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 21
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 21
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 21
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 21
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To the children, at least, of the present generation, it may be interesting to speak of a curious little visitor that often entered the village in the summer and autumn evenings of 1837. The Dixon family, occupying the old Dixon mansion on the south side of Broad Street, next to the tavern stand, had a little spotted puppy named Caper. It was discovered that Caper had a regular evening visitor, who was exceedingly brisk and earnest in play. The play would continue as late as ten o'clock, until Caper was quite exhausted. On examination it was found that Caper's playmate was a young red fox, who had his home in the woods and swamp near Burden's Pond. Numbers then gathered to see the little fox and puppy play. Once young Reynard played the fox indeed, for as he turned homeward, he slyly stole a young duck. But Sylva, the colored woman, hotly pursued the thief, and recovered her duckling on Granite Street.
Most of the dreaded and destructive beasts of the forest disap- peared with the last century; a few foxes remained to rob the good farmers' yards in the present century. In 1824, however, Mr. Samuel Allen, of Hopkinton, then a mere lad, found a wild cat (felis rufu) in the woods, and anxious to obtain the rare game, secured a gun, and after planting a crotch across which to lean the piece, fired, and brought the monster down. Running home in his great joy, unable to carry his game, he stated, "I have killed the devil," and asked for a yoke of oxen to bring home the victim.
Beavers were once found on the branches of the Pawcatuck. Lately only minks and musk-rats are obtained. Otters have been seen on the coast. Squirrels and rabbits still abound in the woods and swamps.
As well here as in any any other connection, we may mention the reports of census tables of Westerly at different dates. The figures will indicate the periods when townships were set off, and the times when this region was depleted by wars and emigrations.
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WESTERLY AND ITS WITNESSES.
1708 .. 570
1774 .. 1,812 1800. . 2,329 1840 .. 1,912
1730. . 1,926
1776 .. 1,824 1810. . 1,911 1850 .. 2,763
1748 .. 1,809
1782. . 1,720 1820. . 1,972 1860. . 3,470
1755 .. 2,291
1790 .. 2,298 1830. . 1,915 1865. . 3,815
Some mention should be made of the first insurance company that was formed in this part of the State. For the account of it I am indebted to the pen of the Hon. B. B. Thurston.
"The General Assembly, at their October session, A. D. 1818, granted the petition of George Thinrston, Thomas Wells, Randall Wells, James Wells, Daniel Babcock, Job B. Clark, and Joseph Potter, for an act of in- corporation of an insurance company to insure against horse-stealing.
"The first meeting held under the charter, for organization, was holden at Hopkinton City, Nov. 10, 1818. The following is the record :-
"'At a meeting of the Hopkinton Horse Insurance Company, convened at Hopkinton City, Nov. 10, A. D. 1818, proceeded to business, and elected James Wells, Esq., chairman, and Joseph Potter, clerk, for the day.
""'Voted, That the word respectability, in Article II, should be erased, and the word responsibility substituted.
"' Voted, That Jeremiah Thurston, Joseph Potter, Ichabod Burdick. Abram Coon, George HI. Perry, be directors for the ensuing year.
"'Voted, That Thomas Wells be treasurer, and George Thurston, Jr., be secretary, for the ensuing year.
"' Voted, That John T. Thurston, Russel Maxson, Fornes Palmer, Thomas Lewis, Elnathan W. Babcock, Harris Wells, Peleg Clarke, Clark Burdick, be riders or runners for the ensuing year.
. "' Voted, That the Company brand shall be the letters H. I. C., placed on the outside of the left thigh of each horse received into this company.'
"The company held their annual meetings for some time, and received something near one hundred horses into the society.
" The company was something on the mutual plan. The horses were prized by the directors, and by them branded. The owners were required to pay into the treasury one cent on a dollar, and pay for recording. If the horse should be stolen, the owner was to receive two-thirds of the appraised value thereof, and the money to be raised by an assessment on the appraised value of the horses insured."
The mounted force were to hold themselves ready at all times, by day and by night, to spring to their saddles with bright spurs for the pursuit of thieves. It should be stated that at that time the raising and transportation of horses and mules was an important branch of business in the country.
The last meeting held by this company was Nov. 19, 1849, and then -
"Dr. George II. Perry was elected president, and B. B. Thurston, secre- tary and treasurer, for the ensuing year.
" And also, Dr. Geo. H. Perry, B. B. Thurston, Joseph Spicer, Jolin S. Champlin, S. S. Griswold, be directors for the ensuing year.
" And also, George W. Holdridge, Peleg Clarke, Noyes W. Kenyon, Gid- eon Palmer, Joseph Spicer, John S. Champlin, be the riders or runners for the year ensuing."
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NOTES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Dr. George H. Perry took great interest in getting up the com- pany. He drew the charter and the by-laws, and was instrumental in getting people to join the association. Singular as it may ap- pear, there was never a horse stolen after the H. I. C. was put on, and the company never had to pay for a horse. There were a great many people who wanted the brand put on to their horses without becoming members of the company, as they felt safe if the brand was on, the thief would leave them. Out of the forty-one who became members at the first meeting of the company, there are, it is believed, but two living, namely, Peleg Clarke and Harris Wells.
After the war of 1812, no military call passed over the land till the remarkable ferment broke out in the State in 1842. This, from the name of the instigator of the movement, was denominated the Dorr Rebellion. Though somewhat serious, it was a brief affair, in which, on the part of the insurgents, discretion superseded the neces- sity of valor. The vicinity of the Arsenal, Federal Hill, Chepachet, and Acot's Hill, where the hero promised to "lay his bones," were the only memorable fields, except the line of retreat, halting places of exile, the court-house, and the state-prison. To meet the upris- ing of the party, Washington County sent forward 1,100 men, under command of Gen. John B. Stedman of this town.
Westerly furnished two companies : the regular militia company, called the Westerly Light Infantry Company, of about fifty men, under Capt. James H. Perigo; and a volunteer company of eighty men, under Capt. William Potter. These were absent from the town, in the vicinity of Providence, only about a week. But they were under arms and on guard duty in the town till the rebellion col- lapsed. For a time Westerly was under martial law, and her streets were patrolled day and night by armed men. The little academy was transformed into a guard-house, and often contained prisoners. To suppress the demonstrations of the Dorrites, a court of inquiry, under military authority, was opened at the hotel on East Broad Street. Citizens suspected of treason, or known to be abettors of the insurgents, were made to bow to General Stedman's sword. Mr. Joseph Gavitt attempted to resist the requisition of the court by arming himself in the chamber of his house, but finally yielded to the army of law and order. During the excitement, there was a great abuse of the English language, and not a little loss of good grammar as well as of good character. One spunky gun was fired by a woman, but the charge from the piece, like the hot volleys from her lips, went into the air. The musket of a sentinel on Union Street, in the night, somehow took fire, and the ball entered a house, to the great alarm of the inmates. But the political tempest soon subsided here and throughout the State. The ambition of Mr. Dorr was cooled behind the bars of the state-prison.
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WESTERLY AND ITS WITNESSES.
Fortunately the whole affair, on the side of the disaffected, was an effusion of bad bile rather than of valuable blood. They adopted wrong measures to secure a desirable end ; they took the path of anarchy in hope of reaching the goal of liberty and order, -a serious mistake, too often made by the ignorant and ambitious. In the end, however, the Dorr Rebellion moved the Law and Order Party to adopt a new constitution for the State; and the old charter, dating from 1663, was laid aside to be honored in our archives. Thus even discontents are made to contribute to the progress of society.
A singular circumstance, which different persons will differently interpret, occurred on a farm near Warden's Pond, near 1830; the farm being then improved by James Noyes. A field of hay had been wet and dried three times, and was finally gathered in stack. On the completion of the task, Mr, Noyes, taking ont his snuff-box, rapping it, and taking a large pinch, roughly exclaimed, " There ! I hope to God Almighty the lightning will strike that stack and burn it all up." The sky was then gathering blackness in the west, and thunders sounded in the distance. On came the storm, and louder rolled the peals. The lightning shortly struck the fated stack, and, despite all human efforts, it was utterly consumed by flames.
An instance of public whipping in this vicinity occurred near 1820. A black man, residing in Westerly, passed into Stonington, and stole a number of turkeys. Tracked in the light snow to his retreat, and arrested, he was brought before Dr. William Robinson, then serving as a justice, who sentenced him to be publicly whipped. He was tied to the tavern sign-post at the west end of the bridge. No cowhide being available, a man was sent to Mr. Rowse Babcock's woods for a good hickory sapling. The thirteen lawful stripes were duly and faithfully administered by Mr. Clark Thompson. The large crowd, and especially all owners of poultry, indorsed the operation of the law. The culprit was never seen in this region afterwards.
The last instance of public whipping in Westerly occurred in 1830, and was the case of one who had stolen sheep. He was tried and convicted at the "Gavitt House," a little north of the Red Brook. This was then an inn, as well as the place where town-meet- ings were held. The thief was sentenced to receive nineteen stripes on his bare back. He was stripped and tied to a large buttonwood tree in front of the inn. The sheriff, Col. Isaac Gavitt, dealt the stripes that freely drew the blood. The rogue loudly and tearfully. bewailed his lot. A large and excited crowd of spectators witnessed the scene. Such cases are worthy of record only as they reveal the spirit of their times, and mark the steps of an advancing civilization. Such a scene would now be intolerable.
About thirty years since there died in the town, a very singular
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NOTES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
character. He was a native of the town, and his father lived where now stands the residence of Mr. Pardon Lewis. He bore the name of David Wilbur, and lived unmarried, a recluse, a dweller in for- ests, without house or home, after his father's death. Seemingly gifted, but wholly uneducated, extremely eccentric, afraid of all human kind, even of children, he was commonly called " the wild man." Having studied the stars, and the signs of the clouds and winds, he was proverbially weatherwise, and was popularly named " the astronomer." In the summer he lived chiefly on berries and fruits, and slept in a swamp by the side of a large rock, having an old door as a kind of roof, and a bundle of flax for a pillow. In winters he fed on nuts, roots, such grain as he had stored, and such game as he could entrap. He would sometimes take refuge in a barn or shed, but rarely consented to enter a house. Though he traversed quite a region, he seldom allowed himself to be seen. In passing through the fields of the farmers he displayed a singular penchant for scratching numbers, signs, and figures on the pumpkins. The cause of his abnormal life seems never to have been known. He is supposed to have died at about the age of seventy, and was buried on the farm now occupied by William P. Taylor, Esq., in the " Rhodes Burying-Ground."
On the farm occupied by James Noyes, and later by Albert Langworthy, Esq., near 1829, a Mr. - Rathbun, while engaged in gathering hay, went to turn the horse he had used for haying, into the pasture. Having let down the bars and led the horse through, he was slipping off the bridle, when he was struck by lightning, and instantly killed. He fell across the bars without a struggle, his face almost blackened by the effects of the electric cur- rent. No wound or scratch was found on his person.
The first piano of the town was introduced in 1830, and, as might have been expected, excited a wave of sensation. The maid who wore the honors of ownership was Miss Martha B. Cross, now Mrs. Babcock. Scores of like instruments have followed the pioneer. The first organ was placed in the Episcopal church; the second, in the Baptist church.
The first hearse belonging to the town was purchased by subscrip- tion in 1845.
The only windmill of which Westerly has ever been able to boast, lifted its octagonal tapering form, its umbrella-shaped head, and its latticed arms, near 1850, on the hill east of the village of Westerly, southward from the present quarry, near the fork of the public roads. The town, however, never had occasion to boast of this mill, for it was as unprofitable, as it was clumsy and unreliable. It was imported and set up by Thomas G. Hazard. It was first erected in the town of Groton, Conn., between Noank and Mystic Bridge, and after- wards removed to Pistol Point, in Stonington, a short distance below
-
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WESTERLY AND ITS WITNESSES.
Mystic Bridge. From the latter place it was transported to West- erly. Here, as elsewhere, it proved a failure. In a few years it bowed to saws and axes.
At different periods the town has endured unpleasant excite- ments, and suffered some losses from the small pox. In one of our chapters on the last century, we alluded to the trials of Rev. Joseph Parke and others arising from the effects of this disease upon the public mind. Almost as great an agitation, occasioned by this infec- tion, arose in the town in 1848. The account of it is well set forth in a little poem from an observant and studious bachelor, Mr. Ben- jamin Reynolds. We subjoin the lines, with the explanation that the " Father of the Town " was Mr. Oliver Fowler, the president of the town council ; " The Faculty" was a council of the physicians belonging to this region ; "Polyglot " and "Gallipot" were two well-known, resident, practicing physicians. The humor of the story will be its sufficient excuse.
A CHAPTER FROM "THE ANNALS OF THE TOWN," 1848.
"' Who shall decide, when doctors disagree.'
" Upon the very eve of an election, At once, through town, prevails a sad dejection; Van-Burenites no longer urge the Great Magician's claims upon the chair of state; Cass-men and Taylor-men are mute as fishes; The housemaid even leaves unwashed her dishes.
" All other subjects now in quiet rest, In apprehension of a coming pest ; For lo! 'tis said, by dire disease, is down One of the wisest 'Fathers of the Town.' 'Tis darkly hinted ' he has broken out'; Rumor, increasing, quickly flies about, While, only in a single day, it grows Like the famed story of . the three black crows'; And what was, only two hours since, announced As Erysipelas, is now pronounced By some ' the horse distemper, without doubt'; While others keenly nose the small-pox out.
" The ' Board of Health' are summoned, in a trice, To gather, from The Faculty, advice, At once, to solve this very knotty matter About which there is so much noisy clatter.
" Imagine, then, our wise ones now together At Leonard's bar-room, all in highest feather; The well-filled room, no longer in commotion, Stilled as the wave with oil upon the ocean : For up our worthy President has got, And now he calls on Doctor Polyglot For his opinion, and for his advice, Upon a question now become so nice.
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NOTES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
" The Doctor then advances, armed with books, Collected, firm, decision in his looks; Once upward casts, with lightning glance, his eyes, Then, to our worthy President, replies:
' I have, your Honors, thoroughly inspected The case before us- nonght has been neglected: And by authorities I now shall quote, I trust your Honorable Board will vote There is no question in the case at all, And pox exists not, either large or small.'
" The Doctor, -after having freely quoted The small-pox symptoms, as by Cooper noted, - ' By what I've read, your Honors clearly see That ours and Cooper's cases don't agree In all the final symptoms, therefore this May be as well called Erysipelas ; And, from experience in forty cases In foreign parts, and many other places, That this is not small-pox, before the nation, I freely stake my well-earned reputation. Should more be wanted, I would briefly say My tutor wrote a small-pox, prose essay, Which I have read; and now, beyond all doubt, You clearly will allow my case made out; And that I've made it evident, as life is, Your Honors will admit, without a wry phiz.'
"Thus Polyglot most eloquently closes; Then, having blown their honorable noses, The 'Board ' now call on Doctor Gallipot, If he is able to untie this knot.
"Quoth Gallipot, ' I haven't much to say Upon this mooted question, here, to-day; But yet must differ from my learned brother On what has made so very great a pother. I, too, have read the books; and I defy My brother Polyglot, and all the fry Of learned doctors, far and near, to name By any other, than small-pox, this same Contagious pest, that thus has broken out, And in the town, I fear, may rage throughout. The present case has had my close attention; And, in conclusion, I would beg to mention I have been more confirmed, in every visit, And, if not small-por, what the devil is it ?'
"Thus, having heard cach erudite M. D., The 'Fathers' then adjourned to take their tea; To ponder on, and inwardly digest, The evidence, before they go to rest. Meanwhile, the battle, outside, wages hot, 'Twixt friends of Pollyglot and Gallipot ; While proof on proof accumulates to show - If proof was wanting - that the small-por, now,
14
.
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WESTERLY AND ITS WITNESSES.
Must be the christened name of this strange child: The verdant Polyglottors wax more wild: And when they pass each other, on their trotters,
Turn up their noses at the Gallipotters. And soon, we fear to see the pestles fly,
While plasters, pills, and powders cloud the sky.
" Thus, from a spark so small, ah! who can say What battles may be waged some future day! When those of Austerlitz or Buena Vistar Will be as flea-bites to a Spanish blister: And unborn Homers may those deeds rehearse To our posterity, in deathless verse."
Thus was accurately described the high state of public feeling. Since that time the same contagion has visited the town, and some- times removed important citizens. In 1852, to the serious loss of the town, it removed the well-known and honored mechanic, Jona- than Maxson, Esq.
The present century has witnessed very great changes in the homes of the people, changes in household affairs, in modes of labor, in the kinds of employment, in customs, in costumes, in culture, and in the structure and furnishings of the dwellings. The great unceiled kitchens, the broad fire-places, the blazing log fires, the sanded floors, have given place to cosy apartments, little shining stoves, coal grates, furnaces in the cellars, adjustable registers in the floors, elegant paper and frescoes on the walls, and soft carpets throughout the houses. Improvements have banished the distaff, the reel, the swifts, the dye-tub, the warping bars, the quill wheel, and the loom, from the homes of the people, to the noisy factories and monopolizing machinery of capitalists. Homespun has suc- cumbed to corporation and foreign fabrics. Home patterns have been expelled by city fashions. Agriculture has been overshadowed by the trades and manufactures. In the matter of illumination, tallow paled to oil, oil to burning fluid, burning fluid to kerosene, and now kerosene is growing dim before gas. As fuel, anthracite coal has supplanted wood. The old box-wagon turns out for the phaeton and the hack. The old gable roofs blush a little in the presence of French-roofed cottages. The main streets in the vil- lage have lately been graded to exact lines, with surfaces curved in deck form, and protected with large, well-faced curb-stones. In short, city ideas are rapidly advancing with the growing wealth, enterprise, and pride of the people.
By a vote of the town, May 2, 1806, the ownership and main jurisdiction of Watch Hill Point were transferred to the State, to be transferred to the United States, that the beacon and its premises might be under national control.
At a specially convoked town-meeting, Feb. 24, 1809, to take into consideration the critical state of public affairs, a select committee
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NOTES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
- James Sheffield, Nathan F. Dixon, Amos Cross, Joseph Potter, and Jededialı .W. Knight -reported resolutions and a petition, which were adopted, and forwarded to the General Assembly by the town's representatives. The resolutions deprecated the embargo laid by the General Government and other kindred measures adopted in its support, but expressed strong indignation at " the injuries and insults offered us by the two Great Belligerent powers of Europe." and closed by hoping that the grievances might not lead to an arbit- rament by the sword.
So far as we have learned, Westerly has but once indulged in the exercise of lynch-law. Near 1825, a colored man, named Harry Rhodes, owned a little two-story house on the east side of Main Street, nearly opposite the recent bakery. He had a wife and chil- dren. His house gained an evil report for virtue. Most of the citi- zens, too, liad only too little fellowship for his color. Hence, late on an August night, a large company, furnished with bars and ropes, and a plentiful supply of inspiring drinks, assailed the hated house, and, driving forth its occupants, laid it with the ground. An instant call was made upon the magistrate to suppress the unlawful movement ; but his honor, while attentive to the dignity of the law, failed to save the house, for he at once took down his law-book and continued to read and ponder the statute till the work of demolition was com- plete. The prosecution that was instituted was finally quashed.
The annual town-meeting, in April, 1826, had quite an unusual accompaniment. Such meetings were then hield in the old Gavitt House, on the post-road, in the west front room. The room was crowded, as the currents of party interest ran high and swift. Na- than F. Dixon, Esq., presided, and the votes of the close and heated canvass were being polled. The floor of the house, far advanced in age, proved insufficient to sustain the surging crowd of politicians, and, giving way in the centre, precipitated chairman, ballot-box, can- didates, and ardent canvassers and grave townsmen, into the dark vicinity of pork barrels and potato bins. Frights, bruises, the over- turning and intermingling of the ballots, with not a few excited imprecations, and the loss of hats, were the main results. As a poor, but cool-headed citizen rolled down heavily upon his wealthy neighbor, he dryly remarked, " Well, Mr. B., here is where the rich and the poor meet together."
The laws of gravity, however, did not utterly derange the gravity of the assembly. Order was called in another room ; the balloting was commenced anew, and the victorious party won the day by a single vote.
The construction of the Stonington and Providence Railroad was an event that inaugurated a new epoch in the life of Westerly, as well as in the whole of Washington County. The very contem- plation of the work filled the public mind with admiration and hope.
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To answer the natural expectations of the people, and to secure in- creased subscriptions to the stock of the company, a suitable public demonstration was made before the labor of grading was systemat- ically commenced, in 1832. A grand gathering was had of the officers of the company, and of public men in the regions of country interested in the enterprise. Governor Edwards of Connecticut, and Governor Francis of Rhode Island, lent the weight of their presence and their speech. There was first an assembling and speech-making at Stonington. The party then came to Westerly, to formally celebrate the novel intermarriage of the two States. A vast concourse of people assembled, by foot and horse and carriage, to witness the ceremonies. With suitable pomp, a portion of Con- necticut soil was wheeled into Rhode Island, and Rhode Island soil in like manner transferred to Connecticut. Then followed a splendid dinner, spread in the orchard belonging to Dr. William Robinson, now on Elm Street. Here the concourse indulged in not only the viands, but as well in toasts and sentiments and speeches. Time has happily confirmed the appropriate sentiment offered by Nathan F. Dixon, Esq., "Connecticut and Rhode Island : may they improve by mixing."
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