Trails to the Past

Kent County, Rhode Island Biographies

Personal Paragraphs of Warwick

F - H

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

James L. Fish was born in Connecticut in 1836. He served in the army three years, and in 1865 settled in Exeter. Then he worked in a factory at Fisherville. In 1869 he removed to East Greenwich, where he kept a boarding house until 1873, when he removed to Pontiac, where since 1878 he has been in the mercantile business. He also owns a farm of fifty acres, pleasantly located and well improved. His wife, Roxellana, is a daughter of Jacob Smith, of Exeter. They have three children : Walter L., Albert L. and Addie B. Fish.

Alfred Fisher was born in Warwick in 1823. His father. James Fisher, son of Lewis Fisher, was for many years surveyor of the port of Pawtuxet. He was also a member of the Warwick council a number of years prior to his death in 1882. Alfred Fisher has been chairman of the board of assessors eight years. He was a merchant in Pawtuxet for about thirty years, and was postmaster here twenty years. Mr. Fisher's grandmother, Mrs. Lewis Fisher, was Rebecca, daughter of Reverend William Williams, the first preacher in Wrentham, Mass. Mrs. Alfred Fisher (deceased) was Lucy A. Morse, a cousin of Professor S. F. B. Morse. Her son, now living here, is George A. Fisher. Mr. Fisher's farm is part of the old Arnold place. His home, built about 1785, was the birthplace of Marcy Arnold. His present wife is Lucy A., daughter of Isaac Stowe, of Binghamton, N. Y.

Alpheus Fisher was born in North Providence in 1824. His father was Freeman Fisher and his mother was Catherine, daughter of Elisha Brown, who did service as a courier in the revolution. Mr. Fisher has been twice married. His deceased wife Hannah W. Jones, of Falmouth, Mass., left five children: Catherine B., Sarah H., Abbie, Elihu and Alpheus B. His present wife Marguerite Kelley, came from a good family of county Galway, Ireland. They have six children : Harriet W., Byron S., Freeman J. (who enlisted in the Seventh United States Regular Cavalry in July, 1887), Mary A., Elisha B. and Arthur M. K. In 1865 Mr. Fisher removed from North Providence, where he had been a farmer, and went to Warwick to manage a farm for Byron Sprague. One year later he purchased his present farm of eighty acres near Buttonwoods, where he has resided since 1867.

Amos O. Foster is one of the four surviving children of Jeremiah Foster. George J., Mary J. and John are the others of this generation. Jeremiah Foster was born in South Kingstown. His father Othniel was born in Stonington, Conn. His father John was a son of Carl, and grandson of John Foster, who came from Salem, Mass., to southern Rhode Island or eastern Connecticut at an early day. The family have been Friends for as many as five generations, and this branch at Warwick have been among the successful families of the town.

Horace B. Foster was born in 1850. His father, John, was a son of Ethan Foster, who was a brother of the Othniel Foster noticed above. John H. Foster, Elizabeth F. (Mrs. Leigh), and Edward H. Foster are of the same generation with Horace B. Mrs. Horace B. Foster is Mary J., daughter of Caleb B. Cope, a substantial Friend, of Chester county, Pa. Their only surviving child is Charles K. Foster, who is of the seventh generation of the family from John Foster, of Salem, Mass. Mr. Foster's home is a part of the old William Almy property.

The Spring Green farm, on Spring Green Cove, was the residence of the late Governor John Brown Francis. This property was the home of Doctor John Greene, whose deed was dated June 5th, 1635. This property was bought by John Brown, whose daughter, Abbie, became the wife of John Francis and the mother of Governor Francis, whose two daughters now own and occupy this old homestead. The governor also left a son, who died in Rome in 1870, and another daughter, Mrs. Marshall Woods. On this farm is the grave of Deputy Governor John Greene (1708).

Governor Francis was twice married ; first in 1822, to a daughter of Hon. Nicholas Brown. Their daughter, whose children are the only grandchildren of the governor, was married in 1848 to Marshall Woods, Esq. His father was the Reverend Alvah Woods, D. D., who in 1853 was the first of that increasing colony of new comers to make a summer place on Warwick Neck. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Woods are Mrs. S. A. B. Abbott, of Boston, and J. C. B. Woods, an attorney at Providence.

Thomas W. Gorton, of Providence and Bay Side, was born in 1831. His father, Thomas W. Gorton (1803-1871), was one of the seventeen children of Benjamin Gorton, son of Doctor Samuel Gorton. The doctor was the son of Samuel, who was a descendant of the original Samuel Gorton of 1636. Mr. Gorton's birth-place was the old Deacon Gorton place on the Coweset road in Warwick, where he lived when the civil war broke out. He went out with the Eleventh Rhode Island as captain of Company B. After the war he began his present business in Providence, and in 1887 bought the Bay Side Hotel property in Warwick, which he makes his summer home. His deceased wife was a daughter of Burton B. Baker, of Apponaug. His present wife, Eva, is a daughter of William Kent. They have one daughter, Maude Gorton.

Albert A. Hall, born in 1817, is a son of Anthony H. Hall, whose father, Thomas, was a son of Abial Hall, who was of Welsh extraction. Mr. Hall learned shoemaking, and worked at that trade in East Greenwich from 1840 to 1860. From 1860 to 1880 he was engaged in the manufacture of wines from native grapes. The business of wine and champagne making was made illegal about 1880, and this business closed.  

William H. Harrison is the son of William Harrison and grandson of George Harrison, who came from England. William was town clerk of this town and justice of the peace many years. He was among the ardent supporters of the Baptist church, to the maintenance of which his son lends substantial aid. He was a sea captain in early life, and at one time member of and agent for the Roger Williams Manufacturing Company. Mr. Harrison has lived retired here several years, enjoying a competency which he acquired  himself. He was treasurer and secretary of the Mechanics Savings Bank at Providence from about 1854 to 1866.

Albert F. Hill was born in October, 1844, in Foster, R. I., where his early life was passed. About 1861 he went to Providence, where he learned the carpenter's trade with Burdette & Greene. He remained in Providence, working at his trade, until 1868, when he became a resident of Phenix, where he still lives. During the past twenty years, as carpenter and contractor, he has built some of the finest buildings here. Among these are the Hoxsie Brothers' store, Phenix Hotel, Music Hall and the Lawton building. He was in company with Charles B. Angell two years or more. He has done the woodwork at the state farm for four years. He was republican member in the general assembly in 1875-76. His mother was of the Williams family, in a direct line from Roger Williams. He was interested in securing the present system of water supply for Phenix, and is superintendent for the company.

Thomas M. Holden, insurance agent, was born in Michigan. He came in 1866 to Rhode Island. His insurance business was established in 1875. He was nine years, from 1876, clerk of the supreme court and the court of common pleas, and was next high sheriff of Kent county. Mr. Holden is serving his fourth year as worshipful master of Warwick Lodge, No. 16, A. F. and A. M., of which lodge his grandfather. Captain Thomas Holden, was a charter member. He is also past grand master of the state in the I. O. of O. F. His present residence at River Point he erected in 1883.

William L. Holden, born in 1813, is descended from William L., William, General Thomas, John, Charles, Randall. His mother was Phebe, a daughter of Benjamin and Phebe (Weaver) Nichols. He married Maria A. Harden, of Massachusetts, who at her death left two children, Mrs. Levi B. Place and Charles C. Holden. The present Mrs. William L. Holden is Sarah S., daughter of Christopher Greene. They have one daughter, Anna F., who is a teacher in the grammar school at East Greenwich.

Governor William W. Hoppin was born in Providence. He has made Warwick a summer home since about 1835, when he came here as a guest of John Holden. In 1855 he bought a part of the Benjamin Greene farm and erected his present residence, " The Anchorage," one of the most delightful country seats in Warwick. He was educated to the law and was partner of Judge Richard W. Greene. In 1855, 1856 and 1857 he was governor of Rhode Island as a whig. He is a grandson of Colonel Benjamin Hoppin, who was with Washington at Valley Forge. This entitles him to his present membership in the Order of the Cincinnati, in which order he is a vice-president. Governor Hoppin's wife (deceased) was the only daughter of Titus Street, a prominent citizen of New Haven, and sister of Augustus R. Street, a liberal benefactor of Yale College. Governor Hoppin has two sons.  One, William W., Jr., was in the Union Army at Bull Run, was attending surgeon in the battle of the Wilderness and is now a resident of New York. The other son, Frederick, is now in Europe. Governor Hoppin graduated at Yale College in the class of 1828 and is now one of the twelve survivors of the class, then numbering eighty-one.

Cottrell F. Hoxsie was born in 1828. His father Job Hoxsie and his grandfather Elijah Hoxsie, were residents of Richmond, R. I. Mr. Hoxsie came to Warwick in 1859 where he now has a fine farm of 250 acres. Mrs. Hoxsie is Alary S., daughter of James S. Moore, of Exeter, R. I., whose father Nathan and grandfather Silas were residents of Richmond, R. I. Silas Moore was a son of David and a grandson of John Moore, who emigrated from England and was buried in Richmond, R. I. Mr. and Mrs. Hoxsie have raised four children: Mercy Ellen (Mrs. Clark Peckham), Frank E., Ralph M. and Clara F. Hoxsie.

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