Christopher Lippitt Christopher Lippitt ( 1744 – 1824 ) was a prominent Revolutionary War officer and founder one of the earliest textile mill s in Rhode Island . Early life . Lippitt was the fourth child of Christopher Lippitt ( 1712 – 1764 ) and Catherine ( Holden ) Lippitt and the oldest surviving son at the time of his father ' s death in 1764 . Since 1715 the Lippitt family had owned Lippitt Hill in the Hope neighborhood in the southwestern part of Cranston , Rhode Island . Lippitt was first elected to General Assembly at age 21 and continued serving until Revolution . At age 22 made captain of militia and Justice of the Peace . Lippitt owned a sawmill and a farm and was recorded as having six slaves in the 1774 census and two slaves in 1790 census . Service in Revolution . At the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775 , Lippitt was chosen Lieutenant Colonel of the Rhode Island regiment and of the minutemen , which defended Prudence Island from British warships . In 1776 , his regiment joined the Continental Army on George Washington ' s orders and went to Harlem Heights , New York . Lippitt commanded a regiment at the Battle of Princeton , Battle of White Plains and Battle of Trenton . He was eventually brevetted a brigadier general of the Continental Army by General Washington for his actions on the battlefield . He spent the winter at Morristown and returned to Rhode Island in the spring when the regiment ' s tour of duty expired . Upon returning to Rhode Island , Lippitt was promoted to the rank of brigadier general of Rhode Island militia in 1780 , and commanded a brigade when the French troops occupied Newport . He served as a general until 1783 . After the Revolution . After the Revolution Christopher Lippitt returned to farming for a period and was elected to the Rhode Island General Assembly and was appointed justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court . In the 1780s , Lippitt was dismissed from political office by voters for supporting adoption of the U . S . Constitution which was unpopular in Rhode Island at the time . Christopher Lippitt was an active Christian and was a member of the local Methodist congregation . Lippit was raised by his mother as an Episcopalian . He was introduced to the Methodists by his brother Charles , while serving in New York during the Revolutionary War . In 1791 Christopher Lippitt invited Jesse Lee , a prominent Methodist evangelist , to preach and teach a class at his house . Lippit ' s wife and daughter became Methodists at this time . In 1800 Lippitt built a small meeting house on his farm to serve as a Methodist chapel . Prior to this he had offered his home for use by itinerant Methodist preachers . Later in life Lippitt joined the Peace Society . In 1805 , Lippitt built the house still known today as Lippitt Hill Farm in Cranston . In 1809 , Christopher and his younger brother , Charles Lippitt , along with Benjamin Aborn , George Jackson , Amasa Mason , and William Mason organized a cotton mill under the name the Lippitt Manufacturing Company . The company grew throughout the 19th century becoming a large profitable enterprise in which several generations of the family were involved . The original Lippitt Mill building still stands in Lippitt Village in what is now West Warwick . Family . Christopher married Waity ( or Waite ) Harris ( 1755 – 1836 ) in 1777 , and had the following children :