USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Hampshire County, Massachusetts > Part 46
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remaining are: Brackley H., who was born March 30, 1848, and now assists his father in managing the farm; Clarinda E., born April 30, 1852, residing at home; Flora P., born March 24, 1859, who married William H. Merritt, a prosperous farmer of Goshen. The mother, too, was called to the home above on March 19, 1892, in her seventieth year. Mr. Willcutt is a Spiritualist in his religious belief, holding in the firm grasp of faith
" The truth, to flesh and sense unknown, That Life is ever Lord of Death, And Love can never lose its own."
RS. MARY C. WASHBURN, widow of the late Luther Ingersoll Washburn, was born in Boston, January 5, 1822, daughter of William and Sarah (Skelton) Todd. Mrs. Washburn comes from Revolutionary ancestry. Her great- grandfather, William Todd, was a Lieutenant in the Colonial army. His commission, which bears the date of October 10, 1778, and sixteen signatures, including the names of John Hancock and John Avery, Secretary, was issued by the Council of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay.
William Todd, the father of Mrs. Wash- burn, was a Bostonian by birth and education, but spent his last years in Northampton, dying June 23, 1846, aged sixty-seven years. While staying in London, England, in 1806, he was united in marriage to Miss Skelton; and they afterward made that city their home for several years. Their eldest child, Emma Todd, was born in London, August 20, 1810, and became the wife of Calvin Darling, of New York. She died in Boston, January 5, 1841 ; and her body was laid to rest in the family tomb in the Central Burying-ground on Boston Common, near Boylston Street.
Their second child, William, died in London in 1817. Mrs. Washburn, the third child, is the subject of this sketch. Julia, the young- est child, was born in 1823 in Boston, and died in Northampton, January 10, 1890, hav- ing been a lifelong invalid. The mother also passed her closing years in this city, and died November 10, 1853, aged sixty-five years.
Mrs. Washburn was educated in a Quaker school, under the tuition of Dr. Earle's sister, and later at a school in Northampton. She lived with her parents until her marriage with Mr. Washburn, October 30, 1851. Prior to his death, which occurred in October, 1859, Mr. Washburn was one of the leading mer- chants of Northampton. Although a com- paratively young man, being then in his fortieth year, he had won an assured position in business circles and among the most influ- ential citizens of the place. Hè dealt exten- sively in hardware, and had a large patronage in the town and the surrounding country. He was a son of Luther Washburn, a well-known lawyer of Pittsfield, Mass., where his birth occurred July 18, 1774, and his death in 1838. He married Mary Ingersoll; and they reared but two of their children, a daughter and Luther Ingersoll Washburn, the husband of the subject of this sketch. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Washburn, Jared Ingersoll, was a lifelong resident of Pittsfield, born October 29, 1745, and dying February 2, 1835. He married Hildah (Kilborn) Brown, the widow of Colonel John Brown, of Revo- lutionary fame.
Mrs. Washburn has two sons, namely: Henry Todd Washburn, a salesman in the wholesale establishment of Walker, Stetson & Sawyer, Boston; and Frank Ingersoll Washburn, a manufacturer of jewelry in Springfield, Mass, neither of whom is mar- ried. Mrs. Washburn is a very agreeable
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woman. an intelligent and entertaining con- versationalist, and has a large circle of warm friends. Her home has many valued relics, among them being a silver tankard made by Paul Revere from silver melted down by her grandmother.
ILLIAM H. GAYLORD, a retired manufacturer and much esteemed citizen of South Hadley, was born in that town, April 9, 1821, son of Moses and Jerusha (Smith) Gaylord. Mr. Gaylord's father was also a native of South Hadley, and followed agriculture throughout his life. He became prominent in public affairs, held vari- ous town offices, and was highly respected. He died December 24, 1824. His wife bore him seven children, as follows: Lorenzo, John, Philotas, and Moses, Jr., all deceased ; Roxana, who resides in South Hadley Falls; Simeon, who is also deceased; and William H., the subject of this sketch. The mother died May 14, 1858.
William H. Gaylord received his education in the district schools. At the age of twenty years he became an employee of the sash and door factory, now conducted by Howard, Gay- lord & Burnett. He continued steadily in that employment until his circumstances en- abled him to purchase an interest in the busi- ness. His connection with the firm, both as employee and partner, had lasted forty years, when he retired from active participation in its affairs. He, however, retained a fifth interest in the concern. He is also finan- cially interested in several other business ventures, and is at present successfully con- ducting a farm. Mr. Gaylord takes a deep interest in the welfare of his town, and has been closely connected with many of the most important improvements therein. He has lately ordered a costly and handsome monu-
ment in stone to the memory of soldiers who fought in the late war, to be erected in the park, on a site opposite the church. Mr. Gaylord was formerly a Whig in politics, but joined the Republican party, which he now supports; and, though frequently called upon to accept office, he has always declined.
On September 8, 1858, Mr. Gaylord was united in marriage to Miss Betsey Stone, of Madison County, New York, where she was born, December 25, 1832, daughter of Sam- uel and Lucy (Howard) Stone. The father was a native of Connecticut, and the mother of Massachusetts. Both are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Gaylord had one son, Burton Wright, who died March 26, 1880. They are members of the Congregational church, and take an active interest in church work. Mr. Gaylord has presented the society with a fine organ, in memory of his son.
AVID P. BILLINGS, a retired mer- chant of Ware, was born in Hard- wick, Mass., June 1, 1810, son of David and Elizabeth (Pearce) Billings, the former of whom was a native of the same place.
His paternal great-grandfather, who was a patriot soldier of the Revolutionary War, was the father of a large family of sons and daugh- ters. His grandfather, Asahel Billings, who was born in Sunderland, Mass., in 1737, left there when a young man to settle in Hard- wick, where he became a successful farmer. Yet he fought for his country in the War of 1812. He married Miss Hannah Robinson, of Barre, Mass., and by the union became the father of several children. She lived over ninety years, and he lived nearly a century. Their son, David Billings, chose medicine for his profession, and for many years was suc-
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cessfully engaged in active practice in the town of Hardwick. He also owned the farm upon which his father settled, and which has been in the family for over a century. He died there at sixty-two years of age; and his wife, Elizabeth Pearce, lived to be seventy- five years old. They reared three of the four sons and four daughters that were born of their union.
David P. Billings, who is now the only living child of his parents, spent his early years on a farm, where he became familiar with the duties of a farm life. At the same time he acquired a good common-school edu- cation, which was supplemented by a two years' course at a seminary. At nineteen years of age he taught his first term of school, and continued to follow that employ- ment for two winters. When he was twenty- three years of age, he secured a position as salesman in a general store in Palmer, Mass. This position he left in 1837, to open a gen- eral store in Ware, Mass., in company with his brother-in-law, Dwight Foster. They carried the business on together until Mr. Foster's death. Thereafter Mr. Billings con- ducted the store alone for twenty-eight years with continued success. In 1850 he pur- chased the lot opposite his residence, on which he now has four tenements under rent. He also has about fifteen acres on Muddy Brook, just outside the village. He retired from active business in 1863, and during much of the time since then has been a sufferer from rheumatism.
While engaged as a salesman in Palmer, he met Miss Betsey Foster, to whom he was married on April 5, 1837. She is a daughter of Wilson and Prudence (Brown) Foster, and a grand-daughter of Bryant Foster and Solo- mon Brown. Her father was a successful agriculturist of Palmer, Mass. He died there
in 1864, nearly eighty-seven years of age. His wife bore him eight children, as follows: Rebecca, wife of Luke Hitchcock, of Palmer; Keyes Foster, a successful agriculturist, who died at the age of seventy-seven years, leaving a son and daughter ; Sally, who married James Deans, of Eastford, Conn., and died when fifty years old, leaving two sons and a daugh- ter; Dwight, who was at one time in partner- ship with Mr. Billings; Salina, who married Shepard Blair, of Warren, Mass., who died when thirty-eight years of age; John, a retired farmer, who died in Palmer in March, 1895; Betsey, wife of Mr. Billings; and Freeman S., a prosperous farmer residing in Palmer, who has one daughter living. Mr. and Mrs. Billings were the parents of a son and daugh- ter, namely: Henry, who died in 1842, at the age of four years and six months; and Henri- etta, who died March 20, 1845, aged two years and seven months.
In politics Mr. Billings is a Republican. He has rendered faithful service in various town offices. He has been Selectman, Over- seer of the Poor, and for ten years Collector of Taxes. He has for over thirty years been a Director in the National Bank, and has also taken an active part in church work. Both he and his wife, who is an estimable woman, are members of the Congregational church; and he was at one time superintendent of the Sunday-school. They reside at 30 Church Street, a fine dwelling erected on the lot pur- chased by him in 1840.
HARLES RANNENBERG, a retired business man of South Hadley Falls, Hampshire County, Mass., was born in Einbeck, Hanover, Germany, January 5, 1824, son of Henry and Dora T. (Sharfen- berg) Rannenberg. Mr. Rannenberg's father
Mr. and Mrs. CHARLES RANNENBERG.
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was a stone mason. and followed that occupa- tion for many years. He assisted in con- structing the bridge which connects Einbeck with Kupfenthal. and during his latter years was an overseer. He died April 24, 1860. He was an intelligent and well-known man. highly respected in his community. Henry Rannenberg's wife, who died November 22, 1889. was the mother of four children, as fol- lows: Hammond, who is engaged in agricult- ural pursuits in Dane County, Wisconsin ; Charles, the subject of this sketch; Dora T., who married and resides in Einbeck; and William. who is an overseer in a cutlery fac- tory in Shelburne Falls, Mass.
Charles Rannenberg received his education in the schools of Germany, and attended a business college. He acquired the trade of a weaver, and at the age of twenty-five years emigrated to the United States, first settling in Thompsonville, Conn., where he remained for one year. He came to South Hadley Falls when the Glasgow Mills were opened, and was first employed as a section hand, but rose step by step from one position to another, until he was appointed superintendent, a post which he resigned in 1876, after having been in the company's employ for over twenty-seven years. Mr. Rannenberg then engaged in the manufacture of brick, in which he enjoyed a merited prosperity until 1882, when he sold his enterprise to the Lander Brothers, of Hol- yoke, and practically retired from active busi- ness pursuits. He has invested extensively in real estate, both in South Hadley Falls and Holyoke, and has erected several houses, his speculations in this direction having been productive of satisfactory financial results. Mr. Rannenberg owes his success in life to the spirit of energy and perseverance which form the principal elements in his character, and were the only capital he possessed. In
politics he has always voted with the Republi- can party, and although well qualified to hold office has never aspired to political honors.
On November 14, 1848, Mr. Rannenberg was united in marriage with Amelia Winter. She was born in Einbeck. Germany. January 24, 1829, daughter of Frederick and Margaret Winter, the former of whom was a German military officer, and his wife was of English ancestry. They died in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Rannenberg have two children. namely: Charles W., who married Clara Rockwood, and resides in Springfield, Mass., where he is employed as a travelling salesman by the Moody Provision Company; and Matilda, wife of Charles Axman, a book-binder in Holyoke, who resides in South Hadley Falls. Mr. and Mrs. Rannenberg were members of the Lu- theran Church in Germany. but have never united with any religious society in the United States. Their children attend the Congregational church.
An excellent likeness of Mr. Rannenberg appears in connection with the foregoing sketch.
EV. ARTHUR C. TOWNSEND. pastor of the Congregational church of Westhampton, was born in Han- over, Oxford County, Me .. October 8, 1859. His early life was spent on his father's farm in Mars Hill, Aroostook County, Me., his father. Seward P. Townsend, having become a pioneer in that portion of the State while the subject of this sketch was an infant. The Rev. Mr. Townsend's father now resides with his eldest son in Easton, Me. He married Harriet N. Pierce, of New Gloucester, Me., who bore him four children, namely: Herbert L., of Easton, Me .; Orlando C .. of Boston ; Arthur C .; and Emily A., who died in Sep- tember, 1881, at the age of nineteen years.
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Her death was followed by that of her mother in December of the same year.
The Rev. Arthur C. Townsend, like many of our men who occupy places of distinction in the mercantile, political, scientific, or lit- erary world, was bred to agricultural pursuits. Until he attained his majority, he remained with his parents, assisting in the various employments of the farm, while gleaning the elements of his education at the district schools and in select schools near by. At the age of seventeen he began to teach in the schools of his own town.
At the age of twenty-one Mr. Townsend left home, and went to Lewiston, Me., where he found employment in a woollen-mill. After a year spent in Oxford County, partly in this work and partly in a saw-mill, he wisely decided to invest his modest savings in gratifying a long-cherished desire for further study, and entered the middle class of the Maine Central Institute, in the village of Pittsfield, Me. Here he studied three terms of the four that made the school year. The following autumn, after a summer spent in an unsuccessful attempt to replenish his depleted funds by canvassing for books, finding himself unable to return to Pittsfield, a way was provi- dentially opened for him to enter Nichols Latin School in Lewiston. Here he studied during his senior year, receiving at his grad- uation the first prize for excellence of schol- arship. After a summer spent as clerk at a seashore hotel Mr. Townsend entered Bates College in Lewiston. While there he was prominent in its literary circles, being for one year literary editor of the Bates Student, the college magazine. During his Junior and Senior years and a portion of the following year he taught mathematics in Nichols Latin School. At graduation he received first honor in the department of mathematics.
While attending school Mr. Townsend be- came a professed Christian, and united with the Main Street Free Baptist Church in Lew- iston. After graduation he began to study for the Christian ministry in Cobb Divinity School, a department of Bates College. Dur- ing the following summer he supplied the vacant pulpit of the First Congregational Church of Falmouth, Me. From there in the fall he went to Yale University, where he studied two years, graduating in 1891. The intervening summer he spent in home mission work at East Madison, Me. During his Scn- ,ior year he received a call to his present pas- torate; and, having already transferred his church membership to the Center Church (Congregational) of New Haven, he accepted, and was ordained in Westhampton, June 10, 1891, becoming the successor of many emi- nent men, who labored so faithfully to advance the moral and spiritual interests of Hampshire County, sowing seed from which abundant harvests have been reaped.
The Congregational church at Westhamp- ton is one of the oldest organizations of the town, which was incorporated in 1778. The church is nearly as old, its centennial having been celebrated September 3, 1879. On Au- gust II, 1779, prior to the formation of a religious society, the pioneer settlers of the town, mostly men who had been reared in the Congregational faith, extended a call to the Rev. Enoch Hale, grandfather of the Rev. Dr. Edward Everett Hale, of Boston, to be- come their pastor. He heeded the call, and on September 29, 1779, was ordaincd pastor, the church having been organized in the interim. He died in this town, January 14, 1837; but his influence for good is still felt in the community. The next pastor, Horace B. Chapin, was installed July 8, 1829, and dismissed February 29, 1837. He was fol-
ELISHA A. EDWARDS.
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lowed by the Rev. Amos Drury, who was installed June 28, 1837, and died July 22, 1841. His successor, the Rev. David Cog- gin, was installed May 11, 1842. and died April 28, 1852. The Rev. Andrew Bigelow was installed March 2, 1854, and was dis- missed April 18, 1855. On November 20, 1856, the Rev. Roswell Foster was installed, and on December 29, 1858, was dismissed. The Rev. Edwin C. Bissell was ordained Sep- tember 21, 1859, and dismissed May 10, 1864. The Rev. Thomas Allender was installed June 21, 1866, and died September 17, 1869. He was succeeded by the Rev. F. P. Barnard, who was installed June 30, 1870, and dis- missed July 1, 1873. The Rev. Joseph Lan- man was installed June 3, 1874, and dismissed September 11, 1876. The Rev. Edward S. Palmer was installed December 7, 1876, and dismissed April 20, 1881. He was succeeded by the Rev. William C. Seofield, who was acting pastor of the church from October I, 1881, until December 7, 1884. The Rev. A. E. Todd, the next pastor of the church, ministered to the congregation from January I, 1886, until January 7, 1891, being then succeeded by its present beloved pastor, the Rev. Arthur C. Townsend. This church is in a most flourishing condition, having now a membership of two hundred and forty souls. Its clerk is Frederick H. Judd; and its dea- cons, William I. Edwards, A. D. Montague, A. G. Jewett, and F. D. Bridgman; while the church committee consists of the pastor and deacons, with R. W. Clapp, Theophilus Edwards, Mrs. E. W. Kingsley, and Mrs. A. C. Shepherd. The treasurer is Deacon Alfred D. Montague.
Before the erection of any building for religious worship, divine service was held alternate Sundays at the home of Captain Azariah Lyman, in the south part of the town,
and at Nathan Clark's house, in the northern section. The first church was completed in 1789, although services were held in it for some four years prior to that date. In 1816, the church becoming dilapidated and not suf- ficiently large to accommodate its increasing numbers, it was removed; and a larger and more substantial edifice was reared, it being one of the finest church buildings in Western Massachusetts. On February 17, 1829, it was destroyed by fire; and on the 29th of December, the same year, the present hand- some structure was dedicated to the worship of God. In 1883 the church was entirely re- modelled and refurnished, and a conveniently arranged kitchen and dining-room were added ; and since that time it has been kept in excel- lent repair.
On December 15, 1891, Mr. Townsend was united in marriage to Miss Ina F. Cobb, who had been a classmate with him in Bates Col- lege, and who was the daughter of Thomas S. Cobb, of Poland, Me., where she was born January 7, 1865. Their union has been hal- lowed by the birth of two sons.
OLONEL ELISHA A. EDWARDS, a well-known, public-spirited, and influential citizen of Hampshire County, was born in Southampton, Mass., March 25, 1824. He is of Welsh origin, the emigrant ancestor having been Alexander Ed- wards, who left Wales in 1640, and after his arrival in this State settled in Springfield. On April 28, 1642, he married Sarah Searl, and in 1655 moved to Northampton, where he died September 4, 1690. Of his eight chil- dren, Samuel, born March 7, 1643, was the next in the line now being considered. He married Sarah Boykin, daughter of James Boy- kin, of New Haven, Conn. ; and they reared
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six children, their eldest son being Samuel Edwards, Jr., who was born March 26, 1676, and died March 8, 1749. His first wife, Mercy Pomeroy, whom he married in 1708, died in 1712; and he subsequently married Sarah Pomeroy, of Colchester, Conn. He reared nine children, including Samuel, the third, born September 12, 1716, and Noah, born June 6, 1722.
Noah Edwards was married June 28, 1749, to Jerusha Alvord, who died in 1798. In his old age, September 11, 1799, he married widow Elizabeth Wright, with whom he lived until his death, September 3, 1805. Justin, the second of his eight children, was born in 1752. He married Elizabeth Clark in 1778, and afterward removed to Westhampton, where she died December 6, 1792. On January I, 1795, he married Mary Bartlett, a niece of Phœbe Bartlett, whose early history is given in President Edwards's work on "Revivals." Justin Edwards died October 6, 1816. By his first wife he had four children: Dotia, Jesse, Justin (the Rev. Dr. Edwards), and Elizabeth. His second wife bore him three children : Sarah, who died in infancy; Mary ; and William.
Samuel Edwards, born in 1716, was the grandfather of the late Professor Bela B. Ed- wards and also of Elisha Edwards, father of Colonel Elisha A. He served in the Revolu- tionary War. The elder Elisha Edwards was married in 1792. His son Elisha, who was born April 22, 1793, and died April 26, 1868, married Julia King, who was born in October, 1798, and died in 1838. They were the par- ents of eight children ; namely, Horace, Elisha A., Julia A., Charles L., Elizabeth, Caroline, Eunice M., and George K. The father, Eli- sha, Jr., was a soldier in the War of 1812.
Horace, born November 22, 1822, died De- cember 23, 1846. Julia, born September 29,
1826, became the wife of the Rev. Cornelius H. Taylor, D.D., a Presbyterian minister ; and he died in Cincinnati, Ohio, February 25, 1875, leaving four children: Edwards C., Frank L., Julia K., and Kirke H. Charles L., born October 19, 1828, now a coal dealer and insurance agent at Lawrence, Kan., married Susan Powers, of North Hadley; and of the three children born to them one is now living, Virginia S. Elizabeth, born December 10, 1830, married Martin L. Gaylord (graduate of Amherst College), a farmer in Easthampton, and they have three children : Lucy P., Edith E., and Winfred M. Caroline, born Feb- ruary 23, 1833, is a resident of Southampton. Eunice M., born May 6, 1835, and now living in Colorado, is the widow of the late George L. Gaylord, and has two children, Lewis and Edwards K.
George K., the youngest son, born April 28, 1838, grew to manhood in Southampton, and there lived until his enlistment in Com- pany B, Thirty-first Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, in October, 1861. Going South with his regiment, he was engaged in the bat- tles of the forts before New Orleans, which the Union army took possession of in April 1862. On July 7, 1862, he was discharged for disability. On January 1, 1863, he re-en- listed, was commissioned First Lieutenant, and mustered into service March 2, in Com- pany A, Second District of Columbia Volun- teer Infantry, being at first stationed at Washington Heights, and going thence to Alexandria, and from there to different places in the South. He displayed great bravery in several engagements. On September 12, 1865, he was discharged, and came home in poor health and suffering from injuries he had received by falling from the upper deck of a steamboat, a distance of twenty feet, and strik- ing on a barrel.
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On December 15, 1864, George K. Edwards was united in marriage with Martha L. Lyman, who was born December 8, 1838, in Chester, Mass., daughter of Stephen and Julia (Searl) Lyman. The only child born of their union died in infancy. They have since adopted a little girl, Ethel May, born May I, 1887. Mr. Lyman was born December 24, ISII, married Julia Searl, April 28, 1830, and died April 11, 1889. Mrs. Julia S. Lyman is still living in Southampton, quite advanced in years, her birth having occurred June 21, 1815. She bore her husband five children, of whom but two now survive. One daughter, Harriet Eliza (deceased), married the Rev. William R. Stocking, of Williamstown, Mass., and went to Persia as a missionary. Stephen Lyman was the eldest son of Samuel Lyman, who was born at Chester, May 2, 1789, and who served in the War of 1812, in Colonel Enos Foot's regiment. He was a Deacon of the Congregational church of Chester for over twenty years. On October 26, 1809, he married Marian S. Tinker; and they reared ten children.
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