The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 112

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

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ciated with him his son Gilbert F., since which time the business has been conducted in the name of Gilbert F. Whipple, who has also been intrusted with the general management of the interests of the firm. Mr. Whipple's career as a manufacturer extends over a period of twenty- eight years, during which time he has acquired an ample fortune. In the town of Glocester, adjoining Burrillville, he owns a farm of two hundred and fifty acres, under good cultivation. There he spends much of his time, though having some one to look after the general management of the farm-work. He has never held any public position, except local town-offices, though often requested to allow the use of his name as a candidate. He has been a mem- ber of the Republican party during its existence, and was formerly a Whig, but has never taken an active interest in politics. He married, April 20, 1854, Adaline Smith, daughter of Jeremiah and Celia (Eddy) Smith, a native of Burrillville. They have had but one child, Gilbert Francis, before referred to as general manager of the manufacturing business.

BLANDING, WILLIAM BULLOCK, merchant, son of Colonel William and Mary R. (Bullock) Blanding, was born in Providence, August 2, 1826. His father, who died in 1845, at the age of forty-seven, was a prominent business man of Providence, and highly respected in the community. Colonel Christopher Blanding, father of Colonel William, was an officer of the Revolutionary army, and many members of the family occupied prominent public and social positions. The American ancestors came from England and first settled at Plymouth, but subsequently removed to Rehoboth, Mas- sachusetts, being among the earliest settlers of that town. Mr. Blanding's mother was also descended from an old English family, and a coat of arms is still preserved as a souvenir of the family. Mr. Blanding attended the public and private schools and received a classical education. At the age of eighteen he entered the drug store of Edward T. Clark, on North Main Street, in Providence, and soon attained a proprietary interest, succeeding to the business in 1849. His increasing trade necessitated the establish- ment of a branch house, and in 1873 he bought the stock of Dyer Brothers, on Weybosset Street, where he has since carried on a wholesale drug business, and where he is also largely engaged in the manufacture of medicinal prepara- tions. His business career has been attended with success, and he is recognized as one of the leading merchants of the State. Since the organization of the State Board of Pharmacy in 1870, Mr. Blanding has been one of its mem- bers, and has also been President of the Rhode Island Pharmaceutical Association. In 1853 he became a mem- ber of the United Train of Artillery, for ten years held a lieutenant's commission, and is now a member of the Vet- eran Association connected with that organization. He

has long been identified with the Masonic order, having joined Mt. Vernon Lodge, No. 4, of Providence, in 1854. In 1857 he organized What Cheer Lodge, No. 21, and was its first Master, serving two years in that office. He also held various offices in Providence Royal Chapter. In 1855 he received the order of Knighthood in St. John's Com- mandery, of Providence, and was Generalissimo of the same during the pilgrimage to Richmond, Virginia, in 1859. In 1860 he was one of the founders of Calvary Commandery, of which he was Commander in 1866. He has been Senior Grand Warden and Deputy Grand Master in the Grand Lodge of Masons, and is Past Grand Gen- eralissimo of the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He has taken all the degrees in An- cient and Scottish Rites, including the thirty-third degree. In politics he is a Democrat, and has taken an active part in canvassing the State in the interest of his party, especially from 1859 to 1865, though he has never held public office. He married, November 13, 1851, Mary A. Remington, daughter of Oliver and Electa A. (Bosworth) Remington, of Providence. They have one son, William O. Blanding, who married, March 17, 1875, Rosella Cornell, of Provi- dence.

JEFFT, THOMAS ALEXANDER, architect, was born in Richmond, Rhode Island, in 1827. Early in life he developed a remarkable taste for architecture. He pursued his course of academic and collegiate studies, having constantly in view the profession which he intended to follow. He was a graduate of Brown University in the class of 1851. Immediately on graduat- ing he opened his office in Providence, and was soon fully occupied with his professional duties. He made the plans and superintended the erection of many buildings in Prov- idence. His reputation extended far beyond his home, and his services were in constant demand in other cities and States of the Union. Six years of great success were devoted to the study and practice of his art. In order to study the choice models of architectural grace and beauty in the Old World, he went to Europe, and visited Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany. Two years were devoted to this foreign trip, and he had laid up large stores of useful information, which were to be at his command when he once more should resume his professional work. While on his second visit to Florence he was smitten down by a fever, the seeds of which had previously been sown in his system, and he died December 12, 1859. While abroad Mr. Tefft became much interested in the application of the decimal principle to currency, and prepared an elaborate article on the subject, which was read before a meeting of the British Association for the Promotion of Social Science. The paper was praised by the public press, and the subject discussed awakened much interest in various quarters. Had Mr. Tefft lived and been able to prosecute his pro-

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fessional work, there is no doubt that he would have taken a very high rank among the architects of the country.

ASWELL, PHILIP, JR., eldest child of Philip and Elizabeth Caswell, was born in Jamestown, Rhode Island, March 21, 1827. His father was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, January 10, 1803, I and his mother was a native of the same place, the date of her birth being April 15, 1809. Mr. Caswell was educated in the common schools in Jamestown and at the Latin school of Thomas P. Nichols in Newport. He pursued the study of medicine and pharmacy with Dr. Rowland R. Hazard, of Newport, and in 1851 entered the drug business in that city with R. R. Hazard, Jr. (adopted son of Dr. R. R. Hazard), under the firm-name of Hazard & Caswell. In the summer of 1859 the firm opened a drug store in the city of New York, corner of Broadway and Twenty-fourth Street, under the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Mr. Caswell remained in Newport during the summer, but in the fall went to New York and purchased his partner's in- terest in the business. Soon afterward he formed a co- partnership with Henry Q. Mack and John R. Caswell, his brother, and established the firm of Caswell, Mack & Co., which continued for several years. In 1872 Mr. Cas- well sold to Mr. Hazard his entire interest in the drug business, again taking up his residence in Newport. He then became President of the National Exchange Bank of Newport. In 1873, on the incorporation of the Island Savings Bank, he became President of that institution, which offices he held until his death. In 1867 he visited Europe, and for the purpose of perfecting his drug business, travelled in England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Switzerland, and attended the French Exposition. In 1873 he visited the same countries and Austria, and at. tended the Vienna Exposition. While abroad he pur- chased, at great expense, a rare variety of roses, and after his return devoted considerable attention to floriculture and also to grape culture, making large shipments annually, both of roses and grapes, to the New York market. Mr. Caswell was a member of the Central Baptist Church in Newport, and while a resident of New York was a great friend and patron of the Howard Mission of that city. He married, January 9, 1877, the only daughter of William Allan, of Newport. Mr. Caswell died February 22, 1881, at Jacksonville, Florida, whither, on account of impaired health, he had gone for the winter to escape the rigor of the New England climate. In announcing his death the Newport Mercury spoke of him as follows : " He was an active and capable man of business, and had the complete respect and confidence of the community. His business life was a success. As a friend he was highly and warmly esteemcd. He lived a consistent Christian life, and was a leading and honored member of the Central Baptist Church. He contributed with a liberal hand to the church, and to

the poor and nccdy everywhere. In his death the com- munity loses a most cstimable citizen."

ARNOLD, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOB, son of Ste- phen G. and Mary (Angell) Arnold, was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island, January 18, 1827. Early removing to Providence, he was educated in the city schools. From his thirteenth to his seven- teenth year he was employed in a drygoods house, with his brother John, in New York. Returning to Providence he learned of Payton & Hawkins the trade of a jeweller and engraver, and pursued that business till 1861, meanwhile taking a great interest in books, machinery, and horticulture, and the political questions of the day. At the beginning of the Civil War, being a member of the First Light Infantry Company, he volunteered, at the first call for troops, enter- ing the field as a member of Company D, in the First Rhode Island Detached Militia, and took part in the first battle of Bull Run, as one of the carbineers under Captain F. W. Goddard. On being mustered out he dili- gently pursued the study of military tactics, and re-entered the service in the Fifth Rhode Island Volunteers as Cap- tain of Company E, and participated in the Burnside Ex- pedition to North Carolina. His gallantry was revealed at Roanoke and at Newbern. At the siege of Fort Macon, in April, 1862, his company was always in the advance. After the reduction of the fort he came into command of the regiment, and soon greatly improved the drill and knowledge of his men. In November, 1862, he took an active part in the expedition under General Foster to Tar- boro; and in December, in the advance on Goldsboro, par- ticipating in the battles of Kinston, Whitehall, and Golds- boro, receiving the praise of the commanding General. Early in 1863 he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth Regiment, but was immediately transferred, with the same rank, to the Seventh Regiment, and joined this last command near Winchester, Kentucky. In June his corps was ordered to join the Army of the Tennessee be- fore Vicksburg, but, before reaching General Grant, was ordered to Snyder's Bluff, on the Yazoo. On the surrender of Vicksburg the Seventh pursued the flying foe, and, July Ioth, was at Jackson ; July 12th, aided by the Sixth Mas- sachusetts, destroyed five hundred yards of Mobile & Ohio Railroad; on the 15th they skirmished all day, losing two officers and eleven men ; on the 20th left Jackson ; on the 24th reached Snyder's Bluff; August 8th embarked for Cairo; and on the 20th reached Nicholasville, Kentucky. The regiment was then ordered to Lexington, and could report only eighty men for duty. In this campaign, Colonel Arnold, always on the alert, and unwearied in serving his men, contracted a malignant army disease that confined him to his bed, led to the order to be sent home for re- covery, and finally terminated his life. He left the front in November, 1863, but his resignation was not accepted

Bishop of Granidance

1880

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till May 28, 1864. No truer or more devoted officer was found in the service. Regaining some strength he ven- tured into business with the firm of Mooney, Gleason & Co., in the manufacture of gas-burners. When Mr. Gleason sold his interest to General James Shaw, Jr., the firm took the name of Mooney, Arnold & Shaw. He married, June 16, 1864, Anna Maria, daughter of Job Angell. During the last year of his life he was seldom able to leave his room. As much a martyr to his country as though he had fallen in the trenches of Vicksburg, he finally died of his army disease, December 28, 1869, in his forty-third year. His characteristics were cheerfulness, promptness, bravery, and fidelity. " He was as complete a specimen of the citizen soldier as Rhode Island contributed to the suppres- sion of the Rebellion."

HO'OR

ENDRICKEN, RT. REV. THOMAS FRANCIS, D.D., Bishop of Providence, was born May 5, 1827, on Chapel Street, city of Kilkenny, Ireland. His parents were John and Anne (Maher) Hendricken.

3 The first of his father's family who settled in Ire- land was a German who belonged to the army of the Duke of Ormond, and who took part in the battle of the Boyne, in 1691. Bishop Hendricken pursucd his early studies in the academies of his native city ; entered St. Kyran's Col- lege in 1844, where he finished a course of rhetoric and mathematics ; and in 1847 succeeded in winning a vacancy in the Royal College of Maynooth. After spending six years in this renowned theological seminary, he was or- dained to the priesthood by Rt. Rev. Bishop O'Reilly, of the diocese of Hartford, then visiting in Ireland, and imme- diately set out for this country. His first mission was at the old Cathedral, Providence, in 1853. He then spent a few months between Newport, St. Joseph's, Providence, and Woonsocket. Finally, in 1854, he was settled as pas- tor in the parish of West Winsted, which comprised that village and the country for fifty miles around. In those days there were but few communicants of the Catholic Church in that region, and money was scarce; yet with the money at hand, in the space of sixteen months, the young priest paid for a church that was heavily in debt, and purchased and paid for lots in different villages, on every one of which a church stands to-day. In 1855 he was re- moved to Waterbury and appointed pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, where he ministered for seventeen years, leaving it only to obey his superiors and accept the episcopal labors in another diocese. During his ministerial career in Waterbury he built a costly Gothic church, a school house, and pastoral residence ; purchased and laid out a beautiful cemetery, and founded a convent where the sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame, from Montreal, still continue to conduct a flourishing boarding and day school for young ladies. He early identified him- self with the cause of education. Shortly after his arrival

in Waterbury, seeing that his parishioners were poor and unable to employ a teacher, he opened a school and added the office of school teacher to his other laborious duties. For many years he was a member of the Board of Educa- tion, and was employed on its most important committees. In 1868 he received from Pius IX. the degree of Doctor of Divinity. On the division of the diocese of Hartford, in 1872, Dr. Hendricken was made Bishop of Providence, where he was consecrated April 28th of the same year. The new diocese embraces the State of Rhode Island and a large portion of Southeastern Massachusetts. He visited Rome in 1873, and again in 1878 to pay his respects to the new Pope, Leo XIII. Since his consecration the number of priests and parishes in the diocese of Providence have been doubled ; churches and chapels have been largely augmented ; schools have been opened in many places ; the Jesuit Fathers brought to Providence ; the French Nuns of Jesus and Mary to Fall River; and the educational es- tablishments of Bay View and Elmhurst have been formcd. He also brought the Ursuline Nuns to teach the parish schools and academy at St. Mary's, Broadway. Bishop Hendricken has exhibited untiring zeal and indomitable energy in promoting the spiritual and temporal concerns of the different churches over which he has been placed. Dur- ing the twenty-four years of his ministry he has purchased and paid for properties valued at upward of one million dol- lars. When he arrived in Providence to take possession of his diocese there was a considerable debt upon the Ca- thedral parish, but it was liquidated within a few months. There was also an imperative demand for a suitable resi- dence for the bishop and clergy, and a building for that pur- pose was built and paid for at a cost of about forty thousand dollars. A cathedral worthy of the city, the diocese, and the growing Catholic population, became a necessity, and the bishop undertook the erection of such an edifice, which is now (1881) rapidly approaching completion, and will be the crowning work of his life. The lot upon which the old church stood not being large enough for the new build- ing, an additional lot was purchased for the sum of thirty- six thousand dollars. A temporary place of worship had to be provided, and the Pro-Cathedral was erected, at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, on a lot on Broad Street owned by the Cathedral corporation. The new Cathedral on High Street will be one of the finest church edifices in New Eng- land. It is a Gothic structure and will cost about four hun- dred thousand dollars. There is no mortgage upon any portion of the property belonging to the Cathedral corpo- ration. This is remarkable, especially when we consider that this has all been accomplished during years of unpre- cedented financial depression, and that during the prosecu- tion of the work the bishop has been suffering from ill health, frequently being confined to his bed. His success is attrib- utable to his utter disregard of personal interests and entire devotion to the duties of his high calling, together with a happy gift of communicating his own spirit and tenacity of

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purpose to his assistant clergymen and the members of his congregation.

STAPLES, REV. CARLTON ALBERT, pastor of the First Congregational Church in Providence from RG 1872 to 1881 ; son of Jason and Phila (Taft) Sta- ples, was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, March 30, 1827. He is a descendant, in the fifth generation, of Sergeant Abraham Staples, one of the original proprietors and settlers of that town, who, with a small company from Braintree and Weymouth, planted himself there in 1663. This branch of the Staples family came from England as early as 1636, and was among the first settlers of Wey- mouth, Massachusetts, from which a portion removed to Mendon and Taunton. The subject of this sketch was brought up on the farm of his father, about two miles south of the village of Mendon, where he was duly trained in all varieties of farm-labor, and early learned the lesson of self-dependence. His advantages of early education were limited to the district school, which at that period was by no means of a high order. His parents were anxious to give him the best opportunities within their power, and laid upon themselves many sacrifices in after years to send him to better schools than the town afforded. After a few terms at the Uxbridge Academy and other high schools in the vicinity, he commenced teaching in the town of Black- stone, for which he received twelve dollars per month, and had his first experience in the felicity of " boarding round," a custom which has happily passed away in this portion of New England. Using the money received for teaching in winter to support himself at school, he entered the State Normal School at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where he graduated in the autumn of 1847. This school was at that time under the care and instruction of the late Nicholas Tillinghast, assisted by the late Christopher Greene, form- erly of Providence, both graduates of the Military Acad- emy at West Point, and both teachers of remarkable power in stimulating the minds of their pupils. Mr. Staples looks back to the period passed under their instruction as one of intellectual quickening and progress, and one to which is due some of the best impulses of his life. He now re- sumed teaching, but after a term in a school at Sherburne, Massachusetts, began at the Holliston Academy to prepare for college, continuing his studies subsequently at the Wor- cester Academy, then under the direction of Eli Thayer and George Capron, and paying expenses by teaching from time to time. When partially through his preparatory course, he was drawn aside from his purpose by the offer of a grammar school in Watertown, Massachusetts, at the un- precedented salary to him of five hundred dollars a year, a sum which seemed large enough to enable him to defray all college expenses from the savings of a year or two, at most. Finding the position a pleasant one, and greatly enjoying his work, he remained here for two years, in the meantime commencing a course of theological study, under

the direction of the late Rev. Hasbrouch Davis of that town. In the spring of 1851 he gave up his school and entered the Theological Seminary at Meadville, Pennsyl- vania, under President R. P. Stebbins and Professors N. S. Folsom and F. Huidekoper, graduating after the comple- tion of the course, in 1854. Before graduating he was called to the pastorate of the Unitarian Church in Mead- ville, and was ordained to the work of the ministry there in June of that year, the late Rev. E. B. Hall, D.D., of Providence, preaching the sermon. In July, 1854, he was married to Priscilla Shippen, daughter of Charles and Martha (Eddowes) Shippen. He remained in Meadville until the spring of 1857, when he was called to be col- league pastor with Rev. W. G. Eliot, D.D., of the First Unitarian Church of St. Louis, Missouri, a position which he filled for five years, resigning it to become chaplain of a Missouri regiment in the war of the rebellion. After a service of nearly a year in camps and hospitals among the troops under the command of Generals Pope and Halleck, in the military movements along the Mississippi, Mr. Sta- ples resigned his commission and resumed the work of the ministry at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, succeeding his brother, the late Rev. N. A. Staples, in charge of the Unitarian Church there. A ministry of nearly six years in that city was terminated by resignation in the spring of 1868, to take charge of the missionary work of the Unitarian As- sociation in the West as Assistant Secretary at Chicago, Illinois, where, in addition to his other duties, Mr. Staples gathered the Third Unitarian Church of that city. Acting as pastor, and superintending the planting of new churches in the adjoining States, and the opening of new fields of missionary labor, his life in Chicago was filled with varied activities, until the autumn of 1872, when he re- ceived a call to the pastorate of the First Congregational Church in Providence, Rhode Island, and removed to that city in November of that year. The services of installa- tion took place December 5, 1872, Rev. E. E. Hale of Boston preaching the sermon. His connection with this society ended by his resignation in May, 1881. The First Congregational Church in Providence is among the oldest in the city, its history running back to the year 1720. Dur- ing this period of one hundred and sixty years, it has had eight pastors, viz., Revs. Josiah Cotton, John Bass, David S. Rowland, Enos Hitchcock, Henry Edes, Edward B. Hall, Arthur M. Knapp, and Carlton A. Staples. It has had an honorable history in charitable and religious work, and has numbered among its people many active and in- fluential men. It has been the source of large and varied benevolent enterprises, and still continues to give liberal support to many agencies of usefulness both in the city and the religious denomination with which it is allied. Organized as a Congregational Church upon a Calvinistic basis in theology, it began at an early day to imbibe a broader spirit ; under the ministry of Dr. Hitchcock it be- came distinctively Arminian in belief; and under Drs. Edes

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and Hall it came into full sympathy with the body of Chris- tians known as Unitarians. During the ministry of Mr. Staples he acted for seven years as a member of the Provi- dence School Committee, and was associated with some of the prominent charitable associations of the city. But his work was confined mainly to the duties of pastor and preacher in his own congregation. These were found ar- duous enough to demand all his time and energy. Several of his sermons upon anniversary occasions, and upon doc- trinal and religious subjects, have been published by the Society. He has also published an address given at the . celebration of the Bi-Centennial of the Settlement of Men- don in 1867; one on the history of the church in Mendon, a brief sketch of the life of his brother, the late N. A. Staples, of Brooklyn, and various other discourses.

SOFF, GENERAL NATHAN, JR., son of Nathan and Nancy (Ingraham) Goff, was born in Warren, Rhode Island, August 5, 1827. His father was born in Warren in 1802. His mother was born in Glocester, Rhode Island, in 1803. In 1833 his parents removed from Warren to Bristol, Rhode Island, where their son, Nathan, received his education in the district school. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to the sailmaking business with T. & B. T. Cranston, but two years later, on the retirement of hoth members of that firm, he, with George E. Cranston, succeeded to the business. In 1850 he engaged as an engraver with Smith, Duy & Eddy, in Warren, in the manufacture of jewelry. In 1861 he was holding the position of Brigadier-General of the Rhode Island Militia, and soon after the firing of the rebels on Fort Sumter he tendered his services to the Governor of the State to serve in any position assigned him for the maintenance of the Union. He immediately organized a company of volunteers in Bristol, which, with numbers from Warren, were called the Bristol County Company. As captain of this company, known as Company G, Sec- ond Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers, he was mustered into the United States service, June 6, 1861, for three years, and remained in the service for more than six years. He shared in the first Bull Run battle, July 21, 1861, and becoming attached to the Army of the Potomac, participa- ted in all its memorable engagements. July 24, 1862, he was promoted to be major of his regiment, and December 12, 1862, lieutenant-colonel. In December, 1863, hy permission from the War Department, he appeared before Casey's Board of Examination, in Washington, and passed as lieutenant-colonel, " first class." He was immediately assigned to the Twenty-second Regiment, U. S. C. Troops, and ordered to Yorktown, Virginia. Afterwards his com- mand became a part of the Army of the James. In Feb- ruary, 1864, he received from the citizens of Warren a present of a sword, belt, and other equipments. At the battle in front of Petersburg, June 15, 1864, he was se-

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 112

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