USA > Rhode Island > Kent County > Warwick > The history of Warwick, Rhode Island, from its settlement in 1642 to the present time; including accounts of the early settlement and development of its several villages; sketches of the origin and progress of the different churches of the town, &c., &c > Part 17
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THE OLD GREENE CEMETERY.
died in Brooklyn, New York ; Eliza, who married the late Dr. Stephen Harris, a resident in this village for some years, and subsequently a successful cotton manufacturer at River Point. The doctor died October 10, 1858, aged 72 years. His wife died March 23, 1820. Cyrus, Stephen, and Caleb F. Harris are the surviving children, several having died. A few years ago, the remains of Dr. Harris and his wife, with the deceased children, were removed to Swan Point cemetery. Abigail Susan, the fourth daughter of Capt. Greene, married the late John Greene, of this village. She died May 6, 1814, in the nineteenth year of her age, leaving one child, who married the late Daniel Howland, of East Greenwich. Sarah Aun married Stephen Arnold, of Providence. They buried four young children in these grounds, the earliest in 1825.
The family of Stephen Greene, a remote branch of the other Greenes, also found here a resting place. One daughter, Freelove, fell into the wheel pit of the mill and was diowned, March 26, 1839, aged 47. The accident was preceded by two others in the village, and separated by only a few days. The widow of Major Bunn, a Hessian soldier, who remained and settled here after the Revolutionary war, fell into the fire and was burned to death, and Christopher Bowman, an operative in the woolen mill, got caught by the shafting and was instantly killed. A portion of the Stephen Greene family are settled about Black Rock, in Coventry.
A few scores of persons have here been gathered to their rest to await the sound of that voice which shall eventually call them forth to renewed life. Many of them were active in their time, as are their descendants in whom they now live.
" Their names, their years, spelt by the unlettered muse, The place of fame and elegy supply :
And many a holy text around she strews
That teach the rustic moralist to die."
In 1785 the number of houses had increased to eight. The others were John Henry Bunn's house, a small red
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
building. one story, that stood between the Centreville bank and the bridge. It was built by Samuel Pitman for the goldsmith business. Jonathan Tiffany. father of Mr. Henry Tiffany, of Crompton, married Mr. Pitman's half-sister. Bunn was a shoemaker and died many years ago. His widow, an old feeble woman, while her daughter was absent, fell into the fire and was half consumed before her daughter returned. This event occurred in 1839. There was a house called the " Board- ing house" and another occupied by Spencer Merrill. Col. Christopher Greene's residence became the home of his son, Job, and was finally rented to Thomas Whaley. It occupied the same site upon which William Levally subsequently built. Westward, across the road, Job Greene built a house in 1785, in which he dwelt many years. Job Greene was the father of the Ilon. Simon Henry Greene.
Col. Greene had a negro servant during the Revolu- tionary war, named Bostou Carpenter, who was one of the wonders of those times. By diligence and economy he accumulated some property in Coventry, at the foot of a ridge called, after him, "Boston Hill." He purchased his wife of Job Greene, "for 4s. 6d., as a matter of form, to prevent her becoming chargeable to the estate of Job Greene, in case she should be reduced to poverty." * Joseph W. Greene, Esq., of Brooklyn,
* Negro slavery existed in all the towns of Rhode Island at the time of the Revolutionary war, and more or less of them were to be found in them un il within the last fifty years. All children of slaves born in Rhode Island after March 1, 1784, were, by law, declared free. During the Revolutionary war all who chose to enlist in the army were granted their freedom. In the year 1780 there were forty one slaves in this town. From the census reports, we have the following as the number of slaves in the State : in 1790, 952; in 1800, 381 ; in 1810, 108; in 1820, 48; in 1830. 17. The last one died as late as January 3, 1859, when James Howland ended this lite at the residence of John Howland. of Jamestown, at the advanced age of one hundred years. "He had always been a faithful servant in the Howland family Up to the hour of his death he retained all his faculties unimpaired, and on the night of Jannary 2d, attended to his nsnal duties about the house. On the morning of the 3d, he arose and dressed himself, and was about to descend the stairs from his chamber when he fainted and expired in a few moments. He was the last of the Rhode Island slaves."
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FIRST ATTEMPTS AT MANUFACTURING.
gives the following account of him. "This Boston Carpenter was quite a notable person. He lived about half a mile north of Anthony village. He had beenta slave and bought his freedom. Then he bought a slave named Lillis, who was familiarly known by the name of Lill. They lived together as man and wife, though it was said they were never married. He used to say to her that if she did not behave well, he would put her in his pocket (or, in other words, he would sell her). He was a shrewd, intelligent fellow, with a good deal of ready wit. He had been badly afflicted with the rheumatism and was almost bent double. A man once met him on the road and asked him if he came straight from home? Boston replied, 'Yes, Sir.' 'Then,' the man reiterated, 'you have got most horridly warped on the way.' Boston walked off without being able to make any reply. He spent much of his time in tending the grist mill of Col. Job Greene at Centreville. Boston was a famous breaker of horses, an active mechanic and a quick, sharp man. Mr. Waterman Clapp, a venerable octogenarian, told me recently, that he distinctly re- membered Boston, and mentioned several anecdotes of him that want of space alone compels me to refrain from mentioning.
The first attempt at manufacturing cotton by machin- ery in this village, seems to have been made about the year 1794 when land and water-power were transferred to a company formed for that purpose by Col. Job Greene, by a deed bearing date Oct. 3, of that year. Greene gave the land and water power, "stipulating that the building should be 40 feet long by 26 feet wide and two stories high, with sufficient machinery for running a hun- dred spindles." The following persons formed the com- pany : William Potter of Providence, one-third ; John Allen, one-sixth ; James McKerris, one-sixth ; James Greene, one-ninth ; Job Greene, one-eighteenth ; the re- maining one-sixth to be owned by the several proprietors, according to this ratio. The water was to be conveyed to the wheel by a wooden conductor, the interior of
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
which was to be two feet square, and which was to be placed at the bottom of the mill dam; Greene agreeing not to draw the water down for his grist mill so low that it would be less than six inches higher than the upper plank of the conductor. He also agreed to keep the dam in good condition for six years; after this the com- pany was to bear one-third the expenses of repairs." The machinery was built under the direction of Moses Irwin, who was afterwards engaged to oversee its opera- tion. The operation did not succeed very well, though. the yarn manufactured was salable. There soon ap- peared a desire, on the part of some members of the company, to allow others to continue the experiment, and in May, 1797, McKerris sold one-tenth to John Reynolds, for $600 ; in June, he sold one-twelfth to Gideon Bailey, of East Greenwich, for $170. John Reynolds, in November, 1798, sold his share to the company for $600. In 1799, the company sold one-half of the whole con- cern to William Almy and Obadiah Brown, for $2500. The items of the transfer are as follows : one undivided half part of a lot of land and mill ; four spinning machines each 60 spindles ; 2 carding machines, with drawing and roving frames ; half of dye-house; half of single house on Job Greene's Jand; half of water power, &c., &c.
The new company met with better success. The de- mand for their yarn was greater than they could supply. Knitting cotton and yarn for warps, were the kinds manufactured. So great was the demand that the com- pany proposed to extend their works, and introduce more machinery. Four years previous to the starting of this mill, Samuel Slater had commenced a similar exper- iment at Pawtucket, with only 72 spindles. Almy and Brown were now part owners in both establishments. John Allen went out to Pawtucket to observe how things went and get some needful hints, that might be useful here. It is said that when he attempted to measure some of the machines, Slater ordered him to desist and threatened to throw him out of the window. But Mr. Allen, perhaps hardly believing that such an
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SECOND MILL ERECTED.
event would occur, and thinking he had some authority for proceeding, on account of the relations of Almy and Brown to the concern, quietly proceeded in his work, when Slater at last laid violent hands upon him. Oba- diah Brown, who was near, laid his hand gently upon Mr. Allen's shoulder, saying in his cool, quiet way, "I will finish thy work and I will see if Samuel will serve me as he did thee." Whether Mr. Allen scratched his elbow as was his custom when perplexed, when he was so sud- denly arrested, does not appear, but he saw Mr. Brown accomplish his work without interference, and returned home with his mission accomplished.
On July 10, 1801, Almy & Brown purchased of Job Greene all his rights in the spinning mill. In 1805, they made the further purchase, of the same person, of 16 acres of land, grist and saw mills. water-power, dwell- ing house which he built in 1785, all for $5,000.
In 1807, a second mill was erected on the east side of the river, by a new company, that styled itself the War- wick Manufacturing Company." The company was composed of Almy & Brown, James Greene, John Allen and Gideon Greene. James Greene held one-eighth of the stock ; John Allen, one-eighth ; John Greene, one- twelfth ; Gideon Greene, one sixteenth and Almy & Brown the remainder. John Allen superintended the erection of the mill, as he had done the one across the river. He also afterwards acted as the agent of the company and was followed by John Greene. The mill was painted green, and was known as the green mill. The building that recently stood opposite Mr. Lapham's office, and used as a boarding house, was originally used as a store, and in the basement of it hand looms were introduced, and the yarn was woven into cloth, in the same way as in many of the houses in the surrounding country up to the time of the introduction of power machinery, when the h. nd loom not being able longer to compete with the new motor, gave way. The company grass-bleached the cloth that was made by the hand loom, and finished it by running it through a cal-
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
ender that stood on the opposite side of the stream. The land on the opposite side of the river from the Bap- tist parsonage and lot adjoining, now covered with wood and underbrush, was the Bleach-green, and upon its grassy surface the cloth was spread and occasionally wet until the desired whiteness was secured.
The old grist mill on the west side of the river, was superceded by a cotton mill, built by Almy & Brown. It had been used for various purposes. In the basement was a machine shop with a trip hammer, where the noisy operations mingled with the racket of the saw * and grist mill, in the second story. In the story above, the miller's family lived, and in the attic, was a wool- carding machine. When all were in motion the miller's famlly must have had a noisy place. This continued until about 1812, when the breaking out of the war made a great demand for cotton goods.
In 1816, Capt. Wm. Potter, one of the original proprietors, sold his fourth part of the " Warwick Spin- ning Mill," to Almy & Brown. The war had ceased and business became dull, and Capt. Potter, who had been very successful in manufacturing, in several places besides Centreville, went down financially in the general crisis of 1815 and 1816. Of these men that were so conspicuous in the early manufacturing interests of this village, Capt. Potter died, Nov. 19, 1838, aged 88; James Greene, died in 1825 ; Obadiah Brown, Oct. 15, 1812, in the 52d year of his age; William Almy, died Feb. 5, 1836, aged 75. At his death, Obadiah Brown gave $100,000 to the Quaker school in Providence. Jolin Allen died, July 26, 1845, in the 78th year of his age, " He was a native of Smithfield, a wheel-wright by trade, and came to Centreville in 1794. His mind
* In 1828 or '29, Elder Jonathan Wilson, at that time, pastor of the Baptist church, eked out his small salary by tending the saw-mill, and one day while at his work had the misfortune to break one of his legs He lived in the house opposite Charles D. Kenyon's residence. This house afterwards belonged to Mr. Nicholas K. Gardner, now of Crompton, who set out the elm tree in front of the house, that now spreads its limbs so majestically over the street.
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CENTREVILLE.
was like a border country, where hostile races alternately dominate., He was regarded at one time as selfish, bigoted and despotic ; at others as liberal, conciliatory and yielding. He did good, on principal. He assisted only those who at first assisted themselves. Hence he spent $2300 in erecting the Baptist meeting house at Crompton, but he first required the congregation to pay for the basement and fit it up into a vestry. He in- vented a clock to number the revolutions of the wheels of his carriage which he sometimes hired out to young men ; as their mode of thinking was opposite to his own, he had not confidence in their veracity, and refused to take pay for the number of miles they had gone unless their story corresponded with that great regulator which was moved by every turn of the wheels. To be gouged out of a few dollars, by a set of unregenerate scamps, was an intolerable burden, yet he cheerfully advanced $1800 to the Tin Top Church, when it was in straitened cir- cumstances. He was born poor but died rich. He awakened a bitter opposition, and was less valued than he ought to have been. Like a brook, on a cold, frosty morning in spring, the surface of which is covered with a thin coating of ice, while unseen the waters are flowing onward upon their journey of use and beauty : so the sur- face of his character was icy and cold, but underneath that repulsive exterior gurgled warm and blessed currents." As Mr. Allen is referred to in connection with the sketch of the church, of which both he and his wife were consistent members, little further need be added to the above from Mr. Rousmaniere. The roughness referred to, was rather seeming than real. Among those that knew him best he was regarded as a man of the strictest business integrity. Of quiet, unassuming manners, and deeply interested in the true prosperity of the village. Sincerely honest and candid himself, he was sometimes led to rebuke in a plain, blunt way, any appearance of pride or show in others. An anecdote, to the point, was related to me some years ago, by Mr. Henry Hamilton, who knew him intimately for many years. At one time,
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
a young man, I think, a distant relative, was invited to preach in the church of which he was a member. The young man intended to make a good impression upon Mr. Allen and evidently felt a little elated by his position in the pulpit. On coming out of the pulpit he was curious to know what the impression had been, but Mr. Allen was reticent. He felt confident he had preached well, but was anxious for Mr. Allen to say so. Still no word from his relative. At last his curiosity got the bet- ter of him, and he ventured to ask him what he thought of the sermon. Mr. Allen, with a twinkling in his eye and the usual scratching of his elbow replied "John, I was actually ashamed of you."
The boys would sometimes trouble him, by removing things from his premises or otherwise interfering with him. The cannon that now does annual patriotic service on the morning of Fourth of July, on " Bunker Hill," was originally owned by a military company in the vicinity, and was usually stowed away, when not in use, in some portion of Mr. Allen's premises. The boys would sometimes steal this away, and the first intimation of the roguery would be its discharge in some part of the village. The boys would then hide away, and the gun would be restored to its place, to await a similar act at some future time. At one time a lad while playing, ac- cidentally sent his ball through a pane of glass in the window over the front door. The window was a semi- oval, and formed of diamond-shaped panes. The boy was much frightened, but soon concluded to face the music at once, and went around to a side door and in- formed Mr. Allen what he had done. "Oh, dear! boy ! how did you do that ?" said Mr. Allen. The boy replied that he did'nt mean to, but was playing in the street, and before he knew it, it went through the window. Mr. Allen looked at him, and then said, " Oh, dear ! boys will be boys," and that ended the matter. That boy, since grown to manhood, passes through the village daily to and from his place of business.
A.S.ER.055.
DR. CHARLES JEWETT, ('The Temperance Lecturer.)
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CENTREVILLE.
Almy & Brown owned five-eighths of the Warwick mills, and their shares were purchased by John Greene in 1836, at the rate of $55,000 for the whole. John Greene, was the son of Gideon, and grand-son of John Greene, who was one of the six brothers who established the iron works at Coventry. One of these latter was Gen. Nathaniel Greene. John Greene had worked as a boy for Col. Job Greene, and by his prudence and in- dustry, was enabled at last to purchase an interest in the mill and died July 16, 1851, one of the richest men in the vicinity. His last wife, who survived him several years, was Mary Arnold, a daughter of William, son of Caleb Arnold, of Apponaug, and sister of Mr. John B. Arnold, of this village.
In the autumn of 1835, Dr. Charles Jewett, who has since achieved so much distinction as a temperance lec- turer, accepted the invitation of several of the leading citizens of the village to settle here as a physician, in the place of Dr. Knight, who had decided to remove to Providence. The Doctor had earned already an excel- lent reputation as a physician, in East Greenwich, where he had located in 1829, and came here under very favorable prospects. But during the year 1837, his temperance zeal, and the success that had already attended his efforts as a lecturer, led him to forsake the lancet and pill-box, and accept an agency under the R. I. Temperance Society. The Doctor has been full and running over with his subject ever since, and could lecture every evening for a month without being in danger of repeating himself. His addresses are sound and practical, appealing to the reason and judg- ment of his audiences and spiced with a sufficient amount of wit and humor to hold the attention of both old and young. In 1872, he published an interesting volume entitled a "Forty Years' Fight with the Drink Demon," in which he gives a graphic account of the temperance reform and his labors in connection with it during that period. He lives at present in Norwich, Conn.
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
At what date the manufacture of woolen cloth com- menced I have not been able to learn. Mr. Wm. D. Davis bought the woolen machinery in January, 1850, and the tenements, water-power and cotton mills, in Decem- ber, 1851. Previous to this Allen Waterhouse had started the manufacture of several kinds of cassimere. Two-thirds of the mill property, including both sides of the river, were purchased of the heirs of John Greene and others, at the rate of 41,000 for the whole ; the other third, belonging to the heirs of James Greene, he bought at auction, at the rate of $38,000. Mr. Davis sold the green mill, on the east side of the river, to Hon. Benedict Lapham, who commenced operations in 1852. Mr. Davis continued to run the woolen mill until 1860, when he sold out to Gen. James Waterhouse, who run it until his death, which occurred in Lowell, March 25, 1872, whither he had gone to visit his wife, who was there ill. Gen. Waterhouse was born in England, and came to this country with no other resources than his native powers of mind, which were above the average, and a perseverance and industry that never tired. His home was noted for the bountiful hospitality which greeted his guests. The accumulation of wealth rendered him neither proud or avaricious, but what he was in the earlier days of struggle and hope, he con- tinued to be when he attained a position which made him prominent and influential. During the last few years of his life he became involved in his business, and the mill-a new one which he had built a few years previous to his death, and which stands on the site of the second cotton mill built in this country-was sold at public auction after his death. The old mill had stood about seventy-five years.
In 1873-4 Mr. Lapham built his substantial and well- arranged stone-mill, a view of which, with some. outward arrangements yet to be made, is given in the engraving, and which is said to be the largest mill in the State owned by a single individual. It stands just in the rear of the site of the old green mill, and is 304 feet
B. LAPHAM'S MILLS, CENTREVILLE, R. I.
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CENTREVILLE.
long by 72 feet wide, of five stories, with a capacity of 30,000 spindles. Nearly all the stone necessary for the construction of this large building was quarried from a ledge a few rods distant. The old mill, erected in 1807, was removed to the rear, and is now used for a storehouse. It had been enlarged at different times, until it had reached the respectable dimensions of 150 feet long and three stories high, but its glory had departed. What a world of picking, and lapping, and carding, and drawing, and twisting, and spinning, and spooling, and dressing, and weaving, and packing, it had witnessed in its day! and what an amount of hurrying, and scolding, and fretting and sneezing, and laughing, and chatting ! But all this could not save the old mill, and the whir of the spindle and the click- clack of the shuttle has ceased within its walls for ever. It could not stand the march of improvement. Its compeer across the river, went off, a few years before, in a chariot of fire, while the old green mill is made to sit solitary in the back ground awaiting whatever fate may be in reserve for it in the future.
The earliest items pertaining to schools in this village, that I have been able to find, reach back into the last century. Joseph B. Pettis is distinctly remembered, as a teacher, by a gentleman now living, in whose grand- father's family Mr. Pettis boarded at the time. The school was kept in the chambers of Anthony Arnold's house, opposite Mr. Enos Lapham's. In 1803 the first school-house was built, and used both for schools and religious meetings. The building still stands, and is used as a wheelwright's shop. It was formally dedicated with religious services. The first term of instruction commenced September 10, 1803, with Mr. Pettis as teacher. How long Mr. Pettis taught is uncertain, but he finally removed to Providence where, in 1828, he was the preceptor of the fourth district. Mr. Pettis possessed some knowledge of medicine and is remembered as "Dr. Pettis." He was followed by Samuel Greene who died a few years ago in Coventry, over ninety years
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HISTORY OF WARWICK.
of age. The third was Sabin Lewis who taught also at another period of his life in Apponaug. He is said to have been a sea-faring man but " excellent in the science of mathematics ; was a landscape painter and master of a forcible style of composition." He subsequently removed to Pleasant Valley, New York. Oliver Johnson, Esq., was teacher about the year 1821.
In May, 1803, the "Warwick West School Society" was incorporated, with John Greene as librarian, Ray Johnson, secretary, and John Allen, treasurer. The charter was granted to nineteen persons, all of whom have passed away. They, or at least a portion of them, owned the school house and provided for the educational wants of the village. Similar societies had been incorporated in different parts of the town.
The old tavern-house, now owned by Mr. Lapham, was built by Deacon David Cady. He was an active member of the Methodist church, and two of his sons became ministers of that denomination and are now living in Providence. One of them, Rev. Jonathan Cady, built the church about the year 1831. He was a carpenter at the time. The old house was occupied by Oliver Johnson, Esq., of Providence, and others, as a tavern, and it has also been used as a post-office. Dea. Cady married a Miss Waterman, of Killingly, Conn., and had a large family of children. His second wife was a daughter of Moses Lippitt, of Old Warwick. One of his daughters, Lucia, married Resolved Waterman, Esq., of Providence. She left two children, the Rev. Henry Waterman, an Episcopalian clergyman, of Providence, and a daughter, Nancy, who married Rollin Mathewson, Esq., also of Providence. The road that passes by the house leading to Crompton was laid out in 1773. The opposite corner was the north-east corner of the James Greene estate and was known, in early times as the Haunted Corner. The house next south of the old tavern, on the same side of the road, sometimes called the Sterry Fenner house, was also used as a tavern. It contained a hall, and is remembered by
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