USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. IV > Part 19
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Mr. Tallman married, in 1915, Marjorie Potter Hicks, like himself a native of Portsmouth. Mr. and Mrs. Tallman have no children.
WILLIAM MacLEOD-Since the completion of his legal education and his admission to the Rhode Island bar, his native city, Newport, has been the scene of Mr. Macleod's successful pro- fessional activities as a lawyer. He is especially well known as a practitioner of corporation law and is actively connected with the management of several important corporations as a member of their boards of directors. Public affairs, too, have received a considerable part of Mr. Mac- Leod's time and attention and at various times he has served very effectively in important local offi- ces. His membership in numerous Masonic and other organizations and active military service during the World War, still further prove Mr. Macleod a man of unusual versatility and a cit- izen of great public spirit.
William MacLeod was born in Newport, Jan- uary 21, 1883, a son of the late Angus and Jessie (MacKenzie) Macleod. His father, who was born on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, the largest of the Hebrides Islands, was for many years and until his death, in 1914, treasurer of the King Macleod Company of Newport. Mr. Macleod's mother, too, was a native of the Isle of Lewis, having been born at Stornoway. Mr. Macleod received his early education in the public gram- mar and high schools of Newport and, having
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graduated from Rogers High School, attended Harvard College, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1905. Next he took up the study of law at the Harvard Law School, graduating there with the degree of Bach- elor of Laws in 1907. He then continued for sev- eral years his legal studies and, in 1909, was ad- mitted to the Rhode Island bar. Since then he has practiced law in Newport with marked success, with offices in recent years at No. 165 Thames Street. Mr. Macleod is a director of numerous important financial and other organizations, in- cluding the Newport Trust Company, the New- port Realty Trust Corporation, the Standard Wholesale Company, the Mortgage Company of Rhode Island, and the King Macleod Company. He has also taken a very active part in civic af- fairs, having served for several years in the New- port Representative Council and for one term as mayor of Newport. For three years he was also a member of the staff of Governor Beeckman with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In politics he is a supporter of the Republican party and for a num- ber of years he has been a member of the Repub- lican city committee. During the World War Mr. Macleod was commissioned a second lieu- tenant in the United States Army in August, 1917. In March, 1918, he was promoted first lieu- tenant, in June, 1918, captain, and in September, 1918, major, with which latter rank he received his honorable discharge in March, 1919. At first he was attached to the 76th Division, but later was transferred to Camp Joseph E. Johnston, Jacksonville, Florida, where he did staff work. He is a member of numerous Masonic bodies, including the following: St. Paul's Lodge, No. 14, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is a Past Master; Newport Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; De Blois Council, Royal and Select Masters; Washington Commandery, Knights Templar; and Rhode Island Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. He is also a member of the New- port Chamber of Commerce and of the Young Men's Christian Association, of which latter he is a trustee. His religious affiliation is with the Congregational Church. Mr. Macleod is greatly interested in history and especially in all history pertaining to the city of Newport.
Mr. Macleod married (first), in 1916, Waldron Weaver, like himself a native of Newport, who died in 1921. He married (second), in 1924, Gladys Bozyan, a native of Brantford, Province of Ontario, Canada. By his first marriage he is the father of one son, William Mackenzie MacLeod.
REV. B. DI MASCOLO-The recently formed Italian parish of St. Anthony, of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, is fortunate in having as its pastor Rev. B. Di Mascolo, who has been in charge since September, 1927.
By 1925 the number attending St. Charles' Church in Woonsocket was deemed large enough to set about the task of organizing and support- ing a separate parish of their own. Father Greco had been placed in charge of this portion of St. Charles' congregation in 1925, and had wor- shipped with them in St. Charles' Church for a time. Father Greco was succeeded by the present pastor, Rev. B. Di Mascolo, who took charge in September, 1927.
Rev. B. Di Mascolo was born in Italy and came to Providence when four years of age, April 4, 1896, and after attending the local public schools, entered La Salle Academy, where he pursued his preparatory studies for four years. He then spent four years in St. Charles' Semi- nary, in Baltimore, Maryland, and then spent three more at Rochester, New York, after which he went abroad and entered the Italian Seminary at Rome, St. John Lateran, from which he grad- uated with high honors. He was ordained a priest on Easter Sunday, 1923, and then returned to this country and served for four years as curate at St. Ann's Church in Providence, Rhode Island. At the end of that time he was made a pastor and appointed to take charge of the Italian parish of St. Anthony in Woonsocket. Here he has found full opportunity for the use of all his powers and all his energy. For a short time he and his people worshipped in the mother church, St. Charles', but Father Di Mascolo soon realized that his group of Italian Catholics needed, above all else, a church of their own, where their special needs could be looked after. He lost no time in getting the plans drawn and at once began ex- cavating in what was then a sterile and over- grown field. Father Di Mascolo has added some- what to the size of the church grounds by the purchase of more parcels of land, including among which is one piece of land, one hundred and fifty feet by three hundred, upon which a double house now stands. This site he is planning to use for a fine new school building to be erected in the near future. Upon the completion of the church the parish found itself saddled with a debt of $160,000, but in the short space of three years the debt has been reduced to $97,000, and it will not be long before this beautiful and artistic church will be free of debt. Improve- ments, too, are still being made, and it is reason-
ST. ANTHONY'S ITALIAN CHURCH, WOONSOCKET, R. I.
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able to predict that within a very few years St. Anthony's will be one of the most complete and well-equipped parishes in the diocese.
When Father Di Mascolo came to St. An- thony's the site upon which the church now stands was in a most rough and difficult condition and the task of reducing it to its present state of well- kept beauty has been a gigantic one. The work was pushed forward so energetically that by Easter time, 1928, the corner-stone was laid, and in the short period of eight months the building was completed and ready for occupancy. St. Anthony's Church is of the Italian Renaissance style of architecture, built from plans drawn by Ambrose Murphy, carefully supervised and modi- fied by Father Di Mascolo, and erected by Joseph Donatelli, a contractor who makes a specialty of building artistic churches. The main body of the church provides seating for about six hundred people, and the basement, which is used for business meetings, for social purposes, and for Sunday school services, seats about the same number, while the choir loft provides for fifty singers. The seats of polished oak are en- tered from a center aisle and two side aisles, and three beautiful memorial windows lighten and beautify the interior. So skillfully and so artis- tically have both the general plan and the details of adornment and furnishing been selected that St. Anthony's is, without doubt, one of the most beautiful small churches in Rhode Island. The heating plant is of the most modern type, the radiators being placed in the walls under the windows, where they are entirely out of sight. A splendid view of the church will be found on the opposite page. The parish numbers about two thousand five hundred souls and there is a Sunday school with an enrollment of four hundred pupils. Four masses are said in St. Anthony's each Sunday.
Father Di Mascolo's achievement since com- ing here and his genial personality and devout Christian character have endeared him to his people and have won him the respect of the en- tire community.
REV. MICHAEL L. RYAN-Although Rev. Michael L. Ryan has been pastor of St. Michael's parish of Georgiaville, Rhode Island, only since February, 1930, he has already won the esteem and confidence of his people as an able leader and a devoted pastor.
St. Michael's parish was organized in 1875, but its beginnings trace back to the early 'fifties, when Bishop O'Reilly began sending a priest to Green- ville. The place was none too wealthy and when Rev. P. Gilleck was sent there in 1855 to build a church, he went on a collecting tour outside the parish and returned in November of that year with $1,200. A little church was built and dedi- cated by Bishop McFarland, September 19, 1858, at which time the Bishop estimated that church, house and lot were worth about $3,200. There were only about three hundred and fifty Catholics in the place in that year. Attleboro was a mission of Greenville, and Father Gilleck also built a church there. In 1873 Greenville was organized as a separate parish, with Rev. Bernard Plunket as pastor, and that same year, after the burning of the mill at Stillwater, St. Edward's of Prov- idence, was made a mission of Greenville and re- mained so until after Father Plunket's death, June 27, 1874. Rev. Andrew Brady was made pastor of Greenville the following September, but he remained only a few months, being suc- ceeded by the Rev. William Wiseman in Novem- ber, 1874. He built the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Georgiaville. The corner-stone was laid in May, 1875, and the church was dedicated on November 14, 1875, and Rev. J. Berkins was made the first pastor of the new parish. In 1881 he was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas Carroll, and in 1888 Rev. James Fogarty was appointed the third pastor of St. Michael's. He remained until 1893, when he was succeeded by Rev. Michael Kennedy, and in the fall of 1898, Father Kennedy was succeeded by Rev. Charles Little. Father Little was succeeded by Father Nagle, who later became pastor of St. Edward's Church at Pawtucket, and the next pastor was Father Downing, who, in 1930, was pastor of Pascoag. Rev. Father Edward Tierney came next, but re- mained only two months, when he was succeeded by Father Toohey, who served ably for a period of seven years, until February, 1930, when the present pastor, Rev. M. L. Ryan, took charge.
Rev. M. L. Ryan was born in Cumberland and during his early years attended the public schools of his birthplace. Later, he took a course in Bry- ant & Stratton's Business College in Providence, and when he had made the necessary preparation he entered Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts. For his theological and philosoph- ical training he attended the Grand Seminary, in Montreal, Canada, and when he had taken his theological degrees there he returned to the States
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and was ordained in the Cathedral in Providence, Rhode Island, by Bishop Harkins, in 1908. He also took a post-graduate course in the Catholic University of Washington, District of Columbia. His first assignment was to the church in Pascoag, Rhode Island, where he served as assistant for one year. He was then, in 1910, transferred to St. Mary's at Newport. There he remained as an assistant for seventeen years, serving under three pastors in succession, Father William B. Meenan, Father James I. Nord and Father Jeremiah Bog- gott, an unusual experience. By the end of that time he was fully equipped to take charge of a church as pastor. He then went to Wakefield, Rhode Island, where he served in St. Francis' Church until 1928, when he was succeeded by David I. Quinn. He accomplished much in the year, among other achievements improving the St. Romuald Chapel by converting it into a com- fortable summer chapel, fully fitted out for relig- ious services. He also altered the interior and renovated St. Francis' Church and greatly im- proved the cemetery. In February, 1930, he came to his present charge as pastor of St. Michael's Church of Georgiaville.
St. Michael's parish numbers about 1,500 souls. The church building is substantially built, seats about four hundred and has a basement which is used for all social purposes and also for the inaugural ball, which is a great event in the parish and is attended by people from all over this sec- tion of the State, including frequently the Gov- ernor and his staff and other State officials. St. Michael's has a mission on the shore of the lake, known as St. Philip's, a chapel in which services are held every Sunday in the year. The chapel was thoroughly renovated by Father Nagle dur- ing his pastorate, and the buildings and grounds are kept in the best of repair. St. Michael's Church is very neat and attractive, its interior being especially restful and practical. Twelve stained-glass windows admit a mellow light. The center aisle leads to a beautiful white altar, and there are two smaller altars, one on each side. The rectory has fourteen well-planned and com- fortably furnished rooms, and the entire church property is not only well cared for but it is ad- mirably adapted to the needs of the parish.
Father Ryan is a genial and courteous gentle- man, carrying warmth and cheer wherever he goes, and to strangers as well as to his parish- ioners a meeting with him is a genuine pleasure. He has won the respect and the confidence of his people in a high degree during the brief time he
has been their leader, and the outlook for St. Michael's parish is very bright.
PHILIPPE BOUCHER-For more than thirty years Philippe Boucher has been identified with newspaper work, and is now president and directorial head of "La Tribune," published by La Tribune Publishing Company, of Woonsocket. He is a foremost member of the greater commu- nity. His influence, since coming here, has con- stantly and consistently been for the greatest good to the greatest number of persons.
Philippe Boucher was born at St. Barthelemi, Quebec, and received his education there, perfect- ing himself in both the French and English lan- guages. He came to the United States when only thirteen, completed his training, and went into business at an early age, and was very successful. "La Tribune," the paper which has grown to be outstanding in New England under his direction and which is the only French daily newspaper in Rhode Island, was founded by Adelard Lafond. For six months, Mr. Boucher was associated with Mr. Lafond, then reorganized the concern, with associates. La Tribune Publishing Company is composed of Mr. Boucher, as president; Elie P. Boucher, as secretary ; Pierre Fleurant, treasurer ; and John B. A. Savard, manager. The paper has a circulation of five thousand. Its prosperity and editorial strength are largely to be attributed to Mr. Boucher, as able editor and general controller.
A Republican, Mr. Boucher served as a member of the City Council in 1889, as member from the First Ward. (This council is the first under city charter.) He was an alderman for three years, member of the State Legislature three years, was a member of the State Board of Charities, and for nine years held the post of tax assessor. In each of these public capacities Mr. Boucher has demon- strated his talent for administration and his loy- alty to the best interests of Woonsocket.
Mr. Boucher is a member of L'Union St. Jean Baptiste d'Amerique, being a charter member of this society and having served it as treasurer for ten years. He belongs to the Woonsocket Chamber of Commerce, and the Knights of Columbus. He is a communicant of the Catholic Church. On April 26, 1929, Mr. Boucher was created Knight of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Pius XI, for his activities in and devotion to works of charity and education.
Mr. Boucher married Dorimène Menard, and
RICHARD WELLING Chairman Self-Government Committee, Leaving Newton High School After Talking to the Students
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their children are: Lucia, Dora, Fabiolia, Florette. All of the family are members of the Catholic Church.
ALLEN A. WEEDEN, M. D .- A native of Brooklyn, New York, but for the greater part of his life a resident of Rhode Island, Dr. Weeden, now of Woonsocket, at first followed for several years the profession of pharmacy. Later he took up the study of medicine and in 1906 established himself in the practice of that profession in Woon- socket. Today he is one of the successful general practitioners of Woonsocket. A veteran of the World War, he is also a member of several med- ical organizations and is active in Masonic affairs. He ranks high in his profession and is greatly liked and highly respected by the community-at- large.
Allen A. Weeden was born in Brooklyn, New York, April 21, 1875, a son of the late George and Harriet (Irwin) Weeden. His father was a sea captain. Dr. Weeden received his education in the public schools and graduated from Providence High School in 1890. He then took up the study of pharmacy and, after successfully passing his examinations, became a registered pharmacist and for several years conducted a drug store on Plain- field Street, Providence. Eventually he decided to take up the study of medicine and for that purpose entered Tufts Medical School, where he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1905. He then spent one year as an interne at the Woonsocket Hospital, receiving at that time his certificate to practice in the State of Rhode Island. He also holds a certificate to practice in the State of Massachusetts. In 1906 he established himself in the practice of medicine, in which he was engaged during the first eight years in association with Dr. Frank H. Jencks. In 1914 Dr. Jencks retired and since then Dr. Weeden has carried on his practice alone. In 1917, during the World War, he was commis- sioned a captain in the medical corps. He began active duty in March, 1918, and continued for seventeen months. For six weeks he attended the training school for physicians at Camp Green- leaf, Tennessee, whence he was transferred to Camp Lee and placed in charge of the Orthopedic Hospital. Here he remained until he received his discharge. He then resumed his practice in Woon- socket, which he has continued since, with offices located in the Stadium Building. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Rhode
Island Medical Society, the Woonsocket District Medical Society, and the American Academy of Physical Therapy. He is also a member of Woon- socket Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Square and Compass Club, also Woonsocket Chamber of Commerce. In politics he is a sup- porter of the Republican party. His religious affiliation is with the Protestant Church.
Dr. Weeden married Miriam Dean, a native of Woonsocket and a daughter of Alvertus and Sarah (Crosby) Dean. Dr. and Mrs. Weeden are the parents of one daughter, Madeline Weeden, who married Alfred Dean Williams, a civil en- gineer of Stamford, Connecticut. Mrs. Weeden is a member of the Universalist Church. The family residence is located at No. 131 Grove Street, Woonsocket.
RICHARD WARD GREENE WELLING
is an American by inheritance, rearing and by personal ideals and practice as well. His ances- tors were among the early settlers of Long Island and Rhode Island, sober-minded men and women, tired of the hypocrisy, profligacy and tyranny of old world church and State, who sought an op- portunity to establish a régime which included liberty of conscience and freedom in religious and political thought and action. They consid- ered material well-being of secondary importance. Abandoning a long-established civilization, they came to this country to lay the foundations of those social and political institutions that have made the United States unique among the nations of the world. Their ideas persist to the present day and the present generation of the descendants of those colonists, we must hope, will constitute the salt that preserves the distinctive color and flavor of American life.
Inheriting these ideas Mr. Welling has con- sistently resisted those sinister elements that un- dermine good government, never stopping at mere criticism but building along lines of permanent improvement. Among Mr. Welling's ancestors on his father's side we find such names as Snowden, Hart, Creed, Langhorne, Webster, Betts and Hunt, and on his mother's side Roger Williams, Greene, Hooker, Anthony, Gorton, Perry, Mott, Belcher, Mumford, Frye and Brenton.
(I) Thomas Welling was an early resident of Jamaica, Long Island. His name appears fre- quently in the land records. His will was proved there in 1691.
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(II) Thomas Welling, his son, married Eliza- beth Creed.
(III) William Welling, their son, was a resi- dent of Maidenhead, New Jersey.
(IV) William Welling, his son, was born in 1729. He married Mary Snowden.
(V) John Welling, their son, was born in 1757. He was an early settler in Trenton, New Jersey. He was enrolled in the Revolutionary War as a private in .Captain Philip Phillips' Company, Ist Regiment Hunterdon County Mili- tia. When General Washington was in New Jersey, John Welling provided headquarters for his troops. He was an elder in the Trenton and Lamberton Baptist Church, in the graveyard of which he and his wife are buried. The lumber for the Lamberton Church was manufactured from trees grown on his farm, and this lumber he con- tributed for the building. It was through his in- fluence that the name of the town was changed from Maidenhead to Lawrenceville. He died November 7, 1834. He married, October 11, 1786, Mary Hart, born in 1760, daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Webster) Hart, and granddaughter of Major Ralph Hart, a well-known citizen of Hopewell, New Jersey, and sister of Thomas Hart, one of the signers of the "Declaration."
(VI) John Welling, son of John and Mary (Hart) Welling, was born February 2, 1789, in Hopewell, New Jersey. He married Elizabeth Hunt of that town. She was a daughter of Jesse Hunt and was descended from Lieutenant Ralph Hunt, one of a party of Englishmen who immi- grated to Long Island in 1652, purchasers of Middleburgh in 1656, his share of the purchase price being fr. On January 7, 1662-63, Ralph Hunt was one of seven men designated to con- duct the affairs of the town, and in 1663 was one of those denounced for resisting Dutch authority, the next year admitted freeman of the Colony of Connecticut, and in 1665 commissioned lieutenant of the military in Newton, Long Island, which was then the name of the original town of Mid- dleburgh. He held various town offices. He died in 1677. John Welling was a man of strong social instincts and was very popular in the circles in which he moved.
(VII) Charles Hunt Welling, son of John and Elizabeth (Hunt) Welling, was born in Maiden- head, now Lawrenceville, New Jersey, October 3, 1816, and died in New York City, January 14, 1892. Another historian has said that "The most distinctive feature of his character was his strict integrity, the expression of it in action being per-
fectly a matter of course." After a remarkable success in business he met the unfortunate ex- perience of sudden failure; but after settling most favorably with his creditors and to their entire satisfaction, with courage and patience, he slowly and laboriously, after many years, amassed a sufficient amount to pay them the remaining full sum on the original obligations. This came as a complete surprise; for they had not realized the character of the man. He was a man of great energy and profound religious convictions.
He removed from New Jersey to Philadelphia and thence to New York City in the winter of 1864-65.
Charles Hunt Welling married Katherine Celia Greene, daughter of William Perry and Susan Elizabeth (Mumford) Greene.
(The Greene Line).
(I) Surgeon John Greene, the founder of this branch of the family in America was a descend- ant of the Greenes of Greene's Norton, County Northampton, and his ancestry has been traced back to Robert Greene of Gillingham (1545). John Greene was born about 1590, and he was the son of Richard and Mary (Hooker) Greene of Bowridge Hill, Parish of Gillingham. He prac- ticed his profession for sixteen years in Salisbury before he and his wife and six children arrived in the ship "James" at Boston, June 3, 1635. He first settled in Salem, Massachusetts, where he became associated with Roger Williams. He rejoined Williams soon after the latter settled in Provi- dence. Surgeon Greene was baptized by Williams and was one of the twelve original members of the first Baptist Church in America. He was also the first professional medical man in Providence. In 1642-43 he removed with his family to War- wick. He took an active part in the affairs of that town as well as those of the Colony. He had the courage of his convictions, which was indicated by writing a letter to the Quarterly Court in which he charged the court with usurping the power of Christ over the churches and men's consciences. This, of course, aroused the indigna- tion of the magistrates, who ordered, on March 12, 1638, that he "should not come within their jurisdiction," etc. This incident gains its impor- tance from the fact that it was one of the earliest assertions of freedom of personal opinion from the domination of either secular or religious authority. He was a member of the first town council of Warwick, represented the town in the General
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