USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Westerly > Westerly (Rhode Island) and its witnesses : for two hundred and fifty years, 1626-1876 : including Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond until their separate organization, with the principal points of their subsequent history > Part 18
USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Charlestown > Westerly (Rhode Island) and its witnesses : for two hundred and fifty years, 1626-1876 : including Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond until their separate organization, with the principal points of their subsequent history > Part 18
USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Hopkinton > Westerly (Rhode Island) and its witnesses : for two hundred and fifty years, 1626-1876 : including Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond until their separate organization, with the principal points of their subsequent history > Part 18
USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Richmond > Westerly (Rhode Island) and its witnesses : for two hundred and fifty years, 1626-1876 : including Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond until their separate organization, with the principal points of their subsequent history > Part 18
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lar was so deep that three hogsheads might stand on end in it, one above the other. The pirate Abbott here lived a secluded, reticent, and gloomy life. From him it passed into the hands of John Barker. It was firmly believed that the rich old pirate had his treasures in this stockaded castle, and that he finally buried them beneath his stores in the deep cellar. And it is certain that the old cellar bot- tom and adjacent spots have felt the covetous invasions of bar and spade in quest of the hidden wealth. Even within the few past years, eager treasure-diggers have repeated the search.
HORSE STORY.
During the Revolutionary war, in the winter of 1780, while the British troops were occupying Long Island, a young man, named William Bowler, wishing to escape from the British service, and probably sympathizing with the cause of freedom, took a highly valued horse, belonging to the adjutant of the English army, and, taking the shrewd precaution to take off the horse's shoes and re- verse them on his feet, drove across the Sound, on the ice, to New Haven.
The horse was afterwards purchased by Oliver Davis, Esq., of Hopkinton, and, when quite old, was given by Mr. Davis to Dr. Vincent in consideration of the relinquishment on the part of the doctor of a debt of fifty dollars owed by a poor sick neighbor of Mr. Davis's. The horse did good service till he was more than thirty years old ; and Dr. Vincent became so attached to the martial beast, that he wished to have him buried in the same grave with himself.
The hero of this horse story married the daughter of a wealthy gentleman in Newport. The narrative may be suggestive to specu- lators in war-horses, for such horses are always superior beasts, and sell well to certain customers.
STOLEN MONEY.
It is told that a certain man stole an amount of treasure from a British ship in Long Island Sound, and came to Westerly and stayed a few days at Mr. - Brand's tavern, and in the mean time buried liis stolen wealth among the rocks north of the village, near the pres- ent site of Mr. Horace Vose's livery stable. Afterwards, when in England, on his dying bed, he confessed the theft, and described the place of concealment. But the agent who came for the treasure failed to identify the spot.
Rumor went abroad respecting this buried treasure, A Mr. Cran- dall (tradition calls him Elias) and others of like faith with him com- menced digging among the rocks above designated for the precious deposit. At last they touched a trunk or box, apparently covered with bear-skin. In their surprise and extreme joy, one of the com- pany, unlearned in respect to the necessary silence to be observed
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in all such enterprises, thoughtlessly exclaimed, " We have found it ; we have found it." The day was lost. The treasure, almost in their hands, vanished from sight, and all subsequent digging has been in vain.
KIDD'S CHEST.
A lad who once lived in the family of Mr. Rhodes (whose wife Nancy was aunt to Dea. Daniel Babcock) related to them the fol- lowing story. He had previously lived with a Mr. Cheesbrough, in Stonington, a man of quite humble means, who supported himself by fishing. On a certain day, a boat, with seven men, came from a vessel in the offing, towards the land. After taking several ranges with their compass, they dropped overboard a box, and returned. Mr. Cheesbrough, who had watched this movement, sent the lad early to bed, and taking his boat went out in the direction of the depos- ited box. During the night he returned. The lad, not given to sleep that night, slyly looked through the cracks of the imperfect cham- ber floor, and discovered the large table in the middle of the room below plentifully loaded with glittering coin, and Mr. and Mrs. Cheesbrough eagerly counting the treasure.
Shortly after Mr. Cheesbrough bought the house where he lived, and added one tract of land to another, until he became an exten- sive land-holder, owning all of Oxecossett, where some of his descendants still live.
The lad who related this was afterwards a soldier in the Revolu- tion, and at Fort Griswold, in 1781, saved his life by scaling the walls, while most of his comrades were massacred. No one will doubt that he must have been entertaining in his war stories.
THE DEVIL'S VISIT.
The ancient Sims house, on the south side of the post-road, once had a fame among the children of credulity of sharing a stormy visit from his ghostly majesty, the Devil. It happened, says report, in this wise.
The evening had been devoted to hilarity and coarse carousal, singing, story-telling, drinking, dancing, and wild frolic. The scenes closed by an unceremonious and sudden descent of the horned and grizzly monarch of darkness through the tunnel of the chimney, and his awful presence was accompanied by the tumbling of the main part of the chimney-top into the rooms of the house. Who pitched down the chimney-top, and furnished the vocal accompani- ments, was never known.
HAUNTED HOUSES AND MONEY DIGGING.
When fancy utterly breaks from the bounds of facts, there seems to be no limit to her flight ; she then freely commands the fears and hopes of the credulous, and leads them captive whither she will. In
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a former age it was only too common to find people who had faith in ghosts and mysterious divinations.
It was reported that the house, lately purchased and remodeled by Mr. William B. Dodge, was once fearfully haunted by a slave woman, whom her master kicked down-stairs, and killed, and buried secretly in the grave-yard, or, as some say, in the river ; or, as others say, in the cellar of the house. Hence strange noises were heard, lights of various hues and forms were seen, some of them about the house, some moving towards the river. Rumor had it that a part of the cellar was planked up without any place of egress, and that after- wards certain bones were here found.
Other houses in Westerly and Hopkinton were revisited by the spirits of those who had been abused in the flesh : the windows were illuminated; cannon balls were heard rolling across the floors ; looms and wheels were operated ; cries of sufferers were rung out upon the air ; divers significant warnings of death were given.
Some seventy years since, some of the dwellers in Lamphear Hol- low, becoming convinced that money had been buried in the orchard, sent for Charles Green, who lived at the foot of Chase's Hill, to come with his mercurial or witch-hazel rod to point out, and aid in pro- curing, the treasure. The enterprise was duly commenced. After digging some three feet, near the foot of an apple-tree, they struck something hard. Surely fortune had smiled upon them. Hope was on tiptoe. In the greatness of their joy, not doubting of success, one of the party spoke. Alas! the mystic power was broken; the box apparently rolled off with a rumbling noise, and was lost forever. Apropos : fortune is fickle to fools whose tongues are untied.
The renowned pirate, William Kidd (the ballad says Thomas Kidd), must have buried infinite riches on the islands and shores of New England, since nearly all parts of the coast have been severely overturned by pick and spade in search of the hidden chests and pots of gold and jewels. Unfortunately, however, these treasure- chests have eluded the delvings of cupidity. From the bars and spades of the credulous adventurers, Westerly has suffered her pro- portional part. Yet report affirms that once a black man, digging in the night with sealed lips, found a crock of gold among the rocks by the shore, on the west side of Watch Ilill Point. Excavations with- out number have been made on Quonocontaug Point; also on the main-land, where aged oaks or pointed rocks formed an equilateral triangle. Of course, treasures are always buried geometrically. Usually broken swords were buried on the tops of the chests ; some- times human blood and bones constituted a further safeguard. These mystic protections to the treasures explain why so few of the seekers have been successful, and why perfect darkness and profound silence are the conditions of success.
Rumor declares that some of the wealthy men of Westerly, in a
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former generation, obtained the foundations of their fortunes by the use of divining-rods that pointed out the full crocks of gold ; to a Mr. Babcock and a Mr. Hayward the rocky grounds, north of the village (Westerly) and near the depot, yielded up their shining treasures. But the party for which Mr. Salmon Richardson, armed with a sword, acted as sentinel, was less successful; for a ghost, dressed in white, appeared from the woods. Mr. Richardson drew his blade, and valiantly rushed upon the spirit. In the desperate chase the ghost (Mr. John Cross) was obliged to drop his borrowed night-gown, and the golden vision vanished.
The delusions - medical, political, scientific, and religious - of a later day must be reserved for a future chapter. To reflecting minds, the records just given may not be without profit. It is only to be regretted that annalists, in recording the life of towns and commu- nities, should so often judge it proper to ignore the superstitious side of society; a faithful portraiture is ever the best. That we may wisely and safely steer our barks on life's tempestuous voyage, it is well to know the shoals and rocks on which preceding voyagers have struck. And the people of the present day may innocently smile at the weakness of former generations only when they prove themselves sufficiently intelligent to avoid the pretentious arts and schemes of quacks, theorists, fanatics, and impostors. Hypocrisies and errors never bear the test of continuous history ; only truth shines with a perpetual light. The ancient injunction is still appro- priate, "Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good."
CHAPTER XXIV.
POTTER HILL.
FOR this chapter we are indebted not a little to the intelligence and research of Miss Maria L. Potter, who also furnished some of the incidents of the chapter preceding. We shall often follow her accomplished pen. Papers of much importance have also been furnished by Hon. W. H. Potter, of Groton, Conn.
Going back as far as possible to the origin of business in this locality, we find " the dam at Potter Hill owned by Samuel Maxson and John Davis." Mr. Maxson was the great-grandson of John Maxson, one of the first planters. "Prior to 1762, there was a dam and grist-mill at the meeting-house bridge, about one mile up the stream, owned by Peter Crandall; as this dam flowed valuable meadow lands above, the land-owners purchased and leveled it. The grist-mill was purchased by John Davis, and removed to Potter Hill, on the Westerly side of the river. Afterwards a saw-mill, that had been erected on the east side, was transferred to the west side. After occupying the mills for a few years, on the 10th of Jan- uary, 1775, the grist-mill, saw-mill, and fulling mill, with two dwelling- houses and sixteen acres of land, were purchased of John and William Davis, for 300 pounds sterling, by George Potter, and operated by him till his death, in 1794." He was known as " the honest miller," even " to a kernel of corn." He also opened a store, which was continued by his son, and afterwards by his grandsons. He owned two houses, a grist-mill, a saw-mill, and a fulling mill. The family papers also testify that he built here several vessels. He left three sons, George, Jr., Joseph, and Nathan, who carried on the business left by the father, till the death of George, Jr., in 1801. This George, 2d, was engaged many years in ship-building, and in cod-fishing at the Straits of Belle Isle, " being the first man from the United States, after the close of the Revolution, to go to Green Island (in the Bay of St. Lawrence)." " At Newfoundland, on board an English vessel, he saw the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV." He remembered him particularly from a little inci- dent, namely : in a sudden shower the duke took from a box in his pocket a water-proof mantle.
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Some time after the death of George, his brother Nathan became embarrassed in business, and his rights were sold to the remaining brother, Joseph, who also bought the rights of the heirs of George, and so became sole proprietor. In 1810, Joseph commenced the manufacture of cotton in a part of the old mill, said to be the first pound of cotton manufactured in Westerly. Soon after, in 1812, he began his cotton factory at a cost of $9,000. He had pre- viously been engaged in foreign trade, and sent vessels to the West Indies and to Barcelona, in Spain. This business was damaged by the " embargo of 1806." In this business, Gen. William Williams, of Stonington, says of him, " Esquire Potter is the most independent man I ever knew."
" About the year 1796, the Potter brothers were sned by Zacheus Reynolds for not opening the fish gap in their dam at the usual time, the 20th of March. The neglect was occasioned by a freshet ; and the man who sawed the plate at last did so at the peril of his life. The case was in the law seven years, and was finally gained by the defendants. Many people were interested here in catching alewives and shad. A scoop net would sometimes compass three shad at a time. Once, at the mouth of the Neshungansett, or Mile Brook, a few rods below, ten thousand alewives were caught at a time in a seine.
" The brothers, Joseph and Nathan Potter, for a time built boats for the Green Island fishery, building from ten to fifteen per year, some of them holding four tons. These were floated down to tide- water. They also built sloops, schooners, and at one time even a ship; framing them at Potter Hill, and then taking them apart and rebuilding them at Westerly. During the war of 1812, two gun- boats, No. 91 and No. 92, sloop-rigged, were built by them in the same manner, under the superintendence of Capt. Phipps, an agent of the government."
Mr. Potter's cotton mill was at first a success. During the last war he was offered three cents a hank for spinning No. 12 yarn, having the cotton furnished. This was the beginning of the man- ufacture of fabrics in this region. Mr. Potter also opened the second store, in a wing of his new house; of this we may speak hereafter. The cotton-spinning and cotton-dressing business was carried on under the name of Joseph Potter & Sons, till 1814, when the father sold his right in the real estate and mills to his sons, who continued the business under the firm of Thomas W. & Joseph Pot- ter & Co. The " & Co." included, first and last, all the brothers, Henry, Robert T., and William. Towards the close of the war Mr. Potter's business so languished that it was thought " he sunk $13,000 by the factory."
As previously stated, " Joseph Potter was also engaged in mer- cantile business ; and it was about the year 1791 that the serious
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burglary occurred, occasioning a great stir in the community. The burglars were Thomas Mount, William Stanton, and James Williams. They came in the night, took a crow-bar from the saw-mill, broke open the grist-mill, emptied the bags of grain on the ice, and then broke open the store attached to Mr. Potter's house, and filled the bags with silks, cotton fabrics, and other valuables, worth about $800. Most of the goods were afterwards found secreted in stacks and barns in Stonington, and some in Candlewood Hill in Groton. Williams turned State's evidence, and thus escaped punishment. Stanton received a severe public whipping. Mount was tried, and hung at Kingston, having confessed that he should have killed Mr. Potter, had he made his appearance, and also that this was the thirtieth burglary that he had committed. He seems to have been a hardened criminal." This is the last instance of capital punish- ment that occurred in Washington County. The law then inflicted this penalty upon burglars who entered private dwellings.
About this time, 1792, " Nathan Potter had a blacksmith shop at the west end of the bridge, which he removed to the east side of the river, and added to it a trip-hammer. This property, after his failure in 1814, was owned by Daniel and Oliver Babcock, excellent men and good workmen, who continued the smith business till 1858, when the shop was removed, the privilege having been sold by Daniel Babcock, in 1851, to the owners of the property on the other side of the stream."
Thomas W. & Joseph Potter & Co., mentioned in a previous par- agraph, enlarged the manufacturing business, and worthily con- ducted it, till 1843, when they sold mills and privilege to Messrs. Edwin and Horace Babcock.
In 1800 the place could boast but three residences near the bridge.
Joseph Potter, father of Thomas W., Joseph, and Henry, died Dec. 14, 1822, at the age of sixty-three, a man of industry, ability, integrity, decision, generosity, and piety. "He was long a pillar and clerk of the old Sabbatarian Church, when it numbered near nine hundred members."
. The progenitor of this worthy Potter family was Martin Potter, who is reported to have been a son of one of the Regicides, - one of the judges that condemned Charles I. On the restoration of the monarchy, he fled to this country, and took shelter with his cousins in South Kingstown, R. I., where he lived till his death. He was recticent in respect to his history. It appears, however, that he owned a large estate in North Shields, on the banks of the Tyne, in England, - in the midst of the coal region, - property valued in 1835, at $9,000,000. Before his flight he leased this estate for ninety- nine years. At the expiration of the lease, an attempt was made to confiscate the property, and it passed into the charge of the Bishop
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of Durham. Measures were instituted, prior to the Revolution, to recover it; these were broken up by the war. During the present century, the suit has been reopened, and is still pending. The estate embraces " something like 400 acres, one mile of docks, and near 300 houses." .
As one of the witnesses and noble representatives of Potter Hill and Hopkinton, mention should be made of Dea. Daniel Babcock, or, as he was often called, Judge Babcock. He was born in North Stonington, Aug. 31, 1762. He was a blacksmithlı, and commenced business at Potter Hill, where he married. For forty-six years he was justice of the peace ; for nine years, from 1807 to 1816, he was a member of the upper house of the State, elected by general prox, and carried with him the suffrage of all parties, retaining the office by a unanimous vote. For ten years he was a judge of the County Court for Washington County. He was the intimate friend and counsellor of Governors Fenner, Knight, and others. As a Christian man, he honorably maintained his profession for sixty-three years, and for fifty eight years he was a deacon in the stanch old Sabbata- rian Church in Hopkinton, in which church he also served as choris- ter for nearly half a century. He belonged to the soundly Evan- gelical portion of his denomination; was the intimate friend and relative of Rev. Rufus Babcock ; was loved and honored by Rev. Stephen Gano, and others, of Providence; and was sent for, far and near, as arbiter and counsellor in difficult cases in church and in pri- vate life. He served for a short time in the Revolutionary army. He died in Hopkinton, Sept. 18, 1846.
His brother, Dr. Christopher Babcock, was a distinguished sur- geon in the Revolutionary army, and died in the service.
At Potter Hill, in Westerly, crowning a rocky bluff, is found a mute and weighty witness of the dark and distant geological eras when our continent was overswept by glaciers. It is a globe-like bowlder, weighing probably fifty tons, so poised on the face of a ledge, that, until recently, a single person could rock it. Hence it is known as the " Potter Hill Rocking Stone," and multitudes visit it as a curi- osity. And how naturally all ask, How came it here? When and by what means was it transported ? How was it left and poised on this ledgy crest ? Only the old moving fields of glaciers, in their southward march, can return the answer.
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CHAPTER XXV.
WESTERLY AND PAWCATUCK.
EARLY in the history of the town, this locality was known as Pawcatuck Bridge. Business here was tardy in its growth till after the Revolution. In 1750, the place could number but three resi- dences. A post-office and store were first opened on the hill-top at the east. It is not known exactly when the first dam was thrown across the river just above the old ford or Pequot trail. The por- tion of the village on the west, or Stonington side, is now termed Pawcatuck; while the part on the east, which is much larger, is designated as Westerly. Essentially both villages are one, having one post-office, one depot, common wharves, and common interests. The post-office on the hill was under the care of Dr. Joshua Babcock, who also had a store. The next store opened near it was owned by Mr. Rowse Babcock, who afterwards moved into the village, where he died in 1801. This store was continued by Gen. William Rhodes, who also finally removed to the vicinity of the bridge. Business had now commenced in this locality, though in 1800 there were not above fifteen residences in this vicinity.
Near 1800, Mr. Ebenezer Brown owned a grist-mill, running two sets of stones. This was sold to Mr. Joseph Congdon (from Fisher's Island), who built a new and larger mill, which he finally sold to Mr. Stephen Wilcox, who sold it to a company of gentlemen from abroad. This company, called the Pawcatuck Manufacturing Com- pany, in 1814, built the stone mill, in which, at first, they made woolen goods, and afterwards manufactured cotton; but, being unsuccessful in business, in a few years sold to Messrs. Blodgett, Stafford & Simmons. This new firm purchased other privileges up the river, at Stillmanville and White Rock, and took the name of White Rock Company. From death and other causes the owners in this company, one after another, sold to Mr. Rowse Babcock, 3d, and Mr. Jesse L. Moss, who retained the name, White Rock Com- pany, and carried on the largest business in the town. The canal from Stillmanville to Westerly was opened in 1827. The White Rock Company greatly increased their mills and machinery, uniting steam with the power of the river.
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This company built the new mill, north of the stone mill, 48 by 124 feet, and four stories high, with a French roof in addition, and an octagonal tower on one corner. The architect was Peleg Clarke, Jr.
In the southern' part of the village, - formerly designated " Bungtown," now called " The Landing," -in 1811, Mr. Abiel Sherman established a small tannery, afterwards sold to Col. Peleg Cross, of Charlestown, whose sons, Nathaniel and Benjamin, oper- ated it. Colonel Cross sold to William D. Wells, Esq., who con- tinued the business till the heavy fire of Oct. 30, 1868, destroyed his property. Another tannery was started by Mr. John Cross, afterwards operated by George D. Cross, Esq., and lastly by Mr. Billings. Near Mr. Wells's tannery, Mr. Peleg Clarke, Jr., erected a steam mill for sawing and planing; this was sold to C. Maxson & Co., and was also destroyed by the fire of Oct. 30, 1868.
Of the merchants of Westerly, we have already mentioned .J. . Babcock, 1st, R. Babcock, and William Rhodes. These were succeeded by Stephen Wilcox, 1st, Palmer Wells, Paul Rhodes, Ichabod Taylor, Rowse Babcock, 2d, Capt. Joshua Hazard, Jonathan Perry, Amos Cross, Isaac Champlin, Thomas W. Potter, George Wells, Stephen .. Wilcox, 2d, Russell Hubbard, George W. Moss, Lyndon Taylor, William C. Pendleton, Lemuel Vose, George D. Cross, Joshua Thompson. The number of merchants at present is quite large.
The innkeepers have been Samuel Brand, Jr., Paul Rhodes, Icha- bod Taylor, John T. Thurston, Horatio Robinson, Benadam Frink, C. B. Capron, - Simons, Charles Leonard, Gorton Berry, Alvin Peavey. Mr. Samuel Brand, Jr., kept as an inn the house after- wards owned by Mr. George Wells, now moved to High Street, and ~ used as a large tenement-house. Mr. Brand built the two large dwelling-houses still standing near the west end of the bridge, and owned the east one, and kept it as an inn till he sold it to Mr. S. Thompson.
On the west side of the river (Pawcatuck), we first find a grist- mill run by Mr. Elias Brown, but owned by Mr. Jonathan Richard- son, who also had a saw-mill. On Mr. Richardson's death, his property passed into the hands of his son George, who afterwards sold it to John Scholfield, Joseph Noyes, Thomas Noyes, Salmon Richardson, Rowse Babcock, and Benjamin Babcock. After the property was improved by these gentlemen, it was sold to O. M. Stillman, who sold it to HI. & J. J. Edwards. While being operated by this last firm, the mill was burned, in October, 1841, and was a loss to the firm of about $10,000. The privilege was again sold to O. M. Stillman, who finally sold it to the Stillman Brothers. The old mills were improved and enlarged, and new business was intro- duced by Mr. Scholfield, who was an ingenious manufacturer.
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