The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 91

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

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held various offices in that order. Ile married, December 27, 1843, Jane Burnham, daughter of Bishop and Elizabeth H. (Clark) Burnham, of Lisbon, Connecticut. She died at Lisbon, February 17, 1855. On the 5th of June, 1860, he married Mary M. Blake, daughter of Judson and Mary (Easton) Blake, of Providence.

CHAPIN, JOSHUA BICKNELL, M.D., was born at Hillsborough, New Hampshire, in 1814, and was the son of Rev. Seth Chapin, a Congregational clergyman. He pursued his preparatory studies at Day's Academy, in Wrentham, Massachusetts; en- tered Williams College in 1831, and graduated at Brown University in 1835. After his graduation he studied medi- cine with Dr. Joseph Mauran, one of the most eminent physicians of his time; attended his first course of medical lectures at Harvard College, and the second at the Berk- shire Medical School, at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where, in 1838, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He subsequently engaged successfully in the practice of his profession in Providence for a period of five years, at the expiration of which he was obliged to abandon the profession on account of an attack of deafness. In 1849 he and Mr. George Thurber, under the firm-name of Chapin & Thurber, established the first scientific apothe- cary store in Providence. In 1854 Dr. Chapin entered into partnership with George E. Manchester, under the firm-name of Manchester & Chapin, photographers, and they printed the first photographs ever made in Providence. This partnership was dissolved, and Dr. Chapin retired in 1858. In 1859 he was appointed Commissioner of Public Schools of Rhode Island, which office he held until 1861, and served in the same capacity from 1863 to 1869. He discharged the duties of that position with rare ability, and labored with great effect to advance the cause of educa- tion. In 1842 he married Louise Value, of Providence, the issue of the marriage being three children, a son and two daughters. The son, Charles Value, after completing his preparatory studies at the English and Classical School of Mowry & Goff, in Providence, entered Brown Univer- sity, where he graduated in 1876; then studied medicine for three years, taking his first course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and the second at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, where he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine, in 1879. The daughter, Miss Louise Chapin, is an accomplished artist. Dr. Chapin died suddenly at his residence in Providence, June 7, 1881. " He was a man of good edu- cation, sound judgment, a vigorous writer, and clear thinker, and his decisions as Commissioner, often subjected to the criticism of the Court, were never reversed. His manner was abrupt, and plainness of speech and a con- tempt for all cant and forms of hypocrisy were predomin-

ating characteristics. His bearing was dignified and gen- tlemanly, and in person he was faultlessly ncat. He in- dulged in healthful exercise and was an early riser. He was passionately fond of horticulture and the sciences, and was a member of the Franklin Society. Ile had the honor of winning two prizes for essays before the Rhode Island Medical Society, provided for by the Fiske fund-the first on asthma, in 1843, and the second on tenotomy, in 1844. During the period in which he was SchoolCommissioner he edited the Rhode Island Schoolmaster, to which he con- tributed many articles."

ARNSWORTH, CLAUDIUS BUCHANAN, manufac- turer, son of Luke and Sarah (Hartwell) Farns- worth, was born at Stanstead, Lower Canada, January 8, 1815, and is a descendant of Matthias Farnsworth, an original settler of Groton, who came to this country from England about 1650. Luke Farns- worth resided in Groton, where he died in 1876, aged ninety-one years. His wife, Sarah, was born in Dum- merston, Vermont, January 6, 1795, and died in 1841. She was a descendant of one of the original settlers of Concord, Massachusetts. Claudius B. received his pre- paratory education in the common schools and at Groton Academy, since called the Lawrence Academy, and en- tered Harvard College in 1837, graduating in 1841. He then studied law in the Harvard Law School, and also with Timothy G. Coffin, of New Bedford, and was admit- ted to the bar, by the late Chief Justice Williams, at the March term of the Court of Common Pleas, Bristol County, Massachusetts, in 1844. In April, 1844, he opened a law office in Pawtucket, that town then being in Massachu- setts, but now in Rhode Island. He successfully pursued the practice of the law in that place till 1858, when he be- came connected with the Dunnell Manufacturing Com- pany, engaged in calico printing. He was chosen treas- urer of this company in 1860, and has continued to occupy that position to the present time (1881). He declined to accept public offices till the reorganization of the town of Pawtucket in 1874, when he was elected one of the Town Council that shaped the present municipal regulations, and served in that position for two years. In 1876, he was chosen a Representative from Pawtucket to the General Assembly, which office, with the exception of 1879, he has continued to fill with conspicuous ability to the present time. In 1877, he made a tour through the principal parts of Europe, and after his return became one of the origina- tors of the Rhode Island School of Design, opened in October, 1878. He was chosen President of the School, and is still acting in that position. Politically he has been a prominent and influential member of the Whig and Re- publican parties, in behalf of which he rendered valuable service, being an effective speaker, and a wise counsellor. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and

MR Knight

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for about twenty years has been Senior Warden of Trinity Parish. He was chosen a delegate to the General Con- vention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, 1865, 1868, 1871, and 1874. With his treasurer- ship of the Dunnell Manufacturing Company, he has found time to aid other associations in their pecuniary interests, and to render assistance in fiduciary trusts. He has ever taken an active interest in all that concerns the public wel- fare. He married, February 27, 1851, Marianna McIntire, daughter of Joseph and Ann ( Mayberry) McIntire, of Paw- tucket. They have three children: John Prescott, born February 19, 1860, who entered Harvard College in 1877, and will graduate in 1881 ; Claude Joseph, entered Brown University in 1880; Abby McIntire, now in school at Hei- delberg, Germany.

LAPP, SYLVANUS, M.D., a descendant from a dis- tinguished family in Western Massachusetts, was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, November 22, 1815. He pursued his medical studies with Dr. Benjamin Barrett, of Northampton, and attended lectures at Harvard Medical School, in Boston, and at Dartmouth College, taking his degree at the latter institu- tion in 1836. His father having moved to Chesterfield, Massachusetts, Dr. Clapp commenced the practice of his profession in that place. He remained here nearly five years, and in 1841 removed to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where he soon acquired a large practice and attained a high rank in his profession, his reputation extending be- yond the limits of his village home, and causing him to be sent for as a consulting physician in all the neighborhood of Pawtucket and Providence. Such were the qualities of his character, and so happily combined were they, that they won both the confidence and the affection of the medical profession and the large number of families who availed themselves of his professional skill. Soon after he came to Rhode Island he joined the Rhode Island Medical So- ciety, and prepared for it several valuable papers. He was chosen to fill important offices in the Society, and was its President in 1864-66. Upon the opening of the Rhode Island Hospital, he was appointed one of the consult- ing physicians. No man was more faithful in his at- tendance upon his duties at this institution, and none whose operations were more respected than his. Espe- cially worthy of note was his attention to the duties of the responsible position which he filled as Visiting Surgeon, through the last quarter of the year 1874, when, day after day, he left his large practice that he might minister to the relief and comfort of patients gathered within the walls of an institution distant five miles from his home. A course of conduct so unselfish is worthy of all commendation. He was one of the consulting physicians at the Butler Hos- pital, taking the place of Dr. Collins, made vacant by his death. Afterwards he was appointed Attending Surgeon

of this hospital, and made a member of its Board of Trus- tees. He was President of the Board of Managers of the Pawtucket Dispensary, in the origin of which he took a leading part. Brown University conferred upon him, in 1870, the honorary degree of Master of Arts. He died in Pawtucket, June 15, 1879. His wife, Lucy M. Clapp, whom he married in 1838, died in August, 1877. He left two daughters and one son, the latter, Dr. L. W. Clapp, now practices medicine and surgery in the town of Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

NIGHT, BENJAMIN BRAYTON, manufacturer, son of Stephen and Welthan (Brayton) Knight, was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, October 3, 1813. His early life was devoted to agricultural and manu- facturing pursuits. His educational advantages were limited to an attendance of a few terms at the district schools, during intervals of labor, until he was sixteen years of age. He remained at home until his twelfth year, assisting his father on the farm, and was soon after- wards apprenticed for four years to Samuel Lowe, a farmer in Old Warwick, with whom he remained for that time. He was subsequently employed in a similar capacity by Gorton Burlingame, in Cranston, and from 1831 to 1833 served as an operative in the Sprague Print Works, at Cranston, and then resumed farming for two years. In 1835 he purchased a small building and opened a general grocery near the Sprague Print Works, which he carried on successfully for some time, together with the butch- ering and marketing business. In 1838 he removed to Providence, where he engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery business with Olney Winsor and L. E. Bowen, under the style of Winsor, Knight & Co. This partner- ship continued for one year, when Mr. Winsor sold his in- terest to his partners, and the firm-name was changed to Bowen & Knight. Mr. Knight purchased Mr. Bowen's interest in 1842, and continued the business alone until 1847, under the name of B. B. Knight, when his brother Jeremiah Knight became associated with him, under the style of B. B. Knight & Co. This firm continued until 1847. Mr. Knight then formed a partnership with D. T. Penniman, under the firm name of Penniman, Knight & Co., in the flour and grain trade, their place of business being on Dyer Street, Providence, in the Amasa Mason Block. One year thereafter, Mr. Knight purchased Mr. Penni- man's interest and continued alone for about four years, under the name of B. B. Knight, doing a large and suc- cessful business in flour and grain. In the spring of 1852, having some three years previous sold his interest in the High Street store to his brother Jeremiah, he sold one-half interest of his business to his brother Robert, at the same time purchasing of the latter one-half interest in the Pon- tiac Mill and Bleachery, when the firm of B. B. & R. Knight was formed. Mr. Knight soon after retired from the

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flour and grain business, and has since devoted his entire time to the manufacture of cotton goods. Messrs. B. B. & R. Knight have acquired an immense business, and are known throughout the country. They own nine mills, lo- cated in different parts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. A detailed account of their varied manufacturing interests is contained in the sketch of Robert Knight, which will be found in this volume. Mr. Knight has done much to pro- mote the general commercial and manufacturing interests of his native State, and has served the public efficiently as a legislator and a member of the city government of Providence. He was elected to the General Assembly in 1852, on the Democratic ticket, and was chosen a Repre- sentative by the Republican party in 1872, the latter term be- ing Chairman of the Finance Committee. He served as Al- derman from the Sixth Ward in 1865, 1866, and 1867, and while a member of that body occupied the position of Chairman of the Finance Committee. He has been Presi- dent of the Butchers' and Drovers' Bank since its organi- zation, July 2, 1853, with the exception of about one year, and is also a director in different insurance companies. He has been twice married ; first, in 1842, to Alice W. Collins, daughter of Elizier W. Collins, of Johnston, Rhode Island, who died February 8, 1850, and second, in December, 1851, to Phebe A. Slocum, daughter of Abel Slocum, of Pawtuxet, Rhode Island. There were three chil- dren by the first marriage : Henry, Mary W., and Walter, none of whom are living. The children by the second mar- riage were : Alice Slocum, who married Howard O. Stur- ges; Henry, deceased; and Adelaide. Mr. Knight and his family attend the Union Congregational Church, to the building and support of which he has been a large con- tributor.

OPKINS, PARDON, son of Major Layton and Eliz- abeth (Whitford) Hopkins, was born in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, February 12, 1815. His father, a man of sound judgment, a farmer, living in the eastern part of the town, was widely known and highly esteemed. His grandfather, Rufus Hopkins, was one of the earliest manufacturers of cotton goods in that part of the State. His great-grandfather was Samuel Hopkins, and his great-great-grandfather was Judge Samuel Hopkins, who occupied several official positions, represented the town in the General Assembly in 1743, 1750, 1766, and 1767, and was Judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas from 1763 to 1766. His great-great-great- grandfather was Joseph Hopkins, first appearing in Rhode Island history near 1690, who for his second wife married Martha Whale, daughter of the famous Theophilus Whale, and finally settled at Hopkins Hill, in West Greenwich. Judge Samuel was the son of Martha. The Hopkinses have been conspicuous and honorable actors in Rhode Island history. Pardon Hopkins received such education as the common schools furnished, and his early years were

spent on the farm in summer, and teaching school in winter. Later in life he learned and practiced house- building. ITis sterling traits of character, and fidelity to the trusts committed to him, gave him a good place in socicty. He was Postmaster at West Greenwich from 1842 to 1852, and filled the office of Town Clerk from 1857 to 1878, with the exception of two years. Being also Public Notary, he devoted much of his time to the town's interests, which were always safe in his hands. He has also been a director of the Coventry Savings Bank since its organization in 1872. Mr. Hopkins has been closely identified with the Baptist Church in his neighborhood, serving as deacon and officiating as clerk for nearly twenty-five years. He is a man of generous impulses, strong convictions, and inflexible in what he regards as right, yet considerate of others and fraternal towards all. He married (1), Lydia A. Lillibridge, daughter of Cap- tain Reynolds Lillibridge, of Exeter, Rhode Island, April 2, 1837, and had one son, Charles W. Hopkins, now re- siding in Providence, who has done much in collecting the Hopkins history; (2) Phebe A. Palmer, daughter of Noah Palmer, of Exeter, Rhode Island, September 1, 1844, and had one son, William P. Hopkins, now a mechanic and inventor in Lawrence, Massachusetts; and (3) Hannah C. Bailey, daughter of Curnel C. Bailey, of West Green- wich, Rhode Island, February 11, 1858.

LDREDGE, JAMES HENRY, M.D., was born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, May 27, 1816. His father, Charles Eldredge, M.D., a native of Brooklyn, Connecticut, removed to East Greenwich in 1810, where he engaged successfully in the prac- tice of medicine and surgery, and for five years served as Senator from that place in the General Assembly. He was an original member of the Rhode Island Medical Society, and the President of the same from 1835 until his death, in 1838. He was the ninth of thirteen children, whose father was a captain in the Revolutionary army during the first three years of the war. The mother of Dr. J. H. Eldredge was Hannah Child, whose father was also a Revolutionary . soldier. The subject of this sketch early manifested a predilection for the study of medicine, and as it was the wish of his father that he should become a physician he pursued his studies with that end in view. He received his preliminary education at Kent Academy, East Greenwich, and in a select school at Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, under Charles W. Greene ; then spent one year at Yale, and graduated in medicine at Jefferson College, Phila- delphia, in 1837. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession in conjunction with his father, and soon at- tained a reputation as a skilful surgeon and successful physician. At the death of his father he succeeded to his professional business, and has continued in active practice in Kent County until the present time, his office and resi-

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dence being in the same house in East Greenwich where he was born. Dr. Eldredge has been an active member of the Rhode Island Medical Society for many years, having furnished various papers, including an article on " Mysteri- ous Epidemic Influences," and another on " Diphtheria," which were printed in the transactions of the Society. For two years, 1858-59, he served as President of that body. He occupies a prominent position as a citizen, and takes an active interest in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the town in which he resides. As Chairman of the Town School Committee for the past twenty-five years he has been greatly instrumental in advancing the cause of edu- cation. He has devoted much time in aid of the Free Library, being a member of the Library Corporation. He has acted as trustee of several estates, and frequently served as guardian, which with the other important trusts committed to him indicate the confidence reposed in him by the community. For several years he has been an influential member of St. Luke's (Episcopal) Church. He married, June 5, 1839, Anna F. A. Henshaw, daughter of Charles Henshaw, a merchant of Boston, Massachusetts. They have two daugh- ters, Anna Henshaw Eldredge, and Emily Rolfe, wife of Edward H. Holbrook, formerly of Boston, but now a resi- dent of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

RAYTON, HON. WILLIAM DANIEL, son of Hon. Charles and Rebecca (Havens) Brayton, was born at Apponaug Village, Warwick, Rhode Island, November 6, 1815. His father was town clerk of Warwick from 1804 until his death in 1834, and Justice of the Supreme Court from 1814 to 1817, and again from 1827 until his death. William D. received excellent home instruction, and was trained to industry and self-re- liance. After attending private schools he entered Kent Academy, in East Greenwich, where he remained from 1827 to 1830, and in 1831-2 pursued his studies at Kings- ton Academy under Hon. Elisha R. Potter. In 1832 he entered Brown University in the class that included Pro- fessor J. L. Lincoln, Rev. A. N. Arnold, D.D., William H. Potter, S. L. Dunnell, S. P. Shepard, and Hon. J. P. Knowles; but in the autumn of 1834 he left the Univer- sity on account of his father's death and his own impaired health. From 1835 to 1838 he engaged in the lumber trade in the firm of G. A. & W. D. Brayton, acting also as deputy Town Clerk-his brother George A. having been elected Clerk on the death of his father. In 1841 he was elected to the State Legislature, and re-elected in 1842, but resigned, and was commissioned Quartermaster of the Fourth Regiment of Militia. These were the troublous times of the " Dorr War," and Major Brayton stood by the standard of " law and order." In 1844 he became Town Clerk of Warwick, filling the place occupied by his brother, George A., who had been elected to the bench of the Supreme Court. Resigning the town clerkship in 1845, he became a member of the Town Council, and for many

years served as such, finally becoming President of that body. In 1847 he was elected President of Warwick Bank. In 1848 he was chosen Senator to the General As- sembly, but resigned the following year. In 1851 he was elected Representative to the General Assembly ; in 1855 again chosen to the State Senate; and in 1856 was one of the Electors of President and Vice-President of the United States. In 1857 he was elected State Representative in the Thirty-fifth Congress. In 1859 he was chosen to the Thirty- sixth Congress, and served through the stormy opening of the Rebellion till 1861. He has always been a co-laborer of the leading men in the State, such as Hon. H. B. An- thony and Hon. N. F. Dixon. With strong heart and hand, he stood by the Union in the Civil War. For schol- arly qualities and public services, Brown University, in 1859, conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. At home during the war he served on a War Committee, and was unwearied in enlisting, equipping, forwarding and paying soldiers, aiding them in procuring bounties and caring for their families. In 1862 he was appointed, by President Lincoln, Collector of Internal Revenue for the Second District of Rhode Island. He resigned his collectorship in 1871; and in 1872 he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention in Phila- delphia. Mr. Brayton was one of the Commissioners to direct the erection of the State Prison. At present, as for some years past, he has had charge of the Money Order Department in the post-office of Providence. Religiously he is a Baptist. Politically he was a Whig until the for- mation of the Republican party, with which he has since been identified. His sympathies and efforts, in private and public, have greatly encouraged liberal learning and public improvements. He married, in September, 1839, Anna Ward Clarke (daughter of Ray Clarke, of East Greenwich), who died in 1858. In 1866 he married Susan Josephine Baker, of Warwick. She died in 1874. Mr. Brayton has eight children now living. His son, Brigadier- General Charles Ray Brayton, was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, August 16, 1840. He entered Brown Uni- versity in 1859. Before completing his Sophomore year the Civil War began, and he left the University to enter the Union Army. After recruiting a company for the war in his native town, to serve in the Third Regiment of Rhode Island Volunteers ( Heavy Artillery), he was commissioned as First Lieutenant of Company G, August 27, 1861, and proceeded with his regiment to Fort Hamilton, New York, thence to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, and then to the De- partment of the South, in the expedition under Commodore Dupont and General T. W. Sherman, participating in the capture of Port Royal, South Carolina, November 7, 1861. In that Department he served under Generals Sherman, Hunter, Gillmore and Foster, rising to the command of the Third Regiment, and to the position of Chief of Artillery of the Department. His bravery was conspicuous in the capture of Fort Pulaski, Georgia, April 11, 1862, the battle

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of James Island, South Carolina, June 16, 1862, the action of Pocotaligo, October 22, 1862, the battle of Light House Inlet, July 10, 1863, the assaults that resulted in the cap- ture of Forts Wagner and Gregg, and the bombardments of Fort Sumter and the city of Charleston. He was pro- moted to the rank of Captain November 28, 1862, Lieu- tenant- Colonel November 17, 1863, and Colonel April 1, 1864. As Assistant Chief of Artillery he commanded all the batteries on Morris Island, and afterwards as Chief of Artillery of the Department controlled all the artillery operating against Charleston. For gallant conduct he was brevetted Brigadier-General of Volunteers following the close of the war. After his three years of service he was appointed Postmaster at Hilton Head, South Carolina, and remained at that post till the adjustment of affairs in the spring of 1867. For a time he contemplated entering the Regular Army, and received a commission as Captain in the Seventeenth Infantry, but finally entered the Civil Service. He was appointed Postmaster of Providence in June, 1874, which office he held until 1880. He married, March 13, 1865, Antoinette Percival Belden, daughter of Stanton Belden, A.M., of North Providence, Rhode Isl- and, and has two children, Antoinette P. and William S.

AMPBELL BROTHERS, Horatio Nelson, Daniel Gordon, John Park, and James Monroe, merchants and manufacturers, sons of Winthrop and Susan Stewart (Gordon) Campbell, were born in Voluntown, Connecticut. They were educated in the public schools and at academies, and early engaged in mercantile and manufacturing pursuits. Horatio N., born March 13, 1815, the eldest of the brothers, after an engagement of a few years as a clerk, in Plainfield, Connecticut, removed in 1835 to Westerly, Rhode Island, and entered as clerk the store of Rowse Babcock, Jun., who was also a manufac- turer. In 1840 he was admitted as a partner with Mr. Babcock, and the firm took the name H. N. Campbell & Co., beginning business in the store then just completed on the corner of Water (now East Broad) and Main streets, a stand long known as Campbell's Corner. Mr. Campbell finally became interested in manufacturing, the leading business in the valley of the Pawcatuck, and remained in Westerly more than thirty years. In connection with his other interests, he dealt to some extent in cotton and wool. In 1846 he married Harriet Babcock, sister of his business- partner and daughter of Rowse Babcock, Sen. In 1854, on the organization of the Niantic Bank (now the National Bank), Mr. Campbell was elected to the presidency, a po- sition which he has continued to fill to the present time. In 1873 he removed, with his family, to the city of Provi- dence, retaining his son, Horatio N. Campbell, Jun., in company with him, and engaged in the wholesale wool trade, under the old firm-name of HI. N. Campbell & Co. Here he still resides, and is actively engaged in that busi-

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 91

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