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 19
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 19
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 19
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 19
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The property at last came into the hands of the present active
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proprietors, the Stillmans and Maxsons, who increased the buildings and machinery, and added the force of steam power. A steam mill, a foundry, and a machine shop are now successfully operated in the lower or southern part of the village.
The merchants here have been Thomas Noyes, George Sheffield, Samuel Thompson, George and Henry Noyes, Jesse L. Moss, Ezra Vincent, H. & F. Sheffield. The shops are now many.
The innkeepers have been Samuel Brand, Jr., Joseph Noyes, Sam- uel Thompson, Mrs. Abby Thompson, Robert H. Peckham, Luke B. Noyes, Avery Hoxie.
A word of ship-builders. That would be an interesting chapter of the valley of the Pawcatuck, could the facts be recovered, that should give the names of her shipwrights, and the names and deeds of her many and bold sailors. Her fishing boats, and keels of various size, from coasting shallop to majestic ship, have graduated seamen and captains for the remotest oceans and seas.
Ship-building was early carried on along the banks of the Pawca- tuck, from the river's mouth to the head of navigation on both banks. These crafts have been of all tonnage and rig, from sloops to ships. Some of these did service in the early wars. .
The first shipwright in the town was Mr. Joseph Wells, who bought the site for his yard of George Denison, near Pawcatuck Rock.
The prominent builders of later times, beginning near 1800, were Nathan Potter, Joseph Barber, Silas Greenman, Sen., Elisha Lanphear, George Sheffield, Hazard Crandall, Silas Greenman, Jr., John Brown, H. & F. Sheffield, George S. Greenman.
The first steamboat built on the river was constructed near 1840, by Sprague Barber, and named the "Novelty." The steamer built and plying on the river in 1869 was called the " Florence."
The early merchants of Westerly were usually ship-owners as well . to some degree. Prior to the general introduction of mechanical enterprises, the wealth of the town went out extensively upon the seas.
From 1800 to 1835, numerous fishing keels were fitted for the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts. The cargoes, sold at home and in foreign ports, realized important returns. The West Indian trade was popular and lucrative ; produce, staves, mules, and horses were exchanged for rum, molasses, and dry goods.
In alluding to the mercantile history of the town, it should be stated that, during the past century and the early part of the pres- ent, the stores were not only few and small, but were attached, in nearly every instance, to the residences of the owners, - being a little one-storied wing on the end of the house. Such were the stores on the hill, in the village on both sides of the river, and at Potter Hill. Quite another fashion prevails to-day.
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An old, conspicuous, and not uninfluential physical feature of the village on the east side, has lately passed away. We refer to the pond known as " School-house Pond," " Bull-frog Lake," or "Musk- rat Retreat," situated between Main, Union, and Elm Streets. Here for generations the juveniles of the village have waded for frogs, sailed their shingle boats, and, in winter, developed their limbs and lungs upon the joyous ice. In the summer of 1868, at much expense, Mr. Oliver D. Wells opened a large drain to the river, and trans- formed the little lake into a beautiful meadow, greatly to the beauty and health of the village, notwithstanding the criticisms and severe verdict of the disappointed juveniles.
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CHAPTER XXVI.
STILLMANVILLE.
AT an early day, the date not easily ascertainable, a small tan- nery, or at least a few vats, constructed and owned by a Mr. Rhodes, existed a few rods above the present. canal bridge and gas-works, near the large elm-tree. This was afterwards owned and operated by Judge Joshua Vose. No trace of the tannery now remains.
The lands at the present village of Stillmanville were once a part of the large farm belonging to Simeon Pendleton, known as " Gentleman Simeon."
The first dam across the river at this point, built prior to the dam at the village below, was constructed and owned in main by Mr. Samuel Brand, who, on the east side, put into operation a grist- mill.
Mr. Brand sold his mill and privilege to Mr. Sanford Taylor, and hence the dam, in 1798, was known as "Sanford Taylor's dam." When Mr. Taylor emigrated to the State of New York, in the first part of the present century, he sold his rights here to Mr. Arnold Clark, who, however, only bought for Mr. John Congdon. At what time precisely carding and fulling were introduced has not been ascertained. Mr. Congdon eventually sold to Mr. John Burdick, and Mr. Burdick sold the fulling mill to Mr. Stephen Smith. Mr. Smith not only operated the fulling mill, but conducted cloth dress- ing to accommodate the families of this region that at that time, after the current fashion, did their own spinning and weaving. Mr. Burdick finally sold the remainder of his interest to William Still- man, Jr., who was assisted by his father, Dea. William Stillman, who invented and here put in motion the first cloth-shearing machine ever known. Mr. Smith also assisted Mr. Stillman in procuring his important patent.
Mr. William Stillman, Jr., finally sold his interest here to Sim- mons, Stafford & Blodgett. Mr. Smith at last sold his interest to Messrs. Babcock & Moss. Thus the whole property on the Rhode Island side of the river came into the hands of the firm of Babcock & Moss, the successors of the original White Rock Company. This
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firm gave new life and form to the village. The large and well fur- nished woolen mills are run in part by steam power.
On the Stonington side of the river, there was first a saw-mill, and afterwards a linseed-oil mill. The last was owned by Mr. John Congdon, who, in 1806, sold the property to Mr. John Scholfield, an ingenious manufacturer. It is stated that Mr. Scholfield here started the first wool-carding machine operated in the United States. The first set up in America was in Nova Scotia. Mr. Scholfield estab- lished carding, spinning, weaving, and fulling woolen goods, and carried on his manufacturing during the war of 1812.
In 1831, the property was bought and operated by Orsemus M. Stillman, who, by persevering industry and various important inventions, added to his estate, constructed the present large and commodious mills, and greatly enlarged the village on that side of the river. From this enterprising manufacturer, Stillmanville received its name. The first bridge across the river here was con- structed by Mr. Stillman ; it is now public property. In these mills, also, steam is at present a part of the motive power.
For many years, in connection with his business, Mr. Stillman kept a store of dry goods and groceries, almost wholly for the accom- modation of his numerous employees.
Here, in the early part of the present century, when a portion of the dam was annually opened for the passage of fish, Mr. Nathaniel Stillman, in attempting to pass the fish gap in his canoe, was caught by the whirling water, overturned, dashed against the stones, and drowned. Hours transpired before his body could be recovered.
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CHAPTER XXVII.
DORRVILLE OR NIANTIC.
THE oldest designation of this locality was Shattuck's Weir. Shattuck was the name of an Indian who was associated with the early history of the place. Here large quantities of shad were caught in the spring season, in weirs, scoops, and seines, first by the Indians, and afterwards by the settlers. The migratory species of fish that visit our coast and ascend our rivers in the vernal months, to deposit their spawn, such as shad and alewives, once abounded in the Pawcatuck, and swarmed far up towards its head waters. These constituted an important part of the revenue of the aborigines. Alewife is an Indian name. The construction of dams, the groan- ing of wheels, the thunder of machinery, and the rush of keels by sail and steam, have almost banished from the river these beauti- ful and valuable annual visitors. Art has grasped the powers of the river, and harnessed them to other service.
The fall of the river at Shattuck's Weir Bridge was early oc- cupied as a mill privilege. The first dam was built above the pres- ent bridge, prior to 1758, by Mr. Stephen Saunders and Dea. Samuel Gardner. Only a saw-mill was then put up. The works owned by Mr. Gardner, on the north side of the stream, were destroyed by a freshet, and never reconstructed.
In 1792, the property on each side of the stream was held by Samuel Gardner, 2d, and Augustus Saunders. The next machinery started was that of a grist-mill. Afterwards a small factory was erected by Col. Joseph Knowles, for custom carding and cloth dressing. Mr. Knowles's property fell to his son, John T. Knowles, who put up the first woolen mill, running only eight looms. This mill was finally sold to Mr. William P. Arnold, who, from peculiar political tastes, named the village " Dorrville." The present wooden mill, superseding the old one which was burnt, was erected by Mr. Arnold in 1846, in which year Mr. Arnold leased the entire property to Dr. John E. Weeden of Westerly, who in 1851 purchased the prop- erty ; but he in 1857 sold it to Wager Weeden, who built the stone mill in 1864. From 1866 to 1868 the mills were leased and run by
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the Niantic Woolen Manufacturing Company, of which T. R. Hyde was the agent. They are now operated by the Weedens, Dr. J. E. Weeden acting as agent.
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Encouraged by Doctor Weeden, the pastor of the First Baptist Church at Westerly. commenced regular meetings in the village, in a private residence, the boarding-house. These meetings finally resulted in the formation of a regular Baptist church in 1851, termed the Niantic Baptist Church, which counted seventeen constituent members. In the mean time a meeting-house was erected at a cost of $1,000. The house measures 28 by 38 feet, has 38 slips, and seats near two hundred persons. The first regular pastor of this church was Rev. Simon B. Bailey, and the first deacon was George W. Champlin.
A small Sabbatarian church was embodied in this vicinity in 1858, and in 1866 secured a meeting-house. This house formerly stood on the site of the houses occupied by the First Sabbatarian Church of this region, having been erected there by a disaffected few, on the removal of the large house to the vicinity of Potter Hill and Ashaway, and hence called, from the circumstances of its origin, the "Spunk Meeting-house."
A bank, called the Hopkinton Bank, was organized here in 185-, with a capital of $200,000. The officers were Stephen Wright, president ; D. M. C. Stedman, cashier. By the financial reactions of 1857, this institution was crippled and finally closed. The unfinished banking-house near the depot is its significant memorial.
This village now contains one of the largest school-houses found in the township of Westerly.
In regard to the remarkable curve of the river between Potter Hill and Dorrville, east of the road leading to the old site of the Sabbatarian meeting-house, - a course that is almost a circle, in the middle of which is Kedinka Island (according to the map of Rhode Island), -it is stated by tradition that the river was anciently turned from its direct course through the valley and meadows by the beavers that built so large and strong a dam that the stream was obliged to cut a new bed to the south around the obstruction.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
LOTTERY VILLAGE.
THE names of localities are not always indicative of the general character of the people. This remark applies to Dorrville and Lot- tery Village. At no time have the inhabitants of these places been Dorrites and gamblers, but rather law-abiding and honest people. Trivial circumstances have attached to these localities unpleasant names, that the people would gladly dismiss from their history. We have suggested the more suitable name of Niantic for Dorrville. Lottery Village ought to have been named Pendletonville.
The owner of the lands whereon the most of the village stands, Col. Joseph Pendleton, in consideration of losses suffered by him- self and his kindred, received from the State a lottery grant, in which the successful tickets drew house lots previously laid out in his lands. Thus the place derived its singular and unfortunate name, - the evil of lotteries not then being comprehended as at present.
The land was laid out in 126 house lots, under a grant given Feb. 27, 1749-50 (1750 N. S.), and executed by Isaac Sheffield and Elias Thompson, aided by W. Babcock as surveyor.
The early inhabitants in this vicinity were farmers and fishermen. Latterly it has furnished many bold and able seamen, - Pendletons and Halls, -who have dared the seas and won their treasures ; to whose skill and perseverance have succumbed the Arctic whales and Antartic seals. Properly this village stands at the head of ready navigation ; the river above being narrow, tortuous, and shoal. The supposition that the place would become one of trade, manufactures, and commerce has not yet been realized, though steam-power might now be profitably employed.
The merchants here have been Benjamin Barnes, Nathan Barber, Gilbert Pendleton, John Franklin Hall, Samuel A. Champlin, George W. Stephens. Mr. Barnes's place of trade was popularly known as the " red store." The place was once an important landing for the town.
Near 1820, Rev. Benjamin Shaw, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, came from Cumberland, R. I., and settled in Lot- tery Village. He enlarged and lived in the house now occupied by Russel Hinckley. By his wise and earnest labors a great blessing
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LOTTERY VILLAGE.
rested upon the place. A class was organized, that held its meetings in the school-house. He baptized by immersion, that being the choice of the people. His ministry here reached through about eighteen years. He finally, while on a visit in Vermont, accepted the views and practices of the Wesleyan Methodists, and connected himself with them. He was a man of medium stature, decisive views, earnest spirit, and fervent piety. The revival that occurred under his ministry left its lasting, happy impress upon the people. He emphasized not the form of godliness, but the power. Being a man of good education and an able preacher, he led the people forward with success. He died in 1839, while absent from the town on a visit to his friends. The class he had formed had no other leader and preacher; hence it soon declined, and faded away. The members, one after another, united with neighboring churches, the larger number connecting themselves with the Hill Church.
During a large part of his ministry in this region, Mr. Shaw had regular appointments at the Pawcatuck school-house in Stonington, nearly opposite Lottery Village. In these meetings there were repeated instances of special religious interest. Here occurred, at different times, the unusual and impressive phenomena, usually called "the losing of strength"; i. e. the persons affected, in their devo- tions, and especially in prayer, would lose their strength and fall from their seats or from their knees to the floor, and remain for a season in a happy swoon or ecstasy, filled with a sense of light and love, and comparatively oblivious to what passes around them. No. fully satisfactory explanation of these singular phenomena has yet been given. About a dozen different persons, men and women, all of sound mind, good intelligence, and excellent character, were sub- jects of these experiences. Some of them had similar experiences for years afterwards. Like phenomena sometimes occurred at pri- vate houses, and also in the school-house in Lottery Village. Mr. Shaw himself, however, was not a subject of these experiences.
A branch church of the First Baptist church in the village of Westerly was organized here on the 7th of February, 1843. The constituent members were, Lyman Hall, David Pendleton, Ethan Pendleton, Jesse N. Brown, Abby P. Hall, Sarah Pendleton, Phebe A. Pendleton, Eunice Brown.
The meetings were held in the school-house till 1848, when a meet- ing-house was erected at a cost of $1,200. In the summer of 1849, the Branch became an independent body, with thirty-three members, and the first pastor, Rev. Nicholas H. Matteson, was ordained Oct. 18, 1849. The deacons of the body were Lyman Hall and Nathan Fitch. The first meeting-house was destroyed by fire in 1851; but a second house, still standing, was built in 1852. This house meas- ures 26 by 36 feet, with thirty-one pews, and a gallery.
Being without a pastor, this church, on the 1st of December, 1855, returned as a branch church of the body from which it sprung.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE RED SCHOOL-HOUSE.
THE history of a New England school-house! Who has power to write it ! Like the light beaming from a star, the rays are too numerous, too subtle, too far-reaching, for even the imagination to follow. Schools are like light-houses on the world's dark shores ; they pour their light around upon the otherwise trackless and entan- gled paths of man's progress. But no schools, in the world's history, have equaled those of New England, in their number compared with the population, in their character both intellectual and moral, and in their republican spirit and freedom.
By no means imposing were the first school-houses, - square, low, solid, rough, weather-tanned edifices, with box porch, stone chimney, vast fire-place, stools, slab benches, a row of writing-desks against the walls, a rude table and angular desk for the master, who sat in a splint-bottomed chair. Here the children in homespun from the farm-houses were classed by merit and not by blood; and, par- ticularly in the winters, they mastered the art of orthography; read the stories of wisdom, learned to wield that mightiest of weapons, the quill, and were initiated into the useful science of arithmetic. Common schools were born of the Pilgrim spirit and the love of liberty ; they are no small part of the strength and glory of New England.
In these school-houses, before the people were able to erect houses for worship, the inhabitants gathered for public devotion. Thus prayers, psalms, and sermons became associated with the places for intellectual culture. Nor this alone ; in these edifices also the free- . men met in district meetings to discuss and determine upon public and political affairs; these were the mental gymnasiums of free- men ; sentiments, debates, votes, liberty-laden resolves were born in these humble structures.
Among the teachers of the former century, and who lived to see the opening of the present, was the famous "Master Slauterry"
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THE RED SCHOOL-HOUSE.
(Thomas), who was of Irish root, and used a little of the Celtic brogue, though a man of extensive learning for his day. A strong believer in discipline, he boasted to his pupils that his ferule was " a cure-all, better than any medicine." He taught in various portions of the town, in the scattered school-houses, sometimes in private dwellings, and once in the Wilcox meeting-house. Like his cotem- poraries, he " boarded around." Of his fare at a certain house, he thus reported : " Haddrick (haddock) for breakfast, haddrick for dinner, krist (crust) coffee for supper without tay, milk, or swaten- ing." His son Thomas was drowned in the river in the lower part of the village.
As the country increased in population and wealth, the school- houses assumed greater proportions and more complete furnishings. The progress of New England might be sketched from her educa- tional buildings. Ours is a land of public schools, academies, insti- tutes, and colleges. Rhode Island may boast of the first perfectly free college in America; Brown University never required any test of faith or creed of conformity of the students she matriculated ; her halls have been as catholic as the spirit of Rhode Island's founder .. Harvard University and Yale College may not present such a record.
Space forbids that we should describe the different school-houses in Westerly; we may mention but one, as in some sort an illustra- tion of all, at least in the different offices it filled.
After the village of Westerly commenced its growth from me. chanical and manufacturing interests, and before any church had been organized, for many years religious meetings, conducted by such ministers as might be obtained for the time, were held in what was styled the " Red School-house," which stood on the present site of the Episcopal church. It was built in the last century, and had excellent proportions for its day ; the color it bore in later times gave it its name. The small grave-yard on the west of it disap- peared when the house was removed. Here masters of birch and lingual mysteries held court and meted out law and light. Here also the people gathered for worship, and ministers of every name offi- ciated as they had opportunity. Here the eccentric Lorenzo Dow, pausing in his travels, hurled the arrows of truth with strange power, sometimes to the dismay of cool and conservative minds. Here were held the principal meetings in the memorable revival of 1812, which poured new life into the community ; the deep tones of Eben- ezer Brown, the exhortations of Cuffy Stanton, the prayers, songs, and appeals of the devout citizens stirred the soul of all the town.
The names of remembered teachers who occupied the Red School- house were, Jedediah W. Knight (near 1800) ; Evan M. Johnson, (1808); -- Phelps (1810) ; - Thompson (1811) ; Eleazer Tracy (1812) ; John G. C. Brainard, the poet (1815) ; Tideman II. Gorton
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(1816-1818) ; Ariel Vanhorn (1819-1822); Samuel Helme (1823- 1824); Samuel Hazard (1824-1828); John S. Terry; Ethan Foster.
As the Samuel Hazard above named had kindred in this town, and many strong friends among the citizens, besides being a resident of the town himself for .a season, a brief record of him may here appropriately be added.
He was the son of Robert Hazard, and was born in the West Indies. He, however, was educated at the North, and graduated at Yale College. On leaving Westerly, he spent three years with his mother in the place of his nativity. Returning from the West Indies, he published, in New Haven, an able paper, called the National Republican. Ile afterwards settled as an Episcopal clergy- man in Great Barrington, Mass., where he closed his life, esteemed by all who had ever known him for his sound abilities, and greatly loved for his virtues and piety.
The following account of the first Sabbath school in Westerly is kindly furnished by Francis Sheffield, Esq. : -
" In the summer of 1820, the Rev. Mr. Rogers, an Episcopal clergyman, delivered a lecture in the Red School-house. It was a pleasant summer even- ing; a goodly number of people assembled. The speaker appeared in his clerical robes, which, by the way, was rather a novelty to most of the per- sons in attendance. He arose, and read a discourse on education in general, but more particularly on the moral and religious culture of the youth, and the importance of Sabbath schools as an auxiliary in the formation of cor- rect moral and religious principles. There was nothing peculiarly interest- ing in the style of the speaker, which was rather cold, formal, and repulsive; but the subject was one of vital importance.
"Not long after this meeting, Mr. Vanhorn, the teacher in the school- house, gave out an appointment for a Sabbath school, on the following Sab- bath. It is believed that there had never been a Sabbath school in the town of Westerly before. At the appointed time, the children flocked together in goodly number. Mr. Vanhorn assumed the office of superintendent, arranged the children into classes, and selected some of the older children (or youths) present for teachers. When all this was accomplished, and everything apparently ready for the commencement of the school, there was a pause in the proceedings. It occurred to the mind of the superintendent that Sabbath schools were intended as nurseries of religion, and should properly be opened by supplication for divine counsel and guidance. Upon inquiry among those assembled, the fact was elicited that no one present made any pretensions to a religious profession.
"In this dilemma, one of the boys was posted after a certain deacon, who lived not far from the school-house, requesting his attendance and aid in properly commencing this new work. In obedience to the request, the dea- con soon made his appearance among the waiting auditors, who, with profound reverence, listened to his somewhat lengthy prayer. He prayed fervently for many blessings, but did not offer one single petition for a blessing upon Sabbath schools. Whether he feared that they were concocted to promote the particular tenets of some certain religions denominations, to increase an interest in the Christian Sabbath, and thereby promote its general observ- ance, or whether he felt conscious that they were calculated to render the observance of the Jewish Sabbath, to which he adhered, unpopular, we did
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