Noah Aldrich, a revolutionary soldier and a resident of Scituate, Rhode Island, married Huldah Whittaker, who died in her one hundredth year. They raised a large family of sons and daughters, among whom was David, born in 1770, in Scituate, where his life was spent as a farmer. A public-spirited and influential citizen, he was for many years a member of the town council, director of the Citizens’ Union Bank, since extinct, and a liberal contributor to the Smithville Seminary, now the Lapham Institute, of Scituate. He married Hope Law, of Killingly, Conn., whose children were: George, William, John and David L. The death of Mr. Aldrich occurred in 1553.
His son, David L., was born April 27th, 1822, in Scituate, and was educated at the Smithville Seminary, from which he graduated in 1845. Removing to Providence, he entered upon a mercantile career as a member of the firm of Aldrich & Bean, continuing this business relation until 1851, the date of his removal to Hopkinton, Rhode Island, where in company with Barber Reynolds, he leased the Godfrey Arnold cotton mill and two years later purchased the property. At the expiration of the seventh year of this partnership the firm was dissolved, Mr. Aldrich continuing the business. In 1863 he erected a woolen mill at Plainville (now Richmond Switch), R. I., which was in 1880 sold to William A. Walton, its present owner. Mr. Aldrich, in company with Edwin Milner, then purchased the Moosup Mill, at Moosup, Conn., which they devote to the manufacture of fancy cassimeres. In 1865 he became the owner of the mills at Arcadia, in which print cloths are manufactured.
Mr. Aldrich was one of the projectors of the Richmond Bank, afterward merged in the First National Bank of Hopkinton, of which he is a director. He was also prominently identified with the construction of the Wood River Branch railroad, of which he is president. A republican and a strong protectionist in his political sentiments, he was a delegate to the national republican convention held in Chicago in 1880, but has not aspired to higher political honors.
Mr. Aldrich has been twice married. He was united May 12th, 1846, to Susan W., daughter of Hon. Joseph Sheldon, of Cranston, R. I. Their children were: Joseph S., who died in 1874, at the age of twenty-four; Laura, who died in 1856, at the age of five; and David L., Jr., whose death occurred in 1883, in his twenty-fourth year. Mrs. Aldrich died in 1870, and he was again married June 5th, 1872, to Mary M. Gray, widow of Ephraim Carpenter, of Providence. Mrs. Aldrich tied in 1886, leaving two children, a son, William S., and a daughter, Mary A., aged respectively, fifteen and thirteen.