The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 106

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

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terprise. He has been assiduously devoted to the prose- cution of his widely extended and constantly increasing business, and has contributed largely and in various ways to the rapid development of the industrial interests of the country, and to the public welfare. He has held numerous offices of trust and honor. At the Centennial Exposition he was one of the American judges in the department of cotton manufactures and machinery, and in 1878 was chosen President of the New England Association of Cot- ton Manufacturers. He married, May 27, 1835, Sarah F. Deming, daughter of Charles Deming, of Brighton, Massa- chusetts. They have had four children : Sarah, who mar- ried John W. Danielson; De Forest, deceased; Amelia De F .; and Mary, deceased. In early life Mr. Lockwood united with the Congregational Church in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and after various transfers of his church relation, is at present a member of the Central Congrega- tional Church at Providence. He served for two terms as President of the Rhode Island Congregational Club, and is identified with the different benevolent and charitable societies of the denomination with which he is connected.

ENDLETON, HON. JAMES MONROE, son of Gen- eral Nathan and Phebe (Cole) Pendleton, was born at Pendleton Hill, North Stonington, Con- necticut, January 10, 1822. The children of this family were Nathan S., Charles H., Enoch B., Phe- be E., De Witt C., William F., Sarah A., Susan A., Nancy M., James M., Lydia E., and Catharine K. Gen- eral Nathan was a descendant of Major Brian Pendleton, who, coming from the mother country soon after the Pilgrims, in 1620, settled in New England, and became distinguished in civil and military affairs; representing North Stonington in the State Legislature ten years ; becoming a Major in the War of 1812, and finally a General of militia; and won the reputation of an able, upright legislator, an accomplished officer, and an esti- mable citizen, having a record for patriotism, business ca- pacity, and piety that is proudly cherished by his descend- ants. His wife, Phebe, was of Scottish extraction, and a woman of superior talents and refinement. She died May 17, 1867, in her eighty-second year. General Pendleton died October 15, 1827, at the age of forty-eight. The sub- ject of this sketch remained at home, attending school, working on the farm, and assisting his brother, Enoch B., in a store, till he was seventeen years of age. He then at- tended the Connecticut Literary Institution, at Sheffield, Connecticut, defraying his expenses by his own exertions, closing his studies in 1844. Presenting his widowed mother with his surplus earnings, he went to New York, and was a salesman in a wholesale grocery store for two years. He then removed to Westerly, Rhode Island, and engaged in mercantile life, which he pursued successfully till 1854, when he became cashier of the Niantic (now Na-

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tional) Bank, on its organization, which position he held for seventeen years. In the meantime he had certain mer- cantile, manufacturing, and insurance interests, which were prosperous, and to the manufacturing and insurance busi- ness he has continued to devote himself. He was elected to the Senate of Rhode Island in 1862, and re-elected in 1863, 1864, and 1865. In 1868 he was appointed a delegate to the National Republican Convention at Chicago, and in the same year was chosen a Presidential Elector. He was elected a Representative to the Forty-second Congress in 1868, and in due time was re-elected to the Forty-third Congress. He was chosen a delegate to the National Republican Convention at Cincinnati in 1876. In 1878 he was elected to the House of Representatives of Rhode Island, and has been re-elected each succeeding year to the present time (1881). He has acted long and efficiently in the interest of public schools, and has ably served on the Board of State Charities and Corrections. In the Ma- sonic Fraternity he has held many and important offices. He united with the First Baptist Church, in North Stoning- ton, in 1832 ; held membership in the First Baptist Church, in Westerly, from 1847 to 1870, when he became a con- stituent member of the Calvary Baptist Church, of which he has been a liberal supporter. In 1847 he married Bethena Arabella Spencer, of Suffield, Connecticut. Having no children of his own, Mr. Pendleton has manifested great generosity and kindness in the education and care of his nephews and nieces. One of his nephews, bearing his name, became a lieutenant in the Union army in the Rebellion, and died of fever contracted in the service. Another, Charles H., brother of the above (both of whom were sons of Rev. William F. Pendleton), was educated by Mr. Pendleton, graduating from Brown University in 1878, and from Rochester Theological Seminary, in Ro- chester, New York, in 1881.

GREENE, EDWARD ABORN, President of the Na- tional Bank of Commerce, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, January 24, 1823. He is a great- grandson of Colonel Christopher Greene of Revolu -. tionary fame. His father is Simon Henry Greene, with whom he is extensively engaged in business as a bleacher and calico printer in the town of Warwick, Rhode Island. His mother was Caroline Cornelia Aborn, daugh- ter of Edward and Susan (Potter) Aborn, of Providence. She was a lineal descendant of Roger Williams. Mr. Greene is the oldest of a family of eleven children. He received his early education at private schools in Provi- dence, and afterwards continued his studies for one year at Brown University. In 1838, at the age of fifteen, he entered the counting-room of John L. Hughes, a leading manufacturer of Providence, prominently identified with the school system of that city, with whom he remained four years, and then was employed as clerk by Shubael

Hutchins, a commission merchant in cotton and cotton goods, in Providence. He remained with Mr. Hutchins in this capacity until 1847, when he was received as a part- ner, which partnership continued until the death of the senior member of the firm, in 1867. Mr. Greene was ap- pointed one of the executors and also trustee of the estate of Mr. Hutchins, and in this fiduciary relation still manages the property. In 1867 he became associated with his father and brothers, under the firm-name of S. II. Greene & Sons, successors of Greene & Pike, bleachers and calico printers, who originally established the business in 1828. Their works are located near River Point, in the town of War- wick, and are known as the Clyde Bleachery and Print Works, their products being called the " Washington Prints." This firm now ranks among the most successful and enterprising in the State. Being president of two banks, Mr. Greene is required to spend most of his time in Providence, the rest being devoted to the interests of the Bleachery and Print Works, and in the discharge of his duties as trustee of the estate of Mr. Hutchins and other estates. He was a charter member, in October, 1851, of the People's Savings Bank, of which he was elected direc- tor and served until October, 1874, when he was elected vice-president. This position he retained until April 16, 1877, when he was elected president, which office he now holds. He was an original director of the Bank of Com- merce, in June, 1851. This institution became a national bank in August, 1865, and on the 6th of March he was elected vice-president. On the 29th of January, 1877, he was elected president, succeeding Amos D. Smith, de- ceased, and has since served in that capacity. His career as a bank officer extends over a period of twenty-nine years, and in the discharge of the various official duties thus required of him he has exhibited rare judgment and ability as a financier. Mr. Greene has been a director of the Merchants' Insurance Company since its organization, in 1851, and is also a director in the Franklin Mutual Fire Insurance Company. Although a man of very decided views on all matters affecting the public welfare, he has never taken an active part in politics. He was formerly identified with the Whig party, and is now a Republican. Mr. Greene has held several public positions. In 1854-55 -56 he acted as aid-de-camp to Governor William W. Hoppin, and served in the same capacity during the first year of the administration of Governor James Y. Smith, ranking as colonel. He was a member of the Common Council of Providence, from the Second Ward, from 1855 to 1857, when he declined a re-election. During his term of service in that body he was chairman of the Committee on Finance. From 1858 to 1874 he was a member of the Providence School Committee, and was for many years chairman of the Committee on Accounts. Since 1877 he has been a trustee of the Rhode Island Hospital. In 1856 he united with Grace (Episcopal) Church, and since April 5, 1858, has been a member of the vestry. He married, No-

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vember 8, 1849, Hannah C. Smith, daughter of Amos D. and Sarah A. (Franklin) Smith, of Providence. They have liad seven children (five sons and two daughters), three of whom are living, Sarah Franklin, Edward Aborn, Jr., and Charles William. Edward graduated at Brown University in 1877, and is now in the office of the Print Works, and William is a student at Mowry & Goff's Classical School, preparing to enter Brown University.

ANTON, REV. JOSEPHI RANDALL, son of Dr. Shadrach and Amey (Randall) Manton, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, September 28, 1821. His father, a druggist and physician, son of Colonel Jeremiah Manton, an officer in the Revolution, died December 28, 1849, aged sixty years. His mother was a daughter of Dr. Stephen Randall, a surgeon in the Revolution, and a prominent physician in Providence, who died March 15, 1843, aged eighty years. The Mantons trace their ancestry to Edward Manton, an associate of Roger Williams, and one of the first settlers of Providence. The Randalls are descendants of Joseph Randall, who came from Brest, France, and settled in Providence, Rhode Island, near 1716. Originally, the Randalls, as well as the Mantons, had their homes in Eng- land. Joseph R., after passing through the public schools of Providence, prepared for college under Mr. Rhodes, the principal of an academic school kept in the Arcade, and entered Brown University under the celebrated Francis Wayland. He graduated in the class of 1842, giving the salutatory oration, being excelled in study only by the val- edictorian, Professor A. Harkness, LL.D. While in col- lege, in 1841, he united with the Fourth Baptist Church in Providence. After his graduation he taught for one winter in the Worcester Academy, then under Mr. Nelson Wheeler, afterwards a professor in Brown University. He then travelled for the benefit of his health to Charleston, South Carolina, to New Orleans, Louisiana, and thence to Nashville, Tennessee. At this point, purchasing horse and equipments, he made a leisure tour through Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, calling upon General Jackson at the famous Hermitage, and upon Henry Clay at Lexington. In climbing the cliffs at Shaker's Ferry he met with a severe fall, that was nearly fatal in its results. On reaching Tremont, in Illinois, he sold his horse and returned to Rhode Island by stages and packets. He then spent some time reading law in the office of Hon. C. S. Bradley. In 1846, having the Christian ministry in view, he went to the Theological Seminary at Hamilton, New York, to study the Hebrew language under Dr. Conant. In 1848 he entered upon the full exercise of the ministry with the Baptist Church in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and there in October received ordination. After three years, during which his abilities, piety, learning, and eloquence

greatly endeared him to his charge, ill health compelled him to remove from the raw and changing air of the New England coast. He settled with the Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tennessee, in the autumn of 1850, and served that body till 1857, meanwhile preaching much and widely in protracted meetings. Here, as elsewhere, his pulpit efforts were of a very high order. While using no manu- script, his discourses have ever been carefully and thor- oughly prepared in matter, method, and style. In 1857, he settled with the Vermont Street Baptist Church, in Quincy, Illinois, and remained there till the autumn of 1860, when, health again failing him, he removed to Min- nesota, and settled with the Church at Minneapolis. Here he labored successfully till 1865, when he removed to St. Joseph, Missouri, where, on account of political differences incident to the Civil War, he found his position a delicate one, but succeeded in a remarkable manner in harmonizing the conflicting elements. As a man and a preacher he held a superior rank and made many warm friends. Owing to an attack of partial paralysis, he was again obliged to re- sort to the healthful climate of Minnesota, and, in 1869, settled at Richfield, where he fostered and built up the Baptist Church of which he is now pastor. On his visits to his native State and the East, he is always welcomed by his host of friends and listened to with admiration. He married, October 16, 1850, Ann F. Helme, born July II, 1825, and daughter of Nathaniel G. Helme, of Providence, Rhode Island. She has superior skill as a painter, and is a successful teacher of music.

AYLES, HON. WILLIAM FRANCIS, founder of the Moshassuck Bleachery and the village of Sayles- ville, son of Clark and Mary Ann (Olney) Sayles, was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, September 21, 1824. His father, elsewhere sketched in this volume, is a descendant of Mary Williams, daughter of Roger Wil- liams, who married John Sayles, the surveyor of Rhode Island after Roger Williams obtained his patent. His mother was of the Olney family, so well known in Rhode Island history. William F. attended the Fruit Hill Classi. cal Institute, under Mr. Amos Perry ; the Seekonk Classical School, under Mr. Stanton Belden; and spent about two years in Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, his object being to acquire a thorough classical and mercantile education. In 1842 he entered the commercial house of Shaw & Earle, in Providence, at first as bookkeeper, then became salesman, and finally was intrusted with the man- agement of the finances. In December, 1847, he pur- chased the Pimbly Print Works in the present town of Lincoln, Rhode Island, about two miles west of Pawtucket, the site of his present celebrated establishment. Here on the banks of the Moshassuck, in one of the most romantic of situations, he commenced the operation of bleaching

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cotton cloths, and gave to his works the name of Moshas- suck Bleachery, the whole village now being known by the name of Saylesville. Beginning in small wooden buildings he in 1848 turned out about a ton of cloths per day, and in 1854 four tons per day. In June, 1854, the works were burned. Immediately they were rebuilt on a larger scale, and turned out six tons per day. From time to time they have been greatly enlarged, always in the most substantial, convenient, tasteful manner, and are now capable of turn- ing out forty tons of finished goods daily, or 325,000 yards. In 1863 Mr. Sayles received his brother, Frederic Clark, as his business partner. Their establishment has already become the largest and best bleachery in the world, and is a business monument to their talents, taste, industry, and energy. Here in the most improved manner are bleached sheetings, shirtings, lawns, and every variety of muslins. The buildings are chiefly of brick, and constructed with architectural beauty. The structures of every kind with their environments cover an area of about thirty acres. The centre of the grounds is graced by a little granite walled crystal lake, supplied by a rich natural spring, and shaded by ornamental trees. To the water-power of the Moshas- suck River as a motor has been added fourteen steam- engines, two of them being Corliss engines of about three hundred horse power each, and consuming annually more than twelve thousand tons of coal. The bleachery regularly employs about four hundred operatives; the buildings are lighted by gas manufactured on the premises; and about three million feet of lumber are used annually in making pack- ing boxes. In 1877 the Sayles brothers built the Moshas- suck Valley Railroad, which runs down the valley about two miles and connects with the Boston and Providence and Providence and Worcester roads. Of this corporation William F. is president and Frederick C. is treasurer. Soon after commencing business in this locality William F. established a day-school in the place, and in 1860 opened a Sabbath-school, which he has since maintained largely by his personal efforts and means, having been the superin- tendent from 1862 to the present time (1881). To meet the religious needs of the growing community in 1873 the brothers erected on the high grounds overlooking the bleaching works a beautiful memorial chapel of stone, in the Gothic style of architecture, measuring thirty-two by forty-eight feet, " to the memory of their deceased children," whose names are inscribed on marble tablets upon the in- terior walls on each side of the pulpit: " Louisa Marsh Sayles and Nannie Nye Sayles, children of William F., and Mary W.," being on the west side; and " Benjamin Paris Sayles, son of Frederic C. and Deborah C.," being on the east side. The chapel proper seats two hundred per- sons, and is superbly finished, and supplied with an excel- lent organ. It has also a well-furnished vestry-room below. In 1877 William F. erected a beautiful stone tower on the corner of the chapel, as a " memorial of W. C. Sayles," his son, who died at the age of twenty, while a member of Brown

University. The entire cost of the edifice is $26,000. The Moshassuck Bleachery, with its buildings, the tenements around it, the elevated grounds, the residences of the per- manent inhabitants, the chapel and the school-house, con- stitute the village of Saylesville, now acknowledged to be the model village of Rhode Island. In 1878 William F., in evidence of his appreciation of liberal learning and in further memory of his excellent son, William Clark Sayles (born October 12, 1855), who died February 13, 1876, while a Sophomore in college, a death deeply lamented in a wide circle, gave to Brown University $50,000, a sum which has since been increased to full $100,000, the entire amount appropriated to the erection on the University grounds of the large, elegant, stone edifice, the Sayles Me- morial Hall, on the front of which is inscribed, FILIO PATER POSUIT, MDCCCLXXX, being one of the most touching expressions of parental love known in the history of our country. Besides his extensive Moshassuck interests Mr. Sayles is a large stockholder in various corporations, such as the Slater Mill, in Pawtucket, of which he was the projector; the Ponemah Mills, in Taftville, Connecticut, of which he is a director; and mills in Massachusetts. He is President of the Slater National Bank in Pawtucket, and is a stockholder and the President of the Stafford Manufac- turing Company, of Central Falls. By the town of Paw- tucket he was chosen State Senator in 1875, and again in 1876. For a time he held the rank of lieutenant-colonel on the staff of the Pawtucket Light Guard. For about twelve years he was President of the Pawtucket Library Association, now the Pawtucket Free Library. In 1879 he was elected a trustee of Brown University. In 1870-72 he erected an elegant mansion on the heights overlooking Providence and Pawtucket, on the west side of East Avenue, where he now resides. He married, October 30, 1849, Mary Wilkinson Fessenden, daughter of Hon. Ben- jamin Fessenden, of Valley Falls, Rhode Island. Her father is elsewhere sketched in this volume. Her mother was of the distinguished Wilkinson family of Rhode Island. Mr. Sayles has had six children, three of whom are now living, Mary (married Mr. Roscoe S. Washburn), Martha F., and Frank Arthur. The immediate church relations of the family are with the Central Congregational Church in Providence. Mr. Sayles's Christian activity and benevolence correspond with his talents and prosperity.

MAMBARSONS, CHARLES WILLIAM, M.D., son of Dr. Usher and Mary (Jackson Holmes) Parsons, was born in Providence, September 6, 1823. His mother was the daughter of Rev. Dr. Abiel Holmes, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and sister of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, of Boston. He was brought up through much of his childhood in Cambridge with the Holmes family, his mother having died in June, 1825. He was a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1840, and

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studied medicine with his father and at the medical schools of Boston and Philadelphia. In 1843 and 1844 he was in Paris, where he completed his professional studies previ- ous to taking his degree. He was graduated as Doctor of Medicine at Harvard in 1845, and had conferred upon him the honorary degree of M.D. by Brown University in 1848. Immediately after his graduation he commenced practice in Providence, at first associated with his father. In 1846 he joined the Rhode Island Medical Society, and at different times has read carefully prepared papers before that body. Of this Society he was President, 1860-62. He is the author of several annual reports on the registra- tion of births, marriages, and deaths in the State; and of " A Report on the Medical Topography and Epidemics of Rhode Island," published in the Transactions of the Ameri- can Medical Association. On the organization of the Rhode Island Hospital he was appointed one of the four attend- ing physicians, and served in that capacity for seven terms, resigning at the close of the year 1874. In February, 1865, he was requested to lecture on Physiology in the Course of Instruction in Brown University, at first to fill a temporary vacancy, but the appointment was continued for six successive years. . The Hazard Professorship of Physics was then established, and Professor E. W. Blakc, the occupant of that chair, gave the instructions in Physi- ology for four years. In September, 1874, Dr. Parsons was appointed Professor of Physiology. In the following January he withdrew from the general practice of medi- cine, and has since devoted himself to the duties of his professorship. He married, October, 1853, Mary H. Boyl- ston, granddaughter of Ward N. Boylston, the distinguished benefactor of Harvard College.

REABURY, FREDERICK NILES, D.D.S., son of George Briggs and Patience (Thurston) Seabury, was born at Stone Bridge, Tiverton, Rhode Island, August 20, 1822. When he was quite young the family re- moved to Centreville, Warwick, Rhode Island, where he was employed on a farm, and subsequently in cotton and woollen mills, until he was seventeen years of age, having but few educational advantages. Being ambitious to bet- ter his condition, he went to Providence, in 1839, and served for three years as clerk in a broker's office, during which time he saved enough from his earnings to defray his expenses for a time at Smithville Seminary, North Scit- uate, Rhode Island (now Lapham Institute). After dili- gently pursuing his academic studies for six months, he returned to Providence, where he was employed as a clerk in the exchange office of Philip Case until 1848, having in the meantime made a wise and economical use of his spare time and money with a view to educating himself for his chosen profession. On the Ist of March, 1848, he entered the office of Dr. M. B. Mcad, dentist, in Provi-

dence, where he remained about three months, and then continued his studies at the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, at which institution he graduated in 1849. He then returned to Providence and opened an office in Westmin- ster Street, where he soon acquired a successful practice. For several years he was associated in business with Dr. A. B. Hawes. Though not always in the same office, he was located in the same street where he began the practice of his profession, until April 1, 1880, when he removed to 25 Union Street, where, with his son, he still enjoys a large patronage. Dr. Seabury has always manifested a progressive spirit in adopting the best improvements and methods in all the departments of his profession, and ranks among the most skilful and successful dentists of the State. He is an honorary member of the New York State Dental Association; an associate member of the Odontological Society of New York City; an honorary member of the Brooklyn Dental Society; a member of the American Academy of Science of Boston; and a member of the National American Dental Association. Since 1848 he has been a member of the Westminster Unitarian Congre- gational Society of Providence, of which he has also been president for several years. In 1873 he attended the Vien- na Exposition, and spent several months in Europe, visit- ing various points of interest. He married, September 28, 1852, Catharine Amelia, daughter of Captain Nathaniel and Maria (Sabin) Wheaton, late of Providence. They have had six children, five of whom are now (1881) living, Frederick Wheaton, who was educated in the Providence Public Schools, Highland Military School, Worcester, Mas- sachusetts, and at Harvard Dental School, and is now as- sociated in business with his father; George Thurston, who graduated at Mowry & Goff's English and Classical School, Providence, and is now in business in his native city ; Na- thaniel, now a member of the junior class of Brown Uni- versity ; Dwight, and Sophia Knight.

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 106

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