USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Berkshire County. Its past history and achievements > Part 3
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favor of the establishment of civil gov- ernment in Canada, and censuring Lord Northington's neglect of cabinet business, but was defeated by 73 to 61. On May 18, 1770, his eighteen concil- latory resolutions relating to the dis- orders of America were met by a mo- tion for adjournment, which was car- ried by a majority of 34 votes. He constantly denounced the ministerial policy with reference to the American colonies and during the debate on the second reading of the American Pro- hibitory bill in December, 1775, declar- ed that the resistance of the colonists was "neither treason or rebellion, but is perfectly justifiable in every possi- ble, political and moral sense. In Au- gust, 1776, Richmond went to Paris in order to register his peerage of Anbig- ny in the French parliament, a formal- ity which had never been gone through with. It was during the memorable debate upon Richmond's motion for the withdrawal of the troops in Amer- ica, April 7, 1778, that Chatham was seized with his fatal illness when at- tempting to reply to Richmond's sec- ond speech. In May, 1779, he support- ed the Marquis of Rochingham's mo- tion for the removal of the cause of Irish discontent by a redress of grievances, and in reference to an illu- sion to a union of the two countries, declared that, "he was for a union, but not a' union of legislature, but a union of hearts, hands, of affections and interests."
In June, 1779, Richmond received a well-merited rebuke from Lord Thur- low, whom he had taunted with the lowness of his birth, and who in reply reminded the duke that he owed his seat in the House of Lords, "being the accident of an accident." On June 2, 1780, Richmond, who had previously joined the Westminster committee of correspondence, attempted to bring forward his reform bill, but was in- terrupted by the confusion which pre. vailed in the house owing to the pres- ence of the mob in Old Palace Yard. On the following day he explained the purport of his bill, the reading of which alone is said to have occupied an hour and a half. The three main
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features of the proposal were annual
parliaments, manhood suffrage and electoral districts. It was rejected
without any division and practically without discussion. In consequence of some expressions of speech, with which he introduced his motion for an inquiry into the execution of Colonel Isaac Hayne on Feb. 4, 1782, he became involved in a quarrel with Lord Raw- don but afterwards apologized. At a
meeting held at Richmond's house early in May, 1782, a resolution pro- posed by Sheridan requesting Pitt to bring forward a motion on Parliament- ary reform in the House of Commons was carried. The committee was never appointed, for which Richmond wished to be appointed upon the parliament- ary reform during the session, remind- ing Rockingham that it "was my bar- gain," for Rockingham died on July, 1782. Upon his death Richmond ex- pected to be named as his successor in the leadership of the party. His nephew tried in vain to pacify him by pointing out that they "were both out of the question owing to the decided part we have taken in parliamentary reform." In March, 1787 an arcrimoni- ous discussion took place between Richmond and Marquis of Lansdowne during the debate upon the treaty of commerce with France, which put an end to their friendship and nearly end- ed in a duel. He spoke for the last time in the House of Lords on June 25, 1804, during the debate on the second reading of the Additional Force bill, which he condemned as a feeble and inadequate measure. He died at Good- wood, Sussex, on December 29, 1806, in the 72d year of his age and was buried in Chichester Castle, his body having been first opened and filled with slack lime, according to his direc- tions . Richmond was a remarkably handsome man, with a dignified bearing and graceful and courteous manner. As a politician he was hasty and am- bitious. Though an indifferent speak- er, at "the house of the East India," in his quality of a proprietor, no less than as a peer of parliament at Westmin- ster, he was ever active, vigilant in detecting and exposing abuses, real or
imaginary, perpetually harassing every department with inquiries, and attacking in turn, the army, the ad- mirality, and the treasury. Richmond married on April 1, 1757, Lady Mary Bruce, the only child of Charles, third earl of Ailesbury and fourth earl of Elgin, by his third wife, Lady Caroline Campbell, only daughter of John, fourth duke of Argyle. "The perfectest match," says Walpole, "in the world- youth, beauty ,riches, alliances and all the blood of the kings from Bruce to C. arles II. They are the prettiest couple in England, except the father- in-law and mother."
LANESBOROUGH.
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 mem- bers of the peerage, but who became extinct. The title was revived in 1728 and conferred upon Brindsley Butler, colonel of the Battle-ax guards in Ire- land. As he had 23 children, it is need- 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 Bot- tler, the family 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 the forthcoming pamphlet on Berkshire.
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 atti- tude, Mr. Froude, in his history of Ire- land, comments. The town of Lanes- boro, 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
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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.
ASHUELOT.
Which means a town between the rivers, being derived from the land near the Nashua river, which was the region originally granted to Dalton people, but a portion of it being found across the New Hampshire line, what we now call Dalton, was granted as an equivalent for
the territory thus named.
CRANEVILLE.
A village in Dalton named after the Crane family. This name first appears in the year 1272, the family being ten- ants of William le Moyne and bearing the names of Andreas, John, Oliver and William, who came from the an- cient province of Maine in the north of France. The name probably was de- rived from the town of Craon and sig- nifying the place by the stream. The family at present are found for the most part in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Among the most promi- nent of the family in the County of Norfolk was Sir Francis Crane and his brother, Sir Richard, both of Woodris- ing. Sir Francis was secretary to
Charles I., Prince of Wales, and Knighted at Coventry, Sept. 4, 1617, by King James I., father of the Prince. He was also made Chancellor of the Order of the Garter, a mark of special and rare distinction. The emblem of the oraer is a dark ribbon edged with gold, bearing the motto, "Honi soit qui mal y pense," that is, "Accursed be he who thinks there's evil in it," printed in golden letters, with buckle and pendant of gold richly chased, and is worn on the left leg below the knee. S.r Francis, in the year 1619, Intro- duced into England the manufacture of curious tapestry, and, with the as- sistance of King James I., who con- tributed two thousand pounds towards the enterprise, built a mill at Mort- lake, then a village on the River 'r'names in the County of Surry, about nine miles distant and in a westerly direction from London. This mill con-
tained three rooms, one twenty feet in width by eighty-two in length, in which were set twelve looms. The sec- ond room was half the size of the first and contained six looms. The third was called the "Linning Room." He engaged workmen to come from the tapestry works at Paris, France, and from other parts of Europe, employing Wie highest skiled labor that was at that time to be obtained. To accom- modate his Flemish tapestry weavers, he, on March 20, 1621, secured a li- cense from the Archbishop of Canter- bury for them to assemble for worship in the parish church of Mortlake, at his house or in any other suitable place, and arranged that a minister and an elder should be sent out from the old Dutch Reform church, Austin Friars, in London, when necessary to perform the service. On July 8, 1623, for the encouragement of the work, King James I. wrote to the King of Denmark asking that Francis Cleyne, a painter, might be allowed to come to England for the purpose of being em- ployed as a designer at the Mortlake Tapestry works. He was immediately called, and the success of the work was now doubly assured and great progress in the art of weaving rare and beautiful designs in tapestry were achieved during the years that follow- ed. Through the assistance of Francis Cleyne, Sir Francis succeeded in man- ufacturing many historical and gro- tesque pieces of gold tapestry, and the records state that the work was car- ried to singular perfection. In 1634 he was chosen one of a commission to purchase a tract of land to be used by King Charles I. as a game park. For 17 years he was given by the King, ex- clusive privilege of making copper farthings for circulation at the yearly rent of one hundred marks payable in- to the exchequer. He contributed 500 pounds towards the building of St. Pauls church in London. Another noted member of the family was Sir Robert Crane, who was elected to Parliament in 1620 and was created a Baronette in 1627. He became a member of the famous Long Parliament and was on the side of the people against the
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king. In Massachusetts the name first appears in 1635 in the town of Weath- ersfield, Connecticut.
PONTCOSUC.
Former name of Pittsfield, meaning "winter home of the deer."
HOOSAC.
Former name of Williamstown and Adams, which means the region be- yond, the name being given by those living in Troy and Albany.
HOUSATONIC.
The region beyond the mountains.
SEECONCK.
The home of the wild goose.
VAN DEUSENVILLE.
Was named after Isaac Van Deusen, tne founder of its earlier manufac- tories. The name seems to have been derived from Van Doesen, a village in Lower Saxony, the former residence of the family.
WILLIAMSVILLE.
Named after Colonel Elijah Will- iams, one of the earlier settlers in that part of West Stockbridge.
NEW STATE.
A village in Savoy, so called after the effects of a fanatical revival in 1810, conducted by the notorious Jo- seph Smith, who turned out to be a very unprincipled man, but who left the people in a condition of extrava- gant excitement.
CURTISVILLE.
A village in Stockbridge, so called from the Curtis family. The name Cur- tis is probably derived from the words, curt-hose-meaning short stockings, the family being one of the first to adopt wearing the short stockings in- stead of the old-fashioned high stock- ing and knee breeches.
NEW BOSTON.
A village in Sandisfield. Named after Boston, which was named after Bos- ton, England, and is a contraction of
Botolphtown, St. Botolph being patron saint of that section of England.
LOUDON.
Former name of Otis, and being a contraction of Julia's down. The town in England being the former domain of a lady bearing that name.
JERICHO.
Former name of Hancock, being derived from the Bible Jericho, which means a city worshipping the moon, but which some think means rather city of the fragrant.
GOODRICH.
Name of the southern part of Han- cock, the name meaning "rich in godli- ness."
GAGEBOROUGH.
A former name of Windsor. Named after General Gage of Revolutionary associations.
NEW ASHFORD.
Probably named after the old fort whose ruins are still to be seen near a celebrated ash tree.
ASHLEY FALLS.
A village in Sheffield. Named after tue celebrated John Ashley, who was born September, 1736, and died on March 8, 1827, spending his entire life in Sheffield. John Ashley gradu- ated at Yale College in 1758. Return- ing to the home of his father, Judge Ashley, in Sheffield, he read law, and was admitted to the Hampshire bar at the April term of 1762. Being an only son, and destined to succeed to large interests in land, he engaged early in mercantile business and followed his profession for only a few years. He owned a piece of land in the adjoining town of Mount Washington that is still known as Ashley hill, and the stream which runs through it is Ashley brook. His father built him a house a short distance south of his own, and about a mile north of the present Ashley Falls post office. The house stands on the west bank of the Housatonic river on what is known as the "back road" between Ashley Falls and Sheffield,
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and is now owned by Mr. George Bar- tholomew, who has altered its appear- ance by the addition of a front porch and other improvements. John Ash- ley, from his youth was interested in military affairs, and rose successively through the several grades of ensign, lieutenant and captain in his father's regiment. On September 3, 1771, he was commissioned second-major
of
the South Hampshire regiment, of which his father was then colonel, and two years later he was commissioned major. After the outbreak of the Revolution, his patriotism and position in the militia naturally led him to en- list in the army. He was commission- ed colonel of the 1st Berkshire Regi- ment, April 4, 1777, receiving his ap- pointment as field officer on May 4th. Colonel Ashley took a prominent part in the suppression of Shays' rebellion. On September 10, 1786, Major General John Patterson, anticipating that the mob would attempt to prevent the sit- ting of the court at Great Barrington, issued orders to his officers to have their men assembled there, fully arm- ed, on the following morning. Colonel Ashley among the others replied, say- ing that he had called upon the several companies in the regiment under his command for a respective number of men. The court was intimidated and voted to adjourn. Colonel Ashley held numerous civil offices. He was ap- pointed a justice of the peace on June 27, 1771, and continued in frequent at- tendance on the Court of Sessions, of which he was a member, both before and after the Revolution. He was a selectman of Sheffield and at various times represented that town in the General Court.
"General Ashley was ever a firm friend to the constitution and liberties of the United States. As a magis- trate he was upright. By his death his aged parent is deprived of a dutiful son; the town has lost a friend to or- der; the poor have lost a benefactor; and his family a loss irreparable. He received a wound in the leg a few days before his death, which his sur- geon supposed was healing. On the seventh he was buried with military
honors. A large number of people tes- tified their respect by attending his funeral." The sermon on that day was preached by Rev. Ephraim Judson of Sheffield and the text was taken from Ecclesiastes 7:2. He was buried in the Ashley lot in the old cemetery in Sheffield.
NEW FRAMINGHAM.
Former name of Lanesboro. Named after Framingham in Middlesex coun- ty, from whence the greater part of the earlier settlers came. This town was first settled in 1633 and was the theatre of King Philipp's
operations in the Indian wars. In 1692 a large number of set- tlers came hither from Danvers, prin- cipally composed of families involved in the celebrated witch trials. The Bridges, Nourses and Elliots were prominent among these. In 1676, there was an Indian descent upon the town which resulted in some persons being carried into captivity. In 1700 the town was incorporated as the result of a petition on the part of those wish- ing to attend church, without traveling as far as they had hitherto been com- pelled to do. The Pratt and Gleason families were prominent among those moving in at this time. The first min- ister was John Swift, who remained 45 years on
the salary
of $300 and 35 cords of
wood. Framingham people figured prominently in the earlier colonial wars in the battle of Lexington and in Arnold's journey to Quebec. The town is now best known as the seat of the first normal school for female teach- ers. The town was named after
Framingham, England, the word mean- ing the home of the strangers. There is located within it, the castle of the Howard family. A college is also there for the middle classes, built in memory of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. The town is one of the oldest in England, dating back to the time of Redwald, king of the east Angols. The castle was at one time the residence of Queen Mary, and now is the property of Penbroke hall in the university of Cambridge. The Howard
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family are now the owners of the cas- tle and is the family having the most distinguished ancestry in England. The name is thought to be a modifica- tion of Hereward, the Saxon. The How- ards are the Dukes of Norfolk and often appear in Shakespeare's histori- cal plays. The most celebrated of the family was Admiral Howard, who fig- ured extensively in the Spanish Armada. One of his ancestors, Sir John Howard, figured extensively in the war against Joan of Arc, the sub- sequent wars of the Roses and fell in the battle of Bosworth. Another member of the family was commander at the Flodden Field, another was the filth wife of Henry the eighth, another was the principal instrument in the discovery of the gunpowder plot. The family is in part descended from the Mobrays and Bigods, who came over with William the Conqueror and fig- ured prominently in the Battle of Hastings and who are the two oldest families in the British Peerage. A more complete account of these distin- guished families will be given in the pamphlet soon to be published.
QUEENSBOROUGH.
Original name of West Stockbridge, which it
is needless to say was not tolerated after the Revolutionary war. This name was given in the hon- or of the Queen of England, the wife of George the third. This lady was born at Mirow, May 16, 1744. It is said that a letter written by Frederick the Great deprecating his wars was the cause of King George being attracted to her, and the treaty of marriage was signed August 15, 1761. She crossed the En- glish Channel at the time of a danger- ous storm, having at length disem- barked at Harwich she began her jour- ney towards London, accompanied by an escort of noble ladies and gentle- men. She retained her bouyant spirits until she arrived in sight of the Palace of St. James, where her public presen- tation was to take place. Here she for the first time became somewhat dis- concerted and grew pale. The Duchess of Hamilton endeavored to reassure her, when she replied: "My dear duch-
ess, you may laugh, you have been married twice; but it's no joke to me!" She soon recovered her usval self-pos- session as her intended husband mnet her at the palace gates; and as she knelt on one knee to him, he prevented her, and kissed her with more than an ordinary show of princely affection. During the whole scenes of her pres- entation to the monarch and his court, she conducted herself admirably and proved herself worthy of the high alli- ance which had been tendered her.
The marriage ceremony took place a few hours after her arrival, and was celebrated in the chapel of the Palace of St. James. Walpole says of her, that she looked sensible, cheerful and remarkably genteel. He does not say that she was pretty, and it must be confessed she was rather plain, too plain to create a favorable impression upon the youthful monarch whose heart was certainly occupied by the image of a lady, who nevertheless fig- ured that night among the brides- maids,-namely, Lady Sarah Lennox. "An involuntary expression of the king's countenance, "says Mr. Galb, "revealed what was passing within, but it was a passing cloud-the gener- ous feelings of the monarch were inter- ested; and the tenderness with which he henceforth treated Queen Charlotte was uninterrupted until the moment of their final separation." Queen Char- lotte's wedding dress was of white and silver. "An endless mantle of violet velvet," says Walpole, "lined with crimson, and which, attempted to be fastened on her shoulder by a bunch of large pearls, dragged itself and almost the rest of her clothes half way down to her waist." The coronation passed with the usual ceremonies, and lasted into the evening. Nothing of note oc- curred unless we think it such that the king, while moving with the crown on his head, was so unfortunate as to drop out the large diamond in the up- per portion of it. Had there been any one present gifted with prophetic power, he might have deemed the loss of the diamond typical of the loss of the jewel-America-from the chaplet of
the English possessions. The
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queen passed most of her mornings in receiving instructions from Dr. Majen- die in the English tongue. She was an apt scholor and improved rapidly, and though she never spoke or wrote with exceeding elegance, yet she learn- ed to appreciate justly the best au- thors, and was remarkable for the per- fection of taste and manner with which she read aloud. Needlework fol- lowed study and exercise needlework. The queen usually rode or walked in company with the king till dinner- time; and in the evening she played on her harpischord or sang-and this she would do almost en artiste; or she took share in a homely game of crib- bage, and closed the innocently spent day with a dance, and "so to bed" as the Pepys would say, without any supper. The life of Queen Charlotte was so essentially domestic as to af- ford few materials for the historian. At first she was girlishly and ingeign- edly pleased with her jewels and the insignia of royalty, but she very soon wearied of them, for to use her own ex- pression, "the fatigue and trouble of putting them on and the care they re- quired, and the fear of losing them was so great that I longed for my own simple dress and wished never to see them more." Throughout her entire reign the kingdom was almost continu- ally at war, the first with Frederick the Great, then with America and then with Napoleon. The cares and vexa- tions of the period at least resulted in the king becoming insane. What a life Queen Charlotte must have led in those long years about which nobody will ever know anything now, when her husband was quite insane, when his incessant tongue was babbling fol- ly, rage, persecution, and she had to smile and be respectful and attentive under this intolerable ennui. The queen bore all her duties stoutly, as she expected others to bear theirs. In 1816 the public
distress was very great, and those in high places were very unpopular, often for no better reason than that they were in high places, and were disposed to be indif- ferent to the sufferings of the more lowly and harder tried. The queen
came in for more than her share of the popular ill will, but she met the first expression of it
with uncommon spirit; a spirit indeed which gained for her the silent respect of the mob who had begun by insulting her. As her majesty was proceeding to her last drawing room in the year 1815, she was sharply hissed, loudly reviled, and insulted in a variety of ways. She was so poorly protected from the mob that she was actually stopped. She waited for a few moments and then said calm- ly, "I am about 70 years of age, I have been Queen of England over 50 years, and I never was insulted before." The mob admired the spirit of the undaunt- ed lady and allowed her to pass with- out further molestation. She died on November 16, 1818. (Abridged from Agnes Strickland's Queens of En- gland.)
Most of the villages in the county derive their names from the proprie- tors or the principal industry in their midst, and hence the origin of most of them is obvious. A few cases of spec- ial interest are analyzed below.
Pomeroys, a village in West Pitts- field, so called from the ancestor of the family being a gardner who raised apples for the king, or as it would be described in French "Pomme Roi."
Barkerville, a village in West Pitts- field, so , called from the ancestral family having been engaged in the business of stripping the bark from the trees for the purpose of tanning.
Partridgefield, former name of Peru. This name means field of the illus- trious rulers.
Briggsville, a village in North Adams, so called from the old Anglo- Saxon word Brigg, which means a bridge, the family living near a cele- brated bridge. In connection with this word "bridge" a popular false etymolo- gy may be explained away. It is frequently said that Stockbridge is the same name as Bristol, both words be- ing composed of Brigg and stock meaning the bridge where the stock were accustomed to cross. In one case case one syllable being placed first, and in the otner case, the other. This
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is ingenious but is not in accordance with the facts of the case. The city of Bristol, England being in point of fact derived from the old Gaelic word Bris which means broken and Tol which means chasm, the city lying near a chasm through which the river Avon goes to the sea. This is still further confirmed by the fact that the former name of the city was Caer-oder meaning "City of the Gap."
Russells. The word Russell is de- rived from Rosel which is compounded of the two syllables Roz which means an old French rock or castle and El which means water (spelled in mod- ern French Eau.) The town of Le Rosel from which the Russell family came lies in lower Normandy in the Barony of Briquebec about a mile from the Atlantic, five hundred feet above the water which it overlooks from a position of majestic grandeur. This town was made the Appanage of the Bertrand family who were descendants of the
celebrated Norman prince Rollo who was a descendant of Sigurd, King of Sweden who reigned in 735. The first member of the Bertrand fam- ily was William and his son Robert was named Le Tort on account of his lameness, the word "Tort" meaning twisted and being the Norman original of the English family called Twiss. The Bertrands came into England with William the Conqueror bringing with them the name of their Norman vil- lage from which they were called Rus- sells. The Russells soon became Dukes of Bedford probably the richest Dukedom in Great Britain. For a while they were only Barons but John the third son of Henry the IVth who appears frequently in Shakespeare's historical plays was made Duke of Bedford and Regent of that portion of France which then belonged to Eng- land. He was the commander who captured Joan of Arc and was the principal agent in putting her to death. As the result of the benefactions of the Russell family it is said that the town of Bedford has more public endow- ments than any place in the Kingdom.
The town itself dates from 54 B. C., when the chief of the inhabitants of the town became the commander of the united forces of Britain in the vain endeavor to oppose Julius Caesar. The name Bedford first appears in 1345 and probably means "The house of prayer near the Ford." It had for many centuries a celebrated Norman castle and the arms of the corporation of the town consist of a castle sur- mounted by a Roman eagle with out- stretched wings. The spirit underly- ing the name of the town is interest- ingly associated with the fact that previous to the reformation it was
celebrated for the number and the wealth of its religious houses. The town was prominently identified with securing the Magna Charta and with the long contest against Henry the Third in his vain attempt to repeal the provisions of that instrument. The town is best known to the world from its having been the residence of John Bunyan and being the place where he wrote the Pilgrim's Progress. The celebrated philanthropist, John
Howard, also lived in its environs. It is interesting to remember that the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, was so called in honor of the Russell family who were prominent among its early settlers.
Farnhams, a village in Cheshire; the name is derived from Fernham, meaning Home of the Ferns; that is, the family originally living where the ferns were abundant.
Taconic, a village in Pittsfield. The name is a simplified Indian name which means forest, and has since passed (as a geologic designation) to the rocks found in the Taconic mountains.
White Oaks a village in North Wil- liamstown, where that tree was no- ticeably abundant.
Dewey's, a former name of New Lenox. The Dewey family derived their name from Donay in n France. most familiarly known as given to the Roman Catholic English translation of the Bible. The Dewey family are the descendants, on the various sides of
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their ancestry from Alexander the
Great, Charlemagne, Pepin, Constan-
tine the 1st, Christian Em-
peror. The Scandinavian heroes
Thor and Woden and Frea, the wife of the latter, from whom
Thursday, Wednesday and Friday
take their names; Hengist the tradi- tional conqueror of England, and the
Capet dynasty who reigned over France so many years. It is interesting to notice that the later English Deweys lived in Berkshire county, England, and were prominent in securing for English speaking people the blessings of liberty as witnessed to in the Magna Charta.
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