Category: Writings

By Ken Dooley Dr. Patrick T. Conley is a distinguished essayist with an elegant style and a rare ability to communicate complex ideas to a broad public. He is the author of thirty-three books, most of which focus directly on Rhode Island history. In his latest volume, Rhode Running: Random Rhode Island Reflections, he writes

Many American states conduct special observances on the date that they entered the Union under our Constitution. Rhode Island does not. Is that reluctance because of embarrassment over the fact that we were the last of the 13 original states to ratify the Constitution and accept the new union? Back in the years 1987 through

As another baseball season begins, the existence of Rhode Island’s legendary baseball stadium ends. Demolition has begun on Pawtucket’s McCoy Stadium, the city’s field of dreams, but fortunately the memory of its principal promoter and namesake, Mayor Thomas P. McCoy, will live on. The Rhode Island Publications Society has just released a detailed and definitive

Eliza Jumel (nee, Elizabeth Bowen) was born in Providence on April 2, 1775 the daughter of Phebe Kelly and John Bowen, a sailor. After her parents separated, Phebe lived in poverty. To survive she worked in a mixed-race brothel in which her two young daughters, Betsy, and Mary, were raised. In 1785, when the town

December 15 is the anniversary of our Bill of Rights. On that date in 1791 Virginia’s ratification of Articles I through X of our Constitution incorporated them permanently into our nation’s basic law. Americans, of course, did not invent individual liberty or write the first document to guarantee it. The basis of human freedom can

By Dr. Patrick T, Conley In the 4th Century, Western Civilization operated under the calendar promulgated by Julius Casesar (the Julian Calendar).  The first day of the year was March 25 and December, as indicated by its name, was the twenty month.  A nine-month period of human gestation from New Year’s Day (March 25) onward

By Ken Dooley J. William Middendorf has worn many hats, including Secretary of the Navy, United States Ambassador to the Netherlands, United States Ambassador to the Organization of the American States, United States Ambassador to the European Union, head of a CIA transition team, and advisor to Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy

By Dr. Patrick T. Conley On March 14, 1913, West Warwick became Rhode Island’s thirty-ninth and final town when the General Assembly set it off from the parent town of Warwick. The prime mover in creating that separation was attorney Patrick Henry Quinn. The Heritage Harbor Foundation, established in 2015 to fund, observe, and celebrate

By Dr. Patrick T. Conley When Dr. Wheatland died in 1934 at the age of sixty-six, his obituary in the Newport Daily News newspaper led off by noting, “The life of the late Dr. Marcus F. Wheatland should be an inspiration to every boy, white or colored, who believes he has no chance to succeed.”

By Russell J. DeSimone George T. Downing has been overlooked in historical accounts of the mid-and late-nineteenth century. He was a central figure in Rhode Island history with a legacy as important as the famed Providence attorney Thomas Wilson Dorr, who led a short-lived rebellion in Rhode Island in 1842. Downing was a highly successful

By Ken Dooley J. William Middendorf has worn many hats, including Secretary of the Navy, United States Ambassador to the Netherlands, United States Ambassador to the Organization of the American States, United States Ambassador to the European Union, head of a CIA transition team, and advisor to Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy

By PATRICK T. CONLEY The Irish Catholic Influx For those immigrants who arrived in Rhode Island from the 1820s onward–most of whom were Irish Catholics–the Civil War was an Americanization test. These newcomers espoused a religion that many in Rhode Island considered alien, with the immigrants allegedly loyal to a foreign potentate–the pope of Rome.

By Patrick T. Conley This essay is an expanded version of a talk delivered on President’s Day, 2005, at Mount Hope Farm in Bristol. I intended to dispel the myth that George Washington slept there while president. I also made a plea to my hosts that they call the home on this site “the Senator

This essay is an expanded version of an address delivered on Veterans’ Day, November 11, 2012, to Infantry Lodge Associates at the Squantum Club, East Providence, at the invitation of  Brigadier Generals Richard J. Valente, commanding, and Thomas M. Frazer, administrator; delivered again at the Fabre Line Club on December 12, 2012. Rhode Island’s observance

Leonard Bacon, a poet, translator, critic, and professor, was born on May 26, 1887, in Solvay, New York, the son of Nathaniel Bacon and Helen Hazard. He grew up at his mother’s familial estate in Peace Dale, Rhode Island. He came from a family of Congregationalist ministers, including the clergymen relatives for which he was

The recent USA newspaper special “Paradise Lost” (Sunday, September 22) laments the loss or decline of America’s bird population.  Rhode Island has shared in this avian attrition, the most notable example of which was the eradication of the passenger pigeon. The passenger pigeon was more abundant than any American mammal or bird.  It numbered in

LaSalle began in 1871 as a result of discussions among Bishop Francis McFarland and Rev. Michael Tierney, rector of the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul and Brother Patrick (Murphy), the American provincial of a teaching order of French origin called the Christian Brothers (F.S.C.) of St. John the Baptist de la Salle. The concluding

By Patrick T. Conley Now that the dust (and the dirt) of the latest presidential race has settled, it may be instructive to look back and view Rhode Island’s crucial role in the most bizarre and problematic presidential contest of them all. No, it was not Bush vs. Gore. In 1876, New York’s Democratic governor,

By Patrick T. Conley The 1841-42 fight over democracy in Rhode Island, often called “the Dorr Rebellion,” had an ugly anti-Catholic element that persisted for decades in state politics.  When reformers led by patrician Thomas Wilson Dorr framed a “People’s Constitution” to replace the outdated royal charter of 1663, opponents invoked the ethnic card. Among

By Patrick T. Conley Al Klyberg’s sudden death in January 2017 brought to an end a friendship and historical collaboration I had shared with him for over forty-six years —ever since he introduced himself to me upon his Rhode Island arrival in 1968 at the suggestion of Bill Joyce, his colleague in the graduate school

Erik J. Chaput Russell J. DeSimone

By Patrick T. Conley My long-time friend, attorney Tom McAndrew of the large and influential McAndrew clan of Westerly, is also the son-in-law of the congressman. He married Mary Fogarty, John’s only child. Together, they have preserved the memory of Congressman Fogarty and continue supporting his good works through the Fogarty International Center at the

By Ken Dooley Musical prodigy, concert pianist, and educator Raymond Thompson Jackson, Jr. became the first African American, first musician, and youngest person to be inducted into The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame at that time (1966). He was born on December 11, 1933, in Providence, Rhode Island. His mother and father were beauticians

By Ken Dooley It would be challenging to list the highlights of Doris Brennan Weir’s athletic career without omitting some accomplishment, title, or record. She was simply among the finest female swimmers in the world. It would have been perfect if this brilliant young lady could have completed her competitive career by performing in the

By Dr. Scott Molloy If George M. Cohan had been more truthful in Yankee Doodle Dandy, he would have reported his birth date as July 3, and not the “born on the Fourth of July” claim reported in his song.  Admittedly, his truthfulness would have reduced its punch. A birth certificate from St. Joseph’s Roman

By Larry Reid Navy Lt. Thomas Eadie spent a combined 30 years of service in the Navy from the early 20th century to after World War II, most of them while living in Newport, Rhode Island. His work as an expert diver salvaging shipwrecks earned him several accolades, especially when it came to saving a

By Michael Levesque During an exhibition game against the Chicago White Sox on September 9, 1931, “Gabby” Hartnett was photographed while signing an autograph for gangster Al Capone. After the photograph was published in newspapers across the United States, Hartnett received a telegram from Baseball Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis instructing him not to have his

By Ken Dooley When I met John Dinneen in 1944, I was 13, and he was 12. A year difference in those days usually puts the older boy in the driver’s seat. It did not work with John, who lived next door to me. He had the most extraordinary persuasive powers I have ever encountered

Pleasure the means, the end virtue. By Russell J. DeSimone Once upon a time, and in living memory, at least for some of us, there were a number of movie houses in the downtown Providence area; and most city neighborhoods had a movie theater as well. I was one of the lucky ones, not only

By Larry Reid WEAN was founded by John Shepherd, grandson of the founder of Shepherd’s Department Stores. Shepherd was a controversial figure in the early days of radio. Some found him ruthless and abrasive, but he was also an innovator. His slogan was “news while it is news.” Two months after he founded WEAN, Joseph

By Michael Levesque DeOrmond “Tuss” McLaughry is best known for his triple-wing formations and the Brown University “Iron Men” – the only undefeated football team in the school’s history.It was 1926, the first year as Brown head coach for McLaughry, when the “Iron Men” legend was born. It began with Yale, rated as the East’s

By Ken Dooley On April 20, 2024, the Boston Celtics will go after their eighteenth NBA championship. The Celtics are regarded as one of the most successful teams in NBA history and are tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most NBA championships with seventeen. Louis Pieri was co-owner of the NBA’s Providence Steamrollers, one

By Russell DeSimone The tradition of Halloween on October 31 comes from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, the Celtic New Year, celebrated on November 1 because that was the end of summer and harvest time (life) and the beginning of winter (death). It was also the time for ghosts to return to earth for

By Larry Reid A statue of George M. Cohan, the only person to be so honored, stands at the entrance to Broadway in Manhattan. A good case can be made that a second Rhode Islander deserves such an honor. Eddie Dowling, born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, was an actor, director, playwright, screenwriter, composer, and theatrical

Bishop James De Wolf Perry, a leader of the Episcopal Church in America, is one of several family members bearing the name James De Wolf Perry. It is not surprising, however, that those names have been perpetuated. Bishop Perry was the great-great-grandson of the famous (and also infamous) Bristol merchant, slave trader, and preeminent War

By Larry Reid Though it is the most famous race in the United States, not all great horses run in the Kentucky Derby. Seabiscuit only displayed his greatness at an older age and was not considered a worthy participant in the historic race. In fact, Seabiscuit lost his first 17 races, was considered lazy, and

Sophia Little was born in Newport in 1799, the daughter of Asher Robbins. Her father was a prominent Rhode Island politician who served as U.S. Attorney General for Rhode Island and then in the state legislature before serving as U.S. Senator from 1825 to 1839. Not much is known about Sophia’s early education other than she

Sara Louise Algeo was born on June 13, 1876 in Cohasset MA, the fifth child to John and Sarah (Clemens) MacCormack. Following her education in the Cohasset public schools she attended and graduated from Boston University. Upon graduation she came to Rhode Island in September 1899 to teach at Cranston High School. She would remain

Roberta Dunbar was born in Narragansett, Rhode Island on July 10, 1868 to John and Louisa Cartwright Dunbar. By 1870 the family was living in Providence and Roberta attended the English High school. She worked in a number of professions including dressmaker, masseuse and hairdresser but her work of note was as an activist dedicated

Fanny was an author, poet, and social activist. She was born in New York City on July 11, 1839 to Henry and Mary (Sharp) Purdy. Following the death of her father when she was only seven, she grew up in upstate New York.  She attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Buffalo and graduated

The names of Maria Kindberg and Ingeborg Kindstedt are irrevocably intertwined in the woman’s suffrage movement not only in Rhode Island but nationally because of their accomplishments during the early decades of the twentieth century. Maria Albertina Kindberg was born in Ryd near the town of Skövde, Sweden, on October 12, 1860; she arrived in

Florence Parker Simister was an author, historian, and radio personality. Born on December 13, 1913 in Providence to George L. and Bertha Zinner Parker she attended the local public schools graduating from Classical High School in 1931. Following high school, she enrolled in extension courses at both Brown University and the University of Connecticut. Her

Florence Markoff was born on August 24, 1917 in Attleboro, MA to David and Molly Shapiro. She lived her entire life in Rhode Island, graduating from Hope High School and Emerson College in Boston. Upon graduation from college she gave private elocution and drama lessons in Rhode Island. She was a pioneer in radio broadcasting,

Born: December 10, 1847 Died: January 10, 1929 Suffragist, social activist and author. Lillie Wyman was the eight child born into the Quaker family of Samuel Buffington Chace and Elizabeth Buffum Chace. Her maternal grandfather was Arnold Buffum the noted Rhode Island abolitionist, a co-founder and first president of the New England Anti-Slavery Society. Her

Bertha was born in Danville, VA on November 18, 1872 to Horace and Barbara Dillard. She was married twice, first to Walker Thomas in 1887, but following his death in 1897, she married Dr. William Higgins. In 1903 the couple moved to Providence, Rhode Island where Dr. Higgins practiced medicine. Bertha was an accomplished dressmaker

Anna’s life is somewhat of a mystery, but her accomplishments are significant in the history of social reform, especially that for women’s equality and suffrage. In 1852 she began the publication in Providence of the newspaper The Pioneer and Woman’s Advocate; the newspaper’s motto was “Liberty, Truth, Equality, Temperance.”  Anna’s newspaper is significant since it

Anita E. Tyng, the daughter of Charles A. and Anna A. (McAlpine) Tyng, was a medical doctor and surgeon.  She was born in Massachusetts on February 4, 1838.  Her father’s ancestors dated back to the early years of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Little is known of Anita’s childhood or adolescent years.  What is known is

Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, a Newport socialite, was born on January 17, 1853 in Mobile, Alabama, one of six children to Murray and Phoebe Smith. She was married twice, first to William K. Vanderbilt and later to Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont. Following the death of her second husband in 1908, Alva moved back to Marble House,

Ada Sawyer was Rhode Island’s first female lawyer. She went to Providence English High School, where she graduated with honors in 1909. The day after graduating, she was hired as a stenographer at the law office of Charles E. Salisbury and Percy Winchester Gardner. While at the firm, Ada showed an interest in “reading law.”

Frank L. Grzyb and Russell J. DeSimone The story of Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales and the founding of Johnson & Wales University is truly an American success story. Given the times in which they lived and the difficulty women faced in any professional endeavor in the early twentieth century, their story is

12.19.09 “Making the right of citizenship identical with color, brings a stain upon the State, unmans the heart of an already injured people, and corrupts the purity of Republican Faith.” (1841 Petition from the “Colored Citizens of Rhode Island to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention”) Early in the morning of May 18, 1842, Thomas Wilson

by Lincoln Steffens The most infamous article ever written about Rhode Island is almost certainly the article by the legendary muckraker Lincoln Steffens, which ran in the February 1905 edition of McClure’s Magazine. Steffens found the Ocean State rotten with corruption from Providence and Pawtucket to Bristol and Block Island, with individual citizens selling their

By Dr. Patrick T. Conley In 1972, Providence College archivist and historian Matthew J. Smith conducted a dozen lengthy interviews in Providence with former governor Robert Emmett Quinn just after he had stepped down as the first chief judge of the U.S. Court of Military Appeals. Eight years later, the politically knowledgeable Smith became Speaker

The following essay, published in the Providence Journal in 2017, was yet another futile attempt to gain state support for our state’s history. I feel like the man who keeps banging his head against the wall because it feels so good when he stops. ************************** Rhode Island’s government does not support the observance of Rhode

In 2016 and 2017, a temporary craze swept the nation that advocated the destruction of statutes, monuments, and memorials that had been erected to honor an array of nationally prominent white males. Most of the mayhem was directed against those involved either with slavery or with the admittedly disgraceful treatment of Native Americans. The hit

Like the preceding essay, this January, 2018 Providence Journal commentary has a similar theme. It is a lament for the loss of the Sloop Providence–not to a storm or a shipwreck but to shortsightedness and stupidity and the failure of the state to intervene to save its designated state flagship—a vessel that graces the dust

It is more than tragic that less than four years after I published the following essay as a Providence Journal commentary extolling the virtues of Rhode Island’s industrial landscape, the bungling administration of Governor Donald Carcieri persuaded a supine General Assembly to curtail the state historic tax credit program. Our leaders perpetrated this shortsighted blunder

This essay appeared as a Providence Journal commentary on August 9, 2008, in the midst of another summer season during which the Sloop Providence rested in a restricted private shipyard rather than on my dock for the public to view and visit. The Providence Maritime Heritage Foundation (on which I once held the vice presidency)

I composed this essay on the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2018 to include in its annual programs and for fundraising. The later purpose has been generally unsuccessful. The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame exists to honor and recognize, and to extol and publicize, the achievements of those Rhode Island men and

In the autumn of 1995 Anne Burns arranged for a memorial Mass to be celebrated at the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul in remembrance of the million or more Irish who died in the Great Famine, a calamity that began 150 years earlier in 1845. Over one thousand people attended this sesquicentennial event. In

This essay appeared in both the Providence Journal and The Newport Daily News in March, 2017 after it was ignored by The Rhode Island Catholic; the highly-selective diocesan newspaper. It deals with George Washington’s expressions of tolerance for both Catholics and Jews. Both groups suffered civil exclusions during the colonial era in Rhode Island–but were

My long-time friend and historical colleague Albert T. Klyberg and I collaborated in writing the following synopsis of our 40-year effort to promote the teaching and study of Rhode Island history from my creation of the Ethnic Heritage subcommittees of the state bicentennial commission (ri76) and the short-lived Rhode Island Heritage Commission, through Al’s determined

The year 2013 marked the 350th anniversary of Rhode Island’s Royal Charter of 1663. Governor Lincoln Chafee took the initiative in appointing a 35-member 1663 Colonial Charter Commission that sponsored several commemorative initiatives, most notably the creation of a beautifully appointed, climate controlled Charter Room on the first floor of the State House. Dr. Ted

These introductory remarks were made before the Rhode Island Supreme Court for the 2013 observance of Constitution Day. Locally, I began such a commemorative event in 2000 at the dedication of my private library at Gale Winds in Bristol. An edited collection of the 12 lectures delivered from 2000 to 2009 at Gale Winds and

From 1974 to mid-1977 when I served as volunteer chairman of the Rhode Island commission to celebrate American independence (ri76), one thorny issue involved the correction of the long-held belief that Rhode Island declared its independence from England on May 4, 1776. Glen LaFantasie, my director of publications, refuted this hyperbolic claim in a scholarly

In June 2019 I made a presidential discretionary grant of $2,000 from the Heritage Harbor Foundation to the Bristol Fourth of July committee for its 234th annual celebration. Along with the grant, I presented the committee with a suggestion that they join in the 250th anniversary of the burning of the British naval vessel, the

Al Klyberg’s sudden death in January, 2017 brought to an end a friendship and historical collaboration I had shared with him for over forty-six years–ever since he introduced himself to me upon his Rhode Island arrival in 1968 at the suggestion of Bill Joyce, his colleague in the graduate school of the University of Michigan.

            The highest civic honor that can be conferred upon a resident of Bristol is the position of chief marshal of the Fourth of July parade, an event first held in 1826.  The local observance of independence actually began much earlier.  It dates from 1785, entitling Bristol to claim that it stages the oldest consecutive

Dear Editor:     In 2007 my husband and I bought the so-called King Philip House on Bristol’s Mount Hope, the former summer home of Rudolph Haffenreffer, Jr. It sat on a two-acre parcel surrounded by about 450 acres of additional land that the Haffenreffers gave to Brown University via several donations in the 1950s.  

Click here to download: RI Women’s long role in the suffrage fight

     The Irish presence in Rhode Island dates from the late 1630s. Most early Irish Rhode Islanders were Protestants-mainly Baptists, Quakers, Presbyterians, or Anglicans– and those few with Catholic antecedents soon lost their religious affiliation for lack of Catholic clergy within the colony. Among the handful of seventeenth-century Irish Rhode Islanders were Nicholas Power,