The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV, Part 10

Author: Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925. cn
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 978

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Mr. Quinn was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island in August, 1895, and to the United States Circuit Court, January 18, 1897. In the meantime Willard B. Tanner, senior member of the firm of Tanner & Gannon, had become attorney-gen- eral, and upon Mr. Quinn's admission to the bar the partnership of Gannon & Quinn was formed, continu- ing until the death of Mr. Gannon, March 15, 1896. Following Mr. Gannon's death Mr. Quinn practised alone at the same location for several years, after which he formed a partnership with Charles H. Kernan, which has continued to the present time. On January I, 1918, Robert E. Quinn, a nephew of Colonel Quinn, was admitted to the firm, which is now located in the Turks Head building. He rapidly advanced in the law, and while he has devoted a great deal of his time to public affairs he has never neglected the interests of a client. It is this devotion which largely explains the fact that his clients are his friends, and that friendship continues after the relation of client and attorney has been dissolved. He is probably at his best as a jury lawyer, pleading and argument affording him oppor- tunity to use his powers of oratory and forceful speech. He is fair in his treatment of his opponents, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of every member of the Rhode Island bar.

In politics he has always been a Democrat, and when only eleven years of age helped to organize a company of boys, and marched in the Hancock campaign of 1880. At the age of nineteen, in the Cleveland-Harrison cam- paign of 1888, he made speeches for Grover Cleveland;

HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND

he has since "stumped" the State in every campaign, both State and National. He was a delegate to the Democratic State Convention of 1893, and to every State Democratic Convention since that time excepting the one in 1914, at which he was named for governor. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Conven- tion which nominated W. J. Bryan, in Kansas City, 1900; to that which nominated A. B. Parker in St. Louis, 1904; to that which nominated W. J. Bryan in Denver, 1908; and in each instance was elected to the delegation unanimously. He was elected secretary of the Democratic State Central Committee, in 1898, served five years in that capacity, and was then elected chair- man for three years. He was chairman of the War- wick Democratic Town Committee for ten years. In 1899 he was elected judge of probate of Warwick, the first judge of probate the town elected, the Court of Probate formerly being the Town Council. That same year he was elected town solicitor, and in 1906 he was again elected as both judge of probate and town solic- itor. Mr. Quinn won his title of colonel as senior aide-de-camp on Governor Garvin's staff, in 1903. In 1906 the citizens of Warwick, irrespective of party, united in presenting to Colonel Quinn a lifesize paint- ing of himself, and in 1914 he was the standard bearer of the State Democracy for gubernatorial honor. In 1916 he attended as a delegate from Rhode Island the Democratic National Convention at St. Louis which nominated President Wilson. At this convention he was chosen as Rhode Island's member of the Demo- cratic National Committee; was prominent in the move- ment to divide the town of Warwick, and was appointed by Governor Pothier one of the commission of five to make that division, whereby the town of West War- wick was created; and was elected first president of the Town Council of the new town of West Warwick.

Outside his profession Mr. Quinn has few business interests, one being the Phenix Lace Mills, which he serves as secretary and director, another the Warwick Lace Works, of which he is treasurer. He is a director of the Pawtuxet Valley Free Library Association; a past president of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of Rhode Island; a founder and ex-president of the Catholic Club of Rhode Island; one of the founders of Providence College; past chief ranger of Conrt War- wick, Foresters of America; a past grand knight of Gibson Council, Knights of Columbus; member of the American Bar Association, and the Rhode Island State Bar Association; Robert Emmet Literary Association; Providence Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Warwick Aerie, Fraternal Order of Eagles; and Benjamin Franklin Lodge, Providence Fraternity. His clubs are the Catholic, Radical, Turks Head, Columbus, and Noonday.

Mr. Quinn married (first), November 12, 1897, Agnes G. Healey, of Providence, who died February 10, 1907. He married (second), July 22, 1909, Margaret M. Connors, of Providence. They have one son, Thomas Henry.

NATHAN WHITMAN LITTLEFIELD-Ed- mund Littlefield, the first of the line in this country, was born in Titchfield, near Southampton, England, in 1590. He did business there as a clothier, that is, he

gave out the material for weaving cloth to the owners of hand looms to be woven into cloth which he sold to the trade. He married, in 1617, Annis (sometimes written Annice and Annas) who bore to him eight children : Francis, born in 1619, Anthony, Elizabeth, John, Thomas, Mary, Hannah and Francis, Jr. Francis, the eldest son, disappeared from his home when eleven years of age, and made his way to America. He was mourned as dead by his parents, and when sometime afterwards another son was born to them, they named him also Francis.

Edmund, accompanied by one son, presumably An- thony, sailed from Southampton for New England in 1637. He was in Boston in 1638, where he probably became acquainted with Rev. John Wheelwright, the first pastor of the First Church of Braintree, a tablet to whose memory may be seen on the walls of the First Church of Quincy, formerly Braintree.

Annis Littlefield, with the other six children and two servants, sailed from Southampton in 1638 on the ship "Bevis," and joined her husband. The family appears to have been in Woburn for a short time.

In 1639, the family, including Francis, Sr., who had been found, removed to Exeter, New Hampshire, where Edmund and Francis, Sr., became members of the combination, as it was called, and received allotments of land in that town-Edmund twenty-one acres and Francis, Sr., four acres. Rev. John Wheelwright, who had left Braintree because of disagreements with the authorities in religions matters (the Antinomian con- troversy was then raging) had become pastor of the church at Exeter. Edmund Littlefield was an active member of that church.

He became dissatisfied with conditions prevailing at Exeter, and in 1641 removed with his family into the then wilderness beyond the sounds of ecclesiastical strife and settled on the banks of the Webhannet river in the province of Maine, where he erected a saw mill and engaged in the lumber business. It is said that his mill was the first in that part of the country. Later, when other settlers arrived, he built a grist mill. The town which sprang up about his mills was early given the name of Wells. In 1643 he secured from Thomas Gorges a grant of land on which he had settled, and for a time he acted as agent of Gorges for the sale of land in that region claimed by Gorges under his grant. Rev. John Wheelwright came from Exeter with a part of his flock and settled at the same place. About the year 1643 a church was established there which is to-day the First Congregational Church of Wells, of which Mr. Littlefield was an active member during the rest of his life.

He was commissioner in Wells with Ezekiel Knight and Thomas Wheelwright in 1654-55. He was also one of a commission to fix the boundary between the towns of Wells and Porpoise. He died at Wells, December 11, 1661, at the age of seventy-one years.

His will and the inventory of his estate, which may be seen in the York county, Maine, records, shows that he had prospered in business and was a wealthy man for those times. In his will he very carefully provides for the care and support of his wife. Bourne, the his- torian of Wells and Kennebec, says of him that "he

Nathan N.Lutfild

BIOGRAPHICAL

was a man upon whose character no spot or blemish could be found."

(II) Francis, Sr., reference to whom has already been made, was with his father in Exeter, New Hampshire, and in Wells. For a time he resided at Dover, New Hampshire. He represented that town in the legisla- ture of the province of New Hampshire in 1648. He later returned to Wells and was very prominent in the contention between Gorges and the Massachusetts Col- ony in which he and the other men of the family took side against Gorges. He represented Wells in 1665 and 1676, and York, in 1668, in the Massachusetts Gen- eral Court. According to the Colonial records the General Court met occasionally at his house in 1662. He appears to have been a man of great energy and public spirit. He acquired large tracts of land in York county, and died in Wells in 1712, aged ninety-three.

He married in 164-, Jane, daughter of Ralph Hill, of Plymouth, Massachusetts. She died December 20, 1646, leaving a daughter who probably died very young. He married in 1648, his second wife, Rebecca by whom he had Daniel, Edmund, James, Sr., and Dependence.

Regarding Edmund, who is generally held to have been the second son of Francis, Sr., there is some question whether he may not have been a son of Anthony.

Anthony, the second son of Edmund, was born at Titchfield, in 1621. He lived at Wells all his life and married and had a son Edmund. Anthony died in 1662, a few months after his father's decease. It may be that his son Edmund, who was bound out to his uncle Francis at the time of his father's decease, came to be called the son of Francis.

(III) Edmund, son of Francis, Sr. (or perhaps An- thony), was born in Wells in 1650, married Elizabeth Mott and resided during the remainder of his life at Braintree, Massachusetts, where he died April 9, 1718. He was a farmer and in good circumstances. He was chosen to fill several offices of trust and appears to have had the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens. He had a large number of children, the second of whom was

(IV) Edmund, born in 1692. He married Bethia Waldo, December 6, 171I.

Bethia Waldo was a member of a family which has been eminent in New England history. She was the daughter of Daniel and Susanna (Adams) Waldo and was born at Chelmsford, Massachusetts, August 20, 1688. She was the granddaughter of Cornelius Waldo and Hannah (Cogeswell) Waldo of Ipswich, Massa- chusetts. They resided after their marriage at Pom- fret, Connecticut, but their graves are at Chelmsford. The Cogeswells of Essex county, Massachusetts, are a well-known family. On her mother's side Bethia Waldo was the granddaughter of Captain Samuel Adams, son of Henry Adams, who came from Brain- tree, Essex county, England, and settled in Brain- tree, Massachusetts, and was the progenitor of the Adams family of Braintree which gave two presi- dents to the country, and of Rebecca (Graves) Adams, daughter of Rear Admiral Thomas Graves of the British navy who settled at Charlestown, Massachu- setts, in 1638. In the female line Ralph Waldo

Emerson was a descendant of Cornelius Waldo. Ed- mund and Bethia (Waldo) Littlefield had several chil- dren, one of whom was

(V) Daniel Littlefield, born in Braintree, October 13, 1712. His father died May 27, 1717, at the early age of thirty-three, and his widow settled his estate. Her account with the estate contains several charges for maintenance of the son, Daniel. Daniel married Decem- ber 8, 1732, Rebecca, daughter of Josiah and Martha (Howard) Williams of Taunton, Massachusetts, born December 25, 1715. She was a lineal descendant of Deacon Richard Williams who came from Wales and was one of the founders of Taunton, Massachusetts, and organizer, with John and Walter Dean, Hezekiah Hoare and others, of the Iron Works Company of Taunton. It is possible that Richard Williams may have been a relative of Roger Williams, who also came from Wales. On her mother's side she was a lineal descendant of John Howard, who lived in the family of Captain Miles Standish and became one of the founders of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and of Rev. James Keith. Both the Howard and Keith families have had a large place in the history of Plymouth Colony and of the nation. Major Jonathan Howard, son of John, through whom Rebecca Williams' line is traced, mar- ried Sarah Dean, a granddaughter of John Dean, of South Chard, parish of Chard, County of Somerset, England, who with his brother Walter came to Taunton in 1638 and, with Williams and others, as above stated, engaged in the iron business. John Dean's son John was the first child born in the Taunton colony.

Daniel Littlefield settled in the West Parish of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where his children were born. He died at Braintree, April 6, 1800. He was a deacon of the First Church of Bridgewater and was noted for his benevolence and his championship of the cause of the poor and oppressed. He served in the French and Indian War in a Bridgewater Company.

Thirteen children were born to him, of whom the seventh was :

(VI) Seth, who was born March 19, 1746. He mar- ried February II, 1771, Kezia, born May 9, 1750, daughter of Ebenezer and Sarah (Howard) Ames, daughter of Major Jonathan Howard, son of John Howard.

Ebenezer Ames was a descendant of William Ames of Braintree, whose brother John was an original pro- prietor of the town of Bridgewater. John Ames, son of William, received his uncle John's estate by will and settled in Bridgewater. Fisher Ames, the orator and statesman, was of this family, as were also the brothers Oakes and Oliver Ames of Easton, Massa- chusetts, of whom the first built the Union Pacific Rail- road and the other was governor of the State of Massachusetts.

Seth Littlefield removed to North Easton, Massa- chusetts, after his marriage and purchased a farm near the Old Bay Road which, as one of the commissioners, he laid out. The farm has always remained in the fam- ily and is now owned and occupied by Mr. F. B. Little- field, one of his descendants and a substantial citizen of that town. Seth Littlefield was deacon of the Con- gregational church in Easton. He died May I, 1839. His wife died April 24, 1829. They were buried in the

HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND

Keith burying ground, so-called, on the Old Bay Road about one-half mile west and south of his home. The inscription on her tombstone reads: "Sacred to the memory of Kezia, wife of Mr. Seth Littlefield and daughter of Mr. Ebenezer Ames, who died April 24, 1829."

They had ten children, of whom the sixth was :

(VII) Seth, born January 12, 1781, married Decem- ber 5, 1814, Sarah (Crane) Littlefield, daughter of Sam- uel and Experience (Thayer) Crane, of Bradford, New Hampshire.

Both Seth Littlefield (VI) and Samuel Crane were soldiers in the Revolutionary War.

Sarah Crane was a descendant of Henry Crane of Milton, Massachusetts, the progenitor of the Crane family of Massachusetts, of which Ex-Governor and U. S. Senator Crane is a member. She was a teacher in the Massachusetts schools. On her mother's side she was a descendant of Thomas Thayer, one of the founders of Braintree, and the progenitor of the Thayer family of Massachusetts (of which General Sylvanus Thayer was a member), noted for their public spirit and generous gifts to public uses. She was also a descendant of John Bass, of Braintree, and Ruth (Alden) Bass, daughter of the Pilgrim, John Alden. Seth Littlefield removed to Grantham, New Hamp- shire, in February, 1815, and bought a large tract of land on the Sugar River with a cottage house and a small saw mill thereon. Here his children were born: Daniel, August 21, 1815; Susan, December 14, 1816; Rufus Ames, December 2, 1818; Seth, March 8, 1821 ; Sarah, August 14, 1822; Phebe, December 18, 1826; George Whitefield and Kezia Ames, July 6, 1829.

As the sons grew up to sturdy manhood he pur- chased lands adjoining his farm and cleared up large areas from the primeval forest. He also built a large barn and a dwelling house which is to-day one of the finest residences in the Sugar River Valley. He was a man of great energy and business ability, making many trips to Boston to market the products of his farm. He was for many years a deacon of the Croy- don (New Hampshire) Congregational Church and an earnest, devoted Christian who brought up his child- ren "in the fear and admonition of the Lord." He died October 18, 1871.

Mrs. Littlefield inherited the energy of her mother, Experience Thayer, who was indeed a helpmeet to her husband, Samuel Crane, whose health had been broken by long service in the army. She was well educated and inspired her children with a strong desire for education. All the children attended Kimball Union Academy at Meriden, New Hampshire, and became teachers. Daniel graduated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1843.

(VIII) Rufus Ames Littlefield was named after his granduncle Rufus Ames, son of Jonathan and Sarah (Howard) Ames. He prepared for college but did not enter. The East Bridgewater ( Massachusetts) Acad- emy in 1842 had for its principal, Daniel Littlefield, assistant principal, Rufus Amos Littlefield, principal of the young ladies' department, Susan Littlefield, and Seth Littlefield was a pupil. Hon. Benjamin W. Harris, Hon. James Sidney Allen, Hon. Jesse M. Keith and

other men afterwards prominent in public life were students in the Academy at that time.

Rufus Ames Littlefield taught schools in Plymouth county for many years, and was long held in grateful remembrance by his pupils. At the celebration of the golden wedding of himself and his wife on June 10, 1895, several of his old pupils came from considerable distances to show their respect and affection for their former teacher. He was a man of commanding pres- ence and powerful physique, and was capable intellec- tually as well as physically of playing a much larger part on the stage of life than fell to him. A certain distrust of his own abilities held him back where men of much smaller caliber but far greater self-confidence rushed on to greater achievement. He was absolutely faithful to his convictions of duty and greatly devoted to his family. He was a member of the school com- mittee of East Bridgewater for several years and a jus- tice of the peace appointed by the governor of Massa- chusetts for seven years. He took a great interest in religions education and the services of the church, and for many years was deacon of the Union Congregational Church of East and West Bridgewater and a superin- tendent of the Sunday school. He was also an ardent advocate of temperance, and with his father-in-law, Nathan Whitman, was an active worker in the en- forcement of the laws for the suppression of the illegal sale of liquors in East Bridgewater and vicinity.

He married, June 10, 1845, Abigail Russell, daughter of Deacon Nathan Whitman and Semantha (Keith) Whitman, of East Bridgewater. Through her father Mrs. Littlefield's descent has been proved from John Alden, William and Alice Mullens and Priscilla Mul- lens, Stephen, Elizabeth and Damaris Hopkins, James Chilton and his wife, and Mary (Chilton) Winslow, Francis Cooke and Francis Eaton, all "Mayflower" pas- sengers. On the authority of Mitchell's History of Bridgewater (which has been questioned, but not dis- proved) her descent is claimed from Captain Miles Standish through his son Ensign Josiah Standish, whose daughter Mary married James Cary and had a daughter Mercy, who married David Thurston, whose daughter Abigail married Jesse Byram, who was the great-great- grandfather of Abigail Russell Whitman. She was also descended from several other Plymouth settlers who arrived after the Pilgrims-John Winslow, Giles Rickard, Moses Simmons, Robert Latham, Experience Mitchell, Elder Gain Robinson, Edward Holman, George Partridge, William Haskins, and others.

She also derived descent from a large number of the first settlers of Bridgewater, in addition to those men- tioned above; on her mother's side-Rev. James Keith, Arthur Harris (ancestor of Hon. Benjamin W. Harris and Hon. Robert O. Harris), Deacon Samuel Edson, Elder William Brett and Deacon John Willis; on her father's side -- John Whitman, Captain Nich- olas Byram, John Fobes, Francis Godfrey, John Cary, Thomas Haywood, Thomas Snell and others.

She was also through the Keith line descended from Edmund Quincy, of Braintree, who came from Eng- land with Rev. John Cotton in 1633, and was the founder of the Quincy family of Massachusetts; and from Joanna Hoar, sister of Rev. Leonard Hoar, president of Harvard University, who became the wife of Edmund

BIOGRAPHICAL

Quincy, son of Edmund and Judith Quincy; and also from Rev. Thomas Sheppard, a professor in and bene- factor of Harvard University, whose daughter Ann married Daniel Quincy, son of Edmund Quincy 2d, and had a daughter Ann, who married Colonel John Holman, father of Captain John Holman, and had a daughter Sarah who married James Keith, great-grand- father of Abigail Russell (Whitman) Littlefield; and also from John Winslow, brother of Edmund Wins- low, who married Mary Chilton and settled in Boston; from Abraham Shaw of Dedham, progenitor of the Shaw family of Massachusetts; from John Hayden, who settled in Dorchester in 1634; from Thomas Green and Rebecca his wife who came from England and settled in Malden, Massachusetts; from John Vinton, a Huguenot, who settled in Weymouth, where his first child was born in 1648; from Thomas White; from Deacon John Rogers, of Weymouth; and from William Read, also of Weymouth, whose daughter Ruth mar- ried John Whitman, all of whom were first settlers; and from John Field, companion of Roger Williams, whose son John settled in Bridgewater in 1645, and had a son, Captain John Field, who married Elizabeth Ames and had a daughter Susannah, who married Joseph Keith and had a daughter Susanna, who mar- ried William Vinton and had a daughter Abigail, who married Thomas Russell and had a daughter Abigail, who married Deacon William Keith, the grandfather of Abigail Russell Littlefield. John Field was a lineal descendant from Sir Hubertus de la Field, who fol- lowed William the Conqueror to England in 1066, and after the battle of Hastings received a grant of land in England.

John Whitman, of Weymouth and Bridgewater, Massachusetts, was the first of a line which has given to the State of Massachusetts and the nation many men who were eminent in professional, business and public life. Among them were Ezekiel Whitman, member of Congress, and for many years Chief Justice of the Superior Court and Supreme Court of the State of Maine; William E. Russell, twice governor of Massa- chusetts; Dr. Marcus Whitman, who saved the terri- tory of Oregon to the United States; and Hon. Kilborn Whitman, of Abington, from whom the town of Whit- man, Massachusetts, was named. Among the descend- ants of John Whitman were many men and women of high scholarly attainments as the records of Harvard and Brown Universities show.

Abigail Russell (Whitman) Littlefield, born in Boston, March 27, 1827, was educated in the schools of East Bridgewater and Charlestown (Massachusetts) Female Seminary. She was a proficient scholar, especially in mathematics, and greatly assisted in the education of her children.

Her amiability and simple unaffected piety and genuine sympathy for all persons in any trouble endeared her to a large circle of friends. Although her cares as the head of a large family were many, she found time to prepare for and teach a ladies' Bible class in the Union Congregational Sunday school for many years. She had a rare gift in the interpretation of the Scriptures and the application of their teachings to the affairs of daily life. Her devotion to her family knew no bounds, and her children will ever rise up and call her blessed.

There were born to Rufus Ames Littlefield and Abi- gail R. Littlefield the following children: Nathan Whitman, born May 21, 1846; George Henry, born September 18, 1848; Rufus Ames, born December 17, 1850; Daniel Eugene, born February 8, 1853 and died April 5, 1876; Frank Russell, born April 13, 1855 and died August 15, 1869; Abby Whitman, died in infancy; Agnes Keith, born July 18, 1858; Baalis Sanford, born January 21, 1862, died February 11, 1916; Charles Gil- bert, born January 26, 1864; and Abby Frances, born January 26, 1864, died February 6, 1883.

(IX) Nathan Whitman Littlefield received his educa- tion in the public schools of East Bridgewater and under the private tuition of Rev. Baalis Sanford, B. U., 1823, who was for many years a minister and chairman of the school committee, with whom he read Latin and Greek. His father tutored him in mathematics. The greater part of his preparation for college was made out of school while he was engaged in other occupa- tions. Yet he found time after work to read consid- erably more Latin and Greek than was required for admission to college. For a short time he studied at Bridgewater Academy, of which Horace M. Willard, B. U., 1864, was principal, and at Phillips Academy, Andover, under that prince of teachers, Samuel H. Taylor, LL. D., Dartmouth College, 1832, whom he has always regarded as the greatest teacher of preparatory Latin and Greek whom he has ever known. Graduating from that academy in 1865, he at once entered Dart- mouth College. When the results of his entrance ex- aminations were presented to Dr. Smith, then president of the college, he remarked: "Without irreverence I may say that I am glad to be able to minister an abund- ant entrance unto you."

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The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV, Part 10

Author: Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925. cn Publication date: 1920 Publisher: New York, The American Historical Society Number of Pages: 978

Author: Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925. cn
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 978