The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 103

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

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G UDLONG, JAMES ARNOLD, eldest son of Joseph Stone and Mary Ann (Arnold) Budlong, was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, March 1, 1823, and is a lineal descendant of Francis Budlong, the first settler of the name in the Colony of Rhode Isl- and. His father and grandfather were market gardeners in Cranston, and his father still lives on the old homestead, at the age of seventy-seven. From a genealogical table prepared by Joseph A. Budlong, of Providence, it appears that the family is of French extraction, the original French surname being " Budlon," and that Francis Budlong mar- ried Rebecca Howard, widow of Joseph Howard, on Fri- day, March 19, 1669; both of whom and all their chil- 58

dren, except John, were massacred by the Indians at the outbreak of King Philip's War. John Budlong, who was then a child three or four years of age, was rescued by his mother's family, the Lippitts, who resided in Old War- wick, at what is now known as Horse Neck. John Bud- long finally became a large landowner in Warwick. The dwelling-house built and occupied by him is still standing, and is now owned by Henry W. Budlong. The following is the line of descent : Moses Budlong, Samuel, Samuel second, and Joseph, the father of James Arnold, the sub- ject of this sketch. Mr. Budlong was educated in the com- mon schools of his native town, and at Smithville Seminary, North Scituate, his school attendance being confined to the winter terms, the rest of the year being devoted to farm work. When he was nineteen years of age he began to teach school, and taught five winters in the public schools in Cranston and Johnston. During his minority he gave nearly all his earnings to his father, by whom he was sub- sequently employed at a stated salary until he was twenty- seven years of age, when he commenced farming on his own account. He hired the homestead farm from year to year until 1856, when he bought a farm of sixty acres on the Pontiac road and turned his attention to gardening, in which he has ever since continued with great success. He has increased the size of his farm by subsequent purchases until it now embraces two hundred acres, half of which is under the highest state of cultivation and so skilfully man- aged as to yield a large return for the capital and labor ex- pended on it. It is amply provided with hot-beds, green- houses, steam-pumps and hydrants, and every convenience for market gardening, some of the gardens being protected by groves. There are also thrifty orchards of apples and pears. He has a fine residence on the place, dwellings for laborers, and numerous well-arranged buildings for stock, farming implements, and other purposes. Mr. Budlong's son is associated with him in the business, the firm-name being J. A. Budlong & Son. It is esti- mated that their receipts for garden and orchard products during the past ten years have amounted to between $30,000 and $40,000 per year, and that the receipts for the year 1880 exceed $50,000, with a clear profit of from $12,000 to $14,000. Their sales of produce are generally made in Providence, where they have a place of business on Canal Street. For the past twenty years Mr. Budlong has also been extensively engaged in bringing Western apples to the Providence market, from the sale of which he has realized handsome profits. He is an ener- getic, enterprising business man, of a cheerful, social and benevolent disposition, and has attained success by con- stant industry, economy and upright dealing. For several years he has been a member of the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry, in which he takes an active interest. He has served as Justice of the Peace and held various town offices, but has generally avoided politics and declined public positions. He is a

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member of the Stewart Strcet Baptist Church in Provi- dence. Mr. Budlong married, August 23, 1850, Eunice Burlingame, daughter of Samuel and Barbary (Randall) Burlingame. They have had two children, Frank L., and Julia M. The latter died at the age of eight years. Frank L. has had an interest in the business of his father since 1873, and now owns about forty acres of the farm in his own right. He originated the hot-bed and green-house part of the business, of which he has had almost entire charge, and has managed it with great success. Being a prac- tical gardener, he superintends the work in person, making careful study of the latest and best methods and plans. He was born in Cranston, August 23, 1851, and educated prin- cipally at Mowry & Goff's Classical School in Providence. For several years he has been a member of the Rhode Isl- and Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry. He married, January 3, 1869, Melissa P., daughter of Lo- renzo and Lucy A. (Sweet) Sherman. They have three children, James A., Florence M., and Harry A.

WAIN, REV. LEONARD, D.D., first pastor of the Central Congregational Church, Providence, was born in Concord, New Hampshire, February 26, 1821. Concerning his childhood and youth we know but little. At the early age of sixteen he entered Dartmouth College, where he was graduated with honor in the class of 1841. Having resolved to preach the Gos- pel, he entered upon a course of theological training at Andover, Massachusetts, under the special guidance of the Rev. Dr. Edwards A. Park. He was graduated in 1846, and at once entered upon the work of the Christian ministry, in Nashua, New Hampshire. His rare natural and intellec- tual gifts, combined with great zeal and eminent spiritual attainments, soon made him a power in the Church, and gave him a widespread reputation as a preacher, in the denomination especially to which he was attached. Upon the formation of the Central Congregational Church, in Providence, he was chosen the pastor. Here for seven- teen years he labored with singular efficiency in the Mas- ter's service, until he was obliged to succumb to the dread disease which, for almost two years, had been consuming his life. He died on the 14th of July, 1869, at the age of forty-eight. As a pulpit orator he had hardly his equal in the churches around him. His style was bold and stately. He had a round, ringing voice, which, while it lacked, perhaps, the gentler persuasive tones, con- veyed in its accents earnestness and conviction. His imagination was vigorous and his power of expression af- fluent. Though reserved in society, he had genial wit and a kindly temper. On various occasions he had been named for high academic posts, and in 1857 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by the Board of Fel- lows of Brown University. But a short time before disease attacked him he had been urgently pressed to take charge

of an important church in Chicago. He was, however, permitted to close his honorable and useful life among his own people, to whom he had so long ministercd, and by whom he was tenderly loved. The following among a series of resolutions adopted by the church at the close of the afternoon services, July 18, 1869, expresses in brief the character of Dr. Swain and the estimation in which he was held : " Resolved, That in his intellectual culture, in his moral sensibility, in his personal sense of religious obliga- tion, in his strong affinity for spiritual truths, in his clear perception of duty, seldom or never clouded by doubt, in his heroic discharge of such duty, in his quick and respon- sive sympathy for the sick and the afflicted, in his diligent and devout preparation for the fulfilling of his professional obligation, in his earnest and unreserved consecration to Christ and his service, and in the simplicity of a holy walk and conversation, he has left to us the memory of a life al- most faultless, and worthy the imitation of every Christian minister and brother." Three children survive Dr. Swain, viz. : a son, who is a student at Beloit College; a daugh- ter, who also resides at Beloit; and a second son, who is a student in Brown University. His wife died several years before his death.

ALBOT, REV. MICAH JONES, D.D., Presiding Elder of Providence North District, Methodist Episcopal Church, son of Hon. Micah J. and Betsey (Rich) Talbot, was born at East Machias, Maine, Febru- ary 25, 1821. He is a descendant of the Talbots, of England, the ancestor of the American branch of the family being Peter Talbot, who came from Lancashire to this country about the year 1670. While attending a boarding-school in Edinburgh, l'eter Talbot was seized by a press-gang and taken on board a man-of-war which soon after sailed for the American coast. The ship came into Narragansett Bay and anchored above Newport, when young Talbot, who had no fondness for the kind of life into which he had been forced, made his escape by swim- ming to the shore in the night. Making his way over the island of Rhode Island, he sought shelter in Massachusetts, . and after a series of adventures and escapes, reached Dor- chester, near Boston. It was his purpose to return to England, but, his plans having been repeatedly frustrated, he settled in that part of Dorchester which is now called Stoughton, where many of his descendents continue to re- side. From this town, in 1771, Peter Talbot, grandfather of Rev. M. J. Talbot, emigrated to the eastern portion of Maine, and assisted in building a town where was only a wilderness. There were no roads, the place was only ac- cessible by sea, and the pioneers there, as elsewhere, en- dured hardships, and were rewarded by the development of characters which make prosperous commonwealths. The Massachusetts form of faith and worship was retained in the offshoot transplanted from the Bay Colony, and in the

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faith of the puritanic school the subject of this sketch was trained; but when he came to independence of thought was led by his earliest convictions to embrace the more liberal theology held by the Methodists. Mr. Talbot pur- sued his course of preparatory studies at Washington Acad- emy in his native town, and entered Wesleyan University, where he graduated in 1843. After pursuing a course of private study he entered the ministry in the Providence Conference, receiving his first appointment to Centreville, Rhode Island. In April, 1847, he was ordained deacon at Fall River, Massachusetts, by Bishop Hedding, and in regular course, in April, 1849, was ordained Elder by Bishop Hamline, at Princetown, Massachusetts. After a ministry of six years in Massachusetts, he was returned to Providence, where he was pastor of Mathewson Street Church, and afterwards to Fall River (St. Paul's Church), and Marlboro Street Church, Newport. In 1858, having been elected Principal of Providence Conference Seminary, at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, he removed thither and took charge of that institution, which position he held until his resignation, in 1862. Two years were now passed in freedom from public labors except in supplying such occa- sional vacancies as occurred in various pulpits, and regu- larly officiating for three months for the Power Street Church, while its pastor was absent in the field, serving as chaplain of Rhode Island Volunteers. Having been ap- pointed, in 1864, to the pastoral care of the church at Bris- tol, he retained that charge until August, 1865, when he was elected the first Superintendent of Public Schools in Newport. To this work he gave diligent and assiduous attention, and under his direction was initiated the excel- lent system of gradation which has characterized the schools of that city, and given them the high rank which they hold. He continued to reside in Newport until April, 1868, when he became pastor of the First Church in Pawtucket. At the close of one year the office of Presiding Elder of New Bedford District was given him, and the next year the same relation to Providence District, in the superintendency of which he continued for four years-the limit fixed by the law of the Church. Three years in the pastorate at War- ren, and two at Phenix, were succeeded, in April, 1879, by a reappointment to the superintendency of Providence North District. He has been much concerned with public schools, having been chairman of school committees while residing at East Machias, Newport, East Green- wich, and Bristol, and a member of the School Committee of Warren, has been thrice elected to represent Providence Conference in the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, viz., in 1868, 1872, and 1880. In 1872 he was elected by the General Conference, for a term of four years, a member of the committee under whose super- vision the publishing interests of the Church are conducted ; was chairman of the Eastern Section of the Committee, and Secretary of the whole body, and has been for twenty-one years Sccretary of the Providence Conference.

He has been invited to professorships in various literary institutions, and declined. In the spring and summer of 1873 he was acting Principal of the Seminary at East Greenwich, in addition to the duties of the Presiding El- der's office. In 1872 his Alma Mater conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. While resid- ing at Newport he was editor of the Daily News, and from 1856 to 1868 was a regular editorial contributor to two periodicals. He has been twice married, first, in August, 1847, to Eliza D., daughter of Edward Slade, of Somerset, Massachusetts, who died in Providence, in August 1863; and, second, in November, 1871, to Martha A., daughter of William Gardiner, of Providence. Of four sons and two daughters, two sons and one daughter survive,-Emory H., a journalist hy profession, George P., an agriculturist, and Anna M.

SAVIS, COLONEL JAMES, son of James and Asenath (Byam) Davis, was horn in Western, Oneida County, New York, May 6, 1821. His father was born in Johnston, New York, November 8, 1769, and was of Welsh and Scotch descent. His mother, of Puritan descent, was born in Templeton, Mas- sachusetts, April 12, 1780. They had nine children : Abra- ham, Catharine, Sarah, Jacob, Elizabeth, David, Benjamin, James, and George W. James, at the age of nine, was put to work on a farm, and at thirteen was bound to a farmer till his majority. On account of the hardships to which he was subjected, he ran away, in 1840, and on be- ing arrested by his old master, compromised the account, and entered the service of a new employer, devoting all his earnings to the payment of the old one, which left him in a destitute condition. In 1841 he began to learn tan- ning and currying, and after mastering his trade, he removed to Providence, in 1844, where he worked as a journeyman till December 15, 1846, when he commenced husiness for himself on leased land in Pawtucket, upon Pleasant Street, having a small shop for tanning picker and lace leather for factories. In 1849 he bought the land and tannery of Smith Wilkinson, of Pomfret, Connecticut, being the last deed executed by Mr. Wilkinson, and in the fall of 1849 enlarged his works about threefold. In 1850, foreseeing that belt-making for machinery would be a large branch of industry, and as only three parties were then engaged in it, Mr. Davis decided to enlarge his business in this direction. In 1853 he doubled his works and put in the first steam- engine to drive his machinery that had ever been used for such purpose. He soon added improvements that have been adopted throughout the country. In 1863, by experi- ments, he discovered a process of tanning leather quicker and better than by the old processes, and obtained for his method letters-patent of our government. He now en- larged his works tenfold, and so prospered that jealous eyes were upon him. Some attempted to use his patent

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without his consent, and some hoped to reach his secret by hiring his help. Being eminently successful in his busi- ness, many of his friends applied to him for aid. By freely lending and indorsing, and entering upon some outside enterprises, he lost large sums of money. Profiting by his experience, he suggests the following : " Pursue steadily the business that you best understand ; always have control of your own money ; help such as will help themselves ; do not refuse to assist when you are prospered, nor assist with reluctance, but only so far as not to injure yourself, or your family, or your creditors; never live exclusively for dol- lars, but to do right." Colonel Davis united with the First Methodist Church, of Pawtucket, in April, 1850, and was soon elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees, which position he has held for thirty years. He was Superintend- ent of the Sabbath-school for seventeen years. For the past twenty-six years he has been a Trustee of the East Greenwich Seminary. For four years was a Trustee of the Franklin Savings Bank of Pawtucket. He was a charter member of the Pawtucket Light Guard, in 1857, and soon after held the rank of Major on Colonel Stephen Bucklin's staff. For three years he was a Major on Brigadier-Gen- eral Olney Arnold's staff, and from 1863 to 1868 was As- sistant Quartermaster on Major-General Arnold's staff. During the rebellion he lent his purse and influence to the Union cause. He was Colonel of the Nineteenth Regi- ment of Rhode Island Volunteers, not called out. In 1873 he was commissioned Colonel of the Pawtucket Horse Guards. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1862-63-65 and 1866, serving in 1862 and 1863 on the Finance Committee. He was again elected in 1877-78-79 and 1880, serving in 1878-79 and 1880 as Chairman on the Committee on Militia. In 1876 he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention, at Cincinnati, which nominated President Hayes. He married, March 17, 1846, Harriet E. Cheeny, of Attleboro, Massachusetts; she was born June 7, 1820; the issue of the marriage being five sons and two danghters. The sons died young. The daughters are Anne O. and Julia Ida. Anne O. married William H. Bosworth, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, November 10, 1870, and has three children, James D., Bosworth M. S., and William H., Jr.

ILLEY, BENJAMIN JAMES, son of John Tabour and Margaret (Nicoll) Tilley, was born in New- port, Rhode Island, November 20, 1821. He was In- a descendant of one of the oldest families of New- port. His first American ancestor came from Eng- land about 1710. His grandfather was a deacon in the North Baptist Church, and his father was a prominent member of the First Baptist Church of Newport. He was the youngest of nine children. Besides enjoying the or- dinary school advantages of his day, he was a pupil of the then distinguished teacher, Levi Tower. For some time he served as clerk in the commission house of William Vose.

At the age of seven he injured his hip by a leap from the steps of the State House, which crippled him for life. In his early youth he began the news business with a bundle of papers under one arm and a crutch under the other, and soon afterwards established the first successful news stand in Newport. In 1848 he opened the news store now occu- pied by his son, R. H. Tilley, at No. 128 Thames Street. At the commencement of the war, in 1861, his business in- creased very rapidly, and so eager was the demand for war news that his store was daily crowded with customers. Mr. Tilley was one of the most useful citizens of Newport, and such was his personal popularity that he was twice elected to the Rhode Island General Assembly, in 1864 and 1865, though honestly differing politically with the ma- jority of his constituents. During the Rebellion he exhib- ited much patriotism and kindness by his constant endeav- ors to supply the wants of disabled soldiers at the Ports- mouth Grove Hospital, and by his kind and sympathetic attentions at the bedside of the sick and dying. His ear- nest and self-sacrificing labors in this direction called forth expressions of gratitude from hundreds of soldiers. Mr. Tilley was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, having been advanced to the highest degree in the order. He married, December 2, 1849, Mary C., daughter of Captain Edward E. and Rebecca (Chapman) Taylor, of Newport. Their only child, Risbrough Hammett Tilley, born September 1, 1850, is his father's successor in business. Mr. Tilley died in Newport, July 31, 1866.

SPALDING, REV. AMOS FLETCHER, son of Amos and Mary (Warren) Spalding, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, January 12, 1821. Concerning his childhood and youth we know but little. He attended the excellent public schools of his native city, gradu- ating from the High School with honor. Soon afterwards he engaged in mercantile pursuits. On the closing Sunday evening of the year 1837 he listened to a powerful dis- course from the late Rev. Dr. Baron Stow, which arrested his attention and led to his conversion. He united with the Charles Street Baptist Church, under the pastoral care of the venerated Rev. Dr. Sharp. His varied gifts and accomplishments gave him prominence among the young men of the church. He was a good linguist, a fine writer and speaker, and an excellent singer, understanding thor- oughly the rules of music. The conviction was naturally forced upon him, and upon those with whom he was asso- ciated in the church, that he had a higher calling than that in which he was engaged, and he resolved to devote his life to the preaching of the Gospel. As the first step in the work of preparation he entered the Baptist Academy in Worcester, of which Nelson Wheeler (afterwards Professor in Brown University) was Principal. In 1843 he entered Brown University, and at once took high rank as a scholar. His genial temper and cultivated manners made him a

ym Linkham

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favorite both in college and in society. Being in straitened circumstances, and unwilling to incur obligations which he could not readily discharge, he taught for several winters a large public school in West Dedham, Massachusetts. He graduated with his class in 1847. Upon leaving college he entered the Theological Seminary at Newton Centre, Massachusetts, where he studied under President Sears and Professors Hackett, Ripley, and Pattison. His first settlement was in Montreal, Canada. He was afterwards pastor in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he remained four years; in Calais, Maine, where he remained four years; in Warren, Rhode Island, ten years; in Norwich, Connecticut, five years ; and in Needham, Massachusetts, where he was pastor at the time of his death. He died suddenly of heart disease, at the railroad station in Chelms- ford, the Friday after Thanksgiving, November, 1877, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. During his ministry of twenty-seven years he preached upwards of 2500 sermons, baptized 300 persons, married 165 couples, and attended 375 funerals. These details, slight as they are, show the activity and zeal of the man, and to a certain extent indicate his widely extended usefulness. He was in- stalled as pastor of the Baptist Church in Warren in De- cember, 1860. This venerable church had been founded by President Manning as early as 1764, before the infant college over which he presided was removed to Provi- dence. The one hundredth anniversary of the church occurred on the 15th of November, 1864. Mr. Spalding preached the centennial discourse on that occasion, which was published and extensively circulated. In October, 1852, he married Caroline E. Sanderson, daughter of the late Deacon Sanderson, of Brookline, Massachusetts, and sister of the first wife of Rev. Dr. Ashmore, missionary to Burmah. She, with an only daughter, survive him.

EWCOMB, COMMANDER HENRY STEARNS, U. S. N., was born at Newport, Rhode Island, August 31, 1821. He was the son of Henry Stearns and Rhoda (Mardenborough) Newcomb. His ancestry were of highly respectable social standing, and his earliest progenitor in this country, Francis Newcomb, came to America in 1635, and settled in Braintree, Massachu- setts. His father, Henry Newcomb, was a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, and performed a gallant part in defending Fort McHenry against the British fleet in the War of 1812. The subject of this sketch received his early training in the schools of Providence, and pursued his studies preparatory to entering college in academies at Plainfield, Connecticut, and at Andover, Massachusetts. It was his desire to follow his father's profession, and enter the naval service. Yielding, however, to the wishes of his mother, he became a member of the Freshman class of Brown University in 1836. He remained a year at the University, and then his desire to enter the navy having in-

creased, his mother gave her consent that he should have his wishes gratified. He received a midshipman's com- mission July 21, 1838, when he was not quite seventeen years of age, and was soon promoted to the rank of passed midshipman. His commission as a Lieutenant in the navy bears the date of June 28, 1853. While on duty in the squadron on the African coast, he was detached from his vessel to bring to this country a captured slave-ship, the Panther. In consequence of the unseaworthy condition of the vessel it was an undertaking of very great hazard, but was successfully accomplished. Soon after the com- mencement of the Civil War he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander, and in September, 1862, to a still higher rank, that of Commander. He commanded the steamer R. B. Forbes in the naval battle at Port Royal. It was a shot from his vessel that cut down the flag-staff at Fort Walker. Having for some time had command of the brig Bainbridge, he was transferred to the steamer Mag- nolia, and, in 1863, was appointed to the command of the gunboat Tioga, then with the East Gulf Blockading Squad- ron. He reached his ship early in October. A severe and fatal illness seized him soon after, and he died October 24. His service in the navy covered a period of twenty- five years and two months. The body of Commander Newcomb, after having been interred for some time in the cemetery at Key West, was removed to Providence and buried in the Old North Burying-ground.

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 103

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