The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 77

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

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SHEARMAN, HON. SYLVESTER GARDINER, was born in North Kingstown, in 1802. His pre- paratory education being completed, he pursued his law studies with Hon. A. C. Greene, at East Green- wich, and commenced the practice of his profession in Wickford. In 1843, a time of great political excite- ment in the State, after a very severe struggle, he was elected a " Law and Order" Representative from his native town to the General Assembly. The victory which he ob- tained was especially remarkable, as the town of North Kingstown had been a marked Democratic stronghold, and contained a large number of voters who sympathized with the Dorr movement. The election at which he was chosen was the first under the new constitution, when James Fenner was elected Governor over Thomas F. Car- penter. In 1848, such was his popularity that he was chosen Speaker of the House. At the Whig Convention, in 1849, he received the nomination for Representative to Congress from his district. There being, however, two other candidates, the one Hon. B. F. Thurston, of the Democratic party, and Lauriston Hall, of the Liberty party, there was no election. When the second trial was made, Mr. Shearman withdrew his name as a candidate, and Hon. Nathan F. Dixon was nominated in his place, and elected. In May, 1855, he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court, the Hon. W. R. Staples and the Hon. Alfred Bosworth being chosen at the same time. The duties of his responsible office he continued to discharge until, stricken by disease, he was compelled to resign. As the result of a stroke of paralysis, he died in Providence, January 3, 1868. Judge Shearman is spoken of as having been " a man of strong common sense, of plain and simple manners, of quaint and original humor, and of an integ-

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rity that was never questioned. As a debater he was re- markable for his readiness, for his apposite illustration. and for a homely wit, which often carried an audience upon which argument would fall with but half its effect." For a fuller portraiture of Judge Shearman the reader is referred to the reports of two mectings of the Rhode Island Bar Association, in which eminent legal gentlemen took part, and their speeches, given somewhat at length, may be found in the Providence Journal for January 6 and 7, 1868. In 1855 Brown University conferred on him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. Two of his sons, both clergymen, were graduates of the Uni- versity,-Rev. Sumner Upham Shearman, of the class of 1861, and Rev. William Dennis Upham Shearman, of the class of 1865.

¿MES, SAMUEL, LL.D., Chief Justice of the Su- preme Court of Rhode Island from 1856 to 1865, son of Samuel and Anne (Checkley) Ames, was born in Providence, September 6, 1806. He pre- pared for college in the schools of his native town, and at Phillips Academy, and graduated from Brown University in the class of 1823. Immediately after gradu- ating he commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. S. W. Bridgham, and for one year attended lectures at the Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut. In 1826 he was admitted to the bar of Rhode Island, opened an office in Providence, and soon acquired a successful practice, his business extending to the courts of the United States. Amid the pressing duties of his profession he found time to prepare, in connection with Joseph K. Angell, an elab- orate treatise on Corporations, which has passed through many editions, and is regarded as a standard work on the subject of which it treats. For many years he represented his native town in the General Assembly, and was one of the Commissioners, in 1855, for revising the statutes of the State. The General Assembly elected him, in 1856, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. At the same time he was appointed Reporter of the Court. The results of his re- ports, embodied in four volumes, are " remarkable for their clearness, their learning, and their conformity to the settled principles of jurisprudence." In consequence of failing health he resigned the office of Chief Justice, after having held it for a period of nine years. He died December 20, 1865. The wife of Judge Ames was Mary Throop, daugh- ter of Sullivan Dorr, of Providence.

WANPHEAR, THOMAS POTTER, was born in Hop- kinton, Rhode Island, January 14, 1806. He is the son of Elisha and Betsey (Potter) Lanphear. Ilis father was a prominent shipbuilder in Westerly, Rhode Island, and his mother was a descendant of Martin Potter, whose history forms one of the most inter-

esting items in the annals of Rhode Island. Rev. F. Deni son, in his work entitled Westerly and its Witnesses, writes of Martin Potter as follows : " The progenitor of this worthy Potter family was Martin Potter, who is reported to have been a son of one of the judges that condemned Charles I. On the restoration of the monarchy he fled to this country, and came to South Kingstown, where he lived till his death. It was ascertained that he owned a large estate in North Shields, in England, valued at $9,000,000, which he leased for ninety-nine years, and which was subsequently confis- cated and passed into the hands of the Bishop of Durham. Numerous descendants have instituted proceedings to re- cover this property, but to no avail. The estate now em- braces four hundred acres, one mile of docks and three hun- dred houses." Mr. Lanphear received his education in his earlier years at Hopkinton, and afterward attended the Westerly Academy in Westerly. In 1824 he commenced learning the trade of machine building with Joseph Wells, of Potter Hill, Rhode Island, going thence to Norwich, Connecticut, where he continued in the same business with Hopkins & Morse. In 1826 he removed to Phenix, his present residence, and entered the machine works of Dan- iel Gorham, which was subsequently carried on by Cyriel Babcock, under whose administration he soon became fore- man of the shop. In 1837 the owner removing to Provi- dence, disposed of his business to Mr. Lanphear, Elisha Harris, Robert Levalley, and Giles Spencer, who continued the business under the firm-name of Levalley, Lanphear & Co., which firm was finally merged, in 1867, into a stock company under the name of the Lanphear Machine Com- pany, with Mr. Lanphear as President, treasurer and agent. It will thus be seen that Mr. Lanphear is one of the pio- neer machine builders of the United States. He has, by business talent, strict integrity, and honorable dealing, made for himself an important position in the history of manufacturing in this country. At one time he was cap- tain of the Fourth Company, Fifth Regiment, Rhode Island Infantry, and some of the old inhabitants still address him by his military title. He was, for several terms, a member of the General Assembly, having been elected at one time to fill the vacancy as Representative from Warwick caused by the death of the elder Governor Sprague. His time being entirely devoted to business he has been prevented from accepting many important political positions urgently tendered him by his party. No one has a clearer or more honorable political record, and both the old Whig, and later the Republican party, found in him a most earnest supporter. Mr. Lanphear married, October 3, 1842, Nancy A. Perkins, daughter of Elisha Perkins, of Middletown, Connecticut, and granddaughter of Rev. Ransom Perkins, one of the ancient divines of Connecticut. By this mar- riage there were two children, Edwin T. and Emma E. Lanphear, both of whom are living. At an early age Mr. Lanphear united with the Hopkinton Seventh-Day Baptist Church, and has ever been a most conscientious member

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of that communion, never permitting his business interests to interfere with the discharge of his religious duties.

ING, HON. GEORGE GORDON, Representative to Congress from Rhode Island, son of Dr. David King and Anne (Gordon) King, was born in New- 32000 port, June 2, 1807. He prepared for college in his native place in part, and passed one year at the Phil- lips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. He was a grad- uate of Brown University, in the class of 1825, with high rank as a scholar. He studied law at the Litchfield Law School and in the law office of Hon. John Whipple, of Providence, and was admitted to the bar in 1827. He practiced his profession for a short time in Providence, and then removed to Newport. Although he continued his practice for a few years, the profession of law was not alto- gether suited to his tastes, and he gradually withdrew from it. Whatever concerned the higher prosperity of Newport enlisted his attention and secured his cordial co-operation. He took a deep interest in all matters pertaining to educa- tion, and the schools of Newport are greatly indebted to him for his efforts to raise their standard and make them the greatest possible blessing to the community. His char- acter and abilities were so much appreciated, that from 1833 to 1846 he was chosen to represent Newport in the General Assembly, and would, without doubt, have been elected continuously, had not the succession been broken by his decision to take an extended trip in the Old World. On his return from his journey, he was chosen, in 1848, again a Representative, and many times was elected to serve in the upper or lower house of the General Assembly. Twice he was chosen a Representative from Rhode Island to the United States Congress, and was in Washington from 1849 to 1853. His career in Congress, as in the General Assembly of his own State, "was marked by ex- cellent judgment, dignity of character, and spotless integ- rity." His literary tastes were of a high order, and in the preparation of papers which he was called upon to write, while performing appointed service for institutions with which he was connected, he displayed rare grace of com- position, and singular felicity in the use of his pen. For thirteen years he was President of the Redwood Library Association in Newport, and took a deep interest in every- thing that concerned the prosperity of that venerable insti- tution. He married, in Washington, Miss Seaver, in 1851. She died in 1853. His own death occurred July 17, 1871.

URRAY, MAJOR JAMES. The following notice of this remarkable man appeared in the New York Gazette, of May 9, 1807 : " Died at Calcutta, on Tuesday evening, 23d of September, 1806, James Murray, Esq., late a Major in the service of the Holkar. He was a most amiable man, and an intrepid

soldier. He had during a long career of honorable service acquired a handsome fortune, and was on the eve of his departure to his native land to enjoy in dignified repose the hard-earned fruits of his dangers and toils. Major Murray was a native of Newport, Rhode Island. His real name was Littlebridge. Why he assumed the name of Murray is not known. At an early age he left his relatives in con- sequence of some ill treatment he had received from some one of them, and went to sea. After a number of voyages he arrived at Tranquebar, on the coast of Coromandel, about the year 1790, when he formed the resolution of going into the interior for the purpose of entering the service of some one of the petty princes who at that period were par- ticularly desirous of having Europeans as officers to com- mand their troops. This resolution he accomplished in company with another person (whose name is not known) with some difficulty, as they had to pass the posts then pos- sessed by the English, who were extremely vigilant to pre- vent Europeans going into the country. The life that Littlebridge now led required a constitution as robust as he possessed ; an invincible courage, and a presence of mind which no danger could appall. It was in the service of the Mahrattas that Littlebridge became noted for his supe- rior bravery. With these people he continued nearly fifteen years, traversing the country from Cape Comorin to the frontiers of Persia. In the service of Holkar, the celebrated chief of the Mahrattas, Littlebridge, who was now called Murray, became first known to the British by saving, at the most imminent risk of his own life, the lives of some of their officers who had fallen into Holkar's hands, and who had ordered them to be put to the sword. It was shortly after this business that he quitted the service of Holkar, and raised a number of cavalry in his own name, with which he took possession of a district of country. Before he attained this he had experienced every reverse that such an undertaking could be subjected to, being at one time at the head of only seven or eight men not more than half armed. When the war broke out between the British and Scindeah, in which Holkar assisted the latter, Murray immediately proclaimed the British government in that part of the country where he was, and joined Lord Lake with about 7000 horse. It was at that period that the Marquis of Wellesley issued the proclamation recalling all British subjects from the service of the native princes under the penalty, in case they did not come in, of being treated as traitors should they afterwards be made prisoners. Murray could not be estimated as one included in the proclamation, which by those whom it did include and who could escape from their different situations was immediately obeyed. Several in the service of the Holkar who were so unfortunate as not to get away were murdered by him. Murray coming in under different cir- cumstances from the others was treated by the British gen- eral with great consideration, and there was seldom a dangerous service in which he was not employed, remain- ing still with the command of cavalry he had brought with

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him. At the siege of Bhurtpore, where the British army lost nearly ten thousand men in four attempts to storm, Murray was in continual action and obtained the character of the best partisan officer in the army. Holkar was outside of the British with seventy or eighty thousand horsc, and the signal of assault on the fortress by the British was the signal for the attack on the outside. The events of that sicge are but little known, as the British kept them sccret. At the conclusion of the war Murray, who had accumulated a handsome fortune, determined on returning home, and for this purpose remitted his funds to Calcutta, and repaired there himself. He was but little satisfied with the rewards he had met from the British government in India for scr- viccs that were certainly of eminent utility. He had been made a nominal Major in the service, and received per- mission to return to America with half-pay. A few days before he was to embark for America a fall from his horse caused an internal rupture, which being ignorantly treated ended in mortification of the bowels, and in death. Major Murray was of middle statue, his countenance was good, his person was well formed, his agility was remarkable, he was supposed to be the best horseman in India, and unex- celled in the use of the broad-sword. There was an instance of his being attacked when alone by seven Mahratta horse- men, three of whom he killed, and effected his escape from the other four. He was extremely modest on the subject of his own exploits, scarcely ever speaking of them, and when he did speak of any of the scenes he had been in he was seldom the hero of his own tale."

PRAYTON, REV. JONATHAN, son of Lodowick and Elizabeth (Knight) Brayton, was born in Cran- ston, Rhode Island, June 12, 1811. His ances- tors were among the early settlers of the State. Fran- cis Brayton, who was born, probably in England, in 16II and died in 1692, was for some time a citizen of Portsmouth. His son, who bore the name of his father, Francis, was also a resident of Portsmouth. He died in 1718. His son Thomas Ist was born June 14, 1681, and lived in what is now known as East Greenwich. Thomas 2d, son of the preceding, was born in 1713. His residence was in Washington Village, town of Coventry, where he owned a large water-power, which he improved by the erection of what was known as "The Brayton Mills." The son of Thomas 2d, Jonathan Ist, who came into posses- sion of a large part of his father's estate, was born at Wash- ington, Rhode Island, October 9, 1745. The latter part of his life he lived with his son Samucl, at Nichols Corner, near Wickford, where he dicd in 1816, and was buricd there on the farm of his son Samuel, now known as the Dr. Tillinghast estate. Lodowick Ist, son of the preceding, and father of the subject of this sketch, was born at Wash- ington, Rhode Island, May 25, 1770, and died in 1838. Until early manhood he lived in Washington Village, and

then took up his residence in Cranston, ncar what is now known as Oak Lawn, where the Rev. Jonathan Brayton, the subject of this sketch, the seventh child in the family, was born. The family of Lodowick Brayton was a large one, consisting of fourteen sons and onc daughter. The eldest child was William, born March 23, 1795, and died May 10, 1848. His mother was Hannah (Burton) Brayton, sister of Judge George Burton, of Cranston. The second wife of Lodowick Brayton was Elizabeth Knight, daugh- ter of Deacon Stephen Knight, and sister of Rev. Richard Knight, of Scituate. Their children were Robert Ist, born May 5, 1800, and died October 19, 1802; Robert 2d, born July 27, 1802; Alfred K., born September 8, 1804, died in 1860; Hannah, the only daughter, born August 21, 1806, died in 1871; Philip F., born August 23, 1809, died 1850; Jonathan and Stephen (twins), born June 12, ISII, the latter dying in infancy; Stephen 2d, born November 6, 1813, died in 1833; Lodowick 2d, born September 28, 1815; Samuel H., born October 13, 1817 ; Nehemiah, born April 21, 1820; Edward Ist, born July 9, 1822, and died in infancy ; Edward W. 2d, and Fran- cis E. (twins), born December 10, 1823. The latter died in 1843. The early life of Jonathan Brayton was spent on his father's farm at Cranston. When he was. cighteen years of age he took up the trade of a carpenter, and worked at it for four years. An accident which happened to him while working on the steeple of the Roger Williams- Free Baptist Church in Providence so disabled him that he could not engage in manual labor. For the purpose of obtaining a better education he became a student in the Kingstown Academy at South Kingstown, Rhode Island, then under the charge of Christopher Comstock. Subse- quently he was a pupil in the Friends' School, Providence. He then taught about three years in the public schools of Fall River, Massachusetts. Having decided to enter the Christian ministry, he spent two years, 1839-41, in the Hamilton Theological Institution, New York. Having completed his term of study, he was ordained as a regular Baptist minister by the faculty under whose instruction he had pursued his theological studies. Declining two in- vitations to settle near Hamilton, he returned to his native State, and following an impression to go to Phenix, Rhode Island, where there was no church of his denomination, he held a series of revival meetings there in the winter of 1841-42, assisted by Rev. John H. Baker. During these meetings he baptized one hundred and nineteen converts in that place and vicinity, most of whom became members of the Baptist church which he then organized, and of which he was pastor for six years. His other settlements in the ministry have been with the churches in Natick and Crompton, villages in Warwick; at Quidneck, in Coven- try, where he organized a church; and in Pawtucket. The state of his health has prevented him from a continuous excrcise of the pastoral office. He has occupied various posts of honor and trust to which he has been called by

Jonathan Brayton

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his fellow-citizens. Three times the town of Warwick elected him a Senator in the General Assembly. For three years he was a member of the Board of State Charities and Corrections. He was for fifteen years President of the Centreville National Bank in Warwick, and for the same time a Director in the Warwick Institution for Savings. He married in September, 1841, Mary, daughter of Hon. Robert F. Noyes, of South Kingstown, by whom he had one daughter, Mary Noyes, who died at the age of six months. Mrs. Brayton died September 17, 1880. For many years Mr. Brayton has occupied a prominent position in the Baptist denomination in Rhode Island, and taken a deep interest in all matters pertaining to its prosperity. For about ten years he was President of the Rhode Island Baptist State Convention.

ENNER, NICHOLAS ARNOLD, manufacturer, was born in Scituate, Rhode Island, March 29, 1807, and is the son of Thomas and Mary (Leach) Fen- ner. His father and his grandfather, James Fen- ner, were farmers. He attended the common schools of his native town until he was seventeen years of age, being employed part of the time on the farm, and then spent three years as a carpenter's apprentice, meanwhile devoting much of his time to the study of mechanical draw- ing. On completing his apprenticeship he spent one year in the employ of his master, and worked for one year as a journeyman carpenter. He then entered into business for himself as a builder, doing his own designing and draw- ing, and also making plans for other builders. In 1835 he formed a copartnership with his brother, John L. Fenner, with whom he engaged in the building of machinery for cotton mills. They were employed in the machine shop of Jillson & Capen, of Willimantic, Connecticut. Mr. Fenner also worked for some time on general repairs in a machine shop at Central Falls, Rhode Island, and also at the Steam Mill at Providence. Subsequently he had charge of the pattern making for the High Street Foundry in Providence. In 1842 the idea was suggested to him of manufacturing butt-hinges, there being none made in the country at that time. Mr. Fenner visited the warehouses of importers, and being satisfied that a profitable business could be established in that line, he made the patterns for an assortment of goods. He then formed a company with Charles Miller and Stillman Perkins, and soon put upon the market a line of loose-joint butt-hinges, probably the first of the kind manufactured in this country. Mr. Miller sold his interest to the other partners after one year, and Mr. Fenner continued in company with Mr. Perkins for about ten years, when he disposed of his interest to Mr. Brown, who finally sold out to A. C. Barstow & Co. Up to that time Mr. Fenner had had general oversight and management of the concern. He then became superin-

tendent of the works, and was afterward agent. He has owned a large interest in the corporation from the time of its organization, and was President of the Board of Direc- tors, which position he now occupies, and also has general charge of the whole business. The company, which is known as the New England Butt Company, has a capital of $100,000, and employs between 175 and 200 hands in the works. It is one of the largest establishments of the kind, if not the largest, in this country. Mr. Fenner ori- ginated the first machinery in the factory, and was the patentee of a wire-joint butt-hinge, the manufacture of which has been very profitable to the company. In 1875 and 1877 he was a member of the Providence Common Council, a member of the Board of Aldermen in 1878 and 1880, and represented the city of Providence in the Lower House of the General Assembly in 1878 and 1880. He married, September, 1832, Deborah Brown, daughter of Jonathan and Amey (Arnold) Brown, of Smithfield, Rhode Island. They have had seven children, only two of whom are living, Maria Brown, who married Frank R. Holden, a farmer in Kansas, and Herbert Nicholas, who married Emma Brayton, daughter of Lodowick Brayton, of Provi- dence, and who is the treasurer of the New England Butt Company.

399 GOWNSEND, CHRISTOPHER, founder of various public institutions in Newport, Rhode Island, was born in that city, in February, 1807. Ilis father, John F. Townsend, was born in Newport, Septem- ber 6, 1777, and died there in May, 1862, at the age of eighty-five. His mother's maiden name was Ann Easton. She was a descendant of one of the earliest settlers of Rhode Island, from whom Easton's Pond took its name. She and her husband reared two children, Miss Ellen Townsend, now living in Newport, and highly esteemed for her public benefactions, and Christopher, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Townsend enjoyed the advantages of a good practical education in Newport, and in early life turned his atten- tion to mercantile pursuits. In 1826, at the age of nine- teen, he went to New York for employment, and several years afterwards entered into business relations with Messrs. Peter and John Crary, of New York city, with whom he continued for a long time. Subsequently, he established a commission business of his own in New York, in which he continued until about the year 1860, when he retired from mercantile life, and has since been engaged in the charitable distribution of his wealth. The first of his noted benefactions was the gift of ten thousand dollars for the endowment of the "Association of Aid for the Aged," which he has otherwise assisted annually since its organi- zation. His second benefaction, gratefully acknowledged by his fellow-citizens, was a donation, in 1867, of ten thou- sand dollars for establishing and sustaining the " Home for Friendless Children." He also completed and donated

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 77

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