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

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Biographies:

David Benedict, historian, was born at Norwalk. Conn., Oct. 10, 1779; son of Thomas and Martha (Scudder) Benedict. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a shoemaker in New Canaan, Conn., and was then employed for a short time as a journeyman. In 1802 he entered the academy at Mt. Pleasant, Sing Sing, N.Y., where he was prepared for college. In 1806 he was graduated from Brown university, and in a short time was ordained to the Baptist ministry. His first pastorate was in Pawtucket, R. I., where he remained until about 1831, meanwhile devoting much time to historical research relative to the Baptist denomination. From 1818 to the time of his death he was a trustee of Brown university, and in 1851 Shurtleff college conferred upon him the degree of D.D. He was a writer of force and originality, and his books had a wide circulation. Among these are: "General History of the Baptist Denominations in America and all Parts of the World" (2 vols., 1813); "Abridgment of Robinson's History of Baptism" (1817); "Abridgment of History of the Baptists" (1820); "History of All Religions" (1824); "Address before the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island" (1830); "Fifty Years among the Baptists" (1860);" Compendium of Ecclesiastical History," "History of the Donatists" (1874), and "Conference Hymn Book." He was also the author of several poems. He died at Pawtucket, R. I., Dec. 5, 1874.

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

Augustus Peck Clarke, educator, was born in Pawtucket, R. I., Sept. 24, 1833; son of Seth Darling and Fanny (Peck) Clarke; grandson of Edward Clarke, who served in the Mexican war (1846-47), and great-grandson of Capt. Ichabod Clarke, who served in the war of the Revolution, and a descendant of Joseph Clarke, who settled in Dorchester, Mass., in 1630. He was graduated at Brown university an A.M. in 1861, and received the degree of M.D. at Harvard in 1862. On Aug. 1, 1861, he entered the Union army as assistant surgeon, 6th New York cavalry, and was promoted surgeon in May, 1863. In November, 1863, he was appointed surgeon-in-chief of the second brigade in Sheridan's first division of cavalry, and from February, 1865, to the end of the war, was surgeon-in-chief of the whole division. At the close of the war he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel and also colonel. After the completion of his military service in 1865 he visited Europe and pursued his medical studies, attending the hospitals of London, Paris and Leipzig. In 1866 he began general practice in Cambridge, Mass. He was secretary of the Cambridge society for medical improvement, 1870-74; a member of the Cambridge common council, 1871-73; and an alderman in 1874. In 1891 and 1892 he was elected president of the Gynecological society of Boston, and in 1893 was vice-president of the Pan-American medical congress. He was called to the chair of gynecology and abdominal surgery at the College of physicians and surgeons, Boston, Mass., in 1893, and in 1894 was made dean of the faculty. He became a member, and was for a time a councillor of the Massachusetts medical society; vice-president of the Mexican medical congress, 1896; and a member of the American academy of medicine, the American medical association, and was vice-president 1895-96, and a member of other similar organizations. He was an honorary president of the Russian medical congress at Moscow, 1897. He was also elected a member of the New England historic genealogical society. He is the author of Vascular Growths (1887); Pyosalpinx as a Cause of Suppurative Pelvic Inflammation (1890); Origin and Development of Modern Gynecology (1892); Some Points in the Surgical Treatment of Appendicitis (1893); Treatment of Fibromyoma (1894); Indications for Total Hysterectomy (1895);and Surgical Treatment of Morbid Conditions Involving the Broad Ligaments (1898) He also published Clarke's Kindred Genealogies (1896); A Book of Poems (1896).

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

Henry Niles Pierce, fourth bishop of Arkansas and ninety-fifth in succession in the American episcopate, was born in Pawtucket, R.I., Oct. 19, 1820; son of Benjamin B. and Susan (Walker) Pierce; grandson of Moses and Sarah (Bently) Pierce, and a descendant of Richard Pearce, Jr., born 1590, in Bristol, England, who came to this country about 1638, and resided in Portsmouth, R.I. Henry N. Pierce was graduated at Brown, A.B., 1842, A.M., 1845. He was ordered deacon, April 95, 1848, and ordained priest, Jan. 3, 1849, by Bishop Freeman in Christ church, Matagorda, Tex.; engaged in missionary work in Washington county, Tex., 1849-52; was rector of Christ church, Matagorda, Tex., 1852-54; Trinity church, New Orleans, La., in 1854; St. Paul's, Rahway, N.J., 1855-57; St. John's, Mobile, Ala., 1857-68, and St. Paul's, Springfield, Ill., 1868-70. He was married, April 18, 1854, to Nannie Hayward, daughter of Abram and Eleanor (Wallace) Sheppard of Matagorda. He was elected missionary bishop of Arkansas and Indian Territory and was consecrated in Christ church, Mobile, Ala., Jan. 25, 1870, by Bishops Green, Whitehouse, R. H. Wilmer, Quintard, J. P. B. Wilmer and Young. In 1871 Arkansas was organized as a diocese, of which he became the first diocesan, and retained the charge of the missionary jurisdiction of Indian Territory until 1893, when the territory became part of the missionary district of Oklahoma and Indian Territory. He received the degree D.D. from the University of Alabama in 1862 and from the University of the South in 1869, and that of LL.D. from William and Mary college in 1867. He is the author of published sermons, addresses, translations, miscellaneous pamphlets and The Agnostic and Other Poems (1884). He died at Fayetteville, Ark., Sept. 5, 1899.

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