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 7
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" The old fifth century bad its saint, Augustine, pure and wise; May troops of students nurtured here His namesake canonize.' "
By personal influence he has brought over one hundred thousand dollars in funds to the institution. He has published several pamphlets on moral, religious and other topics, among them one on " Parks and Tree-Lined Avenues ; " one on " Peace and Arbitration," which has been published in several editions, reaching more than one hundred and ten thousand copies, and largely distributed at home and abroad; one on " Moses Brown," the founder of many institutions in Rhode Island, read in 1892 before the Rhode Island Historical Society and published by its direction ; and one the same year on Robert Burns, before the Advance Club, which drew the following letter from Mr. Whittier : -
MY DEAR FRIEND :
NEWBURYPORT, 3d mo. 7, 1892.
I thank thee for sending thy eloquent and just address on Burns. Read it with great satisfaction. There is nothing illiberal or bigoted in it. Burns was not a Quaker; he had faults; but he did a noble work for Scotland and humanity. He sweetened an atmosphere bitter with Calvinism. Again thanking thee, I am
Thy old friend, JOHN G. WHITTIER.
He is a member of the Society of Friends, of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, Bowdoin Chapter, New England Historical-Genealogical Society, President of the Advance Club and the Public Park Association of Providence. He has been a Republican from the start to the present time, having cast his first vote for Fremont. He married, October 10, 1867, Miss Caroline Alice Osborne; they have two chil- dren : Caroline R. and William A. Jones.
KENNEY, WILLIAM FRANCIS, M. D., Providence, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., February 19, 1854,
W. F. KENNEY.
son of Francis W. and Margaret M. (Daley) Kenney. His father came to this country from Dublin, Ireland, in 1834, and was engaged in the copper, sheet-iron and tin trade, carrying on busi- ness in Hartford, Conn., for forty-five years. His early education was obtained in the public schools of Hartford, after which he attended Georgetown University, Georgetown, D. C., and graduated from the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, in 1877, with honors, being first toastmaster of his class. He acted as substitute house surgeon in the Bellevue and Charity hospitals in 1876-77, and after graduation located (April 1, 1877) in Prov- idence, where he has since continued in active
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practice of his profession. In 1879 he was ap- pointed Surgeon of the Fifth Battalion of Infantry, Rhode Island Militia, serving in that capacity three years. He was elected a member of the Common Council from the Third Ward inI 885-86, and was again elected to that body in 1895-96. He is a Democrat in politics. Dr. Kenney belongs both professionally and socially to various fraternal and social organizations. He has been Surgeon of Court Canonicus, Ancient Order of Foresters, 1889-93 ; Medical Examiner of Court Roger Wil- liams, A. O. O. F. of America, 1893-95 ; Supreme Surgeon General of Supreme Conclave K S. F. of the World, 1893-95; is Medical Examiner St. George Lodge, No. 14, Knights of Pythias, and of Endowment Rank, Section 81, Knights of Pythias ; Past Commander Knights of the Mystic Chain ; also a member of the Select Castle of the last-named order, Westminster Lodge of Odd Fellows, and the Wolf Tone Literary Association. He is also a fel- low of the Georgetown Alumni Association, a fellow of the Bellevue Hospital Medical College and mem- ber of the Rhode Island Medical Society. Dr. Kenney was married, July 17, 1876, to Miss Elizabeth M. A. Murray ; they have eight children : Maud A. E, Blanche M., William F., Stephen C., Francis J., Margaret M., David A. and Elizabeth Kenney.
KENDRICK, JOHN EDMUND, of Providence, United States Marshal for Rhode Island, and promi- nent as a manufacturer, was born in Providence, June 17, 1854, the son of John and Lurana D. (Cook) Kendrick. His ancestry on both sides were among the earliest settlers in Massachusetts ; on his mother's side he is connected with the family of Gen Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill, and on his father's he is descended from Oliver Ken- drick, who served in the Revolutionary army. He received his early education in the public schools and in Mowry & Goff's Classical School of Provi- dence. He matriculated at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., in the class of 1876. After graduation he was for three years in the wholesale drug business, and since 1877 he has been connected with the Kendrick Loom Harness Company and the American Supply Company, of which he is now the Vice-President. He has taken a warm interest in educational affairs, and since 1887 has been a mem- ber of the School Committee of Providence, serving on many sub-committees. He has been a member
of the Common Council since 1890, and is now, 1896, its President, and served as a Representative in the General Assembly in 1891-92. He was ap- pointed by President Harrison United States Mar- shal for Rhode Island in 1892, which office he now holds. He was one of the active organizers and for many years President of the Young Men's Republi- can Club of Providence, is President of the Mowry & Goff Alumni Association, Vice-President of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Brown University Alumni Asso- ciation, and is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Masonic Order to the thirty-second
JOHN E. KENDRICK.
degree, and various social clubs. In politics he is a Republican. He married, October 24, 1877, Miss Phoebe Elizabeth Champlin of Westerly, R. I., who died in 1892. In 1894 he married Miss Helena Boyce of Fairfax, Vt., and they have one son, John Boyce Kendrick.
LEGRIS, MARIE JOSEPH ERNEST, physician and surgeon, was born in Louiseville, Province of Quebec, Canada, May 8, 1857, the son of Antoine L. and Marie L. (Beland) Legris. He is of French descent. His grandfather Legris was born in France and emigrated to Canada about 1770. His son Antoine L. was the father of eleven children, one a priest in
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Webster, Mass., one a lawyer, now deceased, one a member of the Federal Parliament of Canada, and two doctors. Dr. Legris received his early educa- tion in the elementary schools, and took a complete classical course of eight years at the Nicolet College
M. J. E. LEGRIS.
on the St. Lawrence, Canada. He received his medical training for four years at the Victoria Col- lege, Montreal, graduating in March 1879. He first located in Natick, R. I., and after sixteen months' residence there removed to Arctic, where he has since remained, enjoying a large practice in the town and neighborhood. He is a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society. He has been the medical examiner of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York since the death of Dr. Job Kenyon, which took place in 1887. He was the first French Canadian elected to the Town Council of Warwick, and held that position for four years, from 1889 to 1892. He endorses the principles of the Republican party, and has worked earnestly to induce his people to become naturalized. Since he began that work by the formation of clubs, the number of naturalized French Canadians has in- creased from about twenty-five to eight hundred. He was charter member of the Société St. Jean- Baptiste, of Centreville, and its President for the first three years, and since, its Treasurer ; is a mem- ber of Court Warwick, Foresters of America, and
its physician since its organization in 1887, and is also a member of many other benevolent societies. He is a Roman Catholic and a member of St. Jean- Baptiste Church in Centreville, of which he is a trustee. He is a Director in the Centreville National Bank. On October 27, 1881, he married Miss L. H. Leopoldine Des Rosiers, of Montreal ; they have had seven children : Marie Blanche, Louis J. A., Charles Ernest, Marie L. Florina (de- ceased), Jean Martial, M. L. Florette and Marie Edith Legris.
LANGSTAFF, ALFRED M., bandmaster, was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, January 30, 1866, son of George and Jane (Wiskar) Langstaff. His ancestors on both sides for generations have been county squires in England, possessing considerable property, and being greatly respected. He came to the United States at an early age, and received his education in the public schools. Having strong musical tendencies he took up the study of music at the age of sixteen, receiving instruction from some
ALFRED M, LANGSTAFF,
of the best masters in this country on several instru- ments and in the theory of music and composition. He was quick to learn and was soon admitted to an orchestra, and since that time he has been constantly advancing and perfecting himself in the theory
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
and practice of music. Mr. Langstaff is the author of many notable compositions for church, band and orchestra. He at present holds the position of Bandmaster to the National Band of Providence, to which he was elected by unanimous vote on the death of the former leader, Thomas W. Hedly. This is a long established and well-known band, and since the advent of Mr. Langstaff has taken a high rank among the military bands of the country. He was one of the founders of the musical society of the Wandering Bards, has received all the hon- ors at the disposal of the society, and was made its first life member. He is a member of the Provi- dence Athletic Association. He married, March 19, 1889, Miss Maud Marion Daniels; they have no children living.
LATHAM, JOSEPH AUGUSTUS, civil engineer, was born in Providence, December 6, 1850, son of Joseph Stanton and Jane Ellen (Bulkley) Latham. His father was born in Windsor, Conn., and is a de- scendant of the William Latham whose name ap- pears on the tablet in Pilgrims Hall, Plymouth, as one of the passengers on the Mayflower. His mother's ancestry, the Bulkley family of Connecti- cut, also came to this country in the Mayflower, so that he is of the best Pilgrim stock on both sides. He received his early education in the public and private schools of Providence, and left Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College to enter the employ of John Howe, civil engineer of Providence, with whom he studied three years, and was subse- quently employed by him until together they bought a large granite ledge in Smithfield, and for two years he took full charge, getting out a large amount of granite for the city of Providence for the work about the Sockanosset pumping station. They also fur- nished the granite for the caps and foundation stone for the Butler Exchange, Providence. In 1873 the ledge business was sold and he entered the em- ploy of S. B. Cushing & Co., civil engineers, of Providence, where he remained for two years, leav- ing to take charge of the surveying department of a real estate establishment in Providence. He re- mained about three years with this firm when he opened an establishment for himself in civil engi- neering, and has continued in the practice of his profession until the present time. He has made bridge building a specialty and erected many in the vicinity of Providence. He was chief engineer for
the Pontiac Branch Railroad, until it was leased by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Company. He made a preliminary survey of the Ponegansett Rail- road from Providence to Danielson, Conn. He is a Methodist, was reared in and is a member of the Matthewson Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Providence. He has been Superintendent of the Sunday School for six consecutive years, has been a trustee of the church for several years, and is a member of the building committee for the erection of a new church edifice, which will be a model as well as a novel church building. He is also a mem-
JOS, A, LATHAM.
ber of the building committee for the erection of the new Edgewood Methodist Episcopal Church, now in process of erection. He is a member of Har- mony Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Providence Chapter and Council, of Calvary Commandery, and is a "Shriner " and thirty-second degree Mason. He has always been an active member of the Republican party of Cranston, and was a member of the school committee for sixteen consecutive years, holding the office of Superintendent of Schools for three years. He married, November 28, 1874, Miss Hattie K. Tuller, of Simsbury, Conn .; they have four children : Hattie L., Eva J., Charles B. and Arthur B. Latham.
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LANDERS, ALBERT CROCKER, State Auditor and Insurance Commissioner of Rhode Island, was born in Newport, R. I., June 19, 1845. He was educated in the public schools of that city. He established himself in the china, glass and fancy goods business
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A. C. LANDERS.
some thirty years ago, and has been very successful. He served on Governor Bourne's personal staff in 1883 to 1885. He has been a member of the State Central Republican Committee for twenty-odd years. He was elected State Auditor and Insurance Commissioner in May 1891, and still holds the offices. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights of Honor, Good Fellows, and an active member of the Lawrence Club of Newport and the Athletic Club of Providence. He was married, in 1867, to Miss Sarah Perry Clarke, granddaughter of Hon. Joshua Perry of Newport.
LAPHAM, BENJAMIN NEWELL, attorney-at-law, Providence, was born in Smithfield, R. I., April 28, 1821, the son of Alfred and Rebecca (Newell) Lapham. He is of Rhode Island stock, the pater- nal grandfather being William Lapham and his maternal Benjamin Newell. He received his early education in the public schools of Burrillville, then very poor ones, until he was sixteen years of age. About that time he heard Samuel Y. Atwell, an eloquent lawyer, argue a case, and was so much
delighted that he determined to become a lawyer. He prepared for college by studying by himself and going on horseback to Chepachet, where he recited his lessons to the late Hon. George H. Brown a part of the time and part of the time to Alfred Bosworth, then a young lawyer in the office of Mr. Atwell, and afterwards one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island. He entered Brown University in 1838. After three years' study his health gave out and he lived on his father's farm for a year. He then returned to college and graduated in 1843. He studied law in the office of Samuel Y. Atwell in Chepachet for a year until the death of the latter and then for a year in the office of Richard W. Greene of Providence, who was then United States District Attorney and afterwards Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the state of Rhode Island. He was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1845, and commenced practice in Providence, January I, 1846. He attended sedulously to his profession and acquired a large practice. He was City Solici- tor of Providence, 1863-65, member of the General Assembly 1863-64 and 1880-81, of the Providence
B. N. LAPHAM.
Common Council 1869-71, of the Board of Aldermen 1876-82 and of the State Senate 1876-77-82-83. He was also for many years a member of the School Committee. In politics he was a Democrat until the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for President
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of the United States, when he became a Republican and has remained one ever since. He married, June 24, 1847, Miss Sophia M. Page ; they have had four children : Sophie P., now wife of John D. Lewis, Julia B, Eliza B. and Louis P., all deceased except Mrs. Lewis.
METCALF, HAROLD, physician and surgeon, was born in Providence, November 25, 1860, son
HAROLD METCALF.
of Levi and Georgiana (Tucker) Metcalf. On his paternal side his ancestors were early settlers of Dedham, Mass., although for many generations they have belonged to Rhode Island. His great-great- grandfather on the maternal side was Daniel Mowry, who was a Member of the Continental Congress in 1781-82. His maternal ancestors are well- known families in North Smithfield and adjacent towns. He received his early education in the public schools and high schools of Providence, and entered Brown University, graduating in the class of 1884. While in college he taught evening schools, was clerk in a hat store, worked on a farm and at other employments. He adopted medicine as a profession and studied in the Harvard Medical School, from which he graduated in 1887 with the degree of M. D. He was Externe on the surgical side of the Rhode Island Hospital, and Dispensary Physician, during his year's residence in Providence,
when he removed to Wickford, R. I., and took a practice left vacant by the ill-health of the former incumbent. He was Physician to the Soldiers' Home while at Wickford before its removal to Bristol. He was appointed Medical Examiner by Gov. H. W. Ladd in 1889 and re-appointed in 1895 by Gov. C. W. Lippitt. He is examiner for the Mutual and Equitable Life Insurance Companies. He is a member of the Odd Fellows fraternity and of the Sons of the American Revolution. In poli- tics he is a Republican of the independent class, but has always avoided public life, preferring to devote himself to his profession. He married, July 31, 1889, Miss Mary Anna Barney ; they have four children : Mary L., George T., John T. and Paul B. Metcalf.
MORROW, ROBERT, Manager of the Providence Opera House, was born in New York City, Sep-
ROBERT MORROW.
tember 28, 1838, the son of John and Ann E. (Moore) Morrow. His father was an architect by profes- sion, and his ancestors on both sides were Scotch. He received his early education in private schools and was in a boarding school until 1852. He then went to sea and was second mate of the schooner James T. Brady before he was eighteen years of age. During the course of his seafaring life he
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
visited Europe, Asia, Africa and South America, and was for two years on the coast of Africa. He served in the American navy from 1856 to 1859. He came to Providence in the latter year and has remained here until the present time. He has been engaged successfully in various business enter- prises - the grocery and liquor and livery-stable business. In 1877 he became a member of the firm of Hopkins & Morrow, Managers of the Theatre Comique in Providence, and in 1885 became sole Manager of the Providence Opera House, which he has conducted with success to the present time. He also manages an extensive brokerage business in stocks and bonds. He was an active fireman from 1861 to 1867, and a mem- ber of companies John B. Chace, No. 4, and Water Witch, No. 6. He is a member of the Rhode Island Club, the Athletic Association, and is an Odd Fellow and Elk. In politics he is a conservative. He mar- ried, April 12, 1863, Miss Mary A. Dennaly ; they have two children : Annie L. and Ella F. Morrow.
MASON, ROBERT DURFEE, president of the Robert D. Mason Company, Pawtucket, was born
ROBT. D. MASON
ing Pawtucket, March 10, 1832, son of Robert Durfee and Mehitabel Tyler (Merry) Mason. His father was a son of Pardon and Annie (Hale)
Mason, and his mother a daughter of Barney and Phila Benson (Tyler) Merry. He obtained his early education in the public schools of Pawtucket, and received his training for active life in the dyeing and bleaching establishment of his uncle Samuel Merry. Mr. Merry had succeeded his father, Barney Merry, who established the business in 1805. Mr. Mason succeeded his uncle in 1870, after being in company with him for four years, and has since been sole owner of the business, until 1889, when his son Frederic became asso- ciated with him as partner. In 1892 the business was incorporated under the name of The Robert D. Mason Company, with Robert D. Mason as President and Frederic R. Mason Treasurer. Mr. Mason is a Republican in politics, but has not sought nor accepted public office. He was, how- ever, an efficient member of the Pawtucket Water Board for fourteen years. He was married, in 1852, to Miss Mary Bicknell Nicholas, who died in 1890 ; and in 1893 he married Miss Mary Adeline Havens. He has by his first wife two children : Frederic Robert and Ella Frances Mason.
NEWELL, TIMOTHY, physician and surgeon, was born March 29, 1820, in Sturbridge, Mass., the son of Stephen and Polly (May) Newell. His father was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and held the rank of orderly sergeant and lieutenant; he was a pensioner for many years. The first New England representative of the family, Isaac Newell, came to Boston from England when two years old. His grandson, Isaac, was the second town clerk of Sturbridge, in 1739. Dr. Newell's early education was limited to three months' attendance at the winter district school until sixteen years of age. At this time he entered the Manual Labor High School at Worcester, teaching winters, alternately. He fitted for college at the Wilbraham Academy and entered Brown University in the class of 1847. At the close of the sophomore year he left college and commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Sylvanus Clapp of Pawtucket, and then of Dr. W. D. Buck of Manchester, N. H., for three years. He attended two full courses of lectures at Woodstock, Vt., and took a private course of three months there. He graduated in 1850 and subsequently took a course in the College of Physicians and Sur- geons of New York. He commenced the practice of medicine in Cranston, R. I., in 1851, and re- mained there a little over three years. Since that
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time he has been located in Providence. He is a member of the Providence Medical Association, and the Rhode Island Medical Society, of which he was the Treasurer two years. He was formerly a member of the American Medical Association, the American
TIMOTHY NEWELL.
Social Science Association, and American Public Health Association. He was largely instrumental in the formation of a flourishing medical library in Providence, and for nine years was chairman of the library committee, which acquired by gifts and pur- chase, during that period, over seven thousand volumes. He is a member of the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Indus- try, the Rhode Island Horticultural Society, and the Public Park Association of Providence, of which he was an original member and largely instrumental in its promotion, Treasurer for six years, and Secretary and Treasurer for six years. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, and remem- bers to have shaken hands with General Lafayette. He is an honorary member of the Metropolitan Public Garden Association of London. During the civil war he was Surgeon of the First Rhode Island Cavalry, commissioned November 4, 1861, and had charge of sick and wounded prisoners of the Seven Days' battle quartered in Richmond. He was re- leased August 20, 1862. Among his published papers are, " What Changes does Physiology Demand in our
Public School System?" read before the American Social Science Association at Saratoga in 1876 and published in the "Sanitarian." As chairman of the committee of school hygiene of the Rhode Island Medical Association, in 1875, he made a full report with a series of resolutions, which were copied into several sanitary journals and commented on. He read a paper on " Interior or Open Spaces in Large Cities," before the American Public Health Associa- tion. He is also the author of several pamphlets published annually for ten years by the Public Park Association, the last of which, No. 10, was influ- ential in securing the loan for a new State House and fixing its location. He is also the author of the " Cyclopædia of Domestic Medicine and Hygiene," Bradley & Woodruff, Boston, 1890. He married, in September 1867, Miss Annie Potter Bates, daugh- ter of James W. Bates of South Kingston, and has one son : Claude Potter, born November 8, 1870.
NUGENT, CHARLES FRANKLIN, banker, Provi- dence, was born in Lynn,' Mass.,"November 15, 1869,
CHAS, F. NUGENT.
son of Thomas and Eliza (Newhall) Nugent. He received his education in the grammar schools of Lynn and in the high school of Manchester, New Hampshire. After completing his school education he entered the employ of the Amoskeag Mills in
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
Manchester and thoroughly learned the process of the manufacture of cotton cloth. He was ap- pointed superintendent of the cotton mills in Moosup, Conn., in 1888, and resigned on account of ill-health in 1889. He came to Providence the same year and engaged in the merchant-tailoring business, which was successfully conducted under the firm name of C. F. Nugent & Company. In 1893 the business of C. F. Nugent & Company was incorporated in a concern of which he was elected President. He resigned and severed his interest with the firm in 1894. He then engaged in the banking business, which he has since successfully conducted. He has not taken any interest in. public life. He is a member of the West Side Club, the Providence Athletic Association, the Order of United Workmen, the Masonic fraternity and the Odd Fellows. In politics he is a Repub- lican. He married, January 12, 1894, Miss Anny E. Tinker, of Lafayette, Ind. ; they have no children.
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