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CHAPTER VII

THE COMMERCIAL GROWTH OF PROVIDENCE.
1711-1762

History is imbedded in chronology; though dates are more significant of superficial events than of the deeper causes which produced those events. Even the death of a king or a change of dynasty is but a way-mark indicating the origin of changes in government. The course of events proceeds from subtle causes, making changes on the surface of affairs which we can only follow through dates.

It is convenient to fix the passing of the plantation from agriculture to commerce at the coming of the ship-builder, Nathaniel Browne, in 1711, though the trade which should employ his prospective vessels had been long growing. Pardon Tillinghast was granted land January 27, 1679-80,¹ opposite his dwelling place, twenty feet above high-water mark for a store and wharf. This was below the present Power Street and across the Towne Streete, being the virtual shore of the Great Salt River. The “town wharf” was subsequently established a little farther north. It is hard to believe that a ton of tobacco could be exported so early as 1652. But the record² in two places states that Wm. Almy shipped this quantity to Newfoundland. Placing the wharf was a momentous step, for it was to wake up the torpid, inert planters and send their produce down the Salt current into Neptune’s domain. The voyagers halted at the West Indies, often went on to Gibraltar and ultimately rounded the

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great southern capes, seeking the wealth of Ormus and of Ind.

The bold, farseeing cooper, Tillinghast, was only making a way-mark, as has been described. For New England commerce³ showed many signs of increasing activity, profiting largely—and not losing, as is often stated—by the Navigation Acts of Charles II., which checked the Dutch. In Newport a naval office was opened in 1682. Salisbury on the Merrimac became a port of entry in 1684. Ipswich escaped the leading-strings of Salem and got its port in 1685. All around our Bay at Bristol and Wickford as well as at Newport, transport was seeking convenient carriage by water, and venturing out into the larger sea.

The coming of Gideon Crawford, a trained Scotch merchant, in 1687, gave stability and due direction to the rising trade. The movement toward commerce was so zealous that Thomas Olney tried to check the granting of land for wharf lots about the end of the century. However, the internal life of the plantation had not been much affected by the outward commerce. For the water-power on the Moshassuck, granted in 1655, had not been all employed in 1705. Then a lot for a saw-mill was assigned to Richard Arnold.⁴

The population of the colony trebled itself in the first quarter of the eighteenth century. But the whole economy of life in the plantation was stimulated and developed by the ship-building instituted in 1711. A new industry applying native material and employing a variety of workmen increased the wealth and stimulated the intelligence of a community in equal proportions. It was said that the “intolerance of Massachusetts” drove Nathaniel

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Browne⁵ from Rehoboth. January 28, 1711, the town granted him one-half an acre on “Waybosset Neck on salt water,” so long as he shall use it for building vessels. He was an Anglican and the ground was afterward made the site of King’s, now St. John’s Church. He had sufficient means as well as skill, and built sloops and schooners up to sixty tons in size. These vessels carried horses as well as other farm-produce, with timber, staves and hoop poles to the West Indies. The common lands were now to afford exports as well as pasturage. It will be observed that the early planters lack the enterprising element bred in the fisheries of Massachusetts.

Great interest attaches to pioneers in all new movements in civilization. When Gideon Crawford settled in the little farming hamlet of 1687 he married ffreelove Fenner, a daughter of Arthur Fenner, the strongest friend of Roger Williams and the granddaughter of Wm. Harris, his strongest opponent. Such stock gave heredity and fitly endowed the mother of a race of enterprising merchants. Crawford died in 1709, having impressed his methods on the community for about a score of years. To such a wife a good merchant could be literally a good husband. Accordingly, he left his whole property to her for life—after her death to be divided in halves between the sons William and John. She survived her husband five years, carrying forward the business in all its details; and the results justified his prudent confidence. The mother was to elect which son should live with her. If William be chosen, at twenty-one years he was to pay John £100. His daughters Anne and Mary were to receive each £50. whenever married. The whole “moveable” estate (household goods) was given to his wife.

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The personal estate, November 5, 1707,⁶ was £1556.12., not including book debts, of which £775.10. was in “bills and bonds,” £16.9.10. in silver, in shop goods £355.9. Two negroes were valued at £56. Sheep were £13.10.; 2 horses £18.; hogs £3.4. In furniture, the feather bed always was the first choice of rich or poor and 5 good examples with equipment stood at £60.15. Tablecloths and napkins £2. Chairs £4. Pewter and brass £10.17. Books could only muster £2.12., showing that the new merchants and the granddaughter did not read as much as William Harris did, two generations earlier. Plate was valued at £15.11., not equal to the £17. belonging to the wealthy farmer, Stephen Arnold, in 1699.

But the wearing apparel showed the greatest change, as it proceeded in the habit of living. For the time in 1699, £12. was a large outfit for a rich farmer like Stephen Arnold. Eight years later the record shows £20.17. for the merchant as he walked “on change,” and his ways were far from extravagant. In swords, pistols and small arms, he had £10.18.

June 17, 1712,⁷ ffreelove Crawford, the widow’s inventory is set forth. We cannot compare the two estates precisely, but from other sources learn that her management had been very energetic and successful; increasing the property. The personal estate was £947.1., of which £188.4.6. was in shop goods, £642.12. in “bills, bonds and mortgage deeds,” £26.15.6. in paper and silver, £12.17.6. in gold. Clearly, the mercantile business was conducted largely on credit, as considerable evidences of debt appear in nearly all estates of any size.

There is a moderate increase in the plate, £21.5.6. over

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the amount left by her husband. It consisted of a silver “Tankard,” salt seller, 2 porringers and 7 spoons. £34. in three feather beds and outfit; two having been given to John and Mary, the daughter; 5 pewter and 1 basin, 1 “alequart” £2.5.; 5 platters, 5 basons, 10 porringers, 11 plates, 1 alepint, 2 plate rings, 1 alequart and small pewter, altogether £3.19. Evidently the merchants, as well as the farmers, ate from pewter. The utensils at £11.13. were chiefly in brass and copper, with a few in iron. In wooden ware and 6 spoons £6.8.2. For her business and her pleasure, the feminine merchant had five of the “horse kind” at £24.16. Other animals have disappeared.

She gave to her son, Wm. Crawford, her part in the sloop Dolphin. To Wm. and John Crawford 4/8 part of the sloop “now building” by Nathaniel Browne to be finished and rigged by the estate. To Wm. and John £137. each in merchantable shop goods or current money of New England. To her daughter, Ann Carr, £100. in money or goods, and the same to Mary. In wearing apparel the wealthy widow left £47.7. If her widow’s weeds were duly maintained it was done in the spirit of the Quakers, with enforced humility. Like the modest Friends, her costume, if not brilliant, was rich and royal.

At the same date Nathaniel, one of the solid family of Watermans, left £1019.3.7.⁸ in personal estate and a . moderate outfit. His wearing apparel was £12., befitting a proprietor who lived quietly.

A steady-going farmer, Obadiah Browne, rich in lands with £377.0.1. in personal estate September 12, 1716,⁹ had felt the social changes sufficiently to expend £17.5. in dress. Adding a pair of shoe buckles 11s. and eleven

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“black doggs”¹⁰ 6s. we have about as good a wardrobe as the first merchant Crawford allowed himself. For his wife’s apparel, including 2 table cloths, napkins and a child’s “stifen coate,” only £15. was estimated. Observe the contrast with the widow Crawford and the social position of the two dames must have been about the same in the plantation. Two years earlier Benjamin Greene, Jr., a bachelor apparently and something of a “swell,” arrayed himself at a cost of £18., though his personal estate was only £88.17.4. He improved his mind by reading two bibles, a testament and Hodder’s arithmetic, costing 15s.

Browne’s library contained only 1 bible and other books at 11s. 6d. He had a good stock in cattle, £98.5., the cows appraised at £3.10. each, 2 mares £19., 30 loads English hay £30., 16 loads meadow hay £10., 2 linen wheels and 1 old woollen 8s., 1 pair worsted combs 2s. Hemp on stalk 18s., 6 lbs. dressed hemp 5s., 17 lbs. dressed flax 14s. 2d. Flax in Sheaf £1. “Hatchel sum tow geame and feld hemp 9s. 6d.” There was a moderate supply of pewter £3.17.10., including the durable chamberpot at 4s. Brass kettles £4. A table with the inevitable “Joynt Stoole” 12s. and 7 chairs at 10s. But now appears a Looking Glass and hour glass at 4s. Quite often scales for weighing money are found in the inventories; in this case they were appraised at 6s.

Another vocation is represented by Captain John Dexter, Mariner, August 3, 1716,¹¹ in a personal estate of £297.11., with 1599 gallons molasses at 1s. 8d., £133.5., sugar £17.1. and a negro woman and boy appraised at

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£60. His wearing apparel was £10.12 and probably he went where other fashions prevailed, for two wigs, a rare article, appear at £1. A pair of shoe buckles 11s. 8. and two gold rings at £1.0.3. completed the sailor’s adornment. His ten books were estimated at £1.12. and the “English Pilatt” at £1.8.

Occasionally a woman’s + is found in the records of this period. The culture of English descended ladies in the West Indies hardly exceeded that of Rhode Island. In 1719,¹² Agnee King, wife of Thomas, a planter in Barbados, conveys the estate of Joshua Verin in Providence, signing with a +.

As Pardon Tillinghast closes the regime of the seventeenth century, we may note his inventory, February 15, 1717-18,¹³ for our interest in one so much identified with the plantation, rather than for its particular details. The personal estate was £542.4.3. and his sober apparel only £10.19. Beds and bedding £32.7. Table cloths, napkins and towels £2.10. A bell metal mortar 8s. Glass bottles and a glass cup 5s. Bottles are valued in nearly all the households, but seldom a cup of that material, which was to become so useful. “Hatt Paper” and Pillion 12s. In books and 1 silver spoon £1. The cooper preacher took his “learning” direct from the Scriptures and rendered it into wisdom, through discreet intercourse with busy men. Silver plate was coming in slowly. The well-to-do Thomas Fenner had only £1.5.

Negroes appear in many estates, in moderate as well as large fortunes. The women are valued from £10. to £40.; doubtless their use in house service increased the prices. Men are valued generally at £40., in one instance £47.

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The lowest wardrobe recorded was 8s. in an estate of £11.9.7. Samuel Wright, a spinner certainly, a wood-chopper probably, spent in clothing £4.10. out of his £13.12.6.

Flax appears in many of the farmers’ stores, and table linen was spun and woven at home, or in the “shops,” we have noted it found a loom. Mary Borden had wearing apparel at £18.10.6. Beds, etc., £41.7. £5.10. in 7 small table cloths, 14 napkins and 11 towels. Mary Inman spent £21.2. for her wardrobe out of a property of £128.8.1. Books and Looking glass 14s.

The Crawford sons did not long survive father and mother. Captain John died in 1718-19, leaving in personal estate £1614.2.11., in lands £1665.¹⁴ In wearing apparel £41.2.9. he far surpassed his father’s outfit; 2 canes, sword, belt and a pair of pistols added £6.3.6. to the captain’s attire. The books were few. More substantial furniture was coming in. Chest, Drawers and 19 Chairs £9.14. Again, Chest, Drawers and Looking Glass £8.10. “One ovell table and Iron bach, 2 Jappame tables £14.” “Campine” Bedstead and furniture £12. Table linen £3.5. Desk, Pewter, Glass bottles, spoons and pepper box £22. Pewter, “suger,” knives and forks, “salt seller” £9.15. Earthen and glass ware £1.13. Iron ware £9.15. Kitchen ware, earthen and wooden £1.10. Bottles, wine glasses and brandy £4.2. This is the first mention of a wine-glass. Previously drinking vessels of glass were called “cups.” The inevitable “joynt stoole” was not absent. Silver spoons, porringers, cups, pepper boxes and grater £30.10. The porringer, a very convenient dish, was appearing now in silver. It was used constantly for a century, and many Rhode Island families have these heirlooms.

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In tobacco the merchant had £24., a pocket book silver clasp and pencil 10s. One new sloop on the stocks, nearly finished, was valued at £82., 2 boats “as are” £10. Sloop Indian and appurtenances “as is” £210.

August 31, 1720,¹⁵ we find the inventory of Major William Crawford. The estate £3551.19.6. was all personal and larger than his younger brother’s. As the Captain doubled the wardrobe of his plain Scottish father, so the Major surpassed the Captain more than twofold. The militia-officer walked brave, having apparel to the value of £83.15. In plate he was moderate, with 22 oz. in spoons and porringers, 29 oz. 7 dwt. 12 g. in a tankard; the whole at 12s. per oz., £17.12.6. There was 1 oz. 3 dwt. 18 g. in gold—probably plate—at £8. or £9.10. Two plates and 7 porringers were probably in pewter, with 12 “picturs” valued at £1.6. Again 12 “picturs” £2.9. 2 great glasses £10. One great glass £10. A limited supply of books valued with other articles at £13. Perhaps they were merchandise, for they come between dry goods and 3 hhds. tobacco at £7.10. For the first time a valuable “clock and case” appears, appraised with 20 chairs at £27. 5 Chairs separately 18s. 3 negroes, a woman, man and boy, at £120.; an Indian girl’s time £6. Sloop Sarah, boat and appurtenances £400. “All the lumber of all sorts and masts” £136.8.

The household goods of the planters were almost always bequeathed to the widow for life, and to the daughters, after their mother. The daughters received land but seldom, and masculine heirs had a preference generally. We may note some prevailing prices. One-quarter part of the sloop Dolphin’s “cargo and her disbursements” was valued at £60.17.10. A loom and tackling at £2.15. A spinning wheel and 4 pair of cards 14s. A warming

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pan 16s., a luxury fast becoming necessary. Tin ware appears occasionally. In an estate of £495.4.5. personal, we find an outlay of £21. for silver plate. Stephen Arnold, a wealthy landholder with £608.1. personal property, more consistently invested £4.11. in plate—one silver cup—and £20. in books. Thomas Olney was conspicuous in the number of his volumes, though we do not know the quality; there were 55 bound and 23 small and not bound at £14. Solid Resolved Waterman, in this generation an “Ensign,” had “a considerable estate,” the personal being £445.16.1. His library consisted of a Great bible, little bible and several small books at £5.15.6. with a bible and testament “by first wife” at 12s.

We should study the inventory of Captain John Jenckes, June 30, 1721,¹⁶ for it throws light on many customs of the period. Not all the men of affairs could be landholders or merchants, and the Captain managed a small shop. All the physicians were apothecaries then, and made up their own prescriptions. Jenckes kept drugs and the miscellaneous articles pertaining to that trade. Roger Williams prescribed minor remedies for his friends and was obliged to send his own daughter to Boston for medical treatment. There must have been practitioners of some ability in the plantation. Frequently in wills of the seventeenth century, provision was made for an aged person; if needing a “phisitian,” then the expenses were to be borne by the estate. The first physician of record found by Mr. Dorr,¹⁷ was in 1720, when the town voted to Dr. John Jones £1.10. for the cure of Richard Collins. Prudently, the municipality was to pay the money when “he is well.” Soon after this Dr. Jabez Bowen moved from Rehoboth, where better comfort had prevailed in the

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agricultural period. His removal to Providence marks social improvement. He was a skilled physician and an example of those able professional men devoted to public affairs, and who served the colonial communities in all capacities.

Captain Jenckes’ estate in personal was £544.3.10. and there was no farming outfit such as generally belonged to villagers a generation earlier. His apparel at £11.16. was reinforced by a broadcloth suit at £8. and a pair of silver buckles at 12s. A suit of “Duroy, a hat and a grate Coate” at £12. may have been his own clothing or merchandise. A clock at £5. interests us. Phisick books 18s. Bible £1.1. 4 books £1.2. One pair candlesticks 15s., two pair do. 13s. One pair brass snuffers at 5s., the first recorded. One copper coffee pot £1. One tea pot 9s. A knife and fork at 15s. Table knives were used here in the seventeenth century, but forks were not to be had in Boston until after 1700.¹⁸

Such were the personal belongings, while in merchandise there was £60. in “apoticary drigs,” £5 in “Cheriorgiry instruments,” £1.15. in books, £2. in 14 “Roles salve gallepots and drigs.” In fanciful articles 15s. in 2 doz. necklasses, 12s. in six do. and 15s. in silver lace. Chief of all the goods for sale was the first recorded toothbrush, there being one dozen with 600 needles, valued at £1.10. The Captain and his friends could have hardly foreseen the civilizing mission of these bits of bone for the coming two centuries. If dress makes a habit and nine tailors make a man, the incoming of this little utensil is important. The personal mark of an individual is pretty well defined by this symbol of cleanliness.

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Perhaps the clearest evidence of change and enlargement in the community of our plantation is in the new religious movements instituted about this time. The Baptists had tended toward narrowing their basis of fellowship. According to Governor Jenckes, there had been fellowship in the original church with those believing in “the laying on of hands.” These separated under Thomas Olney (probably the Junior). After his death there was probably²⁰ only one church under Elder Pardon Tillinghast. He built the first meeting house on the north side of Smith Street at his own expense about the year 1700. In 1711 he conveyed the house and lot to the church or society. He described the church as “Six Principle Baptists.”

Our century vainly tries to comprehend the dismay and detestation possessing all established order in New England, when outcast Rhode Island was considered. Cotton Mather was not a fool or mere vilifier. A grave and learned scholar, he was only setting forth the ideas of his time. In 1695 he found” a “colluvies of Antinomians, Familists, Anabaptists, Anti-Sabbatarians, Arminians, Socinians, Quakers, Ranters, everything in the world but Roman Catholics and real Christians.”²² Somewhat later in 1718, he had come to recognize that Calvinists with Episcopalians, Pedobaptists, with Anabaptists, “beholding one another to fear God and work righteousness,”

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could delight to sit at “the same table of the Lord.” Even in 1738 the genial Baptist Callender referred to the “terrible fears” of the previous century, which were at last dismissed, that “barbarity would break in” where church and state were positively separated.

The rigorous ice was broken in 1721 when Thacher, Danforth and Belcher, a distinguished committee of the “Presbyterian Ministry” in Massachusetts, addressed a civil and respectful note to “fifteen leading citizens” and others, “proposing a new meeting for their own faith.” Their clergy as well as those of Connecticut had preached there and prompted by “the freedom and safety they have enjoyed under the wise and good government of the place . . . we hope and pray that ancient matters, that had acrimony in them, may be buried in oblivion; and that grace, and peace, and holiness, and glory, may dwell in every part of New England.”²³ All happily conceived and expressed. The wide-eyed, perspicacious eighteenth century had penetrated Massachusetts.

Whatever the Baptists and Quakers of Rhode Island learned of Puritan Massachusetts—and they learned much—it did not include tolerance or Christian peace and holiness. Whether the men responsible for government in Providence thought a theocratic quid pro quo should reward inter-colonial courtesy in theology, or whether mere pride of controversy prevailed, we do not know. After waiting four months, February 28, 1722, Rev. Jonathan Spreague,²⁴ for the inhabitants, answered at great

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length,²⁶ with arguments direct if not gracious. “We take notice, how you praise the love and peace that dissenters of all ranks entertain one another with, in this government. . . . We answer this happiness principally consists in our not allowing societies to have any superiority one over another, but each society supports their own ministry of their own free will, and not by constraint or force upon any man’s person or estate. . . . At this very present you are rending towns in pieces, ruining the people with innumerable charges, which make them decline your ministry, and fly for refuge, some to the Church of England, and others to dissenters of all denominations, and you, like wolves, pursue. . . . Since you admire the love and peace we do enjoy, we pray you to use the same methods and write after our copy. . . . And so hoping, as you tender the everlasting welfare of your souls and the good of your people, you will embrace our advice. We your friends of the town of Providence bid you farewell.”

We cite freely, not merely for the points of delicious sarcasm, but from a deeper motive. There was something more than mere ecclesiastical sharp-shooting here. The American idea, rooted in soul-liberty, was beginning to sprout and overspread the harsh theocracy of Massachusetts. Jonathan Mayhew, born in 1720, in the mid-century from the West Church pulpit in Boston, supported Otis and put forth the new ideas of freedom—strange in a community based on authority and organized by the close embrace of church and state. Whether he learned from Spreague and those like him, we know not; but he might have learned. And the marvel is that these homely Protestants—spawned by Roger Williams—could and did work out such great ideas, with so little of the world’s

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leaning to aid them. As Wm. Harris, a half-century earlier, became a statesman, through the vigorous education of affairs; so Spreague put soul-liberty into the common formulas of freedom, by life and contact with individuals freed from outworn trammels, who were conserving the true principles of order.

Diplomatic controversy with Massachusetts produced little direct effect. An abortive attempt was made in 1721 when a meeting house was begun. This movement was abandoned from local differences. In 1723,²⁶ the First Congregational Society erected a house for worship at the corner of College and Benefit Streets; occupying it until 1794, when it was sold to become the “Old Town House.”

As the Quakers formed a constituent element in the seventeenth century and much influenced the whole community of Rhode Island, so in the early eighteenth century, the Congregationalists and the Episcopalians became an important factor in developing the outcast colony, now coming to its true place in civilization.

There had been missionary meetings for the Episcopalians at Providence conducted by Mr. Honeyman, of Newport, and Dr. MacSparran, of Narragansett. The former said there was no house and he was obliged to “preach in the open fields.” Dr. Humphries, an Episcopal historian, gave a most pessimistic account of the social condition of the plantation.²⁷ “The people were negligent of all religion, till about the year 1722; the very best were such as called themselves Baptists or Quakers, but it was feared many were Gertoneans or Deists.” The people raised £250., obtained £200. more in Newport, £100. in Boston, borrowed £200. more, and

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in 1722 built King’s, now St. John’s, Church. It was placed on the lot given by Nathaniel Browne, an active co-operator, who had had his shipyard there.

The most efficient helper was Gabriel Bernon, a character who deserves more than passing notice. The Huguenots contributed forcibly to the race amalgam which was forming the larger citizen of Rhode Island. Bernon was a Protestant merchant of an “ancient and honourable family of Rochelle,” who emigrated to escape the Edict of Nantes. He was in Narragansett, sojourned at New Oxford, Mass., and at Newport, settling in Providence in 1721. Active in founding the churches at Newport and in Narragansett, he was probably as good a churchman as Dr. Humphries and a far better philosopher. Writing Mr. Honeyman and canvassing for the new movement in Providence, he said: “We have in our town, learned men. Let them be Popish Churchmen, Presbytery, Protestant Quakers or Gartonian—and if there be some Profanes that call them to hold no religion at all—we have a great many worthy gentlemen that make their application to read the Holy Scriptures and are very well able to give an account of their faith.”²⁸

We may continue Mr. Bernon’s account of the “learned men,” as “Mr. Jenckes, our Lieutenant-Governor, by his answer to Wm. Wilkinson, the greatest preacher among the Quakers, and Mr. Samuel Wilkinson, the old man, (a Quaker had edgetools, worth 21s. taken in 1707 to pay a fine of 12s. for not training) deserves dignity for his erudition in divine and civil law, historical narrative, natural and politic; and you may see by the letters of Mess. Jonathan Sprague, Richard Waterman, Harris and several gentlemen, by their answers to Mess. Danforth,

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Thatcher and Belcher of the Presbyterian Ministry. We have also Mr. Winsor, Mr. James Brown, Mr. Hakin, of the Anabaptist Church, and great preachers; and their auditors, Mr. Outram mathematician, Mess. Filliness, Power, good Harris, merchant—all sober men, that can learn and teach things by true demonstration.”—Updike, Goodwin, I., 54.

There are churchmen and churchmen. Compare this account of Bernon’s with the ecclesiastical Humphries’ idea that the people were “negligent of all religion until about the year 1722.” Bernon was bred in wise old Europe, whence he fled to preserve his faith. He had sacrificed in every way to promote the church holding his own tenets, yet he found in these dwellers at Providence “sober men that can learn and teach things by true demonstration.” Nothing could more clearly prove the growth of citizens of the world out of the narrow opportunities of Providence Plantation, than this disinterested testimony of a Frenchman and an Episcopalian. Gideon Crawford, the Scotch merchant, worked on the cooper-preacher Tillinghast’s wharf to open the little settlement on the Great Salt River to the world of commerce. The merchants traded in produce, while making men. In a score or two of years, the accomplished Huguenot could recognize “sober and learned men” in the representatives of this same narrow district.

In the second decade, commerce was well established on the wharves of the Great Salt River. To the West Indies the exports were salted beef and pork, peas, butter, boards, staves and hoop poles, while horses were in frequent demand. Cider was made in large quantities for domestic use, as well as peach brandy, for in any good orchard “apple and peach trees fruited deep.”

Tobacco was generally grown by the farmers in the

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seventeenth century, and we have noted a somewhat mythical large shipment in 1652. But it was a very thrifty illicit trade, which avoided the heavy English revenue taxes. Nine New England vessels were selling tobacco at New Amsterdam in one week in 1669.³⁰ Sometimes only a four-shillings’ worth appeared, but the most of the farmers raised it, generally in quantities of 100 to 400 lbs. E. Carpenter inventoried 313 lbs. in a small shop in 1697-8.³¹ The Olneys were said to have 400 lbs. in barn at the same time. John Crawford, the merchant, had in stock £24. worth, about a ton.

Sloops were employed in the foreign trade and sixty tons burden was the largest size. Ketches and snows were used in other parts of New England, but we find no trace of them in the upper Bay.

There seems to have been a new impulse in the foreign trade in 1717 and 1718, for a new demand sprung up for warehouse lots and wharves. Probably this was one of the first results following the issues of paper money. A momentous step was taken in both political and economic affairs when the first paper was issued by the colony in 1710. Paper currency, properly controlled, is a great blessing to civilization. But unlimited public credit carries evils far surpassing any possible good to be derived from it. It overstimulates industries and demoralizes the citizen. This departure was occasioned by the great effort made by the little colony to join in the expedition of 1710 against Port Royal.³² It raised 200 men and the proportion of Providence was 40 with 8 Indians. There was no actual money to be had, and the paper substituted was issued in this and the following year for

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£13,000 to £14,000 in “bills of public credit.” In 1715 the issue began again and continued until the state’s credit was overwhelmed in 1786.

Trade and commerce brought necessity for increase in outward communication with the town. No seine was to be set or drawn on the great river above Weybosset Bridge after 1716. A vote of 30s. for repairs to Weybosset Bridge, October 28, 1717, was a petty expedient until “some more Legal method be taken for repairing.” The colony had appropriated out of its treasury for this and other bridges in 1711.

The main travel in or across the colony came over the upper ferry at Red Bridge in Seekonk, and passed over the bridge at Weybosset. Captain Scott was allowed as late as 1716 to fence with gates across the “Country Roade (main highway) over Pawtucket River,” for four years, provided “Pawtucket Bridge is passable so long.”³³ Fences with gates were allowed on Hernden’s Lane and thence to Pawtucket, January 20, 1720-1.

In providing new highways and caring for the poor, the town had run in debt. The tax had rarely exceeded £60., but £150.16.3. was assessed March 20, 1718,³⁴ and the apportionment by districts is interesting:

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which the homestead and commercial part exceeded the agricultural division of the northern woods.

A bounty of 20s. was paid in 1719,³⁵ for a wolf’s head which had been delivered to Major Thomas ffenner living in the present town of Cranston. The premium offered for gray squirrels was 3d.; this was made equal for Rats (muskrats probably) and afterward reduced to 2d.; 5s. raised to 10s. in 1729, was offered for a wild cat’s skin; £16. was once raised for bounties on squirrels. These struggles with Nature’s last representatives entertain us now, but another side of the cogitations of the town council is more than diverting. When the Puritan-bred citizens who were not Puritans give themselves to strict reverential decorum, the legislative result is something grotesque. For example, January 27, 1723-4, the petition of several leading citizens represented that the municipal act for squirrel bounties had no restriction. There was an act of the General Assembly preventing “Sports” and pastimes on the first day of the week, and these citizens asked for restriction of squirrel shooting on that day, or the municipal act would be an “Encouragement to vice and Immorality.” The leading citizens ask for the “Encouragement of Good Manners.” When the pence ran up into pounds, the canny burghers asked themselves whether the farmers’ hunting of vermin was not turning into “Sport.” Civic economy concurring with the ethical and respectable observance of the Sabbath is most delicious as well as suggestive. The bounty for squirrels was soon repealed.

Public offices were seldom sought for in those days, and were held to be a burden, even when the service was paid for. Robert Curry was chosen Town “Sarjant,” a responsible post, but he was not a freeman in 1718.

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Lieutenant James Olney engaged in town meeting to pay all damage to the sheriff or any person, incurred by Curry’s not being a “freeman or of a Compitent Esstate.”

The detailed expenses of the growing town may interest, as they were audited May 29, 1725.³⁶ The expenditure in transporting criminals to Newport for the colonial prison was very large, and was later replaced by the still greater expense of a prison at home. At this time there was paid:

Crime cost more than constabular service and roads, while poverty cost more than either.

The burdensome care of the poor, as shown in the expenses of the town from time to time, sufficiently explains their jealous watchfulness of citizenship and dread of intrusion into their community.

In 1717³⁷ the Council was ordered to “vse all Lawfull Means “to compel the town of East Greenwich to assume the support of Mary Marsh. In 1721 the Council summoned before it “several forriners Lately come into this

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Towne in a disorderly manner without Leave and Likely to be chargeable if not Removed.” In 1720³⁸ Blackstone’s wife not being well, Joseph Woodward’s wife took her home out of “Piety” (pity?). Captain Wilkinson told Woodward, if he entertained Blackstone and his wife, he ought to give bond for him; which request was refused. Individual charity could not be crushed out practically, though Woodward was technically at fault, and municipal organization had to bear the consequences.

Later, September 24, 1722, the Council recorded that John Blackstone’s child, born here, then in Attleboro, was apprenticed there to R. Wickes “to be learned to Reade and the art of husbandry.” Judging from other contracts binding infants, the town paid something to Wickes for bringing up the child. The poor waif and stray, once attached to the soil, had a better parent than Nature gave, for it became a constituent part of the community. Some of the practical measures regulating citizenship seem petty to us. But the general sense of municipal responsibility was praiseworthy.

The system of apprenticing young persons was working constantly and apparently with the best social results. It was education in the family, through the steady business of life. In 1713-4³⁹ Susanna Warner (writing her name) was bound for six years by her father, John Warner (also writing), to Thomas Olney (weaver), of Providence, to learn the “Trade and occupation of a Tailor.” She was not to frequent Ale Houses or Taverns except about her Master’s or Mistress’s business, “ffornication shee shall not Comitt, neither shall she Contract Matrimony with any Person.” These obligations were generally laid on both sexes alike. The master was to endeavor

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to teach her to read, and finally to give her two suits of apparel. This dress was known as “the freedom suit,” and was often given any minor on coming of age. In 1715⁴⁰ Thomas Olney, “weavor,” signed as a witness to the contract binding Wm. Potter for five years, his father having died. The master agreed to teach him to “Reade English, and wright and Cypher so far as to keepe a Booke.” He was to be freed at twenty-one years, in the “same apparill as he is now in.” The list of original clothing shows the habits and dress of laboring youths at that time. “A Loose bodyed Coate, a streight bodyed Coate and Jacket all Casy and faced with soloone; a wosted Coate and two wosted jackets all lined the Coate and one of the jackets lined with solloone a pair of druget Briches lined; a washed Paire of Leathor Briches a Caster hat, three shirts two homespun ones and one fine one, three pair of stokins one pair wosted, three neck Clothes two of them silk and a pair of washed Leathor Gloves: next his wareing apparill now worn but whole: a hatt Coate briches stokins and shoes. Memo that Clothing which was Casy (kersey) was homespun.” We remark that homespun cotton or flax would do for common, and that “fine” cloth must be had for a dress shirt. For a youth of sixteen he was certainly well clothed, having clothing not only for work-a-days, but for occasions and social gatherings.

The grain crop must have failed in 1724, for the General Assembly forbade exportation of corn until the price should be 5s. per bushel. It directed the General Treasurer to buy 2000 bushels and to sell it in small quantities.

The inventories show no great changes in a decade. The farmers grow rather more tobacco than the previous to

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generation produced. Forks are increasing in domestic use. In 1723,⁴¹ two spinsters, Joanna and Tabitha Inman, died within four days. One had £32. 8. 6., the other £37. 5. 6. in wearing apparel; side saddle pillions, loom, cards and combs, spinning wheels, etc. There was a moderate amount of plate in most estates. An Indian servant girl’s time for two years and ten months was valued at £5. 10. Edward Manton,⁴² whose personal estate was £373. 13. 8., with a farmer’s outfit on a small scale, had 100 books at £17.15., with two maps of the world at 10s. Cows were £4. each and two yokes of oxen £22.

In 1723-4 John House⁴³ gives us £18. 12. in dress, with an interesting detail of prices. Coate 40s., 2 pair briches 28s., 2 pair leather do £1. 10., Brown cloth coate, black gloves and dark jacket £4. 4. Druggett coate, yellow trimming, 25s., yallowish jacket 10s. Loose coate 12s., two linen westcotts and two pair britches £1. 10. Two hats at 12s., hdkf gloves etc. with an extravagant pair of garters at 17s., all amounted to £6. 9s. One gold ring 40 grains, another 25 grains, were not valued. Silver buckles and buttons 10s. 9d. A moderate amount of silver plate and the usual pewter. The “wareing clothes that ware his first wives and bonnet £3. 11.” Some “black lat” and 5 chamber potts at 12s. Earthen punch bowl, pitcher, 3 earthen cups, glass bottle 7s. Porcelain ware, as shown in the chamberpots, was coming in gradually. One barrel “peach jute” 11s. Negro woman £22. Sorrel horse £18. Bed pan 18s. High house, land, stables, 2 acres land on “Waybauset plaines” 5/16 Right Common East of 7-mile line was valued at £255., and the

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total estate was £524. 12. 3. Being an innkeeper and a considerable dandy, his way of living is interesting.

Copper pennies appear frequently, sometimes more than 1000 at once.

Prices of realty are rare and should be noted. October 16, 1724, Thomas Williams’⁴⁴ homestead of 100 acres, housing, barn and improvements stood at £445. Adjoining the homestead 44 acres at £88. Meadow on “Pachaset River,” 10 acres at £35. Land on Common west of 7 mile line £70. One-third of 40 ft. lot in rear of house lots in “2d devision” £3. One-thirteenth part of Starve goat Island 13s. Land sold and money received for second 40 acre “devision” and pine swamp £5. 6. 8. One hundred acres formerly given son Joseph, except labor bestowed on it.

Razors are coming in; and it is doubtful if any shaving of beards prevailed in the seventeenth century. Breeches were sometimes adorned with plate buttons. A set of plate buttons and buckle was valued at 6s. In land 40 acres east of 7 mile line stood at £12.⁴⁵ “Amber beedes,” Glass Bottle and Needles at 9s. 3d. Glass must have been prized, as every bottle was carefully valued.

Signatures of women of good families with a + appear on documents, and more rarely the men sign in that way.

November 6, 1724,⁴⁶ Jabez Browne’s homestead, estimated at 80 acres, was appraised at £350. Land n. w. from homestead 78 acres at £110. Adjoining homestead 30 acres at £25. Some curious prices appear the next year. Plowing and planting 10 acres Indian corn £5.9. Sowing 8 acres with rye and the seed £2.15. One acre with oats 6s. In an outfit of £15. for dress, a set of

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silver shirt buttons stood at 5s., a pair of silver shoe buckles at 16s.

In 1725,⁴⁷ Arthur Fenner had a full outfit for spinning and weaving, 4 spinning wheels and “Clock Reale” £1. 8. A pair of looms, and furniture £3. One looking glass and 2 pair “specticles” (first mentioned) 5s. 6d. The dames were wearing better toilets, and Abigail Hopkins spent £30. for dress in an estate of £98.5.8. Under beds are mentioned for the first time. A pair of “sizers” and a silver Chaine therewith £1. Butter was 10d. per lb.

In 1725-6^{48 a} watch (of silver probably) appears at £4., but these did not displace sun-dials until about 1750.⁴⁹

Wm. Roberts’⁵⁰ homestead and house were appraised at £420. and one share of “Meadow” £30.

Wm. Harris had a silver “Tankard,” 2 silver cups, 10 spoons, all weighing 46½ oz., valued at £34. 17. 6. His negro man stood at £70., the highest price attained, and probably inflated somewhat by paper money.

Joseph Jenckes was elected from Providence to be Governor of the Colony in 1727. Previous governors under the charter had been taken from Newport. This election indicates the rise of commercial Providence. Newport still kept its supremacy as the capital, for the Assembly granted Governor Jenckes £100. to make his residence and remove his family there.

In 1727 the long boundary dispute with Connecticut, which had threatened the very existence of our colony, was brought to a close by a decree of the Privy Council. This fixed the western boundary on the Pawcatuck River

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and thence north to the Massachusetts line.⁵¹ The Board of Trade had previously shown its sapient management of colonial affairs by recommending to the Council that both Connecticut and Rhode Island be attached to New Hampshire. The disjoined geography of the territories apparently never entered into the Board’s ideas of convenient government. Such wiping out of the two governments—which are now admitted to have added the most practical national ideas to the United States—would have created a suggestive historical speculation.

A King’s census of the colony⁵² was taken in 1730, showing a population of 16,935; Whites 15,302, Negroes 1648, Indians 985. Providence had, Whites 3707, Negroes 128, Indians 81; total 3916. Newport had, Whites 3843, Negroes 649, Indians 248; total 4640. The figures do not agree in themselves, but the main fact is that Providence had nearly as large a white population as Newport; yet the latter was far better developed in prosperous industries.

A prison was built in 1733 on Jail Lane, now Meeting Street.⁵³

The taverns continued to be places of great resort, especially before the building of the county courthouse in 1729. Those of Whipple and Epenetus Olney were famous, and Wm. Turpin left his profession of school-teaching to become a popular landlord and town officer. Turpin’s Inn on Town Street was the largest house in the town until the State House was built and was a favorite place of meeting for the Assembly and courts. Built in 1695, it survived until 1812. A high roof had heavy projecting eaves and dormer windows. A huge stone

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chimney allied it to the dwellings around. On the green in front was the unfailing elm. The “great room” served either for a senate house or dancing hall. Such centers of influence conferred social and political prestige on the landlords, who were not slow to avail of it. As the Assembly, Courts, Town and Council meetings always sat in central taverns, the landlord often became the oracle of his neighborhood. Sometimes chief of local militia and representative in the Assembly, he “enjoyed prominence which in Massachusetts belonged to the Puritan minister.”⁵⁴ Although this way of living could not and did not suit the omniscient Cotton Mather, it had due effect in developing citizens of the world who were willing to accept a cheery existence here on earth. A curious incident in 1713⁵⁵ reveals the jealousy of country proprietors, toward these innkeepers and town agitators. Major “thomas ffenner,” Assistant, protested against the election of Wm. Smith, Jas. Olney, Wm. Harris and Silvanus Scott, to be members or Assistants in the Town Council, because they kept Public houses of Entertainment and retailed strong drink. They rejoined that Major Fenner kept a public house and retailed strong drink for several years. And insisted “wee are freemen of the Towne and Collony and the Towne’s owne Election, and ought not to be debarred of our Privilidges.” Apparently the election did not fail.

In 1720 the licenses were £2. each. Thomas Angel, John House, Josiah Westcot, James Olney, William Turpin, William Edmunds, all prominent citizens, were grantees.

In 1782⁵⁶ a change of habit and way of living is indicated

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in a grant of licenses at a less rate, 10s., for a limited privilege to merchants and shopkeepers, for one year. They could retail, but not allow “any Drinking or tipling in theire housen shopps or Ritchin. Nor Mix any sort of Liquor.” Captain Joseph Roades, Esq^r., Mr^s. Mary Burnoon, Mr. John Angel, Capt. James Brown (first spelled without an e), “Co^ll” Joseph Whipple each paid 10s. The scrupulous use of titles among these plain people, with every possible variation and significance is always suggestive.

The houses inhabited by the denizens of the new century belong to the third period of architecture as interpreted by Isham and Brown.⁵⁷ They were often of two full storeys and varied somewhat from those built in the latter seventeenth century. Frequently built of brick or partly so. In one direction after 1725 there was an elaborate “mitre-like” chimney. After 1730 the pre-revolutionary style called “colonial” was developed.

The chimney was brought nearly into the middle of the house. And in large rooms like those of the Turpin Inn, above noted, massive beams sustained the ceilings. The rooms around the double chimney of this period varied in size. The “great room” descended from the single room of the first period as that came from the old English “hall.” This room in the Tillinghast house on Town Street, built about 1730, has two windows. The staircase was still next the chimney. Soon the rooms on either side of the chimney became equal. Next, there were four rooms with four chimneys outside the house.

Distilling molasses and sugar into rum was perhaps the most important of the New England industries in the second quarter of the eighteenth century. It was not only the main element in the slave trade, but was powerfully supported

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by the local demand and by the consumption in the Newfoundland fisheries. Distilling had become well established in Providence, and still-houses were along the Town Street; Antram’s as far north as Smith Street, Abbott’s was on the s. e. corner of Market Square; Angell’s was near the present Thomas Street. Shipping was built freely and the keels plowed the West Indian seas in frequent voyages. The trade of Providence with Guinea for slaves is obscurely recorded, but it had begun. The larger merchants traded with Bordeaux. Smuggling sugar from the islands was so common that it was hardly noticed. In 1733, by the sugar or “Molasses” act, the House of Commons laid a heavy duty on products imported from foreign islands into the northern colonies. This began the troubles ending in the American Revolution. Smuggling mitigated the evil consequences, until George Grenville proved to be too good an administrator.

Some ledger accounts, 1723-1738, and a priceless letter-book, 1736-7, of James Brown, father of the “four brothers”—preserved in the manuscripts of the R. I. Historical Society—give us interesting details of the commerce of this period. Nicholas Powers’ accounts in 1723 became “Father Powers’” in 1731-2.

Distilling is an important function, and a curious joint ownership is shown where the mason is credited 10s. for “mending my firm’s mouth under my Still.” He offers 100 gallons good rum, “our own Stilling,” for a horse. The Dutch process for separating oil and spermaceti was not yet introduced, and candles were still occasionally made by hand. Brown credits in 1736, one lot of 494 lbs. at 4d., made by Hartshorne, the mason, and probably in his kitchen.

Providence was becoming a great mart for molasses.

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When accumulated here, it often went on to Nantucket or Boston. One lot of 41 hhds. is mentioned in 1737 as transhipped to Boston. It belonged jointly to James Brown, Daniel Jenckes and Job Arnold. Coffee, as well as salt, was constantly moving and sometimes consigned to Boston. Large freights went by water, but small lots of merchandise were sent by Rehoboth to Boston. Noah Mason, living there, is asked in 1737 to carry “four tun wate” to Boston.

As noted above, the reports of the importation of negroes are generally obscure. May 26, 1737,⁵⁹ Mr. Brown records, “My Gineman is arrived. You may have A slave, if you cum or sand Befoar they air Gon.” March 10, 1737. He had advised his Loveing Brother Obadiah in the West Indies on the sloop Mary of Providence, “if you cannot sell all your slaves to your mind, bring some home. I believe they will sell well. Get molasses or sugar. Make despatch for that is the life of trade.”

Brown had much intercourse with Uxbridge and Worcester, with Plainfield, Killingly and Pomfret. He is constantly calling for “fatt” cattle, pork, beef or any produce. These transactions show that Providence must have been for some time the mercantile port of the valleys of the Blackstone and of eastern Connecticut.

Business was conducted with the Atlantic ports as far away as Charleston, S. C., where the correspondent was Mr. Verplanck. When commerce with the West Indies was not available for the moment, vessels were occupied in the local trade of Boston. July 2, 1737, after the sloop Mary had disposed of her black freight, she was sent to the Bay of Andros for a load of logs to be carried to Boston. Newport was a secondary market for almost everything. Henry Collins, the distinguished merchant there,

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had a rope walk. Brown asked him in 1736 how much good rigging or cash he can have for 1000 lbs. hemp.

Politics were generally seething in our little colony. The Hopkins-Ward controversy a generation later was to engage the Brown family and keep them very busy. Now February 1, 1736, the representative writes to Richard Ward, the father of Samuel, in rather pungent style, “Your Chief friend in Government affairs. I am affraid he had rather be Governor himself. You may see by enclosed, that he is able to Govern his purse (if not his word).”

The evolution of the first caterer in Providence was a way-mark in civilization; and we must anticipate a few years to explain the beginning in 1736. The negro always played a considerable part in the social life of Rhode Island, after the colonists had means enough to own him. A new kitchen was instituted by the skill of the house mistress working with the negro’s aptitude. The freedmen of the period frequently left little estates⁶⁰ Jack Howard in 1745 had £145. in colonial bills; John Read, “free nogro,” had £100. in 1753. Emanuel (”Manna”) Bernoon in 1769 had a house and lot, with personal estate inventoried at £539. He was emancipated by Gabriel Bernon in 1736 and then began his regular business. The freedmen generally took the master’s name and Manna distinguished his with an additional vowel. His wife, Mary, had been selling liquor without tippling on the premises for four years, competing on a ten-shilling license with Captains, Colonels and Esquires.

Manna now or soon established the first oyster house on Town Street near the location of the subsequent custom house. The rude English-descended efforts in cookery were far surpassed by Huguenot skill and refinement.

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Manna sought the heart of the softening town by way of a gratified and contented stomach. His outfit included 23 drinking glasses, 4 “juggs,” pewter plates, spoons and cooking utensils in proportion. Best of all was his jolly smile as he clinked these glasses in the midst of descendants of Roger Williams and William Harris.

The English declaration of war against Spain in 1739 vitally affected our colony. In the next February the General Assembly prepared against possible invasion. Fort George was garrisoned and provision was made for Block Island. In May 200 men were sent to join the unfortunate attack on Carthagena. Privateers⁶¹ swarmed out from Newport and were very successful. Captain Hull, of Newport, took one prize that afforded every man of his crew 1000 pieces of eight. These adventurers in privateering in some degree influenced the character of the colony and certainly prepared the way for her naval exploits in the Revolution. The sea-rover’s life well fitted the man brought up on the shores of the Bay and the Great Salt River. It was not only the bold, dashing career bringing out the Norse blood of the race; it was the desperate call for initiative at any moment. Outcast on land, the Rhode Island man was the more at home on the sea. In storm or calm, in shock of battle or the exigency of flight, the man had to put forth the best in him, and he became a hero.

One of the surveyors to define the eastern line of the colony under the royal commission in 1741 took a more cheery view of the outcast colony than Cotton Mather set forth in the seventeenth century.

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Better at triangles than at verse, the surveyor was broad, if not graceful.

The public Lottery has been regarded as a source, as well as a chance of either good or evil in early times. It began for us in 1744 in the rant for a scheme of £15,000, out of which was to come £3000 for the rebuilding of Weybosset Bridge. That it was public business is further demonstrated in the fact that the town subscribed for 400 tickets to encourage the movement.

Communication eastward was enlarged by a public ferry at India Point where Washington Bridge now stands. There had long been ferriage at “narrow passage” or Red Bridge and a bridge “was at Pawtucket.” The new ferry for the southeastward connection was regulated by an act in 1746, having been established a few years before.

The population of the colony in 1748 was 41,280. The voters in Providence were 96, with 13 justices of the peace and 4 companies of militia. In 1749 there were 31 licensed tavern keepers; in 1750 there were 30. The highest licenses were at £8. each. The colony tax in 1748 was £5000., of which Providence paid £550. and Newport £825. Our town spent £1165. 5. 5. in 1748, and ordered a tax for £1600. the next year. We must remember that paper money affected these figures.

February 19, 1748,⁶² we have an account of the entry of the privateer sloop Reprisal, Captain W. Dunbar, as she brought in her prize, the French ship Industry. It

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interests, as showing how the parts were divided and how many persons participated in these fascinating enterprises. According to Moses Brown at a later day, the losers must be reckoned as well as the fortunate ones. Three Lippitts had each 1/8 part in the sloop. Ann Lippitt signs for a negro man in the crew, one share. One owner holds 1/24 part. David + Swanton, mariner, sells “all his share” to John Andrews and Darius Sessions.

France had joined in the Spanish war in 1744, and our privateers severely punished her commerce. It is estimated⁶³ that over 100 French prizes were taken with rich cargoes, some of over $50,000 value. Captain John Dennis was a terror to the French and they sent from Martinique a strong war-vessel to pursue him especially. They misapprehended the Rhode Island rover; for the pursued turned fiercely and after four hours of hard fighting made the Frenchman his prize.

The colony aided stoutly in the expedition against Louisburgh, and Captain Fones, with his sloop Tartar, headed a small fleet doing much execution.

In 1754 the old householders’ provision of fire buckets, with the line of men passing them to and fro, was found insufficient to protect the property in the growing town. Obadiah Brown and James Angell were commissioned to buy a “large water engine.” The Boston machine was a small beginning toward the steamer and hydraulic hydrant of to-day, but it was a great advance over lifting water by hand. According to Staples, in 1755 the colony taxed Newport £14,000, South Kingston £5200., Providence £4900.

James and Obadiah Brown, brothers, descended from Chad, the early proprietor and minister, were largely engaged in commerce in the second quarter of the century.

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James was father of the “four brothers,” of whom we shall hear much in the development of the larger Providence. “Nicky, Josey, John and Mosey” were household words for a century. According to Moses Brown,⁶⁴ “My Father’s Books shews eight vessels under his management, viz., Sloop Dolphin, Obadiah Brown, master, sloop Mary Godfrey, schooner Ann, sloop Rainbow, sloop Pellican, schooner Anna, Sam Gorton, master, sloop Mary Gould, John Hopkins, master, sloop Shearwater, John Hopkins, master—all West India vessels, some to Surinam with horses &c. From 1730 (or 1738) to 1748 (sic) I find 15 and from 1748 to 1760 I find about 60 vessels by my Father, Obadiah Brown Books owned by him Stephen Hopkins, David Jenks, Nathan Angell and many others.”

In another connection he says: “I find in our Books only 84 vessels before the year 60, with their names and mostly their masters.”

Obadiah Brown was the younger brother and in partnership with James, who died in 1739. Nicholas, the nephew, was received into the partnership, and all the brothers were trained in business by their Uncle Obadiah. Moses married Obadiah’s daughter and ultimately inherited his property.

This period brings us to the consideration of, not a new, but newly developed kind of citizen in Providence Plantations. The original and truly educated immigrants—trained in an English university like Roger Williams, or in large affairs like the men of Newport—had long passed by. Their descendants included in Providence Bernon’s “learned men,” who were not learned as we understand the term. Now comes a citizen, born and trained on Rhode Island soil, who was, if not academic, a largely learned man. Stephen Hopkins was born March

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7, 1706-7, at Massapauge, in the district now known as South Providence. His father, Major William Hopkins, farmer, surveyor, etc., shortly removed to the bridle paths of Chapumscook, now Scituate, where our subject was reared and his essential character was formed. His grandmother was a daughter of Captain John Whipple, above noted, very prominent in plantation life about 1660-1685. Carpenter, innholder, surveyor, member of town council and of General Assembly, he acquired finally a considerable practice at law. He traded likewise in a large way for his circumstances. We can easily account for the mercantile bent of our subject.

Samuel Wilkinson’s daughter was Stephen’s mother, contributing not only the blood of that vigorous stock, but the “inner light” of the individual derived from the Society of Friends. Captain Samuel Wilkinson was commended by Bernon for “his erudition in divine and civil law, historical narrative, natural and politic,”⁶⁵ taught our subject mathematics and surveying. In this vocation, like Washington, the youth learned men as well as lands. The best instruction of all came from his mother, and it was “thorough and comprehensive.” There were in the Hopkins home and in Grandfather Wilkinson’s “circulating libraries” used among the families and neighbors.⁶⁶

Stephen Hopkins’ writings show that he studied the great English classics. All accounts indicate that he was a deep reader, as long as life lasted. Such men lacked the scholastic method, but they read and thought seriously, developing the powers of the individual mind. President Manning, of Brown University, said of Hopkins in 1785,⁶⁷ “Possessing an uncommonly elevated

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genius, his constant assiduous application in the pursuit of knowledge “rendered him distinguished. But the most significant testimony came from the trained and eloquent John Adams, showing how one untaught in the schools could teach the teachers themselves.” Governor Hopkins had read Greek, Roman, and British history and was familiar with English poetry, particularly Pope, Thomson and Milton, and the flow of his soul made all of his reading our own, and seemed to bring to recollection in all of us, all we had ever read.”⁶⁸ Strange that, out of the wilds of Scituate, there came a “flow of soul” which could enthrall the best scholars and highest spirits of America. In considering university education or lack of it, let us remember Jowett said one was fortunate who could pass through the Oxford courses without impairing his mental powers. But Jowett was in himself a schoolmaster, and accordingly we must weigh his judgments carefully.

The ability of young Hopkins was soon recognized by the townspeople. When twenty-four years old he was Moderator; at the next regular meeting in 1732, he was placed in the influential position of town clerk—held for ten years, or as long as he remained in Scituate. He was sent to the General Assembly in 1732, and became Speaker in 1741. His powers were valued wherever known, as appears in his engagement in 1737 to revise the streets of Providence and to project a map extending over Scituate.

As the Browns led the merchants on land, so the Hopkinses and their kindred led sailors on the seas. According to Moses Brown, 17 vessels on his list were owned or commanded by these natural seadogs. Esek, the most distinguished in this respect, left his home to enlist as a common

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sailor in 1788, soon becoming captain. He resided at first at Newport, removing to Providence in 1755.

Stephen, this sturdy son of Rhode Island—bred from her innermost stock—came to Providence Plantation in 1742. A generation had been sending abroad the vessels built by Nathaniel Browne and others, loaded with produce yielded by the fertile lands around the Great Salt River. The Bay, Long Island Sound, the mighty Hudson, all had helped to bring Newport and at last Providence into closer contact with all the seaboard markets, as well as ocean commerce. The shell encasing the early plantation was bursting outward into open and freer life, through its communication with the great world outside. Poverty, says Chaucer, is a “gret bringer-out of bisyness.” And it has been often said that men of studious habit seldom acquire knowledge of affairs. In Stephen Hopkins we have a remarkable example of education by contact with affairs, enlightened by his own constant use of books. It has been noted ⁶⁹ how the “learned men” of the little plantation impressed Gabriel Bernon, coming from the larger opportunities of Europe. Their “learning” was far from academic. It came from the open-minded school of experience. Hopkins entered into commercial ventures, especially in joint interest with the Wantons at Newport. He must have been largely acquainted at Newport, for his visits there began as early as 1732, when he went as a member of the General Assembly.

The enlargement of the plantation in a social sense is indicated by the course of religious opinion. Four buildings, maintained for religious worship, existed in 1742; the old Baptist meeting-house at the corner of Smith Street, the Friends’ on Meeting Street, King’s Episcopal

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at Church Street, and the Congregational at the corner of College and Benefit Streets. There was one mill and three taverns. A draw in Weybosset Bridge enabled vessels to pass to and from Nathaniel Browne’s old shipyard, just above the bridge on the west side. Roger Kinnicut had succeeded Browne in the business about 1730.

The tide of life and trade had been surging down the “old Cheapside” midway in Town Street, and keeping with the current of travel from Boston to New York; it was now turning over the “Great Bridge” toward larger territory across Great Salt River, end along the roads leading to the southwest. Weybosset (sometime Broad) Street, a landmark of this movement, was not approved by “The Neck” when it was opened. The Hayward or Haymarket had opened about 1738, a space for the present Market Square, which gave a center for increasing business.

The narrow lanes from Town Street to the waterfront, curiously named for coins, were matter of contest between the old proprietors and the freemen at large. Now in 1738, the freemen outnumbered the old proprietors, and the latter lost their control of town affairs.

The Lottery system was a crude method for bringing out the social energies of those days. The universal gambling spirit, potent individually, was forced outward into social channels, and made to support all kinds of enterprises good in themselves and desired by the public. It was initiated here in 1744,⁷⁰ when a lottery was granted by the General Assembly to rebuild Weybosset Bridge.

Commerce proper, since Gideon Crawford, the merchant, in 1687, and Nathaniel Browne, the shipbuilder in 1711, had developed sufficiently on the Town Street wharves to draw downward from the northern districts all the produce

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intended for export. By 1745 northern Rhode Island and the Blackstone valley of Massachusetts were sending farm products to the Providence merchants for exchange into West Indian and European wares. These larger movements were encouraged and more or less initiated by Stephen Hopkins. In the middle of the last century, a capable investigator, William Hunter, said,⁷¹ “Stephen Hopkins taught Providence her capabilities and calculated rather than prophesied her future growth and prosperity.” The inevitable superiority of a port at the head of navigation was beginning to tell in competition with richer Newport; though the latter had a century of advantage in enterprise and development. By the close of the French war in 1763, the larger commerce was well established.

In 1747 Robert Gibbs, Stephen Hopkins and some forty of the most forecasting citizens obtained an ordinance for Back Street, the present Benefit. The proprietors of old home-lots contending for their graveyards, had vainly opposed the movement. Hereafter the term in deeds and wills was altered to “house-lot.” The Fenner estate looking out on Market Square threatened violent resistance. Gradually compromise prevailed and the most radical change of the eighteenth century was instituted,⁷² reconstructing the “East Side.” The members of the First Congregational Church had not been able to get to their location, the site of the present county courthouse.

The large commerce for which the West Indian ventures had prepared the way, made a significant advance in 1751 or about that time. Theretofore the shopkeepers of our little plantation had been middlemen or jobbers, as

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we say. They were tributary to Newport directly—to Boston, New York and Philadelphia for the abundant European goods a higher civilization was demanding. Now they were to become importers; for Colonel Edward Kinnicut—brother of Roger, the shipbuilder—loaded a vessel in the Seekonk with timber and took this first direct cargo to London. He brought back goods enough to furnish three shops; his own, Obadiah Brown’s and Daniel Jenks’. The vessel was owned by the two latter jointly, with Stephen Hopkins. Kinnicut finally died in London in 1754.

In 1757 Captain Esek Hopkins brought in a valuable prize, the snow Desire. This was among the early prizes for our port, which, according to Moses Brown, were captured “during the (French) war, to the making of many rich and some poor.” The shrewd Quaker correctly estimated the speculative risk of this business; but it stimulated enterprise and developed brave and venturesome seamen.

When Hopkins settled in our plantation he found the scale of living advancing rapidly. The personal apparel and household goods which had been luxurious for the Crawfords in the second decade, had become customary and necessary for a well-to-do community much increased in numbers. Captain James Brown, father of the “Four Brothers,” died in 1739; a fair type of the merchant bred out of West Indian commerce. He appointed his “Relict Widdow,” Mrs. Hope Brown, one of his three executors.⁷³

His wearing apparel was valued at £92., with Books at £10. 10. In bonds, “bills of credit” (paper currency), etc., £1656. 0. 8. appeared, in book debts £416. 2. 4., in gold and silver £126. 10. The domestic outfit included £6. 15. in table linen, in brass and copper £19. 10., in iron ware £31. 1., in pewter £18. 18. Two small looking glasses with

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16 earthen platters and a cannister amounted to £6. 6. Ten “Baker” glasses with two sets China dishes and bowls stood at £12. 10.

The beaker was a distinctive wine-cup, originally of earthen ware in England. Such vessels were not mentioned in our colony, but made of the incoming glass, they frequently appear in the inventories of this period.

In household furnishings we find 6 feather beds at £129. 19.; 15 chairs, 1 looking glass, 2 oval tables at £28., and one clock. There was a considerable stock of merchandise for sale in English and other goods. The distilling apparatus on sale indicated the importance of that business. Two stills and worms, tubs, cranes, pumps and troughs were valued at £800. Four negroes £300. Two yoke of oxen £66. Two cows and calf £26. One horse, saddle and bridle £54. The total personal estate amounted to £5653. 14. 4.

Next the feather bed, perhaps the most constant and significant unit of domestic comfort in the previous half or three-quarters of a century, had been in pewter ware. In the early days of Town Street the table service had been of wooden ware, reinforced with occasional earthen pieces. Pewter in plates, platters, cups and spoons usurped the place of these humble vessels; and even chamberpots became almost universal.

The ware of our colony and the more lofty plate of Europe was variously compounded; but generally of tin, with lead in smaller proportion. Between silver on the one hand and glass ware on the other, pewter has lost rank in our time, but enthusiasts still admire its modest character. They claim that the soft pearl-gray color is more beautiful than the brilliant white of silver; which must always be rather harder to an eye seeking quiet.⁷⁴

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As mentioned, pewter was preceded by platters and even porringers of wood; and it went out of general use when porcelain and stone-ware became sufficiently cheap in price. The ware was manufactured by casting or hammering, or by both processes united. The necessary molds used in casting were always expensive. The articles were finished by hand or on a lathe and then burnished. Pewterers had shops in Boston.

Doubtless many of the shoe-buckles, so generally worn, were made of pewter; there were inkstands and a covered tobacco-box. The necessary punch-ladle abounded at this period; frequently oval and deep in the cup, with a slender handle of turned wood. Our colonists generally had the tankard; a term loosely applied, but commonly a covered vessel, holding a quart or more.

It is difficult to adjust actual values and nominal prices in these records. When the common currency is not redeemable, prices vary, but do not respond absolutely to the fluctuating standard. Labor and articles of merchandise in common domestic use, do not oscillate in price as rapidly as the currency varies. Imports and foreign trade must closely follow the true financial barometer.

The wars compelled the poor American colonies to use public credit, the only available substitute for money. Rhode Island blundered worst in issuing paper money and in not redeeming it. Unlike Massachusetts, she had no Hutchinson to repair in some degree the consequences of her legislative folly. Hutchinson, though a Tory in the Revolution, literally forced the Bay to place her currency on a specie basis; for this he deserves eternal gratitude.

It is better to have too much currency than too little. It is often assumed that paper money of necessity brought evil and disaster; but it is untrue. Bad as a bad currency

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is, it is better than none. No other principle can explain the extraordinary instinct of producers, demanding more and yet more money. Merchants, and especially bankers, see the constant evils of redundant money, but producers still cry for more. While this depreciated money existed in our period, affairs were expanding and the community was prosperous. History must relate what was, and not try to interpret what ought to have been.

Let us refer to the meager records for some estimate of values. In May, 1726,⁷⁵ a judgment was awarded in court of £181. 10 in “bills of credit” to liquidate a claim of £100. in silver, showing a depreciation of about 55 per cent.

By 1740 the depreciation in Old Tenor had proceeded so far that the General Assembly created a grade of New Tenor in bills for £20,000, bearing four per cent. interest for ten years. The nominal rate fixed for silver in this medium was 9s. per ounce, and in Old Tenor 27s. per ounce.⁷⁶

February 27, 1748-9, a committee of the Assembly passed bills of credit at the rate £1050. in paper for £100. sterling. A few months before exchange had been at the rate of 570 per cent. This rapid fall of paper indicated a coming crash in business, to be caused by this depreciating currency. The bills of the various issues or “Banks” were being burned at periods of ten years; but the process was not fast enough.

The colonies of Massachusetts and Rhode Island were destined to part company in finance. In April, 1751, their bills of credit were equal in value. In September those of Rhode Island had fallen 20 per cent. below her

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neighbor’s. Bills on London sold for 1100 per cent. premium in Old Tenor. The New Tenor had fallen to less than half its nominal value. Generally, prices and con-tracts had been quoted in Old Tenor. In 1763⁷⁷ the General Assembly attempted to bring order out of the confused currencies by enacting that silver and gold should be the legal tender, unless contracts should otherwise specify. A scale of depreciation to guide the courts was applied to transactions of the previous thirteen years. This placed the Spanish dollar at £5. 7. in 1751, and at £7., Old Tenor, in 1763.

We have given this sketch of fluctuating values to explain as far as possible the social relations of expenditure and of prices.

If we look closely into the inventories we shall perceive the effect of such fluctuating currencies, in the prices caused by better ways of living required in the growing commercial community.

Hon. Joseph Jenckes, Esq. (sic), had wearing apparel worth £84. 13. and books to the value of £15. The worthy gentleman made up in redundancy of titles what he lacked in substance, for his personal estate was only £124. 1. Captain Abraham Angell had £108. 10. in wearing apparel; and £12. in books and mathematical instruments. He must have been frequently thirsty, for there were 8 China punch bowls at £9. The domestic outfit included one dozen China plates at £6., earthen ware at £4. 10. 6., silver spoons at £12. 5. There was a horse, saddle and bridle at £50., with 2/7 parts and ¼ part of a two-mast boat at £20. His total personal estate was £851. 10. 4. Some occasional prices interest us. A punch bowl and cover—probably of pewter—was appraised at 8s., a pair of leather breeches at £1. 8., a pair of boots and an old

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wig at £2. 10. Knives, forks and razors were common, and the inevitable joynt-stool stood at 20s.

January 12, 1741-2,⁷⁸ Thomas Harris’s inventory shows wearing apparel at £50. Coke upon Littleton, a great Bible and several books at £25. He walked out in a large pair of silver shoe buckles worth £4. 15., and carrying either a cane or a walking staff with silver ferrule and ivory head—the two valued at £1. 16. His four swords stood at £4. Seven and one-half yards “bought” broad cloth was appraised at £32. 5., and thirteen and one-quarter yards of “Home Made” at £13. 5. Four feather beds at £110., with the furnishings, 1 warming pan £4. Case of Drawers £7. Large round table £3. 10. Great table £7. He had a moderate farming outfit in a personal estate of £839. 4. 6.

October 23, 1742,⁷⁹ Captain William Walker died in Narragansett intestate; Mrs. Hope Browne being “Bigest Creditor” to his considerable movable estate, was appointed administratrix. He owned but one feather bed, and for a sober married citizen was a very extravagant fop. In wearing apparel he left £166. 13. 16., and in “Plate” £43. 18. On his finger he flourished a gold ring with “five sparks supposed to be dimonds,” valued at £20. His “carnelian seal” was in gold at £2. 10.; his highly decorated person was supported by a “gold cane” worth £15. His house was amply furnished and contained 21 pictures in frames at £5. 5. A small time piece was appraised at £10.; a China punch bowl 12. 5.; sundry glasses £2. 8.; 16 spoons, tongs, strainer—probably of pewter, with case at £1.; earthen ware 5s. Snuff-boxes were rarely mentioned and Captain Walker’s toilet included one at £1. 5. He had one burning and one spy glass at £2. 2.; a hunting horn at £2.; one pair polished

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nut crackers £3.; one coffee-mill £1. 4. We may note a knife and fork, the first described with a carved handle at £1. 10. And a knife with one “totam” to pour rum was valued at £2. A doctor’s saw and “Checkard Bord” stood at £1. He was a trader, dealing in drugs and carrying a small stock of dry goods. The negro’s bed and bedstead were appraised at £3. 5.; one wine press £1. and two negro men £300. In books he had £46. 14. 1., but very likely they were for sale. The whole personal estate was £2498. 18.

In contrast we may take account of the way of living of a farmer, Pardon Sheldon, whose personal estate was £1063. 7. 3. His wearing apparel was £61. 10. Books £1. and table linen £3. 10. His kitchen furniture included iron ware at £10. 15., brass at £13. 10., and wooden ware at £5. 5. There was earthen ware and glass at £3. 10. The hetchel, the useful wool-cards, with wheels for spinning wool and cotton, all appeared. Ten loads of good hay with some “ruff” were appraised at £45. 10., and 700 lbs. of tobacco at £23.

Thomas Taylor⁸⁰ a “gooldsmith,” had in wearing apparel £74. 9., and in books £2. The tools of his trade were worth £11. 11. There was 2 oz. 8 dwt. in gold at £48.; 64 oz. 8 dwt. 9 grains in silver and “fashioning” at £100. 5. In stock were 15 pair shoe buckles at £1. 5., and “steel flucks and tounges for buckles” at £2. A parcel of glass sleeve buttons stood at £1. 5. One teapot, some China and earthen ware were valued at £6. 15. This shows how the use of “China” or fine porcelain was creeping in. His 6 knives and forks were valued at 15s. and his pewter ware at £4. Table linen £2., one feather bed and furniture at £3. 5. and £11. 16. in bed linen.

Amos King represented the artificer and man of all⁸⁰

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work, with wearing apparel at £17. 5., books at £1. and one bed. His carpenter’s tools stood at £8. 15. and a shoemaking outfit at £1. 10. He had 1 pair of “woosted” combs at £3., with 2 spinning wheels, worsted and woollen yarn. One loom and gears were valued at £6. 10. In live stock he had 3 cows, 13 sheep, 1 mare and 2 shoats. His total personal estate was £244. 13. 8.

In another instance, a cooper, had £43. 10. in wearing apparel, £2. 10. in books and £14. in 7 silver spoons about 11 oz. The owner had a few shoemaking tools and a small farming outfit.

Stephen Arnold,⁸¹ of a well-known family, indulged in wearing apparel at £121. 9., with sword and cane at £16. His “plate” weighed 54¾ oz. at £82., and there is the first mention of a “cradle” and furniture at £2. 5. His books were £2. 10., and pewter ware £13. 4. Glass, China, earthen ware and one teapot stood at £9. 7. Additional earthen ware £1. 3. Carpenter’s and other tools, one canoe, sail and oars £23., four pair oyster tongs £4., in 3700 shingles £9. 5. and a negro boy stood at £140. Evidently he did not improve much land, for his animals were one cow at £14. and two swine at £10. The total personal estate was £2251. 4. 6.

William Turpin—whom we may presume to be descended from the school and innkeepers—was entitled “yeoman,” though he kept a shop. His wearing apparel was £62. 3. and in silver spoons and “other plate” he had £30. 2. His books were valued at £3. 5., with one bible additional. He had a stock of hardware, with an assortment of dry goods. The usual housekeeping outfit was liberal.

The old custom was continued which circumscribed the widow’s property in case of future marriage.

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trips, there are coats, jackets, “Briches,” stockings, checked and white shirts; and for fair and feminine customers silk and linen handkerchiefs, “7 white Nachlasses, 4 White Caps, 1 Wigg, 1 Hat, 1 white Jackett.” Captain John Beard paid four pistoles for $400 insurance on his sloop to Mountechrsto “Clere of all seasusure.” There are constant entries of sugar, rum, head-matter and goods of all sorts. Generally the prices are in lawful money, but all sorts of currency are used as in the above agreement for insurance. Providence and Newport, Warren and Bristol prosecuted whaling to some extent; but Nantucket far surpassed them.

Joseph and Moses Brown might have been of the type of Gabriel Bernon’s “learned men” of a generation earlier. But Nicholas and John were educated by the great current of affairs. Born of the best stock in narrow circumstances, these youth were thoroughly disciplined in a Puritan home. Without, they took in large ideas from the mariners, who carried their small craft through the stormy subtropical seas, going sometimes to Europe, and traded their cargoes skillfully with Frenchmen and Spaniards. James Brown, the father, and Obadiah, the uncle, began as captains in this traffic and ended as merchants. These mariners afloat or ashore were intelligent, enter-prising men, dealing in the world’s commodities, and sensible of the expanding opportunities of colonial Englishmen. Sufficient attention has not been given to the circumstances of our community now looking outward, and comprehending the encircling world of commerce. A century earlier these protesting Puritans had been shut within themselves, indulging their freedom of conscience in petty struggles of common life, or in speculations on a future life and world beyond. In the atmosphere of the eighteenth century, the descendants of these idealists went

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abroad and, expanding in a wider existence, became large men for the time.

John Brown especially could enjoy at nineteen a tavern-punch or a Prudence Island frolic with vikings like the Hopkins’ sailors or Abraham Whipple. But his leisure never wasted, was at times and at evening employed in writing up accounts and regulating business for these fellows and companions. At twenty-one he was fitted for mercantile travel by land or sea, taking a vessel to Philadelphia, converting her cargo, riding home on his newly bought horse; a merchant finished and accomplished in the ready school of experience. Ultimately as large in body as in mind—for he filled the wide seat of a common chaise—he was the most sagacious and enterprising citizen of the growing community of Providence.

As we turn into the middle decade of the century, we find great increase of comfort in the households. Besides the merchants, traders and mariners, commerce had created artisans and workmen, who worked the still-houses, coopered the casks and ministered to the personal wants of the new population. Many of these owned houses and eked out the living of the family on the homestead.

As an example of the man of moderate affairs, we have the inventory of Peter Thacher,⁹⁷ owner of ½ Sloop Dolphin, worth £350. He had a small stock of dry goods and a personal estate of £1121. 12. 4. His household goods included 15 teacups at £5. 10., a box and 2 drinking glasses at 10s., a comb and tobacco pouch at 12s., a silver watch at £30. We seldom get the detailed prices of a wardrobe. Let us quote, 1 frock coat £1. 10., 2 jackets, 1 coat £3., 1 great coat £2., a fustian waistcoat £2., a black suit of clothes £11., two old “wiggs” £2. 5. Leather breeches and cape coat £8., ticket No. 2939 in

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Pemberton’s Lottery. He wore shoe and knee buckles. His fancy was not wholly engrossed by voyages of the Dolphin or chances in a lottery, for he played on a flute worth 10s., read “Poems on general occations” at 15s. Ovid’s epistles at 15s., and two Spectators at 10s.

William Dyer, of the historic name, had books at £25. and wearing apparel at £110., with sword and spurs at £70. Silver tankards begin to appear, and Dyer’s, with the spoons, cups, etc., was worth £355. A warming pan and “Chamber Utincels” stood at £12. A negro woman and girl were valued at £600. The personal estate was £2081.

We may compare Captain William Tillinghast’s manner of living with these, though his estate, £4290. 3. 8., was somewhat larger. His wearing apparel at £180. was reinforced by a pair of gold buttons at £12. “Sundry silver vessels” were valued at £356. Glass and China ware “in ye Boaufat” stood at £33. The table linen was £36. 16., glass and earthen ware was £9. Pewter was 136.; tin ware £1. Iron ware £6., wooden ware £2., three brass kettles £14., two bell metal skillets £8. Knives and forks £2., old brass Chafing dish and kettle £2. 10., one looking glass £25., and three were appraised together at £85. The clock and case were £200. One box iron heaters, two flats and a bread toaster were £5. These useful heaters were becoming common; likewise cradles, and the Captain’s with the bedding was worth £5. The negro man stood at £500., and the girl at £350. His sea chest, “quadrant book” and spy glass amounted to £20.

Wigs were common as well as knee buckles, while buckles for shoes seemed to be indispensable. The buckles were generally of pewter, often of silver and rarely of gold. They were more common than silver spoons. There was

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no positive custom assigning the quality of the buckle to one’s condition in life. A farmer, modest in other things, had a gold buckle. John Whipple, a shoemaker, with an estate of £1132. 9., had “plate buttons and buckles” at £12. An estate of £483. 9., with wearing apparel at £50., pewter ware at £14. 4., had one pair shoe buckles at £10., one pair knee buckles at £6.

Hezekiah Smith, a farmer, with ten cows at £26. each, forty sheep at £2. 10. each, in the good personal estate of £6600. 3. 6., was extravagant in his way of living. His wearing apparel at £200. was of the most expensive, and his watch and cane were £62. The value of 20 silver spoons was £77., and he had a silver cup. There were wheels, combs and cards with yarn at the weaver’s.

In 1754,⁹⁸ living under different conditions, was George Dunbar, of Bristol. He had much real property and £2261. 17. 2. in personal. With his wearing apparel at £150. 5. he wore two gold rings at £8. 4. Silver weighing 111 oz. 1 pwt. stood at £855. 7. 2. The library included 76 folios, quartos and octavos with 26 pamphlets, worth £85. 10. A dressing box was 35s., and a turkey leather trunk was 15s. A shoe brush was recorded for the first time. Two diaper table cloths were £13. and two dozen napkins £2. In furniture there were 9 tables, large and small, at £59., with 28 chairs of all sizes at £42. 10. and 18 pictures at £85. 5., one looking glass at £30. Dutch tiles were to be much used in the coming half-century, and Mr. Dunbar had 1 dozen and 19 at £3. 3. Clock £90. Snuff was plentiful beyond measure; a chalk and snuff mill at 5s., the stock in 7 bottles at £7., and for ready reference 5 boxes at 10s.

The table service was comfortable, but not excessive; 11 saucers and 6 cups at £4., 8 china plates at £6. and

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two china flower pots at 30s., the first mentioned. A pewter platter and 6 plates were £5. 2. In glass were three decanters at £2. 5., two cruets at 10s., two large beakers at 30s., a sugar dish and two glasses at 10s. A teapot was 40s., another with cup was 6s., a creampot and mug 10s., a mustard pot and salt cellar 10s., a sugar pot and jug 10s., an earthen platter 20s., an earthen cistern 5s. Tin ware was largely represented at £45., and the bell metal skillet at £5. was a favorite article in many households. A brass skimmer and chafing dish stood at 40s., five candlesticks at £9. 10., and the snuffers and dish at 25s. A dark lanthorn was 20s. and 118 lbs. “coco” £42. 8. Not readily comprehended now was a “pot conzino Roses” at 30s.

He bequeathed to his wife, Sarah Dunbar, directly for her life, one-third part of his lands and houses in Bristol, together with all the household goods “she brought me.” It is likely these personal articles were not inventoried, and the fact accounts for the above fragmentary list of furnishings.

The wills of this period generally assigned the body to the earth, trusting that it would be returned to the testa-tor at the resurrection, through the “almighty power of God.” Mr. Dunbar asserted the same faith in rather less material form. He was “expecting through the merits of my saviour Jesus Christ a Joyful Resurrection.”

In contrast with this comfortable estate and circumstance, we may note the belongings of a poor man; which show how close to the bone he lived. John Road⁹⁹ was a laborer and wood-chopper, with a personal estate of £100. 6. He wore clothing of the value of £4. and slept on bed and bedding worth only £5. His vocation appears in “awls, beetle rings, etc.,” at £2. 15. in a “raiser“ (a

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forester’s implement probably) at £3. 16. His avocations are indicated in two pairs woolen cards at £2., in a scythe and tackling at £1. He might have worked about, living with his employers; as he owned a pig at £5., with a cow and hay at £30., it would appear that he owned or hired a small homestead.

We have three widows signing with the +. Prizilah Westcot left a small farming outfit, and her wardrobe amounted to £70. Elizabeth E. Arnold was better off in 1756, with a personal estate of £808. 9. 11. Her wearing apparel was £142., and ten small beaker glasses stood at £2. The beaker glass, which came in a decade or two earlier, was then specified as “large.” Glass was being used much more frequently, especially for drinking vessels. Hannah H. Smith was the third relict making her mark.

Bethiath Sprague, a widow, had in personal property £615. 17. 11., and she expended £103. 7. in her wardrobe. Now the record gives for the first time a silver chain for “siszors” at £4. A silver girdle and buckle with one pair silver sleeve buttons at £2., one silver spoon at £5., Bible at £1. 10. Eight Napkins at £5. 10., one table cloth at £1. 10. Mrs. Sprague had the unusual ornament of a string of small amber beads at 15s. There was the usual pewter ware, worth £2., including a chamber pot. The inevitable joynt stool stood at 15s.; in another instance one was valued at £5. Mary Dexter, widow’s condition was essentially similar; estate £522., wearing apparel £90., two books £5., two silver spoons £11., two knives and forks 4s. She wore a gold ring at £9. 3. Her warming pan was worth £3., as compared with £6. for Mr. Dunbar’s. These two inventories indicate, as has been observed, that silver spoons were still a luxury. In another instance one gold necklace and two gold rings were valued at £27. 17. 6.

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Widow Mercy Tillinghast again had an estate of £733. 8., with wearing apparel at £105. 10., and one small pair gold buttons at £3. Her books were £12. and silver ware £79.12., table linen £21. Almost all the estates were amply equipped with feather beds. Two looking glasses and 16 small pictures stood at £16., the china and glass ware “in Beaufait” £26., pewter and tin ware £35. The prevalence of small pictures may be noted.

This beaufait, bo-fat or buffet came into frequent use in the latter eighteenth century. The cupboard, generally built into the wainscoting of a corner, was handsomely filled with china and the superior wares. In the better houses, the structure was ornamental in design, standing open or protected by glass or wooden doors.

In 1754 we have John Mawney¹⁰¹ with a personal estate of £9050. 7. 8., including a large amount of notes and bonds. There was a small farming or village outfit, 1 pair of oxen, 1 cow, 1 horse, a negro man at £500., a woman at £300.; but nothing indicating active business or trading operations. His condition appeared to be that of wealth or affluence. Certainly his wearing apparel at £333., with watch, cane and whip at £50., was profuse enough; and he wore a gold stock buckle. Silver plate was amply represented, 1 silver tankard, 1 do. teapot, 2 large “cans,” 13 large spoons, 1 silver . . ., 12 tea spoons, 7 porringers, 1 sugar dish and cover, 2 pepper boxes, 1 cream pot, 2 salts, 1 pair tea tongs, 1 small bowl, 1 small spoon strainer, altogether weighing 214 oz. 9 dwt. at 85, making a value of £911. 8. 3. Here we perceive a great advance in luxurious living in a half-century.

One coffee mill and a three-legged copper coffee pot stood at £8. The first tea cannister on record was worth £4. In China, 6 plates, 2 small dishes and 4 punch bowls

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were appraised at £12., 6 “Burnt China” cups and saucers at £5. Again 12 cups and saucers were £5. 9. 1 dozen plates £9., 2 large and 1 small bowl £10. In pewter the large quantity of 86 lbs. 12 oz. at £51. 12. In tin and earthen ware £6.

All these dishes interest us in the development of the household, but for our present purpose the most important crockery is the two “white stone” tea pots, strainer and mustard pot at £1. 10. This is about the first mention of this ware, which was manufactured in Eng[l]and before 1750. A little later the production was to be stimulated and immensely increased by the discovery of “China stone” clay in Cornwall. This common pottery was to supersede pewter ware, and become the universal table and chamber service of the American people.

The furniture was of the best then prevailing; a mahogany desk £40., a small scritore £3., a looking glass, walnut framed and gilt, £45., a large black-framed glass at £40., a glass at £30., another at £12. Art did not interest the comfortable Mr. Mawney visibly, for he had only 4 small pictures at £2. and no books. In chairs there were new departures; in the first mention of leather bottoms, 12 examples at £40., again with flag bottoms, 11 examples at £5. 10. In a chamber set were 7 maple crooked backed chairs at £18. Tables were not remarkable, one black walnut folding at £12., one mahogany oval do. at £6. The negro servants were of the aristocratic sort, for their cradles and bedding were valued at £10.

In 1755¹⁰² we are made grateful to Nicholas Tillinghast, council clerk, for the first legible and elegant handwriting. A great boon to posterity was the deft hand of Nicholas. While the wealthy inventories above represent

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the expensive livers of the mid-century, we may study David Vanderlight’s for traces of the best culture of that day. There were not many college graduates in the plantation; Dr. Bowen represented Yale and Dr. Robert Gibbs Harvard. Even these accomplished physicians prescribed some unmerciful remedies, including the Bezoar stone. Mr. Vanderlight was graduated from the University of Leyden, and thoroughly bred in his profession of apothecary and chemist. He married the sister of the four brothers Brown, and taught in their factory the Dutch process of separating oil and spermaceti. This change instituted a great industry for making candles.

The Vanderlight personal estate was £4375. 14. 4.; including £200. in wearing apparel, £10. in shoes and boots and £30. in silver buckles, clasps, gold ring and silver money, with £1. in three seals and black buttons. Professional decorum was amply supported by “wiggs” in a box at £12. Plates, basins, dishes, porringers in pew-ter probably stood at £80. There was £57.8. in 7 silver spoons and £15. in 8 silver tea spoons and tea tongs. A hard metal teapot was £2. 15. He had a fair amount of China and glass, with white “stone ware” at £2., as above mentioned.¹⁰³ In 18 pictures with black frames was £4. 10., in sundry books £20. in Dutch books £7., in a violin and flute £5. Altogether a sensible outfit whether Dutch or colonial English.

Books were few in number, as a rule. Shadrach Manton had 40 bound volumes and some in paper valued at £35. Richard Waterman had the value of £26. Silver watches were becoming common, say at £25., £50. and £80. It was pathetic that the first exporter and explorer in the London market, Edward Kinnicut, afterward died there. His personal estate was valued in Providence in

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1755¹⁰⁴ at £15,033. 1. 2., including a stock of dry goods. Of this £45. 6., a sterling value, was advanced 1700 per cent. to meet the wretched depreciation of our paper money.

Andrew Frank, a “negro man,” showed a comfortable way of living with personal estate at £229. 0. 6. He was forehanded, possessing a note of hand worth £60. His modest wearing apparel was £20., and we may presume he read his “old bible,” which was valued at £2. 10. In hay he had 2400 lbs. at £17., to keep 1 cow and 2 calves. The most curious item is “1 gun pressed for the war and went”¹⁰⁵ £16. The bounty for said gun was £5. He had an hour glass at 10s.

Joseph Kelton, “cordwainer’s,” condition shows that the artisan’s occupation was no barrier to a good marriage connection. In wearing apparel was £197. 12., a silver pepper box, 16 silver jacket buttons, 1 pair shoe, 1 pair knee buckles, 1 neck buckle (the first mentioned) were all valued at £453. 17. 6. 19 Brass coat, 4 breeches buttons at £12.; 13 catgut eyes do. at 10s. A shoemaker’s bench and tools at £6.10. “Some Christian Hair” at £1. would indicate that the hair used in wigs so frequently did not go into this category. This personal estate, £343. 19. 6., was his own before marriage. His wife brought him £3163.3.10., including 4 feather beds and furniture at £678.8., one pair table coverlids at £10.10. There was plenty of gilt china and punch bowls; with “flint” wine glasses at 30s., the first mentioned.

The use of titles at this time was persistent and quite confusing. Mr. Kelton, “cordwainer,” was living above the average condition of the community. Edward Kinnicut was denominated Esquire; Samuel Winsor in 1758

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was the first recorded Elder; in 1759 we have a Merchant Taylor; the term mariner was often used; in 1760 we have Merchant simply, and Husbandman. But the fullest record embodying the serious ideas of the community in this respect occurs in 1756¹⁰⁶ when the commission for probating wills and making administrators on intestate estates was appointed. This was an important public function and the intention was to record each participant under his proper designation. We have accordingly George Brown, Esquire, Jonathan Olney, Gentleman, Barzillai Richmond, Gentleman, and Isaiah Hawkings, Yeoman, all of Providence. They appointed an administrator for “Mr. Robert Avery, Merchant,” who died at sea, intestate.

In 1757 Captain Thomas Manchester’s inventory affords some interesting information. He had much furniture of mahogany and 16 “Banister Back” chairs at £30., the first mentioned. This was an important article in colonial living. Upright banisters often fluted with curved arm-rests made a comfortable and not too easy seat. The slat-back used also, was more simple in form and finish. Here were the first blue and white earthen plates, twelve at £4., and five finer do, at £2. A white counterpane at £15. The feminine element appears in a gold necklace, a locket, and gold ring, altogether worth £50. Insurance was written for £1400. on the sloop Providence, and the total personal property was £4089. 13. 6.

In 1758 the sloop Sally and her appurtenances were valued at £3000. In the following year one-half of the sloop “Daulfin” was sold for £1800.

If they had the means, they lived well, whatever their occupation. A farmer in 1759, with £2692. 11. 8. in personal

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estate, had 50 oz. of plate at £6. 13. 4., or a value of £333. 6. 8.

Obadiah Brown, descended from Chad, an early settler, died in 1762, leaving real property and the large personal estate of £93,220. 16. 1. Old Tenor.¹⁰⁷ His way of living was easy, but moderate. Two large looking glasses at £265. went beyond those of his neighbors. Beds and bedding were ample, with four blankets at £60. and two at £40. We have 12 white stone plates at £10., 6 china cups at £7. (a small outfit), two large Delph bowls and four beaker glasses at £6. Among the first recorded earthen teapots are two at £2. 10., and the first “stone chamberpott” at £1. 10. There was the usual pewter, tin and wooden ware, with ten iron candlesticks and four brass at £17. The negro woman Eve and the girl Peggy at £1400., served in the house. His library was business-like, rather than literary, consisting of Gordon’s Geographical Grammar at £8. and Brown’s Estimate at £1. A large stock of goods in almost every variety, met the wants of his customers at retail. He owned five negroes, two at £1000. each, one at £1050., one £1100. and one at £1250.

Mr. Brown succeeded to the joint business conducted with his brother James, and brought up his nephews, the four brothers, in the best mercantile ways of the time. In a distillery and in the manufacture of oil and candles, assisted by Dr. Vanderlight, he obtained merchandise for exchange with Philadelphia and other domestic ports. This interchanging commerce became more and more important and increased largely. Beginning as a captain in the West Indian trade, on shore he continued in commerce with those seas, becoming the largest merchant of Providence.

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In contrast to the opulent merchant was “Manna Burson”—Gabriel Bernon’s freedman—the first caterer and signing with a +. He left wearing apparel worth £100. and £36. in pewter ware. Twenty-three drinking glasses afforded supply for his thirsty customers.

The Peace of Paris brought to an end the Seven Years’ War, and it had been a most important period for the colonies. Rhode Island in particular—bad as was her financial management—was impelled by a great patriotic purpose in issuing her paper money. Larger ideas of government were fostered by such enforced experience. Trained by the sacrifices of war, by the severity of camp life, and in the ways of new taxation at home, the planters were coming to be citizens. The time was fast approaching when Englishmen migrated across the seas would assume new relations toward the home government, for the British administration could not learn that they were dealing with brothers and not with aliens.

Business in Rhode Island had profited largely through the war. Smuggling was greatly stimulated, and privateering increased commerce through the inevitable trade it brought to our ports. A natural reaction followed the peace, but business soon adapted itself to the new conditions.

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