The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 16

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.

He died at Tyler's Point, February 3, 1683, having been a preacher thirty-eight years-half of that time in this country.

ELMY FAMILY. WILLIAM ALMY, the American ancestor of this numerous and respected family, was born in England, in 1601. He came to this country and settled in Lynn, Mass., in 1631, where he resided for a few years, and then returned to England. In 1635, he came over again, in the ship Abigail, with his wife, Audrey, and children, Annis and Christopher. He was one of the ten men of Lynn, grantees of the town of Sandwich, by the Plymouth Court, in 1637, whose names are given by Barber in his Historical Collections, but whether he ever removed to Sandwich, and assisted in founding that town, we are unable to ascertain. In 1644 he was in Portsmouth, R. I., and was granted lands at " the Wading Brook," the scene of the hard-fought battle of Rhode Island, under Sullivan and Greene, in August, 1778. Portsmouth has ever since been the seat of the oldest branch of this family. He soon rose to distinction in the infant colony, then so much in need of good and capable men. In 1648, the year after the formation of the govern- ment, under the charter of 1643, he was Assistant for Ports- mouth, and Commissioner in 1656-57 and 1663, the last session under the old charter. Assistant then corresponded to Senator, and Commissioner to Representative. William Almy's will, dated February, 1676, mentions his children, Christopher, John, Job, Ann and Catherine. He probably died in the year that his will was executed, at which time he was seventy-five years of age. On the 5th of March, 1680, after the close of King Philip's War, Job and Chris- topher Almy, Edward Gray and Colonel Benjamin Church, and four others, purchased of Plymouth, for £1100, a tract of land comprising the present towns of Tiverton and Little Compton. The property was divided into thirty shares, of which the Almys took seven. They located their lands on what is now called " the Neck," lying be- tween Nonquit Pond and the Bay, the most valuable of which are still in possession of the family. The large and beautiful farm of the late Governor Nicholas Cooke, now the property of Seth Bateman, of Newport, is a part of this fertile tract. This purchase included what is now a part of the city of Fall River. The line ran through the Catholic church, which, until the late exchange of territory with Massachusetts, was partly in Massachusetts and partly in Rhode Island. This valuable tract of land, by the charter of 1663, actually belonged to Rhode Island, but was not surrendered by Massachusetts until after the line was run by Commissioners, in 1743. - Christopher Almy died in 1684, aged eighty-two years. Job Almy married Mary, daughter of Christopher Unthank, of Warwick. Their

children were John, Job, Anthony, Susannah, Audrey, Deb- orah, Catherine, and Mary, who are mentioned in the will of the father, who died in February, 1684. Upon the ac- cession of James II. a writ of quo warranto was immediately issued against the charter of Rhode Island. This caused immense alarm, and upon its receipt, Walter Clarke, the Governor, and the Company sent him an humble address, under date of July 3, 1686. This was followed by another from " certain inhabitants of Rhode Island in relation to the quo warranto," under date of July 16, 1686, and is signed by Christopher Almy and thirteen others. This was a grandson of William Almy. The charter of Rhode Island, like those of all the New England colonies, was suspended by Andros from 1686 until he was compelled to surrender his authority, April 18, 1689, when Walter Clarke, the Governor, refusing to assume his duties, John Coggeshall, the Deputy-Governor, seized the reins of gov- ernment, and carried the imperilled colony through an in- terregnum of ten months, till a special election was held in February, 1690, when Christopher Almy was a Deputy. In the vote for Governor, Mr. Almy was elected, but de- clining to serve, "it was then," says Bancroft, "that all eyes were turned to one of the old Antinomian exiles, the more than octogenarian, Henry Bull; and the fearless Quaker, true to the light within, employed the last glim- merings of life to restore the democratic charter of Rhode Island." John Coggeshall, at this time, was elected Assistant, but refusing to serve, Mr. Almy was chosen in his place; and thus the government was reorganized, pro tempore, until the regular election was held the following May, when other changes took place. Henry Bull and John Coggeshall, being successively elccted Governor, and peremptorily refusing to serve, John Easton was chosen in their stead, and continued in office until 1696. Soon after this, Christopher Almy, on account of his great business and executive ability, was sent to England as agent of the Colony. On the 2d of August, 1692, there was "an ad- dress of the Governor and the Company of Rhode Island to their majesties William and Mary. This was immedi- ately followed by another from the Assembly to the King, in which they informed him that they had also sent ad- dresses, the last spring, by their messenger, Captain Chris- topher Almy." As King William was then busily engaged as the head of the European Coalition against Louis XIV. of France, Christopher Almy addressed a petition to Queen Mary and the Lords of the Privy Council, under date of August 24, 1693. This appears to have been successful, and upon his return, October 28, 1696, he was granted an allowance of £135 10s. 8d. for his services and expenses. The Almy family do not appear conspicuous in politics since the close of the seventeenth century, but have been dis- tinguished as landholders, and for that intelligence, indus- try, and sobriety which make the good citizen. The longevity of this family is remarkable. John Almy, of Tiverton, died April 20, 1808, in his eighty-eighth year,

BIOGRAPHIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

and Sanford Almy, of Little Compton, still living, and in full possession of his faculties, is in his ninety-second year.

KERRY, COMMODORE OLIVER HAZARD, U. S. N., the son of Christopher Raymond and Sarah (Al- exander) Perry, was born in Newport, August 21st, 1785. His paternal ancestor in the fourth generation, Edward Perry, an influential member of the Society of Friends, came from Devonshire, England, about the year 1650, and took up his residence in South Kingston. His grandfather, Freeman Perry, a lawyer of distinction in the colony, married, February 2d, 1732, the daughter of Oliver Hazard, " a gentleman of large property, elegant manners, and cultivated tastes." The third son by this marriage was the father of the subject of this sketch, and took a prominent part, as a military officer and in privateer- ing service, in fighting the battles of his country by land and sea during nearly the whole period covered by the Revolutionary War. After his marriage with Sarah Alex- ander, a Scotch lady, whose acquaintance he made during the homeward passage from Ireland on a merchantman, of which he was mate, he took up his residence in his father's mansion, in South Kingston, where he remained a few years, and then removed to Newport. His son Oliver was placed in the school of Mr. Frazer, under whose tu- ition he received the best training which could be obtained in the place. Near the close of 1797 the family removed from Newport to Westerly, where the father remained only a few months, and then, accompanied by his wife, went to Warren, to superintend the construction of a ship which was to be built in that place for the United States service. Oliver, then a lad of but thirteen years of age, took the charge of his sister and younger brothers during the ab- sence of their parents. Upon the completion of his father's vessel, the " General Greene," he was appointed, when not quite fourteen years of age, a midshipman, and soon after sailed with his father for Cuba. The special duty of Captain Perry was to protect our commerce from the depre- dations committed by French cruisers in the West India seas. The breaking out of the yellow fever on board his ship compelled him to return to the United States, after a few months' service. In the autumn of this year he re- turned to the West India station, his youthful son being again one of his subordinate officers. After various ad- ventures, some of which introduced the young midshipman to the more serious experiences of his profession, the " General Greene " was ordered to return to the United States, and reached Newport towards the close of May, 1800. Not long after, our French troubles having been amicably adjusted, the navy was reduced, and Captain Perry's services were no longer in demand, and he returned to his home. His son, however, was retained in the ser- vice, and a little more than a year from this time he was

ordered to the " Adams," which with other vessels was sent to Algiers. He was absent on this cruise a year and a half. Meanwhile, his family had once more taken up their residence in Newport, and with them their son, on his return, remained for a few months, at the end of which time he was ordered to the " Constellation," which sailed for the Mediterranean station in July, 1804. He had now been promoted to a lieutenancy, and in this capaci- ty acted on board the " Nautilus," to which he had been transferred in 1805. After various fortunes, he returned home in the summer of 1806, where for some time he re- mained on professional duty. While thus engaged the famous attack was made on the United States frigate Chesa- peake by the English double-decked ship, "Leopard," which so thoroughly aroused the indignation of the peo- ple of this country. Then came the claim which England set up to her right to search American vessels whenever she suspected that in them there were deserters from the British service. From February, 1808, to April, 1809, Lieutenant Perry was occupied in superintending the con- struction of gunboats to enforce the Embargo Act. At the end of this period he was ordered to the schooner Re- venge, of fourteen guns, under the command of Commo- dore Rodgers, and was in service for more than a year, chiefly on the southern coast of the United States. Re- turning north he was ordered to engage in the work of making a survey of the coast in the vicinity of Rhode Island. In the discharge of this duty, unfortunately, in a dense fog, his vessel was wrecked, January 9, 1810, on Watch Hill reef. He was acquitted of all blame for the loss of the vessel, which was laid to the account of the pilot. He now secured leave of absence from service for one year, and on the 5th of May, 1811, was married to the lady to whom he had been engaged for four years, Miss Elizabeth Champlain Mason, of Newport. Upon the declaration of war against England in 1812 he returned to active duty, having been promoted to the rank of captain, and on the 17th of February, 1813, received orders to proceed to the lakes, to take command of a naval force to be created on Lake Erie. In due time, after many delays and discouragements, the building and manning of the fleet was completed. The force which he was to encoun- ter on Lake Erie was of the most formidable character. It consisted of six well-armed vessels, varying in tonnage from one hundred to five hundred tons, and carrying in all sixty-three guns. The squadron was commanded by Cap- tain Robert Heriot Barclay, a distinguished officer of the British navy. The whole number of men in the squadron was five hundred and two. The vessels under the com- mand of Captain Perry, the Lawrence and the Niagara, being the only thoroughly reliable ones, carried in all fifty- four guns. The whole American force consisted of four hundred and ninety men, of whom one hundred and six- teen were on the sick-list, under the professional charge of Dr. Usher Parsons. A blue flag, bearing in large white

Engraved byWElay man

Old Parry

BIOGRAPIIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

letters the words, " Don't give up the ship," when seen floating from the main royal mast of the Lawrence, was to be the signal for commencing the fight. On the morning of the Ioth of September, 1813, at sunrise, the British squadron came in sight, and after various manœuvres the Lawrence was cleared for action at ten o'clock, the cne- my being not far from six miles distant. The blue flag was hoisted, and when the squadrons came within fighting distance the firing commenced. The details of this cele- brated battle it does not fall within our province to relate. The fierce attack on the Lawrence, the hazardous passage of Captain Perry from his shattered ship to the Niagara, the destructive fire of this vessel enforced by that of her consorts on the ships of the enemy, and the final surren- der of the British naval force to the American,-these are well-known matters of history, which we need not at- tempt to repeat. The letter which the brave young officer -- he was then but twenty-seven-sent to General Harrison, was brief, but comprehensive : " Dear General -- We have met the enemy, and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop. Yours, with great respect and esteem, O. H. Perry." Characterized by the same modesty was his letter to the Secretary of the Navy : " Sir-It has pleased the Almighty to give to the arms of the United States a signal victory over their cnemies on this lake," etc., adding, in substance what was written in the other communication. Without minutely following the fortunes of Captain Perry for the next few months, it must suffice to say that from Congress and his fellow-citi- zens he received the honor and the reward to which he was so justly entitled. He was promoted to a post-cap- taincy, and in 1814 was appointed to take command of a new frigate, the " Java," having an armament of forty-four guns. While occupied in Baltimore in fitting out his ship, he did good service in annoying, by means of his battery, the British squadron in their descent of the Potomac from Alexandria, and in the defence of Baltimore. After some delay the " Java " was prepared to sail, and was on the Mediterranean station for more than two years. In 1819 he was ordered to the command of the John Adams, to proceed to South America to look after the interests of our commerce, which was seriously threatened by adventurers, using the flags of the new States in that continent. He had previously been raised to the rank of Commodore, and as such was to visit the far-off country, to which he was sent by the government. On leaving the river Orinoco, up which the squadron had sailed as far as Angostura, he was seized with the yellow fever and died on board of his vessel at Port Spain, August 23, 1819. His remains, which were interred in Port Spain, were subsequently brought by a national ship to Newport and laid away in a tomb in the burying-ground of Trinity Church, in that city. In September, 1860, a marble statue of Commodore Perry was unveiled with imposing ceremonies in the city of Cleveland, Ohio.

LAP, REV. NATHANIEL, a distinguished Congrega- tional minister of Newport, son of Nathaniel, and grandson of Deacon Nicholas Clap, one of the early PUTTO settlers of Dorchester, Massachusetts, was born Jan- uary, 1668. He was a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1690, and commenced his ministry in New- port in 1695. His early labors were attended with many discouragements. A church was not formed until 1720, of which he was ordained November 3d of this year. After he had labored with fidelity for several years as the minister of this church, a popular young man, whose preaching he could not indorse, drew off quite a number of his members. A.new church was formed, which called him to be their pastor. The time of his ministerial service in Newport covered a period of fifty years. The impres- sion which he made on those who came in contact with him is shown by what Whitefield, who landed in Newport in 1740, said of him. "He looked like a good old Puritan, and gave me an idea of what stamp those men were who first settled New England. His countenance is very heavenly, and he prayed most affectionately for a blessing on my coming to Rhode Island. I could not but think that I was sitting with one of the patriarchs." And Dean Berkeley thus alludes to him : " Before I saw Father Clap, I thought the Bishop of Rome had the gravest aspect of any man I ever saw ; but really the minister of Newport has the most venerable appearance." Mr. Clap was never married. He died October 30, 1745.

ARR, SIR ROBERT, was an English gentleman, ap- pointed commissioner, in conjunction with Colonel Richard Nichols, George Cartwright, and Samuel Maverich, by Charles II., in 1664, to sit in judgment upon matters affecting the interests of the Colonies. They were charged to investigate the manner in which the charters of New England had been exercised, " with full authority to provide for the peace of the country, according to the royal instructions and their own discretion." The coming of these commissioners was regarded with any other than feelings of satisfaction by many of the colonists, the appointment being considered a " flagrant violation of chartered rights," and an interference in their private affairs which was quite generally resented. In this article we confine ourselves to the narrative of what transpired in Rhode Island under the direction of Carr and his asso- ciates. Bancroft says : " The nature of the government of Rhode Island, its habitual policy of relying on England for protection, secured to the royal agents in that province a less unfavorable reception." Having effected the cap- ture of New York, the commissioners were invited to visit Rhode Island on their way to Boston. We are told that " the arrival of Sir Robert Carr at Newport, January 23, 1664, where he was detained some days by a storm, gave .

BIOGRAPHIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

great satisfaction to the people of Rhode Island." On leaving Newport, Sir Robert Carr spent some days with Mr. Willett, at his residenee on Narragansett Bay, who was persuaded by him to go to New York, and there act as mayor of that city. An effort, which was not successful, was made to settle the boundary lines between Plymouth and Rhode Island. Some troublesome matters which ill- terested the people of Narragansett were brought to the notice of the commissioners. See Arnold's History, vol. i., pp. 315-16, and Potter's Early History of Narragansett, p. 63, etc. The report of the acts of the royal commis- sioners in the different Ameriean eolonies was sent to Eng- land. That part of the report which alludes to what was done in Rhode Island, refers to " Narragansett Bay, as the largest and safest port in New England, nearest the sea, and fitted for trade." In the report there is, also, an allu- sion to what Governor Arnold says is " the earliest known temperance petition," that of Pessieus, Sachem of the Nar- ragansetts, desiring "the commissioners to' pray King Charles that no strong liquors might be brought into that country, for he had thirty-two men that died by drinking of it." Soon after his return to England, Sir Robert Carr died at Bristol, England, June 1, 1667. The jealousy with which especially Massachusetts regarded the commission- ers, the one member of which, the subject of this sketch, was particularly obnoxious to the people of Boston, has been referred to. " A century later," says Bancroft, " and there were none in England who did not esteem the com- mission an unconstitutional usurpation."

HOPKINS, HON. ROBERT, son of Zebedee and Anne Hopkins, was born in Scituate (now Foster), Rhode Island, September 28, 1765. His father, a representative farmer of his day, was a justice of the peace, and filled a prominent place in town affairs. Robert inherited excellent qualities of body and mind, and early resolved upon a good use of them. Be- yond that of his good home training, his education was the result of his own efforts. He, and a few others of like spirit, employed a school-teacher for their own special benefit. He became an apt disciple of St. Crispin, a sue- cessful farmer, an honored jurist, and was acquainted with the best and most notable men of his time. He rose from the office of justice of the peace to the Bench of the Court of Common Pleas of the county of Providence, taking his seat in 1818, by the side of Wheeler Martin, Thomas Mann, Josiah Westcott, and James Olney, and held his position with honor to himself and to the people for six- teen years. He was a plain, unpretending man, and highly esteemed for his superior worth. Continuing to value his leathern apron and awl, he was one day called upon by a gentleman who inquired where he might find Judge Hop- kins. Looking up from his last, he replied, " They call

me by that name." He was the intimate friend of IIon. Theodore Foster and Dr. Solomon Drowne, who, by their learning and wealth did so much for the welfare of the township. The publie library, given largely by Mr. Foster, was kept in the house of Judge Hopkins during his life and for some time after. The Judge was so unambitious of fame, that when he was elected to the State Senate he de- clined the honor. He married, Mareh 31, 1793, Mary Ann Brown, daughter of Daniel Brown, of East Green- wieh, Rhode Island. Of his children only one lived to have a family. This son, Noyes Hopkins, born in Foster, May 25, 1793, well educated in the schools, beeame a teacher, and married Patience Greene Brayton, of Reho- both, Massachusetts, and had three children, James Noyes, Amelia Greene, and Lucy Brayton. He died in Baltimore, Maryland, September 29, 1829. The honored Judge died at his residenee in Foster, January 29, 1834.

AXSON, REV. JOHN, Sr., was born in 1638, being the first white child born on the island of Rhode Island. At his birth his mother was a widow, his father having just previously been killed by the Pequots. In 1661 we find him among the pur- chasers of Misquamicut, afterwards Westerly, and his name is in the first roll of freemen when Westerly was incor- porated in 1669. He shared the excitement and losses incident to Philip's war, 1675-76, when all the settlers of Westerly were obliged to abandon their homes. He set- tled in the northern part of Westerly, now Hopkinton, and appears to have been one of the constituent members of the Sabbatarian Church, perhaps first in Newport, and then of the new body in Hopkinton; for on the formal organization in Hopkinton, in, 1708 he " was ordained to the place and office of an elder." The Sabbatarian Church in Hopkin- ton is now the oldest of the kind in the country, and has had a worthy history. In 1710, at Mr. Maxson's request, he had his son, John Maxson, William Davis, Joseph Clarke, Sr., George Stillman, Joseph Clarke, Jr., and Jo- seph Crandell to assist liim in public ministrations. So the church had a pastor, two elders, and deacons. The ven- erable pastor, who had watched and largely guided the whole history of the town, died December 17, 1720, aged eighty-two years.

1XSON, REV. JOHN, JR., son of the first pastor of the first Sabbatarian Church in Hopkinton, was born in 1666, and was a witness of the great Indian struggle under Philip, when the whites all took refuge in Newport. Of necessity his eduea- tional advantages were limited, but he lived in no common home circle. In 1687 he was married to Judith Clarke, a member of a gifted and honored family. In August, 1712, he was ordained a deacon, having assisted his father

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

for two years. The church then numbered about one hun- dred and thirty members. On the 5th of June, 1719, he was appointed an elder, and succeeded his father in the pastorate. His brother, Joseph Maxson, was chosen his assistant in 1739, and in the same year Thomas Hiscox was chosen first a deacon and then an elder. After an up- right, faithful, devout life, that left its impress on the church and the town, the honored pastor died in July, 1747, in the eighty-first year of his age.

DAXSON, REV. JOSEPH, brother of Rev. John Maxson, Jr., was born in 1672. In 1732 he received, with Thomas Hiscox, ordination as " an evangelist or travelling minister." On the death of his brother, in 1747, he succeeded to the pastoral office, though he was then seventy-five years of age. His pastorate was short, and was marked with peculiar agitations in the church and community, growing out of the New Light movement, that shook all New England He died in September, 1750, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.

REDWOOD, ABRAHAM, was born in Bristol, Eng- land, in 1665. He had command for some time of a ship employed in the trade between London and the Island of Jamaica. In 1687 he took up his residence in the Island of Antigua. Here he married his first wife, Mehetabel Langford, daughter of Jonas Langford. By this marriage he came into possession of a valuable sugar plantation, called the " Cassada Gar- den," on which was a large number of slaves. Soon after his marriage he retired from a seafaring life, and devoted himself to his plantation. He continued to reside in An- tigua until 1712. He then, with his wife and children, removed to New England, where he lived seventeen years, a part of the time in Salem, Mass., and a part of the time in Newport. His first wife died in 1715. His second wife was Mrs. Patience Collins, whom he married in 1716. She died in Newport in 1745. By her he had five children. He died in Salem, Mass., in 1728. The oldest son of Abraham and Mehetabel Langford Redwood was Jonas Langford Redwood, who was heir to the "Cassada Estate." He was thrown from his horse and killed, near the Wind- mills, at the north end of Newport. The Antigua plantation then came into the possession of his brother Abraham, the second son of Abraham and Mehetabel Red- wood, and the founder of the "Redwood Library" in Newport. He was born in Antigua, in 1710, and when a child of two years of age, in 1712, came to this country with his parents. He was educated chiefly at Philadelphia. Before he was twenty years of age he married Martha Cog- geshall, of Newport. He lived in a style of opulence be-

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 16

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