portsmouthhistorynotes

Dr. Benjamin Greene

Dr. Greene may be familiar to you if you have visited the Portsmouth Historical Society. There is a neat display with his photo, some of his medical books and some items he would have used in his long practice in Portsmouth. Through the tragedy of the “Murder in the Coal Mines,” Dr. Greene would play a role in treating the infamous convicted murderer. He testified at the trial and he continued to treat his patient at the prison even after the trial.

Greene was born in Exeter, Rhode Island.  In 1856 he began to study medicine under the instruction of his uncle, Dr. Job Kenyon.  He enrolled in the University Medical School in New York in 1857.  When he graduated from medical school he went directly to Portsmouth to establish his practice.  In 1860 he married Eunice Chase who descended from old Portsmouth families.

He became a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society and had a successful practice in town.  He dabbled in real estate transaction in Fall River as well and was successful at that.  He was active in the Methodist Church and in the Masonic order. Newspaper accounts show he was a delegate to the Republican State Convention in 1884 and he was active in the temperance movement along with his wife Eunice.    Bayles’ History of Newport County comments that “he enjoys the respect and confidence of the community in which he lives, and of his professional brethren.”

Thomas Holman’s life was a Portsmouth rags to riches story.  He was the immigrant miner who worked his way up to becoming Superintendent of the coal mines.  His role in the “Murder at the Coal Mines,” however, is shrouded in mystery.

Holman was born in Gwinear in Cornwall, England.  Thomas’ parents were poor and they died when he was very young.  He had little opportunity for education and found himself working in the copper and lead mines by the time he was eleven years old.  He continued to work in the mines in Cornwall until 1840 when he decided that there was little chance for advancement in England.  Twenty-two year old Thomas headed directly to Portsmouth where he could get better pay for his mining skills. There are records of Cornwall families migrating to Portsmouth and to Pennsylvania were other Holman family members resided.   He became well known for his skill at mining and he worked himself up to the position of Superintendent of the Portsmouth Coal Mines.

Thomas Holman may have worked at the coal mines until 1877, but he was preparing himself for the farming life.  He started by buying farmland nearby the Coal Mine village which later became the Benjamin Hall farm..  Over time he bought the “Hill Township Farm” which is known as Seameadow Farm today.  His farm covered over 100 acres and he was successful at general farming and stock raising as well.  Thomas married into two prominent Portsmouth families. He was married to Mary Sherman and after she died, he married Hannah (Anna) Barker Albro.

The article on Thomas Holman in Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island relates that “He was a man who made a success of life, which he accomplished by hard work, and strict attention to his business.  He never received much education in the schools of his native country, but he was a self-educated man.  He was much devoted to his wife and family and was a good citizen in every respect.”  (pg 2277)

Most prominent Portsmouth citizens held some town office, but outside of serving on the School Committee, he declined all other offices.  Maybe he valued education more than most because of his lack of opportunity to gain an education in England.  He was active in the community as a staunch Republican and vestryman at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

In 1875 Holman testified at the trial that formed the basis of “Murder at the Coal Mines.”  We know through genealogy records that Thomas Holman was actually the uncle of the victim, but there was no mention of the family relationship in the newspapers or in the court records.

View of Prescott House from Prescott Farm

As you pass by the Prescott House on the Portsmouth/Middletown border by West Main Road, you might think of it as the location of the famous raid of Colonel Barton to capture British General Prescott during the Revolutionary War.    There is a strong Portsmouth woman associated with that house as well.  Her name was Barbara Norman Cook, aka “Kitty Mouse” Cook.  Barbara was born in Newport and she was the granddaughter of George Norman who founded the Newport Water Works.  The Norman family was a major property owner in Portsmouth and owned land from the Middletown boarder to Redwood Farms.  Barbara’s father was Bradford Norman.  He owned Brook Farm and across the street the old Overing Property.  He willed his property on the east side of West Main Road to his daughter. In his will, he referred to this property as “Prescott Place.” By the time that Barbara Norman Cook came into the property in 1949, the farm included roughly 33 acres.

Barbara Norman married Daniel W. Jones in 1918 and the two moved to Portsmouth in 1930.  Both were co-administrators for the National Recovery Act under President Franklin Roosevelt and both were active in the Democratic Party.  Jones died in 1942, and Barbara married Benjamin Ladd Cook, Sr. in 1943.  She continued her wartime work, this time hosting a half-hour morning radio show telling listeners how to use their ration coupons.  She was active in civic organizations like the American Cancer Society, League of Women Voters, Birth Control League, Boys Club and the Newport Music Festival.  Barbara was one of the seven founders of the Portsmouth Historical Society and was awarded lifetime membership in the society.

Barbara bought the Lawton Valley Glen area from her grandfather’s estate in 1952.  She hoped to preserve the property for recreation.  It had long been a popular picnic spot and Boy Scout camping area.

Barbara Norman Cook lived in her Prescott Place house until 1969, when she sold it to Doris Duke for the sum of $475,000.  Doris Duke then deeded the property to the Newport Restoration Foundation in 1970. The home is a rental property now and not open to public view, but the Newport Restoration Foundation has established Prescott Farm on the Middletown side of the property.  Old Portsmouth buildings have been moved there as well as the Sherman Windmill.  This area is open to the public as well as lovely hiking trails in the back of the property.

In 1981 Barbara wrote a memoir “L’Histoire de Mme. Kitty Mouse.”  It relates tales of her youth in Newport.  Barbara died in 1985.

Gerry Leis and Mary Lou Lemieux

Growing up on Glen Farm was idyllic for an adventurous girl named Geraldine Camara.  Gerry and her sister Mary Lou shared stories of their childhood with Elmhurst students many years ago.   The students interviewed the Camara sisters on the porch of the Leonard Brown House.  They lived at that house (and others on the farm) because their father, Manuel Camara,  was a long term worker on the farm.  His story is another one that deserves to be told in a separate blog.

Stories about Gerry – in the words of the student interviewers.

Gerry was born at the Brown House on a very cold January day. She was so tiny they had to keep her warm, so the nurse put her on the oven door.

The fields around the house were filled with cows – Angus, Guernseys and later Charolais.  The girls had to walk up Linden Lane to get to the school bus and the cows followed them all the way.

Gerry was always getting into trouble.  She used to climb into the hayloft of the barns and she even tried to ride the cows.

There were seven wooden bridges over the paths around the stream that ran from the mill pond to the river.  One day Gerry used the wood from one of the bridges to make a raft.  Then there were only six bridges.

The Glen families were careful to let the Taylor family have their privacy.  They were the owners after all.  When Gerry picked daffodils from Mrs. Taylor’s garden, her mother was very upset with her.

Glen Farm has beautiful stone walls.  Mrs. Taylor’s second husband didn’t like to see the children sitting on the walls.  he paid them a quarter not to sit on the walls.  He had a fancy car and when the girls saw the car coming, they sat right on the walls so he would give them more quarters.

Gerry made the sheep barn into her own clubhouse.

It could get cold at the Brown House, so the workers would “bank the house.”  That meant they would put a wood frame around the outside of the basement and fill the frame with leaves to help keep the heat in.  Geri would walk on the frames even though she wasn’t suppose to do that!

The Camara sisters, Gerry Leis and Mary Lou Lemieux, have both passed away, but we cherish the stories they told us and continue to share them with other generations of Portsmouth school children.

The Brown House has memories for many families.  It was one of three homes Nan Howell Waters called home on the farm.  Nan was on the farm because her father, Arthur Howell, worked on the farm.  He started out as a mechanic, moved to bookkeeper for dairy cattle and then to superintendent of the farm. His office was in the Cow Barn and he worked up until he died at 76 years old. He worked close to 50 years on the farm.

Nan Howell Waters

Nan came to Glen farm when she was a baby.  When Nan lived at the Brown House it was divided to hold two families.  Her family lived downstairs and the Camara family lived upstairs.  On their floor was a bath room,  two bedrooms, kitchen (with a wash tub and pantry),  dining room and a large living room.  It was heated with a big coal stove in the basement.  The basement was good sized and each family had partitioned areas.  The children like to play store in the basement.  With the four Camara girls and Nan and her brother, there was always someone to join in play.

Glen Farm was a self contained community.  They had electricity and telephone service.  There was a switchboard operator on the farm and they had a phone in the hall with each family having a different number of rings to signal calls for them.

Outside the yard was set off from the field by a stone wall.  There were kitchen gardens – each family had one.  Each family had a garage.  There was a chicken shed for each family, so they had fresh eggs.  Milk, meat and other vegetables came from the farm itself.