USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Lanesborough > History of town of Lanesborough, Massachusetts, 1741-1905 > Part 1
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GC 974.402 L24p v.1 1214157
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01068 1242
E
22.50
HISTORY
OF TOWN OF
LANESBOROUGH,
MASSACHUSETTS
1741-1905.
PART 1
BY CHARLES J. PALMER.
PREFACE.
1214157
In response to requests at time of its recent Old Ilome Week Celebration the following sketch of the History of the Town of Lanesborough has been prepared.
To avoid delaying what is now ready till all the fragments can be gathered together, the first one hundred and fifty pages are now issned.
Part Second will probably appear in the course of the win- ter, and will include the remainder of the Cemetery inscriptions, a small portion of which appear in this volume, also History of the Churches, and sketches of distinguished residents such as Henry Shaw, Josh Billings, Governor Briggs and others, accounts of early Masonry in Lanesboro, some unpublished writings of Josh Billings, an account of the Old Home Week Celebration of 1902, and a large number of extracts from old newspapers referring to the town
Mention should be made of the indebtedness of the author to Rev. A. B. Whipple for his valuable paper on Balance Rock, and to W. H. Phillips for permission to use portions of the Berkshire Hills Monthly referring to Lanesborough.
It was thought that accounts of the Towns in England and Ireland associated with origin of this town would be of inter- est, inasmuch as we are thus brought in touch with the fami- lies standing next to royalty and with some of the noblest names in the annals of English speaking peoples.
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Village Street, showing St. Luke's Parish House and residence of H. M. Owen.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
ACCOUNT OF ORIGIN OF NAME OF TOWN.
Historical address delivered at Old Home Week Celebration.
Appendix I. Account of Balance Rock.
Appendix II. History of Lanesboro Family.
Appendix III. Sketch of Framingham from which Lanes- borough was seated.
Appendix IV. Sketch of Leading Families of Framing- ham, England, now united in Duke of Norfolk.
Appendix V. Sermon of Elder Leland at opening of Bap- tist Church February 10, 1829.
Appendix VI. Old time Musters.
Appendix VII. Extracts from old newspapers and records relating to early history.
Appendix VIII. Vital Statistics.
Appendix IX. Names of Revolutionary Soldiers.
Appendix X. Miscellaneous stories from various sources.
Appendix XI. The Town in the Civil War.
Appendix XII. Inscriptions in the Various Cemeteries.
ERRATA.
Page 99, line 17, for Clockton, read Clothier and line 15 for Donghton read Douglas.
Page 120, line 15, for Norman read Naaman.
It is requested that any other misprints may be communi- cated to the author. It must be remembered however that it has been intended to give exact copies of records as they stand in the original sources, in which some primitive specimens of spelling are to be found.
ACCOUNT OF ORIGIN OF PRESENT NAME OF TOWN.
This town was so named from the countess of Lanesborough, Ireland, who was a court favorite and a friend of the governor of Massachusetts.
This title was originally derived from the Lane family, who were members of the peerage, but who became extinct. The title was revived in 1428 and conferred upon Brindsley Butler, colonel of the Battle-ax guards in Ireland. As he had 23 child- ren, it is needless to say that the title has not run out in his family and is now held by John Vansittart-Danvers Butler, who was born April 18, 1839. The Butler family came from France, the original form of the name being Boutellier or Bottler, the fam- ily being cup-bearers to the king. They first appear among the titled gentry of Ireland in about 1600, but may be easily traced in England to about 1350. As the genealogy of the Lane and Butler families is of some interest, it will be given in full in Appendix 2.
It is of interest to notice that the Lane family were ardent friends of the American cause and endeavored to get Ireland to rebel at the time of the American revolution on which attitude, Mr. Fronde, in his history of Ireland, comments. The town of Lanesboro, Ireland, is in Roscommon county, population 280, noted for its iron ore beds and coal mines. The iron mines were opened at a cost of $400,000, but are not now worked. The coal mines are not worked on account of the frequency of bogs. The town lies on the celebrated river Shannon, said to be the largest in the world in proportion to the country it drains.
EPHRAIM BRADLEY.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS
DELIVERED AT OLD HOME WEEK CELEBRA- TION, JULY 27, 1902.
The first question to be asked respecting any town is, Where did it come from? What was its origin? What kind of peo- ple were its founders? For, as we well know, each town that has any real influence or counts for anything, has a distinct individuality which was impressed upon it at the very start. This common, corporate life of the town is something which has an assimilating power upon all who subsequently come into the town. All, more or less, enter into and unconsciously ab- sorb that life and become partakers of it. In inquiring as to the origin of this town, we find that the first settlers came from the general region of Framingham and Natick. Now, what was there peculiarly striking about these towns?
The fact at once arrests our attention that when Mrs. Stowe wished to write her great novel on New England life during the last Century, she selected as best exhibiting the most typi- cal form of that life, this very region of Framingham and Na- tick. In all New England there was nothing Ingher and better to be found.
Forth from this favored region certain of the most enterpris- ing and ambitions impelled by that law, as old as creation. of moving westward) determined to go forth to seek for a new site to found a new life and a new centre of influence.
We may imagine the first explorers sent ahead to find the place of the most ideal environment. journeying onwarl in
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their search till coming to this part of the state recently opened to white settlers by the missionary work among the Stockbridge Indians. We may picture them after viewing many localities coming at last to the ridge that so divided the waters that they flow north and south and west, toward the St. Lawrence, the Hudson. and Long Island Sound. And as they stood on that ridge exactly midway between Springfield and Albany they would exclaim. "Here is a natural centre of diffusive influence." As they ascended the surrounding hills and perceived that their eyes might rest at will on any one of four states, immigration from all of which might be expected. they would exclaim, "Here is a natural centre of receptive influence. Here we may expect in after years to arise a life not narrow in range, limited to any one source of inspiration, but like the Garden of Eden watered by the influence of a fourfold stream, and hence likely to be harmoniously developed and symmetrical." For even in those days prophetic intimations of the special form of the life of each of these four commonwealths were already visible. Even then Massachusetts was the home of the cultured and refined, the men of high ideals, broad in faith and lofty in vis- ion. prophesying that she would be the home of schools and e lleges. philanthropists and reformers. Even then Connecti- eut was the land of steady habits, of conservative instincts. of plodding industry, prophetic of her after life as the coming home of toiling mechanics, and the seat of staid. sober, quiet. unchanging villages. Already Vermont was the home of the best type of farmers, whose sturdy manhood should even as untrained militia defeat the best troops of Europe at Benning- ton, and come forth as victors of one of the decisive battles of the world. And such has she been ever since. And even then New York was the receiver taking on her cosmopolitan char- acter and becoming in the power and wealth of her varied life, the Empire Stat . From all these different sources our first explorers may have foreseen that settlers would come and form in their amalgamation that perfected life which comes alone from the combination of the most diverse elements.
As they stored upon this ridge and beheld these towering
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hills and beautiful valleys they may have seen one thing more, and that was, that here was the combination in one scene of both the sublime and the beautiful. And seeing this they may have said, "Here is the perfection of surrounding environment. here are the wild mountains in their sublime magnificence, cal- culated to develop manly and sturdy qualities, to make brave, martial, courageous men, inured to toil and thoughts and ima- ges of grandeur, and on the other hand here are the hillside slopes with their gorgeous beauty, calculated to polish and refine this strength with the graces that beautify and adorn. Here may be expected to arise that union of both the masculine and feminine graces, from which alone rare and typical characters proceed."
Such reflections we may well believe passed through the minds of our explorers as they first gazed upon these scenes and decided to make them their future home. Was their sa- gacity justified by the result? The story we are about to relate may help us give an answer.
A petition to the General Court was signed in 1242 by 26 inhabitants of Framingham for a grant of wilderness land up m the Housatonic river just north of an Indian town. This peti- tion was granted January 8, 1742, and the petitioners were directed to survey six square miles, have it divided into 29 lots. one for each petitioner, one for the first settled minister, one for the support of the ministry and one for the support of pub- lic schools. This grant was conditional on there being within three years at least 60 families settled with a house on each lot of at least 18 feet square, and a portion of the land fenced and plowed; that there be also a convenient meeting-house and that a learned and orthodox minister be settled; the proprietors were required to give bonds that these things be done. This was at once done and the plots of numbered lots as entered in the town records October 19, 1:42, can be readily analyzed,and the resi- · dence of each proprietor determined. Owing to numerous In- dian forays growing ont of King George's war it was not easy to clear the land and form a settled community. The first pion- cers were twice driven out by Indians, and even after settler-
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grew more numerous it was thought wise to ereet two forts with- in which the women and children might be placed while the men were engaged in labor at a distance. Settlers began to ar- rive from Connecticut in 1253, the first being Nathaniel Will- cocks, who settled on the lot just north of St. Luke's church, and subsequently lost it to the Bradley family by the since familiar process of endorsing notes.
Other families began to ascend the Housatonic valley from Connecticut. (then called "Down Country"), especially from Stamford. Newtown. New Milford and Salisbury; the Bradleys, Meades. Shermans. Woods and Newtons being among the num- ber. It is worth noting that it was about the same time, 1761, that quite a number of towns in the county were settled, the fact probably being that about that time all fear of trouble from hostile Indians was permanently dissipated. That the neigh- boring population. however, was not large is evidenced by the fact that the survey of the town described it as bounded on the south by an Indian town and on the north, east, and west by wilderness. It adds to our respect for our first settlers to find that while things were still in this primitive condition, one of the first things done was to appoint a committee to secure a preacher of the gospel. This committee was composed of two Congregationalists and one Episcopalian, which fairly represent- ed the relative proportion between the two denominations. An unusual degree of harmony seems to have exixsted between the two denominations, and an effort was made to secure a minis- ter agreeable to both. Rev. Daniel Collins was settled as the town minister in December. 1263. which office he held for the period of 58 years. Mr. Collins was one of the old continental gentry who always dressed with quene and knee-buckles, and whose manner was that of the courtly aristocrat. He always exacted the conventional marks of respect from those he met, and would enter formal complaints against children who omit- ted them. Ilis whole manner was one calculated to kindle pro- . found reverence from others, and children seeing him at a dis- tance would sometimes hide behind the stone wall till he had passed by. His long ministry in this place, as well as the fact
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that though a strong Tory all through the Revolution, he was never troubled in his position, combine to show that to an un- common degree he possessed the confidence and esteem of all. In one respect, however. he did not succeed in giving universal satisfaction. Although from Connecticut he had no trace of Episcopacy about him, and before long the Episcopalian ele- ment began to grow restive and sought to have services of their own. In October, 1764, the Rev. Samuel Andrews of Walling- ford. Conn .. came to this town, then recently settled. He found a number of church families ill at ease in their religious sur- roundings and anxious for the services of their own communion. He held services in the house of William Bradley,
and baptized a number of children. From that day to this services have been continued. At first a school house opposite the Baker tavern was used, afterwards a brick building just south of the present rectory. In 1185 a church was erected on the same spot where the present one stands. only facing southwards. This building was of wood, had a gallery on three sides and a seating capacity of 300. The stone which formed the entrance to the old church serves the same purpose in the present one. The land on which the church stood was donated by William Bradley, the lot being subsequently en- larged by gifts from William Bradley and Laban Lasell. In 1710 a call was extended to the Rev. Gideon Bostwick to take the pastoral oversight over the parish in connection with his work at Great Barrington and other places. This call he ac- cepted and officiated one Sunday a month for 23 years. Mr. Bostwick was born in New Milford, Conn., in 1742, and was brought up as a Congregationalist. While at Yale college he became interested in the Episcopal church and soon transferred his allegiance. Going to Great Barrington to act as school teacher he was induced to assist in the services of St. James' church as lay-reader. From this the transfer to becoming a minister of the church and rector of the parish was a matter of a very short time. He was of course obliged to go to England for ordination, a matter which in those days occupied no little time and was attended with no little danger. but he safely
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passed through all and returned to be for a quarter of a century the mainstay of all the church work of Berkshire county.
Throughout the Revolutionary war Mr. Bostwick's sympa- thies were understood to be Tory; but as he was universally re- spected and refrained from overt acts of hostility to the Colon- ial cause. he was not disturbed by the authorities, despite the tension of publie sentiment at the time. He, however, availed himself of the offer of the British government to assist the Church of England clergymen in America, and sent five chil- dren to Canada who were maintained by the English. The chil- dren all grew up and became well-to-do and prominent: one of them becoming a colonel in the British army, in which capacity he served in the war of 1812.
Mr. Bostwick was widely known for the solemnity and rever- ence with which he rendered theChurch service: but this solem- nity was the product of no artificial sanctimoniousness, for he was noted for his good cheer and wit in private conversation. He was also noted for accurate scholarship, and that too in a day when among Episcopal clergy it required a considerable degree of attainment to excite remark; the candidates for orders being thoroughly drilled by private teachers educated in England. in all the minutiae of classical scholarship; it being no uncommon thing for candidates for orders to be asked to defend the posi- tions they assumed by arguments in the Latin language. and also to be asked to translate at sight from Greek into Latin. It was during Mr. Bostwick's rectorship that the church in the United States passed from a mere dependency of the Church of England into being a free and independent national church. 1 short time after his entrance upon a new era St. Luke's parish was also called upon to make a change. Mr. Bostwick suddenly died. and his recently appointed assistant. Mr. Burhans, be- came his successor. Daniel Burhans was of Dutch antecedents. Ilis father was poor, his mother sickly and burdened with a large family. He had no cther opportunities of learning be- vind what was possible in three or four months of attendance on the district school each year :- surely not a very cheerful outlook for one desirous of gaining an education. But so zeal-
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ous was he that his teachers became interested in his progress. and one of them promised that if he could be fitted for col- lege, he might look for assistance in undertaking a college course. Young Burhans eagerly set himself to work and at last was ready. As the commencement of the college year grew near he journeyed some 20 miles to his old teacher's house to see about the promised assistance. What was his disappointment at finding his benefactor at the point of death and all possibility of assistance from this quarter at an end. Thus foiled of his in- tended purpose he cast about for some other form of intellect- ual activity, and being offered the principalship of the Academy in the north part of Lanesborough he accepted and took up his residence in this town. his house being a little north of that now occupied by Henry Newton.
While he was engaged in teaching at this place the town was visited by one of the old- time New England revivais. Mr. Bur- hans, who had always been under Congregationalist influences. was somewhat repelled by some features of this revival, and while exercised in mind over his growing divergency from the religious teaching of those with whom he was associated, a friend placed in his hands a copy of the 39 articles of the Church of England; on reading of these he was struck with their corres- pondence with the views he had independently formed. He soon changed his church relations, and on Mr. Bostwick's solici- tation was ordained deacon in order that he might assist in the services of the church, especially in the rector's frequently pro- longed absences. Although this was done with no thought of discontinuing teaching. Providence who had larger things in view for Mr. Burhans. ordered otherwise, and on Mr. Bostwick's unexpected death soon afterwards. Mr. Burhans was constrained to take full charge of the parish and eventually abandoned his school.
Mr. Burhans remained in Lanesborough for about six years more, and then removed to Newtown, Conn., where he remained during his active ministry. He was a man of large. command- ing appearance. ruddy face, quick nervous movements, and
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never allowed the natural conservatism of old age in any way to check his sympathies with constant progress.
He lived to the ripe age of 91, being married five times. He was prominent in many church movements, being associated with the organization of the General Theological Seminary and with the first beginnings of the church in Pittsfield.
During his rectorship Massachusetts was formed into a dio- cose, and Bishop Bass commenced the exercise of the Episco- pate. At the first convention, despite the difficulty of travel- ing long distances. St. Luke's church was represented by Daniel Burhans and Stoddard Williams.
Previous to this. Berkshire County was connected with the Diocese of Connecticut, and in fact it was not for some consid- erable time that a bishop of Massachusetts visited this portion of the State.
For about a year after Mr. Burhans' removal the Rev. Gama- liel Thatcher officiated here in connection with other charges.
In 1803 the Rev. Amos Pardee was settled in Lanesborough, where he remained 16 years. In after years he acted as mission- ary in New York State, dying in 1849. During his rectorship the present rectory was built, William, Joel, and Ephraim Brad- ley being the principal donors. In 1809 the lot of land con- nected with the rectory was enlarged to the present dimensions by the gift of William Bradley. There was a former rectory standing near the present horse-sheds on the south side of the church: what is left of this now is a woodshed connected with the tenant house of C. T. Farnum.
It was during Mr. Pardee's rectorship that the first visit of a bishop was made to Berkshire County; Bishop Griswold having just entered upon his duties. The story as told by Dr. Stone, then a child in Southern Berkshire, may be of interest. "I well remember the visit which, in five weeks after his consecration, Bishop Griswold paid to the churches in the Housatonic valley. to Lanesborough, Lenox, and Great Barrington. It was the first time they ever had received a bishop and was therefore re- garded as a most signal event. He came on the fourth of July, 1×11. and amid the ringing of bells, the firing of cannon and the
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huzzas of those shouting for the liberties of their country, 128 persons knelt down at the chancel rail of the little church in Great Barrington before the first bishop who had ever spoken within their walls, and received the hand of blessing. And as they did so they all felt that he was a man whose thoughts were much in heaven; all realized that there was in his presence a something spiritual not found in other men. And many found that with him came the prayer that availeth much and the anointing of that Holy One who teacheth to know all things profitable to salvation."
The manner of conducting services at this period and the method of pastoral visiting were quite common in both the larger cities and smaller country towns. The surplice was not used at all. (In this parish not till within 50 years.) The reading of the commandmants. epistle, and gospel on occasions when there was no communion was very rare. As to the method of visiting,I quote from a pastoral letter of one of the leading bish- ops of Mr. Pardee's time. Speaking of the necessity of knowing the people well, he says to the minister: "Start early in the morning with your horse to visit the people. Breakfast with one family. and then spend an hour in religious conversation. dine with another and spend an hour in conversation; take tea with a third and follow it in the same manner; pursue this course daily till you have made a complete round of your parish; then devote a few weeks to study and then resume the same mode of visiting again."
In 1820 the Rev. Aaron Humphrey was called to the rector- ship, which he held for ten years. Mr. Humphrey subsequently resided in the west and died in Beloit, Wis., in 1858. During this period the church was legally incorporated, the date being Feb. 23. 1823, and on the following Easter Monday, March 31. the parish was legally organized: the wardens elected being Peter B. Curtis and William Bradley. In 1827 the church was repaired at a cost of $350, the money being raised by taxes on the pews.
In 1821 a subscription paper was started for the establi-li- ment of a fund, the interest of which should be used to defray
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the expense of maintaining public worship. Ephraim Bradley. Laban Lasell. and Nehemiah Talcott were the largest contribu- tors to this fund, which now amounts to nearly $11,000. The communion-set now used by the parish was donated about this time by Bishop Griswold and Dr. Stone, whose account of the Bishop's first visit we quoted from above. During this rector- ship a Parish Missionary society was established, and (largely through the labors of a member of this parish) similar societies were established in most of the parishes of the state. A church was also planted in the town of Ashfield by the labors of Mr. Humphrey. From 1820-21 the parish was supplied by Dr. Chapman, who officiated half of the time in Pittsfield.
In 1831 perhaps the most important single event in the his- tory of the parish transpired. I refer of course to the invita- tion extended to the Rev. S. B. Shaw of Guilford, Vt., to settle as rector. Mr. Shaw's letter of acceptance may be of interest. Omitting a few sentences relating to matters of temporary inter- est only. it is as follows: "I have now officiated for you on several occasions and visited the greater portion of your parish: whether my visits have been acceptable I cannot tell, or whether I should be able to advance the interests of your church is known only to Ilim whose agents we are. For my own part, however, al- though I find your condition less prosperous than I hoped to find it. and although in coming I shall be compelled to make many sacrifices, to part with faithful and long tried friends, and to enter upon a field of labor which will require the most un- tiring industry and patience. nevertheless. I have thought proper to accept of your invitation upon the performance on your part of the following conditions: (After speaking about vacations and revisiting his old parish at Guilford occasionally until a new rector should be settled). he goes on to say. "Third. I shall ex- peet that your parsonage house will be sufficiently enlarged and improved to make it a pleasant. convenient, and comfortable residence for a large and respectable family, which is not now the case: that a convenient woodshed and carriage-house be at- tached to it, and that the whole concern, including fences, be put in good repair and kept ... Fourth. I shall expect to re-
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