Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885, Part 16

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., Printed at the Journal Office
Number of Pages: 972

USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885 > Part 16

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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TOWN OF DALTON.

necklace of diamond lakelets, and the whole in an emerald setting of moun- tains."

There is much good farming land in the town, and many highly cultivated farms, though the township ranks as a manufacturing rather than a farming community. Its principal rocks are gneiss and limestone.

In 1880 Dalton had a population of 2,052. In 1882 it employed fifteen female teachers in its public schools, at an average salary of $31.83 per month. There were 396 school children in the town, while the entire amount raised for school purposes was $4,000.00.

DALTON is a handsome post village located in the central part of the town, on the Housatonic river, and is also a station on the Boston & Albany rail- road. It has three churches, (Congregational, Methodist Episcopal and Roman Catholic), a town-house, two hotels, three dry goods stores, two drug stores, millinery store, printing office, flour and feed stores, four paper-mills, two woolen mills, box factory, blacksmith shop, harness shop, two libraries and two public schools. As the village extends nearly or quite to the Pitts- field line, its central and western parts are each locally known by separate names, taken from the extensive manufactories situated in each locality, viz .: Carsonville, to the locality about the Carson & Brown mills, and Cranesville to the neighborhood environing the Crane mills.

Americans !

Encourage your own Manufactories, and they will improve.

LADIES, save your RAGS.

S the Subscribers have it A in contemplation to erect a PA- PER-MILL in Dalton, the ensuing spring ; and the business being very beneficial to the community at large, they flater themselves that they shall meet with due encouragement. And that every woman, who has the good of her country, and the interest of her own family at heart will patronize them, by saving their rags, and send- ing them to their Manufactory, or to the nearest Storekeeper-for which the Subscribers will give a generous price.

HENRY WISWALL, ZENAS CRANE, JOHN WILLARD. Worcester, Feb. 8, 1801.

The above advertisement, appearing in the Pittsfield Sun, was the first public intimation of the contemplated establishment of paper manufacturing in Berkshire county, and was the result of a journey made by Zenas Crane in 1799, who had come from the employment of General Burbank, at Wor-

TOWN OF DALTON.

cester, in search of a location to build. The mill was put into operation in the spring of 1801, and produced for the first few years about twenty tons of paper per annum, or just about the quantity that is made weekly by the Crane mills at Dalton at the present time. This increase is commendable both to the pioneer, Zenas Crane, and to his descendants, to the good judg- ment exercised in selecting a locality so well adapted to the business, and also to the enterprise and skill that has steadily enlarged and improved the business, bringing it up to its present high position.

In 1845 the pioneer, Zenas Crane, died, having three years before, in 1842, transferred his property and business to his two sons, Zenas Marshall and James B., who now carry on an extensive business in new inills, as Crane & Co., associated with them, as the managing member of the firm, being W. Murray Crane, son of Z. Marshall Crane. In their mills, known as the "Pioneer" mill and the "Government" mill, are made the bank-note paper used by the national banks and the paper used by the United States government for legal tenders and bonds, also paper for the currency and bonds of other govern- ments. They also make, in great excellence, Parchment, Drawing and Trac- ing papers, Parchment deed, antique letter, artificial parchment, "onion skin," "bullet patch," map, and other papers. These are the highest priced papers made in this country, and, as can be inferred from the purposes for which they are used, must possess great strength and wearing qualities. It is said that a sheet of their paper placed in a modern testing machine will show a greater strength than any other fine paper made.

In 1865, Zenas Crane, Jr., son of Z. Marshall Crane, and grandson of the pioneer, rented and afterwards bought the stone mill, situated about one- eighth of a mile below the Pioneer mill, and formerly known as the Ashuelot Woolen Mill. It had been converted into a paper-mill a few years prior to this, and run by Crane & Wilson, but at this time was idle. Zenas Crane, Jr., ran this mill from 1865 till 1877, when it was destroyed by fire, and was re- built at once on a much larger scale by himself and his brother, W. Murray Crane. It is now one of the best equipped mills in this country, and, as our accompanying engraving shows, is also a handsome structure. The mill is de- voted to the manufacture of ladies' fine stationery, and was the only mill in this country to branch out into this line. The beautiful envelopes and note paper made here in a great variety of tints and sizes have become famous all over the United States.

The new tints, of which there are now many, began to make their appear- ance in Lyons silks, and were soon applied to stationery by foreign paper- makers. When Mr. Zenas Crane, Jr., was in Europe, he visited some of the finest paper-mills and got some acquaintance with the stationery trade. He saw that there was to be a great future for these tinted goods among the purchasers of the best stationery in this country, and he at once began the manufacture of them in their mill, and the result is a product here that challenges a comparison with any goods in this line that the world can pro-

FACTURERS

PAPER STATIONERY.

MAPHOTO-ELECTROTYPE ENG.CO.N.Y

Z. CRANE, Jr. & BRO., DALTON.

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duce. The tints are wonders of delicacy, clearness and subdued tone. A few years ago our fashionable people would use no stationery but imported goods. The American styles and makes did not come up to what they re- quired. Messrs. Z. Crane, Jr., & Brother, set to work to prove that as good or better goods could be made in this country as abroad. How well they have succeeded is shown from the fact that the foreign goods are now scarcely quoted in the market, while "Crane's goods" are staple stock with every dealer of any pretentions. This firm has done much during the past two or three years to produce a taste for dead-finish papers, and to-day their brands of "Grecian Antique," "Parchment Vellum," and "Distaff " are as popular as their finest "satin finish" goods. The names to each of their brands are copy- righted, and also their boxes, each of which bears their well known trade- mark of the "Fireside Crane."

Z. Crane, Jr., & Brother have, within two years, established a library for the use of their employés, and the neighborhood. A handsome building, somewhat in the old English style of architecture, was built near the mill and surrounded by lawns and shade trees on each side. The library contains about 500 volumes, to which are to be added each year fifty or more volumes. The reading-room has all the magazines, illustrated papers and leading newspapers of this part of the country and the county newspapers.

The senior member of this firm, Hon. Zenas Crane, Jr., is a member of Gov. Robinson's Executive Council, having been elected to it last fall by the counties of Berkshire, Hampshire and Hampden. His father occupied the same position with Gov. Andrew, and his grandfather with Gov. Edward Everett. A prominent Trade Paper says : "The Crane family is a family of paper manufacturers and has been engaged in the industry from its early establishment in this country. The family living to-day occupies a promi- nent place in the manufacture of the best papers of the world and bear the same relation to the paper manufacture of the United States that the Montgolfiers do to that of France."

The Carson & Brown Co .- The " Old Berkshire Mill" owned by this com- pany occupies the site where the old pioneer firm built their first mill, and where they made about twenty tons of paper per annum until 1807. Wiswall & Carson succeeded them, continuing until 1810. Since that year the mill has been rebuilt several times, burned once but soon lifted from its ashes, and has been principally managed and owned by the Carson family, except for a short time when the Powers Paper Co., afterwards the Powers & Brown Paper Co., (L. J. Powers, of Springfield, and Charles O. Brown, of Dalton,) owned it. It has grown from a one-vat hand mill located in the woods, to a grand structure containing seven engines, making two tons of first-class paper per day. David Carson, who came to Dalton about the year 1800, was one of the original hand paper makers, and his sons, Thomas G., William W. and David J., were brought up to the business, and were considered among the best of their trade in the country. The father, after retiring, removed to

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Pittsfield, where he died in 1858, aged seventy-five years, being at the time of his death president of the Pittsfield Bank. Charles O. Brown is now presi- dent of the company, and John D. Carson, treasurer.

The Byron Weston Paper Mills .- The old Defiance Mill was built by David Carson in 1821, and sold by him to Henry Chamberlin in 1840, by whom it was operated, or rented to others, until 1863, having in the meantime, how- ever, been burned out and immediately reconstructed. In 1863 it was bought by Hon. Byron Weston, who has greatly enlarged it, and is now turning out his celebrated record and ledger papers. This mill was originally a one- vat, one engine mill, making "twenty posts" of 126 sheets, or about five reams of paper a day, while its capacity is now over two tons. Most of the younger Chamberlins, John, Albert and Ezekiel, learned the paper business in this mill, and it has often been said that the spring water was so good that the mill made good paper regardless of the management. In 1855 Capt. A. S. Chamberlin built a paper-mill on the privilege in the center of Dalton village, and known as the oldest mill power in town, formerly occupied by the " water- mill," so called because the grist-mill upon it was run by water-power under the toll system. This mill was owned and operated by Chamberlin & Mitchell and James Wilson until 1867, when it was purchased by the late Gen. W. F. Bartlett and Capt. Edwin Moodie, commander of a Cunard steamer. Col. Walter Cutting subsequently bought Captain Moodie's interest, and the mill was run by Bartlett & Cutting until 1875, when it was destroyed by fire. The ruins were purchased by Byron Weston, who has built on its site a seven engine mill, which is running as a rag department for his seven engine Defi- ance Mill near by. He thus has fourteen engines, employs 200 hands, and turns out about four tons of paper per day. His paper is used for county and state records, and for all purposes where great strength and ability for standing age are required. Mr. Weston has also succeeded in sinking here one of the most celebrated artesian wells in New England. About January 20, 1884, while boring at the depth of 200 feet, he obtained a flowing well of 400 gallons per minute of pure, soft water. Previous to this, while boring at the depth of 500 feet, he obtained a flowing well of 150 gallons per minute.

West & Glennon's woolen mill .- In 1865 W. J. Hawkins, of Pittsfield, and Charles E. West and Christopher Glennon, under the firm name of Haw- kens, West & Glennon, having concentrated two privileges on the old Weston place, erected a three story wooden building, 100 x 50 feet, with attendant dye-houses, and commenced the manufacture of the Windsor Falls repellants and fancy cassimeres, and prosperously operated the factory until August 25, 1873, when it, the adjoining building and two dwellings were entirely destroyed by fire. Thirty days after the fire their new factory was in process of erection and was completed in less than six months, a brick structure 130 x 50 feet and three stories high. On the death of Mr. Hawkins, in July, 1878, the remain- ing partners continued the business. The firm has undergone some changes during 1884, and is now known as the Windsor Falls Company. The mill is-

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TOWN OF DALTON.

supplied with six cards and forty-six broad looms, and have turned out about 500,000 yards per annum.

C. J. Kittredge & Co.'s woolen mills were built in 1867. The company are engaged in manufacturing cassimeres and all-wool doeskins, turning out about 150,000 yards per year. Both steam and water are used as motive power.

The Renfrew cotton yarn manufactory, of Dalton, was originally built by S. G. Birmingham, for a woolen-mill, about 1864. Four or five years later it was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt by the insurance company who carried its risk, and about 1870 it was sold to the Renfrew Manufacturing Co., of Adams, who run it in the manufacture of cotton yarn.

David C. Smith's grist and saw-mill, located on road 25, was built by him in 1849. He grinds about 125 car-loads of grain annually.

Smith Bros'. saw-mill, located in the northern part of the town, on road 5 was built in 1860, upon the site of a mill built by Abner and David C. Smith in 1846, and which was destroyed by fire in 1860. The mill cuts about 200,000 feet of lumber per annum.

William C. Burr's saw-mill, located in the northern part of the town, was originally established about 1843, by Samuel I. Parker. It cuts about 100,000 feet of lumber per annum.

The settlement of the town was commenced by Dr. Perez Marsh, Daniel Frost and Nathaniel Kellogg, in 1755. Soon afterwards, Joseph Chamberlin moved into the southern part of the town, locating near the Pittsfield line. About 1770, William Cady, Josiah Lawrence and Abijah Parks moved into the eastern part of the town, and Mr. Lawrence subsequently built the first grist-mill. The town was incorporated March 20, 1784, and from that time immigration was more rapid, so that in 1791, when the first census was taken, there were 554 inhabitants.

The first town meeting was held on the 19th of April, 1784, nineteen days after the town was incorporated, when William Williams, Eliphalet Chamber- lin, Ephraim Cleveland, Solomon Storey and Nathan Webb were elected selectmen ; William Williams, town clerk and treasurer ; and Eliphalet Cham- berlin, Josiah Lawrence and William Williams, assessors. Among the votes also, passed at this meeting were the following :-

"Voted, That the swine may run at large in this town the present year, they being yoked and ringed according to law."

"Voted, That Deacon Williams have leave to innoculate his family for the small-pox on lot No. 46 in this town."

The original town-house was built about 1840. In 1870 the present com - modious building, was erected upon the site occupied by the old building, costing 3,000.00.

Dr. Perez Marsh was the son of Capt. Joel Marsh, and was born at Hadley, October 25, 1729, and graduated from Harvard in 1784. He was a physician and surgeon's mate in the Regiment of Col. Ephraim Williams the younger, when he was killed at Lake George, in 1755. Immediately after, he came to

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Ashuelot Equivalent. He was appointed justice of the peace, June 24, 1761, a special justice of the court of common pleas, June 6, 1765, and a standing justice of said court, to succeed Gen. Dwight, September 6, 1768. He was a man of intelligence and character, though these appointments were probably due quite as much to the fact that he was a grandson of Samuel Porter and son-in-law of Israel Williams. He died at Dalton, May 20, 1784, leaving two sons and several daughters. The daughters married in Pittsfield and some of their descendants now reside there. The late Henry Marsh, Esq., of Dalton, was his grandson. The epitaph upon the slab that marks his grave, reads as follows :-

HENRY MARSH, IN MEMORY OF HIS HONORED FATHER, PEREZ MARSH, QUI VITIA ECEPIT MAY 20, 1784, AGED 53 YEARS.

PAUSE HERE AND THINK HOW OFT A TOMB .LIKE THIS

YOU'VE SEEN ALOUD EXCLAIM PREPARE THEE FOR AN EARLY GRAVE.

William Cleveland immigrated to Dalton at an early day, from Massachu- setts Bay, making his way a part of the distance by the aid of marked trees. He located on road 5, where Alvah K. Cleveland now resides, being the first to settle upon that farm. A sample of the pioneer life he led is shown in the fact that his wife spun and wove the flax which William had raised on his farm, after which he carried it on his back to Kinderhook, N. Y., a distance of fifty miles, and exchanged it for their first cow. He married Mrs. Sarah Tozer, rearing eight children. He was a Revolutionary soldier. Alvah, son of William, who succeeded him upon the farm, married Hannah Kittredge, of Dalton, who bore him five children, one son, William K., marrying Elizabeth W. Mitchell, of Windsor, by whom he had three children, William D., Nellie M., and Alvah K. William D. resides in Wyoming Terri- tory ; Alvah married Amy E. Neate, of Pittsfield, and has two children, re- siding upon the homestead settled by his great-grandfather, where Nettie also resides. The old homestead dwelling was used for a hotel by Alvah Cleve- land for many years.

Thomas and Josiah Lawrence, brothers, were among the first settlers in Dalton, coming from Plainfield, Conn., about 1778. Thomas, who was born in 1748, was the first to locate on the farm now occupied by T. A. and C. D. Lawrence, on road 20, and died in Dalton, July 26, 1825, at the age of seventy-seven. His youngest son, Daniel, married Nancy Burchard, of this town, and reared thirteen children, of whom three, Thomas A., who married Sarah Otis, of this town, and reared three children, Clara A., Sarah B., and Mary E .; Martha now Mrs. Hyde, of Waterbury, Conn. ; and Charles B., who married Lydia A. Johnson, survive, Charles and Thomas residing upon the old homestead.

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Amos Smith immigrated to this town from Connecticut, at an early date, - and located on road 5, where the widow of Sullivan Smith now resides. His son, Abner, was born in 1781, married Mary Driscoll, and reared seven children, of whom five, David C., Dr. Abner M., of Pittsfield, Eliza, Amos, and James D. survive. Amos, residing on road 5 in Dalton, married Julia R. Flint, of this town, who bore him two children, Edith and Belle L. David C. married Permelia Comstock, of Stockbridge, Mass., by whom he had four children, among whom are Ensign M., who married Lucy A. Branch, and has two children, and now resides in Texarkana, Ark .; David, of Pittsfield, who married Milla E. Hale, of this town, and has one child, Anna P .; and Robert A., who married Lucia M. Owen, of Lee, Mass., and has two chil- dren, and resides on North street. James D., brother of David C., married Rachel E. Gleason, of this town, rearing two children, and resides on North street.

Zenas Crane, the pioneer in the paper industry of Western Massachusetts, was born in Canton, Mass., May 9, 1777. In the spring of 1801 he came to Dalton and built the original paper mill, where Carson & Brown now are. He had previously visited the locality, in 1799, and traveled over the moun- tains and streams on horseback, in search of a suitable mill-site, and what is of more importance in making fine papers-suitable spring water. In 1809, in company with Martin Chamberlin, he built the mill where his sons now are. He died in 1845. In 1842 his two sons, Zenas M. and James B., became sole proprietors, and the business has been continued without inter- ruption until the present time. In 1879 hey purchased what is now known as the " Government mill," built just over the Pittsfield line by the late Hon. Thomas Colt, and which is now run on bank note and bond papers for the United States government. At their other, the "Pioneer mill," in Dalton, they also make bank note and bond papers, which are used by several foreign governments, and by the trade generally. W. Murray Crane, son of Zenas M., became a partner in the business about 1879.

Justin Cole, a Revolutionary soldier from Hatfield, Mass., was one of those who made an early settlement in Dalton, locating upon the farm now occu- pied by D. J. Pratt.

Dea. William Williams, who came to this town at an early date from Hat- field, Conn., was appointed a trustee of Williams college in 1797, and in 1800 was senator in the State legislature. He died March 1, 1808, at the age of seventy-four.

James Barden removed to Dalton, from Uxbridge, Mass, and made the first settlement upon the farm now owned by Joel W. Barden, on road 4, in 1784. He married Tryphenia White, who bore him ten children. Joel, son of James, was twice married, rearing by his first wife, Mary Ensign, five chil- dren, namely : Jamelia, Almira, Lovell M., Jasper W., and Mary W .; and by his second wife, Lydia Wright-who is now, at the age of 96, the oldest per- son in town-five children, as follows : Joel W., John W., Amelia C., James

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W., and Clarissa W. Joel was first married to Mary E. Parker, after whose death he married Lydia F. Messenger who bore him four children-Bertha E., and Blanche A., twins, and Angie E., and James E. The homestead, where Joel resides, has been in the family for about a century.

Charles Burr, a native of Milton, Mass., married Sarah Baker, and immi- grated to Dalton about the year 1785. Of his family of ten children, seven- Mary A., Nelson, Francis, Lucinda, David, Sarah and William C., are now living. William C., residing on road 5 in this town, married Helen M. Part- ridge, of Hinsdale, by whom he had two sons, Charles W., who married Sarah A. Mann, and now resides in Troy, Penn., and Dwight W., residing on road 5, who married Cora E. Stetson.

Elijah Curtis, from Worcester county, Mass., came to Dalton in 1794, being the first to locate upon a farm on road 7, near the present residence of D. H. Tower. He married Annie Stockwell, rearing ten children, one now living, Chloe, who married John Benton, now of Cleveland, Ohio. His youngest son, Elijah, married Harriet Rogg, of Sharon, Conn., who bore him three chil- dren-Maria H., now dead; Marshall C., residing on Main street, Dalton, married Ann G. Gibbs, of Otis, and had born to him three children, Florence, Charles, and Edith ; and Chloe.

Alpheus Brown, on road 7, is the oldest man in this town, being ninety- three years of age. He was in the war of 1812, and draws a pension.

Jacob, fourth son of Jacob and Hannah Jones Booth, born in 1770, married Lucinda Richmond, of Hinsdale, Vt., by whom he had nine children, four of whom are still living-Elizabeth Gardner, a widow, Charles H., Watson A. and Philander F. The latter married Almena Davis, of Stafford, Conn., and located on the soap-stone quarry farm, where he has resided seventy-three years, rearing three children, namely : Lucinda, who married Myron Sher- man, now of Dalton ; George F., who married Eliza A. Aldrich ; and John M., who married Lucinda Reed, of Windsor, and is now a resident of Wahoo, Neb.

Rev. Isaiah Weston removed to Dalton from New Bedford in 1814. His grandson, Byron, a paper manufacturer in Dalton, is one of her most noted and respected citizens. He is vice-president of the Third National Bank of Pittsfield, Mass., also director of the Berkshire Life Insurance Co., and Berk- shire County Savings Bank. Mr. Weston was captain in the Rebellion under Gen. W. F. Bartlett ; was State senator in 1876, and lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts for 1880-'83, being elected with Gov. John D. Long in 1882, against Benjamin F. Butler.

Solomon Lawrence, son of Micah, formerly a Presbyterian minister in Man- chester and Keene, N. H., was born in Winchester, N. H., and married Mary Cole, of Dalton, in which place he located and reared four children, but one of whom, Hubbard W., survives. Hubbard married Eleanor Gray, of Temple- ton, Mass., and has one son, Harlen S., of Dalton.

Roswell, son of Vine Branch, who located in Berkshire county, Mass.,

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TOWN OF DALTON.

about 1770, and who was also a soldier in the battle of Bennington, married Theodocia Wright, of Pittsfield, where he located, rearing a family of seven children, namely : Vine P., Mary, Orson A., Salmon W., Rufus, Albert and Grove W., Grove married Pamelia Sprague, of Pittsfield, afterwards locat- ing in Dalton, Mass., and reared seven children, all of whom, Hayden W., Caroline, Robert, Pamelia, Lucy, Ellen and George, are still living. Grove was twice married and has resided in his present home fifty years. He was deputy sheriff twelve years, and a member of the State legislature in 1842 and 1843, besides holding other offices of trust, and has been deacon of the Congregational church twenty-five years.

Shuabel Otis, a native of Norwich, Conn., was thrice married, having by his first wife Fennlia Francis, of Windham, Conn., seven children, and by his second, Sarah Butts, five children. His third wife was Irene Butts, of this town. James, son of Shubael, married Louisa Stowell, of Hinsdale, who bore him six children : Joseph H., Edwin, Ella M., Lettie E., James O., and John O., the latter being twins. All are now living except Edwin. Joseph H. succeeded to the homestead formerly occupied by his father and grandfather.

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Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885, Part 16

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., Printed at the Journal Office Number of Pages: 972

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., Printed at the Journal Office
Number of Pages: 972