USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 3 > Part 66
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Abigail and Hope Whipple both inherited the homestead estate of their father. Subsequently cach became the wife of Robert Currie, first Hope, then Abigail upon her sister's death. Eventually Currie became the owner of the old place and held this ownership until 1737, when he sold it to William Smith, Job Whipple and John Whipple. It remained in the Whipple family until 1761, and it is from this ownership that has given it the name of the Whipple House.
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In the latter year it was purchased by Capt. Joseph Owen; one of his daughters married Thomas Abbott, of Andover, Mass., a tanner by trade, which pursuit he followed at a tannery formerly located directly opposite to this old house. Here Thomas Abbott lived until his death, June 11, 1826, and thus gave to it the name of the "Abbott house"; by this name it has been known more extensively than by any other, although it was upwards of one hundred and seventy years old ere this name was bestowed upon it.
This ancient dwelling is full of historic interest, for here the men who founded the first free state met to enact laws for its government.
******
HOME OF LIEUT .- COL. THOMAS NOYES, NOYES POINT, NEAR WESTERLY.
During the war of the Revolution this house was used as an armory and as military head- quarters. It was demolished in 1884. From a photograph made in 1873.
THE JOSEPH NOYES HOUSE.
At Noyes Point in the town of Westerly was the homestead of Col. Joseph Noyes. It was an important place in the years of the Revolu- tion, for it was the military headquarters of this section. The Noyes farm bordered on the seashore. In front of the house, to the south- ward, sand dunes, with fringes of coarse beach grass, rose here and there between which sparkled the waters of the ocean. To the north- ward was gently rolling farm land, crossed and recrossed with many stone walls. Like many of the ancient farm houses which were formerly scattered along the seashore, this, too, has been sacrificed to make way for the summer cottage, and in 1883 the Noyes homestead was demolished.
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On the second floor of this old homestead was a room called the "Big Room"; this was the Armory where a portion of the town arms and equipments were kept for the use of the Westerly companies.
Col. Joseph Noyes and his son, Lieut. Thomas Noyes, both lived in this old house. They were actively engaged during the war, the latter seeing a longer and harder service than the former. Col. Joseph Noyes was the commander of the First Regiment of the militia in Kings county, his military service being almost entirely confined to the State of Rhode Island; but there was actual warfare here, and at the battle of Rhode Island Colonel Noyes performed valiant service. He also served in the legislature of the State and held important positions on committees for liis town and State. Thomas the son, however, was a lieutenant when but twenty-one years of age in Capt. Thomas Arnold's company of Col. Christopher Lippitt's regiment, and was with the Continental army at the engagements of Harlem Heights, White Plains, Trenton and Princeton. After his term of enlistment terminated he returned to his home and became active in the affairs of his native town.
The original commissions of Thomas Noyes are yet preserved by his grandson, who prizes these ancient documents, for they bear testimony to the part this old patriot took in the struggle for American Inde- pendence.
THE EDWARD MANTON HOUSE.
The locality where the Edward Manton homestead stands has been called for many years "Manton". You will find it painted in huge letters on the little red shed that passes for a railroad depot, and the cars of the electric road have the same name painted upon them.
And well may the country hereabouts be called Manton, for nearly the whole territory, covering acres and acres, originally belonged to the Manton family, and the name perpetuates the memory of one of the great landholders in the early days of the Plantations.
The house would never be noticed as an old house, so disguised is it by the ells, porticos, piazza and other ornamentations that have been added to it, were it not for the curiously built stone chimney at one end, which looks as though at any minute it would topple over and crush the little structure beneath it. It is this chimney that stands out before you that suggests its age, and leads you to enter the house for a confirmation of your suspicion.
An examination of the interior confirms all you may have con- jectured, and although within and without many changes have been made, there is yet remaining marks that show its age, so interwoven with the structure that they can never be effaced while the house itself remains.
It originally had but two rooms, one up and down stairs, and the
-
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stairway led right up by the side of the chimney in nearly the same place where the present stairs are located. With the exception of this space occupied by the little stairway, probably nothing more than a ladder originally, the whole width of the house was fireplace, that being nine feet between jambs, while the length of the house was a little more than fifteen feet. It is low studded, only seven feet between floor and ceiling, with the great "summer" running through the center of the ceiling.
This little structure was the original house; additions have been tucked on here and there until no part of the outside of the house to-day is in its original condition, save the end where the great chimney stack is located, and even this has had a few bricks laid on it to stop up cracks and make the chimney tight.
EDWARD MANTON HOUSE, MANTON, JOHNSTON-ERECTED 1683.
The owner cherishes the old place from family associations, and has had repairs made from time to time and the date "1687" carved in pretty letters in the peak of the modern dormer window. She may well have carried this date back four years, for there is good reason to believe that it was erected as early as 1683 by Edward Manton, grandson of the first Edward and son of Shadrach, the town clerk of Providence, a companion and associate of Roger Williams.
The land on which this house is built was a part of the territory "laid out in the right of his grandfather".
Edward Manton, the grandson, doubtless received it from his father, but no record of such a transfer is found. It was a part of the Secesakut lands, which were mostly in the possession of the Mantons and Olneys.
40-3
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
Edward Manton was the son of Shadrach. He married, December 9, 1680, Elizabeth Thornton, the daughter of John Thornton, a man of distinction in the early life of the Colony and one of the founders of the First Baptist Church.1
Although there was no evidence to fix definitely the year in which this house was built, the record shows that Edward Manton was living at Secesacut, July 1, 1702.2
But this house was erected before this time, for the study of the houses having this peculiar type of chimney shows that they were all erected within the period between 1676 and 1696. As he was married in 1680 and was living out of town or remote from the settlement in 1688, it seems certain that the house was built between these dates.
Back of the house to the westward was the "Wildwoods" and upland, over whose uneven surface the road to " Wiunkheage" wound this way, and then that, to escape a huge bowlder or some ancient oak of the primeval forest, while in the front of the house was the Woonasquatucket valley, with the river down between the wooded hills, stretching towards the Providence settlement.
Edward Manton died August 14, 1723.
This road leading to Wiunkheage is the highway now known as the Killingly road or "pike", but at the time of his death it had not been extended to the Connecticut line, and was not laid out and called the "Road to Killingsley" until March, 1728.3
But the highway to Wionkeake was "stated" many years before this. In 1703 it appears that, "Whereas some time since there was a Request Made by Some of the Jnhabitants of Wiunkeake in the Townshipp of Providence, that a highway might be stated out from the Towne to said Wiunkeake, that so a highway might be from thence to the Mill & to the Market ; Whereupon the Towne made an order that William Hopkins & Thomas Olney surveiors should state out a High way from the Towne to Wiunkeake: The which about the latter end of March or the begining of Aprill in the yeare 1703" was done, and the record of this survey may be found minutely given upon the ancient town records. This report gives the names of the persons who owned the land through which this road passed. It shows the location of Manton's lands and the Assopumsett or Ossapimsuck brook. This name does not appear on late maps of the State, but on the map of Rhode Island by Caleb Harris, engraved for Carter & Wilkenson in 1795. it is there shown and called "Assapumpset Brook". The same little brook to-day trickles down its mossy bed only a few feet from the Manton homestead.
It was at Wiunkeage that a settlement was proposed early in the
1 Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of R. I.
2 Early Records of Providence, vol. v, p. 116.
3 Eurly Records of Providence.
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history of the Colony ; a plan for the proposed township was prepared by Thomas Olney, which is now preserved among the archives of the City of Providence. It contains the rude drawing of a town house or block house on the Main street, in the center of this proposed township, but it does not appear that a settlement of the character contemplated was ever carried out. The name, however, is preserved and is applied to a hill in Smithfield; but the township of Wiunkeake exists only in the imperfect references found on the town records. In 1829 the legislature of the State granted a charter to the Wionkheigue Detect- ing Society, an organization founded for the protection of the horses, fowl and other live stock belonging to the incorporators.
The territory covered by this society may convey some idea of the locality of "Wionkeage", for it was declared in the charter that the "center of said jurisdiction shall be the store owned by Dan Mowry, standing at one of the four corners in Smithfield formed by the inter- section of the old road leading from Wonsocket to Scituate by the Providence and Douglas turnpike road". Anywhere within nine miles of this point was within the jurisdiction of the "Wionkeheigue Detecting Society". The store of Dan Mowry and the old Angell toll gate were located at opposite corners on the Douglas turnpike. Besides these references to Wionkeage, the writer has seen old books which had written across their title pages, "Wiunkeage Library".
The estate of Edward Manton remained undivided for seven years, until June 4, 1730, when his children made a deed in which they divided the property. By this instrument the land on the "east side of the road that leads to Killingly" was divided into fourteen parts; this tract comprises all the land eastward from the road as far as Woonasquatucket River, "on which the dwelling house and barn standeth".
The homestead was not included in this division, but was to remain in the possession of all of the children, as was also "about a quarter of an acre of land round the said house with a free passage to the well and to the highway".
In course of time the house and lands belonging to this estate passed to other hands, and to-day but a small portion of the Secesecut farm belongs to descendants of the original owners.
THE EPENETUS OLNEY HOUSE.
On the banks of the Woonasquatucket River, nearly opposite the Manton homestead, until quite recently stood the tottering ruins of the deserted mansion house of Epenetus Olney. It was a grand old house in its day, with great square rooms, and boasted of a chimney topped with brick. It originally was much smaller than its appear- ance would indicate, for the north half was added many years after the other part was built.
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Epenetus Olney, the first owner, if not the builder, was the grandson of Thomas Olney, who came from St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, in 1635, and was one of the first settlers in Providence. His son Epenetus, the father of the owner of the house, came to America when an infant in his mother's arms.
Epenetus Olney was born in Providence, in 1675, during the dark days of the Indian war. He married Mary Williams, a descendant of Roger Williams, but no record of when this marriage occurred is found upon the records.
Epenetus Olney the elder died in 1698. He left no will disposing of his earthly possessions, for, as the record says, "Death seized hin
EPENETUS OLNEY HOUSE, BETWEEN ALLENDALE AND LYMANSVILLE, NORTH PROVIDENCE,
Erected between 1700-5. Demolished 1898.
before he could accomplish the same". Under the old English law of primogeniture his estate fell to the oldest son, James Olney; but James Olney, knowing that his father if he had been able would have divided his estate among his children, proceeded to comply with a wish that his father in his lifetime had expressed. It was not until August, 1702, that this was done.
In May, 1702, Thomas Olney, surveyor, "Rectefied & laid out a tract of land unto Epenetus Olney at his ffarm where he now dwelleth lieing between the place called Wanskuck (in Providence Townshipp) & Woonasquatuckett river". This land is bounded with great minute-
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ness in the records, but a "heape of Stones", a "White Oake", and sueh boundaries convey little information to-day ; one bound, however, was a "Red oake" on the Woonasquatucket River, and from this ranging along the river. It therefore shows plainly that the "ffarm where he now liveth" bounded on the Woonasquatucket. From this also we may assume that Epenetus Olney was married at this date, for here he had established his home.
Three months later his brother James conveyed to him by deed the tract "lieing and adjoining to the Woonasquatucket river", laid out by Thomas Olney in May. In this deed it is written "that my brother Epenetus Olney is now desirous to settle & be accommodated with some of his father's land to himself & hath already begun a settlement upon some part thereof by building & planting thereon".
These deeds fix the time when this house was built, for in May, 1702, it was the place "where he now dwelleth", and in August of the same year he had "already begun a settlement". The house being built, most likely, in the fall of 1701 and his first spring planting was finished when the land became his by act and deed of his brother James.
It was two stories in height and the chimney was topped out with brick, perhaps the very briek which was included in "a parcell of Brickes £00 05s. 00d." mentioned in the inventory of his father's estate. He seleeted a charming spot on which to build his home. Here the river widens and forms a basin with sloping banks on the southern side. opposite the house, while the grounds about it slope gradually to the river. A little brook, its source on the higher land to the northward, flows through his lands.
The southern end of the house is the oldest part; here was the solid wall of masonry extending almost its whole width into the second story, and was at the time the house was demolished with the cracks made by the elements, a most wonderful example of the work of those early craftsmen. Many changes had been made in the old structure. Little rooms and big rooms, fireplaces and cupboards were added here and there, until one might almost be lost in wondering through its deserted halls. In the front hall there was a great trap door which led down into the deep, cavernous cellar.
On the Olney farm tobacco was raised in considerable quantity. "Four hundred weight of Tobacco" was stored here in 1698. Here was raised in those early days beans, "turnops", "wheate", Indian corn, rye, "flex", while in the orchard, through which passed the road leading to the Providence settlement, there were "Apple and peach tree, fruited deep".
Epenetus Olney died in 1740, and for many years the old house was oceupied by descendants of the original owner, until in time it fell
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into decay, became ruinous and was abandoned as a place of residence, and finally demolished to make way for modern improvements.
THE PALMER NORTHUP HOUSE.
The Palmer Northup house in North Kingstown, on the post road near the village of Wickford, is another very old house.
It is said to have been built in part between 1640-50, but it is difficult to prove this fact on account of the destruction by fire some years ago of the North Kingstown records. The house stands on what in early days was the Pequot path, an Indian trail that led from the Massachusetts settlements into Connecticut, and this dwelling was doubtless a welcome spot for travellers over this lonely road. Nearly opposite was the trading post and garrison house of Richard Smith,
PALMER NORTHUP HOUSE, NEAR WICKFORD, NORTH KINGSTOWN.
Erected between 1640-50, situated on the Pequot path, the ancient Indian trail from Massachusetts into Connecticut.
while about a mile northward on the same trail was the trading post of Roger Williams. Near here, too, is Devil's Foot Rock, wherein are depressions said to have been made by the cloven foot of his Satanic majesty on an early visit to Rhode Island. The neighborhood about here was a well-known locality in the early history of the State and bore the euphonius name, Cocumsquissic.
At the time of the King Philip's war the forces that participated in the Swamp Fight made this locality their headquarters and numerous. encounters with the hostile Indians occurred here. Tradition has left little to give the house special interest, and the records, too, are silent, but the marks which the early builder left upon it stamp it as of early construction.
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"MOWBRA CASTLE."
To the southward of the Northup house, near the railroad station at Bellville, on the same road stands the Phillips house, or, as it is sometimes called, "Mowbra Castle".
Like the Northup house, little definite regarding its early history is known, but it is stated that it was built by Michael Phillips between 1695 and 1700.
Its curious pilastered stone chimney marks it as a house of early origin and in a measure gives some authority for its date.
THE PHILLIPS HOUSE, BELLVILLE, NORTH KINGSTOWN.
Erected about 1700, located on the old Pequot path, the original Indian trail from Massachusetts into Connecticut.
THE JOSHUA BABCOCK HOUSE.
The mansion house of Dr. Joshua Babcock is located in the town of Westerly. It is a fine example of early colonial architecture and is admired for its strength and beauty. The Dutch tiles around the fire- places, the elaborate cupboards and ceilings, the carved and costly staircase, the secret closets, and great square rooms, all testify to the good taste and refinement of its builder.
Dr. Joshua Babcock was a major-general of militia, and also a member of the State's council of war during the period of the Revolu- tion, and his abilities and character gave him great prominence. Benjamin Franklin, while postmaster-general, in his official tours
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through the country, is said to have made the Babcock house his resting place; and it is also stated that he attached lightning rods to the doctor's residence. Here was established, in 1776, the first post-office in the town and Dr. Babeock was the first postmaster. The receipts of the office for that year were one pound, three shillings, and eight penee. Prior to the Revolution the nearest post-offiee was at New London, Conn.
"Dr. Joshua Babcock was born in Westerly, in the year 1707. He was graduated at Yale College, and soon after commenced the study of physic and surgery in Boston, and afterwards went to England to · complete his education. He settled in his native town, where he soon obtained an extensive practice. He was likewise much in public business. As chief justice of the Supreme
JITNE
BABCOCK HOUSE, WESTERLY.
Here Benjamin Franklin established a post-office in 1776, Franklin being a guest of Dr. Joshua Babcock, who was appointed postmaster.
Court of the State he pronouneed the sentence of death on the notorious Thomas Carter for the murder of Jackson. Dr. Babcock had two half-brothers and three sons, who were all graduated at Yale College".
Dr. Babcoek was elected one of the first eorporators of Brown University in 1764, and was one of the Board of Fellows in 1770, and is recorded in the History of the University as a Seventh Day Baptist. He died April 1, 1783.
In this house Col. Harry Babcock, a distinguished soldier of Rhode Island, was born, April 26, 1736. At the age of eighteen (1754) he was appointed eaptain of a company, composing one of a regiment
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raised in the Colony during the old French war, and marched to Albany, from thence to Lake George, and joined the army in the cam- paign of 1756, to dislodge the French from Canada. In 1757 Captain Babcock was promoted major; at twenty-one, was promoted to a lientenant-colonel; at twenty-two, he commanded the Rhode Island Regiment, consisting of 1,000 men ; and in July, 1758, marched 500 of his men with the British army against Ticonderoga. He had 110 men killed and wounded and was wounded himself by a musket ball in the knee. The next year he was with the force that took that fort under General Amherst. He had then served five campaigns in the old French war with great reputation. About the age of twenty-five,
F
BAKER HOUSE, CORNER WATER AND BAKER STREETS, WARREN.
Colonel Babcock spent a year in England, chiefly in London. Soon after his return he married and settled in Stonington, Conn., and com- menced the practice of the law. When the Revolution commenced he was a staunch Whig; and in 1776 he was appointed by the legislature commander of the forces at Newport. Early in the Revolutionary struggle he had a severe illness which so affected his mind as to give "incontestable proofs of insanity", and he was consequently retired from the service.
THE BAKER HOUSE AND BURR'S TAVERN.
Within the town of Warren is an old structure called the Baker
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House, situated at the corner of Water and Baker streets. Tradition asserts that this was one of the houses visited by the Hessian soldiers at the time Warren was attacked by the British forces in May, 1778. By some fortunate circumstance this house escaped being plundered, for it is said that one of the British officers ordered the marauders to keep away from it, and the house and its occupants were sparcd.
Here, too, was located the Burr Tavern, which formerly stood at the corner of Main and King streets, the latter now called Washington street. This hostelry was an important institution in the early days of the town, and here were entertained at different times many dis- tinguished individuals. During the days of the Revolutionary war Generals Lafayette and Putnam were numbered among the guests, and Washington was entertained here on his visit to Rhode Island in 1781.
THE JOHN CRAWFORD HOUSE.
The Crawford house, so called, was built by John Crawford, the youngest son of Gideon Crawford, one of the first merchants of Providence, who was born in 1693. He married, at the age of twenty- two years, Amey Whipple. From both of his parents, who had died previous to his marriage, he inherited a considerable estate. By his father's will he was to receive £100 upon arriving at the age of twenty- one, while from his mother he received £137-large sums of money in those days; besides these amounts, other property, lands and goods were inherited by him from both his father and mother.1
It naturally followed that when this young merchant established his home that a dwelling more pretentious than others in the town was provided.
When John Crawford acquired the land on which he built his dwelling, his warehouses and wharves, cannot be ascertained from the records. The land may have been a part of the estate of his father or mother, but there seems to be evidence to suggest that it was otherwise acquired.
This house was situated on what in those days was called the "Highway running from the main street to Elisha Brown's corn- mill"; this thoroughfare is to-day known as Mill street.2
In January, 1763,3 John Updike and Joseph Whipple, two merchants of Providence, sold to Joseph Nash, merchant, "two-thirds part of a certain lot of land situate in Providence aforesaid and butted and bounded as followeth, beginning at the northeast corner of a piece of land purchased by John Crawford of the Committee chosen by the Proprietors of the Lands in Providence on the East side of the seven
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