The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 132

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 132

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

585

BIOGRAPHIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

is also a highly popular preacher, and his services in the pulpits of his own and other denominations are eagerly sought. His political action has been with the Republican party, but he is not a political worker. So highly is he respected in Greenwich, by all parties, that he has been more than once chosen without opposition as moderator of the town. He married, September 9, 1869, Augusta M. Hubbard, A.M., daughter of Hon. S. Hubbard, of Genesee, Livingston County, New York. They have had three chil- dren, George Hubbard, Albert Francis, and Theodora Louise.

BIXON, NATHAN FELLOWS, 3d, son of Hon. Nathan F., Jr., and Harriet (Swan) Dixon, was born in Westerly, Rhode Island, August 28, 1847. His father and grandfather, of the same name, both of whom were eminent lawyers, are elsewhere sketched in this volume. His maternal grandfather was a Congre- gational clergyman. After attending the schools of his native town, and Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachu- setts, he entered Brown University, from which he gradu- ated with high rank in the class of 1869. He was pecu- liarly successful as a writer and speaker. On Decoration Day, May 30, 1870, he delivered before a large assembly in his native town an eloquent oration, which was after- wards published. Studying for the legal profession, he received the degree of LL.B. from the Law School of Albany, New York, in 1871, and settled for the practice of his profession in his native place. In 1877 he was ap- pointed United States District Attorney for Rhode Island, in which office he is now serving the State and the na- tion. He is an attendant of the Congregational Church. He married, June 5, 1873, Grace McClure, daughter of Archibald McClure, Esq., of Albany, New York. His sister, Annie P., married Rev. James G. K. McClure. His brother, Edward H., is a practicing lawyer in the city of New York.

TONE, WATERMAN, superintendent and secretary of the Providence, Warren & Bristol Railroad, was born at Cumberland, Rhode Island, March IO, 1847. His parents were Lemuel M. E. and Caroline E. (Phetteplace) Stone. His father, who. is still liv- ing (1881), is a civil engineer, and has been engaged in the building of numerous railroads, among which are the Shore Line from New Haven to New London, now a part of the New York & New Haven road, completed July 22, 1852; the Hampshire & Hampden road, about forty miles long, chartered in May, 1856, and completed in July of the same year; and the Providence & Springfield road, extending at present a distance of twenty-two miles, opened in 1873. He was also for several years one of the engineers of the Boston & Albany road. After having been superintendent, treasurer, and general manager of the Providence, War-

ren & Bristol road for sixteen years, he was elected to a similar position on the Connecticut Valley road. His grandfather, Henry Stone, was a manufacturer, who resided at Seekonk, Massachusetts, and served in the War of 1812. The subject of this sketch was educated at Mowry and Goff's School, in Providence, where he pursued a full Eng- lish and scientific course, on the completion of which he immediately engaged in civil engineering. On the Ist of July, 1871, he was appointed superintendent and treasurer of the Providence, Warren & Bristol Railroad, which po- sition he still holds. For six years previous to his assuming that postion he had been actively engaged in the manage- ment of the road, under the direction of his father, and his election to take his place gave great satisfaction to the many patrons of the road. He is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, having with his wife been baptized on Good Friday, April 15, 1870. For several years he has been connected with "the Church of the Saviour" as organist, and now holds the position of junior warden and treasurer. On the 3d of January, 1872, he married Emily Clark Steere, a descendant, on her mother's side, of Captain John Whipple, one of the original settlers of Providence. Captain Whipple was born in Eng- land in 1616; came to Boston in 1630; removed to Prov- idence in 1658; received a grant of land embracing a large territory at Louisquisset, in 1660; in the year 1675, during King Philip's War, was one of the twenty-five who voted, at a town meeting, to stay in Providence instead of going to Newport, a safer place, at which time most of the inhab- itants left Providence ; died in 1685 ; and his tombstone is now to be seen in the North Burying-Ground, Providence. Mr. Stone has four children, whose names are Mary Win- sor, Charles Waterman, Robert Clark, and Elizabeth.

MES, GEORGE HENRY, D.M.D., son of Benjamin Keath and Sarah Durbey (Carpenter ) Ames, was born at Foxboro, Mass, April 24, 1848. He is a lineal descendant of William Ames, who was born at Bruton, Somersetshire, England, October 6, 1605, and settled at Braintree, Massachusetts, where he died, January 11, 1654. Numerous members of the Ames family are to be found in all parts of the country, and many of the descendants of William Ames have been distinguished for patriotism and intellectual gifts, the most conspicuous among the number being the celebrated orator and states- man, Hon. Fisher Ames. Several served their country during the Revolutionary War, among whom were Dr. Seth Ames, a brother of Hon. Fisher Ames, Captain Na- thaniel Ames, Rev. Sylvanus Ames, a graduate of Harvard College, and for some time pastor of Trinity Church, Taun- ton, Massachusetts, who was chaplain in the army, and died in the camp at Valley Forge, during the hard winter of 1777-8, Captain Jotham Ames, who was lieutenant in the company of Captain Jacob Allen, at the capture of Bur-

586

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

goyne, and on the fall of Captain Allen in the action, took command, and others who served with equal gallantry and devotion. The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools of Providence, at Lapham Institute, North Scituate, Rhode Island, and at the Harvard University Dental School. In 1869 he entered the office of Dr. Thomas Haley, D.M.D., of Biddeford, Maine, where he spent a year as a student of dentistry, gaining considerable practical knowledge of the various branches of the profes- sion. In the fall of 1870 he entered the Dental School at Harvard University, where he graduated, February 14, 1872. Immediately after graduating he went to Foxboro, Massachusetts, and opened an office, where he practiced his profession until May 6, 1873, when he opened another office in Butler Exchange, Providence, Rhode Island, still continuing to visit Foxboro each week for the next two years. In January, 1874, he removed to the office of T. D. Thompson, D.D.S., with whom he entered into part- nership, the firm-name being Thompson & Ames. He was associated with Mr. Thompson until September, 1877, when he succeeded to the practice of William B. Den- nis, D.D.S., at 17 Mathewson Street, Providence, where he still continues to enjoy a large share of general prac- tice. He is an active member of the American Academy of Dental Science, and one of the Executive Committee of the Rhode Island Dental Society. For several years he has been a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is also a member of the Providence Lodge of Knights of Honor, and a "fine-member" of the First Rhode Island Infantry of Providence. In 1879 he went abroad, for rest and pleasure, and visited many of the most important places of interest in Europe. Dr. Ames married, June 26, 1872, Myra Hatton, daughter of Captain Samuel and Almira (Marshall) Hatton, of Port Clyde, Maine. She died Jan- uary 1, 1879, leaving one son, Reginald Mountford. On the Ist of March, 1881, Mr. Ames married Isabel Brownell, daughter of Stephen and Henrietta (Hunt) Brownell.

PUSHMAN, REV. HENRY IRVING, A. M., pastor First Universalist Church, Providence, was born at Or- ford, Grafton County, New Hampshire, July 29, 1844, and is the son of Hartwell Coleman and Mary Ann (Earl) Cushman. He is a lineal descendant, in the ninth generation, of Robert Cushman the Puritan. From a sketch of the life of Robert Cushman by the Hon. John Davis, published in 1846, to accompany Mr. Cush- man's sermon on " The Sin and Danger of Self-Love," the following facts are gathered, which are worthy of rec- ord : "Robert Cushman was one of the most distinguished characters among that collection of worthies who quitted England on account of their religious difficulties, and set- tled, with Mr. John Robinson, their pastor, in the city of Leyden, in Holland, in the year 1609." From 1617 to 1620 Mr. Cushman was prominent in all the arrangements

preliminary to the sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers for Amer- ica. He even procured the Mayflower and its pilot in London, and with his family sailed in that vessel, August 5, 1620. But, as Dr. N. B. Shurtleff, of Boston, says, "in consequence of the unsoundness of the smaller vessel, the Speedwell, it became necessary that part of the pilgrims should be left behind, and consequently Mr. Cushman, whom Governor Bradford called ' the right hand with the adventurers,' and who 'for divers years had managed all our business with them to our great advantage,' was selected as one who would be best able to keep together that portion of the flock left behind." Mr. Cushman afterwards came to America, landing at Plymouth, November 10, 1621. Here he remained a little more than a month, and on the 13th of December, 1621, sailed again for London, with a valuable cargo, in the same ship. This ship was taken by the French, and Mr. Cushman was carried into France, but arrived in London in February, 1622, where he acted in the interest of his friends in America until 1626, when he died. Robert Cushman's son Thomas became "rul- ing elder of the church of Plymouth," as the successor of Elder Brewster, in 1649. From him the whole Cushman family in America has descended. A genealogy of the Cushman family was published in 1855. The subject of this sketch prepared for college at an academy in his native town, and at the High School, in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He was graduated at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, in the class of 1865. From the time of his graduation until the Ist of January, 1867, he studied the- ology with the Rev. C. H. Leonard, then of Chelsea, Mas- sachusetts, now Professor in the Divinity School at Tuft's College, Medford, Massachusetts. As a licentiate under the rules of the Massachusetts Universalist Convention, he became pastor of the Second Universalist Society in Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, January 1, 1867. He was ordained to the work of the ministry May 15 of the same year. In 1868 he received from Dartmouth College the degree of Master of Arts. In June, 1868, he became associate pas- tor with Rev. A. A. Miner, D.D., of the Second Univer- salist Society, in Boston, then worshipping at their church in School Street. He remained in this position six years and a half, during which time the society to which he ministered built a new church on Columbus Avenue. Upon leaving the old church in School Street, in the spring of 1872,-a place which had been so intimately connected with the rise and growth of the Universalist Church in America-the historical address was delivered by Mr. Cushman. This address, with others elicited by the occa- sion, and many papers of historic interest, were arranged by him for publication in pamphlet form. But the whole edition about to issue from the press, together with most of the copy, was destroyed in the great Boston fire of 1872. The most important literary work upon which Mr. Cush- man has yet ventured was thus destroyed. His writings have not been uncommon, however, in the press of the ·

587

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

denomination to which he belongs. On the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of his native town; upon leaving the old church in Boston ; upon entering the new church on Columbus Avenue ; and on many other occa- sions, he has written hymns which have been received with much favor. In the spring of 1875 he becane pastor of the First Universalist Church, in Providence, Rhode Island, as the successor of Rev. E. H. Capen, who was called to the presidency of Tufts College. In this position he still remains. He is a trustee of Dean Academy, Franklin, Massachusetts, and is secretary of the corporation. He is also a member of the Universalist Historical Society, the Rhode Island Historical Society, a member of the Board of Managers of the Rhode Island Temperance Union, and of the corporation of the Rhode Island Hospital. He was married, April 13, 1868, to Emily Eliza Gilman, daughter of Marcus Davis Gilman, Esq., of Chicago, Illi- nois. Mr. Gilman now resides at Montpelier, Vermont, and is secretary of the Vermont Historical Society. He is at present preparing A Bibliography of Vermont, an elabo- rate historical work involving much research. Mr. and Mrs. Cushman have had five children, as follows: Mary Alice, who died June 18, 1877; Ruth Gilman; Robert ; Marcus Gilman, who died July 18, 1877; Earl Baldwin, who died May 25, 1878; and Albert Henry. During the summer of 1879 Mr. and Mrs. Cushman travelled with the Tourjeó party in Europe, visiting Scotland, England, Hol- land, Germany, Austria, Italy, and France, going as far south as Naples and Pompeii, in Italy.

ILBUR, JOHN, M.D., son of Dr. William H. and Eliza S. (Mann) Wilbur, was horn in Warwick, Rhode Island, September 20, 1850. After at- tending private schools in Westerly, he pursued his studies for some time at the Friends' School in Providence. He began the study of medicine under the direction of his father, and in due time entered the Med- ical College of the University of New York, where he graduated in February, 1874, taking the Valentine Mott gold medal and the certificate of honor from that institu- tion. He also attended the Aylett's Medical Institution of New York, from which he graduated the same year. Pre- vious to his graduation he received the appointment of dein- onstrator of anatomy in the University of Vermont, which position he filled during the year 1874. In the spring of 1875 he returned to Westerly and engaged in the practice of his profession with his father for one year, at the end of which time he went to Europe for the purpose of com- pleting his medical education, making a specialty of the study and practice of surgery. For the accomplishment of this purpose he visited Edinburgh and Glasgow, London and Paris, spending several months at celebrated hospitals in those cities. While in Paris his health became impaired and he returned home in 1876. Soon after his return he

resumed practice with his father, with whom he was asso- ciated until the death of the latter. He is a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society, and is medical examiner for the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, hav- ing received the appointment to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father. For several years he has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He married, May, 1874, Justina Adele Eva Ferrell, daughter of James and Eunice Ferrell, of New York city. She is a graduate of Fourth Street College, New York. Dr. Wil- bur succeeded to the large practice of his father, and has been remarkably successful as a surgeon. In the summer of 1881 he disposed of his practice, to devote his time to lecturing on physiology and anatomy.

6 SOWER, FREDERIC ALLEN, son of Rev. Harrison Bartlett and Maria Susan (Dix) Gower, was born in Sedgwick, Maine, July 25, 1851. His father, who was a Baptist clergyman, was graduated at Brown University, under President Wayland, in the class of 1846. His mother, a woman possessed of rare mental as well as physical endowments, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her girlhood was spent in Providence, where, previous to her marriage in 1848, she was en- gaged as a teacher in the public schools. At the age of three, young Gower removed with his parents to Philadel- phia, his father having accepted a situation as editor in connection with the American Baptist Publication Society. While on a visit to his home in Farmington, Maine, in the summer of 1859, he was taken sick and died, leaving a widow without means, and three boys, the oldest, George Lewis, being but ten years of age, and the youngest, Wil- liam Dix, being a lad of six years. The situation was trying, and called for the exercise of all those latent facul- ties and resources which have characterized Mrs. Gower in so eminent a degree, and which she doubtless imparted in a measure to her children. She at once accepted a sit- uation as principal of the Ladies' Collegiate Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. During her connection with the Institute the subject of this sketch attended the public schools of the city. At the age of ten he removed to Farm- ington, where he spent a year in the famous Abbot School, founded by the brothers, John and Jacob Abbot, and a nephew, A. H. Abbot, who at that time was the principal. In 1862 he removed to Providence, his mother having ac- cepted a situation as teacher in the Fountain Street Gram- mar School. This school he also attended, where he en- joyed the superior instructions of the lamented Albert A. Gammell. He entered the High School, and under the teachings of E. H. Cutler and D. W. Hoyt was fitted for college. During this period he assisted his mother in an evening-school, took care of rooms, and in various ways helped himself, thus early developing that self-reliance and energy which have enabled him to seize his opportunities,

588

BIOGRAPIIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

and to achieve his present success. In the fall of 1869 he entered the Freshman class of Brown University, then under the presidency of the late Rev. Dr. Caswell. During his Sophomore year he left Brown University and engaged for a time in the lumber business with his uncle, George D. Gower, of New Haven. He also studied six months, intending to complete his college course at Yale. His pe- cuniary resources, however, unexpectedly failed him, and in the fall of 1873 he returned to Providence. Here he remained upwards of three years, being connected with the Evening Press as a reporter, and finally as the leading writer in charge of the editorial department of the paper. Being an active member of the Franklin Lyceum, he was chosen one of the Lecture Committee. The course for 1876-7 having closed early in the season, it was determined to supplement it by one or two popular lectures, and upon him devolved the responsibility of securing them. Cast- ing his eye over the papers, his attention was attracted by the notice of an experimental lecture on the telephone, given in Salem, February 12, 1877, by Professor Bell, of Boston, and by the astounding statement that the human voice had been transmitted through the instrument to Bos- ton, sixteen miles away. Eleven days later Professor Bell gave a second lecture at Salem, and Gower was in the audience. At the close of the lecture he made the Profes- sor's acquaintance, experimented with the instrument, and shortly after made arrangements for a similar lecture in Providence. This was the commencement of a close and intimate friendship between the two. Mr. Gower now abandoned journalism and joined with the Professor in his lectures and afterwards in his efforts to introduce the tele- phone. It was during this connection that he invented the " telephone harp," an instrument for producing loud effects upon the lecture platform. It was first exhibited with marked success before an audience of five thousand in the Moody and Sankey Tabernacle at Boston. It showed him to be a skilled telephone expert, and proved afterwards to be a good card of introduction for the young inventor to the scientists of Great Britain. In the spring of 1878 he left this country for London, to look after his interests in the Bell patent in England. After spending three months in the arrangement of this matter he crossed over to Paris, where he found Mr. Cornelius Roosevelt, of New York, engaged in the attempt to introduce the Bell telephone to the French people. Mr. Roosevelt had labored under dif- ficulties in manufacturing the telephone, the patents being defective, and the French workmen unable at the time to make a good instrument, from lack of intelligent practical supervision. Mr. Gower entered into the business with his whole soul ; made numerous inventions and combinations ; brought out his own telephone ; and at the end of two years saw a company, with ample means, established, which now owns his and all other telephone patents of any recognized value there, and which has a monopoly of the telephone business throughout France. This company, in which Mr.

Gower is a large stockholder, uses mainly the Gower in- strument. After his affairs had become sufficiently ar- ranged in Paris he crossed over to London, where he dis- played a faculty for negotiation and organization truly remarkable. Severe tests of his telephone were made by prominent scientific men, government officers, and com- mittees of both the army and navy, and the result was a complete recognition of its merits and its adoption in pref- erence to all others. The Gower-Bell Telephone Com- pany, of England, was speedily organized, with a capital of {200,000, and at once, as soon as the courts had estab- lished the claims of the government for a monopoly of the public use of the telephone, the postmaster-general con- tracted with Mr. Gower for 20,000 of his instruments to equip the department. This contract, which has three years to run, is for a gross amount of {180,000. Other large contracts, both public and private, have since been made, and the fortunate inventor is in the way of speedily realiz- ing the fruits of his labors. He has recently been elected a member of the Royal Institution, an association of indi- viduals who love science, and labor to promote its interests. Among its patrons, officers, and professors, are some of the most distinguished names of which Great Britain can boast. His election to the Institution is in grateful recog- nition of his public services in behalf of science in the de- velopment and use of the telephone.

HOMAS, REV. EUGENE E., son of Philip H. and Mary C. (Ellis) Thomas, was born in North At- tleboro, Massachusetts, January 7, 1851. His great- grandfather, George Christian Thomas, was a Hessian, whose brothers were among the soldiers hired by Eng- land to help subdue the American colonies in the time of the Revolution. As these brothers could not be found when the British officers went to Hesse-Cassel for them, George Christian was taken in their stead, although he was then a minor. He was captured from the British and confined in prison, not long after his arrival in this country, at New- port. Instead of being exchanged as a prisoner he chose to remain in America, and settled in Providence. He after- wards removed to Cumberland, and his home, on the road from Cumberland Hill to Ashton, just below the home of Alfred Arnold, is still known as the " Thomas Farm." He was noted for his physical strength, a characteristic of his descendants. The subject of this sketch spent his boyhood in North Attleboro, where he attended the district school in winter, being employed on the farm, and occasionally in the jewelry business, during the summer months. At the early age of eleven he entered the high school of his native village, and after two years entered the Literary In- stitute at Suffield, Connecticut, where in one year he com- pleted his preparation for college. He entered Brown University in the fall of 1866, at the age of fifteen, and graduated in the class of 1870. He pursued the study of

589

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

theology at Newton Theological Institute, graduating there- from in June, 1873. His first sermon, preached on trial for license, was delivered in the Baptist church in North At- tleboro, on the evening before entering Newton Theological Institute. During the summer of 1871 he supplied the Second Baptist Church in Kennebunk, Maine, and for nine months thereafter, on alternate Sabbaths, supplied the Bap- tist churches in Kennebunk and Milford, Massachusetts, and the latter exclusively during the summer of 1872. In April, 1873, he accepted a call to the pastorate of the Bap- tist church in North Tewkesbury, Massachusetts, where he remained three years. At this place Mr. Thomas took an active part in educational matters, was a member of the School Committee, and for two years chairman of the Board of Education. In September, 1876, he accepted a call to the pastorate of the Baptist church in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where, in the winter of 1878, he partici- pated in the controversy in that place on the subject of future punishment. One of his discourses was printed in pamphlet form, and extensively circulated. He has been an earnest advocate of the temperance reform, and has taken a prominent part on public occasions with Protest- ants and Catholics. In April, 1880, he was elected a rep- resentative to the Rhode Island General Assembly, from Woonsocket, and in June of the same year was elected Superintendent of Public Schools, both of which positions he now holds, also having charge of his pulpit and dis- charging other important duties, among which are those of a regular contributor to the editorial columns of the Woon- socket Patriot. He still continues his studies in theology, ecclesiastical history, and the Hebrew language and its kindred dialects. Mr. Thomas married, first, June 12, 1873, Sarah Amanda Taylor, daughter of Deacon George Taylor, of Kennebunk, Maine. She died of pneumonia, at North Tewkesbury, Massachusetts, February 26, 1875. They had one child, Eugene Ellis Thomas. On the 30th of March, 1876, Mr. Thomas married Mrs. Mary C. Good- speed, daughter of Deacon Hoyt W. Hilton, of Lowell, Massachusetts. Her grandfather, who is still living, has been a Freewill Baptist preacher for over sixty years, was one of the founders of the newspaper called the Morning

Star, and is one of the foremost leaders of the denomina- tion with which he is connected. There is one child by the second marriage, Philip Hilton Thomas.

ANDYKE, REV. HENRY JACKSON, JR., pastor of the United Congregational Church of Newport, Rhode Island, son of Rev. Henry J. Vandyke, D.D., and Henrietta (Ashmead) Vandyke, was born at Germantown, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1852. His ancestors were of Dutch origin, and early settled in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His mother is a descendant of the Ashmeads, an English family who came over with William Penn, and from him received grants of land. His father, a clergyman of wide reputation, pastor of a Presby- terian Church on Brooklyn Heights for twenty-eight years, was called to the chairs of theology in the seminaries at Columbia, South Carolina, and Alleghany, Pennsylvania, and to other prominent positions, and in 1876 was Moder- ator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. The subject of this sketch graduated from the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute in 1869, entered Princeton College in 1873, and graduated with highest honors, receiving the English Literature prize, and delivering the English salu- tatory and belles-lettres oration. He studied with a He- brew rabbi in 1873-4, and entered Princeton Theological Seminary in 1874, and in 1876 was appointed to deliver the master's oration before the college. In 1877 he be- came a corresponding editor of The Presbyterian, and editor of the Princeton Book, graduating from the Theo- logical Seminary in 1877. By advice of Rev. Dr. Hodge and others, Mr. Vandyke declined calls to prominent places and went abroad to complete his theological studies, and also travelled in Scotland, Germany, and Italy. He spent two semesters at the University of Berlin, studying Christ- ology and New Testament Criticism under Dr. Dorner and Dr. Weiss, and worked at the translation for the Contem- porary Review. In October, 1878, he returned to America, and after a unanimous call settled as pastor of the United Congregational Church of Newport, Rhode Island. He has written considerably for magazines and reviews.

HECKMAN RINDERY INC.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 132

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