial nature and strong character, and is of the comparatively few that seem to find the station in life best fitted to their tastes and talents. He has mastered the details of his business from the beginning, and having rare executive ability, and thoroughly understanding human nature, he has acquired or originally possessed the happy faculty of handling men judicially, or in other words, for the best interests of the great road and the greater traveling public whom he alike serves. He was married, April 11, 1852, to Miss Eliza Antoinette, daughter of Tolland and Rhoda Ann Benson ; they had five children, of whom only two are now living : Antoinette Augusta and Granville S. A. Gardiner. Mr. Gardiner was married a second time, April 23, 1896, to Miss Cecilia Augusta Potter.
GOFF, LYMAN BULLOCK, manufacturer, Pawtucket, was born in Rehoboth, Mass., October 19, 1841, son of Darius and Harriet (Lee) Goff. His an- cestors were among the earliest settlers of his native town, and held prominent and respected positions in the community. His parents moving to Pawtucket in 1847, he received his early educa- tion in the grammar and high schools of that city, after which he entered Brown University and graduated in the class of 1862. He commenced his active business career in connection with the firm of D. Goff & Son, manufacturers of worsted and cotton goods, and was admitted into the firm in 1872. In 1880 he was made Treasurer of the Union Wadding Company, of which his father, Darius Goff, was President, and on the death of the latter became its President, which office he now holds. He is also President of the Excelsior Building Company of New York, and is largely in- terested in many of the manufacturing industries of his state as well as in mills in the South and Canada. He is a Director in several banks in Providence and Pawtucket, is Vice-President of the Pawtucket
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Street Railway, in which, as well as in other electric railways and electric companies of his state, he has large holdings. Mr. Goff has been three times elected President of the Business Men's Association of Pawtucket, and has taken a prominent part and
LYMAN B. GOFF.
a warm interest in the improvement of his city. A Republican in politics, he has always declined office. He is a member of the Athletic and Hope clubs of Providence, and of the Union League and Athletic clubs of New York. He was married, December 14, 1864, to Miss Almira Thornton ; they have two children : Lyman T. and Elizabeth Lee Goff.
GORMAN, CHARLES EDMUND, United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island, was born in Boston, Mass., July 26, 1844, son of Charles and Sarah J. (Woodbury) Gorman. On the maternal side he is descended from John Woodbury, one of the original settlers of Cape Ann, Mass., in 1622. His father was a native of Ireland. His early edu- cation was acquired in the public schools, until the age of eleven. He came to Providence in 1848, and when eight years old commenced active life as a newsboy, continuing in that occupation until about sixteen, when he engaged in mercantile pur- suits. He studied law with Ex-Chief Justice Greene,
and was admitted to the bar December 12, 1865. Entering at once upon practice in Providence, Mr. Gorman was very soon recognized as a leader in his profession, and his marked and versatile abilities led to his being early called into public life. He was elected a member of the School Committee in IS67 and served until 1872, was chosen Common Council- man in 1874, and Alderman in 1879-80-81 and 1890. In 1870 he was elected to the House of Representatives, and again in 1885 and 1887, serving in the latter year as Speaker of the House. In 1895 he was appointed United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island, which office he fills with signal efficiency and ability. In 1896 the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by Georgetown University. Mr. Gorman was President of the Brownson Lyceum, and is a member of the Athletic Association, the Country Club and the Franklin Lyceum of Providence, also of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is interested in military affairs, and has served as Adju- tant of the Rhode Island National Guards. In pol- itics he is a Democrat, and has been the Democratic
CHARLES E. GORMAN.
candidate for Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Mayor. From his entrance into public life he was an earnest agitator and worker for the removal of the real-estate requirement imposed upon nat- uralized citizens as a requisite of the suffrage in
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Rhode Island. After twenty-five years of agitation, during which time Mr. Gorman devoted persistent labors to the cause, the reform was accomplished by an amendment to the constitution. Upon its final adoption he was presented by citizens of the state with a silver tea service, "in recognition of twenty-five years' service in behalf of equal rights." Mr. Gorman is a prominent and eloquent speaker in the cause of Democracy, and has participated on the platform and stump in every Presidential cam- paign since 1864. He was married, July 8, 1874, to Miss Josephine C. Dietrich ; they have had five children : Charles Woodbury, Edward J., Joseph, Clara J. and Clement Dietrich Gorman, of whom only the first and last named are now living.
GREENE, BENJAMIN, M. D., Portsmouth, was born in Exeter, R. I., October 30, 1833, son of Hon. Isaac and Eliza (Kenyon) Greene. He is descended from the well-known Greene family of which Gen. Nathaniel Greene was a distinguished
BENJ. GREENE.
representative. His father was a farmer and a prominent man of his district, for many years a Representative in the General Assembly. His grandfather, Hon. Benjamin Greene of Coventry, was a Judge of one of the courts and held various
and prominent public positions. £ Dr. Greene passed his early life at the family homestead, where he worked on the farm. He received however a good school and academic education, and in 1856 commenced the study of medicine with his uncle, Dr. Job Kenyon of Anthony, R. I. In 1857 he entered the University Medical College of the City of New York, and graduating in 1859, established himself in practice in Portsmouth, R. I., where for some years he was the only physician and surgeon in the place. In his extensive practice now cov- ering many years, Dr. Greene has become widely known and greatly respected as a skilful physician, and as a gentleman of superior intellectual attain- ments, enterprising and public spirited, and of high moral character. Notwithstanding the demands of his profession, he has found time to devote to real
estate transactions and various manufacturing interests, in which he has exhibited rare business judgment and capabilities, and has been mainly suc- cessful. He has been a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society since 1860, and is a pronii- nent Mason, having filled many offices in that order and being still a member of the Board of Censors. He was married, November 26, 1860, to Miss Eunice A., daughter of Philip B and Sarah E. (Cooke) Chase, of Portsmouth ; they have had two children : Ivah Eunice and Isaac Philip Greene.
GREENE, NATHANIEL, M. D., Middletown, was born in Dungeness House, Cumberland Island, Georgia, June 22, 1809, eldest son of Nathaniel Ray and Anna Maria (Clark) Greene. His father was the youngest son of Major-General Nathaniel Greene of Revolutionary fame, and his mother was the daughter of Ethan and Anna (Ward) Clark of East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Dr. Greene was brought to Rhode Island in his infancy, and has resided here ever since. His early education was mainly acquired in the public schools of Kingston and at East Greenwich Academy ; for a while he attended school at Jamaica Plain, Mass., a then noted school where wealthy and cultured people sent their children. At the age of fourteen he entered Amherst College as a Freshman, remaining one year, and then entered the Sophomore class at Brown University, where he likewise remained only one year. For three years he lived on and managed a farm. From thence he went to Whitestown, Oneida county, N. Y., and studied medicine two years under Drs. Peck and Clark, who were of the Allopathic school, afterwards
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studying one year with Dr. Charles F. Eldridge of East Greenwich, R. I. At the urgent solicitation of Dr. Abraham Okie of Providence, he began the practice of medicine as a homœopathist, about 1852, and continued the practice, which was a large and lucrative one, for twenty years. He received his diploma from the New York Homoeopathic College of Medicine and Surgery. In 1842, when an attempt was made to overthrow the then-existing state government of Rhode Island, Dr. Greene organized a company of volunteers, and taking the command, reported for service at Chepachet. The rebellion was suppressed without the intervention of arms, however, and the company was not required
NATH'L GREENE.
to do any fighting. Subsequently, at the request of Governor Samuel Ward King, he enlisted a company of cavalry, of which he retained command for about two years. In April 1848 he was elected Senator from Middletown to the General Assembly of the state, and was three times re-elected to that office, in 1849-50-51. Upon the organization of the Aquidneck Agricultural Society, in 1850 or there- abouts, Dr. Greene was elected its first President. In 1878, with the assistance and by the advice of Dr. Henry E. Turner, Major Asa Bird Gardiner and Colonel James Varnum, he called a meeting of per- sons entitled by heredity to membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, and reorganized the
Rhode Island society of that name. This organiza- tion was duly recognized by the National Society of the Cincinnati, and Dr. Greene was elected Presi- dent of the Rhode Island branch, which office he has held continuously ever since. Dr. Greene was married, at the age of eighteen, to Mary Jane Moore, eldest daughter of Colonel William Moore of New- port, R. I.
HALLER, JOHN FREDERICK, M. D., Providence, physician, inventor, journalist and musician, was born in Småland, Sweden, October 16, 1862, son of Anders Peter and Anna Gustafva (Peterson). His father was a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music at Stockholm, a teacher of music and other branches in the High School, and a fine organist. His ancestors on both sides were well-to- do people, whose antecedents can be traced back to the earliest history of Sweden. His mother's progenitors belonged to the higher nobility of Sweden six generations ago, and many of his ances- tors have distinguished themselves in the wars of Sweden. Dr. Haller early manifested a taste for music, literature and invention. He received his preliminary education in the public schools of Sweden and later under private tuition, and entered college with a view to preparing for the study of medicine. Circumstances necessitating a change of plan, however, he graduated from the Commercial Department of the University of Norrköping in 1880, receiving the equivalent of the English degree of A. B., and became a bookkeeper and office clerk until in 1882, at the age of nineteen, he emigrated to the United States. His parents were opulent until he was thirteen years of age, since which time he has depended upon his own resources, serving as organ- ist and as tutor in private families while pursuing his college course. After coming to this country he was a music-teacher, and organist of the First Luth- eran Church in Jamestown, N. Y., and at the same time bookkeeper for a wholesale house, until 1884, when he commenced the study of medicine. During his four-years course of medical study he earned a living for himself and mother, as organist and as publisher of a Swedish newspaper which he bought in 1884, and by working for a time in a piano factory at Jamestown, as tuner and regulator. In the meantime he attended the Medical Department of the University of Buffalo, where he was Prosector to the Chair of Anatomy in 1886-7-8, and from which he graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1888. He then sold his paper and removed to
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