Trails to the Past

Kent County, Rhode Island Biographies

Personal Paragraphs of East Greenwich

L - P

Source: The History of Washington & Kent Counties
Written by J. R. Cole published in 1889 by W. W. Preston & Co.

Malcolm B. Lindsay was born in Scotland in 1824. In 1852, after one year at Newark, N. J.; he came to East Greenwich. He was foreman for a time, and then partner with Riley Darling, of East Greenwich, in a bakery. He served one year in Company K, Eleventh Rhode Island volunteers. Mrs. Lindsay was also born north of the Tweed. Their children are : Sarah A., Christianna, Donald J., and Katie. Since 1877 Mr. Lindsay has carried on the bakery business here himself.

Reverend Samuel K. Matteson was born in 1825. His father, Levi, was a son of Aaron and a grandson of Jonathan Matteson. He has been a member of the Six Principle Baptist church for forty years or more, and an officer more than thirty years. He has been pastor of the Frenchtown church for the last twenty years. His wife deceased was a Spencer, and his second wife a Hopkins, a descendant of Theophilus Whaley. His first wife left two children, who are now living: Calvin Matteson and Maria (Mrs. Lorenzo Vaughn).

Isaac D. Miner was born in 1842 in North Stonington, Conn. He was raised on the farm, and began the grocery business in his native town in 1875. In 1883 he came to East Greenwich, and succeeded P. F. Johnson in a grocery at the East Greenwich depot. He bought the building in 1885. He has two sons, Albert D. and John D. Albert D. is in the store ; John D. graduated at East Greenwich Academy, and is now a student at the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.

A. C. Pierce, brother of Peleg F. Pierce, of North Kingstown, was born in North Kingstown in 1829. For thirty-five years he was engaged at various mills. In 1865 he became a mill owner, rebuilding the Silver Spring mill in North Kingstown, which he operated until 1868. He came to East Greenwich in 1872, and became a general dealer in farm produce and farmers' supplies. The poultry business now owned by his sons, Mervin H. and William A., was begun by him in 1872. Pierce Brothers buy live fowls, and dress for the Providence and Boston markets one-quarter to one and one-half tons per week.

John Pitcher was born in 1818, and is a son of Andrew Pitcher, whose father, John, lived in the western part of East Greenwich. Mr. Pitcher is a thorough and successful farmer, and has a fine farm in Frenchtown. He has been a member of the town council. His wife was Elizabeth I. Greene, sister of Lauriston H. Greene, of this town. They have four daughters living: Carrie (Mrs. Thomas W. Eldred), Abbie (Mrs. George S. Spink), Annie (Mrs. Thomas H. Matteson) and Fannie (Mrs. George W. Parker). Jonathan Pitcher, a public man well known locally, was a brother of Andrew Pitcher above.

Almon I. Place was born at the home of his father, Daniel W. Place, in East Greenwich, in 1849. He was trained at the farm and in the excellent schools which this town has always maintained, and adopted agriculture as his business. He married Sarah A. Vaughn, a daughter of Andrew G. Vaughn, whose father, Lodowick Vaughn, was a son of the David Vaughn who built in 1752 the old ancestral home where Mr. and Mrs. Place now reside, in that part of East Greenwich called Shippeetown, in School District No. 3. Mr. Place is a member of the town committee on schools, a subject in which he is earnestly interested. He has served three years in the town council, and acted as president of the council one year.

Daniel W. Place, born in 1819, is a son of Arba J. Place, who died in 1840, and a grandson of Philip Place, who, after living in Exeter, bought a farm on the town line between Exeter and East Greenwich. Mr. Place has always been a farmer. His farm is in school district No. 4. He married Hannah R., daughter of Oliver Arnold. Their children are: Melissa E., Almon I. and Oscar E.

John A. Place was born in 1819 on the farm he now owns. His father. Reverend William P. Place (1795-1866), was a minister of the old Six Principle Baptist church. The Reverend's father, was John, a son of Thomas Place , who once lived in Exeter . The farm of Mr. Place, in district No. 2, was formerly the home of Thomas Hall, whose grave is on this farm. Mr. Place married Ruth, a daughter of Slocum Godfrey. She died in 1856, leaving five children. Of these two are living, viz.: Josephine (now Mrs. Edward Fry of Providence) and Henry G. Place. One of .the deceased children was Sarah, wife of Mr. Whitford, whose daughter, Ella G., is a member of Mr. Place 's family. Another of the deceased children of John A. Place, William P., left a son, Frank A. Place. The present Mrs. John A. Place is Clarissa, daughter of John W. Johnson.