ALEXIS CASWELL. 307 



ates in one or more of these multiplied fellowships who will long cher- 

 ish in love and respect the memory of this upright, kind-hearted, and 

 thoroughly good man, as he came with his modest presence to husiness 

 meetings, sitting for the most part in silence, but ready always, when 

 his word and opinion were needed, to utter them with a calm wisdom 

 and a gentle earnestness. 



ALEXIS CASWELL. 



Ox the 8th of January, 1877, Rhode Island lost, by death, an 

 accomplished man of science, and one of her best citizens. Alexis 

 Caswell was born in Taunton, Mass., on the 29th of January, 1799. 

 His ancestors, on the father's side, were prosperous farmers, and were 

 among the earliest settlers of Taunton. Thomas Caswell, of the fifth 

 generation preceding, came, according to tradition, from Somersetshire, 

 England. His will was admitted to probate in 1697; only fifty-eight 

 years after the incorporation of Taunton. The grandfather of Alexis 

 married Zibiah White, who was the great-granddaughter of Peregrine 

 "White, the first born of the Pilgrims in America on board the May- 

 flower, November, 1 620. Alexis Caswell, after spending his early years 

 upon the farm, was prepared for college at tlie Bristol Academy in 

 Taunton. Little is known of hi-> chara-ter and attainments at this 

 time ; but, if ihe child is fjither of tlie man, he must have been ami- 

 able, docile, and full of a liiirh ambition. At the age of nineteen he 

 entered Brown University, over which Dr. Messer then presided. His 

 course in college was eminently successful; and, at his graduation, in 

 1822, he received the first honors. 



From 1822 to 1827, he was connected with Columbian College, 

 Washington. D. C, as tutor or professor of languages; at the same 

 time studying theology under Dr. Staugiiton, the President. In the 

 autumn of 1827, he went with Dr. Irah Chase (professor in the New- 

 ton Theological Seminary from 1825 to 1843), to Halifax for the pur- 

 pose of establishing the Granville Baptist Church in that place. His 

 plans were changed, in consequence of an invitation which he receivcMl 

 from the people to remain among them. He was ordained on the 

 7th of October, and settled over them as their pastor. Having 

 preached to them acceptably for a year, he received an invitation from 

 the first Baptist Church in Providence in the summer of 1828 to 

 assist the Rev. S. Gano, tlie pastor of that church. He had been in 

 Providence only a few weeks, when he was ai)pointed Professor of 

 Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Brown University. Witli the 



