The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 107

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

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B BURROUGH, ROBERT STERRY, son of Robert Ster- ry and Esther Grant (Armington) Burrough, was born in Providence, December 13, 1814, and was the sixth of a family of children numbering five sons and two daughters. The father, at an early age, was appointed to a position in the Custom-House of the port, at its organization, under the Federal government, a position which he retained for nearly forty years. The emigrant patronymic ancestor was William Burrough, who married Sarah, daughter of the third Nicholas Power, and sister of Hope, the mother of the distinguished four broth- ers,-John, Joseph, Nicholas, and Moses Brown. She was also half-sister of Mary Power, the mother of Nicholas Cooke, the first Governor of Rhode Island, in the Revolu- tion. William Burrough, before he came to America, was in some way connected with the eminent house of Thrale & Co., London, most familiar to Americans of the present day

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through the Life of the celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson. The younger, Robert, on leaving school, entered the estab- lishment of Messrs. Smith & Dike, merchant tailors, of Providence, where his remarkable business aptitude speed- ily gave him a recognized efficiency beyond his years. A little incident occurring at this period may be related as a token of the keenness and decision which were to charac- terize the future man: As he was one day passing a neighbor's house he saw a stranger come out attired in a fine overcoat, whom he had just before seen going in without one. He increased his pace for a closer view. The stranger hastened his steps with an air of unconcern, but broke into a run upon being hailed by Robert. After a brisk half-mile chase both jumped down a height of some fifteen feet in a secluded spot, where the boy, discrediting the flimsy story of the man, collared him, insisting upon a disrobement; and his entrance with the purloined garment informed the astonished neighbor of the theft so nearly successful. While yet a stripling he obtained a clerkship with Messrs. Robinson, Brown & Co., South Water Street, merchants of the first rank. Here he remained for some years, supplementing his well-performed duties as employé by frequent and prosperous operations upon his own ac- count. Closing his relations with his employers, agreeable as these were, he, after passing some time as an individual merchant, accepted Dexter B. Lewis, Esq., as a partner, under the firm of Burrough & Lewis, which was of several years' duration. Another period of business without a part- ner was followed in 1854 by his association with his cousin, James Burrough, Esq., the firm-name being R. L. Bur- rough & Co. Twenty years of prosperity succeeded, and upon the death of James Burrough, in 1874, his son, Mr. Frank M. Burrough, took his place in the firm, which was finally dissolved by the death of its senior, at his resi- dence in Charles Field Street, September 28, 1877. The immediate cause of death was a disease of the heart, which had repeatedly threatened such a termination on occasions that severely taxed his powers of endurance. The chief subject-matter of Mr. Burrough's business was the cotton and woollen industries of his native State, the materials used in which, and, in a lesser degree, their manufactured products forming the staple of his transactions, which, however, were by no means confined to them. He was hardly less a capitalist than a merchant. But what- ever direction his enterprising spirit might take, the same shrewdness, and, almost invariably, the same suc- cess attended it. Nor was the benefit of his sagacity con- fined to himself. It was sought and readily conferred upon many, including not a few who themselves held no mean rank as business men, yet whose own prudence led them to avail themselves, upon occasions, of the admit- ted superiority of Mr. Burrough in intuitive discernment and sound judgment relative to matters within his pecu- liar province. Seldom is it that a man who holds himself so aloof from every species of official station, is neverthe-

less so creative, or at least, so suggestive, of movements promotive of the public good as was he. That the end desirable should be accomplished was his only desire. Others might figure prominently in the matter, and enjoy a credit for which he cared nothing; for it seemed that he shunned rather than solicited popularity, and to appreciate him it was necessary to see him beneath an exterior which the multitude might be pardoned for misinterpreting. Everybody knew him as a successful man. Everybody knew him as a man of his word. But these traits alone win respect rather than popularity; and when a friend would sometimes remonstrate with him for " putting the worst side out," he was sure to retort with some witticism so apt that the friend was fain to forget his censure in his merriment. His tall, erect figure, stately gait, and well-cut features all seemed indicative of a self-poise which, in a man of wealth, the crowd regard with a disfavor for which the student of human nature is at no loss to account Mr. Burrough did not marry until he reached middle-life. His wife was Martha Howell Walker, daughter of the late Ap- pleton and Wait Field (Howell) Walker. Her mother was a daughter of the Hon. Jeremiah B. Howell, and a grand- daughter of the Hon. David Howell-names of distinction in the political and judicial annals of Rhode Island. Mrs. Burrough descended also from those Brown and Rhodes families coeval with its settlement. She survives her hus- band, with their only child, a daughter scarcely attained to womanhood.

ODMAN, GENERAL ISAAC PEACE, was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, August 18, 1822. He was the eldest son of Samuel Rodman. He was engaged in the quiet pursuits of business when the Civil War broke out. A member of the State Senate when the troubles commenced, he was disposed, at the outset, to counsel moderation and forbearance. But when it became evident what were the plans of the South, he entered, with all his heart, into the work of preparation to meet the foe. Among his own friends and fellow-citi- zens he raised a company of soldiers for the Second Regi- ment of Rhode Island Volunteers. Of this company he was chosen the captain. After the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, in which the Second Rhode Island Regi- ment took a conspicuous part, Captain Rodman was ap- pointed Colonel of the Fourth Rhode Island Regiment. On the IIth of January, 1862, Colonel Rodman, with his regiment, joined General Burnside's expedition to North Carolina, and performed most important service in the battle of Roanoke Island. Also, at the battle of Newbern, the regiment of Colonel Rodman distinguished itself by its bravery. Ordered to charge upon a battery of five guns, they marched at the double-quick and carried the whole battery, with the two flags which had been waving over it, and planted the " stars and stripes" on the parapet. The commission of a brigadier-general was Colonel Rodman's

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reward for his gallant conduct on that memorable occasion. Fort Macon soon fell before the attack of our soldiers, in which the Fourth Rhode Island Regiment took a leading part. Soon after the victory gained at this point General Rodman was prostrated with typhoid fever, and returned to his home in South Kingstown, where he remained until he was sufficiently restored to health to warrant his return to his military duties. He was acting Major-General, having the command of a division in the left wing of the army in its movements on Frederick, Maryland He per- formed most acceptable service at the battle of South Mountain. At the battle of Antietam he was among the foremost in the attack on the enemy. In a charge up the heights, where had been placed batteries by the Confeder- ates, he was shot by a Minie ball in the left breast, at the same time that his Aid, Lieutenant R. H. Ives, Jr., was wounded in the thigh by a cannon-ball. He was taken to the hospital, where he received the most careful attention. His wife, father, and family physician hastened to his bedside, as soon as the news of his disaster reached them, and his last moments were soothed by the presence and cheered by the sympathies of those he most loved. He lingered until the 29th, and then passed on to the other world. In General Rodman's life and conduct it was said of him, "there were no extravagancies. If he had one characteristic more strongly marked than another, it was his retiring modesty. He was an humble professor of our holy religion. From the time he left home, in the spring of 1861, to the hour of his fall, his Bible was his daily com- panion, and was daily read by him. When they stripped his person they found it in his bosom, clotted with his blood." General Rodman married Sally, daughter of Governor Lemuel Hastings Arnold. Their children were : Isaac, Sally, who married Robert Thompson, Mary P., Thomas, and Samuel.

BAYLES, FREDERIC CLARK, partner in the Moshas- suck Bleachery, son of Clark and Mary Ann (Olney) Sayles, was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, July 17, 1835. He was favored with unusual home advantages, and while a lad was notably ami- bitious in his studies. For about five years, beginning near 1840, he spent his winters in Savannah, Georgia, where his father was engaged in the wholesale lumber trade. While in that city he attended its best schools, and had as a classmate Charles H. Olmsted, the after- famous Colonel of Confederate forces in Forts Pulaski and Wagner; and he remembers with a feeling of just pride that the Yankee boy from Rhode Island bore off the pre- mium of the school for good scholarship. After passing through the schools of Pawtucket he pursued his studies in the University Grammar School in Providence, under Messrs. Lyon and Frieze, and at the Providence Con- ference Seminary in East Greenwich, under Professor

Robert Allen, where he graduated with honor in Junc, 1853. In July following he entered the employ of his brother, William F., in the Moshassuck Bleachcry at Saylesville, laboring for five shillings per day, sweeping the rooms, invoicing the goods, and performing any ser- vice that was required. Resolved upon success in busi- ness, so far as knowledge and faithfulness might assure it, he made a thorough study of all the mechanism and operations of the large establishment, diligently engaging in every department of the work with a view to its mastery. Thus with rigid application and fidelity he labored for ten years, when, January 1, 1863, he was received by his brother as a partner in the extensive and constantly ex- panding business. From that date the Moshassuck Bleach- ery has been conducted by the firm of W. F. & F. C. Sayles, William F. looking after the finances, the con- tracts, and the outside management; Frederic C. giving special attention to the conduct of the local affairs and the details of the operations in the establishment. Their united efforts were crowned with remarkable success, as men- tioned in some particulars contained in the sketch of Wil- liam F. in this volume. Their taste, intelligence, thrift, and enterprising spirit are expressed in their works and in the whole village of Saylesville, with its superb Memorial Cliapel. The valley of the Moshassuck, with its beautiful village and railroad, testifies to their rare sagacity, industry, perseverance, and executive talents. From over-exertion in labor, and nervous exhaustion, occasioned by sickness and death in his own family and that of the family of his brother, Frederic C., in 1877, was obliged to seek rest and recuperation by travel. In June, 1878, he crossed the Atlantic, and spent three months in England, Scotland, France, Belgium, Germany, and Austria. Not having re- alized all the bodily benefit that had been hoped for by the journey, he returned to the Old World, accompanied by friends, in October, 1878. His second tour embraced London, Paris, the South of France via Bordeaux, Pau, Nice, Geneva, and other attractive, historic places. Re- turning to Paris, he was joined by his wife and family in May, 1879, and they, together with friends, passed through Belgium (visiting the field of Waterloo), Holland, the Hague, Germany, Switzerland, over the Alps in the road trodden by Napoleon's army, through the Simplon Pass, into Italy, visiting the Italian lakes, Milan, Venice, Trieste, and Vienna; returning by Bavaria, Munich, Stuttgard, Strasburg, Paris, London, Scotland, the romantic portions of Ireland, and then homeward, having delightfully and profitably spent a year. A third tour to Europe, occupy- ing about three months, was made by Mr. Sayles in 1880, accompanied by his wife and one child. He mar- ried, October 16, 1861, Deborah Cook Wilcox (born November 26, 1841), daughter of Robert and Deborah (Cook) Wilcox, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, who had six children : Julia (married Edwin Gerauld), Louisa (married Simon E. Thornton), Charles H., Deborah C.,

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Robert C., and Annie (married (1) George S. Mitchell, and (2) Josiah C. Blaisdell). Thomas Wilcox, Robert's father, served in the Revolution, and was one of the dar- ing party of forty-one, led by Colonel William Barton, who captured General Richard Prescott on the island of Rhode Island, July 10, 1778. Mr. Sayles has had four children, Carrie Minerva, Frederic Clark, Benjamin Paris (deceased), and Robert Wilcox. The religious connec- tions of the family are with the Central Congregational Church in Providence, of which Mr. and Mrs. Sayles are active members. The fine family residence, built in 1868, with its large and tastefully arranged grounds, graces the eastern slope of the height south of Pawtucket, which it overlooks, and is on the east side of East Avenue, near the line of the city of Providence. Besides his interest in the Moshassuck Bleachery, and in the Moshassuck Valley Railroad, of which he is treasurer, Mr. Sayles is con- nected with various interests and enterprises. He has held a commission on the staff of the Pawtucket Light Guard, with the rank of major. He is a director in the State Na- tional Bank of Pawtucket and in the Merchants' National Bank of Providence. He is a trustee of the Franklin Sav- ings Bank of Pawtucket, and is concerned in other corpo- rations. By the special encouragement and aid of the Sayles Brothers, W. F. and F. C., there was organized in Saylesville, June 2, 1880, the Memorial Chapel Congrega- tional Church, of twenty-five constituent members. The Sabbath-school held there has registered, during the past year, one hundred and seventy-nine members, with an average attendance of one hundred and twenty-three. At the hands of the Sayles brothers, public enterprises and benevolent causes always meet with hearty encouragement and generous support.

HEATON, JAMES L., M.D., was born in Seekonk, Massachusetts, in 1823, and is a descendant of Robert Wheaton, an associate of Roger Williams. Robert Wheaton's son Ephraim was a clergyman, and inherited a farm in Rehoboth, which has never passed out of the family, having descended by inheritance from generation to generation. On the old homestead James Wheaton, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in 1794. In the early part of the present century he removed to what is now a part of Pawtucket, being then a portion of Seekonk, but prior to 1812 embraced in Reho- both. In 1828 a part of Seekonk was cut off and made an independent town in Massachusetts, under the name of Pawtucket. Here Dr. Wheaton spent his boyhood. Hav- ing a predilection for the medical profession, he availed himself of favorable opportunities to prepare for college, but failing health compelled him to forego a collegiate education. His health finally improved, however, and when he was about twenty years of age he began his med- ical studies under the guidance of Drs. Barrows and Man-

chester, and subsequently attended several courses of lec- tures at different towns, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine from Berkshire Medical College, Pittsfield, Mas- sachusetts, in the spring of 1847. In June of that year he entered upon his professional career in Pawtucket, where he has since continued in active practice, his residence, however, being changed to North Providence, directly opposite Pawtucket, in 1852. In early life he took an active part in politics, and for two years, 1857 and 1858, represented the town of North Providence in the Rhode Island General Assembly. While a member of that body, he served as chairman of the Committee on Education, in which position he commenced an agitation for reform in the policy, then adhered to, of excluding colored children from the public schools in Providence, Newport, and Bris- tol, separate schools being provided for them, and the priv- ilege of attending the High School being denied them. Dr. Wheaton made reports to the General Assembly in favor of a change, which, although being the reports of the minority of the committee, have since borne fruit. For seven years he was associated with Dr. Manchester, but for the past sixteen years he has been comparatively alone in practice, as his old associate was constrained to retire from the profession on account of the infirmities of age. During his professional career, Dr. Wheaton has enjoyed vigorous health, and has been equal to the demands of his large practice. In 1871 he associated with him his son-in- law, Dr. J. A. Chase, who still continues with him. Dr. Wheaton has been a successful physician and a useful citi- zen, and as such is honored and respected in the commu- nity where he resides. He married, in 1850, Anna M. Jencks, of Grafton, Massachusetts. They have had four children, three of whom are living. His eldest daughter, Martha Jencks, has been twice married ; first, to Dr. Wil- liam P. White, who died, 1870; and second, to Dr. J. A. Chase, a promising physician of Pawtucket. His second daughter, Anna Frances, was married, in 1862, to Mr. S. Frank Dexter. The name of the youngest child is James Lucas. Dr. Wheaton was President of the Rhode Island Homoeopathic Society for the years 1876, 1877, 1878.

ocom.nos AYES, HON. WINGATE, son of John and Sarah Clough (Guy) Hayes, was born in Farmington, New Hampshire, August 4, 1823. After pursu- ing a preparatory course at Gilmanton, New Hamp- shire, and the Phillips Academy, Exeter, New Hamp- shire, he entered Brown University, and graduated in the class of 1844. He commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. Richard W. Greene, and was admitted to the bar in 1847. He devoted himself to the duties of his profession with great diligence, and soon came to be recog- nized as an able lawyer. In addition to his strictly pro- fessional duties, he was called to important posts in civil life. For several years he was clerk, first of the House

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of Representatives, then in the Senate of the General As- sembly. For five years (1851-56) he was a member of the Common Council, and for three of these years president of the same. He was, for three years (1854-57), one of the Commissioners for revising the Statutes of Rhode Isl- and, and at another time, for three years (1869-72), was called to perform the same important duty. For several years he was Assistant-Adjutant General and Division In- spector, holding the rank of colonel. He represented the city of Providence for two years (1859-60) in the General Assembly, being the Speaker of the House in the latter of these years. President Lincoln appointed him United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island in 1861, which position he filled for ten years, with rare ability and suc- cess. With added years of life his responsibilities kept in- creasing. For several corporations, especially for that of the Boston and Providence Railroad, he performed import- ant duties as their legal adviser and counsel. In the midst of his labors he was stricken down with disease. After lingering a few months he died in Providence, October 16, 1877. He married in August, 1849, Abby M., daughter of Charles I. Bowler, of Providence. Their children were three sons and three daughters.

ROWN, WELCOME OWEN, M.D., son of Welcome and Freelove (Owen) Brown, was born in the town of Barton, Vermont, March 27, 1822. His parents early emigrated from Rhode Island to Ver- mont. His father was born in North Providence, Rhode Island, but removed, after his marriage, to Vermont, when that State was being settled, near the close of the last century, and became a thrifty farmer. He was a lin- eal descendant of Rev. Chad Brown, one of the first settlers of Providenee and an associate of Roger Williams. Dr. Brown's mother was a daughter of Hon. Daniel Owen, Chief Justice of Rhode Island from 1791 to 1795. She had three brothers: Daniel, a merchant, who died early ; Joseph, who removed to Vermont; Thomas, who lived to an advanced age and died in Glocester, Rhode Island. Her sister, Amy, married Hon. Asa Aldis, of Vermont. Dr. Brown's father had a brother and several sisters. One of his sisters married Andrew Angell, of North Providence, and another married Freeman Fisher, of Providence. He was twice married; first, to Phebe Farnum, and, second, to Freelove Owen. The children by the first marriage were : Elisha, Amy, Joseph F., and Clarissa; and by the second marriage : Phebe, Daniel O., Waitstill W., and Welcome O. Dr. Brown attended the schools and acad- emies of Northern Vermont, and pursued his classical studies, first, in the private sehool of Rev. C. E. Ferrin, in Vermont, and at the Friends' Boarding-School in Provi- dence. For several winters he was a successful teacher in Tiverton, Little Compton, and at the Friends' School in Providence. He studied medicine in Providence under

Dr. Wheaton Rivers, and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania with the degree of M.D., in 1852. With the study of medicine and surgery he maintained his strong native passion for liberal letters and scientific investigations, and has ever lived in the higher realms of thought and pur- pose. After graduation he practiced his profession for one year in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and in 1853 removed to Providence, where he has continued a studious, active, and uncommonly useful career. He steadily rose in his pro- fession, and won the esteem and confidence of his pro- fessional brethren and the public generally. He has filled the offices of Secretary of the Rhode Island Medical So- ciety and President of the Providence Medical Association. Dr. Brown's contributions on professional subjects, many of which have been published in medical periodicals, tes- tify to his ability and wide range of study. He was the originator of the Providential Dispensary, of the city of Providence. His many labors and plans led at last to the seeuring of the charter, in 1871, for a free public library, art gallery, and museum of natural history, of Providence, which, by amendment, has issued already in the Free Pub- lie Library, opened in 1878. For twelve years he was Physician to the Providence Dispensary, and served, in like manner, as a benevolence, to the Old Ladies' Home and to the Shelter for Colored Children. For eleven years he was the President of the Franklin Society, and largely advanced its interests by his wise management of its affairs and the contribution of able reports and papers. As a member of the Committee on the Public Schools of Provi- dence, for a long time, he has furnished valuable papers, and is about to give to the press the report of 1880. He is also a member of the Rhode Island Historical Society, of the Rhode Island Society for the Promotion of Domes- tic Industry, and of the Rhode Island Horticultural Soci- ety. Politically he is a Republican. To the cause of temperanee and education he earnestly lends his aid and influence. Religiously he adheres to the principles and practices of the Friends. Dr. Brown ranks as one of the most scholarly and upright physicians of Providence.

BIGGINSON, COLONEL THOMAS WENTWORTH, author, son of Stephen and Louisa (Storrow) Higginson, was born in Cambridge, Massachu- setts, December 22, 1823. His father was a well- known Boston merchant and philanthropist. His grandfather, Stephen Higginson, who lived to the advanced age of eighty-five years, was a member of the Continental Congress, a bitter opponent of John Haneock, and widely celebrated as an author. This Stephen Higginson was a descendant of Rev. Francis Higginson, who was born in England, in 1587, and educated there, at Cambridge ; was persecuted as a non-conformist, and hence came to America, in 1629, and settled at Salem, Massachusetts. The subject of this sketch graduated at Harvard College in 1841, and

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at Harvard Theological School in 1847. He was soon afterwards settled as pastor of the First Congregational Church at Newburyport, Massachusetts, and continued as such until 1850, when he resigned. During the same year he was the Free-Soil candidate for Congress from that dis- trict, but was not elected. From 1852 to 1858 he was pastor of a free church at Worcester, and was an active opposer of slavery. The leading part which he took in rescuing the slave Anthony Burns from the United States Marshal at Boston, in 1853, secured for him a sabre-cut in the face and an indictment for murder, but he was released on account of a flaw in the indictment. In 1856 he went to Kansas to assist in organizing the Free-State settlers, who were opposed by pro-slavery men from Missouri. He was one of "Jim " Lane's staff officers in Kansas, and was afterwards intimate with John Brown of Harper's Ferry distinction. In 1858 he retired from the ministry, and has since devoted his energies to literature and politics. Early in the Rebellion he raised several companies of volunteers in Massachusetts, and was commissioned as captain. In 1862 he became Colonel of the First Colored Regiment of Volunteers, in South Carolina, where he did good service with them, and also in Florida. With this regiment he took Jacksonville. In 1863 he was wounded in an engage- ment on Edisto River, and thus was compelled to leave the military service in October, 1864, from which time, until his tour in Europe, in 1878, he resided in Newport, Rhode Island. Since 1864 he has devoted his time to lecturing and to publishing his various works. He has been a fre- quent contributor to The Atlantic Monthly, Scribner's Monthly, The Nation, The New York Independent, New York Tribune, Woman's Journal, and Macmillan's Maga- zine, London. His published works are: Thalatta, in 1853; Outdoor Papers, 1863; Harvard Memorial Biog- raphies, 1866; Epictetus, 1865; Malbone, an Oldport Ro- mance, 1869; Army Life in a Black Regiment, 1870; Atlantic Essays, 1871 ; Oldport Days, 1873; Young Folks' History of the United States, 1875; Young Folks' Book of American Explorers, 1877 ; Short Studies of American Authors, 1879. Colonel Higginson is well known as an advocate of woman's suffrage. In 1847 he married Mary Channing, daughter of Walter Channing, M.D., and niece of the celebrated William Ellery Channing. After her death, in 1878, he removed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he now resides. In 1876 he prepared The Centen- nial Report on the History of Education in Rhode Island, by appointment from the General Assembly.

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 107

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