USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > History of the town of Pittsfield, in Berkshire County, Mass., with a map of the county > Part 1
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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 2000
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofp00fiel_0
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A
HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF PITTSFIELD,
IN
BERKSHIRE COUNTY, MASS.
WITH A MAP OF THE COUNTY.
1
BY REV. DAVID D. FIELD. FORMERLY PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN STOCKBRIDGE.
HARTFORD. PRESS OF CASE, TIFFANY AND BURNHAM, Pearl street, corner of Trumbull. 1844.
The substance of the following history was published in a series of num- bers in the Pittsfield Sun, from July, 1834, to March, 1835. These have been wrought into one continuous narrative, and the history is brought down to the present time.
The Map is the same that accompanied the History of the County of Berk- shire, in 1829, in which the writer was concerned as Committee of the Berk- shire Association.
05
HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
1159732
Measures began to be taken, as early as the close of 1734, which, after various delays and embarrassments, re- sulted in the settlement of this charming township. In December of that year, the General Court of Massachu- setts gave leave to Col. John Stoddard, of Northampton, to lay out for himself, his heirs and assigns forever, "one thousand acres of the unappropriated lands of the Province, in the county of Hampshire," then including the four pres- ent western counties in the commonwealth, "in some con- venient place, in consideration of his great services and suf- ferings in and for the public." These services and suffer- ings are spoken of in the Act of the Legislature as consist- ing " in divers journeys to Canada, Albany and the eastern parts, upon the public affairs ; his serving in the war with good success, [the war proclaimed by Massachusetts against the eastern Indians,] his transactions with the Canada In- dians and other western Indians, and his entertaining of them at his house without any expense to the Province." Col. Stoddard was a son of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of North- ampton, and one of the best and ablest men of his time.
He wisely laid out the thousand acres on the eastern branch of the Housatonic in this town. He also purchased, at great expense, several grants and leases from the natives, (the Housatonic or Stockbridge Indians,) of the rest of the lands in this place ; with the intention, doubtless, of prepa- ring the way for a settlement.
In June, 1735, the General Court granted to the town of Boston " three tracts of land, each of the contents of six
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2. Ca
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miles square, to be laid out in some suitable place or places in the unappropriated lands of the commonwealth." This was done in answer to a petition of that town, " setting forth the great charge they were at, for the support of their poor, and their free schools, and that they paid near a fifth part of the Province tax." They were to be laid out, and plans thereof returned to the Court for confirmation, within twelve months. The town of Boston was also, " within five years from the confirmation of the said plans, to settle on each of the said towns, sixty families of his Majesty's good subjects, inhabitants of the Province, in as regular and de- fensible a manner as the lands would admit of, each of said sixty families to build and finish a dwelling house in his home lot, of the following dimensions, viz. : eighteen feet square and seven feet stud, at the least : each of the said settlers, within said term, was to bring to, and fit for improvement, five acres of said home lot, either by plowing, or for mowing, by stocking the same well with English grass, and fence the same well in, and actually live on the spot : they were fur- ther to build and finish a suitable and convenient house for the public worship of God, and settle a learned orthodox min- ister in each of the said towns, and provide for their honora- ble and comfortable support, and also lay out three house lots in each of the said towns, each of which to draw a sixty third part of said town in all future divisions, one to be for the first settled minister, one for the ministry, and one for the school."
The three townships, laid out in conformity with this grant, were Colerain, (called then, No. 1,) Charlemont, (called No. 2,). and Pittsfield, notwithstanding the 1000 acres in it given to Col. Stoddard, and the purchases of grants, and leases which he had made from the Indians. /
The selectmen of Boston, by lawful authority from the inhabitants, March 13, 1737, sold Pittsfield, or rather their right to it, to Col. Jacob Wendell, of Boston, for £1320.
In the month of September, in the following year, Col. Wendell extinguished a claim which Masinamake, alias Solomon, one of the Makehande Indians, made to the lands in Pittsfield, and to lands now included in some adjoining
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places, for the sum of £120. Whether his claim was good or not, after the purchase of grants and leases by Col. Stod- dard, it is gratifying to know that there was no disposition on the part of Col. Wendell to wrong the natives, and that the lands here, and in the vicinity, were fairly and honora- bly obtained. The natives were treated justly and kindly in Berkshire ; and it is due to the memory of the Housaton- ic Indians, (whose descendants have gone towards the set- ting sun,) to say, that by their general friendship and exer- tions, they contributed much to the safety of our fathers.
This claim being extinguished, in December, 1738, a plat of the township was presented to the General Court. Although this was not performed as soon as the act grant- ing these townships conditionally to Boston contemplated, yet the plat " was accepted and allowed, and the lands therein delineated and described were confirmed to the town of Boston and their assigns forever, (exclusive of the 1000 acres grant made to the Hon. John Stoddard, Esq.) and was declared to be in full satisfaction of one of the three town- ships granted to the town of Boston, provided the said town or their assigns should effectually comply with and fulfil the conditions of the grant, and that the plat exceed not the quantity of 24,040 acres of land, and interfere not with any other or former grant."
In the above plat, with a view of preparing the way for meeting some of the conditions of the grant, sixty settling lots containing 100 acres each were laid out in three adjoining tiers, running from west to east, in near the centre of the township, together with three lots of the same size for public uses. The middle tier, containing twenty-seven lots, ran en- tirelythrough the township. It fronted north on the principal western and eastern road, so far as that pursued a straight course. The upper tier, beginning on the west, contained nineteen lots-and the lower, beginning on the east, seven- teen. The public lots embraced a large portion of the grounds now within the village of Pittsfield. The situation of the lot designed for the first minister, and subsequently given to the Rev. Thomas Allen, is well known. The lot for the support
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of the ministry forever lay opposite, on the west side of the north road, and was many years afterwards sold to Col. John Brown and Dr. Timothy Childs. The school lot lay in the middle tier, a little to the southeast of the Allen lot.
For the amicable settlement of their mutual claims and interests in the township, Col. Wendell entered into the fol- lowing agreement with Col. Stoddard, May 29, 1741 :- " In consideration of two third parts of the thousand acres," (which have been repeatedly mentioned,) "and all the right, title, interest and claim which Col. Stoddard had by means of his grants and leases from the natives, or by any other ways or means whatsoever, of and in two thirds of the rest"' of the township, Col. Wendell conveyed to him his other third part of the township " upon the conditions and limita- tions whereon the same was granted to the town of Boston."
By this agreement, the settling lots were fairly brought into market in the summer of 1741. But by this time, there was a strong presumption that France would take part with Spain in the existing war with Great Britain, that the con- troversy would involve the North American Colonies, and that Pittsfield, (if families located themselves in it,) would be exposed to the dangers of a frontier settlement. This presumption was realized in the early part of 1744. The consequence was, that the settlement of the town was de- layed until some time after that war was closed. The Rev. Mr. Allen indeed, the first minister of the town, who had the best means of knowing its history, affirms, " that the first inhabitants came into the town in 1745." By this, however, he probably means no more than that some of those who afterwards became settlers, this year visited the town and purchased lots ; for the writer of this has not been able to find any evidence that clearings were made previous to the summer of 1749. In that year, Nathaniel Fairfield and Timothy Cadwell labored on some lands in the east or southeast part of the township, as David Ashley did, and it is understood Samuel Taylor did in the west part. Others may have labored in the town that year, or in subsequent years; but no settlement was made until 1752.
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ACTUAL SETTLEMENT.
Early in this year, Solomon Deming moved his family into the east part of the town, and settled where George Butler now lives. Mrs. Deming was the first white female that came into the town; and was often left alone through the night by the necessary absence of her husband, when there was not another white inhabitant in the town, and the wilderness was filled with Indians. This year Charles Goodrich settled near where Hosea Merrill Jun. now lives. He drove the first team and cart into the town, cutting his way for a number of miles through the woods. Nathaniel Fairfield also this year settled on the road running east from the house of the late Deacon Daniel Crofoot, and Zebadiah Stiles, on a rise of ground west of the dwelling of the late Dr. Childs. It is understood that Abner and Isaac Dewey, Jacob Ensign, Hezekiah Jones, Samuel Taylor, Elias Wil- lard, and Dea. Josiah Wright, became settlers this year, and that Stephen and Simeon Crofoot, David Bush, and Col. William Williams, became settlers the year following. In the latter year, Solomon Deming, Charles Goodrich, and others, were incorporated by the name of " the Proprietors of the settling lots in the township of Pontoosuck," the Indian name by which Pittsfield was then called-signify- ing a run for deer. This was hunting ground for the Hou- satonic Indians. Their first public meeting under the incorporation was held in September, at which measures were adopted for carrying forward the plantation. A similar meeting was held in August, 1754, during which year, Eli Root Esq., Ephraim Stiles, William Wright, and perhaps others, became inhabitants. This year hostilities commen- ced between France and England, in what is commonly called " the second French war," though it was not formally proclaimed until two years afterwards. In the summer of 1755, some Indians invaded this County, which so alarmed the people, that the inhabitants of Pittsfield and Lenox fled to Stockbridge for protection. On their way a man by the
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name of Stearns, belonging to Canaan, Ct. who had been laboring in Pittsfield, and who had behind him on horseback a young woman, daughter of Sylvanus Piercey, of this town, was shot dead by the enemy, while the young woman es- caped unhurt. Some of the inhabitants returned to Pittsfield the following spring, and dwelt in four fortified houses, erected about this time, or so near to them that they could resort to them in case of danger. Perhaps in that year, or within one or two succeeding years, all returned. Benja- min Keeler is said to have joined them in 1757, and Dan Cadwell in 1758. One of the fortified houses stood where Levi Goodrich now lives, and was then occupied by Col. Williams. Another was the house of Charles Goodrich, near Mr. Merrill's, above mentioned. A third stood on the land now owned by William Fairfield; and the fourth, "about fifty rods south of the west pond, on an eminence that overlooks all that part of the town."
Soldiers were stationed in the town by order of the gov- ernment. But the people were so few or so discouraged, that they held no meetings for advancing the settlement, if we may judge from the silence of the town records, until Sept. 1758. At this time there were about twenty log huts in the town, (whether occupied or not I cannot say) and from this place north, unless there were some clearings about Massa- chusetts Fort, in East Hoosic, now Adams, all was a wilder- ness to Canada, eastward or south-eastward to Westfield, and westward to Kinderhook. In 1759 the war was consid- ered as substantially closed in the colonies by the success of the British arms in Canada, and the prospects of this town began to brighten, though peace was not actually ratified between the French and English until 1763.
The following persons are understood from circumstances to have moved into the town this year, namely : Samuel Birchard, Daniel Hubbard, Daniel and Jesse Sacket, and Jonathan Taylor. I say are understood from circumstances to have moved in this year ; for there is no inconsiderable difficulty in finding exactly at this time, at what period the early settlers planted themselves here.
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In September of this year, (1759) Jacob Wendell and others, in their own names, or by their representatives, be- sought the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth, for a committee to make division of all the lands in the township to them, with the exception of the settling and public lots, according to their respective rights. The petition was granted, and a committee appointed, consisting of John Ashley, Esq., Capt. Ebenezer Hitchcock, Nathaniel Dwight, (the Surveyor,) John Chadwick, and Lieut. Daniel Brown. The lands were surveyed the same autumn, and laid out in squares, containing generally from 230 to 290 acres. These were put into three classes, according to their quality, and assigned to the proprietors in 1760. At this time Col. Wendell owned about one quarter of the township, the heirs of Col. Stoddard nearly as much, Moses Green and Charles Goodrich owned about 1000 acres each. A few others owned smaller quantities. This year David and Oliver Ashey, William Francis, and Gideon Gunn, are understood to have become settlers. Joshua Robbins and Ezekiel Root became inhabitants before the incorporation of the town, which took place early in 1761, and was named Pittsfield, in honor of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. This distin- guished statesman and orator having been introduced into the British ministry, had imparted new vigor to the British arms against the French, in America, and had become very popular in the colonies. During the year last mentioned, Gideon Goodrich, James Lord, Charles Miller, Thomas Morgan, Daniel and David Noble, William Phelps, and John Remington, are understood to have become inhab- itants.
In 1762, 3, and 4, the following persons are understood to have settled here, namely : Phinehas Belden, Solomon Crosby, Israel Dickinson, Elisha Jones, Jno. Morse, David Roberts, Aaron Stiles, Israel Stoddard, John and Caleb Wadhams, Aaron and Phinehas Baker, William Brattle, Col. James Easton, Benjamin and Josiah Goodrich, Moses Miller, Joseph Phelps, Amos Root, John Williams, Rev. Thomas Allen, Jas. D. Colt, Ezra and King Strong. Dr. -
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Colton, Rufus Allen, John Strong, and a number of others, probably became inhabitants during these years. Not long after, Joseph Allen, David Bagg, Lieut. Moses Graves, Woodbridge Little, Esq., Col. Oliver Root, Ebenezer White, and many others, settled in town.
Most of the inhabitants who have been mentioned, settled on the house lots, some on the squares. On the road running west from the centre were Zebediah and Ephraim Stiles, Ezia Strong, Charles Miller, David Roberts, David Ashley, Amos and Oliver Root, and others by the name of Wright, Robbins, Belden, Hubbard, Francis and Wadhams ; east were Rev. Mr. Allen, John Strong. Dr. Colton, the Crofoots, and Jacob Ensign ; and further on to the northeast Josiah and Charles Goodrich, Israel Stoddard, Israel Dick- inson, and Col. William Williams ; south were Col. Easton, Sylvanus Piersey, Ezekiel Root, Daniel Miller, (where Mr. William Hollister now lives) James Lord and Elisha Jones. Rufus Allen kept a public house on the corner now occupied by William B. Cooley, and further north towards Lanesboro', were Joseph Allen, and the families by the name of Baker and Keeler. On the road eastward of Daniel Weller's, or near it, were the Fairfields, David Bush, Eli Root, Esq., Hezekiah Jones, William Brattle, and Solomon Deming. Col. Williams early moved on to this road from the spot where Levi Goodrich now lives, and where Lieut. Graves settled after him. Charles Goodrich, Esq. left the farm on which he first lived, and settled near him.
A large portion of the early settlers were from Westfield, all by the name of Ashley, Bagg, Bush, Cad- well, Dewey, Francis, Hubbard, Noble, Piersey, Sackett, Stiles, Taylor and Weller. Hezekiah Jones was also from -
this town. Those of the name of Brattle, Deming, Goodrich, Gunn, Lord, Robbins and Willard, were from Wethersfield, Ct. The Allens, Bakers, Fairfields, Phelpses, Stoddards, Strongs and Wrights, were from Northampton; and the Crofoots from Belchertown. Col. Williams and Elisha Jones were from Weston ; Lieut. Graves and Israel Dick- inson were from Hatfield. Thomas Morgan was from
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Springfield, and John. Remington from West Springfield. Ebenezer White was from Hadley. David Roberts was from Hartford, and Jacob Ensign from West Hartford, Ct. Col. Easton was immediately from Litchfield, previously from Hartford. Joseph Keeler was from Ridgefield, Wood- bridge Little, Esq. from Lebanon, and James D. Colt from Lyme in the same State.
Valentine Rathbun, from Stonington, Ct, settled in this town about 1770. Dr. Timothy Childs, from Deerfield, in 1771, and Stephen Fowler and Josiah Mosely, from West- field, about 1772. Col. John Brown, from Sandisfield, settled here in 1773. In 1775, Gad Merrill, from Hebron, Ct. settled to the north of the east branch of the Housatonic, near Dalton line; and in the spring of 1780, William and John Partridge settled a little west of him.
Besides these inhabitants, a considerable number settled early in this town, as others did at later periods. But from those named, a large portion of the present inhabitants have descended, and many hundreds who have emigrated to other parts of the country. There were probably as many as sixty families here in 1761, when the town was incorpora- ted. Allowing six persons to a family, there must have been a population of 360 souls. In 1772, the number of families was 138, which contained 828 souls, according to the same principle of calculation. The population, accord- ing to the census in 1791, was 1992 souls; in 1800, 2261 ; in 1810, 2665; in 1820, 2768; in 1830, 3570 ; and in 1840, 4060. The population has very much increased since, and probably amounts now to 4500.
The emigrations from this town have been very numer- ous, though most of the first and earlier settlers lived and died here. A few of these returned back to the places from whence they came, moved to neighboring towns, or went to other States. Of the second and third generations, many have helped to people parts of Vermont, New York, Ohio, Michigan, and other places in the country. It would be interesting, were there facts on hand sufficient for doing it, to give the names of those who have emigrated, to state the
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times of their departure, and the towns where they settled. This can now be done only in a small number of instances, comparatively speaking. Sylvanus Piersey moved back to Westfield, and James Lord, to Wethersfield or Glastenbury, Ct. Jno. Morse moved first to Washington, and then to Pittsford, N. Y. Solomon Crosby moved to Genoa, in that State. Joseph Wright and sons early moved to Vermont ; some by the name of Dewey, moved first to Washington, and then to Vermont. About 1790, Dea. Joseph Clark, Phinehas Belden, Charles Miller and sons, and Solomon and Wait Martin, moved to Benson ; some, it is understood, by the name of Goodrich, to Pittsfield, in the same State. Others by the name of Ashley, Bliss and Stiles, moved to that State likewise. Thomas Morgan moved to the town of Salem, and Elder Rathbun, and John Remington, 2d, to Oneida Co. N. Y. The family of Joshua Narramore, and some by the name of Graves, Jones and Fowler, have moved to New York. Some by the name of Ashley have gone to Ohio, and by the name of Larned, to Michigan. Many others have probably gone to these as well as to other States and Territories.
OCCUPATION OF THE INHABITANTS.
The early settlers, as might be supposed, from their planting themselves down in different parts of the township, were very generally farmers. They were enterprising young men, who had been trained up to this employment in the favored towns from which they emigrated, then almost de- voted exclusively to agriculture. They purchased lots of sufficient extent to render them highly respectable as farm- ers, and to lay a foundation for the education and happiness of their families. They could hardly have made a better selection of land.
Though surrounded by mountains, and though points from Richmond and Washington mountains project into it short distances, this township is far more level than town- ships generally in Berkshire, and more generally capable of cultivation. It occupies the widest expansion of the
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Housatonic valley in the county. There is little waste land : the alluvial land on the branches of the Housatonic corres- ponds in richness with that which is found elsewhere on this river, and is very productive. Some of it is enriched by the overflowing of the streams. The soil of the upland is gen- erally of a superior quality, consisting of loam with an inter- mixture of sand and gravel, and is adapted to all that varie- ty of crops cultivated in this section of country. Sand pre- vails most in the southern and eastern parts, and gravel in the northern and western : in the west, too, there is some hard-pan.
The township is also remarkably well watered. The eastern branch of the Housatonic river, rising in mountain towns eastward, passing through Dalton, enters this town near its northeast corner, where it takes a southwesterly di- rection till it comes within about a half of a mile of the vil- lage of Pittsfield, where it turns southward.
The western branch rises in New Ashford and passes through Lanesborough and Lanesborough pond, which ex- tends into this town, and in which the stream is increased by subjacent springs. The outlet, here commonly called the Pontoosuc river, runs nearly south, passing the village about half a mile to the west, receiving on its way, a stream from the West Pond and Shaker Brook. About three fourths of a mile from the village, after the reception of the latter tributary, it runs eastward and unites with the eastern branch, whence the Housatonic flows onward into Lenox, augmented further before it enters that town by a considerable brook rising in Washington.
The importance of these branches, with some of their tributaries, for mills and factories, will be noticed hereafter. Suffice it to say here, that these waters, with the connected factories, buildings and settlements greatly diversify and beautify the scenery. The town strikes the eye with pecu- liar pleasure, as it is entered from all the neighboring places.
Formerly wheat and rye were raised here in great abun- dance ; large quantities of which were carried to the mar- ket towns on the Hudson river. Merchants were in the
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habit of exchanging beef, pork, butter and cheese for goods in New York. Wheat is not now much cultivated; flour being brought in from the West, and as to the other articles which are raised, and raised abundantly, a market is found for them at home. All the common crops cultivated in the county are cultivated in this place. The grounds and buil- dings, in most instances, bear marks of thrift and enjoyment, though it must be confessed that a few exhibit no small ap- pearance of neglect and decay. The Berkshire Agricultu- ral Society, whose annual meetings, cattle show and fair have been uniformly held here, drawing together a large assembly from this and neighboring towns, has contributed much to excite a spirit of inquiry, emulation and enterprise among many of the cultivators of the soil.
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