The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 113

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

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verely wounded, and taken to Chesapeake Hospital, Hamp- ton, Virginia. In October, 1864, by recommendation of his brigade and division commanders, he was promoted to the rank of colonel, and assigned to the command of the Thirty-seventh Regiment, U. S. C. Troops. He joined his command November 10, 1864. Being detached from the Army of the James, he joined the expedition of General B. F. Butler against Fort Fisher, North Carolina, and also participated in the second expedition, under General A. H. Terry, and shared in the capture of the fort. He shared in all the engagements of the army through North Carolina, until the surrender of General Johnston's army to General W. T. Sherman, at Raleigh, North Carolina. In May, 1865, he was assigned to the command of the post of Wil- mington, North Carolina, and remained on duty in that State, the troops of his command occupying the forts on the coast of North and South Carolina, he being in temporary command of the District of Wilmington and the Depart- ment of North Carolina. In June, 1865, by recommenda- tion of Major-General Charles J. Paine and Brigadier-Gen- eral John W. Ames, division and brigade commanders, he was promoted by the President to be Brigadier-General of Volunteers, by brevet, "for long and faithful services and gallant conduct in the field." He was detailed November 3, 1866, as president of a general court-martial at Raleigh, North Carolina, and though his regiment was mustered out in February, 1867, he was retaincd in the service as president of general court-martial till June 13, 1867, when he was honorably discharged, being among the last officers mustered out. Upon returning to Rhode Island he en- gaged in his former occupation, as an engraver of jewelry, at Providence. His talents, character, and public services won for him a very high rank among his fellow-citizens. He received, August 10, 1870, the appointment of Deputy Collector of Customs at the port of Providence, a position which he now holds (1881). Politically he has been a Whig and a Republican. Religiously he is identified with the Baptist Church. He married, November, 1849, Sarah S. Surgens, of Warren, Rhode Island, and has three chil- dren, Ella S., Walter I., and Mabel D.

HITE, FENNER R., was born in Glocester, Rhode Island, October 14, 1828, and was a son of Ben- jamin and Polly White. During his boyhood he lived on the homestead where his father and grandfather lived, in summer working at farm- labor, in winter attending the district school. When about fourteen years of age his parents removed to the village of Chepachet, and he found occupation in one of the cot- ton factories of that place, where he remained four years, spending a portion of each year in the school of the vil- lage. At eighteen he was an apprentice at cabinet-making, and served three years learning that trade, but having a disinclination for that business he engaged with Squires

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& Eddy, tin and shect-iron manufacturers, as a peddler, and continued in their employ until the year 1856, at which time he took the business, and the firm became White & Gray, who continued the tin and iron business until 1862, at which time the partnership was dissolved. In the same year F. R. and H. C. White formed a copartnership under the name of F. R. White & Co., and purchased a factory at what is called the Inman Mills, in the town of Burrill- ville. In the year 1868 F. R. White & Co. bought an in- terest in W. C. Arnold's woollen mills, at Chepachet, and they commenced that year the manufacture of fancy cassi- meres in the same mill in which all of the members of the firm had worked when boys. In 1870 the firm leased the " Whipple Mill" in the adjoining town of Burrillville, and operated the same until 1875, at which time they ex- tended their already large business by purchasing of the " Babcock & Moss" estate in Westerly, the large mills known as the "Stillmanville Mills." In 1876 they added to their business again by purchasing the " C. M. 'Stillman Mills," located in the adjoining town of Stonington, Con- necticut, just north of the Westerly depot. In 1878 the " Lyman Mills," so-called, located in North Providence, adapted to the manufacture of cotton-yarns, was bought, and its products were used in their other establishments in the manufacture of cloths. At the time of his death, Mr. White was at the head of one of the largest and most suc- cessful manufacturing firms in the State. He was, in every sense of the word, a self-made man. His life covered nearly every phase of experience from honorable toil in his early boyhood to a front place in the ranks of the busi- ness men of Rhode Island. Mr. White was cautious and conservative, but prompt to act when he saw a thing clear- ly ; careful, but honorable in all his engagements. In 1857 he was united in marriage to Mary B. Arnold, of Chepachet, who survives him. Socially, Mr. White was a genial, kind neighbor, and a steadfast friend. He never forgot a kindness to himself or family. His presence was an acquisition to any social party. He seemed to have an inexhaustible fund of story and anecdote to draw from, and was respected and liked by all who knew him. Mr. White always acted politically with the Democratic party, but was broad and tolerant in his political views, ready to concede to others the same honesty of purpose he claimed for himself. He was elected, and served as a member of the Town Council of Glocester for several years. In 1878 he was elected as a representative to the General Assembly, to which position he was re-elected in 1879 and in 1880, and held the office at the time of his death, which occurred November 9, 1880.

MITH, CHARLES SYDNEY, manufacturing jeweller, son of Elisha G. and Abby (Carpenter) Smith, was born in Warren, Rhode Island, October 4, 1828. His father, for many years the agent of the Dighton and Mount Hope Manufacturing Company, in Digh-

ton, Massachusetts, represented the town of Warren in the first General Assembly under the People's Constitution in 1842, and was a man of marked intelligence and upright- ness of character. Mr. Smith received a common-school education, and in early life was engaged in agricultural and manufacturing pursuits in Illinois and New Jersey. Ilaving served an apprenticeship with Palmer, Richardson & Co., manufacturing jewellers, in Newark, New Jersey, he worked at his trade as journeyman in Warren, Rhode Island, until 1855, and for six years thereafter was in the employ of Sackett, Davis & Co., of Providence. In Septem- ber, 1861, he entered the Union Army, enlisting in the Fourth Rhode Island Regiment. Soon after his enlistment he was commissioned second lieutenant and detailed as regimental quartermaster. On the 2d of October he was promoted to first lieutenant, and on the 4th of that month left the State with his regiment for Washington. During the Maryland campaign, in November, 1861, he was as- signed to duty as Brigade Quartermaster on the staff of General O. O. Howard, who, at the close of that campaign, offered him a permanent position on his staff, with com- mission of captain, which he declined. Subsequently he joined the Burnside Expedition to North Carolina, where he was detailed to the position of Acting Brigade Quarter- master on the staff of General J. G. Parke, which position he held until the battle of Roanoke, February 8, 1862, when he was relieved by the regular commissioned Quarter- master. He was present at the battles of Roanoke, New- bern, and Fort Macon, in the discharge of the duties of Quartermaster. In July, 1862, he accompanied his regi- ment to Newport News, and thence to Aquia Creek, where he and thirteen other officers of the regiment resigned. He returned to Rhode Island, and in the fall of 1862 resumed work in the factory of Sackett, Davis & Co., where he re- mained until 1866. In June, 1863, he received from Gov- ernor James Y. Smith a commission as First Lieutenant and Quartermaster of the Fourteenth Regiment of Rhode Island Volunteers, but the organization of the regiment was never completed, and accordingly he did not re-enter the service. In 1866 he became the superintendent of the fac- tory of Sackett, Davis & Co., who then employed about one hundred and fifteen hands, and were engaged in the manu- facture of all kinds of jewelry. This position he continued to occupy until the spring of 1870, when he formed a copart- nership with Samuel W. Saxton, of New York, under the firm-name of Saxton, Smith & Co., and has since been ex- clusively engaged in manufacturing solid gold chain, at the corner of Eddy and Friendship streets, Providence. Mr. Smith has personal charge and oversight of the factory, and Mr. Saxton has charge of the sales department. They now employ about sixty-five hands, and are doing a business of one-third of a million of dollars per year, ranking with the first manufacturers in the country. Mr. Smith was elected to the Providence Common Council, from the Sixth Ward, in 1868, 1871, 1872, and 1873. He represented the city

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of Providence in the lower house of the General Assembly in 1877, 1878, 1879, and 1881, being elected on the Re- publican ticket. He has been an active member of the Masonic fraternity for more than thirty years, and is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He married, December 2, 1849, Lavinia Winberg Gorgas, daughter of George Gorgas, of Philadelphia. She died February 26, 1857. They had two sons, Roswell Cunning- ham and Alberto. On the 15th of August, 1858, Mr. Smith married Mary Ann Fish, daughter of John and Nancy (Wheeler) Fish, of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, the issue of the marriage being a daughter, Cora Carpenter.

FOWARD, HON. ALBERT C., ex-Lieutenant-Gover- nor of Rhode Island, son of Jesse and Mary ( King) Howard, was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, February 29, 1828. In addition to the ordinary studies pursued at the common schools he had the advantage of a course of instruction at Smithville Semi- nary, now Lapham Institute, North Scituate, in the years 1842 and 1843, where he was associated with such pupils as James B. Angell, now President of Michigan University, his brother, ex-Governor Henry Howard, ex-Governor William Sprague, Amasa Sprague, Rev. George T. Day, Alexander Farnum, Hon. W. A. Perce, and others who afterwards became prominent. He entered upon the active duties of life at an early age, and has had a varied and successful career. At the age of seventeen he commenced business for himself, in Providence, continuing for five years in mercantile pursuits, and then engaged in banking, which he has followed for twenty-seven years. At the present time (1881) he is treasurer of the People's Savings Bank in Providence. At the breaking out of the Southern Rebellion he was very active in all patriotic endeavors in Providence, and in the summer of 1862 enlisted a company in Cranston. Entering the army as a private, he was soon promoted to the office of First Lieutenant of Company I, and then Captain of Company E, Eleventh Regiment

Rhode Island Volunteers. The regiment occupied ex- posed positions on picket duty, though not engaged in bat- tle. Upon the reorganization of the regiment under the militia law he was elected Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1873 he was elected a member of the Legislature of Rhode Island, and re-elected, without opposition, in 1874. In 1875 he travelled extensively in the Southern States. He was the candidate of the prohibition party for Governor in 1876, and in 1877 received the unanimous nomination of both the Republican and Prohibition parties as candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, on the ticket with Governor Van Zandt, and for two successive terms was unanimously nomi- nated and re-elected by a large majority. During his official terms he has been ex officio Senator, member of the State

Board of Education, and trustee of the State Normal School. He is connected with several benevolent and temperance

organizations, holding various positions, and is also a mem- ber of the Grand Army of the Republic. At the age of twenty-one he united with the High Street Congregational Church, and is now connected with the Beneficent Con- gregational Church, Providence. He is eminently a self- educated and self-made man, who has attained a high po- sition of honor, influence, and usefulness, not by political chicanery, but by his native force and sterling traits of character, and through the consistent and uniform advocacy of the principles he holds dear. He is withal distinguished for his modest and unassuming deportment. Thoroughly identified with the cause of temperance, he has been en- abled through his connection with the executive and legis- lative departments of the State to do much to forward the cause. He married, in April, 1853, Ellen Murray, of Athens, Pennsylvania, daughter of Harris and Sophia R. Murray, who died in 1875. He has five children now living, Alice M., Nellie M., Albert H., Henry A., and Jessie W. Governor Howard resides in East Providence.

2 BIXBY, REV. MOSES HOMAN, A.M., D.D., was born in Warren, Grafton County, New Hampshire, August 20, 1827. His father, Benjamin Bixby, was born in Salem, New Hampshire, in 1790. His grandfather, George Bixby, whose ancestors came from England, was a native of Topsfield, Massachusetts, the American home of the Bixby family. Dr. Bixby was the fifth of eight sons, all of whom were Christians, and five were ministers of the Gospel. He was converted at the early age of ten years, and at the age of twelve made a public profession of religion, uniting with the Methodist Episcopal Church in his native town, the only church known to him at that time. Feeling himself called to the ministry of the Gospel, he entered at once upon the work of preparation. For five years he studied in various schools of his church, especially Newbury Seminary, and the Bib- lical Institute, under the presidency of Rev. Dr. Dempster, afterward removed to Concord and Boston, and now known as Boston University. At the age of sixteen he was ap- pointed class leader in his church, and Sunday-school super- intendent, and soon after was licensed to preach. About this time he read, with great interest and profit, President Dwight's Theology, and the works of Andrew Fuller, which had great influence on his religious belief, and as he had always believed in immersion only as baptism, he united with the Baptist Church in East Hardwick, Ver- mont. This changed all his plans of study. After this he studied several years at the Derby Seminary, under Rev. Austin Norcross, and in the Baptist College in Mon- treal, which was then under the presidency of the Rev. J. M. Cramp, D.D., assisted by the Rev. Dr. Davies, after- ward the distinguished Professor of Hebrew in Regent's Park College, England. He received the degree of Master

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of Arts from Dartmouth College. In 1849, at the age of twenty-two, he was ordained in Vermont, and preached the Gospel in Williston and Johnson, baptizing many con- verts. In 1851 he was appointed missionary to Burmah by the American Baptist Missionary Union, but was not able to reach the field until early in 1853. On his way to Burmah he landed at Cape Town, South Africa, and being detained for a month, preached repeatedly to a little band of disciples who were soon after organized into a Baptist Church. He preached also on board the ship Baltimore in Table Bay, to very large congregations gathered from the ships and the shore, and forty persons professed their faith in Christ. He reached Maulmain in June, 1853. The English Church there was almost extinct, and they were talking of joining the native Burman Church, but under Mr. Bixby's preaching the chapel was soon filled, and within one year the membership increased from nine to forty-five. After this he travelled extensively for several years in the Tenasserim and Martaban provinces, preach- ing the Gospel to many thousands of the natives. But the failing health of his wife compelled him at length to return to this country. After a long and tedious sea-voyage, in which his infant daughter starved almost to death, he landed in New York only to see his beloved wife breathe her last before they could reach home. In 1857 he became the pastor of the Friendship Street Baptist Church, Provi- dence, Rhode Island, where he remained a little over three years. In the manual of that church we find the following reeord : "His labors were greatly blessed. . . . His relations as the pastor of the church were always held in subjection to the cherished purpose of his life, and as soon as a door was opened for him to re-enter the field of foreign missions, he did not feel at liberty to continue in the pastoral office. . . . It was a sad day to this church when Mr. B. announced his intention to sever the pastoral ties. .. . During this pastorate one hundred and seventy- six were added to the church." In September, 1860, Mr. Bixby was recalled to Burmah, and was appointed to open a new mission to the Shans, a numerous race of people for whom nothing hitherto had been done. Sailing via Eng- land and the Red Sea, he was able to enter the field early in 1861. Just before he reached Burmah, ten thousand Shans, driven out of the Shan states by war, came in a body to Toungoo and settled near his destined home. Encouraged by this providence, he entered with great ex- pectations upon the work of the new mission ; nor did he labor in vain. Suecess immediately followed, and eon- tinued from year to year. The chief's son was soon con- verted, and converts were multiplied ; a church was soon organized and a training school established. After this, for eight years, he travelled extensively over this and other provinces, far into the interior, and among savage tribes, often in great peril, but always with marked tokens of Divine favor, preaching the Gospel to various tribes, bap- tizing converts, organizing churches, establishing schools,

and training teachers and preachers. But these labors and exposures proved too much for his naturally robust eonsti- tution, and at length his health broke down, and he was compelled to return to his native land. In the last quarter of the year 1869, he built a chapel that would hold about five hundred people in a new and growing part of the eity of Providence. It was opened for public services the first Sabbath in January, 1870. The Sabbath-school began with thirty-five scholars, the congregation with forty-two hearers. In October, 1870, he organized a church of fifty- six members. In nine months it was doubled, and in eighteen months tripled. The chapel has been thrice en- larged to suit the growing demands of the school and eon- gregation; the audience-room will seat over one thousand people, and there are thirteen rooms besides, all in use. The school now numbers nine hundred and twenty-four, and more than three thousand have been members. The church now numbers four hundred and fifty, and more than five hundred and fifty have been received into it, more than three hundred by experience and baptism. In these ten years of toil he has regained his health, and after thirty years in the ministry, in which he has preached the Gospel in the four great divisions of the globe, he is still vigorous, and actively employed in the work. In 1875 the Central University of Iowa conferred upon him the hon- orary degree of D.D.

ENIGHT, STEPHEN ALBERT, manufacturer, son of Stephen and Welthan (Brayton) Knight, was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, June 5, 1828. At an early age he began work in the cotton mill owned

.9 by Elisha Harris (afterward Governor of Rhode Island), at Coventry, to which place the family removed in 1835. He remained there until his eighteenth year, and then was employed in the cotton mill owned by Dr. Harris, at River Point, until the fall of 1847. The next year he served as clerk in the store of Bowen & Battey, grocers, in Providence. In 1849 he entered the factory of Parker & Knight (of which firm his brother was a member), at Arnold's Bridge, now Pontiae, Rhode Island, and was , overseer of the spinning-room until the fall of 1850, when work in the factory was suspended for about eight months in order to remodel the mill. Six months of that time he spent at Fruit Hill Academy, under the tuition of Stanton Belden, which proved of great benefit to him. In the sum- mer of 1851 he resumed his duties in the mill and remained there until February, 1853, when he removed to Hebron- ville, Massachusetts, and with his brothers, Benjamin B. and Robert Knight, purchased the mill property there of Harkness & Stead. The mill being entirely new, without any machinery, Mr. Knight began to supply the necessary machinery and to build tenement houses, and while thus engaged the mill was struck by lightning and consumed. A brick mill with a eapaeity of 5000 spindles was immedi-

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ately erected and put in operation July 1, 1854, of which Mr. Knight was superintendent. Since then the capacity of the mill has been increased to 21,000 spindles, and 46 tenements have been added to the village. In 1866 Mr. Knight removed to Providence and became the agent of the Hebron Manufacturing Company, which in that year purchased the Dodgeville Mill property. Mr. Knight superintended the reconstruction of the Dodgeville mill, and increased its capacity from 7000 to 23,000 spindles. He built 48 new tenements and reconstructed the remain- ing 40 tenements in the village. In 1868 he bought one- fourth of the Grant Mill, in Providence, and on the death of Zachariah Parker, in 1870, the Hebron Manufacturing Company bought the whole mill property there. Since then under Mr. Knight's supervision this mill has been re- modelled and enlarged, a new building crected, and the capacity increased from 100 to 302 looms or 9000 spin- dles. These mills all manufacture the celebrated cloth known as the " Fruit of the Loom." With the exception of the few months spent at the Fruit Hill Academy and the relinquishment of his duties during the greater part of the year 1878 on account of impaired health, Mr. Knight has been closely confined to business since he began work in a cotton mill in his childhood. He is a member of the Union Congregational Church in Providence, and was formerly connected with the Baptist Church at Phenix, Rhode Island. He married, May 5, 1851, Ellen Parker, daughter of Zach- ariah and Eliza Parker, of Pontiac, in the town of Warwick, Rhode Island. They have three children, Florentine Au- gusta, Emma Jane, and Annie Brayton. Mrs. Knight's father was formerly superintendent of the cotton mill at Pontiac, and at one time associated in business with Robert Knight at that place.

RATT, FREDERICK A., journalist and legislator, was born at Cohassett, Massachusetts, December I, 1828, and in 1831 came to Newport, where he has continued to reside. He was taken from school at the age of seven years, when he began to earn his own living ; was employed in various occupations until he was thirteen ; and for seven years thereafter served as an ap- prentice in the printing business, his only compensation during that time being his board and clothes. At twenty he married Elizabeth Messer, and soon afterwards went to New York to become more proficient in his trade. In 1850, soon after the death of the proprietor of the New- port Mercury, the oldest paper in America, Mr. Pratt was prevailed upon by his friends to return to Newport; and in February, 1851, purchased one-half the interest in that paper, which he retained during the succeeding twelve years, and then became sole proprietor. He retained pos- session of the Mercury until November, 1872, when, on account of failing health, he was compelled to dispose of the establishment, which was bought by Mr. John P. San-

born. As an evidence of the ability and success with which the Mercury was conducted under Mr. Pratt's pro- prietorship and management, it may be stated that while in his possession its value was increased from one thousand to twenty thousand dollars. After retiring from journal- ism, Mr. Pratt was prominent as a public official. In April, 1873, he was elected to the General Assembly of Rhode Island, and re-elected the three following years. He was one of the most faithful and efficient members of that body. In July, 1877, he was appointed, by President Hayes, Collector of Customs of the district and port of Newport, which position he held until his death, which occurred in September, 1880. Mr. Pratt took a deep in- terest in all movements designed to promote the growth and prosperity of his adopted city, and was highly estecmed by his fellow-townsmen, with whom, in the discharge of his duties as a journalist and public officer, he was brought into intimate relations. A notice of his death, which ap- peared in the Newport Mercury, concludes as follows : " Mr. Pratt was a man prominent in the community. He was of strict integrity in business. His success in life was self-attained, and was the result of indefatigable labor. He possessed marked ability in journalism. He was generous and kind-hearted, and in his death New- port loses a valued citizen."

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 113

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