USA > Rhode Island > Bristol County > Bristol > Sketches of old Bristol > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
222
SKETCHES OF OLD BRISTOL
breast would have stocked up a jewelry shop. Give him a trinket, no matter what, he was your friend for life.
He would swear sometimes when he was too much vexed by the boys, but on Sundays he was as regular in attendance on church service at Parson Shepard's, as was the late Bradford Church, who could be seen regularly in one gallery with Sam in the other. He was as devout and circumspect on the Sabbath day as he was patriotic on the Fourth. The stories which could be told about him are many. One day Sam appeared on the wharf at the foot of State street, and went aboard a schooner which was unloading her cargo of coal. Some of the boys got him into the coal scoop, hoisted him up in the air and kept him suspended there until their appetite for fun and profanity was thoroughly satiated. Then they let go of the lines, dropping him down to the deck, nearly killing the poor fellow.
Sam's appetite was a good one and he had a keen relish for raw sausage meat which he sometimes slyly indulged in at the expense of Col. Elisha Wardwell who kept a market, at that time, at the corner of Hope and Wardwell streets, under the Mount Hope House. It caused a sharp retaliation and the fixing up of a special line of sausages, with a strong dose of red pepper in their centres, for his especial benefit. The next time Sam came in and tried his favorite snack, he found it much too hot for his enjoyment. Sam hailed from Newport originally, and after spending the most of his years in Bristol returned to his native city to pass his last days.
HON. JOSEPH M. BLAKE, 1810-1879
JOSEPH M. BLAKE was born in Northfield, Mass., on the 13th day of July, 1809, and died in Bristol Nov. 8th, 1879, aged 70 years. His father, Charles Blake, M.D., was a surgeon in the U. S. Navy, and a participant in the renowned action between the Constitution and the Guerriere.
Mr. Blake's coming to this State was rather by accident. He studied law, at first, with Joel Parker, in Exeter, New Hamp-
223
SKETCHES OF OLD BRISTOL
shire. At that time a student could be admitted to the bar in Rhode Island earlier than in any other state and Mr. Blake be- fore attaining his majority came here to complete the required term of study and to be admitted here before going west. He called on John Howe, the member of the General Assembly from Bristol, while that body was in session and being pleased with his description of the town, came to Bristol and studied with him until his admission to the bar, when he became his law part- ner. A few years later he formed a copartnership with Judge J. Russell Bullock, which continued until Mr. Blake was elected to the office of attorney general, in 1843, which office he held for eight years, to 1851.
The date of his arrival here was 1829. In 1836 when we had semi-annual elections, he took his seat for the first time in the General Assembly as a member of the House from this town. His legislative career lasted from 1836, with very brief inter- missions, except when he was attorney general, to 1866.
As a criminal prosecutor he had no superior. He had one of the fullest of minds and was a most thorough reader. His library was not small but he knew what was in it. History was his favor- ite and he never read it without a map before him. Allison he knew by heart, and there were few people as familiar with the battles of Napoleon and Wellington as was Joseph M. Blake. Of poetry he read only the masters; Shakespeare, Milton and Coleridge were his favorites. Of biography he was fond, and his great favorite, whose every word he knew, was Boswell's John- son. His home was enough for him and there, with an instruc- tive and entertaining book, you would find him. He was wont to recall his younger days and tell about the late Gov. Nathaniel Bullock and Senator James D'Wolf, both of whom he knew well. Mr. Blake resided in the large mansion situated on the north side of Union street, the estate now (1942) owned by Mr. John Win- throp DeWolf.
Notice in the Phoenix in 1833 -
J. M. Blake, Attorney at Law.
224
SKETCHES OF OLD BRISTOL
Has taken the Office lately occupied by J. Howe, Esq. and will faithfully attend to such profes- sional business as may be entrusted to his care.
One who remembered Mr. Blake at the time he was attorney general of this State said: "I knew Mr. Blake very well, and I feel how inadequate must be any attempt to give a correct account of the impression which he made upon me as a man and as a lawyer. The difficulty arises, in a great part, from the peculiarity of his manner. Joseph M. Blake had great influence with juries; as one of his contemporaries one time said, 'no jury could resist him.' I well remember him as he appeared in the court room in those days. Mr. Webster, when about to deliver a great oration in Faneuil Hall, was never more carefully dressed than was Mr. Blake on those occasions. He wore black doe-skin pantaloons, a black satin vest, and a blue dress coat with brass buttons; a more noble presence was never seen in a court room."
"In those days Court days were notable ones, and the gather- ings of the lawyers about the old Court House were always of interest. The out-of-town lawyers used to come down by stage and while the court was in session put up at the hotel on Pump Lane."
THE OLD GLADDING WINDMILL
READING about the old windmill which years ago used to stand on the lot now owned by Ex-Governor A. O. Bourn, near the "Love Rocks", recalled to mind an incident which the down- town boys of the forties and fifties, now living, will probably remember. The windmill at that time not being in use, the boys used to play around there. We would catch hold of the arms, which reached nearly to the ground, push them upwards and then cling on; sometimes a boy would be carried up and over and have to cling on for dear life. In those days the windmill was owned by "Daddy" Wardsworth who lived in the old
225
1
SKETCHES OF OLD BRISTOL
house* that used to stand on the north side of lower Union street, between Hope street and the shore.
In those days a cart path, just to the south of where the Herreshoff boat shops now stand, lead to the old mill. At that time the mill was used to house a dray belonging to Lem Clark Richmond, the senior. The dray was a two-wheel affair, used to haul hogsheads of molasses; it was loaded by letting down the rear end, rolling the hogsheads on, and tipping it up again, and then fastening it with two iron pins. Sometimes the boys used the old dray for tilting.
One day in the summer of 1850 or 51, three boys, George H. Peck, our present town treasurer, his brother and Lemuel P. Cummings took a lot of old newspapers from a large pile that was in the basement of the old mill and placing them on the upper millstone, they set fire to them, and then pushed the long arms up to see the paper fly-and fly it did, to the pile in the basement, and in a few moments the old mill was a mass of flames and went up in smoke. The boys darted quickly into a nearby cornfield and were soon very busily working, while everybody was wondering how the fire started.
OLD LANES OF BRISTOL
THE original streets of Bristol were laid out so as to form large squares; some few of these original squares are still intact. Through nearly all of these old streets, lanes, mostly narrow ones have been cut. What is now Court street was, as late as the year 1842, only open to a line extending to the east wall of the present jail, and was known as "Jail lane". Some years later this lane was extended as far as High street and was renamed Court street. John street was once known as "Taylor's lane"; in compliment to the cheerful blacksmith, Samuel Taylor, whose shop was to us boys a great delight, as we watched him hammer-
*Years ago the old house was moved to the east side of Cooke street.
226
SKETCHES OF OLD BRISTOL
ing the red hot iron into a horseshoe or a heavy nail. Every youngster was glad to get a chance to "blow the bellows" and make the fire roar upwards through the wide-mouthed chimney. The greatest treat was to watch him shoeing an ox. Now, an ox is a meek and lowly animal when drawing a cart or hitched to a plow out in the fields. I never saw an ox move faster than a slow walk, but when that meek and docile piece of flesh was being fitted with a new set of shoes, he could be a most exasper- ating creature. The ox was forced into a machine, tied up, hoisted up and bent up, before the blacksmith could start to shoe him, and the time and patience used in getting that bovine ready was worth the cost. Any of my boyhood friends will agree with me, that shoeing an ox was something worth while to see.
The hill down "Taylor's lane" was the best coasting place in Bristol; there was a long and steep slide clear across Thames street. Another good sledding ground was on Church street, from Hope to Thames.
"Cross lane" so called, is now and has been for many years known by the name of Milk street. The original lane, com- mencing at Church street, did not extend across Byfield street, but ended opposite an old building known as "Potter's barn". In later years the street was lengthened to its present end south of Byfield street. The original idea was to cut the lane through to Constitution street, but it never was done. In those days "Cross lane" was a favorite playground for the "down- towners"; I think every boy who played there lived south of Church street.
The south side of the old Methodist church, which stood where now stands the Byfield school, was our favorite haunt in the winter time; the spot was the warmest on the "Common" and we were quite content to spend our fifteen minute recess there. Years ago there were five buildings on the west side of the Common; the "Old Brick School-House", the Baptist church, the Court House, the old Academy and the Methodist church. Of these, only two remain, the Baptist church and the Court House. GEORGE T. BOURNE
227
1
SKETCHES OF OLD BRISTOL
DOCTOR JABEZ HOLMES, 1791-1851
DIED on the morning of the 4th inst. (November, 1851), after a long and prostrating illness, Jabez Holmes, M.D., aged 60. Dr. Holmes was born at Stonington, Conn., April 9, 1791. He studied his profession in Newport, R. I., and commenced practic- ing in this town, in the early part of 1813. During these almost 40 years he has devoted his time, talents and skill, exclusively and most assiduously to his profession. The result has been-that he has had an extensive practice and a large circle of confiding patrons. He has been truly "the beloved physician" to many, many families in this community. To a remarkable degree, he ยท possessed the characteristic of prudence. His aim was single-to do his utmost in the healing art. To this, his days and nights were devoted. With things foreign to this he had little to do. His attentions to the sick were unwearied. Many are the households among us who will carry to their graves the image of his benig- nant countenance and manner, so deeply are they impressed upon their hearts by his faithful and patient services in their seasons of trial and affliction. By his more abundant labors early and late, in season and out of season, his valuable life has been brought to a premature close. Seldom have we known a man, in a public pro- fession, mingling with all classes of society, pass through so many years in the same place, with reputation so unsullied-a character so free from every imputation. Doctor Holmes possessed great kindness of feeling, strict integrity and remarkable circumspec- tion of life and conversation. In all these virtues he was a pat- tern to those of his own profession and to all others. We feel that we have parted with a citizen, a physician, a friend in distress whose like we shall never see again. The last seven years of his life have been burdened with many and severe infirmities. Still he went at the call of the sick; and continued his visits long after his emaciated countenance and faltering gait gave unequivocal premonitions that the vital powers were fast giving way .- At
228
SKETCHES OF OLD BRISTOL
length the hour of dissolution came. He had often thought and spoken of it with calmness and resignation. As his life had been one of patient, uncomplaining endurance, so his departure was signalized by childlike acquiescence in the divine will. The fam- ily over which he has so long presided with uniform kindness and affection have been sorely bereaved. With them a sympathizing community desire to mingle their tears at the departure of one so universally honored and loved.
OLD STAGE COACH DAYS
ONE hundred years ago the only way of getting in and out of this village, as it was then called, was by stage coach. Those romantic old days passed with the coming of the railroad in the year 1855. This newer mode of travel survived for eighty- three years and in 1938 the railroad itself was superseded, for the sake of economy, by the motor busses.
The introduction of steam as a means of conveyance was something new; it swept the old stage coach right off the roads. When it was first suggested that steam could be used in place of horses, the drivers regarded it as a huge joke. "The tin kettle of steam drive us off the road!" they would exclaim with hearty guffaws, "It can never happen. What do folks want with railways? With the stage running twelve miles an hour, what more do they want?" The drivers were not the only ones who resented the intrusion of the "new fangled steam kettles" as one old patron of the stage lines years ago put it, "You get upset in a coach-and there you are! You get upset in a rail-car and damme, where are you?" (accidents were many on the early railroads.)
"One hundred years ago the stage driver was a person of much authority on the road. The relative standing of passengers was regulated by his own peculiar formula. When hills were steep or roads more than usually bad, he gauged to a nicety the rela-
229
.
SKETCHES OF OLD BRISTOL
tive standing of his fares. 'First class passengers (inside) keep your seats; Second class passengers get out and walk; Third class (on the top) get down and push behind.'" In those days the stage would pick up passengers all through the town; it would drive right up to the door and get those who had pre- viously notified the office of their intended trip. At one period when we used to have a town crier, that official, for two or three days before, would cry out at the various street corners the leav- ing time of the stage.
A trip by stage, even if the distance was not great in miles, was bound to be long and tedious in time. It was up to the driver to make the time pass as quickly and pleasantly as possible, for the trip at its best was a hardship. The old driver had to be nimble of wit and apt at repartee; possessed of a fund of good stories and know how to tell them; also he had to be able to "crack jokes with the best of them". One old driver of those bygone days used to boast, and rightly so, that his passengers never had a dull trip while riding with him. One story has come down to us that might bear out this modest claim; "The coach passed a quaint little church, nestling in the distance among the trees. The driver remarked, pointing with his whip in the direction of the church: 'A very curious thing about that little church-they ring all the bells for a funeral, but only one for a wedding.' The passengers were all curious. 'How very un- usual, why do they do that?' 'Well, you see, there is only one bell,' he explains with a chuckle."
Some of the drivers were of a rough nature whose habits of profanity were so constant and vigorous as to give them wide notoriety. The old-timers used to tell about an old driver named Jem, who was a past master in this lost art. One time a fellow by the name of Brown was riding with him and after a time the two were locked in a verbal clash. At the height of it, Jem was using such a string of oaths that Brown, who was no mean per- former in that line himself, was aghast, his mouth agape with astonishment. A man with such a command of the English language was quite out of the common run and entitled to
230
SKETCHES OF OLD BRISTOL
respect. Another story about old Jem was the time his coach got ditched in a deep rut, wrecking a hind wheel and nearly upsetting the whole affair. Jem pulled his horses up short and all hands slid down and gathered around the damaged wheel. The old man, arms akimbo, cheeks all puffed out, surveyed the wreck in silence; then he turned away and busied himself strok- ing his horses. One of the passengers, after watching the old driver for a while, called out: "Why don't yer cuss, Jem-why don't yer say somethin?" The old man turned on him with contempt, and replied: "There is occasions when words is 'inadakate'!"
Exposed to all kinds of weather, cold and sleet in the winter, heat and dust in the summer, with wind and rain the year 'round, the stage drivers of the olden days were necessarily men of strong constitutions, for their work was arduous and called for great physical endurance. A letter written in January, 1831, tells about the stage drivers bringing in the mail that winter. "We are entirely blocked in by snow, no communication with any of the neighboring towns except by post travelers. We have had no mail for the past fortnight-Chadwick and Smith (they were the stage drivers in those days) have occasionally brought it in on their backs from Providence." That must have been a very se- vere winter. In going through the old records you now and then read where people were snowed in for a long period just like they were back in 1831.
Another old account gives some idea of what those living in the outlying districts had to contend with when they had a severe winter. "The snow is so deep that father has been going over to grandfather's on the stone walls for three days; he cannot travel the roads." Mr. Viets Griswold Peck (1814-1910), years ago speaking about the cold winters and unusual amount of snow in the town when he was a boy, said he could remember "one winter over 70 years ago when the roads were so drifted on Bristol Neck that they had to shovel out a tunnel near the corner of Hope and what is now Chestnut street, so that the stage which ran between this town and Providence could get through. The snow in many
23I
SKETCHES OF OLD BRISTOL
places was up to the eaves of the houses and it was some time before the gang of more than twenty men finally succeeded in shoveling through the huge drifts."
When you get to talking about the old stage coach days and the express business, you just naturally think of the Warren family of this town. Starting way back in old Nathan's time the Warrens were in this line of business for nearly a hundred years.
THE WARREN FAMILY
Nathan Warren 1791-1871
his sons (3)
Nathan Warren, Jr. 1817-1888
John F. Warren
1824-1906
George B. Warren
1837-1919
his son
George W. Warren
1868-1929
Old Nathan was born in Middleborough, Mass., in 1791, and early in life came to this village and made his home here up to the time of his death, in 1871. For years he kept a livery stable, just off the north side of lower State street. (In those days it was called "Pump Lane"; there was a pump on the north side of the lane, just about at the entrance to his stable, which was situated in back.) From about the year 1830 to the time the railroad started in 1855, he was proprietor of a line of stage coaches run- ning between this town and Providence. He was also mail con- tractor here for years, carrying the U. S. mail to Providence by stage. When the railroad came in 1855 the old proprietor was forced to seek other fields, becoming the first express agent in this village for Earle and Co.
- Express Notice - Earle & Co. N. Warren, Agt. Office-State St. opposite Bristol Hotel
232
SKETCHES OF OLD BRISTOL In 1861 (those were Civil War days) we find this:
The Earle Express Co. are now pre- pared to fwd. packages to the R. I. Troops at Washington at reduced rates.
N. Warren, Agt.
An old daguerreotype shows him with a tall black beaver, even taller than President Lincoln's famous stovepipe, the one he used to carry around state papers stuffed in the lining; a heavy black stock around his neck and a coat of broadcloth covering his powerful frame. His old leather wallet, the one he carried for years, is still in the possession of the Warren family; considering the length of time it has been around here, it still is in a very good state of preservation. It is a large affair, about nine or ten inches long and inside the old Yankee had pasted a very quaint bit of advice (in his own handwriting).
1824 Honesty is the best policy --- allwais Remember that & bee Wise.
Mrs. George W. Warren tells me that the old gentleman was a very religious sort of man. At one time something happened that caused him to leave the folds of his church, so he started one of his own. He was the elder of this little flock which held their meetings in his home. Nathan Warren, Jr., like his father, had a line of stages up to the year 1855, and after that, conducted a livery stable which was located for years on the north side of Wardwell street. The second son, John F. Warren, drove the stage for his father previous to the coming of the railroad in 1855. In those days the stage used to start from Bristol at 5 o'clock in the morning so as to get to Providence in time to con- nect with the early morning Boston train. The old driver in tell- ing about those early days said: "When roads were bad, which was always the case in the spring of the year, we had to hitch two extra horses on at Warren to help the heavy coach up the Half- Way hill, and bring the load to town."
233
SKETCHES OF OLD BRISTOL
Mr. Warren was the first baggage master, at this end of the line, for the new railroad, holding that position from 1855 up to the year 1895 when he retired. One who was a boy back in the late eighties, telling about the old baggage master, said: "He used to make it a point to drive us youngsters away when we were playing around the freight yard. At that time, boy fashion, we looked upon him as 'kinder mean'. It was years later that we learned why he did this-his own little boy in the early days of the railroad had been killed on those very tracks .. "
The Warrens had competition in those early days-for an old account tells of John Chadwick, who kept the Bristol Hotel around the year 1847: "In 1826 he established the first stage route between Bristol and Providence, running it for more than a quarter of a century in connection with his livery business." A little over one hundred years ago, 1836, J. & N. Chadwick were running a Mail Stage and also an Accommodation Stage:
Newport, Bristol, Warren and Providence STAGE
THE Mail Stage will leave Providence for Warren, Bris- tol and Newport, at 8 o'clock, A. M. every day, (Sundays excepted) and arrive in Newport same afternoon. Return- ing, leaves Newport every day (Sundays excepted) at 9 o'clock, A. M., for Bristol, Warren and Providence, and arrive same afternoon.
Passengers in the afternoon stage on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, can reach Boston the same eve- ning at 8 o'clock by the Rail Road.
ACCOMMODATION STAGE
EAVES Bristol, every morning (Sunday excepted) at TEA half past 7 o'clock, for Warren and Providence .- Returning, leaves Providence every afternoon (Sunday ex- cepted) at 3 o'clock, for Warren and Bristol.
# Books kept in Providence, at the Mansion House; Brastow's Manufacturer's Hotel, and at the Franklin House; at Burgess' and Horton's Hotels, Bristol; and at Cole's and Commercial Hotels, Warren. * Passengers called for and left at any part of the town.
J. & N. CHADWICK.
234
SKETCHES OF OLD BRISTOL
At the same time Nathan Warren was running two lines:
Bristol, Warren, Fall-River, & New-Bedford Accommodation Stage
A STAGE will leave Bristol every morning (Sundays excepted) at 7 1-2 o'clock, and arrive in Fall River at half past 10, and in New Bedford in season to dine. Returning, leaves New Bedford every day at I o'clock and arrives at Warren and Bristol same afternoon.
~ Passengers wishing to go to Fall River and return the same day, are informed that they can stop in Fall River four hours, for the transaction of business.
Books kept at Burgess' and Horton's Hotels, Bristol; Cole's and Commercial Hotels, Warren; at M. & R. N. Lawton's, Fall River; at Cole's and Blake's Hotels, New Bedford.
DAILY LINE TO BOSTON VIA TAUNTON
A STAGE will leave Bristol every day, (Sundays ex- cepted) at 7 1-2 o'clock, A M for Boston, via Taunton, and arrive at Boston same evening. Returning, leaves Bos- ton every morning, (Sundays excepted) and arrives at Bris- tol same afternoon. Fare from Bristol $2.75 - from Warren $2.50. Books kept at Burgess' and Horton's Ho- tels, Bristol, and at Cole's and Commercial Hotels, Warren.
Passengers in this line from Bristol and Warren, can stop one hour at Taunton, and return the same day.
All Goods or Baggage sent by the above lines will be at the risk of the owners, unless receipted for by the driver.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.