The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV, Part 97

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

USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV > Part 97

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).

of the world at large. And if they thus prove this belief as to the one-sidedness of genius to be false, they no less dispose of another fallacy, the notion, namely, that such a union of abilities shows a man to have developed the material side of his nature at the expense of the spiritual. Nothing could be further from the truth, as these men have well shown in their lives, wherein were displayed that essential spirit of democracy that is but another form of the Christian virtue of charity, and even those higher reaches of idealism expressed in religion and art. Such, for ex- ample, was the character of the late George H. Cor- liss, of Providence, R. I., whose death there on Feb- ruary 21, 1888, deprived that community of one of its most prominent and highly honored citizens, and the world at large of a benefactor and one of its foremost inventors. Mr. Corliss was sprung from one of the best and most ancient of the old Colonial families which had spent the years previous to the Revolution in New England, but after that epoch-making strug- gle lived in New York State.

The founder of the family in this country was George Corliss, a native of Devonshire, England, where he was born about 1617, a son of Thomas Cor- liss. The young man came to the colonies when about twenty-two years of age and settled at Newbury, Mass., in 1639. This was but temporary, however, and he shortly after removed to Haverhill in the same colony, this town becoming the permanent home of the family until the time of John Corliss, five genera- tions later, the grandfather of the Hon. George Henry Corliss of this review. George Corliss, the immi- grant, became the owner of a handsome farm at Haverhill and it was here that several generations of the family carried on the occupation of farming and finally died, George Corliss and his son and grandson, by a very strange coincidence, meeting death while seated in the same chair. The grandfather of Mr. Corliss, already mentioned, Captain John Corliss, as he was called, served with distinction in the Revolu- tion and some years later, sometime in the early nine- ties, removed to the town of Easton, Washington county, N. Y. The depreciation of the currency fol- lowing the Revolution made a great difference in his fortune and that which followed the War of 1812 proved another blow, but he and his sons were ex- tremely energetic and enterprising and their fortunes were reconped. His wife was Lydia Haynes, of Ha- verhill, and they had eleven children, of whom Hiram, the father of Mr. Corliss was the youngest. Hiram Corliss was a physician and became a very prominent figure in Easton and the surrounding region, and prac- ticed medicine until he was over eighty years of age. He was three times married, but it was his first wife, Susan (Sheldon) Corliss, who was the mother of the Mr. Corliss of this review.

George Henry Corliss, the second child of Dr. Hiram and Susan (Sheldon) Corliss, was born June 2, 1817, at Easton, N. Y. His educational advan- tages were decidedly meagre in the first instance, although he afterwards supplemented them, for the district schools of that period, especially in the rural neighborhoods, were anything but adequate. An intel-

yours truly Of. N. Corliss.

383

BIOGRAPHICAL

int mind such as that of Mr. Corliss' did not take dg to absorb all they had to offer, and he was but (rteen years of age when he turned from his studies ll began his business career. Like so many of great Americans, Mr. Corliss made this beginning the general store at Greenwich, as a clerk, and here hained for upwards of three years, a thoughtful, « ous lad, with dreams of things beyond his horizon. he grew older he came to feel more and more the rat need for further study and he determined at Ezth to compass this ambition in spite of every tacle. Accordingly, in 1834, he gave up his posi- it in the store and entered an academy in . Castle- . Vt., where he remained the full four years and ved himself a student of intelligence and a scholar attainments. As yet, however, he had no idea in ng up the line of work in which he was later to ome so famous, and with the exception of a youth- exploit in the planning and building of a tempor- bridge across Batten Kill, had displayed no talent nitsoever in that direction. And now, upon leaving studies at the academy, and having attained his ority, instead of turning his thoughts and energies what would naturally be supposed a congenial direc- il, he returned to the business he had already at- epted, only this time as an independent enterprise, I early in 1838 established a general store of his 11 at Greenwich, N. Y. For nearly three years he ctinued in this line with considerable success and cially passed his twenty-fourth birthday without ever aing seen the inside of a machine shop. In these ers, however, he had begun to come to a more defin- „knowledge of himself, and his tastes and opinions can to form and crystalize. More and more the hanical side of every question interested him and ( found himself solving mechanical problems and cising mechanical contrivances almost spontaneously. Tally, about 1841, he decided to take up what was so tiously his bent, and in spite of the very uncer- character of the returns which a young and un- wn inventor can count upon, gave his whole atten- to his new tasks. His work during the better : of the following four years was upon the inven- and perfection of a machine for sewing boots, es and heavy leather of all kinds. But Mr. Cor- was laboring under the disadvantage that has beset many young inventors, that of not having sufficient tal to place his device upon the market at the out- and so it was that, although the machine itself both ingenious and practical, he abandoned it and led his attention to other things. How great a ppointment such seeming failure is, how it oper- to discourage in spite of the knowledge that in essential matter one has succeeded, no one can tige who has not passed through the experience, but [. Corliss' courage was not of the kind to fail him o discouragement, and he immediately set to work on another matter that had long attracted his atten- ic, namely, the improvement of the steam engine. Mr. Corliss possessed a faculty even rarer than grage, and in the matter of material success not less a able, that is, he was able to persuade his fellows the thing of which he was himself convinced and so it

enlist their sympathy and aid. In the year 1844 he came to Providence, R. I., to live, the city which re- mained his home from that time up to the time of his death, and he there associated with two gentlemen, John Barstow and E. J. Nightingale, who felt so much confidence in his ability that a partnership was formed under the style of Corliss, Nightingale & Company, and for the next four years Mr. Corliss worked inde- fatigably upon his inventions. In 1848 these were prac- tically complete and he was able to construct and oper- ate an engine which, save for some minor improve- ments in application and finish, was essentially the famous Corliss engine of later years. Feeling now that the task was consummated and that all that re- mained was to reap the fruits of his endeavors, Mr. Corliss and his associates began the erection of the works of the Corliss Steam Engine Company on a scale, however, that gave but little indication of their later huge proportions. These works were sufficiently progressed for the production of the new engine by the early months of the year 1849, and on March 10 of that year patents were granted by the United States Government covering the improvements made. The engine was then placed upon the market and from that time until after his death has held a foremost place in the engineering world. In 1856 the Corliss Steam Engine Company was incorporated with Mr. Corliss as president, and his brother, William Corliss, as treasurer. A modest factory at the time of its erec- tion, the Corliss works grew rapidly until, at the time of the founder's death, in 1888, the floor space included in the buildings amounted to about five acres, and over a thousand hands were employed there. The works grew in response to the great increase of the market for these remarkable engines, which in a few years had spread all over this country and reached to Europe. Indeed, Europe eventually became a great purchaser of the Corliss engine and it was copied by engine builders who placed upon their imitations the name of the American maker.

The first great international triumph of Mr. Corliss, when his success began to be recognized upon some- thing like the scale that it deserved, was at the World's Exposition held at Paris in the year 1867, when he won the highest award that was granted in that de- partment, the first prize in a competition of the one hundred most famous engine builders in the world. The words of J. Scott Russell, the designer and builder of the huge steamship "Great Eastern," that after- wards laid the Atlantic cable, and who was sent by the English government as one of its commissioners to the exposition, deserve quotation, written by him, as they were. in the report sent by him to his govern- ment. Speaking of the valve gear of the Corliss engine Mr. Russell said:

A mechanism as beautiful as the human hand. It releases or retains its grasp on the feeding valve, and gives a greater or less dose of steam in nice proportion to each varying want. The American engine of Corliss everywhere tells of wise forethought, judicious pro- portions and execution and exquisite contrivance.

On January II, 1870, just one hundred years after Watt had patented his steam engine, Mr. Corliss was awarded the Rumford medals and it was upon this

384

HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND

occasion that Dr. Asa Gray, the president of the acad- emy that awarded the medals, remarked that "no in- vention since Watt's time has so enhanced the effi- ciency of the steam engine as this for which the Rum- ford medal is now presented." In 1872 the State of Rhode Island appointed Mr. Corliss its commissioner to take charge of the Centennial Exposition at Phila- delphia, and he was chosen one of the executive com- mittee appointed to look after the preliminaries. Upon the great task of arranging the exhibition, he worked with his usual indefatigable energy and it was his suggestion that the Centennial Board of Finance be organized, a body which had no little to do with the insurance of the financial success of the exhibition. It was also in his own department as engineer that Mr. Corliss contributed largely to the success of the great fair, and it was he that supplied, after the plans of all other competitors proved inadequate, the great fourteen hundred horsepower engine which supplied the power used in Machinery Hall. This engine, un- equalled in size at that time, was installed by Mr. Corliss at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars to himself and without additional expenditure to the ex- position. The great engine was afterwards used to operate the Pullman Car Works at Chicago. The Corliss Company supplied the United States Govern- ment with machinery during the Civil War. When the "Monitor" was being constructed it was found that a large ring must be made, upon which the tur- ret of the "Monitor" could revolve, and the Corliss Engine Works was found to be one of the very few plants in the country that had the necessary machin- ery large enough to "turn" up the large ring. When Mr. Corliss found out what the work was for, he put aside other work, worked his plant day and night to get this important ring completed, which was done on time, sent to New York, placed on the "Monitor" and the "Monitor" was thereby enabled to go forth and meet the "Merrimac" in that historic naval fight. Mr. Corliss always took pride in the fact that he was in no small measure responsible for the successful out- come of that historic fight.

The practice, already noticed among some Euro- pean manufacturers, of imitating the Corliss engine in their own shops and then placing the name on them led them to a remarkable and somewhat amus- ing event which redounded greatly to his honor. This was the award to Mr. Corliss of the Grand Diploma of Honor by the Vienna Exposition at Vienna in 1873, although he was not even an exhibitor. This sur- prising action was explained by the fact that the Euro- pean manufacturers above mentioned, exhibited their engines with the Corliss name upon them, and dis- played so great a superiority over all their competi- tors that the authorities held it to be fitting that the original designer should get the benefit of genius. Another honor, perhaps the greatest of all done to Mr. Corliss, was the conferring upon him by the Insti- tute of France by public proclamation, March IO, 1879, of the Montyon prize for the year 1878, the most coveted prize for mechanical achievement awarded in Europe. He received this honor by a peculiar coin- cidence, on the thirtieth anniversary of the granting of his first patent.

Although it might be well supposed that thede mands made upon his time and energies by the itet tive work, the superintendence of the great indus works, and the business with every part of the vrl would have been so exacting as to have precludech possibility of Mr. Corliss taking part in any one activity, yet, as a matter of fact, he was keenly v to everything that was going on in his adopted and State and took a leading part in many moven undertaken there. Especially was this true in the of politics in which he was a leader in the Repub a party, of the principles and policies of which he a a strong supporter. He was elected three consu tive times to the Rhode Island General Assembla the Representative from North Providence, his of service including the three years 1868-69-70. 1876 he was chosen presidential elector, casting his for President Hayes. In the matter of his relig belief he was a Congregationalist, and attended Charles Street Church in Providence from the of its organization. He was keenly interested in cause of religion and gave liberally both to his and to other churches.

Beyond doubt the service done by Mr. Corliss the material advancement of his fellows was a g one; for the material advancement directly, and i rectly for the intellectual and spiritual advancen for all material progress reacts upon the mind spirit particularly such as tend to bring the end: the earth into communication and teach strange pe tolerance first, and then love for each other. truly there are few of the devices of men that } done more to bring this about than the steam eng Those men, therefore, who have labored at the per tion of this and the other wonderful contrivances the great scientific epoch of history, may certa lay claim to much of the credit for the growth sympathy and understanding among people that taken place during the same period and of these Corliss deserves to stand high in our regard. Of a local publication said, immediately after his de that:

The community loses one of its master minds an man who has done more for the development of steam engine than anyone who has yet lived in 1 country. His fame was world-wide and his years w devoted to the very end to the one purpose of his 1 To say that he has left a void which it is impossible fill is simply to reveal the poverty of language in presence of an irreparable loss.

But there was another manner in which the in ence of Mr. Corliss was effective, namely, through subtle medium of personality. No one could look i the well marked, expressive face without feeling h self in the presence of a man of strength, of one v had fought and mastered difficulties which might h. overcome another man, or without perceiving the s rarer quality of tolerance and charity for all men. } his relations with his fellows was realized the eart part of the message to the waiting shepherds of pe: and good will toward men. It has already been m. tioned that he possessed the power of persuasion, 1 this was by no means confined to the realm of busine extending rather into every department of life so t others hearkened unto and believed him with an stinctive dependence upon his wisdom and honor.

385

BIOGRAPHICAL

Mr. Corliss married (first) in January, 1839, Phebe 3. Frost, a native of Canterbury, Conn., and a daugh- er of Daniel and Louisa (Clark) Frost, of that place. Mrs. Corliss died on March 5. 1859, and in December, 866, he married (second) Emily A. Shaw, of New- uryport, Mass. Mr. Corliss was the father of two hildren, both of whom were born to his first wife. They are Maria Louisa, now residing in Providence, und George Frost, who makes his home in Nice, France.

JEREMIAH LEWIS DIMAN-According to tradi- ion the Diman family is of French Huguenot origin, nd the name was spelled Diamond or Diament until 750. It was changed by some of the Bristol family n the seventh generation from the settler to Dimond, nd is also written Diman by one branch of the fam- ly. For quite two and a half centuries the branch of he Bristol family of this name has dwelt in New Eng- land, and for two centuries and more in the town of :Bristol, where it has figured prominently in the town's ocial and business life and as well in the public affairs of the State. A number of the name have represented the town in the General Assembly of the State, among these Hon. Hopestill P. Dimond; Hon. Byron Diman, who was for many years in the Lower House, served Is Senator, Lieutenant-Governor and Governor; Hon. Francis M. Dimond, who also served as both Lieuten- nt-Governor and Governor, and as well was United estates Consul at Port au Prince and at Vera Cruz, Mexico; and Hon. Henry Wight Diman, who also erved as United State Consul, at Oporto, Protugal. `his Bristol stock of Dimans, too, has given to the tate one of the country's eminent scholars and educa- ors, the learned divine and late professor of history nd political economy in Brown University.

It is the purpose of this article to refer briefly to the ves of these men and to their pedigree, and as well > their posterity, some of whom are yet in the old 'lymouth town of Bristol and in other portions of the tate.

(I) Thomas Diamont, the first known American an- estor, moved from Farmington, Conn., to East Hamp- n, Long Island, in 1660. In 1645 he married Mary heaffe. He died in 1682.

(II) James Diamont, son of Thomas Diamont, born 1646, married Hannah James, daughter of Rev. homas James, of Charlestown, Mass., in 1677. He ed in East Hampton, Long Island, December 13, '21.

(III) Thomas Diman, son of James Diamont, born bout 1680, in East Hampton, Long Island, left that ace in 1712, and became a resident of Bristol, R. I. 1 1706 he married Hannah Finney, who died in 1744. (IV) Jeremiah Diman, son of Thomas Diman, mar- ed, May 13, 1733, Sarah Giddings. Jeremiah Diman d his wife were admitted to the Congregational urch in Bristol, May 13, 1741. Mrs. Diman died ctober 13, 1790, aged eighty-one years, and Mr. Di- an, November 10, 1798, aged eighty-eight years.

(V) Nathaniel Diman, son of Jeremiah and Sarah Giddings) Diman, of Bristol, born January 29, 1734, irried, October 18, 1756, Anna Gallup (or Gallop),

daughter of Samuel and Mary Gallup, and grand- daughter of Samuel Gallup, one of the first settlers of Bristol, and his wife, Elizabeth (Southworth) Gallup, daughter of Constant Southworth, treasurer of the Plymouth Colony. Nathaniel Diman died May 24, IS12, and Mrs. Diman, March 7, 1791.

(VI) Deacon Jeremiah Diman, son of Nathaniel Diman, born January 4, 1767, was a cooper and gauger, and was interested in shipping. He married, Novem- ber 6, 1794, Hannah Luther, daughter of Barnaby L. Luther, of Swansea. Mr. Diman died August 10, 1847, aged seventy years, and Mrs. Diman, June 7, 1840, aged seventy years.

(VII) Hon. Byron Diman, son of Deacon Jeremiah and Hannah (Luther) Diman, was born August 5, 1795. He married (first) June I, 1823, Abigail Alden Wight, who was born October 21, 1802, daughter of Rev. Henry Wight, D. D., for more than forty years pastor of the Congregational church in Bristol, and Clarissa (Leonard) Wight, his wife, who was a daughter of Zephaniah Leonard, of Raynham, Mass. Mrs. Abigail Alden (Wight) Diman was a descendant in the fifth generation of John Alden, of Plymouth, Mass. Byron Diman married (second) May 2, 1855, Elizabeth Ann Wood, who was born in Warren, Oc- tober 11, 1816, daughter of Thomas Baker and Sarah (Hawkins) Wood. Mrs. Diman died October 13, 1881.

Byron Diman received his early education in excel- lent private schools, principally under the tuition of the late Bishop Griswold. At sixteen years of age he entered the office of the late Hon. James De Wolf, where he continued until that gentleman's death in 1837, and until after the settlement of his estate. For years he was extensively engaged in commercial business, both in the whale fisheries and West Indies trade. He was at one time treasurer and subsequently presi- dent of the Bristol Steam Mill. He was a director of the Pokanolet Mill, and for many years president of the Bank of Bristol. In various ways he was closely identified with the business interests of Bristol. Mr. Diman was an enthusiastic Whig of the Henry Clay school. For many years he was a member of the Gen- eral Assembly, and was a delegate to the Harrisburg Convention in 1840 which nominated General Harrison for the Presidency. He was a member of the Lower House from Bristol for the years 1829, 1837, and 1838, and of the Senate for 1850, 1851 and 1852. During the Dorr troubles in 1842 he was a member of the Gov- ernor's Council, and was one of a body of men who shouldered a gun and marched to Chepachet. He was Lieutenant-Governor of the State for the years 1843, 1844, and 1845, and Governor in 1846. "No persuasion could induce him to hold the office longer than a year, and he was deaf to all solicitations to accept a higher position, even that of United States Senator." The only official connection that he retained with the State was a commissioner of the indigent blind, deaf and dumb. Mr. Diman issued the call for the first meet- ing held in Bristol for the organization of the Repub- lican party, and he gave to the policy of President Lin- coln a cordial and unhesitating support.

Governor Diman always took an interest in church affairs, and was remarkably punctual in his attendance

R I-25

386

HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND

on public worship. He was for several years president of the Catholic Congregational Society. He was a man of open hospitality, the poor who appealed for a share of his bounty never being sent away empty handed. He was a genial, kind hearted man, a prudent counsellor and a true friend. He retired from active life at sixty and passed his remaining years in the quiet of his family, library and native town. "Up to a late period in his life he was a diligent reader, aud few men not belonging to the class of professed students possessed more varied and accurate information. He was well versed in English literature and general history, and especially at home in topographical and antiquarian lore." Hon. Byron Diman died August 1, 1865.

(VIII) Professor Jeremiah Lewis Diman, son of Hon. Byron and Abigail Alden (Wight) Diman, was born May 1, 1831, in Bristol, R. I., married, May 15, 1861, Emily Gardner Stimson, who was born March 4, 1837, daughter of John J. and Abby M. (Clarke) Stimson, of Providence, the former a son of Dr. Jeremy Stimson, a physician of Hopkinton, Mass.

Jeremiah Lewis Diman was prepared for college under the direction of Rev. James N. Sikes, a Baptist minister settled over the church at Bristol, entered Brown University at sixteen, and was graduated in the class of 1851. As a boy in his native town he pre- pared a number of historic articles entitled "Annals of Bristol," which were published in the "Phoenix" of that town. During the later years of his college course, it was evident that in literary, historical and philo- sophical studies, his tastes and superior abilities would in after life assert themselves. At the time of his graduation there was assigned to him "The Classical Oration." His theme was "The Living Principle of Literature."

While in college Mr. Diman united with the Con- gregational church in Bristol. He chose the Christian ministry as his life work, and he went to reside as a pupil in the family of Rev. Dr. Thatcher Thayer, of Newport, R. I., under whom he pursued a course of philosophy, theology and classics. For two years, beginning in the fall of 1852, he was a student in Andover (Mass.) Theological Seminary. Deciding to further his studies in the German universities, he went abroad in the summer of 1854, traveled on the Con- tinent and studied theology, philosophy and history under the great teachers of Halle, Heidelberg and Ber- lin, and for a short time during one of his vacations was a student of art at Munich. Returning to Amer- ica in the spring of 1856, he again took up his studies at Andover and was graduated that summer. In that same year he was installed pastor of the First Congre- gational Church at Fall River, Mass., where he re- mained until 1860. He declined in 1858 an invitation to become the colleague of the celebrated Dr. Horace Bushnell over a Congregational church at Hartford, Conn. In 1860 he accepted a call to the Harvard Con- gregational Church at Brookline, Mass. In 1864 he returned to Providence to fill the chair of History and Political Economy, in Brown University, and this posi- tion he held until his death, receiving from his alma mater the degree of D. D. in 1870. In this new and important position he soon distinguished himself by devotion to his work and by his rare scholarship and

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.

The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, V. IV, Part 97

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