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 5
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FOSTER, SAMUEL, retired manufacturer, Prov- idence, was born in Dudley, Mass., October 13, 1803, the son of Abel and Mary (Tucker) Foster. He is descended from old and honorable New Eng- land stock. His great-grandfather, Timothy Foster of Dudley, Mass., had twelve sons and four daugh- ters, and with all his sons served in the Revolutionary war, the aggregate service of the father and sons being sixty years, a circumstance probably unparal- leled in that of any other conflict. His son Timothy, the grandfather of Samuel, served in the French war, enlisting as a private at the age of sixteen ; he afterwards served in the Revolution during the war, enlisting as a private and being promoted to a Lieutenant, and was wounded. His brother John, when a boy, lived with General Israel Putnam at Pomfret, Conn. ; he served in the French war under Putnam and was in the battle of the Plains of Abraham, where General Wolfe was killed ; he afterwards married, and continued to work for Putnam until the outbreak of the Revolution when with his employer he left the plough for the army ; he served under Putnam during the war and was gone eight years, and after the conclusion of the war, settled in Littleton, Mass., where he died in extreme old age. Joseph, another of the twelve brothers, enlisted in the army of the Revolution at the age of only thirteen years. Samuel Foster
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
received his education in the common schools, and came to Providence in 1820, where he became clerk for Philip and Charles Potter in the retail grocery business. In 1825 he formed a co-partner- ship with his brother William under the firm name of S. & W. Foster, for the transaction of the whole- sale grocery business, which continued until 1877. In 1848 he associated with his brother William and John Atwood, for the manufacture of fine cotton goods, under the name of the Williamsville Manu- facturing Company, of Killingly, Conn. He con- tinued an owner in this corporation until 1890, acting as its Treasurer from 1877. In January
SAMUEL FOSTER.
1849, S. & W. Foster admitted Henry J. Burroughs as a partner, under the firm name of S. &. W. Foster & Co. Prior to the admission of Mr. Burroughs into the firm, S. & W. Foster were for some time associated with H. S. Hutchins and William Pierce, under the name of Hutchins, Pierce & Co., doing a wholesale grocery business. In 1853, Addison Q. Fisher was admitted a member of the firm under the firm name of Foster, Bur- roughs & Fisher, wholesale grocers, which continued until 1858. On the death of Mr. Burroughs the business was continued under the name of Fosters & Fisher. In 1864, James H. Bugbee was admitted a partner under the firm name of Fosters, Fisher & Company. In 1862, Thomas A. Randall was ad-
mitted a partner with S. & W. Foster, under the firm name of S. & W. Foster & Co., for the trans- action of a general cotton business ; this firm was dissolved in 1866. In 1866 he formed a partner- ship with his sons and Addison Q. Fisher, under the firm name of Samuel Foster & Co., for the transaction of a general cotton business ; this firm was dissolved in 1877. He was a Director in the Third National Bank and the Pawtuxet Bank for many years, and was also President of the First National Bank of Providence for a number of years. He sold out his interest in the Williamsville Manufacturing Company in 1890 to his partners, the Messrs. Atwood, grandchildren of his first partner, John Atwood. He is now a large owner in the Central Mills Company of Southbridge, Mass., manufacturers of cotton goods. He retired from active business in 1890. He is the senior member of the Providence Board of Trade, and has for many years been a member of the Squantum and other clubs, the Rhode Island Veteran Association and the Rhode Island Historical Society, and dur- ing his life he has been connected with many industries of various kinds as owner and manager, all of which has made his life one of great activity. He is the only survivor of a family of nine children. He married, June 10, 1841, Miss Priscilla Smith, sister of Amos D. and Gov. James Y. Smith ; she died March 24, 1867. He married, May 13, 1880, Mrs. Aliph. Elizabeth Brinley Cornell, who died Aug- ust 21, 1890. He had six children by his first wife : Ella Mitchell, who died April 24, 1878, Walter Smith, Louis Tucker, Frederic Leeds, James Herbert and Clara Dennison Foster.
FARRALLY, WILLIAM HENRY, co-editor and pro- prietor of the Bristol, R. I., Phoenix, was born in Pittsfield, Mass., April 2, 1859, the son of John and Juliette E. (Rogers) Farrally. His father was born in the northern part of Ireland and came to this country when a young man ; he served during the war of the Rebellion and was honorably discharged. On his mother's side he comes from old Revolution- ary stock; his maternal grandfather was Captain Joseph Rogers, who served in the war of 1812, and and his great-grandfather, Captain Joseph Rogers, served in the war of the Revolution. He received his early education in the public schools, and in the high school of Great Barrington, Mass. He learned the printing trade when fifteen years of age in the
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office of the Berkshire Courier at Great Barrington, where he served seven years, and then accepted the foremanship of the New Milford Gazette, at New Milford, Conn. He was general superintendent there for ten years, and in September 1892 pur-
WM. H. FARRALLY.
chased a half interest in the Saturday Record of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and was business manager for two years. In November 1894 he purchased the Bristol, R.I., Phoenix, in connection with his brother, Joseph Franklin Farrally, who had had a thorough training in the business with Clark M. Bryan of Spring- field, Mass., and others. Since that time they have changed the Phoenix from a weekly to a semi-week- ly, and greatly enlarged and improved the business in all its departments, being the pioneers of semi- weekly journalism in the state. He has never en- gaged in politics or public life, preferring to devote himself strictly to a business career. He is a mem- ber of the executive committee of the Valley Club, a business men's club of New Milford, Conn. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he was a member of the Fifth District Editorial Association. He is a member of the Southern Rhode Island Press Club and of the Bristol Improvement Society. He married, October 17, 1894, in St. Stephen's Church, Ridgefield, Conn., Miss Gertrude Adams Scott, daughter of ex-judge Hiram K. Scott of Ridgefield.
FRANCIS, E. CHARLES, banker, was born in Utica, N. Y , September 6, 1851, son of Rev. Eben and Mary (Hunnewell) Francis. The Francis family is of old New England stock, Richard Francis having settled in Cambridge, Mass., in the early part of the seventeenth century, and died there on March 24, 168.6 The family were promi- nent in Medford, Beverly and Cambridge, and served with distinction in the Revolutionary war. He received his early education in the common schools and adopted banking as a business. In 1870 he became a clerk in the Woonsocket National Bank. He is now assistant cashier and member of the board of investment of the Woonsocket Insti- tution for Savings. He has held numerous offices of trust and honor. He was Colonel on the per- sonal staff of Gov. A. H. Littlefield. in 1880-81- 82. He has been an assessor of taxes for Woon- socket since 1885, was a member of the Court House Commission in Woonsocket in 1891, and was elected Senator in the General Assembly from Woonsocket in 1894-95. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar, a member of the
E. CHARLES FRANCIS.
Military Order of the Loyal Legion, of the Sons of the American Revolution, and an associate member of Smith Post, G. A. R In politics he is a Repub- lican. He married, October 20, 1886, Miss Gertrude A. Nourse ; they have no children.
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
GOFF, ISAAC LEWIS, President and Director of real estate and investment companies, Providence, was born in Taunton, Mass., August 29, 1852, son of David F. and Clarissa D. (Stacey) Goff. He is of English descent and his ancestors were among the first settlers of New England in the Old Colony. Four of his ancestors on both the paternal and ma- ternal side were in the military service of the Colonies during the war of the Revolution. He re- ceived his early education in the common schools of Rehoboth, Mass., and at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College in Providence. He entered
ISAAC L. GOFF.
the real estate office of William D. Peirce in Provi- dence, in 1872, and continued there as clerk until 1876, when he engaged in the real estate business on his own account, which he has since continued. He was prominent in the organization of the Home Investment Company, one of the most successful real estate and investment companies established in Rhode Island, which began business in 1891, with Governor D. Russell Brown as its first Presi- dent. He has been the General Manager of the Home Investment Company from its organization to the present time. He is now President of the Isaac L. Goff Company and the People's Trust Company, and is the Treasurer of the Seaconnet Point Land Company and Director in several finan-
cial institutions. He has taken an active part in military and political life. He joined the United Train of Artillery in 1880, and was promoted to the offices of Second Lieutenant, Paymaster and Lieu- tenant-Colonel, which latter position he held until he was appointed by Governor Wetmore in 1885 an aide-de-camp on his personal staff with the rank of Colonel. He organized the Plumed Knights in 1889 and was chosen the first Commander, which office he still holds. In politics he has always been a Republican and has been actively engaged in political work since his majority. He was Secre- tary and Treasurer of the Republican State Com- mittee from 1886 to 1892. In 1888 he was an alternate delegate to the Republican National Con- vention and in 1892 was a delegate to the National Convention at Minneapolis. He was the messenger to carry the vote of the State to Washington at the national election in 1892. He has always de- clined to be a candidate for public office. He married, in 1875, Miss Ada J. Richards, daughter of William R. Richards, a manufacturing jeweler of Providence ; they have four children : William David, Josephine A., Lillian L. and Isaac L. Goff, Jr.
GEORGE, CHARLES HENRY, merchant and banker, Providence, was born in Foxboro, Mass., July 14, 1839, the son of Thomas M. and Rebecca S. (Farrington) George. He comes of good old New England stock, his ancestors having emigrated from England in the seventeenth century and set- tled in what is now the state of Maine, then a province of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He received his early education in the public schools of Foxboro, and at twelve years of age entered a hardware store in Providence, where he remained until he was fifteen. He then attended Bristol County Academy in Taunton, Mass., for a year and a half, after which he returned to his old position where he remained until he was twenty. He then started in the hardware business for himself, and since that time the firm of C. H. George & Com- pany has been among the most prominent in its line in the state. He was elected a Director of the Roger Williams National Bank in 1873 and its President in 1879, and is a Director in several other banking institutions. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1891 and 1892, In 1887 he was appointed by President Cleveland, Postmaster of Providence, and held the office until July 1895, several years after the expiration of his commission.
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
He is a member of the Congregational Club, and was its President in 1890 and 1892. He is a mem- ber of the Providence Press Club, the Marine Order, and various social and fraternal associations In politics he is a Democrat. He married, April
CHAS. H. GEORGE.
14, 1861, Miss Clarissa Jackson, who died Septem- ber 4, 1880. He has three children : Edward A., now minister of the Congregational Church of New- port, Vt .; Grace T., wife of Wm. C. Dart, and Margaret Emerson George.
GARVIN, LUCIUS FAYETTE CLARK, physician and surgeon, was born in Knoxville, Tenn., November 13, 1841, son of James, Jr., and Sarah A. (Gunn) Garvin. His paternal ancestors were among the early settlers of Vermont. His maternal ancestors, including the Gunn, Montague and Dickenson families, were settlers of Massachusetts and of Eng- lish descent. He received his early education in the public schools of Enfield and Sunderland, Mass. He fitted for college in the New Garden School, now Guilford College, near Greenboro, N. C., having previously attended a private school in Greenboro, and entered Amherst College, Mass., at the age of sixteen. He was graduated in the class of 1862, thirty-one years after the graduation of his father
from the same institution. In the autumn of 1862 he taught a public school in Ware, Mass., having previously taught in Sunderland during a part of his senior year in college. Immediately upon attaining his majority he enlisted in Company E Fifty-first Massachusetts Volunteers, recruited in Worcester county. The regiment served in North Carolina, under General Foster. The march to Goldsboro, the burning of the bridge at that place to cut off the communications from the south with Lee's army, and the engagements at Kingston, Whitehall and Goldsboro were the chief features of his experi- ence in the army. After the mustering out of his regiment he taught a select school in Leverett, Mass., where he began the study of medicine. Sub- sequently, he was a student with Dr. Sylvanus Clapp of Pawtucket. He was graduated from the Harvard Medical School, March 13, 1867, having passed a year prior to graduation as Interne at the Boston City Hospital. In May 1867 he began the practice of medicine in Lonsdale, R. I, where he has continued to reside and actively practice since.
L. F. C. GARVIN.
He has always taken an active interest in public affairs. He was a Republican until 1876, supporting Lincoln and Grant for the presidency, but in that year advocated the election of Samuel J. Tilden, and has ever since acted with the Democratic party.
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
Since 1880 he has been active in the propaganda of what he believes to be much needed reforms in the state. Beginning with 1883 he has been elected ten times to represent the town of Cumberland in the General Assembly, and is a member of the present House of Representatives. During this period he has aided in the enactment of the follow- ing eight popular measures, four of which were in- troduced by himself : The Ten Hour law, the Labor Bureau, the Extension of Suffrage, the Australian Ballot, Weekly Payments, Free Text-Books, Plu- rality Elections, and Factory Inspection. He re- gards proportional representation as the most important organic reform, and the single tax as the most important social reform, within the bounds of practical politics. For the past fifteen years he has urgently advocated a complete revision of the state constitution by means of a convention of the people ; but unless that is to be held at an early date, he favors as the next constitutional amendment the granting to registry voters in cities the right to vote for councilmen. He regards his efforts for the extension of the suffrage in Rhode Island from 1880 to 1888 as his greatest life work. He was the Democratic candidate for Congress from the second district in Rhode Island at the election in 1894. Upon the passage of the Medical Examiner Act in 1884 he was appointed by Governor Bourn. Medi- cal Examiner for the Seventh District, which em- braces the town of Cumberland, and in 1890 was reappointed for six years by Governor Davis. He is a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society, of the Providence Medical Association, of the Grand Army of the Republic (Ballou Post, Central Falls) and of the Bell Street Chapel Society of Providence. He married, December 23, 1869, Miss Lucy W. Southmayd of Middletown, Conn. ; they have three children : Ethel, Norma and Florence Garvin.
HARRIS, GEORGE ALBERT, physician and surgeon, was born in North Scituate, R. I., May 19, 1855, the son of James Arnold and Elizabeth Wheeler (Potter) Harris. He is descended from Gideon Harris, one of the earliest settlers of the town of Scituate. Gideon was born March 15, 1714, and was the great-grandson of Thomas Harris, who in company with his brother William, Roger Williams, and others, sailed from Bristol, England, in the ship Lyon, William Peirce master, December 1, 1630, landing at Nantasket, Mass., on the 5th of February following ; he settled in Providence in 1638 and died there in
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1686. Dr. Harris received his early education at Lapham Institute, North Scituate, graduating in the class of 1873. After graduation he taught school for a year, and then passed two years in railroad surveying under Edward Everett, a nephew of the statesman of the same name. He began the study of medicine in 1876 with his maternal uncle, Dr. Albert Potter of Chepachet, and graduated from the Columbia College Medical School (the College of Physicians and Surgeons), New York, in the class of 1880. He first settled at Greenville, R. I , and remained there nearly a year, when he was
GEO. A. HARRIS.
called to Chepachet on account of the illness of his preceptor, and has remained there since. He has been a member of the school committee for nine years. He has been Medical Examiner for District No. 3, Providence county, since 1884. He is a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society, of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and of the Rhode Island Medico-Legal Society. He has al- ways been greatly interested in musical affairs and has been chorister of the Chepachet Church for the past seven years. He was converted under the ministry of Rev. Richard K. Wickett. He has been treasurer of the church since 1887, and deacon since 1893. He has been active in the Christian Endeavor movement. In politics he is a Repub-
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lican. A careful and conscientious practitioner of medicine, he yet believes that the truest " Men of Progress " are those who work most industriously for the spiritual welfare of their fellowmen. He married, June 2, 1879, Miss Ella Louise Smith ; they have had one child : Amey Elizabeth, born and died June 6, 1889.
HEMENWAY, HERBERT LEWIS, late Resident Manager in Providence for Norcross Brothers, con- tractors and builders of Worcester, Mass., was born March 2, 1864, in North Leverett, Mass., the son of
H. L. HEMENWAY.
Elihu and Hepsibath Mary (Loring) Hemenway. His ancestry on the father's and mother's side were of good old New England stock, of English descent with some admixture of Dutch and Irish. He re- ceived his early education in the "little red school- house " at North Leverett, the high school at Montague, Mass., and Powers Institute at Ber- nardston, Mass. He graduated from Eastman's National Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., in 1881. He worked on his father's farm at North Leverett, when not attending school, until 1880. In 1880 and part of 1881 he was employed in the New Home Sewing Machine Company's factory. After his course in the business college he worked as an apprentice at the carpenter's trade with J. L. Carll,
of Greenfield, Mass. In the winter of 1882-83 he was bookkeeper for Emil Weissbrod, manufacturer of pocketbooks at Montague, Mass., and in the sum- mer of 1883 was employed as a carpenter by John Huxley, of Northampton, Mass. In September 1883 he entered the employ of Bartlett Brothers, contractors and builders, of East Whately, Mass., afterwards North Adams, Mass., to complete his mechanical education. In 1885 he became foreman carpenter for the firm in the construction of the Belchertown Library. He was superintendent of construction of the Dedham Library in 1887-88, severing his connection in June 1888 to enter the employ of Norcross Brothers, and superintended the construction of the station at Springfield of the Boston & Albany Railroad in 1888-91, and of the Youth's Companion Building, Boston, in 1891-92. He has been resident manager of the firm in Providence since 1892, and superintended the con- struction of the Industrial Trust Company's build- ing, the Telephone building, a large building for the Brown & Sharpe Company, and other important works. On December 14, 1895, he terminated his relations with Norcross Brothers, and intends entering into the building business on his own account at an early date. He is a member of Constellation Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Dedham, Mass .; Royal Arch Chapter, Providence ; Providence Council, R. & S. M .; St. John's Commandery, Knights Templar ; Providence Chapter, Order of Eastern Star, and Palestine Temple, A. O. N. M. S. He is a member of the Providence Athletic Club. In politics he is an Independent Republican. He married, March 28, 1889, Miss Alice Maud Spaulding ; they have two children : Carlotta Effie and Loring Spaulding Hemenway.
HEYDON, HENRY DARLING, merchant, Crompton, was born in Coventry, R. I., December 25, 1851, son of David and Remima C. (Johnston) Heydon. He is a lineal descendant of William Heydon, who emigrated from England to this country about 1630, and his ancestors took part in the Colonial and Revolutionary wars. He received his early education in the public schools of Provi- dence, and began his business career at an early age as clerk in a store in Providence, where he remained for two years, and then took a special course at Mount Pleasant Academy. He then served as clerk in a store in Olneyville for a number of years, when he engaged in the dry- goods and grocery business. Later he disposed of
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
his business to take charge of a large establishment in the same place. In 1874 he removed to Cromp- ton, R. I., where he assumed charge in behalf of the creditors of a large general store in that village. The promising outlook induced him, six months
HENRY D. HEYDON.
later, to form a copartnership with Daniel W. Batchelder to purchase the business, in which they have since continued. He has taken an active part in public life. He was Postmaster at Cromp- ton from 1883 to 1887, a member of the school committee since 1883, and Town Auditor of Warwick five years. He was appointed aid-de- camp with the rank of Colonel by Governor Taft in 1888-89, and by Governor Ladd 1889-92. He was a member of the committee to secure a per- manent campground for the state militia, and also a member of the committee to procure a site for a state armory in Providence. He is a member and Past Master of Manchester Lodge, A. F. & A. M., was High Priest for three years of Landmark Chapel Royal Arch Masons, and member of St. John's Commandery. He was a Representative in the General Assembly from Warwick in 1879-80 and since 1888, and Chairman of the Committee on Finance. In politics he is a Republican. He married, March 16, 1881, Miss Charlotte A. Booth ; they have two children : Howard Raymond and Wright David Heydon.
HILL, FRANK, Ashaway, was born in Utica, N. Y., June 28, 1861, the son of Frank and Mary (Greene) Hill. His paternal grandfather was Horace Hill of Bennington, Vt., and his maternal grandfather was Wm. B. Greene of Westerly, R. I. He received his early education in the public schools of Inde- pendence, Alleghany county, N. Y., and graduated from Alfred University, Alfred, N. Y., in 1883 with the degree of A. B. He taught school for one year at North Loup, Neb., and for three years he was principal of the Hopkinton grammar school, one year before graduating and two years afterward. He then gave up teaching and became Cashier of the Ashaway National Bank, and Treasurer of the Asha- way Savings Bank, July 1, 1885, which position he now holds. Outside of the banking business his main interests have been with the public schools, and for the past eight years he has been Chairman of the Board of School Trustees of the town. He is now serving for the third term as the Representa- tive of Hopkinton in the General Assembly, and is Chairman of the Committee on Education. In
ยท
FRANK HILL.
politics he is a Republican with independent tendencies. He married, October 6, 1885, Miss Emma Greene, daughter of M. J. Greene, of Alfred, N. Y. ; they have three children : Evelyn Irene, Mary Hulda and Frank Maxsom Hill.
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
HILL, LESTER SENECA, physician and surgeon, was born in Foster, R. I., December 19, 1843, son of Jirah and Amey Whipple (Ormsbee) Hill. He re- ceived his early education in the district schools and his physical training on the paternal farm, where
L. S. HILL.
" the trees grew big and the rocks grew bigger." . During the civil war he enlisted, September 1861, at the age of seventeen, in Battery E, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, and served in First Division, Third Corps, Army of the Potomac, till December 1863, when he was appointed Second Lieutenant Company F, Fourteenth Rhode Island Heavy Ar- tillery, serving with this regiment in the Department of the Gulf until October 1865. He was at the siege of Yorktown, the battle of Williamsburg, the Seven Days' battles before Richmond, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, Chantilly, Freder- icksburg and Gettysburg. On the completion of his term of service he resumed his studies and grad- uated from Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Mass., in 1870. He entered the Medical College of the University of the City of New York, and graduated in 1872 with the degree of M. D. He then com- menced the practice of medicine in Providence, where he has remained since. He has been a mem- ber of the School Committee of Providence for fif- teen years. He was elected a Member of the House
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