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George S. Lima Sr - George S. Lima, Sr., the son of immigrants from Cape Verde, spent his adolescent years in Harlem, Fall River, and Providence with his Cape Verdean family. His life changed dramatically when he enrolled at North Carolina A&T State University in 1939 on a football scholarship. It was there he also learned to pilot planes. When…

Thomas Williams Bicknell - Bicknell, Thomas Williams, 1834-1925 Thomas W. Bicknell (1834-1925) of Barrington was one of the two outstanding historians of Rhode Island during the first half of the 20th century (Dr. Charles Carroll was the other). In 1920 he published a three-volume narrative history of the state, supplemented by three biographical volumes. This work is still of…

Judge Nathaniel Byfield - Judge Nathaniel Byfield (1653-1733), the most important of Bristol’s original proprietors, was born in Surry, England, in 1653, the youngest of twenty-one children. He arrived in Boston in 1674 and soon gained wealth as a merchant. In 1680, the prosperous Byfield became one of Bristol’s four proprietors, acquiring title to all of Bristol and Mount…

Gladys Williams Brayton - The late Gladys Brayton was a direct descendant of Roger Williams and a lifelong resident of Rhode Island. She became one of the State's most prominent historians, teachers, and authors. She was a former curator of Cranston Historical Society, and an honorary member of the Warwick Historical Society. She was also a member of the…

Judge Benjamin Bourne - Benjamin Bourne (1755- 1808), a leading advocate of Rhode Island’s ratification of the federal Constitution, was born in Bristol, the son of Shearjashub and Ruth (Bosworth) Church Bourne, the product of two old-line Bristol families. His father served as chief justice of Rhode Island’s highest court from 1778 to 1781. Bourne received a bachelor’s degree…

Frank F. Frisch - Frank Frisch was an American baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball for the New York Giants (1919–1926) and St. Louis Cardinals (1927–1937), and managed the Cardinals (1933–1938), Pittsburgh Pirates (1940–1946), and Chicago Cubs (1949–1951). After his retirement, he moved to Charlestown, Rhode Island, where he spent the last 17 years of…