Donald CARPENTER, our speaker for this evening gave us an in-dept look at the family's history in his program "The Spragues: Mills, Mansions and Politics". The subject was apropos in view of our anticipated visit to the Sprague Mansion on June 8th.

Ralph SPRAGUE was the first of the family to come to America. He left the little village of Upway in Dorsetshire, England to settle in Massachusetts, first in Salem and a year later in Charlestown. Some members of the family moved to Rhode Island and the accumulation of wealth began with William SPRAGUE who married Isabella WATERMAN.

Isabella's family owned a grist mill on land along the Pocasset River and William worked with her father. One of their children, also named William married Anna POTTER, a descendant of Roger WILLIAMS. In 1808 he converted the grist mill to a cotton mill. He was interested in dyeing and bleaching cloth and built the first bleachery in the country. He died in 1795. In 1813 fire gutted the mill and his son, another William rebuilt in stone and modernized the machinery to take advantage of the growing textile industry. (The first SPRAGUE Mill was located at the site of the Cranston Print Works.)

In 1836 William died at the age of 63 and left the family holdings to his sons, William and Amasa. A new era was about to begin for the SPRAGUES. The family fortune now secure, it was time to become involved inpoltics. William (1799- 1856) became governor of the State from 1838 to 1839 and later United State Senator. Amasa kept the mill running.

In the mid 1800s notoriety befell the SPRAGUES through the murder of a member of the family. The GORTONS, an Irish-American family, operated a variety store in the vicinity of the Mill. They applied for and were granted a liquor license by the Cranston City Council. Amasa strongly objected to his workers going over to get a drink on their lich hour and then returning to work. He blocked renewal of the license through the use of his political connections.

On December 31, 1843, at 4:30 in the afternoon, Amasa left the mansion on Cranston Street to check on his cattle. He headed down towards the Pocasset River and made his way to the bridge. Someone waiting there struck him over the head with the back of a hammer, then shot him. Two men who happened along the path found and identified the body and carried it over to the mansion.

The animosity between the SPRAGUES and the GORDONS that had built up over the liquor license was well-known in the community. It was no surprise when the police targeted the GORTON family. Evidence of guilt was circumstantial at best but public sentiment ran high. John was tried separately from Nicholas and when it was all over Nicholas was acquitted and John convicted. After spending two years in prison he was hanged. Some years later people in the legal system reflected on the case and decided that the wrong man had been punished., This led to the amendment of capital punishment in Rhode Island.

The beautiful mansion on Cranston Street was built in 1790. Canonchet Farm, an even more elaborate mansion of more than 60 rooms was built in Narragansett by William, Amasa's son, (1830-1915) (This William was the governor of the state from 1860 until March 1863 when he resigned to become United State Senator) On November 12, 1863 Senator SPRAGUE married the belle of Washington, Katherine Jane CHASE (1840-1899), the daughter of Salmon P. CHASE, Abraham LINCOLN's Secretary of the Treasury. On this occasion he gave her a tiara of matched pearls and diamonds that cost more than $50,000. They were divorced in 1882 and she spent some time in Europe before returning to her father's house in Washington D.C. William remarried and the new couple summered at Canonchet Farm. On October 11, 1909 the mansion burned to the ground. It was located at the site of the South County Museum and the only evidence of its existence is a stone wall that still can be seen today.

In addition to the Cranston Print Works (1815) the A & W Sprague Manufacturing Company owned other mills. Some of them were in the Pawtuxet Valley: the Natick Mill, 1825; the Quidnick Upper Mill, 1843; the Quidnick Lower Mill, 1869; and the Arctic Mill, 1952.

By the late 1800's the SPRAGUES dynasty had spread all over the state, spilled over into Connecticut with the purchase of the Baltic Mill and spread to Maine and Georgia. The family holdings also included railroads, trolley cars, steamships, banks, and champion race horses. The economic crisis of 1873 brought it all down to a crashing end. The family moved out of the mansion on Cranston Street sold most of its holdings but managed to hold on to the Cranston Print Works. The story is far more involved that appears here but hopefully this short insight into the fascinating life of Rhode Island's SPRAGUE family has piqued your curiosity and will motivate you to join us on June 8 at the Mansion on Cranston Street.

Taken fromThe Pawtuxet Valley Historian Volume 15, issue 9, May 2002. <

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