The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 86

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

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Inspector of public schools; as a Superintendent of Sabbath- schools; as a member and for years a Vice-President of the American Institute of Instruction; and as one of the founders and organizers of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction. In the midst of his educational career he spent two years in foreign travel and study, visiting institutions of learning in Great Britain and on the continent of Europe, extending his tour through Egypt, Palestine, and Greece. On his return home he devoted himself to the instruction of youth in London, Connecticut, and in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1861 he visited Europe for the third time, and while there received, early in 1852, notice of his appointment to the consular and diplomatic post at Tunis, where he resided upwards of five years, re- storing and maintaining amicable relations between our government and that of Tunis, keeping the Department of State informed in regard to various industrial, com- mercial, and diplomatic affairs of general interest, and de- voting much time to a critical study of the geography, his- tory, antiquities, and the actual condition of the Regency of Tunis. He early interested himself in collecting me- morials of his lamented predecessor in office, John How- ard Payne, who died in the Consulate ten years before the arrival of Mr. Perry; and, at a later period, after much correspondence with William Cullen Bryant, and other friends of the poet, he forwarded, under instructions from the Department of State, to the relatives of Mr. Payne, such literary remains, including diaries and manuscripts, as could be found. In 1865 an embassy was sent to this country, under his conduct, with a large, finely executed portrait of the Bey of Tunis in full regalia, as a token of friendship, with letters of condolence on the death of President Lincoln, and of congratulations on the re-estab- lishment of peace, and with instructions to make a report on its return in reference to the condition of our country and its various institutions, especially in regard to our modes and implements of warfare. The mission was a success, bringing distant countries and dissimilar races into near relations, extending the entente cordiale that tends to universal brotherhood and peace, and giving unqualified satisfaction. The report of the Ambassador, General Hasem, was published in the official Arabic journals at Tunis, and embraced an acknowledgment of the generous and hospitable reception of the embassy, a reference to the beauty and grandeur of American scenery, and eompli- mentary mention of our curious inventions, varied im- provements, and marvellous contrivances for human de- struction. Specimens of our implements of warfare, in- cluding Peabody rifles, ware carricd to the Bey and his ministers, by whom they were regarded with great admira- tion. In 1866 a superb portrait of Washington was sent to Tunis by our government, and at the formal presentation, which was made by Mr. Perry, under instructions from the Department of State, it was suspended on the walls of the Bey's palace at the Bardo, where it remains, in eom-

pany with numerous likenesses of European and Ottoman sovereigns. Since his return home, Mr. Perry has em- bodied some of the results of his studies and researches, at his official post, in an octavo volume of 560 pages, en- titled, Carthage and Tunis : Past and Present. This volume contains an epitomized history of one of the most historic portions of the globe, together with an aceount of its actual condition. He has also exereiscd his pen for public journals and magazines, and has taken an active part in the proceedings of the Rhode Island Historical Society. In a paper read before that body in 1874, he brought to light the Rhode Island Society of Cincinnati, which was born with the peace of 1783, and after exert- ing a salutary influence during a critical and trying period of our national life, dropt out of sight for a third of a cen- tury, and then emerged with the development of its his- tory; but it was bereft of all the illustrious Continental officers who founded it for social, charitable, and patriotic purposes. Since its revival the society has been supported by descendants who, recognizing their heritage, strive to prove their worthiness by illustrating the virtues and per- petuating the memory of ancestors whose places they occupy. Mr. Perry received the honorary degree of A.M. from Brown University in 1841 ; he is an honorary mem- ber of the Alpha Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University; an honorary member of the Rhode Island Society of Cincinnati; a Vice-President of the American Peace Society ; a Corresponding Member of the New York Historical Society; of the Chicago Historical Society; of the American Ethnological Society, and of the American Geographical Society. He married, in 1838, Elizabeth Anastasia, daughter of Eber and Waity (Irons) Phetteplace, of Glocester, Rhode Island. The issue of this marriage was a daughter, Helen Elizabeth, who married P. Redfield S. Kendall, a graduate of Dartmouth College, and an attorney-at-law, settled in Rutland, Vermont. They have had one child, Elizabeth Redfield Kendall.

ILLINGHAST, REV. JOHN, youngest son of twelve children of Deacon Pardon and Mary (Sweet) Tillinghast, was born in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, October 3, 1812. He was a descendant of Rev. Pardon Tillinghast, who came to Providence in 1645, and suceeeded Roger Williams as the minister of the First Baptist Church in that city and in America. In all the history of the State, the members of this family have held high rank for character and serviees, alike in ecclesiastical and civil affairs. The favorite nanies have been Pardon and John. Mr. Tillinghast's parents were pioneer settlers in West Greenwich, and his school advan- tages were limited; but he made the most of his opportu- nities. Being self-educated he knew his ground, and was never the echo of others. Converted at an early age, he commenced preaching soon after his twentieth year. On

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the 8th of October, 1840, he was ordained pastor of the West Greenwich Baptist Church, and lived to serve that body, and the region round about, from the time of his licentiate until his death. Of medium height, erect form, manly features, dark gray eyes, pleasing voice, and great force of character, he commanded attention, respect, and esteem. Among reformers he stood in the van, and was pronounced in all his convictions, maintaining the right at all hazards. His name was a power in Western Rhode Island. His qualities and piety are sufficiently evinced by the fact that, in a wonderfully progressive period, he filled the same pulpit for more than forty years. He served his town efficiently in educational and civil affairs, and in 1854-5 was a member of the General Assembly. Nearing the end of his pure, laborious life, he said, " My work is done; I am full of joy ; I know whom I have believed." He mar- ried, March 2, 1834, Susan Caroline Avery, daughter of Elisha Avery. He died March 28, 1878, and was buried. with universal marks of honor.

COSWORTH, JUDGE ALFRED, eldest son of Daniel and Susan (Mason) Bosworth, was born in War- ren, January 28, 1812. He was fitted for college by Rev. George W. Hathaway, then rector of St. Mark's Church, in Warren, and was a graduate of Brown University in the class of 1835. At the close of his college course, he commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. Levi Haile, in his native village, and was admit- ted to the Rhode Island bar in 1838. He commenced the practice of his profession in Chepachet, having formed a partnership with Hon. Samuel Y. Atwell. He remained in Chepachet only one year, at the end of which time he returned to Warren and opened an office, succeeding to the business of Mr. Haile, who had been appointed a Jus- tice of the Supreme Court of the State. Soon after his return to his native town, he was elected a member of the General Assembly, and from 1839 to 1854, a period of fifteen years, he was chosen annually, to occupy the posi- tion of a Representative front Warren to that body. On the decease of Judge Haile in 1854, Mr. Bosworth was elected to fill his place on the bench of the Supreme Court. As a practicing lawyer he conducted many important cases, both in the State and in the United States Courts. He was counsel of Rhode Island in several suits affecting the boundaries of this State and Massachusetts, and took an important part in the suits which grew out of the troubles of 1842. While in the Legislature, he was, for several years, Speaker of the House. In 1854, he was chosen a trustee of Brown University, and held that position until his death. Judge Bosworth was twice married-the first time to Harriet Newell, daughter of Shubael P. Child, of Warren, who lived but a year after the marriage. His second wife was Anne, daughter of William Collins, of Warren, who, with three children, Daniel, Alfred, and

Harriet, survived her husband. He died in Warren, May 10, 1862.

02mas SAIRBROTHER, HON. LEWIS, son of Jarvis and Betsey (Field) Fairbrother, was born in Pawtucket (then a part of North Providence), Rhode Island, August 2, 1812. His father, born in Rchoboth, Mas- sachusctts, was an excellent machinist. He removed from his native town and prosecuted the favorite work of his life with success in North Providence. His wife was the daughter of Hon. John Field. Jarvis and Betsey Fairbrother had seven children, John, Lewis, Betsey, Samuel, Phineas, Nathaniel, and Mary (who died young). Lewis was educated in the common schools, attending a few weeks each year, giving the rest of his time to his work. He finally studied for one year in the Wilbraham Academy, Massachusetts. At the age of about twenty he commenced the manufac- ture of leather for factory uses. He began by making picker and lace leather. A few years later he entered upon the manufacture of belting. Purchasing the hides, he tanned them and fitted the leather to the machines and wheels. The first to introduce belting made of leather was Mr. John Blackburn, who applied his belts to certain machinery in the famous old Slater Mill. Mr. Fairbrother began this branch of business in 1834 and prosecuted it with great skill and success. He had learned the art of tanning and manufacturing picker and lace leather in At- tleboro, Massachusetts, and began business in Pawtucket with only one vat in a building measuring only fifteen by thirty feet. He made the manufacturing of belts and fac- tory leather of various sorts a specialty. He has contrib- uted largely to the development of the industrial interests not only of Pawtucket but also of the State. His son, Henry L., on reaching maturity, was received by him as a partner in business in 1861. In 1865 Mr. Fairbrother desiring to retire from the anxieties and responsibilities of business sold his interest to Mr. Henri E. Bacon, and the firm became H. L. Fairbrother & Co. Mr. Bacon retired in 1870, and the establishment came into the hands of H. L. Fairbrother, the firm-name remaining. This is the old- est lace and picker leather establishment now in the United States, save one in Attleboro, Massachusettes, where Mr. Fairbrother learned his trade, and is the oldest in Rhode Island. It now occupies as much floor-room as any similar factory in the State. The business has increased till its annual products are valued at about half a million of dol- lars. In 1836 Mr. Fairbrother united with the First Bap- tist Church in Pawtucket, and has ever been a strong sup- porter of that body. Politically he has been a Whig and a Republican, and has always been in the vanguard of moral reforms. In 1855 he was elected a Representative to the General Assembly, and again in 1856, serving the two years as Chairman of the House Committee on Cor- porations. In 1857 he was elected to the State Senate, and re-elected in 1858, 1859 and 1860, and again in 1864, here,

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as in the House, serving all the time as Chairman of the Committee on Corporations. For many years he was agent for the management of the Providence and Pawtucket turnpike, and sct many of the trees on that thoroughfare, and for one season had the track watered. In the erection of the solid stone bridge at Pawtucket Falls, by order of the State of Rhode Island and the towns of North Providence and Pawtucket, in 1858, he was Chairman of the Com- missioners, his associates being Daniel Wilkinson and Enoch Brown, with Samuel B. Cushing as engineer and Luther Kingsley as builder. During the Rebellion, be- sides otherwise aiding the Union cause, he was the Com- mittee of the town for distributing thousands of dollars for the relief and comfort of the families of the soldiers, aid- ing about a hundred and fifty families. He was President of the Slater Bank (now the National Bank) at its organ- ization, and for many years after. In the old North Provi- dence Bank he was a director, and is now a director in the Pawtucket Gas Company, and the Slater Cotton 'Company. In 1866 he was appointed by the State an Inspector of the State Prison, and served in that office eleven years. In every position in life he has been valued for his talents, stability, judgment and faithfulness. He married, May 3, IS37, Harriet Elizabeth May, born March 29, 1813, daugh- ter of Jesse and Betsey Marsh May, of Pawtucket (then North Providence ) and has three children, Henry L., Har- riet Elizabeth, and Jesse May.

EGAR, THOMAS WANTON, merchant, was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, April 20, 1812, and is the son of Thomas and Rebecca (Ward) Segar. In 1813 the family removed to Lebanon, Connecticut. His father and grandfather were well- known farmers. His mother was a descendant of Gover- nor Samuel Ward, of Westerly. He received a common- school education, taught school for three winters in his native town, and engaged in agricultural pursuits until he was twenty-one years of age. In 1836 he became a trav- clling drygoods merchant, and was thus successfully en- gaged for seven years. In 1843 he opened a store in Westerly, where he carried on a general merchandise busi- ness until 1865, since which time he has been principally engaged in the coal and grain trade. From 1846 to 1867 he was in partnership with a relative, Samuel B. Segar, of Westerly. In 1877 his son, William Segar, became asso- ciated with him, which partnership continued until 1880, when the former withdrew to engage in business for him- sclf. Mr. Segar's sales have amounted to sixty thousand dollars in one year, being the largest business in his line in the town of Westerly. From 1854 to 1857 he was a member of the Steam Mill Manufacturing Company, at Westerly, engaged in the manufacture of plaid linseys. For many years he has been interested in coasting vessels. For five years he was captain of an independent militia

company in Lebanon, Connecticut. In 1878 he was the Democratic nomince for State Treasurer, in 1879 the l)emo- cratic nomince for Governor, and in 1881 a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, but the State being strongly Repub- lican, he was not elected to either of the offices mentioned. He was no office-seeker, and it was only at the most earn- cst solicitations of his party that he consented to accept these different nominations, and in each case he received many of the Republican votes of his town. In 1880 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Cincinnati. He has been a director in the National Ni- antic Bank of Westerly since the date of its charter, 1854, and is also a director in the Niantic Savings Bank of Westerly. Though not a member, he is a regular attend- ant at the Calvary Baptist Church, in Westerly, of which he is a liberal supporter, and is a generous contributor to all benevolent objects. He married, February 5, 1844, Elizabeth T., daughter of Hon. William T. and Martha (Card) Browning, of South Kingstown. She died August 2, 1849. They had three children, two of whom, Thomas B. and William, are living. On the 5th of February, 1852, Mr. Segar married Jane C., daughter of Charles and Catharine (Thompson) Bradford, of Stonington, Connecti- cut, the issue of the marriage being seven children : Eliz- abeth T., who married George R. Coy, of Westerly; Cath- arine B., Charles B., Henry R., Fanny L., deceased, Albertus V., and Ernest G.

ØKERMAN, CHARLES, the youngest but one of thirteen children, was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, February 27, 1812. His parents were Joseph and Esther (Jackson) Akcrman, the latter of whom attained to great age, dying in her ninety-first year. His boyhood and youth were spent in his native town, where he enjoyed the ordinary advantages of public schools. His first employment after leaving home was with an uncle engaged in the tannery business. Disliking this, he went to Boston, with but sixty cents in his pocket, yet with courage in his heart and a resolute iron will that brooked no obstacles in the way of future success, he engaged as clerk in a drygoods store. From thence he went to the adjoining town of Cambridge, where he engaged in the book-binding business. Here he became acquainted with an accomplished and most excellent lady, Lucy Eveline Metcalf, daughter of Thomas and Lucy (Child) Metcalf, whom he married May 22, 1836. With her he lived most happily thirty-eight years, she dying February 21, 1874, upon her fifty-eighth birthday. She was a woman of rare gifts and graces, beautiful in person and lovely and attractive in disposition. Some of her po- etical productions have real merit, and will bcar the test of time. They have been gathered together by her loving daughters, and privately published in a neat and attractive volume under the title, Nothing but Leaves, and Other

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Poems. Previous to his marriage, and during the same year, he came to Providence and bought out Thomas Doyle, father of ex-Mayor Doyle, who was carrying on a bindery and blank book manufactory in a building on Westmin- ster Street, where Tibbitts & Shaw's book-storc now is. Here he continued for some time. Thence he removed to Union Building, and afterwards to Washington Row, where he remained until his decease. Altogether he was in the book-binding business nearly fifty years. He was noted for his punctuality, for strict attention to all the de- tails of his affairs, and for his integrity and truthfulness. His word was as good as a bond; hence the secret of his rare success, and of the many friendships which he formed in daily life. In public affairs he took a lively interest, and was always ready to engage in any good work for the benefit of the poor, and for the advancement of society. He was a member of the Common Council from the Fifth Ward, in 1847, a member of the General Assembly, in 1855, and for many years a member of the School Com- mittee. But public life as such had no attractions for him, and he declined public service, satisfied with the cares of his own business and the attractions of his quiet and happy home. He died April 14, 1879, leaving two mar- ried daughters to mourn his loss.

BIGGIN, CHASE, M.D., son of Richard Russ and Eunice R. (Mead) Wiggin, was born in Centre Harbor, New Hampshire, November 17, 1812. His father was a carpenter by trade, and his an- cestry in this country has been traced as follows : Chase Wiggin, born in 1751, died in 1791; Bradstreet, born in 1724, died in 1757; Chase, born in 1699, died in 1733; Bradstreet, born in 1675, died in 1708; Andrew, born in 1635, died in 1710; Thomas, who came from England in 1636, to act as Agent or Governor of the terri- tory then known as the Upper Plantations, now Eastern New Hampshire. Governor Thomas Wiggin died in 1667. The mother of the subject of this sketch was a native of Meredith, New Hampshire, her father being one of the pioneer settlers. Richard Russ and Eunice R. Wiggin had three children, John Mead, Chase, and Eunice Jane. John Mead was born in 1810, in Centre Harbor, and the family soon removed to Meredith, New Hampshire, where he resided until 1879, when he removed to Providence. He was for two years a member of the New Hampshire Legislature. He married Polly Fox Wadleigh, of Mere- dith. They had four children, John Langdon, an inven- tor, Oliver Chase, and Charles Dearborn, both physicians in Providence, and Richard Russ, deceased. Dr. Chase Wiggin has been a practicing physician in Providence since the spring of 1842. He was employed upon his father's farm, and attended the district schools until his twentieth year. He afterward attended school in New Hampton, New Hampshire, and for several years there-

after was engaged in teaching at Great Falls, New Hamp- shire, and elsewhere, until he entered upon the study of medicine as a private pupil of Dixi Crosby, then Professor of Surgery in the Medical School connected with Dart- mouth College, at Hanover, New Hampshire. IIe re- mained in the office of Professor Crosby one year, during which time he attended a full course of medical lectures, and then pursued his studies for one year with Josiah Crosby, M.D., a brother of his former preceptor. While studying under the direction of the last-named gentleman, he attended a course of medical lectures at Bowdoin Col- lege, in Brunswick, Maine. In the spring of 1841 he went to Providence and studied in the office of George Fabyan, M.D., until the fall of that year, when he returned to Dart- mouth College, attended another course of medical lectures, and graduated with the degree of M.D. He united with the Philadelphia Medical Society, and the following win- ter attended the Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, from which institution he received a diploma. He then returned to Providence and began the practice of medicine in the office of Dr. George Fabyan, with whom he con- tinued for one year, when he opened an office on Benefit Street, where he remained two years, and in 1845 returned to his old office on Broad Street, where he has ever since pursued his profession. But few physicians have had a more extensive practice, or have rendered more gratuitous professional service to the poor, than Dr. Wiggin. For a period of thirty years he was not absent from his office over one day in the year, on an average, while for eight, and again for six years, he did not lose a single day, and sometimes his visits were over seventy per day. Dr. Wig- gin is a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society, with which he united in 1842, and is also a member of the Providence Medical Association. His time has been en- tirely devoted to his profession, and he has long ranked among the successful and well-known medical practitioners of Providence.

BATERMAN, HENRY, D.D., son of Resolved and Lucia (Cady) Waterman, was born in Centre- ville, a village in Warwick, Rhode Island, August 17, 1813. The family removed to Providence when he was quite young, and here he fitted for college, and was a graduate of Brown University, in the class of 1831. He studied theology at Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, in a school of which Rev. Messrs. John Henry Hopkins and George W. Doane, at that time rectors of Episcopal churches in Boston, had the charge. He also went through the prescribed course of study in the Theo- logical Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York. Bishop Griswold ordained him as deacon in Providence in June, 1835, and as Presbyter in Boston, January, 1837. He was rector of St. James, in Woonsocket, six years (1835-1841), of St. Stephen's Church, Providence, four years (1841-1845), and of Christ's Church, Andover, Mas-

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sachusetts, four years (1845-1849). Resigning his rector- ship in Andover, he spent about a year abroad, and on his return was called again, in 1850, to take charge of St. Stephen's Church in Providence, of which he was the minister for twenty-four ycars (1850-1874). During his ministry the parish was greatly prospered. By his per- sonal efforts chiefly, funds were secured for the erection of the very attractive house of worship on George Street, and a large congregation was gathered within its consecrated walls. " He was," says Professor Gammell, " an instructive and effective preacher, and a careful student of the works of the old English divines, and was throughly Anglican in all his views. Beyond his immediate sphere as a clergyman, he seldom cared to appear in public. In that sphere, how- ever, he was always ready for any service, and he exerted a very important influence, and was greatly respected by his brethren." Columbia College, New York, conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1858. In October, 1837, he married Eliza, daughter of William Harris, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Dr. Water- man, whose active ministry covered a period of nearly forty years, twenty-eight of which were devoted to St. Stephen's, in Providence, died in Providence, October 18, 1876.

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 86

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