BAKER, Darius, Justice of the District Court for the First Judicial District of Rhode Island, and Judge of the Probate Court of Newport, was born in Yarmouth, Mass., January 18, 1845, son of Braddock and Caroline (Crowell) Baker. He is descended on both sides from Plymouth Bay Colony ancestry. Six of his ancestors came over in the Mayflower in 1620, viz., Stephen Hopkins and his daughter Constance; John  Howland  Elizabeth Tilley, who afterwards married John Howland ; and John and Bridget (Vander Velde) Tilley, parents of Elizabeth. Among his ancestors are also Governor Thomas Prence, for eighteen years governor of Plymouth Colony; Velverton Crowell, the first settler of the south side of the town of Yarmouth, about 1640; Francis Baker, who came over in 1635 in the ship Planter from Great St. Albans, England ; and Captain John Gorham, who married a daughter of John Howland, supra. Gorham was captain of a company at the famous swamp fight with the Indians at Narragansett, and is the ancestor of a numerous and distinguished posterity, including John Gorham Palfrey the historian, Hon. Charles Francis Adams, William Everett and others. The subject of this sketch acquired his early education in the public schools of Yarmouth, and at the Providence Conference Seminary, East Greenwich, R. I. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1870, salutatorian of his class, and the next two years he was a teacher at Chamberlain Institute, Randolph, N. Y.  From 1872 to 1874 he was tutor in Latin at Wesleyan University, at the same time pursuing his legal studies, having decided to adopt the law as a profession. He was admitted to the Connecticut Bar in 1874, and to the Rhode Island Bar in 1875, and in the same year established himself in Newport, where he has since remained in successful practice. He served as Trial Justice of the city from 1875 to1886, has been Judge of the Probate Court of Newport from 1877 to the present time, and in 1886 was elected Justice of the District Court for the First Judicial District, which office he still holds. He served as a member of the School Committee from 1877 to 1883, and for the last two years of his term as chairman of that body, and has been elected by the alumni, for two terms of five years each, a Trustee of Wesleyan University.  Judge Baker has taken an active interest in the charitable work of Newport, being president of the Charity Organization Society and a member of various other charitable organizations, and serving as a trustee of the Newport Hospital for the past ten years. He is also a member of the Newport Business Men's Association. In politics he is a Republican, but has taken no active part in public life other than as stated. During the war of the Rebellion, at the age of seventeen, he enlisted in the Fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, and served nine months, mostly in North Carolina, participating in engagements at Kinston, Whitehall and Goldsboro. He was married October 30, 1878, to Miss Annie Barker, daughter of W. J. Barker, Ph. D., of Leipsic, Germany; she died October 7, 1886, leaving two children: Hugh Barkly and George Yelverton Baker. On October 8, 1891, he married Miss Bertha A. Neales, daughter of Arch-deacon Thomas Neales of Woodstock, New Brunswick; they have two children : Dorothy Neales and Alfred Colebrooke Baker. Biographie Index

BARKER, Colonel Alvin Arnold, Newport, was born in Middletown, R. I., November 29, 1858, son of Ezra J. and Lydia Eunice Barker. He was born and grew up on a farm, receiving his education in the public schools, until at the age of fifteen, in 1873, he moved to Newport where he prepared himself for a business life.   In 1878 he launched out for himself in the grocery, grain and hay business, which he has successfully continued to the present time.   He was a member of the Newport City Council in 1892, representing the second ward as second councilman, but declined a re-election, preferring to give his time to his private business.  He joined the Newport Artillery, Rhode Island Militia, July 27, 1875, and was elected First Lieutenant and Quartermaster April 25, 1882, serving three years in this capacity.   April 28, 1885, he was elected Major, and held this position three years.   He was appointed, May 29, 1888, aide-de-camp on Governor Royal C. Taft's personal staff, with the rank of Colonel. He was elected Lieutenant-Colonel of the Newport Artillery August 30, 1892, and Colonel commanding April 24,1894, which position and rank he now holds.   The Newport Artillery is the oldest active military organization in the United States.   It was organized during the troublous time occasioned by the declaration of war between England and Spain in 1739, and received its charter from the colonial government under King George II. February 1, 1741. It has taken part in all the wars of the country from the date of its charter, and has done escort duty at the inaugural of every Rhode Island governor from 1796 to the present time. Colonel Barker is a member of Coronet Council No. 63 Royal Arcanum, having joined October 17, 1884. In politics he is a Re-publican. He was married, November 2, 1882, to Miss Augusta Neilson Peckham of Middletown, R. I., by whom he has four children: Ezra J. Barker 2d, Lydia Elizabeth, Myrtalie and Alva A. Barker. Biographie Index

COYLE, Rev. James, pastor of Saint Joseph's Church, Newport, was born in Abbeylara, County Longford, Ireland, September 9, 1850, son of Daniel and Mary (Reilly) Coyle. His ancestry on both sides is distinctively old Irish. He acquired his rudimentary education in the Irish national schools, and came to America with his parents early in 1863.  After spending two years in Saint Joseph's College, Bardstown, Ky., going there in September 1869, he entered in September 1871 Laselle Academy, Providence, where he taught Latin, at the same time continuing his own studies under Rev. H. F. Kinnerney.  In September 1872, with the purpose mainly of acquiring a knowledge of the French language, he went to Saint Laurent College, near Montreal, where he graduated in June 1874. While at Saint Laurent he was president of the leading literary society, editor of the weekly college journal, the Spectator, and class valedictorian. He entered the Grand Seminary, Montreal, in September following, and was there raised to the priesthood, December 22, 1877.  Bishop O'Reilly of the Springfield diocese needing priests, he was sent temporarily to Springfield, and reported for duty at North Adams, January 19, 1878; and on the return of the pastor of North Adams, then in Europe, was appointed assistant at Millbury, Mass., remaining there until called by Bishop Hendricken to the Cathedral in Providence, February 11, 1880, where he labored until appointed pastor of the new parish in Newport, January 14, 1885. Father Coyle's first services in Newport were held in the old Unitarian Church on Mill street, January 25, 1885. The new parish had not then an inch of ground, nor a resting place of any description. The pastor bought the property of the Zion Church corporation, paying there for $15,025, and celebrated the first mass therein on Sunday, March 8, 1885. He remodeled and beautified the church interior, and in January 1887 purchased the adjoining property, known as the Young estate, at a cost of $28,500.   In May 1887 he began the erection of a rectory, which was tenanted the following October, the estimated cost being $9,000.   A convent was finished and occupied by the Sisters of Saint Joseph in July 1889, and a private academy started the September following.   Catholics and non-Catholics generously seconded Father Coyle's efforts, many rare and costly gifts testifying to their continued goodwill.   On the 2nd of August 1891, one of the finest school buildings in New England was dedicated by  Rev. Bishop Harkins; the donor, till then unknown, being George Babcock Hazard, a non-Catholic.  In this substantial manner one of Newport's oldest citizens proved his friendship for Saint Joseph's pastor.   Ten teachers and five hundred and fifty children now utilize Mr.  Hazard's beneficence.   In the eleven years of his pastorate Father Coyle has collected and disbursed upwards of $165,000, aside from the Hazard gift, and Saint Joseph's, one of the finest church properties in the diocese, is now entirely free from debt, a splendid showing, all things considered. Biographie Index

GRANT, Robert Alexander, M. D., Crompton, was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, December 24, 1870, came to Providence in October 1871, son of William and Jessie (MacDougald) Grant. He acquired his early education in the Providence public schools, fitted for college at the College Hill School in Providence, pursued a course at Union College, and finally graduated from the Albany, N. Y.. Medical College. His medical training was received in the Albany City Hospital and in dispensary practice, and he entered upon the practice of his profession in Providence, June 1, 1895, removing to Crompton in September following.   He is Chancellor Commander of Narragansett Lodge K. of P., being the youngest "C. C." in the state, and is a member of Washington Lodge No. 11  I. O. O. F., Howard Encampment  I. O. O. F., and one of the leading college secret societies.   He is unmarried. Biographie Index

JACOBY, Douglas Peter Alexander, physician and surgeon, Adamsville, was born in South Whitehall, Lehigh County, Pa., August 6, 1873, son of Edwin C. and Elizabeth (Hoffman) Jacoby. He received his early education in the common schools, in the Commercial College at Allentown, Pa., and the Pennsylvania Normal School. His first business work was as an operator in the telegraph office at Coplay, Pa., for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company. In 1889 he entered E. S. Heiberger's wholesale and retail drug store at Allentown, Pa., as clerk, and the following year acted as head clerk and traveling salesman. In September 1891 he entered the Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, where he studied for three years, graduating March 22, 1894. He passed a satisfactory examination before the Board of Examiners at Mount Carmel Hospital in the same city in 1892, where he served for two years as Assistant Physician and Surgeon, and at the same time was a student in the office of Professors W. D. & C. S. Hamilton. After graduation he located in Adamsville, Newport county, R. I. Dr. Jacoby is now taking a special course on the eye, ear, nose and throat in the Post-Graduate College of New York City.   He is a member of the Rhode Island  Medical Society, Electra Lodge I. 0. O. F. of Adamsville, Little Compton Grange Patrons of Husbandry, Young Men's Christian Association of Allentown, Pa., Epworth League of Columbus, O., Mannoer Choir of South Whitehall, Pa., and literary societies in the same place.   He has also been recently elected a member of the Thurber Medical Association of Milford, Mass.   In politics he is a Democrat. Dr.  Jacoby was married, February 18,1896, to Miss Mary Lois Almy, only daughter of the late Philip Almy, of Little Compton, R. I. Biographie Index

LADD, John Westgate, physician, Newport, was born in East Greenwich, R. L, October 8, 1836, son of John Gardner and Phebe Ann (Watson) Ladd.  The ancestry of the Ladd family is of English origin, and is of great antiquity.   They came to New England in 1633, on the ship John and Mary. On the maternal side his ancestry is also English, from the distinguished lineage of the Spencers. His father, John Gardner Ladd, who was a native of Rhode Island and came to Newport with his family in 1843, was a man of great originality and inventive genius, by profession an architect, and of a high order.  John Westgate spent his early life with his father, from whom he learned and practiced with him much of his art.   During this period he was much interested in mechanism, and later on other branches of science became of interest to him and engaged his attention and study.   He is largely self-taught, as the usual routine of the schools did not appeal to his fancy or his desires.   He commenced practice as a physician in New York City at the age of twenty-five.   His methods are peculiarly his own, but are in strict conformity and harmony with the principles of advanced science.   He never uses the knife, and his greatest success has been in the treatment of chronic diseases, - tumors, cancers and kidney troubles being his specialties.   As a physician-specialist his field is a very wide one, and although his winter residence has been New York city and his summers have been spent at the family home in Newport, his practice has extended over the country from Chicago to New Orleans and from Maine to Mexico. Although a Republican, he takes no active part in politics, and is not a club or society member, preferring the surroundings of his home and family in his leisure hours. Dr. Ladd was married September 27, 1868, to Miss Caroline Augusta Vaughan, of Newport; they have had two children : Maude Crosby (now Mrs. Charles Phillips Scott of Boston) and Harry Watson Ladd, now deceased. Biographie Index

MacKAYE, Henry Goodwin, physician and surgeon, Newport, was born March 16, 1857, in New York City, son of Colonel James and Maria Ellery (Goodwin) MacKaye.   His father's father came from Scotland and settled as a farmer in Rome, N. Y.   His mother's grandfather was Hon. Asher Robbins, United States Senator from Rhode Island, the "Cicero of the Senate."   He received his early education at Pastor Godet's school, Neufchatel, Switzerland, and graduated from Phillips Academy, Exeter, N. H., in the class of 1874. He graduated from Harvard College with the degree of A. B. in 1878, and from the Harvard Medical School with the degree of M. D. in 1885.   He was an assistant in the Bennett Street Dispensary, Boston, a pupil for a very short time of Henry B.  Holton, M. D., of Brattleboro, Vt., and of LeRoy Gale, M. D., of New York.   He studied for some months in the hospital of Paris, France, in 1878. He was Interne at the City Hospital in Worcester, Mass., in 1883-84, and special laboratory pupil under Prof. E. S. Wood, Harvard Medical School, 1884-85. He practiced casually while on a vacation in the summer and autumn of 1885 at Plymouth, Mass. He then came to Newport, R. L, and opened an office early in January 1886, and has remained there since.   He was appointed by Governor Taft Medical Examiner for District Number Three for the term ending February 1859, and declined a reappointment, although urged to accept one by Governor D. Russell Brown.   He was City Physician of Newport for a short time in 1892, but resigned because there was too much politics connected with the office.   He was Secretary, Vice-President, and is now President of the Rhode Island Medico-Legal Society. He has been Secretary of the Newport Sanitary Protection Society for many years, and is now Vice-President of the Rhode Island Harvard Club, Attendant Physician and Surgeon at the Newport Hospital, Fellow of the Rhode Island Medical Society, of the New York Medico-Legal Society, of the Alumni Association of the Harvard Medical School, and of the Newport Business Men's Association.   He was a delegate to the Massachusetts Medical Society from the Rhode Island Medical Society at the annual meeting in 1894.   He has written many short-case reports for medical journals and societies, and also " Some Chemical Aspects of Urinary Analysis" {vide archives of the Rhode Island Medical Society), and a report of the cure of poisoning by Tyro-toxicon, published by the Newport Sanitary Protection Association in 1893.   He married, in January 1887, Miss Ellen T. Bailey of Middletown, R. I. Biographie Index

MOFFITT, Godfrey, superintendent of planing mills, Newport, was born in Killingly, Conn., July 24, 1824, son of Simon and Ruth (Smith) Motrin.  His ancestors on both sides are Americans. He received his early education in the public schools, and served an apprenticeship in woodworking in all its branches. He has taken an active interest in public affairs both in the city and state. He has been a member of the City Council of Newport since 1891, and in 1895 was elected a Representative in the General Assembly. In politics he is a Republican. He married. May 1, 1865, Miss Amelia C. Spooner; they have no children. Biographie Index

READ, Harwood Edwards, Chief of Police of Newport, was  born in Newport, July 28, 1838, the son of Eleazer J. and Mary Ann Tilley (Cook) Read. His father was a descendant of John Read of Cornwall, England, who was an officer in Cromwell's army, and upon the restoration of Charles II.  fled to America and settled in Providence. His mother's ancestors came from Exeter, Devonshire, England, in 1638, and settled in Newport.   Of their descendants many were officers and soldiers in the early wars of the colonies, of the Revolution and the war of the Rebellion.   He received his early education in the public schools of Newport. He entered business at an early age, first as a boy and clerk in a grocery store, and then learned and worked at the printer's trade.   He has been honored by many offices of trust and importance by his fellow citizens.   He was City Marshal of Newport in 1871-72, and from 1876 to 1881.   He was Overseer of the Poor in 1871-72.   He has been Chief of Police from 1893 to the present time. He was a member of the Common Council from 1886 to 1889, and President of that body in 1888-89.  He was License Commissioner from 1889 to 1891.  He is a member of the Second Baptist Church and treasurer of the corporation.   He is a Past Noble Grand of R. I. Lodge, I. O. O. F., Past Chief Patriarch of Aquidneck Encampment, and Past Grand Chancellor of Redwood Lodge K. of P.   In politics he is a Republican and for many years a member of the City Committee from Ward 3, and also a member of the State Central Committee. He married, December 25, 1864, Miss Amanda M. Crosby, who died November 4, 1888; they had three children: Georgiana Shaw, Bessie Murphy and Harwood E. Jr. He married, October 1, 1890, Miss Sarah Weeden Lee. Biographie Index

STIMSON, Edward Payson, M. D., of Tiverton, was born in Waterbury, Washington county, Vt., June 8, 1849, son of Joel and Cynthia Roxana (Stone) Stimson. He is descended on both sides from old New England stock. Of his ancestors, Dr. James Stimson, who settled in Reading, Mass., about 1640, and his son Dr. James, Jr., practiced in Reading (now Wakefield) from 1640 to 1690; and James, son of James, Jr., settled in Tolland, Conn., about 1716, and was the first physician to locate in that place. Joel Stimson, another of his ancestors, served in the Revolutionary war, and was one of the pioneer settlers of Vermont. His maternal ancestor Stone settled in Watertown, Mass., in 1630. The subject of this sketch received his early education in the graded public schools, and the Washington and Orange county grammar schools of Vermont. He began the study of medicine in the Dartmouth Medical College, continued it in the Long Island College Hospital, and returning to Dartmouth, graduated November 5, 1873, with the degree of M. D.  The following December he was appointed assistant physician at the Butler Hospital, Providence, and served until February, 1876, when he began general practice in Orange, Mass., where he resided until in April 1879 he removed to Tiverton, R. I. In July 1884 he was appointed Deputy Superintendent of the State Insane Asylum of Rhode Island, at Cranston, and served until 1885, when he accepted the appointment of Assistant Superintendent of the Kansas State Asylum, at Osawatomie. Resigning that position in 1888, he returned to Vermont, and resided in Randolph until 1893, when he renewed his practice at Tiverton, where he has since remained.  Dr. Stimson is a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society, the Vermont Medical Society, and the American Medical Association, and is one of the founders of the Miller's River Medical Society, at Athol, Mass. He was clerk of the School District of Tiverton, in 1881-82, and in West Randolph, Vt.  he served as clerk of the Congregational Church from its first annual meeting after incorporation until his removal from the town.   In politics he has always been a Prohibition Republican, but has never sought civil or political office. He was married at Braintree, Vt., December 7, 1875, by Rev. Samuel W.  Dyke, to Miss Sarah Amanda Belcher, daughter of Jonathan Wales and Sarah Harwood Belcher, both of her parents being descendants of John Bass and Ruth Alden, the latter the third daughter of John Alden and Priscilla Molines of colonial fame. Biographie Index

VERNON, George Edward, merchant, Newport, was born in Newport, April 16, 1847, son of George E. and Anne A. (Bradford) Vernon. He was educated in the public schools of his native city and at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College in Providence, and entered upon mercantile life when under the age of fifteen. From 1861 to 1866 he was engaged in the coal business, after which he was in the wholesale grocery business in Chicago for three years, and went to Yankton, now South Dakota, engaging in various occupations. Returning in 1875 he entered into the furniture trade with his father.  After his father's death in November 1889, he continued the business with his mother and brother under the firm name of Geo. E. Vernon & Company.  Mr. Vernon was Major of the Newport Light Infantry from 1862 to 1866, and is prominent in Masonry, as well as other fraternal orders. He has served as Master of St. Paul's Lodge A. F. & A. M., was Eminent Commander of Washington Commandery Knights Templar in 1895, and is Past Regent of Coronet Council Royal Arcanum and Past Leader of Powell Council Home Circle. He is also a member of Newport Chapter Royal Arch Masons and of De Blois Council Royal and Select Masters, also of the Newport Business Men's Association.  In politics he is a Republican. He was married, February 3, 1873, to Miss Harriet Peabody; they have one child: Susan B. Vernon. Biographie Index

WEEDEN, Charles Edward, hotel proprietor and insurance agent, Jamestown, was born in Jamestown, September 4, 1848, the son of Clarke C.  and Lucy K. (Palmer) Weeden. He received his early education in the public schools of Jamestown.  He has done much to develop his native town as a summer resort. He was proprietor of the Prospect House in Jamestown from 1888 to 1891 inclusive, and of the Hotel Thorndike at that place from 1891 to the present time. He has been an insurance agent since 1882, representing the Providence Washington Insurance Company. He was Town Clerk from November 1888 to April 1891, was President of the Town Council from April 1892 to April 1895, and was elected Senator from Jamestown to the Rhode Island Legislature April 4, 1895.  In politics he is a Republican. He married, October 12, 1886, Miss Flora M. Clarke; they have no children. Biographie Index

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