Joshua Remington, father of Mrs. Mary Anna (Remington) Holmes (See Ancestors of Charles Jarvis Holmes of Marshfield and Rochester MA), was born May 29, 1798, in that part of Providence, R. I., now called Olneyville. He was a son of Stephen and Sarah (Walton) Remington, and of the eighth generation in descent from John Remington, who came to this country in 1637 and settled in Newbury, Mass. From this John Remington his line is traced through
- John Remington (2), who lived in Rowley and Jamestown, R.I.
- Thomas Remington, who lived in Jamestown and Warwick, R.I.
- John Remington (3), born in 1695, who died July 8, 1723
- Joshua Remington, born in 1720
- Caleb Remington, born in 1758
- Stephen Remington, who died March 13, 1813.
Joshua Remington gained his early education in the country schools, and though no student was a great lover of books, through his continuous perusal of papers and magazines adding much to his knowledge of men and affairs. He was but a boy when his father died and he went at once to work in the cotton mill in Olneyville, where he remained until 1821 – the year he went to Fall River, to the new mills then built. There he was engaged for twenty years, by the end of which time the close confinement had so seriously affected his health that he was obliged to make a change. After a time he became interested in the manufacture of soap, which business he successfully continued to follow during the remainder of his life.
Mr. Remington, however, was not the man to bound his activities by the limits of any one interest. For a long term of years he was a director of the Massasoit Bank, where it was said “his judgment was always reliable in questions of importance involving wise discretion and mature thought.” Coming, on both sides, of the best New England stock, he was a man of great natural ability, of sterling integrity, sound judgment and shrewd common sense, which combined to make him successful in whatever he undertook. He was of a kindly, sunny temperament, modest and unassuming, and given to unbounded hospitality.
Mr. Remington was identified with other phases of the life of his adopted city besides its business affairs. When the Atheneum was started his taste for books and reading naturally made him interested and he early became a stockholder, continuing his membership until it was merged into the public library. In 1840 he joined the Methodist Church, where his long membership was marked by a steadfast attachment to the institutions of the church and by a large usefulness and fidelity in the various positions to which he was called. While in Providence the joined St. John’s Commandery, Knights Templar, and later in Fall River helped to form King Philip Lodge. In politics he was successively a Whig, Freesoiler and Republican, and in the early days of the city he served as alderman. He died in Fall River June 15, 1876.
In 1829 Mr. Remington married Joanna, daughter of David and Lovisa (Hart) Lawton, and they had nine children, the second of which family, Mary Anna, married Charles Jarvis Holmes.