The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 36

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

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that "it pushed its enterprises in every quarter of the globe, and it is not too much to say, that its uncompromising ad- herence to the principles of high mercantile probity has contributed, in no small degree, to elevate, at home and abroad, the character of the American merchant." During the forty-three years that Mr. Ives was in business, he touched life on many sides. With a rare devotion to every department of his special vocation, even to its remotest de- tails, he united an intelligent interest in many institutions in Providence which felt the benefit of his constant over- sight and his beneficent aid. For twenty-four years he was the President of the Providence Bank, and placed it in the elevated position it has always held among the banks of the city. For fifteen years he was President of the Providence Institution for Savings, which also was placed upon the firm, stable foundation, on which, for so many years, it has stood. He was, for years, the generous friend and patron of Brown University, and for forty-three years one of its most faithful trustees. " From the narrow preju- dices respecting learning, and literary men, which mer- chants sometimes imbibe, he was entirely exempt. He re- spected the dignity of true science, and he estimated cor- rectly the importance of thorough intellectual discipline." Mr. Ives felt and manifested a profound regard for the institutions of religion. Amid the pressure of business, he never failed habitually to read the Holy Scriptures. He had the spirit and temper of a Christian, and in his out- ward life he manifested them. His death occurred in May, 1835. Mr. Ives married, in 1792, Hope Brown, the only surviving daughter of Nicholas Brown. Among their children were Charlotte Rhoda, born December 18, 1792; Moses Brown, born July 21, 1794; Robert Hale, born September 16, 1798; Hope Brown, born May 14, 1802.

ALBONE, COLONEL FRANCIS, was the son of Francis Malbone, of Virginia, and the grand- son of Adolphus Malbone, of that colony. He entered into business in Newport with his brother, under the firm name of Evan & Francis Malbone, which partnership was dissolved by the death of Evan in 1784, when the surviving partner became associated with Daniel Mason. The business was then carried on under the firm name of Malbone & Mason, but it was not successful, and the connection was soon dissolved. Colonel Malbone lost heavily in trade, but confidence in him was not impaired, and his fellow-townsmen were always ready to honor him when an opportunity occurred. He made a number of voyages as supercargo, and went out in the ship Mount Hope in 1801, on her first voyage to the East Indies. In 1805 he again sailed in her in the same capacity, believing that the sea-voyage would restore him to health. When he returned in the ship, October 12, 1806, greatly benefited, the Newport Artillery came out

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to welcome him, and gave him a public reception. His attachment to this company was very great. He had been instrumental in rcorganizing it after the war, and at the time of his death he had brought it to a high degree of effici- ency. For eighteen years he was at the head of the com- pany, his commission having been dated in 1792. That year he was up for Congress. To injure his prospects a story was circulated that he was engaged in the slave trade. This having reached the ears of George Champlin, he wrote to Thomas Arnold and Moses Brown, of Providence, as follows : " You have undoubtedly heard that Mr. Francis Malbone is a candidate for Representative in Congress. His opponents may endeavor to influence the minds of many good people against him, as being friendly to slavery. Mr. Malbone has, since the war, and now is, concerned in a large distillery, and his circumstances and situation are otherwise favorable for prosecuting the African trade. But those leading motives, with the addition of that powerful argument, the prospect of great gain, has not induced him to be concerned in the slave trade. As I had an agency in presenting Mr. Malbone as a candidate, I think it but just to make this communication, and, further, to add, that Mr. Malbone possesses a good start, great integrity, and good abilities, and should he be favored with an election, I think he would do honor to the State, and on those grounds hope he may have your support." At the time of his death Colonel Malbone had gone through the whole gradation of office, and had faithfully and diligently served the State and town as a member of the General Assembly and, as a Representative and Senator in Congress. He left Newport February 20, 1809, to take his seat in the United States Senate, and on Sunday, the fourth day of the following June, while ascending the steps of the Capitol with Hon. Elisha R. Potter to attend divine service, he fell, and im- mediately expired. His death was announced to the Sen- ate by his colleague, Mr. Matthewson, and that body voted to attend his funeral and to erect a suitable monument to his memory. He was buried at Washington " with legis- lative and national honors." When the news of his death was received at Newport the flags of the shipping in the harbor and at Fort Wolcott were displayed at half-mast, and at sunset the Artillery Company fired minute guns. Colonel Malbone was fifty years of age at the time of his death.

INGSBURY, JOHN, LL.D., an eminent educator, of Rhode Island, the son of John and Dorothy (Lea- vens) Kingsbury, was born at South Coventry, Connecticut, May 26, 1801. His early life was passed on his father's farm, where he acquired those habits of industry and steady application to whatever duty he was called to perform which so decidedly marked his character in subsequent life. He obtained his preliminary education in the district school in his native town, which he attended during the winter months until he was fifteen

years of age. For four successive winters lie taught school, while pursuing his classical studies under the tuition of Rev. Chauncey Booth, a clergyman in South Coventry, and entered Brown University in September, 1822. The state of his finances was such that he was obliged to devote a part of each year during his college course to teaching, in order to earn money enough to defray his necessary ex- penses. Such, however, was his ability as a scholar, and so earnestly did he devote himself to his work, that, at his graduation in 1826, he received the second honors of his class, a class in which were such men as George Burgess, afterward Bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Maine, Eleazer Carter Hutchinson, afterward President of Kemper College, and Edwards A. Park, the eminent professor in Andover Theological Seminary. Soon after his graduation, Mr. Kingsbury became associated with Mr. G. A. Dewitt, in the management of a private school of high rank in Provi- dence. This relation continued not far from two years, at the end of which period he commenced the " Young Ladies' High School," which for a time was connected with the school already referred to, and then became an independent institution. To the development and fostering of the in- terests of this school he devoted thirty out of the forty-eight years of his active life. It was predicted by some that such a school as he proposed to establish would be a failure. He, however, felt confident of success. When he began his work the present excellent school-system of Providence was in its infancy. There was no school of a high grade to which parents could send their daughters to receive an accomplished education. The confidence with which Mr. Kingsbury commenced his labors was neither ill-timed nor misplaced. At once all his seats were taken, and for thirty years, " without any solicitation, without even an advertise- ment," his school-room was always full to overflowing. The applications in advance of the full number, which came to be forty-three, varied from twenty to sixty, and when, after having decided to close his connection with the school at the end of thirty years, he carried his purpose into execu- tion, there were thirty-two names on his list of applicants. The beautiful school-house, 235 Benefit Street, opposite the Central Congregational Church, was built under the special direction, and in accordance with the excellent taste of Mr. Kingsbury, and at the time of its erection was considered such a model in its way that it attracted many visitors, not only from Providence but elsewhere. It was not till the example was followed in many places, and when even the public school buildings of the city had undergone a great change in this respect, that this room ceased to be an object of attraction. On completing his long term of service as principal of the " Young Ladies' High School," Mr. Kings- bury entered upon his duties as Commissioner of Public Schools of the State, having been already elected to that honorable position. The full, comprehensive report of his labors as school commissioner may be found in the bound volume of the " Rhode Island School Reports" for 1858-

John Murgs burg

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62, it being the first in the volume. In the year 1859 Mr. Kingsbury resigned his office as Commissioner of Public Schools, having accepted the Presidency of the Washing- ton Insurance Company, which position he held during the remainder of his life. Among various important posts of honor and service which he filled, the following are worthy of note. In early life he became a member of the Provi- dence Franklin Society, of which for many years he was the Secretary, subsequently the keeper of the cabinet, and for a time President. He was among the original founders, in 1830, of the American Institute of Instruction, a Coun- cillor of its Board from 1830 to 1837, one of its Vice-Presi- dents from 1837 to 1855, when he was elected President, holding that office till 1857, when he declined a re-election. Of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction he was the President from 1845 to 1856. His " Bible Class" deserves a passing notice. We have the record of it for nineteen years, which by no means covers the whole period of his connection with it. During that period he gave Bible in- struction to about four hundred young men, among whom were more than one hundred and fifty students of Brown University. For eight years he was a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. For several years he was a Trustee of the Butler Hospital for the Insane. In 1844 he was chosen a member of the Board of Trustees of Brown University, and took an active part in raising the subscription of $125,000 for the more complete endowment of the college. In 1853 he was chosen a Fellow of the University and Secretary of the Cor- poration. For twenty-one years, 1853-1874, he performed the duties of that office. "Brown University," says Presi- dent Robinson, " has had few, if any, more faithful or more devoted and laborious servants than Mr. Kingsbury. His regard for the University was shown not only in his life-long services in its behalf, but in his directions that after his decease there should be given to it a valuable collection of shells which he possessed, as well as so many of the most valuable of the books of his library as the librarian of the University might choose to select from it." In 1856 the University conferred on him the honorary de- gree of Doctor of Laws. Mr. Kingsbury married, August 19, 1834, Mary M., daughter of Hon. Thomas Burgess, of Providence. Their children were Mary B., Thomas B., Sarah, Elizabeth H., John, Alice, Anna, Henry J., and Emily R.

ROWNE, SOLOMON, M.D., was born in Providence, Rhode Island, March 11, 1753, and was a de- scendant of Leonard Drowne, who came from the west of England to America soon after the ac- cession of Charles the Second. Leonard Drowne settled in Kittery, Maine, where he carried on ship-building; but in 1692, in consequence of the Indian wars, removed his family and business to Boston, where he died October 31,

1729. He is mentioned by Backus, in his history, as being one of the founders of the first church in Kittery, Maine, in 1682. His grave is in the old Copp's Hill Burying-ground, Boston. His eldest son, Solomon, born January 23, 1681, was a ship-builder at Bristol, Rhode Island, where he died October 9, 1730. The grandson, Solomon, father of the subject of this sketch, was born October 4, 1706; settled in Providence as a merchant in 1730, and until his death, which occurred June 25, 1780, bore a prominent part in the affairs of the town, which he represented in the Gen- eral Assembly. Dr. Drowne's mother, Mercy (Tillinghast) Arnold, was a granddaughter of the Rev. Pardon Tilling- hast, of Providence. After pursuing a thorough prepara- tory course of studies, Dr. Drowne entered Rhode Island College (now Brown University ), where he graduated with the highest honors in the class of 1773. He pursued his medical studies with Dr. William Bowen, and in the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, from which institution, and also from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, he received medical degrees. After graduating he entered the Army of the Revolution as a Surgeon, and served from the beginning of the war until its close. In the fall of 1780, he went on a cruise as Surgeon in the private sloop-of-war " Hope," his journal of which with a genealogy of the family was published in 1872. When peace was declared he took up his residence in his native town, where he pursued the practice of medicine until 1784, when, in order to perfect himself in his profession, he went abroad and prosecuted his studies in the great medical schools of Europe. He visited various hospitals and medical schools in England, Holland, Belgium, and France, and formed the acquaint- ance of eminent physicians and surgeons and men distin- guished in other walks of life. While in France he en- joyed the friendship of Dr. Franklin, Mr. Jefferson, and other noted men. On his return to Providence he resumed the practice of medicine ; but in 1788 went west and took part in the settlement of Marietta, Ohio, participating with General St. Clair and others in the Indian treaties at Fort Harmer with Corn Planter and other noted chiefs. While here he pronounced a funeral eulogy on General Varnum, one of the founders of Marietta, and delivered the first anniversary address on its settlement, April 7, 1789. Sub- sequently he resumed practice in Providence, but in con- sequence of impaired health, removed with his family to Virginia, in 1792, paying, on his way, a visit to Washing- ton at Mt. Vernon, and settling for a time in Morgantown. Early in 1794, the danger from the border incursions of the Indians being over, he proceeded to Union, Pennsyl- vania, where he resided for seven years. In 1801 he re- turned to Rhode Island, and soon afterwards settled in the town of Foster, where he resided till his death, February 5, 1834, devoting himself to professional duties, to his ex- tensive botanical garden, and to his scientific, classical, and literary studies. Here he built a spacious mansion on an elevation, which, on account of its salubrity, he called

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Mount Hygeia. His botanical garden acquired great no- toriety on account of its size and the variety and beauty of its plants, as well as from the circumstance that it was the first garden of the kind in the State. Dr. Drowne filled several public offices. In 1811 he was appointed Professor of Materia Medica and Botany in Brown University, and gave courses of lectures in that institution, which won for him the reputation of being one of the most popular scientific lecturers of his time. In 1819 he was elected a delegate to the convention which formed the National Pharmaco- poia, by the Rhode Island Medical Society, of which he was a Vice-President. He took an active part in the or- ganization and proceedings of the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry, before which he delivered addresses on several occasions, the last one being on the 23d of September, 1833, when he was over eighty years of age. In 1824, in connection with his son William Drowne, he published the Farmers' Guide, a comprehensive and valuable work on husbandry and gar- dening. He contributed various scientific and literary articles to the journals of the day, and participated in the proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and other learned bodies of which he was a member. His lines to the memory of Dr. Joseph War- ren, written shortly after the battle of Bunker Hill, are truly patriotic, and evince the brotherly regard that existed between them professionally and as "Sons of Liberty." During his life he delivered many botanical lectures, pub- lic orations, and addresses, highly creditable to him as a man of refined taste and varied acquisitions, among which may be mentioned several commemorative of American Independenee-his Eulogy on Washington, February 22, ISoo, and his oration in aid of the cause of the Greeks, February 23, 1824. In 1783 he was elected a Fellow of Brown University, and held the office until his death. He was for some time Secretary of that corporation. Dr. Drowne was one of the most useful and influential men of his time, and highly esteemed for his sterling traits of character. He married, November 20, 1777, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Honora Russell, of Boston. She was born April 16, 1759, and died at Mount Hygeia, in Foster, Rhode Island, May 15, 1844. She lived in Boston until the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, when, with her brother Thomas, she came to Providence, and formed part of the family of her brother Jonathan Russell, who, in 1777, removed to Holliston, Massachusetts, where she was married to Dr. Drowne. She appreciated the tastes of the doctor, was fond of flowers and eultivated the choicest varieties both in her house and garden. Their children were, Sophia, born March 11, 1779, and died in Providence, June 20, 1784 ; Eliza Russell, born December 31, 1781, and died in Foster, April 30, 1865; Cornelia, born September 30, 1783, and died in Foster, January 26, 1847; Sophia, born June 6, 1786, and died in Providence, October 29, 1786; Sophia, born October 9, 1787, and died

in Foster, August 29, 1816; Sarah, born September 10, 1790; William, born October 26, 1793, and died in Fos- ter, June 15, 1874; Solomon Horace, born August 24, 1796, and died in Woodstock, Connecticut, July 14, 1848; and Henry Bernardin, born April 6, 1799, and died in Providence, February 7, 1873. Eliza Russell Drowne for upwards of half a century manifested great interest in the botanical garden of her father, which was the object of her constant care. She had also a talent for painting in water colors, and many evidences of her skill have been preserved in the family. Miss Sarah Drowne, who is now (1880) living at an advanced age, early exhibited superior poetical talent, which she has cultivated through life, and has also devoted much time to the study of classic literature. Wil- liam Drowne became a clergyman and philanthropist, and his brother, Solomon Horace, was an agriculturist, of Woodstock, Connecticut. Henry Bernardin Drowne, a sketch of whom appears in this volume, founded, conjointly with his sisters, the Fruit Hill Classical Academy, and de- voted his life principally to the management of several estates and other financial trusts, in which he was noted for his probity and business capacity.

AXCY, REV. JONATHAN, D.D., the second Presi- dent of Brown University, was born in Attlebor- ough, Massachusetts, September 2, 1768. Both his grandfather and father were persons of ac- knowledged merit in the communities in which they lived. His mother, Ruth Newell, was eminent for her intellectual abilities, and her consistent Christian char- acter. In his boyhood days young Maxcy developed those talents which made him so marked a character in subse -. quent life. Especially did he possess a singular gift for public speaking. Having prepared for college under the direction of Rev. William Williams, of Wrentham, Massa- chusetts, whose sehool was one of the institutions of the times, he entered Brown University when he was but fifteen years of age, and graduated with the highest honors of his class in 1787, on which occasion he delivered a poem on " the Prospects of America," and the valedictory address. Although he was but nineteen years of age, he received, immediately on graduating, an appointment as tutor in the University, which office he held for four years. His re- ligious convictions having been settled and decided, he made a public profession of his faith and united with the First Baptist Church in Providence, of which Rev. Dr. Manning was at the time the pastor. By this church he was lieensed to preach, April 1, 1790. It was not long before he was called to be the pastor of the church of which he was a member, and was ordained September 8, 1791. He remained in this position for a short time only, in con- sequence of having been elected President of Brown Uni- versity. He entered upon the duties of his office September

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8, 1792, at the early age of twenty-four years. His admin- istration was commenced under the most auspicious cir- cumstances, and the college greatly advanced in the popular regard while he was in office. His services were in con- stant demand on occasions of public interest as an eloquent orator, and he fully met the expectations of his friends whenever he stood up to address the assemblies that met to listen to him. When he was thirty-three years of age Harvard College conferred on him the degree of Doc- tor of Divinity, thus placing him among the very few in his denomination upon whom that institution has bestowed this degree. His term of office as President of Brown University continued ten years (1792-1802), when he was chosen to succeed President Jonathan Edwards, the younger, as President of Union College, Schenectady, New York. He remained there but two years, and then was called to be the first President of the newly established South Carolina College, at Columbia, South Carolina. He entered upon the duties of his office in 1804, and was the President of this college for sixteen years (1804-1820). His death occurred June 4, 1820. The wife of Dr. Maxcy was Susan Hopkins, a daughter of Commodore Esek Hopkins, of Providence. Four sons and several daughters were the fruit of this marriage. One of his sons was Hon. Virgil Maxcy, who was distinguished in political life, and whose unfortunate death, by the explosion of a gun on board the United States Steamship Princeton, February 28, 1844, awakened so many sympathies throughout the coun- try. The published writings of President Maxcy are very numerous. They have been collected in a volume by Rev. Romeo Elton, who also prepared a memoir of his life. He was among the most brilliant and gifted men whose names are to be found in the annals of Rhode Island history.

ESSER, REV. ASA, D.D., LL.D., the third Pres- ident of Brown University, was born in Methuen, Massachusetts, in the year 1769. His boyhood days were spent on his father's farm. He pur- sued his preparatory studies with Rev. Dr. Heze- kiah Smith, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, and Rev. Mr. Williams, a Scotch clergyman in Windham, New Hamp- shire. He made such progress in his studies that he was able to enter Brown University at the age of seventeen, nearly two years in advance. He was graduated in the class of 1790, and the next year was chosen Tutor, which office he held till 1796, when he was chosen to fill the chair of Professor of the Learned Languages. In 1801 he was ordained according to the usages of the Baptist denom- ination. In 1799 he was transferred from the chair to which he had been elected in 1796, to that of the Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and, upon the resignation of President Maxcy, was chosen President of

the University, which office he held for twenty-four years (1802-1826). His connection with the institution as a pupil and a member of the Faculty covered a period of nearly forty years. On resigning the Presidency in 1826 he was called by his fellow-citizens of Providence to fill important civil offices, the duties of which he discharged in such a way as to secure their confidence and esteem. His closing years were spent upon what was then a farm in the suburbs of Providence, but now almost in the heart of the city. President Messer died October 11, 1836. The honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Brown University in 1802, and by Harvard Univer- sity in 1820. In 1812 the University of Vermont gave him the degree of Doctor of Laws. The children of President Messer and his wife, Deborah Angell, were a son and three daughters. The former died when quite young. Two of the daughters were married, one to the Hon Sidney Williams, of Taunton, Massachusetts, and the other to the Hon. Horace Mann, the first Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education. Full and interesting sketches of the peculiar characteristics of President Messer, by Professor Edwards A. Park, D.D., of Andover, and the Hon. William L. Marcy, may be found in Sprague's Annals, vol. vi., pp. 327-334.

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 36

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