CAMPBELL, John Park, President of the Campbell Mills, Westerly, and of the Cranston Print Works Company, was born in Voluntown, Conn., December 28, 1822, son of Winthrop and Susan Dorrence (Gordon) Campbell. He is the third of four Campbell brothers, all prominently engaged in business in Rhode Island. The ancestry of this branch of the Campbell family runs back to Scotland, and counts many highly worthy names in the various professions and all the walks of life.  Robert Campbell emigrated from Scotland to New England with his wife and six children in 1719, and located first in New London, Conn , afterwards settling at Voluntown, where they were among the first settlers of the region. Robert's son John, known in local history as Dr. John on account of his professional skill, married and had eight children. His son John, the second of the name, well known as Deacon John, born in 1728, had six children, among them a third John, born 1758, who was a farmer of the stalwart type of those days, and became a soldier and a captain in the war of the Revolution. Winthrop, a son of this Captain John and father of the present John, was born in 1786 and had nine children, of whom four were sons, as has been stated; he was an enterprising and successful farmer. John Park, the subject of this sketch, received his early education in the public schools, combining with this course of study a home training in industry, economy and integrity that had an important bearing upon his uninterrupted success in his business undertakings. Deciding upon a business career, he first engaged as clerk in a store at Westerly, where his brother Horatio N. had been four years employed. Later in the same year, 1840. the proprietor of the business, who was also a large and distinguished manufacturer, moved into larger quarters and took in Horatio as partner, the firm becoming H. N. Campbell & Company. John continued with the new house until 1850, when he became a member of the firm and soon rose to prominence by his activity, tact and good business judgment; the house dealt in merchandise, manufacturers' supplies and wool. In 1855 he retired from this connection, and forming a copartner ship with his brother James M., established a wholesale house in Providence, dealing in wool and cotton, under the firm name of J. P. & J. M. Campbell.  They built up a prosperous business and continued until 1865, when James withdrew to enter upon other engagements, and a new firm was formed bearing the name of J. P. Campbell &; Co., of which another brother, Daniel G., was a member.  At this time the firm added to their business the manufacture of woolen goods, first taking on lease the Belleville Mill in North Kingston, which was improved and run to good advantage.   In 1876 the firm bought the mill property at Potter Hill in Westerly, which, after being nearly doubled in capacity, has ever since been known as the Campbell Mills, and is one of the best woolen manufacturing plants in Rhode Island.   In 1887 John bought the interest of his brother Daniel in the Belleville Mills, enlarged the structure, added new machinery and made  it a first-class fancy-cassimere mill. The Campbell Mills at Potter Hill are now incorporated, John being President and Daniel the Treasurer.  John and Daniel also bought in 1884 the Riverside Mill in East Providence, a new plant, which they equipped with ten thousand spindles for working cotton.   In 1888 John and B. B. & R. Knight bought the Cranston Print Works property, formerly owned by the Spragues, fitted it for bleaching, dyeing and finishing cotton goods, and organized the business under the name of the Cranston Print Works Company, of which Mr. Campbell is the President.   Mr. Campbell is a prominent member of the Providence Board of Trade, of which he was one of the organizers.   He has been for more than twenty years a Director in the Second National Bank of Providence and has been a Director in the Industrial Trust Company almost from its formation.  Politically he was an old line Whig, and on the formation of the Republican party naturally en-listed under its banner, never however seeking or accepting public office.   In religion he was reared a Presbyterian, but early became an Episcopalian, uniting with Christ Church in Westerly and afterwards with Grace Church in Providence. Mr.  Campbell was married, February 25, 1873, to Miss Jessie H. Babcock of Liverpool, England. His wife was born in Glasgow, Scotland, while her father, Benjamin F. Babcock of Stonington, Conn., was engaged there in a branch of a banking house with his brother, Samuel D. Babcock, then of New York.   He resides in Providence. Biographie Index

COLE, Joseph Edward, President of the American Worsted Company, and large owner in and Treasurer of the Harris Woolen Company, Woonsocket, was born in North Kingston, R. L, November 18, 1824, son of Edward and Margaret (Pierce) Cole, and is the only one remaining of a family of seven children. He is a descendant in the sixth generation of Isaac Cole of Sandwich, County of Kent, England, who came to America with his family in the ship Hercules early in the seventeenth century, and settled in Charlestown, Mass. One of his ancestors, John Cole, married Susannah Hutchinson, daughter of William and Anne Hutchinson, the latter of whom was banished from Massachusetts on account of her religious views. The subject of this sketch was reared upon the farm owned by his father, receiving his education in the country schools and at the Wickford and East Greenwich academies. For a period following the completion of his academic course he employed the winter months in teaching, and spent the summers in the various duties pertaining to the avocation of farming. Being ambitious to enter upon a business career, he removed in his twenty-second year to Providence, where he engaged as book-keeper and clerk in a drug and dye house, and later accepted a position as book-keeper in the print works at Johnston, R. I., where he remained four years and a half.  In 1854 he effected an engagement with Edward Harris of Woonsocket, in whose extensive business he soon made his presence felt, especially in establishing a considerable and growing trade for the Harris goods in Boston. As a consequence of his efficient services in this connection he was given an interest in the business, devoting himself especially to the finances, and to the trade that had been built up in Boston. The satisfactory outcome of the Boston venture led Mr. Harris to open a New York house for the sale of the fabrics of his mills, and it devolved upon Mr. Cole to organize the business at that point, where he remained until the enterprise was an assured success.   The large manufacturing interest of the Harris Mills was subsequently reorganized as the Harris Woolen Company, in which he was one of the partners and Treasurer of the organization.   Upon the reorganization of the American Worsted Company, in 1876, Mr. Cole was called to fill the Presidency of that corporation, and still serves in that capacity.   He is also President of the First National and People's Savings banks of Woonsocket, and of the Woonsocket Gas Company.   He served on the School Board for nine years, part of this time as President of the Board.   In politics he is a staunch Republican, and has been identified to some extent with local political issues.   In 1888 he represented his town in the State Senate, and was Chairman of the Finance Committee of that body.   Mr. Cole was married, October 12, 1857, to Miss Mary K., daughter of William L. and Mary Ann Peckham, of Bristol, R. I.; they have had four children : Edward Peckham (deceased), Walter Hutchinson (deceased), Mary Louise and Frederick Peirce Cole. Biographie Index

COMSTOCK, Richard Borden, lawyer, Providence, was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, February 15, 1854, son of Joseph J. and Maria S. (Taber) Comstock.   He is a descendant of Roger Williams.   His father was a noted steamship captain, for many years in the service of the early Sound lines, commanding steamers running between Fall River and New York, and later connected with the Collins Line to Europe, in command of the Baltic, and afterward of the Adriatic, which at the time she was built was the second-largest steamboat in the world.   Captain Comstock was in command of the Baltic during the war of the Rebellion, when she was employed in the government transport service, and was present at the capture of Port Royal, New Orleans and other maritime strongholds of the Confederacy, the boy Richard accompanying his father in all of the Baltic's expeditions while in the service of the government.   Richard received his early education in boarding schools at Ridgefield, Conn., Yonkers, N. Y., and Lawrenceville, N. J.  He prepared for college at Mowry & Goff s English and Classical School in Providence, and entered Brown University, from which he graduated in 1876, He studied law in the office of Hon. E. C. Mowry.  was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1878 and to the United States courts in 1881, and since the former date has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession in Providence, for the last four years in partnership with Kathbone Gardner under the firm name of Comstock & Gardner. Mr. Comstock is a member of the Hope Squantum, Art and Athletic clubs of Providence. He is a Democrat in politics, and has served one term as State Senator, in 1892-93. He was married, July 19, 1883, to Miss Alice Greene, daughter of Professor Samuel S.  Greene late of Brown University and well known as the author of Greene's Grammar; they have three daughters: Marjorie Stuart, Louise Howard and Alice May Comstock. Biographie Index

DOYLE, Thomas Arthur, Mayor of Providence for eighteen terms, 1864-69, 1870-81, and 1884 until his death in 1886, was born in Providence, March 15, 1827, son of Thomas and Martha (Jones) Doyle. He enjoyed the advantages of the city schools, graduating from the Elm street grammar school, and at the age of fourteen entered the counting-room of Benjamin Cozzens, Esq., where he remained six years, and then held for five years the position of head clerk for Jacob Dunnell & Company. In 1853 he was elected Cashier of the Grocers' and Producers' Bank, which position he occupied two years, and later became a stock-broker and auctioneer of real estate. His interest and activity in public life began at an early age. In 1848 he was elected Ward Clerk for the Sixth Ward, and held the position for six years, after which he held office under the city government almost continuously until his death. In 1852 he was elected a member of the Common Council from the Fifth Ward, and while serving in that capacity was chairman of various important committees, and was President of the Council in 1854 and 1855. In the latter year he was Chairman of the Board of Assessors, and for eighteen years he served on the School Committee.  In June 1864 he was inaugurated Mayor of the city, and to this office he was annually re-elected, with the single exception of 1869, until January 1881.  In that year he was elected Senator to the General Assembly.   After an interval of three years he again resumed the office of Mayor, which he occupied until his death, June 9, 1886. During Mayor Doyle's administration the city more than doubled in population and wealth, and at his instigation many important public improvements were carried into effect; the city police were drilled and uniformed, water was introduced, an excellent system of sewerage was adopted and put under construction, the Roger Williams Park was given to the city and improved, many public buildings were erected, and a general spirit of progress was infused into the city government. As an intelligent and fitting tribute to his character and attainments as a public man and executive, this sketch may well include an extract from an article in the Boston Advertiser, printed in 1881, upon the occasion of Mayor Doyle's second retirement from the office, which he had held with but a single year's intermission for sixteen years. " Mayor Doyle's career," said this authority, "is the more remarkable, as the second city of New England is unique in the self asserting individuality of its citizens and the heat of its ever shifting partisanship.  Mr. Doyle himself has the individuality of a true Rhode Islander; he has the courage of his convictions ; his opinions are decided, he has never been afraid to express them, and there are probably ten voters of the city who have not at one time or another opposed him.   In uniform succession he has been opposed by every journal published in Providence, and as a rule this opposition has been merciless, if not bitter and unreasonable.   He has been opposed at one time by Democrats, then by Republicans, then by the Independents, then by the chief taxpayers, then by every department of the  city government, and  always by a hopeful minority.   His relations to the City Council have usually been those of hearty disagreement on almost everything.   The veto messages written by Mayor Doyle would fill a stout folio volume.   He has rarely had the support of conservative financiers, and he has never attempted a personal policy or a policy of conciliation.   While expressing cordial dislike for all sorts of men, corporations and interests, he has ever been ready to give every citizen the fullest information on all city matters, and he does not seem to have known what wire-pulling, secret arrangements and quiet understandings meant.   He has been frank, upright and straightforward to the last degree - so much so that any man could at anytime learn precisely what the Mayor wanted or opposed.   Rarely has a Mayor resisted popular measures more frankly, or advocated unpopular policies more courageously. . . . He quits office with the proud record that Providence is one of the best governed of all American cities. . . . Altogether Mr. Doyle closes a service as unparalleled as it is deserving of studious attention on the part of those interested in the difficult and undefined art of municipal government." Mayor Doyle was a prominent Mason, being made Grand Master in 1857, and having served as Prelate and Commander of Calvary Commandery Knights Templar, also as Grand Prelate, Grand Captain and Grand Generalissimo of the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island; he was also a thirty-third degree Mason.  He was for many years a consistent member of the Unitarian church. He was married, October 21, 1869, to Miss Almira, daughter of Amasa and Fanny Sprague, and sister of the late Governor and United States Senator William Sprague. Biographie Index

FOLSOM, John Neal, Superintendent of the Union Railroad, Providence, was born in Monmouth, Me., August 8, 1839, son of Samuel Franklin and Martha Caroline (Neal) Folsom. He obtained his early education in the public schools, and was employed quite young upon the farm. At the age of eighteen he learned the horse shoeing trade in Augusta, Me., and worked at it until 1863, when he went to California, where he remained until 1870. In that year he came East, and was for two years engaged in selling sewing machines in Providence. After this he engaged in the business of shirt-making and followed it two years, and subsequently became connected with the Union Railroad Company and assumed the responsible position of Superintendent.   He has not taken an active part in politics or public life, but is a member of the West Side Club, also of Temple Lodge of Masons, Winthrop, Maine, and of Harmony Lodge Knights of Honor, Providence. Mr. Folsom was married in 1874 to Miss Catherine Bay; they have one son living : Henry Frank Folsom. Biographie Index

FOWLER, George Herbert, late Secretary and Treasurer of the Pawtucket Manufacturing Company, was born in Northbridge, Massachusetts, July 16, 1852, son of George D. and Abigail (Adams) Fowler, and died in Pawtucket, January 4, 1895.  He received his early education in the public schools of Barre, Mass., to which place his parents removed when he was but two years old.   In the spring of 1869, at the age of sixteen, he left the high school to enter the Worcester Academy, but in a few weeks transferred his attendance to the Worcester   Polytechnic  Institute,   as   the latter school was found to offer better opportunities for the practical education he desired.   He graduated from   this institution in 1873, with special proficiency in the department of mechanical engineering, and with the commendation of his instructors for general deportment and faithful performance of his school duties.   Soon after graduation, being desirous of finding a promising opening for a career worthy of himself and his ideals, he made a short tour of several cities and finally settled in Providence, where he entered a small machine shop as draughtsman. The following year, 1874, he entered the employ of the Providence Tool Company in a similar capacity, and remained with them seven years. In July 1881, George H. Webb, for many years in the employ of William H. Haskell & Company, bolt and nut manufacturers of Pawtucket, severed his connection with that firm and engaged in business for himself, building bolt and nut machinery under contract for the Providence, now the Rhode Island, Tool Company. By an agreement with the tool company, Mr. Webb secured the services of Mr. Fowler as draughtsman.   The relations thus established between Messrs. Webb and Fowler ripened into a warm friendship, and when in 1882 the Pawtucket Manufacturing Company was incorporated, the latter became a member of the company, and was elected its Secretary and Treasurer.   This position he held at the time of his death, which untimely event took place in January 1895, in the forty-third year of his age.   That his abilities and faithful service in his official capacity were recognized and appreciated by his business associates, and that his high character and personal worth as a friend and citizen were understood and honored by the general community, were strikingly evidenced by the widespread tributes of respect paid to his memory, and by the popular feeling of deep sorrow and regret manifested, upon the occasion of his demise.   For some years Mr. Fowler had suffered from a chronic malady which affected his general health to an extent that made it imperative for him to decline the assumption of all cares beyond those of his home and business.   He was always, however, keenly alive to the well-being and prosperity of his adopted city, and an active supporter of all measures to that end.   He stood high in the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Union Lodge, in which he had held every office up to and including Senior Warden, and of Pawtucket Royal Arch   Chapter,   Pawtucket   Council   and Holy Sepulchre Commandery Knights Templar, also of the  Scottish   Rite, the  Consistory, and Aleppo Temple of the Mystic Shrine, Boston.   His church relations were sustained with the unassuming consistency that was a shining mark of his character.  During his residence in Providence he joined the Beneficent Congregational Church, and although retaining his membership there to the time of his death, he was a regular attendant of the Pawtucket Congregational Church, and identified prominently with its interests and welfare.   Mr. Fowler was strongly attached to his home, preferring the quiet happiness of his domestic relations to any extended social distractions.   He was married, December 7, 1887, to Miss Lula A. Reynolds, who survives him and mourns in his loss the unfulfilled promise of future happy years. Biographie Index

FREEMAN, Hon. Edward Livingston, State Commissioner of Railroads, was born in Waterville.  Me., September 10, 1835, son of Rev. Edward and Harriet Ellis (Colburn) Freeman. His father was a clergyman of the Baptist denomination, a graduate of Brown University, a native of Mendon, Mass, and was probably a descendant of one of the three Freeman brothers, who came over to Plymouth from England: his mother was born in West Dedham, Mass., and after graduating from the high school at Medfield, engaged in teaching French and Latin, in which she was specially proficient. Rev. Mr. Freeman was engaged in the ministry at Waterville and later at Oldtown, Me., removing from the latter place to Camden in the same State, where he resided, with the exception of two years spent at Bristol, R. L, until his death in 1882. Edward was the eldest of ten children. He was personally taught and fitted for college by his father, who for many years taught a high-class private school; but deciding to learn the printing business, in preference to taking a college course, he was apprenticed to A. W. Pearce, proprietor of a printing establishment in Pawtucket, R. I.   Following his apprenticeship he entered the employ of Hammond, Angell & Co., Providence, remained with them several years, holding a partnership in the firm during the last two years of his connection, and then sold out his interest and commenced business in Central Falls, where he has been successful in building up a large business, including all departments of printing.   In 1886, his eldest son, William C, became a partner, and in March 1886 his second son, Joseph W., was taken into the firm and the business is now conducted under the name of E L. Freeman & Sons,   in 1880 the book and stationery establishment of Valpey, Angell  & Co., Providence, was purchased, and is still the location of the present firm of E. L. Freeman & Sons, although the priming establishment has been maintained at Central Falls, and in 1888 a large stationery store was established at Pawtucket.  The firm have had charge of the State printing for a number of years, and are the publishers of the Freemasons'  Repository,   a  monthly magazine.  Mr. Freeman's early established reputation for activity, persistence, business ability and integrity has resulted in holding many positions of financial trust and responsibility, and his interest in public affairs has led to his being called to an uninterrupted period of service in public office for many years.  In politics he is a Republican, and was Chairman of the Rhode Island Delegation to the Republican National Convention in June 1892.   He has been a member of the General Assembly of Rhode Island for more than twenty years, during two years of which he was Speaker of the House of Representatives, and at this time he is representing the city of Central Falls in the State Senate, being Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of that body.   He was the last Senator from the town of Smithfleld before it was divided, the first Senator from the new town of Lincoln, the last Senator from Lincoln before it was divided, and the first Senator from the city of Central Falls, thus representing two towns and one city in the Senate without change of residence.  Mr. Freeman is at present State Commissioner of Railroads, which office he has held since May 1889.  He has found time in the midst of a busy public and business life to give some attention to military affairs, and was connected with the state militia for many years, rising from private to Colonel.   He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Odd Fellows, Red Men, Knights of Pythias and Good Fellows.   In Masonry he has held the office of Grand Master of Masons in Rhode Island, Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Rhode Island, and Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Massachusetts and Rhode Island: he has also taken the Cryptic degrees and those of the A. and A. Scottish Rite.  For many years he was actively connected with the Fire Department of Central Falls, and served as fireman for nineteen years.   He has been a member of the Central Falls Congregational Church since 1855, and for twelve years he has been the efficient Superintendent of its Sunday School. Mr. Freeman was married, in 1858, to Miss Emma E. Brown of Central Falls; they have five children living: William C., president of the Taber Art Company, New Bedford, Mass.; Joseph W., in business with his father; Emma R., now Mrs. John A. Moore of Richmond, Va.; Rev. Edward, Methodist minister at Schuylkill Haven, Pa., and Lucy J. Freeman, now a senior at Wellesley College. Biographie Index

GRANGER, William Smith, President of the Granger Foundry and Machine Company, Providence, was born in Pittsford, Vt., September 19, 1834, son of Chester and  Mary Pa»e (Smith) Granger.   He is lineally descended from Launcelot Granger, who emigrated to this country in 1640, settled in Newbury, Mass., and removed in 1672 to Suffield, Conn.; he was one of the original proprietors of that town, and was wounded in the King Philip war.    Among others of his ancestry were Rev. Peter Bulkeley, the founder of Concord, Mass.; Gershom Bulkeley, Surgeon in the Colonial Army; Charles Chauncy, President of Harvard University; Jonathan Prescott, Captain in the Colonial Army; and William Aspinwall, one of the founders of Massachusetts Bay Colony.   His early education was acquired at Salem, New York, and Burr Seminary at Manchester, Vt., supplemented by one year's study at Lyon and Frieze's School in Providence, previous to entering Brown University in 1850, where he pursued a two years' course, and from which institution he has been honored by receiving the degree of A. M., conferred in 1890.   His practical training for active life was received at Augusta, Me., and Pittsford, Vt,   Since 1868 he has resided in Providence, and is President of the Granger Foundry and Machine Company, who manufacture machinery for finishing textile goods and fine papers.  He is also Director in the Second National Bank, and numerous other corporations.   Mr. Granger is a member of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, Rhode Island Historical Society, the Hope and Squantum clubs of Providence, and the Providence Athletic Association.   He was married, June 12, 1871, to Miss Caroline Richmond Pitman, of Providence ; they have two children : Mary Alice and Helen Richmond Granger. Biographie Index

GRANT, George Henry, Superintendent of the Eagle Mills, Woonsocket, was born in Woonsocket, December 11, 1837, son of Annum and Eliza (Darling) Grant, the former a native of Cumberland, R. I., and the latter of Wrentham, Mass.  His education was begun in the public schools, from which he entered Smithville Seminary in North Scituate, and later graduated from the High School in Woonsocket.   Being desirous of becoming master of a self-supporting trade, he entered the machine shops of Edward  Harris, where  he  served an apprenticeship of  three years, and  then found employment in Woonsocket and afterward in Providence.   At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 he entered the service as Lieutenant of Company K, First Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers, and participated in the battle of Bull Run. Returning at the expiration of his enlistment period of three months, he raised a company that was merged into the Fifth Regiment Heavy Artillery and known as Company D, of which he became Captain. He took part in the battles of Roanoke Island, Newbern and Fort Macon, and in consequence of a bad wound at Newbern was compelled to resign and return home.   Later he resumed his trade, and soon after was made foreman of the foundry' and machine shops of Edward Harris.   Three years later he accepted an engagement with the Groton Manufacturing Company as foreman of their machine shop, and after continuing in this relation a year, became superintendent of the mills.   In 1883 this industry was reorganized as the Eagle Mills, of which he is the Superintendent at the present time.  Mr. Grant has been a lifelong and ardent Republican : he cast his first vote for the first Republican candidate for President, and has voted for even a Republican presidential nominee since.   He has been several times a member of the Town Council, and for a portion of the time its President. When Woonsocket was made a town, in 1867, he was elected as a member of its first council; and when later it became a city, in 1889, he had the honor of being its first Mayor.   For a number of years he held the offices of Chief and Assistant Engineer of the Fire Department.   He is a member of Woonsocket Commandery  No. 23  Knights Templar, Morning Star lodge No. 13 F. & A. M., Union Chapter No. 5, Palestine Temple A. A. O. N. M.  S., Woonsocket lodge No. 10  I. O. O. F., Washington lodge No. 1269 Knights of Honor, and Smith Post No. 9 G. A. R., all of Woonsocket. He worships with the congregation of the Universalist  Church.   Mr. Grant was married, in 1865, to Miss Ellen F. Rand, daughter of Franklin Rand of Pawtucket ; they have five children: Harriet A., wife of James E. Pratt of Woonsocket: George F , Edwin S , Ellen F. and William H. Grant. Biographie Index

The information on Trails to the Past © Copyright   may be used in personal family history research, with source citation. The pages in entirety may not be duplicated for publication in any fashion without the permission of the owner. Commercial use of any material on this site is not permitted.  Please respect the wishes of those who have contributed their time and efforts to make this free site possible.~Thank you!