The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 25

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

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and faithful minister of the Gospel. His wife was Sarah Rogers, of Newport. Ile left one son and two daughters, John, Sarah, and Mary. A few years since somc of his descendants were living in Warren, and possibly may now be residents of that town.

ONYMAN, HONORABLE JAMES, Attorney-General of Rhode Island, the son of the Rev. James Honyman, rector of Trinity Church, Newport, was born in 1711. It is not known with whom he studied his profession. His legal abilities must have been of a marked character, for we find, that at the early age of twenty-one, he was elected Attorney-General, and filled the office for nine successive years-1732-1741. He was elected King's Attorney for the years 1741, 1742. He was one of the Committee on the Eastern Boundary Controversy, and argued the cause in behalf of Rhode Island before the Commissioners appointed by the King, at Providence, in June, 1741. The Commissioners having brought in a decision adverse to Rhode Island, he was one of the committee appointed by the Legislature to draw up an appeal against this decision, and to prepare the proper papers relating to the subject, to be laid before the King in council. For eight years (1756-1764), he was a Senator in the Legislature of the colony. On his with- drawal from the Senate, he received the appointment of Advocate-General of the Court of Vice-Admiralty in the colony, and held this office for some ten years, when, in deference to a resolution of the General Assembly, that he should give it up, as it was a crown office, he resigned. The resolution shows what was the tone of public feeling at the time. It was as follows : "That James Honyman, Esquire, Advocate-General in the Court of Vice-Admiralty in this colony, under the Crown of Great Britain, having appeared before and informed this Assembly that if his holding said office be disagreeable to the colony, he would deliver up his commission, it is voted and resolved, that his holding the same is disagreeable to this colony, and that the sheriff of the county of Newport call upon the said James Honyman, to receive said commission, and that he deliver it to His Honor, the Governor, to be lodged in the Secretary's office." "The deportment of Mr. Honyman in this instance," says Mr. Updike, " feeling himself bound, as he did, by his oath of allegiance to the Crown, on the one hand, and conscientiously refusing to offend the feel- ings of his native State, on the other, reflects a rich lustre on the character of the Christian, the gentleman, and the devoted lover of his country." In a little more than a year after the British took possession of the island of Rhode Island, Mr. Honyman died, his death taking place January 15, 1778. In the inscription on the stone which covers his grave, on the side of the entrance by the north gate, we find that he was " eminent in his profession as an

Pery Davis

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attorney-at-law, and was employed many years in the most important offices of government." He is represented as having been, in his deportment, dignified, always dressed in the best fashions of the times, scrupulously formal in manners, domestic, yet social, in his habits. The wife of Mr. Honyman was a daughter of Mr. George Golding, a merchant of Newport, by whom he had two sons and six daughters. Several of his daughters and granddaughters married British officers, or Tory Americans, and when Newport was evacuated, they left with their husbands. The estates devised to them by Mr. Honyman, of course, were confiscated. When peace was restored, the heirs pe- titioned for a restoration of these estates, and their petitions were granted, as there was found to be some illegality in the acts by which they were confiscated. It is referred to as a matter of pride to the citizens of Rhode Island, that in no instance, after the revolutionary conflict was decided, did the Legislature refuse, upon application, to restore confiscated property in their possession.

LIGHTFOOT, JUDGE ROBERT, was born in London, in 1716, of wealthy and highly respectable parents, and was a graduate of the University of Oxford. He pursued his law-studies in the Inner Temple. In the reign of George II. he was appointed Judge of Vice-Admiralty in the southern colonies. After dis- charging the duties of his office for some time, he found a southerly climate prejudicial to his health, and sought a residence in Newport, where he spent his life in literary ease, and in the enjoyment of the social pleasures of his pleasant home. Dr. Waterhouse thus speaks of him : "I knew Judge Lightfoot very well; he was a Judge of Admiralty, a very well-educated, idle man ; I knew his sisters in London, single and opulent. He first taught me to value and study Lord Bacon, and from him I learned to value Locke and Newton and Boerhaave. He was the oracle of literary men in Newport, a perfect encyclopedia, and welcome to every table of the first char- acter, and constantly dined from home. He was not a buffoon or mimic, but a fine relater of apt anecdote. He informed everybody and contradicted no one, but had a happy Socratic method of teaching. I am not certain that he ever read law as a profession, yet he was master of it, as well as of the science of medicine. During thirty years that I gave lectures in the University of Cambridge, I en- deavored to display the pages of Locke, Bacon, and Lin- næus, but I should hardly have been able to have done what little I have, had I never known Lightfoot." The record of what Newport was in those ante-revolutionary days presents to us a bright picture of the social status of that charming place. Among the most brilliant ornaments of a society, which was hardly surpassed, if equalled, by that of any town of similar size in this country, Judge Light-

foot took one of the foremost places. He died at Plain- field, Connecticut, in 1794, to which place he removed from Newport, not long before his decease.

SIGNERON, DR. NORBENT FELICIAN (sometimes written Wigneron), was a native of Province d'Artois, in France. He came to this country in 1690, settled in Newport, and died here in 1764, at the age of ninety-five years. His gravestone, and that of his wife, Susanna, are standing in the old burying-ground in Newport. Dr. Vigneron left two sons. The oldest, Charles Antonio, died in New York, Novem- ber 10, 1772, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, after having been inoculated. Stephen, the second son, sailed on a cruise with Captain Benillard, as surgeon, at the time of the war with France. Nothing was ever after heard of the vessel. Dr. Stephen Vigneron, son of Dr. Charles Anthony Vigneron, was born at Newport, November 25, 1748, where he practiced medicine as the successor of his father. On the breaking out of the Revolution, he entered the service of the country, and held the appointment of surgeon in the regiment raised in November, 1776, under Colonel John Sayles, Jr. This regiment was stationed on Rhode Island. He was also a surgeon in the army in 1779. When the British landed on Rhode Island, he left Newport on horseback, abandoning his books, instruments, etc. He died on board the hospital ship, in New York, August 24, 1781, of putrid fever, in the fifty-third year of his age. He never married. The late Commodore Wil- liam Vigneron Taylor, of Newport, was descended from Dr. Norbent Felician Vigneron. A silver bodkin, picked up by Dr. Vigneron at the capture of Cape Breton, is now in the possession of one of his descendants, Mrs. Hill, of Charlestown, Massachusetts.

AVIS, PERRY, widely celebrated as the discoverer and manufacturer of the proprietary medicine known as " Pain Killer," was born in Dart- ·mouth, Mass., July 7, 1791, and was the son of Edmund and Sarah Davis, being the eldest of three children. When he was four years of age his parents removed to Westport, Mass., where the family resided for many years. His educational advantages were very limited, and his early life .was a constant struggle with poverty. At the age of fourteen he met with an accident, which injured one of his hips, and not only made him a cripple for life, but so impaired his general health that for many years after he was a great sufferer. In con- sequence of this disability, he was obliged to choose a call- ing which would afford him a sedentary employment, and therefore learned the trade of a shoemaker, which he fol- lowed for many years .. His feeble health prevented close

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application to business and greatly interfered with his plans in life, yet he was of a cheerful, hopeful disposition, and exhibited great mental activity. Having an ingenious mind, he devoted much time to inventing machinery for various purposes, and procured patents for several of his inventions, some of which possessed superior merit. In 1837 he removed to Pawtucket, R. I., and during that year invented a mill for grinding grain, in the manufacture of which he was for some time afterward engaged. In order to secure increased facilities for carrying on this branch of business, he removed to Taunton, Mass., in 1838. During his residence in Taunton, he resorted to the compounding of medicines, with a view to finding a remedy from the re- lief of pain in his own case, and thus discovered the well- known medicinal compound, Pain Killer, from the sale and manufacture of which he subsequently acquired a fortune and attained world-wide celebrity. In 1840 he removed to Fall River, Mass., and engaged in business there until July 3, 1843, when his establishment was destroyed by the great fire of that year. Receiving aid from the fund con- tributed for the sufferers by benevolent people of Boston, Providence, and other places, he removed to Providence July 27, 1843, and resumed business there. Here he established the extensive manufactory of Perry Davis & Son on High Street, near the same location where the business is now carried on. His son Edmund, who at an early age became associated as partner with his father, and whose energy and business tact greatly contributed to the success and prosperity of the firm, died in Providence October 30, 1880. They early established an enviable reputation for integrity, promptness, and faithfulness in the fulfilment of their obligations, which gave them a high standing in commercial circles throughout the country ; and their business increased to such an extent as to necessitate the establishment of branch houses in various cities in this country and Europe. Mr. Davis continued in active business until his death, which occurred May 5, 1862, in his seventy- first year. His wife was Ruth Davol, daughter of Pardon and Priscilla Davol, of Tiverton, R. I., to whom he was married October 8, 1813. They had nine children, only one of whom, a daughter, Sarah, widow of the late W. Dennis, is living. Mr. Davis was prominently identified with the business interests of Providence, and was noted for his benevolence and Christian zeal. In the midst of his business activity and prosperity he devoted much time to religious work, and was especially active and efficient in promoting the cause of temperance. He embraced Christianity at an early age, and in 1810 united with the First Baptist Church at Tiverton, R. I. On his removal to Providence, he united with the Fifth Baptist Church of that city, to the support of which he was a generous con- tributor. When an enlargement of the church edifice be- came necessary, he built and furnished a temporary chapel, which was dedicated December 25, 1858, the dedicatory sermon being preached by Mr. Davis, who was a licensed

preacher. In this chapel a church was formed February 3, 1851, and was known as the High Street Baptist Church, of which Mr. Davis became a member. Later, at an cx- pense of $36,000, he bought a lot at the corner of Stewart and Pond Streets, and erected thereon a substantial house of worship, which was dedicated January 11, 1853, and occupied by the High Street Baptist Church. Mr. Davis not only allowed the use of the house, but took an active interest in the church work. In 1853 he was ordained as an evangelist, and in that capacity labored with great earn- estness and zeal until his death. His frankness, sincerity, and uprightness won for him universal respect, and his sympathetic nature and benevolent spirit brought him into intimate relations with his fellow-men, and endeared him to a host of friends.

BABCOCK, REV. STEPHEN, a distinguished minister of Westerly, and New Light leader, born October 12, 1706, first appeared in public religious movements in August, 1742, when, as the records read, " Justice Stephen Babcock and his wife Anna" .9 appear among the constituent members of the Presbyterian church under Rev. Joseph Park. He married, in 1762, Anna Thompson, daughter of Captain Isaac Thompson. While a deacon in the Presbyterian church, he accepted the New Light doctrines during the great revival movement, accelerated by Whitefield, Tennent, Davenport, Morse, and others, and, " on the 5th of April, 1750, the ' Church of Christ in Westerly and Stonington in Union,' was formed through his influence." On the same day he was ordained as pastor, which office he filled till his death. This was a Baptist Church located on Rhodes Hill (now Quarry Hill), and was usually called the " Hill Church." The first dea- cons were William Worden and Simeon Brown; the latter became a famous Baptist minister in North Stonington, Connecticut. The ministers assisting in the ordination were David Sprague and Solomon Paine, both New Light preachers of note. The first meeting-house, erected in 1786, was unroofed in the September gale of 1815. The lot was a gift from James Rhodes. The great religious awakening of that time led to large separations from the churches of the Standing order in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and the seceding parties were styled Separatists and New Lights. Stephen Babcock sympathized with these and aided them by his counsel. He and Solomon Paine called a council of "elders and brethren from forty churches," that met May 29, 1753, with Simeon Brown, in North Stonington, Connecticut, to discuss and adjust affairs. Similar councils had been held in Middleborough, Massachusetts, and Exeter, Rhode Island. Under his own hand, at the request of fifteen churches, Mr. Babcock issued a call " To the United Churches scattered abroad in New England," to meet " at Exeter, on the second Tuesday of September,

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1754," "to consult the affairs of Christ's Kingdom, and to see what further may be done to the settlement between the two denominations,"-the Baptists and the Separatists. Gradually most of the Separatists became Baptists. Stephen Babcock was a man of superior talents, good education, deep piety, discriminating judgment, and executive tact. In the excitement that shook all the churches of the land, he rather leaned to conservatism than to rashness, hut he remained a Baptist. He and the Hill Church stood firm in the centre of the great agitation. He died December 22, 1775.

ABCOCK, HON. JOSHUA, known also as Dr. Bab- cock, and widely recognized as a leading man and scholar of his day, was born in Westerly, R. I., in 1707. He graduated at Yale College in 1725, and soon after commenced the study of medicine and surgery in Boston, completing his education in England. Settling finally in his native town, he secured an extensive practice. It is written of him that he daily read the Scrip- tures in their original tongue, and kept himself informed in every department of literature. Religiously he was en- rolled as a Seventh-Day Baptist, but his Christian charity and labors were not restricted to sectarian limits. His abilities and character gave him great prominence. The large and costly mansion he built on Rhode's Hill, near the present quarries, is still standing in its strength and beauty, a historical landmark in the town. Its Dutch tiles, the elaborate cupboard, the ceilings, the carved staircase, the secret closets, and the deep wine cellar, still attract the attention of visitors. For some time he carried on a retail store near his house, on Queen Anne's Road, which was as extensive as any between New York and Boston. In the Revolutionary War no man exceeded him in patriotism and public devotion. In 1776 he was Major-General of the State Militia. In the same year he was a Deputy in the General Assembly, when, May 4th, the colony " passed an act discharging the inhabitants of the colony from alle- giance to the King of Great Britain," thus preceding, by two months, the Declaration of Independence by Congress. He always stood firmly by the side of Governor Samuel Ward ; was often the Moderator of the town meetings, and also a member of the State's Council of War. He was elected one of the first Corporators of Brown University, in 1764, and was one of the Board of Fellows in 1770. Benjamin Franklin, while Postmaster-General, in his official tours through the country, was accustomed to make Dr. Bab- cock's house one of his resting-places, and we are told that he attached lightning rods to the doctor's residence. When he established the post-office in the town, in 1776, he made the doctor the Post-Master. As Chief Justice of the Su- preme Court of the State Dr. Babcock pronounced the sentence of death on the notorious Thomas Carter for the murder of Jackson. He had two half-brothers and three

sons who were graduates of Yale College. He died, full of honors, April 1, 1783, aged seventy-five years.

ABCOCK, COLONEL HENRY, eldest son of Hon. Joshua Babcock, was horn in Westerly, R. I., April 26, 1736. He graduated at Yale College at the age GEUS of sixteen, at the head of his class. In 1754 he was commissioned Captain of a company, composing one of a regiment raised in Rhode Island, and marched to Albany, from thence to Lake George, and joined the army corps in the campaign of 1756, to dislodge the French from Canada. When Sir William Johnson, Commander-in-chief, detached four hundred men, under Colonel Williams, to reconnoitre. Captain Babcock, with sixty men, constituted a part of the force. They were attacked by the enemy, under Baron D'Eskau, and defeated. Colonel Williams and Captain Babcock had nineteen men killed and wounded, but Baron D'Eskau was taken prisoner. In 1757 Captain Babcock rose to the rank of Major, and at the age of twenty-two was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, and commanded the Rhode Island regiment of a thousand men. In July, 1758, he marched five hundred of his men with the British army against Ticonderoga. He had one hundred and ten men killed and wounded, and was wounded himself by a musket- ball in the knee. The loss of the army was one thousand nine hundred and forty killed and wounded. The next year he helped to take the fort under General Amherst, without the loss of a man. He had then served five cam- paigns in the Old French War with great reputation. Col- onel Babcock subsequently spent a year in England, chiefly in London, where he was received with great respect by the nobility and gentry. His bravery, accomplishments, and services won him a flattering introduction to the Queen. Soon after his return from England, he married and settled just across the Pawcatuck, in Stonington, Conn., and com- menced the practice of law. When the Revolution began, he was a stanch Whig and patriot. In 1776 he was ap- pointed by the Legislature Commander of the forces at Newport, and while serving there, had an opportunity to display his wonted readiness and courage. On an open beach, with an eighteen-pounder, he drove off the British man-of-war Rose, by his own firing, having practiced as an engineer and artillerist at Woolwich, in England. The following winter his health became seriously impaired, and he never entirely recovered. He died October 7, 1800, after a military and public career of twenty-two years. He was a man of fine personal appearance, accomplished man- ners, and liberal attainments, and an eloquent speaker.

RNOLD, HON. OLIVER, Attorney-General of Rhode Island from 1766 to 1771, son of Israel Arnold, was born in Glocester, Rhode Island, in 1726. His father was a wealthy landholder, and was much in public life. Desirous that his

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son should receive a good education, he placed him under the care of Rev. Natlian Webb, the first minister of Ux- bridge, Massachusetts. Under his training, he made good progress in his studies. We have not been able to ascer- tain the exact date of his admission to the Bar. That he soon acquired eminence in his profession, is evident from the following anecdote related by Hon. Levi Lincoln. " When at the Bar, a cause of considerable interest was in- trusted to me; and, in return, I was informed, by my client. that I should be opposed only by a young man, by the name of Arnold, from Glocester, Rhode Island. Not expecting much display of talent from any one in that region, I was slovenly prepared for arguing the case ; nor was my caution increased by the appearance of my antag- onist-a tall, green-looking youth, who, awkwardly seating himself at the Bar, impressed me that I had nothing but a stripling to contend with. I made my speech with very little expectation of being answered; and conducted my argument throughout with less skill and arrangement than usual, and awaited the reply of my youthful opponent. But what was my amazement to see him rise with the most perfect self-possession, and state his defence, and argue his cause, with an ability that would have done honor to Tem- ple Bar. He went on calmly, leading the reason of the jury and audience captive, and leaving myself in the back- ground, as far as I confidently expected to have left him." In 1762, Mr. Arnold moved to Providence and opened a law-office ; and, in May, 1766, he was elected Attorney- General of Rhode Island, and remained in office six years (1766-71). Several cases, of more than usual importance, were tried by him while he was Attorney-General, and were said to have been conducted with great ability. He was a diligent student of his profession, and was blessed with a most retentive memory. So well disciplined were his mental faculties, that it is recorded of him that he could study " Coke upon Littleton," by the family fireside, or amid the discursive argumentations of a tavern bar- room, with perfect composure. He was much interested in the cause of education, and took an active part in pro- curing the charter for the establishment of what is now Brown University, and in the welfare of the College he always felt a lively concern. His death was sudden, and occurred October 9, 1770. In 1754 he married Elizabeth, the daughter of Daniel Brown, of Sandisfield, Massachu- setts ; several children were the fruit of this union. Mrs. Arnold lived twenty-nine years after the decease of her husband, and died in 1799.

URDICK, REV. JOHN, son of Samuel II. Burdick, was born in Westerly, now Hopkinton, in 1732. In 1772 he was chosen deacon of the Sabbatarian Church, and in 1774 ordained to the office of an clder, as associate with Rev. Joshua Clarke, upon whose death he was elected to the pastorate, and received

ordination September 3, 1793. Mr. Burdick was an able, eloquent, and faithful minister, loved and venerated by liis own people, and appreciated abroad. He received into the church over two hundred members in one year. Ile was incessant in his labors, and assisted in the organiza- tion of several churches. Ilis death occurred March 27, 1802.

per E BLOIS, STEPHEN, the first of the Newport fam- ily of that name, was born in Oxford, England, in 1735. Visiting Newport in a man-of-war, in- tending only a brief stay, he was finally induced to choose Newport as his permanent abode. He was a nephew to Stephen De Blois of Boston, a merchant of note in those early times. Mr. De Blois began business in Newport as an importer of hardware, and was remark- ably successful. He was also quite widely concerned in maritime enterprises. During the French War the com- pany of which he was a member lost several valuable ves- sels, among which was the Olive Branch, the brig Ulysses, the ship Ann, and the ship Severn. His residence was on Thames Street, opposite the old Ruggles House. He died February 15, 1805, in the seventieth year of his age. He was a generous, enterprising, and public-spirited citizen, " foremost in every movement for the prosperity and wel- fare of his town."

EDWARDS, REV. MORGAN, was born in Trevethin Parish, Monmouthshire, in the Principality of Wales, May 9, 1722. He pursued his studies at the Baptist Seminary in Bristol, England, and be- gan to preach at the early age of sixteen years. For seven years he was pastor of a small congregation in Boston, England, and for nine years was a pastor in Cork, Ireland. He came to this country in the spring of 1761, and, for several years, was an acceptable minister of the

First Baptist Church, in Philadelphia. In 1772, he re- moved to Newark, Delaware. During the war of the Revo- lution, he sympathized with the Tories, although, it is said, " his Toryism was rather a matter of principle than of action." After the war, he gave lectures on Divinity, in different scctions of the North. He was never settled again as a pastor. His death occurred at a place then called Pencader, Delaware, January 28, 1795. He was twice married ; first to Mary Nunn, originally of Cork, Ireland, by whom he had several children, and afterwards to Mrs. Singleton, of Delaware, who died before him. One of his sons was an officer in the British army. The name of Mr. Edwards is intimately associated with the early his- tory of Brown University. He was the Moderator of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, which, at its session Oc- tober 12, 1762, discussed the matter of " erecting a college

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 25

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