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 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38
259
MEN OF PROGRESS.
but purely for educational and suggestive use. This country is lacking in the possession of those facilities afforded by such art treasures as the British and South Kensington museums of London, the Louvre at Paris, and others of note in Conti- nental cities. It acts as a healthy stimulus or inspiration to intelligent artisans to have placed in their hands, or find within ready reach, works entirely new to them, and which convey to their minds new forms and ornamentations, both emi- nently suggestive and helpful. With the growth of the business came assistant designers and modellers, often coming from Paris, London, or other Old World cities, where art schools and museums of world-wide reputation furnished an unfailing supply of the best examples of art work in all its varied materials. To such workmen the Gorham library is an attractive and helpful feature, and upon them it exerts a potent influence. In addition it is an interesting collection of examples of meritorious industrial art work, forming a choice and valuable museum. In the foregoing respects the manufactory of the Gorham Company is unlike that of other silversmiths, and to these features must be attrib- uted much of their success. Mr. Wilkinson had for some years looked forward with the deepest thought and kindling interest to the time when the " old shop," which had reached the full limit of its repeated expansions, should be vacated and a new plant erected, more thoroughly in touch with his idea of the company's requirements for the future. Directly the site was determined upon and the land purchased, he prepared a series of architectural plans and submitted them for approval. While his own feelings suggested and favored the introduction of features in the front façade more ornamental, or even picturesque, and in keeping with or as reflect- ing the nature of the business, a desire of others in favor of constructive simplicity overruled. Upon the adoption of the general design, Constructing Engineer E. P. Sheldon was engaged to lay out and prepare the working drawings, and to superintend the erection of the buildings. Yet Mr. Wilkinson, though always busily occupied with the preparation of new designs for the company's products, found time to do a large share of the planning of the new shops, and locating the machinery, tools, etc., which for many years had been his experienced study. His wish, felt and expressed, to see the new works completed and in successful operation was gratified, and a deep sense of satisfaction came to him in beholding such a consummation of a life's
work, and in hearing the expressions of appreciation which spontaneously came from many sources of those most competent to judge of the difficulties encountered and successfully overcome. Mr. Wil- kinson was a member of the Masonic fraternity for some years, but retired from the order, feeling that it would take too much time from his business. He was married, March 31, 1847, to Miss Harriet Butter- worth; they had twelve children - seven sons and five daughters - ten of whom are now living : Jessie, Walter, William S., Arthur W., John B., Amey H., Harriet S., Esther Ann, Ruth and Robert Wilkinson.
WOODS, JOHN CARTER BROWN, lawyer, State Senator, and President of the Board of State Charities and Corrections, was born in Providence, June 12, 1851, son of Marshall and Anne Brown (Francis) Woods. Among his ancestors are many
1
J. C. B. WOODS.
whose names are prominently associated with the foundation and growth of the country. Captain Thomas Marshall, who came to this country in 1634; Lieutenant Isaac Marshall, an officer in the Revolutionary army ; Francis Cooke, who came over in the Mayflower, 1620 ; Lieutenant John Thompson, who came in the second ship, Fortune ; Samuel Woods, of England, who came to this country in
260
MEN OF PROGRESS.
1700 ; Samuel Woods, his son, of Princeton, Mass., who took an active part in all the interests of the time, especially during the years preceding the American Revolution, was a member of the Com- mittee of Correspondence, and with others signed and published a renunciation of allegiance to the British Crown ; Rev. Alva Woods, A. M., D. D., Harvard A. B., grandson of Samuel Woods of Princeton, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the Columbian College, Washington, D. C., President of, and Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy in, Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky., and the University of the State of Alabama, and for many years most prominently identified with Brown University as President ad interim, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and as Trustee and Fellow ; Marshall Woods Brown, A. B., A. M., University of City of New York, M. D., son of Alva Woods, Trustee of Brown University since 1856, Treasurer from 1866 to 1882 ; Chad Brown, who came to this country in the ship Martin, July 1638, soon came to Providence, and with others prepared the first written form of government for the colony of Providence, which was adopted and continued in force until 1644, when Roger Williams returned from England with the first charter ; John Brown, closely identified with the Revolutionary period, and with the events that preceded and followed it, among the first to take measures against the imposition of unjust taxes upon the colonies by Parliament, and to protest against the tyrannical and unlawful acts of armed British vessels in Narragansett Bay, was the organizer and leader of the expedition against the British armed schooner Gaspee in Narragansett Bay on the night of June 9, 1772, which resulted in the destruction of the vessel and the wounding of Lieutenant Duddingston, her commander, furnished supplies and munitions of war to the Continental army, helped to raise recruits for it, was one of a committee appointed by Congress to build vessels for the Continental navy, and gen- erally rendered material service in the cause of American Independence, was in the General As- sembly for several years during the War of the Rev- olution, and was a member of the Assembly that voted to renounce allegiance to the British Crown, for two successive times a member of the Conti- nental Congress, and prominent in securing the adoption of the Constitution of the United States by Rhode Island ; Nicholas Brown, brother of the foregoing, also closely identified with the Revolu- tionary period, among the first to take measures
against the imposition of unjust taxes upon the colonies, and to protest against the unlawful acts of armed British vessels in Narragansett Bay, assisted in furnishing supplies, munitions of war, and recruits to the Continental army, was a member of a com- mittee appointed by Congress to build ships for the Continental navy, was one of a commission to adjust accounts between Rhode Island and the United States, and took a prominent part in securing the adoption of the Constitution of the United States by this state ; Nicholas Brown, son of the above, the chief benefactor of Brown University, which bears his name, besides his other gifts to the college, building at his own expense Hope College and Man- ning Hall, and presenting them to the corporation, was a Federalist, and was in the General Assembly for several years, and was also a Presidential Elec- tor ; and John Brown Francis, grandfather of Mr. Woods and grandson of the above John Brown, Gov- ernor of the state 1833-8, and United States Sen- ator from February 18, 1842, to January 17, 1844. The subject of this sketch received his early edu- cation in the private school of Rev. C. E. Wheeler, Providence, and entered Brown University, gradu- ating in the class of 1872 with the degree of A. B., and delivering the classical oration. In 1875 he received from Brown University the degree of A. M. He studied law in the office of Thurston, Ripley & Company, Providence, graduated at the Harvard Law School in 1874, receiving the degree of LL. B., was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar in 1874 and to the Bar of the United States Circuit and District Courts in 1876, and has since practiced his profession in Providence. Mr. Woods was elected a Trustee of Brown University June 19, 1884, and still holds that office ; he has also been a member of the Advisory and Executive Committee since June 17, 1885, and Secretary of the Committee since September 4, 1889. He has been a member of the Alpha (Brown University) Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa from June 1871, serving on the Committee on Appointments from June 1883 to June 1884 and from June 1885 to June 1891, and on the Committee of Arrangements from June 1884 to June 1885, was Vice-President of the Chapter from June 1891 to June 1893 and Presi- dent from June 1893 to June 1895. He has been Moderator of the Charitable Baptist Society of Providence since June 9, 1891, prior to which he was Clerk of the Society fourteen years. In June 1892 he was appointed a member of the Board of State Charities and Corrections, for six
261
MEN OF PROGRESS.
years, and in October 1895 was elected President of the Board, which office he at present fills. He was also appointed, in May 1895, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf, for six years. He has been President of the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals since June 1888, one of the Directors of the Rhode Island School of Design on the part of Brown University since September 1894, and a Director in the Providence National Bank since January 1886. Mr. Woods has been active in the formation of various societies and social organi- zations. He is one of the founders of the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolu- tion, was Vice-President from June 1890 to June 1891 and President from the latter date to June 1892, was Delegate to the National Congress of the Societies at Chicago in 1893, and has been several times a Delegate to meetings of the National Society. He is one of the founders of the Hope Club of Providence, was continuously a governor of the club from its inception to the present time, excepting from December 1888, when he resigned from the management, to November 1892, was Vice-President from October 1875 to October 1881, and has been President since November 9, 1892. He is also one of the founders of the Country Club at Choppequonsett, and a member of the Agawam Hunt Club, the Providence Press Club and the Providence Board of Trade. Mr. Woods was elected a member of the Common Council in January 1877, and served continuously until January 1885, declining a re-election at that time, and was President of that body in the years 1881-2-3-4. While a member of the Council he served on joint standing committees on City Prop- erty, Finance, Police, City Engineer's Department (ex-officio) and Ordinances, being Chairman of the last-named committee in 1879 and 1880. He was also a member of many special committees, among them serving as Chairman of the Committee appointed to report upon the future management of the Providence Reform School; the result of the investigation made by this committee was the abol- ishment of that school and the establishment of the Sockanosset School for Boys and Oaklawn School for Girls at the State Institution in Cranston. He was a member of the committee on the City Engineer's Department during the inquiries made by that committee as to the safety of certain public buildings, the pollution of the Moshassuck and Woonasquetucket rivers and Providence harbor,
and the best methods of disposing of the city sewage. As President of the Common Council, he was ex-officio member of the School Committee of Providence in 1881-2-3-4. Mr. Woods was a member of the Rhode Island House of Represen- tatives from May 1881 to May 1887, a member of the Senate from December 1891 to the May session of 1892, was again elected Senator in April 1894 and re- elected in 1895 and 1896, serving at present in that capacity. While in the House of Representatives he was a member of the Joint Committee on Rules and Orders, and the Committee on Judiciary, being Chairman of the latter in 1884-5, 1885-6 and 1886-7 ; also Chairman of a committee appointed in March 1886, to inquire into and report upon the ad- ministration of criminal law in the state, and Chair- man of a Joint Special Committee appointed in April 1886 to consider changes in laws relating to the administration of justice in the inferior courts, and to the suppression of intemperance. While in the Senate in 1892 Mr. Woods was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and member of a committee appointed to examine into the condition of the roads and public highways of the state, with a view to improvement in their construction and main- tenance, and to revise and consolidate the laws relating to the same ; in consequence of the labors of this committee, legislation looking to improved highways was passed in 1895. In June 1894 he was appointed one of a Joint Committee to con- sider the subject of exemption from taxation, and taxation generally, and the report was made in April 1896. Also in June 1894 he was a member of a Joint Special Committee to confer with the city of Providence, with a view to obtaining a site for a State Armory, and in May 1895 he was ap- pointed a member of the Rhode Island State Armory Commission. In May 1895 he was made Chairman of the Commission to cause a geological survey to be made of portions of the state contain- ing rocks suitable for road building, and in May 1896 he was appointed on the Commission to Revise the Militia Laws of the State. He has also served as a member of many other special com- mittees. Politically Mr. Woods is a Republican. He was a member of the Republican City Com- mittee of Providence from 1879 to 1896, declining a re-election, and was Chairman from 1886 to 1893, declining to serve at the head of the committee longer. He was also a member of the Rhode Island Republican State Central Committee from 1890 to 1893, and has been prominently connected
262
MEN OF PROGRESS.
with many other Republican organizations, conven- tions, etc. While in college he was a member of the Epsilon Chapter of the Zeta Psi. He is unmarried.
WESTCOTT, AMASA SMITH, Judge of the Mun - icipal Court of Providence for many years, was born in North Scituate, R. I., September 21, 1818, son of John and Cecilia (Owen) Westcott. He is a lineal descendant of Stukley Westcott, one of the first settlers of Providence and Warwick, an associate of Roger Williams in his expulsion front the church in Salem, and one of the distinguished founders of the Rhode Island colony. His grand- father on the paternal side was a soldier of the Revolution. Judge Westcott's early boyhood was passed in the town of his birth, where he pursued the ordinary studies of the public schools. Being ambitious of securing a college education, he attended the academies at Brooklyn and Plainfield, Conn., and after a further preparatory course of study under the tuition of Judge Bosworth of Warren, entered Brown University and graduated therefrom in 1842. Following graduation he studied law with Judge Bosworth, was admitted to the bar in 1844, and for a year thereafter remained in the office of his preceptor. In 1845 he came to Provi- dence and engaged in the practice of his profession until 1852, when he was elected Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Providence County, and was annually re-elected, with the exception of one year, until 1867. He was then elected Judge of the Municipal Court of Providence, and ex-officio Judge of Probate, which position he occupied with marked ability and honor for seventeen years, or until his retirement from public life in 1884. Judge Westcott has served as a member of the City Coun- cil of Providence, and was Chairman of the Com- mittee which in 1875 erected the handsome Providence County Court House. He was also at one time Major of the Twelfth Regiment Rhode Island Militia. He has been a member of the Squantum Club since 1870, and is a stockholder in the Providence Athenaeum. In politics he was originally an old-line Whig, but has been a Repub- lican from the formation of that party. Judge Westcott was married April 7, 1845, to Miss Susan Carpenter, daughter of Daniel Bosworth of Warren and sister of the late Judge Bosworth ; they had three children who died in infancy.
YOUNG, ARTHUR, retired business man, and for many years Postmaster at Slatersville, was born in Jewett City, Conn., August 23, 1828, son of Alfred and Lucy (l'eck) Young, and died December 19, 1894. His parents were both of English ancestry,
ARTHUR YOUNG.
his mother being a descendant of Joseph Peck of Belton Hall, Yorkshire, England, who emigrated to America in 1638. The original coat-of-arms of the Pecks is still in the possession of the family, the motto being " Prohibitem quam divitias"; it was first borne by William Peck of Sanford Hall, Essex. Henry Peck was among the first settlers of New Haven, coming to America in the company of Governor Eaton and the Rev. John Davenport in 1637. The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools of his native place, and began his business career with Tiffany, Young & Ellis, now Tiffany & Company, New York. In 1848 he accepted a position with J. & W. Slater, cotton manufacturers of Slatersville, R. I., remaining with the firm and their successors, William S. Slater and John W. Slater, as confidential clerk, until he retired from active business in 1885. Mr. Young served for many years as Postmaster at Slatersville, and in 1883 and 1884 represented the town of North Smithfield as Senator in the State Legislature. In politics he has been a staunch Re-
Amara J. Werteilt
your hely Nelson NO. Aldeias
263
MEN OF PROGRESS.
publican from the formation of the party. He was married, April 19, 1852, to Miss Alice Wood ; they had three children : Arthur P., Alfred W., who died in infancy, and Alice W., wife of Frederick H. Potter.
ALDRICH, HON. NELSON WILMARTH, United States Senator, was born in Foster, Rhode Island, November 6, 1841, son of Anan E. and Abby (Burgess) Aldrich. He is of old New England ancestry. Senator Aldrich's early education was acquired in the public schools of Killingly, Con- necticut, and at the East Greenwich Academy in Rhode Island. Shortly after leaving the latter institution, in 1857, he came to Providence and secured a situation as bookkeeper with Waldron & Wightman, wholesale grocers. His aptitude for business and his close application to the interests of the firm led to his admission as a partner in 1866, and the firm name was changed to Waldron, Wightman & Company. The high mercantile stand- ing which he early acquired, together with his public spirit and his reputation for sterling integrity, practi- cal wisdom and sound judgment, soon led to his con- nection with other business enterprises and institu- tions, and brought him into prominence in public affairs. He has been President of the First Na- tional Bank of Providence and a Director in the Roger Williams Bank, and has been President of the Board of Trade and a member of the Ex- ecutive Committee. Upon the organization of the Union Railroad Company, a few years since, formed by a consolidation of the various street- railway lines and interests of Providence, Mr. Aldrich was called to the Presidency of that cor- poration, which position he assumed and still holds. To his intelligent direction, liberal policy and energetic methods is chiefly due the de- velopment of the superior street-railway system of Providence, which provides the public with accommodations and facilities not surpassed by those of any other city of its size in America, and which in itself is a successful and profitable enter- prise for its stockholders. He has served as a Trustee of the Providence, Hartford & Fishkill Railroad, also as a member and director of the commission that built the Narragansett Hotel, and as a Trustee for the property. He has also been one of the Commissioners on Cove Lands since 1871. Mr. Aldrich made his first entry into public life in 1869, when barely twenty-eight years old, as a member of the Common Council of Providence
from the Fifth Ward. He served in that capacity two years, and was then elected to the Council from the Sixth Ward, serving from June 1872 to January 1875, and was President of that body from June 1871 to January 1873. In April 1873 he was appointed a member of the Joint Special Committee of the Aldermen and Council to obtain plans for a public market. He also served on the committee that built the Cranston-street bridge. In 1875 he was elected Representative to the General Assembly, serving two years and as Speaker in the latter year. In 1878 he was elected Representative from the First District to the Forty-Sixth Congress, and in 1880 was re-elected for a second term by the largest vote ever cast for Representative in his district. Mr. Aldrich's activity and keen grasp of public affairs soon made him an influential member of the House of Representatives, and he was instrumental in rendering his state valuable service in many ways. In 1880 he was elected Senator, as successor to Senator Burnside, taking his seat at the beginning of the session of 1881, and has been twice re-elected, his present term expiring in March 1899. In his Senatorial career, because of his especial business education and training, Mr. Aldrich's work has naturally been chiefly directed to practical rather than to purely political affairs. He has been a dili- gent worker on the Finance Committee, the Com- mittee on Transportation Routes, and in various other capacities in which his wide knowledge of commerce, transportation, finance and general busi- ness have brought him into national prominence and enabled him to establish an influence that at various times has rendered the country efficient and exceedingly valuable service. His personal power in the Senate was signally shown upon the change in the political complexion of that body, by his retention at the head of the Committee on Corpor- ations in the District of Columbia, when Democratic chairmen were in almost every instance substituted. Yet his strong Republican partisanship has found abundant exhibition in his advocacy of the Force bill and his efforts to secure a modification of the rules, so that a majority could transact business, and in his Chairmanship of the Committee on Rules, which entitled him to leadership in many protracted and heated partisan contests. He is a strong advo- cate of sound money and the Protection policy, and was a warm supporter of the Mckinley bill when pending. Senator Aldrich has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1866, and has held various offices in the order; was Eminent Com-
264
MEN OF PROGRESS.
mander of Calvary Commandery Knights Templar in 1871, and has served as Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He is a life member of the Franklin Lyceum of Providence, of which he was Secretary in 1864, Vice-President in 1866, and for a long time a member of the Lecture Committee. Mr. Aldrich was married, October 9, 1866, to Miss Abby P. Greene ; they have several children.
CHARLES J. ARMS.
BLODGETT, WILLIAM WINTHROP, lawyer, Paw- tucket, was born in Randolph, Vermont, July 8, 1824, third son of Eli Blodgett. He received his early education in the public schools, prepared for college at the Orange County grammar school in Randolph, and in 1843 entered the University of Vermont at Burlington, from which he graduated with the highest honors in 1847. Soon after gradu- ation he became Principal of the Academy at Keene, N. H., which position he filled for a few months, and then commenced the study of law in the office of William P. Wheeler of Keene. Afterward he studied with Hon. Isaac F. Redfield, Chief Justice of Vermont, and in the office of Wires & Peck at Burlington, and was admitted to the bar of Vermont
in June 1850. In the following October he re- moved to Pawtucket, Mass., and in November was admitted to practice in that state by the Supreme Judicial Court then sitting at New Bedford. Mr. Blodgett has continued to practice his profession in Pawtucket to the present time. He has been fre- quently, and of late years continuously, honored with positions of public trust and responsibility. In 1859-61 he represented the towns of Attleboro and Pawtucket in the Massachusetts Legislature. In 1861 the long pending controversy between the states over the boundary culminated in a com- promise line agreed upon by the counsel of the respective states and submitted to the Legislatures for ratification. The proposed line, arbitrarily drawn, was unsatisfactory to Rhode Island, not giving due regard to natural division, and giving many advantages to Massachusetts, and was certain of being rejected by the Rhode Island Legislature. A new line was proposed by Mr. Blodgett, and was finally adopted; and March 1, 1861, the town of Pawtucket, and that part of Seekonk lying on the Providence and Pawtucket rivers, now known as East Providence, became a part of the state of Rhode Island. On the day of transfer Mr. Blodgett was elected to the Rhode Island Senate - the first time in the history of the state that a member of the General Assembly was elected without the con- stitutional requisite of a year's residence. Mr. Blodgett has since continued the practice of law in Rhode Island. In 1868 he was elected Judge of Probate for North Providence, and held the office by annual election until 1874, when the town and village of Pawtucket were consolidated into one town under the same name. He has continued in the office for the town and city of Pawtucket, with the exception of two or three years, until the present time, a period of more than twenty-five years. Mr. Blodgett has also represented the towns of North Providence and Pawtucket and the city of Paw- tucket in the Rhode Island Legislature, of which he is now a member, more than twenty years. He was also at one time Commissioner of Insolvency in Massachusetts, and a Bank Commissioner in Rhode Island. He has been for many years a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Paw- tucket, a member of the Diocesan Convention and of the Standing Committee of the Diocese. Mr. Blodgett was married, in 1855, to Miss Salome W. Kinsley of Pawtucket ; they have had six children : Ellen H., Edward W., Lloyd Morton, John, Chauncey Hayden and Kinsley Blodgett.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.