USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Westerly > Some papers delivered before the Westerly Historical Society 1916-1927; and a list of the members Jan. 1927 > Part 6
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years, as the freight traffic increased, more ground was needed for spur tracks, when the railroad corporation purchased of Mr. Dixon the roadway leading up Dixon Hill, which they removed the length of the freight turnout and erected a high granite wall to keep the debris from the hill off the tracks. A bridge was built across the main railroad tracks, several feet west of the present West Street Bridge. which was the exit from the Dixon mansion to Railroad Avenue for many years after the removal of the above roadway.
Since then we all are familiar with the incidents witnessed in the entire removal of Dixon Hill, in 1911-1912, for present freight building and yard.
In 1872, the freight shed was lengthened several hundred feet. and the original passenger station was moved across the railroad track, and formed a part of the addition to the freight shed, and a new station, one story in height was erected on the site of the one removed, at an outlay of about $8,000 for the station and $3,788 for the freight shed.
A few years later, a one story building was erected east of the station, with two compartments, and was occupied by Adams Express Company, and the baggage department.
All of these buildings were removed in 1911. the station to Oak Street, and on the site of the old freight shed was erected our present artistic station.
During the summer of 1852, there was an intense rivalry be- tween the Providence and Stonington lines of steamers to New York. which resulted in the fare being reduced from $2.00 to $1.00 from Providence to New York-the same from Westerly-by the Stonington line; the boats on the line then were the "C. Vanderbilt," Capt. Joel Stone, afterwards wrecked on the west coast of Fisher's Island, in December. 1859, and the "Commodore," Capt. Frazee, also wrecked, on Harton's Point, L. I., in December, 1866. They handled the vast patronage as a sequel to the "low fare" excitement with satis- faction to all.
But Westerly was greatly inconvenienced by this "low fare" commotion, as the steamboat train, passing .Westerly at eight o'clock P. M., did not stop, compelling Westerly patrons to take the six o'clock train or carriage to Stonington. A petition was circulated around our village, endorsed by several of the business firms and others, requesting the eight o'clock train to stop at Westerly station. and the answer the petition received was that "there was such an increase of passengers since the reduction of fare, they deemed it wise not to stop at Westerly."
While the Stonington line of steamers were in existence, during the 80's, Westerly patrons, each summer. had the pleasure of enjoy- ing excursions to Rocky Point and Newport on one of their then pala- tial steamers, the "Rhode Island." One of the attractive features of these excursions was dancing on the steamer's freight deck. with music furnished by Kenneth's orchestra-William Kenneth, prompter
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and second violin : B: F. Greenman, first violin ; George Kenneth, cor- net ; and William Kenneth, pianist, a musical organization that was a drawing card in those days.
· Numerous are the sad and pleasurable incidents which a few of us can now recall which occurred while the second railroad station was in its balmy days, which are today frequent subjects of fireside conversation, cherished by all.
NEW HAVEN RAILROAD
Thinking perhaps a short sketch of the early days of the railroad passing through our village-the New Haven-would be of interest to some, I have, from various sources, collected the following :
The first directors of the "Providence and Stonington" railroad were: Daniel Jackson. president ; Courtland Palmer, secretary ; Charles Perry of Westerly, treasurer (this was the father of Mr. Charles Perry, now president of the Washington Trust Company) ; Robert N. Foster. Charles Dver. Charles Potter, Samuel F. Denison. Charles H. Phelps, and Gurdon Trumbull, named in the Rhode Island and Connecticut charters. They met in the City of New York, Jan- uary 28, 1833. organized, and as authorized by the legislatures of Rhode Island and Connecticut, opened books in the City Hotel, Provi- dence, on March 4, 1833, for stock subscriptions to the railroad enter- prise.
The annual meetings of the stockholders in 1834 and 1835, were held in the Benadam Frink house, in this village, afterwards known as the "Leonard House," with Nathan F. Dixon, Sr., as clerk in 1834. and secretary in 1835. This house was moved in the 60's to Canal Street, and the Dixon House erected on its site. Since then it has been torn down, and the Crandall block now occupies its site.
In 1836, Jesse L. Moss. of this village, was secretary of the rail- road corporation.
From 1836 to 1843 the annual meetings of the corporation were held in the City Hotel and Franklin House, Providence, and subse- quent years, in the depot office in Providence.
With the difficulties to overcome in building this railroad then. it was about four years before it was completed from Hill's Wharf. near Providence, to Stonington, and many were the interesting remins- censes related by those who witnessed its construction, especially the filling in and grading of the embankment from Canal to Palmer Streets in this village, and the excavating of. the embankment from the station to High Street (spoken of for years afterwards as the "Dixon cut." which was then looked upon as a vast undertaking. with no giant powder, dynamite, nitro-glycerine or steam shovels in existence, as are used today.
On November 10. 1837, with a grand celebration in Stoning- ton, which was a theme of conversation for years afterwards, the road was opened for travel from Stonington to Hill's Wharf. Providence Bay, thence by ferry to India Point, near Providence, connecting
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with the Boston and Providence railroad, at a cost of $2.600,000, the funds for which were composed of the capital stock of 13,000 shares of $100.00 each ($1,300.000) and bonds of the company ($1,300,00) secured by three mortgages on the railroad property as surety.
Among the names of the various stockholders who were on the company's books, at the opening of the road, eighty-two years ago, were: O. M. Stillman (my father's brother-in-law), Charles Perry, Jesse L. Moss, and Nathan F. Dixon, Sr., then residents and very prominent in Westerly affairs.
The officers of the road in 1837, were: Courtland Palmer, presi- dent; Nathaniel Thurston, treasurer ; James Rintoul, clerk; A. S. Mathews, engineer and roadmaster.
At the opening of the Stonington railroad, in 1837, the roadbed was laid with the best rails that then could be procured. They were "rolled" of common "bloom" iron, and weighed 54 pounds per yard. were twenty feet long, a total weight of 378 pounds per rail. Quite a contrast with the steel rails of today, in the equipment of the road, which weigh 107 pounds per yard, 30 feet in length, a total of 1,070 per rail.
The rates at this time. for nine years, were six cents a mile for passengers, and twenty-five cents a ton, per mile, on freight.
On May 1. 1848. the road was extended to the Cove in Provi- dence, and the ferry abandoned, at a cost of $215,280.35.
In 1857 the road was further extended from Stonington to Groton, at an expense of $410.000, and opened to the public in January. 1858. thus making, for the first time, a complete railroad line between Boston and New York, via Providence. as the road from New York to New Haven was opened in January, 1849, and from New Haven to New London. July 22, 1852.
Before the extension of the road to Groton, Westerly people, to reach New London or Norwich, had to be conveyed overland by carriage until the formation of the "Lily" line of steamers with headquarters in Westerly in 1850.
These two boats, "Water Lily," Capt. J. W. Miner, and "Tiger Lily," Capt. J. A. Robinson, made daily trips from this village to Stonington, Bradford Island, Mystic. New London and Norwich. The fares were: from Westerly to Stonington, 20 cents; to Mystic and Bradford Island, 37 cents; to New London, 62 cents; to Nor- wich, 70 cents; allowing their patrons five hours in New London, and two in Norwich. William D. Wells, and H. and F. Sheffield were the Westerly agents for the company.
In the fall of 1852, the railroad corporation placed an opposi- tion line on this route from Stonington, and their president. Charles P. Williams, warned the managers of the "Lily" line, at Westerly, "if they dared to run boats through Fisher's Island Sound another summer, they would rue the day."
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Despite the threats, and "rule or ruin" policy of the railroad corporation, the "Lily" line continued on the route until 1854, when the "Water Lily" was chartered for a route on the Providence river to summer resorts, the "Tiger Lily" remaining on the Stonington route until 1858, when the "Water Lily" again resumed her trips with the "Tiger Lily," and both boats continued on the route until 1859
In 1860, both boats left our village, the "Tiger Lily" for Har- lem River, New York, and the "Water Lily" for Northport, L. I.
From 1872 to 1874, the second track. Groton to Providence. was constructed. and opened for travel, July 1, 1874, at an expendi- ture of $335,192.35.
A very large item of construction expense was diverted in this ad- ditional track, by the railroad corporation, as all of the granite abut- ments for bridges spanning the highways and rivers from Stoning- ton to the railroad's eastern terminal were constructed in 1834-1837 for two tracks.
When the road was opened for travel in 1837, it became neces- sary to operate a steamboat line from Stonington to New York. The steamer "Stonington," of the Boston and New York Transporta- tion Company, was chartered, which ran on the route until May 1. 1838.
Then a contract was made with the New Jersey Steam Naviga- tion and Transportation Company. a corporation running several boats between Providence and New York, when the railroad direc- tors chartered the steamer "Rhode Island," Capt. Seth Thaver, her dimensions being 211 feet on deck, 28 feet beam. 10 feet hold. 350 h. p. engine, with a lower cabin, 165 feet long, and fitted with 170 berths. Her companion was the steamer "Narragansett," Capt. Coleman, and her dimensions were 212 feet on deck, 27 feet beam. 10 feet hold. 300 h. p. engine, and accommodations for 300 pas- sengers, and her tonnage was 576. The fare from Providence to New York, via this line. was $2.00. the same from Westerly. The above boats were in commission until 1846, when they were sold to southern parties.
For many years the original charter title of the railroad corpora- was the "Providence and Stonington Railroad," then afterwards changed to "The New York. Providence and Boston Railroad," in the 50's. When their headquarters were removed from Stonington to Providence, the title was adopted, and is still in use -- the N. Y .. N. H. and H. R. R.
Before closing, perhaps a brief statement of the number of rail- road corporations in the United States up to 1837, and other items may interest you all.
In 1837, there were 1.848 miles of railroads in fifteen of the thirty-one states then comprising our Union, as follows: Maine. 12 miles; Massachusetts. 126; Rhode Island, 50; Connecticut, 36.
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New York. 325; New Jersey. 103; Pennsylvania, 562; Delaware, 16; Maryiand, 181; Virginia, 125; South Carolina, 137; Georgia, 57; Alabama, 46; Louisiana, 40; Kentucky, 22.
The first steam locomotives used in the United States, two in number, came from England. in 1829, built by George Stephenson, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Foster & Rastrick, at Stourbridge, and were operated on a rail line between Charleston, S. C. and Hamburg, on the Savannah River.
The first locomotive built in the United States was in 1830, by a Mr. E. L. Miller, in a West Street, New York, shop, and named "Best Friend," which was shipped South, and was used on the Charleston, S. C., and Hamburg line for several years.
The second locomotive built by Peter Cooper, in Baltimore, in 1830, and run on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. This road was constructed, at that time, of longitudinal pine rail, a foot deep. covered with an oak plate, which was imbedded in the ground on wooden cross-ties, and upon the rails were fastened flat bars of iron 1/2 and 5/8 inches thick, and 21/2 to 412 inches wide by spikes, their heads countersunk in the iron. This method was adopted by our early American roads from considerations of economy, and with a view of extending their lines to the utmost limit of the capital pro- vided, soon proved to involve great danger and consequent expense. The ends of the bars of iron became loose, and starting up were occasionally caught by the wheels and thrust up through the bottom of the cars. Trains were run with great caution, the passenger traffic was seriously diverted on those lines, and they soon acquired a no- toriety of "snake head roads."
Hoping that the above abbreviated contribution has interested you all, I must bring it to a close, as it is a subject on which there is no end.
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Elder John Taylor
By BESSE TAYLOR
John Taylor was born in Sutton, New Hampshire, on May 16th, 1805. He was the youngest of thirteen children. There were nine sons, three of whom became ministers. Two of these ministers came to Rhode Island. Benjamin who had charge of the Seaman's Bethel in Providence for many years and John who preached for twenty-five years in the Christian Church in Westerly.
Their father, Capt. James Taylor, and their mother, Anna Corn- ing, were born in Beverly, Massachusetts. and lived there ten or twelve years after their marriage, then moved with their family to Sutton, New Hampshire, where the Beverly people had many friends and interests. Here Capt. James Taylor was engaged in the manufacture of potash as well as keeping a store and tavern. He was a member of the militia and in 1796 further identified himself with the town affairs by being one of fifteen citizens to found a "Social Library" which indicates he was a man interested in letters. He was an energetic man and is described as "black eyed. tall. straight and slender, gentle- manly in appearance." His son, John, must have resembled him in figure and bearing but not in his eyes which were blue like his mother's, Anna Corning, who is described as "blue eyed, handsome and a finished lady in her manners."
His mother had been forced in her childhood to learn the stern realities of life. Her father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He was taken prisoner and confined on the prison ship Jersey while she lay in New York harbor and there he died. Her mother was an active, capable woman and during the revolution kept a shop, sup- porting her family of seven small children while her husband was absent, and after his death.
This little girl of revolutionary days was the eldest and naturally must have shouldered some of the care of such a busy household and at an early age learned to be self-reliant.
At the close of the war she married Capt. James Taylor. From these sturdy, industrious parents who bore the bitter hardships of those days their son inherited a powerful frame, robust health and a firm determination to be true to his ideals. These were his sole inheritance, the best to meet the vicissitudes of life.
In the course of events the family returned to Salem, which ad-
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joins the town of Beverly, and there, when he was six years old, his father died. His mother, like her mother, thus became a widow with a large family to guide and launch in the world. The older children were already settled but the younger ones still needed her care and council.
In those days it was customary for boys to learn a trade if only as a foundation in case other enterprises failed. Salem was then a busy port so it was natural that she should choose for her youngest son the trade of a shipjoiner.
Accordingly at the age of sixteen John Taylor was "bound an apprentice to one Joseph Danforth of Salem to learn the mystery of building houses and finishing ships." The indenture further reads. "He shall not waste the goods of his master, nor lend them unlaw- fully to any. At cards, dice, or any unlawful game, he shall not play. He shall not absent himself day or night from the service of his master, without his leave ; nor haunt or frequent ale-houses, taverns or gaming places. He shall carry and behave himself toward his mas- ter and all others as a good and faithful apprentice ought to do." One is reminded of Hogarth's fascinating series of pictures of the "Idle and Industrious Apprentice." Besides his trade he was to receive evening schooling. Such requirements as these wou'd seem rather exacting to boys of today.
While working at his apprenticeship he became a member of the Christian Church of Salen.
The trade of a joiner and the education received at the evening school, was the equipment with which John Taylor at twenty-one started to found his fortune. Although the "industrious apprentice" and a skilful workman, he only worked three months at his trade. He had a natural culture and a taste for more intellectual pursuits.
Salem was all that he knew of the world. Like most young men he doubtless felt the need of a wider horizon ; so to New York where so many drift. There he engaged in business for a year, then to Schenectady. These ventures did not have the approval of his older brothers who urged him to return to New England to live near them. Their anxiety is betrayed in their letters to him. One writes. "Avoid even a taste of spirits, an ounce of preventative in this respect is bet- ter than two lbs. of cure. An acquired habit of tasting has ruined many." And another writes, "Be constant, be honest. be in lustrionis. be frugal, be by all means affable to all those with whom you have to do, be a keeper at home, or of good honest respectable men, men of information. Let your expenses be one shilling a day less than your income."
One wonders how advice like this from older brothers was received. We know that Poor Richard says, "Offered advice stinks."
However, he did return to Massachusetts, and was converted at a meeting held by Elias Smith. Soon after, in the year 1831, he was or- dained minister in the Christian Church in the little town of Wareham. In the same town the following year he married Betsy Conant Besse
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who sang in the choir, the old village romance. Now he was embarked on the great adventure.
From Wareham he went to be the minister of the Christian Church in Portsmouth, R. I. This is a church in a farming com- munity, standing alone on a hillside with broad fields extending in all directions. In front is a lovely view across meadows down to the Sakounet River. Flat field stones form the walk and steps and foundations. On the road in front of this church were fired the first shots in the skirmish before the battle of Rhode Island. Many of the soldiers in this engagement were from the surrounding country- side. It was almost ninety years ago that Elder Taylor undertook the ministry there and it cannot be unlikely that there were many mem- bers of his church to whom this event was a vivid memory. His pastorate here seems to have been successful as there was an in- crease in the membership.
However, after four years of work in the Portsmouth Church he left and went to the Broad Street Christian Church of Provi- ‹lence.
It was a rule which he always observed in his pastorates that if any one member of the organization voted against his being "called" at the annual meeting held for "Calling" a minister in that denomina- tion, he would not stay. After he had preached in Providence four years, three members at the annual meeting voted against his being "called."
True to his vow he resigned, perhaps wisely, for one cannot work so well in the chilling air of disapproval. This seems a strange vow for one to make in a land settled by people who so stubbornly disagreed with their neighbors that they left homes and country, and still more astonishing for one within the church where such heart- breaking differences constantly occur. There were now three chil- dren and this continual breaking up of the home was no doubt sad and discouraging to the family who must have felt that they were dedicated to a nomad's life.
Shortly after leaving Providence Elder Taylor accepted the call to the Christian Church in Westerly, often called the "Chapel." This was in the year 1845, and at that time Westerly was a town of about two thousand. The road to Watch Hill was open only so far as the Lottery. to go beyond there one had to open a series of gates. Granite had just been discovered on Quarry Hill. There was no telegraph nor newspaper, and the railroad had only been running a few years. The coming of the railroad marks the begin- ning of Westerly's rapid growth.
Elder John Taylor was fortunate to come to Westerly at the time of its increasing prosperity and it proved to be a haven of rest. Here he made kind and loval friends and preached twenty-five years. identifying himself with many of the town affairs. He received from the church four hundred dollars annually, therefore it was necessary to engage in other enterprises to add to his income.
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One of these was being Superintendent of River Bend Ceme- tery, which he helped to establish, and another was his nursery busi- ness. Many of the ornamental trees and shrubs in Westerly were planted by him from his nursery. The row of Norway maples up Cross Street are among them. These used to be much handsomer. now some have died, but many remember them a splendid row of trees with thick, dark foliage.
The fine old trees and shrubs in the gardens at Cross and Eln Streets he also planted, as well as the elms in front of his church and those that line the old entrance to the cemetery.
At first he lived in the village on High Street. About 1854 he built a little Greek shaped house on Beach Street, the kind one always associates with a New England village. It was a cosy, pretty house surrounded with trees, shrubs, little box hedges and flowers of which he was an enthusiastic admirer. Across the road was his nursery where he worked with his faithful friend Joshua Thompson.
Joshua Thompson and Elder Taylor were staunch friends and worked together many years in the church and in the cemetery. It was they who originated the idea of a cemetery for the town. Their enthusiasm and persistence aroused the interest of their fellow towns- men in the new movement. So that in 1849 River Bend Cemetery was incorporated and land was bought along the bank of the river, beauti- ful fields sloping to the river, worthy of the poetic name, River Bend.
An architect from Providence was employed to lay out the lots and drives and Elder Taylor who was so deeply interested in the project became its superintendent.
On December 22, 1852, the land was consecrated. At this cere- mony he delivered an address, stating that the new movement was non-sectarian and urging that his fellow citizens co-operate with the trustees toward its success. He graphically presents the need of a general burying ground to replace the old plots on the farms which until now had been sufficient. This address is the only example of his oratorical style that is preserved, therefore it will be interesting to quote a few paragraphs from it. It is also interesting as an example of the oratory of seventy years ago.
"In presenting the claims of this institution I would ask you to go through the length and breadth of your state and in desecrated graves, defaced enclosures and annual encroachments you may find silent yet eloquent testimony in favor of this enterprise.
"How vain to talk of security! Experience and observation have taught us that we can cast no safeguards around our private burial grounds that shall resist the destructive ravages of time or seed with reverence the new possessor of our lands.
"Our fathers select a lovely spot for a final resting place. It is sacred with the whole family. Every necessary arrangement is made for its perpetuity, it becomes more and more endeared as increasing numbers of our sleeping dead lie there entombed. But in the process
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of time the family has fallen in death or removed to other parts. The muscular arm that built that wall is paralized, the ever watchful eye has ceased its gaze and the farm has passed into other hands. The deed is transferred. Who now shall guard their sleeping dust, who now shall say to the restless plough thus far shalt thou come and no farther ?
"Your graves are left to the mercy of strangers. And if a nation of children can so neglect the grave of their Gen. Washington as to cause the noble Kossuth to breathe a sigh while standing at the tomb at Mount Vernon and question the reverence of the American people for their dead. what attention can you expect shall be paid the graves of strangers ?
"The trustees of this institution present to you a deed that knows no transfer, as long as time endures. The ground this day conse- crated shall be sacred as the quiet resting place of all future generations."
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