Williams for two years as agent for the Neptune Steamship Company
for their line to both Boston and Providence direct from New York,
at first taking the agency at Boston for the outside line direct to New
York, with his office at Central Wharf, and also for the inside line via
Providence, with his office at 15 State street. The steamers of the
outside line were sold to the Metropolitan Steamship Company, and
the management was therefore changed, and Mr. Rockwell retired
from the agency, but continued with Mr. Williams until the end of
the term of two years. In 1867 he received an appointment as agent
of the Providence and New York Steamship Company at Providence,
R. I., succeeding Mr. J. B.Gardiner. He filled this position six years,
four years under the management of the late Benjamin Buffum, and
two years later under that of William Sprague.
C^~£_ - i^z<2V,^L <^*C
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY. 739
About the year 1873, the Merchants and Miners Transportation
Company reestablished their business at this port, and started a line
from Providence to Norfolk and Baltimore. They secured the services
of Mr. Rockwell as managing agent at Providence, who is now serving
his 17th year of engagement. Mr. Rockwell's connection with steam-
ship lines covers a period of 40 years, while the high and responsible
positions he has filled speak well for the faithfulness and attention to
the various interests intrusted to him. His genial nature and gentle-
manly bearing have made him popular with the shippers, and with
every one, while his successful management of hundreds of men indi-
cates that he is possessed of great executive ability.
Mr. Rockwell is public spirited, and has taken a lively interest in
the affairs of the city of Providence, serving as a member of the city
government, also as a member of the Providence Board of Trade,
where his good offices on committee work have amounted to public
benefactions. He has long been a member of this body, and is at
present also a member of the common council, having served two
years, declining to serve a third term. He is also a member of Swartz
Lodge, No. 18, of Providence, R. I.
January 28th, 1852, Mr. Rockwell married Miss Martha A. Geer,
daughter of Captain Erastus Geer, of Norwich, Conn. Their children
are: Ella M., born at Norwich, June 10th, 1853, now the wife of Walter
J. Lewis, of Providence; Frank W., born at Jersey City, N. J., Septem-
ber 3d, 1860, married Eleanor S. Stone, of Providence, R. L, January
19th, 1887; and William P., born at Norwich, Conn., August 20th, 1864,
now in business in Denver, Col. Frank W., for the past 11 years, has
been in the employ of the same company, in the office of his father at
Providence, R. I.
Samuel Stearns Sprague, merchant, was born at South Killingly,
July 3d, 1819, at the old homestead of his ancestors. His father,
Elisha Leavens Sprague, was a well-to-do farmer, who inherited the
estate, and learned the trade of his father, who was a blacksmith. The
first progenitor of the family in this country was Edward Sprague of
Upway, county of Dorset, England. His sons, Ralph, Richard and
William, landed in Salem, Mass., in 1628. The family genealogy
shows that Ralph was the father of Samuel, 2d, of same place, whose
son John removed to Killingly, Conn., in 1752. The latter was the
father of John 2d, who was the father of Daniel, whose son Elisha
Leavens, was the father of the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Sprague's mother, Clarissa Day, was the daughter of Reverend
Israel Day, who was a prominent Congregational minister, at .South
Killingly. Conn. .She died November 2d, 1831, leaving two sons.
Elisha Rodolphus, and Samuel Stearns, whose father married again in
November, 1833, his second wife, being Bathsheba Bliss, of Warren,
Mass. She died October 23d, 1884, in the 97th year of her age. Elisha
L. Sprague died in 1834, leaving his sons the farm and other property.
740 HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
Samuel S. received his early education in the common schools, and
at the academy at Brooklyn. Conn. Elisha having already begun to
prepare for college, Samuel took charge of the farm, being at that
time 14 years of age. He afterward bought his brother's interest in
the estate. Other property left them by their father was lost during
the financial crisis of 1837. On the 8th of November, 1842, Mr.
Sprague married Esther Pierce Hutchins, daughter of Simon and
Lydia Hutchins, of Killingly, Conn., who belonged to a large and in-
fluential family. In the spring of 1852, desiring to change his busi-
ness and better his prospects, he sold the homestead (which had been
in the family over 100 years), and removed his family to Danielson-
ville, Conn. Subseqently Mr. Sprague went to Providence, R. I., and
on the 1st of September following formed a copartnership there with
Daniel E. Day in the flour and grain business, locating on Dyer street,
near the foot of Clifford street.
In May, 1858, he moved his family to that city. About two years
thereafter the firm removed to the corner of South Water and Craw-
ford streets, where they remained about 12 years, building up in the
meantime a large and profitable business. Until 1866 they had occu-
pied leased property, but in that year they purchased the large brick
building and lot on Dyer street, owned and occupied formerly by
Messrs. Spellman and Metcalf, who were engaged in the same busi-
ness. To this store they soon after removed, and continued to carry
on business there until July, 1876, when Mr. Sprague sold his undivided
one-half interest in the real estate to D. E. Day, the company dividing
the stock in trade, and dissolving the partnership of Day, Sprague &
Co.
Mr. Sprague then formed a copartnership with two of his sons,
Charles Hutchins and Henry Shepard, the new firm being known as
S. S. Sprague & Co. This firm temporarily leased a store adjoining
the one formerly occupied by Day, Sprague & Co., and continued
here in the same line of business until October, 1877, when they re-
moved to the "Columbia Elevator and Mills'* built for their use, by
Alexander Duncan, and leased to them for a number of years. This
business was more extensive than any in which Mr. Sprague had ever
been interested. The firm have several grain elevators in Illinois,
where their agents purchase grain and ship to New England and other
markets. Owing to the changes in business methods, and to cover a
larger territory, the firm commenced, in the spring of 1890, the build-
ing of an elevator and mills with warehouses, in East Deerfield, Mass.,
and on the expiration of their lease from Mr. Duncan in July follow-
ing, they removed their offices to number 2 Pine street, at the junc-
tion of Pine and Dyerstreets, abandoning the general jobbing business,
and devoting their attention to the distribution of grain from their
several elevators throughout the East. In all his business connections,
Mr. Sprague has been an active partner in buying and selling, and in
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY. 741
the general management of the firm's interests. In 1879 he became
interested in valuable real estate investments in Minneapolis, Minne-
sota, and in other western places. He is a director of the Rhode
Island Hospital Trust Company, also one of the directors of the Rhode
Island National Bank, and for 15 years has been one of the board of
•commissioners of the state sinking fund.
Mr. Sprague has been closely devoted to the interests of his busi-
ness, and although he has consented to fill official positions, he has
never sought and has often declined them. From 1868 to 1870 he
served as a member of the common council of Providence, from the
Sixth ward, and was also one of the board of aldermen from 1871 to
1873. He is one of the original members of the Union Congregational
church, from the Richmond street church. He was an active member
of the building committee, and has been chairman of that society
committee from the completion of the building to the present time.
He manifests great interest in public enterprises and benevolent in-
stitutions of the day, and is a generous supporter of all good works.
His successful career is attributed to his rare business capacity, in-
dustry, perseverance and prudence, combined with that uprightness
•of character upon which all true success is based.
He has been twice married; his first wife already mentioned, died
June 29th, 1865, and on the 22dof October, 1866, he married Adeline M.,
daughter of Deacon Lucius F. and Lydia E. Thayer of Westfield,
Mass. By his first marriage there were four children: Charles Hutch-
ins, Henry Shepard, Frank Elisha, and Alida Esther. Frank Elisha is
now in active business in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Royal Chap in Taft is the son of Orsmus and Margaret (Smith)
Taft. He was born in Northbridge, Mass., February 14th, 1823. His
parents removed to Uxbridge, Mass., when he was less than one year
of age, where he remained until his removal to Providence, R. I., in
July, 1844, in which city he has since resided. He is a descendant in
the seventh generation from Robert Taft, one of the original settlers
of the town of Mendon, Mass., who moved to that town from Brain-
tree, Mass., at the close of King Philip's war, in 1689. Robert Taft
originally came from Seoti«B4, was a householder while in Braintree,
was chosen one of the selectmen of Mendon in 1680, and he, with his
five sons and their descendants, had an important influence upon the
history and affairs of Mendon and Uxbridge.
The subject of this sketch had the usual common school education
in the town of Uxbridge, and the benefit of a two years' term in
Worcester Academy. Upon his removal to Providence he entered as
clerk in the office of Royal Chapin, who was then engaged in business
as a woolen manufacturer and dealer in wool. After five years' ser-
vice he was admitted as a partner with Mr. Chapin. But in 1851 he
started in the wool business and manufacturing for himself, with S.
Standish Bradford, of Pawtucket, as a partner, under the firm name of
742 HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
Bradford & Taft, which business was continued as Bradford, Taft &
Co., and Taft, Weeden & Co., until 1885, when he retired for awhile
from active business life. He is now engaged in manufacturing in
both cotton and wool. In 1888 he bought the interest of the late
Henry W. Gardner in the Coventry Company, and is now the general
manager of its large business. He is also treasurer of the Bernon
Mills at Georgiaville, R. I., and president of the Quinebaug Company,
located at Brooklyn, Conn.
Mr. Taft has been for many years prominently identified with the
financial affairs of the state, as president, since 1868, of the Merchants
National Bank in Providence, as a vice-president of the Providence
Institution for Savings, and one of the directors of the Rhode Island
Hospital Trust Company. It may be truly remarked in this connec-
tion that few men have had such great influence upon the financial
affairs of the state as Mr. Taft.
Originally a member of the whig party, he has, since the dissolu-
tion of that party, been a republican. He was, during 1855 and 1856,
a member of the city council of Providence; a representative to the
general assembly from that city in 1880, 1881 and 1882, and for six
years one of the sinking fund commissioners for the state. In April,
1888, he was elected by the people governor of the state of Rhode Is-
land upon the republican ticket. He held the office cne year, and de-
clined arenomination on account of the constantly increasing demands
of his private business. While governor he administered the affairs
of the state diligently and carefully, and retired with the esteem and
respect of his fellow-citizens, irrespective of political affiliations. In
his annual message to the general assembly his suggestions and re-
commendations were of a practical nature, and commended themselves
to favorable consideration. He was a faithful public servant, and his
administration in the highest degree creditable. He has held many
positions of trust and honor in the city and state. He is now presi-
dent of the Rhode Island Hospital, has been a member of the board
of trustees of Butler Hospital for the Insane since 1865, and is vice-
president of the Providence Athenaeum. He was associated with the
late Honorable George H. Corliss as one of the commissioners from
the state of Rhode Island to the Centennial Exposition of 1870, held
in Philadelphia.
Governor Taft is a self-made man in the best sense of that term.
He is a patron of art, and for a man of business has devoted much
time to literature. He has been long and honorably identified with
the business interests of Rhode Island, and distinguished among his
fellow-citizens for disinterested service to the various charitable and
beneficent institutions of the city and state. In him the poor and
needy have always found a helper.
He married, October Hist, 1850, Mary Frances, daughter of George
]'.. Armington, M. D.. of Pittsford, Vt., and has a family of two sons
and two daughters.
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY. 743
Harvey E. Wellman. — The subject of this sketch was born in the
town of Attleborough, Mass., February ?th, 1840. He is the son of
David B. and Betsey (Wood) Wellman. Until the age of 17 years he
lived on his father's farm and attended the district school, when he
spent two years at the Middleboro Academy, in Massachusetts. At
the conclusion of his term at the academy he found a business life
preferable to that of farming. At the age of 19 he secured a situation
as clerk with Mr. Samuel True, an old established wholesale lumber
merchant in the city of Providence. He remained with Mr. True
three years, when he admitted him to partnership in the business
under the firm name of Samuel True & Co. At the end of three
years the copartnership was dissolved by the death of Air. True. The
whole business was at once assumed by Mr. Wellman in his own name,
and during the past 25 years the sales of lumber have increased from
ten million feet to one hundred million feet annually. It is one of the
most extensive wholesale lumber houses in New England, and is
ranked among the heaviest of the kind in the country. Its business
extends to almost every state in the Union, and also to Canada, Europe
and South America. Mr. Wellman's long experience in the business,
as well as his command of large financial resources, has placed him in
the front rank among the lumber merchants of the United States, and
his enterprising and progressive spirit has yielded him a large measure
of prosperity.
Mr. Wellman is the senior member of the well-known firm of
Wellman, Hall & Co., of Boston, and a partner in the firm of Simpson
& Co., of Florida, who own nearly 250,000 acres of the very best pine
lumber lands in the South, and manufacture 25,000,000 feet of lumber
annually at their own mills. From the beginning of business, Mr.
Wellman has always made it a point to deal only in first-class lumber,
and from this fact he has achieved his enviable reputation among
buyers at home and abroad.
Notwithstanding his large and rapidly increasing business, Mr.
Wellman has found some time to devote to public affairs in the city
and state where he resides. For two years he was a member of the
general assembly of Rhode Island, and a presidential elector in 1880,
when James A. Garfield was chosen president and Chester A. Arthur
vice-president. He was also a member of the commission on improved
railway terminal facilities appointed by the city council of Providence,
and to the duties of which he devoted much time and attention. He
is president of the Rhode Island Lumber Trade Association, president
of the Narragansett Electric Light Company, and vice-president of
the National Bank of Commerce, in Providence.
Wr. Wellman is one of the representative business men of the
city in which he lives, and has always taken a lively interest in its
development and prosperity. His superior executive abilities have
been long recognized, and through his well-directed energy and
744 HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
enterprise he has contributed much to the commercial activity of
Providence.
In June, 1868, he married Miss Harriet A. Fiske, of Lincoln, R. I.
Henry B. Winship. — Among the representative business men of
the city of Providence whose sturdy characters alone have advanced
them to prominent positions is Henry Bruce Winship. He was born
in that city, September 14th, 1843, being the youngest son of the late
Augustus J. Winship. The public schools of his birthplace furnished
his educational opportunities. The family resources were not large,
so at the age of nine years Henry left school to assist his father at
harness making, and thus his business career began. After five
years he sought other occupation, and during his youth filled various
positions, and filled them all well. Even at this early period of his
life he exhibited the sterling qualities destined some day to enable him
to achieve success. Conscious of his educational deficiencies, he de-
termined to supply them to the best of his ability, and to this end he
obtained a situation, where, by working evenings, he could be released
days to attend school. He realized that he had no one to rely on but
himself, and he knew that if he would attain success he must hew his
own path to it. Nature had endowed him for the struggle of life with
a sunny, cheerful disposition, with indomitable energy, unfailing en-
terprise, and unstinted self-reliance. Thus admirably equipped to push
his own way, he was always ready to avail himself of whatever offered,
and to grasp any opportunity that came within his reach. In 1860 he
was clerk at Rocky Point under Captain Winslow, the founder of that
famous shore resort. Later he was employed in a market, and for
about three years he was in business in that line for himself.
In 1868 the What Cheer Bank, in which he was then a clerk, retired
from business, so he was thrown out of employment. How often seem-
ing adversity hovers round the threshold of fortune! So it was with
Mr. Winship. Mr. J. B. Barnaby, the most successful clothier in
Rhode Island, had then laid the foundation of a growing business, and
when he found Mr. Winship unemployed he offered him a situation.
A leading trait in Mr. Barnaby 's character, and a prime element of
his great success, was his wonderful perception in choosing subor-
dinates, and the combination of Mr. Barnaby and Mr. Winship was
fortunate alike for both, and was the means of developing a promis-
ing beginning into a concern so prosperous that it is unsurpassed in
its line in Rhode Island; and its fame and its business extend into
many states, both through its main house in Providence and its
branches in Boston, Fall River, New Haven and Kansas City. So sat-
isfactory did Mr. Winship prove to his employer, that, after serving
as clerk for a year. M r. Barnaby received him as a partner. So cordially
did the partners co-operate, and so valuable an accession did Mr. Win-
ship prove to be, that the greatest confidence and the kindliest rela-
tions existed between them through life; and when advancing disease
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY. 745
admonished the senior that he must arrange his worldly affairs for
leaving them, and the concern was incorporated under the name of
the J. B. Barnaby Company, Mr. Winship was, as a matter of course,
elected vice-president and general manager; and upon Mr. Barnaby 's
death in September, 1889, was advanced to the presidency, a position
he now holds. Though Mr. Winship excelled both as a buyer and as
a salesman, yet he possessed in a superlative degree one trait that pre-
eminently fitted him for his business. He had an absolute genius for
advertising, and few knew as well as he how to attract public atten-
tion. Among the other prominent business relations held by Mr.
Winship, is that of a director in the Industrial Trust Company, one
of the leading financial institutions of Rhode Island.
Colonel Winship — for in April, 1878, the subject of this sketch was
elected colonel of the United Train of Artillery, one of the most fa-
mous military organizations in the Union — is very fond of the country
and of out-door sports, and has held official positions in many societies
relating thereto. Although not politically ambitious, he has filled
various offices in his native city, having faithfully served upon the
school committee, and for a number of years as a member of the re-
publican city committee, and now representing his ward in the city
government upon the board of aldermen. His natural taste and his
executive ability have enabled him in this latter capacity to render
exceptionally good service to his fellow citizens as a member of the
committee on parks, and upon the recent formation of the park com-
mission he was elected a member thereof.
In 1866 Colonel Winship married Emma T., daughter of the late
Captain Colin C. Baker.
No sketch of Colonel Winship would be adequate that omitted
to mention his sympathy for suffering and his warm-hearted gener-
osity; for many a stricken spirit, less fortunate in life's struggle than
he, has been cheered by his considerate and unostentatious assistance.
His success affords a good illustration of what faithful endeavor,
coupled with push and pluck, can accomplish even in conservative
New England.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE TOWN OF CRANSTON.
Description. — Organization. — Town Meetings. — Officers, etc. — Settlement and Settlers. —
Militia. — Industries. — Cranston Print Works. — Knights ville. — Pavvtuxet Village. —
Oak Lawn. — Fiskeville. — Arlington. — Auburn. — Howard Station. — Corliss Safe Com-
pany. — Education. — State Farm. — Early Fairs and Cattle Shows. — Biographical
Sketches.
THIS town formerly belonged to Providence, and was settled by
Roger Williams and his associates, many of whose descendants
are now living in the town. As soon as this territory began to
be extensively peopled, the inhabitants commenced to experience
many difficulties in attending courts, town meetings, etc., it being a
source of annoyance as well as great inconvenience for those living on
the outskirts of the town to go such great distances. As early as 1660
petitions began to be circulated for a division of the town, and several
times afterward the people petitioned for a division, but the project as
often failed. Those desirous of a division of the town formerly
wanted the new town called Mashapaug. Others wanted to take part
of Warwick and name the new town Pawtuxet. For a series of years
this proposition was discussed earnestly, the idea having a number of
supporters. Another party wanted the new town called Meshanticut,
and thus the matter of an appropriate name became the theme for
earnest discussion for many years.
In 1732 the friends of a division came very near to success. The
old difficulty again arose in the way of appropriately naming the town,
or the project would have been satisfactorily consummated. But the
names of Meshanticut, Pocasset, Mashapaug and Pawtuxet were too
much for them, and their wishes were destined to remain unsatisfied.
Those who opposed the measure could easily thwart the designs of
the party wishing to divide, upon the question of a name.
The subject was again renewed in 1752, and the question of a
division and an appropriate name for the new town was laid by a pe-
tition before the general assembly. In 1753-4 the idea of adopting
an Indian name was abandoned, and that of Cranston substituted.
The name was given in honor of Samuel Cranston, who held the
office of governor from 1698 to 1727; a fact unparalleled in the history
of any other of the New England colonies. The Gordian knot being
severed, the division was made, the new town being bounded as fol-
HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY. 747
lows: on the north by Johnston and the city of Providence, on the
west by Scituate, on the south by Warwick and the Pawtuxet river,
and on the east by Providence river.
The town is largely an agricultural one, the products being chiefly
hay, corn, rye, oats, some barley, potatoes and some other products.
Considerable attention is paid to the cultivation of the smaller vege-
tables, owing to its close proximity to Providence city and the ready
markets found there for these products. The soil throughout the
town is generally good. In the western section the surface is rather
uneven, but in the eastern section it is generally level. The soil in
the former is a moist loam, and that in the latter is generally of a rich