History of Cranston, (Providence County) Rhode Island United States of America

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Biographies:

Charles Creighton Hazewell, journalist, was born in Cranston, R.I., Oct. 1, 1814. He learned the printer's trade in the office of the Providence, Journal. He was employed in Boston on the Advocate and afterward on the Post. He then edited the Nantucket Islaner and subsequently the Concord Freemen. He removed to Columbus, Ohio, in l845, where he edited the Statesman and was afterward editor and proprietor of the Western Reserve, which was short lived. He returned to Massachusetts and was editor of the Middlesez Freeman, Concord. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1852, and a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1853. He then went to Boston as editor of the Atlas, was later connected with the Times and in 1857-83 with the Traveler. He had a remarkable memory and was an able biographer and historian. He died in Revere, Mass., Oct. 6, 1883.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Sprague, governor of Rhode Island, was born at Cranston, R.I., Sept. 12, 1830; son of Amasa and Fanny (Morgan) Sprague; and grandson of William and Anne (Potter) Sprague. He attended the schools of Cranston, East Greenwich and Scituate, and the Irving institute, Tarrytown, N.Y., and in 1845 he obtained employment in his father's calico-printing factory. He then served in a countinghouse as assistant in 1846, and later as bookkeeper, and in 1856, on the death of his uncle, Governor William Sprague, he succeeded to the management of the calico-printing business, which was at that time the most extensive in the country. He also interested himself in locomotive manufacture, and invented several new appliances for calico printing. In 1848 he became connected with the Providence marine artillary company, and attained the rank of colonel, greatly improving the military organization of the company. He was elected governor of the state in April, 1860, 1861 and 1862, and was active in raising troops on President Lincoln's call for three-months' men. He went to Washington with the first detachment of men sent from the state, April 18, 1861, and took part in the first battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861; served througout the Peninsular campaign and was commissioned brigadier-general, but declined, having been elected to the U.S. senate. During his three terms as governor he was absent in the field most of the time, and his official duties were performed by John R. Bartlett, secretary of state . He was elected U.S. senator, May 28, 1862, receiving 92 of the 103 votes cast, and was re-elected, June 9, 1868, receiving 98 votes, the total number cast. Upon taking his seat he resigned as governor, March 3, 1863. He served on the committees on manufactures and military affairs, and continued in office until the expiration of his second term, March 3, 1875. The honorary degree of A.M. was conferred on him in 1861 by Brown university, of which institution be was made a member of the board of trustees in 1866. He was twice married, first Nov. 12, 1863, to Katharine (Kate), daughter of Salmon P. and Ann (Smith) Chase, and secondly to Inez Weed of Virginia. He retired from public life and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits at his country seat, Canonchet, near Narragansett Pier, R.I.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Christopher Lippitt, soldier and pioneer manufacturer, was born in Cranston, R.I., in 1744; son of Christopher and Catharine (Holden) Lippitt; grandson of Moses and Ann Phillis (Whipple) Lippitt and of Anthony and Phebe (Rhodes) Holden; great grandson of Moses and Mary (Knowles) Lippitt, and great2 grandson of John Lippitt, who came from England to America and settled on the Providence Plantations in 1638. He attended the country school; represented his town in the general assembly, 1765-75; and was captain in the militia and justice of the peace, 1766-75. In 1775 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel in command of the minute-men, who when Commodore Wallace of the British squadron landed his marines on the island of Prudence and burned the houses, removed the inhabitants and portable property and abandoned the island. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, Jan. 18, 1776, and shortly after, colonel of a volunteer regiment of infantry, enlisted by the general assembly for defending the state. He was stationed at Newport till Sept. 15, 1776, when with his regiment he joined Washington's army at Harlem Heights, N.Y. He served at White Plains, Trenton and Princeton, and went into winter quarters at Morristown. He was brevetted brigadier-general by Washington, and in January, 1777, returned with his regiment to Rhode Island, where, as brigadier-general of the militia of the county of Providence, he led the state force in the battle of Rhode Island, Aug. 29, 1778. He was again a representative in the general assembly, 1778-1783; declined to serve as judge of the superior court and as delegate to congress, and favored the adoption of the Federal constitution. He was married, March 23, 1777, to Waite, daughter of William and Patience (Clarke) Harris; she died, Sept. 8, 1836. They had twelve children. General Lippitt was an early member of the Providence Peace Society. In 1807 he supervised the .building of the Lippitt Mill in Warwick, R.I., the third cotton mill erected in the state, and served as its first agent. See Autobiographical Sketch prepared at the request of the R.I. Historical society (1822). He died in Cranston, R.I., June 17, 1824.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Stephen Albert Knight, manufacturer, was born in Cranston, R.I., June 5, 1828; son of Stephen and Welthan (Brayton) Knight. He removed with his parents to Coventry, R.I., in 1835, and was employed in a cotton mill, 1835-46. He became a clerk in a Providence grocery store in 1847 and in 1849 engaged with Parker & Knight at Arnold's Bridge as overseer of the spinning-room. He attended Fruit Hill academy in 1850, and in 1853, with his brothers Benjamin B. and Robert, purchased the cotton mill property at Hebronville, Mass. He was married, May 5, 1851, to Ellen, daughter of Zachariah and Eliza Parker of Pontiac, R.I. In 1866 he removed to Providence as agent of the Hebron Manufacturing company, which in that year had purchased the Dodgeville mills. In 1868 he purchased a fourth interest in the Grant mill in Providence, and in 1870, on the death of his father-in-law, Zachariah Parker, the Hebron Manufacturing company became owner of the entire property, Mr. Knight being agent, the business forming a part of the system of B. B. & R. Knight. In 1899 he was elected president of the Hebron Manufacturing company. He was director on the board of government of the New England Cotton Manufacturers' association, 1895-98, and president of that association, 1898-99.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor