The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 62

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 62

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).

HOULES, REV. JOHN OVERTON, D.D., was born at Bristol, England, February 5, 1801. His parents, who were Wesleyans, and esteemed for their piety, died when he was but twelve years of age. After the death of his parents he resided with his uncle, Henry O. Willis, who was his guardian, a pious man and wealthy, and a manager of the Bristol Tabernacle. His education was intrusted to the Rev. Thomas Evans, of Queen Elizabeth School, Bristol, and he was afterwards at Devizes, Wilts, under Richard Biggs. Early in life young Choules expressed a desire to become a church member, and on the 9th of September, 1819, he was baptized and received into fellowship at the Broadmeath Baptist Church, `then under the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Ryland, who had so high an opinion of his piety and ability to teach, that in 1821 he sanctioned his working among the destitute villagers of that neighborhood. A little later he left Bris- tol, to reside at Dunstable, Bedfordshire, to pursue his

275

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

studies under the Rev. William Anderson, to whom Dr. Choules owed much of his taste for books. While so en- gaged he frequently preached in the various pulpits of Bedfordshire. In 1822 he returned to Bristol, where he entered college and became a theological student under Dr. Ryland. Having passed his examination, he sailed for America in 1824, and landed in New York, with the full intention of remaining here, he having already given much attention to the institutions of the country and its sys- tem of government. The first winter after the arrival of Mr. Choules in America his time was taken up in supplying the pulpits of various denominations. He also was employed in Dutchess County, New York, where he was a successful teacher at the head of the academy at Red Bank. But he did not long remain in this position, for in 1827 he was called to the Second Baptist Church, at Newport, Rhode Island, which society had recently lost its pastor, the Rev. William Gammell. . His first sermon in that church was preached June 17, of that year, and on the 27th of the fol- lowing September he was ordained as the pastor. In 1829 he was married to Miss Martha T. Garland, of Danvers, Massachusetts, who bore him one child, and who only lived two years after her marriage. This was a severe blow to Mr. Choules, for she was a woman of great per- sonal worth, grace, and refinement. Mr. Choules, though actively engaged in the duties of his calling, still found time to employ his pen in literary work. In 1829 he edited James's Church Member's Guide, and in 1831 he was engaged on The Christian Offering. In 1832 the History of Missions was brought out. It had been com- menced by the Rev. Thomas Smith, who did not live to complete it, and was edited by Mr. Choules, who bestowed much labor upon it. The death of his wife preyed heavily upon him, and in 1833 he resigned his charge of the church at Newport. His valedictory sermon was preached Janu- ary 25, and after severing his connection with the church he accepted a call from the Baptist Church in New Bed-

ford. While residing there he married Elizabeth G.

Pope, daughter of Thomas Pope, of that city.

From

New Bedford Mr. Choules removed to Buffalo, New

York, where he remained during a period of four years ; when, finding that the climate did not agree with him, he accepted a call from the Sixth Street Baptist Church of New York, a society much embarrassed and contending

with many difficulties. He brought all his energies to bear upon its affairs with the hope of putting it upon a better

foundation, but his efforts were unavailing, and seeing no prospect of doing any good there he resigned his charge. In 1843 he accepted a call from the Baptist Church in

Jamaica Plain, a change that proved to be a delightful.

one, for he was surrounded by cultivated and intelligent

received into his family a number of boys, who were pre- people, to whom he preached acceptably. At this time he

pared by him for the counting-house or college. While residing at Jamaica Plain he brought out a new edition of

Neal's History of the Puritans, 1844. In 1844 he was recalled to the Second Baptist Church, at Newport, Rhode Island. This call he felt constrained to decline, although it touched all his keener sensibilities to be invited to take the charge of a church that had formerly been under his care. The call was renewed and accepted, for he felt that he could not again decline their pressing invitation. In 1849 he also had a school in connection with his other duties, and that year, with a number of his pupils, visited Europe. In 1853 he declined the invitation extended to him by Commodore Vanderbilt to join the party he had made up to visit Europe in his steam yacht, feeling that it was due to his people that after so recent a vacation he should remain with his charge; but the church expressed the wish that he should not deprive himself of the pleasure of the trip, and he joined Vanderbilt as his chaplain. Out of these two voyages grew the two volumes, Young Ameri- cans Abroad, and The Cruise of the North Star. After his return, Dr. Choules resided in Newport up to the time of his death. His last sickness was sudden, and he lived but a few days after he was taken down. He had gone to New York to pass New Year's day with some friends, and was suffering at the time from a cold. On New Year's day, while making a few calls, he had a fall on the ice; on Thursday, the following day, he was very ill. The physician who was called to his side declared it to be a severe attack of pneumonia, and it was soon evident that he could not survive it. Mrs. Choules was at once sent for, and was with him when he died. He was conscious up to within five minutes of his death, and expired in his chair, on the 16th of January, 1856. His remains were brought to Newport for interment, and the funeral sermon was preached from his pulpit by Rev. William Hague, D.D., Dr. Choules having designated to whom this duty should be assigned. His only child, Mrs. J. J. Ellis, sur- vived him. Dr. Choules was a man of varied reading. He was especially fond of old Puritan literature, of which he made a large and valuable collection. His library was stored with rare and curious volumes, many of them hav- ing an interesting history, with which he- was familiar. At his death this collection was sold under the auctioneer's hammer. He enjoyed life, was genial, had a great flow of spirits, and a fund of information that made his presence welcome wherever he appeared. He was an earnest preacher, knew the way to men's hearts, and had a way of attaching his friends to him for life. Few men were better known, and it was not an easy matter to refer to any one at all prominent with whom he had not a personal acquaintance. In addition to the works already men- tioned, Dr. Choules furnished a preface and notes for Foster's Lives of the Statesmen of the Commonwealth;

he also edited Hinton's History of the United States, in quarto, and for several years he was the editor of the Boston Christian Times. The last labor of his pen was the preparation of a discourse on the life and character of

276

BIOGRAPHIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

Rev. John Bradley, one of his predecessors in the church over which he presided.

AZARD, THOMAS R., son of Rowland Hazard, of South Kingstown, and Mary Peace Hazard, of Charleston, South Carolina, was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, January 3, 1797, and is a descendant, in the seventh generation, of Thomas Hazard, who was one of the original settlers and proprie- tors of the Island of Aquidneck, and, with Nicholas Easton and Robert Jeffries, laid out the town of Newport, in 1639. The subject of this sketch spent his early childhood in Rhode Island. About four years of his youth (from his twelfth to his sixteenth year) were passed at Westtown Friends' Boarding-School, in Chester County, Pennsyl- vania. On leaving school he returned to South Kings- town, and in less than two years engaged on his own ac- count in the manufacture of linsey-woolsey and other coarse cotton and woollen goods, mostly for the Southern States, which style of goods his father had commenced making in the latter part of the eighteenth century, at which period both the cotton and wool were carded by women with hand-cards, the former being brought from Charleston, South Carolina, in what were called pockets, containing from six to eight pounds each of cotton, includ- ing the seeds, which was also picked by hand before being carded. At the period when Mr. Hazard (the son) en- gaged in business, carding machines had been substituted for hand-cards, and for several years the wool rolls made by these were put up in bundles of from twenty to thirty pounds each, and distributed entirely on horseback for many miles around to be spun on hand spinning-wheels. The yarn was then brought home by the same mode of conveyance, and after being scoured by hand and colored, was again distributed about the country to be woven on hand-looms, and still again returned on horseback. This laborious method was pursued for many years by Mr. Haz- ard, until the introduction of labor-saving machinery, which has arrived at such a state of perfection that four hundred and fifty persons now employed at Peacedale by the grandson of Rowland Hazard, turn out more goods in a given time than one hundred thousand could do in the primitive days when Mr. Hazard commenced manufactur- ing at the same place, in the way indicated. From his earliest youth Mr. Hazard has always been engaged, to a greater or less extent, in agriculture and the keeping of sheep, his flocks sometimes numbering no less than twelve hundred, from which fact he acquired the sobriquet of " Shepherd Tom," to distinguish him from a score or more of members of the Hazard family of the same Christian name. His personal feats and exposure in caring for his flocks in seasons of storm and snow were perhaps as mar- vellous as those of Scottish shepherds or those of ancient

times, some of which are given in the Recollections of Olden Times, by " Shepherd Tom," an interesting work of three hundred pages, published by John P. Sanborn, 1879. After a most arduous and successful prosecution of his manufacturing business, Mr. Hazard retired from those pur- suits with a moderate competency, and settled in 1840 at his country-seat, " Vauclure," a lovely place on the east- erly shore of the island, about six miles from Newport, embracing over one hundred acres, which had been beautified by Samuel Elam, an English gentleman of refined taste, just after the Revolutionary War, at a cost of $80,000, where he has since resided. Nor has he since then led an inactive life, as the public journals of Rhode Island and others abundantly testify. He was an early and earnest worker in the cause of African colonization, having been a life director and Vice-President of the Society since the years 1840-41. Mr. Hazard still believes, as he has al- ways believed from the first, that, under Providence, the Republic of Liberia is the nucleus from which will pro- ceed the civilization of the millions who inhabit the equa- torial regions of Africa,-a work that he holds is destined to be done by the colored people of the United States, and by them alone. He took an early and active part in the establishment of common schools in Rhode Island, and was one of the three friends of the cause who issued the call for the public meeting in Providence that organized the " Rhode Island Institute of Instruction." In 1851 he made an official report to the Legislature of Rhode Island, detailing the situation of the pauper poor and insane of every town in the State, as witnessed personally by him- self, which report, embodied in one hundred and twenty pages, made a profound sensation throughout the State and led to a complete reform in the management of the public poor, and was, together with his efficient and perse- vering after-labors, the proximate cause of an annual State appropriation, still existing, for the indigent insane, the education of the deaf and dumb, the blind, and idiotic of the State. In the year 1852 Mr. Hazard presented a petition to the General Assembly, praying for the abolition of capital punishment, when he compiled a report of over forty pages for the Committee on Education, of the Senate, by whom it was adopted, and after a few days' considera- tion passed by the Senate and afterwards by the House, almost by acclamation, the vote being more than two to one in favor of abolishing the death penalty, which last still remains on the statute-books of Rhode Island, to the lasting credit of its liberal-minded and enlightened citizens. Many other labors for the good of humanity Mr. Hazard has been engaged in during his long and active earth-ca- reer, some of which, additional to those enumerated, may be inferred from the following editorial notice that ap- peared not long since in the Providence Journal : " Mr. Thomas R. Hazard, during a life now extended to his eighty-second year, has been a man of the most active and enterprising character, and devoted with great vigor and

Silas Lavery MAD DER ETLAE COSEY - E

277

BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

singleness of purpose to objects of public importance, re- formatory, educational, philanthropic, and charitable. He was eminently conspicuous in reforming the management of the poor and insane in this State, where they had been treated in many cases in a manner disgraceful to our civ- ilization. In this effort he was completely successful. He engineered the effort which resulted in the abolition of capital punishment. He has been an earnest advocate and munificent supporter of African colonization. He was a primary promoter of the movement in this country for the relief of the Irish famine, and a liberal contributor to it. His philanthropy, although at times aggressive and intru- sive, attests its sincerity by the generosity of his pecuniary contributions to the objects to which it is devoted. No one who knows him doubts the earnestness of his convic- tions or the purity of his personal character; and he car- ries his years as lightly as a man of fifty." In 1856 Mr. Hazard became a Spiritualist, and has ever since advoca- ted its claims to public favor with the like vigor that char- acterizes all his undertakings. His writings on this sub- ject are very voluminous, but like those of his other exten- sive literary productions, are mostly of a fragmentary char- acter, such as sudden occasions or the exigencies of his subject might suggest or require for the moment. In Oc- tober, 1838, Mr. Hazard married Frances Minturn, daugh- ter of Jonas and Esther Robinson Minturn, of New York City, a highly cultured lady of great personal beauty. Mrs. Hazard died at Vauclure, April 10, 1854, aged forty two years. They had six children : Mary Robinson, who died in infancy ; Frances Minturn; Gertrude Minturn ; Anna Peace (who all died in early womanhood); Esther Rob- inson, who married E. J. Dunning ; and Barclay. Mr. Hazard, now in his eighty-fifth year, writes a firm and beautiful hand, and still exhibits the mental and bodily vigor of early manhood.

ASEY, MAJOR-GENERAL SILAS, son of Wanton and Elizabeth (Goodale) Casey, was born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, July 12, 1807. His grandfather, Silas, and his father, Wanton, were natives of the same place. His grandmother was Abigail Coggeshall, a descendant from Governor Wanton, of Rhode Island. A farm in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, called the Casey Farm, now owned by a son of General Casey, has been uninterruptedly in the family since the title was purchased from the Indians. The Gen- eral's grandfather, Silas, was an extensive importing mer- chant before the Revolution .. His father, Wanton, was educated in France during the Revolution, and became a friend of Franklin, then a minister to that kingdom. His maternal grandfather, Major Nathan Goodale, and mother, Elizabeth, were natives of Brookfield, Massachusetts. Ma- jor Goodale served in the Revolution, and was distin-

guished in the engagements which preceded the surrender of Burgoyne. He was one of the original members of the Order of the Cincinnati, and his diploma, signed by Wash- ington, is now in the possession of General Casey, who is his successor. Silas entered the Military Academy at West Point in June, 1822, and on his graduation, in 1826, was appointed a brevet Second Lieutenant in the Seventh Regu- lar Infantry, at Fort Towson, Arkansas Territory. Here he was engaged against the Osage and Pawnee Indians, and on one occasion had a sharp, decisive action with the Pawnees, surprising their camp while they were dancing around the scalps of the soldiers they had killed. In 1829 he was promoted to Second Lieutenant in the Second Regular Infantry, at Sackett's Harbor, New York. In 1832 he was ordered on recruiting service, and in 1833 was at Fort Niagara. In 1834 he was ordered with his company to Fort Gratiot, Michigan, from which, in 1835, he was ordered to Alabama to aid in suppressing the revolt of the Creek Indians. Here he was appointed Captain and Quartermaster of a regiment of Creek Indian volun- teers ordered into Florida to subdue the Seminoles. In Florida he served five years and gained distinction, par- ticularly in the battle of Pilaklikaha, and was recommended in strong terms by General Worth for the brevet rank of Major. In May, 1842, he was sent with his regiment to the northern lakes, and was stationed at Buffalo, New York, till 1845. Here he drilled the battalions and was highly complimented in the report of the inspectors. In March, 1847, he was ordered with his company from Fort Mich- ilimackinac, Michigan, to join his regiment in Mexico. He reached Vera Cruz in June, and Puebla in July, as the advance guard of General Pillow's column. He served also under Generals Riley and Twiggs. From Puebla he acted in the campaign, under General Scott, in the valley of Mexico. While in the advance he had a sharp fight, August 19th, with the enemy's lancers, the officer in com- mand, with his horse, falling dead within a few yards of his feet. For gallant conduct in the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco he was breveted Major. He deployed a portion of his division as skirmishers, and under the imme- diate command of Captain L. Steele, first opened fire on the enemy's skirmishers and had the first wounded men. In storming Chapultepec, while leading two hundred and fifty picked men through a terrible fire, he was severely wounded in the abdomen, and for his heroic conduct re- ceived the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. For his services in the Mexican War he received a silver vase from his native town, East Greenwich, and a resolution of thanks from the General Assembly of Rhode Island. While in the country, he was stationed for a time in the city of Mexico, where he assisted Rev. Mr. Morris in circulating Spanish copies of the Scriptures. Everywhere he mani- fested courage, ability, and devotion to duty. At the close of the Mexican War he went with his regiment, in the ship Iowa, via Cape Horn, in a voyage of five months, to

278

BIOGRAPHIICAL CYCLOPEDIA.

California, where he remained till 1852. In 1851, he led four companies against the Coquide River Indians, his command being the first whites to ascend that river, and for his success was complimented by the General com- manding the Pacific coast. He was next ordered to New York on recruiting service. In 1854 he was President of a Board for examining Infantry Tactics, translated from the French by Lieutenant-Colonel Hardee, a system adopted with amendments. In the same year he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Ninth Regular Infantry, rising from the position of Captain, never having been a Major, and went to Puget Sound, Washington Territory. His headquarters were at Fort Steilacoom, where an Indian war was then raging. In a campaign of twenty-five days he succeeded in quelling what many at first thought would be another Florida War, and for his " gallantry, enterprise, skill, and sound judgment," was commended to the special notice of the government at Washington. In 1859 he was or- dered to take command of San Juan Island, then in dispute with Great Britain. With five hundred men he maintained possession of the island against an opposing British force of five ships of war, with two thousand one hundred and forty men and one hundred and sixty-seven guns, until General Scott appeared and arranged matters by allowing the English to occupy one end of the island, while we held the other. Returning to the seat of government, in 1861, he offered his services to President Lincoln, and was ap- pointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers, in September, and proceeded to organize and drill one hundred and fifty thousand men in brigades. He was assigned, March 20, 1862, to the command of a Division of the Army of the Potomac, under General Mcclellan. His division, in the advance, reached within seven miles of Richmond, and being ordered, contrary to his opinion, beyond the front, and within six miles of Richmond (his pickets within five miles), had a fearful encounter of three hours with the enemy, May 31. His force of less than five thousand in line met a rebel force of forty thousand strong, and most hero- ically withstood them, producing fearful slaughter. From the day of this action (known as the Battle of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines) dated his commission as Major-General of Vol- unteers, and also his promotion to the rank of Brevet Briga- dier-General in the Regular Army. Also for gallant and meritorious conduet in that battle, besides the compliments of military men and writers of discernment, he received the thanks of the State of Rhode Island. In August, 1862, he was again appointed to organize and instruct forces for the front. For these invaluable services, performed with remarkable success, he received the highest eulogiums. The government, August 11, 1862, adopted Casey's Tac- tics for the regular, volunteer, and militia forces of the nation, succeeding Scott's Tactics. In May, 1863, he was chosen President of the Board for examining the officers for regiments of colored troops, and in this position per- formed services of great importance, receiving therefor no

common praise. Thus, with his uncommon abilities, at- tainments, experiences, tact, courage, patriotism, and devo- tion to duty, he served his country in border wars in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Mexico, and California, and through the terrible struggle of the Rebellion. In recog- nition of his services and merits, at the close of the Civil War, he was put upon the retired list, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. He is a member of the Presbyte- rian Church, while eherishing a tender regard for all de- nominations, and his life has well illustrated his high Christian character. Rhode Island proudly cherishes his name and his record. He married, first, July 12, 1830, Abby P. P. Pearce, daughter of Hon. Dutee J. Pearce, of Newport, Rhode Island. She died in Washington, March 10, 1862, a woman of great excellences of character. They had six children, five now living, (1) Thomas Lin- coln Casey, born May 31, 1831, graduated at the head of his class at the Military Academy at West Point, 1852, re- ceived two brevets for faithful and meritorious conduct in the Rebellion, now a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Regular Army, serving with distinction as an engineer officer; and his eldest son, named for himself, graduated second in his class at West Point, in 1879, is now a Second Lieutenant in the Engineer Corps. (2) Frederie Cummings Casey, born March 11, 1833, deceased. (3) Silas Casey, Jr., born September 11, 1841, graduated at the Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, in 1860; participated in the first at- taek on Fort Sumter, and in the engagements in front of Charleston ; distinguished himself with Admiral John Rodgers on the Peninsula of Corea, assaulting and taking several forts; has risen to the rank of Commander in the Navy. (4) Abby Pearce Casey, born May 9, 1838, married Brevet Brigadier-General Louis Cass Hunt, now Lieutenant- Colonel of the Twentieth Regular Infantry. He gradu- ated at West Point, in 1847, was breveted for gallant con- duet at the Battle of Fair Oaks, where he was severely wounded, also for gallantry at Kingston, North Carolina. (5) Elizabeth Goodale Casey, born February 16, 1844, mar- ried Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel R. N. Scott, now Major of the Third Regular Artillery. He was breveted for meri- torious conduct at the Battle of Gaines's Mills, where he was severely wounded, and for other services. He is the author of the Military Digest of the Laws of the United States. (6) Edward Wanton Casey, born Deeem- ber 1, 1850, graduated at West Point, in 1873, now a First Lieutenant in the Twenty-second Regular Infantry ; dis- tinguished for zeal and bravery under General Miles on the Yellowstone River. General Casey married, second, July 12, 1864, Miss Florida Gordon, daughter of Charles Gordon, Esq., formerly of Newburyport, Massachusetts, by whom he has had two children : (1) Frederic Gordon Casey, born September 26, 1866, deceased ; (2) Julia Clifford Casey, born May 3, 1865. The life and services of General Casey form a valuable chapter in our national history.

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 62

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