USA > Rhode Island > The "Old Stone Bank" history of Rhode Island, Vol. II > Part 5
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PROVIDENCE INSTITUTION FOR SAVINGS
THE FIRST BANK BUILDING OF THE PROVIDENCE INSTITUTION FOR SAVINGS. ERECTED IN 1854 ON THE SITE OF THE PRESENT MAIN BUILDING OF THIS SAVINGS BANK.
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a medium-sized horse and carried it across the street. Likewise "Stout Jeffrey," a Haz- ard in the fourth generation, was said at one time to have lifted a stone weighing 1620 pounds, while on a later occasion the same gentleman in an argument with an an- tagonist threw the latter over a stone wall and then threw his horse after him for em- phasis. Most of the men were over six feet in height, "Short Stephen," a keeper of Point Judith Light, being an exception.
The first namesake of the original Thomas Hazard was a great farmer and merchant of Narragansett, dealing extensively in the breed of horses known as "Narragansett pacers." In addition he was one of Rhode Island's first shipbuilders and had erected a "great Pier" and warehouse at Boston Neck. In his farming and ownership of land he was of equal importance with Rowland Robinson, whose son, Governor William Robinson, married into the Haz- ard family. In the fourth generation there were four Hazards named Thomas, and for distinction they went under various nicknames such as "College Tom," "Nailor Tom," and "Virginia Tom." "College Tom" went to Yale, but later, after becom- ing a Quaker, was on the Board of Fellows of Brown University. He married Eliza- beth Robinson who was the great grand- daughter of the first Thomas Hazard and hence his third cousin. "Nailor Tom" was famous as a politician of his day. His "Blue Book" or diary contained much that was pertinent to the times. Updike, him- self a descendant of the Hazard family, de- clared that he would rather see the devil come into his courtroom than "Nailor Tom." The privateer of the family was "Virginia Tom" who much preferred to seize enemy ships and enemy cargoes to engaging in a shipping industry of his own.
The name Hazard soon became linked with that of many of the most outstanding Rhode Island families, and as the descend- ants increased in number there were many cases of intermarriage.
Benjamin Hazard, of the fourth genera- tion, married into the Redwood family of Newport. Jeremiah, of the next genera- tion, married Susannah Hutchinson, the only one of Anne Hutchinson's family who escaped death at the hands of the Indians. Oliver Hazard, three times removed from
the first Thomas, married Elizabeth Ray- mond and subsequently became the grand- father of Oliver Hazard and Mathew Cal- braith Perry. This was the first advent of aggressive fighting blood in the family, for, prior to the Civil War, the name Hazard was rarely found on army or navy lists. Edward Hazard, of the sixth generation and a son of Mayor George Hazard of New- port, married the granddaughter of Gov- ernor Samuel Cranston.
Thus this story might continue indefinite- ly, recording the lives of scores and hun- dreds of descendants. By the end of the fifth generation there had been 628 de- scendants of the first Thomas Hazard who came to the island of Acquidneck, and in five succeeding generations this number had increased to 2,920. Suffice it to say that the name Hazard has been merged with the leading names in all Rhode Island his- tory. It is to be found in all the profes- sions of war and peace as well as the un- listed annals of private citizenship. It has had its characteristics and eccentricities, a few of which have been revealed here. But to review all of the many typical incidents is impossible. Only one more can be re- corded, and with it this brief and very su- perficial survey must end.
Stanton Hazard, a son of Governor Robert Hazard, a strong loyalist, had en- tered the British Navy. At the time of the Revolution he offered his services to the Rhode Island Colony, asking only that he be given the same rank in the American Navy as that to which he had risen in the Royal English Navy. The request being re- fused, he continued in the service of Eng- land. His ship was later captured by a Yankee privateer during a one-sided engage- ment, and he was paroled to his sister's home in Narragansett. It was in this en- gagement that a peculiar habit saved his life. He was accustomed to taking snuff, always bending his head when he did so to prevent soiling his lace collar ruffles of which he was proud. In the midst of the fighting he stooped to take a pinch of snuff, bending very low. At the same instant a shot from an enemy gun passed over his stooped body and killed an officer standing next to him. It is the only case on record where a pinch of snuff has been the cause of saving one life and destroying another.
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INDIAN TRAITS AND CUSTOMS
S OME three hundred years ago, at the time when the first white men were be- ginning to arrive in extensive numbers throughout New England, the Rhode Island Narragansetts were at the height of their power. Numbering nearly 20,000 members in all, with a ready contingent of over 5,000 fighting men, they had grown in power since the arrival of the first whites and were at the time the most formidable of all New England tribes. Yet, in the course of a few years, the Wampanoags, the Nipmucs, Aquednecks, Niantics, and other tribes which had been subordinate to the Narragansetts began to break away, leaving the once powerful tribe to decay slowly, until, after the fierce fighting in 1676, it was completely annihilated. It seems little short of astounding that a tribe could gain its ascendency and then pass into oblivion within a half-century. Yet, once entrance was made through the vast undeveloped lands of the West, the Indians of the prairies and western wildernesses dwindled away with equal rapidity, only a tiny proportion of their vast numbers re- maining to inhabitate the reservation set apart for them by their white conquerors. Now it is indeed rarely that we think of Indians at all, mainly because for most of us there have been few things in our lives to call them vividly to mind.
Some Niantics, Wampanoags, and scat- tered members of a few other tribes who survived in Rhode Island after 1676, were driven southward and gathered together in a reservation in Charleston which was under governmental control. Here refugee blacks mingled with them, intermarrying until there was not a pure-blooded Indian left, and much degeneracy resulted. Close by, on a small hill, was the burying ground of the Narragansetts. But in 1881 the state sold the lands in the reservation, although preserving the burial ground, and the re- maining Indians were granted citizenship. Of course we may still find Indians in the
western reservations, joining with the whites in round-ups and rodeos. And there are the Navajos in the southwest, living in their adobe huts, making their rich pottery, and weaving their gorgeously colored blankets. But we of the East only confront the once-feared red men when the circus comes to town, when we again look at their pictures in our children's story books, or when we suddenly come upon some stal- wart survivor standing before an old time cigar store. Consequently it may prove to our interest, and probably to our advantage as well, to give over a few moments to a consideration of some of the personal traits and tribal customs of these first Americans, and, of course, particularly those of Colonial Rhode Island.
Our own Roger Williams, who perhaps more than any other man became thoroughly conversant with the intimate tribal life of all Rhode Island Indians, has left the best descriptions of their customs and charac- ters. The hospitality which they invariably extended to him, and to others was one of their innate virtues, only despoiled through closer contacts with the general run of white men. However poor they were the Indians could be depended upon to share their frugal fare with those who came to visit them, offering the shelter of their wig- wams as well, even though the observance of such generosity often meant that they themselves had to sleep with only a tree for shelter. They were for the most part an eager, simple folk, anxious to gain the lat- est bit of news and more than delighted when a traveler who could speak their dialect came among them. For a while it was perfectly safe for a white man to travel among them without fear, though practic- ally unarmed, and for Williams and others of his nature it was never necessary to take precautions for personal safety.
Their home life was languid and closely attuned to the passing seasons. All their belongings, including their wigwams, were of a sort which could be easily moved and had doubtless been developed to fit their nomadic temperament. With the first warm
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days of spring and summer they set up their encampments near open fields where the squaws might easily plant and cultivate the corn and beans that formed the greater part of their diet. Then with the first warnings of the winter, coming in the whiteness of the early frosts and the scatter- ing of the fallen leaves before the keen north winds, they would swiftly gather their belongings and in one day or night be gone into the quiet and sheltered recesses of the thick forests. During the winter, their stores of food would consist of corn and beans ground into a coarse meal, augmented by dried berries, nuts, and meat, which, like the thriftier animals among the nature folk, they had stored away against the long bleak months.
Though polygamy existed to some ex- tent among the various tribes, its practice was not a matter of male indulgence but something of a purely economic nature, for squaws as workers, were an asset. As a matter of fact, though the whole tendency of these rude inhabitants of the forests was to go scantily clothed and to live together in a nearly naked condition, such practice did not encourage any wantonness among them. In this, as in many other respects, their ideas and customs were by far more praiseworthy than those of the whites whose civilization was in theory held to be totally superior.
The males among the tribes were not idle all the time, although in comparison with the heavy work done by the squaws their efforts toward the upkeep of their families seemed sadly deficient. Yet the men took upon themselves a goodly share of activity. They scoured the forests for game, trapped birds and animals and shot them with bows and arrows, fished with short lines and rude bone hooks or with sharp-pointed spears, and even aided their women in the digging of such special delicacies as clams. And, of course, the complete defense and counsel of the tribe was entirely a male affair, something the females of the tribes considered in itself sufficient recompense for their daily drudgery. With such defense in view, there were always many male indi- viduals who devoted themselves at all times to the fashioning of new arrowheads and tough ashen bows, while others spent their
time in felling and hollowing out the trunks of trees to make the log canoes.
That the women had some spare time and energy is evident in the hand-woven rugs which decorated the inner walls of the wigwams. These, and reed baskets, clothing of skins, and other domestic necessities were mostly the products of the lighter hours of recreation. Some of them, although more often it formed a male occupation, spent time in the procuring of shells, white and black, from which they formed the bits of wampum used as currency and as a rich decorative material. This was strung on thin rawhide sinews and made into wide belts and other ornaments. For quite a while the English settlers used the wam- pum, too, as money, for it facilitated trade with the red men, but its use gradually died out with the minting of silver coins.
Though the Indians were for the most part a silent, and to those who feared them, a grim and foreboding race, they were not always as stern and austere as they have been frequently pictured. In the intimacy of their family circles they could relax as well as any body of whites and take the greatest enjoyment in games and social intercourse. Fond of their families, the elders were often over-indulgent toward their children, suffering the latter to play all kinds of pranks and even to be disobe- dient without reprimand.
Smoking had been a favorite indulgence among them long before the coming of white men, and in their travelling about the males carried their pouches of tobacco about their necks with as much care as they carried their wampum. The tobacco which they smoked was not like that in current use today, being a much coarser and stronger variety, but from it they derived great satisfaction and enjoyment. The fashioning of richly-carved pipes was an art among them. The use of intoxicants was unknown before the coming of the whites, and they were made the victims of its evils, being unaccustomed to its effects and not learning any of its advantages.
While this is a wholly brief and inade- quate account, being merely a fragmentary sketch of some of the activities of these natives, it may show them as being more than mere bloodthirsty savages. Their
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decline was totally due to the coming of the English, the enervating effects of white civilization being disastrous to these peo- ple whose strength lay in the pursuit of a simple existence. It seems tragic that they, who were such an integral part of the
forests they loved, had to perish. They never fully realized just what it was they were fighting. It was not the whites in them- selves but white civilization, intangible to their undeveloped minds and inevitable in its consequences.
BUILDERS OF PAWTUCKET
A MONG the names listed in the annals of the neighboring city of Pawtucket, that of the Jenks family stands out prom- inently. It is not only because Joseph Jenks, Jr., was the founder of Pawtucket but because his sons and daughters conti- nued to carry the name to even greater heights. The indomitable pioneer spirit and genius of the first Joseph Jenks, the original settler who came from England to Massachusetts in 1642, expressed itself in new fields of endeavor through his sons and grandsons.
The first Joseph Jenks was famed for his skill in working in brass and iron in England and was brought to the Colonies by Governor Winthrop, the younger, to establish iron works here. Specimens of the bog-iron, found in the swamps of Sau- gus, Massachusetts, had been taken to Eng- land and analyzed, and a company called the "Company of Undertakers for the Iron Works" formed to develop these natural resources. Joseph Jenks came to superin- tend the construction of buildings for the industry and became the first worker in iron and brass in the colonies. The iron works, under his competent tutelage, de- veloped rapidly and supplied many of the domestic implements used by the neigh- boring settlers. He was an inventor as well as an expert craftsman, and made the moulds and castings for many new tools and machines with his own hands. In 1646, he obtained a patent for an improved type of waterwheel. This was the first patent granted in this country.
Five years after he had arrived in New England, he set up his own shop and forge near the iron works and started to special- ize in the manufacture of scythes and other tools requiring a fine edge and temper.
It was he who made the dies for the famous "Pine Tree" shillings. But it is not this man with whom we are especially con- cerned, for he never came to Pawtucket.
While he had been making a success of the iron works in New England, his two sons Joseph and William, had been living with their grand-parents in England, for his wife had died. The older of these two boys, Joseph, who was born in 1632, in Colebrook, just outside of London, came to join his father in the new world in 1647. He worked in his father's foundry inas- much as he had a natural aptitude for the craft. In about 1668, he married Esther Ballard, of Lynn, Massachusetts, and in the following year he went south to the Colony of Rhode Island taking his young family with him. Here, he first settled in War- wick, where it is on record that he served as foreman of the jury in the case of a drowning accident in 1670. In the previous year he had been granted land on either side of the Pawtuxet River, upon which to set up the sawmill and machinery he had brought with him from Lynn and to begin to cut pine, chestnut, and oak for Warwick customers.
However, chancing to observe the water power which existed at the falls in Paw- tucket, in 1670 he bought about sixty acres of land in their vicinity from Abel Potter, with the additional right of commonage. Then, moving his family and workshop, he built his new forge just below the falls. Men who had come with him from his father's iron works helped to set up his sawmill, carpenter shop, and foundry later on. Iron ore was obtained near Mineral Springs, and timber was cut from the sur- rounding forests and hauled to the mill to be cut into lumber for houses of new set- tlers. Nearby his forge Jenks built his own
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home, the first house to be built in Paw- tucket, on what is now East Avenue, while his men occupied rough dwellings in the vicinity.
With his acquired expert knowledge combined with great business ability, young Jenks soon created a leading place for himself in the surrounding countryside, even reaching the point where he was recog- nized as a sort of over-lord. The handicraft and genius that supplied the farmers, hunt- ers, and fishermen of the locality with an unlimited number of tools, some old and some new inventions, was very welcome in the region known as the Providence Planta- tions. Consequently, Jenks was given a free hand in the choice of land in the vicinity in which he settled. The men of Rhode Island were anxious to retain among them a man who was a master craftsman in iron and brass. Around his original establishment many more homes grew up, the nucleus for the great city of more than 70,000 inhabi- tants that covers the location at present.
Honors were pressed upon him as he reached middle age, and he rose to great eminence in the Rhode Island Colony. He really became the leader of a patriarchy which had its center at his forge. He was a member of the Providence Town Council in 1680, and Moderator of the Town Meet- ing in 1678-80. In April, 1679, he was elected a delegate from Providence to the General Assembly in Newport, and was the Speaker in that body from 1698 to 1699. In various periods of his life he was a dep- uty and justice of the peace and performed many marriages.
In 1680, he and two others were empow- ered by the Assembly to purchase a bell "for the public use of the Colony, and for giving notice or signifying the several times or sittings of the Assemblys and Courts of Trials, and General Couricils." The bell was purchased from Freelove Arnold (daughter of Governor Benedict Arnold) for three pounds and ten shil- lings. Previously the Assembly had been called together by the roll of a drum.
In 1690, he was one of committee of sev- en to write a letter of congratulation and loyalty to William and Mary who had then just acceded to the British throne, and in 1695, he was chosen to run the eastern line of the Colony.
Thus far the Jenks family had advanced greatly in the community for which they formed the nucleus. But the achievements of the father were to be overshadowed by those of the sons. The family of Joseph Jenks, Jr., contained ten children, four boys and six girls. All of the boys became dis- tinguished men. Joseph, the elder, became Governor of the Colony; Ebenezer became one of the first ordained pastors of the First Baptist Church in Providence; Na- thaniel attained the rank of Major in his chosen field, the military profession, and William, who turned to law, became a dep- uty and a judge. The business of the father, Joseph Jenks, Jr., was inherited and con- ducted by the four brothers, who, in this sense, were somewhat similar to the famous "Brown Brothers" of Providence. Each built a mansion for himself, fol- lowing somewhat the style of the Eleazer Arnold mansion in Lincoln, in that each had a stone chimney at one end. Nathaniel's home was located at what is now 210 Main Street, but it was demolished in 1870. It was of particular note, because it is believed that the original home of Joseph Jenks, Jr., the father, had been moved and joined to it. The Jenks family has been engaged in some form of iron founding and iron manufacturing without a break from the time of Joseph Jenks, Ist to the present. The Pawtucket firm of Fales & Jenks, founded in 1830, is owned by descendants of the founder.
Of the four brothers, the most famous by far was Joseph, the third bearer of the fam- ily name. During the first part of the 18th century he was undoubtedly the most important individual in the whole Colony. Born in 1656, by 1691 he was deputy to the General Assembly, holding the position for twelve years and serving as speaker of the lower House for four years. He became a major in the militia of the Mainland towns during the period between 1707 and 1712. In 1705, he was appointed one of the com- missioners to settle the ever present bound- ary question, and was reappointed several times to aid in running the line. Mean- while his unquestioned ability in political matters and his great popularity had pro- cured for him the office of Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, a position which he held for thirteen years under Governor Cranston. Finally,
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when the latter died in 1727, he became Governor, holding the office for six years. He was the first Governor to be elected out- side of Newport, but, deferring to a wish of the General Assembly, he moved his family to the seaport during the term of his governorship. He was twice married, his first wife being Martha Brown of Provi- dence who died; his second, Alice Smith Dexter of the same town.
In every respect Joseph Jenks, 3rd, dis- played the greatest sagacity and integrity while occupying such an honored place in the public eye. Under his influence his native village grew vigorously, responding well to his efforts to promote its best in- terests and invest capital there. When he was asked to run again for the governor- ship in 1733, he declined, saying wisely,
"I now perceive my natural faculties abat- ing. If I should continue longer in office, it is possible I may be insensible of their decay, and be unwilling to resign my post when I am no longer able to fill it." He died seven years later, in 1740, and was buried in the Old Jenks Burying Ground, in the middle of what is now Read Street. He was the greatest of three great men of the same name and family, and well con- tinued the traditions laid by his forebears. On his former tombstone the latter part of the epitaph provides the most fitting sum- mary of the man and of this story:
"He was .. . a Wise and Prudent Gover- nor; a kind Husband and a Tender Father; Grave, Sober, Pleasant in Behaviour, Beau- tiful in Person, with a Soul truly Great, Heroic, and Sweetly-Tempered."
AN UNSOLVED MURDER
W THO killed Rebecca Cornell on the after- noon of February 8, 1673, as she sat alone in her room in her home at Ports- mouth? To this day, no one knows for cer- tain, yet one man, her son, Thomas, was convicted (on evidence that now seems wholly spurious) and executed for the crime. In those days when a defendant could have no counsel to argue his case, not a few innocent men went to their death, the victims of trumped-up charges. Nowadays, a court would insist upon a minute autopsy upon the body and a rigorous investiga- tion of all evidence before deciding the case and declaring a verdict. But let us examine the case in hand.
To begin with, the Cornells as a family were well-known in Portsmouth. Thomas Cornell, the father, had been admitted as a freeman in 1640, and was made a constable the following year. Then, in 1646, he re- ceived a grant of 100 acres within the set- lement. To this estate his son Thomas suc- ceeded.
Thomas the second, like his father, was a man of honor and consequence in the Colony. He was several times a deputy from Portsmouth to the General Assembly in Newport, and was placed in many posi-
tions of public trust. And in February, 1673, we find him living quietly on his Portsmouth farm with his family, made up then of himself, his wife, two sons, his mother (a widow of 73), and two hired men. His mother occupied a first-floor room, which contained a fireplace and had both an inner and an outside door. Thomas had been married twice, having had four sons by his first wife. It was two of these sons who were at home at the time of the murder, but the wife mentioned was Sarah, his second wife.
To proceed; on February 8, 1673, Re- becca, the mother, was found dead on the floor of her room, her clothing burned and her body severely scorched by fire. Taking the first testimony of Thomas Cornell and one of his hired men, Henry Strait, a coroner's jury returned a verdict that she had come "to her untimely death by an unhappy accident of fire, as she sat in her room." However, a further examination of the body disclosed a wound on the upper part of her stomach, and the jury gave out as a revised verdict that she came to her death because of both the fire and the in- jury, but even then incriminated no one. As the case stood, it was a mystery until rumors began to circulate concerning trouble in the
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