USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 2 > Part 38
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The list of private schools that were conducted during periods of varying length and passed out of existence, can never be fully com- piled ; it would be a very long one, and much of it of little importance in this connection. Some of these schools were quite successful and continued a number of years. Among these were one conducted ten years in Pawtucket by Mrs. William B. Read, organized in 1858. In 1866 Miss Mary E. Shaw opened a school in Providence, which she conducted until 1874, when it was transferred to Miss Josephine Abbott. Miss Eliza Weeden conducted the Young Ladies' School in Providence from 1865 to 1878; Mrs. Fielden and Miss Chace opened a similar institution in 1871, and there were in the city several board- ing schools at different times. Mrs. Thomas Davis was at the head of the Young Ladies' Seminary in Pawtucket, 1875-80, and there were numerous other private schools in all parts of the State; but their usefulness practically ended when the present public school system became well established.
Parochial Schools .- There are at the present time twenty-nine paro- chial schools in the State, in which there was enrollment for the year 1899 of 9,940 scholars. By far the largest of these schools is St. Ann's of Woonsocket, which has an enrollment of 1,273, consisting mainly of children of French parents. The Convent of Jesus and Mary, also in that city, founded in 1884, has enrolled 701 scholars. The earliest of these schools in point of establishment, as indicated in the school reports, is St. Xavier's Academy, of Providence, which was opened in in 1851. St. Mary's, Newport, was opened in 1855, and St. Patrick's in Providence in 1851. St. Charles, Woonsocket, opened in 1860. These four were all the parochial schools in the State until 1867, in which year the Immaculate Conception Academy and the Immaculate Conception School were founded in Providence, and now have a large enrollment. The remainder of the twenty-nine parochial schools, with the year in which they were founded is as follows: Academy of the Sacred Heart, Providence, 1872; La Salle Academy, 1872; St. Mary's Academy, Providence, 1873; St. Mary's Seminary, East Provi- dence, 1874; St. Patrick's school, Cumberland, 1878; Cleary Grammar School, Providence, 1879; St. Edward's, Providence, 1881; Convent of Jesus and Mary, Woonsocket, 1884; St. Joseph's, Pawtucket, 1887;
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
St. John's, Pawtucket, 1886; St. Charles, Providence, 1886; St. John the Baptist, Warwick, 1889; Sacred Heart, Pawtucket, 1890; Tyler School, Providence, 1890; Hazard Memorial, Newport, 1891; St. Mary's, Pawtucket, 1891; St. Theresa's, Providence, 1891; Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Central Falls, 1892; St. James's, Lincoln, 1893; Joseph G. Paquette's school, Warwick, 1895; Our Lady of Consolation, Pawtucket, 1896. The position in the educational system of the State occupied by the parochial schools is well known. They are treated in all respects by the authorities in a broad spirit of liberality.
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The Sea Trade and Its Development.
CHAPTER IV.
THE SEA TRADE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.
The original settlers, both at Providence and Rhode Island, were obliged to devote most of their energy to tilling the soil. Necessity compelled this course, as in all the settlements in America which suc- ceeded in perpetuating their existence, since the first consideration was the securing of food, and the main supply could be obtained only from the soil. As a result, in the language of the times, the great majority of the American colonists were "planters". Under these circumstances, it was with peculiar fitness that the settlement at the head of Narragansett Bay by Roger Williams and his associates was named "Providence Plantations."
Some of the planters in the four original settlements on Narragan- sett Bay were probably familiar with seafaring life, as they had lived in English seaports and had "gone down to the sea in ships". Even if none of them were actually sailors, some must have known how to sail boats and small vessels and to engage in fishing. Their experi- ence in the Massachusetts colony before coming to the shores of the Narragansett must have given them such knowledge even if they had not previously secured it by their life in England. Such limited skill as the settlers had thus obtained in seafaring came into immediate usefulness. As there were no highways, but only Indian paths or trails through the woods, the best, most direct and easiest way of reaching the other settlements on the bay was by water ; and the land- locked Narragansett afforded unequaled opportunities for safe water communication. The Providence and Rhode Island settlers from the beginning made constant use of this means of communication and their resulting familiarity with navigation, acquired in the course of gen- erations, culminated in their becoming a seafaring people to a much greater extent than any of their neighbors.
At first the settlers were not very venturesome on the water. When the first General Assembly under the Parliamentary Charter was held at Portsmouth May 18, 1647, the town of Providence, in the instruc-
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tions to its representatives, said : "Desiring the Lord's Providence for your safe arrival there we commit you unto the protection and direction of the Almighty, wishing you a comfortable voyage, a happy success and a safe return unto us again." The trip was evi- dently considered dangerous. It is supposed that it was made in canoes, and that the representatives "worked their passage at the paddles."1
As a further evidence that the facilities for travel were very limited it is related that Roger Williams, then seventy-three years of age, on August 8, 1672, rowed from Providence to Newport in a canoe, to engage in a religious discussion with George Fox, the Quaker apostle. Williams was all day in making the trip and did not arrive in Newport until near midnight. Much to his disappointment Fox had gone, but the debate was held with two of his disciples and lasted three days. It was probably on this trip down the bay that Roger Williams ob- served that the coast line had been cleared of woods.
While the English were the first white colonists to settle on Narra- gansett Bay, the Dutch had preceded them as traders. In 1625 the Dutch West India Company secured a title from the Indians to the small island in the west passage of Narragansett Bay, between the mainland and Conanicut Island, and there established a trading post under the superintendence of Abraham Pietersen. From this fact the island has always been known as Dutch Island. It has one of the best harbors on the coast and is now a favorite haven for coasting vessels. The Dutch traders and sailors were evidently men of intelligence and good judgment. Besides their post on the island the Dutch also had two fortified trading posts on the south shore within the limits of the present territory of Charlestown.
The first merchandise exported from Rhode Island was probably lumber. By a Newport enactment in 1639-40 prices "were fixed at eight shillings the hundred for sawed boards, seven shillings for half inch boards delivered at the mill, and one shilling a foot for clapboards and fencing," and the cutting or exporting of timber without a license was forbidden. About the same time a ship load of pipe staves and clapboards was sent from Portsmouth. In 1646 a ship of 150 tons was built at Rhode Island for the New Haven colony. At this period Providence does not seem to have engaged in trading to any extent.
On account of the controversies with the neighboring English colo- nies in regard to territorial jurisdiction, the Rhode Island colonies,
1Staples's Annals, pp. 62-64.
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THE SEA TRADE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.
because of the jealousy and hostility so engendered, had little or no trade with Massachusetts and Connecticut during the early years of their history. In order to supply their necessary wants, a trade with the Dutch at Manhattan was established, and in 1642 the governor and deputy of the two Rhode Island colonies of Newport and Ports- mouth were instructed to "treat with the governor of the Dutch to supply us with necessaries and take of our commodities at such rates as may be suitable".1 This trade increased until in 1652 it had at- tained considerable proportions, and social relations had thereby been so promoted that a number of marriages had resulted.
The friendly feelings existing between the Dutch and the Rhode Island colonies and growing out of their reciprocal trade were exem- plified during the war between England and Holland from 1651 to 1654. Trade seems to have gone on about as usual, both colonies ignoring to a great extent the war carried on by their respective gov- ernments. The Rhode Island Assembly in 1652 voted that the presi- dent of the colony be instructed to notify the governor of Manhattan, . Peter Stuyvesant, that Rhode Island forbade the Dutch to trade with the Indians within her boundaries. In May, 1653, after having been notified by the home government to annoy the Dutch, the Rhode Island Assembly (Newport and Portsmouth) "ordered that no provisions should be sent to the Dutch; that each plantation should prepare for its defense; and that no seizures of Dutch property should be made in the name of the colony without a commission from the General Court".2 The next day the Island Assembly granted three privateer commissions, but in June, Providence and Warwick protested against this action. Nevertheless Captain Edward Hull, who held one of these commissions, captured a French ship in August, but this action was claimed by the Massachusetts colony to be unlawful. The Rhode Island privateers commissioned to operate against the Dutch were evidently not very particular so long as they secured prizes. Capt. George Baxter, under a commission from the Island towns, captured a Massachusetts vessel in Hempstead, Connecticut, and this action resulted in much correspondence and negotiation, but the owner of the captured vessel does not seem to have obtained any redress. Cap- tain Baxter also captured a Dutch vessel and carried it into Fairfield Harbor, where he is said to have been blockaded by Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Amsterdam, with two war vessels. The records do
1Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 155.
? Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 245.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
not disclose what the outcome of this adventure was. This appears to have been up to this time the only overt act against the Dutch, and the indications arc that the prize was returned. The Rhode Island colonists were evidently not very strenuous in opposition to their friends, the Dutch, but would rather harass the French, or their coun- trymen of the neighboring colonies, against whom they had many grounds of offense. Some plausibility is given to this view by the action of the General Assembly, May, 1654, in which the four colonies were all represented, when "some men were examined on a charge of illegal trading with the Dutch, and another commission of reprisal was granted against the enemy".1 The law prohibiting trading with the Dutch was repealed at the close of the war, but some "lawless per- sons", claiming to have commissions from Rhode Island, had been seizing Dutch goods and vessels. These outrages were denounced by the General Assembly in 1658, as felonious. These were the first instances of privatecring by the Narragansett Bay colonies.
The Royal Commission, appointed in 1664, to determine questions of appeal and jurisdiction and to settle boundary disputes between the colonies, reported in 1665 that Narragansett Bay was "the largest and safest port in New England, nearest the sea and fittest for trade. ''2
Newport and Rhode Island in the beginning had practically all the commerce, but there is evidence that Providence sent out in these early years some goods to far away places, as the following document proves :
"Shipped aboard the Providence of Pequitt, for Christover Almy, Ralph Parker, master, for Newfoundland, forty-nine roles of tobacco, one hogshead of floure and thirteenc bushells of pease the hog: marked with C. A., which goodes are to pay after the rate of fifty shil- lings the tun as also fifty shillings for his passage, and are to be deliv- ercd at Newfoundland safe and well, all danger of the seas excepted, dated the first of June, 1652. A true coppic. John Smith."
To the early colonists the fisheries were an important source of food
1Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 250.
2 Rhode Island Colonial Records, vol. 2, p. 127-129.
3 Early Records Town of Providence, vol. xv, p. 76. Town paper 065. There is an account of a lawsuit in the Early Records of the Town of Provi- dence, in regard to a quantity of liquor brought on this vessel from New- foundland. The parties to the suit were John Smith, merchant of Warwick, and William Almy, father of "Christover." It was one of the earliest suits at law in the town of Providence and became of such consequence that a special act was passed by the town, founding a legal process, for William Almy to prosecute the suit in behalf of his son, who was a minor.
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THE SEA TRADE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.
supply, and had been so utilized from the beginning, on the rivers as well as on the bay. When famine was imminent in 1639-40 a "general assembly of the freemen" at Newport voted that "all the sea banks were declared free for fishing".1 Equal freedom was thus granted to all inhabitants of the colony to fish in the waters of the bay, and this right was perpetuated, and extended to include the shores likewise, by the King Charles II. Charter of 1663. The language of the charter is : "But that they and every or any of them, shall have full and free power and ability to continue and use the trade of fishing upon the said coast, in any of the seas thereunto adjoining, or in any armns of the seas, or salt water, rivers and creeks, where they have been accustomed to fish; and to build and set upon the waste land belonging to said colony and plantation such wharves, stages and workhouses as shall be necessary for the salting, drying and keeping of their fish to be taken or gotten upon that coast."
Under this provision of the charter the rights to the fisheries were interpreted to mean that not only could fish be taken from the waters by line and net, but the shores below high water mark were free to all to secure every kind of shell fish that abounded there; and further, that all the people had the right of access to and along the shore in order to avail themselves of these privileges. These shore and fishing rights had a great influence in developing the spirit of liberty ; they also furnished opportunity for the inhabitants to practice seamanship while making use of a fine natural opportunity to earn a living; and as a result they helped to school the commercial community and the hardy seamen who made the subsequent commerce possible.
The early interest of Newport in seafaring was manifested by the fact that the first General Assembly under the Parliamentary Charter adopted, in 1641, the Sea Laws of Oleron "for the benefit of the sea- men upon the island," and two water bailies, John Cooke and Thomas Brownell, were appointed to see to their enforcement. At the same time an anchor was adopted as the seal of the colony. While it does not appear that a custom house was at this time established, duties were imposed upon all foreign goods except beaver, and foreigners were prohibited from trading with the Indians.
A very good idea is given of the mercantile and commercial status of the Narragansett Bay colonies in the reply of Governor Peleg San- ford, May 8, 1680, to the inquiries of the "Lords of His Majesties Most Honorable Privy Council, appointed a committee for Trade and For- eign Plantations," and commonly known as the Board of Trade. The portions of the reply covering these points were :
1Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 143.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
"Our coast is little frequented and not at all at this time with priva- teers or pirates.
"As for Forreihners and Indians, we have no commerce with, but as for our neighbouringe English, wee have and shall endeavour to keepe a good correspondency with them.
"The principal town for trade in our Colloney is the Towne of Newport.
"Wee have several good harbors in the Colloney of very good depth and soundinge, navigable for any shippinge.
"The principall matters that are exported amongst us, is Horses and provisions, and the goods chieflly imported is a small quantity of Barbadoes goods for supply for our familyes.
"Wee have severall men that deale in buyinge and sellinge although they cannot properly be called Merchants, and for Planters wee con- ceave there are about five hundred and about five hundred men besides.
"As for Merchants wee have none, but the most of our Colloney live comfortably by improving the wilderness.
"Wee have no shipping belonginge to our Colloney, but only a few sloopes.
"The great obstruction concerninge trade is the want of Merchants and Men of considerable Estates amongst us.
"A fishinge trade might prove very beneficiall provided accordinge to the former artickle there were men of considerable Estates amongst us and willing to propagate it.
"As for goodes exported and imported, which is very little, there is no Custome imposed.''1
Thus after the lapse of nearly half a century the colonies on Narra- gansett Bay were still communities of "planters", with little wealth but great opportunities in their possession. Their people had already received a training in the limited commerce to the Barbadoes and in the local trade with the neighboring colonies of English and Dutch that enabled them in the next generation to branch out into a considerable commerce.
Although, as had been stated in Governor Sanford's replies to the Board of Trade, Newport was the principal town for trade in the col- ony, the people of Providence now began to move in this direction. While the town had a good harbor, it had no docks or wharves, and such small vessels as occasionally came to the port were loaded or unloaded with great difficulty. The first wharf was built by Pardon Tillinghast, who was granted, January 2, 1679-80, by the town meeting a "spott of land twenty ffoot square" on which to erect a warehouse, with "ye privilege of wharf alsoe".2 The location was opposite his
1Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 1, p. 448.
2 Early Records Town of Providence, vol. viii, p. 62.
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THE SEA TRADE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.
house and was near the foot of the present Transit street. In the next few years other citizens were granted similar privileges. They all likewise built wharves and warehouses on the shore and on the water side of the town street. Those who thus prepared for seafaring trade were Arthur Fenner, who obtained authority from the town meeting, July 5, 1680; Thomas Harris, March 11, 1680-81; Samuel Winsor, Samuel Whipple, Thomas Hopkins, April 27, 1681 ; Zachariah Field, December 7, 1681; Providence Williams, January 27, 1681-2; Peter Place, March 13, 1681-2; Ephraim Pray and John Whipple, jr., July 17, 1681. Other applicants were George Sheppard, April 27, 1680; Thomas Olney and Thomas Olney, jr., February 10, 1681-2; James Ashton and Daniel Abbott, jr., in 1703-4. If all these "proprie- tors" built wharves and warehouses, as it is quite likely they did, there must have resulted quite a boom in the commercial facilities of the place, and its appearance was changed from that of a seaside vil- lage with only moorings for vessels, to that of a seaport with a dozen or more wharves with warehouses thereon and narrow docks between. By the end of the century the wharves and warehouses had increased. A trade was maintained to the West Indies and to the other colonies, and the principal merchants were Pardon Tillinghast and Gideon Crawford.
A custom house was established at Newport, March, 1681, by order of the Governor and Council, in order to carry out the provisions of a royal edict requiring the enforcement of the navigation acts. Every vessel above forty tons burthen was to pay a bond of six shillings and all those of less tonnage two shillings and sixpence. The maximum size of the vessels then employed in the Newport seafaring trade is thus demonstrated by this enactment to have been forty tons. This ordinance of the Governor and Council was confirmed by the General Assembly in 1682, and the custom house continued to be maintained at Newport-making it the port of entry for all Narragansett Bay ports-until the Revolution. To increase the revenue of the colony the General Assembly passed an act, in 1696, imposing a duty upon all foreign wines, liquors and molasses imported into the colony. The duty on molasses was a half penny a gallon. During King William's War, in 1690, a tonnage duty of one shilling per ton was laid upon all vessels from the colonies that should break bulk in Newport, and the revenue thus derived was to be used to maintain a powder magazine on Rhode Island.
The General Assembly, held at Providence, October, 1698, passed an act regulating the sizes of casks and barrels in which provisions were
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
packed and shipped and gaugers were appointed in each port to carry out the provisions of the law. This would indicate that the trade in the export of food stuffs was increasing.
In Providence the interests of the "planters" were yet of sufficient importance to be considered before those of the merchants. The town meeting voted, July 27, 1704, that no more warehouse lots should be granted "along the water side by the town street" from the town wharf, near the present Crawford street, unto North Main street, near the present Arsenal lane, for the reason that the building of such wharves would prevent the cattle, which were in the habit of swimming across, from making a safe landing, and would also interfere with the passage and landing of boats and the fording of the stream. This land along shore was, according to the vote, to be common for the use of all the people, and Weybosset Neck on the west side was likewise to be com- mon. The demand for shipping facilities, however, continued to be manifested, and was probably responsible for the law passed by the General Assembly, May 28, 1707, which gave to all the towns such control of their own shores in "rivers, coves and other waters", as was necessary, in order "to promote trade and navigation by building wharves and warehouses thereon."1
The replies made at various times to the inquiries of the British Board of Trade present facts and figures that show the constant devel- opment of the colony's commerce. Gov. Samuel Cranston reported December 5, 1708, that the annual exports to England by way of Bos- ton amounted to £20,000; that the principal direct trade was to the West Indies; and that during the preceding twenty years, because of the love the youth of Rhode Island had for the sea, shipping had increased sixfold. The report goes on to explain that the whole island (Rhode Island) was already taken up by small farms, so that the young men were obliged to take to the sea. The claim was also made that only two or three of the colony vessels had ever been taken in war, because they were so "light and sharp that very few of the enemy's privateers, in a gale of wind will run or outsail one of our loaded vessels". Eighty-four vessels of all sizes had been built in the colony within eleven years, twenty-nine vessels were at this time owned in the colony, all of them but two or three hailing from Newport and the number of native seamen was 140.
The next report to the Board of Trade, made in November, 1731, by Gov. Joseph Jenckes, shows that great strides had been made in
1Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 2, p. 29.
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THE SEA TRADE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.
the commercial development. In 1721 the shipping consisted of sixty small vessesls of a total burthen of 3,500 tons. This was a notable increase from 1708. In 1731, however, the colony's merchant fleet amounted to 5,000 tons, and consisted of two ships, a few brigs and many sloops, manned by 400 sailors. "Most of the supplies were received from Boston, but two vessels annually arrived from England, as many from Holland and the Mediterranean, and ten or twelve from the West Indies. The articles of export comprised horses, live-stock, logwood, lumber, fish, and the products of the field and the dairy, and amounted to £10,000 sterling annually."1
Ten years later, 1740-1, according to the report made by Gov. Richard Ward to the Board of Trade, the shipping of the colony con- sisted of 120 vessels employed in trading to the West Indies, Africa, Europe, and along the coast. "Seven or eight were employed in direct trade with England, heretofore chiefly conducted by Boston merchants. ''2
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