The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 99

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

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specialty he has established a wide reputation, and is re- garded as one of the most successful insurance lawyers in the State. On the formation of the Fireman's Mutual In- surance Company of Providence in 1854, Mr. Eddy was clected Secretary and Treasurer, and served in both posi- tions for about fifteen years, when he resigned to take the general charge of the Providence Machine Company. In 1868 he was active in establishing the Blackstone Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of which he was chosen Presi- dent, and has served in that position, and also as Treas- urer, since 1879. In 1874 he was chosen President of the Merchants' Mutual Fire Insurance Company on its forma- tion, and in 1879 was elected Treasurer, which positions he still occupies. He was Secretary and Treasurer of the Union Insurance Company for nearly five years, from its formation in 1863, and has also acted as agent for several other companies. The companies with which he has been officially connected have been eminently successful, paying an average of sixty-five per cent. dividend annually. Mr. Eddy served for some time as chairman of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of Rhode Island. He was a member of the Common Council of Providence in 1857 and 1859, from the Seventh Ward, serving as chairman of the Ordinance Committee and on the Committee of Edu- cation. In the year 1852-53 he was Clerk of the House of Representatives of Rhode Island. He has been a di- rector in the Liberty Bank since its organization in 1854, and is a director in the Third National Bank, having also served as trustee of the Merchants' Savings Bank since its organization in 1871. In politics he has been prom- inently identified with the Republican party since its organ- ization, having stumped the State for John C. Fremont during the Presidential campaign of 1856, and for Abra- ham Lincoln in 1860. In 1860, Mr. Lincoln spent a short time at Mr. Eddy's home in Providence. In 1846, Mr. Eddy united with the Congregational Church at Matta- poisett, Massachusetts, from which, in 1857, he took a letter to the Central Congregational Church of Providence, of which he has since been an active and influential mem- ber, having taught the senior Bible-class in the Sabbath- school for more than twenty years, and taken a deep in- terest in other departments of church work. For more than five years he has been a trustee of the Rhode Island Bible Society. He has been twice married. His first wife was Juliet H. Bonney, daughter of George and Elvira (Thompson) Bonney, of Rochester, Massachusetts, to whom he was married November 28, 1848. She died March 31, 1850. On the Ioth of October, 1855, Mr. Eddy married Caroline M. Updike, daughter of Hon. Wilkins Updike, of South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The issue of the first marriage was a daughter, Juliet B., who married Edward P. Haskell, of New Bedford, Massachusetts. She died April 10, 1879, leaving two children. By the second marriage there were four children : Alfred Updike, Mary Andros, Isabel, and Walter. The first named graduated

from Brown University in 1879, and is now studying law in the office of Hon. Benjamin N. Lapham. Amid his active business career Mr. Eddy has found time to devote con- siderable attention to literary work, and has written articles for the Atlantic Monthly and other publications, which have been highly commended for their superior merit.

OIES, HON. THOMAS, was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, December 24, 1819. His father's name was John Moies, and his mother's maiden name Anna Robinson. He spent most of his boy- hood in his native town, where he attended the district and private schools. Two of his brothers having removed to Rhode Island, he followed them in 1835, being then sixteen years of age, and was employed by them in the manufacture of cotton thread at Central Falls. His brother Charles afterward engaged in the manufacture of cotton cloth, and he worked with him in that branch of the business for about seven years. In 1846 he removed to Oxford, Massachusetts, where he was employed in the same kind of work. After residing there until 1850, he returned to Central Falls, and for two years was in the employ of the Providence & Worcester Railroad Com- pany. In 1852 he went to St. Louis, where he was em- ployed for some time by the firm of Plant & Co., of that city, dealers in seeds and agricultural implements. He returned to Central Falls in 1854, and the following year accepted the position of treasurer of the Pawtucket Insti- tution for Savings, which he has since held, with the ex- ception of about three years. In 1870, he was chosen cashier of the Pacific National Bank, and still holds that position. Ever since the organization of Lincoln, about ten years ago, he has been treasurer of that town. For about twelve years he has been treasurer of the Pawtucket Gas Company, and has held various official trusts in the school and fire districts of the town wherein he resides. For two years he represented the town of Lincoln in the lower branch of the General Assembly, and at the election in 1880 was chosen Senator. During the Civil War, in response to the call for troops in 1862, he enlisted in the Eleventh Regiment of Rhode Island Volunteers, with which he served for nine months, the term of enlistment, holding the office of First Lieutenant. By the prompt and faithful discharge of his duties as a military officer, he won the confidence of his comrades-in-arms, and the respect of his townsmen. Mr. Moies married, in 1842, Susan Sey- mour, daughter of George and Cecilia B. Seymour, of Providence. Her grandfather was a Frenchman, who, inspired by the example of Lafayette, came to this country and assisted the American Colonies in the struggle for freedom. They have had five sons, three of whom, Charles P., Thomas C., and Herbert H., are living. Their eldest son, Frederic, enlisted early in the Union army during the late war, and fell at the battle of Chancellorsville.

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CONGDON, HENRY REMINGTON, merchant, son of Peleg and Mary (Remington) Congdon, was born at Apponaug, in Warwick, Rhode Island, February 28, 1819. His father, who died at Providence, May 8, 1862, at the age of seventy-seven years, was for a long time an East India sea-captain, and from 1819 to 1832 kept a hotel at Apponaug, after which he removed to East Greenwich, Rhode Island, and later in life was in the employ of the United States Government, directing the building of vessels of various kinds. His mother was the daughter of Hon. Henry Remington, of Apponaug. She died November 14, 1820, at the age of twenty-eight years, leaving two sons, Henry R. and John R. The latter was a sea-captain from the age of twenty-one years, and was lost overboard from the ship " Caroline Tucker," off Cape Horn, February 28, 1863, at which time he was forty-two years of age. Henry R. Congdon attended the common school at Apponaug, his instructor being Festus L. Thomp- son, and for a short time was a student in a private academy at Kingston, Rhode Island. At the age of fourteen he went to Providence, and there found employment in the store of George Rice, who was engaged in the wholesale and retail boot and shoe business, at 16 North Main Street. After serving as clerk for nine years, Mr. Congdon was received as a partner by Mr. Rice, on the 8th of February, 1842, and the business was carried on under the name of Rice & Congdon until February 8, 1848, when George F. Rice bought his father's interest; and later, William H. Rice, brother of George F. Rice, was admitted as partner. On the 8th of February, 1857, H. B. Aylsworth, who had been employed as clerk by the firm since 1850, bought the interest of William H. Rice, when the firm-name was changed to Rice, Congdon & Co., and continued thus until February 8, 1860. At that time James Rothwell bought the interest of G. F. Rice, and for two years the firmn was Congdon, Aylsworth & Co., after which Mr. Rothwell dis- posed of his interest to his partners, and the firm style has since been Congdon & Aylsworth, though in 1876 Frank H. Congdon, son of the senior partner, was admitted as a member of the firm. This business was first established by Daniel Cobb, who in 1820 was succeeded by Charles Hadwin, and after other changes George Rice became sole proprietor in 1830. Mr. Rice's successors have the repu- tation of having retained more of their customers for a

- longer period than is usual for an old-established house, several having continued their patronage for twenty or thirty years. Their business has steadily increased until their annual sales now amount to nearly half a million dol- lars. Mr. Congdon began to sell goods by sample in 1840, and travelled extensively through the Eastern States in the interest of his business. For nearly thirty years he did the buying for the firm. Throughout his mercantile career, which extends over a period of forty-seven years, he has been noted for his close application to business, his enter- prising spirit, and promptness in fulfilling all of his obliga- 56

tions. He married, November 12, 1841, Sabra E. Wilson, daughter of John and Sabra E. (Dexter) Wilson, of Paw- tucket, Rhode Island. They have four children, Mary Willard, Anna Isabel, wife of Henry Tilden, Jr., Frank Harris, who married Cora E. Rice, and Clara Adele. A son, Henry Stanton, died March 23, 1848, aged five years.

B REWER, REV. DARIUS RICHMOND, rector of Christ Church, Westerly, Rhode Island, from 1873 until his death, was the son of Darius Brewer, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, and was born in that town, June 23, 1819. He was fitted for college at Milton Academy, under Rev. Thomas Snow, and graduated at Harvard University in the class of 1838. He pursued his theological studies at Andover and New Haven, and was ordained a deacon of the Episcopal Church in 1842 by Bishop Griswold, and a priest in 1844 by Bishop Eastburn. He began his min- istry at St. Peter's Church in Cambridgeport in 1842, and two years later became rector of St. Paul's Church in Concord, New Hampshire. In December, 1846, he be- came rector of Trinity Church in Newport, Rhode Island, and continued as such nearly nine years. In 1855 he or- ganized Immanuel Church of that town, and was its rector until 1858, when he removed to Yonkers, New York, by invitation of the Young Men's Missionary Association of St. John's Church. After three months of earnest effort, St. Paul's Church was organized by him, and he became its rector. February 18, 1867, he organized the Church of the Reformation, in Brooklyn, New York, and was its rec- tor for over six years. In October, 1873, he became rector of Christ Church, in Westerly. Mr. Brewer was a preacher of rare ability, his sermons being marked by great clear- ness of style, aptness of illustration and fervor of spirit. He was in full sympathy with all of Christ's disciples of every denomination, and his occasional sermons in the Congregational and other pulpits of his native town are specially remembered. His deep missionary feeling was not only apparent in his fondness for organizing new churches, but was exhibited also in a very striking manner by his voluntary withdrawal from the influential parish of Trinity, in Newport, solely in order to establish a church among the factory operatives in another part of the town. Here he laid aside his manuscript sermons, and began his method of extemporaneous preaching, preceded by the most thorough study, which he never afterward abandoned. He belonged to what is known as the Broad Church, and was in entire accord with such preachers as Dean Stanley, Phillips Brooks, and the late Edward A. Washburn. He was a very intimate friend of the latter, with whom he had made pedestrian journeys in Europe and elsewhere. Mr. Brewer died March 18, 1881. His wife and one son, a student in Brown University, survive him, his only other near relative being a brother, Mr. Cyrus Brewer, of Boston.

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ENISON, REV. FREDERIC, son of Isaac and Levina (Fish) Denison, was born in Stonington, Connec- ticut, September 28, 1819. Ile is a descendant of Colonel George Denison, distinguished as an officer under Cromwell, and in the early Colonial wars with the Indians. The family coat-of-arms is traced back to the period of the Crusades. His father was en- gaged in the last war with England, and for a time was a prisoner of war. His uncle, for whom he was named, was mortally wounded in the defence of Stonington, August 10, 1814. His maternal grandfather was Deacon Sands Fish, of Groton, Connecticut. Being fond of study, and desirous of enjoying the best opportunities therefor, he was sent to Bacon Academy, in Colchester, Connecticut, then under the direction of Charles P. Otis. Possessing a sturdy, independent spirit, and great bodily vigor, he determined to earn a living by the labor of his hands, and accordingly learned the carpenter's trade of Colonel Amos Clift, of Groton. Here he became a subject of Divine grace, and in February, 1839, united with the Baptist Church. His attention was at once turned to the ministry, and after teaching awhile in the Stonington Academy and the public school, he entered the Connecticut Literary Institution at Suffield, where he fitted for college under Rev. C. C. Bur- nett. Having been licensed by his church meanwhile to preach, he exercised his gifts with great acceptance, his eloquence and zeal securing for him large audiences and attentive hearers. In 1843 he entered Brown University, and graduated under President Wayland in 1847. He was distinguished in college for his proficiency in mathematical studies, for his original cast of mind, and readiness of speech. His genial temper and natural flow of spirits rendered him a favorite with professors and students alike. While in college he delivered two Fourth-of-July orations. Immediately upon graduating he commenced preaching in Westerly, Rhode Island, and on the 16th of November, 1847, was ordained as pastor of the First Baptist Church. Here he continued until 1854. In November of this year he was installed as pastor of the Central Baptist Church in Norwich, Connecticut, where he remained until the sum- mer of 1859, when he became pastor of the church in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Upon the breaking out of the Rebellion, his enthusiastic nature was fired with patri- otic ardor and zeal. He relinquished his church, entered the army, and served as Chaplain of the First Rhode Isl- and Cavalry in Maryland and Virginia. He was afterward Chaplain of the Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, and served in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Having had a military education, and possessing a natural turn for arms, which he inherited from his ancestors, he also served in the army as aid-de-camp. Ile was thus as an officer brought to the front, and took part in numerous battles and engagements. On one occasion, riding unexpectedly into the enemy's lines, accompanied only by his colored servant, he disarmed and captured six men, giving them

over to the provost guard as prisoners of war. His mili- tary services received wide recognition, and gained him deserved honor. He was for some time an Assistant Allot- ment Commissioner of Rhode Island. During the entire war he kept a diary, in which he recorded passing events, with his reflections thereon. This he has sinee incorporated into his published volumes, thus giving them a freshness and vivacity which make them exceedingly valuable, and preserving those incidents and details which add so much to all historical statements. In 1865 he resumed the charge of the church in Westerly, where he remained until 1871. In 1872-73 he was settled in New Haven, Connecticut ; in 1874-76 in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and afterward as pastor of the Roger Williams Baptist Church in Wans- kuk, Providence. During his ministerial career he has baptized upwards of four hundred persons, and married three hundred and twenty-five couples. He has also writ- ten the following published works: The Sabbath Institu- tion ; The Supper Institution ; Historical Notes of the Baptists and their Principles, in Norwich, Connecticut ; The Evangelist, or Life and Labors of Rev. Jabez S. Swan ; Sabres and Spurs, A History of the First Rhode Island Cavalry ; Westerly and its Witnesses ; Picturesque Narragansett, Etc .; Illustrated New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket ; Shot and Shell, A History of the Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery. He has written and published numerous pamphlets, memorial discourses, historical sketches, army hymns, miscellaneous hymns, poems, and newspaper and magazine articles almost without number. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Brown University; the Rhode Island and Wisconsin Historical Societies; the Soldiers' and Sailors' Historical Society of Rhode Island, and is the Historical Registrar of the Rhode Island Baptist State Convention. He has furnished many of the biographies for this Cyclopedia, and is also an associate editor of the Baptist Encyclopedia. He married, January 12, 1848, Amey R. Manton, daughter of Dr. Shadrach Manton, of Providence. One daughter is the issue of this mar- riage. He is now (1881) residing in Providence.

ONROE, ABEL COLLINS, a recorded minister of the Society of Friends, was born in Plainfield,

Connecticut, November 11, 1819. He is the eldest son of the late Job and Phebe (Collins) Monroe, both members of the same society, whose other children were Hon. James Monroe, of Oberlin, Ohio, member of Congress, and also a minister, Rev. Thomas E. Monroe, of Akron, Ohio, and Mary E., wife of James N. Frye, of Worcester, Massachusetts, who died in 1856. His maternal grandfather was Abel Collins, also a minister of the Friends. His father studied law with the late Judge

James Me. Davis

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Judson, of Canterbury, Connecticut, practiced his profes- sion for awhile, and then engaged in farming. Abel C. Monroe was educated in the public schools of his native town, and at the Friends' Boarding School in Providence. In 1845 he removed to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and for about six years engaged in mercantile pursuits, which he finally relinquished, on account of impaired health occa- sioned by close confinement to business. For nearly thirty years he has been engaged in probate and real estate busi ness. During the past fourteen years he has been a minis- ter of the Society of Friends, and for five years acknowl- edged as such. The Friends' meeting-house, destroyed by fire in 1881, was an interesting relic of colonial days. It was erected in 1755, enlarged in 1775, and remodelled in 1846. This society was established in that vicinity in 1719, the first meeting-house having been erected soon afterwards, under the superintendence of John Arnold, a pioneer settler. For about a hundred years the Friends' meeting- house was the only place of public worship in that neigh- borhood, and the services were therefore largely attended by people of various religious views, until other denomina- tions were established there. According to the records of the society, the first acknowledged minister who officiated in this meeting-house was Elisha Thornton. He was born December 30, 1747, and died in New Bedford, Massachu- setts, December 31, 1816. He united with the society when twenty-four years of age; became an elder at the age of twenty-seven, and subsequently an acknowledged minister. Besides preaching acceptably, he kept a board- ing school, and was celebrated as a teacher. He was succeeded by the following sanctioned ministers : Alice Rathbun, wife of Rowland Rathbun, Mary ( Barker) Allen, wife of Walter Allen, and Lydia B. Coe, wife of Jonathan Coe, tlie ministry of each of whom greatly contributed to the growth and prosperity of the society. The successor of the latter was Abel C. Monroe, who is now the only acknowl- edged minister of the society in that vicinity. Mr. Monroe married, February 6, 1845, Rebecca, daughter of the late Ephraim and Deborah (Mowry) Coe. Her maternal grand- father was Jonathan Mowry, of Smithfield, who preached among the Friends, and " by virtue of being the seventh son, practiced the art of healing." Two children were the issue of this marriage : Mary Rebecca, who died in infancy, and William Coe Monroe, M.D., who was born February 21, 1850; educated in the Woonsocket High School, and at the Friends' School in Providence; studied medicine in Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, from which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine February 21, 1876, and is now engaged in the practice of his profession in Woonsocket. He is a member of the School Board of Woonsocket, and also of the Friends' School. During Mr. Monroe's ministry there has been an increasing attendance at the meetings, and the affairs of the society are now in a prosperous condition. He occasionally occupies the pul- pits of other churches, and has been a zealous advocate of

the temperance cause. He has also taken an active interest in educational matters, and in various movements designed to promote the general welfare of the community.

SAVIS, JAMES M., of Davisville, North Kingstown, Rhode Island, son of Ezra D. and Mehitable (Reynolds) Davis, was born in Davisville, Febru- ary 2, 1821. His father, who was born in Davis- 6 ville, April 5, 1779, and died there June 21, 1863, was one of the earliest manufacturers of woollen goods in the State, which business, in connection with farming, he followed for many years, in company with his brother Jef- fery, under the firm-name of E. & J. Davis. At first they had a wool-carding and cloth-dressing establishment, which they conducted in connection with hand-weaving from the year ISII to 1824, when they commenced to operate woollen looms by water-power, at the locality where they and their ancestors had had a grist-mill for over a century, and from this mill the place was known as " Davis's Mills." Joshua Davis, the father of Ezra D. Davis, a native of Da- visville, was born November 10, 1742, and died there Sep- tember 12, 1829, his occupation having been that of a farmer and miller. His mill, erected by his grandfather, Joshua Davis, was the first in the region of Davisville, and one of the first in the State. It ground and bolted wheat in addition to grinding corn. Jeffery Davis, the father of Joshua, born within half a mile of Davisville, in 1708, was engaged in the milling business from an early age until his death, which occurred July 3, 1782. Joshua Davis, father of Jeffery Davis, was probably the original settler of Davisville, and was the builder of its first mill, which was erected about the year 1700. He owned an extensive tract of land, which embraced Davisville, and he is supposed to have been of Welsh descent. James M. Davis, the subject of this sketch, received a good common-school education, and at the age of sixteen began mercantile business at Davisville, in which he continued until 1849, when he engaged in the manu- facture of " Kentucky jeans," in company with his brother- in-law, Henry Sweet, and cousin, Albert S. Reynolds, under the firm-name of Davis, Reynolds & Co., until 1863, when Mr. Reynolds went out, and the firm-name was changed to Davis & Sweet. He carried on that branch of industry successfully until the fall of 1873, when he rented his factory and retired from business. In 1852 he was instrumental in securing the establishment of a Post-office at Davis's Mills, and in having the name of the place changed to Davisville, as it is now known. He was appointed its first Postmaster, which position he held for fourteen years. In 1866 and 1867 he served acceptably as a member of the Rhode Island General Assembly. He married, October 22, 1840, Mary Ann Allen, daughter of James and Freelove (Pearce) Allen, of North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Their children are : Hettie ; Hannah J., who married Fayette B. Bennett, of Phenix, Rhode Island; Mary D .; Ida G., who married

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William Il. Congdon, of Warwick, Rhode Island; and Emma A., who married Christopher Allen, of Wales, Mas- sachusetts. Mr. Davis has been a member of the Quid- nessctt Baptist Church since its organization, in 1839, and is highly esteemed in the community for his integrity and religious character. He is now living in retirement, en- joying his well-earned competence.

COLLINS, GEORGE LEWIS, M.D., an eminent physi- cian of Providence, was the son of a farmer in Hop- kinton, Rhode Island, where he was born, Decem- ber 31, 1820. He pursued his advance studies in the Friends' New England Yearly Meeting School, of which he was a pupil for four years. He began his medical studies as a student of Dr. Henry W. Rivers, of Providence. For two seasons he attended medical lectures at the Univer- sity of the City of New York, and received his degree in March, 1846. Soon after his graduation he established himself in Providence, opening an office at first on South Main Street. Shortly after commencing practice he was appointed one of the city physicians, and was in the service of the city for twenty years. The experience thus gained was invaluable to him, especially in the department of sur- gery, in which he acquired great skill. For twenty years, 1850-1870, he was the physician of the Reform School. His advancement in his profession was slow but sure, and the result of real merit. While he excelled in surgery, to which he gave special attention in the earlier years of his practice, as he approached mature life he devoted himself more completely to the general practice of his profession, in which he finally took his well-earned place, in the front rank of physicians in Providence. " For several years," says Professor C. W. Parsons, " no physician had more fully the confidence of intelligent families and of the whole community. He was very much sought for in consultation. He was a man of sound, cool, sagacious judgment, acute in perception, learning more from observation than from books, careful in forming opinions and firm in holding them when formed and in following the line of conduct to which they pointed; conscientiously devoted to his patients; always rather reserved in casual intercourse, but in the sick-room expressing great kindness and tenderness of feeling." In October, 1868, he was appointed first on the list of attend- ing physicians of the new Rhode Island Hospital. He was also one of the consulting physicians of the Butler Asy- lum for the Insane. As a member of the Rhode Island Medical Association, which he joined in 1847, he was often sent to represent it at the meetings of the American Medical Association. Some of the journeys he took to these meet- ings were to places at a great distance from his home. He went as a delegate from the State association to the Inter- national Medical Congress, held in Paris in 1867; to New Orleans in 1869; and to San Francisco in 1871. From 1858 until his death he was a trustee of Brown University,

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The Biographical cyclopedia of representative men of Rhode Island, Part 99

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