USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I > Part 70
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steer the boat. ... The steam power was not applied to elevate and depress the piston rod, as was done by Watts; of this mode, I have understood, he knew nothing. The steam was applied to raise the piston, and then the steam being condensed by cold water, the piston turned by atmospheric pressure. In this way the paddles of the boat at her sides, were moved forward and aft, no wheels being used, but upright paddles, which did not lift out of the water, but when moved forward they closed, and when moved aft they expanded their whole width, being to the best of my recollection about eighteen to twenty-four inches wide. The progress of the boat was from three to four miles per hour in smooth water, and if wheels had been substituted for paddles, would probably have increased her speed to five or six miles per hour. But the poverty of her constructor and inventor prevented him from making improvements, and, having no Livingston to assist him, his embryo prospects were destroyed, and he returned the still to the distillery and the boat to the owner."
Captain Ormsbee related further that Elijah Ormsbee constructed a miniature model of a boat with two wheels on each side that could be operated by hand, and that the model dis- appeared mysteriously. James Salisbury placed the date of Ormsbee's steamboat at 1794, and described it thus : "The engine was of his own construction. He used neither the wheel nor the screw, but the duck's foot principle, closed like a book when passing through the water forward, and opened and expanded when pressed aft." Salisbury added: "My father had a side-wheel boat, the wheels being made to turn with a crank, which was fastened to some- thing like a hub, in the centre of the wheel, and went clear across from side to side. There were boxes over the wheels to keep the water from flying." David Wilkinson, who built the cylinder and other iron work for Elijah Ormsbee, related: "Mr. Ormsbee told me he had been reading of a boat being put in operation by steam, at the city of Philadelphia, and if I would go home with him and build the engine, he would build a steamboat. I went home and made my patterns, cast and bored the cylinder, and made the wrought-iron work, and Ormsbee hired a large boat of John Brown, belonging to one of his large India ships. . .. I told him of two plans of paddles, one I called the flutter wheel and the other the goose-foot paddle. We made the goose-foot, to open and shut with hinges, as the driving power could be much cheaper applied than the paddle wheel. After we had got the boat nearly done, Charles Robbins made a pair of paddle wheels, and attached them to a small skiff, and run about with a crank, by hand-power. After having the steamboat in operation, we exhibited near Provi- dence, between the two bridges,* I think, while the bridges were being built. After our frolic was over, being short of funds, we hauled the boat up and gave it over."
One story of the Ormsbee boat indicates that it was planned as a pleasure boat, to carry passengers on excursions for hire. The Wilkinson narrative continued, with intimation that Fulton profited from the Ormsbee steamboat in perfecting plans for the "Claremont," thus : "About this time a young man called on me, and wished to see the boat, and remained a day or two, examining all the works. He told me his name was Daniel French, from Connecticut. I never knew where he came from, nor where he went. . . . About the year 1840 I was on the railroad from Utica to Albany, with an aged gentleman on the cars, and the subject of steam-power came up, when I informed him of my early acquaintance with steam-power. . . . He said he thought more credit had been given to Fulton than was his due. . . . I told him I never thought Fulton an inventor, but simply a busy collector of other people's inventions. 'Well,' replied the gentleman, 'I always said so, and he would never have succeeded had it not been for Daniel French.' 'What do you mean by Daniel French?' I asked. 'Why, a Yankee,' said he, 'that Fulton kept locked up for six months, making drafts for him.' The name of Daniel French burst on my ears for the first time for forty-nine years, and almost explained some mysteries."
*On the Seekonk.
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THE EXPERIMENT-David Grieve of Rhode Island obtained a United States patent on February 24, 1801, for the "discovery that boats, or other crafts, may be made to ascend rivers against the entire force of the current, by virtue of the action of the same upon wheels and other machinery." Grieve built at least two boats on which the principle of the screw- propeller was applied. As described by persons who saw it, power was furnished by men or boys operating a wheel on the tread-mill principle; the wheel turned shafts projecting from the stern of the boat, "to which special screws of heavy sheet lead were attached. The screws were beneath the surface of the water, and propelled the boat at the rate of from six to eight miles an hour." David Grieve built "The Experiment" about 1808. Varnum Wilkinson related that the boat "was between fifty and sixty feet long, from sixteen to twenty feet beam, and three feet deep from the top of the horizontal wheel to the keelson. This wheel was stepped on the keelson. On the under edge were iron cog teeth, which geared into a pinion, and which was also geared into other wheels on the ends of two shafts, one on each side of the boat, which extended beyond, or to the stern of the boat, diverging from each other. On the outer end of each of these shafts was a screw about three feet in diameter. Motion was given to the horizontal wheel, and through the gearing to the screws by horses treading on it. . . Many alterations were required in her machinery, but it was finally adjusted so as to carry the Grand Lodge of the State from Providence to Pawtuxet on June 24, 1809, which she did successfully. Her return was not so satisfactory. She met with a severe thunder squall on her passage back, and having no keel, was driven to the east side of the bay, on the Lion shore, where she landed her passengers, with the privilege of walking home. This increased the prejudices against her, and she was attached by the creditors of Mr. Grieve and sold. The purchaser undertook to take her to Boston, but on her way there she was dashed against the vessel that had her in tow, and lost." The use of the screw-propeller, forecasted by the inven- tion of David Grieve and the application of it, was postponed by years because of the suc- cessful application of a marine steam engine to side paddle-wheels, the principle applied in the "Claremont" and other early steamboats.
In retrospect and summary: Rhode Island emerged from the Revolution with political independence completely established, but desperately impoverished, and almost hopelessly indebted. Property had been destroyed, the wealth of the people had been drained by taxa- tion ; and commerce, which had been the most significant source of wealth in preceding years, had been almost wholly discontinued. In spite of vigorous opposition by those who under- stood the evils of inflation, the first recourse for rehabilitation was to paper money, whereby to furnish a medium for discharging debts and reviving trade and commerce. The stubborn resistance of merchants brought the state to the brink of civil war, before the effort to enforce the use of paper money was abandoned. Rhode Island then turned to two sources of relief from major evils-the revival and extension of commerce, and the production and manu- facture of commodities for sale. The dominating figure in the period of economic rehabilita- tion was John Brown, one of four brothers who achieved fortunes for themselves while helping to rebuild a commonwealth. John Brown, daring instigator of the "Gaspee" plot, resourceful agent for obtaining supplies for the Revolution, vigorous opponent of paper money, ventured a fortune in establishing commerce with the Orient, and brought the wealth of the East, of China, India, and the Spice Islands, to the warehouses of Providence, which became rich as a great commercial centre. His brothers and other merchants followed him in the trade. Moses Brown, youngest brother in the house of Brown, ventured his wealth to build up the textile industry. Rhode Island emerged from the process of rehabilitation, presently wealthy because of the profitable trade carried on by her merchants in a foreign commerce in which she led America, and with prospects for continued wealth in the development of what was to be the dominating industry of New England for a century. The textile industry intrigued
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the brains of inventors, and Rhode Islanders improved textile machinery, as well as turned their attention to other fields of investigation and experiment. One of the earliest steam- boats was invented in Rhode Island, and actually plowed the waters of Narragansett Bay years before Fulton was successful with the "Claremont"; David Grieve built a power boat operated by a screw-propeller. The wealth of its commerce, particularly with foreign coun- tries, the number of vessels entering and leaving Narragansett Bay from remote ports on all the seven seas; the marvellous argosies sent out by its merchant princes; the magnificent interest of these in public improvements and in adorning Rhode Island with stately residences, recall the glory of Venice, Queen City of the Adriatic, and Mistress of the commerce of the world. Save that Rhode Island merchants levied no tribute on rival merchant fleets, and did not seek war but rather peace in promoting their ventures, the likeness to Venice is remark- able. In area Rhode Island has always been a city-state; in democracy Rhode Island sur- passed the Adriatic city of the Doges.
CHAPTER XVI. REVIVAL OF EDUCATION IN POST-REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
HE first American public school was established in Newport, Rhode Island, by vote of the town meeting in August, 1640. The town records of Rhode Island refer, year after year through the colonial period, to schoolhouses built, to school- masters hired, to schools established and maintained, to land grants for schools, and other public provisions for education .* Of dame schools, of more pretentious schools kept in private houses, of home schools maintained for their children by the wealthy planters of the Narragansett country, of provision made by the grandees of Newport for tutors and governesses, of the unnamed schoolmaster who taught John Brown to cypher in Providence between 1749 and 1752, of village schools supported by public subscription and by tuition charges, of schoolhouses erected by subscription of proprietors on land leased or let at will, perhaps put up by the common, joint labor of the proprietors, there are no public records. Only when a town set aside land for school purposes, or built or repaired a school- house, or leased a town schoolhouse, or engaged a teacher, or let the town schoolhouse to a teacher, or supplemented the teacher's earnings by a salary grant, was the matter recorded, and the phraseology of some entries indicates that other items of school business had been omitted. Town records were not kept with marked exactness; in reference to other matters than education curiosity aroused by an entry must sometimes remain unsatisfied because the record is silent alike with reference to antecedent and subsequent action, to cause or motive, and to consequence. The Revolution brought public education to a definite pause. The towns on the island of Rhode Island, in which there had been a more extensive development of pub- lic education than elsewhere, were occupied by the British, who effectively terminated civic enterprises. Two schoolhouses in Providence, the brick building on Meeting Street and Whipple Hall, were taken over by the Revolutionary committee for war purposes. Univer- sity Hall, the first and then the only building of Rhode Island College, was also used, as bar- racks and hospital. Elsewhere education was interrupted, as towns and townspeople devoted their energies to the principal business of the period-winning the war, enlisting, arming and equipping soldiers, raising food, paying taxes, and in the instance of every man of military age not with the continental army, responding to frequent calls for service in regiments recruited for home defence or in the militia. In proportion to population Rhode Island called more men to the colors than any other state. The war over, interest in the education of the rising generation was resumed.
THE BEGINNING OF A STATE SYSTEM-The perfection of a state public school system lay far in the future; the educational movement for fifty years following the Revolution was "quasi-public," enlisting cooperative community enterprises, through school societies, many of which were incorporated. Through much of the period the activity was town rather than state. The following brief summary of activity, town by town, finds a place in the history of the state principally as rebuttal of statements frequently made that there were no schools in Rhode Island earlier than 1828:
Barrington-Divided into three school districts in 1770; two schoolhouses in 1819, and three in 1828, owned by school societies. The schools were society schools, not town public schools.
*Chapter VII.
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Bristol-While the town schoolhouse was being made fit for occupancy, Samuel Bos- worth was employed by the town to teach school in 1781 in a room hired for school purposes. The old schoolhouse was replaced by a new building in 1809, a cooperative enterprise, the town owning the lower story and St. Alban's Lodge the upper story as a lodge room. The colonial schoolhouse on the Neck was disposed of in 1765, and was not replaced until 1802, when a new building was constructed on the main road to Warren on land that was part of the Byfield donation. Bristol was divided into three school districts in 1811, but there was no schoolhouse in the northern district until 1818. The Byfield school lands were leased in 1811, the districting being part of a plan for equitable apportionment of the income. Bristol had three public schoolhouses in 1828. The Bristol Female Charitable Society provided a school for indigent girls. The General Assembly granted a lottery in 1797 to aid an academy in Bristol; and chartered Mount Hope Academy in 1806. A private school on the Lancaster plan was conducted in the Academy building in 1826.
Burrillville-Set off from Glocester in 1806. The early schoolhouses were built by school societies, and were maintained by tuition. Burrillville had ten schoolhouses in 1819, and eleven in 1828.
Charlestown-The General Assembly granted a lottery to build a schoolhouse and meet- inghouse in 1804. The earliest public schoolhouse was that maintained for the Narragansett Indians. Ten private schools were maintained in Charlestown in 1819.
Coventry-Three society schools were established soon after the Revolution. There were eight schoolhouses in Coventry in 1819 and ten in 1828. The Coventry School Society was incorporated in 1814, and the Mill Brook School Society in 1828.
Cranston-Six schoolhouses in 1819, and eleven in 1828.
Cumberland-Nine schoolhouses in 1819, and thirteen in 1828. The Cumberland schools were described as well housed, well taught and kept regularly. Charters were granted as follows: Cumberland School Society, 1795; Cumberland Academy, 1800; Cumberland Union School Society, 1814.
East Greenwich-Three lottery grants were made, in 1774 to build a second schoolhouse in the town, in 1780 to build an additional schoolhouse, in 1804 to build a schoolhouse near Cory Pond. Kent Academy, chartered 1802, was opened 1804. Frenchtown Academy, to be located in the western section of the town, was chartered in 1803, 1806 and 1820. There were four schoolhouses besides Kent Academy in 1828.
Exeter-Two schoolhouses, 1819; three schoolhouses, 1828.
Foster-Eleven schoolhouses, 1819; fifteen schoolhouses, 1828.
Glocester-Twelve schoolhouses, 1819; eleven schoolhouses, in which fifteen schools were maintained, 1828.
Hopkinton-The General Assembly granted a lottery to build a schoolhouse and meeting- house in 1805. There were six schoolhouses in 1819; and nine schoolhouses in 1828.
Jamestown-A schoolhouse was erected in 1802; there were two schoolhouses in 1819, and three in 1828.
Johnston-Seven schools in 1819; four schoolhouses, with six or seven winter and three summer schools, 1828.
Little Compton-Seven schools, 1819; eight schoolhouses, 1824.
Middletown-The district school division in 1754 turned the town schools already estab- lished over to the new districts. The east schoolhouse was destroyed by fire in 1786; the school land was rented in 1787 for "six bushels of good Indian corn," and in 1789 for "thir- teen bushels of good merchantable Indian corn, to be paid and delivered into the treasury." The rents were appropriated to the schooling of poor children, and limited in 1790 to poor children of the east district, until 1792, when the rents were ordered "collected and put on
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interest to be employed toward building a schoolhouse." The district ordinance proved a stumbling block to assumption by the town of responsibility for rebuilding the schoolhouse ; it was repealed in 1789, but revived in 1790, the variable attitude and other votes in town meeting indicating that district had been arrayed against district. Committees were appointed in 1790 and again in 1807 to examine into the rights of town and districts. Years afterward, in 1856, the Supreme Court sustained the district right .* The town granted land to school societies in 1810 and in 1819 for school purposes. Middletown had at least three school- houses in 1819, and five schools were maintained; in 1828 there were five schoolhouses in Middletown.
Newport-The central schoolhouse had been destroyed by fire just before the Revolu- tion. Thirty-six freemen of Newport were incorporated in 1795 as trustees, and granted a lottery to rebuild Long Wharf and to build a hotel, upon condition that all profits arising from the wharf and hotel should be appropriated to building one or more free public schools. The lottery yielded $12,000; the wharf was rebuilt and completed in 1800; the hotel was not built. Simeon Pottert of Bristol, then resident in Swansea in 1795, granted to the trustees of Long Wharf an estate on Easton's Point "in trust to support a free school forever, for the advantage of the poor children of every denomination." The deed recited that the gift was prompted "by the regard I have for the good people of the said town of Newport, and by the afflictions which they have suffered in the late war, and wishing to promote their rise and prosperity, and the education of their children of the present and succeeding generations." The Potter property stood at the corner of Washington and Marsh streets in Newport. The house was rented by the trustees and the first income was applied to repairs. The trustees, in 1800, tendered the use of the property "to the town for a schoolhouse, on condition of the town repairing the same and paying such rent as may be agreed upon, provided it is appro- priated for a school." But Newport took no action, and the Potter school project remained in abeyance until 1814, when a committee recommended renting the Potter house to a suitable person to keep a school for boys. A school with twenty-one small boys as pupils was opened October 10, 1814, with Elizabeth Finch as teacher, and her husband Captain Joseph Finch as assistant, charged with such duties as ringing the bell and administering corporal punishment. The Finches occupied rooms in the Potter building before it was converted into a school. The school was enlarged to accommodate forty pupils in April, 1815, but was reduced to ten pupils in 1817, because the trustees were constrained by damage to Long Wharf during the September gale of 1815 and consequent demands for money for repairs, to curtail expendi- tures. The instruction consisted of reading, writing and arithmetic necessary for ordinary business and navigation. The Potter school was continued by Mrs. Finch after the death of the captain in 1829, as a school for small children, and later until 1832 by Mrs. Dennis, widow. Both women exchanged teaching service for abatement of rent. The school was discontinued in 1832, and the Potter estate was sold in 1834 for $505, which was deposited in a savings bank. Long Wharf was leased for 100 years in 1860, to the Newport and Fall River Railway Company at an annual rental of $1400. The trustees had in the savings bank $2293.38, accumulated from the Potter donation. In 1863 a new two-story brick schoolhouse, which cost $13,000, was built by the trustees and presented to the city of Newport. A second school- house was built by the trustees at a later date, and the city of Newport is still from time to time a beneficiary of the trust.
Fifty years after the destruction of the central town schoolhouse, that is, in 1824, interest in public education revived in Newport. The General Assembly, upon petition, authorized Newport, in 1825, to raise a tax of $800 "for the education of the white children of the town
*Gould vs. Whitman, 3 R. I. 267.
tChapters VIII and IX.
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who are not otherwise provided with the means of instruction." To the annual appropria- tions in 1825 and 1826 were added the proceeds of the sale and rent of school land; and the building of a schoolhouse, "60 feet long and 36 feet wide, of brick and stone, two stories high," was undertaken at a cost of $3000. Provision was also made for the accumulation of a school fund from the proceeds of sales of school land under earlier grants, and $1500 was added to the fund by bequest of Constant Taber. A school for boys, conducted on the Lan- caster plan, was opened on May 21, 1827. Of 337 applicants for admission, 279 were enrolled and 217 were in attendance at the end of the first year. The boys' school was in the upper chamber ; a school for girls in the lower chamber was opened in 1828. The Newport public schools were under the direction of a school committee, which had authority to appoint schoolmasters and assistants, to regulate the admission and discharge of pupils, to provide books, stationery and supplies, and in general to superintend and manage the schools. Books and supplies were provided at public expense, but the pupils were assessed a small tuition regulated by the course taken, thus: "In the alphabet, spelling and writing on slate, 25 cents per quarter. Continuance of ditto, with reading and arithmetic tables, 50 cents per quarter. Continuance of last, with writing on paper, arithmetic and definitions, $1. The preceding, with grammar, geography and the use of maps and globes, bookkeeping, etc., $2. No addi- tional charge for fuel, books or stationery." The regulations provided expressly that no child should be excluded for inability to pay tuition. Inasmuch as the school committee found the tuition insufficient to cover the cost of books and supplies, the Newport schools might be classified as free public schools, charging for books and supplies a level rate estimated to cover average cost. It is estimated that Newport was served by forty-two private schools in 1828, which enrolled 1100 pupils.
New Shoreham-One schoolhouse in 1828, but four winter and six summer schools were maintained.
North Kingstown-The General Assembly granted a lottery in 1806 to build a school- house at the Four Corners. A schoolhouse was built in that year at Quidnesset; it was fur- nished with a pulpit, as well as a desk, and used for religious as well as educational purposes. William Reynolds, factory owner, built a schoolhouse in 1808, and Ezra and Jeffrey Davis, one at Davisville in 1810. Washington Academy, sometimes referred to as Elam Academy, was chartered in 1799, located at Wickford, granted a lottery in 1803, opened in 1802, and had a long, though somewhat precarious existence.
North Providence-Samuel Slater, himself teacher of a secular school conducted on Sundays for mill operatives, opened a school for mill children in Pawtucket in 1791. The Red Schoolhouse, a society school receiving pupils from both sides of the Blackstone River, was erected in 1793. Charters were granted to the Pawtucket School Society, 1795, and Pawtucket Union Academy, 1801 and 1805. The academy was located on Pleasant Street. At the western end of the town Nathan Angell, Olney Angell, Benjamin Whipple and Roger Olney built a schoolhouse on Smith Street between 1802 and 1805. The General Assembly granted a lottery for an academy in North Providence on Smithfield pike in 1808. North Providence had eight schoolhouses and two academies in 1819; and seven schoolhouses, an academy and four other schools in Pawtucket, eleven schools altogether, in 1828.
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