Robert Hazard Champlin was born in Exeter, R. I., April 24, 1829, died in East Greenwich, R. I., May 19, 1911. He was brought to East Greenwich by his parents in 1831, there obtained his education, established a prosperous business and resided until his death, eighty years after his coming, in 1831. His education was obtained at East Greenwich Academy; his instructors, professors Goodenow and Eastman. At the age of seventeen years, his school ended, and from the year 1846 until his retirement in 1891, he was continuously connected with the lumber business in East Greenwich. He became head of his own business and built it up to large proportions, and 'Champlins' were headquarters in that section of the State for lumber and building materials. He conducted the business very successfully until 1891, then sold out to Joseph Dews and retired to a well-earned period of contentment and ease. The business which he sold was conducted by Mr. Dews for five years and then sold by him to three sons of Robert Hazard Champlin, who own and operate the business founded by their father many years ago.
For twenty years after his retirement from business, Mr. Champlin continued his residence in East Greenwich, enjoying to the full, the rewards of a long life of honored usefulness. He was a man of quiet and home loving disposition and those twenty years were spent mainly at his home, with the wife of his youth and children. He was highly esteemed in his neighborhood and in all things measured up to the full statue of a man. His end was hastened, no doubt, by the death of his wife, who succumbed to an attack of pneumonia, May 13, 1911, and six days later on Friday, May 19, he too passed away, and their four sons were the pall bearers at both funerals.
Robert H. Champlin married, November 26, 1866, Frances Beulah Williams, of Clintonville, N. Y., who died Saturday, May 13, 1911, aged seventy-two years, daughter of William Hilton and Mary Williams. The Williams family descended from Robert Williams, who came from England to Roxbury, Mass., in 1638. Mr. and Mrs. Chaplin were the parents of sons and daughters, as follows: 1. Mary Frances, of New York. 2. Florence Beulah, of East Greenwich. 3. Jeduthan Russell, of East Greenwich. 4. Samuel Arnold, died December 14, 1911. 5. Robert Hazard (2), conducts the firm, Champlin Lumber Company, of East Greenwich and Centerville, dealers in lumber and builders' materials; he now resides at Riverpoint, R. I. 6. William Hilton, of Rochester, N. H., where he is engaged extensively in lumber manufacture.
