USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 3 > Part 35
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Howard Kemble Stokes
STATE AND OTHER BANK STATISTICS. The figures are thousand of dollars only, 000 being omitted.
Year
No. of Banks
Capital
Surplus
Circulation
Deposits
on Interest
Deposits not
Due to Banks
Other Liabilities
Loans
Specie
Bills
Due from Banks
Stocksand
Real Estate
Other Stocks
Real Estate and
other Property
Dividends
Loaned on
its own Stock
Overdue paper
Oct. 1809
13 |$1,5001
$ 435
488
$2,037
$410
$ 79
$ 88
1810
13
542
456
2,266
394
143
41
1811
13
460
464
2,330
343
3102
20
1812
13
13
770
1,092
2,487
534
245
4329
1814
14
549
636
2,386
442
70
166
1815
16
576
321
2,556
358
83
49
$ 46
1816
16
547
283
2,547
251
115
20
200
1817
17
1818
27
597
574
2,905
393
171
55
334
May 1819
30
2,968
€Œ
690
424
1
3,064
371
150
45
473
1820
33
3,157
15
601
499
3,387
326
152
55
430
1821
33
3,241
16
675
466
3
3,647
355
217
93
400
1822
33
3,662
21
645
449
5
4,076
346
159
76
333
1823
37
3,962
65
593
412
4
4,331
288
136
73
336
1824
42
4,444
79
726
608
10
5,060
341
200
115
299
1825
43
5,292
116
1,021
770
65
7,253
452
196
165
319
1826
43
5,571
115
713
665
149
6,218
376
145
117
224
1.500
1827
44
5,621
119
824
950
163
5,913
449
165
186
379
1828
45
6,051
151
913
1,015
189
7,474
344
168
142
347
Oct. 1829
47
6,098
173
675
809
109
6,910
342
122
261
350
1830
46
6,065
146
929
946
118
7,022
366
188
329
337
1831
50
6,732
180
1,342
1,291
112
8,247
426
258
323
534
1832
49
7,113
193
1,208
1,159
157
8,551
355
230
250
329
1833
51
7,439
232
1,264
1,453
129
9,192
404
274
294
491
1834
58
8,041
270
1,251
2,273
154
9,608
467
261
263
303
1835
61
8,751
319
1,644
1,697
189
11,085
566
380
290
339
May 1837
61 |
9,849
432
1,440
$ 321 |1,374
665
12,627
263
830
373
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
320
12
634
586
2,635
334
259
98
264
541
645
2,363
476
3126
95
1813
on Interest
and Discounts
- -
-
.
21-3
Oct. 1837
62
9,837
1,864
796 1,003
1,305 449
604 606
$12 27
243 464
430 429
452 483
$ 82 120 103
52
7.
$815 780
61
May 1838
62
9,852
9,965
445
2,040
852
494
31
20
26
12,064
416 344 448 325
532 322 458 341
831 709
203
97
6.75
597
580
1843
62
10,176
413
1,619
202
522
11,668
336
399
954
135
128
270
6.25
584
671
1844
61
10,227
384
2,887
125
1,552
804
25
12,621
383
526
1,255
93
174
250
5.25
495
516
1845
61
10,176
439
2,560
170
1,270
654
25
13,399
296
439
669
62
169
5.75
426
435
1846
61
10,549
510
2,907
270
1,079
757
26
14,123
280
461
694
48
202
6.75
352
198
Oct. 1847
62
11,023
619
2,842
196
1,268
31
14,987 14,294
306
423
396
63
195
243
6.75
352
269
1849
61
11,298
685
2,525
126
1,283
588
28
13,555
291
443
485
85
155
250
334
488
1850
63
11,716
740
2,554
139
1,453
651
36
14,300
298
538
441
71
151
297
7.1
338
1851
69
12,906
783
3,077
206
1,661
934
43
16,300
278
626
629
37
120
285
7.
393
118
1852
70
14,037
839
3,322
376
1,748
892
51
18,736
415
726
948
42
116
282
7.25
428
402
1853
77
15,946 17,542
1,074
5,035
329
2,682
1,047
90
23,354
312
881
933
31
112
298
7.1
531
390
1855
92
18,715
1,151
5,404
351
2,831
1,192
84
26,385
386
1,157
1,242
32
131
393
7.1
469
541
1856
98
20,364
1,313
5,522
660
3,142
1,475
54
28,679
548
1,282
1,255
89
128
549
7.4
561
435
May 1857
98
20,857
1,338
5,344
439
3,046
1,484
75
29,094
330
1,220
1,135
83
128
595
7.1
666
585
Dec. 1857
93
20,561
1,309
3,193
381
2,452
1,661
58
571
861
1,411
227
145
578
892
1,387
1858
93
20,310
1,180
3,375
477
2,733
1,140
75
25,104
657
939
1,558
194
207
631
6.8
608
1,300
Nov. 1859
91
20,765
1,161
3,656
732
2,894
1,123
74
26,760
468
1,116
1,023
93
214
732
6.7
672
1,128
1860
90
21,152
1,177
3,773
819
2,898
1,396
88
25,546
472
966
846
81
99
754
6.5
625
800
1861
90
21,234
1,156
3,306
737
3,005
965
89
26,561
607
887
1,041
97
400
991
7.4
694
1,473
1862
88
20,889
1,128
6,485
903
4,737
2,012
94
29,857
505
1,785
2,160
112
871
959
7.4
622
1,025
1863
87
20,977
1,253
7,047
1,188
1,296
5,334
1,680
141
30,217
455
1,921
1,921
121
2,286
913
7.3
521
510
1865
14
3,558
200
1,628
127
1,087
46
19
5,699
46
276
300
52
223
71
7.
94
154
1870
15
3,083
189
30
1,234
87
31
3,972
8
240
172
51
179
43
7.6
99
95
1900
26
917
149
1
289
529
70
6
1,097
10
76
219
110
93
354
5.5
44
107
1841
62
10,111
446
1,681
1,585
264 352
812 947
412
25 27
11,911
112
114
257
7.
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE FINANCE.
1Estimated. ? Including 2 in liquidation with capital, $421,675. 3Treasury notes.
4Specie deposited by residents in the seaport towns in inland banks for safe-keeping.
321
1840
62
9,968
461
1,335
468
1,946 817
7. 719
6.5
621
1842
62
10,160
11,150
661
2,380
103
1,118
29
1,063
54
21,248
360
844
1,005
28
121
7. 293
423
239
1854
87
991
4,895
363
2,184
854 479
325
405
572
61
226
257
6.50
362
450
1848
62
86
21,209
1,489
6,921
4,673
1,569
104
30,345
479
1,503
1,724
145
1,572
922
6.8
486
768
1864
62
468
553
152
97
276 260
$222 235 237
6.6
$ 62
471 454
2,195
1,334
386 500
13,401 12,794 13,110 11,712
Own stock owned
1839
54
437
261 289
6.8
25,823
322
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
TRUST COMPANIES.
Year
No. of Banks
Capital
Surplus
Deposits
Due Banks
Other Liabilities
Loans
Cash
Stocks owned
1870 1880
1
$ 500 800
$ 5
33
$1,984 6,410 12,073 40,456
2,622
992
$2,283 6,243 13,618 47,155
$ 80 763 848 2,713
1,588
1Including 1 in liquidation with capital of $282,000.
NATIONAL BANKS.
Year .
No. of Banks
Capital
Surplus
Circulation
Deposits
Loans
1870
62
$20,365
$3,267
1890
59
20,214
6,282 5,006
$12,378 3,098 5,185
$6,076 16,788 17,547
36,664 28,744
1901
30
13,251
SAVINGS BANKS.
Year
No. of Banks
Deposits
1850
7
$1,495
1860
21
9,164
1870
26
30,708
1880
39
44,756
1890
38
63,719
1900
34
74,847
1
6
2,164
563
339
1900
111
4,108 3,379
$ 237
1890
1900
42
14,676
$22,867
Industrial Development.
CHAPTER IV.
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.1
Agriculture is the first industry, the one upon which all others rest, and yet it cannot do without the assistance of its co-laborer-manu- facture. The pioneer who fells the tree and tills the virgin soil must pay tribute to the mechanic and the artisan. He must have clothes, he must have household utensils, and he must have tools. Hence the shoemaker, the blacksmith, the sawyer and the carpenter are each and all necessary to the farmer.
The early New England pioneers were obliged in a certain sense to be jacks-at-all-trades. Every man made his own log hut, and the house- wife made the clothes for her family-often from the skins of wild animals, but it was not long before men began to follow the callings for which they were best adapted, as necessity arose for their practice. The blacksmith, the miller, the shoemaker, the tanner, the carpenter, the lime burner, the charcoal burner, the tar-maker and the ship- builder soon became as necessary to the welfare and comfort of the colonists as the minister and the doctor.
Transportation was a difficult problem in early Rhode Island days. It was simplified somewhat in winter, but at other seasons of the year everything possible was transported by water.
Most of the early settlements were in close proximity to Narragan- sett Bay or its affluents, and shipbuilding was one of the first of the colony's manufacturing industries. But as lumber is a necessary con- comitant of the construction of sailing craft, it is altogether probable that the saw-mill antedated the shipyard. Just when the first saw- mill was set up in the colony is not known, but the Colonial Records
'In preparing this chapter the writer has avoided, as far as possible, encum- bering the pages with foot notes. Among the authorities consulted and the in- dividuals to whom he is indebted for assistance are: Bishop's History of Manu- factures; Census and Statistical Reports of the United States; Rhode Island Colonial Records; Arnold's History of Rhode Island; Staples's Annals of Provi- dence; Providence Plantations; Peterson's History of Rhode Island; Bayles's History of Providence County ; Fuller's History of Warwick; Publications of Rhode Island Historical Society ;. Rider's Historical Tracts; the Providence Gazette; the Providence Journal; the Manufacturing Jeweler; Dockham's Textile Annual; the State Census and Industrial Statistics Reports of Rhode Island ; and the Early Records of the Town of Providence.
326
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
declare that at a general meeting (of the freemen) in Portsmouth, on the 16th of the ninth month, 1638 (the first year of its settlement), it was "ordered that John Porter and John Sanford shall treate with Mr. Nicholas Esson, and shall fully agree with him in allowing of him sufficient accommodations for foure cowes, and planting grownd as they shall think meett, all which is for the setting up of a water mill, which the said Mr. Esson hath undertaken to build for the use and good of the plantation". At a court held in Newport, on the 7th of the eleventh month, 1639, it was decreed that, "Whereas complainte was made by the secretaric on the behalf of the town of Nieuport against Ralph Earle for his falling of timber contrarie to order, and suitt made accordinglie in the courte, by the courte it is ordered that
1
LITTLEFIELD WIND MILL, BLOCK ISLAND. Erected 1815.
said Ralph, and Mr. Willbore, his copartner shall serve the towne with good sufficient stuff, viz .; with sawn boards att cight shillings the hundred, and half-inch boards at seven shillings, to be delivered at the pitt by the waterside, and clapboard and paile at twelve pence a foot by the stubb, sound and sufficient merchantable ware ; and it is further ordered that the said Mr. Willbore and Ralph Earle shall not make sale of any of the timber within ye bounds of the towne of Nieuport, nor transport any of it (eyther whole or broken) to any other plantation without license, as they shall answer at their perill". It thus appears that the first mills were run by water, but some years later windmills were introduced, and they seem for a time to have displaced the water- mills, both for the grinding of grain and the sawing of lumber. The
327
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.
€
first windmill in the colony was erected in Newport in 1663 by Gov- ernor Easton and his sons. It was blown down in 1675. The old stone mill, about which so much controversy has taken place-many savants believing it to have been erected by the Northmen more than a thousand years ago-is supposed to have been built for a windmill by Governor Benedict Arnold after the destruction of Governor Easton's windmill. Windmills are still often scen in this State, and they are quite numerous in the town of Portsmouth, where they have been much in evidence for more than two centuries.
The first record we have of the building of ships in Rhode Island is found in Trumbull's "Complete History of Connecticut," which states that in 1646 the New Haven colony built a ship of one hundred and fifty tons at Rhode Island (probably at Newport).
As the business of shipbuilding must have been established some little time to have obtained fame in other colonies, it is probable that it had already been carried on several years by the builder who re- ceived this Connecticut order. Before the close of the seventeenth century shipbuilding had become an important business at Newport, and it was also carried on at Warren, Bristol and other coast settle- ments, including Providence and Warwick. In answer to a request received from the British "Lords of Trade," in 1680, regarding various matters, Governor Sanford's answer so far as it related to shipping was: "We have no shipping belonging to the colony, but only a few sloops." The colony had been accused of lawlessness, and as there was danger of its chartered privileges being taken away, the governor's answers were framed in such a guise as to convey the im- pression that the settlers were living under very humble conditions. It was probably a fact that at that very time the colony was well sup- plied with shipping, and was carrying on a thriving trade with the other colonies and the West Indies. At all events, there was consid- erable shipbuilding done here about two centuries ago. One hundred and three vessels were built in the ten years from 1698 to 1708, eight of which were ships. In 1704 the colonial General Assembly imposed a tonnage duty on all vessels not wholly owned by its inhabitants.
In 1709 Edward Wanton, a shipbuilder from Scituate, Massachu- setts, came to Newport and established a shipyard, and the colony purchased one of his vessels-the sloop Diamond-for £400, and char- tered another, and fitted them up as ships of war to take part in the expedition against Port Royal in Nova Scotia. The shipping interests of Newport assumed very large proportions. In 1739 more than one hundred vessels were owned there, and its West India trade for many years was very large. At one time as many as eighteen West India- men were known to arrive within twenty-four hours. Several of the warships of the Revolution were of Rhode Island build. Among them were the 28-gun ship Providence, which was captured by the British
328
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
at Charleston, S. C., in 1780, and the 32-gun ship Warren, which was burned by its crew on the Penobscot, in 1779, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the British. These ships were two of the lot ordered by Congress in December, 1775, and were both launched at Providence in the following May. The George Washington, a 624-ton ship, which was purchased by the government in 1798 at Providence, is supposed to have been built either there or at Warren. The General Greene, a ship of 645 tons, which carried twenty-eight guns, was built at Warren in 1799. Another war vessel, the Chippewa, a 14-gun brig, was built at Warren in 1815.
Newport's commercial development was very marked just before the Revolution. In 1769 the port employed two hundred vessels in foreign trade, and between three and four hundred in the coasting trade. It then ran a regular line of packets to London, and also had many ships engaged in whaling. Newport enjoyed a bright future at this time, and its inhabitants were confident it would become the com- mercial metropolis of the colonies. The Revolution, however, ruined the town. It was occupied by the British throughout the greater por- tion of the war, and its commerce and shipbuilding ceased for the time being and never recovered from the blow, as, after peace was restored, the town's supremacy was gone and trade had been diverted to other ports.
Providence, on the other hand, was more happily situated, as it was never in the hands of the British, and its ships had access to the sea for most of the time through the West Passage. It became a port of shelter and equipment for the Colonial Navy, and several of our first war vessels, as before stated, were built there. After the war it had quite a boom in shipbuilding and its ships were often seen in other lands. A few years after the restoration of peace a ship of 950 tons- a large vessel one hundred years ago-was built there for the East India trade. In 1791 one hundred and twenty-nine sail, with a total tonnage of 11,943, were owned in that port. Bristol was also for some years quite a shipbuilding port, and quite large vessels were construct- ed about a century ago in Pawtucket. One of them, the ship Tyre, built between 1780 and 1785, sailed around the world in 1790. The ship Washington, built in Providence, also circumnavigated the globe in the year 1800. The ship Ann and Hope, built in Providence for the famous trading house of Brown & Ives, made several voyages to the Orient. It was a fast sailer and there was said to have been but one American vessel on the waves that could show its wake to it.
The extensive shipbuilding and commerce of the colony led to the establishment of certain other lines of industry. In 1769 there were seventeen or more sperm oil and candle manufactories in Newport, and also five or more rope-walks. The slave trade, in which many Rhode Island ship owners were interested, was coincident with the establish-
329
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.
ment of many distilleries for the manufacture of rum, which was a staple article in bargaining for slaves on the African coast. The pro- duction of duck or sail cloth, also, was a natural accompaniment of the colony's commercial development. In 1722 the General Assembly voted to give William Borden of Newport a bounty of twenty shillings for each bolt of duck manufactured by him of hemp grown in the pro- vince, and equal in quality to good Holland duck. This bounty was to last ten years, but it appears that even with such assistance this "infant industry" was not able to go alone, for in May, 1725, in re- sponse to a petition from him €500 was granted him from the colonial treasury, "if there be so much to spare." Still the business did not pay, and in 1728 he again asked the General Assembly for assistance, whereupon it was voted to issue £3,000 in bills of credit at his expense, and loan the amount to him, without interest, upon receiving surety from him that it would be paid at the expiration of ten years. By the terms of the resolution he was required to manufacture one hundred and fifty bolts every year, of good merchantable duck. In 1731 the General Assembly relieved Borden from the requirement to produce the stipulated quantity, but continued the bounty upon such quantities as he miglit make. Bounties were also paid about this time to the growers of flax and hemp to encourage the making of linen. The burning of pot, pearl and soap ashes, of lime and brick were among the earliest of colonial industries. In 1648 William Hawkins of Provi-, dence was granted the privilege of setting up a kiln to burn lime in front of his own lot, during the town's pleasure. This is believed to be the first kiln erected in New England for the burning of limestone. The so-called lime used at first in the colonies was obtained by burning oyster shells. The wording of the foregoing order would seem to indi- cate that Hawkins's kiln was for burning limestone rather than oyster shells, but it is not absolutely certain that such was the case. Staples's "Annals of Providence," citing a town order, passed (as supposed) in 1662, by which one Thomas Hackleton was given permission to burn lime on the common "near about", and to take stone and wood for the purpose, says that "this is the earliest notice of the manufacture of that important article".
At the "Monthly Court Meeting" of the town of Providence, Janu- ary 1, 1646, it was "agreed that John Smith shall have the valley where his house stands, in case he sets up a mill, as also excepting suffi- cient highways." Staples's Annals, which erroneously give the date of this order as in 1746, says: "This valley comprehended all the land between the west bank of the Mossassuck river and the hill to the east of Jefferson plains, from Smith street on the south to Orms street on the north." Charles street now passes along this valley. This mill was for grinding corn and other grain. In 1649 an agreement was entered into between the town and Alice Smith, widow of Jolin,
330
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
regarding this mill. In consideration of its always being in good con- dition for grinding, she and her heirs were to have a certain amount of land. The same year it was agreed that the corn of the town should be ground on every second and third days of the week.
The first record we have of the manufacture of brick in the colony is in 1681, when permission was given for its manufacture in Newport. In 1723 Thomas Staples of Providence was given liberty by the town to dig clay at Weybosset hill to make brick.
The shoemaker, as before stated, must have been one of the earliest settlers in Rhode Island. The first cobblers undoubtedly were com- pelled to import their leather from over the sea, but the tanner soon followed the shoemaker. In many cases, undoubtedly, the shoemaker tanned his own leather. An instance of this kind is found in the "Early Records" of Providence, one Zachariah Matheson of that town having, in 1698, bound himself to teach Benjamin Tailor, apprentice, "to tan leather and make shoes." Tanning, however, was carried on in Providence many years previous to this date, as these "Early Rec- ords" show that on June 24, 1655, a town order was passed regarding Thomas Oliver, Jr., that his houselot be laid out by "ye stampers, pro- vided he follow tanning," etc. And still earlier-on November 3, 1652-it was ordered that Edward Inman shall not be liable to lose his houselot for not building thereupon, because he hath built in another more convenient place for his trade of dressing fox gloves. In Feb- ruary, 1707, the General Assembly passed a law for "preventing of deceits and abuses by tanners, curriers, and shoemakers."
The early colonial blacksmith was of necessity a more skilled work- man than his modern successor. In addition to making shoes for horses and oxen and the iron work for the rude sleds and carriages of the pioneers, he was called upon to forge a great variety of articles used in the houses and on the farms. The discovery of iron ore near Lynn, Massachusetts, was the cause of the immigration from England of Joseph Jenks, in 1642, and he sat up near the mine the first foundry and forge in the country. Iron ore was also found near Pawtucket Falls, soon after the settlement of Providence, and the establishment of a foundry to utilize the ore was earnestly discussed. The earliest mention on record of the project is contained in a letter written by Roger Williams on November 22, 1650, to the Providence Town Coun- cil, in which he says: "I have bene sollicited & have promised my help about iron works, when the matter is ripe," etc. It is probable, however, that no iron works were built at this time, and that the first establishment of the kind was built by Joseph Jenks, junior, within the bounds of the present city of Pawtucket. The young man had learned the business with his father, at the Lynn forge, and hearing of the Rhode Island mine, he came in 1655 and built a house and erected a forge near the mine. He made domestic utensils and iron
331
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.
tools, and found a ready market for his products in Providence and nearby towns in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The forge was destroyed by the Indians in 1675, during King Philip's War, and was rebuilt after peace was restored. Besides his forge Mr. Jenks carried on a saw-mill and a carpenter's shop. It is worthy of note that some of his successors have been engaged in some branch of the iron indus- try up to the present day.
The Greene family, to which General Nathaniel Greene belonged, established an anchor forge on Potowomut, between 1720 and 1730, at which anchors for most of the shipping of the colony were made up to the time of the Revolutionary War. In 1735 Daniel Waldo purchased an ore bed in the town of Scituate and erected a furnace and foundry on the Pawtuxet river, near where the village of Hope is now located. It became famous as the Hope Furnace. Cannon were cast there, as well as large bells and other castings. Iron tobacco pipes were made at this foundry by one Jabez Hopkins, and swords of excellent quality were afterwards made by Hopkins's son, Ezekiel, and a few years after the Revolutionary War a steam engine was constructed at the furnace under the direction of Joseph Brown, of Providence, for the purpose of draining the ore pits. Other Providence residents beside Brown were financially interested in this mill, and at the beginning of the Revolutionary War the State contracted with its managers to furnish sixty cannon for local defense at a price not to exceed £35 per ton. The company agreed to deliver the ordnance within four months, but insisted on a guarantee from the State that it would take the cannon and pay for them, even if peace should be arranged before their delivery.
This was not the beginning of cannon manufacture in the State, however, as they had certainly been made as far back as 1745, for service against the French. In a report upon coal and iron made to the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Indus- try, it is stated that John S. Brown of Pawtucket claimed that as early as 1703 his grandfather, Philip Brown, commenced casting cannon from iron made from the mixed Cumberland and Cranston ore. The foundry was in Cumberland, where he cast part, at least, of the cannon used in the celebrated Louisburg expedition in 1745. By an accidental explosion of the furnace he lost his life in 1763, when the manufacture of iron at that place was abandoned. There were two other iron furnaces in Cumberland some time previous to the Revolution. A siege battery of eight heavy guns cast, as is supposed, at the Hope furnace, was forwarded to General Washington at his request in 1781, and they were used effectively at Yorktown. Small arms were also made at the beginning of the Revolutionary War by Stephen Jenks of North Providence and others. Prior to the Revolution most of the domestic utensils and farm implements were made in the colony. One
332
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
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