Trails to the Past

Kent County, Rhode Island Biographies

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

BROWN, Colonel Will Edwin, Colonel of the Kentish Guards of East Greenwich, and Senior Colonel of Rhode Island Militia, was born in North Kingston, May 22, 1854, son of Edwin and Sybil (Spencer) Brown.   His grandparents on the paternal side were John and Abby (Adams) Brown, and on the maternal side Job and Rebecca (Briggs) Spencer.   He is a descendant in the ninth generation of John Spencer, who landed at Newburyport, Mass., in 1633, and came to Newport, R. I., in 1677, and whose son, Thomas Spencer, was the first white child born in East Greenwich.   His great-great-grandfather Benjamin Spencer was a charter member of the Kentish Guards, organized in 1774, and served with them through the war of the Revolution.  On the father's side he is descended from Chad Brown, who landed at Boston in 1638, and came to Providence in  the same year.   His great-great-grandfather Colonel Robert Brown, who was the great-great-grandson of Chad, served with distinction through the Revolution, defeating Captain Wallace of King George's fleet off Newport, for which he was publicly thanked by the General Assembly of Rhode Island.   The Colonial History gives considerable space to his deeds.   He is also a direct descendant (great-great-grandson) of Major Ebenezer Adams, who came from the Massachusetts Adams family, and who was one of the party that under command of  Colonel Barton entered the Prescott camp and captured General Prescott, and who also led a party on Patience Island and captured fifteen of His Royal Highness' naval officers. He also had a grandfather and two great-uncles in the war of 1812, and a great-uncle in the Mexican war.  Will Edwin Brown was educated in the public schools of Portsmouth and East Greenwich, the Highland Military Academy of Worcester, Mass., and the Commercial Department of the Providence Conference Seminary, now known as East Greenwich Academy. At the age of manhood, in 1874, he became associated with A. W. Place under the firm name of Place & Brown, in the house painting business. Two years later he sold out to his partner, and entered the employ of W. H. Hunt & Son. continuing this relation three years, then purchasing a half interest, and continuing under the name of Hunt & Brown. In 1881, A. W. Place bought the Hunts' interest and the firm became Brown & Place, from which Mr. Brown shortly after retired on account of poor health. He afterward became associated with the clothing firm of J. P. Mowry & Company as local salesman, subsequently going to Attleboro and Marlboro, Mass., in the same capacity for the firm. In 1886 he accepted a position with the Greenwich Printing Company, with whom he was employed until the fall of 1889, when he entered the employ of the Adams Express Company, and is now serving as their agent at   East Greenwich.  Colonel Brown holds the civil offices of Chief of Police and Town Sergeant of East Greenwich, having been appointed to the former successively in 1893-94-95. and elected to the latter each year since 1892, in two instances by a unanimous vote. Upon the organization of a volunteer fire department in East Greenwich, Mr. Brown took an active interest in its affairs and assisted in perfecting its organization, volunteering his services as a member, filled a number of offices, and at the close of five years service retired as first assistant engineer. He enlisted in the Kentish Guards in 1868, and rose through the various grades until elected Colonel in 1881, and has been unanimously re-elected every year since, having been in command longer than any officer before him, and making him Senior Colonel of Rhode Island Militia. He has also served as First Lieutenant and Captain of Company C, Third Battalion Infantry, First Brigade, and as Major in the Third Battalion Brigade, R. I. M., with which rank he was mustered out in July 1881. Besides his official membership in the Kentish Guards, he is a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, the Military Service Institution of New York, and the Rhode Island Sons of the American Revolution.   He is also a prominent Odd Fellow, having filled nearly all the offices in Harmony Lodge of East Greenwich, and serving on important committees in the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island. In politics he is an Independent, with Democratic proclivities. Colonel Brown was married, May 22, 1876, to Miss Harriet Frances Vaughn of Warwick, R. L, who died June 16, 1892; they had two children, both of whom died at birth. He was married, second, January 22,1896, to Miss Cora Jane Smith of Providence.

READ, Byron, merchant and undertaker, Anthony, was born in Coventry, R. I., April 7, 1845, son of Henry and Phebe (Wait) Read. His father and mother were both born in Coventry, in 1801 and 1804 respectively; the former died in 1887 and the latter in 1895. He is a grandson of Joseph and Sabria (Knight) Read and of Sheffield and Rebecca (Andrews) Wait, and is a descendant in the sixth generation of John Read, who was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1598. His father was a farmer, and Byron followed that calling until he became of age, his education meanwhile being such as could be obtained in the district school. He showed at a very early age, however, that he possessed both industry and perseverance, and the lessons he learned on the farm and in the school were not forgotten in later life. On attaining his majority, in 1860, he entered the employment of his brother, Henry Read, Jr, who was engaged at that time in the undertaking, furniture and small hardware business in the village of Anthony. He continued in this relation until 1872, at which time he bought a half interest in the business, and the firm name was changed to H. Read, Jr., & Co. In March 1873 his brother died, and Byron at once purchased of the heirs their interest in the business, retaining the old firm name for seven years, when it was changed to that of his own. The increasing trade demanding larger quarters and better facilities, and the building and land where he was located being owned by the heirs of Isaac B. Aylesworth, who originally began the business, he erected in 1878 a large and convenient barn and storehouse, 40 x 80 feet, of his own, upon land he had previously purchased of the Coventry Company, just opposite the old stand. In 1882 the store was built, 40 x 100 feet, three stories and basement, with compartments specially adapted to the needs of the trade, the whole built under his own active supervision. In these commodious and well-equipped quarters, fitted with all modern improvements, Mr.  Read has continued business with ever increasing prosperity to the present time. In 1887, feeling that he ought to have, in keeping with his increasing business, a new and modern dwelling, he purchased the estate of the late Oliver Matteson, and removing the old house to another lot to be used for tenements, erected on the site the handsome house containing all modern improvements where he now resides. In politics Mr. Read has always supported the principles of the Republican party; but he has declined all public trusts tendered him, and giving undivided attention to his business, has by a life of quiet industry, perseverance and economy acquired a competency, and gained the confidence and esteem of  all with whom he has been associated. In June 1895 he celebrated his twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, upon which occasion his wide circle of friends was very numerously represented. He is a member of Manchester Lodge of Masons and Anthony Lodge of Odd Fellows. He was married, in June 1870, to Miss Julia A., only daughter of Edward S. and Eleanor (Johnson) Pinckney of Coventry Centre, and granddaughter of Jacob and Sarah (Fowler) Pinckney of Providence; they have two sons: Herman Byron, born February 17, 1878, and Charles Sheldon Read, born November 23, 1879.

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