If there’s one thing I’ve come to learn over the last two decades of ruminating on the history of our fair town, it is this; there have been some extraordinary people, across the centuries that have called this place home. I am consistently amazed by what has been accomplished, or by what has been overcome, by folks from North Kingstown. This has gotten me thinking lately, we need to recognize these people, we need to honor them, and we need to be sure that they, and what they did, are remembered into the future. Of course, I’m not inventing the wheel here; North Kingstown is a “Johnny-come-lately” as far as this idea is concerned. The State of Rhode Island has its “Hall of Fame”, all those cities north of here have something similar, even our neighboring Town of East Greenwich has set up their “Wall of Fame” program through which they honor EG’s finest. So come on North Kingstown! It’s time we stepped up to the plate and shined the spotlight on our best and brightest as well! As a community long in the tooth, with a history that stretches across five different centuries, I propose a “North Kingstown Champions of the Centuries Honor Roll” to celebrate the lives of the folks that have made this place so very special. Here’s my take on an inaugural class for this honor roll, century by century.
By Tim Cranston
1600s | 1700s | 1800s | 1900s | Present Day
1600s
Roger Williams – Although he’s claimed by Providence, let’s not forget that good old Roger lived here in our fair town back in the day and ran a very successful trading post on the old Pequot Path, the trail that would become the Boston Post Road. We can claim the founder of RI as our own as well.
Richard Smith – The area’s first permanent settler, the founder of Smith’s Castle, also a successful trader with the Narragansett people, and Roger’s friend and neighbor, Richard Smith deserves to be in this inaugural group. Heck his family crest has been modified to be the Town’s Seal.
Lodowick Updike I – Although this guy straddles the centuries I’ve placed him here. He took what Smith began and made it into an empire, the founder of Wickford, one of the most important men in our history, Old Lodowick is a shoe-in for the inaugural group.
Valentine Wightman – One of the founders of the Wightman/Whitman clan in the area and perhaps early Quidnessett’s most important settler, Valentine was a genius with language and was an interpreter for the leaders of the colony in their negotiations with the native people.
Canonicus, Miantonomi, & Canonchet – These three Chief Sachems of the Narragansett people were the original leaders of what would become North Kingstown and arguably the noblest three men to ever live here. This is a sham without their names.
Stonewall John – Also known as “the wallbuilder” this Narragansett brave was second in command to both Chief Sachem Canonchet and Queen Quiaipen who succeeded Canonchet after his death during the King Phillips War. John was fluent in numerous native tongues as well as English and as such was a valuable asset to the tribe. Somewhere along the way, through chiefly his keen powers of observation, he picked up the skills of the English stone masons and is the very root of the longstanding tradition of Narragansett master stone masons that still exists today. The Queens Fort and Stony Fort are attributed to him. He was killed during the King Phillips War alongside Quiaipen his sachem. Sadly, his true Narragansett name is not known to us.
Esther Smith – Esther was the wife of Richard Smith Jr. and was the woman responsible for bringing cheesemaking to the Narragansett lands. Utilizing her mother-in-law Joan Barton Smith’s family recipe, Esther began the production of cheese here; the economic impact of this was a game changer. Known as a fiercely brave woman, she stood up to and stood down a group of angry Narragansetts that assembled at Smith’s Castle, her husband’s trading post, while he was away in Boston, and she was the last woman to leave Wickford during the outbreak of King Phillip’s War. This brave and true woman surely belongs here.
Elder Thomas Baker – Thomas Baker was ordained a baptist minister in 1658 in Newport and was convinced by none other than Roger Williams himself, to pack up his bags and move to over here to the Narragansett lands in 1664, to minister to the people here. He was therefore North Kingstown’s very first permanent “man of God”. He lived out his life here and the church he founded, “The Six-Principle Baptist Church, is still extant on Old Baptist Road.
1700’s
Daniel Updike – Another member of the Smith’s Castle Updike clan, Daniel, working in concert with RI Hall of Famer Governor Samuel Cranston, literally saved not only North Kingstown, but all of Rhode Island from being annexed by the Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay Colonies. He’s guaranteed a spot here.
Gilbert Stuart - The 18th century’s most talented playboy spent his youth here and is a guarantee for the Honor Roll. Anyone who doesn’t think so can just pull out a dollar bill and take a gander at the portrait there. ‘Nuff said!
Samuel Elam - Samuel Elam was both a North Kingstownite and a Newporter and was considered one of the Colony’s most educated individuals. This champion of education in New England, also possessed one of the region’s largest personal libraries and founded the Washington Academy, second chronologically only to Brown University in the history of Rhode Island. He certainly belongs here.
Joshua Davis - The Davis family of Davisville begins with Joshua, a pioneer in the region and one of the Town’s earliest entrepreneurs. He belongs on this Honor Roll too.
Rowland Robinson –This member of the Narragansett Planter Class was not only the High Sheriff of the County, but also the head of the family responsible for the development of the famed Narragansett Pacer breed of horses. Although his grand homestead is now located in Narragansett, during his lifetime he was a Kingstowner through and through.
Capt. Thomas Cole – Tom Cole of Wickford served eight years during the Revolution suffering alongside General Washington himself during that long cruel winter at Valley Forge. After that experience, he was sent back home with Col. Christopher Greene to raise train, and command a battalion of slaves, free blacks, and native people forever known as Rhode Island’s Black Regiment. They served with honor at the Battles of Newport and Yorktown. He resigned his commission in 1782 and returned to Wickford and his life as a house carpenter.
George Rome – Rome was essentially an English debt collector who came from London to help convince Newport based debtors they needed to pay their bills back in jolly old England. While here he purchased at one of his own bankruptcy auctions, the land we now call Rome Point and constructed a palatial summer getaway there. Rome was driven out of Rhode Island at the start of the Revolution and his properties were then auctioned off and the proceeds used to help fund the War of Rebellion.
Capt. Daniel Fones – Capt. Daniel Fones was Wickford’s most famous privateer (a pirate with a permission slip, essentially) and served with the British Crown with honor during the Louisburg Exposition and the French & Indian Wars. He then took his “ill-gotten gains” and opened up a big tavern in the village of Wickford and finished his days dispensing rum, ale, a tales of the sea at Daniel Fones Tavernhouse
1800’s
Syria Vaughan - A true product of the Industrial Age, Syria Vaughan, the founder of the narrow weave fabric industry at his mill Hamilton Web, also was a prime mover in the operation of the Sea View Electric Railroad, was chief among a group of fellows who brought electricity to South County and was also an early coal importer and broker here in town. He may have had the biggest impact of anyone on North Kingstown in the period.
Robert Rodman – A businessman, a “village builder”, Rodman was the community’s wealthiest and most prominent fellow in his time. At one time he owned essentially all of what we now call Lafayette.
Alfred Chadsey - an educator, a scientist, and a farmer, Chadsey, with his innovative seed farm, was part of a larger revolution in agriculture that changed the face of farming in the region and beyond.
Christiana (Babcock) Bannister – a woman born to African American/Narragansett parents here in North Kingstown, she grew up to be a prominent businesswoman, with a line of successful beauty and hair salons, a champion of the Abolitionist movement in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and the wife and benefactor of critically important black artist Edward Bannister. The odds she overcame are unfathomable. She ought to be every woman’s hero.
Avis Ann (Smith) Spink - Another extraordinary woman born in the male-centric 1800’s, Avis Ann was, towards the middle of the century, one of Wickford’s wealthiest individuals and a major property owner in the village’s business district. I can only imagine how many men from outside of the community were taken aback by how important this lady was here in NK. The Avis Block on West Main Street, one of her many commercial properties in the period was named posthumously in her honor.
George T. Cranston – No not me, the guy I’m named after! Big George Cranston was a Civil War veteran who saw service throughout the entire conflagration. When he returned after witnessing the horrors of our nation’s time rent asunder, he became an important local businessman and a popular politician. He championed veteran’s rights issues and initially after getting nowhere fast enough to suit him, decided to open a veteran’s retirement home on his own property up at Wickford Junction. Eventually the State of Rhode Island came around, after much arm-twisting, funded a true state home, first sited in Wickford and then in Bristol, where it is today. George Cranston was the statewide leader of the GAR (a veteran’s group like today’s American Legion) and was on his way to an eventual governorship at the time of his sudden death at the age of 50. His funeral in 1894 is still the largest one ever held in the community.
Thomas Lincoln Casey – When you walk around Washington DC today, you are looking at the magnificent works of Saunderstown’s own General Thomas Lincoln Casey. An army engineer from 1852 until 1895, Casey oversaw the construction of the State, War, and Navy buildings, the Washington Aqueduct, the White House Conservatory, and the Army Medical Museum. In 1878, he took on what was deemed an impossible task and completed construction of the grand obelisk, the Washington Monument a project that had been abandoned in 1855. He finished off his career by supervising the construction of the Library of Congress while simultaneously serving as the head of the Army Corps of Engineers. He is a shoo-in for this list.
Bishop Elisha Smith Thomas – A Wickford boy, Elisha Thomas went on to become an Episcopal priest, rising in 1899 to the Bishop of the wild Kansas Territory. He was known as the “Cowboy Bishop” and his exploits as a horse-riding bible-thumping bishop furnished the basis for numerous books and magazine articles written chiefly by western writer Cyrus T. Brady. Elisha’s son Nathaniel, followed in his father’s “hoofprints” and served as the Bishop for the equally wild Nebraska Territory.
William Gregory – Gregory was the only North Kingstown resident who ever served as the Governor of Rhode Island. His time in office was shortened by his death while serving.
1900’s
Arthur Maynard – We really share this fine fellow with East Greenwich, but Arthur Maynard, who now rests eternal in Quidnessett Cemetery may have done more for office workers in America than anyone else, not mention his bosses at the Boston Wire Stitcher Company. After his little invention, the desktop stapler took off, that outfit became Bostitch and every secretary in the world’s life got a little easier.
Aunt Carrie (Campbell) Cooper - I have no idea why the folks at the RI Hall of Fame ignore my yearly letter to enshrine this NK born gal, the inventor of the RI icon, the clamcake, in the state hall of fame. No bother, she makes it on this honor roll on her first go-round.
Joseph Reynolds - As the principle designer at the world famous stained glass window firm of Reynolds & Rohnstock, Joseph Reynolds work can be found in churches, municipal edifices and memorials around the world. This Wickford-born son of a jeweler has left his mark for sure.
Paule Loring - An artist, a cartoonist, an illustrator, and a political cartoonist extraordinaire, Paule Loring (he added the “e” because it impressed the girls) was one of a long line of village characters that have kept Wickford on the map for centuries. His body of work is huge and his talents, particularly as a political cartoonist, are truly under-appreciated.
Ogden Lindsley - We explored the life of this amazing fellow back in the Spring and saw that he was one of the nation’s most influential psychologists, well, ever. He truly is the smartest fellow to ever come out of NKHS and because of his work, the education of mentally challenged individuals is all the better.
Owen Wister – Owen Wister is known, due to his well-written and influential book, “The Virginian” as the father of the American Western genre. A Saunderstown resident, he often entertained his pal Teddy Roosevelt here at his fine estate “Champ de Corbeau”.
John Huszer – John Huszer came here to North Kingstown to paint insignias on fighter planes at Quonset Point Naval Air Station and just decided to stay. A gifted artist and an even more talented art educator Huszer can safely be named the “Father of the Wickford Art Festival”. An honorary Swamp Yankee by any measure, he sure does belong on this list.
Mary Thomas – At the moment that Mary Thomas, in the midst of her 109th year, breathed her last breath, a living conduit to our community’s past shut down for the final time. Born the child of two freed slaves, Mary lived a full life here in Wickford from start to finish. Towards the end of her days her age and wisdom caused her to be a local celebrity of sorts in the greater black community. She was taken aback and shy about all the attention, preferring to think of herself as just a Wickford girl who lived a very long time. She was much more than that, and worthy of inclusion on this and many other honor rolls.
The Present
David Burnham - I can’t help but choke up a bit when I think about how much the community lost upon Dave Burnham’s passing. An honest businessman, a brave local politician who always put community first, Dave Burnham was the definition of integrity. We miss you big guy.
Alan (Frenchie)French - Another larger than life NK resident, Mr. French was a WWII vet, a Pearl Harbor survivor, and a champion of the Boy Scouts movement here in North Kingstown, and that’s just the beginning. He made everyone’s life that he touched a little better; another fellow sorely missed.
David Hartman - Every town’s got to have a celebrity to claim as their own and David Hartman, with roots in the Rodman clan, is ours. He summered here often as a boy and still visits from time to time. This former Good Morning America host set the bar high for morning news magazine hosts and now operates as an independent documentary film producer in the “Big Apple”.
Michael de Guzman - A Wickford boy who made good in the bigger world, Michael is a very successful screenplay author, who wrote not only a Jaws sequel or two, but quite a number of Hallmark Hall of Fame movies as well. He now lives in Seattle and writes award-winning books for young readers. Recently this literary fellow, who never forgot his hometown, donated a parcel of land that became the Bush Hill Pond Nature Preserve in Wickford.
Paul Wilson – A quiet and humble man, Mr. Wilson working behind the scenes, has exemplified what it means to be a businessman who gives back to his community. He has supported more teams, championed more causes, and done more good, without ever wishing for recognition, than anyone I know. If I were to list all that he has done for North Kingstown, I’d run out of paper and get a phone call from him which would begin with, “Timmy I wish you hadn’t said all that…”. So take my word for it, Paul Wilson belongs here with all the rest.
Elizabeth Biesel – Yeah, I know what you’re saying, “She’s kind of young to be on this list”, but heck look what this young woman has accomplished. She’s not only been to two Olympics and won two medals, she also been nothing more than inspirational to young girls, not only in Rhode Island, but across America. You bet she belongs here!
Al Southwick – Every child who has ever done anything in North Kingstown recognizes this fine man’s countenance. And amazingly enough, whether you can believe it or not, he recognized every single one of them. I know, I’ve seen it countless times. Al Southwick was our community’s hidden gem; I’m convinced that his secret lies in what I just mentioned, He took the time necessary to get to know every single one of our children, he cherished them each and every one just as we their parents have. He makes them, to the child, feel special. I knew this guy for more than forty years and my hat is still always off to Al Southwick!
Paul Lischio – Anyone who knows me, knows that real estate developers and I don’t often see eye to eye. But Paul Lischio was different. He truly cared about what he was creating, he knew what the word neighborhood means and applied it liberally as he built his numerous “Heritage Homes” developments. He went out of his way to preserve the natural landscapes of a parcel of land he developed. To him trees and stone walls weren’t in the way, they were an asset to be saved. The old homes sitting upon those same lands weren’t bulldozed down without a second look, more often than not he restored them realizing they were a true positive, not a liability. And talk about civic pride, involvement, and responsibility. Lischio Field out in Slocum is just one example. This guy is missed to this day.
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