The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 122

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

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1864. "Trustfulness, humility, tenderness, conscientious- ncss," says one of his friends, "with persistent devotion to the right, were the chief traits of Mr. Hall. His repug- nance to oppression and his sympathics with the oppressed were of the most positive character. The crowning labor of his brief life, if it had not the glare and excitement of arms, was second in importance to no other to which pa- triot hands have been given. In that work his name is registered with a noble company, who in coming ages will be honored as human bencfactors."

CAUSLAN, JOHN, merchant, was born in the parish of Kilmodan, county of Argyle, Scotland, August 10, 1835. His parents were Alexander and Margaret (Warden) McAuslan. The for- mer died October 24, 1854, agcd sixty-eight, and the latter, March 12, 1880, aged eighty-nine. Alex- ander McAuslan was an extensive stock-farmer, and was lessee of 400 acres of land for a period of forty-four years. Tradition says the family are descended from Buey Ause- lan, son of Okyan, Provincial King of the south part of Ulster, who left Ireland in 1016, on account of the incur- sions of the Danes, and took refuge in Scotland, where, with King Malcolm II., he distingnished himself in battle against the Danes, his service being rewarded by a grant from King Malcolm of the greater part of the estate of Buchanan, in Stirlingshire, on the north of Loch Lomond, also a coat of arms, the emblem of his valiant deeds, which is still in the possession of the family. Many of the name of McAuslan, under its various orthographi- cal forms, have occupied positions of prominence and usefulness in political, military, clerical, literary, and mercantile life, and as heads of municipalities and mem- bers of Parliament. John McAuslan was the youngest of eight children, the names of the others being James, Janct, William, Margaret, Jane, Alexander, and Robert. All except James, William, and Robert are living, and settled on farms near their old home, Janet, Margaret, and Jane having married farmers. Mr. McAuslan re- ceived a good common-school education in his native town, and in 1851 went to Greenock, a town on the Clyde, about forty miles from his home, where he was employed as clerk in the drygoods store of Nichol & West, until the autumn of 1858. In September of that year he sailed in the steamer " Niagara," for the United States, arriving in Boston, September 24. He immediately entered the em- ploy of Hogg, Brown & Taylor, of Boston, with whom he remained until August, 1866, when he went to Provi- dence, and there established the Boston Store, with Walter Callender and John E. Troup, the firm-name being Callen- der, McAuslan & Troup. This is now the largest whole- sale and retail drygoods house in the State. The proprie- tors have maintained an enviable reputation for honorable dealing, and have been instrumental in establishing many

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John M Auslaw

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of their former clerks in business in different places in New England. Since June, 1851, Mr. McAuslan has been en- gaged exclusively in the drygoods business. In 1854, at the age of nineteen, he united with the Free Middle Pres- byterian Church, in Greenock, Scotland, from which he took a letter, in 1859, to the First Presbyterian Church, in Boston, where he served as a deacon and as clerk of the standing committee. In 1868 he united, by letter, with the High Street Congregational Church, in Providence. This church, in 1871, united with the Richmond Street Congregational Church and formed the Union Congrega- tional Church, which erected the house of worship on Broad Street. Mr. McAuslan served as treasurer of the Union Congregational Church from 1874 to 1877, during which time he introduced the system of weekly offerings, which has since been adopted by nearly all denominations throughout New England. He has also been superin- tendent of the Sabbath-school since 1876; the present number of the school being 432. He is also a life member of the Scotch Charitable Society of Boston. He married, August 27, 1863, Amelia B. Robinson, daughter of W. S. and Pamelia (Gow) Robinson, of Gardiner, Maine. They have six children, George Robert, John Wallace, William Alexander, Arthur Warden, Harold Lee, and Frederick. Mrs. McAuslan is a lineal descendant, in the ninth gene- ration, of Rev. John Robinson, who preached the farewell sermon to the Pilgrims in Holland.

RIGHT, HON. JAMES MANCHESTER, son of Ben- jamin and Lucy (Wells) Wright, was born Jan- uary 28, 1834, in Foster, Rhode Island, where, excepting a few years in childhood, he has always resided. His ancestors were among the first set- tlers of Rhode Island, being, it is believed, lineally de- scended from George Wright, whose name appears on the records of Providence in 1648. He was educated in the common schools, and has chiefly followed the occupation of a farmer. Very early he became interested in politics, and has been a constant and close reader and observer of legislative proceedings and of political matters in general. Mr. Wright was a Democrat previous to 1860, when he left that party on the slavery question and became an active Republican. In 1862 he was elected a Representative to the State Legislature, and was re-elected the following year. He was elected to the same position again in 1868, and re-elected in 1869. In 1877 he was elected Senator from Foster, and re-elected in 1878. For many years he has been a member of the Republican State Central Com- mittee, and is well known as a successful manager in party politics, who has sought little for himself and labored al- ways for the public good. In 1879 he was elected Assist- ant Commissioner of Shell Fisheries of the State for five years. In 1880 he acted as an alternate in the Rhode Island delegation at the Republican National Convention

at Chicago, and in 1881 served as a messenger to bear the electoral vote of the State to Washington, D. C. He mar- ried, November 24, 1859, Clarinda E., daughter of Hon. Jonathan Hill, of Foster.

OURN, HON. AUGUSTUS O., son of George O. and Huldah Battey (Eddy) Bourn, was born in Provi- dence October 1, 1834. He received his early education in the public schools of Providence, and in September, 1851, entered Brown University, where he graduated in 1855. Immediately on leaving college he engaged in the business of manufacturing india-rubber goods with his father in Providence, and on the death of his father, which occurred in 1859, he took his place in the firm. He continued in this business until about 1864, when he founded, in Bristol, Rhode Island, the National Rubber Company. In 1867 the Providence firm gave up their business, and then, with their capital and machinery, joined the Bristol company, of which, since its beginning, Colonel Bourn has been the active manager. This com- pany now employs nearly 1100 hands, producing about $2,000,000 worth of india-rubber goods per annum, in al- most endless variety. It is the leading industry in Bristol and from it at least half its population derive their support. Colonel Bourn has been prominently identified with mili- tary organizations, and has exerted considerable influence in the politics of the State. He was for many years con- nected with the Providence Horse Guards, and served in every capacity from private to lieutenant-colonel. In 1878 he was Lieutenant-Colonel of the First Battalion of Rhode Island Cavalry. In 1876 he was elected to the Rhode Island Senate from Bristol, and served with such satisfaction to his constituents and the public generally, that he was unanimously re-elected in 1877, 1878, 1879, 1880, and 1881. During the last three terms, 1878-79-80, he has been chairman of the Committee on Finance, and in 1879-80 a member of the Judiciary Committee. He married, February 26, 1863, Elizabeth Roberts Morrill, daughter of David C. and Mary Mansfield (Wentworth) Morrill. They have five children, Augustus O., Jr., Eliza- beth Roberts, George Osborn, Alice Mansfield Wentworth, and Stephen Wentworth. Colonel Bourn has done much to promote the growth and prosperity of Bristol.

OCKE, REV. GEORGE LYMAN, rector of St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church of Bristol, Rhode Island, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, Au- gust 28, 1835, and is the son of Lyman and Almeria R. (Boynton) Locke. His mother died when he was a child. He enjoyed superior educational advantages, having prepared for college at the Boston Latin School, and graduated at Harvard College in 1859. His theolog- ical studies were pursued privately. For two years pre-

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vious to entering college he taught school in Virginia, and after graduating, taught for three years in New York as private tutor, at the same time pursuing his professional studies. At the age of eighteen he was for one year civil engineer at Albany, New York. In 1863, on returning from a tour in Europe, he was ordained to the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church by Right Rev. Manton Eastburn, D.D., LL.D., and the following six months was assistant minister at Grace Church, Boston, after which he was for two years assistant minister to Bishop Eastburn at Trinity Church, Boston. The following year was spent in a second visit to Europe. On his return he was called to Bristol, Rhode Island, where for the past fourteen years he has been rector of St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church. Soon after his removal to Bristol he was elected a member of the School Committee, and for nearly ten years was chairman of the Board. He has been for many years a member of the State Board of Education of Rhode Island; has been a trustee of the Rhode Island Normal School since the founding of that institution; and is at present a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rogers Free Library of Bristol. In addition to his European journeyings, Mr. Locke has been in the West Indies and on the Pacific coast. He married, in December, 1873, Emily Judson, daughter of the late Rev. Albert Judson, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They have one child, Mary Emily Locke.

ANDY, HON. CHARLES H., son of George H. and Elizabeth H. (Andrews) Handy, was born in Warren, Rhode Island, September 18, 1836. His father was for many years an enterprising mer- chant of Warren, and died at New Orleans. Mr. Handy was educated at the schools of his native town, and at the age of nineteen went to Peoria, Illinois, where for several years he was engaged as clerk in a mercantile house. He subsequently carried on business there success- fully on his own account. In 1861 he became connected with the Union army, with which he remained until the close of the Civil War, during which time he rendered great service to the soldiers by ministering to their wants in hospitals, and by his kindness to them in the field. In 1865 he took up his residence in Nashville, Tennessee, where he remained until 1871. While residing there he was associated as capitalist in several business enterprises, with the exception of one season ( 1866), which he spent in cotton planting in Northern Alabama. Sinee his return to Warren he has taken an active interest in matters per- taining to the welfare of that town, and has filled various official positions. In 1876 he ably represented his town in the Senate of Rhode Island, and in 1878, 1879, and 1880 was re-elected to the same position, the last two years with- out opposition. In the General Assembly of 1876 he served as a member of the Finance Committee, and was also chairman of the Committee on State Property. Dur-

ing the years 1878, 1879, and 1880 he has also been a member of the Committee on Finance and chairman of the Committee on Militia. In the last-named posi- tion Mr. Handy has been largely instrumental in re- organizing the Militia of the State of Rhode Island, and bringing it up to its present effective condition. In 1874 he served as a member of the Town Council of Warren. His political career has been one of continued success, and the faithful manner in which he has discharged the various duties of the public positions he has been called to fill is a matter of record. From prineiple he has been a member of the Republican party since its organization, in the welfare of which he took an active interest on his re- turn to Warren, and has been recognized as an able leader. He has been a member of the Republican State Central Committee of Rhode Island since 1876, and in June, 1880, was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago. He is a director of the National Warren Bank, and a trustee of the Campbell Sehool Fund. This fund is for the education of indigent children, and is the income from a bequest made by a liberal-spirited citizen of War- ren, through whose munifieence about forty-five pupils are now edueated yearly. Mr. Handy has been a vestryman of St. Mark's Protestant Episcopal Church since 1876. He has travelled over the greater portion of the United States, and has a large acquaintance, not only in New England, but throughout the country. He married, November 30, 1871, Mary Abbot, youngest daughter of the late Commodore Joel Abbot of the United States navy. On returning to Warren he purchased one of the finest residenees in that town, where he now resides.

IPLEY, JAMES MADISON, lawyer, son of Benjamin W. and Lucy (Cook) Ripley, was born at Wrent- ham, Massachusetts, September 8, 1834. He is a great grandson of Nathaniel Cook, who served with Paul Jones, on the Bon Homme Richard, which captured the Serapis. His sister is the wife of Alonzo Cook, of Wrentham. Mr. Ripley was educated in the public schools and at Brown University. He read law in the office of Carpenter & Thurston, of Providence, for a short time after leaving college, and then entered the Albany Law School, where he graduated in 1855 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Soon afterward he returned to Provi- denee, where he was admitted to the bar and opened a law office at 28 Westminster Street, and on the dissolution of the firm of Carpenter & Thurston he formed a partnership with Benjamin F. Thurston, with whom he is still associa- ted, the firm-name being Thurston, Ripley & Co. Mr. Ripley has almost the entire management of the extensive law and equity practice of the firm, and the ability and suc- cess with which he has conducted the varied business in- trusted to him during his professional. career have caused him to be recognized as one of the ablest lawyers in the

Thomas

as Vr Bicknell_

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State. He has attained special distinction in the trial of jury causes, and for many years was engaged in the trial of almost every case of homicide in the State. In 1862 he was appointed Judge Advocate of the Second Brigade Rhode Island Militia. In 1856 he was president of the Young Men's Fremont Club of Providence, and has since been identified with the Republican party. He married, June 30, 1859, Mary W. Brown, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Brown, of Providence, and niece of the late Gov- ernor James Y. Smith. They have two children, James Herbert and Alice Maud. In 1872 Mr. Ripley went to Europe on account of impaired health occasioned by close application to his profession, and travelled extensively on the Continent. On his return home he resumed the prac- tice of law, in which he is now actively engaged. He is very popular with his professional brethren, to the younger members of whom he has always extended a helping hand, and is highly respected for his superior ability, kindliness, genial disposition, and social qualities.

ICKERSON, ANSEL DAVIS, printer, son of Elias and Lucy (Jerauld) Nickerson, was born in Sand- wich, Massachusetts, December 25, 1834. His

+0 father, for a number of years, was Sheriff of Provi- dence County, Rhode Island. His mother died in 1860. The family lived in Smithfield, Rhode Island (now the township of Lincoln), near Central Falls, where Ansel D. attended the public schools till the age of six, when he began to work in a cotton mill. At the age of nine, after attending school less than a year regularly, he began to learn the art of printing. In 1846 he was apprenticed to Mr. Robert Sherman, publisher of the Pawtucket Gazette and Chronicle, and in 1864 became a partner with Mr. Sherman in business. In 1870, he and John S. Sibley bought out Mr. Sherman, and under their proprietorship the Gazette and Chronicle prospered. Mr. Nickerson was one of the publishers of the paper for fourteen years. In 1878 he sold his printing interest to Mr. Charles A. Lee, and spent a year in travel through Europe. In October, 1880, he became managing editor of the Providence Press. During the Rebellion he served for nine months in the Union army as a member of the Eleventh Rhode Island Volunteers, a regiment of infantry. In 1873-4 he was a member of the Town Council of North Providence, and also served the town as a Representative in the State Leg- lature. He is connected with the Grand Army of the Republic, and a firm Republican. While residing in Smithfield, for a number of years he was a member of the School Committee, and served in like manner in North Providence, and afterwards performed the same service in Pawtucket. For many years he was superintendent of the Central Falls Baptist Sabbath-school, and for the last ten years has been superintendent of the First Baptist Sabbath- school of Pawtucket. He is also connected with other

Christian and benevolent associations. His travels have extended widely over our country, and he has twice vis- ited Europe. He possesses good abilities as a writer and speaker, is esteemed and honored in social and business circles, and occupies a prominent place in the community. He married, March 30, 1854, Sarah J. Eldredge, daughter of Richard Eldredge, of Pawtucket.

RICKNELL, THOMAS W., LL.D., editor of the New England and National Journals of Education, and of Education, a bi-monthly magazine, son of Allin and Harriet B. Bicknell, was born in Barring-

be ton, Rhode Island, September 6, 1834. His father, who was born April 13, 1787, was the son of Joshua and Amy Bicknell, and was brought up in and devoted himself to a farmer's life. He joined the Congregational Church in Barrington with about seventy others, following the great revival in June, 1820, and maintained a consistent Christian character for more than fifty years. He succeeded his hon- ored father, Judge Bicknell, as a deacon of the Congrega - tional Church, and held the office till his death. He held various offices in the town, was a member of the Town Council and of the School Committee for several years, was colonel of the military company of the town, a Represent- ative of the town in the General Assembly for the years 1842, 1846, and 1849, and a State Senator for the years 1850-51-52-53. He married, for his first wife, Harriet Byron Kinnicutt, daughter of Josiah and Rebecca Kinni- cutt; and for his second wife, Elizabeth W. Allen. He was industrious in habit, generous, hospitable. He died Monday, August 22, 1870, in his eighty-fourth year, and was buried with his fathers at Prince's Hill Cemetery. Thomas W. Bicknell received his early education in dis- trict and private schools in Barrington until sixteen years of age, when he left home to attend school at Thetford Academy, in Vermont, from which he graduated in 1853, delivering the Greek oration on Grecian Mythology. He taught his first school at Seekonk, Massachusetts, in 1853- 54. He was admitted by examination to Dartmouth and Amherst Colleges, and entered the freshman class of Amherst in September, 1853. At the close of the freshman year he was elected by his class as a prize debater, and became a member of the A. A. +. fraternity. In 1854 he left college to recruit in health and funds; was principal of the public and high school in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, in 1854-55; went West in 1855 and taught as principal of the Academy at Elgin, Illinois. In the summer of 1856 he joined a Chicago emigration company to settle in Kansas, and was taken prisoner by border ruffians on the Missouri River and sent back to St. Louis under escort of Colonel Bufford's South Carolina and Virginia Sharpshooters. He then came East and conducted Rehoboth High School from September, 1856, to December, 1857. In February,

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1858, he entered Brown University, and graduated from that institution in 1860, with the degree of A.M. From May, 1860, to February, 1863, he was principal of Bristol High School ; and was principal of Arnold Street Grammar School, Providence, from 1863 to 1867, till the school was closed, when he returned to the principalship of the Bristol High School, which position he resigned in May, 1869. In June, 1869, he was appointed Commissioner of Public Schools of Rhode Island, by Governor Padelford, and con- tinued in offiee until January 1, 1875. While commissioner lie secured a State Board of Education, of which he was secretary ; the re-establishment of the State Normal School, at Providence; the re-establishment of the Rhode Island Schoolmaster, of which he was editor for nearly ten years ; secured town school superintendents in each town in the State; dedicated over fifty new sehoolhouses; advanced the school-year from twenty-seven to thirty-five weeks average throughout the State; and school appropriations were nearly trebled during his administration.' He aided in the revival of the American Institute of Instruction and in the establishment of the New England Journal of Edu- cation, and as joint proprietor and publisher with C. C. Chatfield, edited the Journal, which united the several monthly magazines of New England in one paper, issued weekly at Boston, Massachusetts. He established and edited The Primary Teacher, a monthly magazine, in 1876. In 1880 he established and became conductor of Education, a bi-monthly review on the Science, the Art, the Philoso- phy, and the History of Education, continuing the editor- ship of the Journal and the presidency of the New Eng- land Publishing Company, formed in 1875. His present business is that of editing and publishing educational books and magazines. For several years he was a member of the School Board and Superintendent of Schools, and a mem- ber of the Town Council of Barrington, Rhode Island ; President of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction in 1867-68; President of the American Institute of Instruction in 1877 and 1878, when the meetings were held at Mont- pelier, Vermont, and at Fabyan's, White Mountains, New Hampshire. As a result of the latter meeting, a fund of one thousand dollars was created, called the Bicknell Fund, and money was raised to build a mountain-path up Mount Carrigan, New Hampshire. He was the first to advocate the formation of the National Council of Education, and was elected its first President at Chautauqua, July, 1880. He engaged in religious work in 1851 at Thetford, and joined the Congregational Church while at the academy. From 1861 to 1864 he was superintendent of the Sun- day-school at Bristol, Rhode Island; of the Sunday- school at Barrington, from 1864 to 1875; and of the Second Church Sunday-school, Dorehester, Boston, from 1876 to 1880. He aided in the formation of the Boston Congregational Sunday-school Superintendents' Union, and was elected its president in May, 1880. That year he was a delegate to attend the Raikes Sunday-school Centenary

at London. IIe has lectured and given addresses in vari- ous parts of the country. On the 17th of June, 1870, he delivered the oration at the Centennial of his native town, Barrington. ITis published works are, A Memorial of William Lord Noyes, 1868; A Ilistory of Barrington, 1870; several genealogical pamphlets; Reports as Com- missioner of Public Schools, 1870, '71, '72, '73, '74; an Address on School Supervision, 1876; and editorial and other artieles in the Rhode Island Schoolmaster, Journal of Education, and other publications. Mr. Bicknell is a member of the Massachusetts Historic Genealogical So- ciety, a corresponding member of the Rhode Island His- torical Society, a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of the American Social Science Association, and an honorary member of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. The Bicknell Family Association was formed in Boston in December, 1879, and Mr. Bicknell was elected its president. He is also a member of various other social, historic, and religious organizations. In 1872 he was eleeted an honorary mem- ber of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and received the hono- rary degree of Master of Arts from Amherst College in 1880. Mr. Bicknell was President of the Rhode Island Sunday-school Union from 1872 to 1875, and First Vice- President of the Rhode Island Temperance Union. He was a delegate from the Rhode Island Conference to form the National Congregational Council, and a delegate from the Suffolk South Conferenee, Massachusetts, to the Tri- ennial Council, held in Detroit, Michigan, in October, 1877. In 1873 he was appointed, by Governor Padelford, Commissioner from Rhode Island to the Universal Expo- sition at Vienna, Austria; in 1878 was a member of the Postal Congress held in New York, in forming the Postal Code adopted by Congress in 1879. In politieal life Mr. Bieknell has held several prominent positions, the chief of which was Representative to the General Assembly of Rhode Island, to which he was elected by the citizens of Barrington while he was a junior in Brown University. In that legislature he made an elaborate speech in favor of the union of the colored and white schools in the State. He has travelled extensively through the United States, making thorough tours through the Southern States, and has made three European trips. In 1873 he travelled through Scotland, England, France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Austria, and Bavaria. In 1879 he revisited England, and in 1880, with his wife, visited Scotland, England, France, Belgium, and Holland. He cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont, in 1856, and still holds fast to the Republican party. He married, September 5, 1860, Amelia D. Blanding, daughter of Christopher and Chloe Blanding. A daughter, Mattie, was born to them in Bristol, Rhode Island, 1862, who died in Barrington, Rhode Island, in 1867. Mr. Bicknell re- moved to Boston in 1875, to carry on his work as educa- tional publisher, and now resides on Bowdoin Avenue

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 122

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