USA > Rhode Island > The "Old Stone Bank" history of Rhode Island, Vol. III > Part 14
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to Newport to get his hands upon the coveted document. When Governor Clarke heard that Andros had arrived in Newport, the former gave the charter to his brother, instructing him to conceal it in some spot unknown to Governor Clarke. The rest was simple. An unsuc- cessful search for the charter was made in the presence of the royal governor, and Governor Clarke was able to say truth- fully that he had no knowledge of its whereabouts. Andros left empty handed, but, somehow or other the document was located and returned to Governor Clarke not long after the representative of His Majesty had journeyed beyond the borders of this liberty-loving common- wealth.
Andros ruled as a dictator with unlim- ited powers, levying and increasing taxes, changing boundary lines, administering unjust laws, rules and regulations. In 1688, his powers were enlarged by a new commission, and all the while the people patiently waited for something to happen, something that would give them back their hard-earned rights, and the liberties which they believed were theirs to enjoy. The long-awaited something did happen in April 1689, when a messenger arrived in Boston telling of the revolution in Eng- land, of the flight of King James, and the invasion of William, Prince of Orange.
Andros was seized in Boston and im- prisoned; Dudley, Justice for Andros, was
captured in Rhode Island and taken to a prison in Roxbury. Andros escaped and fled to Rhode Island hoping to find pro- tection here, but he was recaptured at Newport and sent back to Boston. Immediate steps were taken to re-estab- lish some form of Government under the old charter; an attempt to hold a meeting of the General Assembly in 1689 failed, but the following year the freemen assem- bled to reorganize the business of govern- ment. Clarke, the Governor who held office when King James decided to upset matters at home and abroad, declined to serve any more, so Henry Bull, a New- port Quaker, was finally chosen in his stead.
A full complement of officers was elected, the charter was demanded of the former Governor; a colony seal - an anchor with the motto "Hope" - was adopted and various other items of busi- ness were transacted. A few staunch royalists in Rhode Island objected to the resumption of government under the charter, but it was not long before the crown authorities decided to let the Connecticut and Rhode Island charters stand. Rhode Island had solved the problem of self-government, she had won her struggle for existence; she was then ready to enter through industry and ingenuity upon the path to greater liberties, wealth, culture and accomplish- ment.
GOVERNOR SAMUEL CRANSTON
"THE preceding account told of that period in Rhode Island history, from 1686 to 1689, when the Colony lost its charter rights and became a county of the Dominion of New England, under Sir Edmund Andros, appointed Royal Governor of the New England Colonies not long after James II succeeded his brother Charles on the English throne. Rhode Island regained its charter rights when a revolution overthrew the power of James, ended the despotic rule of Andros, and brought about the latter's recall to England where he, with others,
was tried for usurpation of power in the colonies. For the first time in four years the Rhode Island General Assembly convened, but Walter Clarke, the incum- bent governor, when King James upset the local government, refused to serve. Christopher Almy was elected in his stead, but he also declined to accept the responsibilities of the office. Then Henry Bull was tendered the office, and this aged Quaker accepted, assuming the difficult task of reorganizing the govern- ment of the Colony under its restored charter rights. Governor Bull served
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from February to May in 1690, and then, because of ill health, the office passed from him to John Easton, of Newport, who was succeeded by Caleb Carr, who died in office after a very short term; and then Walter Clarke returned to the governorship, occupying the office from January 1696 to March 1698.
And that review brings us to a point where an important name appears upon the immortal pages of local history - a name that suggests sterling character, rugged independence and able statesman- ship. It was the name of the Governor of Rhode Island who came into office in March 1698, and who remained in that capacity until 1727, practically thirty consecutive years, His Excellency the Governor, Samuel Cranston. But, before the story of this early leader is told, it will be proper to go back a bit in our narrative since the name Cranston was borne by a predecessor in the high office that was filled with distinction for so many years by Samuel.
The name of Cranston has its genealog- ical origin in the days of the ancient Scottish Earls of Crawford, Bothwell and Traquair, the descendants of whom are said to be blood relatives of the reigning line of British royalty. From Scotland, during the time of Oliver Cromwell, migrated a young man by the name of John Cranston, who finally settled in Newport, Rhode Island. This John was a grandson of Lord William whose romance and marriage were im- mortalized by Sir Walter Scott in his "Lay of the Last Minstrel." John Cranston married Mary Clarke, daughter of Jeremiah Clarke, a Quaker; and evidently John had been educated in medicine, for on March 1, 1664, the General Assembly passed an act permit- ting him "to administer phisicke and practice chirurgery." This act conferred upon him the title of M.D.
John Cranston had considerable to do with the local proceedings that led to the granting of Rhode Island's famous charter of 1663, and he was appointed along with John Clarke and William Dyer, to journey to England and there present a letter of appreciation to King Charles for the instrument of authority
that remained in force for one hundred and eighty years. John Cranston was elected Deputy Governor (Deputy Gov- ernor was the original title for the office of Lieutenant Governor) in May 1672, and served one year. He was elected again in 1676, and remained in office until November 8, 1678, when he was made Governor to succeed William Cod- dington, who died in office bringing to an end a long, eventful and trouble-making political career. Governor John Cranston died in office in 1680, the third Rhode Island Governor to do so. He was the first to receive the title of Major General, the appointment being made during King Philip's War.
Governor John Cranston had a son, Samuel, born in Newport in 1659, and this son was destined for even greater accomplishments than those attributed to the distinguished father. Samuel had a surprising experience in early life and it is worth repeating here. While a young man he married Mary Hart, a grand- daughter of Roger Williams, and not long after the wedding he went away to sea. Hearing nothing from the young sailor for several years, his family gave him up for dead, and his wife, in due time, accepted an offer of marriage from a Mr. Russell of Boston. As the story goes, all plans for the wedding had been arranged, the date and the hour for the ceremony were near at hand, when the long lost Samuel arrived in Boston on his way home. His wanderings had taken him to many lands and long im- prisonment in Algiers, where pirates held him captive, had delayed his return and prevented communication with his family.
On his way from Boston he happened to learn of the wedding scheduled for that very night, and, although Samuel traveled with all possible speed, the guests were already assembling when he wearily approached his home in Newport. The whole setting, filled with dramatic tension, found the returning wanderer going to his own kitchen door, where he sent word to his wife, through a serv- ant, that "a person was there who wished to speak to her." She came to the door and found the strange sailor
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who announced that he had news of her husband, still alive and on his way home.
Naturally, much upset by the man's message, and we hope that she reacted properly to the startling information, she questioned the sailor carefully to make certain that he was telling the truth. The stranger repeated his assertion that Samuel Cranston was still alive and on his way home and, finally, to convince the distracted lady of his message he raised his cap and pointed to a scar on his forehead. Instantly she recognized her husband, and the rest of the story can be imagined. The day was probably spoiled for Mr. Russell of Boston, and the gathering of friends and relatives very likely gave Samuel Cranston a golden opportunity to relate his thrilling story of adventures, sufferings, escapes and shipwrecks. If Samuel Cranston had been familiar with modern drama and motion picture themes, he probably would have better-timed his entrance into the scene of wedding ceremony, by raising his cap and pointing to the iden- tifying scar just as the minister was about to unite the pair in happy wedlock.
Thereafter, Samuel Cranston attached himself to the merchant class of the Colony as a goldsmith, and began a long and enviable career as a leader in civic activities. His father's service to the Colony before him was an introduction to public life, and he continued to add even greater laurels to the name of Cranston. Since his greatest contributions came during his long tenure of office as Gov- ernor, it will be well to advance, in our narrative, to that point when Walter Clarke, uncle of Samuel Cranston re- signed in 1698, in favor of his nephew, whose only political office before the governorship was one year as an Assistant for Newport in the Upper House of the General Assembly.
To complete the record of Governor Samuel Cranston and to present a picture of Rhode Island under his administration, the following acts of legislation, together with important decisions, changes, and progressive measures are outlined briefly. Under the long administration of Gov- ernor Samuel Cranston, the evil of piracy, an outgrowth of licensed privateering
fostered by the Colonies, was brought to an end. The Colony adopted the Boston system of weights and measures, and each town was required to appoint a sealer. Traders from outside the Colony had to pay a duty or toll on the goods sold within the Colony. The General Assembly enacted that each Town Coun- cil should appoint a jury of twelve to lay out highways to accommodate travel from place to place.
A fortification was ordered built at Newport to mount twelve pieces of ordnance for the better protection of his Majesty's interests and those of the Colony. Under Cranston's administra- tion further attempts on the part of Governor Joseph Dudley of Massachu- setts to assume control of Rhode Island and take away her chartered rights were thwarted largely through the wisdom and determination of the chief executive. In 1703, the boundary line between Rhode Island and Connecticut was agreed upon as outlined in the charter. A law was passed forbidding the sale of captured Indians. The first census of the Colony was made in 1708 revealing that 7,181 inhabitants lived within its borders. The militia force numbered 1,362 males be- tween the ages of sixteen and sixty, each of whom was required to provide himself with a musket, a sword or bayonet, a cartridge box, one pound of powder and four pounds of bullets.
Shipping to the West Indies and else- where increased rapidly, and, in a space of eleven years, eighty-four vessels were built in the Colony. Besides, many youths from Rhode Island had taken to the sea. Schools, roads, protection, trade and care of the unfortunate, these and many other public matters received the attention due them as Rhode Island began its career of commercial prosperity. The turning point for the better in all these phases of colonial activity came under the administration of Governor Cranston who was spared to serve until April 26, 1727, when he died in office at the age of 68. He guided the Colony through a most critical period and solved some of the most perplexing problems in Rhode Island's three centuries of progress.
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THE FOUNDER OF PAWTUCKET
TE THE story has been told of Governor Samuel Cranston, whose record term of office extended from the turn of the century until 1727, and whose adminis- tration spanned the turning points in Rhode Island destinies, and we reviewed the political changes that occurred just previous to Governor Cranston's first election in 1698. In general, the whole story of Rhode Island's evolution, up to this point, has been completed, omit- ting only the detailed histories of the various towns and Colonial divisions that actually had their beginning long before the time now arrived at in the main narrative. Since the events that transpired in some of these geographical sections of the Colony did have profound influence upon the histories of the more densely populated centers, and since they deserve equal recognition in the record of Rhode Island's march of prog- ress, one of these important places, not previously discussed, will now come in for its share of historical review.
Pawtucket was an Indian word meaning "falls of water" and was originally given to that point in northeastern Rhode Island where the waters of the Blackstone River tumble down over the rocks to become the Pawtucket River, and farther on below, the Seekonk River. The first inhabitants of Pawtucket were Indian members of the Narragansett tribe, and the first white man to look upon the place was William Blackstone, who must have passed by or near the falls when he jour- neyed through the wilderness in 1635, to settle a few miles to the north, on the banks of the river that bears his name, and at a spot which has since become included within the boundaries of Rhode Island.
The land that comprises present Paw- tucket was acquired from the original native owners in an honorable fashion, and that part of the place that lies on the western banks of the Blackstone-Paw- tucket-Seekonk streams was included in the original purchase of Providence. Furthermore, what is now Pawtucket
on the east bank of the same streams was bought and paid for by Plymouth colonists. Citizens of Pawtucket should be proud of the fact that the entire area that constitutes the present city came into the hands of the white men by legal and proper sale.
And now we come to the first settler of Pawtucket. His name was Joseph Jenks, Jr., son of a famous worker in brass and iron. The father by the same name migrated to America in 1642 and estab- lished an iron works in Massachusetts, where he brought everlasting fame to himself as the first founder who worked in brass and iron on the Western Conti- nent. The son, Joseph, Jr., was born in 1632, in Colebrooks, near London, and came to America in 1647, where, with a natural aptitude for craftsmanship he became active in his distinguished father's industry. In about 1668, Joseph Jenks, Jr. married Esther Ballard of Lynn, and, the following year he left to take up residence among those who had settled around the waters of Narragansett Bay. First he settled in Warwick, where he had been granted land on either side of the Pawtuxet River believing that location to be suitable for a sawmill where he might install machinery and tools brought with him from Lynn.
It is a known fact that Roger Williams held high hopes for his settlement to develop into a manufacturing and indus- trial center, therefore this decision on the part of Jenks to locate in these parts may have been influenced by the ambi- tions of Williams and his associates. At any rate, Jenks was destined to remain in Rhode Island and attain great fame as a pioneer in American manufacturing although his permanent place of business did not remain on the banks of the Paw- tuxet River. It may have been by acci- dent, or he may have been led to a deci- sion following a period of careful surveys of suitable locations, but Joseph Jenks, Jr. finally decided that the place which the Indians called Pawtucket was ideal in every respect for his manufacturing
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plans. There at the "falls of water," not a great distance from the growing Provi- dence settlement, he observed the cease- less flow of a pleasant stream that would turn the power wheels of a sawmill; all about were giant trees for supplying limitless quantities of timber to be cut, turned and fashioned in a carpenter shop, or burned in the smelting furnaces. Less than a mile away, near what is now Mineral Springs, he found deposits of bog iron ore, apparently a ready source of supply for his forge and foundry.
Impressed by the advantages offered him in this area of undisturbed wilder- ness, Jenks promptly removed from his establishment at Pawtuxet and turned his entire attention to the place which he believed met his requirements in every respect. On October 10, 1671 he pur- chased from Abel Potter sixty acres of land lying near Pawtucket Falls, and that historic transaction marked the actual founding of a settlement which was destined to become preeminent among the industrial centers of the nation. Since this land purchased by Jenks was a part of Providence Planta- tions his property was, of course, only on the west side of the stream whose water power advantages held such great attractions.
Little time was lost in erecting a shelter and in laying the foundations of a manu- facturing establishment, since the founder and first settler of Pawtucket took pos- session of his property well-equipped to turn trees into beams, joists and planking, and long-experienced in the art of con- struction. His first permanent dwelling stood near the present site of the Paw- tucket Boys Club building, and his pioneer forge was erected below the falls on the west bank of the river, near what is now the south side of Main Street. Soon the invisible horse powers of the generous Blackstone River began to revolve the wheels which, in turn, whirled the saws that produced ample supplies of lumber for construction, stock for tool handles, and logs to be burned into charcoal for burning in the furnaces of the forge.
Former employees of Joseph Jenks, Sr. soon joined fortunes with the talented
and capable son and they made the quiet of the wilderness resound with the ring of the anvil as scythes and other tools were hammered into shape to supply a ready market in Providence and else- where. These early associates were fol- lowed by their families who found the place called Pawtucket a pleasant spot in which to live, as well as a desirable locality to reap the rewards of industry and ingenuity. Naturally Jenks became a leading figure in the Colony; he was looked upon as a successful business man as well as an eminent craftsman. Young men were anxious to perfect their trades under his tutelage and inspiration. Fur- thermore, he devoted much of his time to community affairs, taking a leading part in the social development of the place which he had the honor to found.
All went well with this early center of American industry until the outbreak of King Philip's War, in 1675, and then the mill wheels at Pawtucket turned no more, the ring of the anvil was stilled, and the industrious workers in the shops of Joseph Jenks, Jr. departed for more protected shelters, and they remained until the return of peace. Probably during the early months of 1677, Joseph Jenks, Jr. went back to Pawtucket to re-establish his forge. Once more the solitude of the forest was broken with the peaceful echoes of industry. And, from that day to this, invention and the mastery of machine production have brought continuous and everlasting fame to the place which the Indians called "Pawtucket."
As Jenks reached middle age he found more and more time to devote to public affairs in the Colony. In 1680, he was a member of the Providence Town Coun- cil, and held two positions of Moderator of the Town meeting in 1678-80. In April 1679 he was elected a delegate from Providence to the General Assembly in Newport, serving a number of years in this capacity, and he was the speaker for several sessions. Joseph Jenks, Jr. was the father of four sons and six daugh- ters, and all became prominent in the early days of Pawtucket's interesting career. When Pardon Tillinghast built,
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in 1679, the first Providence warehouse and wharf, the vessels that docked there took away cargoes of iron tools and imple- ments from the forge of Joseph Jenks, Jr .;
therefore, Pawtucket played a most important part in the establishment and early development of Rhode Island com- merce.
THE NARRAGANSETT COUNTRY
TT now seems proper to look at an exten- sive area of Rhode Island, about which little has been said thus far in this chrono- logically-arranged series of chapters or episodes. This area comprises the present Counties, Kent and Washington, bounded on the east by Narragansett Bay, on the south by the Atlantic Ocean and on the west by the Connecticut boundary line. Providence, Warwick, Portsmouth, New- port and Pawtucket have all been dis- cussed at length in the review as far as it has gone, so these places and others not yet considered must be put aside until the record of the great area just mentioned can be traced from the beginning up to the same milestone, 1700 or thereabouts, when Rhode Island entered upon the era of commercial development.
After many years of disputes it has been fairly well determined that Roger Wil- liams was not only the founder of Provi- dence but that he was also the first settler in what we, to-day, generally refer to as South County. These disputes came to an end with the comparatively recent dis- closure that Roger Williams conducted an Indian trading post on the site of, or in the immediate neighborhood of Cocum- cussoc, located on the east side of Route 1, just a short distance north of Wickford village and, at present, a privately-owned estate. How soon after the settlement of Providence Williams set up his trading business in this locality is not known, but tradition has it that he was successful in his dealings with the friendly and wealthy Narragansett sachems and tribesmen who lived south and west of the present Wick- ford.
Basing the following deductions upon the fact that Williams was the first to establish himself in the great area in question, we accept that Williams sold this trading post in the Narragansett
country to Major Richard Smith who had left England because of religious persecu- tion during the latter part of the reign of King Charles I, and had settled in Taun- ton, then a part of Plymouth territory. Although Smith became a leading figure in Taunton shortly after his arrival, he desired more freedom and liberty of con- science, so he came to Rhode Island and purchased 30,000 acres of land from the Indians - a plantation measuring nine miles in length and three miles in width and including the present site of Wickford village. Sometime between 1637 and 1642 he established a trading post on his property, and the purchase of the Roger Williams post was made by Smith in 1651, when the founder was forced to sell his property to help defray expenses for his second return trip to England on Colony business.
Although Williams and Smith were the first settlers, and without question Wil- liams must properly be considered as the pioneer, there developed much contention as to who had title to the Narragansett country during the years that followed the arrival of the white man within its bound- aries. The story has been told heretofore of how Roger Williams brought back from England, in 1644, a charter that gave the settlers in the Narragansett Bay area the right to govern themselves. This charter also gave the authorities of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations jurisdiction over certain lands including the Narragansett country, but others seemed to disagree. Connecticut claimed the tract under a previously issued patent which granted territory as far east as the Narragansett River (undoubtedly Narra- gansett Bay). Although having no claim to Narragansett lands, Connecticut de- manded a share of the Pequot lands as her share of the spoils of the Pequot Indian
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War, but, since Pequot territory did not extend east of the Pawcatuck River, this claim amounted to nothing as far as the tract of land we are now considering is concerned. Still other claimants for the Rhode Island lands were the heirs of the Duke of Hamilton, to whom the Plymouth Council had granted, in 1635, all of the territory between Narragansett Bay and the Connecticut River. This last claim never had any force and was declared obsolete in 1697.
So, thus far we have found that this vast tract of land extending from the south line of the Warwick purchase to the ocean, and from Narragansett Bay to the Connecticut boundary line, was occupied not long after the founding of Providence, but that it remained in a very unsettled state as regards both ownership and juris- diction. The story now proceeds to the year of 1658 when Samuel Wilbur and three others of Portsmouth, and John Hull of Boston, bought from the Indians what was known as the Pettaquamscut Purchase. This purchase took in approxi- mately the southeastern quarter of the Narragansett country. In the following year Major Humphrey Atherton and his partners bought two tracts of land from the Indians comprising what is now the eastern half of present North Kingston, and that purchase, made in violation of Rhode Island laws and land policies, nearly caused the entire destruction of the little colony.
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