Washington

For nine years the town of Wickford, Rhode Island, has made wide use of the business establishment of Roger W. Rodman, who operates an ice cream plant and distributes radiola radios, newspapers, and periodicals. Roger W. Rodman was born in Lafayette Village, in the town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, March 2, 1888, son of Walter and Carrie E. (Taber) Rodman. The father, also a native of North Kingstown, was a partner in the Rodman Manufacturing Company until his death. The mother, also a native of North Kingstown, is deceased. The son was educated in the public schools of his … Read more

One of the well-known merchants of North Kingstown, Wickford, Rhode Island, is Edwin J. Ryan, who conducts a large grocery store and market which is one of the oldest and most important of the independent establishments in the town. Edwin J. Ryan was born in Belleville Village, North Kingstown, Rhode Island, October 17, 1885, son of Michael James and Mary T. (Cassidy) Ryan. The father, born in Tipperary, Ireland, was engaged in the textile industry until he established his grocery store and market, which he conducted until his death in 1915. The mother was born in Hamilton, Rhode Island. The … Read more

The lumber, hardware, and building supply business has furnished for Henry Russell Barber ample opportunities for successful achievement in the commercial life of Wickford Village, in the town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Here, too, he has taken an extensive part in social and civic life, and through his public activities has done much for the well-being of his fellowmen and his community. Mr. Barber was born on March 12, 1856, in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, son of Russell W. and Eliza (Potter) Barber. His father, a native of Richmondtown, Rhode Island, was engaged as a farmer until his death; … Read more

No account of Rhode Island’s growth and development wOuld be complete without a record of the life and work of Thomas Lyman Arnold, for many years one of the leading business men of this State, as well as of New York City. Successfully guiding the affairs of Arnold and Aborn, a firm of coffee and tea dealers, he proved himself a talented commercial leader; and for his achievements in this field, as well as for his kindly and pleasing qualities of character and personality, he w’on hosts of friends. A man of strong public spirit and lofty ideals of citizenship, … Read more

The name Foster or its kindred in various spellings began as early as any surname and in the Middle Ages was of great significance, since it was derived from the office of forester, which under the feudal system was a position of great power and influence. The foresters of Flanders were created by Charlemagne to rule the savage wilderness which in his time composed the Western boundary of the Frankish Empire. They became powerful hereditary chieftains and later, as margraves and dukes of Flanders, played a notable part in the history of Western Europe from the ninth to the twelfth … Read more

Descended from one of the most prominent Rhode Island families which has been represented in this State for more than two hundred years, John Edward Babcock, of Wakefield, was a worthy scion of a race of pioneers and constructive industrialists and contributed in great measure to the progress of the community. He was respected and honored by all and lived a life of self-effacement and devotion to the people and their best interests. For almost half a century he worked at his task, seeking no reward save the appreciation that he was given, yet he was cut short in life … Read more

Directly descended from Richard Warren, a member of the company that came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in the “Mayflower,” and also from fourteen governors and deputy governors of Rhode Island, of the sixth generation from Deputy Governor William Robinson, no man in Rhode Island has a heritage of prouder lineage than Samuel R. Robinson, of Wakefield, in the town of South Kingstown. For many years he has been engaged in the grocery business, conducting the enterprise established by his grandfather, the Hon. Sylvester Robinson, in 1821. Respected by virtue of his honorable character and his high principles of business conduct, as … Read more

Member of an old and distinguished Rhode Island family, which has been prominent in the life of this State in every generation, Howard V. Allen inherits many of the characteristic traits of his ancestors, and through his career has shed new luster on an ancient name. As banker and business executive at East Greenwich, he is very well known in the commercial life of the State. Mr. Allen is a direct descendant of William Allen, founder of the family in America, from whom the line runs through John, Thomas, Thomas (2), Judge John Allen, and Thomas Gould Allen, great-grandfather of … Read more