Eliza (Cranston) Cole

Eliza Cranston was born May 22, 1793 in Bristol, Rhode Island and died ninety-eight years later on April 30, 1891 in Providence. Her long life overflowed with the usual joys and sorrows that all human beings experience. Eliza was the daughter of Stephen Cranston (1762-1792) and Sarah (Salisbury) Cranston (1754-1840) of Bristol. Stephen Cranston was the fifth generation of the Cranston line that descended from the famous colonial Rhode Island Governor John Cranston . Sadly, Eliza would never have the chance to meet her father because shortly before her birth he drowned in the narrows off Bristol, Rhode Island. After her husband’s death, Sarah Cranston took care of her two daughters, Abigail (born July 29, 1791) and Eliza, until they were married. Abigail was married March 23, 1806, to David Munro, son of Joseph and Mary Munro of Bristol. Eliza’s first marriage began on October 13, 1808, at the young age of sixteen, to George Cole of Warren (born January 31, 1782). The marriage was performed at St. Michaels Church of Bristol by the Reverend Alexander V. Griswold, who was the Episcopal Rector of St. Michaels by 1804. Reverend Griswold was chosen as Bishop of the Eastern Dioceses in 1811 and in the ensuing years he wrote several religious texts and one hymn. In the 1820s he became a renowned preacher of the Second Great Awakening. Griswold may have affected Eliza’s religious practice, or perhaps she never thought of him after the wedding.

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On May 13, 1809 Eliza had her first and only child: Eliza Ann Cole. Though her daughter would live to be eighty, Eliza outlived her as well. After the death of her husband on January 6, 1832, Eliza remarried to widower Daniel Phinney. Daniel was born on September 14, 1768 in Bristol and died on June 25, 1857, also in Bristol. He was of Eliza’s parents’ generation more than her own and was in his sixties when they wed. Daniel was the son of Elisha Phinney and Rebecca Peck, and was a descendent of the early settler John Finney, who was born at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1638 and died in Barnstable, Massachusetts in 1718. Daniel Phinney had been married previously to Elizabeth Kinnicutt (born April 6, 1780). They were married on June 14, 1798 and had eight children together before Elizabeth’s death on November 23, 1822. Eliza and Daniel were married sometime after 1832 in Providence, and never had children with each other. This could suggest that this marriage was more for companionship than procreation. According to the 1820-1850 United States censuses, Daniel Phinney was a farmer in Warren, Rhode Island. In forty years of census data it showed that Daniel Phinney never owned any slaves as a part of his household or for farming. What this means is that even before the absolute abolition and removal of the remnants of slavery in the 1842 Rhode Island Constitution, Eliza and Daniel either lacked the money to afford slaves or their scruples caused them to go without them. After her second husband died, Eliza again lived as a widow for another thirty-four years. It is unknown what her last thirty years of life consisted of, but she eventually passed away in Providence and was buried in the North Burial Ground Cemetery along with her first husband, George Cole.

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The most interesting thing about Eliza is the history she lived through. She was born during President Washington’s administration and died during President Benjamin Harrison’s administration. During this time she lived through the War of 1812, the Second Great Awakening, the Mexican War,the Dorr Rebellion, the new Rhode Island Constitution of 1842, the sensational murder of Amasa Sprague, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, the assassination of Lincoln, and the reconstruction of the south after the Civil War. She witnessed the great early 19th century canals like the Blackstone Canal (which runs, in part, through the North Burial Ground) as well as their disuse once the railroads were built. She also witnessed naval inventions like the steamship that made water travel easier. By the time of her passing, Edison had invented the light bulb and the phonograph, Bell brought the telephone into existence, and Eliza may have seen an automobile on the streets of Providence. Due to the Industrial Revolution women moved from farms to factories and went from rural farm areas to the cities. Women living in the cities became more independent by earning a living for themselves and having greater control over their lives than they had before the Industrial Revolution. It is unknown if Eliza Cole joined any women’s organizations or fought for suffrage, but as the years past she witnessed this transformation for women and she died in a better world for women than the one in which she was born. Living for ninety-eight years in 19th century America is impressive for many reasons, and Eliza Cole’s life helps us to remember how much and how rapidly the world changed in that period.

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Joshua Choiniere, Student at Rhode Island College

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Further Reading

Gilkeson, John S. Middle-Class Providence, 1820-1940. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.

Hatch, Nathan O. The Democratization of American Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.

Digital History of 19th Century America: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/chron19.cfm