The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 57

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

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Historical Tracts, in which number may be found a more extended sketch of the life of Mr. Angell, written by S. S. Rider, A.M., to which the writer of this article is indebted. The article bears the title of Right of the People to form a Constitution, and is known in Rhode Island history as " The Nine Lawyers' Opinion." A brief analysis of the article is herewith given in the language of Mr. Rider : " It claimed that the power to prescribe a form of govern- ment rested with the people; that the legislature was the creature of the people, and was not superior to its creator ; that before the Revolution the sovereign power was divested from the king and passed to the people, the whole people of the Colony, and which became the State ; that the char- ter contained within itself no power of amendment or change,

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and that since the Revolution no way had existed for amending the form of government ; that the legislature being the creature of the people possessed no power to enforce the people to change their form of government, their utmost power was to request them to change it; that the Freeholders' Constitution rested on the request of the General Assembly, while the People's Constitution rested on the request of the people themselves, and therefore rested on the firmest pos- sible basis." This document was signed by nine lawyers, Messrs. Atwell, Angell, Carpenter, Daniels, Thomas W. Dorr, Eaton, Knowles, Dutee J. Pearce, and White. Al- though the document carried with it the weight of the care- fully prepared opinion of the gentlemen so distinguished in the legal profession, it failed to secure the end aimed at, and the " Dorr Rebellion," so called, was not a success. Mr. Angell was never married. His death occurred suddenly, in Boston, May 1, 1857. " He died as he had lived, without an enemy; distinguished through life by the simplicity of his character, by his kindly feeling towards all around him, by his attachment to his friends, by his freedom from preju- dice, and by the total absence of all malevolence of spirit." His amiable qualities had won for him many valuable friends who, throughout his life, remained strongly attached to him, and after his death provided his body with a resting- place, and adorned the walls of Rhode Island Hall with his portrait.

ARPENTER, EARL, was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, March 24, 1794. His father was Nathan- iel Carpenter, a worthy farmer, who resided at the same place during his long life. He was a descend- ant of William Carpenter, who settled near Pawtuxet, in 1638, whose name is occasionally mentioned in the old records as a prominent citizen of the infant Colony, and the record of whose will, dated nearly two hundred years ago, stands upon the first book in the Probate office in Providence. Mr. Carpenter's mother died in 1821, in the seventieth year of her age. Her maiden name was Deliv- erance Greene. She was a descendant of the family so prominent in the history of Warwick, Rhode Island. Earl was the youngest of ten children, six sons and four daughters, eight of whom attained their majority. He as- sisted his father on the farm, and attended school at inter- vals, until about eighteen years of age, when he began to learn the trade of a carpenter, which he soon after aban- doned. When he was about twenty-one years of age he opened a grocery store in the basement of the old building on Market Square, Providence, now known as the City Building, from whence he was temporarily dislodged, with considerable loss, by the high tide of the great gale, Sep- tember 23, 1815, when he came very near losing his life, as the water broke down his barred doors. He continued in the grocery business for several years at this stand, and in the autumn of 1819, intrusting others with the charge of

his store, he, with other young men, sailed from Provi- dence for Savannah, Georgia, in which city he opened an oyster house and restaurant, which being destroyed by the great fire of January, 1820, he returned to Providence and gave close attention to his grocery business, adding there- to the manufacture and sale of spruce beer, favorably known for a period of forty years as " Carpenter's Beer." Beer required ice for its cooling, and hence, in 1822, he purchased a piece of land bordering on what is known as Benedict Pond, erected a small storehouse capable of con- taining about three hundred tons; that quantity being deemed very great in those days. For many years he served the small amount called for by storekeepers, fam- ilies, and others, and although there was more or less com- petition, his trade gradually increased until he was obliged to resort to additional ponds in the vicinity of the city in order to supply the demand. Besides the house at Bene- dict Pond, he had hired a house at Long Pond, and owned two at Dexter's, or Hospital Pond. All except the Bene- dict houses have long since disappeared. In 1849 Mr. Carpenter erected the fine ice houses on the southeast side of Mashapaug Pond, and employed an endless chain moved by steam-power, to elevate the ice from the water to the houses, his establishment being among the first in the country to use steam-power. In 1851 and 1853 addi- tional houses were built by him upon Randall's Pond in North Providence. In October, 1854, he associated with him his two sons, one of whom still carries on the business, the other son having died in December of the same year. The firm name of Earl Carpenter & Sons is still retained, and the capacity of the ice-houses used at the present time (1881) is about 68,000 tons. The firm still has its office in " Union Buildings," to which place Mr. Carpenter re- moved his grocery business in 1827, continuing it there un- til 1855, when he gave it up to devote his entire attention to the ice business. From November, 1820, to 1837, he also carried on a restaurant on Canal Street just above Market Square, which was well patronized. The business and characteristics of its proprietor made his name familiar throughout the community. Never wealthy, he obtained a competence, and made for himself and family a pleasant home, where relatives and acquaintances were always re- ceived with genuine hospitality. Mr. Carpenter held some positions of responsibility, but not so many as his fellow- citizens would willingly have bestowed upon him could he have been induced to accept them. He was, however, a military captain, and at the time of La Fayette's visit to Providence, in 1824, Colonel of the Second Regiment of Rhode Island Militia. He was a member of the Common Council of Providence from June, 1841, to June, 1842. For several years he was fire-warden, or director, of the volunteer fire department. He was one of the first share- holders and directors in the Traders' Bank, organized in 1836; and at the time of his death had been its President for more than twenty-two years. For many years he was

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also a director of the Providence Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He was a Universalist in belief, and, though not a member of the church, was, for about twenty years, an honored and useful member (often an officer) of the First Universalist Society, being a constant attendant upon religious services until his last illness. On the 26th of October, 1820, he married Sarah A., eldest daughter of Joseph Harris, of Cranston. She was the second of eight children, five sons and three daughters, and was descended, on both her father's and mother's side, from early settlers in the Colony, William Harris having been one of the five companions of Roger Williams, when, in 1636, he crossed the Seekonk River and founded Providence. Four sons and a daughter were the fruit of this union. The first born died in his second year, the fourth in his fifth year, and the third in his twenty-ninth year. The second son, Charles Earl, still survives, and, as before stated, contin- ues the ice trade begun by his father. The daughter, widow of David C. Anthony, is also living, and resides in Provi- dence. About the middle of January, 1863, Mr. Car- penter was attacked with paralysis, which confined him to his home, and on the 29th of the same month was prostrated by a second attack, so violent that on the 10th of February following he passed away, being nearly sixty- nine years of age. His widow survived him more than four years, dying July 25, 1867, at the age of seventy-four years and one month. Mr. Carpenter was a man of fine physique, and in spite of many rheumatic attacks, active and vigorous in a large degree. He delighted in manual labor, and until past middle life, in gunning and fishing, when business permitted. He possessed great presence of mind, and was noted for his promptness, cheerfulness, and generosity.

BERRY, COMMODORE MATTHEW CALBRAITH, U. S. N., was descended from Edward Perry, who was born in Devonshire, England, about 1620, re- moved to Plymouth, Massachusetts, about 1635, and died at Sandwich, Massachusetts, about 1654. Among the passengers on board the ship Abigail, with Edward Perry, were Edward Freeman and his daughter Mary. Edward Perry married Mary Freeman, and had a son Samuel Perry, born at Sandwich about 1655. Samuel Perry removed to Kingston, Rhode Island, where his de- scendants resided for several generations. One of his de- scendants was Judge Freeman Perry, whose eldest son was Christopher Raymond Perry, the father of the subject of this sketch. Christopher Raymond Perry had eight chil- dren : Oliver Hazard, born August 21, 1785, married Eliza- beth Champlin Mason, of Newport, died August 23, 1819. Raymond Henry Jones, born February 11, 1789, married Mary Ann De Wolf, of Bristol, died at Iluntington, Long Island, March 12, 1826. Sarah Wallace, born April 28, 1791, died unmarried at New London, January, 1851.

Matthew Calbraith, the subject of this sketch, born at Newport, April 10, 1794, married Jane Slidell, died at New York, March 4, 1858. Ann Maria, born November. 10, 1798, married Commodore George W. Rodgers, U. S. N., died December 7, 1858. Jane Tweedy, born Deccm- ber 15, 1799, married Dr. William Butler, of South Caro- lina, died 1875. James Alexander, born June 26, 1801. He was a Lieutenant in the Navy, and while serving in that capacity on board the U. S. Ship Franklin, off Valpa- raiso, March 19, 1822, was drowned in an attempt to save the life of a friend. Nathaniel Hazard, born November 27, 1802; a purser in the Navy, married Lucretia Mumford Thatcher, of New London, died 1832. Christopher Ray- mond Perry was trained to the sea in the merchant service, and had become an experienced captain when the war broke out between the United States and France. At that time he had given up the sea, but he at once offered his services to the government, and was commissioned as a Captain in the Navy. The frigate General Greene, to which vessel he was assigned, was then building at Warren, Rhode Island, and he was ordered to that place to super- intend the construction of the ship. When she was launched he came with her to Newport, and when ready for sea she sailed for the West Indies, June, 1799. One of the mid- shipmen on board of her was Oliver Hazard Perry, his eldest son. Through the influence of Captain Perry a warrant was obtained for his son Matthew Calbraith Perry, who joined the schooner Revenge, as midshipman, in Jan- uary, 1809. At the expiration of a year young Perry was transferred from that vessel to the frigate President, then under the command of Captain Rodgers, and remained on board of her for three years, when, 1813, he was ordered to the frigate United States. The next year, April, 1814, found him again on board the President, then under the. command of Commodore Decatur, with whom he saw a great deal of service in a short time. From the President he was transferred to the Chippewa, and remained on board of her till the close of the war, when he was ordered to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He had then the rank of Lieu- tenant, his commission dating from July 24, 1813. In August, 1819, Lieutenant Perry was ordered to the U. S. Ship Cyane, then about to sail for the coast of Africa, under Captain Trenchard, to aid the Colonization Society in its efforts to found a colony of free blacks, at Shebro, an island in the vicinity of Sierra Leone. Finding that the project could not be carried out, owing to the unhealthiness of the location, Cape Mesurado was selected as a more favorable spot, and there a colony, now known as Liberia, was founded. In this colony Lieutenant Perry took a lively interest, and in the Shark, a schooner of twelve guns (to which vessel he was appointed in 1821) he twice visited the settlement. From the coast of Africa he was recalled to take part in the effort made by the United States to rid the waters of the West Indies from pirates. For this purpose a squadron was fitted out in 1822, embracing the

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frigates Macedonian and Congress, sloops of war Adams and Peacock, five brigs and a number of schooners, one of the latter being the Shark, under Lieutenant Perry. This service extended far into the following year, when the fleet, increased in size under Commodore Porter, brought the war to a close by capturing a large number of piratical vessels. When the Shark returned to the United States, Lieutenant Perry was ordered to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where, as First Lieutenant of the receiving ship, he was employed for two years; at the expiration of which time he was ordered to the North Carolina, and was under Com- modore Rodgers for one cruise in the Mediterranean. His commission as Commander dated from March 21, 1826. During the whole cruise of the North Carolina he served as captain of the fleet. Fromn 1826 to 1830 he was em- ployed on recruiting service, at Boston, and was then placed in command of the corvette Concord, in which vessel he conveyed John Randolph to St. Petersburg, as United States Minister to Russia, and then cruised for three years in the Mediterranean, making a part of the squadron under Commodore Biddle. In 1833 he spent a year at home, and then, for a period of three years, he superin- tended the school of gun-practice, at Sandy Hook, and in perfecting plans for a steam naval service. He also did good service by systematically studying the tides on the American coast ; for which duty he was selected at the suggestion of the British Admiralty. February 7, 1837, he was promoted to the rank of Captain, and was tendered the command of the South Sea Exploring Expedition; which honor he declined, and the position was given to Commodore Wilkes. In 1838 Captain Perry was in Eu- rope, under instructions to inspect light-houses and dock- yards, and the following year he made an able report to the government, with suggestions that were favorably re- ceived. One of the results of this mission was the intro- duction and use of the Fresnel light at Navesink. This was the first light of the kind set up in the country. On his return to the United States Captain Perry resumed his duties as superintendent of gun-practice. While so em- ployed he prepared plans for the construction and equip- ment of the Missouri and Mississippi, the first steam frig- ates built for the American navy. At the same time he was in command at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. At the expiration of two years, at his own request, he was ap- pointed to the command of the African squadron, com- prising the Macedonian, Saratoga, Porpoise, and Consort, sent out under the provisions of the Ashburton Treaty. The manner in which his instructions were carried out, and the skill he displayed on this important mission, re- ceived the commendation of both the English and Ameri- can governments. The war with Mexico, in 1846, called the army and navy into active operation. Commodore Perry was given the command of the Mississippi, which vessel made a part of the squadron under Commodore Conner. The flag-ship was the Raritan, and the other important

vessels were the Potomac, Albany, Adams, St. Marys, Princeton, Spitfire, Vixen, and Porpoise, with a number of smaller vessels. Commodore Perry, in the Mississippi, with five smaller vessels, was sent against Tobasco. The expedi- tion was successful, and resulted in burning the town and de- stroying the depot of stores gathered there for the use of the Mexican army. He also bore a prominent part in the ex- pedition against Tampico, and had command of the boat attack. Soon after this he was placed in command of the Gulf Squadron. The siege of Vera Cruz followed, and in a short time the reduction of the whole coast was com- plete. The aid that the squadron had rendered in the com- bined attack on the enemy was cordially acknowledged by General Scott in his official dispatches. In November, 1848, Commodore Perry was ordered to New York as the General Superintendent on the part of the Navy, of the construction of the ocean mail steamers, on which duty he remained till March, 1852, when he was placed in com- mand of the Japan Expedition. The United States Gov- ernment, in consequence of complaints made to it that American seamen wrecked on the coast of Japan had been harshly dealt with by the authorities of the country, dis- patched this expedition to demand protection for American seamen and ships wrecked on the coast, and to negotiate, if possible, a treaty, by which American vessels should be allowed to enter one or more ports to obtain supplies for purposes of trade. In February, 1854, Commodore Perry, with a squadron of seven ships, the Mississippi, Susque- hanna, Powhatan, Macedonian, Saratoga, Supply, Lexing- ton, and Fredonia, entered the Bay of Yeddo, and anchored a few miles from that capital. With great skill and tact Commodore Perry succeeded in securing a treaty with Japan, which instrument was signed March 31, 1854, and sent home in the United States Ship Saratoga. The His- tory of the Japan Expedition was written wholly by Com- modore Perry, who preferred to write in the third person, and when completed, it was placed in the hands of the Rev. Dr. Hawkes, who wrote the preface, and whose name appears on the title-page as editor. After the return of Commodore Perry to the United States, the citizens of Rhode Island, desirous of showing their appreciation of the valuable service he had rendered the country by secur- ing a treaty with Japan, presented him with a piece of plate. This was done by a vote of the legislature, and the plate, a silver salver of three hundred and twenty ounces, was presented by Governor Hoppin, June 15, 1855. It bears the following inscription : " Presented to Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, in the name of the people of the State of Rhode Island, by their General Assembly, in tes- timony of their appreciation of his service to his country in negotiating a treaty of amity and commerce with Japan, and in acknowledgment of the honor he has conferred upon his native State in ever maintaining the renown of the name he bears, and adding to the triumphs of his pro- fession those of humanity and peace." The city of Boston

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presented Commodore Perry with a gold medal, in recog- nition of his services in negotiating the treaty. The mer- chants of New York presented him with a large silver din- ner service, and the merchants of Canton, China, presented him with a large silver candelabrum. Commodore Perry did not live long after his return to the United States. For some time he was in failing health, and after an attack of gout in the stomach, died at his residence in New York, March 4, 1858. His remains, with those of Mrs. Perry and some of his children and grandchildren, lie buried in the Island Cemetery, at Newport. He had three sons,- Matthew Calbraith, Oliver Hazard, and William, and four daughters, Sarah, who married Robert S. Rodgers; Jane, who married John Hone ; Caroline S., who married Au- gust Belmont ; and Isabella B., who married George Tif- fany. In 1868 Mr. and Mrs. Belmont caused a very fine bronze statue to be erected to the memory of Commodore Perry. The figure, heroic in size, stands upon a granite pedestal. The extreme height is sixteen feet ; the statue being eight feet, and the pedestal of the same height. The die is encircled by three bas-reliefs in bronze, illustrative of Commodore Perry's services in Africa, Mexico, and Japan. The inscriptions are, " Africa, 1843; Mexico, 1846; Treaty with Japan, 1854;" and "Commodore Mat- thew C. Perry, United States Navy, died 1858, aged sixty- four." On the front of the plinth there is cut an American ensign; on the north and south sides an anchor, and on the rear, "Erected in 1868, by August and Caroline S. Belmont." The monument stands in Touro Park, and the site was given by the city of Newport.

ARNOLD, ANTHONY BROWN, the fifth son of Ne- hemiah and Alice (Brown) Arnold, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, May 14, 1791. His mother was a descendant, in the seventh genera- tion, from Puritan ancestors, who settled at Ply- mouth soon after the landing of the Pilgrims, as will be seen in the following brief sketch of family history : "(I.) John Brown, the brother of Peter, who came in the May- flower in 1620, emigrated to Plymouth in 1626, from Ley- den, where he had previously gone from England, bringing with him his wife Dorothy, and two children, John and James, both born in England, and after his arrival at Ply- mouth he had a daughter Mary. He became much dis- tinguished ; was joint grantee with Edward Winslow in the Indian deed of Rehoboth and Massasoit; an Assistant to the Governor for sixteen years; several times a Commis- sioner for making treaties with the Indians, and was a large proprietor of lands. He removed to Duxbury in 1636, to Taunton in 1643, and died at Swansey, where he had a large estate, April 10, 1662. His wife died in 1674, aged ninety years. His son James became a minister of the Baptist Church, and is named in Mather's third class,

and died in 1710, aged eighty-seven years. His daughter Mary married, July 6, 1636, the celebrated Thomas Wil- lett, subsequently Mayor of the city of New York, and ancestor of Colonel Marinus Willett of Revolutionary fame. (2.) John, his son, married a daughter of William Buck- land, and dying in March, 1662, left several children, and among them a son, (3.) John, born in September, 1650, who was the distinguished Captain in King Philip's War, and who married Ann Mason, November 8, 1672, and had several children, among whom was (4.) John, born April 28, 1675. He married, July 2, 1696, Abigail Cole, and had a son, (5.) James, who was born in 1706, and died in 1777, leaving, by his wife Ruth, among other children, (6.) James, who was born at Taunton, September 14, 1731. He married, in 1753, at Providence, Mary Anthony, who was born in that city, December 22, 1737. By her he had seven children." Their second child was Alice, whose son, Anthony B. Arnold, the subject of this sketch, is now living (1881) near the spot where he was born. Mr. Ar- nold received a very limited education, embraced within the first two years from the commencement of the public schools in Providence. He was an active business man for more than sixty years. The first two years after leaving school he was engaged as a clerk, half of that time in the drygoods business, and the remainder in a large grocery house, after which, for about forty years, he was associated with his brother in an extensive merchandise and commission business, and in navigation. Mr. Arnold controlled the business at the South for about fourteen years, and his brother operated at Providence, where they were large shipowners, having many vessels, several of which were built at Providence, two of them being the largest ships ever built in the State. Their large vessels were employed in freighting cotton and other merchandise to Europe, returning with freight and emigrant passengers. Their smaller vessels were in the West India trade, and the fruit trade of Malaga and the Mediterranean. Mr. Arnold was one of the petitioners for the corporation of the City Bank, and was its first President, which position he filled for many years. He was also President of an in- surance company of Providence. After the dissolution of the firm of S. & A. B. Arnold, in 1846, he was engaged for about twenty years as ticket agent for all the principal railroads of the country, and selling tickets and bills of ex- change for emigrant passengers from Europe. He retired from business in 1869, at the age of seventy-eight years, and has since found sufficient employment in the manage- ment of his own property. He has never been a party politician, nor office-seeker, but at times has occupied positions of public trust. He was a member of the Town Council, a body of five ehosen men to administer all the interests of the town of Providence before it became a city ; was a member of the Committee of Public Schools, and an Assessor of Taxes. In the great revival of religion in 1805, Mr. Arnold, then a lad of fourteen years, became a member

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 57

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