CASWELL, Alexis (1799-1872+)
twin son of Samuel and Polly (Seaver)
Caswell, and was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, January 29, 1799.
His twin brother Alvaris lived to a vigorous old age in Norton. They
were descendants in the sixth generation from Thomas Caswell, who was in
Taunton in 1639. Like the original settlers he probably came from
Taunton, in Somersetshire, England.
Alexis Caswell passed his early
years i agricultural labors on his father's estate. His college life
at Brown University was distinguished for industry, and on his graduation
in 1822 he bore the highest honors of his class. During this period,
also, he experienced that moral change which made him a genuine and
earnest Christian man, and which, more than any other event, shaped his
entire subsequent life. In July, 1820, he became a member of the
First Baptist church in Providence.
He spent the five years
following his graduation as tutor in what is now Columbian University at
Washington. In 1827 he was ordained as minister of a Baptist church
in Halifax Nova Scotia. A year later he returned to Providence and
soon after was chosen professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in
Brown University. In 1850 the style of his professorship was changed
to that of mathematics and astronomy.
In 1860 he went abroad with
Mrs. Caswell, and spent a year in traveling in Europe. During his
absence he made the acquaintance of many eminent men of science, visited
several of the great observatories, and attended the meetings of some of
the leading scientific associations, both of Great Britain and the
continent. Returning in 1861, he resumed his duties and continued
them till the autumn of 1863, when he resigned the professorship, after a
service of thirty-five years. He now became active in the management
of certain financial corporations with which his interests were connected,
and was made the president of the National Exchange Bank, and also of the
American Screw Company both in Providence.
In January 1868, Dr.
Caswell was chosen president of the university and held the office until
September 1872. He was one of the early members of the American
Association for the Promotion of Science, and was its president in
1859. He was also one of those named in the act of Congress in 1863,
which created the National Academy of Science. The published
writings of Dr. Caswell are comparatively few, and for the most part are
scattered among the transactions of learned societies, or in scientific
and literary periodicals.
He was interested in every enterprise
that was designed to relieve the miseries or to elevate the character of
the human race, or to bring them under the influence of true
religion. In him the poor always found a friend and
benefactor.
Dr. Caswell was twice married; first on May 7, 1830, to
Esther Lois, daughter of Ebenezer K. Thompson, of Providence, who died
June 25, 1850; second on January 31, 1855, to Elizabeth Brown, daughter of
Thomas Edmands, of Newton, Massachusetts, who survived her husband.
Of the first marriage six children were born, of whom three survived their
father, viz.: Sarah Swoope, wife of James B. Angell, LL.D., president of
the University of Michigan; Dr. Edward Thompson Caswell physician of
Providence RI and Thomas Thompson Caswell, paymaster in the Navy of the
US.
Dr. Caswell was a resident member, admitted in
1870.
"a fuller memoir of Dr. Caswell may be found in the Register,
vol XXXI pp253-262"
(Nancy Washell, transcribed from NEHGR,
pp227-229) |
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