USA > Rhode Island > Picturesque Rhode Island : pen and pencil sketches of the scenery and history its cities, towns, and hamlets, and of men who have made them famous > Part 11
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PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
in his discourse delivered July 4, 1855, said that as late as 1830, when they were nearly two hundred years old, three of these trees were living, and two were still bearing apples.
Blackstone died at Study Hill only a few days before the com- mencement of Philip's War. Unusually fortunate was he in his death, for not long afterward the destroying torch of an Indian incendiary was applied to the house in which he had lived so long. With the books and everything else it contained, the dwelling was entirely consumed. In the " Inventory of the Lands, Goods and Chattels of Mr. William Blackstone," taken May 28, 1675, -two days after their owner's death, - his library was prized as follows :
" LIBRARY.
3 Bibles, Ios. - 6 English books in folio, £2, . 3 Latin books in folio, 15s. - 3 do., large quarto, £2, 2 15
£2 IOS.
15 small quarto, £1, 17s. 6d. - 14 small do., 14S., . 2 II 6dl.
30 large octavo, £4-25 small do., £1, 5s., 5 5
22 duodecimo, I 13
53 small do., of little value, 13
Io paper books,
5
£15 12S. 6d.
Remainder personal,
40 II
Total personal,
£56 3s. 6d."
This library of 186 volumes was a very unusual one. Not many of the private gentlemen of America could boast of such a collection. The " 10 paper books" were supposed to contain the record of his life, the well-digested reflections of half a century of study.
Like his neighbor and friend, Roger Williams, Mr. Blackstone was more than a century in advance of the age in which he lived. When the air of England was heavy with the life-destroying dews of religious intolerance, his free spirit sought in America the liberty he could not enjoy in his native country. Hardly had he become settled in his home in the new world, before he saw rising up about him the house-walls of a company of men far more bigoted than those he had left England to avoid. "He uttered no complaints, he pro- voked no quarrels, but quietly sold his lands and again retired from the face of civilization and again took up his solitary abode in the
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CUMBERLAND.
The Blackstone at Woonsocket.
wilderness ; and, luckily for his peace, the tide of civilization had but just reached him at the period of his death."
By the side of the hill upon which so much of his life was spent, the gentle hermit lies buried. Although no ponderous monument, rich with sculptured decora- tion, marks the spot, the river gliding along through the meadows below will ever perpetuate his name. Only the hill and the river remain of all the landscape with which he was so familiar. The forests that stretched away on every side in never-ending aisles of green have been gradually leveled as the steady growth of popula- tion made their destruction necessary. Prosperous villages have sprung up at almost every bend of the winding river. The waters that once crept peacefully onward through the verdant fields, or halted here and there in timorous hesitation at the brink of some miniature cataract, are now lashed into angry foam by the revolving blades of hundreds of whirling mill-wheels, as they hasten on to mingle with the sparkling waves of Narragansett Bay.
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PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
Cumberland was one of the five towns received from Massachu- setts in 1746-7. Before its incorporation as a town of Rhode Island it had formed a part of Attleborough, and from its peculiar shape had received the name of Attleborough Gore. The name of Cumberland was given it in honor of William, Duke of Cumberland. Possibly, also, the name may have been bestowed upon it because of its geological features, which resemble somewhat those of the Eng- lish Cumberland.
The town possesses some very valuable mineral deposits. Per- haps in the course of years it may prove profitable to reopen its disused mines. From the Diamond Hill granite quarry some of the finest building-stone in' New England is obtained.
Very much might be written concerning the " Indian history " of the town. One very noted spot within its borders is known as " Nine Men's Misery." On the day of " Pierce's Fight" nine men here lost their lives. Daggett, in his History of Attleborough, gives this version of the story : "A company of nine men were in advance of, or had strayed from their party for some purpose, when they discov- ered a number of Indians near the spot, whom they immediately pursued and attacked, but a large number of the enemy rushed out from the swamp and surrounded them. The whites, placing their backs to a large rock near by, fought with desperation till every one of them was killed on the spot. The rest of their party, who were in hearing of their guns, hastened to their succor, but arrived too late to render them any assistance. Their bodies were buried on the spot, which is now designated by a large pile of stones." One tradition says that these nine men were prisoners who had been reserved for torture by the Indians. "They were carried to a sort of peninsula of upland, nearly surrounded by 'Camp Swamp,' and seated upon a rock in a kind of natural amphitheatre formed by the elevated ground around it. The savages commenced the war-dance around them, and were pre- paring to torture them ; but, disagreeing about the manner of torture, they fell into a quarrel among themselves, in which some of the Indians dispatched the prisoners with the tomahawk. The Indians, having scalped them, left their bodies upon the rock where they had slain them, and here they remained unburied till they were discovered by the English some weeks after. They were then buried, all in one grave. A heap of small stones, in the shape of the earth on a newly- made grave, still marks the spot where they lie."
I4I
WOONSOCKET.
WOONSOCKET .- The origin of the name Woonsocket, if not precisely lost in the mists of antiquity, still does not stand out in the clear light of certainty. Its old Indian form is Woonesuckete, which has been explained with a good degree of probability as derived from two Indian words, Woone thunder, and Suckele mists, meaning, in composition, thunder mists. When one imagines how the falls must have thundered through the solitude of the forest, and sees in fancy the column of mist which arose from their foot, it is easy to believe that this explanation, although not insisted upon by its author, is the true one.
The town of Woonsocket, at least so much of it as lies upon the east side of the river, was until 1867, a period of one hundred and thirty years, a village in the town of Cumberland. At the January session of the State Legislature of that year it was incorporated as a separate township, and in 1871 its area was increased by the addition of that part of Smithfield which constituted Western Woonsocket. The Blackstone River flows through it and the Woonsocket hills lie around, enclosing it in a kind of amphitheatre.
The first settlers in the town were Richard Arnold and Samuel Comstock. Arnold made the humble beginning of this present pros- perous borough by building a saw-mill on the river about the year 1666. The precise date cannot be determined. Comstock settled at a point west of Union Village. Their lands, which were held in common during their lives, were divided by their heirs. By this division the Arnold family came into possession of a great estate in the vicinity of the falls, and may be looked upon as the forefathers of the town. Richard Arnold himself was an able and judicious man, ready and useful in the colonial council, and active and energetic in carrying his plans into effect. He left four sons, the eldest of whom was also named Richard. This Richard built a house on the site now occupied by Mr. Albert Mowry. To any one of an antiquarian turn of mind, it may be interesting to know that a part of the house is still standing, and, dating from 1690, is doubtless the oldest building in town.
Among the numerous descendants of the original Arnold was James Arnold, known in Woonsocket as " Uncle Jim." He owned large tracts of land upon the river. He was not a manufacturer him- self, but for several years he prospered and apparently grew rich by putting up buildings on his property and letting them out to manufacturers. The first one of these was erected in 1808. It was
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PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
a grist-mill, and its upper stories were used for carding wool. He erected building after building and leased them to others, until in 1814, by an unfavorable turn of Fortune's wheel, - which seems at this time not to have been a mill-wheel, as formerly, -he was com- pelled to sell a part of his property. This sale is known as the "Arnold and Lyman Purchase." This was but the beginning. Again and again he was forced to part with portions of his river property, until he found himself stripped of all that vast estate with which he commenced life, excepting " the old saw-mill lot." This lot he had in 1822 leased to Oliver Ballou and his son Dexter, who built thereon a wooden cotton-mill. This mill, after various vicissi- tudes of fortune, finally settled down to steady work as a yarn- spinning establishment, under the auspices of Mr. George C. Ballou. To give even a slight sketch of the career of all the noted manufac- turers of a place like Woonsocket, would require more space than we are at liberty to occupy in this work. And of Mr. Ballou and his brother Dexter, who is called the "pioneer of cotton-spinning in Woonsocket," it must suffice to say that the town is greatly indebted to them for much of its present prosperity.
Let us now retrace our steps. The early settlers were not slow to see that the place was admirably adapted to manufacturing pur- poses, and in the latter part of the seventeenth century they began to utilize the waters of the Blackstone to the turning of mill-wheels. All around was the great forest, which must be converted into farms and dwellings, and a saw-mill was an urgent necessity. One was consequently erected where the tower of the Ballou Manufacturing Company's cotton-mill now stands. This is the one already mentioned as having been built about the year 1666. In 1712 Mr. John Arnold built a " corn and fulling-mill" upon the " Island." The " Old Forge" dated from some time between 1712 and 1720, and stood upon the site of the boiler-house of the Ballou Manufacturing Company. It did quite an extensive business in iron. Later, a scythe-factory was established below the grist-mill. These include all the manufactories of Woonsocket up to 1807. In that year there was a great freshet. The river, as if angry at the restraints that man had imposed upon it (it is more submissive now), rose in its might, shook itself free, and tore along between its banks, " scattering ruin and spread- ing ban," until there was nothing left of these mills but wrecks, damaged beyond all hope. This is the historical freshet of the Black- stone. Even that of 1876, which was considered rather a brilliant
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WOONSOCKET.
Isar
KIM. KILBURN
The Falls at Woonsocket.
performance for a river ordinarily so well conducted, failed to reach the high-water mark of 1807 by two and a half feet. For three years the river enjoyed complete rest, except that its otherwise unrestrained waters were forced to turn the wheel of that grist-mill, now grown familiar to the reader by repeated allusions, built by James Arnold, in 1808.
Eras of great enthusiasm are common in all enterprises, and such an era in manufactures had its beginning in Woonsocket in 1810. Mr. Samuel Slater had built the first cotton-mill, and so suc- cessful had its operation been, that the attention of capitalists and manufacturers was turned to the making of cloths. Hitherto, only the first process of woolen manufacture, viz. : the carding of wool, had been carried on. But now the waters of the Blackstone, which as yet had only frolicked and chattered among the wheels of a few grist and carding mills, were to be bound down to steady, every-day labor. The first enterprise started under this new impulse was known as the Social Manufacturing Company, which began operations with a capi- tal stock of $16,000, a mill containing 2,000 spindles, together with
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PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
cards and repairing machinery. This mill was known as the " Pis- tareen," on account of its size. It was burned down in 1874, having, however, before that been much enlarged and improved. The com- pany immediately began the erection of their present imposing brick structure. The village belonging to these mills is a model of a fac- tory village. The following description is quoted from one of a series of able papers published recently in the Rhode Island Press, called " Looms and Spindles," to which the present writer is indebted for much of the information upon this subject: " It consists of twelve double cottages, two long blocks, one containing nine tenements and the other eighteen, fourteen four-family houses, and the mill boarding- house. The double cottages are of brick, one and a half stories high, have gas and water, and rent for $100 per year for each tenement. The blocks are also of brick, not quite so well finished as the cottages, and rent for from $48 to $96 per year. The others are of wood, and rent for $50 per tenement. The boarding-house is four stories, and can accommodate 125 persons, but at present has only about fifty occupants. The three-story building at the westerly edge of the village is termed the Social Block, and is used for the com- pany's offices and store. It also includes a large hall for lectures, dancing, etc., and two of the rooms are occupied for day and evening schools."
In 1827 the second wooden mill was begun. This building has reached a low estate, and has become a tenement-house known as the Castle.
The largest woolen-factory in the country is at Woonsocket. It was built by Edward Harris, whose name is identified with this branch of industry in Woonsocket. Mr. Harris was born at Lime Rock, in 1801. He was forced to earn his living while still a mere child. Thus business talent and a native shrewdness were developed in him at the expense of a social and mental training which he never ceased to miss in his after life. At the age of twenty-one he began life with a capital of 25 cents. He learned the business. of cotton manufacture by actual experience as an ill-paid employé of his uncle. Afterwards he went into the employ of another uncle at the princely sum of $1.30 per day. After a while this uncle promoted him to the superintendency of the mill. This was at Albion. When, at the age of twenty-seven, he left Albion he became agent of the Harris Lime Rock Company. By the time he had reached his thirtieth year, his capital had increased to $2,500. With this he
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WOONSOCKET.
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came to Woonsocket and commenced the manufacture of satinets. From this time his business life was steadily successful, until at his death he stood the foremost woolen manufacturer of the country. The Harris Mills include the property known as the " Privilege Mill," on Mill River, a branch of the Blackstone, and the mills on
A View on Main Street.
the Blackstone proper, near Main Street, in the business portion of the town. Three of these are woolen-mills and one a cotton-mill. It is said on reliable authority that not an ounce of shoddy was ever used in Edward Harris' mills.
The town is one of the busiest towns of its kind in the country. In 1875, according to the State census, it had nine establishments for the manufacture of cotton goods, employing 2,350 persons, with a valuation of $2,283,500 ; six establishments for the manufacture of woolen goods, employing 1,611 persons, and with an invested capital of $1,155,500. The factories are large, but the business is concen- trated within a more limited area than in any other locality in the State.
The principal cotton-mills are those of the Clinton Manufactur- ing Company, the Enterprise Manufacturing Company, the Groton Manufacturing Company, the Social Manufacturing Company, the
19
1.46
PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
Woonsocket Company, the Hamlet Mills, the Woonsocket Mill, and the Woonsocket Yarn Company.
Among the producers of woolen goods are the Harris Woolen Company, already mentioned, the Stafford Braid Company, the
Lippitt Woolen Company, and the American Worsted Company.
Woonsocket is extensively engaged in the production of machines for domes- tic uses, the leading makers in this line being the Bailey Wringing Machine Company, and the Relief Washing Ma- chine Company. Harris Block. Among the builders of various kinds of machinery we mention the Bailey Tool Company, the Hautin Sew- ing Machine Company, the Woonsocket Nail Company, the Woon- socket Machine Company, the Kendrick Loom Harness Company, H. Jeffrey & Co., H. C. Lazell, and the Woonsocket Rubber Com- pany, the last doing a large business in the manufacture of rubber goods.
The records of the town would seem to indicate that the early inhabitants were not of a kind to whom church-going was a neces- sity. Not until 1718 does there seem to have been any facility for assembling together for worship, unless indeed some may have done so at private houses. In that year the Society of Friends began to hold services there, attracted by its accessibility, it being situated at a " Cross Roads." In the language of her historian, Richardson, " Woonsocket became, not so much from the piety of its inhabitants as from the natural advantages of its location, first a religious and afterwards an educational centre of the large territory now comprised within the counties of Worcester, Mass., and Providence, R. I." Among the early preachers of this sect was Elisha Thornton, of blessed memory. For more than a hundred years, in the whole
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WOONSOCKET.
settlement of Woonsocket, there was no place of public worship except the Friends' Meeting-house. But the clang of the mill-bell was speedily followed by the peal of the church-bell. From 1832 to 1834, inclusive, sprang up all the religious denominations to be found in Woonsocket to-day, viz. : Episcopalians, Baptists, Meth- odists, Congregationalists, Universalists, and Roman Catholics, all of whom own substantial church edifices. On the twelfth of May, of the present year, the old Friends' Meeting-house, at Bank Vil- lage, burned down. It was erected in 1775.
The indifference of the early villagers to religious matters extended also to those of education. In the latter, as in the former, it was the Friends who undertook the initiative. They were the first to proclaim that the children of the poor ought to be " schooled," and to take measures for establishing a free school under their own auspices. Their zeal awoke that of the " world's people," and steps were taken to open a school free to all. This plan was defeated "by a vote of the ignorant backwoodsmen of Smithfield, many of whom were unable to write their names." In 1800-1801 Smithfield raised the sum of $2,200 for the support of twenty-four schools. From which statement it may be inferred that time spent in discussing the free-school system of that region, of four-score years ago, is but wasted time.
There were private schools, however, of a high grade of excellence. These were the Thornton Acad- emy, founded by the Quaker preacher, Elisha Thornton, which terminated its short but useful existence with High School. the last century ; the Smithfield Academy, whose career ended in 1853, and the Cumberland. Academy, at Cumberland Hill. But private seminaries are only for the favored few, and the people at length awoke to the fact that if their children were to be educated
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PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
at all, it must be in the public schools. This was about the year 1840. "The system of education within the town has made a marked advancement since the introduction of public schools. The rude and often ill-constructed school-house has given place to the present fine and convenient buildings, furnished with all the modern appliances for the comfort and convenience of both teacher and pupil. These excellent institutions are presided over by competent and accomplished teachers, and the citizens of Woonsocket have just reason to be proud of their present educational interests." One is hardly willing to leave this subject without allusion to that good man, the Rev. John Boyeden, whose name is one of the earliest and longest upon its records, and whose memory is held in veneration, not only in his own town, but throughout the length and breadth of the State.
" Aside from its public schools, the town enjoys the use of a magnificent building through the munificence of the late Edward Harris. Here the Woonsocket Lyceum holds its meetings, a public reading-room is daily visited, and a large and well-selected library is opened to all. A portion of this library was originally a district organization, and named in honor of its most liberal benefactor, Mr. Edward Carrington. This was afterwards annexed to a library founded and endowed by Edward Harris, and the whole now bears the name of the Harris Institute Library."
Woonsocket, being located as has been said, at a " Cross Roads," has always been well connected with the world outside. In early times it lay upon the stage route from Providence to Worcester, and was also itself one terminus of a stage route to Boston. There were many notable taverns in those days, but these disappeared with the stages of which they were the consequences. The Providence and Worcester Railroad now passes through the town, and the New York and New England Railroad connects it with Boston.
Woonsocket is finely located in the valley of its encircling hills, from whose summits extensive prospects of the surrounding country are to be had. It is almost needless to say that the highest point of land in the State, Woonsocket Hill, is in this vicinity, although not belonging to the town of that name. The falls, from which the original village which forms the nucleus of the present town takes its name, are worth a visit. The river, as has been said, flows through the town. But there are geological indications that, ages ago, its bed was in the valley on the north side of the town, near the railroad. Workmen digging below the surface find great
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SMITHFIELD AND NORTH SMITHFIELD. .
hollows in the rock, such as have been worn by the falls in their descent upon the rocks at their feet. The falls are in three different streams -the Blackstone and its tributaries, the Mill, and the Pe- ters. The total fall of the Blackstone is about thirty-one feet ; that of the Peters River is fifty-two feet; that of the Mill, sixty feet. This is in two falls, one of forty feet, which is used at the Harris Privilege, and the other of twenty feet, used at the Social.
SMITHFIELD Was one of the three towns into which the "outlands" of Providence were divided in the year 1730. A wild coun- try it was then, with beasts of prey roaming through its forests and some- times carrying de- vastation to the homes of the set-
Woonsocket - From the East.
CCR1
PLISS
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PICTURESQUE RHODE ISLAND.
tlers. Along the banks of its streams and in the all-embracing forest were to be found the wigwams of the red men, who had not as yet entirely disappeared. No mill-dams impeded the course of the streams, forming dark, deep, and sluggish mill-ponds, over- flowing the low lands in their neighborhood ; but the waters flowed on in their original channels, overshadowed by dense woods, and undisturbed save by the chance passage of an Indian, a white man, or a wild animal of the forest.
The original territory of Smithfield extended from what are now the northern boundaries of Johnston and North Providence to the Mas- sachusetts south line, on the west bounded by Glocester, and on the east and northeast by the Blackstone River. Within its limits were comprised the present towns of Lincoln, North Smithfield, Smithfield, and part of Woonsocket. The dismemberment took place March 8, 1871, and reduced the territory known by the name of Smithfield from seventy-three to twenty-seven square miles, and from a popula- tion in 1860 of 13,283, to 2,605 in 1870. The centres of population were in the town of Lincoln and in the portion set off to Woon- socket. Accounts of those places have already been given under their respective heads. The present Smithfield is the southwestern portion of the original territory, and its population in 1880 was 3,085.
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