of four miles in length in the valley of the French river, a branch of the Quinebaug. The original mills of which he became the owner in 1854 then contained 7,500 spindles and 180 looms. For the past three years they have had 88,176 spindles and 2,357 looms, the spindles having been reduced in number without diminution of product, in consequence of improvements in their make.
From his settlement in Providence in 1837, Doctor Grosvenor’s life had been almost constantly devoted to active business. The change from professional pursuits to the pursuits of trade is a critical event in the life of any man. With him it had led to almost uninterrupted success. He began his new occupation by giving constant attention to its daily demands, and by making himself master of the principles and methods by which it was to be conducted. In doing this his professional experience may not have been without its advantages. It had formed in him the habit of careful attention to the details involved in the work in which he was engaged, and had taught him to guard against surprises in the condition of markets and the movements of trade. It may thus have done its part to secure the success which he continued to have for the period of forty years almost without drawback or interruption.
His first period of leisure was taken in the year 1860, when, for the benefit of Mrs. Grosvenor’s health, he accompanied her with his elder children on a visit to Europe. The absence was greatly beneficial to them all, and would have been prolonged had it not been for the anxieties and sorrows occasioned by the civil war, which began in the following year. The daily tidings of battle and slaughter, and the spectacle of the two great sections of the republic at war with each other, were doubly distressing to loyal citizens away from their country. He came home early in 1862, as did so many others from every part of the world, to do whatever might be in his power in the service of the country, and especially to be as near as possible to the exciting and distressing scenes which were then engrossing public attention.
On his return he immediately connected himself with the patriotic services which were already in progress in Rhode Island. In the following year he was chosen a senator from the town of North Providence, where he had resided since 1849, and he immediately -engaged in all the movements that depended in any way on the action of the legislature. He was made a member of the legislative committee on finance, and his careful judgment and well-known determination as a citizen of large resources, made him an authority in the financial questions before that body. The whole energy and strength of the state were then enlisted in the service of the country. Taxes were levied in amounts beyond all precedent, and Rhode Island was ready to make every exertion and every sacrifice which the crisis might demand. In promoting all these movements the senator from North Providence was actively engaged during his period of service.
In 1866 he was again chosen to the senate. The war was now ended and the legislature of the state was occupied with new questions, the chief of which were how to maintain the public credit and pay the public debts, which had swollen to large proportions. In addition to these matters of finance were questions as to how the legislature could best provide for those who had been disabled in the war, and how it could best honor the memories of those who had fallen in its battles. In the deliberations and discussions relating to these he took a very active part, and did much in shaping the measures that were adopted. He was a member not only of the finance committee, but also of the joint committee of both houses appointed to select a suitable site for ” a monument to the memory of the officers and men from Rhode Island, either in the army or the navy of the United States, who lost their lives in the service of the United States during the late rebellion,” and to procure designs and estimates for the monument. It was through the agency of this committee 