PREFACE. THE year following my grandfather's death, in 1889, after his papers had been sorted and classified, I began to work among them, hoping to arrange a memoir. I soon saw that I should have to begin with his grandfather, and was led still further back to the grandfather of his grandfather. As I worked, the life of the last century cast a spell over the present, and what I had undertaken as a chapter has developed into this volume. My thanks are especially due to two Friends, William H. Perry, the clerk of the Meeting, whose friendship for my grand parents led him to give me access to the South Kingstown "Monthly Meeting Records," which have never before been examined for historical purposes; and Samuel Austin, a descendant of College Tom's contemporary, who searched the Rhode Island "Yearly Meeting Records' for me. Besides these I owe valuable suggestions to Mrs. Caroline E. Robinson, whose researches in the South Kingstown Records I hope may soon be published. The details here presented may seem trifling-the accounts of household concerns and neighborhood transactions; and so they are if they do not inspire a greater reverence for the body which is "more than raiment," and the life which is "more than meat." The problems of that day were different from ours, but the courage required to face them was the same. The men in their homespun and the women in their "camblit" cloaks lived and loved much as we do. And so this little bit of the old life makes a link in the unending chain of — that life which is constantly aspiring, life, ever seeking its divine source. OAKWOODS IN PEACE DALE, R. I. October 9, 1893. C. H. CONTENTS. Page CHAPTER I. UPON THE NARRAGANSETT COUN- . CHAPTER VI. A PASTORAL, INTRODUCING SPIN- I 27 42 56 76 91 CHAPTER VII. UPON CORN, AND HUSBANDRY CHAPTER VIII. A WOMAN'S CHAPTER, WITH CHAPTER IX. UPON THE EVILS OF A DEPRE- CHAPTER X. THE SOUTH KINGSTOWN MONTHLY 143 CHAPTER XI. UPON THE REVOLUTION, AND THE II. RECEIPT for Rent from MR. BRENTON, 1702. 222 IX. AN APPRENTICESHIP PAPER, 1768. X. A LEASE FROM STEPHEN CHAMPLIN, 1772. 248 XI. MANUSCRIPT IN THE HAND OF THOMAS HAZARD SON of Robert, 1772 . . . 250 XV. RELEASE OF GUARDIANSHIP, 1776. XVI. CONSTITUTION OF THE PROVIDENCE SO- RECORD OF BIRTHS, 1747-1781. |