The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 102

Author: National biographical publishing co., pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Providence, National biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 868

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OOKE, GENERAL GEORGE LEWIS, the sixth son of Joseph S. and Mary (Welch) Cooke, was born in Providence, Septemher 16, 1821. On leaving school he entered the house of Cooke, Angell & Co., drygoods merchants, and a few years after- ward became a partner in the firm of Cooke, Anthony & Mahony, the successors of the first-named house. His connection with this firm was dissolved in 1846. A few months later he formed a copartnership with the late Wil- liam L. Baker, Esq. (who married a sister of his wife), in the shipping and commission business in New York, which continued nearly to his embarkation for California as part- ner of his brother Joseph, February 1, 1849. Upon the retirement of the firm of Cooke Brothers & Co., of San Francisco, in 1854, he returned to his native State, having purchased a home in Warren, in which he still resides. Soon after, upon the organization of the Sowamset Bank, Warren, he was chosen its President, retaining the position while it existed. The passage of the National Banking Law led to the supersedure of that institution by the First National Bank of Warren, whose stockholders were mostly identical with those of its predecessor, and he has been its President from the commencement. Early in 1860 the growing excitement upon national issues called him to political life for the first time. He was elected State Sen- ator from Warren to fill a vacancy. He presided over the " Young Men's State Convention " held at that time, and was elected to the Senate for the year 1860, being re- elected in 1861 and 1862, when he declined another re- election, having been chosen Quartermaster-General, an office whose duties during the years of his incumbency

were exceptionally arduous and important. He was chairman of the Finance Committee of the Senate for the entire period of his membership of that body. In the sec- ond year of the War of the Rebellion, on the formation of the Ninth Rhode Island Regiment, he was appointed its Quartermaster, but was soon after appointed to the Major- ity. When the Twelfth Rhode Island Regiment was en- listed for nine months' service, he served temporarily as its Major, and was shortly advanced to the Lieutenant- Colonelcy. This corps was stationed in the vicinity of the National Capital, which was threatened by the enemy. While thus engaged he was ordered home by Governor Sprague, with a view to his acceptance of the position of Quartermaster-General. In 1873, he complied with the wish of his fellow-citizens, irrespective of party, to serve the town as Representative in the Lower House of the Legislature; and under varying political circumstances was re-chosen in each of the five succeeding years, declin- ing further candidacy in 1879. He had from the first taken a conspicuous part in current legislation, especially while continued from year to year as chairman of the Finance Committee of the Lower House, although the Democratic party, with which he acted, was in a constant minority. Perhaps the efforts of no man during his long membership were more reflected in the legislation of the State. Through his exertions a salutary measure was at last accomplished, which his constituents, with certain of their neighbors, had for a full generation vainly striven to effect. This was the annexation to Warren of a strip of territory naturally forming a portion of the compact part of Warren, hut included within the town lines of Bristol, which town vehemently resisted the change. In the local affairs of his town, especially those of an educational char- acter, General Cooke has borne a prominent share from the day of his citizenship, as also in those of St. Mark's Church of that place, whose delegate in the Protestant Episcopal State Convention he has been during the entire period ; and besides being once delegated by that hody to the Tri- ennial General Convention of the Church, has for upwards of twenty years (a single year excepted) been annually chosen one of the Standing Committee of the diocese. From 1865 to 1875 he was the secretary, treasurer, and manager of the American Horse-Nail Company, of Providence ; and since 1873 he has been agent of the Sprague Sewing - Machine Company, Providence. He married, at Warren, Rhode Island, December 14, 1842, Laura Frances Wheaton, daughter of the late Nathan Miller and Content B. (Maxwell) Wheaton. They have had seven children : Annie Burrows Cooke, deceased ; Ella Cooke, deceased; George Lewis Cooke, Jr .; Leonora Cooke, Evelina Cooke, Marietta Cooke, and Frederica Cooke. George Lewis Cooke, Jr., graduated from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, July, 1870; studied law in the office of the late John A. Gardner, Esq., District At- torney for Rhode Island, 1870-71; entered Harvard Law

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School, September, 1871, and graduated in June, 1872; was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in November of the same year, and to practice in the United States Circuit and District Courts, November, 1875 ; made " Trial Justice " of Warren in 1875, and still holds that office .- Genealogy of the Russell Family, by Bartlett.

6 N EWELL, TIMOTHY, M.D., son of Stephen and Polly (Howard May) Newell, was born in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, March 29, 1820. He is of an old - Massachusetts family. His grandfather was the second town clerk of Sturbridge in 1739. His father entered the Continental army at the age of sixteen, and during a service of eighteen months rose from the rank of orderly sergeant to that of lieutenant, and was at the surrender of Burgoyne. He was one of the veterans to greet Lafayette on his last visit to our country in 1824, when the Marquis eagerly grasped him by the hand, and then stooping grasped the hand of his son Timothy, who well remembers the event. Stephen Newell was a man of firmness and decision of eharaeter, and was frequently elected to take part in the management of affairs of the town. Timothy inherited bodily vigor, and his early farm labors matured a sturdy constitution. His education besides his good home training was obtained by an attendance of three months each year at the district school. At the age of sixteen he had earned, by extra work, sufficient money to pay for a quarter's study at an academy. Thus self- reliant, without aid from others, he advanced, alternating between working, studying, and teaching. His academical studies were pursued at the Worcester Manual Labor High School and at the Wilbraham Academy. These were fol- lowed by his collegiate studies at Brown University with the class of 1847. His medical studies were pursued with Dr. Sylvanus Clapp, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and at the Vermont Medical College, from which he graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1850. He sub- sequently spent one winter at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city. His first settlement in pro- fessional life was in the town of Cranston, Rhode Island, where he remained three years, when he established him- self in Providenee, where he still continues his studious, laborious, and successful career. At the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1861 he immediately volunteered for the de- fence of the country, and was commissioned as Surgeon of the First New England Cavalry, afterwards the First Rhode Island Cavalry, and was mustered in with the command November 4, 1861. In this position, especially arduous, with mounted troops, he served in the camps in Rhode Island, in Washington, and in the advances and exposures in Eastern Virginia. After leaving this command in 1862 he was engaged in general hospital duty with the Army of the Potomac. Here he became acquainted with General Prim, of the Spanish army, on his visit to General McClel-

lan, and was invited to join his staff, which he refused, much to his subsequent regret. For a time he was a voluntary prisoner in the enemy's lines to care for the wounded of the Union Army. IIe fell into the hands of the rebels at Savage Station during the seven days' battles, and was ear- ried to Libby Prison, where he remained several weeks. His army experiences have been of great benefit to him in his profession. He is a member of the Providence Medical Association and of the Rhode Island Medieal Society, of which for two years he was the treasurer. In December, 1874, he called the attention of this society to the need of a rational system of school hygiene, and afterwards as chairman of a committee presented a report, a portion of which was widely published and commented upon in the periodicals of the country. Besides membership in several local associations he is a member of the American Medical Association, the American Health Association, and the American Social Science Association. Before the latter at Saratoga, in 1876, he read a paper on " The Changes De- manded by Physiology in our School System," that excited much interest, and was published in the New York Sani- tarium in the following April. His discussions of sanitary subjects have found their way into popular journals, and some of his plans have been recommended for adoption in other States. He has projeeted an admirable plan for a library of the State Medical Society, which is likely to be successful. His professional duties have not prevented the indulgence of his taste for history and poetry. He has made special studies of some of the great characters of Shakespeare. For several years he was a frequent and welcome visitor to the home of the gifted Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman. As a member of the Rhode Island Horticultural Society and a sharer in its discussions he has added par- ticularly in the culture of plums to the wealth of Rhode Island gardens. He married, September 19, 1867, Anna P. Smith (Bates), daughter of James W. Bates, late of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, and has one son, Claude Potter Newell.

RUSHMAN, ROBERT, manufacturer, was born on the old homestead in the western part of Attleboro, Massachusetts, September 12, 1821. He is a lineal descendant and namesake of Robert Cushman, one of the founders of Plymouth Colony. His parents were Captain Samuel and Sophia (George) Cushman, both of whom died in 1864, at an advanced age. His father served as Captain of the militia, and part of the time as Major, in the War of 1812, and for eleven consecutive years was one of the selectmen of Attleboro. Robert Cushman was educated in the country district schools and at the academies of Attleboro and Pawtucket. At the age of eighteen he commenced teaching a district school in his native town, and was thus employed for several years dur- ing the winter, the rest of his time being occupied in farm- ing. Having a natural aptitude for mechanics, he entered

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a turning-shop in 1844, and after working for others in Central Falls, Woonsocket, and Pawtucket, commenced, in 1847, in a very small way, the main business of his life,-the manufacture of spools for winding cotton, linen, and silk thread. At this time there were not more than three or four shops in the world (and those were very small) where such spools were made by machinery. Not being able to purchase such machines as were then in use, he and his workman invented and constructed machines which soon superseded all others, and were of such superior char- acter that, with later improvements, they are now in general use, although the business has increased several hundred- fold in this country. In 1850 he removed to Central Falls, and in 1857, across the river to Pleasant View, in Paw- tucket, Rhode Island, where, with his brother George, he built the spool factory, afterward enlarged, in which others still continue the business. He early established an envi- able reputation for superior work, and for many years was at the head of that branch of industry in this country. He invented the adjustable features of the pivot-hanger for shafting, now in general use. For some time he was also engaged in knitting by machinery, and invented valuable improvements in knitting machincs, one of which was pat- ented. He has realized but little from his inventions, however, while others have derived a large profit there- from. In 1874, his health being impaired, he sold out the business, retaining his factory, and some years after- ward, by losses sustained in the coal business (managed by others), in which he had previously invested extensively, the savings of his lifetime were swept away. But this mis- fortune did not impair his influence in the community, and to-day he is regarded one of the most useful citizens of the town in which he resides. Having no ambition for public honors, he has served the public but little in an official capacity, but endeavored to exert an influence for the en- actment of good laws and the election of good men to execute them. He served for two years as town council- man in Pawtucket before the consolidation of the two towns; and for the past two years has again served as a member of the School Committee. For two years he has been Vice-President of the Providence County Savings Bank. He has been an active worker in the temperance cause most of his life, especially in behalf of prohibition since the Maine Law first passed, and for several years has been a member of the board of managers of the Rhode Island Temperance Union, of which, for two years, he has been one of the Vice-Presidents. In 1841 he became a member of the First Congregational Church in Attleboro, and was elected deacon in 1848, retaining his connection with that church until 1858, when he joined the Congre- gational Church in Central Falls, of which he was also elected deacon in 1866, succeeding his brother George in that office after his death. In 1862 he was chosen superintend- ent of the Sunday-school of that church, which position he filled for over ten years. His brother, Richards Cushman,

was a minister, and died while engaged in missionary work on the Island of Hayti in 1848. Mr. Cushman married, in 1847, Louisa Draper, daughter of Ebenezer and Beulah Draper, of Attleboro, Massachusetts, and a descendant of Governor Bradford. They have had four children, three of whom are living, Ellen, Louisa, and Robert.

NOW, EDWIN MILLER, M.D., son of Nathan and Rhoda (Miller) Snow, was born in Pomfret, Ver- mont, May 8, 1820. His father was a merchant, and a descendant of William Snow, who was born e 6 in England in 1624, emigrated to Plymouth, Massa- chusetts, and afterwards was among the early settlers of Duxbury and West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The name of the wife of this emigrant settler was Rebecca Barker. Dr. Snow's mother was a native of Granville, Massachu- setts, and of English descent. He received his early edu- cation in the common school in Pomfret, and also attended, for several terms, different academies in neighboring towns. In 1838 he prepared for college at Kimball Union Academy, in Meriden, New Hampshire, and at the New Hampton Academic Institution, New Hampshire, from which he entered Brown University in September, 1840. An affection of the eyes obliged him to be absent from college during the second year, after which he resumed his studies, and graduated in 1845. In 1848 the degree of A.M. was conferred upon him by his alma mater. After his graduation he spent two years in teaching and in pursuing a course of study with a view of entering the medical profession. In 1847 he continued his medical studies with Dr. W. D. Buck, in Manchester, New Hamp- shire, and graduated in medicine at the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons in New York city, March, 1849. In June of that year he began the practice of medicine at Holyoke, Massachusetts, and in July, August, and Septem- ber following, treated many cases of Asiatic cholera, which then prevailed at Holyoke. In November, 1850, he re- moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where he continued the practice of medicine, and was soon afterwards ap- pointed Physician of the Eastern District of the Providence Dispensary. He served in this capacity for two or three years, during which time, in the summer of 1854, he at- tended numerous cases of cholera, and became much inter- ested in tracing the connection of the disease with local conditions of filth. A communication from him upon this subject, addressed to the Mayor of Providence, was pub- lished by the City Council, in March, 1855, and resulted in important changes in the Health Department of the city. In May, 1855, he was elected a member of the Common Council of Providence, and was appointed City Registrar of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, July 1, 1855, and also Health Physician and Health Officer at Quarantine. The office of Superintendent of Health was established in June, 1856, and he was chosen to fill that position. Since that

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time until the present (1881) he has been elected annually as City Registrar and as Health Officer by the Board of Aldermen, and has continued to fill the office of Superin- tendent of Health, first being appointed annually by that body, and for many years past having been chosen annu- ally by the vote of the people. He was appointed to su- perintend the census of Providence in July, 1855; was Superintendent of the State Census of Rhode Island in 1865 and in 1875; and was Supervisor of Census for the District of Rhode Island in the National Census of 1880. He also superintended a partial census of the city of Provi- dence in 1874 and in 1878. During the War of the Re- bellion, in the spring of 1863, he was appointed Inspector of Hospitals, by the United States Sanitary Commission, and spent several weeks in examining the military hospi- tals in Philadelphia and vicinity, and in visiting the Army of the Potomac opposite Fredericksburg. He was a mem- ber of and took a prominent part in the meetings of the Quarantine and Sanitary Conventions, which met first in Philadelphia, May 13, 1857, and in the following years in New York, Baltimore, and Boston, the convention in the latter city being held in 1860. He was a member of the National Prison Congress which met in Cincinnati in 1870; and a delegate from the State to the International Prison Congress in London, in July, 1872. From May, 1866, to May, 1869, he was an Inspector of the Rhode Island State Prison ; and a member and Secretary of the Board of State Charities and Corrections from the time it came into ope- ration, June 1, 1869, until December 6, 1872, when he re- signed. In 1850 he was elected a member of the Rhode Island Medieal Society ; in 1851, of the Providence Medi- cal Society; in 1853, of the American Medical Assoeia- tion ; was Secretary of the State Medical Society from June 30, 1852, to June 6, 1855; President of the same So- ciety from 1876 to 1877 ; and for several years Secretary of the Providence Medical Society. He was on the Com- mittee of Registration in that Society from 1853 to 1878, part of the time being chairman, and was author of sev- eral of the annual reports on that subject. He has been a member of the staff of consulting physicians of the Rhode Island Hospital since its establishment ; and is also a member of the American Academy of Medicine. In De- cember, 1868, he was sent as a delegate from the State to a convention held at that time in Springfield, Illinois, in rela- tion to the Texas cattle disease ; and was a member and chairman of the Rhode Island Cattle Commission from 187 1 to 1872, and from May, 1875, to May, 1878. From 1874 to 1878 he was chairman of the State Commission which built the new State prison in Cranston. He was sent as a delegate from the United States Government to the Interna- tional Statistical Congress, which met in St. Petersburg, Russia, in August, 1872. During the same season he made an extended tour on the Continent and through the British Isles. Dr. Snow was one of the original founders of the American Public Health Association, organized in 1872;

Vice-President of the same, 1872-74, and President in 1875-76. In June, 1855, he was elected a trustee of the Providence Reform School, and continued in this office, by an annual election, for twenty-five years, declining a re- clection in 1880. In 1876 he was elected a trustee in Brown University, which position he still holds. He is the author of numerous valuable pamphlets and reports, among which arc those on Asiatic Cholera, Small-pox, and other municipal sanitary subjects, on which his views have the weight of large experience and sound judgment; twenty- four Annual Reports upon Registration of Births, Mar- riages, and Deaths, in Providence, beginning with 1855 and still continued ; eight Annual State Reports on Reg- istration, from 1862 to 1867, inclusive, and 1876 and 1877 ; reports on the Census of the City of Providence, 1855, the Census of the State of Rhode Island, 1865, Census of the State of Rhode Island, 1875, and others. On the 30th of December, 1857, he read before the Rhode Island Histor- ical Society a History of the Asiatic Cholera in Provi- dence. In politics, Dr. Snow has been a consistent Repub- liean. He is widely and favorably known at home and abroad for his extensive knowledge in his special depart- ments of study, and for his sterling qualities of character. On the 14th of June, 1840, he united with the Baptist Church, in New Ilampton, New Hampshire, and on the 2Ist of November, 1850, transferred his relations to the First Baptist Church of Providence, which was then under the pastoral charge of Rev. James N. Granger, D.D. In September, 1852, he became clerk of the church, which office he has since held. He married, May 2, 1850, Ann E. W. Pike, daughter of Jonathan and Cynthia (Hathaway) Pike, of Providence. They have two chil- dren living, Elizabeth H., and Sylvester M.

ECKHAM, FENNER HARRIS, M.D., son of Dr. Hazael and Susanna (Thornton) Peckham, was born in Killingly, Connecticut, January 27, 1820. - His father was an able and noted physician of his day and had an extensive practice. Fenner H., after pursuing a course of academical studies, entered the office of Dr. Justin Hammond, a widely-known physician of Windham County, Connecticut, with whom, and finally with Professors Knight and Hooker of New Haven he studied medicine, and graduated from Yale Medical Col- lege in 1842. He commenced his medical practice in his native place, East Killingly, but soon after removed to North Killingly, now known as Putnam Heights, where he continued with success till 1852, when he settled in Providence, Rhode Island. While in his native State he became a member of the Connecticut State Medical So- ciety. Immediately after settling in Providence he secured a good practice, and became a member of the Rhode Isl- and Medical Society, of which he has twice had the honor of being chosen president. In addition to addresses, and

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James A. Budlong

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reports on special cases, he has contributed to literature a monograph " On Hydrophobia," first presented before the American Association, and "On the Topographical and Geological Condition of the Second District of Rhode Island," found in the report of Dr. Baxter in statistics of volunteer service. For a number of years he was Physi- cian and Surgeon of the Marine Hospital at Providence. On the opening of the Civil War he volunteered his serv- ices for the defence and preservation of the Union, and was commissioned, August 15, 1861, Surgeon of the Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery Regiment. He had first been assigned to duty with the Second Rhode Island Vol- unteers at Washington, and afterward had charge of the medical department of Camp Sprague, both before and after the first battle of Bull Run. He joined the Third Regiment after the command had reached and taken pos- session of Port Royal, South Carolina; but the enervating character of the climate, and his arduous duties compelled him to resign his position in February, 1862. In April, 1863, he was appointed Surgeon of the Board of Enrol- ment of the Second District of Rhode Island, and, at the request of Governor J. Y. Smith, officially visited Fort- ress Monroe, and continued his efficient services in con- nection with the Board till the termination of the Rebel- lion. Beside these national services and his large practice in the city, he has otherwise served the public professional- ly, as in the Medical Board of the Economical Life In- surance Company in its days of success. To his son, Dr. F. H. Peckham, Jr., who also served during the Rebel- lion in the Hospital Department of the army with the Third Rhode Island Regiment, and who for several years has been associated with him in practice, he has relin- quished the more arduous duties of his profession, as en- feebled health will suffer him only to engage in consulta- tion and minor services. He married Catharine Torrey, daughter of William Torrey, of Killingly, Connecticut, and had six children : Catharine F., Rosa F., Fenner H., Jr., Ella L. T., Sarah G., and Mary D. Rosa F., well known as a portrait and landscape painter, married George W. Danielson.

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 102

Author: National biographical publishing co., pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Providence, National biographical publishing co. Number of Pages: 868

Author: National biographical publishing co., pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Providence, National biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 868