Samuel W. Bridgham

Samuel Willard Bridgham (May 4, 1774 – December 28, 1840) was the first mayor of Providence, Rhode Island.

Samuel Willard Bridgham
Official portrait in Providence City Hall
1st Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island
In office June 1832 – December 1840
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Thomas M. Burgess
Attorney General of Rhode Island
In office 1814–1817
Preceded by	James Burrill Jr.
Succeeded by	Henry Bowen
Personal details
Born	May 4, 1774 Seekonk, Province of Massachusetts Bay
Died	December 28, 1840 (aged 66) Providence, Rhode Island
Resting place	North Burial Ground
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Paine Bridgham ​ ​ (m. after 1798)​
Children	6
Alma mater	Brown University

Early life

Bridgham was born on May 4, 1774, in Seekonk, Massachusetts.[1] He graduated from Brown University with the class of 1794,[2] at the age of twenty.[3]

Career

Bridgham became a lawyer before entering politics. He served nineteen terms in the Rhode Island General Assembly, two of those as the Speaker. He also served as Attorney General of Rhode Island for four years. Bridgham stood as the Federalist candidate in the 1821 Rhode Island gubernatorial election, but lost to William C. Gibbs.[4] When Providence was incorporated as a city in 1832, he was elected its first Mayor. He served in that office until his death in 1840, at the age of 66. Bridgham became the first mayor of Providence at a time when disorder and vice threatened the city. His solutions were free public education, temperance, and relief for the poor. He laid down foundations for good municipal government in Providence and served during one of the city's most significant expansions of the public school system.

Outside politics in 1821 he was elected Trustee of Brown University. He served as Brown's Chancellor from 1828 to 1840.[2][5] For nineteen years he was the President of the Benevolent Congregational Society in Providence. Bridgham was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1813.[6]

Personal life

James Earl - Portrait of Elizabeth Paine and Her Aunt Sarah

In 1798, he married Elizabeth Paine (1776–1853). Together, they were the parents of six children:[2]

• Elizabeth W. Bridgham (1799–1882), who married William Samuel Patten (1800–1873) in 1827.[7]
• Abby C. Bridgham (1803–1840), who married Edward Little of New York in 1831.[7]
• Samuel Fales Bridgham (1805–1807), who died young.[7]
• Julia Bowen Bridgham (1810–1874), who married George Curtis, president of Continental National Bank of New York.[7]
• Samuel Willard Bridgham (1813–1870), who married his second cousin Eliza Ann Fales (1813–1895) in 1839.[7]
• Joseph Bridgham (1815–1865), a lawyer and United States Commissioner in New York City.[7]

Bridgham died on December 28, 1840 in Providence and was buried in the North Burial Ground.

Descendants

In 1869, Bridgham's grandson Samuel Willard Bridgham (1842–1915),[7] married Fanny Schermerhorn (1846–1919),[8] a niece of Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, who was known as the "Mrs. Astor" and was the leader of New York society during the Gilded Age.[9]

References

1. Publications of the Rhode Island Historical Society. Vol. III. Rhode Island Historical Society. 1895. p. 231. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
2. The Biographical Cyclopedia of Representative Men of Rhode Island. Providence, RI: National Biographical Publishing Company. 1881. p. 183.
3. Greene, Welcome Arnold (1886). The Providence Plantations for Two Hundred and Fifty Years: An Historical Review of the Foundation, Rise and Progress of the City of Providence ... Also, Sketches of the Cities of Newport and Pawtucket, and the Other Towns of the State for which Providence is the Commercial Centre, Together with an Account of the Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Settlement of Providence, Including the Oration by Chief-Justice Thomas Durfee, List of Organizations and Societies Participating, and Other Matters Connected Therewith, Being an Historical Souvenir of this Occasion ... J. A. & R. A. Reid. p. 102. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
4. "RI Governor". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
5. Mitchell, Martha. Encyclopedia Brunoniana. Providence, RI: Brown University Library. Retrieved 22 March 2015. Samuel Willard Bridgham 1794 (1828-1840) was the first graduate to be named Chancellor.
6. American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
7. Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island: Genealogical Records and Historical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens and of Many of the Old Families ... J.H. Beers & Company. 1908. p. 84. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
8. Madrazo y Garreta, Raimundo de (1898). "Sarah Schermerhorn". arcade.nyarc.org. Frick Art Reference Library. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
9. Cutter, William Richard (1915). New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation. Lewis historical publishing Company. p. 614. Retrieved 7 November 2017.

External links

• Samuel W. Bridgham at Find a Grave