USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV > Part 71
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118
(VIII) Ruth Miller Spencer, daughter of Thomas Lyon and Sarah Hart (Bateman) Spencer, was born in East Greenwich, R. I., March 23, 1838. She was given excellent educational advantages, and in 1860 was graduated from the East Greenwich Academy, then called the Providence Conference Seminary. She subsequently taught school for several years in the grammar department of the East Greenwich schools. On June 22, 1886, she married Stephen Burlingame, who was born in the town of Coventry, R. I., in 1819, son of Stephen and Celia (Fisk) Burlingame, and descendant of several notable Rhode Island families.
Stephen Burlingame was educated in Coventry and spent the early years of life on his father's farm in that town. On reaching manhood he managed a farm in Coventry for a period of years, but in the fifties he exchanged his property there for land in East Greenwich, whither he removed. With the exception of a few years spent in Randolph, N. Y., he was iden- tified with East Greenwich and with public and busi- ness life in the town until his death. He became a prominent figure in politics at an early date, and was a member of the Town Council for several terms. During the administration of Governor Burnside he was chosen to represent East Greenwich in the Legis- lature, and during his term of office served the interests of his constituents most ably. He was eminently respected in official circles for his earnestness and unswerving honesty ot purpose. Mr. Burlingame was a member of the Christian church of Coventry and a generous donor to all its efforts. His death, on No- vember 15, 1890, was deeply mourned. Mrs. Burlin- game, who survives her husband, since his death has lived a quiet life, devoting a great portion of her time to religious and philanthropic efforts. She is a member of the Nathanael Greene Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and of the Rhode Island Historical Society. Mrs. Burlingame has for many years been active in temperance movements, and since 1898 has been president of the East Greenwich Society of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. She is active in Red Cross work.
(The Miller Line).
The surname Miller is in many instances identica with Millerd and Millard in origin, families who in the beginning derived the name from the official "mill. ward," in subsequent generations lapsing into the. shorter form of the name, Miller, which was derivec' from the occupative source. In American Colonia: records of early date the several forms of the name are used interchangeably, with the result that families whose progenitors spelled the name Millerd and Millard to-day use the form Miller. The name itself is of very ancient English origin, Millerd and Millard, signify- ing literally the mill-ward, or one who kept the mill, and Miller, the one who ground corn. Entries are! found in the records of every county in England. All; of the American Colonies had emigrants of the name. The family herein under consideration has been promi- nent in the life and affairs of Massachusetts for two hundred and fifty years. The first of the name in New England was Thomas Millerd, a husbandman and planter of Boston, who became a proprietor of the town as early as 1639. He sold land in Boston, May 2, 1668. Administration on his estate was granted in Boston, February 4, 1669-70, to John Miller (Millerd) of Rehoboth, and the court testimony reveals the fact that he was withont kindred in this country except his consin, John Millerd, whom he wished to be his heir.
(I) John Millerd or Miller, immigrant ancestor and founder of the family in America, was a proprietor of the town of Rehoboth, Mass,, in the year 1643, and was a town officer in 1648. He was consin and heir of Thomas Millerd, of Boston, above mentioned. (Cou- sin in the usage of the day meant nephew). Among the children of John Millerd was Robert, mentioned below.
(II) Robert Millerd, son of John Millerd, was born about 1640. He was a tanner by occupation, and resided in Rehoboth, Mass. He served as a soldier in King Philip's War, taking part in the Falls fight under Captain William Turner, Robert Millerd mar- ried, in Rehoboth, October 24, 1662, Elizabeth Sabin, who died after March 11, 1698. They were the par- ents of ten children, among whom was Nathaniel, mentioned below.
(III) Nathaniel Millerd, son of Robert and Eliza- beth (Sabin) Millerd, was born in Rehoboth, Mass., March 31. 1672, and died there March 16, 1740-41, after a life-long residence in the town. He married (first) in Rehoboth, March 30, 1694, Susanna Glad- ding, who died in Rehoboth, in 1727. He married (second) Rebecca Thayer, on May 30, 1728. Nathan- iel Millerd was the owner of three hundred acres of land in Ashford, Conn., which he disposed of by will to four daughters. He died in March, 1740-41, and his will was proved April 21, 1741.
(IV) Nathaniel (2) Millerd, son of Nathaniel (1) and Susanna (Gladding) Millerd, was born in Reho- both, Mass., October 7, 1696, and resided there in the early part of his life. On September 30, 1748, he purchased of Elisha Arnold and his wife Patience of
David J. Sherwood
281
BIOGRAPHICAL
Warwick, R. I., a dwelling house and land in that part of Warwick called Cowesset. He subsequently made several purchases of land in Warwick, and at the time of his death was the owner of a considerable landed estate. He rose to a place of considerable prominence in the affairs of early Warwick, and was active also in military life. He was ensign of the Second Company, Kent County Regiment, in August, 1759. Nathaniel Millerd married (first) in New- bury, Mass., May 29, 1716, Ruth Chase, of New- bury, daughter of Thomas and Rebecca (Follansbee) Chase, who was born there, February 28, 1690-91, and died after May 25, 1724. He married (second) in Warwick, July 1, 1758, as recorded, but doubtless the year is wrong, Barbara (Martin) Bowen, daughter of John and Mercy Martin, and widow of Obadiah Bowen, of Rehoboth. He died at Cowesset, in War- wick, R. I., in 1761. His will, dated March 6, 1759, names his wife Barbara sole executor. The inventory of the estate amounted to £3216-6-0.
(V) Nathan Miller, son of Nathaniel (2) and Ruth (Chase) Miller, was born in Rehoboth, Mass., Angust I, 1727, and died in Warwick, R. I., October 18, 1815, in his eighty-ninth year. Under his father's will he inherited the latter's house and lands in Providence, R. I., but his residence was in Warwick, where he was most probably a farmer. His gravestone in the Bap- tist Hill Cemetery in East Greenwich, R. I., calls him Captain Nathan Miller. Nathan Miller was married, in Swansea, Mass., February 3, 1750-51, by Elder Job Mason, to Robey Salisbury, of Swansea, where she was born July 17, 1732, daughter of Ephraim and Rosa- mond Salisbury. She died in Warwick, R. I., July 11, 1826, and was buried beside her husband, the stone reading "Robey Miller, widow Capt. Nathan Miller, who died July 11, 1826, in her 94th year." Nathan Miller's will, dated June 8, 1815, was proved October 28th following. He served with the Rhode Island troops in the American Revolution, with the rank of captain in Colonel John Waterman's regiment. At the Rhode Island Historical Society, filed as Military Paper No. 25, is an original pay abstract of Captain Squire Millard's company, in Colonel Waterman's reg- iment, covering the period from December 4, 1776, to January 9, 1777. Nathan Miller is among those named in the paper. Mention of his name is also found in "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution."
(VI) Ruth Miller, daughter of Nathan and Robey (Salisbury) Miller (or Millerd), was born in Reho- both or Scituate, in the year 1766, and died July 21, 1860, in her ninety-fourth year. She was married in East Greenwich, R. I., on November 11, 1792, by Elder Abraham Lippitt, to Captain Simmons Spencer, of East Greenwich. (See Spencer VI).
DAVID FAULKNER SHERWOOD-The har- vesting and distribution of a supply of pure ice for home consumption was the business which first engaged Mr. Sherwood's attention when he first came to the city of Providence, R. I., and the building up of a reputation and a market for the product of the Crystal Ice Company occupied his entire time for
many years. At the time of his coming to Provi- dence, the quality of the ice furnished was but little considered, and a great deal of even the domestic sup- ply ranked low from a sanitary and medical point of view. From 1881 when he came, until 1901 when he retired from the business, he was intimately connected with the ice business of the city, and for eleven years of that period, 1890-1901, he was president of the Crystal Ice Company. From the year 1901, when the Crystal Ice Company lost its identity in the Provi- dence Ice Company, until the present, Mr. Sherwood has been actively engaged along commercial lines of importance, and is extensively engaged in investment enterprises of varied nature.
A life of activity has been his from youth, but in its busiest periods the softer, finer side of life has not been neglected, and in fraternity, church, and social life, Mr. Sherwood has ever taken a deep and abiding interest. He has added to his practical attain- ment, the education derived from travel at home and abroad, his travels including a European tour in 1904, and a trip through the Panama Canal zone in 1906. He is of the type that can claim the upbuilding of his own fortunes, and in his citizenship has given to the land of his adoption, loyal and patriotic service in whatever duty he has been called upon to fill.
David Faulkner Sherwood is a son of George Solo- mon Elias Sherwood, a descendant of Thomas Sher- wood, the founder of the American branch of this ancient English family which traces to the time of William the Conqueror, an ancestor who came to England with that monarch. Thomas Sherwood, the American ancestor, came from Ipswich, England, in 1634, settled at Fairfield, Conn., and in 1655, died. He brought with him from England, his wife, Alice, he being at the time, forty-eight years of age, she aged forty-seven years, together with children: Ann, aged fourteen years; Rose, eleven years; Thomas, ten years; and Rebecca, nine years. The Sherwoods have been famed in each generation for eminence in the professions and in business, and the name is renowned in war in both branches of the service, army and navy. This branch of the family settled in New v Brunswick, Canada. George Solomon Elias and Jane (Faulkner) Sherwood were the parents of twelve children, one of whom, David F. Sherwood, of Providence, R. I., is the principal subject con- sidered in this review.
David Faulkner Sherwood was born at Hammond, Kings county, New Brunswick, Canada, February 26, 1855. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, and there remained until 1881 when he came to Rhode Island locating at Providence, which city has ever since been his home and the scene of his business activity. His first employment in Provi- dence was with the Posnegansett Ice Company, of which he became manager three years later, so con- tinuing six years, 1884-1890, the company retiring from business in the latter year. During that same year, 1890, Mr. Sherwood began business for himself under the firm style and title, The Crystal Ice Company. In 1900 the business was incorporated under the same name, with David F. Sherwood, president; George B.
282
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND
Sherwood, vice-president; and Frank P. Comstock, secretary-treasurer. The business of the company was founded upon the slogan "Purity," and grew to large proportions, the output in 1901 aggregating 145,000 tons. In that year the Crystal Ice Company and several others merged their interests under the corporate title, the Providence Ice Company. After twenty years continuous connection with the business Mr. Sherwood withdrew from official connection, hav- ing won high reputation as executive and manager.
In 1808 he purchased the business and plant of the Park Coal Company, and for six years he was closely identified with the retail coal business. After retiring from active connection with the ice company he gave his entire attention to this coal property. The dock and pockets of the company were on the banks of the Seekonk river, and to these he added by purchase four acres fronting on Allens avenue and the railroad extending to the harbor line. This gave him a pier length of 600 feet at a depth of 20 feet of water at mean tide at the head of the pier. This gave unusually fine facilities for docking and unloading coal freight- ers, and made the plant a valuable one. He operated this plant very successfully until September 1, 1904, when it passed by purchase under the control of John R. White & Sons.
The ice business has always been a favorite field of operation with Mr. Sherwood, and he has always retained an interest in the Providence Ice Company which was formed in 1901, through a union of several companies, including Mr. Sherwood's own business, the Crystal Ice Company. He is yet a director of the Providence Ice Company, and since October, 1912, has been president of the Sherwood Ice Company. He has operated largely in real estate for several years, his interests being with the Sherwood Realty Com- pany of which he is president. He is also president of the Blackstone Hall Company (real estate), is interested in shipping, and has other interests of little less importance. He is a man of sterling character, strong in his business integrity, upright in life, and loyal in his friendships.
In politics Mr. Sherwood is a Republican, keenly alive to his responsibilities as a citizen. and taking an active part in public affairs. He was a member of the State Legislature during the years 1909-1910, and until 1915 was a member of the Providence Common Council, representing the Seventh Ward for six years. He is a past grand dictator of the Knights of Honor; past grand warden of the New England Order of Protection in Rhode Island, and was supreme warden of that body from May, 1911, to May, 1913; and past noble grand of Westminster Lodge, No. 27, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. In Free Masonry he holds all degrees of the York Rite, belonging to Nestell Lodge, No. 37. Free and Accepted Masons; Providence Chapter, No. I, Royal Arch Masons; Providence Council, No. 1, Royal and Select Masters; Calvary Commandery, No. 13, Knights Templar; Pal- estine Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is highly regarded by his brethren of the order, and in his own life exemplifies the best tenets of the institution.
Mr. Sherwood married at Moncton, New Bruns- wick, Canada, October 5, 1884, Mary Louisa Scribner, daughter of Thaddeus and Harriet Scribner, of Monc- ton. Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood are the parents of: I. Dora Evelyn Sherwood, born at Pawtuxet, R. I., Feb. 13, 1886, married Harry Dewing Leonard. 2. Her- bert Montague Sherwood, born at Providence, March 26, 1887, a graduate of Classical High School, Brown University, A. B., 1908, Harvard Law School, LL. B., 1911, and became employed by the well-known law firm, Gardner, Pirce & Thornley, of Providence He is also secretary and director of Blackstone Hall Company. In politics he is a Republican, and during the years 1915-1916, represented the Nineteenth Dis- trict in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. When the United States declared war against Ger- many in 1917, he enlisted in the United States service, and became captain of Battery B, 303d Field Artil- lery, which organization was one of the famous bat- teries. He is unmarried. 3. The youngest child, Hope Irene Sherwood, was born July 3, 1894, and married Harold Thomas, of Bridgeport, Conn.
JAMES AND WILLIAM P. DEMPSEY-The industrial history of New England during the latter half of the past century might be written in a series of biographies of the men who were the guiding spirits of the enterprises launched and carried to success and world-wide importance during that period. Their achievements, their successes, their failures, their vicissitudes, form a record of the industrial world of their times. The spectacular rises to prominence, and the equally spectacular failures of that period invest its history with an interest which attaches to that of no other period, and the biographies of the men who were prime factors in the development of the great manufacturers of the time throb with life and inter- est. In the department of bleaching and dyeing no name for more than a half century has stood out more forcefully or prominently than that of Dempsey. In the achievements of the late James Dempsey, and his son, and successor, William P. Dempsey, the name has been idelibly written in the history of manufac- turing in New England. James Dempsey, in the capac- ity of organizer and efficiency expert in the days before such officials were known by the latter term, was the guiding genius in the foundation of many of the notable bleacheries and dye works of New Eng- land. During the latter years of his career he was assisted by his son, William P. Dempsey, who suc- ceeded him.
James Dempsey was born in Rathbran, County Wicklow, Ireland, July 30, 1819, the son of Christo- pher Dempsey, an Irish farmer, and one of six chil- dren. Christopher Dempsey died in Ireland at an advanced age, but five of his children, including James Dempsey, came to America. James Dempsey spent his childhood, as did every farmer's son of the time, aiding in the work of the farm during the summer months and attending school during the winter. On reaching the age of fourteen years he was bound out for three years as an apprentice to a mercantile firm of Dublin, which engaged in the grain and provision
283
BIOGRAPHICAL
isiness. On completing his apprenticeship he was fered a position with the same firm at a much Ivanced salary, and shortly afterward on demonstrat- g his ability and aptness for the position was offered e management of one section of the largest grain id provision house in Dublin. In this position he ained much valuable experience, and after a year and half received an even more flattering offer from a val wholesale grain and flour house. He terminated s connection with this firm to enter business inde- endently, and established himself in a small store in le village of St. Doulix, six miles from Dublin, where e was highly successful from the outset. Owing to a aw in his lease he was obliged to abandon this place, nd he returned to Dublin where he hired part of a rick building on Mabbet street, and opened a general rovision store. Wary of mistakes, he had this time mployed a lawyer to handle the legal formalities, ad paid his rent in advance, and had stocked up to ne limit of his capital and beyond. English laws nce again proved his nemesis. Two officers sud- enly appeared, attached everything he had and losed the store, on a claim of which Mr. Dempsey zas entirely ignorant. The premises, which were part f an entailed estate, had been sublet and re-sublet, nd arrears of rent had accumulated. According to he English law the inheritor of such an estate had he right to seize on all buildings and personal prop- rty found on his land to satisfy his claims for rents r arrears of rent due the lord of the manor. Mr. Dempsey's Dublin friends came to his rescue and the natter was settled by compromise, so that he con- inued business with fair prospects, but the experi- nce had embittered him against English laws in Ire- and, and he determined to leave the country. He perfected a lease at a premium, sold out, and with his vife-whom he had married on his return to Dublin hree months before-and with his brother Patrick, le sailed for America. In June, 1841, he landed in New York, and went immediately to Fall River, Mass., where he secured employment in the Globe Print Works, working in various departments of the large lant. Studying conditions he came rapidly to the conclusion that for an expert in bleaching and dyeing he printing industries of New England offered a wide ield of particular promise. Thenceforward he levoted all his available time to the study of this work, abandoning his ambitions in a mercantile line. His career for a considerable period was decidedly heckered. In 1843, with the shutting down for the lull season of the Globe Works, he was left without mployment, and buying an ax he set out in company with an old negro, chopping wood, by a strange coin- idence, on the site where thirty-six years later he elped Mr. Borden lay out the Fall River Bleachery, of which he was himself a stockholder. He later went o Providence, where he worked for a time in the engraving shop of the Old Cove Print Works. When his was wiped out by fire, he entered the employ of he Cranston Stone Ledge Company, for which firm le worked in the multiple capacity of team driver, bookkeeper, etc., until the Globe Works opened and le returned to his chosen employment. Hard times
again, in 1844, compelled their closing, however. Even at this early date it is evident that Mr. Demp- sey had gained a reputation for ability in the bleach- ing and dyeing industries. In the fall of 1844 he went to Lonsdale, R. I., where he was engaged as second hand to the late Thomas Higgins in establishing a new bleachery at that place. On the retirement of the latter, who was one of the foremost men in the busi- ness at the time, Mr. Dempsey was appointed to suc- ceed him, and at once resumed his responsibilities. It was at this time that he first came into contact with the late George Kilburn, a man of great force of personality and mind, a rigid disciplinarian and most exacting, but one always faithful to his own duties and to his word. Mr. Dempsey later attributed much of his success to his friendship with Mr. Kil- burn, a friendship terminated only by the latter's death. Mr. Dempsey remained one of the leading men of the Lonsdale Works for twenty-two years, at the end of which time he accepted an offer to go to Mill- ville, N. J., to look over and put in working order the Manantico Bleachery, property owned by Messrs. Wood and Garritt, which had proved a failure. On the termination of his year's contract he was urged to remain, and at the end of two years left the business in a prosperous and healthy condition.
On returning to Rhode Island it was his intention to retire from active business life. He was not, however, allowed to do so, but from that time forward served in the capacity of a consulting expert and organizer. Shortly after returning to his home in Lonsdale, he was invited to accompany Mr. John Kil- burn and his father to Boston to consult with the owners of the Danvers Bleachery. Josiah Bardwell and T. W. Walker. The Danvers Bleachery, object of the consultation, was in a greatly run down condi- tion, but Mr. Dempsey agreed to put it in order if allowed an outlay of $75,000. This was put at his dis- posal and he began work, but finding the task one of colossal size he sent for his son, George A. Dempsey, who had succeeded him in the Lonsdale Works, and with his assistance put the plant once more on its feet and started it again on a prosperous career.
On completing his labors here, Mr. Dempsey went to Lewiston, Me., and of his work here we have his own account:
The late A. D. Lockwood and Mr. Whittle had fixed up the Lewiston Bleachery and started it, but business did not go satisfactorily. I was asked to meet the late W. B. Wood, who made what seemed to me an extrav- agant offer to take charge of the concern. Mr. Bates, Mr. Nichols, and N. W. Farwell indorsed his offer and I agreed and commenced business as agent. The capacity of the bleachery was then not more than five tons of bleaching, without any facility for dyeing or finishing colored work that I could use. I have increased it every year, and after paying dividends have used surplus profits in building and increasing our capacity. To-day the works are in first-class con- dition and equal to any in the county, with a capacity of thirty tons a day to advantage, and with good prospects of future success. I am happy to be able to say that I have been treated by every board of direc- tors with great confidence, even to marked kindness and consideration, and my relations with our hoard are entirely pleasant.
Now, as to my relations with my fellow-citizens in Lewiston and Auburn, I am pleased to say they have always been most friendly, courteous and compliment- ary. Although I have tried to be a business man only I have been one year in the board of aldermen, and
284
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND
was chosen chairman of a joint committee to build the Cedar street bridge, and I have reason to believe our fellow-citizens were satisfied with the work of their committee.
At the inception of the Lewiston City Water Works the city government elected me as a member of the board of water commissioners. I was reelected twice to the same board and with my fellow members I belleve I can fully say that we all tried to do our duty for the best Interests of the city. I have also heen one of the associates that procured the charter for the Manufacturers' National Bank, have been a director for fourteen years, most of the time chosen vice- president, and I am happy to say the institution has proved a success. Owing to a pressure of business at the bleachery, I resigned from the two latter posl- tions. Now, owing to my advanced years, I feel it a duty to myself to resign my position as treasurer and general manager of the Lewiston Bleachery, and am soon to remove to Pawtucket, R. I. I have come to this conclusion with much feeling of regret, but I am satisfied it is the proper thing for me to do.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.