7ui« <^0 [S' f/c PROCEEDINGS 4 Itode If sland mistorlol Sod^tg 1887-88 ^ i 4<'.^ de^' liLfi^Cj t^S PROCEEDINGS J Itodc Ifijlaud wiHtom ^ocietg 1 887-88 21179 Providence PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY II J. A. & R, A. REID, PRINTERS, PROVIDENCE, R. I. TABLE OF CONTENTS. List of Officers, ....... 3 Abstract of Proceedings, ..... 5 Address of the President, ..... 10 Report of Committee on Building and Grounds, . 22 Report of Committee on the Library, . 23 Report of Committee on Publications, ... 31; of • • • • Report the Procurator, • 35 Report of the Treasurer, . ... 37 Mr. Ely's Paper on the Seal of the Society. 40 Necrology, ....... 61 List of Institutions and Corporations from which Gifts have been received, ...... 83 List of Persons from whom Gifts have been received, 84 List of Resident Members till 1S75, ... 86 List of Life Members, . • • • • • 95 List of Honorary Members, ..... q6 List of Corresponding Members, .... 99 List of the Society's Officers from its Commencement, 104 List . of Resident . Members, 1SS8, . no List of Life Members, 1888, ..... 113 Index, ........ 114 OFFICERS OF THE Rhode Island Historical Society. ELECTED JAN. lO, I SSS. President. WILLIAM GAMMELL. Vice-Presidents. Charles W. Parsons. Elisha B. Andrews. Seeretarij. Amos Perry. Treasurer. Richmond P. Everett. STANDING COMMITTEES. On Nominations. Albert Y. Jencks, William Staples, W. Maxwell Greene. On Lectures. Amos Perry, William Gammell, Reuben A. Guild. 4 RIIODK IST-AN'O IIISTOKUAI, SOlIKJV. On Building- and Grounds. Stkere, Isaac II. Southwick, *Henry J. Royal C. Tait. On the Lihrarij. Charles W. Parsons, Willlam ?>. Weeoen, Stephen II. Arnold. On Publications. WiLLLvM F. B. Jackson, Elisha B. Andrews, Thomas R. Slicer. On Genealogical lieseardie a. Henry K. Turner, PIoratio Rogers, John 0. Austin. Audit Committee. Lewis J. Chace, Edwin Barrows, HeRNY T. liECKWITH. Procurators. For Newport, George C. Mason. Woonsocket, Latimer \V. Ballou. Scituate, Charles H. Fisher. Fawtuckct, Emory IL Porter. North Kingstown, David S. Baker, Jr. Hopkinton, George IL Olney. Barrington, Mark IL Wood. Proceedings Rhode Island Historical Society. 1S87-SS. At a meeting held December 28, 1886, Prof. E. B. Andrews, LL. D., read a paper entitled ^ Sir Henry Maine on the Pros- pects of Popular Government." At a meeting held January 25, 1887, Dr. F. C. Clark, of this city, read a paper on " Sanitary Science in Riiode Island." At a meeting held February 8, 1887, the Rev. S. L. Cald- well, D. D., read a paper entitled " Modern Historians." At a meeting held February 22, Dr. Reuben A. Guild, Li- brarian of Brown University, read a paper entitled " Roger Williams : His Birth, Education, and Parentage, in the Light of Recent Livestigations." At a meeting held March 8, 1887, Mr. Ray Greene Huling of New Bedford, read a paper entitled " Samuel Huljbard of Newport, 1610-1689." At a meeting held March 22, 1887, Prof. Stephen F. Peck- ham read a paper on " Petroleum in its Historical Relations to Modern Civilization." At the quarterly meeting held April 5, 1887, the Secretary presented two communications from Gen. George S. Greene, relative to the date of the Warwick settlement, General Greene believing the settlement to have been made in 1643 while the seal of the Society gives the impression that it was (1 IMIol'K 1>I.AM> IIISTOKICAI.- SOrlKTV. made in 1642. Messrs. William D. Ely, Joliii A. Howland, and James P. Root were appointed a committee to report on the question raised by General Greene.* Mr. Richard J. Ar- nold, of Providence, was elected a resident member. The cliairman announced the death during the last quarter of ^fessrs. John Pitman Walker, Barnabas Benton Hammond, Estus Lamb, and Arthur Amory Gammell. A paper j)repared by e.x-Govcrnor Dyer was then read by the Rev. Ei-ederic Denison, entitled " Elijah Ormsbee's Fir.st Steamboat, and Da- vid Grieve's First Screw Propeller Boat." A communication relative to a '' half-interest in a bond for a deed of certain mining and mineral rights," etc., addressed to the Society by the executors of the last will and testament of the late Daniel Wanton Lyman, was read, and it was voted that the said executors be authorized to take such action as should seem best, with the understanding that the Society is not thereby i-endered lial)le to any expense. The chairman laid before the Society an essay written by Marie A. Brown, and printed in the October number of a London monthly maga- zine called Time. The essay was entitled " The Plain Facts about Christopher Columbus and the Discovery of America," the writer aiming to show that this honor belonged to the Northmen lather tlian to Columbus. The chairman also read n letter addressed to the late John R. Bartlett, by Marie A. Brown, in which the aid of this Society was sought to pro- mote the ol)ject set forth in her essay. Extracts from Hig- ginson's lai'gcr llislory of (he United Staler ware read to show the comparative claims of Columi)us and the Northmen in regard to the discovery of America. At a meeting held April 19, 1887, the Rev. Thomas R. Sliccr read a pa[)er entitled "The Emj)eror Julian and the Pagan Afterglow." At the quarterly meeting held July 5, 1887, the Librai'ian leportcd that eighty-eight volumes, 348 pamphlets, and ten miscellaneous articles had l^een received. A communication was received from Chief Justice Durfee requesting that the * See page S. I'ROCEEDINGS. Society take measui'cs, on the recommendation of an appro- ])riate committee, foi- the adoption of a uniform method of spelling' Rliode Island Indian names. The request was referred to the special committee on Indian localities. Messrs. Tiiomas C. Greene, Arthur Rogers, and Arthur W. Claflin,of Provi- dence, and Richard Ward Greene Welling, of Pojac, North Kingstown, were elected resident members. Mr. William B. Weeden gave an account of the recent meetings of the Amer- ican Historical Association held in Boston, Cambridge, and Plymouth. Tlie rejjort of an organized movement in Great Britain for tiie preservation and utilization of historical documents, and the recommendation of a similar combined movement in this country received special attention. The President read extracts from a paper prepared by ex-Governor Dyer, entitled " A History of the Application of Steam Power from 1663 to 1781." The President called attention to the remains of a musket, found at Gaspee Point, and presented to the Society by Mr. Francis W. Miner. The musket is sup- posed to have belonged to a member of the party that destroyed the British seliooner Gaspee near that place, June 10, 1772. Among the gifts received by the Society is a quarto volume, containing a commentary on the l>ook of Genesis, l)y Andrew Willett, believed to have been the father of Thomas Willett, the first mayor of New Yoi'k. Tiie book once belonged to Charles 1., and has his coat of arms upon its cover. Mr. Richmond P. Everett made a report of a visit to Manton's Neck, where Roger Williams resided before crossing tlie Seekonk and tak- ing up his abode on the banks of the Moshassuck. Mr. Everett was requested to present this report in writing. At the quarterly meeting held Oct. 4, 1887, the Secretary presented a letter from Joseph Peace Hazard, of Wakefield, giving a copy of certain tombstone inscriptions found in the Friends' burial-ground, at Tower Hill, South Kingstown ; also a letter of ex-Governor Dyer, announcing the gift from Mrs. Phili]) W. Martin, of the original proclamation of Gov. Ste- phen Ho})kins, dated Dec. 29, 1758, authorizing the subjects S iniODlC ISI.ANIi IllSTOrvlCAl, SOCIKTV. of Great Britain to kill and destroy the suhjects of tlie king of France, in consequence of a declaration of war issued by the former country ajrainst the latter; also a letter from tlie Rev. |)i-. I. W. Andrews, cliairniaii of the committee to celebrate the centennial of the settlement at Marietta, 0., next April. ^Ir. Henry T. Drowne was aj)|)ointed a deleuate to represent the Society on th.at occasion. The Librarian I'eported that thei'C liad been received forty-six volumes. 338 pam])hlets, and seven miscellaneous articles. Messrs. Jienjainin W. Smith, Samuel Lunt Caldwell, Eli Whitney Blake, and Albert C. Day were ^elected resident members; James Phinney Baxter, of l*ortland, ^le., was elected corresponding member. Dr. C. W. Parsons reported that the Library Committee had expended the sum of $28.97 in excess of its appropriation, and the action of the committee was approved. Mr. William D. Ely, chair- man of a committee apiiointed at the April quarterly meeting to report in regard to the accuracy of the seal of the Society, submitted a carefully prepared paper, showing conclusively that the seal strictly accords with the facts of history. A copy of this paper was requested for publication in the pro- ceedings of the Society.'^ At a meeting held Novembei' 1, 1887, Prof. E. B. Andrews i-ead a paper entitled "The Constitutional Convention of 1787." At a meeting held November 15,1887, Mr. Justin Winsor, the Librarian of Harvard University, read a paper entitled "The Diplomatic Wiles and Blunders Connected with the Northeast Boundary Controversy," illustrated by an outline map. At a meeting held November 29, 1887, Mr. William B. Weeden read a ])aper entitled" The Early African Slave Trade in New England." At a meeting held December 13, 1887, Mr. Howard W. Pres- ton read a paper entitled "The Features of the French and the English Charters of the Seventeenth Century." At a meering held December 27, 1887, Mr. William A. ^lowry read a paper entitled " Franklin's Diplomacy and its * Printed in this volume.