According to Cranston historian Harold M. Taylor, when farmer William Sprague (1) died in 1795, his homestead was divided among his sons. His son Peter received a farm near Mashapaug Pond ( Arlington ), Abner the land west of the Pocasset, and William (2) the "middle farm and the mills."
When he inherited his father's land in 1795, William Sprague's middle farmland also included extensive woodlands and the mansion house. He united with one of the old families of Rhode Island by marrying Anne Potter, a direct descendent of Roger Williams. William and Anne had five children: Susanna (m. Obadiah Mathewson), Amasa (1798-1843), William (1799-1856), Almira (m. Emanuel Rice) and Benoni.
According to the Cranston Historical Society's biography of the Sprague family written by Mrs. Brayton, William Sprague (2), the miller, was "a big man, with big ideas and big muscles, and said to be the best wrestler in the neighborhood." He was also successful in his financial ventures and developed his sawmill interest into a very lucrative business. The Sprague historians tell us he employed 25 to 30 men to chop wood in the "Sprague Woods adjoining Fenner Woods" and to run his sawmill. He produced ship timbers, which he sold to the shipyard at Eddy Point (Eddy and Dyer Streets) in Providence at a handsome profit. It is believed that when William added the two-bay addition during the early 1800s, the workers lived in the house during the winter months.
According to Taylor , the amazing Mrs. Anna (Potter) Sprague, who was 10 years older than William, was a great help to her husband in accumulating his fortune. Taylor says, "Assisted by the girls [Susanna and Almira] and 'Aunt Patience,' her husband's stepmother, Mrs. Sprague in the early days used to cook and serve meals to the men cutting logs or working in the mills. She always did or supervised the housework." As can be imagined, the feeding of 25 men plus a family was a task not to be taken lightly. This helped her husband save considerable money, which could be used to finance other ventures.
Shortly after the beginning of the 19th century, events occurred that drastically changed the destiny of the Sprague family and made them the wealthiest and, at times, the most controversial family in New England . The main occurrence came when Samuel Slater and Moses Brown brought the textile industry to America . In 1807 William Sprague, then 30 years old, was quick to see the possibilities of the new venture and converted his gristmill on the Pocasset River to a small cotton mill for carding and spinning cotton yarn. At first it was a very simple operation, which spun cotton into coarse yarn that was then woven on home looms by women in the area. In time, however, the Spragues became the most powerful textile family in America .
The story of the Sprague Mansion and the Spragues of Cranston and Warwick will be continued.