The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 66

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

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horse killed under him while at the extreme front. A few months after this, in May, 1863, he was at the famous battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, and his brigade per- formed the most efficient service. He was also in the battle of Gettysburg. It is said on good authority that it was owing to the skilful tracing of the works on the right of General Greene, and the heroic defence of them by that officer and his command, that the army was saved that night from great disaster. He was transferred, in Septem- ber, 1863, to the Army of the Cumberland. In an attack from Longstreet's corps he was severely wounded, a rifle- ball passing entirely through his face, and wounding him so severely as to unfit him for active duty for some time. As soon as he was ready to take the field again he repaired to Newbern, North Carolina, and joined General Scho- field's column, then on the advance to open communica- tion between Beaufort and Goldsborough. Soon after he was again wounded. Subsequently he marched with Sher- man's army to Washington, where he was detailed for President of a general court-martial. He remained in this position until the close of the war. On his arrival in Washington he received the appointment of Major-General of Volunteers by brevet in the service of the United States, to date from March, 13, 1865.

PHILLIPS, REV. WILLIAM, son of William and Thankful (Cahoone) Phillips, was born in Prov- incetown, Massachusetts, August 24, 1801. He remained at home during his boyhood, assisting his father, and then removed to Pawtucket, Rhode Isl- and, where he prepared for college, under the tuition of Rev. David Benedict, D.D. He graduated at Brown Univer- sity in 1826. After leaving college he studied theology with Dr. Benedict, and was ordained at Attleborough, Massa- chusetts, in February, 1827. The first parish in which he was settled was that of the Third Baptist Church in Provi- dence, where he remained for eight years, highly prized as a preacher, and beloved as a pastor. In 1836 he became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Charlestown, Massa- chusetts, where he remained till 1842, when he retired from the care of that church, and never afterward became a settled pastor on account of his impaired eyesight, which compelled him to relinquish the studies of his profession. He preached, however, with great acceptance, in different places, especially at Lonsdale, Fruit Hill, Wanskuck and East Providence. In the pulpit Mr. Phillips gained atten- tion by his rich, persuasive voice and pleasing delivery, and his sermons, clear and orderly in their method, and full of instruction, had a charm and force of their own, imparted by the gentle and gracious character of the man, and " the excellent spirit that was in him." Mr. Phillips was elected a member of the Board of Trustees of Brown University in 1836, and remained in the office till his de- cease. In 1858 he made a tour abroad with a company

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of friends, visiting England and France, also Egypt, Pales- tine, and other places of Bible history. In after years this journey was food for many an interesting theme, and from him his friends learned much of those countries. In 1836 he became President of the Charlestown, Massachusetts, Female Seminary, which position he retained for many years. Mr. Phillips married, in 1827, Susan, daughter of Cyrus Cole, of Providence. She died in 1842, leaving two sons, William B. and Frederick A. In 1843 Mr. Phillips married Roxalana G., daughter of Benjamin Edmunds, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, who survives him. The chil- dren by the second marriage are Francis J., Benjamin E., Daniel W., and Edmund S. (twins), Anna S., and Henry J. In his History of the Third Baptist Church of Provi- dence, Rev. Dr. E. H. Johnson reviews at some length the work of Mr. Phillips while pastor of that church, during which time the membership increased from fifty to one hundred and ninety, and pays a beautiful tribute to his worth. During the closing years of his life Mr. Phil- lips resided in Providence, where he died suddenly, May 30, 1879, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. At the announcement of his death, Rev. Dr. Pharcellus Church, of Tarrytown, New York, wrote of him as follows : " His gifts were of the heroic order; his voice clear and em- phatic, his features kindly, his manners winning, and his sympathy ever on the alert to aid and befriend the weary and broken-hearted. The strong will-power of the man was felt in whatever assembly he entered. By his friends he was always looked upon as ' a man among men,' and as one of their number exclaimed, ' I knew I relied upon his strong character, but never knew how much till I lost him !' His sermons, his life, his social qualities, and his whole being concurred to the one result, of advancing the" work which the Holy Spirit and the call of his church had consigned to him."

HACE, SAMUEL B., manufacturer, was born in Som- erset, Massachusetts, March 11, 1800. His father, Oliver Chace, and his mother, whose maiden name was Susannah Buffington, were members of the Soci- ety of Friends. Consequently their son was connected by birthright with that body, and he remained in it during his life. His education was such as the common schools of the town and the time afforded. At a very early age he commenced working in a sniall cotton manufactory owned by his father, in Swansea, Massachusetts, and with slight interniissions in his youth for a little more schooling, he was ever after personally interested in the manufacture of cotton goods. Herein he developed a sound, practical mind, which manifested itself in extreme fondness for the construction of machinery, buildings, water-works, and all the appliances for a well-ordered, well-managed manufac- turing establishment; also in great accuracy in all his plans and calculations, and in unbending integrity in his dealings

with others. The curved stone dam across the Blackstone River, at Valley Falls, built under his superintendence in 1852, will stand for centuries, a monument to the solidity and thoroughness of his methods of work ; and those who were long in business relations with him will bear testi- mony while they live to his strict regard for what he con- sidered just and right. In 1828 he was married to Eliza- beth Buffum, daughter of Arnold Buffum, formerly of Smithfield, Rhode Island. About this time he entered into manufacturing, as an owner, at Fall River, Massachu- setts, where he then resided, in company with Joseph C. Luther; and soon afterward, with the same partner, and the addition of his brother, Harvey Chace, in another es- tablishment at Grafton, Massachusetts. In the financial crisis of 1837, having intrusted a large amount of goods to parties who failed to pay for them, they were obliged to stop their spindles, and compromise with their cred- itors by paying them eighty cents on the dollar. When the storm was over the two brothers (the third member of the firm having retired) resumed the business, and in 1839 removed their machinery to Valley Falls, Rhode Island, their father having purchased for their use the manufacturing property on the Cumberland side of the river. Practicing the strictest economy and a never-failing industry, they were able in a few years to enlarge their business by the purchase of the Smithfield side of the river. What was better still, and what gave to the sub- ject of this sketch unspeakable satisfaction to the day of his death, they searched out the old debts of 1837, long since settled by a partial payment, and paid tle bal- ance of them all, both principal and interest. Devoting himself thus, with great energy and perseverance, to the material interests of life, apparently less for the accumu- lation of wealth for himself, than from an innate love of improvement and use, and spending his leisure quietly and unostentatiously in the home which he loved, he yet gave a warm and cordial support to some of the vital moral questions of the age in which he lived. The cause of temperance never lacked his liberal deed or word in its support, and his good example of total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks for more than thirty years, shed its healthful influence on all around him while he lived, and is one of the best legacies he has left behind him. In the latter years of his life he became very much interested in the education of the factory operatives, and provided lib- erally for the support of evening-schools for their benefit. The following extract from the remarks of William Lloyd Garrison, at his funeral, tells, in most fitting words, what he was to the American slave through all the darkest periods in our country's history : " It is an easy matter to be an abolitionist at the present day, because it is to be on the winning side. But it was a very different affair to as- sume that title even only ten years ago. Yet, not ten, but thirty-five years since, our departed friend, in the darkest and stormiest period of the anti-slavery conflict, gave in

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his adhesion to the cause. From that day his door and heart were open to the proscribed advocates of the op- pressed ; and, in the face of the iniquitous Fugitive Slave Law, his home was converted into a station-house on the branch of the underground railroad, running from New Bedford to Canada; and no efforts were wanting on his part to make it a safe retreat. What a blending of moral courage with rare gentleness of disposition !" Finally, after a life spent, as he often said he wished it to be, in " trying to make the world better than he found it," with too little care for his own rest and ease, an insidious dis- ease, from which he suffered most severely for two years, closed his earthly life. No fear of death or the after-life ever, for a moment, troubled him. Trust in the Eternal Justice which governs all things never failed him. He de- parted from the earth on the 17th of December, 1870, leaving behind him his wife and four children, two sons and two daughters, whom he tenderly loved, and who keep green his memory in the home he has left.

ARNOLD, MOWRY PAINE, M.D., was born in Smithfield (now Lincoln), Rhode Island, Sep- tember 30, 1801, and is the son of Israel and Anna (Chace) Arnold. He is a lineal descendant, in the sixth generation, of William Arnold, one of the thirteen original proprietors of Providence, whose grandson, Richard Arnold, was one of the first settlers of Woonsocket, Rhode Island. A genealogy of the Arnold family is embraced in the History of Woonsocket, published in 1876. His mother was the daughter of Barnard Chace, born in Swansea, Massachusetts, and her mother's maiden name was Margary Paine, her mother was a Mowry, all of Smithfield, Rhode Island. Dr. Arnold was educated at the public school in Belchertown, Massachusetts, where he resided in his boyhood, and at Amherst Academy, at Amherst, Massachusetts, at which institution he acquired a knowledge of Latin and Greek. He studied medicine with Drs. Cutler Gridly, of Amherst, and Potter Allen, of Glocester, Rhode Island, and graduated at Berkshire Medical School, at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1827, tak- ing the highest honors of his class. In 1828 he removed to Foster, Rhode Island, where he at once entered upon a successful professional career, and became prominently identified with the varied interests of that town, in which he still resides. He was superintendent of the first Sun- day-school in Foster Centre, if not the first in the town, established in 1828, and has long served as librarian of the Foster Manton Library. In 1848 he was elected State Senator, and served one year, declining a re-election. He was a member of the School Committee for over thirty years, and has been Town Treasurer since 1865. In 1832 he united with the Christian Baptist Church in Foster, of which he was for some time secretary. He married, in 1828, Dorcas Peckham, daughter of Thomas and Anna

(Sweet) Peckham, of Glocester, Rhode Island, who died August 26, 1837. One of their children, Alma Anna Rich, is now living. In 1841 Dr. Arnold married Electa Randall, daughter of John and Cynthia ( Hammond) Ran- dall, of Foster, Rhode Island. She died January 24, 1846. One child by the second marriage, Mowry P. Arnold, is now living, and is a well-known farmer in Foster. Dr. Arnold's third wife was Asenath P. Place, daughter of Samuel and Marcia (Tripp) Place, of Foster. Their chil- dren living are Marcia A. Arnold, an experienced teacher, Barnard Arnold, M.D., and Henry Arnold, M.D., both of whom are engaged in the practice of their profession, the former at Brooklyn, New York, and the latter in Foster, being associated with his father, whose practice extends over a wide region. Notwithstanding his advanced age, being now in his eightieth year, Dr. Arnold is still actively engaged in the discharge of his professional duties, and exhibits rare mental and bodily vigor, which he attributes to his activity and strictly temperate habits.

ROGERS, HENRY AUGUSTUS, manufacturer, son of John and Elizabeth (Rodman) Rogers, was born in Providence, November 11, 1801. He was fitted for college in the schools of his native city, and was & a graduate of Brown University in the class of 1820. He entered the law office of Hon. Nathaniel Searle, soon after his graduation, attended the lectures of the Law School at Litchfield, Connecticut, and was admitted to the bar of Rhode Island in 1823. Having practiced his profession about one year, he decided to engage in mer- cantile pursuits, and placed his capital in the manufacture of cotton. He was successful in business, and established a reputation for sagacity and uprightness worthy of all praise. His college training had disciplined his mind and cultivated his tastes, and he had sources of elevated en- joyment of which the mere man of business is ignorant. This culture he rounded and enlarged by foreign travel, spending a year, 1846-47, in Europe and the East, and in the latter part of 1865 again seeking relaxation and needed rest in the countries of the Old World. He was preparing . to return to this country when he was arrested by a disease which terminated fatally. He died in Paris, France, Jan- uary 7, 1869. Mr. Rogers was never married.

ROOKE, REV. JAMES WELCH, eldest child of Joseph S. and Mary (Welch) Cooke, was born in Provi- dence, March 5, 1810. After a full academic preparation he entered Brown University, and was graduated in the class of 1829. Among his class- mates were Dr. Benoni Carpenter, Governor Samuel Cony, of Maine, Governor Elisha Dyer, of Rhode Island, Rev. Dr. S. P. Hill, of Washington, and Rev. Dr. H. A. Miles, of Boston. On leaving college he became a law

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student in the office of Hon. S. W. Bridgham, the first Mayor of Providence. Finding his tastes inclining him to the ministry of the Episcopal Church, he pursued his theological studies at the Episcopal Seminary in New York, having completed which he became Rector of Christ Church, Lonsdale. Here he remained until 1835, when he resigned his rectorship, having accepted an invi- tation to become Assistant Rector of St. George's Church, New York, whose rector was the late Rev. Dr. James Milnor. This position he held until 1843, when he was called back to his native State, and became the successor of Rev. John Bristed as Rector of St. Michael's Church, Bristol. For nearly nine years he resided in Bristol, when, at the close of 1851, he was invited once more to New York, to fill the important office of Secretary of the Protestant Episcopal Board of Foreign Missions. In the performance of his official duties he visited the Isthmus of Panama. Here he became a victim to the malarial fever of that region, and shortly after reaching New York he died, April 12, 1853. The death of so prominent a clergy- man awakened much sympathy, and called forth the warm- est encomiums on his character. The wife of Mr. Cooke was Emily Stevenson, of Philadelphia, whom he married August 13, 1839. They had four children. Mary B. Cooke, born in Philadelphia, and married to George Vaux Cresson ; Joseph Sheldon Cooke, born in New York, and died while at school at Port Chester, New York, August 21, 1854; James Welch Cooke, Jr., born in Bristol, mar- ried Josephine Johnes; and Emily Stevenson Cooke, born in Bristol, September 18, 1848, the wife of Rev. William Wilberforce Newton, now (1880) the Rector of St. Paul's Church, in Boston.

INTON, MAJOR JOHN ROGERS, second son of David and Mary (Atwell) Vinton, was born at Providence June 16, 1801. Early in 1815, in the fourteenth year of his age, he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, through the kindness of General Joseph G. Swift, a friend of the family, and at the time Inspector of the Academy. He completed the prescribed four years' course of studies in two years and a half, and received a commission as Third Lieutenant in the Artillery, July 19, 1817, being at the time only a month past the age of sixteen. He was appointed Second Lieutenant October 31, 1817, and First Lieutenant September 30, 1819. In the reorganization of the army, June 1, 1821, he was retained as First Lieu- tenant of the Fourth Artillery. For several years after leaving West Point he was employed on topographical duty on the Atlantic coast and the Canada line. So good a tactician was he that General Eustis selected him as Adjutant of the Artillery of Practice at Fort Monroe, which office he held 1824-25. From March 1, 1825, to May 24, 1828, he was Aid-de-camp to Major-General

Brown, then General-in-Chief of the Army. We are told that while residing in Washington as General Brown's Aid, " he was employed by the government in several duties of a special nature; and certain papers which he prepared were so generally admired that, in a leading speech in Congress in favor of the Military Academy, Lieutenant Vinton was referred to as an instance of the kind of men the system of that institution could produce." He was appointed Brevet-Captain September 30, 1829, " for faithful service ten years in one grade," and received a commission as Captain, December 28, 1835. He was on duty with the army in Florida during the Seminole War, 1837. While here, so much did his mind become in- terested in the subject of religion, that he decided to re- sign as soon as he could consistently with the duty he owed the government which had educated him, and to enter the ministry of the Episcopal Church, of which his two brothers, Drs. Francis and Alexander H., became such distinguished ornaments. The hoped-for opportunity to tender his resignation did not come, and at length circum- stances led him to abandon the idea of entering the Chris- tian ministry. At the battle of Monterey, September 21, 22, and 23, he acted a conspicuous part. "He was in five several engagements connected with the capture of that place, in each of which he was exposed to severe fire from the enemy. The taking of the bishop's palace was the result, in great measure, of his admirable conduct." For gallant conduct in these conflicts at Monterey he was breveted Major, the date of his commission being Septem- ber 23, 1846. Some time after the battle of Monterey he joined General Scott in the attack on Vera Cruz, being called to the honorable post of Field and Commanding Officer in the trenches. The following is the sad story of his death : " Towards evening of the 22d of March, 1847, he went out upon an exposed situation to watch the effect of our shot and the direction of that of the enemy. IIe had just returned to his post when a large shell, striking the top of the parapet, glanced and struck his head, frac- turing the skull. He fell instantly dead, lying upon his back, with his arms folded over his breast." In his dis- patch from before the walls of Vera Cruz, General Scott says : " Captain John R. Vinton, of the United States Third Artillery, was one of the most talented, accom- plished, and effective members of the army, and who highly distinguished himself in the brilliant operations at Monterey. He fell last evening in the trenches, where he was on duty as Field and Commanding Officer, universally regretted." The wife of Major Vinton was Miss Lucretia Sutton Parker, only daughter of Ebenezer Parker, mer- chant, of Boston, whom he married September 29, 1829. She died in Providence September 12, 1838. Their chil- dren were Helena Lucretia, who died August 2, 1830; Louise Clare, married by her uncle, Dr. A. H. Vinton, to Dr. Augustus Hoppin, of Providence, October 14, 1852; Parker, died in infancy; and Francis Laurens, born June

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I, 1835, was graduated at West Point June, 1856, and ap- pointed Second Lieutenant of Dragoons. In 1827 Major Vinton received from Brown University the honorary de- gree of A.M. He was unquestionably one of the most gallant and gifted sons of Rhode Island, of whose bril- liant career his native State has reason to be justly proud. It is deserving of remark that he was one of three brothers -John, David, and Francis-who were educated at West Point, " The only instance in the history of the institution where three brothers of one and the same family have had the honor of being appointed cadets."

62076320000 BARTLETT, HON. JOHN RUSSELL, son of Smith and Nancy (Russell) Bartlett, was born in Provi- dence, October 23, 1805. He was brought up in the drygoods business, and in 1831 was chosen Cashier of the Globe Bank, in Providence, upon its organization, which office he held until 1837, when, his health being impaired by close confinement to his duties, he resigned his office for a more active employment. While quite a young man he became interested in the cultivation of literature and science. He was one of the officers of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and was the original projector of the Providence Athenaeum. Calling in the aid of the Rev. Dr. F. A. Farley and Dr. Thomas H. Webb, they became the founders of this excellent institu- tion, which now possesses nearly fifty thousand volumes, and has upwards of six hundred members. In 1837 he removed to the city of New York, where he engaged in mercantile business, in which he continued until 1849. Fond of literary pursuits, he took an active part in various literary societies of that city. He was for many years the Corresponding Secretary of the New York Historical So- ciety ; also Secretary of the American Ethnological So- ciety, of which he and the Hon. Albert Gallatin were among the founders, the latter being its President until his death. Before these societies he frequently read papers on historical and ethnological subjects. Mr. Bartlett is also a member of many learned societies in Europe and America. In June, 1850, he was appointed by President Taylor United States Commissioner, to run the boundary- line between the United States and Mexico, under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in which duty he was em- ployed nearly three years, or until February, 1853. While on this service he made extensive explorations in Texas, New Mexico, Chihuahua, Sonora, California, and the country now known as Arizona. In 1855 he was elected Secretary of the State of Rhode Island, to which office he was annually re- elected until the year 1872, thus holding the office seventeen years. In 1867 he visited Europe, on which occasion he was made a Delegate by the American Antiquarian Society, to attend the International Congress of Archaeology, at Antwerp; and from the American Eth- nological Society to the International Congress of Anthro-

pology and Prehistoric Archeology, at Paris. On his return he presented a report of the doings, which was printed. In 1872 he again visited Europe, and was one of the United States Commissioners to the International Prison Congress, at London, and attended their meetings. Mr. Bartlett has devoted much of his time to literary pursuits, particularly in the field of Archaeology, Philology and Bibliography. He is the author or compiler of a number of books, the principal of which are the following : Prog- ress of Ethnology, an account of recent researches in various parts of the world, tending to elucidate the natu- ral history of man, New York, 1847; Dictionary of Americanisms, four editions, a Dutch translation of which was printed in Holland, 1854, and a German edition at Leipzic, in 1866; Reminiscences of the Hon. Albert Gallatin, New York, 1849; Personal Narrative of Ex- plorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, Cali- fornia, Etc., Connected with the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission, 1850-53, 2 vols., 8vo .; Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England, 1636 to 1792, illustrated with documents, letters and notes, printed by order of the General Assembly, Providence, 1855-65, 10 vols., 8vo .; Naval History of Rhode Island, Providence, 1880, small quarto; History of the Destruction of H. B. M. Schooner Gaspé in Narragansett Bay, June 10, 1772, Providence, 1862, 8vo .; Bibliography of Rhode Island, 1864, 8vo .; Literature of the Rebellion, Providence, 1866, royal 8vo .; Bibliotheca Americana, a catalogue of books relating to North and South America, in the library of John Carter Brown, of Providence, with notes, maps, and other illustrations, Providence, 1865-75, four vols., imperial 8vo .; Memoirs of Rhode Island Officers Engaged in the Service of their Country During the Great Rebellion of the South, Providence, 1867, quarto; Primeval Man and his Associates, Worcester, 1868; History of the Wan- ton Family, of Newport, Rhode Island, 1878; Gene- alogy of the Russell Family, 1879, 8vo. On the 15th of May, 1831, Mr. Bartlett married Eliza Allen Rhodes, daughter of Christopher Rhodes, of Pawtuxet, Rhode Island, who died at that place, November 11, 1853, leav- ing seven children, viz., Elizabeth D., Anna R., Henry A., George F., John R., Jr., Leila, and Fanny O. No- vember 12, 1863, Mr. Bartlett married Ellen, daughter of Nelson S. Eddy, of Providence.

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 66

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