The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 13

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

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BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

BILKINSON, JEREMIAH, son of John and Deborah (Whipple) Wilkinson, was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island, June 4, 1707. Early in life hc went to Cumberland, where he took up lands. About the year 1738 he married Elizabeth Amey Whipple, by whom he had a large family of children. He was a birthright member of the Society of Friends. Among his children, the eighth in the order of birth was the cele- brated Jemima Wilkinson, who was born in Cumberland, November 29, 1752. She was brought under the influence of the preaching of George Whitefield when she was eighteen years of age, and a most marked change in her life was the result. In 1775 she had a fever, and for a time was so greatly reduced in strength that her death was soon expected. Coming out of a sort of trance state, in which she had been lying for nearly a half hour, she claimed that she had died, and her mortal body had been reanimated by " the spirit and power" of Jesus Christ, while her own spirit was in heaven. Becoming now a public speaker, the fame of her eloquence and singular power soon spread in every direction. She preached in Providence and all the principal towns in the State, pro- claiming everywhere to large assemblages the message which, she believed, it had been given to her to utter. Not merely the ignorant and the easily excited became her fol- lowers, but some of the most intelligent and thoughtful men and women of the State. Among these was Judge William Potter, of South Kingstown, who according to Updike, "for the more comfortable accommodations of herself and her adherents, built a large addition to his al- ready spacious mansion. Her influence controlled his household servants and the income of his great estates. She made his home her headquarters for about six years," From an elaborate description of her personal appearance and style of address, we learn that " in her public addresses, she would rise up, and stand perfectly still for a minute or more, and then proceed with a slow and distinct enuncia- tion. She spoke with great ease and increased fluency, her voice clear and harmonious, and manner persuasive and emphatic. When she rode on horseback her appear- ance was imposing. In her religious peregrinations Judge Potter usually rode beside Jemima, and then her followers, two by two, on horseback, constituted a solemn and im- pressive procession." Subsequently she settled in Yates County, N. Y., six miles from Penn Yan, where she built up a place which she called Jerusalem. She took the name of " Universal Friend." Her fame reached all over the country and across the ocean. It is said that visitors of rank and distinction from the South, from France and Eng- land, frequently enjoyed her hospitality. She died July I, 1819. It was not many years before whatever of religious organization Jemima Wilkinson had built up fell into decay, and she is remembered in our day only as a religious mon- omaniac, who had wonderful success in duping large numbers of people by her fascinating gifts and the elo-

quence of her specch. Jeremiah, the brother of Jemima, born July 6, 1741, was another noted person in the family. He was a natural born mechanic. When quite young he engaged in making hand cards for carding wool, and for currying horses and cattle. Ile was the first person in America that " drew " wire. Ilis greatest invention, which gave him a world-wide reputation, was that of cutting nails from cold iron. The first machines for doing this were, as might be supposed, of a very rude character, but they have been improved until they have reached a high state of perfection, and the business of cutting nails and tacks is one of the most extensive and lucrative in the country. Mr. Wilkinson died January 29, 1831. His father, whose name appears at the head of this sketch, died not far from 1777

BILKINSON, OZIEL, son of John and Ruth (An- gell) Wilkinson, was born January 30, 1744, in Smithfield. His early educational advantages were quite limited, so far as schools were con- cerned. When he was twenty-two years of age he married Lydia Smith, of Smithfield. By trade he was a blacksmith, and possessed the inventive genius which characterized so many of his relations. Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War he moved to the " Falls of Pawtucket," to avail himself of the admirable water-power which was of such assistance to him in his business. Here great prosperity attended him. He became a leading man in the town, and stood foremost among the manufacturers of the country. Samuel Slater married into his family. His own sons and sons-in-law were distinguished for their en- terprise, and the great energy which they brought to the development of that especial department of business in which they engaged,-the manufacture of cotton goods. Mr. Wilkinson started his anchor shops in 1784 or 1785, and furnished many anchors for ships built in differ- ent places. He carried on also the manufacture of nails and screws, and farming utensils, as shovels, spades, etc. A few years later he built a rolling and slitting mill, bought out ' a flouring mill, and buying his grain in Albany, and shipping it to Pawtucket, he ground it into flour. The first cotton- mill built at Pawtucket was erected in 1793 by Almy, Brown (Moses) & Slater. It had seventy-two spindles, and was set in motion July 12, of that year. (See sketch of Samuel Slater.) In 1799 the second cotton-mill was erected in Pawtucket on the Massachusetts side of the river. It was built of wood, and next to the river was four stories high, and was known as the " White Mill." It was destroyed by fire in 1823. There was no plan which tended to promote the welfare of the community in which Mr. Wilkinson did not take an interest. We are told that "in 1804, when it was proposed to construct the 'Nor- folk and Bristol Turnpike,' he had charge of thirteen miles

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

of said road, and furnished spades, shovels, and picks from his establishment in Pawtucket for the laborers. He was not above his business, and though he had become wealthy, he was not purseproud, and could carry his own nails to Boston, and sell them in quantities to suit purchasers, at six- teen cents per pound." Nor were his manufacturing opera- tions carried on in Rhode Island only. He purchased, in con- nection with his sons-in-law, a water-power in Connecticut on the Quinnebaug River, and the town of Pomfret owes much of its prosperity to his enterprise. A life of seventy-one years, full of activity, and attended with great success, termi- nated at Pawtucket, October 22, 1815. Mr. and Mrs. Wil- kinson were the parents of ten children. The first, Lucy, mar- ried Timothy Greene, of Potowam, Warwick, who became a partner with his father-in-law and his brother-in-law, Samuel Slater. They had a family of eight children, among whom was Sarah, wife of William Harris, whose daughter, Eliza Green, became the wife of Rev. Dr. Henry Waterman, rector of St. Stephen's Church in Providence; Samuel, who married Sarah Harris, daughter of Stephen Harris, and had two sons, Paul and Captain Charles Harris; Dan- iel, William, Mary, Paul, Eliza, who married Benjamin C. Harris, and had a family of eleven children, and Anna W., who married Edward Walcott, and moved to the South. The next two children of Oziel were twins, Abra- ham and Isaac. They carried on an extensive iron business in Pawtucket, Providence, and Fall River. They had also large cotton-mills in Pawtucket, Valley Falls, and Albion. Abraham was frequently honored by his fellow-citizens by being elected to positions of trust, the duties of which he faithfully discharged. Isaac was a prominent and liberal supporter of the First Baptist Church in Pawtucket. The fourth child of Oziel was David, born January 5, 1771, who married Martha Sayles, by whom he had four chil- dren. She was a direct descendant from Mary, oldest daughter of Roger Williams. David holds a high rank in the Wilkinson family. He early developed a remarkable mechanical genius. We are told that " at the age of six he was made to help in the business of heading nails, by being set astride of a log, and with his foot in a stirrup, he would work the press which had been constructed by his father for this purpose. He was early initiated into all the mysteries of the blacksmith's trade, and when his father moved to Pawtucket Falls, when he was not far from thir- teen years of age, he was quite an expert in wielding the sledge." He was the inventor, when but a young man, of what is known as the " sliding lathe," for turning iron and brass. Then he invented the " slide or gauge lathe," and after a good deal of opposition and discouragement suc- ceeded in getting a patent for it. For several years he reaped little or no pecuniary benefit from his patent, which in twelve years ran out, and he neglected to renew it. In consideration of the great utility of his invention, espe- cially in the arsenals and armories of the United States, Congress voted him, in 1848, the sum of $10,000. It is

claimed, moreover, for David Wilkinson, that he was the first person in this country to make use of steam for pro- pelling boats, anticipating the experiment of Robert Fulton on the Hudson River about sixteen years. The boat used by Wilkinson was one belonging to one of the large India ships of John Brown, and was about twelve tons burden. A mechanic by the name of Ormsbee prepared the boiler, and Wilkinson built the engine. The work of getting the boat into running order was done at a place about three miles and a half from Providence, called " Winsor's Cove," a quiet spot, where the parties interested would not be liable to be molested by the over-curious. The story goes that Wil- kinson succeeded in getting his machinery in operation, and on a pleasant evening in autumn he left Winsor's Cove in the first boat propelled by steam that ever floated on the waters of the Narragansett Bay and Providence River, and arrived in safety at the lower wharf. The next day they left, in the boat, for Pawtucket, to show the friends in that village the success that had attended the enterprise. At Pawtucket the boat remained a day or two, and then returned to Providence. For some reason unknown to us no practical benefit accrued to Mr. Wilkinson from his in- vention. In 1829 he moved to Cohoes Falls, in New York, where he engaged in manufacturing business, and subse- quently, when manufacturing was no longer profitable, was occupied in various enterprises where his mechanical skill was brought into requisition. He died at Caledonia Springs, Canada West, February 3, 1852, and his remains were brought to Pawtucket and placed in the family vault. Pawtucket owes to David Wilkinson a great debt of grat- itude. His monument may be found in the thrift and pros- perity of that thriving town. He was interested in relig- ious and benevolent organizations; was one of the prin- cipal founders of St. Paul's Church, and contributed lib- erally to its support. He was also a prominent Mason, and one of the founders of Union Lodge. The fifth child of Oziel was his daughter Marcy, who married William Wil- kinson, of Providence, a graduate of Brown University in the class of 1783, for many years Principal of the Univer- sity Grammar School; appointed, in 1792, by Washington, Postmaster of Providence; for a number of years publisher and bookseller in Providence; Representative, for several terms, to the General Assembly ; for some time treasurer of the Providence Mutual Insurance Company, and a director until his death. His first wife was Chloe Learned, of Thompson, Conn., by whom he had six children ; and his second Marcy Wilkinson, by whom he had eight children. He retained his faculties until his death, at the age of ninety-two years. Hannah, the sixth child of Oziel, be- came the wife of Samuel Slater, October 2, 1791. (See sketch of Samuel Slater.) The seventh child was Daniel, who married Nancy Tabor, of Tiverton. He was con- cerned in the Pomfret factories, as a member of the firm. The eighth child was George, who died young. The ninth was Smith, who married Elizabeth Howe, of Killingly,

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

Conn. He was a successful manufacturer in Putnam, Conn. The tenth was Lydia, who in 1809 married Hezekialı IIowe. He became an extensive manufacturer in Cohoes, N. Y.

BILKINSON, MAJOR JEPTHA AVERY, son of Jeptha and Lucy (Smith) Wilkinson, was born in Cum- berland, April 23, 1791. His father was one of the "Minute Men" of Boston in the Revolu-

el tion. ITis mother, who was a woman of remark- able energy of character, reached nearly her one hundredth year, retaining her faculties in a remarkable degree to the last. The subject of this sketch took part in the war of 1812, being in active service for about three years. Before the war ended he was promoted to the rank of Major. At the close of the war he was offered a colonelcy in one of the South American armies; and during the . Rebellion, while sojourning in England, he was frequently urged by General Scott, his old brother in arms, to accept a com- mand in the Union Army. Not long after his military service was ended he returned to Rhode Island, and with the inventive genius which seems to have been a special gift of the Wilkinson family, he constructed a machine to manufacture weavers' reeds for the power-looms which had recently been introduced into the cotton factories set up by Mr. Slater. He built an establishment in Providence, which he placed in charge of his brother Arnold while he should be absent in England to bring to the notice of the manufacturers there his new machine. He met with such encouragement that he put up a building in Manchester in which to construct his machine. He encountered, how- ever, the most bitter opposition from the hand reed-makers, who urged that his success would be the ruin of hundreds and thousands of poor people, who would be thrown out of employment. At length their hatred reached its climax on Sunday while he was at church. His buildings were destroyed by fire ; and Mr. Wilkinson, having leased his right to make his machines for England to parties in Man- chester, went to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, where he sold his patent right to the government for nearly $18,000. Soon after he erected an establishment in Paris. While there he formed the acquaintance of Miss Sarah H. Gibson, the daughter of a wealthy barrister of London, whom he subsequently married. On returning to Prov- idence, he found that his establishment had proved a fail- ure. In after years, as is well known, the reed machine proved a great success, but the inventor of it reapcd but little pecuniary benefit from it. Another of his inven- tions, which in other hands has been the means of enrich- ing so many persons, was what is now known as "Colt's Revolver." Mr. Wilkinson, when in Paris, made the first drawings of this repeating revolver. Colt saw these draw- ings at the office or residence of an officer of the French government, and secured for himself a patent for the

article. Another of his inventions was the " Rotary Cyl- indrical Printing Press." As far back as the year 1818 he made his drawings of the new press. Being occupicd, how- ever, for many years with the introduction of his reed ma- chine, he paid but little attention to the press invention until 1839. On the 26th of April of that year he set up the first type in regular form placed upon a cylinder, and his printing was a success. A few days after, Rev. Dr. Wayland gave him a letter of introduction to his brother- in-law, Colonel Stone, editor of the New York Daily Ad- vertiser, who introduced him to the Harpers, and they recommended him to see Messrs. R. M. Hoe & Co. Mr. Hoe was so far satisfied with the great value of the inven- tion of Mr. Wilkinson, that he proposed at once the erection of an establishment for its manufacture. Mr. Wilkinson was not quite satisfied with some of the details of the propo- sition made to him by Mr Hoe, and declined to proceed. He returned to Providence, and, encouraged by some gen- tlemen of his acquaintance, among whom were Messrs. Brown and Ives, to construct a double cylinder press, he entered upon the work in the summer of 1839, and on the 15th of February, 1840, the new machine was put in ope- ration, and was a complete success. The legislature of Rhode Island granted an act of incorporation to the " Wil- kinson Printing Press Company," February 4, 1841. A few weeks after this, one of the machines, with its newly invented apparatus for folding and cutting, was put in mo- tion in the office of the New York Sun. It might reason- ably be supposed that the inventor of the " Rotary Print- ing Press " was in a fair way to reap the reward of his toil and patience. But in manifold ways, which we cannot stop to specify, he was thwarted, and others reaped where he had sown. It is claimed by the friends of Wilkinson that the celebrated "Hoe's Lightning Press" is substan- tially Wilkinson's press. In 1862 Mr. Wilkinson went to Europe. His object in going was to renew his French patent upon the Rotary Printing Press, and try the exper- iment of bringing the machine to perfection and introduc- ing it into the market. He was opposed there, as he had been in this country, by the manufacturers of other ma- chines. After working several years in perfecting a press and making ready for an exhibition, a fire swept the whole concern out of existence, being, without the slightest doubt, the work of incendiaries and parties interested in the man- ufacture of other printing presses. A large part of his time was spent in England in dividing and settling estates left by his wife's father, Mr. Gibson, who died while his son- in-law was there, and was made chief executor to his will. He returned to this country in 1870, and during most of the remainder of his life lived on his farm at South Haven, Suffolk County, Long Island, an estate he purchased in 1846. He died December 31, 1873, at 73 Hamilton Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. There are now (1880) living five mem- bers of his family : Ellen H., the cldest of the children, Jeptha A., Mary C., Mrs. Emma M. Turner, and Albert.

3. Jeans.

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

EARS, BARNAS, D.D., LL.D., the fifth President of | Brown University, was born in Sandisfield, Mass., November 19, 1802. His paternal ancestor, Rich- ard Sears, came from England, where, in the time of Elizabeth, the name was found in the highest ranks, and landed at Yarmouth, on Cape Cod, Mass., in 1630. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch, when a boy, went from Harwich, Mass., first to Chatham Corners, Mass., his brother Elkanah accompanying him. The latter remained in Chatham Corners, while the former went on through the woods to Sandisfield, where he settled. Barnas Sears was the son of Paul, Jr., and Rachel (Granger) Sears. He spent the early days of his life on his father's farm, where he was accustomed to do all kinds of work. The family was a large one, seven sons and three daughters, and as he was very strong and enterprising he felt anxious, as far as possible, to relieve his parents in bringing up so many children. Accordingly, at the age of fifteen he be- came his own master, and worked at laying stone wall in the summers, hiring a man with his team to assist him, and in the winters teaching school, beginning at the age of six- teen. A senior in college helped him in his studies, and encouraged him to carry out his wish to obtain an educa- tion. He pursued his preparatory studies under the tuition of " Parson Cooley," of East Granville, Mass., who was the teacher of many young men whom he fitted for Yale Col- lege, and was also, for some time, under the care of Jesse, afterward Rev. Dr. Jesse Hartwell, who had charge of the grammar school connected with Brown University. Having a fever just before he was to enter college, he did not commence his collegiate studies until the second term of the freshman year. During his college course he taught school every winter. His rank in his class was a high one. His early aim was to strive for the first part, but sub- sequently he prepared a broader scholarship, without " cram- ming," and therefore devoted himself to a wider range of study than that which was prescribed in the ordinary cur- riculum. His part, at graduation in the class of 1825, was an English oration, the subject of which was "The In- fluence of Association upon the Intellectual Character." He commenced to preach in his sophomore year, and, as he says, his preaching " was remarkable both for success and failures." Many years after one of his worst failures, which mortified him exceedingly, he learned, when calling on a family three hundred miles away from his old home, that one of their number was converted under that sermon. He found warm friends and advisers at this period of his life in Rev. Messrs. Gano, Benedict, and Jackson. The former recommended him to Rev. Dr. Baldwin, of Boston, as a suitable person to become his colleague. Feeling, how- ever, the need of a better preparation for the ministry, he went to the Newton Theological Seminary, immediately after he graduated, in the fall of 1825, where he remained two years, leaving in 1827 on account of a difficulty with his lungs. For a short time he was settled as pastor of the

First Baptist Church at Hartford, Conn. In 1829 he was elected Professor of Ancient Languages in the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, New York. For nearly three years he acted as pastor of the Baptist Church in that village. The winter of 1830 he spent in study at the Andover Theological Institution. September 13, 1833, he sailed for Germany, and remained abroad two years and three months, studying in Halle, under Gesenius and Tholuck, at Leipsic, under G. Herman and Winer, and at Berlin, under Neander and Hengstenberg. The instruc- tors from whom he derived the most benefit were Tholuck and Neander. On his return to his home, in 1835, he resumed his position at Hamilton, where he remained six months, and then accepted an appointment as Professor at the Newton Theological Institution, commencing his work there in the spring of 1836, and from 1839 to 1848 was the President of the Seminary. On the death, in 1838, of Professor James D. Knowles, he became the editor of the Christian Review, and held that position for several years. He was also appointed, while residing at Newton, by Gov- ernor Briggs a member of the Massachusetts Board of Edu- cation. In 1848, upon the resignation of Horace Mann, he was appointed Secretary of the Board, and continued in that office until, on the resignation of President Wayland, in 1855, he was chosen President of Brown University, which position he held until 1867, when he was elected General Agent of the Peabody Education Fund, which office he held up to the time of his death. The original gift by George Peabody to the United States Government for the cause of popular education at the South was $2,100,000, which was subsequently increased to $3,500,000. As originally invested, the income was $120,000. Now, by the change of interest, it brings only $83,000. The amount of good accomplished by the aid granted to the public schools at the South, through the agency superintended by Dr. Sears, it is not easy to compute.

Dr. Sears was married February 16, 1830, to Elizabeth Griggs, daughter of Deacon Elijah Cory, of Brookline, Mass. Their children are, William B., Edward H., Eliz- abeth C.,-now Mrs. J. H. Fultz, of Staunton, Va.,-Robert Davis, and Edmund Dwight. The two oldest sons were captains in the army in the civil war. Edward H. was transferred to the navy, where he was acting paymaster. He was in the Chinese seas three years, after the war, and was in the marine fight with the Chinese. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on Dr. Sears by Harvard College in 1841, and that of Doctor of Laws by Yale Col- lege in 1862. Among the published writings of Dr. Sears, besides what he contributed to the Christian Review, are numerous articles written for the Bibliotheca Sacra. With Professors Edwards and Felton he was associated in the compilation of Classical Studies, 1843. He published The Ciceroniana, 1849; Life of Luther, 1850; edited Nöhden's German Grammar, 1842; Select Writings of Luther, 1846; an edition of Roget's Thesaurus, 1854. He has

BIOGRAPHIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

also published many reports, addresses, ete. During his administration as President of Brown University the chem- ieal laboratory was built, a large number of scholarships for indigent students obtained, the " Bowen estate," at the corner of George and Prospect streets, purchased and in- cluded within the college campus, a debt of $25,000 ex- tinguished, and large additions made to the college funds. Dr. Sears resided in Staunton, Va., from about the date of his appointment as General Agent of the Peabody Fund, in 1867, to the time of his death, which occurred July 6, 1880, at Saratoga, where he had gone to attend a meeting of the American Institute of Instruction, and before which he was to read a paper on " Educational Progress in the United States during the last Fifty Years." His funeral took place at Brookline, Mass., Friday afternoon, July 9, the services being held in the Baptist Church. Among those present were Rev. Dr. Hovey, President of the Newton Theological Institution, Hon. George S. Boutwell, of the Massachusetts Board of Education, Professor J. L. Lincoln, of Brown University, and Hon. Robert C. Win- throp, representing the Trustees of the Peabody Educa- tional Fund, who paid most appropriate tributes to the character and labors of the deceased.

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 13

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