Trails to the Past

Kent County, Rhode Island Biographies

Personal Paragraphs of Warwick

R - S

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

Horatio A. Remington was born in Cranston, R. I., in 1830. His father, Henry A. Remington, was a son of Captain Charles Remington, who came from England and died in 1812. Henry A. Remington was a mechanic, but in 1842 he settled on a farm. Six years later the son, Horatio A., left home to learn the machinist's trade. After working at his trade for about seventeen years he in 1866 became junior partner with S. Colvin & Co., at River Point, in the manufacture of looms. His wife was Martha A. Knight. They have two sons : Charles Banks, now an Academy student, and Edgar Wilson, M.D., of Providence.

Benjamin F. Remington (deceased) was born in 1806, and was married in 1831 to Sarah A., daughter of Samuel Tillinghast, son of Stephen, son of Stukely, son of Pardon, son of John, son of Philip, son of Pardon Tillinghast, who was born in England and came to this country in 1645. Mr. Remington was a son of Thomas, whose father, Benjamin, was a son of Thomas Remington. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin F. Remington had four children: Abbie E., Thomas T., Benjamin F, Jr., and James H. Mrs. Remington survives her husband.

William G. Roelker was born in Cincinnati in 1854. He has resided in Warwick since 1873 at the homestead of his maternal grandfather, the late Lieutenant-Governor William Greene. Before taking up his residence in Warwick he spent three years abroad at Geneva and Berlin to complete his education. He graduated at Harvard law school in 1875, and was admitted to the Rhode Island bar the following year. His practice is in Providence.

Joseph Shaw was born in 1816 at Carver, Mass. In November, 1839, he came to Natick as carriage maker for Covill & Wright. He established a carriage business of his own in 1840, in which Moses Wightman was subsequently a partner. Mr. Shaw was for eight years employed in the machine shop of General Christopher Rhodes' factory at Natick. While the Methodist society was maintained here Mr. Shaw was an official member. His wife was Harriet K. Underwood, of Kingston Hill. Their children are : Lucy J. F. (Mrs. John C. Potter), Joseph A. and Irving U., who is a carriage painter.

Alfred Sherman was born in 1839. His father was Amos Sherman, a boss spinner, in which business Alfred's early days were passed. Amos Sherman was a son of Elisha Sherman. Alfred worked fourteen years for Almoran Burvee, who ran a livery business at Natick for more than forty years. Mr. Sherman began a livery business at Natick about twenty years since, and in 1874 he entered into his present business as general merchant.

Nathan A. Sisson was born in North Kingstown in 1843. His father John Sisson, born in Newport, was at different times a resident of Kent county. He died in West Greenwich, where he was a farmer. Mr. N. A. Sisson served three years in the civil war with the Second regiment, in which he was a non-commissioned officer. In 1867 he came first to Phenix as overseer in spinning, having learned this trade before entering the army. In 1873 he went to Fall River as overseer in the "King Philip "mill, where he stayed until1876. In 1878 he was overseer at Harris, and in 1879 at Pawtuxet. In November, 1879, he came to Phenix as superintendent for the Hope Manufacturing Company.

William V. Slocum was born in Phenix in 1837. His father Edward Slocum, still living, is over 80 years of age. William's grandfather, Edward Slocum, lived in Newport and was one of seven brothers who were sea captains. Mr. Slocum received his education in the public schools here and in the River Point Classical Seminary, from which he graduated in 1857. He began teaching in the winter seasons when but sixteen years old and continued for eight years. He was principal of the public school in East Greenwich one winter, of the public school in Mannehawken, N. J., one year, of the Phenix school two years, and subsequently twelve other years at Phenix. He taught also at Crompton and is now principal of the River Point school. He was bookkeeper for the Hope Company nine years and was at the same time for two years superintendent of town schools. His wife is a daughter of Henry Johnson. They have one son, Edward L. Slocum, who is now with General William R. Walker, an architect in Providence.

William H. Snell was born in Phenix in 1823. He is a son of Henry and a grandson of Thomas Snell, who was a farmer of Scituate. Henry Snell became a resident of Phenix before 1820. He was a farmer and teamster and did the hauling for the old Roger William's Mill. William H. does a teaming business in connection with his livery business. His party wagon is the finest van this side of Providence. His wife is Susan M. Perkins, of Connecticut. They have one daughter, Mary E. Snell. Politically Mr. Snell has always been a republican.

Pardon Spencer, born 1803, is a son of Walter Spencer, whose father Benjamin, was a son of Walter and grandson of Benjamin Spencer. This branch of the Spencer family came through Nova Scotia to the United States prior to the war of the revolution. Pardon Spencer's first wife was Sybil Spencer. Their children were : Hannah A. (Mrs. Benjamin N. Briggs), of Providence; Abram Spencer, of Phenix; William I., of Hopkinton, and Eben (deceased). The present Mrs. Spencer is Mary A., the youngest and only surviving child of Samuel Briggs, of Apponaug.

Thomas Spencer was born in Providence in 1851. His father, Arnold W. Spencer, who died in 1853, was a son of Christopher, an early merchant at Old Warwick, and grandson of William and Waity Spencer, formerly of North Kingstown. In 1872 Thomas Spencer bought a small store then standing on the northwest corner at Old Warwick, of J. F. Woodmansee. In 1874 Mr. Spencer erected his present building, the Old Warwick post office. Here he has added to his general merchandise business a coal, wood and ice business. Mr. Spencer was a member of the town council two years, and in the assembly in 1887-8. He has been president of the Warwick League two years, and in 1888 was a delegate to the democratic national convention at St. Louis.

Thomas J. Spencer, retired farmer at Apponaug, was born in 1810. His father, Gideon Spencer, was a son of Gideon Spencer, who was born in 1742, and lived in East Greenwich. Mrs. Thomas J. Spencer (Caroline Remington), who died in 1853, left two sons and four daughters, of whom one son is deceased. The other son is the well known dentist of Providence, Gideon Spencer. Thomas J. Spencer's father in 1833 originated a formula for a vegetable pill, the manufacture of which Mr. Spencer has made a part of his business for fifty years. He has been on the town school committee since the public school system was organized in this town. On his farm is the grave of Thomas Remington, who died in 1710.

William Spencer was born in 1817. His father, Christopher Spencer, was a son of William and Waity Spencer, of North Kingstown, and a grandson of Thomas Spencer. Christopher Spencer was one of the ten senators under the old charter, and was president of the Warwick town council. He died in 1872. In 1831 William Spencer went as a clerk to Providence. In 1837 he bought a grocery business of William L. Field. He sold this site in 1866 and bought a building opposite Narragansett Hotel, where he is still carrying on the same business he began fifty years ago. He is the only survivor here of the business men of that time. His wife, Penelope, is a daughter of John Tiffany, of Crompton, R. I.

George W. Spencer Jr. is a son of George W. Spencer, who is a brother of William Spencer above mentioned. He was born in Providence, but was reared at Old Warwick. He graduated at the State Normal School in 1884, and at the Poughkeepsie Commercial College in 1885. The same year, having had experience as a teacher in commercial schools, he founded the well known Spencerian Business College at Providence. In Warwick, where he holds a residence, he is noble grand of the Apponaug Lodge of Odd Fellows. His father, now retired, represented Warwick at one time in the state legislature.

Nathaniel T. Spink, of Providence, is a son of Albert Spink, of North Kingstown. He married a daughter of Peleg C. Congdon. In 1857, when he was twenty-three years of age, he went to Providence as a clerk. From 1861 to 1863 he was in business in Boston, and after a few years spent as a commercial traveler, he became, some twelve years since, the successor of a firm in which he had been successively an employee and a partner, engaged in the hat, cap and furnishing business.

William M. Spink was born in 1826. His father, John D. Spink, was a brother of Salma M. Spink, now a resident of North Kingstown. John D. was for some years in business at Wickford, a member of the firm of Waite & Spink. He removed to Natick in 1840, where he was a merchant for twenty years. William M. Spink began mill work at Natick in 1840. He became an expert, and was made mill superintendent for the Spragues in May, 1864. This relation to the Natick mills has continued to the present time, while the mills have become the most important plant of the Knight system. Mrs. Spink is Dorcas P., daughter of Lyman and granddaughter of Ebenezer Barney, of Coventry. Their only child is Gertrude Spink.

John R. Stafford was born in 1814. He was employed thirty years in the Natick mill, and was clerk at Apponaug, where he was subsequently in business as partner with Henry Capron, and later with Edmond Budlong. His father, Thomas Stafford, was a seafaring man. His grandfather was also named Thomas. Mrs. John Raymond Stafford is Mary, daughter of Benjamin Nichols, of North Kingstown. She is the only survivor of eight children.

Lorey Stafford was born March 4th, 1832. His father, Lorey, also a farmer, was a son of Edward and grandson of Stukely Stafford. The first of the Stafford family here were three men who came from England, one settling near Rocky Point, one near The Buttonwoods, and one, the ancestor of Stukely Stafford, settled on the Warwick town line, north of the present village of Pontiac. Amos Stafford and Thomas Stafford were a generation older than Stukely Stafford. Lorey Stafford, now living at Pontiac, is the only survivor of his generation. His wife (deceased) was from Vermont. Their only child is Walter E. Stafford.

Stephen Dexter Stone was born in 1840. His wife is Elizabeth H. Burgess. They have six children living: Charles L. Stone, Annie G. (Mrs. Charles H. Edwards), Maria L., Hattie E., Medora and Gertrude. Mr. Stone is a farmer on Warwick Plains, where he has a valuable fruit and vegetable farm of thirty-six acres. The family is descended from Hugh Stone, who came probably from Wales to this country between 1655 and 1665. He was living in Warwick in 1669, when his oldest son, Hugh, was born. Another of his sons, John, was the father of William, who was the father of Jabez, who was the father of Daniel, who was the father of Daniel J. Stone, born 1819, and still living here with his son, Stephen D., who is of the seventh generation in direct descent from the emigrant.

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