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 9
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That house is a perfect example of correct restoration.
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If one wants really to know an old house in primitive condition from cellar to garret let him tear one down. This distinctly melan- choly privilege we secured in the case of the old Copp house above Dean's Mills and a short distance beyond the Road Church. No one. I am sure, could ever have looked at that house and not felt drawn toward it, as it stood a little below the road with its pile of moss covered rocks, great pine trees, meadows and brook. The house was condemned by the water company and offered all sorts of material most useful for our purposes.
It was of the leanto type, though built, I believe, after 1700. It had the graduated clapboards on front and ends and rough weather boards on the rear, all painted red quite according to Hoyle. The Copp family evidently lived up to all the rules of the game as laid down by Mr. Kelly and others, except for being about ten years behind in the original construction.
The inside of the house was inhabited by a swarm of bats, the outside by a swarm of bees. The floors were good. The chimney walls of both downstairs rooms were panelled. In the east room the panelling was in such good condition that we were able to transfer it entire with only a little fitting to the corresponding room in the Randall house. When the panelling was removed there appeared an illustrated history of the evolution of heating devices. The fireplaces had been found to be too large, and shallow ones had been built inside and the joint panelled over. The original fireplace as now disclosed was five feet high by seven long, and surmounted by a huge oak lintel. It was large enough to hold two small cupboards in addition to the new fireplace and a miscellaneous collection of brick, stone and wood filling. On the outside walls of these small cupboards were still to be seen the huge eyebolts for the original crane. This first type of fireplace was poor for heat but good for smoke, the shallow later fireplace was much more effective at throwing out heat but much less appealing. In its stone lintel were cut the marks for the fitting in of the next improvement. the Franklin stove. and in the wall above. the familiar stovepipe hole, witness of the device most warming and least romantic of all.
In the west room below the chair rail was a type of woodwork which is as yet unexplained. It is apparently exactly like the grooved and beveled vertical wainscot boards of an early type except that these latter should extend to the ceiling. Mr. Kelly says that panelling below the chair rail was a late feature and always horizontal. Marks on the backs of these boards clearly indicate that they were used somewhere else before they were put in this position. Were they once full height and sawed off to display the more up-to-date plaster ? Or were they always as now? Perhaps the person who tells us the answer will also suggest a correct use for them.
Some one had taken first toll of the Copp house and almost all the latches and hinges were gone when we arrived. The Randall house was found pretty rich in H and L hinges but very short of old
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latches and we were sorry for the loss. In spite of that we were able to secure a great deal of the sort of material which, when sufficiently pulled over and sorted out, offered just what a carpenter needs for patches and extensions, and supplied all kinds of such lacks as are sure to occur in an old house which has not been treated with the respect it deserves.
The Randall house in the past year has received at least the respect if not the restoration that it deserves. A realization of this is driven home by a visit to the Wayside Inn. It has at least been pre- served from all the elements except fire for a long time to come. The very handsome squared stones in the foundation have been straight- ened and pointed, partly decayed timbers and boards in the east end have been patched in somewhat the same way that a dentist fills a tooth. The carpenters complained that when the decay was removed the sound wood dulled their tools. The repairs on the east end yielded a rich harvest of hand-wrought nails and spikes which brought an invasion of antique hunters. Timbers in all other parts of the house were sound. Windows and door casings have been made weatherproof and shingles patched which should have been replaced by clapboards, and the very rickety four-paned windows have been replaced by the 24-pane variety. A cellar was dug under the ell which, by the way, is a later addition of about 1850. This excavation brought to light some rusty bone handled knives and two pronged forks. Copp house panelling and some floors and moulding have been used and the whole house painted inside and out according to the samples brought home from Saunderstown.
We had one interesting experience connected with a knocker. We heard one day that Judge William Randall had been especially proud of the age of a combination iron knocker and latch which used to adorn his front door. This gentleman was buried in the little burying ground beside the farm lane in 1840. Therefore the knocker must now have added nearly 100 years to the antiquity of which he boasted. We had never heard of such a knocker but promptly dis- covered a patch in the door where it had been and set about discov- ering what a combination knocker and latch could be. We soon found that there is such a one in the American Wing and began to inquire around the country in the hope of finding one we could use. There are not many for sale but there are a few in existence: One, of course, on the Denison house, one belonging to Mrs. Tryon in North Stonington, one on Kingston Hill and one on the road from Wyoming to Carolina. There are doubtless others of which we do not know. At last we found an incomplete one for sale, just the round knocker. with no latch or other trimmings and were on the point of buying it when the original and genuine Randall knocker was picked up out of the grass in a field near the house.
We owe to this same Judge William Randall the planting of the avenues of elm and maple trees that are now the chief glory of the place. His mark is also left on several flag stones and stone steps
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around the house. Indeed, the house is sprinkled inside and out with initials, dates and names, cut in stone and painted on wood. They form quite a frieze on the great flag stones which are laid all around the house to catch the drip from the eaves, and used for walks and doorsteps on all sides. Some of these stones have had to be reset, but most were solid and level as the ground itself.
We shall have to plead guilty to a little plumbing concealed as well as possible, though as yet there are no radiators to offend any one's sensibilities. There is still an unlimited amount to do appar- ently, ceilings to remove for the purpose of uncovering beams, sliding shutters to install where the grooves in girt and chair rail wait for them. more Copp house moulding and panels to install and so forth indefinitely.
None of this takes into account the work done outside-the removal or destruction of most of the eleven outbuildings in various stages of decay which nestled around the house in front of all its best views, the grading done by dumping bones, tin cans. bicycle frames, rags, etc., into undesired depressions and the remodeling of the barn to accommodate the cows, who, after all, must be considered. since they are providing the excuse for the whole venture.
It is tantalizing to know that wood and stone might answer all the questions we have been asking. and that they have witnessed the throes of human life through war and peace from the days of the Indians till now. Many answers they have given and many more they suggest, so that they can picture to the sufficiently vivid imagination something of the intimate daily life of the so-called good old times.
Perhaps these pioneers were better people than we. but I doubt whether their times were better to any but the man with the most rose-coloured spectacles. Some things we know about and first of all was work, endless back-breaking work, endless wood to fell and split and store till dry and carry by the armful whether in rain or snow : land to clear, spinning, weaving, cooking, cleaning. "The preparation of the midday meal meant more than telephoning to the market in the morning and then turning on the gas. Preparations began six months before. The household had. to be sure. sugar from the maples, jams, dried fruit, smoked meat, root vegetables, plenty of cabbage," but green peas, beans and tomatoes were looked upon with suspicion or considered positively poisonous. What they had came only by endless toil. The cooking utensils were of heavy iron hung in the smoke on cranes, or earlier. on the trammel bars, saplings set up in the chimney. Many a child set to watch the pots boiling over the fire was badly burnt by the breaking of this trammel bar when it became charred from the heat.
"Baking required that red hot coals should be laboriously shoveled into the domed brick oven beside the fireplace and then shoveled out again when the masonry had become heated through and through."
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"It was around firesides like these that the discussions were held which led to the founding of the college at Cambridge in 1636, the planning of the Indian wars, the fierce denunciation of witchcraft or the heresies of Roger Williams." In fact. almost all of the political history and romance of New England could be written against the background of such interiors.
But this hearth must have been a crowded, cluttered place, with much going on beside talk. It was the warmest place in the house for the children to play and lessons must be studied and flax spun by firelight. for candles don't give much light, girls served out soup hot from the pot but there was such a clutter you couldn't get close. Someone has suggested the problem of how many hot baths we should take in a week if all the water must be drawn from the well in buckets, heated on the crane where all the family cooking was done, administered in an unheated room. "Fires had to be kept going all the time, fires that ate up logs four feet long. Woodpiles higher than the house melted under the fierce winter wind and in summer, well, the fireplace had to be fed then and the house was unbearably họt. But there was nowhere else to cook. No screens to keep out the flies that swarmed in from the barns. In the winter there was plenty of fresh air-out doors-but you know night air is bad for you." Yeast must be kept in a little hole in the chimney wall above the fireplace. That was the only place where you could be sure of its not freezing. Children slept five in a bed, but you must keep warm somehow !
I have heard a farmer near Westerly solemnly assert that it was especially important to remove stones in the fall, otherwise each would hatch a young one by spring. The Randalls must have believed this for in the pastures are great heaps of stones, like Druid cairns. Before they were heaped up the fields must have been cobblestoned. Otherwise there would not possibly have been room for all the stones which are in these piles and in the walls added to the ones now on the ground. The cellar which we dug under the ell of the house sup- plied enough stone out of itself to build up all four walls with some to spare.
No, it was work all the time, inside and out, cloth to weave, clothes to sew. by hand, tallow dips and soap to make, everlasting wood to cut and stones to move. "The fireplace was picturesque but somehow when stoves were invented it was torn out. The farm was a health-giving place, but, somehow, the boys wouldn't stay on it. If there were large families there were also rows of headstones in the burying ground. Life was hard and days were long. The hand- wrought tools, the pine chests, the great four-posters, the iron latches, the rugs woven by flickering candlelight would not have been com- pensation enough for most of us."
Even so, we may find the life admirable, if not comfortable. Mr. Ford says about his venture at the Wayside Inn. "The Inn
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expressed the pioneer spirit, and the pioneer spirit is what America has over and above every other country. If ever we lost that spirit. if ever we get to the point where a majority of people are afraid to do things because no one before them has done them or because they are hard to do, then we shall stop going forward and start to go back.
"I deeply admire the men who founded this country. I think we ought to know more about them and the force and courage they had. The only way to show how our forefathers lived and to bring to mind what kind of people they were is to re-construct as nearly as possible the exact conditions under which they lived. The younger generation and the foreigners have nothing to go on when it comes to comprehending the pioneers and what they stood for and what is the real spirit of this country."
So MIr. Ford has not only reconstructed the setting for the old life indoors but for the whole village .- sawmills. gristmills, black- smith shop, school house, with the old coaches in the barn, forges. tools and all.
We may well be glad that he is doing all this. He is almost the only person in the world who could do it at all completely.
But in a lesser way all of us who are interested in restoration. no matter how humble our attempts, are sharing in the work. His idea of resurrecting the pioneer spirit provides an excellent excuse for it all. But we find a good one in the fun it gives to those who do it.
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wahbi
People 3 Have Known
By ALBERT P. PENDLETON
During the many years I was occupied around Dixon Square, I came in contact with many people. and as they passed forth and back, I had many opportunities to observe their ways, their manners and sayings, both witty and otherwise.
In recording their peculiarities and remarks, I mean not dis- respect in any way, as they have all passed away and are not here to say yea or nay.
One of the first persons to come under my observation was Samuel A. Cov, familiarly know as "Uncle Sam." Mr. Coy was one of the solid citizens of the towns and was well liked by everyone. He was our first depot master, or as now called, station agent. He lived in an old house near where now is the High Street entrance to the Park. It was called the Plastored House, and was the only one of the kind in the village, being lathed and plastered outside as well as inside. Mr. Coy was a strong Republican in principle. and an ardent politician. He swore by the Providence Journal, and what- ever he read in it was law and gospel to him.
There was another man in town who was directly the opposite, and that was Col. George Brown. for many years postmaster in Westerly. The Colonel was a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, and took his text from the Providence Post, the Democratic organ in Rhode Island. Whenever the two met there was sure to be a wordly polit- ical dispute, each quoting from his favorite paper. When excited Uncle Sam was not very choice with his words.
In the fall of 1860, just before the Civil War. the politics ran high and epithets of Copperhead and Black Republicans were hurled forth and back. During an excited debate Uncle Sam declared he would believe what he saw in the Providence Journal if he knew it was a d-d lie.
Probably you all remember. Eugene B. Pendleton, a genial. jovial, happy-go-lucky fellow with a smile and a good word for everyone. He had a wonderful memory, and having once scen a face he always remembered it. Always full of fun, he seemed to infuse it to all around him.
When he was in the post office, he had an old Irishman named Jimmy Dowling'to do his gardening. When Saturday night came
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he would conie down to the office for his week's wages. Whe.1 Eugene saw him coming he would dodge out of sight, Jimmy would come up to the window, give a loud rap and out, "Ujane, Ujane!" Eugene would pay no attention, and then Jimmy would rap again. Finally Eugene would heave in sight and say. "Well, Jimmy, what is it?" and Jimmy would say, "Ujane, I want what I owe." Eugene would pay him and the next Saturday the same program would be repeated.
There was another character about town in whom Eugene took a great interest, mostly for the fun he got out of him. This per- sonage was called John Sullivan. He lived on the West Side, and with the help of his wife managed to get enough to eat. In express- ing himself, he always got the cart before the horse. One very cold morning in winter he came into the office and Eugene asked him how cold it was. John replied that the thermometer said that Horace Hall said that the zaro was down below zaro.
John went back to Ireland many years ago, and if he had energy enough to draw his last breath is probably no more. His motto was "Everybody Works but Father."
In the sixties and seventies there was a person or character who was very much in the limelight. That person was Horace Burdick. Perhaps very few will recall him by that name. but if I say Teddy then you will catch on. Teddy's wife was a milliner, and at one time was located in the Potter Block on the bridge. The part she occupied was in the extreme east end of the building, and consequently was directly over the river. When someone asked Teddy how he liked the location he replied that it was all right except the cellar which was so damp that his vegetables sprouted. Teddy and Horace Vose were related, as they had married sisters. Teddy was very proud of his brother-in-law, and quoted him on all occasions.
Horace dealt extensively in poultry, and every Thanksgiving or Christmas sent a nice fat turkey to the President at Washington. After a while he was styled the Turkey King of Rhode Island. Teddy once remarked that it was quite an honor to be related to the royal family.
At one time Horace was the principal ice dealer in town, and when he harvested his ice in winter he always tried to get Teddy to come up to the pond and help him. Teddy said he didn't mind the labor not at all-and by the way, he was rather shy on manual labor- and was always glad to accommodate his brother-in-law, but he did. not see why he could not just as well cut his ice in July when the weather was more comfortable.
In times gone by as well as at present. people had a habit of get- ting sick, and, of course, made calls on the physicians for help. The physicians of the olden times were not as up to date in some respects as at present. A dose of calomel and a little blood letting usually did the trick, but now they bleed the pocket and throw in a few tablets.
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Among the earlier and dependable physicians I remember the two Hydes, William and William, Jr., from Stonington, who fre- quently came here for consultations with our village solons.
Of our home doctors there were John G. Pierce, William Thur- ston, both living on Main Street within a few rods of each other, John E. Weeden, Horatio Robinson, Joseph D. Kenyon. John Rose, John Knowles, Joseph Griffin, William H. Wilbur and son John, Edwin R. Lewis, Francis Murphy, who used red pepper and a component called Elixir of Life.
Later ones were John H. Merrill of Potter Hill, Samuel M. Fletcher, Amos R. Collins, Henry Crandall. Lucius A. Palmer, John D. Kenyon. Henry W. Rose, George C. Bailey, H. P. Pomeroy, George V. Foster. William James. L. F. Wood. H. Russell Dun, R. B. Smith, Frank Pagan, John L. May.
Among the rest there was. occasionally female physicians, viz .. Lucy Almy Babcock and Etta Payne. Dr. Payne was the owner of a one horse shay and it was the delight of the small boy to hang on the cross bar in the rear, and if two or three were there at the same time, it was apt to tip the shay back to an angle of 45 degrees.
While on the subject of doctors, mention should be made of two persons styled under that profession, namely Elisha F. West and A. G. Baggs. Although I never heard of their having obtained a medical diploma and perhaps were not recognized by the physicians' trust, still they were a part of the busy throng who were in evidence in our midst. Dr. Baggs did not assume much medical skill as his greatest forte was weather wise, so much so that he was styled the great weather procasti- nator.
Dr. West was the seventh son of a seventh son, and according to the old saying was endowed with marvelous healing powers. His greatest forte was his advertised ability to cure warts, corns and bunions.
When rubbing the warts on the hands of the children he gave this parting injunction, "Mind your mother, do all your father tells you, and your warts will go away."
Years ago there lived near Mastuxet a man by the name of Darius H. Bliven. Mr. Bliven was a fisherman by occupation, but in winter when fishing was dull he would shoulder his axe and go into the woods and cut wood to piece things out. One peculiarity he had was that he always wore rubber boots. Winter and summer, hot or cold, wet or dry, when you saw Darius, you were sure to see his rub- ber boots. One day the body of a man was found over in the cedar swamp. No one knew who he was. Finally some one thought he looked something like Darius. So a delegation went to Mastuxet to investigate and when they got there they found Mr. Bliven alive and kicking, boots and all. When they made known the object of their visit, Mr. Bliven asked them if the man they found wore rubber boots, and on being informed that he did not, remarked that if he did not have on rubber boots, of course it was not I.
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Trade and Traffic on High Street was not as extensive as at present, although as early as the latter part of the last century there was considerable activity in that direction. From Bradford's corner to Canal Street during that time there were many firms with different lines of trade.
In the Bradford building the old Colonel was succeeded by his son Charles and later by Jacob Stern with his Bee Hive, and later by Moran the hatter.
The clothing trade has been represented by Joseph Potter, Henry Miner, I. B. Crandall. Samuel A. Champlin, George H. Babcock, J. Frank Bliven.
Those in the grocery business were John T. Edmond, William Clark, Alonzo P. Bliven. Lewis & Stillman, William D. Wilcox, Ethan Wilcox. Nelson Brown, Cassius Palmer. Lawton & Chase, and others.
William Wallace was a long time tenant as jeweler. William Hutchinson and Henry Chamberlain, Charles Colenian, and George W. Timbury were other occupants.
The boot and shoe trade was carried on by Jason West, George A. Stanton, John W. Foster, J. Alonzo Babcock, Clark D. Miner. William E. Stockwell. and John Leslie.
In the drug trade there was E. & H. Burdick, Knowles & Lang- worthy, Charles and John Collins.
In the meat line there was Elijah Champlin, Mitchel & Haswell.
Other occupants at various times were John Barber. Isaac R. Gavitt, E. N. Denison Co., A. L. Chester, William B. Smith, Jean Egger, Blake & Maxson.
Many years ago Daniel W. Hammond, sometintes called Lord Hammond, had a variety store at the corner of High and Canal Streets.
The very old business, on High Street, and one of the oldest continuous ones in town is that now represented by the C. W. Willard Company. This business was started in 1840 by James H. Porter and has had an uninterrupted career of over 85 years, with the prevailing interest in the Porter family. For a long time John Loveland was a partner in the firm. This business occupies the identical spot in which it started.
Capt. Abe Coon was a bluff. good natured old soul as ever lived. He had been on a whaling voyage in his young days. After retiring from that trade it was his great delight to explain to the boys the method used in capturing the whale. The lookout would sing out. there she blows, where away, three points of the starboard bow. Then the command would come to man the boats, give way, spring to it. my hearties, don't let the other boat beat us. As they approach the whale the boat steerer goes to the bow of the boat and at the
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proper time throws the harpoon into the whale. In demonstrating the throwing of the harpoon a broom stick is used and woe be unto the boy's head that gets in range of that broom handle.
At one time Capt. Abe commanded the sailboat Frances E. Coon. carrying passengers down to Watch Hill. He always got his share of the traffic, as his bluff ways and funny yarns made him very popular. One of his favorite songs was "I Wish My Bosom Was Full of Clambakes," which always brought down the house.
In those times, as a circus day or Fourth of July approached, boys picked up all the old rope, lead, copper and brass and dis- posed of it for a few pennies in order to celebrate. The method of collecting the above would not always bear the strictest scrutiny. Capt. Abe one day, bragging on the smartness of his boy, remarked that his boy Jean could steal more old junk than any boy on the river.
For many years Abe was bow watchman on the sound steamer Narragansett. When the steamer was sunk in collision with her con- sort Stonington. Capt. Abe was thrown in the water and when picked up was supported by a life preserver and with a umbrella over his head was singing "A Life on the Ocean Wave."
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