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 35
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POWEL, JOHN HARE, Ex-Mayor of Newport, was born in Paris, France, July 3, 1837. His father, the late Colonel John Hare Powel, originally bore the surname of Hare, and assumed the additional one of Powel by legislative act in 1806. Through him the subject of this sketch is descended from Edward Shippen, Charles Willing and Robert Hare, three Englishmen who settled in Philadelphia prior to 1773. On the maternal side his ancestry in- cludes the Verplanck, Beekman, Van Cortlandt, Schuyler, Provost and other early Dutch families of New Netherlands, now New York, and also by the marriage of his grandfather, Colonel Andrew de Veaux of South Carolina, with the French Huguenot family of that name. He received his
education principally under the instruction of an English tutor, after which he studied law with Henry J. Williams of Philadelphia. A large part of his early life was devoted to travel in America and Europe, and the remainder was passed at his father's inherited estate, Powelton, now a part of West Philadelphia, and at Newport, the summer home of the family since the early part of the century. The death of his father, which took place at Newport in 1856, left him in possession of a house on Bowery street in that city, adjoining the residence of his eldest brother, and this, together with his interest in the place and his fondness for field sports and outdoor exercise of all kinds, induced him to give up his residence in Philadelphia. Upon his marriage in 1860 he removed to Newport, and became at once identified with the permanent interests of the city, which has since numbered him among its most valued citizens. Although actively interested in various local socie- ties and public affairs, and serving two years as a member of the Board of Health, Mr. Powel inva- riably declined to accept any political office, until in 1886 he was induced to become an independent candidate for Mayor. In response to the call for troops in 1862, Mr. Powel, who had been captain of the Newport Company of the National Guard from its organization, volunteered with his com- pany, which became Company L in the Ninth Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers. He received from Governor Sprague his commission as Captain in May 1862, was promoted to Major in June and to Lieutenant-Colonel in July following, and in the fall of the same year was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers. Later he was frequently tendered and urgently solicited to accept the Colonelcy of either of the nine-months regiments then being raised in Rhode Island, and many other positions, all of which he was compelled to decline. In February 1863, he was elected a member of the Newport Artillery Company, was chosen Lieutenant-Colonel in April following, and became Colonel in December 1864, to which position he was annually re-elected until his resignation in August 1877. Colonel Powel was married in June 1860 to Miss Annie Emlen Hutchinson, daughter of I. P. Hutchinson, a prom- inent merchant of Philadelphia ; she died April 23, 1872. They have had two children : John Hare Powel, Jr., whose decease preceded that of the mother, and Pemberton Hare Powel, born January 7, 1869, now living.
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SAYLES, WILLIAM FRANCIS, one of the most distinguished and successful manufacturers that the manufacturing state of Rhode Island has produced, was born in Pawtucket, September 2, 1824, son of Clark and Mary Ann (Olney) Sayles, and died May 7, 1894. On the paternal side he was a lineal descendant of Roger Williams, in the sixth genera- tion ; his mother was of the Olney family, long and prominently identified with the history of the state, and who also trace their ancestry back to the founder of Rhode Island. His father was a master- builder and merchant of Pawtucket. William was favored with the advantage of a good classical and mercantile education. He attended the Fruit Hill Classical Institute and the Seekonk Classical School in Rhode Island, then spent about two years in Phil- lips Academy at Andover, Mass., upon leaving which, in 1842, he entered the Providence commercial house of Shaw & Earle, serving first as bookkeeper, then as salesman, and finally being intrusted with the management of the concern's financial affairs. In the latter part of 1847, he embarked in business for himself, as a manufacturer. A small print-works establishment in the town of Lincoln, near Paw- tucket, was sold at auction, and Mr. Sayles became the purchaser. He at once erected additional buildings and converted the plant into a bleachery for cotton cloth, and started it with a capacity for turning out about two and a half tons daily. He was without previous knowledge of the business, and labored under the disadvantage of insufficient capital, yet his indomitable spirit and remarkable business capacity made the enterprise a success, and he steadily enlarged the works until in 1854 the capacity of the establishment was four tons daily, and his reputation for superior work had become so well established that he was at that time bleaching about three-fourths of all the fine grades of white cotton goods manufactured in the United States. In June 1854 the whole plant was destroyed by fire, and the results of years of labor were swept away in a few hours. But William F. Sayles was not of the stamp to succumb to a single stroke of misfortune, however severe. The work of rebuilding was immediately undertaken, on a larger scale and with structures of a more permanent character, and in the fall of that year the bleachery was again in operation, with its daily capacity increased to six tons. From that time enlargement and extension have gone on year by year, until the capacity of the works reached fifty tons or three thousand yards of bleached goods daily, and the Moshassuck Bleach-
ery, whose origin has been thus briefly narrated, became widely known as the largest and most complete establishment of its kind in the world. In 1863 Mr. Sayles was joined in partnership by his brother Frederic, the firm name becoming W. F. & F. C. Sayles, and the present great industrial estab- lishment at Saylesville in the Moshassuck Valley stands as a living and imposing monument to the brother's combined enterprise, energy and business ability. In 1877 the Messrs. Sayles built the Mo- shassuck Valley Railroad, connecting Saylesville with the New York, New Haven & Hartford Rail- road at Woodlawn, which, besides a passenger service, transports the supplies and products of the bleachery and also those of the noted Lorraine Woolen Mills, likewise the creation of the Sayles Brothers. These mills and their surrounding village of Lorraine are also situated in the Moshassuck Valley, about midway between Saylesville and the junction of the branch railroad with the main line. From his unbounded enterprise and great ability as a financial manager and adviser, Mr. Sayles naturally became associated with many manufacturing cor- porations and business institutions outside of his extensive interests at Moshassuck and Lorraine. At the time of his death he was President of the Slater Cotton Company, Pawtucket, of which he was the originator; a Director in the Ponemah Mills, the largest cotton manufacturing concern in Connecticut and one of the largest in New Eng- land ; and a Director or stockholder in various mills and enterprises in Massachusetts and else- where. He was also President of the Slater National Bank of Pawtucket, and a Director in the Third National Bank of Providence. Although a staunch Republican in politics, he was only once prevailed upon to enter political life, when he served two terms as Senator from Pawtucket in the General Assembly. He was for a number of years President of the Pawtucket Free Library, and a member of the board of trustees of Brown University. For a time he served as Lieutenant-Colonel in the Pawtucket Light Guards, and during the war of the Rebellion he was a constant and liberal contributor to all patriotic ends. In 1878 he donated the sum of fifty thousand dollars to Brown University, for the erection of a building as a memorial to his son, whose untimely death occurred in 1876, during his Sophomore year in the college. Subsequently the fund was increased to a hundred thousand, and the Sayles Memorial Hall, a large and beautiful stone edifice, was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies
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in June 1881. Mr. Sayles was a man of high personal character as well as strictest commercial honor, upright in all dealings with his fellow-men, and active and public-spirited as a citizen. The termination of his busy, useful and instructive life, which took place May 7, 1894, at the age of about seventy years, was an event that occasioned keen regret and sincere mourning, not merely in the com- munity in which he had always resided, but through- out his widely-extended circle of business friends and associates, by whom he was universally honored and revered. Mr. Sayles was married, October 30, 1849, to Miss Mary Wilkinson Fessenden, daughter of the late Hon. Benjamin Fessenden of Valley Falls, R. I. ; she died September 20, 1886. Three children are now living : Mary (Mrs. Roscoe S. Washburn), Martha F. and Frank A. Sayles.
TINGLEY, FRANK FOSTER, architect, Providence, was born in Providence, October 7, 1844, son of Henry F. and Lucy A. (Draper) Tingley. He is descended from Samuel Tingley, who came from
FRANK F. TINGLEY.
Malden, Mass., to South Attleboro, that state, where he died in 1714, and from Isaac Draper who came from Dedham, Mass, to South Attle- boro. His ancestors on both sides were long- lived people ; in one family of fourteen, four
lived to be over ninety, seven over eighty, and two over seventy. His father was born in Provi- dence, and his mother in South Attleboro. His grandfather Sylvanus Tingley, in connection with Samuel Tingley his brother, the style of the firm being S. & S. Tingley, established himself in the marble business in Providence in 1811, and was the first to apply steam power for sawing marble in the United States. His grandfather Isaac Draper, who lived to the age of ninety-two, was one of the pioneers of the modern tanning industry, the beginning of the extensive tanning in- terests of Pawtucket, R. I., having sprung from the tanneries in South Attleboro. Belonging to a race of tanners, Isaac Draper followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and father, himself and the latter being the inventors and original manu- facturers of pickerstring and lace leather, used for belting purposes. Frank Foster Tingley acquired his early education in the public schools of Provi- dence. On leaving the High School he entered the architect's office of Alpheus C. Morse, where he studied and worked two years, and afterwards was engaged with James C. Bucklin, also a prominent architect, for two years, since which time he has devoted himself largely to monumental architecture. For three years he was engaged in the monumental business with his father, one of the proprietors of the Tingley Marble Company, Providence. He then went into architecture on his own account for a while, but not liking it particularly well, again took up the monumental business, as agent and de- signer for the Smith Granite Company of Westerly, R. I., in which connection he remained nine years, 1874 to 1883, working up a large business for the company in designing and selling. From 1883 to 1886 he was engaged in the work of developing the Chapman Quarry of Westerly, and since that time has been in business for himself. Mr. Tingley is a thorough and expert architect, and has de- signed some noteworthy buildings, among which is the large Kent & Stanley building in Provi- dence, since called the Manufacturers' Building, seven stories, covering an acre of ground, and cost- ing with the land over a half-million dollars. But as has been said, he has made a specialty of mon- umental work, in which line the originality and beauty of his designs have extended his reputation throughout New England and beyond, and brought his professional services into extensive demand. Among notable examples of the monumental art, which stand as representatives of his genius and
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skill in designing, are the Barnaby monument in Providence ; the Ames monuments at North Easton, Mass. ; the Governor Padelford monument and the Abell tomb at Swan Point, Providence ; several of the Whitin family monuments at Whitins- ville, Mass., and others in nearly all the principal cemeteries of New England. Mr. Tingley is also distinguished as an amateur musician. He has been a church organist ever since he was fifteen years of age. He was organist of Grace Church, Providence, at eighteen, when Bishop Clark was in the height of his fame for pulpit oratory, and has held engagements in nearly all the churches of Providence, also at Dr. Putnam's in Roxbury, nearly thirty years ago, when that famous divine was in the height of his power as a preacher, and at the Shawmut Church, Dr. Webb's, in Boston, in the palmy days of this famous preacher. At Dr. Putnam's church in Roxbury, Mr. Tingley's choir was composed of Dr. C. A. Guilmette basso, Sarah Bar- ton soprano, Matilda Phillips contralto, and William Macdonald tenor, - a quartet of famous soloists and artists. It has often been remarked in musical circles of Boston that never in that city, before or since, has the musical part of a church service been more faith- fully and exquisitely rendered than by this renowned quintet of artistic and finished performers that consti- tuted the regular choir organization of the noted Roxbury Church. He is an accomplished pianist and accompanist, and years ago, in the sixties, travelled with the Camilla Urso Concert Company. For many years he has ranked as the first organist and pianist of Providence, his work especially excelling in nicety of execution, and in delicacy and power of expression. His most effective work may be regarded in his playing of the church service and choir accompaniments. An extract from a newspaper criticism of a concert given by Mr. Tingley and his wife in the Beneficent Congrega- tional Church, Providence, in 1885, may not be out of place in this sketch, as showing how his musi- cianly abilities were regarded in his native city : "Mr. F. F. Tingley, the organist of the church," said the critic, " gave on this occasion a recital to a large invited company, and although he disclaims being, and really is not, 'in the profession,' yet it must be conceded that he played with the skill, judgment and taste of a decidedly able professor. His regular profession, as is well known, is that of monumental architect and designer ; and to this his time is mainly devoted. Having manifested, how- ever, even in boyhood, remarkable aptitude for
music, and having subsequently attained a high degree of skill as an executant on the organ, he has steadily been 'pressed into service,' as we may truthfully say, in different churches, here and in Boston, for years past, and has consequently had large experience. Mr. Tingley is noted for being a very clean and sure player. Mrs. Tingley is well known and esteemed in our city as a church-quar- tet soprano and soloist of superior quality. Her voice is one of great purity and sweetness as well as of good volume and compass." On one occasion in later years, on an Easter Sunday, Mr. Tingley being in Boston, just as he was leaving the hotel for church, he was requested, on account of the sudden illness of the organist of the New Old South Church, to take his place at the organ. Mr. Ting- ley reluctantly consented to play the elaborate Easter service at sight, and upon one of the largest organs in the country, with which he was not familiar. The pastor apologized to his audience for the new organist who was to officiate at such brief notice, but the latter went through the service without any trouble, and was warmly congratulated on all sides for the successful performance. Mr. Tingley is a member of the Rhode Island Chapter of Architects, and of the Congregational Club of Providence. In politics he is a Republican. He enlisted in the Tenth Rhode Island Regiment, in the war of the Rebellion. The regiment was detailed to guard the defences of Washington. After being with his regiment for two weeks, and before it was mustered in, he was found to be a minor and was discharged and returned home. He was married, in Providence, July 9, 1867, to Miss Orlena A. McConkey of Stonington, Conn .; she died May 9, 1895, leaving no children. Mrs. Ting- ley was a noted singer, possessing a highly culti- vated voice of remarkable purity and sympathetic qualities. For many years in church and oratorio music she was recognized as the first of Providence singers, and her untimely death was deeply and widely lamented.
WATSON, COLONEL ARTHUR HAMILTON, merchant and all-round business man, Providence, was born in Lonsdale, R. I., September 20, 1849, son of Rev. Elisha F. and Mary (Dockary) Watson. He is a lineal descendant of an old Rhode Island family. He received his early education in the public schools, and graduated at Brown University in the class of 1870. In 1871 he became a clerk in the wholesale
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boot and shoe house of Greene, Anthony & Com- pany, Providence, was admitted to partnership in the business in 1873, and is now the active partner in the firm, which is the largest boot and shoe house in the city. Colonel Watson is also a Director in
several years was Chairman of the Committee on Finance. He was Chairman of the joint special committee on the investigation of the Municipal Court in 1884, and also served on the joint special committee on the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the town of Providence. He served as Colonel on the staff of Governor Bourne three years, and is a member of the Hope and Athletic clubs. Colonel Watson was married, February 20, 1873, to Miss Annie P. Sprague, daughter of Colonel Byron Sprague of Providence ; they have four children : Harriet, Byron, Mary Dockary and Annie Hamilton Watson,
WETMORE, GEORGE PEABODY, United States Senator, son of William Shepard and Austiss Derby (Rogers) Wetmore, was born in London, England, August 2, 1846, during a visit of his parents abroad. The Wetmore family in America is descended from Thomas Whitmore, who emigrated from England in
ARTHUR H. WATSON.
the Globe National Bank, the Union Railroad Company and the Narragansett Electric Lighting Company, is Vice-President of the Nicholson File Company, and President of the Providence, Fall River & Newport Steamboat Company, a corpora- tion formed by the recent consolidation of all the steamboat lines on Narragansett Bay. He has been one of the Vice-Presidents of the Providence Board of Trade, and was Vice-President of the Board of Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition for Rhode Island. Colonel Watson was elected to the Common Council as a member from Ward Two in 1883, and served continuously in that body until 1893, the last three years as President of the Coun- cil. In 1892 he was unanimously nominated by the Republicans for Mayor, but was defeated by Mayor William K. Potter, the Democratic candidate for re-election. He was then elected Alderman, and served three years, two years as President of the Board, retiring in January 1896. During Colonel Watson's period of service in the City Council he served on various important committees, and for
GEO. PEABODY WETMORE.
1635, and was one of the original patentees of Middletown, Conn. William Shepard Wetmore, Governor Wetmore's father, was born in St. Albans, Vt., in 1801, and was a distinguished merchant, residing for many years in South America and
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China, and finally in New York city, where he closed his business career. Shortly thereafter he became a citizen of Newport, R. I., where he lived until his death. Seth Wetmore of Middletown, Conn., grandfather of Governor Wetmore, married a daughter of General William Shepard of Westfield, Mass., and went at the end of the last century to St. Albans, Vt. He was a lawyer by profession, a Judge, member of the Legislature and of the Governor's Council of Vermont for many years, and a Fellow of the University of Vermont. On the maternal side, Governor Wetmore is descended from the Rev. John Rogers, fifth President of Harvard College and the first in the list of graduates of that institution to become its head. The subject of this sketch has lived at Newport, R. I., since he was four years old, and received his early education at private schools in that city, kept by Messrs. Reade & Thurston and by the Rev. William C. Leverett. He was graduated from Yale College in the class of 1867 and from the Columbia College Law School, of New York City, in 1869, and was admitted to the Bar of New York and Rhode Island the same year. Mr. Wetmore is President of the Newport Hospital and a Director in various other associations and institutions ; is a Trustee of the Peabody Education Fund ; Trustee of the Pea- body Museum of Natural History in Yale University, and was nominated a Fellow of the University in 1888, but declined ; and is a member of the State Commission to build the new Rhode Island State House. In politics he is a Republican ; he was first Presidential Elector of Rhode Island in 1880 and again in 1884 ; was President of the Newport Blaine and Logan Campaign Club in 1884 ; was a Member of the State Committee to receive the Representatives of France, on the occasion of their visit to Rhode Island in 1881 ; was governor of Rhode Island in 1885-6 and in 1886-7, and although defeated for a third term received a greater number of votes than at either of the two preceding elections when successful. In 1889 he was defeated on the eighth ballot for United States Senator, during his absence in Europe; but was elected to that office on June 13, 1894, receiving a unanimous vote from the General Assembly in the Senate, House and Joint Assembly. His term expires March 3, 1901. He was married December 22, 1869, to Edith Malvina Keteltas, daughter of the late Eugene Keteltas of New York ; they have four children : Edith M. K., Maude A. K., William S. K. and Rogers P. D. K. Wetmore.
WILCOX, ROBERT, M. D., Pascoag, was born in Mapleville, R. I., November 14, 1854, son of William and Anna (Tabb) Wilcox. He is of English descent. His early education was that of the dis- trict school, following which he attended Wesleyan
ROBERT WILCOX.
Academy at Wilbraham, Mass., the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and the Long Island College Hospital at Brooklyn, N. Y., from which institution he graduated in June 1878 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He left the Glendale (Rhode Island) mill in July 1869, being then fifteen years old, and went to live with his preceptor, Dr. Ben- jamin Joslin, in Mohegan, R. I., with whom he remained at this period eleven years. After gradu- ation he practiced in company with Dr. Joslin two years, under the firm name of Joslin & Wilcox. In 1878 he commenced practice in Pascoag, where he has continued ever since. Dr. Wilcox has served his town as Tax Collector, in 1876 and 1880, as Superintendent of Schools in 1882, as Town Coun- cilman for two years, and as Coroner from 1886 to 1892. He was appointed by the Governor, April 1, 1892, Medical Examiner for Burrillville and North Smithville, District Number Five, which office he now holds. He is a member of the United Order of Workmen and of the Foresters, for which he is Medical Examiner. He is also a member of the
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West Side Club of Providence. In politics Dr. Wilcox is a Republican. He was married, June 18, 1879, to Miss Frances Caroline, daughter of the late Edwin Brewer of Wilbraham, Mass.
WILKINSON, GEORGE, silversmith, and General Superintendent of the Gorham Manufacturing Company, Providence, for many years, was born in Birmingham, England, April 13, 1819, son of George and Ann (Waterhouse) Wilkinson, and died in Providence, December 28, 1894. His mother was a daughter of Robert Waterhouse of Sheffield, England. He received his education in a private school until the age of twelve, and after-
GEORGE WILKINSON.
wards studied in the Birmingham School of Design, of which Thomas Wallis was Head Master. At fifteen he was apprenticed to the trade of die- sinking and served until twenty-one, then worked at the business until the age of thirty, when he en- tered into business in that line for himself. Soon after he came to this country, and in 1857 he be- came connected with the Gorham Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of silverware, Providence. At that time the annual product of this now famous concern did not equal that of a single month of the present time, and the " little workshop " located on Steeple street was far from being widely known. To
Mr. Wilkinson as General Superintendent belongs no small share of the credit for the company's sub- sequent success and development. To him great credit is due for the artistic and consistent character of the designs for which the Gorham Company's productions are justly noted ; for the possession of that thorough knowledge of the numer- ous and various processes of manufacture which is so necessary in order to enable any one person to efficiently direct the operations throughout an entire establishment ; and for a quick and complete comprehension of the adaptability of machinery and tools, the greater portion of which are of a special character, quite unlike those of any other manufacturing industry. At the time he joined the company Mr. Wilkinson was in the midst of early and vigorous manhood, a serious and enthu- siastic student of all that was best in art, and possessed of perceptions of the keenest order. As a lover of the beauties of nature, he was by instinct prepared to appreciate the excellences of art. It has justly been said, " The devotee of art traces in nature many beauties which by the uncultivated eye are unnoticed." It was, therefore, great good fortune for the Gorham Company to secure, in the early period of its career, the services of a man so peculiarly fitted to develop the industry. Gifted to an unusual degree with the talent for the produc- tion of new ideas, and associated with this a desire to learn from the best schools of art what had gone before; with a practical knowledge, gained by experience, sufficient to enable him to do with his own hands that last touch which often gives the whole character to a piece of fine workmanship, coupled with the rare characteristic of being able to inspire others to perform better work through their confidence in him, and their willingness to follow his directions as a master of the craft ; not confined to a servile imitation of any one school, but suffi- ciently broad in mind to appreciate and take what is best from all schools and ages, Mr. Wilkinson combined a fertility of resources, and a production so varied in its character, that it may safely be said that he has been to the metal industry of the United States, during a period of its most rapid development, what Wedgwood was to the pottery industry of England at a period a century earlier. A cultivated and studious mind caused him to see a true value in the possession of suitable art publica- tions, and he steadily accumulated for the company a rare and valuable collection of books and folios of plates, not for the purpose of copying in toto,
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