SAYLES, Frederic Clark, manufacturer, and first Mayor of Pawtucket, was born in Pawtucket, July 17, 1835, son of Clark and Mary Ann (Olney) Sayles.   On both sides he is a descendant, through six distinct lines, of the founder of Rhode Island, his ancestor, John Sayles, having married a daughter of Roger Williams; and his ancestry is also traced back to Governor Joseph Jenks, the founder of Pawtucket in 1655.   His early education was acquired in the public schools of Pawtucket, and for several winters, beginning in 1840, in the schools of Savannah, Ga., where his father was then engaged in a wholesale lumber business. Afterward he attended the University grammar school in Providence, and a course at the Providence Conference Seminary in East Greenwich, from which institution he graduated in 1853.   Upon leaving school he at once entered the Moshassuck Bleachery at Saylesville, R. I., of which his brother William F. was the owner and manager, his first duties consisting of sweeping the floors, invoicing goods and performing general minor services for a compensation of five shillings a day.   Naturally bright, energetic and ambitious, he entered upon this start on active life with a determination to equip himself for a successful career, and for many years following he applied himself rigidly and persistently to studying and mastering every department of the establishment, familiarizing himself with the machinery and processes employed, and becoming acquainted with all the intricate methods and multitudinous details of the business. In 1863 he was admitted into partnership with his brother, under the firm name of W. F. & F. C. Sayles, since which time the business has increased and expanded, until the Mochassuck Bleachery long since became noted as the largest and best equipped establishment of its kind in the world. In other respects, as well, it is a model industrial institution, for the handsome village of more than three thousand people that has grown up around the works is one of the most peaceful, contented, thrifty and enterprising manufacturing communities in New England. Mr. Sayles is also similarly interested, and to a like extent, in the Lorraine Mills, and Glenlyon Dye Works, in which he was likewise associated with his brother until the latter's death, and is President of the Moshassuck Valley Railroad. The Lorraine Mills, also situated in the Moshassuck Valley, are of great repute both in this country and abroad, producing by the best of skill and machinery a high grade of French cassimeres that has challenged comparison with the finest products in this line of foreign manufacture. Mr. Sayles is also a Director in the Slater National Bank of Pawtucket and the Merchants' National Bank of Providence, a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Franklin Savings Bank of Pawtucket, and is prominently identified with other business and financial corporations and institutions of Pawtucket and Providence. He was the first signer of the call which resulted in the formation of the Pawtucket Business Men's Association, and was chosen first President of that body, serving in that capacity four successive years. In 1886, when Pawtucket became a city, Mr. Sayles was induced for the first time to enter public life. Although always an ardent Republican, he had hitherto declined all appeals to become a candidate for political honors, because of the large and constantly increasing business interests that demanded his un-divided time and attention. But the new city was desirous of starting out with a business administration of its affairs which should prove a shining example to its successors, and the popular demand for Mr. Sayles to become its executive head was so urgent that he consented to become a candidate and was elected the city's first Mayor. He was re-elected the following year, but at the end of his second term declined to become again a candidate, as his public duties were beginning to make too serious encroachments upon his private business.  His term of service was characterized by the same progressive ideas, keen methods and sound principles that had marked his private business career, and the young city gained from his administration.  as was expected, a prestige among municipal governments and an impetus in the direction of modern progress and development that has proved far reaching and in the highest degree beneficial. Mr.  Sayles has also been interested in military affairs, and at one time served as Major in the Pawtucket Light Guard, an organization that in war time sent a large number of men into the field. He has traveled quite extensively abroad, principally for recuperation from the effect of too close and continued application to exacting business cares and labors, but always in such trips combining health-seeking with both business and pleasure. His home is on East Avenue, in the suburbs of Pawtucket, where he has an elegant residence, Bryn Mawr, adorned with many interesting and beautiful works of art gathered in his foreign travels, and extensive grounds and stables well stocked with some of the finest-bred horses and cattle in the country. He was married, October 16, 1861, to Miss Deborah Cook Wilcox, daughter of Robert and Deborah (Cook) Wilcox, of Pawtucket, and whose grand-father, Thomas Wilcox, was a soldier of the Revolution, and one of the daring party of forty-one, led by Colonel William Barton, that captured General Richard Prescott on the island of Rhode Island, July 10, 1778 ; they have had five children : Carrie Minerva (Mrs. Frederick William Hollis), Frederic Clark, Benjamin Paris (deceased), Robert Wilcox and Deborah Wilcox Sayles. Biograhie Index

SHEAHAN, Dennis Harvey, lawyer, Providence, was born in Providence, of Irish ancestry.  When eight years old he was placed at work, beginning the active duties of life at that early age.  Fitting himself for admission to the Providence high school in the old Front street evening school, he entered the classical department of the former in 1881, and graduated in 1885. In the fall of that year he entered Brown University, and graduated there from in 1889, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and delivering the address to under-graduates. His professional studies were completed in the law office of Walter B. Vincent, Esq., and at the Law School of the University of Virginia. He was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar February 20, 1892, and subsequently to the United States Court.  Mr. Sheahan has served three years as a member of the City Council of Providence from Ward Three, and as Clerk of the Rhode Island House of Representatives for three years. He was also Secretary of the Democratic City Committee for two years.  He was married, June 25, 1894, to Miss Mary A. C.  McDonnell, of Wickford, a teacher in the Wickford Academy; they have one child. Biograhie Index

SHEDD, Joel Herbert, City Engineer of Providence, was born in Pepperell, Mass., May 31, 1834, son of Joel and Eliza (Edson) Sbedd. He was educated in the public schools of Massachusetts, in the Bridgewater Academy, and by private instructors.  His professional education began in 1850 with a three years course in civil engineering in the office of a prominent civil engineer in Boston. His first work as an independent engineer was in railroad location and construction in Indiana. He returned to Boston in 1856 and opened an office, making a specialty of drainage and of hydraulic and sanitary engineering. In 1860 he was appointed by Governor John A. Andrew a Commissioner for Massachusetts on the Concord and Sudbury rivers. He designed many important waterworks and sewerage systems for cities and towns in Massachusetts. In 1866 he was invited to Providence to make an examination in regard to a public water supply, on which work he was engaged for two years.   He was also employed to design a plan of sewerage for the Brook-street district, which was the first step in a comprehensive plan for the entire city. Removing to Providence in 1869, where he has since resided, he began, as Chief Engineer, the construction of the waterworks, which were put in partial operation November 18, 1771, though construction continued until 1877. In 1874 he reported a general sewerage plan for the entire city, which is still under construction, and for a time he was engaged in the construction of the waterworks and sewers conjointly. Mr. Shedd was elected a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1869, and was chairman of its sub-committee on sewerage and sanitary engineering at the World's Fair in Philadelphia in 1876. In 1877, the main work of construction of the Providence waterworks being completed, he resigned his position and resumed general practice, opening an office in Providence in addition to the office which was still retained in Boston. In 1878 he spent some time in Europe in the study of many important engineering works, especially those of irrigation and sewage disposal. He was appointed Chairman of the State Harbor Commission in 1876 and has held that position to the present time. He designed an extensive system of harbor improvement which was executed by the United States government.   Mr. Shedd was chairman of the Rhode Island section of the joint commission for deter-mining the state boundary between Rhode Island and Connecticut, and also chairman of the joint commission of those states for establishing encroachment lines in Pawcatuck River and Little Nanagansett Bay. He was among the founders of the Providence Commercial Club and is a member of the Board of Trade, also of the Rhode Island Historical Society, the New England Meteorological Society, the New England Water Works Association, the Worcester County Society of Civil Engineers and various other organizations. He was Commissioner from Rhode Island to The World's Fair in Paris in 1878. He holds the degree of A. M., conferred by Brown University. Mr. Shedd accepted the position of City Engineer of the city of Providence on May 1, 1890, which he still holds, and is engaged in completing the construction of his system of sewerage. Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography has the following in regard to Mr. Shedd: " He has executed many engineering works in the cities of the New England and the Middle States, as well as for the United States government and the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The most important single work of engineering that he has designed and executed is the Providence water-works, costing $4,500,000. Every element of these works was studied fundamentally, and nothing was copied. They have been much referred to, and have a European reputation. Mr. Shedd has probably done more to improve the quality of American hydraulic cements than any other engineer, both by the rigidity of his demands and by his careful testing of the material. He has been frequently called on to testify on engineering matters in court, and he has contributed largely to professional journals.  Among his articles are the sections on ' Rain and Drainage' in French's ' Farm Drainage ' (New York 1859) ; "Essay on Drainage' (Boston 1859); and reports on 'Ventilation' (1864) and 'Sewerage' (1874-84). The latter include reports to nearly all of the principal cities of New England." Mr. Shedd was married, in 1856, to Miss Julia A. Clark of Newport, Me.; their children are : Charles Elmer, a civil engineer, who died in 1892 ; Edward Whitten, a civil engineer, and Mary Isabella Shedd. Biograhie Index

SMITH, Albert Waterman, wool merchant, Providence, was born in Johnston, R. I., October 7, 1855, son of Olney Latham and Maria Jeanette (Paine) Smith.   His paternal ancestors were residents of Smithfield, R. I., as early as the year 1700; and on the maternal side he is a descendant of the well-known Hoyle family who came from England about the middle of the eighteenth century and became large landholders in the western part of Providence, in the neighborhood of the Hoyle Tavern on Broad street. His early education was obtained in the public schools, which he left at the age of fourteen to acquire at a commercial college in Providence the rudiments and methods of general business. After leaving business college he entered the employ of the Collins Line of Steam-ships, making several voyages to Liverpool on the steamship Baltic, Captain Joseph J. Comstock, until about 1859, when he abandoned sea life, and for two years following was engaged in various pursuits.  In 1861 he entered the cotton and wool business in Providence, in which he continued until the close of the war, when he took up the wool business separately, in which he has ever since been actively engaged. In 1873 he bought the Duncan Homestead, an estate comprising some four acres situated on the brow of Smith's Hill in Providence, and in 1876 converted some of the buildings into ware-houses for business purposes, where he has since carried on an extensive and prosperous business, retaining the large and fine old mansion as a residence.   Mr. Smith is Vice-President of the Fourth National Bank of Providence, an active member of the Providence Board of Trade, and prominent in the Masonic Lodge and other fraternal societies.  He is also a member of the Hope, Squantum and Athletic clubs of Providence, and of the First Light Infantry Veteran Association. In politics he is a Republican, but excepting for one term in the City Council he has never been in public life. Mr.  Smith was married, November 22, 1865, to Miss Emma C. Merrill of New York city; they have one son and two daughters: Arthur Blakeley, Stella Merrill and Florence Marston Smith. Biograhie Index

TILLINGHAST, James, member of the Rhode Island bar, was born in Providence, July 22, 1828, son of Charles Foster and Lusanna (Richmond) Tillinghast.   He is a descendant of Pardon Tillinghast, who was contemporary with Roger Williams and was the original ancestor of the Tillinghast family in the United States. Among his paternal ancestry were also Stephen Hopkins, Colonial Governor and signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Theodore Foster, one of the first Rhode Island Senators in Congress. His ancestors on the maternal side, the Richmonds, were among the earliest settlers at Seaconnet, now Little Compton, R. I. He acquired his early education in the grammar and high schools of Providence, and received his collegiate training at Brown University, from which he graduated in 1849. Adopting the law as a profession, he was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court at Providence, September 22, 1851, and immediately became associated in active practice with his father and the late Chief Justice Bradley, in their copartner ship of Tillinghast & Bradley.   He remained in this connection until Mr. Bradley withdrew in 1858, and afterwards continued practice with his father until the death of the latter in August 1864.   The earliest important case which Mr. Tillinghast especially originated was that of Taylor & Company vs. Place, in 1856, by which he took to the Supreme Court the question of the constitutional power of the General Assembly to grant new trials - a case which at the time caused much discussion throughout the state, and its decision established the independence of the courts, and put an end to the legislative exercise of judicial powers, which  had  always prevailed under the charter, and had to that time been continued under the state constitution of 1842.   For over forty years Mr. Tillinghast has held a distinguished place among the most honored leaders of the Providence Bar. He is universally known as a lawyer of sterling character and high attainments, and as a citizen of unimpeachable integrity and of broad and liberal views.   Although public spirited and deeply interested in all matters concerning the public welfare, he never has had the inclination to seek nor could find the time to hold public office, devoting all of his working energies to the practice and perpetual study of his profession.    His practice has been extensive in all branches, in both the state and federal courts, with especial attention to equity cases and questions of corporation law. Among the most important incidents of his professional career was that as one of the four associate counsel of the A. & W. Sprague Manufacturing Company, and of its trustee in the litigation which grew out of the company's failure in 1873, and which continued during the subsequent fourteen or fifteen years.  Mr. Tillinghast resides in Providence. He was married, May 26, 1857, to Miss Sarah Benson Anthony, daughter of Henry and Charlotte Benson Anthony; they have had six children: William Richmond, Henry Anthony, Stephen Hopkins, Theodore Foster, Charles Foster and Charlotte Lusanne Tillinghast. Biograhie Index

TURCK, Joseph Abram, manufacturer of patterns and models, Providence, was born in Camden, N. Y., August 1, 1870, son of Dr. Joseph H. and Mary C (Spellman) Turck, the former a native of Syracuse, N. Y., and the latter of Providence, R. I.  His American ancestors were born in Rhode Island five generations back, and his great-great-grand-father, Thomas Spellman, was an officer in the ship Constitution during the Revolutionary war. He received his early education in private and public schools in Providence, and in 1883, at the age of thirteen, was apprenticed to learn the machinist trade. In 1887, on receiving an offer from the Granger Foundry & Machine Company, he decided to learn pattern and model making. After serving his apprenticeship in this branch of mechanics he worked in various pattern shops throughout the city, and was foreman at the works of the Household Sewing Machine Company for two years, when he was tendered and accepted an offer from F. A.  Chase & Company, mill furnishers, to start a factory for the manufacture of the Chase Wood-Rim Pulley.  Accordingly he designed and invented special machinery for the manufacture of wood-rim pulleys.  Having a desire to engage in business for himself, in 1893 he started in the manufacture of patterns and models in a well equipped shop at 220 Aborn street, in which he has since continued, under the name of The Aborn Street Pattern & Model Works.  Mr. Turck is a natural mechanic, having been awarded two diplomas for models made and exhibited at the Rhode Island State Fair when twelve years of age. Biograhie Index

WEBSTER, George Eldridge, Clerk of the Common Pleas Division of the Supreme Court of Providence County, was born in Lowell, Mass., July 16, 1843, son of Clement and Catherine Packer (Littlefield) Webster.   His early education was acquired in the public schools of Providence, and after graduating from the high school he entered the printing office of the Providence Post, of which journal his father was the editor from its start until his death in 1864. Through his associations with the office during his boyhood, George had become quite an adept at typesetting, and in his regular employment following school graduation he familiarized himself with all the departments of the newspaper printing and publishing business. At the age of twenty-one, soon after his father's decease, he secured an engagement as Private Secretary to Senator William Sprague, and went to Washington, where he was appointed Clerk to the Senate Committee on Manufactures, and served in that capacity through the regular session of Congress and the special session following. From March 1865 until his resignation in 1871 he was connected with the Pension Office, occupying successively the positions of Chief Clerk, Special Service Agent, Chief of the Branch Office, Secret Service Agent, and Pension Agent at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, where he held a special commission under President Grant, being sent there to investigate the Wright Indian Frauds matter.  While in Washington he studied law, graduated with honors from the Columbian I-aw College, and was admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia.  He left Washington in the fall of 1871 with the purpose of establishing himself in practice in Chicago, but three days after his arrival in the Western metropolis occurred the great fire which laid the greater part of the city in ashes.   Returning to Providence, he edited for a period the Providence Herald, which had succeeded the old Post, and in 1875 was elected Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Providence county, afterwards, upon re-organization, the Common Pleas Division of the Supreme Court, which position he has held uninterruptedly to the present time, his re-elections having been unanimous with the exception of a single year.   Mr. Webster, in 1878, took up his residence in East Providence, and has since represented that town on the commissions which introduced water service and constructed the Seekonk River Bridge and Town Hall, besides serving in various other official capacities.   He was married, February 8, 1884, to Miss Mary Josephine Gale, of Providence ; they have one daughter: Grace Gale, born   in Washington in 1868, now the wife of George S. Baker, of Providence. Biograhie Index

WHITE, Reverend Charles J., pastor of the Universalist Church of Woonsocket, was born in Boston, Mass., May 22, 1836, son of Charles and Amanda (Kimball) White.   He received his education at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass., and Tufts College, Medford, Mass., from which last named institution he graduated in 1858. Shortly after graduation he became Principal of the Milford High School, at Milford, Mass., where he remained two years, when he resigned to accept a position as cashier in the mercantile house of B. D. Godfrey & Co., Boston.   In his leisure hours, while engaged in commercial business, he studied theology under the tuition of Professor Charles H. Leonard, of Tufts Divinity School, and subsequently entered the ministry of the Universalist Church.   He was ordained in 1864, and began his labors in East Boston, where, under his ministry, a parish was established and a church edifice erected.   In 1870 he was led to accept a call to the Universalist pulpit in Woonsocket, to fill the vacancy resulting from the death of the Reverend John Boyden.   He entered upon the duties February 1, 1871, and the pastoral relations then established remain still unbroken. Rev. Mr. White was married, August 7, 1860, to Miss Harriet Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Obed and Harriet E. Daniels, of Milford, Mass.; they have had five children : Charles Obed, Hattie May, Alphonso Fayette, William Irving (deceased) and Paul Maurice White. Biograhie Index

WHITTEN, William Wilberforce, founder of the W. W. Whitten Cycle Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of bicycles and dealers in sporting goods. Providence, was born in Waterboro, Me., January 12, 1861, son of William and Abbie (Hodgdon) Whitten. On the paternal side he is of English descent, as also in one branch of his maternal ancestry, both families having come to this country some time in the last century and settled in the vicinity at Waterboro; his mother's ancestors on one side of the house were Scotch, who came over many years ago and married into American families.  He acquired his early education in the public schools of Wakefield, Mass., being a graduate of the high school of that place, and now a member of its Alumni Association. He prepared for college at Coburn Classical Institute, Waterville, Me., and entered Colby University, studying there two years, and two years at Brown University, from which institution he graduated in June 1886. He worked his way through college, teaching school and working at various employments during vacations. Immediately following graduation he opened up for himself in Providence the business in which he has since been engaged. Mr. Whitten had been prominent in college athletics, had played on the Colby ball team and been a member of the Brown boat crew. When a student at Brown he conceived the idea of his present business, and during his senior year laid the plans which after graduation he matured and carried into practical effect. Being athletically inclined and actively interested in college sports, his ideas of business turned in this direction, and as there was no distinctive sporting-goods house in Providence at that time, and no bicycle house of any kind, he foresaw the advantages open to such a house in a city of that size, the home of a large and rapidly growing university and numerous preparatory and technical schools.   The wisdom of Mr. Whitten's views were well borne out by the success of the business he established with his associates under the name of the W. W. Whitten Cycle Manufacturing Company. At first only a retail business was carried on, but in 1887 a wholesale department was established, and bicycle parts and supplies from England were imported and sold to the trade. There were few if any bicycle supply houses in the country at that time, and many large and prosperous manufacturers of today were greatly assisted in the early years of their development by the facilities afforded by this enterprising Providence house.   In 1893 the Whitten Company began the manufacture of bicycles and bicycle parts at Elmwood. and this branch of their business has been increased and its facilities extended year by year.   In addition to the goods of their own manufacture, the company are large retail dealers and jobbers of bicycles, athletic and sporting goods of every description, besides having the agency for some of the standard and leading bicycles of the world.   Mr. Whitten was the prime mover in starting the Rhode Island Wheelmen, the largest cycling club in Providence, was first Vice-President and has held various minor offices and committee-ships since.   He has been a member of the League of American Wheelmen since 1886 and has been Local Consul of the district since 1893.   He is a member of the National Board of Trade of Cycle Manufacturers, and is President of the Providence Cycle Dealers' Association, having held that office since 1892.   He is also a member of the Rhode Island Business Men's Association, of Harmony Lodge of Masons, the Providence Athletic Association and the Delta Kappa Epsilon college fraternity.  In politics he is a Republican.   Mr. Whitten resides in Cranston, a suburb of Providence, where he built a fine residence for himself in 1892.   He was married, January 12, 18S4, to Miss Adelaide Davis of Waterville, Me.; they have two children: Delora Davis and Carl Edmund Whitten. Biograhie Index

WORK, Godfrey, merchant and financier, of Providence, was born in Eastford, Conn., April 27, 1806, and died in Providence November 29, 1895.  He was the son of Samuel and Patty (Ward) Work.  The name was originally Wark, but was changed to Work by the members of the family soon after coming to this country. The Work family originated in Scotland, where it has been traced, clearly, to the time of Cromwell. They emigrated to Ireland, where they were merchants and ship owners, and engaged in the East India Trade.  Thence they emigrated to America and settled in Eastford, Conn., where for generations they were large land owners and prominent and influential men.   His maternal grandfather, Joel Ward, settled in Westford, Conn., where he owned extensive tracts of land, and was a member of the Legislature and a Major in the Army of the Revolution. His father, Samuel Work, was a farmer of Eastford, Conn. Godfrey attended the town schools, and afterward studied with the Rev. Reuben Torrey for four years, to prepare for college. It was his first intention to study law, but deciding to follow a business career, he gave up his contemplated college course, and in 1826, took a clerkship with Samuel W. Wheeler, a retail grocer in Providence, with whom he served an apprenticeship of four years, as was customary at that time. He then entered the employ of Gould & Hunt, wholesale grocers, and when this partnership was dissolved remained with John Gould, who continued the business, until his health failed and he returned to his home in East-ford, remaining there about a year, then returned to Providence and took charge of the business of Samuel W. Wheeler, his old employer, who had accepted the position of Assistant Postmaster of Providence, continuing in this relation about a year, when he again returned to Eastford and engaged in manufacturing woolen goods. This was in 1832, and he carried on the business with success until 1837, when the great panic and consequent demoralization of manufacturing interests caused him to close up the factory.   He then went west to Carlinville, 111., driving the entire distance, a journey of sixty-five days. While residing in the West, the death of his wife took place, and, although successful there, desiring to educate his children in the East, he returned to Providence in 1845, went into the wholesale grocery business. The following year he took in as partner Silas B. Whitford, and under the firm name of Work & Whitford continued until 1852, when the partnership was dissolved and he associated with him Frederick P. Shaw of New Bedford, under the name of Work, Shaw & Company. This association continued about a year, when the firm was dissolved, and Mr.  Work then (1854) took his brother Harrison G. into partnership under the name of G. & H. Work, which association continued until 1875, when the senior partner, and subject of this sketch, retired from the business. After his retirement from trade, and a trip across the Isthmus, in his seventieth year, Mr.  Work took up his residence in Edgewood, R. I., and invested his money in real estate and mortgages, actively attending to the details of his business to the day of his death. In all his business career he showed himself possessed of exceptional abilities as a financier, although he preferred the gradual gains of a modest, well-conducted business to the unsafe if more rapid methods of speculation. He was a great reader and student of history and philosophy, and, when not engrossed with the cares of business, was a fluent and interesting conversationalist. He had traveled extensively in this country, both before and after the introduction of railroads; he went on business all through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, during the " thirties," and knew personally many of the prominent business men and politicians of those states. He was always a Democrat, but was never active in politics. Mr.  Work was married, January 1836, in Mansfield, Conn., to Miss Almira Thomas; they had two children : William Ellery Work, who died in 1862, and Martha N., now the wife of General Z. R. Bliss, U. S. Army. Biograhie Index

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