Mineral Spring Cemetery Tour Preservation Society of Pawtucket

The village of Pawtucket, North Providence, RI was a small, but growing community in 1774 and at that time, the only burying place in the village was a small private lot owned by the Jenks family. Others had to be buried in Providence, or in the Newman cemetery in Rehoboth. There was an urgent need for another burying place.

Members of the Jenks family led the charge to establish a public cemetery in the village. They chose a spot just west of the village, known as Bagley’s Pine Woods. Despite the name, the land was in fact owned by Jonathan Jenks, Jr. Esq. (1746-1787)**, Gideon Jenks, Col. Eleazar Jenks (1747-1822), and Nathaniel Jenks (1749-1830).* Jonathan was a Justice of the RI Supreme Court and the grandson of Pawtucket founder Joseph Jenks through Judge William Jenks. Gideon (Jonathan’s brother), Eleazar, and Nathaniel (Jonathan’s cousins) were blacksmiths. They deeded two acres of their land to the village; half an acre was reserved as a location for a public meeting house, which was never built.

Just inside the gate and behind the cemetery office is a memorial to Samuel Slater, containing the graves of his two wives, Hannah Wilkinson (1744-1812, daughter of Oziel Wilkinson and Lydia Smith) and Esther Parkinson (1778-1859), and his son Samuel, Jr. (1802-1821) who died at the age of 19.

Samuel Slater Samuel Slater (1768-1835) is often called the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution." American industrialists, such as Moses Brown, had been struggling in the 18th century to build a consistently working spinning machine. Moses, with his son-in-law William Almy and his cousin Smith Brown, had started a mill in Pawtucket. They wanted to manufacture cloth for sale, using water-powered spinning wheels, jennies, and frames. They acquired a 32-spindle frame "after the Arkwright pattern," but could not operate it. The Arkwright design was named for its inventor Richard Arkwright who was English, and the English prevented the mill designs from being taken out of their country. Twenty-one year-old Samuel Slater was working with the Arkwright mill design in England, but recognized that if he wanted to become a superstar in the textile industry, he would have to emigrate to America. In 1790 he wrote to Moses Brown offering his services, and Moses accepted. Samuel signed a contract to replicate the British designs. The deal provided Slater with the funds to build the water frames and necessary machinery, with a half share in the profits. In 1793, Slater and Brown opened their first factory in Pawtucket.

Start on the path to the right. Very soon on the right you will see the white square pillar at the grave of Barney Merry.

Capt. Barney Merry (1784-1847) ​ Barney Merry was born in Scituate in 1773. He was from a poor family and like many young boys in that circumstance could not attend school but had to help support his family, starting at the age of nine. When he was fifteen, Barney left his factory job for one at sea. After a long career as a sea captain he decided to enter the bleach and dye business, and in fact was the first in Pawtucket to establish a bleachery (with his brother in 1805). The works were originally built in the rear of the Merry homestead, on East avenue. When Barney Merry died in 1847, the business was passed to his son Samuel. In 1866, Samuel partnered with his nephew Robert Mason and changed the name of the business to Samuel Merry and Company. Four years later, Robert became the sole proprietor of the firm, which was re-named Robert D. Mason Co.

Barney Merry became a Mason in Pawtucket’s Union Lodge in October 1808. He was an officer for several years and was elected Master in 1817-19. He was granted membership in the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island and advanced to the position of Grand Master in 1829 and again in 1840. It was a time of fervent anti-mason activity and sentiment in society and Merry is credited as being a great leader in spite of the backlash. The Barney Merry Lodge, named in his honor, was organized in Pawtucket in 1873.

Continue on the path and follow the curve to the left. Just after the turn, look to the left and you will see the grave of Levi Tower marked with a square pillar.

Levi Tower Captain Levi Tower was born in Blackstone (Mendon), Massachusetts on August 18th, 1835. He completed his courses at the University Grammar School in Providence and eventually entered Brown University. Poor health interrupted his college studies, so he decided to engage in business in Pawtucket, where his father lived. Levi was interested in the military and eventually became a captain in the Pawtucket Light Guard. When the Civil War began, he entered the First Rhode Island Light Artillery as an ensign, and was soon transferred to the Second Artillery, as captain of Company F. Tower was killed in 1861 very early in the first Battle of Bull Run “while cheering on his men to fight.” Levi regularly attended St. Paul's church in Pawtucket.

Walk in a few feet and look for these graves:

Isaac W. Collyer & Sybil Burrell Isaac and Sybil were the parents of Samuel Smith Collyer, the namesake of Collyer Park directly across the street from the cemetery’s entrance. The park contains the Collyer Monument.

You might find the nearby grave of Samuel C. Collyer and his wife Mary Tabor - it is not yet known how (or if) they are related to Isaac.

Collyer Monument (outside the cemetery, across Mineral Spring ​ Avenue) The monument was built by the sculptor Charles Parker Dowler to honor Samuel Smith Collyer, a fallen Pawtucket firefighter. The life-size bronze sculpture rests on a pedestal of Westerly granite, to which a bronze plaque is attached. After his schooling, Collyer took a job at the Pawtucket Post Office as a clerk and later was a store clerk. He became a machinist and worked for about seven years before partnering with his uncle, Nathan S. Collyer. Nathan Collyer died in 1877 and two years later Samuel inherited the business. He also served on the board of water commissioners in charge of developing the Pawtucket Water Works. He played an active role as a member of the Town Council of North Providence, serving as its president for three years. From 1848 to his death, Collyer was connected to the fire departments of North Providence and Pawtucket, rising to the rank of Chief Engineer in 1874. Collyer died in 1884 from injuries sustained in the line of duty. While responding to a fire alarm, hose carriage number one struck an upright stone post on the corner on Mineral Spring and Lonsdale Avenue and tipped over. All six firefighters were injured in the accident; Collyer was crushed underneath the carriage. He had a punctured lung and broken ribs, but managed to survive for almost three weeks before succumbing to his injuries. The monument was dedicated on the final day of Pawtucket's Cotton Centenary Celebration in 1890 and was attended by Governor John W. Davis. Samuel is buried in Riverside Cemetery. Davis had in 1874 established the Riverside Cemetery, before he entered politics. He too is buried there.

Go back to the paved path and follow it. Near the end you will see (on the left) the grave of Franklin Rand.

Franklin Rand (1806-1877) ​ Franklin worked as a mechanic at the nearby William H. Haskell Manufacturing Company, for which he built the country’s largest press for cold punching nuts out of bar iron. He also invented the self-locking blind catch, to prevent window blinds from being opened from the outside.

At the end of the path, turn left and continue. Look to the left for the grave of John Curien.

Capt. John George Curien John Curien was born in France and died in Pawtucket in 1824, at the age of 91. His epitaph reads: “He crossed the raging ocean, this county for to save; Twas France that gave him birth, and America a grave.” John’s great grandson Thomas Moies married Eunice Haskell, the daughter of William Henry Haskell (the Haskell factory is one block from the cemetery). John’s great grandson Charles Parmenter Moies was the first mayor of Central Falls.

Take the next left and follow the path back toward the front gate. In the section on the left you will find many Jenks family graves. This is the oldest section of the cemetery.

Stephen Jenks, Jr. (1756-1837) ​ Stephen was a son of Captain Stephen Jenks (1726-1800) and Sarah Hawkins. His brothers were Eleazar (1747-1822), Nathaniel (1749-1830), Moses (1751-1820), Benjamin (1758-1832), and Jerahmeel Jenks (1762-1822). All but Nathaniel are buried nearby. Eleazar and Nathaniel, with their cousin Jonathan Jenks were owners of the land that was sold to the town for this cemetery. Stephen married Marcy Arnold in 1775, and in 1818 he married Marcy’s sister Ruth. Stephen was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His son was Alvin Jenks (1798-1856), who with David Fales incorporated the Fales & Jenks cotton machinery factory in Central Falls. Alvin is buried in the Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.

Margaret Bagley Jenks (1743-1821) ​ Margaret was the daughter of “Old Esquire” Samuel Bagley and Phebe Carpenter, who are buried in Providence’s North Burial Ground. Samuel was a mariner before establishing himself as a successful cordwainer (a maker of leather shoes) in Smithfield. Margaret married Ichabod Jenks (1732-1803), the son of Nathaniel Jenks (1703-1739) and the brother of Captain Stephen Jenks (1726-1800). Ichabod served as a second lieutenant of the fire alarm company of North Providence under Capt. Thomas Olney. At that time, Pawtucket was a village in the town of North Providence.

Look for the obelisk marking the Cummings family plot in the section on the other side of the road.

Moses Jenks (1751-1820) ​ Moses was a son of Captain Stephen Jenks. He married Lois Tingley, daughter of Samuel Tingley and Margaret Short. Moses’ daughter Lois Jenks (1783-1873) married John Cummings and Moses is now buried with his son-in-law’s family. One of his sons was “Uncle” Pardon Jenks (1774-1860), whose family is also buried in this cemetery, in the row next to the fence along Mineral Spring Avenue.

Moses established and managed a grist mill just below the Falls on the Blackstone River. Several other family businesses were there, such as the Jenks forge, which had originally been built by his 2nd great grandfather Joseph, the founder of Pawtucket. In February of 1807 there were such heavy rains that many New England rivers flooded, causing a lot of damage to nearby buildings. The Blackstone River became so violent that fourteen buildings below the Falls were washed away, but Moses’ grist mill remained. It was torn down in 1863 to build a flouring mill in its place.

Moses Jenks’ house was on the site of the old Post Office Building on High Street (now the Burns Annex of the Pawtucket Library).

Continue walking on the path toward the front gate. Look on the right for the Read family plot with an iron fence around it.

Ervin Read (d. 1899) ​ Ervin Read and his brother J. Sewell Read opened a plumbing business at the corner of East Avenue and Main Street. Ervin was a member of the Union Lodge of freemasons, and he served as the Recorder for the Holy Sepulchre Encampment in Pawtucket. Freemasonry is a group of organizations that trace their origins to the fraternities of stonemasons - the symbols represent masonry tools such as the square and compass. When Ervin died, he was the oldest mason in the city, the oldest member of the Holy Sepulchre Commandery, and the oldest past master of the Union Lodge. His home was at 25 Park Place and he was a member of St. Paul’s Church. His nephew Professor Ervin Read was the organist and choir director at St. Paul’s for many years.

The Red Cross of Constantine, or more formally the ​ ​ Masonic and Military Order of the Red Cross of Constantine and the Appendant Orders of the Holy Sepulchre and of St John the Evangelist, is a Christian fraternal order of Freemasonry. Candidates for the order must already be members of a local masonic lodge, and must also be members of the Christian religion, ready to proclaim their belief in the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The organization draws inspiration from the Catholic chivalric orders of Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George and the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

Timothy Greene (1760-1834) ​ Timothy worked as a shoemaker and at some point started a tannery. After marrying Lucy Wilkinson, the daughter of Oziel, Timothy became a partner in the White mill. He and his father-in-law bought out Samuel Slater’s (who was married to another of Oziel’s daughters) interest in the White mill in 1810, thereafter changing it to Wilkinson, Greene, and Company. The mill burned in 1824 and the owners had serious financial troubles for a while. The Greene mill was later known as Hicks mill, built over Sergeant’s Trench on East Avenue. Greene was a Quaker and served as the vice-president of the Pawtucket Moral Society, established in 1815 to “combat drinking, profanity and Sabbath-breaking.” He was also the vice-president of the Pawtucket Bible Society (Samuel Slater was the president and David Wilkinson was the other vice-president).

Head back toward the front gate and turn right on the road just before it.

In 1774, the Log Bridge Road cut through Jonathan Jenks’ land; the land for the cemetery was on the north side of the road. Eventually, the cemetery expanded and the road had to be moved. Log Bridge Road is now named Conant Street and runs alongside the cemetery, over the Conant Street Bridge.

After Jonathan Jenks died in 1787, his wife Cynthia found the estate in debt and sold her husband’s Pawtucket land. It was purchased in 1791 by Moses Brown and Oziel Wilkinson. Brown and Wilkinson sold a share of the land to Thomas Arnold, who by 1801 solely owned eight acres southwest of the West Burying Ground, as the cemetery was then called.

By 1812 it was clear that the cemetery would need more space; a committee was formed to acquire more land, but none was for sale at the time. In 1830 Abraham Wilkinson, Henry Marchant, and Ebenezer Tiffany were assigned to be caretakers of the “West Burying Place at Pawtucket.” In 1837, the town council ordered a fence to be built around the burying ground and also that Edward Wilkinson and William Rhodes “ascertain on what terms any land adjoining...can be purchased for.” At that time a survey was done of the cemetery boundaries, to prevent encroachments. In 1840 there still had not been land available to expand the cemetery and the search was ongoing. Individuals who died in the 1840-41 winter were placed in tombs until the ground thawed. In April of 1841, the cemetery sexton Mowry Peters published a notice in the Pawtucket Gazette & Chronicle ​ “to all persons interested, that he is prepared to attend to the duties appertaining to his office - and requests that persons who intend having the remains of their friends removed from the tombs in Pawtucket, North Providence this season must make immediate application, as he will be unwilling to make any removals after the first day of May.”

Finally, after Thomas Arnold died, his heirs sold eleven acres of his land to the village in August of 1841 for $500. The following November, lots were for sale in the new section of what was then being called Union Cemetery. A subscription book was opened in the store of Amos Merrill Read.

Look for the row of Jenks family graves on the right, near the perimeter fence.

Albert Bliss (1811-1876) ​ In 1840 Albert married Lydia Manton Jenks, daughter of “Uncle” Pardon Jenks (1774-1860) and Freelove Pitcher. He was a coal and lumber dealer, a member of the house of representatives, a state senator, and a freemason. Albert and Lydia’s son Frank Manton Bliss died of typhoid fever in 1863. Frank was 17 and already a veteran of the Civil War, having served with the 11th RI Volunteers regiment; he died during his passage home.

Freelove Pitcher Jenks (1780-1842) ​ Freelove was the daughter of John Pitcher and Lydia Jenks (1755-1794). She married “Uncle” Pardon Jenks (1774-1860) and was the mother of William H. Jenks (1808-1888). Pardon worked as a miller and a fuller. His house was on the banks of the river, just north of where the Bridge Mill Power Plant now is. Freelove’s father John Pitcher was a chair maker. During the 1807 flood, Freelove was visiting her father with her young baby on the East side of the river. When the icy river waters rose and began crashing against the shore, Freelove urged her father to leave his house and cross the bridge to the west side, where she lived. John refused to go. Freelove wrapped her baby in a shawl and carried him across the bridge, which was already beginning to sway. She then returned for her father. As soon as they made it safely to the other side, the bridge collapsed. Freelove was the granddaughter, through her mother, of Jonathan Jenks who sold the town the first two acres of the cemetery land.

Pardon Jenks (1817-1878) ​ Pardon, Jr. was a son of “Uncle” Pardon Jenks and Freelove Pitcher, and the grandson of Moses Jenks. He was the proprietor of a carpenter shop on the river, near the bridge. He became interested in his father’s businesses (a snuff shop, a clothing shop, and a carding mill) and inherited a share of the “New Mill.” The land along the west side of the Blackstone River, near the Main Street Bridge was part of the sixty acres purchased by Joseph Jenks, Jr. in 1671, so there were several family residences and business interests there. The New Mill was built as part of the effort to re-establish some of those businesses after the 1807 flood destroyed many of the buildings. Pardon married Sarepta Tinkham, daughter of Charles Tinkham and Dolly Snow.

William H. Jenks (1808-1888) ​ William was a son of “Uncle” Pardon Jenks and Freelove Pitcher. His wife was also named Freelove (Douglas), whom he married in 1830. By 1880, William was living with his son’s family (William Henry Jenks) in their house at 123 Mulberry Street, just a few blocks from this cemetery.

William’s grandson was Dr. Frank Richmond Jenks. Frank attended public school in Pawtucket and at age 19 entered Brown University (in 1879) where he studied for two years before going to the New York Homeopathic Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1891. After school he returned to Pawtucket to begin his professional practice. In 1894 Frank was elected city physician, health officer, and police surgeon. Frank is buried with his wife’s family (Annie Louise Thayer) in the Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.

In 1842, the Log Bridge Road was re-routed around the cemetery grounds. A new fence was installed, and ​ ​ the grounds were landscaped with trees and pathways. Another newspaper article stated that there was “room enough for all...without infringing upon each other’s six feet of earth.” As late as 1846, there was still a large piece of Thomas Arnold’s land that had not been incorporated into the cemetery, primarily because the neighboring Bagley family contested the dividing line between the town’s land and theirs.

Turn right on Locust Avenue, as you walk, look on the left for the grave of William R. Sayles.

William R. Sayles (1837-1907) ​ William Randall Sayles, son of Willard Sayles and Marcy Arnold, was born in 1837, in Manville, RI where he attended the public schools until he was 14 years old. He later studied law (his older brother was already a lawyer) and attended Brown University from 1860-1864. He was employed by the Providence County Savings Bank as a bookkeeper and was a trustee of the Pawtucket Public Library for 18 years. He was an influential advocate for kindergarten instruction in Pawtucket. In 1872 he was married to Amelia L. Adams, daughter of Abraham Adams and they had three children. One of their sons, William R. Sayles, Jr. was a captain in the U.S. Navy.

Look on the right for the grave of Andrew Almy in the section just beyond the one closest to you.

Capt. Andrew Almy (1795-1880) ​ Andrew Almy was born in Tiverton, RI, the son of Otis and Lucinda Almy. He was a sea captain for many years before moving to Pawtucket, RI, with his family, and later worked as a grocer. Andrew is related to William Almy, who with Moses Brown and Samuel Slater, established the Almy, Brown, and Slater Mill to produce yarn with water-powered carding and spinning frames.

Continue walking on the road toward the back of the cemetery, look on the right for the obelisk marking the Benedict family plot.

Dr. David Benedict (1779-1874) ​ David was born in Norwalk, CT to Thomas Benedict and Martha Scudder. When David was fourteen he was apprenticed as a shoemaker and at twenty-one went to New York for one year to practice that trade. Wanting a classical education, he enrolled at a school in Mount Pleasant, New York and after two years, came to Rhode Island to complete his studies at Brown University. In that same year (1804) he received a license to preach in the Stratfield Church, near Bridgeport, CT. During his two years at Brown he was the assistant pastor for the Baptist Church in Pawtucket. He was formally ordained as a Baptist minister in 1805, and graduated from Brown in 1806. Pawtucket’s Baptist church offered him the pastorate, which he accepted and held for twenty-five years, until 1828 when the Anti-Masonic movement was formed. Anti-Masons were opponents of Freemasonry, believing it was an elitist secret society that was ruling the country in defiance of republican principles. Many people thought the Masonic organization and its members, especially those involved in government, were corrupt. Dr. Benedict was a mason and perhaps thought it best to remove himself from a position of authority, and he resigned from the church. He was a prolific author and in 1860 published his “Fifty Years among the Baptists,” and thereafter spent his time writing about the history of Pawtucket. Benedict served as a trustee of Brown University for fifty-eight years and was granted an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Shurtleff College in 1851.

After a few more steps down the road you will see George Bagley’s grave marker on the left.

George W. Bagley (1828-1906) ​ George was the son of William Valentine Bagley (1800-1875) and Clarinda Tabor, who are buried on the other side of this cemetery in a Bagley family plot. He is also a great grand-nephew of Margaret Bagley, who was visited earlier in this tour. The Bagleys were one of the earliest families in Pawtucket and had a large farm in this area. George’s grandfather William Bagley (1769-1840) was a blacksmith and a contemporary of Oziel Wilkinson.

In the mid-19th century, the cemetery was neglected and many of Pawtucket’s citizens purchased their burial plots in the Swan Point Cemetery just over the Providence town line. Pawtucket’s leaders got the message and set about making improvements in the Union Cemetery (as this cemetery was then called). At a town meeting on June 7, 1858, the cemetery’s name was officially changed to the Mineral Spring Cemetery and a new sign was erected over the main entrance.

Horace Weeden owned a piece of land between the cemetery and the railroad, about three quarters of an acre, which he agreed to sell for the price of $200 and with the stipulations that the town had to erect and maintain a fence on the property line. This was done in 1861.

Farther down the road, on the right you will the large rectangle stone marking George Crawford’s grave.

George Crawford (1834-1911) ​ George was the brother of John H. Crawford who owned Atwood, Crawford & Company, the oldest spool manufacturing company in the country. The factory building is still extant in the Pleasant View neighborhood, on the Pawtucket-Central Falls line. The first of George’s three wives was Hannah Daggett Smith who was the daughter of Stephen Smith (1796-1851) and his second wife Mercy Ide. Mercy’s maternal grandfather was Colonel John Daggett, an officer in the American Revolutionary War.

Stephen Smith was one of only a handful of “Free-Soilers” in town. The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections. Founded in Buffalo, NY, its leaders were anti-slavery activists and former members of the Whig and Democratic Parties. Its main purpose of the party was to oppose the expansion of slavery into the western territories, arguing that free men on free soil comprised a morally and economically superior system to slavery. The party membership was largely absorbed by the Republican Party.

Take a few steps to the left and look for David Wilkinson’s grave, behind the Civil War memorial.

David Wilkinson (1771-1852) ​ David Wilkinson was born in Smithfield, the son of Oziel Wilkinson, a skilled blacksmith who moved his family to Pawtucket in the 1780s. Oziel began making anchors in Pawtucket for the emerging shipbuilding industry. His shop was located on the banks of the Blackstone River and powered by water from the river. The Wilkinson Mill (still standing on the Slater Mill site) was built in 1810. Three and one-half stories tall and constructed from field stones, it contained a machine shop on the first floor and cotton spinning mills on the upper floors. During a depression in the textile industry around 1829, David Wilkinson had some financial troubles and was forced to sell his mills. He left Rhode Island to settle in Cohoes, New York. David Wilkinson was a leader in establishing St. Paul's Church in Pawtucket, and he also donated land to St. Mary’s Catholic church. He and his wife Martha Sayles have three children buried in this cemetery; Joanna (1802-1815), Albert S. (1804-1884), and John Lawrence (1811-1860).

In 1866 Alvin F. Jenks, John R. Fales, and Stephen A. Jenks sold 16 acres of land for the price of $6056, but there was a problem - the land was on the other side of the railroad tracks. Furthermore, Jenks and Fales stipulated that the sale would be void if the land was used for any other purpose than a burying ground. The town considered establishing a separate cemetery on the new land, with no direct access to the Mineral Spring Cemetery. A decision could not be made, time went on, and nature took over the land. In two years, the lot was covered with trees and in 1869, it was sold back to Fales and Jenks. The Mineral Spring Cemetery boundary remains as it was in 1861.

Just after the Civil War, citizens of Pawtucket enthusiastically expressed their patriotism. The 1868 Memorial Day celebrations included a parade of both military and marching bands that made its way to North Bend Cemetery (Oak Grove Cemetery), then to the Mineral Spring Cemetery, and on to St. Mary’s Cemetery. Battle flags of Rhode Island regiments were displayed during the procession and children decorated the graves of civil war veterans.

The Civil War Monument This monument was erected by the Women’s Relief Corps in 1897. It is made of Westerly granite, extracted by the Smith Granite Company for the cost of $2537. It was formally dedicated on Memorial Day in 1902. There are twenty-eight markers inside the circular fence.

The Woman's Relief Corps (WRC) is the official women's auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic. They ​ ​ were formally recognized in 1883, for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic, to help promote and run Memorial Day events, to petition the federal government for nurse pensions, and to promote patriotic education.

The "Grand Army of the Republic" (GAR) was a fraternal organization for veterans of the Union Army, Union ​ ​ Navy, Marines, and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War for the Union. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, and grew to include hundreds of posts across the nation, until it was dissolved in 1956 at the death of its last member, Albert Woolson of Duluth, Minnesota. Linking men through their experiences in the war, the GAR was the first organized advocacy group in American politics, supporting voting rights for black veterans, promoting patriotic education, helping to make Memorial Day a national holiday, lobbying the United States Congress to establish regular veteran pensions, and supporting Republican political candidates. Its peak membership, at more than 490,000, was in 1890 when there was a particularly high number of Civil War commemorative and monument dedication ceremonies. Pawtucket’s Cotton Centenary Celebration was held in that year. The GAR was succeeded by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, which is composed of male descendants of Union Army and Union Navy veterans.

In his General Order No. 11, dated May 5, 1868, first GAR Commander-in-Chief, General John A. Logan declared May 30 to be Memorial Day (also called "Decoration Day"), calling upon the GAR membership to ​ ​ make the observance an annual occurrence. Although not the first time war graves had been decorated, Logan's order effectively established Memorial Day as the day upon which Americans now pay tribute to all veterans, living and deceased.

The first female known to be admitted to the GAR was Kady Brownell, who served in the Union Army with her husband Robert, a private in the 1st Rhode Island Infantry at the First Battle of Bull Run. The GAR insignia is engraved on her gravestone in the North Burial Ground in Providence, Rhode Island.

Railroad The first locomotive to pass through Central Falls into Pawtucket was the "Lonsdale", of the Providence & Worcester which arrived pulling a gravel train on August 21, 1847. Passenger service began the following October. The Boston & Providence railroad had entered Providence twelve years earlier but its terminal was at India Point which was relatively far from the Union Station in downtown, owned by the Providence & Worcester and the New York, Providence & Boston railroads. The most feasible way of reaching Union Station from the B&P's main line was through Central Falls. The Boston & Providence was leased by the Old Colony in 1888 and the Providence & Worcester was leased by the New York, Providence & Boston in 1889. Now Amtrak provides passenger service through Pawtucket and Central Falls and the reborn Providence & Worcester provides freight service.

Walk along Conant Street back toward the cemetery entrance

Conant Street Bridge Conant Street was originally named Log Bridge Road, for a wooden timber bridge at this location. By 1847 the Providence and Worcester Railroad (which followed the Moshassuck River, to Union Station in downtown Providence), spurred industrial growth in Providence and Pawtucket. In 1880, Log Bridge Road was re-named Conant Street, for Hezekiah Conant, proprietor of the nearby Conant Thread Factory, which had been established here in 1868. In 1882, the timber bridge was demolished and a wrought-iron bridge was built. By 1893, both the Boston & Providence and the P&W lines were absorbed into the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NYNH&H). The current bridge was built in 1913 by the American Bridge Company of New York, to meet the railway needs in Pawtucket, which had grown into an industrial and commercial center.

*Gideon and Jonathan were the sons of Jonathan Jenks (1707-1781). Eleazar and Nathaniel were the sons of Captain Stephen Jenks (1726-1800).

** Since there are multiple people with the same names, in different generations, I have included the lifespan dates. ______Cemetery Trivia: There are at least 20 Revolutionary War veterans buried in the Mineral Spring Cemetery. The cemetery grounds now cover about fourteen acres. The Mineral Spring Cemetery was the first of seven burial grounds in Pawtucket. Jonathan Jenks, original owner of this land, is buried in New Hampshire.

Also Nearby:

The Potter-Collyer House at 67 Cedar Street was built ​ ​ in 1863 as a one-and-a-half story timber-frame cottage with a gable roof, a style popular in Pawtucket during the mid-19th century. Subsequent additions and expansions (1877, 1895, 1902) have added a two-story hip-roof and significantly altered the floor plan, but the original Gothic bargeboards have remained. Elisha O. Potter, a machinist, built the house and four years later sold it to Samuel S. Collyer (whose story is given above). The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The house has recently been restored by new owners.

Conant Thread Company/Coats & Clark The Conant Thread/Coats & Clark Mill complex occupies 50 acres near the Central Falls city line. In 1868, Hezekiah Conant founded his thread making operation in Pawtucket. After traveling to Scotland to learn new techniques, he partnered with the Scottish Company J & P Coats. Conant’s company became an internationally-known source for cotton thread and was for many years Pawtucket's largest employer. By 1917 it had over 2,500 employees; during the 1940s there were more than 4,000. The post-war years were difficult for the company. It went through a series of mergers and became known as Coats and Clark, but production gradually declined. By 1964 operations had ceased and in 1977 a brick office and stables were demolished.

______Sources: 1. Pawtucket, Rhode Island & Vicinity: 1845-1854, the history of Oak Grove Cemetery (Volume 3 of ​ Pawtucket, Rhode Island & Vicinity: Marriages & Deaths from the Pawtucket Gazette & Chronicle, Saga of the Old Jenks Burying Ground), Elizabeth Jackson Johnson, Spaulding House Publications, 1989 2. https://sites.google.com/site/pawtucketcentralfalls/home/the-separate-stations 3. Find-a Grave 4. Wikipedia 5. "Illustrated History of Pawtucket, Central Falls and Vicinity," Henry R. Caufield, 1897 6. http://www.riheritagehalloffame.org/inductees_detail.cfm?iid=434 7. History of Bristol County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Duane Hamilton Hurd, J. W. Lewis & Company 1883 8. History of Freemasonry in Rhode Island by Henry Warren Rugg, E. L. Freeman & son, 1895

This tour was developed and written by Barbara Zdravesky for the Preservation Society of Pawtucket, 2020.