>From the book "History of Washington and Kent Counties, Rhode Island" by J.R. Cole, published 1889, New York, W.W. Preston & Company. Beginning on page 524. [xxx] respresents either notes or the page number. SAMUEL RODMAN, the son of Robert and of Elizabeth Hazard, daughter of Stephen Hazard of South Kingstown, was born in South Kingstown, R.I., May 3d, 1800. Both in personal appearance and in character he was said to resemble his great-grandfather Samuel; while he inherited from his mother a strain of the Hazard blood, and with it the will and energy that are necessary to success. He was born in the house that his great-uncle, William Rodman, had builded, [sic] and in the great west chamber that had been made historic as being also the birth-place of Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of Lake Erie. [525] When he was about fourteen years old, his ambition overleaping the narrow bounds of his village life, he left his father's house and went to the central part of the state of New York, then the distant West and the Mecca of ambitious youth. The seven years that he spent there were passed in the family of his uncle Asa Carpenter, who had married his mother's sister, Sarah Hazard. He returned to Rhode Island in 1821, and in the same year he made his first purchase of real estate, buying of Elisha Watson, for four hundred and ninety dollars, six acres of land with a house thereon. This land was once a part of the old Rodman estate, and in this house his eldest son, Isaac Peace Rodman was born, August 18th, 1822. Year by year Samuel Rodman added to his property, gathering up acre after acre of the old paternal lands. In 1832 he had charge of the Peace Dale mills. In 1835, in company with Attmore Robinson, he bought of John F. Bently, for five hundred dollars, the tract of land with the wharf at Narragansett Pier, since called the "Old Pier," where the famous breakwater, costing twenty-five thousand dollars, was afterward built. Its architects, like those, as it is said, of the second Eddystone light-house, defied God Almighty to overthrow the work: but it was partly destroyed in the first great storm after its completion. During the progress of the breakwater an accomplished French engineer, on examining it, said that it was building on a wrong principle, and that the dock sooner or later would fill with sand. Time has proven the truth of this prediction, for children now plan on the beach where once was from fifteen to twenty feet of water. In 1838 Samuel Rodman sold his rights to the pier property, and bought of Thomas R. Hazard for six thousand dollars, "one hundred and twenty-five or thirty" acres of land in the village of Rocky Brook; and in the same year he built the homestead where seven of his children were born. There were on the property at the time fours small houses and a small wooden mill, containing one or two sets of machinery. In this mill he began the manufacture of woolen goods that was destined to assume such large proportions. During the following year (1839) he bought of John D. Austin, administrator on the estate of Mary R. Hazard, for three thousand seven hundred dollars, thirty acres of land, on a part of which stood the old Rodman [526] mansion house and a woolen mill. In 1853 he bought of Jonathan Congdon, for nine thousand dollars, thirty acres of land, with several houses and a woolen mill, containing two sets of machinery; and at about the same time he added to his own farm the Freeman Watson farm adjoining it. This farm once belonged to his great-uncle, William Rodman, who, in the last century had built the house now standing, already mentioned as the one in which Samuel Rodman was born. The small mills on the Rocky Brook estate Mr. Rodman soon replaced by substantial stone buildings, taking all of the stone that he used from his own meadows, which were well named "Rocky." He built pretty cottages for his operatives, made roads, set out trees and beautified the place until it became, both in appearance and in reality one of the thriftiest as well as one of the most picturesque villages in New England. His success as a manufacturer was long uninterrupted, and he became of the richest mill owners in the state, owning in addition to the Rocky Brook property, a mill in Wakefield, and a fine mill in Newport. In politics Samuel Rodman was an old-time whig, and subsequently an anti-slavery whig. He represented his town several times in the general assembly. In 1853, when a nomination was equivalent to an election, he was nominated for lieutenant-governor, but for personal reasons he declined the nomination. He was never but once defeated in any election for which he stood as candidate. In 1873, receiving the nomination for congress in the minority party in the western district, he came unexpectedly near an election. His almost uniform success was due in part of his natural energy of character, but still more directly to the estimation in which he was held by his fellow townsmen. In 1841, in conjunction with A. C. Barstow and Edward Harris, he entered enthusiastically upon the total abstinence reform, and its measure of success in his own and in the neighboring villages was largely attributable to his zeal and activity. For over forty years Samuel Rodman was a member of the Baptist church, and an honor to his communion. But he was not in any narrow sense a sectarian; he was liberal in his religious views and tolerant toward all Christian denominations. He contributed largely toward the building of the new Baptist house of worship in Wakefield in 1852, and was one of its chief benefactors. [527] During his days of prosperity he aided by liberal contributions in the building of no less than twenty-six other churches; nor did he confine his benevolence to his own denomination. That a house was to be built for the worship of God was a sufficient appeal to his sympathy and help. In the Sunday school of the church he was a devoted and helpful laborer, holding for many years the position of superintendent. His character was one of great natural energy, yet there were no hard lines in it, and he had a certain gentleness of manner, combined with decision, which made him greatly beloved. During his last illness his former employees came to his house and requested the privilege of sitting up to watch him. "No strike was ever mediated in his mills." Mr. John Eddy of Providence has outlined his character as follows: "A man of great physical strength and power of endurance, of energy and force of character, of mental and moral courage; but these were so united to an active benevolence to all, a generous and conscientious consideration for the rights of others, that his rounded and symmetric personality commanded the respect and love of all who knew him. The relations between him and his employees were those of mutual confidence. He perceived that the truest method of elevating the laborer was to make him independent, and to this end by the sale of lands to them at nominal prices he encouraged his laborers to become land owners." His hospitality was proverbial. Rarely were the guest chambers tenantless, or were there vacant seats at his hospitable board; while the distinguished guest received no more cordial welcome than the poor and needy friend or relative. A friend, writing to his widow after his death, said: "Mr. Rodman was the most generous man I ever knew, and I have reason to know how generous. He conferred a favor in such a way that the recipient might well question whether he had received or conferred the favor." Samuel Rodman married Mary, daughter of Benjamin Taylor and Abigail (Oatley) Peckham. She was the mother of all his children, a woman of remarkable strength of character and integrity, and a devoted Christian. The influence of her character and teaching was seen with remarkable clearness in her eldest son, the late General Isaac Peace Rodman. To her husband she was truly a helpmeet – not only in forming the characters of the older children, who came especially under her influence, but as [528] a wise and faithful counselor in all his business relations. He took no important step without her advice. His second wife, whom he married in 1854, was Mary Anstis Updike, daughter of Hon. Wilkins Updike, of South Kingstown, and author of the "History of the Narragansett Church," "Memoirs of the Rhode Island Bar," and other works. Mr. Rodman died May 9th, 1882, in South Kingstown, on the Rodman land where he was born, and was buried in the family burying ground. Eight of his grandsons, obeying his request, were his pall-bearers. They were Isaac P. Rodman, Thomas Rodman, Rowland Rodman, B.F. Robinson, Jr., Rodman Robinson, S.A. Rodman, Samuel Rodman Thompson and William H. Baldwin, Jr. We may conclude by saying, in the words of one who knew him well: "A larger-hearted, more whole-souled man than Samuel Rodman, Rhode Island has never produced."