Trails to the Past

Bristol County Rhode Island

Men of Progress of Rhode Island and Providence Part 2
Source:  Boston New England Magazine 1896

CADY, Philo Victor, Sheriff of the County of Bristol, was born in Barrington, R. I., May 23, 1856, son of James Jerome and Experience (Smith) Cady.  His great-great grandfather, Isaac Cady, was one of the first settlers of Alstead, N. H., being one of the first three men that wintered in that town. He married Mary Heldrick, who was the first woman that spent a winter in that town, and their son Jacob was the first child born there. The old homestead is now occupied by Levi Cady, and his father, James Jerome Cady, was born there. On his mother's side he is the grandson of the Rev.  Eleazar and Experience (Barney) Smith of Swanzey, Mass. He received his early education in the public schools of Warren, R. I., and commenced to learn the shipbuilding trade with his father, a ship-builder, who constructed the last two ships built in Warren. After working two years at the trade he was knocked from the side of a ship and injured.  He then learned the trade of manufacturing cigars.  He went West in 1877, crossing the plains on foot from Fort Pierre, Dakota, to the Black Hills. After four months mining and prospecting in the Hills he left for Cheyenne, Wyoming. In Cheyenne he served as a member of a posse under Sheriff T. Jeff Carr to run down Reddy, the notorious outlaw and stage robber, and the leader of a gang of outlaws and murderers. He returned to Rhode Island in 1880 and established the cigar manufacturing business in Bristol, where he has since remained. He was Corresponding and Recording Secretary of the Cigar Makers Union in Denver, Col., in 1879-80.  He was elected Sheriff of the County of Bristol in 1890-91-92, held over in 1893, and has been continuously re-elected since. He is a member of Burnside Lodge Knights of Pythias of Bristol. In politics he is a Republican. He married, April 1, 1875, Miss Elizabeth McCormick, who died April 18, 1889; they had children: Annie Newell, Grace Mapleton, Harrison Victor and Lizzie Cady. He married, second, November 15, 1893, Miss Florence May Maxwell; they have one son, George Maxwell Cady.

CONLEY, Martin Joseph, Postmaster at Warren, was born in Warren, R. I., December 4, 1869, the son of Michael F. and Catherine (Dolan) Conley.   His father was born in County Roscommon, Ireland, came to this country when a small boy and was engaged in the grocery business in Warren from 1871 until October 14, 1880, the date of his death; he was well-known and highly respected, and a citizen who took a prominent part in town affairs.   His mother was born in Longford, Leinster province, Ireland, and came to this country when a child.   He received his education in the public schools of Warren and in Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College of Providence.   His business service has been that of a bookkeeper and collector, and he was engaged in the boot and shoe and dry goods business for three years.   He was appointed Postmaster in Warren, February 10, 1895, and is one of the youngest, if not the youngest, ever appointed to that position.   He served for seven years in the state militia and retired with the rank of Sergeant-Major.   He has held office in Massasoit Council, Royal Arcanum.   In politics he is a Democrat, and was a member of the town committee of that party for some years previous to his appointment as Postmaster.   He is a member of Burnside Lodge Knights of Pythias of Bristol, of Massasoit Council Royal Arcanum and the Catholic Club of Warren. He is much interested in athletics and at present holds the county championship for bowling. Mr. Conley is a brother of Hon. John E. Conley, ex-Clerk of the Rhode Island House of Representatives and at present the Secretary of the Democratic State Central Committee of Rhode Island.   He is unmarried.

DROWN, Benjamin, for many years prominent in the political and social life of Warren, was born in Warren, December 19, 1826, son of Benjamin and Eliza (Champlin) Drown. He is of old New England ancestry, his grandfather Jonathan Drown having served in the war of the Revolution. He was educated in the public and private schools of Warren, and has been engaged in business as teamster and contractor since 1855.   He has held the office of Street Commissioner of Warren, was a member of the School Committee for several years, has been Assessor of Taxes continuously since 1872, and has served his town on various committees, important among which was the committee to re-build Kelly's bridge over Warren river.   He was Senator from Warren in the General Assembly from 1882 to 1887, and again from 1890 to the present time, in which body he is at present Chairman of the Senate committees on Finance and Fisheries.  He is also a member of the Shell Fish Commission of Rhode Island, elected in 1895 for five years. He is President of the Union Club of Warren, and member of the  Philanthropic  Society and the George Hail Free Library.   Mr. Drown is a life-long Republican, and active in politics and public life, having been on the Republican Town Committee of Warren, and for ten years a member of the Republican State Central Committee. He was married in April 1850 to Miss Mary W. Bowen, deceased; in October 1884 he was married to Miss Mary J.  Walker, also deceased; in January 1887 he married Miss Mary Merritt, who is now living. He has three children by his first marriage: William B. Drown; Mary A., now the wife of Walter H. Rose; and Carrie E., wife of Charles S. Davol.

HALL, Nelson Read, M. D., of Warren, was born in Warren, March 31, 1868, son of John Champlin and Sarah Wheaton (Read) Hall. On his father's side he is descended from Bishop Hoare of England, and Samuel Champlain.   His great-great-grandfather, Samuel Hoar, made gun carriages for the colonial forces during the Revolution. The latter's grandson, Allen Carey Hoar, married Mary Champlin, a direct descendant of Samuel Champlain ; and John Champlin Hall, their son, married Sarah W. Read, his second wife, who was the mother of the subject of this sketch.   His maternal ancestry in this country dates from John Read of Rehoboth, and Ephraim Wheaton of Rehoboth who landed at Salem in 1636.   John Read landed in 1630 and came to Rehoboth in 1643. son John was killed by Indians at Pierce's fight in King Philip's war.   By marriage the Reads were connected with the Carpenters, Abels and many of the old families of New England.   The early Wheatons were prominent in the   Baptist  Church, Elder Ephraim and Deacon Robert being noted as eloquent preachers. One Wheaton endowed a scholar-ship at Brown University. The families on both sides were closely connected with the early history of the country, and one of the Reads (George) was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In all branches of the family the ancestry can be traced back into the parent countries of England, Wales and France. The subject of this sketch received his early education in the public schools of Warren, graduating from the high school in 1887, and teaching chemistry, physics and botany in the school during the year following. Entering Johns Hopkins University in October 1888 as a special student in biology, he remained one year and was compelled to give up because of failing health. In September 1889 he entered Long Island College Hospital and was graduated March 23, 1892; was laboratory assistant in the department of histology and pathology during the years 1889-90, and assist-ant in the throat and nose department, under Professor French, in 1891-92. He entered upon the practice of medicine at his old home, Warren, about May or June 1892, and has enjoyed an unusually good and successful practice. He is Surgeon of the Warren Artillery, was Vice-President of the Warren High School Alumni Association in 1893-94, and is a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society, Providence Medical Society, Long Island College Hospital Alumni Association, Union Club, Royal Arcanum and Kickemuit Grange. In politics he takes little interest. He is very much interested in natural history, and finds his chief recreation in hunting and fishing. He is also keenly interested in genealogy and the early history of our country, and especially in local history. He married, October 4, 1893, Edith Wheaton of Boston, by whom he has one child, a son : John Robert Wheaton Hall.

MARTIN, Joseph Wright, of Warren, President of the Warren Trust Company and the Warren Electric Light Company, was born in Warren, October 14, 1852, son of Ezra M. and Cynthia M. (Wright) Martin. His parents came to Warren from Rehoboth, Mass. He received his early education in the public schools of Warren, and entering the Commercial Department of East Greenwich Seminary, East Greenwich, R. I., at the age of nineteen, graduated there from in 1873, and began at once the active duties of a commercial life. He is at present associated with his father, Ezra M. Martin, in the lumber and coal business in Warren, under the firm name of E. M. Warren & Company.   Mr. Martin is President of the Warren Trust Company and the Warren Electric Light Company, Vice President of the Warren National Bank, and a Director of the National Hope Bank. He has also served as Town Treasurer three years, and as President of the Town Council in 1894 and 1895. He is a Director of the Warren Foundry and Machine Company, also a member of Washington Lodge of Masons and of the Union Club of Warren. In politics he is a Republican.   He is unmarried.

SIMMONS, George Washington, undertaker, Bristol, was born in Bristol, March 9, 1833, son of Smith B. and Sarah B. (Cartee) Simmons. He is a grandson of Comfort Simmons, and his great-great-grandfather, Thomas Simmons, who was a Baptist clergyman, preached a sermon when one hundred years old, and lived to the age of one hundred and five years. His maternal grandfather, Benjamin Cartee, was lost at sea in 1833; and his great-grandfather, Stephen Talbee, was a Revolutionary soldier, born in 1751 and died in 1842 at the age of ninety-one. George Washington Simmons was educated in the public schools of his native town, and at the age of sixteen, in 1849, was apprenticed to learn the cabinet-making trade of the late John S. Weeden, serving four years' apprenticeship and continuing the trade with him for twenty years. In 1869 he commenced business for himself as a professional undertaker and still continues in that profession. Mr. Simmons was a member of the fire department of the town of Bristol for twenty-one years, holding the office of foreman of the King Philip hand-engine in 1869, and has served two years as assistant engineer on the board of engineers of the department. He served in the war of the Rebellion as Sergeant of Company E, Twelfth Rhode Island Volunteers, and was wounded at Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862. He is also a veteran of Bristol Train of Artillery. He is a member of St.  Albans Lodge of Masons since 1864, and of United Brothers Lodge of Odd Fellows from 1870; a member and Past Chief Patriarch of Wampanoag Encampment ; Past Ensign and Lieutenant of Canton Miller, Patriarchs Militant; and a member of Burnside Lodge Knights of Pythias and Babbitt Post Grand Army of the Republic.   In politics he is a Republican, and has been a Representative to the Genera] Assembly since May 1891. He was married, October 4, 1855, to Miss Elizabeth R. Allen; they have three children: Amy E., Emma E. and Mary R. Simmons.

STEVENS, Colonel Daniel, of Bristol, was born in Cambridge, Mass., September 6, 1849, son of Daniel W. and Caroline (Partridge) Stevens.  Colonel Stevens is of early American ancestry on both   sides, and   his great-grandfather  on the maternal side was a drummer-boy in the army of the Revolution. He received his early education in the public schools of Mansfield, Mass., after which he learned the trade of watchmaker and engraver at Fall River, Mass.   In 1878 he went West and settled in Springfield, 111., the capital of the state and Lincoln's old home, where he worked at his trade seven years, returning East in 1885 and engaging as commercial traveler with the wholesale watch, diamond and jewelry house of D. C. Percival & Company, Boston. After six years with this firm he again went West in 1892 and located in Chicago as agent for the Bay State Watchcase Company, remaining with them until they were absorbed by a larger concern, in 1894, when he once more came East and settled in Bristol, R. L, establishing the retail jewelry business of Stevens & Company. Upon taking up his residence in Springfield, III., he became a member of the National Guard of that state, and in June 1881 was commissioned First Lieutenant of Light Battery B. Upon the consolidation of the state forces he was commissioned as Aide-de-Camp on the staff of Brigadier General J. N. Reece, commanding the Second Brigade, I. N. G., which commission he resigned on leaving the state. He became Adjutant of Bristol Train of Artillery, Rhode Island Militia, in 1894, and in 1895 was promoted to Colonel, which office and rank he now holds. He is also a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston. Colonel Stevens has never taken any active part in politics. He is a Knight Templar and a member of Springfield Lodge No. 4, F. A. M., the same lodge to which Stephen A.  Douglas belonged, and is also a member of Medina Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Chicago. He was married, in 1872, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Young, who died in 1888, leaving two children : Waldo W., born in 1873, and Ralph P. Stevens, born 1875.

THOMPSON, Henry Manton, Clerk of the Supreme Court, and merchant of Bristol, was born in Bristol, R. I., April 8, 1850, the son of Joseph S. and Roxana (Fish) Thompson. He received his early education in the public schools, and early devoted himself to business vocations. For the past twelve years he has successfully conducted a retail grocery store in Bristol.   He was a member of the Town Council for four years and of the Republican Town Committee for six years. In May 1871 he was elected Clerk of the Supreme Court, and has held that position up to the present time. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum.  In politics he is a Republican. He married, January 15, 1874, Miss Henrietta Buffington; they have two children : Charles H. and Nellie May.

WILLIAMS, William Frederick, physician and surgeon, Bristol, was born in New York city, December 23, 1859, the son of Isaac Frazee and Mary Elizabeth (Weed) Williams. He is a direct descendant in the ninth generation of Robert Willams of Roxbury, Mass., among whose descendants were one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, another the founder of Williams College, and others of prominence and distinction. His own father was a very active and influential man in his adopted town and state, many times a member of the Town Council and its President, a member of both houses of the General Assembly, many years a member of the School Committee, a bank director, high in the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternities, superintendent of a great manufacturing establishment and the inventor of many useful articles. He received his early education in the public and private schools of Bristol and at Mowry & Goff's school of Providence, and graduated from Brown University with the degree of A. B. in 1883.  He entered Harvard Medical School in 1886, after a year of preliminary study, and graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1889. He practiced for a few months in New York city, but illness in his family caused a return to Bristol, where he has since practiced. Dr. Williams is a vestryman of St. Michael's Church, a member of the School Committee and a Director in the Bristol County Savings Bank.  He has been Medical Examiner for Bristol county, the second district, since 1892. He was Ensign in the Naval Reserve Torpedo Company for three years, 1891-94, and is now Lieutenant in command.  He is a member of the Providence Medical Association, the Harvard Medical Alumni Association, the Brown University Medical Association, the Harvard Club of Rhode Island, the Medico-Legal Society, the Providence Athletic Association, the Neptune Boat Club, and various other societies and organizations. In politics he is a Republican. He married, January 20, 1891, Miss Mildred Lewis Williams; they have no children.

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