Early life and career
Thomas W. Bicknell was born in Barrington, Rhode Island to Harriet Byron Kinnicutt (September 1, 1791 – December 15, 1837), daughter of Josiah Kinnicutt and Rebecca Townsend Kinnicutt, and Rhode Island minister and Senator, Lt.-Col. Allin Bicknell (April 13, 1787 – August 16, 1870), who had served with the Bristol County, Rhode Island Militia. Thomas Bicknell attended Thetford Academy in Vermont and Amherst College in Massachusetts, taught school and became principal in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, then principal in Elgin, Illinois. When he returned to Rehoboth, serving as principal once again, he earned a master's degree from Brown University. While a senior at Brown, he was elected State Representative in the Rhode Island General Assembly. After graduating from Brown, he became principal of Bristol High School and then Arnold Street Grammar School, then back to Bristol High School. Rhode Island Governor Seth Padelford (Republican 1869–1873) selected Bicknell to be the Commissioner of Public Schools in 1869. As commissioner, he focused on re-establishing the Normal School (now Rhode Island College). He was a gifted speaker and fundraiser who would triple the amount of money spent on public education; he also established a Rhode Island State Board of Education, oversaw the selection of school superintendents in every town and city in the state, dedicated over 50 new schoolhouses, and increased the school year from 27 to 35 weeks.Civil rights reformer
In the 1850s, Bicknell signed on to help settle the State of " Free Kansas" to prevent the spread of slavery. On the way to Kansas, he was taken hostage by bandits on the Missouri River, but after two weeks as a prisoner, sharpshooters set him adrift. Bicknell was an equalist, a racial and sexual reformer, and an early advocate for ending Black segregation in schools; he also helped elect the United States' first all-female school board for the town of Tiverton, Rhode Island.Heritage and legacy
Bicknell joined the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in 1896 and was the founder of the National Society of the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims andWritings
Bicknell was an author, editor, and publisher of the ''New England Journal of Education'' (Boston, 1875–1880). He was the author of the six-volume ''History of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations'', the author-publisher of ''The Governors of Rhode Island'', ''The Dorr War'', ''The Story of the Rhode Island Normal School'', and ''Story of Dr. John Clarke'', and the editor-publisher of ''History and Genealogy of the Bicknell Family and Collateral Lines''. As a historian he also contributed to ''The Bay State Monthly'' magazine.References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bicknell, Thomas W. American educators American biographers American male biographers American Library Association people 1834 births 1925 deaths Brown University alumni People from Barrington, Rhode Island American historians Thetford Academy, Vermont alumni