The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 64

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

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STAPLES, HON. WILLIAM READ, LL.D., was born in Providence, October 10, 1798, and was the youngest son of Samuel and Ruth (Read) Staples. The studies of his early childhood days were pur- sued with Oliver Angell, who, for nearly a half cen- tury was a teacher in Providence. His studies, preparatory to entrance into college, were carried on in what is now known as the University Grammar School, at present under the management of Messrs. M. and E. Lyon. He was a graduate of Brown University in the class of 1817. The

| theme of his oration was " The Dangers of American Lib- erty." After studying law in the office of Hon, Nathaniel Searle for two years, he was admitted to the Rhode Island bar, September 21, 1819. A little more than two years after he commenced the practice of his profession, he mar- ried Rebecca M. Power, eldest daughter of Nicholas and Anna (Marsh) Power. Two children were the fruit of this union, both of whom died in early life. Mrs. Staples died September 14, 1825. The second wife of Mr. Staples, whom he married in October, 1826, was Evelina, only daughter of Levi and Susan (Howe) Eaton, of Framing- ham, Massachusetts. A large family of eleven children was the fruit of this marriage. In 1832 Mr. Staples was elected a member of the first Common Council under the new city organization. He served, for two years, as Jus- tice of the Police Court. For nineteen years (1835-54) he was Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, and soon after the resignation of Hon. Richard Ward Greene, in 1854, he was elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Having held the office not quite two years, he resigned in 1856 in consequence of failing health. For nearly thirteen years (1856-69) he held the office of Secretary and Treasurer of the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry. In his earlier life Judge Staples worshipped at the First Baptist Church, of which his mother was a member. During a part of his college life, and after his first marriage, he attended the services of St. John's Church. For many years he was a devout worshipper at the meetings of the Society of Friends. His death was sudden, and was occasioned by heart dis- ease. He died October 19, 1868. Judge Staples took special interest in everything connected with the history of his native State. He was fond of historical studies and antiquarian research. He was one of the Corporators of the Rhode Island Historical Society, founded in 1822, and its first Secretary and Librarian. He published, in 1835, an edition with notes of Gorton's Simplicity's Defence against Seven-Headed Policy. In 1843 appeared his An- nals of Providence, a work which covers a period of nearly two centuries (1636-1832). It will always be reliable au- thority on all matters of which it treats. His Documen- tary History of the Destruction of the Gaspe was pub- lished in 1845. Two years after, 1847, he published Proceedings and Code, under the Parliamentary Charter, and, in 1859, a Collection of Forms, designed to be an aid to persons called upon to draw up legal documents. By a vote of the General Assembly, he prepared a history of the State Convention of 1790, for the adoption of the Fed- eral Constitution. This is a large volume of nearly seven hundred pages, and the compilation and arrangement of the papers placed in his hands must have cost him no small amount of hard labor. It has well been said by Hon. William Greene that " the career of Mr. Staples, in all that belongs to industrial power, truthful demonstration and manly decision of character, was a model for the adoption

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of any young man, who, eschewing the shams of life, would make the most of its realities ; and who, most worth- ily fitting himself for its duties, would most certainly assure himself of its rewards."

HOPKINS, HON. DAVID, son of Rufus and Amy (Shippee) Hopkins, was born in Exeter, Rhode Island, February 10, 1797. He was of the fifth generation from Joseph Hopkins, who married Martha, the daughter of Theophilus Whale, of South Kingstown. He was a great-grandson of Judge Samuel Hopkins; the name of his grandfather was also Samuel. His early days were spent upon his father's farm. At the age of fifteen he entered a cotton factory that his father had then bought in the northeastern part of Exeter. In 1818 he removed to Noose Neck Hill, in West Greenwich, and commenced business on his own ac- count as a manufacturer of cotton-yarn. Here he remained as long as he prosecuted cotton manufacturing. He was in almost every respect a self-educated and self-made man. His application to business and his economy and integrity gave him good reputation and strong credit. Until near 1840 he shunned political life, but was called out in the Harrison Presidential campaign. He was a Whig and afterwards a Republican. Through his influence the pre- vious Democratic majority in his town, West Greenwich, was overcome. Repeatedly his townsmen sent him to the State Senate, where he efficiently served the interests of the State. Whether in town offices or in the Legislature he was the same diligent, careful, honest, faithful man that he was in his house and in his factory. In his business he was steadily prospered, and became eminently successful in the accumulation of property and in gaining the confi- dence of his fellow-men. Rhode Island had no better type of a self-reliant, laborious, steadfast, consistent citizen. He made no boasts or professions that he did not fulfil. He married, August 11, 1818, Sarah, daughter of Uriah and Lurana (Allen) Franklin, and had six children, Julia A., Caroline W., Lyman R., Marcy M., Edwin W., and Mary M. These children came to positions of usefulness and honor. Having acquired a competence in his last years, he withdrew from active life and removed to Cranston, to enjoy the ease he had earned, and the quiet that he needed. He died in Cranston, March 17, 1881, aged eighty-four years, and was buried in the family cemetery in Noose Neck Valley, in which region most of his life had been spent.

ENHAM, DANIEL C., was born in Newport, Rhode Island, November 13, 1798. Among the grave- stones in the old cemetery at Newport, near Com- modore Perry's monument, is that of Daniel Den- ham, who came from Plymouth, New England, and died February 2, 1758, at the age of seventy years. In

the same row of stones are four other Daniel Denhams, the last of whom was born April 14, 1764, and died Jan- uary 7, 1831. This one, Dr. Channing says, in his Mem- oirs of Newport, lived on the corner of Thames and Bridge Streets, and was a noted politician of the Republican type, and the town meetings of his day were held once a month under the leadership of Messrs. Thomas Pitman and Dan- iel Denham, who held the reins of town affairs for many years, and were in so high estecm that their decisions were seldom questioned by those of the opposite party. He was also a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. At an early age he united with the First Baptist Church of New- port, and died in its membership. His son, Daniel C. Denham, was one of the most prominent and useful citi- zens of Newport. At the age of eighteen he united with the First Baptist Church of that city, and was one of the founders of the Central Baptist Church, of which he was Clerk for many years. In early life he was a watchmaker and silversmith, and subsequently occupied public posi- tions. He was one of the Judges of the Court of Justices, and for about twenty years Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas. He was a member of the General Assembly of Rhode Island, and Captain in the Militia in the olden train- ing days. Mr. Denham was one of the foremost in form- ing the improved system of public schools in 1824, being a member of the School Committee. He was President of the Mechanics' Society. On the 2d of May, 1824, he mar- ried Sarah L. Sherman, daughter of Lieutenant William Sherman. They have had four children : Charlotte W. S., Sarah D. S., Daniel C., Jr., and Henry J., who is engaged in the practice of medicine in Providence. Daniel C. Den- ham, Jr., has been a jeweller in Newport for fourteen years, and served in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion. He married, December 9, 1858, Miss, Cynthia R. Tuell, daughter of James and Priscilla Tuell, of Newport.

PHILLIPS, THOMAS, son of Thomas and Lydia (Whitford) Phillips, was born in Exeter, Rhode Island, January 23, 1799. His father was a tan- ner and a farmer. The Phillips family has a long and worthy history in Rhode Island, and are hon- orably mentioned in Updike's History of the Narragansett Church. The father of the subject of this sketch lived be- tween Exeter Hollow and Pine Hill, and became one of the wealthiest men of the town, being noted for his aptness of speech, humor, and wit. His children were Dorcas, Elizabeth, Lydia, Thomas, Mary, John, James, Samuel, and Abby. Thomas was educated in the common schools and at Washington Academy in Wickford. He was a man of varied reading, and distinguished for telling good stories. He early settled as a farmer on Pine Hill, a con- spicuous and historic spot. He became the owner of the large mansion at the forks of the roads,-the intersection of the famous " Ten Rod Road," from Wickford to Beach

Willis Good

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Pond, and the Providence and New London Turnpike. This was then the social and commercial centre of the town. Here he opened and managed a first-class country store. In October, 1831, he was chosen the first Post- master on the hill, an office which he faithfully filled for more than forty years, until his death. His house and barns were a relay-station for the old line of stages run- ning between Providence and New London, and at one time the line connecting Boston and New York. June 4, 1833, he was elected Town Clerk of Exeter, a position which he filled with such marked ability and fidelity that he was regularly re-elected to the office until his death, serving in all thirty-eight years and ten months. For a few months prior to, and also after, his death, his daugh- ter, Abby M., discharged the duties of the office as a deputy, so reluctant were the people to have the town records pass out of the hands of this family. Near 1834 he was chosen the first cashier of the Exeter Bank, whose vaults were in his large mansion, and he continued to fill this responsible position for about thirty-five years. He became one of the wealthiest men in the township, and, though quiet in his ways, was always the leading man of his town in its affairs. Politically he was an " Old Line Whig," a regular " Law and Order" man, and then a stanch Republican. He was, however, no partisan. His house was the social, military, and political centre of the township. Here were held all the old-fashioned " general musters," and all great questions had to be discussed and decided at the old Phillips mansion. Mr. Phillips joined the Baptist Church, where Rev. Gershom Palmer ministered, but afterwards became a member of the Exeter (Shrub Hill) Church, and was of great service to that body. He was well known in all the business circles of Providence, and as a public man had a reputation throughout the State. He married, February 26, 1828, Mercy Hoxie, daughter of Hon. Joseph Hoxie, of West Greenwich, Rhode Island. She was born August 13, 1802. Judge Hoxie was chosen to the bench of the Supreme Court in 1795. He had four children : Mercy, Nicholas G., Benjamin R., and Try- phena. Mr. Phillips had three children : Annie E., who died at the age of twenty-one; Thomas H., who married Isie E. Brown, of Syracuse, New York, and is now a mer- chant in Kewanee, Henry County, Illinois; and Abby M. He died April 2, 1872, in his seventy-third year, and was buried at Shrub Hill Meeting-House in the town cemetery. It is testified of Mr. Phillips that he " was always genial and social, outspoken and frank ; a true friend to the poor, a kind husband and father, and an upright man."

RANE, SILAS AXTELLE, D.D., son of Benjamin and Alinda (Briggs) Crane, was born in Berkeley, Massa- chusetts, October 21, 1799. His father was a farmer, and he, the eldest of ten children, spent the early days of his life in agricultural pursuits. The de-

cision to obtain an education led him through the hard experiences which have been the lot of so many New Eng- land youth who have reached positions of distinction in their different professions and callings in life. Although called to contend with many difficulties he struggled on, and at length graduated with high rank from Brown Uni- versity in the class of 1823. After teaching for one year he was appointed tutor of mathematics, which office he held for four years (1824-28). In connection with George W. Keely, afterwards the distinguished Professor Keely, of Colby University, in Waterville, Maine, he carried on a young ladies' school in Providence. Having pursued a course of theological study under the direction of Rev. Dr. N. B. Crocker, the rector of St. John's Church, Providence, he was ordained a Deacon by Bishop Griswold in 1832. Giving up his school he became Rector of St. Stephen's Church, in Middlebury, Vermont, where he received ordi- nation as a Presbyter in 1833. He removed to Burlington, Vermont, in 1837, with the expectation of taking charge of a theological seminary which it was intended to establish there. The plan for founding such an institution having failed he 'accepted an invitation to become President of Kemper College, in St. Louis, Missouri. Two years, with considerable pecuniary sacrifice on his part, were spent in the endeavor to build up the institution. Becoming dis- couraged he returned to New England, and became Rector of St. Luke's Church, in East Greenwich, then a small, feeble church, which under his long-continued and faithful ministrations came to be one of the strongest Episcopal churches in the State. Brown University in 1855 conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. He married in 1831, Mary Elizabeth Martin, of Providence. Dr. Crane died at East Greenwich, July 16, 1872.

OOK, WILLIS, and LYMAN ARNOLD, sons of Levi and Rhoda (Darling) Cook, were born in the town of Cumberland, Rhode Island, Willis September 5, 1803, Lyman, December 15, 1805. Their father was a prosperous farmer, and a man of sterling worth, who rendered the public good service in various places of trust, in the Town Councils, and as a member of the Gen- eral Assembly, being also frequently employed in the set- tlement of estates. There being but two years' difference in the ages of the brothers, they were naturally brought together on the farm, and in occasional opportunities for attendance at school on Cumberland Hill, more than a mile distant, which they attended in the winter season, and this association ripened into an almost life-long partnership, at Woonsocket, covering fifty years of most rapid growth and prosperity of the village and town, with which devel- opment they are most closely identified as important con- tributors. Commencing when the principal business por- tion of the village was centred about " The Falls;" when Main Street was only a country road; when the first

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building north of the house of Paine, the miller (located on the present site of the National Globe Bank), was Waldo Earle's house, at the " Social," more than half a mile dis- tant, they have lived to see the town in its present thickly scttled and prosperous condition, and are still largely inter- ested and actively participating in its business interests, aiding materially in its further growth. Leaving home at the ages of seventeen and eighteen, respectively, they learned the machinist's trade, at which they worked, turn- ing their pay over to their father until the last year of their minority, when each bought his time, for one hundred dol- lars, and continued work at day wages, saving a portion of their earnings cach year, until 1828, when they formed a partnership with Willing Vose, for the building of machi- nery, the style of the firm being Willis Cook & Co. They leased a portion of lot No. 1, of the Arnold heirs (the pres- ent site of the Lippitt Woollen Mill), and there carried on a successful business until burned out in 1835, when they leased of Samuel G. Arnold (afterwards Lieutenant-Gov- ernor of Rhode Island), and his sister, the lot since occu- pied by the well-known Woonsocket Furnace Company (recently purchased by the American Worsted Company), with one-eighth of the water-power of the Blackstone River. There they built the foundry and machine shop, and extended the trench along Main Street from lot No. I to its present fall, securing of W. & D. Farnum, the owners of what was afterwards bought by Edward Harris for the location of his mills, the extension of the trench through that property. Soon after locating here Mr. Vose withdrew from the company. In 1846 they added to their business the manufacture of cotton goods, pursuing it for twelve years, at the end of which time they leased this mill to other parties for the same business, but continued the foun- dry and machine works. At the expiration of the first fifteen years' lease, it was renewed, and within the second term they purchased of the Arnolds the whole property, including the large estate on the opposite side of Main Street, where they erected dwellings, store, and office buildings, the last of which, completed in 1868, was what is known as Cook's Block, now one of the finest buildings in the town. This block is on the site of their former resi- dence, which when built was thought to be "out in the woods," and is now the business centre of the town. They sold their mill property in 1868, at which time they retired from the machine business, but retained their other landed estates opposite. A few years later the copartnership of nearly fifty years' standing was dissolved by mutual agree- ment, Willis purchasing the company real estate, and Ly- man, who is still active and enterprising, invested in other manufacturing interests. This long business association is remarkable in its uniform record of integrity and unques- tioned financial credit and stability during the whole time. In politics, Mr. Willis Cook was an " Old Line Whig," an active and earnest opponent of the Dorr party, and, later, prominently identified with the Republican party. He

served as a member of the General Assembly at different times, but did not scek political offices, often refusing when asked to accept them. During the greater part of his busi- ness carcer he was connected with the Smithfield Union Bank, as director, from 1833, and as President of that cor- poration, now the National Union Bank, continuously from 1862 to the present time. He was one of the original in- corporators of the Woonsocket Institution for Savings, in 1845, with which he has since been officially connected, first as trustee and director, and since 1873 as its Presi- dent. He has contributed largely to its success, by atten- tion to its investments, and advice in its management. He has been an active director of the Woonsocket Gas Company since 1858, and of the American Worsted Com- pany since 1876. Mr. Cook has been interested in the subject of religion from early life. He founded his belief upon the views of universal salvation, as proclaimed by Rev. Hosea Ballou, and through his influence, with that of others, Mr. Ballou, Rev. Thomas Whittemore, and other Universalist divines, were induced to expound their faith to the people of Woonsocket. Mr. Cook assisted in estab- lishing the first Sunday-school in Woonsocket, a union school for all denominations. In 1834, he, with others, was instrumental in organizing a Universalist Society, and, later, the Sunday-school and Church. He was for many years President of the Society, and until 1879, a member of the Prudential Committee, from which position he with- drew on account of failing health. He has always con . tributed largely towards the support of the Society, and has been, in many ways, a constant and permanent con- tributor to its growth and prosperity. Mr. Cook has been distinguished for immovable integrity and uprightness, for his interest in all matters pertaining to the good of the town, State, and nation, for thoroughness in all that he undertook, and for sound judgment in all matters of busi- ness. He married, July 3, 1828, Cyrena Thayer, daughter of Moses and Anna (Paine) Thayer, of Mendon, Massa- chusetts. They have had nine children: Eliphalet S., born March 22, 1829; Horace C., born November 13, 1830, died January 22, 1873; Ann Janette T., born April 18, 1833; Madora, born April 1, 1835, married R. G. Randall, June 16, 1857; Cyrena J., born August II, 1837, married J. B. Aldrich, June 9, 1870; A. Olivia, born September 18, 1839, married J. R. Boyden, son of Rev. John Boyden, January 22, 1862; Susan A., born December 9, 1844, married Henry L. Ballou, son of Hon. Latimer W. Ballou, M.C., October 6, 1868; Ednah L., born October 28, 1849, died July 21, 1850; Gertrude, born May 7, 1851, married Richmond A. Bullock, October 10, 1871, died October 4, 1877. Mr. Lyman A. Cook, in ad- dition to the partnership business of the brothers, has been an active participant in the organization and promotion of several other manufacturing interests, some of which have been among the most successful and prosperous, giving employment to many, and contributing materially to the

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Lyman a book.

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growth of this and other localities. He was one of the original organizers of the Bailey Wringing Machine Com- pany, and on its incorporation, was elected its President, which office he has held from time to time, and now oc- cupies; also of the Woonsocket Rubber Company, of which he is the principal stockholder, and has been Presi- dent since its incorporation, in 1867. He is now, and has been since 1863, President of the Woonsocket National Bank; also, of the Pawtucket Hair Cloth Company at Pawtucket; the Hautin Sewing Machine Company; and the Narragansett Nail Company. He is a director in the Providence & Worcester Railroad Company, and a large owner in the Lawrence Felting Mills, at Millville, Massa- chusetts, to which village it was lately removed from Law- rence, Massachusetts, and to which it has infused new life and vigorous growth. Mr. Cook has also, from tinie to time, held considerable interests in various other mechan- ical and mining enterprises. He has not been an active participant in politics, but has at various times represented the town in both branches of the General Assembly. He has been identified with the Republican party since its or- ganization, and was formerly a Whig. In religion, he was for many years an attendant at the Baptist Church, and, later, at the Episcopal Church, of which he is a member and the senior warden. He has always been a liberal contributor to the organizations with which he was interested. Mr. Cook married, September 22, 1830, Lavina B. Smith, who was born August 22, 1808. They had three children : George Smith Cook, born January 14, 1832, died December 30, 1842; Henry Lyman Cook, born October 8, 1834, died March 31, 1835; Edward Lyman Cook, born July 6, 1842, and married, January 17, 1871, Sarah Knapp Heath, who was born July 30, 1847. Mr. Cook has always been highly esteemed for his sterling worth and integrity, for his energy and tenacity of purpose, public spirit, and generosity towards all worthy objects and enterprises. Although now seventy- five years of age, he is still actively engaged in all the business enterprises in which he is interested.

AWRENCE, HON. WILLIAM BEACH, was born in the city of New York, October 23, 1800, and is the son of Isaac and Cornelia Lawrence, the latter of whom was a descendant of one of the oldest and best families of the metropolis. His ancestors came from England in the early part of the seventeenth century, and received a patent for a portion of Long Island, now con- stituting the towns of Flushing, Hempstead, and Newtown. His maternal grandfather was the Rev. Dr. Beach, for many years the rector of Trinity Church, New York, and a descendant from the first white child born in Connecticut. Mr. Lawrence entered Rutgers College at the age of twelve, spending two years there, after which he entered Columbia College, at the age of fourteen, and graduated

therefrom with high honors at the age of eighteen. Soon afterward, he entered the law office of William Slosson, the most eminent commercial lawyer then in the city of New York. He also spent some time under the instruc- tion of Judges Reeves and Gould, in whose law school, at Litchfield, Connecticut, Calhoun was then a student; in 1821, visited Europe, and spent two years in England, France, and Italy, and meanwhile a winter in Paris, giving special attention to the law school there, and to the lectures of Say on Political Economy. His father had been hon- ored as President of the New York branch of the United States Bank, and as one of the Presidential Electors of President Monroe, who conferred special favors upon the subject of this sketch, giving him letters of introduction to Jefferson and Madison. Mr. Madison introduced him to Mr. Rush, our Minister to England, and Mr. Jefferson made him bearer of letters to Lafayette, who, at a subse- quent period, invited Mr. Lawrence to be present at his recital to Mr. Sparks of the circumstances that induced him to join Washington in the struggles of the Revolution. He related a few instances of Washington's unbending reserve, even with his warm friend Lafayette in those try- ing times, not reported by Mr. Sparks. President Monroe also introduced Mr. Lawrence to Lord Holland; and John Quincy Adams, the Secretary of State, introduced him and Mrs. Lawrence to all our diplomatic representatives. They were also favorably introduced to European society by M. Hyde de Neuville, then French Minister at Washington, and by King Joseph to the Bonaparte family at Rome, a centre of most elegant European society. Mr. Lawrence returned to America in 1823, and was then admitted as counsellor to the Supreme Court of New York. His spe- cial attention was then, as previously, given to international law, but not to the neglect of his taste for the beautiful, as seen in his address in 1825 before the New York Academy of Fine Arts. In 1826 he was appointed Secretary of the Legation to London, Mr. Gallatin being our Ambassador, and his influence in the negotiations may be inferred from Mr. Gallatin's report to the Secretary of State, that Mr. Lawrence was " competent alone to conduct the affairs of the mission." In 1827 he was appointed by the President as Chargé d' Affaires for the ratification of foreign treaties concluded by Mr. Gallatin, our Minister to Paris, and as the Plenipotentiary of the United States he selected the arbiter for the settlement of the boundary of our northern and northeastern frontier. The correspondence of Mr. Lawrence with Lords Dudley and Aberdeen concerning that boundary evinced his great power of diplomacy, which was greatly admired by his countrymen, and established his reputation as an expounder of international law, and for which he received the highest commendation of the President and Henry Clay, then Secretary of State. While in London, he was intimate with members of the Political Economy Club, of which Mr. McCulloch, Sir John Bow- ring, and Grote were members, and he was then a con-

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 64

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