Samuel Eddy was a lawyer and politician in Providence in the late 1700s and early 1800s. He built this Federal-style brick home in 1797 while he was married to his first wife, Elizabeth Bucklin. Though Eddy led a very successful professional life — first serving as Rhode Island Secretary of State from 1798 to 1819, as a U.S. Representative in the National Republican Party from 1819 to 1825 — his personal life was plagued with grief and loss.
While living in the home that is now 100 Angell Street, Samuel Eddy had a total of four wives. He and Elizabeth Bucklin had three children together before she died of “consumption” in 1799; her gravestone identifies her as “the amiable wife” of Samuel Eddy, and says that she “exhibited an example of … duty, conjugal affection, and maiden virtue.”
Eddy’s next wife was Martha Wheaton, whom he married in 1801. Together they had six children, but only one of these children would survive to adulthood. Their eldest son James survived infancy, but still died young, at the age of 12. His gravestone reads, “in point of talent, attainment, and disposition, he was equalled [sic] by few.” Samuel Eddy still seemed hopeful that he might pass his name on in full to a son. In 1805, Wheaton gave birth to a Samuel Eddy Jr., however he died before his first birthday; just three years later the couple had another son who they once again named Samuel Eddy Jr. Martha died a few weeks after his birth, and then he, too, died at less than a year old, in 1808.

Samuel Eddy married Naomi Ann Angell in 1809. At the time she was only 21, while Eddy was 40. She gave birth to their first child together, Anna, in 1810. They had three more children, though Naomi died in 1817 at the age of 28 and less than a year after the birth of their last child, Zechariah. Zechariah also died prematurely at the age of 5, in 1822.
In 1824, Eddy finally married Sarah T. Howell. They had no children. Across all of these marriages, Samuel Eddy had at least 13 children: six boys and seven girls, including one set of twin girls in 1804. Only four survived to see adulthood; six died before they even turned a year old.
Samuel Eddy remained married to Sarah Howell for the rest of his life, which ended in 1839. He fostered a passionate interest in the natural sciences later in his life, and so he left behind a large collection of “minerals, fossils and articles of curiosity” to his surviving daughters Martha (from his marriage with Elizabeth), Mary (from his marriage with Martha Wheaton), and Anna (from his marriage with Naomi Angell).


In 1824, Eddy sold 100 Angell Street to Asa Pierce, a grocer. A few years later, Reverend Alexis Caswell occupied the home while he was a professor of astronomy and natural philosophy (physics) at Brown University. He lived at 100 Angell Street from 1830 until 1847. In 1868, Caswell became the president at the university. He remained in that role for four years.
To read our complete historic house marker report from the late 1960s, click here.
National Register Nomination
100 Samuel Eddy House, 1797-8. Federal; 2-1/2 stories raised one full story above high brick basement; hip roof; brick; symmetrical 5-bay facade; central pedimented fanlight doorway; high stoop with double flights of steps; gabled front dormer; rear ell.
100 Samuel Eddy House, 1797-8. Federal; 2-1/2 stories raised one full story above high brick basement; hip roof; brick; symmetrical 5-bay facade; central pedimented fanlight doorway; high stoop with double flights of steps; gabled front dormer; rear ell.