The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 46

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

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pulpit orator, in the best sense of the word, which placed him in the front ranks of the clergymen of Boston. Although not a Trinitarian, as the doctrine of the Trinity was then held and preached, no one could doubt the conscientiousness of the preacher, or fail to note how earnest and spiritual were the teachings of the pulpit which he occupied. Perhaps more than most clergymen of his times he felt it to be his duty, as a public religious teacher, to discuss those great principles in ethics which he justly felt should mould and govern the actions of nations as well as of individuals. When war was declared against Great Britain, in 1812, he indicated his position with reference to the matters at issue between the two nations in his celebrated sermons preached on the occasions of the national and state fasts. His dis- course on the Fall of Napoleon, preached in the Stone Chapel, in 1814, was among the best of his pulpit efforts. In the controversies which resulted in the division of the Congregational Churches of Massachusetts, he took the Unitarian side of the question. The letters which were written by Rev. Dr. Worcester, of Salem, as the repre- sentative of the one party, and by himself as the representa- tive of the other party, give one a good view of the state of feeling at the time when they were written. At the or- dination of Jarcd Sparks at Baltimore, in 1819, he preached a sermon which brought him again before the public in the character of a controversialist. Again, in 1826, he preached a sermon at the opening of the new Unitarian Church in New York, which awakened much interest in the religious public, and led to further controversy. A visit which Dr. Channing made to Europe, in 1822, was a source of great pleasure and intellectual profit to him. He formed acquaintances and friendships with eminent liter- ary men which he retained through life. On his return to his parish he once more took up the cares of his minis- terial life. His friends saw, however, that he was taxing himself beyond his strength, and at their suggestion, in the spring of 1824, Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Ezra S. Gannett became his associate. Being now somewhat freed from the burdens of his profession, he had more time to turn his thoughts to those great subjects of moral reform, upon which he had long pondered, and to employ his graceful pen in the discussion of questions which were taking strong hold of the public mind. He preached on temperance. He interested himself with his friend the Rev. Dr. Tucker- man in the appointment and support of his ministry to the poor. He discussed, also, in his able, felicitous way, the perplexing questions relating to prison discipline. In 1838 and 1840 he delivered lectures on self-culture, and on the elevation of the laboring classes, which, when published, were not only received with great favor in this country, but were widely circulated in England. As might have been anticipated from all we know of his character, he was among the earliest and most intelligent friends of the anti- slavery cause, and his writings on this subject are among the ablest productions of his pen. He commenced, while

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in the West Indies, whither, in 1830, he had gone for his health, a work on Slavery, which was published in 1835. Two years later he published a letter to Henry Clay on the threatened annexation of Texas. While he thus showed himself the earnest opponent of slavery, he discounte- nanced the spirit of some who were violent in their thoughts and expressions, and whose course of procedure he judged to be prejudicial to the cause which so inter- ested his own heart and influenced his course of action. One of the favorite resorts of Dr. Channing in the sum- mer season was Lenox, Massachusetts. He had gone to this delightful spot in the summer of 1842, with the inten- tion of spending a few wecks in the society of some of his best friends. Here he delivered his famous address on West India Emancipation. In September, having reached Bennington on his way to his home, he was attacked by a fever, from which, after an illness of three weeks, he died, the event taking place on Sunday, October 2, 1842. The account of the end of this earnest and eminently de- voted life which we have attempted to sketch is in these words, from one who stood by him in his last moments : " In the afternoon he spoke very earnestly, but in a hollow whisper. I bent forward, but the only words I could hear were, ' I have received many messages from the Spirit.' As the day declined, his countenance fell, and he grew fainter and fainter. With our aid he turned himself towards the window which looked over valley and wooded summits to the east. We drew back the curtain, and the light fell upon his face. The sun had just set, and the clouds and sky were bright with gold and crimson. He breathed more and more gently, and, without a struggle or a sigh, the body fell asleep. We knew not when the spirit passed." The remains were taken to Boston, where the funeral took place October 7, 1842, and the body was buried at Mt. Auburn. Dr. Channing was married to his cousin, Ruth Gibbs, of Newport, in 1814, by whom he had three children, one of whom, the first-born, died in infancy. It was his practice for many years to spend a part of his summers at the country-seat of his mother-in-law, in Newport. In 1820 Harvard College conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. His pub- lished writings are contained in six duodecimo volumes. Besides those which have thus been collected, there are numerous sermons, discourses, etc., which are preserved only in pamphlet form. He wrote all the reports of the Massachusetts Bible Society from 1812 to 1820, and was a frequent contributor to the Christian Disciple, so long as Dr. Noah Worcester had the editorial charge of that peri- odical. It may be a matter of just pride to Rhode Island that one of the fairest spots within her domain was the birthplace of so distinguished a divine and so eminent a reformer as William Ellery Channing, and that, for the beautiful city in which his youth and so many of the bright summer days and weeks of his manhood were passed, he never ceased to feel the tenderest interest and the warmest

affection. The one hundredth anniversary of his birth was celebrated in Newport on the 7th of April, 1880, when the corner-stone of a memorial church was laid with impressive ceremonies, Dr. Bellows, of New York, Rev. William IIenry Channing, of London, Rev. Edward Evcrett Hale, Dr. Hosmer, Governor Van Zandt, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, and other distinguished persons being present to participate in the exercises. Letters bcaring testimony to the influence of Dr. Channing's life and writings, from men of different creeds in this country and Europe, were read on the occasion, one from John G. Whittier, the poet, being among the number, in which he said: " I scarcely need say that I yield to no one in love and rever- ence for the great and good man whose memory, outliving all the prejudices of creed, sect, and party, is the common legacy of Christendom. As the years go on, the value of that legacy will be more and more felt, not so much per- haps in doctrine as in spirit-in those utterances of a de- vout soul which are above and beyond the affirmation or negative of dogma. His ethical severity and Christian tenderness ; his hatred of wrong and oppression, with love and pity for the wrong-doer; his noble plea for self-culture, temperance, peace, and purity ; and above all, his precept and example of unquestioning obedience to duty and the voice of God in his soul, can never become obsolete. It is very fitting that his memory should be especially cher- ished with that of Hopkins and Berkeley in the beautiful island to which the common residence of these worthies has lent additional charm and interest."

USHMAN, APOLLOS, lawyer, son of Zebedee and Sarah (Padelford) Cushman, was born in Middle_ borough, Massachusetts, August 9, 1782. He came from an honored ancestry, being a descendant, on his father's side, from Robert Cushman, one of the early Pilgrims. His preparatory studies were pursued at the academy in Taunton, under the tuition of Rev. S. Doggett, and he was a graduate of Brown University in the class of 1802. Upon the completion of his collegiate studies he commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Padel- ford, of Taunton, and was admitted to the bar in 1806. He began the practice of his profession in Plainfield, Mas- sachusetts, where he remained but a short time, and then moved to Attleborough, of which place he was a resident until 1812, and then he removed to Pawtucket, where he lived the rest of his long life. His practice was extensive, and his reputation as a lawyer was of a high order. He combined with a careful attention to the duties of his pro- fession a love of literature, and kept alive the classical tastes which he had cultivated in his younger days. Although often requested by his fellow-citizens to accept political office, he uniformly declined. He was a Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, Justice of the Quorum, and a

Thomas S. Turner

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Commissioner to qualify civil officers. He lived to the age of seventy years, and died in Pawtucket, September 17, 1854. Mr. Cushman married, June 21, 1809, Anna Maria, the eldest daughter of General William Barton, of Revolutionary memory. On her mother's side, whose name was Rhoda Carver, she was a lineal descendant of John Carver, the first Governor of Plymouth Colony. They had seven children : Charles Edward Sidney, Harriet Ster- ling, Henry Barton, a resident of Pawtucket, William Murray, for several years a successful merchant at Mobile, Alabama, George Francis, D.D., a distinguished Episcopal minister, James Warren, and John Barton.

URNER, GOVERNOR THOMAS GOODWIN, son of Captain William and Abiah (Goodwin) Turner, was born in Warren, Rhode Island, Octoher 24, 1810. His father commanded the packet " Hannah

-O. and Nancy," plying between Warren and Newport, and was assisted by his sons, William, Jr., and Thomas G., while they were yet lads. Thomas G. left the vessel at the age of fourteen and became a clerk in the drygoods store of Mr. Cahoon, in Newport. He adopted the best of business habits, and by application to books acquired a good education. Returning to Warren, he entered into partnership with Martin L. Salisbury, the firm-name being Turner & Salisbury, in the drygoods and merchant tailoring business, with which was soon afterward connected the manufacture of neck-stocks. In the latter business this became one of the chief firms in the country. Disposing of this business, he accepted the Presidency of the Equi- table Fire and Marine Insurance Company, of Providence, which position he filled till his death. During the " Dorr war" he accepted a colonel's commission in the State militia, and was in command at Acote's Hill. He also be- longed to the First Light Infantry Company of Providence. He was an active member of the Rhode Island Historical Society. He was a Director in the Warren Manufacturing Company; in the First National Bank, of Warren; in the Mechanics' Machine Company ; in the City National Bank, and City Savings Bank of Providence; and in the Provi- dence, Warren, and Bristol Railroad Company. For several years he ably represented Warren in the General Assembly of the State, both in the House and the Senate. Twice he was chosen Presidential Elector. He was Lieu- tenant-Governor of the State from 1857 to 1859. During the great religious revival in the winter of 1857-8 he be- came a prominent Christian, and ever afterwards was active in church and missionary work. His membership was in the Warren Baptist Church. He became a member of the Board of the American Baptist Missionary Union, and was a trustee of Brown University. His abilities and charac- ter graced every position to which he was called, and the people delighted to do him honor. In the years 1859 and

1860 he was elected Governor of the State. During the Rebellion he stood bravely by the imperilled nation. Presi- dent Lincoln chose him as the first Collector of Internal Revenue for the First District of Rhode Island. His many honors were worn with great quietness and grace, and all his duties were performed with conscientious fidelity and thoroughness. His urbanity, kindness, and integrity were proverbial. He married, April 4, 1833, Mary Pierce Lu- ther, daughter of Jonathan and Rosamond Luther, of War- ren, a woman of marked abilities and excellences. He had seven children, four of whom died in very early life. His son, Daniel Luther, a merchant in Warren, married, Octo- ber 15, 1858, Elizabeth S., daughter of Hon. Nathan M. Wheaton, and has one son. His daughter, Sarah Cole, married, January 22, 1858, Commander Trevett Abbot, U. S. N., elsewhere sketched in this work, and has two daughters. His son William, died at Holyoke, Massa- chusetts, May 27, 1876, aged twenty-six years, a man highly respected for his good deeds and pure character. Governor Turner died at his residence in Warren, January 3, 1875, in his sixty-fourth year, and was buried with the highest marks of esteem and honor. Touching addresses were made by Rev. S. K. Dexter and Rev. E. G. Robin- son, D.D., President of Brown University.

OWELL, HON. BENJAMIN, son of Samuel and Jemima Cowell, was born in Wrentham, Massa- chusetts, in November, 1781, and was a graduate of Brown University, in the class of 1803. Among his classmates were Governor Philip Allen, of Rhode Island, and Lieutenant-Governor John Reed, of Massachusetts. Having completed his collegiate course of study, he entered the law office of Hon. Samuel Dexter, of Boston, to prepare himself for the legal profession. He was admitted to the bar of Rhode Island, and took up his residence in Providence, where he spent the remainder of his life. For many years he held the office of Clerk of the United States Circuit and District Courts, and was for a short time Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He made a specialty of procuring pensions, and securing bounty-lands for a large number of persons who were en- titled to them by acts of Congress. As the result of much experience, gained by many years of practice in the par- ticular branch of his professional work, he gathered up a large amount of interesting and valuable information re- specting those who were soldiers or engaged in some way in the Revolutionary War. This information he embodied in a volume to which he gave the title, Spirit of '76. He took deep interest in the politics of the times in which he lived, and the productions of his pen upon the exciting topics of the day were published by him in the columns of the public press. As age came on he gradually withdrew from the cares of his profession and devoted himself to

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such studies and reading as were suited to his tastes. His last illness was brief, and he died with a composure be- fitting the Christian faith by which, for many years, he had been guided and controlled. His death occurred in Prov- idence, May 6, 1860. Judge Cowell was married to Elizabeth HI. Howell, March 4, 1818. Their children were Benjamin, Jr., Elizabeth H., wife of Hon. E. P. Knowles, Martha B., Sarah Dwight, wife of Rev. Andrew Mackie, and Olive G., wife of Charles Hitchcock, of New Ilaven.

OWE, JOHN, son of Perley and Abigail (De Wolf) Howe, was born in Killingly, Connecticut, July 5, 1783. The family removed to Bristol, Rhode Island, shortly after the decease of Mr. Perley Howe. The subject of this sketch was fitted for college in Bristol, under the instruction of Abner Alden, a teacher well known in all that region. He was a grad- uate of Brown University in the class of 1805, and com- menced the study of law at once, on leaving the University, in the office of Hon. Benjamin Bourne, and was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1808. His practice became extensive in Rhode Island and in the courts of Massachu- setts in counties adjacent to this State. While engaged in the discharge of his professional duties he also culti- vated those literary tastes which had been developed dur- "ing his college life. He was a clear and gifted writer, and the productions of his pen found their way into the papers of the day. For many years he represented Bristol in the General Assembly, and in matters affecting the intellectual and social welfare of the place of his residence he took an abiding interest. When the administration of President Harrison came into power in 1841, he was appointed Col- lector of the Port of Bristol. This office he held until the close of the administration of President Tyler. He did not again return to the practice of the legal profession, but spent several years at his residence near Bristol, devoting himself to the care of his farm. He married, in 1807, Louisa Smith, daughter of Stephen Smith, of Bristol, and sister of Bishop Smith of Kentucky. She died in 1834. In 1853 he took up his residence in Philadelphia with his son, now Rt. Rev. M. A. De Wolf Howe. The summers of the closing years of his life were passed in Bristol. He died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 14, 1864.

ELNEY, REV. THOMAS, the successor of Rev. Greg- ory Dexter in the pastorate of the First Baptist Church in Providence, was born in Hertford, England, not far from the year 1600. He left his native country about the time that Roger Williams

clid, and, for some time, resided in Salem, Massachusetts, where, without doubt, he was on terms of intimate ac- quaintance with the future founder of Rhode Island, and familiar with all the circumstances connected with his per- secutions and subsequent banishment from the Bay State. Precisely what month in 1639 he came to Providence we have been unable to ascertain. It could not have been far from May, as we find his name among the twelve to whom Roger Williams executed a deed, conveying an equal share of the territory of Providence-the number of acres being the same with the number he reserved for himself. This conveyance was made not long after May 9; this date being attached to a memorandum appended to the deed of Canonicus and Miantonomi, made the year previ- ous, which constituted Roger Williams the owner of " all the land between Pawtucket and Pawtuxet Rivers." For more than twenty years the document given to his twelve associates by Roger Williams was the only evidence of title to the ownership of the lands conveyed by him. At the request of the citizens, Mr. Williams, in December, 1661, executed a more formal conveyance, and, five years later, executed still another deed, giving the names in full of the grantees, the sole object of the instrument being to explain the first one as to date and names. In all these various documents appears the name of Thomas Olney as one of the thirteen original proprietors of Providence. That from the outset he was a man of mark and influence in the little colony appears from the circumstance that he was chosen Treasurer of the town, and, if the fathers had the dilatory habits of their sons, there must have been some funds for which the officer was responsible, for we read that the earliest record of the town-book is to the effect that all persons who may be more than fifteen min- utes late to town-meeting shall pay a fine. Under the sketch of Ezekiel Holliman may be found an account of the manner in which the First Baptist Church in Providence was formed. Among the names of persons baptized by Roger Williams, the last on the list is that of the subject of this sketch. The circumstances connected with the troubles which Gorton and his associates of Warwick had with Massachusetts, on the question of jurisdiction, are re- lated in the sketch of Samuel Gorton. Four Providence citizens accompanied the Massachusetts troops to War- wick " to see what would be done, and to aid in effecting a peaceable adjustment of the difficulty." The case was one of great delicacy, and " the four Providence witnesses " must have been selected, on account of their wisdom and prudence, to assist in reconciling the parties at variance. One of these witnesses was Thomas Olney; his associates bcing Chad Brown, William Field, and William Wicken- den. These gentlemen sent a letter to Governor Win- throp, entreating him to accept the proposal of arbitration. " Oh how grievous would it be (we hope to you) if one man should be slain, considering the greatest monarch in the world cannot make a man ; especially grievous, seeing they

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offer terms of peace." In such earnest and touching words did they make their appeal to the governor. It is painful to be compelled to say that Governor Winthrop replied to the letter of "the four Providence witnesses," declining arbitration. What followed may be seen by referring to the sketch of Gorton. In May, 1649, Thomas Olney, at the regular session of the Court of Commissioners, was chosen " Assistant," for Providence, one of the highest honors that could be conferred on a citizen of the colony. He was elected to the same office in 1652-53, and '54. This was a period of trouble and jealousy in the colony, and especially so in Providence. Governor Arnold tells us that " under pretence of a voluntary training a tumult oc- curred, in which some of the principal people were impli- cated." Among these we find the name of Thomas Ol- ney. There was abroad a spirit of lawlessness and ultra independence. It was under these circumstances that Roger Williams wrote his famous letter about the ship's passengers, commencing with these words: " There goes many a ship to sea, etc." Probably for the course he pur- sued, Mr. Olney failed to secure an election as " Assist- ant " for Providence, in May, 1655. Shortly after, how- ever, he was once more chosen, and at a town meeting held in June, it was " wisely concluded," says Governor Arnold, to pass the following, to wit: " That for the col- ony's sake, who have since chosen Thomas Olney an As- sistant, and for the public union and peace's sake," his offence "should be passed by and no more mentioned." In January, 1655-56, he was chosen, with Roger Williams and Thomas Harris, a judge of a justice's court, for the trial of cases not exceeding forty shillings in amount. " That the smallest tribunal in a town should be composed of such members, speaks well for the public spirit of the leading men, and for the care taken in the administration of justice." Under the royal charter given by Charles II., at the first election under the new instrument, Mr. Olney was chosen one of the ten " Assistants " provided for by the Charter. In 1677 occurred the famous dispute between Providence and Pawtuxet, with reference to the boundaries between the two towns, for an account of which see Ar- nold's History, vol. i., pp. 429-38. In this dispute Mr. Olney bore a somewhat prominent part. With regard to the pastorate of Mr. Olney, as the minister of the First Baptist Church, the information is very scanty. Comer, in his MSS., says that " he continued the pastoral care of the church after Mr. Wickenden left it in 1652." How long he was the pastor we have not been able to ascertain. On account of a difficulty connected with the enforcement of the rite of " laying on of hands," he and others with- drew, and formed a separate church, but it lived but a short time. A reconciliation took place, and Mr. Olney continued to act as the pastor of the old church. His death occurred in 1682. A numerous posterity bear the name of an ancestor honored in the annals of Rhode Island history.

ABER, HON. CONSTANT, was born in 1743. In 1778 he was appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, and served in that capacity until 1786. In 1792 he was made a Judge of the same court, and the following year was appointed Chief Justice, which office he held until 1801, when, on the ac- cession of Thomas Jefferson to the Presidential Chair, he was appointed Navy Agent for Rhode Island, which posi- tion he held for several years, and resigned. In the year last mentioned he was elected first Representative from Newport to the General Assembly, and served for three years. In 1804 he was chosen one of the Presidential Electors. He was Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island from 1807 to 1808, and General Treasurer from 1808 to 18II. At the organization of the Newport Bank he was elected President of that institution, and held that office until his death, which occurred December 20, 1826. He was a consistent and worthy member of the Second Bap- tist Church in Newport, to which society at his death he left the bulk of his property.

BILLINGHAST, REV. PARDON, one of the early pastors of the First Baptist Church in Providence, was born at Seven Cliffe, near Beachy Ilead, in England, about the year 1622. The tradition is, that previous to coming to this country he was for some time a soldier in Cromwell's army. On reach- ing this country, in 1645, he first took up his residence in Connecticut, where, however, he did not remain long. We find his name second on a list of citizens of Provi- dence, the paper bearing date of January 19, 1646, the signers, who had been the recipients of a gift of twenty- five acres each, pledging themselves to be loyal to the government under whose protection they had placed them- selves. When Mr. Tillinghast came to Providence, Rev. Thomas Olney was the pastor of the First Baptist Church. Upon his decease, Mr. Tillinghast was appointed his suc- cessor. After having served the church for many years, his people worshipping, for more than half a century, in a grove, and in private houses when the weather was in- clement, he erected, at his own expense, their first meeting- house. It was built on the corner of North Main and Smith Streets, nearly opposite Star Street. In the year 17II, " in consideration of the love and good will which he bore the church," of which, although he was nearly ninety years of age, he was still the pastor, he executed to them, and their successors in the same faith and order, a deed of the meeting-house and the lot on which it stood. Governor Jenckes bears the honorable testimony, derived from those who knew him, that he " was a man exem- plary for his doctrine, as well as of an unblemished char- acter." " A testimony," says Rev. Dr. Hague in his Historical Discourse, " confirmed by acts of disinterested

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 46

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