Thomas Williams Bicknell (September 6, 1834 – October 6, 1925) was an American educator, historian, and author.

Early life and career

Thomas W. Bicknell was born in

Barrington, Rhode Island Barrington is a suburban, residential town in Bristol County, Rhode Island located approximately southeast of Providence. It was founded by Congregationalist separatists from Swansea, Massachusetts and incorporated in 1717. Barrington was ced ...

to Harriet Byron Kinnicutt (September 1, 1791 – December 15, 1837), daughter of Josiah Kinnicutt and Rebecca Townsend Kinnicutt, and Rhode Island minister and Senator, Lt.-Col. Allin Bicknell (April 13, 1787 – August 16, 1870), who had served with the

Bristol County, Rhode Island Bristol County is a county located in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. As of the 2020 census, the population was 50,793, making it the least populous county in Rhode Island. In terms of land area, it is the third-smallest county in the United S ...

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

. Thomas Bicknell attended Thetford Academy in Vermont and Amherst College in Massachusetts, taught school and became principal in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, then principal in

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-large ...

. When he returned to Rehoboth, serving as principal once again, he earned a master's degree from Brown University. While a senior at Brown, he was elected State Representative in the Rhode Island General Assembly. After graduating from Brown, he became principal of Bristol High School and then Arnold Street Grammar School, then back to Bristol High School. Rhode Island Governor Seth Padelford (Republican 1869–1873) selected Bicknell to be the Commissioner of Public Schools in 1869. As commissioner, he focused on re-establishing the Normal School (now Rhode Island College). He was a gifted speaker and fundraiser who would triple the amount of money spent on public education; he also established a Rhode Island State Board of Education, oversaw the selection of school superintendents in every town and city in the state, dedicated over 50 new schoolhouses, and increased the school year from 27 to 35 weeks.

Civil rights reformer

In the 1850s, Bicknell signed on to help settle the State of "

Free Kansas Free-Staters was the name given to settlers in Kansas Territory during the "Bleeding Kansas" period in the 1850s who opposed the expansion of slavery. The name derives from the term " free state", that is, a U.S. state without slavery. Many of th ...

" to prevent the spread of slavery. On the way to Kansas, he was taken hostage by bandits on the Missouri River, but after two weeks as a prisoner, sharpshooters set him adrift. Bicknell was an equalist, a racial and sexual reformer, and an early advocate for ending Black segregation in schools; he also helped elect the United States' first all-female school board for the town of

Tiverton, Rhode Island Tiverton is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 16,359 at the 2020 census. Geography Tiverton is located on the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay, across the Sakonnet River from Aquidneck Island (also know ...

Heritage and legacy

Bicknell joined the Rhode Island Society of the

Sons of the American Revolution The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR or NSSAR) is an American congressionally chartered organization, founded in 1889 and headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. A non-profit corporation, it has described its purpose ...

in 1896 and was the founder of the National Society of the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims and

Order of the Founders and Patriots of America The Order of the Founders and Patriots of America (OFPA) is a non-profit, hereditary organization based in the United States that is dedicated to promoting patriotism and preserving historical records of the first colonists and their descendants. ...

(1898). He re-established and was the president of the

American Institute of Instruction The American Institute of Instruction was formed in 1830. The original purpose was to secure a Massachusetts Superintendent (education), Superintendent of Common Schools. Due to the work of Samuel Read Hall, George B. Emerson and E. A. Andrews, leg ...

, and was president of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction and the National Educational Association. He was the president of the New England Publishing Company. In 1914, wanting to have a town named for him, he offered a 1,000-volume library to any town in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

that would adopt his name. Two towns vied for the prize, Grayson and Thurber; the two towns compromised, and in 1916 Thurber changed its name to Bicknell, and Grayson took the name of Blanding, the maiden name of Bicknell's wife. The towns then split the library with 500 books to each. Bicknell and his wife, Amelia, donated $500 to the Rehoboth Antiquarian Society in Rehoboth to establish the Blanding Public Library in memory of Amelia's parents, Christopher and Chloe Blanding. In addition to education, he was also active in civic activities and the church. He served as commissioner from Rhode Island to the Universal Exposition at

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He helped establish the U.S. Postal Code system as a member of the 1878 Postal Congress. He served as president in over thirty associations and organizations and was a member in over one hundred. He was president of the International Sunday School Union, the Massachusetts Congregational Sunday School Union, the Chautauqua Teachers' Reading Union, and the New England Sunday School Association. Thomas W. Bicknell died in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

on October 6, 1925.

Writings

Bicknell was an author, editor, and publisher of the ''New England Journal of Education'' (Boston, 1875–1880). He was the author of the six-volume ''History of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations'', the author-publisher of ''The Governors of Rhode Island'', ''The Dorr War'', ''The Story of the Rhode Island Normal School'', and ''Story of Dr. John Clarke'', and the editor-publisher of ''History and Genealogy of the Bicknell Family and Collateral Lines''. As a historian he also contributed to ''The Bay State Monthly'' magazine.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bicknell, Thomas W. American educators American biographers American male biographers American Library Association people 1834 births 1925 deaths Brown University alumni People from Barrington, Rhode Island American historians Thetford Academy, Vermont alumni