The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 115

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

USA > Rhode Island > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island > Part 115

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Aldrich, of Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Ile has three children : Walter Herbert, Arthur May, and Ruth Emeline.

REENOUGH, JAMES CARRUTHERS, A. M., Principal of the Rhode Island State Normal School, was born in Wendell, Massachusetts, August 15, 1829. His parents were Thomas and Mary (Johnstone) Greenough. On his father's side he was descended from a Puritan ancestry, who dwelt in and about Boston almost from the time of its settlement. Thomas Green- ough, Esq., great-grandfather of James C., was one of the " Committee of Safety " who directed the movements of the Colonial forces in Massachusetts until after the battle of Bunker Hill. Rev. William Greenough, grandfather of James C., graduated at Yale College as salutatorian of his class, studied divinity, settled at Newton, as pastor of the Congregational Church, and, after a very successful pastorate of fifty years, died in 1831. The collateral rela- tives of the subject of this sketch include Ralph Waldo Emerson, of Concord, and Professor C. U. Shepard, of Amherst, Massachusetts, the maternal cousins of his father, Horatio Greenough the sculptor, and other prominent per- sons. His father nearly completed his preparation for col- lege in Providence, Rhode Island, in the family school of Professor Park, father of Professor E. A. Park, of Andover, but impaired health caused him to abandon the idea of a collegiate education and engage in farming. The mater- nal great-grandfather of Mr. Greenough was a clergyman who resided in the south of Scotland, and combined the duties of his clerical office with those of an instructor. Thomas Carlyle was in part fitted by him for Edinburgh University, and in the same school was the uncle of Mr. Greenough, Rev. John Carruthers, D.D., who was for many years pastor of the Second Parish Church, Portland, Maine. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Greenough was Rev. James Carruthers, also a minister in Maine. Before Mr. Greenough was nine years of age he left home to enter a school in Portland, Maine, conducted somewhat upon the Fellenburg system. Here, as teacher for a time of one of the lower classes, the boy first discovered his fondness for the work of the man. On his return home the ill health of his father, and the absence of his elder brother, obliged him to assume the management of the farm, and the care of his younger brothers. Though yet a boy he cheerfully took up the burden, determined, however, not to relin- quish his studies. He taught winter schools in Conway, Greenfield, and Deerfield, the latter place being then his home. These busy years yielded a fair pecuniary return, but robust health, and a mind disciplined by study and trained in practical affairs, were their best results. Early in 1854 he entered the Westfield Normal School, where he spent thirteen weeks, after which he taught a select school in Heath, Massachusetts. He was soon afterward appoint-

ed Principal of the Beacon Street School in Gloucester. In the spring of 1855 he became Principal of the High and Grammar School of Rockport, Massachusetts. After one year's service herc he was elected, in 1856, Principal of the Hacker School in the city of Salem; but before he had completed the year in that position he was appointed First Assistant of the Westfield Normal School. After several terms of service he obtained leave of absence to complete his college course at Williams College, where he graduated with honor in the class of 1860. On leaving college, he resumed his position at the Westfield Normal School, and while serving in this capacity made such use of his pen as his profession seemed to demand. His articles on educa- tional subjects were published in the proceedings of the National Teachers' Association, in those of the American Institute of Instruction, and in Educational journals. Some of the branches which he taught, and the facilities which the law-office of his father-in-law afforded, favored the study of the law. As the result of such study he was ad- mitted to the bar at Springfield in 1865. In 1869 he was selected by the Connecticut Board of Education to re-open the State Normal School at New Britain as Principal, and began to arrange plans for organizing the school, but before he was formally appointed he was induced by his friends in Westfield to decline the position. In 1871 he was unan- imously elected Principal of the Kansas State Normal School at Emporia, but before his acceptance of that posi- tion, the Board of Education of Rhode Island secured him as Principal of the Normal School about to be established at Providence. Resigning his position at Westfield, he opened the Rhode Island Normal School in Providence, September 6, 1871. During the following autumn, he was one of the four gentlemen selected as instructors of the School of Science, established through the beneficence of John Cummings for the teachers of Boston, holding its sessions on Saturdays. His second course on mineralogy was to have been given before the teachers of Boston the following season, but the great fire in that city prevented. Near the close of the year 1876 he was urged to accept the presidency of Illinois College, and a little later he was unanimously elected, by the Board of Education of Mas- sachusetts, Principal of the Westfield Normal School, both of which positions he declined. He has discharged the duties of his present position with ability and eminent satisfaction to the public, and his labors have contributed, in no small degree, to the welfare and efficiency of the public schools of the State. He married, November 27, 1860, Jeanie Ashley, eldest daughter of Hon. William G. Bates, of Westfield, Massachusetts, who has long held the foremost place as a member of the Hampden County ( Mas- sachusetts) bar; was one of the earlier members of the Massachusetts Board of Education ; and has held many positions of honor and trust in this town, county and State. Their children are Jeanie Grace, William Bates, Henry Waldo, and Beulah.

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cenas LITTLEFIELD, HON. ALFRED HENRY, Governor of Rhode Island, son of John and Deborah (Himes) Littlefield, was born in Scituate, Rhode Island, April 2, 1829. The Littlefields of Rhode Island are descendants of Caleb and Nathanael Littlefield, who settled at New Shoreham, in 1721. Nathanael was a member of the General Assembly in 1738, 1740, 1746, 1748, and 1754; Nathanael, Jr., in 1758 and 1762; and John from 1747 to the Revolution. Caleb, Jr., was also a member of that body, and was on the committee to oppose the tea tax. William Littlefield was recommended by General Washington as First Lieutenant of the Second Rhode Island Battery, and attained the rank of Captain. His daughter, Catharine, became the wife of General Na- thanael Greene. The family was obliged to flee from New Shoreham during the Revolution. Governor Littlefield's father was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, July 15, 1798, and his mother was born at North Kingstown, March 30, 1798. The former died June 23, 1847, and the latter is now living in Pawtucket, in her eighty-fourth year. They were married March 11, 1816, and removed to Scitu- ate a short time before the birth of their son, Alfred H. They had eleven children. Alfred H. was educated in the district school at Natick, Warwick, to which place the family removed in 1831. At an early age he entered the Sprague Mills, at Natick, where he was employed until 1844. In May, 1845, at the instance of his brother, George L., he went to Central Falls, and acted as clerk for Joseph M. Davis, a dealer in drygoods, and engaged, in a small way, in putting up skein and spool-cotton, which business, in 1847, was transferred to George L. Lit- tlefield and Elias Nickerson, the former becoming sole proprietor in 1849. Alfred H. served as clerk with his brother until 1851, and then became his partner, the firm- name being Littlefield Brothers. Their business was first confined to the manufacture of thread, at Central Falls, but afterward, in connection with their brother, Daniel G., they opened a store in Haydenville, Massachusetts, which was sold to Daniel G. in 1853. The firm of Littlefield Brothers added to their business a drygoods store in Paw- tucket, which they sold in 1854. In that year they became associated with David Ryder & Co., thread manufacturers, whose entire interest they purchased in 1858, since which time they have continued to carry on the business under the old firm-name of Littlefield Brothers. Their business has steadily increased until it is now one of the largest in the State. Governor Littlefield was one of the corporators of the Pawtucket Hair Cloth Company, of which he has been a director since its organization. He is also a direc- tor of the First National Bank, of Pawtucket, the Stafford Manufacturing Company, of Central Falls, and the Cum- berland Mills Company. In politics he was a Whig until the formation of the Republican party, with which he has since been identified. During the Rebellion he was very active in aiding the Union troops, and by personal effort

and moneyed contributions greatly assisted the families of soldiers. In 1864 he was appointed Division Inspector of the Rhode Island Militia, with the rank of Colonel, and held office for five years. The township of Lincoln was set off from Smithfield and incorporated in 1871, and June, 1873, Mr. Littlefield was elected a member of the Town Council. He was re-elected in 1874, 1875, 1876, and 1877, after which he declined a re-election. In 1876 he was elected to represent Lincoln in the General Assembly, and re-elected in 1877. In 1878 he was elected to the State Senate, and re-elected in 1879. In March, 1880, he received the Republican nomination for Governor of Rhode Island, and at the election in April received 10,098 votes, while the Democratic nominee received 7,239, and a third candidate, 5,062. There being no choice by the people, as the law required a majority instead of a plurality vote, the election of Governor and Lieutenant-Governor de- volved upon the General Assembly, and Mr. Littlefield was chosen Governor by a vote of 82 Republicans against 20 Democrats. He was re-elected by a large majority in 1881. His quick discernment, sound judgment, and su- perior executive ability eminently qualify him for the dis- charge of the duties of his high office. He married, February 9, 1853, Rebecca Jane Northup, daughter of Ebenezer and Jane (Padwell) Northup, of Central Falls. They have had four children : Ebenezer N .; Minnie J., deceased; George H., deceased ; and Alfred H., Jr. Governor Littlefield attends and generously supports the First Baptist Church, in Pawtucket, of which his wife is a member.

SURFEE, HON. THOMAS, eldest son of Hon. Job and Judith (Borden) Durfee, was born in Tiverton, Rhode Island, February 6, 1826. After his excel- lent home education, he prepared for college at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, under the tuition of the late Rev. James Richardson and the Rev. Nathan Wil- liams. Entering Brown University in 1842, he graduated with honor in the class of 1846. His legal studies were pursued with the late Hon. Charles F. Tillinghast, and the Hon. Charles S. Bradley, and he was admitted to the bar in October, 1848. In 1849 he was appointed reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court, which position he held for four years. He then served on the Court of Magis- trates of the city of Providence from 1854 to 1860, one year as an Assistant, and five years as Presiding Magistrate. He was elected by the city of Providence as Representative to the General Assembly, and was Speaker of the House in 1863 and 1864. During the Civil War his pen and voice were powerful in support of the Union; his calm, judicial cast of mind and clearness of judgment and thought gave his utterances peculiar weight. In 1865 he was elected to the State Senate, and in June of the same year was chosen Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, holding his position as such till January 28, 1875, when he

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was elected Chief Justice, the position he now holds, which was occupied by his honored father. With the late Joseph K. Angell, Esq., he was joint author of a treatise on the Laws of Highways, published in 1857. In 1872 he gave to the press a duodecimo volume of poems of 214 pages, entitled The Village Pic-Nic and Other Poems, which was received with marked favor. In December, 1877, he de- livered the oration at the dedication of the Providence County Court-house, which was published by order of the State. His decisions and legal papers are a prized part of the juridic literature of the State. He is a trustee of Brown University, and also the Chancellor. As Chief Justice he succeeded Hon. George A. Brayton, and his Associates are Hon. Walter S. Burges, Hon. Elisha R. Potter, Hon. Charles Matteson, and Hon. John H. Stiness. He married, October 29, 1857, Sarah J. Slater, daughter of John Slater 2d, of Providence, and has one son, Samuel Slater Durfee. His brother, Rev. Simeon Borden Durfee, was born in Tiverton, Rhode Island, September 2, 1829; graduated at Brown University in 1851; studied divinity at Harvard and Andover; was ordained as a Congrega- tional minister, settled first in the State of Vermont, and afterwards in Peace Dale, South Kingstown, Rhode Island, and died in Tiverton, at the family home, February 23, 1858. He was a superior scholar, and an accomplished writer. His brief ministry was exceedingly happy in its spirit and results.

SOYLE, THOMAS ARTHUR, ex-Mayor of Providence, son of Thomas and Martha (Jones) Doyle, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, March 15, 1827. Seven children constituted the family at the paternal home, of whom two sons and two daughters are now (1881) living. One of the daughters, Sarah E. Doyle, is well known as an accomplished edu- cator of youth, having been for many years the principal teacher in the Ladies' Department of the Providence High School. The subject of this sketch showed in his boyhood a remarkably quick and self-reliant disposition. Losing his father at an early age, he was stimulated to exertions for self-culture and success through the influence of an excellent mother, whom he tenderly loved, and upon whom he lavished the utmost attention and care. In his childhood and youth he enjoyed the advantages of the public schools, graduating at the Elm Street Grammar School. At the age of fourteen he entered the counting- room of Benjamin Cozzens, Esq., on South Water Street, where he remained as clerk over six years. Mr. Cozzens, who had been a lawyer, was then an enterprising manu- facturer and calico printer, running the Crompton Print Works. Thence he entered the counting-room of Jacob Dunnell & Co., where he remained as chief elerk five years. Upon the organization of the Grocers' and Produc- ers' Bank, in 1853, he was elected cashier, which office he

held two years. Hc afterwards became stock-broker and auctioneer for real estate. Mr. Doyle's municipal career commenced in 1848, when at the age of twenty-one he was elected ward clerk for the Sixth Ward. This position he held four years, or until he moved back into his native ward. From that time on, a period of thirty two years, he has continued almost without interruption to hold office under the city government, serving his constituents in his varied capacities as legislator, member of the School Committee, and executive officer, with rare zeal and efficiency. In 1852 he was elected a member of the Common Council from the Fifth Ward. To this office he was re-elected from year to year until 1857, with the exception of a single year, 1855, when he declined a nomination. He was Chairman of various important committees, and President of the council from 1854 to 1855. In 1855 he was Chair- man of the Board of Assessors. For eighteen years he was a most active and efficient member of the School Commit- tee, being at the time of his first service the youngest mem- ber of the board. In June, 1864, he was duly inaugurated as Mayor of Providence. This office he continued to hold from year to year, with a single exception (1869), until January, 1881, when he declined further service. He was thus Mayor fifteen years and seven months, an instance, it is believed, of long-continued office without a parallel in the history of municipal government, at least in New Eng- land. During his successive administrations the city near- ly doubled in population and wealth, and many improve- ments were made through his influence and suggestions. The police were uniformed and drilled, until they became a model for all similar bodies; water was introduced, and an excellent system of pipes and sewerage was adopted and carried out under the skilful oversight of Engineer Shedd. Roger Williams Park was donated to the city, and im- proved ; many public buildings were erected, and the spirit of progress was infused into every department of the city government. Mayor Doyle is noted for his zeal in the cause of Freemasonry, believing it to be, in the words of the distinguished writer, Dr. Oliver, "the handmaid and helper of Christianity," and the oldest and best of all hu- man institutions. He was made a Master Mason in St. John's Lodge, Providence, October 28, 1857, and in De- cember, 1859, was elected its Master, serving in that capacity for two years. In September, 1859, he was ap- pointed Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Dea- con William C. Barker. At the ensuing election he was elected to that office, which he held for three years, when he declined a further re-election. In May, 1865, he was elected Grand Master of Masons in Rhode Island, which office he held, by successive annual elections, for seven years. May 5, 1859, he received the degree of Royal Arch in Provi- dence Chapter, and in November, 1862, was elected its High Priest, serving four years. The Grand Chapter of Rhode Island elected him its Grand High Priest, March

CS. Bradley.

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14, 1865. Over this body he presided seven years, when he declined further service. He is a Knight Templar, hav- ing served both as Prelate and Commander in Calvary Com- mandery, and afterwards in St. John's Commandery, of which he is now a member. He has served as Grand Prel- ate, Grand Captain General, and Grand Generalissimo of the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Isl- and. He has also received the Thirty-third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, of which he is Deputy for Rhode Island. In April, 1881, he was elected Senator to represent Providence in the General Assembly. He has been for many years a consistent member of the Unitarian Church, and a firm believer in the doctrine of good works. He married, October 21, 1869, Almyra Sprague, daughter of Amasa and Fanny Sprague, and sister of ex-Senator William Sprague. They have no children. The follow- ing tribute from the Boston Advertiser to ex-Mayor Doyle on his retiring from office may fitly close this sketch : "Mr. Thomas A. Doyle to-day ceases to be Mayor of Provi- dence. He has been Mayor for over fifteen years, and his career has been interrupted but once. This is the more remarkable, as the second city of New England is unique in the self-asserting individuality of its citizens and the heat of its ever-shifting partisanships. Mr. Doyle himself has the individuality of a true Rhode Islander, he has the courage of his opinions, his opinions are decided, he has never been afraid to express them, and there are probably few voters who have not at one time or other opposed him. In uniform succession he has been opposed by every jour- nal published in Providence, and as a rule this opposition has been merciless, if not bitter and unreasonable. He has been opposed at one time by Democrats, then by Republicans, then by the Independents, then by the chief tax-payers, then by every department of the city government, and always by a hopeful minority. His relations to the City Council have usually been those of hearty disagreement on almost everything. The veto messages written by Mayor Doyle would fill a stout folio volume. He has rarely had the support of conservative financiers, and he has never attempted a personal policy or a policy of conciliation. While expressing cordial dislike for all sorts of men, cor- porations, and interests, he has ever been ready to give every citizen full information on all city matters, and he does not seem to have known what wire-pulling, secret ar- rangements, and quiet understandings meant. He has been frank, upright, and straightforward to the last degree-so much so that any man could at any time learn what the Mayor wanted or opposed. Rarely has a mayor resisted popular measures more frankly, or advocated unpopular policies more courageously. That his career is not free from mistakes and blunders goes without saying. But he knows his city more thoroughly than does any corpora- tion ; he chose to decline a re-election for reasons satisfac- tory to himself; and he quits office with the proud record that Providence is one of the best governed of all Ameri-

can cities. When Mr. Doyle entered office Providence was little more than a large manufacturing village; it is now a city with all the advantages of a little metropolis. Its credit is equal to that of the richest cities in the coun- try; its prospects are excellent. It is certain that Mayor Doyle had something to do with all this; and it is equally certain that his whole record is absolutely free from the taint of jobbery, dishonesty, or malfeasance. Mistakes have been made; but they have been made in broad day- light. A large debt has been accumulated ; but the city has received full value. And altogether Mr. Doyle closes a service as unparalleled as it is deserving of studious at- tention on the part of those interested in the difficult and undefined art of municipal government."

BRADLEY, HON. CHARLES SMITH, LL.D., ex-Chief- Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, son of Charles and Sarah (Smith) Bradley, was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, July 19, 1819. His father, born in Andover, Massachu- setts, was a merchant and manufacturer in Portland and in Boston. His mother, the daughter of Jonathan K. Smith, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, was a granddaughter of Rev. Hezekiah Smith, D.D., an eloquent preacher, able writer, and a conspicuous chaplain in the Revolutionary army, who for more than forty years was one of the Fellows of Brown University, bringing that institution under perpet- ual obligations by his labors for its sustenance and endow- ment. The subject of this sketch enjoyed excellent early advantages, and prepared for college in the Boston Latin School, and was drawn to Brown University by the great regard he had for his great-grandfather. He entered the University in 1834, and graduated in 1838 with the highest honors of his class, which contained an unusual number of distinguished men. In due course he received the degree of A.M. Several of his post graduate years were spent as tutor in the University. Choosing the legal profession, he attended Harvard Law School, and finally studied in the law-office of Charles F. Tillinghast, in Providence, with whom he formed a business copartnership on his being ad- mitted to the bar in 1841. His proficiency in law studies, and particularly his talent for public speaking, soon brought him into wide public notice. His eloquence and pol- ished diction led to his appointment to often speak on political and literary occasions. In 1854 he was elected by North Providence to the Senate of the State, where he was influential in securing the Act of Amnesty to all who were involved in the Dorr Rebellion of 1842. At a public meeting in Providence June 9, 1856, relative to the assault of Brooks upon Sumner in the United States Senate, he said : " Is it not well that the second city in New England -the first which is not connected by any personal ties with Mr. Sumner-should speak of this outrage, not in the first flush of our indignation, but in the tones of deliberate con-

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demnation ? . . . We know that brutality and cowardice go hand in hand, because brutal passions and true moral courage cannot harmonize in the same character. . . . If the South upholds this act, the antagonism of their civiliza- tion and ours will mount higher, and come closer and closer ; and it requires no horoscope to show the future." While he has been a conscientious and constant adherent of the Democratic party, he has been a stanch and heroic defender of law-" the monarch of us all"-and his fellow- citizens of all parties have reposed great confidence in him. He has repeatedly represented Rhode Island in National Democratic Conventions, notably that of 1860, when the party was divided, and he adhered to the Unionists, cast- ing his vote for Stephen A. Douglas. In 1863 he was the Democratic nominee for Congress. In February, 1866, he was elected Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, as successor of Hon. Samuel Ames, and for over two years held that high position with great honor to him- self and to the State, when he resigned to resume profes- sional practice and give that attention to business affairs that the exacting nature of judicial duties precluded. On his retirement from the bench the Providence Journal ob- served : " He has discharged the duties belonging to that high position with a success, and, we may add, a judicial distinction, in which the people of the State feel both a satisfaction and pride, and which they had hoped he would long continue to illustrate in a sphere so honorable and important." At the opening of the Rhode Island Hos- pital, on which occasion $80,000 were subscribed to the endowment of the institution, Judge Bradley, himself being a generous donor, remarked in his address : " Every hu- man being is united, by mysterious ties, with all of the past and all of the future. Those who most fully realize the greatness of our being have the strongest desire to live after death, even on earth. It is no personal ambition, but a diviner instinct, which leads such natures to found, or to ally themselves with, great institutions, whose perennial existence of beneficence shall outlast their names and their memories among men. . . . Our State will bear proudly on its bosom through coming centuries this institution, ex- pressing in its object and its architecture the humanity of the age. . . . In aiding, you place stones of beauty in these walls, whereon the All-seeing Eye, it may not irreverently be said, shall read your name, though time and storm shall have written their wild signatures upon them. . . . The sons and daughters of toil, as the day calls them to work and the night to rest, will look upon these towers, blending with the morning and the evening sky, with their tearful benedictions. In the time of illness or ac- cident, if the struggle of life presses too hard upon them, this shall be their honorable refuge, builded with a benefi- cence akin to, and sanctioned by, the Divine." In 1866 Judge Bradley received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Brown University, and was also elected one of the Fellows of that institution. Both in professional

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 115

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