The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 70

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

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of the greatest importance. The day of the execution of John Brown, December 2, 1859, he was made Chairman of a meeting called to express the views of those who held anti-slavery opinions, and in his speech on the occasion, he ingeniously drew a parallel between the John Brown of Harper's Ferry, and John Brown of Revolutionary mem- ory in Rhode Island, predicting the destruction of slavery. His address of welcome on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the High Street Congregational Church, of Providence, December, 1859, rich with memories of the sacred asso- ciations of the past, was published in the manual of that body. February 6, 1861, he delivered an address at the dedication of the library and reading-room of the Mechan- ics" and Manufacturers' Association. He was one of the Rhode Island delegates to the Southern Loyalists' Conven. tion, held at Philadelphia, September 12, 1866, and the re- port of that body was prepared by him. He was one of the commissioners for the building of a bridge and foun- dation for a market building across Providence River. Mr. Barstow has been a trustee of the Dexter Donation Fund ; also of the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company ; and President of the Butler Hospital for the Insane. He was the first President of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion of Providence; has been President of the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers; of the Rhode Island State Temperance Union ; and of various city organi- zations for the furtherance of the temperance cause. He has also been a liberal supporter of many benevolent en- terprises. The later years of his life have been filled with onerous duties in connection with his office as a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners, to which he was appointed by President Grant, in 1875, and of which Board he has been Chairman since 1878. His official duties have necessitated frequent visits to the far West, and extended travels in the overseeing of the Indian agencies, a large correspondence, and numerous public addresses. These duties have been discharged with a conscientious desire to improve the condition of the red man in our borders, by the carrying out of a humane and Christian policy. Mr. Barstow joined the Beneficent Congregational Church, of Providence, in the spring of 1832; became one of the first members of the High Street Church, formed in De- cember, 1834; was elected Superintendent of the large Sabbath-school connected with the latter in March, 1839, and served twenty-six years in that capacity. He was elected a deacon of the High Street Church, June 27, 1865. In the union of the High Street and Richmond Street churches, he became a member and officer of the Union Congregational Church, on Broad Street, and was chosen deacon on the 16th of January, 1872. He has served for several terms as President of the Congregational Club of Rhode Island. His literary productions, which have been embodied in numerous printed reports, show careful thought, and as far as they have touched moral questions, breathe a Christian spirit. His Letters from

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Europe, written while on a foreign tour, and published in the Providence Journal, have been reissued in a collected form. His Letters from California, first published in the Providence Journal, were afterward printed in 1870. In 1875, nine letters from California and Oregon appeared in the same paper, and were republished. Various poems of merit, and numerous articles from his pen on the Indian question, the Southern issue, and on temperance, and Con- gregationalism, have found their way into print. As a public speaker, his language is chaste and classic, his thoughts clear and convincing, and his manner easy and dignified. Mr. Barstow married, May 28, 1834, Emeline M., daughter of James and Sarah Eames. They reside in Providence, and have had seven children,-Sarah S., who married Charles L. Thomas; Emeline E., who married W. H. Bradford; Mary L., who married S. A. Cook, Jr. ; Martha M., who married James H. Cutler, and died June 29, 1873; Anna J., who married Rev. E. O. Bartlett ; Amos C., who married Grace Mason Palmer; and George E., who married Clara Drew Symonds.

MITH, AMOS DENISON, manufacturer, was born in Groton, Connecticut, April 30, 1805, on a farm which had been owned by his ancestors since the settlement of the town, in 1650. His parents were Amos D. and Priscilla (Mitchell) Smith. To a work, entitled Representative Manufacturers of New Eng- land, we are indebted for many of the facts contained in the following sketch. Mr. Smith's father was a sea-cap- tain, and his mother was a lineal descendant of the Pilgrim maiden, Priscilla, the heroine of The Courtship of Miles Standish. The subject of this sketch attended school at home until he was eleven years of age, when he went to Springfield, Massachusetts, where, with a relative, he com- menced his business training. He remained at Springfield until he was eighteen, the latter two years of the time having the entire charge of the general merchandise busi- ness of his employer, who removed to a neighboring town. In 1823 he removed to Providence, where he was employed by James Aborn, who was then engaged in the lumber trade in that city. Two years thereafter he became Mr. Aborn's partner, and his brother, James Y., was employed as a clerk in their office. In 1828 Mr. Smith retired from the firm, and opened a store in Providence as a wholesale grocer. About the same time, in connection with Charles H. Frank- lin, whose sister he had married, he hired what was known as the Buttonmold Privilege, in Johnston, Rhode Island, and started the small cotton mill which had been built there some years before. They began with a few hundred spindles, and sent the yarn into the rural districts, to be woven into cloth on hand-looms. While still engaged in mercantile business, Mr. Smith also became interested in several vessels sailing from Providence, and was the agent, and, in part, owner, of a line of steamboats plying between

Providence and New York. Meanwhile he gradually in- creased his cotton-mill property. He became interested in the Union Mill, started by his father-in-law, Henry P. Franklin, and in 1848, in company with his brother-in-law, he purchased an interest in the Merino Mill, immediately adjoining their mill at Johnston. The varied interests of the Merino and Union Mill and the mill on the Button- mold Privilege were finally consolidated, and in 1850 a corporation was organized by Amos D. Smith, Charles H. Franklin, and the heirs of Henry P. Franklin, under a charter of the Franklin Manufacturing Company. These mills have been continuously in operation since that date, and now run 34,500 spindles. In 1843 Mr. Smith and his brother, James Y., who for thirteen years previous to that time had been engaged in the lumber business, became as- sociated together, under the firm-name of A. D. & J. Y. Smith, and the former also represented, as agent, the man- ufacturing interests in which each of the brothers had invested capital. In 1845 they purchased from Thomas J. Hill, of Providence, a mill at Willimantic, Connecticut, and the same year purchased the rights of others in the cotton-mill at Woonsocket, since known as the Groton Mill. In 1856 Mr. Smith's two sons, Henry J. and Francis M., and Benjamin B. Adams became members of the firm, the style being changed to A. D. & J. Y. Smith & Co. In 1857 they purchased the Providence Steam Mill, which had been started in 1827 by Samuel Slater and others. In 1862 Mr. Smith's brother, James Y., retired from the firm, and the style was changed to A. D. Smith & Co., at which time Amos D. Smith, Jr., the third son of the senior part- ner, was admitted a member of the firin. In 1865 they purchased the Durfee Mill, in Providence, which was re- modelled and carried on under the name of Groton Mill, No. 2, its business being conducted in connection with that of the mill in Woonsocket. Mr. Smith died January 21, 1877, and the business which he established has since been continued under the old firm-name of A. D. Smith & Co., the present members of the firm being Francis M. and Amos D. Smith and Benjamin B. Adams. Mr. Smith was an energetic and successful business man, and was for many years prominently identified with enterprises affect- ing the general welfare and commercial prosperity of Prov- idence and the State. He served for several years as a member of the Providence Common Council, and also as a member of the School Committee. For some time he commanded one of the fire companies, and served as Major-General of the State Militia. He was an active promoter of railroad interests, and for several years was President of the Providence, Warren & Bristol Railroad. He was one of the original corporators of the Providence Gas Company, and was its President from its organization until his death. For three years he was President of the Board of Trade, in the formation of which he took an ac- tive interest. He was, at different times, a director in eleven banks and insurance companies, and served as Pres-

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ident of the American Bank and the National Bank of | Commerce. He was also one of the founders of the Butler Hospital for the Insane, and Trustee and President of its Board, and was Treasurer and then President of the Rhode Island Hospital. Mr. Smith was twice married. His children by the first marriage were : Hannah C., Henry J., Francis M., and Amos D., and those by the second mar- riage, now living, are Charles Morris, Amey B., and George M.

NOWLES, HON. EDWARD PECK, son of Edward, 2d, and Amey (Peck) Knowles, was born in Prov- idence, Rhode Island, April 13, 1805. His grand- father was Jonathan Knowles. His father, Edward, was born in Providence, March 9, 1768, and died in that city January 8, 1811. His mother, Aniey, was born in Providence, August 6, 1772, and died there October 24, 1838. Their children were John, Joseph B., James D., Elsy, Henry, Edward P., John P., and Amey A. James D. became a distinguished Baptist preacher and writer. John P. was for several years Judge of the United States Circuit Court for the District of Rhode Island. Joseph B. became a man of wealth in Nashville, Tennessee. Edward P., with only common school advantages, was trained to labor and self-dependence. When a boy, he assisted David Arnold in keeping the toll-gate of the Red (Cen- tral) Bridge, and afterwards worked in the old stone fac- tory, run by the Providence Woollen Manufacturing Com- pany, in the northern part of the city. He finally learned the jeweller's trade of Arnold Whipple, and afterwards pursued that business, at different stands, on North Main Street, dealing also in clocks and watches, till 1842. Hav- ing acquired capital by his industry and skill, he also opened a shop of tin and ironware, in which he engaged his brother Henry. He also entered into partnership with his brother-in-law (husband of his sister Amey A.), Wil- liam S. Humphreys, in mannfacturing weavers' reeds and harnesses, having one shop in Providence, one in Lowell, Massachusetts, one in Newburyport, Massachustts, and one in Manchester, New Hampshire. Meanwhile he became active and efficient in military, civil, and political affairs. He was a member of the Common Council of Providence from 1835 to 1841 ; Alderman from the First Ward from 1841 to 1854; and was repeatedly chosen Acting Mayor. He was finally elected Mayor in 1854. He was specially earnest in the suppression of the " Dorr Rebellion." For many years he was a member of the School Committee, and was the first person in the city to introduce to the attention of the authorities the matter of evening schools. He was a member of the General Assembly in 1844, and again in 1858, in each case refusing a re-election. In all his official career, he never asked for a position or a vote, and never spent a dime to carry an election. Since 1852, he has been a director of the old Mechanics' and Manu-

facturers' Bank, now the Fifth National Bank, and was President of the old Butler Insurance Company. While Mayor of the city his efficiency was very marked in behalf of the temperance reform, which he espoused when a mere lad, on witnessing the drinking customs and habits then prevailing, and their ruinous results. Deservedly, his public services gave him a wide reputation. Hi's por- trait graces the Council Chamber of the new City Hall in Providence. The city will not forget his resolute hand that put such a check upon lawlessness and braced the rule of law and order. He was at one time Vice-President, and afterwards President, of the Mechanics' Association in its palmy days. While, for a short time, residing in North Providence, he was, in 1859-60, a member of the Lower Council of that place. Mr. Knowles has also been largely engaged in real estate transactions, and in the set- tlement of estates. His knowledge of legal principles and precedents, and his thorough acquaintance with the city records, have been of great value in settling questions of municipal rights. He has ever manifested a deep interest in educational matters, and in all public and benevolent institutions. "A good Sabbath-school," he has said, "is worth more to the city than a regiment of infantry and a park of artillery." His clear views of law, strong sense of justice, high appreciation of order, and inflexible determi- nation in all his undertakings, have commanded the confi- dence and admiration of his fellow-citizens. For business purposes, and for the preservation of his health, he has travelled often and widely in the western and southern portions of our country. He married, first, February 15, 1827, Mary F., daughter of Captain John W. Fry, of Prov- idence. She died May 2, 1848. Their children (now liv- ing) are Abby F., Joseph B., Amy, Mary Anna, and Ste- phen M. His second wife was Alice S., daughter of Jonathan Randall, of North Providence, to whom he was married May 10, 1860. She died January 17, 1871. They had one son, Edward R. In April, 1872, Mr. Knowles married Elizabeth H., daughter of Benjamin Crowell, of Providence. His sons, Joseph B. and Stephen M., are prosperous silversmiths in the city, and well known through- out the country.

ALVERT, GEORGE HENRY, author, great-grandson of Sir George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, January 2, 1803. His mother was a lineal descendant of the .painter Rubens. Mr. Calvert's long and busy life has been occupied principally in literary pursuits. He graduated at Harvard University in 1823 ; studied at Göttingen; and on his return to America, was engaged for several years as editor of the Baltimore American. His published works are : Illustrations of Phrenology, 1832; Life of Robert Barclay, 1833; a translation of Schiller's Don Carlos, 1836; Arnold and Andre Cabiro, a poem in two cantos, and

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Count Julian, a tragedy, the last three in 1840; in 1845, he published a part of the correspondence between Goethe and Schiller, and in 1846 and 1852, two series of Scenes and Thoughts in Europe; in 1856, an introduction to So- cial Science ; in 1863, The Gentleman ; in 1864, two addi- tional cantos of Cabiro; in 1865, a new edition of Scenes and Thoughts in Europe, and the same year, Comedies, and Thoughts of Joseph Joubert, with Biographical No- tice; in 1872, Goethe, Life and Works ; Essays and Brev- ities, 1874; Essays Asthetical, 1875; Life of Rubens, 1876; Charlotte Von Stein, 1877; Wordsworth, A Bio- graphic ÆEsthetic Study, 1878; Shakespeare, A Biographic Esthetic Study, 1879. He has also been a frequent con- tributor to several leading magazines. In 1853, he deliv- ered, in Newport, an oration on the " Fortieth Anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie," which was highly commended for its classic beauty and historic merit. As some one has said, Mr. Calvert is " a scholar of refined tastes and suscep- tibilities, educated in the school of Goethe, who looks upon the world, at home and abroad, in the light not merely of genial and ingenious reflection, but with an eye of philo- sophical practical improvement." He has been a citizen of Newport, Rhode Island, since 1843, and during his resi- dence there has taken an active part in promoting city improvements, and has done much to advance the cause of education. In 1853, he was elected Mayor, and served most acceptably. Notwithstanding his advanced age, he is still actively engaged in literary work, and continues to manifest a deep interest in all that pertains to the welfare of the city in which he resides.

EARCE, EDWARD, son of Captain Nathaniel and Sally (Stoddard) Pearce, was born in Providence, May 27, 1804. His father formerly resided on Prudence Island, but removed to Providence and e was engaged as a mariner at a time when that city was extensively engaged in foreign commerce. He re- ceived the usual instruction and training of the common schools of his day, and at an early age entered upon a clerical apprenticeship in the commercial house of Hum- phrey & Everett, which at that time carried on a large shipping business. He served faithfully in that capacity until 1826, when he gave up his position as clerk and en- tered into partnership with his brother-in-law, the late William P. Bullock, in the same line of business in which he had been trained, under the firm-name of Pearce & Bul- lock, in which relation he continued until 1848, when he retired from mercantile life. He was connected with some of the most prosperous manufacturing companies in New England, in which he filled many important official posi- tions. He was eminently successful in business, and ex- hibited rare prudence in the management of all his affairs. He not only accumulated by getting, but by saving and careful investment. On the 4th of March, 1835, he be-

came director of the Phenix Bank of Providence, and in 1855 was elected President of that institution, which posi- tion he occupied at the time of his death. He was also one of the directors of the American Screw Company. He was a man whose judgment was sought and respected by the community, and his opinions, which were always formed with caution and given with modesty, made his advice valuable. He was noted for his untiring industry and fidelity to his convictions, and won an uncommon reputation for financial ability. His motto was, "Owe no man anything," and of him it was said, " His word was as good as his bond, and his bond was as good as gold." He was a member of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and evinced a lively interest in extending its influence. At home his books and his friends were his solace and delight. He kept well informed in regard to the current events of the world, and read with eagerness books of travel and the latest triumphs of science and art. His religious convic- tions were of a practical and benevolent character. He was President of the Society of the First Congregational (Unitarian) Church in Providence, and labored zealously to promote the affairs of that communion. In the building of its chapel, a few years ago, he gave liberally of his means and superintended the details of the business and work with the same energy and care that he exhibited in his own private concerns. He married, October 24, 1827, Harriet, daughter of Richmond and Rhoda (Peckham) Bullock, of Providence. On the 24th of October, 1877, they celebrated their golden wedding. They had five chil- dren, Edward, William Bullock, Henry, Ellen Richmond, deceased, and Julia Bullock, deceased, who married Alex- ander H. Davis, of Syracuse, New York. Mr. Pearce died January 1, 1881, in his seventy-seventh year.

MES, WILLIAM CURTIS, President of the Phenix National Bank, of Phenix, was born in Preston, Connecticut, June 26, 1805. IIe is the son of Caleb Tyler and Phebe (Hewett) Ames. His father was a farmer. Mr. Ames was educated in the com- mon schools, and when seventeen years of age went to Groton, Connecticut, where he was employed for one year as clerk in the store of Gurdon Bill. For three years thereafter he was a clerk in the store of Paul & Wiley, of Voluntown, Connecticut. In 1828 he removed to Phenix, Rhode Island, and entered into business with Nathan A. Crary, with whom he continued, under the style of Ames & Crary, until 1829, when the firm was dissolved. From 1830 to 1837 he served as clerk in the store of the Phenix Company, and in the year last mentioned he bought the stock of goods owned by that company and engaged in business on his own account until 1846, when he sold his store to Brown & Stone and engaged in farming for six years. In 1852 he bought the stock of goods at his old stand, and continued in business there until 1860, when N.

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E. & S. J. Hoxie became his successors. He was engaged in a general merchandise business in Spencer Block, Phe- nix, from 1865 to 1868, since which time he has devoted much of his time to farming. His mercantile career ex- tended over a period of thirty years. He has been a di- rector of the Phenix National Bank since its organization, and President since September 11, 1871, of which institu- tion and of the Phenix Savings Bank he was one of the corporators. He was a member of the Rhode Island Gen- eral Assembly in 1861 and 1862. Since 1836 he has been a member of the Six-Principle Baptist Church. He mar- ried, at Voluntown, Connecticut, April 12, 1827, Marcia Potter, daughter of Henry and Lydia (Baker) Potter. She died December 23, 1880. Their children are Emily Potter, Sarah Jane, and Lydia Baker Ames.

ILL, THOMAS JEFFERSON, son of Cromwell and Cynthia (Walker) Hill, was born at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, March 4, 1805. He attended school until he was fourteen years of age, and for two years thereafter was employed in the shop of his father, who was a blacksmith. He subsequently served an apprenticeship in the machine shop of Pitcher & Gay, at Pawtucket, where he learned to manufacture cotton ma- chinery. With the exception of six months spent in the repair shops of Jenckins & Mann, at Manville, he remained with Pitcher & Gay, afterwards Pitcher & Brown, as apprentice and journeyman, about nine years, the last four of which he took contracts and hired several men on his own ac- count. He went to Providence, April 19, 1830, and took charge of the machine shop connected with the steam cot- ton manufactory on Eddy Street, then owned by Samuel Slater. In 1834 he purchased two-fifths interest in the ma- chine shop, and the business was organized under the name of the Providence Machine Company. Mr. Slater died in 1835, and his interest in the Providence Machine Company and the steam cotton manufactory was sold to other parties. The business of the former company rapidly improved. In 1837 Mr. Hill bought the Lee Mill, at Willimantic, Connecticut, intending to remove his machine manufac- turing business there. He thoroughly repaired the property, and after manufacturing his own machinery, started a thread mill, in 1840, which, in 1845, he sold to Messrs. A. D. & J. Y. Smith. The same year he built a new ma- chine shop on land bought from the Stonington Railroad Company, and in 1846 purchased the entire interest of the Providence Machine Company, since which time he has been the sole owner of the property and the business. This is now one of the largest and most complete establishments in New England for manufacturing cotton and woollen machinery. In 1847 he made his first fly-frames, which have since been perfected and sold to manufacturers in all sections of the country. In 1849 the Androscoggin River Water-Power, at Lewiston, Maine, was bought by Benja-

min E. Bates, Francis Skinner, and others, and they formed the Lewiston Water-Power Company in 1850. Mr. Hill joined Boston capitalists in taking stock, and organized the Bates and Hill Manufacturing Companies. Four cotton mills, known as the Bates Mills Nos. I and 2, and the Hill Mills Nos. I and 2, were erected. In 1850 Mr. Hill built a foundry and rented a machine shop at Lewiston, where he built part of the machinery for the mills, associating with him Mr. Samuel W. Kilvert, a former foreman of his foundry at Providence. In 1864 he sold part of the stock to Amos D. Lockwood and others, who. formed the Lew- iston Machine Company. In 1866 he sold his remain- ing interest. In 1859 he bought part of the Peckham Mills, at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, manufactured part of his machinery, and started a cotton mill, which he named the Bay Mill, on account of its location on East Greenwich Bay. This mill he afterward gave to his two sons. Mr. Hill now owns several hundred acres of land at Hill's Grove, on the Stonington Railroad, seven miles from Provi- dence, where, in May, 1867, he, with G. Blackburn, Sam- uel W. Kilvert, and Smith Quinby, formed a partnership and organized the Rhode Island Malleable Iron Works, with a capital of $100,000, of which company Mr. Hill is President and Treasurer. They have erected a large foun- dry for manufacturing malleable iron castings, and their work is confined entirely to orders. Mr. Hill paid one half the expense incurred in the erection of the depot at Hill's Grove, and gave the lot on which it stands. In 1869 he erected, at an expense of $4000, a school-house con- taining a hall for religious purposes. In 1874 he associated with him his son, Albert Hill, his son-in-law, Charles M. Pierce, Jr., and G. J. Hazzard, who had been in Mr. Hill's employ. They organized under a charter which had pre- viously been obtained for the Providence Machine Com- pany, of which Mr. Hill is President and Treasurer, the capital being $350,000. In 1875 Mr. Hill built, at Hill's Grove, a mill with a capacity of twenty thousand spindles, for the manufacture of fine cotton yarn, which he named the Elizabeth Mill, in honor of his wife. He owns Hill's Wharf and Pike's Wharf at Providence; also, wharves at East Greenwich. In 1866 he organized the Providence Dredging Company, and in 1874 the Providence Pile- Driving and Bridge-Building Company, which has since built the Crawford-Street bridge, in Providence, and some others. Besides being a large manufacturer, he has been prominently identified with various banking institutions and insurance companies, and has held several positions of trust and responsibility. He has been the President of the Lime Rock National Bank for twenty-five years, and Vice-President of the City Savings Bank, of Providence, since January 6, 1859, of which he is also one of the Board of Trustees. He was a member of the Providence City Council during the years 1848-52, 1855-56, and 1878. Ile has also served as a member of the General Assembly of Rhode Island. He is a member of the Rhode Island

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 70

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