The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 72

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

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Rebellion he was engaged in making machines and tools for turning gun-barrels. His patriotic spirit induced him to contribute largely to the enlisting, arming, and forward- ing of soldiers to the field for the defence of the Union. Captain Brown was the architect of his own fortune, a thoroughly self-made man, and the secret of his success lay in his adherence to the principle of always doing honest and reliable work. He married, February 23, 1829, Sarah Phillips Gridley, of Boston, and had four children : Abby G. (who married Hon. Thomas K. King), Mary D. (who married Charles A. Warland), James (who died young), and James, who has succeeded to his father's business. Captain Brown died December 29, 1879, aged seventy-seven years. For sixty years he was identified with the mechani- cal interests of New England, and accumulated a large and valuable estate.

G UCKLIN, JAMES C., architect, son of James and Loraine (Pearce) Bucklin, was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, July 26, 1801. During his infancy his father died, and soon afterward his mother re- moved to Providence, to reside with her brother, the late Earl D. Pearce. After receiving the best education the common schools of the city afforded, Mr. Bucklin was apprenticed, at the age of fourteen, to Mr. John H. Greene, a builder and architect in Providence, and soon became an excellent workman. He was fond of study, and de- voted his spare time to reading any works on architecture he could obtain, and in learning the principles of the con- struction and designing of buildings. When he was twenty- one years of age, he commenced business in partnership with William Tallman, and for many years the firm of Tallman & Bucklin was one of the most prominent and successful among the builders and dealers in lumber in Providence. During these years of active business life, Mr. Bucklin designed many public and private buildings in his own city and elsewhere, and for the last twenty-five years has devoted himself exclusively to his profession as an architect. He designed many of the finest buildings in Providence, including the Arcade, Westminster Congre- gational Church, Butler Hospital for the Insane, and nu- merous business structures and public school buildings, and was also the architect of three hundred mills and many elegant private residences in different parts of the country, all of which attest his professional skill and taste. His varied practical experience as a builder, and thorough knowledge of the rules and principles of architecture, have given him wide reputation, and caused him to be regarded one of the leading architects of New England. In early life Mr. Bucklin took an active interest in military matters, and for some time served as First Lieutenant in the First Light Infantry of Rhode Island. He has always been deeply interested in matters pertaining to the public wel- fare, and as a member of the Common Council of Provi- dence for three years, and the incumbent of various offices

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of trust and responsibility, has rendered the community valuable service. He has led a quiet, unostentatious life, and enjoys, in the highest degree, the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens. He married, March 16, 1829, Lucy Dailey, daughter of Captain Daniel Dailey, of Providence. They have five children living, Helen Dailey, who married Caleb Seagrave, of Providence; Loraine Pearce; James Albert, who for twenty years has been associated with his father in business; Daniel Dailey, and William Tallman.

RAYTON, HON. GEORGE ARNOLD, LL.D., son of Hon. Charles and Rebecca (Havens) Brayton, was born at Apponaug Village, in Warwick, Rhode Island, August 4, 1803. His father was chosen Town Clerk of Warwick in 1804, and elected thirty- one times successively, holding the office at the time of his death in 1834. He was also elected an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1814, and was five times re-elected, holding the office until his death. The boyhood of George A. was spent at his home and in the schools of his native town. In 1817, he commeneed attending Kent Academy, in East Greenwich, and had the benefit of the instruction of Benjamin F. Allen, a graduate of Brown University. He was diligent in his studies and punctual in his attend- anee, for more than two years, in summer and winter, walking the distance between his home and the Academy every day. He entered Brown University in 1820, and graduated with high rank in 1824. He pronounced an oration following the salutatorian, Joseph S. Jenckes. Among his elassmates were Hon. Ezra Wilkinson, Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, Dr. Nathan Dur- fee, of Fall River, Rev. William Leverett, of Newport, and Hon. Asa Potter, of Kingston. He studied law in the office of Hon. Albert C. Greene, afterward Attorney-Gen- eral and United States Senator, and in 1825 entered the then famous Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut, where he remained until February, 1827. In that year he was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in his native town. He served as a member of the School Committee in 1829 and 1830, and was chosen a member of the Gen- eral Assembly in 1832. On the death of his father, in November, 1834, he was elected his successor as Town Clerk. In connection with his brother, he carried on a lumber business that had been established by his father, and continued this trade until both members of the firm were called upon to give themselves exclusively to public affairs. In 1841 he was a member of the Landholders' Convention, and also of the second convention in 1842, during the " Dorr troubles." Being a firm adherent to law and order, he was chosen a member of the General Assem- bly under the new Constitution. In 1843, having previ- ously declined the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, he accepted an election as Associate Justice of the

Supreme Court. This office he held until 1868, when he was elected Chief Justice, which position he continued to occupy, with great credit to himself and honor to the State, until at the age of seventy-one, in 1874, he retired on ac- count of ill health, after a judicial service of thirty-one years. His salary was continued until his death, and on his retirement the bar and State authorities paid him the highest honors in resolutions. In 1870, Brown University conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. The last years of his life were spent in the retirement of his home in East Greenwich, where he died April 21, 1880, in his seventy-seventh year. He married, in November, 1831, Celia Greene Clarke, daughter of Ray and Rebecca Clarke, of East Greenwich. She was a descendant of Dr. John Clarke, known in connection with the " King Charles Charter," and was a grand-niece of General Nathanael Greene. They had two children. daughters, both of whom are married. Judge Brayton's talents, attainments, and character won for him the highest respect. Although ex- eeedingly modest and retiring, he was yet decided and firm in adherence to his convictions. He was justly re- garded as a pattern citizen and model public officer. His portrait may be seen in the Court-house in Providence. His widow died at Apponaug, August 4, 1880.

ABCOCK, ROWSE, 3d, first son of Rowse, 2d, and Hannah (Brown) Babeoek, was born in Westerly, Rhode Island, May 4, 1803. Though naturally possessing a feeble constitution, he was early trained to habits of labor and study. After passing through the best private schools of his native town, he pursued a course of higher education in Lebanon, Connecticut. Several of his classmates in that course of study beeame eminent in mercantile, political, and professional life. On the com- pletion of his education he returned to Westerly, where he continued to reside until his death, exerting an influence which largely moulded the town's history. In 1828 he began his remarkably successful career as a manufacturer of cotton and woollen fabrics, operating the mills at West- erly Village, Stillmanville, White Rock, and Niantic. The business firm, consisting of Mr. Babcock and Jesse L. Moss, was for many years an incalculable power for good in that township and vicinity. There was scarcely an in- terest in that part of the State which did not, either directly or indirectly, feel its fostering and quickening influence. The heavy mills on the eastern bank of the Pawcatuck River, and the elegant hotel known as the Dixon House, are monuments alike to the enterprise and public spirit of Messrs. Babcock & Moss. Mr. Babcock was also con- cerned in different branches of business with several lead- ing men of Rhode Island and Eastern Connecticut. In 1841 he succeeded his father as President of the National Phenix Bank, and retained that position till his death. He represented Westerly in the General Assembly in the

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yourstruly Oliver Johnson

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years 1842, 1863, and 1864. He took a deep interest in the cause of popular education, and to his strong plead- ings, seconded by his generous contributions, more than to any other, perhaps all other, causes, is Westerly indebted to-day for its superior educational advantages. He was a Warden of the Episcopal Church from the time of its or- ganization there until his death, and was always one of the devoutest worshippers and most liberal supporters of that communion. For his gentlemanly qualities, Christian character, and the great services which he rendered to his native town, he was held in the highest esteem and respect by all. He married, April 27, 1852, Mary Townsend, an estimable lady of Newport, Rhode Island. Mr. Babcock died March 6, 1872, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.

ARROWS, IRA, M.D., was born in Attleborough, Massachusetts, November 18, 1804. His father, Ezra Barrows, also a native of Attleborough, married Bebee Peck, a descendant of Joseph Peck, who came to this country from England in 1638, and whose ancestry has been traced back for twenty generations. The subject of this sketch enjoyed superior educational advantages, and has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession for over fifty years. After pursuing the usual academic course he en- tered Brown University, and in 1824 graduated at that in- stitution, which in due time conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. He studied medicine with Dr. Arte- mus Johnson, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and attended lectures at Harvard College, from which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1827. For many years he practiced his profession in Pawtucket and the neighbor- ing towns of Bristol County, Massachusetts. In 1851 he removed to Providence, where he has ever since been en- gaged in successful practice. Although trained in the " old school," his attention was early directed to homo- opathy, and after thoroughly testing its merits he became a warm advocate of the truth of the principles laid down by Hahnemann. Dr. Barrows has attained a high rank as a homœopathic practitioner, and his professional career throughout has been attended with uninterupted success. He is a member of the Beneficent Congregational Church of Providence, having united with that denomination in Pawtucket ill 1833. Amid the active duties of his career as a medical practitioner he has ever taken time to fulfil his religious obligations, and has been active in promoting various benevolent and charitable enterprises. He was married, February 5, 1833, to Frances A. Bartlett, daughter of Oliver Bartlett, of Smithfield, Rhode Island, and has two sons and two daughters. His sons are George B. Bar- rows, a lawyer in Providence, who married Josephine Miles, of New York city; and William Ezra Barrows, a physician, who married Emma Astle, of Providence. His daughters are Sarah Frances Barrows and Elizabeth Rob-

inson Goodrich, wife of James W. Goodrich, of Spring- field, Massachusetts. One of Dr. Barrows's brothers, the late Dr. George Barrows, of Taunton, Massachusetts, was a prominent homeopathic physician of that city, where he was engaged in the practice for more than thirty years.

JOHNSON, OLIVER, son of Elisha and Asee ( Albro) Johnson, was born at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, June 14, 1799. His paternal ancestor in this coun - try came from Wales and settled on the island of Rhode Island, where, in company with his brother, he commenced the business of fulling and dressing cloth, which he had pursued in his native country. He subse- quently removed to that part of East Greenwich, now called Frenchtown, where he purchased a tract of land (part of which is still owned by the Johnson family), and erected a mill and dwelling-house. Benjamin Johnson, the grand- father of Oliver, served for some time as a Judge of the Common Pleas Court, and at the time of his death, was one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, which position he had occupied for several years. Mr. Johnson's maternal ancestors were of French descent. He was educated at the common school in his native town, and at Washington Academy at Wickford. At the early age of fifteen he began to teach school, and thus worked his way through the Academy, and was enabled to acquire a good education. He continued to teach until he was twenty-three years of age, having taught at different times in Exeter, East Greenwich, North Kingstown, and Warwick, being quite successful as an instructor, and in the manage- ment of the schools under his charge. In 1822, he quit teaching, and, with Whipple A. Arnold, engaged in gene- ral merchandising, at Centreville, Rhode Island, the firm- name being Arnold & Johnson. After being thus associ- ated for about two years, the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Arnold continued to carry on the business alone. He next opened a variety store in a building owned and occupied by Dr. Sylvester Knight, and having a desire to learn the drug business, added drugs and medicines to his stock. For some time he was assisted by Dr. Knight, and studied with him until he had acquired a thorough knowl- edge of the drug business. He continued in business at Centreville until 1833, and a part of the time while there kept the Centreville Hotel, and also engaged in cotton manufacturing, with John J. Wood. In April, 1833, he removed to Providence, where he has since resided. The same year of this removal to Providence, he and Dr. Knight opened a wholesale drug store on Weybosset Street, where they continued until the death of Dr. Knight, in 1841, the firm style being Oliver Johnson & Co. The stock and fix- tures of this store were then sold to Grosvenor & Chace, of Providence, and he afterwards opened a store for the sale of drugs, groceries, cotton, cotton goods and manufac- turers' supplies, at the present site of the Journal office,

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where he continued in business alone, and succeeded in building up a large and profitable trade. In 1846 he re- moved his business to 13 Exchange Street, Providence, and has continued there until the present time. In conse- quence of increased trade, his store has been greatly en- larged, and now extends through to Exchange Place. In 1852 he associated with him his son, William S. Johnson, and the firm continued as Oliver Johnson & Son until 1859, when Benjamin W. Spink, who had for several years been in Mr. Johnson's employ, was also admitted as a partner, and the business has since been conducted under the firm- name of Oliver Johnson & Co. They also have a large building on the corner of Eddy and Elm Streets, where they grind white lead and colors. Mr. Johnson is now the oldest wholesale druggist in the State, and though not now an active partner, being eighty-one years of age, he still re- tains a relish for the activities of business, and may be seen almost every day at his desk in the counting-room. His up- rightness of character and business qualifications have won for him the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and caused him to be called upon to fill various public positions. He was Justice of the Peace and Notary Public in Warwick for some time; in 1841-52-53-54-56, a member of the City Council of Providence, and for several years a member of the School Board. IIe was a representative in the Gen- eral Assembly of Rhode Island in 1854-55-57, and was a member of the two conventions in 1841, called for the pur- pose of drafting the Constitution of the State. He has been a director in several insurance companies; was a di- rector of the City National Bank of Providence from 1834 to 1848, and has been a trustee of the Mechanics' Savings Bank since 1864, having been one of the Incorporators in 1854. He has been an active and prominent member of the order of Freemasons since June 6, 1823, at which time he was initiated in Manchester Lodge, No. 12, at Coventry, Rhode Island. Notwithstanding the religious and polit- ical persecution to which Freemasons were subjected dur- ing the Antimasonic movement, Mr. Johnson remained firm in his adherence to the order. He was twice called before the church of which he was then a member, to answer the charge of being a Freemason; but the charge was finally withdrawn. He received all the degrees in ancient Masonry, and the orders of Knighthood, and was honored with the highest offices in the gift of the frater- nity. He was elected Grand Master of Masons by the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island in 1855-56; (Grand Com- mander) Eminent Commander of St. John's (Encamp- ment) Commandery in 1859; and Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Rhode Island in 1860. He has received, in all, forty-four degrees and orders, in- cluding the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rites. On the 6th of July, 1816, when seventeen years of age, he joined the First Baptist Church in Exeter, Rhode Island, and has since been a member of the follow- ing churches: The Warwick and Coventry Church, with

which he united September 5, 1824; the First Baptist Church at Providence, of which he became a member No- vember 30, 1837; the Ninth Baptist Church, August 10, 1847; and the First Baptist Church, with which he again united October 26, 1847. He has served with efficiency in various church relations. He has been twice married ; first, to Hannah S. Davis, daughter of Ezra D. and Me- hetable (Reynolds) Davis, of Davisville, Rhode Island, September 5, 1824. She died May 24, 1862, aged fifty- seven years. They had two sons, William S. and Edwin A. Johnson. He married, second, February 23, 1864, Cor- delia M. Stanwood, daughter of Solomon and Jane D. (Hamor) Stanwood, of Ellsworth, Maine. Her mother's brother, David Hamor, was a Member of Congress from ' Maine. Mr. Johnson was for many years a member of the Standing Committee of the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry, and has given con- siderable attention to agriculture, having for some time owned a farm on Coweset Bay, in Warwick. In 1839 he purchased a residence on Broadway, Providence, where he has since continued to reside.

EAD, DEACON JAMES HERVEY, son of Rev. James and Rebecca (Barton) Read, was born in Attle- borough, Massachusetts, August 30, 1801. His father (son of Joseph and Mary Read, and a de- scendant, in the sixth generation, of John Read, one of the first settlers of Newport), was a Baptist minister of Attleborough for fifteen years, and died in October, 1814, aged forty-six years. He had three children, Andrew B., James H., and Samuel S. He required his children to read through the Bible once each year, a rule for which they afterwards were thankful. James H. was early im- pressed by religious truth, and became a decided Christian in 1815. His baptism, with that of another lad, made a deep impression upon the community. He was educated at home and in the public schools. Leaving his native town he engaged, in 1817, as a clerk in a shoe store in Providence, and served a year, when he entered the dry- goods store of Sylvanus Gallatin, where he remained till 1822, when he commenced business at No. 7 Market Square, in company with Thomas D. Shumway, dealing in woollen goods, tailors' trimmings, and drygoods. At the end of a year Mr. Shumway retired, leaving the busi- ness with Mr. Read, who prosecuted it successfully till 1827, when he removed to No. 31 North Main Street, where he remained forty-five consecutive years, with dif- ferent partners, and built up a prosperous business house widely known in the country. His second partner was George S. Partridge, a former clerk; his third, Josiah H. Ormsbee; for five years thereafter he was alone. From 1840 to 1843 his partners were Samuel H. Thomas and Stephen J. Mason; from 1843 to 1849 he was associated with S. G. Mason, after which he again carried on busi-

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ness alone till 1859. In January of that year James Snow, Jr., became his partner, and the firm so remained for thirteen years ; this firm removed, in 1872, to Butler Ex- change Building, on Westminster Street, opposite the Ar- cade. In January, 1874 the old firm, James H. Read & Co., admitted as partners the former salesmen, George B. Hale and John C. Bosworth. In magnitude and character this house, as importers and jobbers, ranks with the most important houses in Rhode Island. The founder and head, Mr. Read, has now (1881) been in active and suc- cessful business in Providence for sixty-four years, and has won an enviable reputation for energy, sagacity, and reli- ability. He united, by letter, with the First Baptist Church in 1820; became Treasurer of the Charitable Baptist So- ciety in 1831 ; was chosen Deacon in 1834; early became a member of the Board of the Rhode Island Baptist State Convention, and has continued to serve that body with re- markable efficiency. For many years he has been collector for the church and for the convention, and has ever been one of the largest contributors for all the objects advocated, near and far. In organizing and sustaining Sabbath- schools and churches, he has labored personally, and long, notably at Albion, Lime Rock, Cumberland Hill, Lins- quisset neighborhood, and in his native town in Massachu- setts. His earnest voice seconded the tracts and books he distributed, and the preaching of students and ministers whom he introduced to the people. He has donated hun- dreds of copies of the Scriptures to students and others on condition of their reading them through, and many con- versions have resulted from his gifts of tracts, Testaments, and Bibles. His wide acquaintance in and beyond the State, and his reputation, gave him great favor and in- fluence wherever he went. His counsel and judgment, often sought in important cases, have had great weight among the churches. Such was his interest in ministerial education that he founded three scholarships in Newton Theological Seminary. For many years he has been a Trustee and the Treasurer of the Relief Fund to aid desti- tute ministers and their families. In secular affairs he has also been prominent. In January, 1832, he was chosen a director in the Mechanics and Manufacturers' Bank, and was President of the institution from February, 1853, to June, 1862. He was a member of the Rhode Island His- torical Society, and has ever been interested in all the affairs of the City and State. In 1830, on account of pul- monary symptoms, he began riding many miles every morn- ing on horseback, at last, making business tours through the State and into the adjacent States. He thus made more than a hundred tours to Boston. When locomotives superseded horses, and Mr. Read's health again began to be critical, he went to the medicinal springs of Saratoga, New York, where he was so greatly benefited that he has visited the springs now for thirty-eight consecutive years, and speaks enthusiastically of their corrective properties. Although now eighty years of age he still maintains the

habit of working fourteen hours a day, and is remarkably vivacious and cheerful, being ever ready, both in religious and business circles, for every good work. He married (1), Mary Ann Taylor, of Providence, the issue of this marriage being Anna M. (now wife of James Snow, Jr.), Cyrus B., Rebecca B. (deceased), Sophia T. (married A. M. Dean, of Syracuse, New York, and died May 9, 1872), the mother dying in February, 1836; (2), Rebecca C. Sessions, who had one child (deceased); (3), July 22, 1845, Hannah E. Eddy.

HEEVER, DANIEL, the fourth child of Daniel and Joanna (Titus) Cheever, was born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, July 23, 1802. He was a descend- ant of James Cheever, who, with his brother John, came from England. They are supposed to have been related to Bartholomew Cheever, who was born in Canterbury, England, in 1607, and came to America in 1637, and died in 1693. An inscription at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Boston (Pilgrim Path), says of him : " A Pil- grim Father, one of a handful God hath multiplied into a great nation." Mr. Cheever's educational advantages were very limited, but his reading and power of appropri- ating practical knowledge gave him a well-furnished mind. In the year 1817, at the age of fifteen, he left home for the city of Providence, Rhode Island, where he sought and found employment in a retail drygoods store. He rose rapidly in the estimation of his employers, and developed superior business capacity. In 1823, at the age of twenty- one, he commenced business for himself in Providence, and continued therein until 1840. He then removed to his country residence, near Wrentham, Massachusetts, where he resided until his removal to Cincinnati, Ohio, at which place he arrived November 1, 1844, his eldest son having preceded him one year. Here he was con- cerned in the first manufacture of oil from lard, which he finally abandoned for the more congenial business of his life, wholesale drygoods, in which he continued until 1849. During that year he removed to Delavan, Illinois, where he engaged in farming and also in buying and selling real estate. He was one of the original colonists who located and improved the town of Delavan, and in 1870 he laid out an addition to the town, from his farm adjoining it. From early life Mr. Cheever took a deep interest in reli- gious matters, and was an active and influential member of the Baptist Church, with which he united in Providence, in 1820, being baptized by Dr. Stephen Gano, then pastor of the First Baptist Church of that city. On his removal to Delavan, Illinois, he at once united with the church there, in which he officiated as Trustee, Deacon, and Clerk. He served creditably in the latter capacity for twenty-four consecutive years. He married, December 7, 1825, Alice Eliza Henry, only daughter of Captain John Henry, of Providence. She died in Cincinnati, June 29, 1845. Her

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 72

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