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 8
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O'REILLY, FRANCIS L., Collector of the Port of Providence, was born in the county of Cavan, province of Ulster, Ireland, June 24, 1844, the son of Philip and Catherine (McEntee) O'Reilly. The O'Reillys of Cavan were for more than a thousand years powerful princes and chief- tains in that country, who after centuries of war- fare against the invaders of their native land, were gradually reduced in their power and possessions by the confiscation of their lands by the kings and queens of England. He was educated under private tutorship in his father's house until he was seventeen years of age, at which time he came to the United States and settled in Rhode Island. After a brief residence he removed to the Southern States and spent a few years in the dramatic pro- fession and as a public speaker and lecturer. He then studied law and was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1870. Since that time he has been in the active practice of his profession in Woonsocket, R. I. In 1882 he was admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court. His activity and energy have found scope not only in a large law practice, but in military and civil organizations, in political work, and in the promotion and further- ance of many business enterprises of a public nature for the advancement of his city. In 1879 he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the Rhode Island Guards, of which regiment he has been an active member for several years. He has been
active in politics and influential in the councils of his party, and has been for the past fifteen years a member of the Democratic State Committee. He was a Delegate to the Democratic National Con- ventions in 1888 and 1892, and was largely instru-
FRANCIS L. O'REILLY.
mental in having the vote of the state delegation cast in convention for President Cleveland in 1892. He was a Representative in the General Assembly in 1879-80 ; Town Solicitor of Woonsocket in 1887-88 ; and a member of the commission created in 1890 to build a new State House in Providence. In 1894 he was appointed Collector of the Port of Provi- dence by President Cleveland, which office he now holds. He is married and has a family of three children.
PERKINS, JAY, M. D., Providence, was born in Penobscot, Hancock county, Maine, October 15, 1864, son of William N. and Phebe A. (Perkins) Perkins. His ancestors came from England and settled in York, Me., some time before the Revo- lution, and their descendants settled along the Maine coast and in Massachusetts. He attended the common schools until the age of seventeen, when he entered the Eastern State Normal School at Castine, and graduated as salutatorian in 1884. He took the college preparatory course in the Co-
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burn Classical Institute at Waterville, attended a special course of one year at Colby University, and entered Harvard Medical School, from which he graduated in 1891. Following graduation he at- tended a post-graduate laboratory course in bac- teriology at Harvard. In November of the same year he became House Physician to the Rhode Is- land Hospital, was House Surgeon to the same in- stitution the succeeding year, then served as House Physician to the Boston Lying-in Hospital until May 1894, following which he took a post-gradu- ate laboratory course in pathology at Harvard. He came to Providence in July 1894, and was at once appointed Pathologist to the Rhode Island Hospi- tal, which position he holds at the present time. Dr. Perkins has especially devoted himself to re- search and practice in pathology and bacteriology, as the great advance made in medicine in modern times is based in these branches of medical science. He was one of the first physicians in Rhode Island to do any systematic work in this direction, and in association with another physician, has established the Rhode Island Laboratory for Bacteriology and
JAY PERKINS.
Pathology, in which, besides private scientific work in these branches for physicians from all over the state, is done the bacteriological work for the State Board of Health. Dr. Perkins is Secretary of the Providence Medical Association, and is a member
of the Rhode Island and Massachusetts medical societies, the Rhode Island Medico-Legal Society, the Harvard Medical Alumni Association, the Penn- sylvania Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis and the New England Cremation Society. He also holds the position of Demonstrator of Human An- atomy in Brown University. He is a member of the Congregational Club, Union Congregational Church and Young Men's Christian Association of Providence and the Harvard Club of Rhode Island. He is a Republican in politics, and is unmarried.
POND, DANIEL BULLARD, mayor of Woonsocket in 1889-92, was born in that part of Smithfield, R. I., subsequently forming a part of the city of Woonsocket, October 21, 1830, son of Eli and Maria (Bullard) Pond. He is descended from old and honorable New England stock, two brothers Pond having come from Groton, England, with Governor Winthrop in 1630, and being on familiar and friendly terms with him. Daniel, the son of Robert Pond, one of the original brothers and from whom Daniel B. is descended, settled in Dedham, Mass., where he was a lieutenant of militia and a substantial citizen. The family were active and patriotic during the war of the Revolu- tion, taking arms immediately after the battle of Lexington and serving until the freedom of the Colonists was established. Eli Pond, Daniel B.'s great-grandfather, was a drummer in a company of minute men, a sergeant in Capt. Josiah Fuller's Company, a lieutenant in Capt. Amos Ellis's Company, and lieutenant in a company serving in Rhode Island in 1788. Eli Pond, the father of Daniel B., settled in Woonsocket in 1827, where he established himself as a painter. He subsequently conducted a general store for paints, oils, and man- ufacturers' supplies, and also engaged successfully in cotton manufacture. He was also engaged for some time in farming in Mendon, Mass. Daniel received his early education in the public schools of Woonsocket and Mendon. He attended the school of Prof. James Bushee at the "Old Bank Village " and subsequently the Manual Labor School at Worcester, Mass. He afterward entered Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass., to fit for college, where he remained two years, and then finished his preparatory course at a private school in Concord, Mass., where he made the acquaintance of Emerson, Hawthorne and Thoreau. He entered Brown University and graduated in 1857 with the
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degree of A. B. He adopted the law as a profes- sion and studied in the Law School at Albany, N. Y., from which he graduated with the degree of LL. B., and was admitted to the bar of New York in 1858. At this time he was engaged as attorney for the township of Ceredo, Va., where he remained for a short time, and then engaged in practice in partnership with P. P. Todd, in Blackstone, Mass. In 1859 he was admitted to the Massachusetts bar. The following year he had charge of the law and collection office of the firm in Boston, and in 1860 had charge of the office in New York, which repre- sented collection claims against Southerners for over a million dollars. The war destroyed the business and in 1862 he returned to Woonsocket and began the manufacture of cotton warp in what was known as the Harris No. 1 Mill, afterward building a mill of his own where he remained in the business for several years. He was the first cotton and woolen manufacturer in the state to shorten the hours of labor. He was successful in business from the beginning and acquired a large property, but the
DANIEL B. POND.
failure of debtors in 1878 caused him to sus- pend and abandon all his means to creditors. He then resumed his profession, which he has successfully followed since. He has taken a very active part in politics and in public affairs, and
has been honored by many important offices in the city and state. He was for many years a member of the Town Council of Woonsocket, a Representative in the General Assembly in 1864-66, and Senator in 1867-68-69, resigning in 1870. While in the House he formulated the enactments for the division of Woonsocket from Cumberland, and was the first Senator from the new town. He was Town Solicitor in 1879-80, Chairman of the Consolidated School District Trustees and of the Board of Engineers of the Fire Corporation. He took an active part in the organization of the fire departments and served on the committee for the erection of the town asylum. He delivered an ad- dress at the Garfield memorial service in Woonsocket in 1881, and was a member of the committee to locate the soldiers' monument. He was the candi- date of the Democratic party for the General Treas- urer in 1880. He was elected first Councilman and President of the Board in 1887, but resigned to ac- cept the office of High Sheriff of Providence county, to which he had been elected by the General Assembly in that year. He was a member of the Board of Assessors of taxes in 1886, and Chairman in 1887-88. He drew up the original charter for the city of Woonsocket and secured its introduction in the General Assembly in 1888 ; it was subsequently passed with slight changes. He was elected the first Senator from the new city, and re-elected in 1890 and 1891. He was elected Mayor in 1889, and re- elected for three successive terms. He has also been a member of the Stone Bridge Commission, and a member of the Rhode Island Board of World's Fair Commissioners. He was appointed in 1891 a member of the Board of Trustees for the Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf and re-appointed in 1893 for the term of six years. On the organization of the Board he was elected its President and still holds the office. He is also Chairman of the Build- ing Committee. He introduced the original petition for the division of Providence county, and kept the matter before the General Assembly while he was a member. He drew up and procured the amend- ment to the revised statutes providing for holding the highest courts at Woonsocket. He advocated the establishment of the Soldiers' Home and made the first motion for an appropriation for that pur- pose. As Mayor of Woonsocket he advocated most of the present public improvements in highways, bridges, water-works, a system of drainage, a system of public parks, the extension of the electric rail- way and the building of the railroad to Pascoag, the
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city encouraging this project by guaranteeing the interest on $100,000 of the construction bonds. He was an earnest advocate for exempting new industries from taxation, and the new impetus given for the growth of the city may be traced to this action. In politics he was a Republican from the organization of the party until 1872, when he became a Democrat. He has been Chairman of the Demo- cratic State Central Committee and of the Demo- cratic Town Committee until he declined further services. He is a member of the Alumni Association of Phillips Academy, of the Theta Delta Chi of Brown University, the Woonsocket Business Men's Association, the Woonsocket Agricultural Society, of which he has been Trustee and President, and for which he drew up and obtained the charter in the General Assembly. He is one of the charter mem- bers of the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. He married, November 29, 1860, Miss Isadore Verry, only daughter of James Verry, a successful woolen manufacturer of Woon- socket, and of Dedham, Mass. ; they have had five children : Verry Nolan and Clarence Eli, who died in infancy ; and Isadore Maud, Nannie May and Grace Verena Pond.
PITMAN, THEOPHILUS TOPHAM, proprietor of the Newport Daily News, was born in New Bedford, Mass., April 12, 1842, son of William R. and Ann Agnes (Topham) Pitman. His ancestry on both sides dates from the earliest settlement of New- port ; he is of the seventh generation from John Pitman, who settled in the town in 1710. His father was active in the formation of the Repub- lican party. His mother was the daughter of Hon. Theophilus Topham, for thirty years a member of the Town Council of Newport, its President for many years, and an influential citizen in the affairs of the town. Mr. Pitman received his edu- cation in the public and private schools of New Bedford and Newport. He came to Newport in 1856, and in 1862 engaged in the coal and grain business in partnership with the late John O. Peck- ham. In June 1867 he purchased the half interest in the Newport Daily News of Rev. M. J. Talbot, forming a co-partnership with Hon. L. D. Davis. In August 1887 he bought the interest of Mr. Davis in the News and has since conducted the publication of the newspaper alone. He has never held public office, with the exception of that of Park Commis- sioner. He has been a Director of the Newport
Co-operative Association for Savings and Building since the first year of its existence, was a charter member of the Newport Street Railway Company,
T. T. PITMAN.
and has always been a member of its board of man- agement. He married, November 1866, Miss Marie J. Davis, widely known in literature as "Margery Deane" ; Mrs. Pitman died in Paris, November 30, 1888.
PEIRCE, WILLIAM COPELAND, President and Treasurer of the Providence Machine Company, was born in New Bedford, Mass., November 21, 1863, son of Charles M. and Amanda E. (Hill) Peirce. He is a grandson of the late well-known Thomas J. Hill. He received his early education in the public schools of New Bedford, and at War- ner's Business College in Providence. In 1881 he was apprenticed to the Brown & Sharpe Manufac- turing Company for three years. In 1884 he en- tered the employ of the Providence Machine Company as a journeyman's machinist, and in 1885 was admitted to the firm, and became Superinten- dent of Construction. In 1891 he was elected Agent for the firm, and in 1894 became its Presi- dent and Treasurer. He is President of the Elizabeth Mills, and a Director in the Equitable Fire and Marine Insurance Company and the City Savings Bank. He is an active member of the
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Providence Board of Trade and the New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association. In politics he has always been a Republican, but has not sought
W. C. PEIRCE.
or accepted public office. He married, in Septem- ber 1887, Miss Isabella Louise Baker, of Provi- dence ; they have four children : Thomas J., Emma I., Wm. C., Jr., and Ruth C. Peirce.
PHILLIPS, EUGENE FRANCIS, President of the American Electrical Works, Providence, was born in that city, November 10, 1843, son of the late David and Maria Nancy (Rhodes) Phillips of North Scituate, R. I., and a descendant of Christopher Phillips of Rainham, St. Martins, county of Norfolk, England, who landed at Salem, Mass., June 12, 1630, and settled in Watertown in that state. He re- ceived his education in the public schools of Prov- idence, making a break in his course at the high school, to enlist and serve in the Tenth Rhode Island Volunteers in 1862, together with a large delegation of high school and college students, re- turning to complete his studies at the time the regiment was sworn out of service. His occupation up to the time of the commencement of the manu- facture of insulated wire in 1870, which may prop- erly be called the business of his life, was of a varied nature, and such as usually falls to the lot of
most young men. In the year 1870 Mr. Phillips in a very limited way commenced the manufacture of insulated telegraph wire, in a barn in the rear of his residence, 57 Chestnut street, and each succeeding year added to the amount of the production of the preceding year. In 1882 the business was incor- porated under the name of the American Electrical Works, from which time he has filled the position of its President. The business has grown until the company at present occupies the position of one of the leading manufactories of its kind in the world, and is doing an amount of business excelled by few individuals or corporations in the state. In politics Mr. Phillips is an out-and-out Republican. He is a member of the American Institute of Elec- trical Engineers of New York, What Cheer Lodge F. & A. M., Swarts Lodge I. O. O. F., Providence Board of Trade, Slocum Post G. A. R., and of the Athletic, Popham, Union and Rhode Island Yacht clubs of Providence. He married, October 30, 1867, Josephine Johanna Nichols, daughter of Samuel and Nancy (Baker) Nichols of Rehoboth,
E. F. PHILLIPS.
Mass. ; of this union were born : Eugene Rowland, now a superintendent in the American Electrical Works, Edith Josephine, Frank Nichols, now a student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ogy, Boston, and Grace, who died in March 1883.
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PEIRCE, ARTHUR CLARENCE, physician and sur- geon, was born November 15, 1858, at Dighton, Mass., the son of Isaac and Elizabeth A. (Adams) Peirce. He comes of old New England stock. His ancestor, Capt. Michael Peirce, born in England
A. C. PEIRCE.
about 1615, came to America in 1645, and located at Hingham, Mass. He was commissioned a captain of troops by the colonial authorities in 1669, and was killed in battle with the Narragansett Indians under Chief Canonchet, at Attleboro Gore, March 26, 1676. The line of descent is : Ephraim Peirce, died 1719; Ephraim Peirce, born 1674; David Peirce, 1701-1767 ; David Peirce, 1726-1801 ; David Peirce, 1768-1847 ; Isaac Peirce, 1814; Arthur C., 1858. He received his early education in the public schools of Dighton. He adopted medicine as a profes- sion, and took one course at Rush Medical College, Chicago, one course at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, one course at the Kentucky . School of Medicine, Louisville, Ky., from which he received the degree of M. D., June 26, 1883. He practised medicine in Dighton, Mass., from 1883 to 1886, and settled in Drownville, R. I, December 1887, where he remained until December 1895, at which time he removed to Riverside, where he is now engaged in the practice of his profession. He was appointed Health Officer of the town of Bar-
rington by the town council in April 1894, and has held the office since that date. He was elected a member of the school committee of Barrington, for three years, April 1890, and served until August 1891, when he resigned. He is a Knight of Pythias. He was elected presiding officer of Barrington Coun- cil No. 30 O. U. A. M., for the first two terms after the institution of the Council, and by virtue of that office became a member of the State Council of Rhode Island O. U. A. M., April 23, 1895. He was camping and hunting in the state of Texas from November 1886 to July 1887, and wrote a book giving an account of his experience in that state, which was published by the Forest and Stream Pub- lishing Company of New York, under the title of " A Man from Corpus Christi," in May 1894. He married, April 8, 1889, Miss Idella Lincoln, of Taunton, Mass .; they have no children.
PEIRCE, JAMES LEWIS, President of the Provi- dence Board of Trade, and merchant, was born in
J. L. PEIRCE.
East Greenwich, R. I., March 25, 1830, the son of James B. and Mary (Pinniger) Peirce. David Pin- niger, his grandfather, was of French descent and learned his trade of blacksmith in the " Old Forge Mill " near East Greenwich with Gen. Nathaniel
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Greene. The father of his grandmother was Capt. Thomas Arnold, who lost a leg at the battle of Mon- mouth, and whose tombstone at East Greenwich records the battles in which he was engaged. His paternal grandfather, Daniel Peirce, was also a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and took part in the battle of Red Bank. He received his early education in the public schools and at the East Greenwich Seminary. He commenced his business life as a clerk for V. J. Bates & Co., cotton manufacturers, whom he served from 1847 to 1848, and a clerk for David Sisson & Co., in the oil business, from 1848 to 1856. In 1856 he became a partner in the firm of French, Sisson & Co., which in 1858 became the firm of French & Peirce In 1862 he established the firm of J. L. Peirce & Co., which has conducted a large and successful business up to the present time. He served in the Common Council of the city of Provi- dence from 1876 to 1880. In 1861-62 he was on the staff of Brig .- Gen. T. J. Stead, Quartermaster of Rhode Island Militia, in charge of the outfit of the state troops in the service. He has been Treasurer of Grace Episcopal Church, Providence, since 1859. He was elected President of the Providence Board of Trade in 1893-94-95. He married Miss Lucretia Foster, June 22, 1853, and they have one child, a daughter, living.
POTTER, ALBERT, physician and surgeon, was born in Sturbridge, Mass., February 28, 1831, son of Waterman and Tryphena (Stedman) Potter. His ancestors are of historical New England stock and connected with leading families in Rhode Island. Robert Potter came from Coventry, Eng., to Salem in March 1628, and to Rhode Island in 1638. Through the Watermans he is descended from Roger Williams, Thomas Olney, John Whipple, Capt. Arthur Fenner, who was ensign in a troop of horse in Cromwell's army, John Smith the miller, Richard Borden, and others. Through the Windsors, he is descended from Roger Williams, Robert Pember- ton, Stephen Harding and others. He is also a descendant from Roger Burlingame, Edward Fisher, and the Howards. He received his early education in the public schools of Sturbridge and in Monson Academy. He was a student in the University of Michigan and graduated from the Medical School of Harvard University in 1855, with the degree of M. D. He practised medicine in Scituate, R. I., in 1855, and in 1856 removed to Charlton, Mass., where he practised until 1860, when he removed to
Burrillville, R. I. On October 10, 1861, he was commissioned Assistant Surgeon of the Fifth Rhode Island Volunteers and went with the Burnside ex- pedition to North Carolina. After the regiment was filled up he was commissioned Surgeon, and re-
ALBERT POTTER.
mained with the regiment until mustered out at the expiration of the term of service, December 22, 1864. In addition to other duties he had charge of Belger's Battery, and was examining surgeon for recruits in North Carolina in 1864. In 1863 he had charge of the Foster General Hospital for some time. After his return from the war he settled in Chepachet, R. I., where he has since remained. He was President of the Town Council of Gloucester 1888-89, chair- man of the school committee, and assessor of taxes. He is a fellow of the Rhode Island Medical Society, and was its President in 1888-89. He is a Past Master of Friendship Lodge A. F. & A. M., Surgeon and Adjutant of Charles E. Guild Post G. A. R .; he is a member of the Fifth Rhode Island and Battery F Association, and an ex-President of the organization. He is a member of the Rhode Island Historical Society. He assisted in writing the history of the Fifth Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers, and has published some genealogical tables and histories and contributed papers to the proceedings of various societies. He has taken no
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part in politics or public life, except in town affairs. He married, June 10, 1855, Miss Urania Tourtellot Harris of Scituate, R. I .; they have two children : Charles and Frank H. Potter.
POTTER, DEXTER BURTON, attorney-at-law, was born in Scituate, R. I., August 23, 1840, son of Jeremiah and Mary Ann (Salisbury) Potter. He is descended in the eighth generation from Robert Potter, who came from Coventry, England, in 1634 ; he settled in what is now Portsmouth, R. I., in 1637 or 1638, and in January 1642, he and others bought of Sachem Myantonomoy the Shawmut Pur- chase, so-called, which they afterward named War- wick, and which embraced what is now a large por- tion of the county of Kent. His great-grandfather, Captain John Potter, served with distinction in the Revolutionary war. His maternal ancestry also came from England. He received his early educa- tion in the public schools, in the Riverpoint Classi- cal Seminary, and East Greenwich Academy. After graduation he read law for three years in the offices
DEXTER B. POTTER.
of Ira O. Seamans in Warwick and of B. N. & S. S. Lapham in Providence, and was admitted to the Rhode Island bar December 4, 1868, and to the bar of the United States Circuit Court November 15, 1871. Since his admission to the bar he has successfully
practiced his profession in Providence, having acted as counsel in a large number of important cases, and has a constantly increasing office practice. He has taken an active part in politics and public life. He was elected a Representative in the General Assem- bly from Coventry in 1871 and 1872, and a Senator in 1873 and 1874. He declined a re-election in 1875, but was again elected a Representative in 1876-77-78. He was chosen Speaker of the House in 1877 and 1878, and elected to the Senate again in 1879. While Speaker for two years, which in- cluded six sessions, two special, he never once left the chair to engage in debates, was never absent a day's session, and never had a ruling questioned or appealed from by any member of the House. He was Moderator for two years in Scituate and five in Coventry. He was also a trial justice in Scituate, and for two years a member of the school commit- tee. In politics he is a Republican. He is a mem- ber of the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and one of its board of mana- gers. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, has been Worshipful Master of Manchester Lodge, No. 12, Marshal in the Grand Lodge, and District Deputy Grand Master. He is a member of the Providence Bar Club, and one of its executive com- mittee. He is also a member of the Providence Athletic Association. He married, July 24, 1883, Miss Emily H. Allen ; he has no children.
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