USA > Rhode Island > The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island > Part 28
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was ordered, with one hundred and fifty men, to Fort Mif- flin, built on the lower end of Mud Island in the Delaware. IIe remained here a short time, and then was ordered by General Greene to hasten to Red Bank, to defend the fort from an attack by the Hessians. Operations went on for several weeks, and the besiegers resorted to every possible means to reduce the forts on the islands in the Delaware. On one of the days between the 12th and the 16th of No- vember, 1777, it is said that more than one thousand and thirty discharges of cannon were made by the enemy in twenty minutes. After the most heroic defence, Major Thayer abandoned the fort which he had held for so many days, and without the loss of a man arrived at Red Bank. General Knox thus alludes to the bravery of Major Thayer : " The defence of Fort Mifflin was as gallant as is to be found in history. The brave little garrison, then com- manded by Major Thayer, of the Rhode Island troops, had but two cannon but what were dismounted. These soon shared the fate of the others. Everybody who appeared on the platform was killed or wounded by the muskctry from the tops of the ships, whose yards almost hung over the battery. Long before night there was not a high palisade left. All the embrasures were ruined, and the whole para- pet levelled. All the block-houses had been battered down some days before." In the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, Major Thayer took an important part. In one of the movements of that memorable day he experienced in his head a wind-concussion, by the near passage of a cannon- ball, which caused the blood, as we are told, to gush from both his eyes. He would not, however, though suffering fearful pain, retire from the post assigned him until the end of the battle. The loss of his right eye followed as the result of the concussion. It was five weeks before he was able to perform military duty. He thus failed to be with his regiment, which was under the command of Gene- ral Sullivan, in the battle of Rhode Island. During the remainder of the war he continued in the army, and more than once did good service for the cause which was so dear to him. He was everywhere known as the " Hero of Fort Mifflin." Major Thayer retired from the service January I, 1781. The General Assembly subsequently, for three successive years, chose him brigadier-general of the mi- litia of Providence County. After his retirement from the army, he built, near the head of " Constitution Hill," in Providence, what was known for several years as the " Montgomery Hotel." Of this public house he was the keeper for some time, and then removed to a farm which he had purchased at Cumberland. Here he resided until his death, which occurred October 14, 1800. On the 16th his body was brought to Providence and interrcd in the North Burial-ground. He was married three times. His first wife was Huldah Jackson, daughter of Stephen Jack- son, Esq., of Providence, who died April 28, 1771. His second wife was Mrs. Mary Tourtellot. Upon her decease, he married the sister of his first wife. She was a Mrs.
Angell, and outlived her husband, marrying for her third husband Darius Daniels. General Thayer had nine chil- dren, Nancy, William Tourtellot, Susan, Stephen Tourtel- lot, Hannah Tourtellot, Simeon, Polly, Richard Montgom- ery, and Henry.
HOPKINS, SAMUEL, D.D., a distinguished divine of Rhode Island, was born in Waterbury, Connecti- cut, September 17, 1721. Until he was fifteen years of age he lived with his parents, engaged in agricultural pursuits on his father's farm. He was fitted for college under the tuition of Mr. Graham, of Waterbury, and was a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1741. During his college course he became a Chris- tian, and decided to enter the ministry. In December of this year he placed himself under the tuition of the cele- brated Jonathan Edwards, of Northampton, and was or- dained at Housatonic, now Great Barrington, December 28, 1743. It was a small hamlet of only thirty families, of which he was the minister until he was dismissed by an ecclesiastical council, January 18, 1769. He remained without a regular settlement for a few months only, and then was called to Newport, April 11, 1770. " There were some circumstances," says the historian, " attending his establishment in this place which were remarkable, and which prove that the hearts of all men are in the hands of God, and may be turned as the rivers of water are turned. After he had been with his people some time, a meeting was called, and it was voted not to give him an invitation to settle among them. Many were dissatisfied with his sentiments. He accordingly made his preparations to leave them, and on the Sabbath preached a farewell dis- course. This sermon was so interesting and impressive that a different vote was immediately and almost unani- mously passed, and he consented to remain." He con- tinued to perform his ministerial duties until the British took possession of Newport in December, 1776, when he returned to the place of his former residence, Great Bar- rington, Massachusetts, whither he had sent his family. He preached during the summer of 1777 in Newburyport, Massachusetts, to what was regarded as the largest con- gregation in America. He returned to his church in New- port in the spring of 1780, the British having evacuated the place. He found everything in a sad state of con- fusion. The soldiers had used the meeting-house for a barrack. Those of his people who had remained in the town while it was occupied by the British had lost almost everything, and the prospect of being supported by his church was a very doubtful one. He determined, how- ever, to remain with them and share the hardships of their lot. His ministry continued until his death, which oc- curred December 20, 1803. Dr. Hopkins was a profound theologian and a most diligent student. His rule was to
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devote eighteen hours a day to study. He was one of the earliest and most outspoken opponents of the system of domestic slavery, and took the deepest interest in the tem- poral and spiritual welfare of the Africans who were brought to Newport. In Mrs. Stowe's Minister's Wooing he was one of the most prominent characters. He was the father of that system of theology which bears his name, called the " Hopkinsian" system. He was a somewhat voluminous writer, and many of his works were published by the New England Doctrinal Tract Society, in three vol- umes octavo, to which was prefixed a memoir of his life, by Professor Edwards A. Park, of Andover. He was twice married, first to Joanna, daughter of Moses Ingersoll, of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, January 13, 1748, and the second time to Elizabeth West, of Boston, the principal of a celebrated boarding-school for females. She is spoken of as " a lady of remarkable endowments, a thoroughly read theologian, and not only understood well her hus- band's system, but was scarcely less able to defend it than himself." She died in Taunton, Massachusetts, April 9, 1814.
LUSTP SOUTHWICK, SOLOMON, was born at Newport, of humble parents, in 1731. His father was a fisher- man, and the boy had but few advantages until he was brought under the notice of Henry Collins, who was a man of large heart and liberal means, and who took pleasure in helping the young and enterprising. With the aid of Mr. Collins, Southwick obtained the rudi- ments of learning, and made such progress that at one time he employed himself in teaching. His bent, how- ever, was a mercantile life, and to this calling he gave his attention until 1768, when he bought out Samuel Hall, who at that time offered the Newport Mercury for sale. He at once entered upon the duties of the office, all of which were new to him. At the outset he espoused the cause of liberty, nor did he hesitate to express his views clearly ; for as early as December 18, 1769, he had for the motto of his paper, " Undaunted by TYRANTS-we'll DIE or be FREE!" and this he followed up with sturdy blows. But Southwick did not devote himself exclusively to the Mercury, for he brought out many pamphlets and small volumes, that are now sought after by collectors : Church's Entertaining History of King Philip's War; Nathaniel Morton's New England Memorial ; the Tryal of a False Prophet, a sermon preached in Newport, at the synagogue, by " the venerable Hocham, the learned Rabbi Haign Isaac Karigal, of the city of Hebron, near Jerusa- lem ;" and many other works. A Discourse on Saving Knowledge, delivered at the installation of the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, by the Rev. Dr. Stiles, was printed by Southwick in 1770, on a press and on paper made in the colony. Some of the types were made in Connecticut. Southwick
gave most of his time to the publication of papers bearing on the questions between England and the Colonies, In 1774 he issued a reprint of The Whole of the Celebrated Speech of Reverend Jonathan Shipley, Lord Bishop of Asaph, on the Bill for Altering the Charter of the Massa- chusetts Bay, which was prefaced with the remark : " It is allowed to be one of the best pieces wrote on the present dispute between North America and Great Britain." The same year Southwick printed from the Boston edition An Oration delivered March 5, 1774, at the Request of the Inhabitants of Boston, to Commemorate the Bloody Tragedy on the 5th of March, by the Honorable John Hancock, Esq. With the above all the exciting circumstances connected with the delivery of the oration were given, and place was found in the "poet's corner " for some daring verses that grew out of the affair. While so engaged, in 1774, South- wick turned aside for a moment to give some aid and sup- port to the anti-slavery movement, which was then be- ginning to take shape. Among other papers of this char- acter he printed an address to the public, signed by Drs. Stiles and Hopkins, concerning the sending of black free- men to the coast of Africa. On the approach of the British troops Southwick beat a hasty retreat, for the Loyalists were anxious that he should fall into the hands of the enemy. The last number of the Newport Mercury was dated December 2, 1776, and on the 5th of January, 1780, its publication was resumed. Henry Barber was then at its head. When forced to leave Newport, Southwick went to Providence, where he bought a press and types of John Carter, and began printing. From Providence he removed to Rehoboth, a few miles from that city, and before he re- turned to Newport he resided for a time at Bridgewater. After his return to Newport he was associated for a short time with Barber in the management of the Mercury ; but in March, 1787, his name alone appeared as owner of the paper; and in the issue for March 19th it was stated that Barber had nothing to do with the paper, directly or indi- rectly. Shortly after that it passed again into the hands of Barber, and was brought down by his descendants to 1851, when the last publisher of the family died. Southwick held the office of Postmaster in Newport under the Con- federation. He died at Newport, December 23, 1797, aged 66 years.
HROOP, AMOS, M.D., the first President of the Rhode Island Medical Society, was born in Wood- stock, Conn., in 1738. His early advantages were very limited, and when he came to Providence he was without means and without friends. His skill as a physician soon brought him an extensive practice. Not long after his arrival in Providence he married Mary Bernon Crawford, daughter of Joseph and Susanna (Ber- non) Crawford. Her father, Joseph, was a descendant
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from Gideon Crawford, who emigrated from Lanark, in Scotland, and settled in Providence about 1670. The wife of Dr. Throop seems to have inherited the proverbial thrift and sagacity of her Scotch progenitors, for we are told that he was mainly indebted to her skill and sagacity in the sale and purchase of drugs and medicines. Apothecaries were rare in those early colonial times, and no small part of the income of a physician was received from the sale of doses which he prepared from his own drugs. At the com- mencement of the Revolutionary War Mrs. Throop, antici- pating the difficulty of importing medicines and the high price at which they would sell after importation had ceased, persuaded her husband to embark a considerable part of all he was worth in the purchase of foreign drugs. For fear that there might be some miscarriage, by the very next vessel a duplicate order was sent out, so that if the first failed to reach its destination, the second probably would . be received. Quite to the dismay of the good doctor, not one order, but both orders were filled, and in due time he found himself in possession of a marvellously large stock of goods in his special department. It turned out, how- ever, to be an excellent investment, and proved that Mrs. Throop well understood how to "turn an honest penny." The personal appearance of Dr. Throop was somewhat striking. He is said to have been tall and erect, with a commanding deportment, and displayed the charac- teristics of a gentleman " of the old school." In accord- ance with the fashion of his day, he wore a powdered wig, with several stiff tiers of curls, imported direct from London. During several sessions of the General Assembly he represented Providence in that body. He was President of the Exchange Bank for a number of years. He died, without issue, April, 1814.
UFOES EABURY, RT. REV. SAMUEL, D.D., Bishop of Rhode Island, son of Samuel and Abigail (Mumford) Seabury, was born in New London, Connecticut, in 1728. His mother died in 1731, and he was brought up by his stepmother, whom his father mar- ried in 1733. She was Elizabeth Powell, daughter of Adam Powell, a merchant of Newport, and granddaughter of Gabriel Bernon. Her sister was the wife of Judge Helme, of Tower Hill, Narragansett. In Updike's History, pp. 134, 138, may be found an interesting correspondence between Mrs. Seabury and Judge Helme. The subject of this sketch was a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1748, and pursued the study of medicine in Scotland ; but having decided to enter the ministry, he took orders in the Church of England. Returning to this country, he was for several years rector in two or three churches, and in 1784 was proposed as a candidate for Bishop .in the State of Connecticut. Having experienced some difficulty in being ordained in England as Bishop, he went to Scotland, where the service of consecration was performed November
14, 1784. In the summer of 1785 he returned to the United States and settled in New London, as rector in his father's parish, at the same time performing the duties of Bishop in the Diocese of Connecticut. At this period there were several Episcopal churches in Rhode Island, among them, Trinity, at Newport, St. Paul's, at Narragansett, St. John's, at Providence, and St. Michael's, at Bristol. In 1790 the churches of Newport, Providence, and Bristol met in convention and declared the Rt. Rev. Samuel Seabury, D.D., Bishop of the Church in Connecticut, Bishop of the Church in Rhode Island. The functions of his sacred office he continued to perform for nearly six years. We find that in 1791 he confirmed twenty-five persons in St. Michael's Church, Bristol ; and the records of the other Rhode Island parishes make similar reports during the years 1790-96. He died in New London, February 25, 1796, and the in- scription on his tombstone refers to him as Bishop of Rhode Island. His son, Rev. Samuel Seabury, D.D., of New York, says that the death of his father was a heavy loss to his infant communion; yet he had lived long enough to leave a marked impress of his character upon its institution. His influence was most important whilst the foundations of the ecclesiastical fabric were being laid." It is an interesting coincidence that the first Bishop of Rhode Island was the first American citizen who attained to that title. The validity of his ordination by Scotch bishops was at one time questioned, but it was afterward admitted to be canonical.
PHILLIPS, HON. PETER, son of Charles and Mary Phillips, was born in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, in 1731. Like other members of his family, he was an earnest patriot, and warmly em- braced the cause of his country in her conflict with Great Britain. A short time previous to the com- mencement of the Revolutionary War, he represented his native town in the General Assembly, and in 1775 was promoted to the Senate. He was elected Commissary of the " Army of Observation," a body of fifteen hundred men, of which General Nathanael Greene was chosen brigadier-general. Mr. Phillips was in the Senate of Rhode Island five years. In 1780 he was elected one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the State, and held this office for five consecutive years. He was chosen to represent his native State in the Confederated Congress, in 1785, but did not take his seat. In 1795 he was chosen Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He did not remain in this office long, preferring the quiet of a more retired life. He died in 1807. Mr. Phillips, accord- ing to the testimony of Mr. Updike, was a man of consid- erable property. He owned the handsomest estate in Wickford; his house was neat and pleasantly situated, and his gardens and grounds tastefully arranged. He was a gentleman of polished manners, very spare in person, wore
Goo. B. Holmes
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a bagged wig, and always dressed with great neatness. He lived a single life and died at an advanced age, and was interred near his residence, in Wickford, on a spot which he had previously selected.
ராட TANTON, HON. JOSEPH was born in Charles- town, Rhode Island, July 19, 1739. He was of a conspicuous and honorable family. He bore the name of his father, his grandfather, and his great- grandfather. His great-great-grandfather was the celebrated colonial trader and Indian interpreter, Thomas Stanton, from whom the family inherited large lands in Rhode Island. His mother, Mary (Champlin) Stanton, was also of a distinguished family, owning a large estate. At the age of twenty, the subject of this sketch was com- missioned as Second Lieutenant in one of the Rhode Island regiments in the Old French War operating against Canada. In the command was also Ensign Arthur Fen- ner, afterwards Governor. Mr. Stanton was elected to the General Assembly in 1768 and served till 1775. On the opening of the Revolution he was one of the Committee of Safety, and entered the service in 1776 as Colonel of one of the Rhode Island regiments, his lieutenant-colonel being the brave William Barton, who captured General Prescott. Well-educated, accomplished in manners, and possessed of wealth, he was a man of note and influence. It was said that " he owned a lordship in Charlestown." He "owned one tract of four and a half miles long and two miles wide; kept forty horses, as many slaves, and made a great dairy." He lived on the farm at the Cove. In 1790 he was a Delegate to the State Convention that accepted the Constitution of the United States, but he op- posed the acceptance. In the same year he was elected by the General Assembly as Senator to the United States Congress, then meeting in New York, and served till 1793. His colleague was Hon. Theodore Foster. From 1793 to 1801 he was almost continuously in the General Assembly of the State. In 1801 he was elected a Representative to Congress, his rival being Thomas Noyes, Esq. In 1802 he was returned to Congress, defeating the distinguished citizen, Hon. Elisha Potter. In 1804 he was elected to the Ninth Congress, and served till March 4, 1807. Near the close of his life his estates declined, forms of business having greatly changed. His son Lodowick succeeded him as a farmer.
BILLIAMS, REV. WILLIAM. The name of Mr. Williams appears so often in this volume, as the instructor of several persons who have occupied conspicuous positions in Rhode Island history, that a brief sketch of him may not be deemed out of place. He was born in Hilltown, Bucks County, Pennsyl- vania, in 1752. His father came from Wales, and settled
as a farmer in Hilltown, where he accumulated a hand- some property. Mr. Williams pursued his preparatory studies at the Hopewell Academy, under the tuition of Rev. Isaac Eaton. He entered Rhode Island College, then in Warren, and was a graduate in the first class that secured the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in 1769. In the autumn of 1767 he was married to Patience, daughter of Colonel Nathan Miller, of Warren. He resided for some time in Warren, and then removed to Wrentham, Massa- chusetts, a few miles from Rhode Island. He opened an academy in this place, which became very popular. Not far from two hundred young men enjoyed the benefits of his instruction, about eighty of whom were fitted by him for Brown University. He also conducted the theological studies of quite a number of young men who subsequently entered the Christian ministry. "Few men," says Dr. Guild, the Librarian of Brown University, " have con- tributed more than he to the intellectual improvement of the Baptist denomination in New England." From 1789 to 1818 he was a Fellow of Brown University. When
" University Hall" was occupied by the army, in 1777, the College library was sent to Wrentham, and placed under his care until such time as it might seem proper to bring it back to Providence. Mr. Williams, whose first wife died, was married, in 1804, to Mrs. Dolly Hancock, of Wrentham, daughter of Mr. Titus. He had seven chil- dren, several of whom outlived their father, who died at Wrentham, September 22, 1823.
HOLMES, GEORGE B., Manufacturer, was born in Kingston, Massachusetts, April 16, 1794. He was the son of Heman Holmes, a descendant of the Puritans, who married Mercy Bass, of Hanover, Massachusetts. His mother died in his early infancy, and after her death his father removed with his family to Plymouth, Massachusetts, where Mr. Holmes remained until twelve years of age. From that time until his mar- riage he resided in Kingston, in the family of his father's brother, Colonel Charles Holmes, whose daughter Maria he married October 22, 1822. His education, obtained in Plymouth and Kingston, was such as the best schools of that day afforded. It was the desire of his uncle that he should enter Harvard College, but his busy, energetic dis- position required some immediate, active occupation; and when he was sixteen years of age, his uncle procured him a situation in a store connected with a factory in Kingston. He next served as clerk in a blast furnace; and was after- wards employed in the same capacity at the Anchor Forge, situated at the foot of Jones River Pond, now well known to excursionists as Silver Lake. Here he subsequently be- came associated with his uncle Charles as partner in the manufacture of anchors. In the summer of 1824 he removed to Providence, Rhode Island, and on the 22d of July of that year entered upon his duties as agent of the Providence
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Iron Foundry, owned by David Wilkinson, Samuel Slater, Dr. Benjamin Dycr, and Charles Dyer. In 1829 the greater portion of the original owners of the foundry withdrew ; and with John H. Clark, Mr. Holmes, and others built the present Phoenix Iron Foundry. On its completion Mr. Holmes became its agent and treasurer, both of which offices he continued to fill until the year 1868, when he ceased to act as agent, but retained the position of treasurer, continuing to serve in that capacity until the time of his death. For a period of over fifty years his life was devoted to the interests of this concern. Until the last year of his life he visited the office every morning before breakfast, and through the day was constantly employed, bodily and mentally, in advancing the interests of the corporation he so well represented, seldom allowing himself absence for recreation. His gradually failing health the last year of his life prevented him from entering fully into the details of the business, but he continued to manifest the deepest interest therein until the last moment of consciousness. Naturally of a retiring disposition, he did not seek public position ; yet in his quiet, unostentatious way, was ever ready to serve his fellow-men, freely giving, when desired, the benefit of his sound judgment and business experience. In the report of the proceedings at the celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of his native town of Kingston, is found the following ref- erence to his first public service, contained in his remarks in response to a toast in honor of Rhode Island : " I re- member, with a feeling of gratitude, that when only twenty- six years of age I was elected from this town as a member of the State Convention for the revision of the Constitution in 1820, and had the privilege of listening to the debates of the eminent men who belonged to that body upon the fundamental law. My election was rather singular; I was not nominated or even asked; neither did I know I was to be voted for; nor did I attend the town meeting, but a friend called on me in the evening and gave me the information. I attended the convention, and it was a very great help to me. My political course was then changed, and I have not entered into the political field since very strongly. During the attendance of the convention I became fully convinced that all governments are controlled by a Divine Providence, and my duty was to vote for the best man " Mr. Holmes was elected a Representative from Providence to the General Assembly in the years 1845-46, and again in 1860, and the two following terms. During the last three terms he served as Chairman of the Finance Com- mittee. During the Civil War he was appointed Allot- ment Commissioner for the State of Rhode Island. To a man of his kind, benevolent nature, the duties of this office were particularly gratifying, and he enjoyed them exceedingly, but the demands of his business obliged him to resign the office. IIe served as trustee in some of the savings banks of Providence, and also as director in sev- eral insurance companies and in banks of discount. By
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