Albert C. Greene (1791-1863) was born in Coventry, Rhode Island to Perry (b.1749) and Elizabeth (Belcher) Greene (b. 1758). He had one sibling, a brother, William P. Greene (1784-1855). He was educated at the East Greenwich Academy until he was placed as an apprentice, at the age of 13, to George Brinkerhoff, an attorney in New York City. He was admitted to the bar in 1812 and continued his studies at the law school of Judges Reeves & Gould in Litchfield, Connecticut. He returned to Rhode Island in 1813 and set up practice in East Greenwich.
He married Catharine Celia Greene (1794-1826), the daughter of Gov. William Greene (1764-1829) on May 16, 1814. They had five children: William Albert (1815-1840), Katharine Celia (1816-1887), Mary Elizabeth (b. 1818), Susan Eliza, and Frances Ray. He married a second time to Julia (Bourne) Jones (1790-1842) on August 22, 1841.
In 1815, he was elected to the Rhode Island General Assembly, was its Speaker of the House (1822-1825), and held that office until 1825 when he became Attorney General. During his time in local politics he was also appointed Brigadier General (1816-1821) and then Major-General (1821-1823) of the state militia. In 1843 he declined the candidacy for Attorney General and was elected to the U. S. Senate. He held this position until 1851. In 1851 he returned to Rhode Island and once again became involved in local politics as member of the General Assembly from 1857-1858. In 1858 he bowed out of politics after serving his state well for forty-three years. Greene lived in East Greenwich until 1834, then moved to Providence where he lived until his death on January 8, 1863. He is buried at the Grace Church Cemetery in Providence.
There are no restrictions on access.
Researchers are advised that express written permission to reproduce, quote, or otherwise publish any portion or extract from this collection must be obtained from the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Albert C. Greene Papers, MSS 452, Rhode Island Historical Society.
This collection, covering the years 1802-1863 and is divided into seven series.
Series 1: Correspondence contains personal and business letters from family, friends, and clients. Mostly personal letters until 1812, then more business letters. There are also letters or copies of letters that Greene wrote to others. There is a report from a surgeon, Richard Fraser, about the ship Hottinquer, on its way from Liverpool, England to New York. He details the outbreak of smallpox on board and makes suggestions on preventing outbreaks on other immigrant ships (box 3, folder 10). There is also a letter to Mrs. Alexander Hamilton from the historian Frances Hawkes detailing papers of her husband that he has in his possession which he believes are valuable and should go to the Library of Congress (Box 4, folder 5).
Series 2: Papers contains a variety of items, such as loose accounts, appointments, arrest warrants, deeds, dockets, indentures, insurance policies, legal documents, and orations.
Series 3: Partnerships contains loose accounts and correspondence of the partnerships of Greene & Bowen and Greene & Randolph.
Series 4: Bound Volumes contains a bank book, cash book, daybooks, dockets, ledger, and a memo book.
Series 5: Avery Trial contains records relating to the Avery Trial in 1832-1833. Albert C. Greene was one of three prosecuting attorneys, along with Dutee Pearce and William Staples, in the case against Rev. Ephraim Avery. Avery was charged with the murder of Sarah Maria Cornell on Dec. 20, 1832 by strangling her and then hanging her to a stake. The trial began Monday May 6, 1833 and concluded on June 2nd with Avery's acquittal.
Series 6: Loose Legal Papers relates to the many other court cases handled by Albert C. Greene. Of note are depositions relating to the infamous Olney Lane or Snowtown Riot of 1831 in Box 13, folder 124.
Series 7: Loose Dockets contains dockets which are listings of the cases in progress for courts in each of the counties in Rhode Island for the period 1815-1857.
All of these records are believed to have arrived as part of the "Albert C. and Richard W. Greene Collection." The actual date of the accession is not known for sure, but the collection was in hand by the late 1940s. Therefore, the date of 1948 was assigned to the collection.
This collection was originally processed by Harold Kemble circa 1987. Very little reprocessing was done. Harold Kemble organized the collection chronologically into two groups: letters and papers. This processing was basically kept intact with an explanation of "papers" in the scope and content section. The collection is now divided into seven series, though still organized chronologically within the series. Every person that wrote to Albert or that he wrote to has not been listed in the card catalogue. Only members of his family, individuals in our collections, and other prominent Rhode Islanders are listed in the subject headings.
Transferred several correspondence and papers, 1816-1817, pertaining to the partnership of Greene & Dexter to the Richard W. Greene Papers (Mss 144). Transferred a 1783 ledger to the Richard W. Greene Family Papers (Mss 1043). This ledger had no name or place information. The year is too early to be connected with Albert C. Greene.
Many legal files from the Greene Legal Papers (Mss 453) were transferred to this collection. All writs found in the Greene Legal Papers were transferred to the Richard W. Greene Papers, unless they specifically had Albert C. Greene's name somewhere on the writ. It is likely that some of the writs may be connected to cases of Albert C. Greene. The Greene Legal Papers contained an intermingling of the legal papers of Richard W. Greene and Albert C. Greene, therefore, some of these legal papers in either collection may pertain to the other individual. Great efforts have been made to properly distinguish among them, but the papers were at one point improperly interfiled.
Undated
Undated
July 4th oration
Undated
Undated, vote on volunteer army
Also an undated booklet with witness testimony (p. 3)
Also a Dec. 31, 1832 letter from William Staples to A. C. Greene (p. 5)
Two letters from A.C. Greene, one to Rev. John Dorr and the other to Rev. George Storrs, and an undated booklet of letters from the trial (page 7)
A letter from Rev. George Storrs and a Jan. 4, 1833 letter from Rev. David Kilburn to A.C. Greene (p. 9)
A Jan. 7, 1833 letter from Rev. John Dorr and a Jan. 24, 1833 letter from Grindall Rawson to A.C. Greene (p. 11)
A Feb. 4, 1833 letter from Foster Harper and a Feb. 12, 1833 letter from L.W. Briggs to William Staples (p. 13)
A letter from A.C. Greene to Dutee Pearce and a return letter from Pearce on Feb. 24, 1833 (p. 15)
An undated letter denouncing a public pamphlet circulating about the trial(p. 17)
Copies of postal bills sent from Bristol (p. 19)
A March 4, 1833 letter from William Staples and a March 14, 1833 letter from Dutee Pearce to A.C. Greene (p. 21)
A March 19, 1833 letter from Grindall Rawson to William Staples and a March 20, 1822 letter from William Staples to William Remington (p.23)
Written testimony by Mrs. Sylvester Stanley (p. 25)
An April 8, 1833 letter from Nathaniel B. Borden to William Staples (p. 27)
A May 1, 1833 letter from A.C. Greene to Thomas Gill and a May 5, 1833 letter from Harvey Harnden to Nathaniel B. Borden (p.29)
Two May 7, 1833 letters, one from L.W. Briggs to William Staples and the other from an unknown author to A. Kingsley (p.31)
A May 11, 1833 letter from A. Kingsley to William Staples (p. 33)
Two May 14, 1833 letters, one from A. Kingsley to William Staples and the other from L.W. Briggs to A.C. Greene (p.35)
A May 22, 1833 letter from Jerris Shore to P. B. Borden (p.37)
A May 25, 1833 letter from Thomas Gill, Jr. to Chief Justice Eddy and the other from an unknown author to William Staples (p.39)
A May 27, 1833 letter from William Lawless to A.C. Greene and a May 30, 1833 letter from Dr. W. Turner to an unknown person (p.41)
Amy Anthony, Patience Anthony, Mary G. Anthony, and Elizabeth Hall(p. 191)
Joseph Fish, Nathaniel Munro, Joseph Childs, Stephen Thomas, Samuel Dennis, David Hall, Hannah Hall, Dianne Dennis, Rebecca Brownell, Cynthia Brownell, Mary Hicks, Content Parry, Bailey Borden, and Mary D. Borden (p. 207)
Rhode Island vs. John Gardner, William Jordan and Richard Johnson. (depositions relating to the infamous Olney Lane or Snowtown race riot)
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
undated
Kent County: Common Pleas, February and August 1824 Washington County: Common Pleas, February and August 1824 Washington County: Supreme Judicial, April and October, 1824
unidentified courts
Washington County: Common Pleas, February, August 1826 Kent County: Common Pleas, February and August 1826 unidentified court, April 1826
Washington County: Common Pleas, February, August, and October1827 Kent County: Common Pleas, February and August 1827 unidentified court, April 1827
Washington County: Supreme Judicial, April and October 1828 Washington County: Common Pleas, February and August 1828 Kent County: Common Pleas, August 1828 Providence County: Common Pleas, May 1828
Washington County: Common Pleas, February and August, Washington County: Supreme Judicial, April and October 1829 Providence County: Common Pleas, May 1829
Washington County: Common Pleas, February and August, 1830 Washington County:Supreme Judicial, April and October 1830 Kent County: Common Pleas, February and August, 1830 Providence: Common Pleas, May 1830
Kent County: Common Pleas, February and August, 1831; Kent County: Supreme Judicial, October 1831; Newport County: Supreme Judicial, March 1831; Providence County: Supreme Judicial, October 1831; Providence County: Common Pleas, November 1831; Washington County: Common Pleas, February and August, 1831; Washington County: Supreme Judicial, April and October 1831
Washington County: Common Pleas, February and August, 1832; Washington County: Supreme Judicial, April and October 1832; Kent County: Common Pleas, February and August, 1832; Kent County: Supreme Judicial, April 1832; Newport County: Supreme Judicial, March and August 1832; Providence County: Supreme Judicial, March 1832; Providence County: Common Pleas, May and November 1832
Washington County: Supreme Judicial, April and October 1833; Kent County: Common Pleas, February and August 1833; Newport County: Supreme Judicial, March 1833; Providence County: Common Pleas, November 1833; unidentified court, October 1833
Washington County: Common Pleas, August 1834; Kent County: Common Pleas, February and August 1834; unidentified court, November 1834
Washington County: Supreme Judicial, April and October 1835; Washington County: Common Pleas, February and August 1835; Washington County: Criminal: Supreme Judicial,September 1835; Washington County: Circuit Court, November 1835; Bristol County: Common Pleas, January and September 1835; Bristol County: Supreme Judicial, March 1835; Newport County: Common Pleas, May and November 1835; Kent County: Common Pleas, February and August 1835; Kent County: Supreme Judicial, April and October 1835; Newport County: Supreme Judicial, March and August 1835; Providence County: Common Pleas, May and November 1835; Providence: Supreme Judicial, September 1835
Bristol County: Common Pleas, March 1836. Providence County: Common Pleas, March, May 1836. Newport County, May 1836. Washington County: Common Pleas, February and August 1836. Washington County: Supreme Judicial, April and October 1836. Kent County: Common Pleas, February and August 1836. Kent County: Supreme Judicial, April 1836. Kent County: Criminal Cases, September and November 1836. Kent County: Circuit Court, June 1836
Washington County: Common Pleas, August 1837. Washington County: Supreme Judicial, May and November 1837. Newport County: Common Pleas, November 1837. Kent County: Common Pleas, February and August 1837. Providence County: Supreme Judicial, 1837. Kent County: Supreme Judicial, April and November 1837
Kent County: Supreme Judicial, April 1838. Kent County: Common Pleas, February and August 1838. unidentified courts, June 1838
Kent County: Common Pleas, August 1840. Kent County: Supreme Judicial, April 1841
Kent County: Supreme Court, September 1852-1853 and March 1854. Kent County: Common Pleas, August 1854. Washington County: Common Pleas, November 1852, 1854; May 1853-1854. Washington County: Supreme Court, February and August 1854
Kent County: Supreme Court, March 1855. Washington County: Common Pleas, May 1855-1857; November 1856-1857. Washington County: Supreme Court, Aug 1855; Feb 1856-1857; Aug 1857