USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > Newport > Merchants and mansions of bygone days; an authentic account of the early settlers of Newport, Rhode Island > Part 3
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Another old house of importance stood on a wharf off Thames Street, just below the Post Office. It was the home of Benedict Arnold, the oldest son of the first Governor of Rhode Island. It was built between the years 1671 when he was admitted Freeman, and 1727 the date of his death. After being used as a dwelling house for many years it became so badly in need of repairs that it was demolished. Its fine old interiors were purchased by a lover of Colonial architecture and thus saved for posterity.
The earliest known record of the Redwood family is the birth of Abraham Redwood, father of Abraham, the founder of the Libra- ry, who was born in Bristol, England in 1665. He made various voyages to Jamaica, on which island he marricd Mchet- able Langford, daughter, of Jonas Langford, through whom he came into possession of valuable sugar plantations. He gave up the sea and settled in Antigua, remaining there until 1712, when he came to America and settled in Salcm, Mass. Abraham,
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their second son, was born in 1709, and gained his vast fortune by the death of his older brother. He was educated in Philadelphia, and before he was twenty years old, married Martha Coggeshall, a Quaker maid. He purchased a large tract of land about five miles from Newport, where he built his country estate. This old house was the headquarters of Gen. Smith's during the occupation of the British, and is still standing, having been recently repaired by its present owner. His town house stood off Thames Street, in tlie rear of what is now Pinniger and Manchester's Coal office. The large gateposts at the north entrance of the Redwood Library origi- nally stood in the front of the Thames Street estate. Redwood will be remembered as the donor of a large amount of money to erect the present Redwood Library. Redwood died in 1788 at the age of seventy-nine, and is buried in the Coggeshall Burial Ground in Newport, R. I.
John Gidley, Senior, eame from Exon, Devon, England to New- port where he died April 28, 1710. He was Judge of the Vice Ad- miralty Court. His son John met a tragie death by an explosion of gunpowder which also caused the deaths of Nathaniel Cod- dington and Sueton Grant. His residence stood on the southeast corner of Thames and Gidley Streets, later the home of Major John Breese, an English officer who belonged to the 54th regi- ment of Foot. When the English withdrew from the Island, Breese retired from the Army and settled in Newport. He married Elizabeth Malbone, daughter of Franeis Malbone. In 1796 he was appointed British Vice Counsul for the State of Rhode Island. He died in Newport, April 23, 1799. When the large business block was built on the corner of Gidley Street, the old house was moved around the corner where it still stands.
On the southwest corner of Ann and Thames Streets, stood the Ayrault house, built about 1739. The architects of this house were Daniel Wyatt and Richard Munday. The latter drew the plans for the Colony house on Washington Square. One of Ayraults daugliters married Jahleel Brenton. The beautiful shell doorway was removed to the Historical Society when the house was torn down. It is said that the inner hood was lined with gold. Stephen Ay-
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rault died in 1794 at the age of eighty-four, having rendered many services to the community and its institutions. The house was later known as the Thomas Teagle Taylor house.
The town house of Godfrey Malbone, one of Newport's leading merchants is still standing, just below Brewer Street. It is a large brick house that had a heavy iron gate and railing. The gateposts were surmounted by stonc pineapples, and the iron gate bore the . initials G.M. in the center. During the English occupation, the house was used as the Treasury Office. Mr. Malbone came to New- port from Virginia and was immediately recognized as a man of fine character. He built a large country house about a milc from Newport in 1744. Earlier in 1736 he presented the town with its first fire engine, one that he had imported from England. In 1766 his country estate was destroyed by fire while a large party was being held there. Mr. Malbone died in 1788 and was buried in a vault under Trinity Church of which he was one of the founders.
Just across the street stood the Captain William V. Taylor house. Taylor was a sailing master who left Newport with one hundred and forty others to go with Perry to Lake Erie. At a town meeting in October 1813, the citizens of Newport placed one hun- dred dollars at the disposal of a committee to secure a suitable present to show their appreciation of his great bravery and merito- rious conduct under Commodore Perry.
Many other prominent men had their homes on lower Thames Strect, among whom were Evan Malbone, Henry Marchant, Henry John Overing, Peter Bours, Robert N. Auchmuty.
On looking at the billetting list of the French Officers in the Newport Historical Society, Overing's house is given as No. 10 Thamcs Street As we think of the street now, it would seem as if this house should be at the head of the strcet near Poplar. How- ever the Bull's memoirs of 1760 state that Overing's wharf was the southermost dock in the town. It is therefore safe to assume that his house was close by. Mr. Overing's property was seized by the General Assembly when the Revolution broke out, but he will always be remembered in American history as the owner of the house in
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Portsmouth, R. I., which was the center of activities on the night of July 11, 1777, when Col. William Barton captured the English General Richard Prescott.
Henry Marchant's dwelling is unknown, as there are no rcc- ords of this eminent lawyer's home. Marchant was born in Mar- tha's Vineyard in 1741 and died in Newport in 1796. In 1770 he was elected Attorney General of the Colony, which office he held until 1777, when he was sent as a delegate to the Continental Con- gress. During the occupation of Newport by the English forees, Marchant lived in Narragansett. He was president of the Red- wood Library from 1791 until his death.
Peter Bours, another Newport merchant was made a Free- man in 1728. In 1739 he was one of a committee with George Goulding, George Wanton and Ezbon Sanford to procure mat- erial for the building of the Colony House. Bours died in 1761, then in the fifty-sixth year of his agc
Robert Nichols Auchmuty, another prominent lawyer, was born in 1758. He graduated at King's College and later served in the Revolution as a volunteer in the British army. He married Henrictta Overing, his first cousin, and daughter of Henry John Overing. Auchmuty died in 1813.
Peter Harrison, the noted architect, was born in England in 1716, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Dennison) Harrison. Of his early life there is little known, but a tradition places him at Blenheim as one of the "assistant architcets." If there is any- thing in the story at all, the honor far more probably belongs to his elder brother Joseph. Nevertheless Peter had a sound archi- tectural training in the old world. There is a story that Peter landcd in Newport with Smibert and Berkeley in 1728, but has little foun- dation, for records show that his first appearance in the country was in 1740, when he disembarked at Rhode Island, "a passenger with Captain Patterson". With him, or at about the same time, eame his brother Joseph. It seems not unlikely that they arrived as sur- veyors or draughtsmen in connection with the colony's boundary disputes, then in full agitation. In such a capacity, at all events,
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Peter first made his mark liere We find him "giving a plan of Cape Breton which facilitated its capture," in 1745. During the same year he was assisted by his brother in making "a handsome draught of Fort George and the harbor of Newport." He married Elizabeth Pelham, daughter of Edward Pelham, Jr., and from her family inherited large traets of land in the neighborhood of the Ocean Drive. Joseph Harrison was the original architect of the Redwood Library, and when his plans were not accepted, Peter sucecssfully completed them. Joseph was appointed Collector of Customs in New Haven and during the year 1766 he sailed for England and turned the job over to his brother Peter, who left Newport for that eity in the same year. Peter's loyalty to the Eng- lish cause made him liighly unpopular with the "Sons of Liberty". His house was looted by a mob and his extensive library and pro- fessional papers destroyed. Such treatment had a tragic end for he dicd "in a fit" a few days after the Battle of Lexington.
Thus we reach the end of the principal old business streets of the early days, with the mention of some of the old homes and their owners, though only a portion of the interesting history of the early town.
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INDEX
Allston, Washington, pupil of Samuel King 27
Arnold, Benedict, Governor, house of 26
Arnold, Benedict, Son of the Governor 28
Arnold, Benedict, Jr., house of 28
Auchmuty, Robert Nichols, Lawyer
31
Ayrault house, Location of
29
Ayrault house, Architects of 29
Ayrault house, Present location of doorway 29
B
Bannister, Thomas, Property of 26
Barton, William, Col., property for reward 26
Beaver Tail Lighthouse 27
Bennett, Job, house, location of 16
Breese, John, Major of the 54th Foot 29
Brenton, Jahleel, Town house, location of 25
Bridge Street, once called Shipwright Street 14
Brownell, Thomas, Captain, Home of
9
Bours Peter, one of a committee on Colony House 31
Butterfly. The, location of the tavern called 9
C
Champlin, John, early Colonial Merchant 23
Clarke, John, one of the surveyors 5
Clarke, Walter, possible builder of Grant house 22
Claggett. William, Clockmaker, home of 17
Coaster's Harbor Island, discovery and naming 5
5
Coddington, William, house on Thames Street
23
Coddington, Nathaniel, death of
22
Coddington Mansion house, location of
18
Collins, Henry, home of 12
Collins house, taken over by George Rome
12
Comedians, company of, arrival of
21
Cotton House, location of 26
Cove The, location of 15
Coddington, Governor, house demolished
I
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D
DeLentz, headquarters of 28
Dennis House location of 14
Destruction, caused by English troops 8
DeMontequiou, headquarters of
28
Dummer, William, Lieut Governor of Massachusetts 20
Dyre, William, early town surveyor
5
E
Easton, Nicholas, named Coaster's Harbor 5
Easton's Beach, possible site of town
5
Ellery, William, house, location of 16
Ellery, William, house purchased in 1799 16
30
F
Ferson, Alex. Comte, headquarters of 25
Ferson, Alex. Comte, admirer of Marie Antoinette 25
Ferry, Ellery, location of 13
Finch, Joseph, teacher of first public school 14
First Public School in New England
14
Folly, Scott's Location of 18
12
G
Garde, John, early Colonial merchant 23
Garde Harte, wife of John
24
Garde Burial Ground, deed of
24
Geoffrey, Nicholas, Silversmith
25
Gidley, John, Senior, Judge
29
Gidley, John, death of 22
Gibbs, George 1st., wealthy merchant on Thames Street
23
Goddard, John, Cabinetmaker, home of 11
Goddard, Thomas, Cabinetmaker, home of
11
Goddard, house, present location of
11
Goddard, John, apprenticed to Job Townsend 15
Goulding, George, one of a committee on the Colony House 31
Grant, Sueton, house, location of 22
Grant, Sueton, death of 22
Granary, building of the 21
Gravelly Point, location of
19
Greene, George W., paintshop 28
"Groton Captain", travels of 27
II
English Treasury, location during occupation
French Naval Headquarters, location of
H
Haliburton, John Dr., office of 22
Harrison, Peter, architect, designer of the Granary 21
Harrison, Peter, architect, history of. 31
Harrison, Joseph, brother of Peter 31
Hookey, William, Silversmith 18
Houses on site of North Battery 9
House on corner of Long Wharf moved to a new site
21
Hospital British Naval, location of 25
Honeyman, James, Rev., town house of 26
Howard Martin, purchaser of Coddington house
18
Hunter, William, Dr., home of
13
Hunter house, built by Gov. Nichols 13
Hunter house, architect of
13
Hunter, William, Dr., office of
22
Hunter, Deborah, Mrs., widow of Dr. William
25
I
Ingraham, Benjamin, house, location of 15
J
Jefferay, William, early town surveyor
5
Jewish merchants on Washington Street
7
Johnson, Augustus, stampmaster 19
K
King, Samuel, shop of.
27
L
Langford, Jonas, father of Mehetable Redwood 28
Landing of the English Troops in Portsmouth, R. I.
7
Lauzun, Duc de, headquarters of 25
Lawton, Jeremiah, Capt., house, location of 18
Location of the first house 5
Location of the early houses on Thames Street
6
Long Wharf, proprietorship formed
19 Long Wharf Bridge 20
19
Low Ned, a New England Pirate
Looms, Corduroy, in Colony House basement 21
Lopez Aaron home of 26
III
M
Malbone Colonel, explosion at wharf of 22
Malbone, Edward Greene, miniaturist 27
Malbone, Godfrey, town house of 30
Marlborough Street, origination of name 19
Marlborough Dock, location of the 19
Marchant, Henry, delegate to Continental Congress 31
Martin, French Supply Officer, headquarters of 20
Mason, Benjamin Dr .. home of 27
Messer, William, Capt., home of 17
Mechanic, bark tied at Long Wharf 20
Moses, Samuel, Spermaceti factory 15
19
N
North Battery. erection of
8
Noailles, Comte de, headquarters of 11
Northam, Stephen T., business interests of 20
Northam, Stephen T, house of 21
15
O
Overing, Henry John, home unknown
30
Overing, Henrietta, wife of R. N Auchmuty 31
P
Plants, Industrial of Newport
7
Pirates, execution of 19
Pelham, Edward Jr. 32
Pelham, Elizabeth, wife of Peter Harrison 32
Perry, Oliver Hazard, Commander
25
Potter. Simeon. deed of 14
Prescott, General Richard, headquarters
31
R
Redwood, William, house of 15
Redwood house, original builder
15
Redwood, the family of 28
Redwood. Abraham, birth of 29
Redwood, Abraham, gift of 29
Redwood house on Thames Street, location of 29
IV
Moffatt, Thomas, Dr., Stamp Master
Nichols, Kendall, location of home of
Richardson, Thomas, house on Thames Street 18
Robinson, Thomas, home of 11
Robinson, James, Dr, home of 18
20
Rodman, Thomas, house on Thames Street
22
Rome, George, stores owned by 7
Rome, George, confiscated property of
12
S
Sanford, Ezbon, one of a committee on the Colony House
31
Senter, Isaac, Dr., office of
22
Simon, Peter, house of 15
Simon, Peter Jr., married Hannah Robinson 15
Simon, Peter, Mrs., desertion of 15
6
Solgard, Peter, Commanding the Greyhound
19
Southwick, Solomon, home of
9
Southwick, Solomon, editor of Newport Mercury
9
Shipyard on Washington Street
14
Stevens, John, Stone Cutting Shed
17
Steamer launched in The Cove
19
Stuart, Gilbert, pupil of Samuel King
27
Smith, General, headquarters of
29
Swamp, location of the
5
Swamp, filling in the
6
T
Taber, Constant, house on Long Wharf 20
Taylor, Thomas Teagle, home of
30
Taylor, William V., home of
30
Ternay, Admiral de headquarters of
13
Tenney, Caleb, Rev., home of
26
Touches, Rear Admiral de, Headquarters of
15
Townsend, Job, Home of 15
Townsend, Thomas, Property on Thames Street
26
Townsend Coffee House
26
Townsend, Solomon, Committee appointed in 1741
20
Towne Wharfe, old name for Long Wharf
19
Thames Street, formerly called "The Strand"
5
Theatre, temporary location of
21
Theater, first permanent
21
Tree, Liberty, location and history of
16
Thurston, Gardner, Rev, home of
17
Triangle Trade
7
V
Rochambeau, escort to General Washington
Slave traffic, grant placed on
V
Viomesnel, Baron, headquarters of
23
W
Wanton, George, committeeman on Colony House
31
Wanton, John, privateersman
23
Wanton, Joseph, Governor, house now Boston Store 23
Wanton, William, privateersman
23
Warren, Joseph, home of
13
Warren, house sold to J. R. Rivera
13
Washington Tavern, location of
14
Washington, General George at Barney's Ferry 20
Washington's visit in 1790 25
Waterhouse, Benjamin, Dr., office of
22
Whipple, Joseph, death of
21
Wood, Shortage of 7
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