New Acquisitions

October 2023: Center Announces Exciting New Acquisitions

Violet Sands Hazard (1798 - 1903) and Oliver Hazard Perry Gardiner (ca. 1838 - 1908) were Matunuck neighbors and well-known throughout South County. They now share another exciting distinction: portraits capturing the likeness of each have recently been acquired by the Center so that they can be preserved for future generations. "The historical significance of these portraits cannot be overstated," explained Joanne Pope Melish, a renowned historian on slavery and race in New England who serves as the Center's Board Chair.

A grand opening of a display of these portraits will take place at the Center (2636 Kingstown Road, Kingston, RI) on Saturday, December 2, from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. After December 2, the portraits and the Center’s other exhibits can be viewed by appointment, which can be made through the Center’s website.

The Center's work to explore the history of these paintings, their subjects, and their artists is just beginning. If you would like to support these efforts, please click here to make a donation today.

Please continue reading to learn more about the portraits and the results of the Center’s preliminary research. If you would like to leave feedback, ask questions, or provide information about the portraits, please click here or email erica@southcountyhistorycenter.org.

“The fact that both of these rare paintings originated in Matunuck speaks to the area’s distinctive history as a center of Black life
in early New England. As depictions of well-known Black landowners created by local white artists, the works offer rich possibilities
for exploring the dynamics of the community’s multi-racial past, also serving as unusual, fertile case studies in New England’s nostalgic
memory-making activities during the Colonial Revival era. These discoveries hold exciting opportunities to advance the study of race
in 19th-century New England and its intersections with art history, local heritage, and historical memory.”

--Emelie Gevalt, Curator of Folk Art and the Exhibit
"Unnamed Figures: Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North"
Opening November 2023 at the American Folk Art Museum

Portrait of Violet Sands Hazard, ca. 1895-1900
Attributed to Charles Matlack
Gift of Elizabeth Warren-White, Timothy Warren, Jr., and Peter Warren in memory of their father Timothy Matlack Warren

Violet Sands Hazard was born on Block Island in 1798. She was the daughter of Benjamin Port, who was enslaved by the Sands family, and Aropa/Aroka Sands. Through her father, Violet was a descendant of Newport Sands, an enslaved man of African descent, and “Long” Kate, a German-born woman who survived the shipwreck of the Princess Augusta, often referred to now as the “Palantine.”

Around 1818, Violet left Block Island, never to return. She first went to Hopkinton and then to South Kingstown, where she married Alexander Perry Hazard (1798-1875). Violet and Alexander had three daughters, Sarah, Louisa, and Emiline, whom they raised in the Matunuck Hills area of South Kingstown. Violet and Alexander acquired large tracts of land in the Hills, ultimately owning nearly 38 acres in 1862.

After Alexander’s death in 1875 and the loss of their family home in an 1885 fire, Violet and her extended family moved frequently. In the late 1890s, the family moved onto property owned by Charles Matlack, also in the Matunuck Hills. Charles is believed to have painted Violet’s portrait during that period. It was also during that time Violet’s daughter Louisa was employed by the family of Edward Everett Hale.

In 1901, Violet, who was then reportedly the oldest person living in South Kingstown, was taken to the town asylum (also called the “town farm” or “poor farm”), ostensibly due to her not having “been properly cared for.” An article in the Narragansett Times described Violet’s condition at that time: “She is totally blind, but her memory is exceedingly good, and she is able to sit up a greater part of the time.” Violet sadly remained in the South Kingstown asylum until her death in 1903. Her passing was reported throughout Rhode Island, with one headline reading “Lived In Three Centuries.”

Charles Matlack, who is believed to have painted this portrait, was born in Philadelphia in 1849. Described as a “lawyer by profession and an artist by nature,” Matlack purchased a summer home in the Matunuck Hills, which he christened Hidden Hearth in 1896. Charles met his wife Mary Fletcher Stevens while painting in Europe, and each of the couple’s three daughters was born at Hidden Hearth. The Matlack family had close relationships with their neighbors, the Edward Everett Hale and William Babcock Weeden families, and Charles donated half of the land for the Robert Beverly Hale Library, for which he also served as chairman.

Charles and three generations of his descendants lovingly cared for and displayed his portrait of “Aunt Vi,” as the family called her. In September 2023, Charles’s great-grandchildren Elizabeth Warren-White, Timothy Warren, Jr., and Peter Warren donated the portrait to the Center in memory of their father Timothy Matlack Warren.

Portrait of Oliver Hazard Perry Gardiner, 1902
Painted by Mary “Nettie” Carpenter Willard
Acquired with the generous support of Joanne Pope Melish

Oliver Hazard Perry Gardiner was born about 1838 in Charlestown, Rhode Island. He was the son of Thankful, originally from Connecticut, and Polodore, a celebrated South County figure described as "famous," "a free gentleman, and a landed proprietor." Oliver was named in honor of Commodore O.H. Perry, who was said to have helped Polodore survive a freezing night after their boat ran aground. Later accounts suggest that Polodore was the son of an enslaved man, but his ancestry has not yet been confirmed.

Oliver spent most of his life in the Matunuck Hills area of South Kingstown on land acquired by his father. He worked as a fisherman, digging clams and selling them throughout town. By age 34, Oliver was divorced and living with his sister Cornelia and her husband John Franklin. Oliver lived with his sister in their family home until her death in 1906.

Many stories were recorded about Oliver, and he can also be seen in several photographs taken by Matunuck residents. According to Carder Whaley’s The Hills of Matunuck, “Oliver was well-known around South Kingstown. He earned a living digging clams and oysters, cutting them out of the shell and selling them around town… Oliver had very large feet and went barefoot most of the time, often when it was quite cold weather. He was a large man, tall and straight.” In Perryville Stories from the Past, Susan Browning Babcock included a song remembered by her father, Harold, that included the lyrics:

“Oh, Oliver Gardiner is a very nice man.
He goes through Wakefield, peddling clams.
With his yoke on his shoulder, and his pails in his hands,
He goes through Wakefield peddling clams.”

Oliver died in Mystic, Connecticut, at the home of his niece in 1908. "He was well known in the village as a clam peddler and a powerful man…” noted the Narragansett Times in his obituary. He was buried in his family’s cemetery in Matunuck.

Mary “Nettie” Carpenter Willard was born in Providence in 1864 and during her childhood also lived in Westerly and Bristol. Through her father Thomas, who was born in the Perryville area of South Kingstown, Nettie was related to the Carpenter and Hazard families of South County. In 1884, Nettie married Hezekiah Willard, a traveling salesman, and the couple spent many summers in Matunuck. In 1929 the Willards moved permanently to South Kingstown, where Nettie died in 1957.

In 1902, Nettie Willard painted this portrait of Oliver for an art competition at the Washington County Fair. For her efforts, she was awarded a diploma of the Washington County Agricultural Society, which organized the fair. A Narragansett Times article describing the fair’s art competition explained, “The judges wisely gave the diploma of the society to Mrs. H.E. Willard for her oil painting from life, the subject being old Oliver Gardiner barefooted, with his clam yoke over his shoulder. It was true to life.” Indeed, Nettie’s portrayal of Oliver is very similar to the likeness captured in photographs during his lifetime.

Thanks to the generous support of Joanne Pope Melish, Oliver’s portrait was purchased at auction in Tennessee this summer.

Banner Photo Above: Matunuck Hills from near Hidden Hearth looking west toward the Edward Everett Hale House. Courtesy of the Warren family.