The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 95

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

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to help the unfortunate, yct exhibiting a cool judgment in the administration of the charitable trusts committed to him. He married, June 29, 1836, Susan Arnold Ellis, of War- wick, Rhode Island, daughter of Halsey Ellis. They have had seven children : John Henry, who married, first, Minnie Lawrence, and second, Ella Irons; Rhoby Hatha- way, who married John Adams; Edgar Arnold, who mar- ried Anna Millen; Amy Elizabeth, who married Earl H. Potter ; Susan Adelaide, died young; Ella Arrazine, de- ceased ; Hattie Leverne, who married Frank Chaffee, and died December 29, 1879.

HERMAN, ROBERT, son of Robert and Rebecca (Fish) Sherman, was born in Newport, Rhode. Island, August 31, 1816. His parents were both natives of Rhode Island. For some time he attended the private school of Joseph Healy, in Pawtucket, and at an early age served an apprenticeship at the print- er's trade in the office of the Pawtucket Chronicle, then owned and conducted by Messrs. Randall Meacham and Samuel H. Fowler. In 1838 he started the Pawtucket Gazette, and was prospered in the undertaking. In 1839 Mr. Sherman purchased the Pawtucket Chronicle, and the two papers were consolidated under the name of the Paw- tucket Gazette and Chronicle, Mr. Sherman having entire charge of the business management, and Mr. Kinnicut be- ing the editor. The paper was enlarged and greatly im- proved both in its editorial character and typographical appearance. The enterprising spirit of its publisher was at once appreciated by the public and awarded a liberal patronage. In 1841 the office was removed to the corner of Main and Mill streets, and in 1850 to the Amos Read Block, additional enlargement and improvement being made. In 1866 it was removed to the large and com- modious Manchester Block. In 1870, after a successful career in this branch of business, Mr. Sherman sold his interest in the paper and printing-office to Ansel D. Nick- erson and John S. Sibley, and devoted his time chiefly to the management of real estate interests intrusted to him by his townsmen. From 1853 to 1855 he was Sheriff of Bristol County, Massachusetts, of which State he was a resident until the change of boundary line; from 1864 to 1871, United States Marshal for the District of Rhode Isl- and. He was one of the originators of the Pawtucket Gas Company, and for several years one of its directors ; a trustee of the Pawtucket Institution for Savings for about twenty-five years; for the same time a director in the New England and Pacific (now the Pacific National) Bank, of which he is now President ; and for many years a director in the Pawtucket Mutual Fire Insurance Com- pany, of which he is now President. His sound judg- ment, sagacity, and integrity have caused him to be largely and widely consulted in matters pertaining to the value and settlement of estates. Since 1850 he has been a member

of the Pawtucket Congregational Church, and for four ycars was the Superintendent of the Sabbath-school. He married, in 1840, Louisa Nickerson, daughter of Mulford and Esther Nickerson, of Pawtucket. They have two children : Frederick, who graduated from Brown Univer- sity in the class of 1862, and Louise, who graduated at the Young Ladies' School, under the direction of Professor Lincoln.

THOMPSON, THOMAS DAWES, D.D.S., son of Moses and Mary (Etheridge) Thompson, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, December 6, 1816. His father was a builder, and served as a soldier in the War of 1812. His grandfather was one of the sturdy yeomanry of Woburn, Massachusetts, and one of the first to resist the British at Lexington, where he received three bullets in his clothing without any serious injury to his person. His maternal great-grandfather Etheridge was killed in the battle of Bunker Hill, and his house, on Common Street, was occupied for a time as a barracks for British soldiers. The American ancestors of the Thomp- son family were among the earliest settlers of Massachu- setts, and Thompson Island, in Boston Harbor, was named in honor of a man of that name who settled there in 1603. It is said that Count Rumford, who received his title from the British government on account of his scientific discov- eries and inventions as applied to the preparation of food, was one of the Woburn branch of the family. Thomas Dawes Thompson attended the public schools of Boston until he was fourteen years of age, when he entered a dry- goods store of that city and was employed as clerk for about two years, after which he served an apprenticeship of five years with a cabinet-maker in Boston. He was then employed for five years in the piano manufactory of Timothy Gilbert, in the same city, but finding the work too fatiguing, on account of his failing health, he relin- quished it, and, in 1840, entered into the drygoods busi- ness in Salem, Massachusetts, in company with G. E. Dennison. He continued there for three years, and in 1843 removed to Providence, Rhode Island, where he en- gaged in the same business with his brother. Having indorsed heavily for a friend who failed in business, he soon after gave up all his property to satisfy the demands against him. In 1844 he learned the art of daguerreotyp- ing, and opened a gallery in the city of Newburyport, Mas- sachusetts, where he remained about two years, and during that period pursued the study of dentistry in the office of M. G. Smith. In October, 1848, he entered the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, the first institution of the kind in the world, where he graduated in March, 1849. He then opened an office in Westminster Street, Providence, where he has since continued in the successful practice of his profession. He was the first regular graduate of any dental college in the State. In 1874 he received as a

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partner G. H. Ames, D.M.D., with whom he was associ- ated for about three and a half years. In 1854 he pub- lished a book entitled Dental Facts for the People, which was highly commended by his professional brethren and the public press. In 1871 he patented the " Dentist's Uni- versal Head Rest," a very ingenious contrivance by which any desired position of the head can be instantly secured and retained, both to the convenience of the operator and the comfort of the patient. Dr. Thompson claims that he was the first person to administer chloroform in New Eng- land in the practice of dental surgery, having received knowledge of its use from a student in the Baltimore Col- lege of Dental Surgery, Dillwyn G. Varney, who, in De- cember, 1847, made the first use of it in America, having volunteered to inhale it as an experiment under the direc- tion of Professor Harris. For several years Dr. Thomp- son was a regular contributor to the American Journal of Dental Science, and has written occasional articles for other dental publications. In 1870 he was elected Asso- ciate Fellow of the American Academy of Dental Science, and having resigned in 1879, was elected Honorary Fel- low of the same. In 1857 he received a money prize, and in 1858 a diploma for " beautiful and very perfect speci- mens of dental art," from the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry, at the Rhode Island Industrial Exhibition in Providence. He is a mem- ber of the Union Congregational Church in Providence, and in his earlier years was an earnest Sunday-school worker. Dr. Thompson married, June 2, 1845, Sarah Jane, daughter of William and Mary W. (Robinson) Bow- ers, of Somerset, Massachusetts. They have four chil- dren : George Edward, who served about two years in the Union Army during the War of the Rebellion, having vol- unteered before he was fourteen years of age, and is now Commissioner of Highways of Providence; William Bow- ers, who is engaged in business in Providence; Ella J., who married F. W. Redwood, a banker of Macon, Mis- sissippi; and Anna A.

ANCHESTER, HENRY NILES AND EDWIN HARTWELL, photographers, are the sons of Earl and Lucy (Stone) Manchester. Henry N. was born in Coventry, Rhode Island, October 30, 1815, and Edwin H. was born in Abington, Pennsylvania, August 17, 1820. Their father was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, and afterwards moved to Coven- try, where he was engaged in the Arkwright Mill for sev- eral years. In 1813, he was induced to remove to Penn- sylvania, where he engaged successfully in the manufacture of cotton machinery. He was a typical Rhode Island mechanic of the old school, and pursued mechanical arts until his death. His grandfather came to this country from England. Earl's wife was of the old Stone family, long in the State, but originally from England. Henry N. and Edwin

H. had common-school advantages. For a time, Henry N. attended the Greenwich Academy and then taught school. About 1843, he began to study what little was then to be known of the daguerrean art, with Mr. Plumb, in Boston, Massachusetts, after which he began business in Newport, Rhode Island. Here Edwin H. joined him and studied the daguerrean art. After remaining in New- port one season, the brothers removed to Providence. About this time Henry N., with Samuel Masury, opened rooms both in Providence and Woonsocket, continuing one season at the latter place; meanwhile, Edwin H. con- ducted the business in Providence for the firm. Henry N. now sold out his interest to Mr. Masury, and spent one season in Pennsylvania. On returning to Rhode Island, he united with Edwin H. in business, and the brothers, as partners, settled in Providence, where they have continued successfully, to the present time (1881), to carry on the art to which their lives have been devoted,-the making of daguerrean, crystallotype, and photographic pictures. For several years, during the watering season, they also main- tained rooms for their art in Newport. They were for a long time the foremost artists in their line of work in Providence, and their superior pictures are found through- out the State, and indeed in all parts of the world. The first light-portrayed pictures were shown to the scientific world in Paris, in 1839, by Daguerre, a Frenchman, who, though assisted by J. N. Niepce, was the discoverer of the process, and so had the honor of having his name attached to the pictures. Near the same time the first photographs were invented by Talbot, an Englishman, who patented the process, and so prevented it from widely spreading for several years. These last pictures were introduced into this country about 1850, the negatives being paper rendered transparent by wax. At first they were called crystallo- types, and afterwards photographs. Soon after making their appearance in New York and Boston, they were introduced by the Manchester Brothers into Providence under their first name, crystallotypes.

B ARDEN, HON. JOHN HILL, manufacturer, son of John and Priscilla (Hill) Barden, was born in Scituate, Rhode Island, August 7, 1816. His father was a farmer, and his grandfather was a skil- ful worker of iron ore, which he smelted from ore brought from the Cranston mine. Mr. Barden spent the first years of his life on a farm, and at the age of sixteen went to work in the cotton mill at Ponagansett, Rhode Island, where he continued about eight years. He then attended school one year at Smithville Seminary, North Scituate, after which he was employed for four years in a store in Ponagansett. In 1844, he began to manufacture cotton goods at the Remington Mill, in Rockland, where he continued in successful business for nine years, part of the time in company with Joseph S. Manchester, who died

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after a partnership of about six months, the interest he left being purchased by Mr. Barden. In 1852 he gave up the business at Rockland, and bought half of the mill privi- lege at Ponagansett, in company with Benjamin A. Potter. The mill having been burned, they rebuilt it in 1853, and continued to carry it on together until 1860, when Mr. Potter wishing to retire, a new company was formed, Mr. Barden retaining one-half the property and interest. In 1860 the capacity of the mill was doubled, and has since been increased to six thousand spindles. The little village of Ponagansett is all under Mr. Barden's control, except one house. He has always taken a deep interest in the welfare of his operatives; has taken great pains to provide good houses for them; to encourage them to save their earnings, and to improve their condition in life in every way. In 1867, a hall was built for Sunday-school and church purposes, and during the past four years an even- ing school has been carried on for the benefit of his mill operatives who could not attend the public schools. For many years Mr. Barden has been connected with the edu- cational interests of the town and of the State, and was one of the ardent supporters of the State Normal School at the time of its re-establishment. He has been Justice of the Peace, Town Moderator, and has held various other town offices. In 1869, he was elected to the House of Represen- tatives of the General Assembly of Rhode Island from his native town, and in 1870 and 1871 to the State Senate. He is a member of Hamilton Lodge of Freemasons, of the Scituate Royal Chapter, of the State Grand Chapter, and has held various offices in the fraternity. In 1836, he became actively interested in the cause of temperance, and has been connected with several temperance societies. He became a member of the Christian Church at Foster Centre in 1834, and is now identified with the church of the same denomination at Rockland. Mr. Barden married, January 5, 1843, Ann Eliza, daughter of Simeon and Wait Har- rington, of Scituate. They have had four children, all of whom died while quite young.

ENDRICK, JOHN, manufacturer, son of Joseph and Permelia (Smith) Kendrick, was born in Winchester, New Hampshire, September 25, 1817. His great-grandfather, with two brothers, came from England to this country, and settled at Dedham, Massachusetts. His grandfather, Oliver Kendrick, at the age of sixteen, enlisted as a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and served throughout the struggle for indepen- dence, participating in the battles of Lexington, Bunker Hill, Saratoga, White Plains, and Yorktown. John Ken- drick was employed on his father's farm, attending a dis- trict school part of the time, until the age of eighteen, when he bought his time of his father, and served an ap-

prenticeship of two years with Wilson & Pierce, foundry- men, at Greenfield, Massachusetts, learning the trade of melter and moulder. After completing his apprentice- ship he worked at his. trade in Peterboro', New IIamp- shire, Templeton, and Worcester, Massachusetts, until December, 1846, when he removed to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and began the manufacture of loom harness, the work at that time being done by hand. In the spring of 1849 he started a branch of the business at Worcester, the management of which was intrusted to his brother, Joseph H. Kendrick. In 1851 he sold the Worcester branch of the business and removed to Providence, where he established his main factory. In 1862 he bought the patent-right and the machine for the manufacture of double-knotted machine loom harness. His business increased until sixty hands were employed in his factory, and the value of the products amounted to $1 30,000 per annum. In October, 1866, in company with his brother, he started another branch of the same business in Fall River, Massachusetts, under the firm-name of J. & J. H. Kendrick, of which his brother had charge. The several branches of the business were consolidated in 1872, and a stock company formed, with $1 50,000 capital, known as the Kendrick Loom Harness Company, of which Mr. Kendrick was elected treasurer, which position he has since continued to hold. He served most acceptably for three years as a member of the Common Council of Prov- idence, and has exerted an influence which has contributed largely to the general welfare of the community. Since 1851 he has been a member of the Mathewson Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Providence, of which he is a trustee and steward, and was for many years superin- tendent of its Sunday-school. For several years he has been a trustee of the Providence Conference Seminary at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, and also a trustee of the Boston University. He was one of the original organizers of the Young Men's Christian Association of Providence, of which he was for two years President. During the long period of his connection with the Methodist denomination he has been noted for his zeal and earnestness in religious work, and his hospitality in entertaining the clergy has for many years caused his home to be known as "a ministers' hotel." He married, September 20, 1841, Louisa, daugh- ter of Deacon Hezekiah Conant, of Winchester New Hampshire. She died in March, 1842. On the 11th of July, 1844, Mr. Kendrick married Laurana D., daughter of Libbeus and Mary (Ager) Cook, of Marlboro, Massa- chusetts. They have one son, John Edmund, who was educated at Mowry & Goff's English and Classical School in Providence, and at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut ; travelled extensively with his mother in Europe in 1875, and is now in the employ of the Ken- drick Loom Harness Company. He married Phebe E., daughter of John R. and Phebe (Baker) Champlin, of Westerly, Rhode Island,

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Boun Jelly

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YER, CAPTAIN WILLIAM HENRY, son of Deacon Daniel P. and Abby (Williams) Dyer, was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, August 12, 1817. He is a descendant in the sixth generation from Wil- liam Dyer (at first spelled Dyre), who probably came from Wales, and settled in Rhode Island in 1638, being one of the nineteen that purchased Aquidneck (the island of Rhode Island) of the aborigines, and who became the Secretary of the settlers, and finally Solicitor of the colony, and whose wife, Mary, being a Quakeress, having ventured into Massachusetts, was put to death, in 1660, for her religious principles. Charles, the son of William and Mary, settled on Aushuntick Neck, now known as Pocasset Neck, north of the present Cranston Print Works, in Crans- ton. From him have descended the Dyers who have distinguished themselves in Providence and its vicinity, among them being Governor Elisha Dyer. The parents of William H. were both descendants from Roger Williams by marriage, his father on the female and his mother on the male side. William H. was educated in the common schools, in private schools in Providence, and at Kingston Academy. At home he was trained as a farmer and in the management of the widely known Dyer Nursery, con- ducted by his father, which supplied ornamental and fruit trees to a large part of New England and New York. In 1836 he began the growing of mulberry trees and the manufacturing of silk, carrying on the business one year in Providence and three years in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He finally returned to Rhode Island and devoted himself to the business of a nurseryman and farmer on the ances- tral estate on Pocasset Neck, being associated with his father from 1840 to his father's death, in 1875, when he became sole proprietor of the nursery and farm. In 1874 he or- ganized the Pocasset Cemetery Corporation, of which he is the chief manager, it being situated in part upon his farm. In 1840 he became a captain in the militia of the State. In the " Dorr Rebellion" he was on the side of " law and order." In the slaveholders' rebellion he served the Federal army and the Union two years, the most of the time as a recruiting officer, while his age exempted him from service. For nine years he was a member of the Town Council of Cranston ; for seven years one of the Board of Assessors, and a member of the Town Committee for public schools six years. In 1842 he united with the Free Will Baptist Church in Olneyville, of which his father was an honored deacon, and has long served as one of its com- mittee to manage its property and other affairs. He mar- ried, May 1, 1836, Mary Gorton Tanner, of Cranston, daughter of Christopher and Sarah (Williams) Tanner. She was of the sixth generation from Roger Williams, and was born and lived, till her marriage, in the house, on the west side of Roger Williams Park, which was built by Roger Williams for his son. Captain Dyer has four children : (1) William S., who served in the Union army during the Rebellion, and is now in an Indian agency

in Dakota Territory; (2) Maria Elizabeth, for several years a teacher in Providence, now the wife of Albert F. Davis; (3) Daniel Pearce, who was in the army for a time during the Civil War, and is now with his father in busi- ness; (4) Edward Tanner, for six years with the Gorham Manufacturing Company, now in business with his father, on the ancestral lands known as Mulberry Grove. Cap- tain Dyer is widely known as a man of ability, integrity, fidelity, kindness, and public spirit.

SODMAN, ROBERT, manufacturer, was born Octo- ber 18, 1818, at Tower Hill, South Kingstown, 18 Rhode Island, where he spent most of his boy- hood and youth. His parents were Clarke and Mary (Gardner) Rodman. The former was born in 1781, and died April 12, 1859 ; and the latter was born January 19, 1781, and died June 4, 1870. Robert Rodman was employed in a woollen factory for several years, and at the age of twenty-two commenced the manufacture of kerseys, with a partner, in Exeter, Rhode Island, where he remained for one year. At the end of that time he re- moved to Silver Spring, Rhode Island, where he continued the same branch of industry until the spring of 1845. He then sold his factory, and for a few years thereafter en- gaged in farming and in attending to the interests which he had acquired in coasting-vessels. In the spring of 1848 he resumed business at Lafayette, Rhode Island, where he has since been engaged in the manufacture of " Kentucky jeans." He commenced with one set of machinery and twelve looms, and gradually increased his facilities until his looms number four hundred and fourteen, including those in his factories at Silver Spring and Wakefield. In addition to the manufacture of woollen goods, he also makes the warps used in the jeans manufactured by him at his factory known as " Shady Lea Mills." Mr. Rod- man's success has given him a prominent place among New England manufacturers. He served for one term as a member of the Rhode Island General Assembly, and has otherwise devoted much of his time to public interests. He married, April 3, 1841, Almira, daughter of Colonel William and Mary (Sanford) Taylor, of North Kingstown. They have had nine children : Franklin, born January 29, 1842, married Sarah R. Allen, August 16, 1863; Hortense, born August 29, 1843, married George O. Allen, January, 1865 ; Albert, born May 23, 1845, married Mary Allen, De- cember, 1868; Charles, born March 16, 1848, married, first, Mary E. Money, January 1, 1868, second, Ezadore Kings- ley, November, 1878; Walter, born March 11, 1850, died March 9, 1859; Emily, born January 15, 1852; Walter, born February 3, 1853, married Carrie E. Taber, August 20, 1879; Thomas F., born February 24, 1857, died Au- gust 18, 1858; Almira T., born January 8, 1861, died January 30, 1864. Mrs. Rodman's father was born Octo-

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ber 14,1792, and dicd in North Kingstown February 27, 1845. Her mother was born January 29, 1790, and died March 20, 1866. Mr. Rodman's integrity and enterprising spirit have caused him to occupy an influential position in the community, and he is highly esteemcd by a large circle of acquaintances.

IIEELER, COLONEL JONATHAN MARTIN, son of Jonathan M. and Barbara ( Mason) Wheeler, was born in Warren, Rhode Island, September 8, 1817. During his childhood his parents removed to New Orleans, Louisiana, where, three years afterwards, his father died, when the family returned to Warren. His maternal grandfather, Judge Alexander Ma- son, was a native and prominent citizen of Warren, who held various town offices and served as Judge of the Com- mon Pleas Court of Bristol County. Ile occupied the homestead which had descended from Joseph Mason, an early settler of the town of Warren. The subject of this sketch received a common-school education, and at the age of fourteen was apprenticed to David Melville, a jew- eller of Providence, with whom he remained about six years. At the end of that time he engaged with G. & S. Owen, as a journeyman, and was employed by them and other firms until 1846, when he began manufacturing jew- elry on Friendship Strect, Providence, under the firm-name of Wheeler, Knight & Co. That firm continued until 1854, and Colonel Wheeler carried on the same business for four years thercafter. In 1858 he went to California, where he remained until the following year. In 1859 he returned to Providence, and resumed the jewelry business, in which he continued until the fall of 1860, when he re- moved to Warwick, Rhode Island, and there engaged in farming. On the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, in 1861, he was elected Colonel of the Mechanics Rifles, and engaged in recruiting men for the army, his office being in Providence. On the 27th of December, 1861, he was commissioned Captain of Company A, Fifth Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers, and participated in the battles of Roanoke Island, Newbern, Fort Macon, Kinston, and White Hall. On the 2d of August, 1862, he resigned his commission, returned home, and was afterwards commis- sioned Captain of Company G, same regiment, with which he served until January 26, 1863, when he was honorably discharged .. June 1, 1863, he was commissioned Colonel of the Third Regiment Rhode Island Militia. In 1864 he removed to Cranston, where he was elected Town Clerk in 1866, and Judge of Probate in 1870, which offices he has held by annual election until the present time (1881). Colonel Wheeler represented the town of Warwick in the General Assembly in 1861 and 1862, being elected by acclamation the second year, while in the army. He was one of the charter members of Hope Lodge, No. 4, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in 1843, and has held various offices in that fraternity, including those of Grand Master of the

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 95

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