The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 29

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 29

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).

one of the latter, the Rhode Island National, formerly the Arcade Bank, he was elected, in 1841, a member of the board of directors, and filled the office for two years. At a special meeting of the stockholders, in 1855, he was again elected a director, and during the remainder of his life (a period of twenty-four years) was thus associated with this bank. For more than half a century Mr. Holmes had been a firm believer in the teachings of Emanuel Swe- denborg, which, in all his dealings with mankind, he en- deavored to exemplify. On Monday, March 3, 1879, as he was nearing his eighty-fifth birthday, his earthly life of active usefulness came to a close, and on the following Friday, March 7, his remains were consigned to their final resting-place in the North Burial-ground, in Providence. The following tribute to the business and social relations of Mr. Holmes appeared in an obituary from the pen of E. H. Hazard, Esq., published in the Providence Journal of March 24, 1879: " If you would learn something of what has been done by the foundry under Mr. Holmes's management, go through the great building in which the patterns are kept. There you will find every one which has been used in the last fifty-four years carefully preserved, and such another collection of gear patterns is not to be found in the United States. If you would learn some- thing of the manner in which Mr. Holmes made and exe- cuted contracts and fulfilled his business obligations, go to the banks, the manufacturers, the merchants, the mechan- ics, and the laboring men, whose fathers and grandfathers dealt with him for the last fifty years. Search the whole of New England as with a lighted candle, and you will not find one murmur against him. But it is not to his in- fluence and example as a business man alone that this generation is so much indebted, but to every good work in our city-political, educational, social, religious. Quiet and noiseless as the stream of a great river did his works continually flow; and thousands of men and women in Providence to-day hold the memory of his kind words and good deeds to them in sacred remembrance." Mr. Holmes had seven children, only three of whom survive him, Ma- ria W. Holmes, Rebecca B. Dow, widow of Charles J. Dow, and Lucy A. Eiswald, widow of Adolph Eiswald.

OOKE, COLONEL JOHN, was born in October, 1744, at Puncatest Neck, Tiverton, Rhode Island, on an estate settled by his ancestor, before the incorpora- tion of that town in 1692. He married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Gray, who was a grandson of Edward Gray, of Plymouth, one of the original purchasers of Pocasset. Colonel Cookc during the prosperous years of his life owned and occupied, a portion of the year, a mansion at Newport, on School Street, in the vicinity of the old Masonic Hall, which stands on the corner of Church and School streets. He was one of the most enterprising

I29

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

merchants in Rhode Island in his day, and was at the same time largely engaged in agricultural pursuits. IIe imported from the West India islands cargoes of sugar and molasses in his own vessels, and returned to those tropical ports the products of our northern soil. He was famous as a farmer, or as an old Newport paper expresses his excellence in this regard, " he was unequalled as an agriculturist in our State." His broad acres comprised Pun- catest Neck, which in his day was the most highly cultivated and productive land in Rhode Island. He is said to have been a man of commanding personal appearance and capti- vating manners, much given to deeds of hospitality, and was, withal, a most delightful host. His personal appearance must indeed have been striking, as may be inferred from an anecdote traditional in the family, and of undoubted authenticity. During the War of the Revolution a gentle- man called at Colonel Cooke's residence, desiring to see him without delay on important public business, and not find- ing him at home, on being told that he was on parade with the troops, asked one of his household to go with him to the military station and point him out, as he did not know him. " There is no need of that," was the response; " when you' reach the field, single out the most command- ing and soldierly officer in view." With these directions he found Colonel Cooke at once and without mistake. Colonel Cooke's chief claim to remembrance, however, is not on account of his honorable career as an enterprising man of business, nor to the excellence of his social quali- ties, but to his patriotic services in the cause of his country, both in the legislative hall and in the tented field. He was a member of that Colonial General Assembly which, on May 4, 1776, passed the " Rhode Island Declaration of Independence." Previous to this date the records of this Assembly had always closed with the loyal motto, " God save the King." At the close of this memorable session they were changed to this new motto, inspired by the love of liberty, " God save the United Colonies." History should preserve and posterity honor the name of every member of this legislature, which had the spirit to shake off British allegiance and declare Rhode Island's independence two months before the Declaration of the United Colonies. At the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, Colonel Cooke was Lieutenant-Colonel of a regiment of militia in New- port County, of which William Channing, father of the eminent divine, William Ellery Channing, was Major. Being then in the prime of life, and already a trained soldier, he did not stop to count the cost, but entered at once with zeal into the military service, where his conduct was alike honorable to himself and beneficial to his coun- try. He was appointed Colonel of the Second Regiment of the Rhode Island Colonial Brigade, and held the posi- tion from September, 1776, to May, 1780. The authentic records of the war show that he was almost continuously engaged in the public service until the close of hostilities. He served, for a time, as one of the Committee of Safety.

In January, 1777, he was ordered to take command of the troops at Howland's Ferry, to discipline them, as they had been reported to the general in command " as under no kind of soldierly regulations." In the battle of Rhode Island, August 29, 1778, Colonel Cooke had command of the troops on Tiverton Heights. Though most of the soldiers on the American side, in this famous battle, were raw recruits, having never before been under fire, they be- haved so well, and faced the British veterans so bravely, that General Lafayette is said to have pronounced it " the best fought action of the war." Colonel Cooke proved himself a brave and competent officer, and deserves to be enrolled and remembered among the heroes of our strug- gle for national independence. He resigned the command of his regiment after hostilities had ceased in Rhode Island, but before the close of the war, only to take his seat as a Senator in the colonial government, at a season when there was need of great wisdom and discretion in conducting the affairs of the colony. In time of peace he took an active part in affairs of state, and was for twenty-one years a member of the Rhode Island Senate, having served some time previously in the lower house, where " he was regarded as a well-informed, prudent, and useful member." He was an enterprising, public-spirited citizen, and originated and advocated many measures pro- motive of general good. He is said to have been a lead- ing spirit in building the first bridge between the island upon which Newport is situated and the main land, which was in those early days regarded as a great undertaking. This bridge was destroyed in September, 1795, by a gale, ever memorable in that part of the country by the destruc- tion which it occasioned. From all that can now be learned of Colonel Cooke's career, from authentic sources, he must have been an extraordinary man. He conducted success- fully, for many years, a large mercantile and agricultural establishment, was regarded as a wise and prudent legis- lator, and proved himself to have been a good and true soldier. He brought to his large undertakings intelli- gence, energy, industry, and perseverance, and was re- warded by the accumulation of wealth, and the attain- ment of a prominent position in political, business, and social circles. Though prosperity and happiness had for the most part crowned his days, when in advanced life, during a season of great financial depression, through gen- erous efforts to aid others, his fortune was broken and he descended from wealth to comparative poverty,-a trying reverse at his time of life, which, however, did not embitter, but only clouded, his remaining years. As he had not been elated by his long career of prosperity, he was not crushed by the sudden and unexpected stroke of adversity. For- tune's favors he had received with a thankful spirit and bestowed with a liberal hand; her buffets he met with dignity and resignation. Colonel Cooke did not long sur- vive his misfortunes. He died at Newport, Rhode Island, December 17, 1812, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. His

I30

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

remains were interred in the grounds of the old estate in Tiverton, where he passed the happiest and most useful years of his life. He had seven children : Samuel, who married a daughter of Judge Padelford, of Taunton, Mas- sachusetts; John, who married a daughter of William Ar- nold, of East Greenwich, Rhode Island; Rhoda, who married Elisha Brown, of Tiverton, Rhode Island; Sarah G., who married Judge Samuel Fales, of Taunton; Phebe, who married Andrew McCorrie, of Portsmouth, Rhode Island; Patience, who married, first, Nathaniel Briggs, and, second, David Durfee, both of Tiverton ; and Priscilla, who married Perry G. Arnold, of East Greenwich. Many of the numerous descendants of Colonel Cooke have emu- lated the patriotic example of their ancestor in devoting a large part of their time and talent to the service of their country. Among the most noteworthy of these descendants may be mentioned Hon. Nathaniel B. Durfee, a grandson of Colonel Cooke. Mr. Durfee served twelve years in the Rhode Island General Assembly, and was subsequently twice elected as a representative of Rhode Island to the National Congress. Hon. Nathaniel Hazard, who died at Washington while a member of Congress from Rhode Island, married a granddaughter of Colonel Cooke, and his son, Captain Samuel Fales Hazard, who died in 1867, was a well-known and gallant officer of the United States Navy. Captain Hazard married a daughter of the late George De Wolfe ; he left one child, a daughter, now the wife of Dr. Fred. R. Sturgis, of New York. The late Dr. Daniel Watson, of Newport, whose son, Dr. William Argyle Wat- son, served as a medical officer in the United States Navy throughout the War of the Rebellion, married a grand- daughter of Colonel Cooke. The late Judge Sylvester G. Shearman married a granddaughter of Colonel Cooke, as did the late Dr. George Leonard, of Taunton, whose son, Samuel Leonard, removed to Philadelphia, where he mar- ried a daughter of James Biddle, Esq., and is now in the midst of a prosperous business career. The late Judge Jonas I .. Cutting, of the Supreme Court of Maine, and Rev. Dr. S. L. Pomroy both married granddaughters of Colonel Cooke. There are no male members of the family . now living, and but one female bearing the name, so far. as ean be ascertained, Miss Patience Cooke, of East Greenwich, a lady now advanced in years, of most benevolent disposition, and happily blessed with ample means.

2 OWLER, METCALF, was an active, wealthy, and enterprising merchant in Newport, in the middle of the last century. In the war with France and Spain he employed his capital with the Malbones, Wantons, Champlins, and other merchants of New- port, in fitting out privateers-private-armed vessels, as they were then called. They were very successful, and added greatly to their gains. Mr. Bowler, in common with the wealthy men of his day, had both his town and

country residence. His town house was the dwelling now known as the Vernon House, on the corner of Mary and Clarke streets, and his country-seat was a farm in l'orts- mouth. Connected with the latter was an elegant garden, stocked with all kinds of flowers then cultivated, and every variety of fruit. Here Mr. Bowler spent much time during a portion of the year, till the trying times came on, after the peace of 1763, when he and his associates were subjected to vexatious suits in England from Dutch and other neutrals, whose vessels had been captured and con- demned for covering property belonging to the enemy. The confidence felt in Mr. Bowler by his fellow-townsmen was very marked. He was a Representative from New- port to the General Assembly. As a further mark of re- spect, he and Henry Ward were appointed Commissioners to the Congress at New York, in 1765, to express " the loyalty of the Assembly to the King and Parliament," and at the same time "to assert their rights and privileges in a becoming manner." Mr. Bowler's views in opposition to the Stamp Act were clearly defined, and on the anni- versary of the repeal of that act, in 1767, he gave an ele- gant entertainment to the friends of liberty in Newport. In 1768 Metcalf Bowler was appointed one of the Judges of the Supreme Court, and served for one year. In June, 1770, he was again elected to the same office, which he held till August, 1776, when he was made Chief Justice. It was while Judge Bowler was on the bench, in March, 1772, ex-Governor Stephen Hopkins being Chief Justice, that the " unpopular but righteous judgment," in the case brought by David Hill to recover for property destroyed by a mob, was declared by the court. In a calmer mo- ment the justness of this decision was recognized. In October, 1767, Mr. Bowler was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, and held the office till Novem- ber, 1776. In 1773 he was appointed one of the com- mittee to obtain the earliest information in regard to Mas- sachusetts of the British Parliament, and projected meas- ures of the Ministry as related to, or were likely to affect, the American colonies, and to maintain a correspondence with the other colonies on all other matters of general in- terest. After the return of peace, Mr. Bowler, finding his affairs greatly embarrassed, owing to the depreciation in the value of his property and from other causes, removed to Providence, where he kept a boarding-house during the remainder of his days. He died September 19, 1789, at an advanced age. His wife, to whom he was married in 1750, was Ann Fairchild, of Newport. He left a number of descendants.

RNOLD, HON. WELCOME, the fifth child of Jon- athan and Abigail Arnold, was born in Smith- field, Rhode Island, February 5, 1745. He re- ceived a good common-school education, taught school for a time, and at the outset of his busi-

131

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

ness career engaged, in an humble way, in the sale of lime burnt in Providence. He commenced business for himself when he was about twenty-four years of age, with a capital of only a few hundred dollars. For about four years he was alone, but in the spring of 1773 he entered into partnership with Caleb Green, under the firm of Green & Arnold, the connection continuing until February, 1776, when the partnership was dissolved. In 1776, Mr. Ar- nold embarked alone in mercantile business, and became extensively concerned in navigation. It is said that during the course of the Revolutionary War thirty vessels were lost by capture, in each of which he was part owner. Notwithstanding these reverses Mr. Arnold achieved great success, especially from his connection with the West India trade. His political life commenced with his election in August, 1778, as a Representative to the General Assembly. Here, in the councils of the State, his talents as a business man were called into requisition. Rhode Island felt the burden of the war as much, and perhaps more, than any of the other States. The possession of Newport and the adjoining country on the island by the British entailed great suffering, directly and indirectly, on the whole com- monwealth. In 1778, Mr. Arnold enlisted as a volunteer in the forces which were raised in Providence to join in the famous expedition of General Sullivan. On account of the many hardships to which he was exposed, Mr. Ar- nold was completely prostrated by sickness, and barely escaped with his life. He continued to represent the town of Providence in the General Assembly, and in the darkest period of the Revolutionary struggle he was fertile in devising means to meet the depressing emergencies of the times. He was Speaker of the House from June to July, 1780; from October, 1789, to May, 1790; from Oc- tober, 1790, to May, 1791; from May, 1793, to June, 1793; and from October, 1793, to May, 1795. During all the agitation which for years existed in the State in con- nection with the paper money question, Mr. Arnold was unflinchingly a " hard currency man." He was one of a High Court of Commissioners to sit in judgment on cer- tain matters in dispute between the States of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, in which the former claimed large tracts of land in the latter. The court decided against the claims of Connecticut. The fact of his receiving the appointment to which reference has been made, is an evidence how ex- tended was his reputation and how great was the con- fidence in his wisdom and integrity. Mr. Arnold took an active part in the adoption by the State of the Federal Constitution. The last years of his life were among his busiest and most prosperous. All interests which tendd to promote the welfare of his native State found in him a friend. From 1783 to his death he was a Trustee of Brown University. He was liberal to the First Baptist Society, with which he worshipped. His death occurred September 30, 1798. His descendants are among well- known and honored citizens of Providence, among whom

may be mentioned the late Hon. S. G. Arnold, who was his grandson.

HANNING, HON. WILLIAM, Attorney-General of Rhode Island, was the grandson of John Channing, of Dorsetshire, England, who came to this country about the year 1715, and landed at Boston. He was born in Newport May 31, 1751, and was a graduate of the College of New Jersey, Princeton, in the class of 1769. He always cherished a warm affection for his alma mater, and thought of sending his son, the cele- brated Dr. W. E. Channing, to be educated there. The Rev. Dr. Samuel S. Smith was his classmate and friend, afterwards an eminent theologian and President of the College. He came under the instructions of the distin- guished Rev. Dr. Witherspoon in the latter part of his college course. Mr. Channing read law with Oliver Ar- nold at Providence, and began the practice of his profes- sion in 1771. He married, in 1773, in the twenty-third year of his age, Lucy Ellery, the daughter of William Ellery, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- ence, by whom he had eleven children, nine of whom were living at his death. He was chosen Attorney- General of Rhode Island in 1777, and, upon the adop- tion of the Federal Constitution, he was appointed Dis- trict Attorney for the district of Rhode Island. In the faithful discharge of these two offices, and of those of his profession, he spent his life. The reminiscences which Dr. W. E. Channing has left us of his honorcd father, are full of interest, and may be found somewhat at length in Updike's Biographical Sketches. A few extracts are here given. "My recollections of my father are imperfect, as he died when I was thirteen years of age. His early mar- riage, and the rapid increase of his family, obliged him to confine himself rigidly to his profession. He was too busy to give much time to general reading, or even to his family. Still I have distinct impressions of his excellence in his social relations. He was the delight of the circle in which he moved. I often went into courts, but was too young to understand my father's merits in the profession, but I had always heard of him as standing at its head. Judge Dawes used to speak of his style and manner as ' mellifluous,' but at times he was vehement ; for I well recollect that I left the court-house in fear at hear- ing him indignantly reply to what seemed to him unworthy language in the opposite counsel. His parents were re- ligious, and the impressions made upon his mind were never lost. He was the main pillar of the religious society to which he belonged. The house of worship had suf- fered much from the occupation of Newport by the British Army, so as to be unfit for use; and I recollect few things in my childhood more distinctly than his zeal in restoring it to its destination and in settling a minister. My grand- father, like most respectable merchants of that place, pos-

132

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

sessed slaves imported from Africa. They were the do- mestics of the family, and my father had no sensibility to the evil. I remember, however, with pleasure, the affec- tionate relation which subsisted between him and the Africans (most of them aged), who continued to live with my grandfather. These were liberated after the Revolu- tion ; but nothing could remove them from their old home, where they rather ruled than served. One of the females used to speak of herself as the daughter of an African prince, and she certainly had much of the bearing of roy- alty. The dignity of her aspect and manner bespoke an uncommon woman. She was called Duchess, probably on account of the rank she had held in her own country. I knew her only after she was free, and had an establish- ment of her own. Now and then she invited all the chil- dren of the various families to which she was connected to a party, and we were liberally feasted under her hospitable roof." The Hon. Asher Robbins says that " Mr. Chan- ning was very well read in the law, especially in the forms of pleading ; law cases were his favorite reading, even for amusement. He had a large library, and one very well selected. He interested himself much in State politics, and his office was the central point of rendezvous where the leading men congregated for their consultations. In person he was of the middle stature, erect, and of an open countenance. His agreeable manners was one great source of his general popularity." Mr. Channing died at New- port, after an illness of three months, September 21, 1793.

URNER, PETER, M.D., son of Dr. William Turner, of Newark, New Jersey, and grandson of Captain William Turner, of Newport, was born Septem- ber 2, 1751. When he was quite young he lost his father, and was placed under the care of his half-brother, Dr. Jabez Canfield, of Morristown, New Jer- sey. His medical studies were carried on under the direc- tion of Dr. Canfield, and were completed not far from the commencement of the Revolutionary war. So much was he interested in the cause of his country that he offered his services as a surgeon, served for three years, and was attached to Colonel Greene's Rhode Island regiment. Having formed many acquaintances among officers and soldiers who had come from East Greenwich, and influ- enced by the persuasions of his brother-in-law, General James M. Varnum, he decided to take up his residence in that place. He was the first surgeon of any note who had established himself in that part of the State, and we are told that " coming from the army, the good people of the ncigh- boring country looked upon him with no little distrust, fear-

. ing that he might take off an arm or a leg without even so much as saying, 'by your leave.' But this feeling of appre- hension soon wore off, and he was engaged in a very large practice, extending ten miles or more in every direction."

He made a specialty of surgery, and had a high reputa- tion as a successful operator, while at the same time he was regarded as a skilful physician. As there was no medical school established in Rhode Island when he was in the full career of his practice, it was his custom to re- ceive into his office young men who pursued with him their professional studies. Among these were physicians who became eminent in their profession, his nephew and son- in-law, Dr. William Turner, being among the number. For several years previous to his death he was confined to his room, and for a long time was helpless, in consequence of a stroke of paralysis. His death occurred February 14, 1822. In 1776 he married a daughter of Cromwell Childs, of Warren, by whom he had several children, among whom were three sons, who studied medicine with their father, Daniel, who removed to St. Mary's, Georgia, in which place he fell a victim to the yellow fever; Henry, who did not practice, and Dr. James V. Turner, of Newport.

OWEN, WILLIAM, M.D., an eminent physician, the third son of Dr. Ephraim Bowen, and brother of Dr. Pardon Bowen, was born in Providence, March 8, 1747. He spent the first two years of his college-life in Harvard University, and the last two in Yale College, where he was graduated in the class of 1766. He studied his profession with his father, and at- tended also the lectures of the Medical School, in Phila- delphia. Having received the customary diplomas from his instructors, he returned to Providence, where he com- menced the practice of his professsion, which, without in- terruption, he kept up until within a short time before his death-covering a period of more than sixty years. " His person and manners," we are told, " were most felicitously adapted to the circumstances of a physician." His very presence inspired hope, and chased away the clouds of gloom. He combined, in a remarkable degree, affability and dignity in his intercourse with others. In social life he was singularly easy and perfectly at home. Possessing the charac- teristics which distinguished him, he was welcomed as a friend full of tenderness and sympathy in the families where he practiced. He was married in 1769, to Sarah Corliss. The death of his only son, Dr. William Corliss Bowen, was a severe blow to his father. He was a most accomplished man in his profession, having enjoyed the advantages of the best medical schools in Europe, and was stricken down at the early age of twenty-nine, when life was full of bright hopes and fair prospects. The subject of this sketch died January, 1832. The following were the children of Dr. William and Sarah (Corliss) Bowen : (1) Elizabeth, who married Thomas Amory in 1799. Their children were, Mary; Harriet, marricd Robert H. Ives; John; Julia, married Rt. Rev. Mark A. D. W. Howe; Louise ; Anna ; Helen, married William Raymond Lee; Thomas. (2)

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 29

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