Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/641

 INCREASE IN POPULATION AND WEALTH. 52^ who felt the joy of the new life for the town, and had a share in its expression. Among them may be named George W. Wightman, Leonard S. Bosworth, Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel C. Smith, Pardon Clarke, the Tiffanys, Ebenezer and Heze- kiah, Henry Smith, Allin Bicknell, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Smith, Benjamin and Joseph Martin, Mr. and Mrs. Earl C. Potter, Emerson and John B. Humphreys, Stillman Welch, John Cooke, James Bosworth, George R. Martin, the Bowens on New Meadow Neck, John Kelley, and many others. The following facts are the best testimony as to the exis- tence and effects of the new town life. In 1840 Barrington had a population of 549. In i860 it had an even 1,000. Twenty years had nearly doubled its population. In 1880 the population was 1,350, a gain of 801, or over 160 percent, since 1840, and in 1895 the population had increased to 1668, more than trebling its population in forty-five years. The population to the square mile in 1840 was 59.9; in 1870, 145 ; and in 1895, 179. The increase of wealth in Barrington has been no less marvelous than its increase in number : YEAR. V ALUATION 1820. $ 190,000 1842.. 211,395 1S44.. 316,723 1S5O.. 302,275 1S6O.. 738,850 1S7O.. I ,053,020 RATE PER $1 ,000. YEAR 1875- 18S0. 1S85. 1890. 1895. $ 7 50 1S97. VALUATION. RATE PER Si, 000. $ 1,494,000 1,493,700 i'9i7>750 1,958,010 2,161,900 2,304.175 $5 50 5 10 5 00 7 70 9 50 9 70 My purpose is fulfilled in this chapter if I have brought to view some of the principal agents and agencies that have changed the old conditions of the town in 1840, and have helped most powerfully to bring in the new conditions of society of 1898. I have purposely omitted many associate names whose services will be mentioned elsewhere, in order that the leading actors might appear in their best propor- tions. The evidences of the progress made in the last quar- ter of a century will appear in later chapters, industrial educational, social, and statistical.