USA > Rhode Island > Bristol County > Bristol > Sketches of old Bristol > Part 9
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What an array of good men were selected for town officials at that day; there were many others whom I should like to picture for a moment. "Parson" Shepard, one of the School Committee. How serious he appeared, a grand old gentleman, though, of the old-school, sincere and earnest, an honor to his profession, de- parting this life in October, 1877, with the esteem of the good people in the town.
John B. Munro, School Committeeman and merchant, whose store on Bradford street was for many years the headquarters for good groceries and sterling hardware, was always a busy man; his was a popular mart in those days.
Quite a character in the days of '56 was the Town Crier. John Sayer, son of Rouse, held the office then, and a most interesting and picturesque crier he was; tall and slender in build, nervous and quick in disposition. He hesitated a little in speaking, never- theless he made a voluble crier. He later also held the office of auctioneer. He kept a store on State street, selling notions, candy and small beer to the boys. He was a good Methodist and a zealous one, too.
I scarcely know where to stop in sketching some of the men who helped to make Bristol what it was in those old days. There are many more I would like to recall, but these will serve to show
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the present generation the kind of men who were living in Bristol back in the year 1856.
My earliest memory takes me back for more than half a century to Mr. Ben- jamin Tilley and the rope-walk owned by him at the eastern end of Constitution street. Where the rope-walk stood there is now a street called Catherine street, named, I think, for one of Mr. Tilley's daughters. Many of my generation can recall to their minds Mr. Tilley and his remarks when the boys foraged on his stock of tar barrels to help make "Guy Fawkes" night bright on the common. Mr. Tilley's well furnished the best drinking water known in Bristol. I have drawn many a bucket full at its curb. It always tasted better than "cistern" water kept in the house cellar, and coming from the house roof, summer and winter. Mr. Tilley's wife, "Aunt Rachel", furnished to her neighbors a kind welcome to water from a large cistern for wash-days, and the neighbors were not slow to appreciate the favor.
The article on Town Officials in 1856 was to me extremely interesting and the words written by Mr. Reid will find a hearty appreciation in the children and the children's children of those good men, all of whom are now with the "silent majority". I had the pleasure of the personal friendship of every one of the men named. Mr. Reid could easily give us another chapter, as there were many more "notable Bristolians" in his younger days. There is a large mine of Bristol memories of great interest awaiting the pen of someone. I have been a contributor to the Phoenix for more than forty years, as my carefully-preserved scrapbook shows me, and I now think that some of the younger generation might use the descriptive pen.
GEO. T. BOURNE
THE DAYS of the West Indiamen Square-Riggers
IN THE DAYS of the West Indiamen, the wharves of Bristol presented very lively scenes. There was work for all; the long- shoreman was king. Onions, potatoes, and hoop-poles came pouring in from the country around to be loaded on the vessels which lined the wharves, while the storehouses groaned with the rich cargoes of the newly arrived. Boys with bits of shingle sampled the huge casks of molasses that lay in long rows in the open air; and now and then some well-to-do farmer would come in a clumsy ox-cart to get his "sweetening" at wholesale, and perhaps supply his neighbors. The smell of oranges was mingled
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with the less aromatic odor of the famous Bristol product, the onion; and the pineapple, as it went up the wharf, met the blood- beet coming down. Blocks creaked, teamsters shouted and all the while the grog-shops at the head of the wharves did a thriving business.
And then the vessels: here lay the ship Charlotte, there, the brig Nereus; here, the ship Governor Fenner, there, the brig Balance; here, the ship Roger Williams, there, the brig Remit- tance. The sturdy captains who commanded those old square- riggers could almost have felt their way to Havana with their eyes bandaged. Rough times were encountered on both the out- ward and the homeward passages. The brig Montgomery was lost on the coast of Bermuda; the topsail-schooner Fame rode out a hurricane on the Bahama Banks, to the lasting wonder of all hands who were aboard her.
Each year in autumn, the sailors, old and young, would begin to make ready (the owners would permit them to put on board) "ventures", as they were called. These "ventures" usually con- sisted of onions, costing at home some two or three dollars per hundred "bunches", and bringing, in the West Indies, various prices according to the demand. At times the sailor realized more for his little "venture" than he got for his monthly wage as sea- man. In the same way "ventures" of sugar and coffee would be brought home on the return trip. Merchandise of this kind quite often ran clear of the custom house in spite of the watchfulness of the "tide-waiters."
Of all perils which beset the West Indiamen, none was com- parable to that which they encountered from pirates. Down to the year 1830, the danger from these wretches impended like a black shadow above the deck of every honest trader. They at- tacked Capt. Seth Barton, but got the worst of it; for although the blood-thirsty scoundrels outnumbered him more than four to one, he beat them off with terrible slaughter; his brig, fortu- nately, happened to be armed with two long nines, and a pair of sixes; the very lives of his men depending upon their aim, they made every shot tell, and gave them more than they were looking
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for, forcing them to change their course. The constant apprehen- sion of this kind of danger must have been very hard on their nerves in those days; happily the sailors of today have nothing to fear from pirate craft such as infested the waters of the West Indies one hundred years ago.
THE "MANSION HOUSE" Captain Charles D'Wolf
YEARS ago the home of Captain Charles D'Wolf, known as the "Mansion House", stood on Thames street, at the foot of Constitution, just to the south of where the old Cranston Worsted Mill now stands.
It was a large square structure, with a roof sloping on all four sides. The low-studded and spacious rooms were all heated by means of open fireplaces. It was built by ship carpenters in the old substantial manner of those days, with an artistically designed front entrance that would be notable among those so much ad- mired today. The house was built sometime previous to 1785, for Parson Wight records-"In 1785 Capt. Chas. D'Wolf re- paired his house on Thames street."
Its terraced garden, leading down to the water's edge, with many varieties of flowers, shrubs, and a summer house of ex- quisite design, was of uncommon beauty and interest. The grace- ful summer house alone survives. It now rests at the easterly end of the beautiful gardens of the Linden Place on Hope street. The little figure atop, quadrant in hand, shooting the sun, is still there in all its glory. A flight of stone steps led down to the shore and the stone boat landing was in constant use, for in those days, boats were used for social visiting by the fair sex to Pap- poosesquaw and other places.
About the mansion itself: The plan of the house was unique, having four entrances, with broad halls running north and south as well as transversely from east to west. The furnishings were of
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the rarest and richest of that period, the curtains and coverings of the drawing room being of gold and silver damask. The paper of this drawing room was very beautiful and rich, the design showing birds of paradise in all their brilliant plumage. The dining room with its polished mahogany, rare china, sparkling glass and solid silver must have made a very pretty picture by the candle light of those old days. Here it was that the captain enter- tained in the lavish style that made the D'Wolfs famous.
Years ago an old retainer of the family, when asked about the style of living in the times of the early D'Wolfs, said-"the best of all was at old Charles D'Wolf's; they always had a standing order with the markets to send them each day the best." With obvious truth he added-"If they had the best, no one could have had better".
As the eldest of the family Capt. Chas. D'Wolf was looked upon as the head of the large family and was consulted in all important matters of finance and other affairs, as was the custom in those times. After Capt. Chas'. death, in 1822, the mansion was purchased by his brother James; and later when it was moved to another part of the lot to make room for Gardner's Saw and Planing Mill it was converted into mill tenements; its great rooms still hung with the costly imported paper of birds of para- dise with all their gay plumage.
On December 25, 1853, devouring flames levelled it to the ground, as they later did several other old mansions belonging to the D'Wolf family.
HON. JAMES D'WOLF, 1764-1837
By HARRIETTE HALL BROOKS
HAVING written of my mother's childhood ("A Little Girl of 1812"), I want to tell something of her father's noble life; the Hon. James D'Wolf, whose character, I feel, should be admired and reverenced by all his descendants.
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He was the sixteenth and youngest child of Abigail Potter and Mark Anthony D'Wolf. It is not to be wondered at, that, with a family of that size, and in those times, they should not have pos- sessed much of this world's goods, and James, when only a boy, determined to face the world, and not only earn his own living, but to be rich in order to help and upraise his fellow-men, and beginning a sailor, he soon rose to command a ship before he was twenty-one. His obituary will tell how from that he became a Senator of the United States. I shall only tell of his private life, as my mother told it to me so many years ago.
He was a tender, devoted husband and father, a too-great in- dulgence of his sons being his greatest fault; but it arose from his desire that they should have an easier life than he had had. He started them all in business, but they, feeling that they had mil- lions behind them, relied instead on their father's money and lived princely lives.
My grandfather deeply regretted ever having had anything to do with slavery, but, having brought the hands on his planta- tions out of savagery, felt it a kinder and more merciful thing to continue to give them comfortable homes, to treat them with leniency, rather than turn them loose (hundreds of poor, helpless beings, to be cheated and misused).
His brother, Levi, had freed his slaves after joining the church; as Grandfather saw it in his time I can sympathize with his method. His slaves naturally adored him, and there was a regular jubilee whenever he visited the plantations. The pick- aninnies crowded around him and hugged his legs, so that he could hardly walk. He often told of this at home, laughing, happy in their love for him. He never allowed his slaves to work overtime when the crops were coming in, as was the custom in Cuba. They were well clothed, and their houses kept in perfect repair. Every year Grandmother employed women in the vil- lage to make up great boxes of clothing for the plantations, as the slaves often suffered from the cold during the Northers in Cuba, accustomed as they were to the hot climate of Africa; and many little comforts were stored away among the clothing.
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Grandfather was always most careful about the character of the overseers of his plantations and had the same ones for many years. My grandfather was a devout Christian, and although not a member of any church, he led a beautiful Christian life. Mother said that he used to sit in church in summer during the sermon, with a large, red silk handkerchief thrown over his head to keep off the flies, much to the mortification of the family.
I should like to tell you of the warm friendship which existed between Bishop Griswold, at that time Rector of St. Michael's and my grandfather. The venerable bishop loved grandfather and felt that he had lost his dearest and best friend when he died. At the time he was called to St. Michael's, grandfather sent one of his vessels to Hartford, Ct. to bring him and his family to Bristol. They brought all of his belongings and before beginning housekeeping in town he and his family lived several months at the Mount. When grandfather's ships came in from Cuba, laden with coffee and all kinds of fruits among the varied cargo, a large portion was always left at the Bishop's house, which, by the way, was not far distant from the church, and the Bishop always walked from his house to the church door in his full Bishop's robes, and bare-headed, even in the winter.
Grandfather's charities were endless in the village; he built a large house there, and had it kept by a poor widow of the place, for his sailors' use while in port. He gave the rent of her house to a deserving lady,-I might keep on endlessly, instead I will tell about my grandmother. Her charities, too, were without end. Whenever she heard of a family in the village in need or of a sick person, they were immediately helped and provided for most bountifully. Great baskets of provisions, and delicacies in cases of sickness. A roast chicken, beef tea, with fruits, vegetables and jelly would fill a large basket, too heavy for mother to carry, and Pollydore would take it into the house for her.
I must tell of a funny instance when one of these baskets had been unpacked, the old, sick woman said, "I wish yer Ma had sent me some salt provisions". When Grandmother learned of it she only said, "Poor old soul, I dare say she craved something salt,
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but it wouldn't have been as good for her." Mother said she never saw her father angry or heard him speak a cross word. The nearest he ever came to it was when his little daughter would sometimes ply him with useless questions, and he would say, "There, there, my dear child, don't talk to me now, I feel a little waspish!" Mother said that often in passing her father's room on her way upstairs she heard him praying most fervently in a low voice for guidance in his life. He went up to bed early in the evening, worn out with his busy activities through the day.
Grandfather was a very handsome man; his bright blue eyes, his florid color and snow-white hair, worn in a braided queue, together with regular features, made him conspicuously hand- some. He was tall and slight, and he always dressed in small clothes. Grandfather considered it as a duty of a man possessing capital to employ it in such ways that the poor might receive its blessings. He looked upon himself as holding only a life trustee- ship or stewardship over the wealth he had amassed; as this wealth grew, so his responsibility to mankind increased also. Hence his ever increasing fleet of merchantmen on the high seas, employing hundreds of sailors; and the continuous expansion of his land activities where many more hundreds found employ- ment. He was forever adding to, and erecting, new construction at his already large estate the Mount, where many of the vil- lagers, both men and women, were employed-many of them, only to provide them a living.
An example of his always sincere concern towards those who were working for him has survived all these many years: "One time, one of the help working up at the Mount said to him, 'Cap- tain, I think I'll have to leave, I can't make a living here, on the place'. 'If you can't get a living on the place, Champlin, take a living,' was the instantaneous reply. I will close this account of my grandfather with a few excerpts taken from the several ac- counts that appeared at the time of his death.
"The prosperity of his birthplace was always most dear to him; its welfare he always regarded as identical with his own. With its every industry he has been more or less connected;
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hardly a project where his aid had not been invoked; never a subscription for a worthy object that his name had not generously led the list.
"As a citizen Senator D'Wolf filled a position in the town no man had ever occupied before-one which no other man, will probably again hold.
"When he died there was no one to take his place, the news of his death seemed for a time to crush the life out of the town.
"He died at the residence of his daughter, Harriette, in New York City on the twenty-first day of December, 1837.
"He who for many years was the town's outstanding and lead- ing citizen is no more."
His body and that of his wife who died only eleven days later, are sealed in the tomb which he had caused to be built in the old cemetery bearing his name, located on Tanyard lane.
A more detailed account of this famous old Bristolian may be found in: The History of Bristol, by Prof. Wilfred H. Munro; A Little Girl of 1812, by Har- riette Hall Brooks; The D'Wolf Family and Their Times, by Chas. O. F. Thompson appearing in the Phoenix, 1938-39.
"THE MOUNT"
CRUMBLING ruins of the old stone foundation, fragments of scattered brick, and the skeletons of several old outlying farm buildings weathered by years of exposure to the elements of a New England climate are all that now remain of the "Mount", the one time renowned and vast estate of the Hon. James D'Wolf, at one time a member of the U. S. Senate from this state.
All of this is just over in back of Fox Hill, on the east side of De Wolf avenue. The mansion house was built in the year 1808 and survived for almost one hundred years, until it was de- stroyed by fire on the 22nd of December, 1904. The plans of this old mansion were drawn by the noted architect of those days, Russell Warren, who a few years later, in 1810, created Linden Place, the home of the late Col. Samuel P. Colt. A century and
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a quarter ago the D'Wolfs were at their zenith of prosperity. "The Mount", the center of attraction for the many members of this large family, had already become famous for its elegance and hospitality. Prosperity, festivity and merrymaking trav- eled hand in hand for many years. As long as the old senator lived things were on the ascendant; but the moment he passed on, the decline started and only ended when the vast estate he left was no more.
There are many things of interest concerning this beautiful great house built in 1808 and the beloved family that lived there for many years with an admired and undisputed sway over the affairs of Bristol. The old senator ruled the town for years with the admiring consent of its inhabitants, and his children shared and inherited much of this admiration.
Built before the days of his great riches, his house was not looked upon as extravagant for a wealthy man, but remarkable for the beauty of its proportions and design rather than elaborate ornamentation. Most carefully finished in all its parts, for it was built in the days of hand work, it could stand inspection.
It was a large, three storied, rectangular structure, always painted white, with five great chimneys and a beautiful portico over the front door on the west side, with stone steps and wrought iron railings. To the east was a large wing with the great kitchen, never the least important part in those fine old houses. A door to the south formed the Garden entrance and the east entrance opening from the hall, to a tiled and covered piazza, was most often used by the family, for one of the entrance drives wound up to it under a great horse-chestnut tree. The lofty hall ran entirely through the house from east to west and in fine weather the big doors were thrown wide open early in the day and hos- pitably left so. A spiral mahogany staircase ascended from the first floor to a glass cupola on the roof, from which most of the state and a part of Massachusetts could be seen. Fine doors of Santo Domingo mahogany opened from the hall to the adjoining rooms and much of the woodwork was of the same beautiful wood. The drawing rooms occupied the entire north side of the
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house, with beautifully carved fireplaces of Carara marble. The walls were adorned by a Neapolitan artist, who spent much time there, with scenes from Paul and Virginia, a view in Laplance, and one with an Avenue of royal palms from the senator's plan- tation in Cuba.
The southwest room was the "Green Room", so called, from the prevailing color, most beautifully furnished with rare French and English furniture. A delicately carved marble fireplace gave tone to the entire apartment. This was the most occupied by the family and often served as a music room. In the days of the senator, five great wood fires were always kept going in cold weather besides the fires in the kitchen. It took one man's entire time to attend them and no wonder acres of woodland were required to keep them all going.
Years ago a granddaughter of the senator writing about the "Mount" said: "When they were sitting around the big wood fire of a winter's evening, Grandfather would sometimes put on another log when it was nearly time to go up to bed, and Grand- mother would say, 'Oh, I wouldn't put on more wood now, James'. And he would answer in fun to tease her, 'This wood didn't come off your side of Mount Hope, ma,' and both would laugh. Sometimes he would break out singing some sea-song he had heard the sailors sing and entertain us for a while as we sat around the fireplace of an evening."
Candles gave light at night in bronze and silver candelabra and crystal chandeliers. On occasions of extra festivity the lights were of wax. Later came whale oil lamps, some in hanging clusters, but they were never in great favor.
The dining room was a museum of old mahogany, the great sideboards and tables were the choicest slabs of San Domingo, beautifully polished and colored by time and constant use, and illuminated with much beautiful silver, many pieces of which were prizes captured in war or brought from the Spanish Main. If the furnishings were fine, tradition says the banquets served there were worthy of them, and the company was finest of all, never overshadowed by the beauty of its surroundings. The
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other rooms, both upstairs and down, were equally beautiful, and there was no falling off in any part of the establishment.
There were many fine portraits hanging on the walls, espe- cially in the great halls, and the beauty of those still existing sustains the traditions of the family. At one time there were por- traits by Copley, Stuart, Thompson, Martin and other celebrated artists.
In the great hall was a fine barrel organ that played some of the grand music of those days, also a tall clock that chimed out at regular intervals "Nancy Dawson," "Over the River to Charlie" and other Scotch airs. The china closet was a good-sized room, with shelves on all sides, convenient to the dining room and held a wealth of beautiful glass and china. Many pieces of the Chinese Lowestoft were made to order and the few pieces remaining are the pride of those who possess them. In its day the great dinner service is said to have had almost countless pieces. The silver was rich and plenteous, three silver tea services sometimes being in use. There were many silver tumblers, but Madeira and Canary wines were always served in delicate glasses, and cham- pagne in tall vase shaped ones.
The senator married a daughter of Gov. William Bradford, the most intellectual leader of the town. There were ten chil- dren, these with their families and the numerous cousins made a nightly company that filled the large rooms with laughter and merriment.
Josephine, the senator's youngest child, many years ago re- lated to her own daughter her vivid remembrance of the recep- tion given to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, after the victory of Lake Erie, at the "Mount". "The Commodore and officers of the Chippewa, in full uniform marched with the entire crew up the long flag-walk to the big front entrance, all the while the ship's band playing. There were invited guests from Newport and all the country round and a morning collation was served in the great drawing rooms, where all the state dinners and banquets were held.
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We must not forget the beautiful surroundings by our interest in the house, for the outbuildings rose like a village to the south and east, all kept in splendid repair and painted white. There were great barns, and stables filled with fine horses. The great cider house, the smoke house where the home grown hams and shoulders were cured, the ice house, green houses and grapery, the peach house where early peaches and apricots were raised. Through the horse shed could be seen the kitchen garden, and the flower garden beautiful in design and keeping, looked after by skilful gardeners from England who kept everything in per- fect condition. An exquisite fence and gate enclosed this garden and the beds were filled with flowers, all bordered with box.
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