USA > Rhode Island > The "Old Stone Bank" history of Rhode Island, Vol. II > Part 12
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Edith Sheldon says that five tribes of Indians lived in the Point Judith section when the English came. There were Pe- quots, Niantics, Nipmucks, Wampanoags and Narragansetts. The latter tribe was dominant, and its members were said to be great home lovers. When obliged to leave their habitations temporarily, it was cus- tomary to fasten the doors from the inside with a cord or a wooden bolt, the last Indian making his exit by way of the chimney,-or that hole in the top of the structure that served as an outlet for the smoke.
The same writer also says that perhaps the earliest temperance petition was made by Pessicus, Sachem of the Narragansetts. In this petition he prayed King Charles to forbid the bringing of strong waters into the country, for, he said, he already had lost thirty-two men who "dyed" from drinking it.
Another historian says that Canonchet was a wise and peaceful Indian prince of goodly stature and of great courage of mind. Roger Williams called him "The Father of his Country" a hundred and fifty years be- fore Washington was so called.
It is said that the first white settlers in Narragansett built their houses as they had been accustomed to do in less tempestuous localities, but that the winds and the storms caused such havoc to these "frail tenements" that the use of the heavy timbers and the building of the great stone chimneys still to be seen in ancient houses in this vicinity became a necessity.
Point Judith was a favored locality for the raising of "Narragansett Pacers." These "Pacers" were wonderful horses of Arabian origin. The first Rowland Robinson in Nar- ragansett brought the first horse of this breed into this country. He turned him loose in his Point Judith pastures and bred him in with the native stock. These cross
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breeds became enormously popular as saddle-horses. They had a very even gait, they were very fleet and could easily carry quite a load in addition to their riders. The farmers raised these "Pacers," and so many were sold in the West Indies and in Virginia, annually, that at last not a mare was left in town. So far as is known there are now no "Narragansett Pacers" in this country.
They used to race these wonderful, fleet creatures on "Little Neck Beach," or the "Pier Beach," we call it now. Dr. Mac- Sparran testified that he saw some of these horses pace a mile in a little more than two minutes, but in much less than three minutes.
Slaves used to be kept on Point Judith, and there was a law that they could not be out after nine o'clock in the evening. If they were, their masters had to whip them with ten blows, and if the masters failed to do this they might be fined ten dollars. The black people were locked into the garrets of the farmhouses at night.
At first the slaves had but one name, but later on, wishing to have two names like the rest of people, they would take on the names of their masters,-thus there came to be many negro Helmes, Watsons, Olneys, Rob- insons, etc.
The early school on Point Judith would make "another story," so suffice it to say that there were men teachers in winter and women teachers in summer. Winter terms did not begin until the fall work was done and the crops in. The teachers "boarded around," staying a certain number of nights to each child in the family that attended school. They never boarded in working- men's homes, but in the farmhouses. One teacher, because of his short stay at each home, made the remark that he "went around warming beds."
At the time of the Revolution, lower Point Judith was owned by one Richard Walcott, a Tory, who found it desirable to take a trip to England. The State reserved one common lot where all the farmers might gather seaweed from the shore with which to fertilize their land, and gave two farms to Walcott's daughter, whom they judged as not being deserving of losing all of her father's property. The rest of the land the State divided into six farms which were sold at auction.
During the Revolution, the farmers had a hidden lot in Borland Lot Woods. It was called "The Federal Lot," and to this place, through woodsy lanes, they would drive their stock to hide it from the eyes of the British. There are no records that the stock was ever discovered by the enemy in this secret place. This hiding-place was not the only one of which the rebels to the King availed themselves. The first post-office on Point Judith was in a hollow elm tree. The tree was on the estate now owned by Mrs. Depew, and into it went many a letter of instructions to our men, and the British were never able to locate the "post-office."
It is not certain when the first light-house was built but, according to tradition, one was erected in 1806. Whether this wooden light-house was the original one, or whether it replaced a former light-house, is not known, but it is certain that this 1806 light- house was blown down in the Great Gale of September 23, 1815.
One of the Knowles family has recorded that "On that day the tide reached its high- est point at about eleven o'clock in the morning. Driven by a furious wind, the water roared over the Point, demolishing the light-house and all other things in its way. The flood-tide broke over the sand- banks between the ocean and the pond, carrying away the old banks and filling in the pond for a mile-and-a-half back, form- ing marshes and flats. When the tide re- ceded, late in the afternoon, it cut out a deep channel, forming what is now called The Breachway.
"After the Great Gale, oysters became so plentiful that one man could get twenty-five bushels a day. They sold for from twelve to twenty cents per bushel.
"As soon as the gale was over, plans were at once started to build a new stone light- house which was put into commission in the late summer of 1816. The light is at the top of a stone tower fifty feet high, and about seventy-five feet above the water mark. It is known as a fourth order light, there being three types with larger lenses.
"Hazard Knowles, of Jamestown, came into possession of the two south farms on the Point, sold by the State after the War of 1775, and it is recorded in the family that
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he sold to the United States the lot for the first light-house."
The Great Gale of 1815 marked tragedy to William Knowles, his son, and their five workmen at Sand Hill Cove. They had brought potatoes down to the shore in an ox-cart to be put on board a schooner. There was no wharf, and their method of loading was to drive the animals into the water as far as they could, turn them around, and load the potatoes in sacks into a small boat. Then they would row the boat out to the schooner waiting to receive them. One of the family has told how for many a day in
his youth he stood knee-deep in the water all day engaged in this kind of work.
On the momentous day of September 23rd, 1815, the workers saw the approach- ing gale and hastened for the shore. They were just drawing their boat up over the bank when the fury of the storm smote them. They had left the ox-cart nearby and the old man rushed for it. His body was found, three days later, locked into one of the wheels of the cart about three miles up the salt pond. The bodies of the workmen were found the day after the storm, and the son's was found the following day.
CHRISTMAS IN NARRAGANSETT
"Yule, yule, yule, Three puddings in a pule, Crack nuts and cry yule."
S NATCHES of Christmas ballads and folk- songs like this were typical of the sea- son in Old England at the time when so many were separating from the mother country for diverse reasons and coming to new colonies along the Atlantic seaboard of our western continent. Old England went into the matter of celebrating Christ- mas in thorough fashion, following cus- toms laid down through many centuries. The day itself was given to solemn worship in the chapels, churches and cathedrals, but the eve before and the twelve days after were devoted to revelry and all sorts of parties and festivals. All the "pubs" were crowded with merry burghers; aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandchildren de- scended in droves to transform quiet old estates and sedate households into places where joviality was king and jubilant good fellowship the rule. Families were re- united; boys and girls flocked home from school; shops closed or themselves entered into the zest of the season; and everywhere reigned the best of good spirits.
And yet many, like the Puritans, revolted against such a spread of fine feeling, and, coming to New England, abolished all ob- servance of the day. Perhaps it was mainly because the English church sponsored such celebration at Christmas, and they wanted to break from this church in every possible
way. At any rate, Christmas was generally ignored by our stern old New England ancestors, until the 18th century was well under way. Shops kept open as usual, and the people went about their business with little thought of the holiday season. Toward the end of the 17th century there was some revival of interest and a partial return to the observance of Christmas, but those who opposed the idea were in the majority at the time, and it was many years afterwards that the day was formally set aside, shops closed, and the season entered into with zest and enjoyment.
Yet as every rule has its exceptions, so in New England there were some communities which transported all the English customs en masse to this country, and as far as possi- ble lived here much the same kind of life they had followed in England. And of course they transplanted, among other cus- toms, the full celebration of Christmas. Generally this was true in the case of the more opulent villages and townships, and particularly true of Old Narragansett in Rhode Island. Here the observance of the season resembled that of the Dutch settle- ments in New York. Visiting was in order; games were played; and the taverns catered to large gatherings of jolly townsfolk.
Whereas in England Christmas drew all the relatives of huge families together, in sections like Old Narragansett the holidays bound whole townships into a sort of com- mon family, in which all celebrated almost as one unit and shared their various joys
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and advantages. In short, the Christmas period became a time of "open house" where for two weeks all were engaged in one grand carnival of visiting back and forth and feasting. Christmas morning started the festivities off, and until long after New Year's both the families of planters and those of their slave servants enjoyed them- selves to the full.
What a time it was! For weeks ahead young folks studied their books and learned their lessons with only half a normal dili- gence. And as the great day drew closer their excitement knew no bounds. Well it might, for in the big farmhouses on the Narragansett plantations all was bustle in preparation for the ensuing holidays. Spe- cial yule logs for the great fireplaces were being drawn in by pairs of horses or, more probably, teams of oxen. Housewives were busy at the task of burnishing their pew- terware and putting their houses in order for the guests who would soon be arriving. There were Christmas greens to be gathered, punch to be brewed, and many a surrepti- tious stealing away to town or to the village store to procure presents. The stores of candles were looked over and the best se- lected and placed ready in the candlesticks and candelabras.
The kitchens of these old farmhouses were generally the most picturesque of all rooms. It was only necessary to peep into them and get a whiff of their delightful aroma to tell just about what was going to take place in the house itself. There, all preparations for festivities of various na- tures reached a climax, for what celebration or festival of any sort was complete without its share of feasting?
Christmas brought more work and prep- aration than Thanksgiving. More chickens, ducks, and geese met their doom at this time than at any other festive period. Whole sides of beef and sheep were roasted too in barbecue fashion. Then there were the pud- dings and pies, and all the thousand and one little delicacies to be gobbled up by the many guests. This was a time when the colored cooks displayed their mastery of the culinary art, and they were in their glory.
But what of the day itself? Well, as we have said, the festivities swung into action early Christmas morning, when families
would be awakened unusually early by the clamoring children. No dozing in bed, no stealing of last cat-naps on such a morning! It had been long awaited, the moment for which great plans had been made, the hour when presents were exchanged and opened, when the first greetings were bandied back and forth. This was the intimate celebration for separate families, the most delightful perhaps of all that took place.
For the children it was the most fascinat- ing! The older folks were more sedate in their sentiment, but the young folks bubbled over with hilarity. Now the toys that had been carefully hidden by parents came into the hands of their rightful owners. There were not many of them, but it does not take many to thrill and satisfy a childish heart. For the girls there were dolls, some made by the slaves, others brought all the way from Old England on some packet. And for the boys there were all sorts of odd gifts rang- ing from small pocket knives to balls and bats, and marbles. Mittens, knitted from red and other colored yarn by patient aunts and grandmothers, were presented all round, and then there was generally an uncle to slip a silver shilling or two, or perhaps even a half-crown or sovereign into an eager hand. But these were only some of the many things to delight young hearts. Perhaps also there were bundles unwrapped, revealing pairs of skates, or guns, or little brooches, watches, or what not.
All too soon these early hours of excite- ment were over, and it became time for the whole family to bundle into sleighs or carriages (if there was a lack of snow) and drive off to church. There, perhaps in St. Paul's, now gone, they joined many of the other families of the countryside in the Episcopal Christmas service through the rest of Christmas morning.
This done, the religious services over, the long term of "open house" began. Children, all bundled up, trudged through the snow or piled into sleighs with their elders to travel the winding country roads to neigh- boring farmhouses. Everywhere each visit was a little celebration of its own. Those who were guests at one hour might be hosts the next. What puddings, what candy, what Christmas brews were consumed! And how
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many a bashful girl was captured under the mistletoe by a watchful and ready admirer! It was a gay time, a happy time for young and old. In many of the larger houses where room was available, evening guests, upon arriving, found a musician or two tuning up and knew the special treat of a dance was in immediate store.
Thus it went on day after day, night after night, until it seemed that there could be no more jollity, no more merriment possible.
New Year's Day brought a fresh surge of fun-making in the middle of the long festi- val and then twelfth night brought every- thing to a close. And that marked the end of the old-time Narragansett Christmas season, a holiday season that has long since passed, and that was never equalled in other parts of Rhode Island. For an abundance of sheer joy and good fellowship it was almost as fine as that celebrated through many cen- turies in Old England.
BROWN AND IVES
0 F ALL the industries from which the young and growing port of Providence gained its strength the greatest was ship- ping. Roger Williams may have foreseen that, because of its position at the head of Narragansett Bay, Providence, by its ships and commerce, would rise to fame. Even if the vision was not in his mind, it certainly was in the minds of many of the early set- tlers who had begun to think of other things besides the inevitable planting of crops. Visions are not always realized by those who possess them, and in spite of the fact that Providence was founded in 1636, it was not until 1652 that John Smith shipped to Newfoundland " ... forty-nine roles of to- bacco, one hogshead of fleure, and thirteen bushels of pease." This marked the begin- ning of the great export trade of Provi- dence. At that time no facilities for ship- ping were available, a condition no definite step was taken to remedy until 1689, when Pardon Tillinghast - called today the "Father of Providence shipping" - built a warehouse on a small tract of land granted to him by the town fathers. Shortly after, Tillinghast also built a wharf at the foot of what is now Transit Street. Others were quick to follow his example, and wharves and warehouses came into being almost over night. This sudden development gave com- merce great impetus, not only with the other Colonies but with the famed West Indies.
Following the building of wharves came the building of ships and, in 1711, Nathan- iel Brown was granted land to establish a shipyard on Weybosset Neck (now in the
heart of the city). Other shipyards were established, one at the southern end of Towne Street and another at a point which is now the foot of Waterman Street.
The leadership in the development of shipping was taken by the families headed by Tillinghast and Colonel Nicholas Power. The latter married Mercy Tillinghast. A daughter of this union was Hope Power, and it is at this period in the history of the families that the name of Brown begins its rise to fame. Hope Power married James Brown, a great-grandson of Chad Brown who had followed Williams from Massa- chusetts into the wilderness of the Narra- gansett Bay region.
James Brown was engaged in shipping in one way or another from the time he was a young man to his death. At first as a sailor, then as master of a vessel, the young Cap- tain Brown set up a shop on Towne Street, in 1723. Although James Brown was founder of the business, being joined later by his brother, Obadiah, it was for the four sons of the former that the shipping trade opened up its greatest possibilities. James Brown died prematurely in 1739, and Obadiah took three of his brother's sons, Nicholas, Joseph, and John, into business with him. Moses Brown joined his brothers some years later when the business had been reorganized.
Nicholas, the eldest, instead of appro- priating a double portion of his father's estate, as was allowed by the Colonial laws, divided the property equally among his brothers and sister. Joseph, the second of the brothers, remained in the shipping firm
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only a short while. He found the desire to study stronger than the lure of the commer- cial trade and withdrew to take up the study of philosophy. Eventually, he became Pro- fessor of Experimental Philosophy at Brown University. The next in line in the Brown family was John. Until 1782 he re- mained one of the firm, but finally estab- lished his own shipbuilding and trading company at India Point. The last of the four, Moses, survived his noted brothers by many years. He not only had had the early apprenticeship with his uncle, Obadiah, but also served in the firm of Nicholas Brown & Company for ten years.
John Brown, it was, who laid the founda- tion for the great firm of Brown & Ives. He took as a first partner, John Francis, a Phil- adelphia merchant, who continued as a member of the firm until his death in 1796. A Mr. Benson was also a member, retiring in the same year, being superceded by Thomas Poynton Ives. Thomas Poynton Ives had married Nicholas Brown's daugh- ter and thus had previously become a part- ner of the four brothers in the original ship- ping firm. Thus was formed the great commercial firm of Brown & Ives, destined to be the most powerful business firm in the early life of the Providence colony.
John Brown built bridges, wharves, and warehouses, and constantly extended his region of trade to the ports of the entire world, particularly to those of the East In- dies. In the meanwhile, Thomas Poynton Ives, the partner, had risen to fame in an- other line outside shipping. He had become the first president of the Providence Insti- tution for Savings, and had served from its founding in 1819 until 1835.
Many famous ships were built by the firm of Brown & Ives and sent out from Provi- dence. In 1787, John Brown had sent the first ship to the East Indies. She was the "General George Washington." This great ship, the first of three to be named after the first president of the United States, made many subsequent voyages, to India and even to Russia. The next ship was the "President Washington," while the third was named the "George Washington." The latter, after a very successful record of service for the Providence shipping firm, was sold by John Brown to the government and was turned into a frigate. She was the famous ship that
was sailed to Constantinople by Captain Bainbridge.
Other notable ships, built by the firm of which John Brown was long a member, al- though the partners changed from time to time, were the "John Jay," and the "Ann & Hope," the latter being named for the wives of John Brown and Thomas Poynton Ives. Both ships had short careers and were wrecked. The "John Jay" went to pieces after she had struck a reef in the East Indies, while the "Ann & Hope" ran aground off Block Island.
In the Revolution, one of the ships built by John Brown played a very prominent part. She was a tiny vessel, the "Provi- dence," and had formerly been called the "Katie." Purchased by the Colonial Gov- ernment, she became part of the first United States fleet, commanded by Commodore Hopkins of Rhode Island. The "Provi- dence," though sometimes called a brig, was rigged as a sloop. She mounted twelve six- pounders and ten swivels and carried a crew of 90 men, 28 of whom were marines. Cap- tain Hazard was her first commander but when he was later court martialed, John Paul Jones became Captain. Under this young officer, who was later destined to be- come great in American naval circles, she did an endless amount of raiding and con- voy duty in the vicinity of Cape Breton and Louisburg.
It was after Captain Jones had been called to the command of a larger ship that the little sloop, under Captain Hacker, cap- tured the English brig "Diligent." Suffering the fate of a number of other ships of the young American Navy which were de- stroyed or captured in a disastrous engage- ment with the enemy in the Penobscot Bay, she remained lost to the Colonies after that engagement.
Many other ships might easily be named among the many that were built by the firm of Brown & Ives. The "Hope" and the brig "Eliza" were two, which were, for many years, engaged in the peaceful but highly lucrative trade which made the Providence firm not only famous, but extremely wealthy.
It is not far fetched to say that the com- merce brought to Providence by the ships built and sent out by John Brown and Thomas Poynton Ives laid the foundation
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for the building of our great city of today. Shipping, always fascinating to the layman, the landlubber, and perhaps even more so to the sailor, has played a great part in the development of many cities, and the same has been true of the port of Providence. The shipping interests have ever been con-
nected with the other prominent organiza- tions throughout the growing town and, later, the city. And of all the Providence shipping firms, whose members were out- standing not only in their chosen profession but in the many other walks of life, the firm of Brown & Ives was foremost.
A YANKEE FROM CRANSTON
W THAT follows must necessarily be only the thinnest outline of an unusually adventurous and strange career. The full story of this native of Cranston is con- tained in his own narrative, under the title of "The Life and Adventures of Israel R. Potter," and is oddly similar to much of Dickens' work. It is as exciting and stirring as many a modern work of fiction and cer- tainly as substantial. But here is the story in brief.
Israel R. Potter was born in Cranston on August 1, 1744, living with his parents until he was eighteen. At that age he un- happily fell in love with the daughter of a neighbor, beginning an affair to which his parents brought a quick ending. Dis- gruntled and sadly disappointed, the young man decided to leave his home. He took advantage of his family's attendance at church on the following Sabbath to hide his few belongings and some provisions in a nearby wood, and then in the quiet of the night slipped out the door and was gone. His mixed fortunes began the next day when he reached Hartford, Connecticut, and obtained work with a farmer for $6 per month. A month of this and we find him going north to Springfield, but not stopping there because of an offer from a stranger to make a trip up the Connecticut River into the Cahos country. The trip, which was by canoe, was one of several weeks duration, ending at Lebanon, New Hamp- shire. Potter had difficulty in obtaining his pay, though it was only $4, but once having received it he set out for New York.
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