USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885 > Part 19
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The Great Barrington Water Company .- The village has a fine water sup- ply, furnished from a reservoir which is supplied by East Mountain brook. The reservoir was built in 1868, by the above mentioned company, which was organized that year, with a capital of $20,000.00. The present officers of the company are John L. Dodge, president ; F. T. Whiting, treasurer ; Billing Palmer, secretary, with their office located at the store of F. T. Whit- ing & Son.
The Great Barrington Gas Company .- In 1854 the Berkshire Woolen Company put up works for manufacturing gas for lighting their mills, being first used October 30th of that year. In 1855 the above mentioned company was formed, which laid pipes through Main street and introduced into the
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village the gas made by the woolen company. It was first used for lighting business places in October, 1855, and has since come into quite general use.
The National Mahaiwe Bank .- May 24, 1847, the Mahaiwe Bank was or- ganized, with a capital of $100,000.00, which was subsequently increased to $200,000.00, and went into operation the following autumn. In 1865 it be- came a national bank. Its first officers were Wilber Curtis, president, and Henry Hooker, cashier. J. L. Dodge is now president, and F. N. Deland, cashier.
The Great Barrington Savings Bank .- This institution was incorporated February 23, 1869, and commenced business on the first of June of that year. Its first officers, elected May 8, 1869, were as follows: Egbert Hollister, president ; David S. Draper, and R. N. Couch, vice-presidents ; and M. Lud- low Whitlock, clerk. Egbert Hollister is now president, with Charles I. Tay- lor, treasurer.
The Berkshire Woolen Company .- This company, engaged in the manu- facture of fancy cassimeres, was incorporated in 1836, the business "having been commenced in a small way by J. C. & A. C. Russell, the year previous. The company gradually increased its manufacturing facilities by the purchase of all the immediate water-power and buildings on both sides of the river, and the erection of extensive works including the large stone factory-built in 1858-59 on the site of the old tannery-and a machine shop on the site of the old forge, on the east side of the river. The original factory of the Rus- sells, erected in 1836, was destroyed by fire in December, 1864. Parley A. Russell is now president and treasurer of the company, and George E. Rus- sell, secretary.
HOUSATONIC, another thriving post village, where are situated the extensive works of the Monument Mill Co., lies in the northern part of the town, on the Housatonic river. It has, aside from its factories, business places and neat residences, three churches (Congregational, Methodist and Roman Cath- olic,) and a good school building.
The Monument Mill Co .- This large concern was originally incorporated as the Housatonic Manufacturing Co., in 1830. That company, however, failed, and May 29, 1850, the present company was organized. The mills have sixty-eight jacquaid looms, 1,800 spindles, and give employment to 350 hands, who turn out 330,000 quilts and 2,700,000 pounds of plain, fancy and double and twist cotton warps per year. The present officers of the com- pany are George Church, president, and John M. Seeley, agent and treasurer.
The Owen Paper Co .- In 1852 Heniy L. Potter erected a paper-mill on the site of the present mill, which was destroyed by fire in March, 1855. Dur- ing the following year Messrs. Owen & Hulbert purchased the property and erected a paper-mill which they operated until 1862, when the Owen Paper Co. was organized. Since that time they have erected the large mill about half a mile down the stream from the old works, The firm does a large busi- ness in the manufacture of ledger, bank note, bond, thin linen, wedding royals,
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and writing paper of all kinds. The stock is owned by Henry D. Cone and his wife, who was the widow of Edward H. Owen.
VAN DEUSENVILLE (Van Deusen p. o.) is a small village located midway between Great Barrington and Housatonic, on Williams river, and on the Housatonic railroad. The village has only the works of the Richmond Iron Co, a church, school-house, about twenty dwellings, etc., though it was for- merly of considerable importance, having three stores, an hotel, two factories, a chair shop, a wagon shop, and a blast furnace. Isaac L. Van Deusen, to whose energy and enterprise the village was largely indebted, and whose re- sources were impaired in building it up, removed to Grafton, Ohio, in 1834, and died there. He was highly esteemed, represented this town four years in the general court, 1820-21, and 1827-28, and was also for several years town treasurer. The Richmond Iron Co. have extensive works for smelting ore located here, but they are not now in operation.
William R. Calkins's grist-mill, located on road 23, is operated by steam power, has two runs of stones and grinds from 100 to 150 bushels of grain per day.
B. F. Gilmore's saw-mill, located on road 25, is operated by water-power and has two lumber saws, one shingle-mill and a planing-mill. It gives em- ployment to four men and cuts 300,000 feet of lumber and 300,000 shingles per annum.
William P. Turner's saw-mill, located on road 28, is operated by steam- power, employs four men, and cuts 1,000,000 feet of lumber per year.
Messrs. Ashley and Pomeroy, of the committee for laying out the townships, came to Housatonic in March, 1726, determined the boundary, on the river, between the two towns, and made the division of the Lower Township. It is to be presumed that some settlers were admitted into the Upper Township in that year, and it is certain, from records of the committee, that several of them had entered upon their lands previous to May 12, 1727. These settlers were molested by the Dutch people, who claimed the lands as within the jurisdic- tion of New York, and the progress of the settlement was for a time delayed by the settling committee, of May, 1727, issued by instruction of the lieu- tenant-governor, prohibiting the further laying out of lands, and prosecution of suits against the New York claimants. The records of the committee furnish but little information relative to the cause or extent of the troubles with the Dutchmen. The State of New York, claiming the Connecticut river for its eastern boundary, had granted the lands along the Housatonic, as has been stated in our County Chapter, to the Westenhook patentees, thirty years pre- vious to the commencemet of the settlement, and these patentees, or others holding under them, now contested the right of the Massachusetts settlers to the lands in both townships. [It is said that the New York men brought suits against some of the settlers and caused them to be arrested and taken to Al- bany for trial. These troubles retarded the settlement of the town for a number of years.
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The majority of the first settlers were English, several of them from West- field and that vicinity, while a few were Dutch from the State of New York. The earliest settlers, south of the bridge, were Coonrod Burghardt, Samuel Dewey, Samuel Dewey, Jr., Asahel Dewey, Thomas Dewey, John Granger, Samuel Harmon, Moses Ingersoll, David King, Stephen King, Israel Lawton, Joseph Noble, Thomas Piper, John Phelps, Joshua Root, Joseph Sheldon, Samuel Suydam, Lawrence Suydam, Joshua White, Samuel Younglove, Sam- uel Younglove, Jr. Most of these settled here from 1726 to 1730, none it is probable, coming later than 1733. Above the bridge, the forty proprietary rights in the Upper Township were, in 1742, owned by sixteen individuals, several of whom were non-residents.
The early settlers in that part of the town were Derrick Hogoboom, Hez- ekiah and Josiah Phelps, Joseph Pixley and his sons Jonah, Joseph, Moses and Jonathan, John Williams, Isaac Van Deusen, Jehoiakim Van Valkenburgh, John Burghardt alias De Bruer, and Hendrick Burghardt. A little later came William King, Thomas Horton, Daniel Nash and his son Jonathan, Jonathan Willard and David Ingersoll. These last named appear all to have resided here as early as 1740. To these settlers, or to the owners of proprietary rights, house lots, with meadow and upland, were laid out by the settling com- mittee, along the valley of the river from the north line of Sheffield to the foot of Monument mountain ; and a few locations were made west of the Green river, in the southerly and westerly parts of the town. But with these few exceptions the settlements were for the most part confined to the valley, and did not penetrate the more remote parts of the town until 1753, or latter.
The first town meeting was warned by Gen. Joseph Dwight, July 18, 1761, to "meet at the meeting-house, on Wednesday, July 22d, 1761, at four o'clock, P. M. At this meeting Joseph Dwight was chosen moderator, and the following list of officers elected : Mark Hopkins, town clerk ; Joseph Dwight, Timothy Hopkins and John Burghardt, selectmen and assessors ; Timothy Hopkins, town treasurer ; Thomas Pier, Jr., constable ; Aaron Shel- don, Jonathan Pixley and William Brunson, hog reeves; Timothy Hopkins, Jonathan Nash and William Brunson, surveyors of highways; Aaron Sheldon and Israel Root, fence viewers ; Timothy Hopkins, sealer of leather ; Wil- liam Ingersoll, Jonathan Nash and Timothy Hopkins, overseers of the work- house; William Ingersoll and Jonathan Nash, tythingmen ; and Jonathan Nash, Timothy Hopkins and William Brunson, wardens.
In 1775 the town had 961 inhabitants, and in 1790 its population had increased to 1,373. Among the prominent citizens earlier than 1810, may be mentioned the following : James Hyde, George Beckwith, Allen Henderson from New Hartford, Conn. ; Samuel and Gamaliel H. Barston, from Sharon, Conn. ; David and Isaac Leavenworth, Ebenezer Pope, originally from Leb- anon, Conn. ; Samuel Riley and Timothy Pelton. Of those between 1810 and 1820, were William Cullen Bryant, John Chatfield, Charles and Ralph Taylor, Alvenus Cone and Charles Foote. Between 1820 and 1830, John C.
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and Asa C. Russell, Increase Sumner, Elijah Foster, Gilbert Munson, Wil- liam M. Battell, Daniel Wilcox, Linus Manville, Washington Adams and Benjamin Peabody. Between 1830 and 1840, Noble B. Pickett, Augustine and Daniel E. Giddings, Enos Foote, George Taylor, John C. Cone, John D. Cushing, Joshua R. Lawton, Phineas Chapin, Jchn H. Coffing, George W. Sterling, John W. Couch, Henry Loop, William S. Stevens, William and George Stanley, and Philip Barnes and many others.
Prominent amongst the men active in town affairs between 1810 and 1830, were David Wainright, Lucius King, Moses Hopkins, David Leavenworth, James A. Hyde, John Whiting, Ebenezer Pope, George H. Ives, William C. Bryant, John Seeley, Berjamin Rogers, Samuel Rosseter, Isaac L. Van Deu- sen, and George Beckwith. Among those most prominent between 1830 and 1850, and several of them later, were Charles W. Hopkins, David Ives, Edward P. Woodworth, George Pynchon, Increase Sumner, Ralph Taylor, Gilbert Munson, Benjamin Peabody, Prentice Comstock, Philip Barnes, Henry Loop, Isaac Seeley, Charles Foote, Almon I. Loring, Joshua R. Law- ton, Augustine Giddings, Loring G. Robbins, Jacob H. VanDeusen, Charles W. Emerson and Samuel Newman.
The men furnished by Great Barrington during the late war, the troubles attending the Shays Rebellion, the Indian mission established here, the town's court history, newspaper history, etc., etc., have all been noticed in our County Chapter, to which we refer the reader for further information. In the following brief biographical notices we mention a few of the early set- tlers, a few of those whose deeds have identified them with the history of the town, and a few of those whom the exhaustive and well-arranged "History of Great Barrington," by Charles J. Taylor, to which we are so largely indebted, has omitted to notice.
David Humphrey, born in 1720, was one of the early settlers of Great Bar- rington, locating on the farm now owned by Hiram Comstock. His son Hugh, who was born December 8, 1749, married Desiah Pixley in 1776, and in 1794, purchased the farm now owned by Mark Humphrey, which farm has ever since been in the possession of the Humphrey family. David, son of Hugh, who was eight years old when his father moved upon the homestead, married Sophronia Hamlin, of Canton, Conn., and reared a family of seven chirdren, five of whom, Mark, of this town, Isaac, of Springfield, Mass., Electa Nichol- son, and David, of Nashville, Tenn., and Francis Hollister, of Kansas are still living. In 1867 Mark Humphrey, in company with George R. Ives, pur- chased the Woodruff property of seventy nine acres and opened Bridge street. In 1872 he purchased the right of way from the Berkshire House to the bridge of Mr. Ives, at an expense of $1,500.00, and built the first bridge across the stream at this point, at the cost of $2,408.00, proceeding at once to grade the street at the additional expense of $2,000.00, making the total expense $6,000.00. In 1880 the town voted to accept the bridge and roads, and pay Mr. Humphrey $500.00.
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David Sanford, born in Medford, Conn., in 1737 came to Great Barrington about 1756, making the first settlement on the farm now owned by his great- grandson, F. T. Sanford. He married Bathsheba Ingersoll, in 1757 by whom he had ten chilldren. David, Jr., born January 6, 1759, married Hannah Medway, rearing a family of ten children. John son of David, Jr., born May 22, 1784, married Aurora Farnham, who bore him six children, five of whom, John F., and Frederick T., of Great Barrington, Mrs. Mary L. Wilmot of New York city, Mrs. Aurora Laselle, of Florida, and David, of St. Paul, Minn., are still living.
William Pattison, born in Connecticut, came to Great Barrington before the Revolution, locating on road 6, and served in the war from this place. He married Betsey Williams, who lived only about a year. He afterwards married Wealthy A. Lawrence, by whom he had eight children, two of whom, William, of Withville, Va., and Bazy W., of this town, survive.
Phineas and Hezekiah Atwood were among the first settlers in this town. A son of Phineas, Phineas, Jr., who was born September 11, 1766, married Amy Martin in 1793, and reared a family of eight children, of whom one son, Henry, of Lancaster, N. Y., survives. Jeremiah, son of Phineas, Jr., mar- ried, in 1841, Cynthia Upham, who died in 1861. He married Mariette C. Bullard, in 1866, rearing one son, Henry B., who survives, residing on road 26. In 1824 Phineas was elected colonel of a company in the battalion of cavalry in the first brigade, 7th division. He died April 14, 1882.
Con Murray, a native of Ireland, enlisted and came to this country under Burgoyne, and was with him until the surrender, after which he came to Great Barrington, locating on the farm now owned by William Palmer.
Peregrine Comstock, from New London, was among the early settlers in this . town, locating on the place now owned by Burdett Shepard. Hiram, son of Prentice, and grandson of Peregrine, born in 1805, married Eleanor Town- send, rearing a family of five children, four of whom, Perry G., Mrs. Euretta Laning, Mrs. Mary A. Van Deusen, of this town, and Mrs. Mary E. Cross, of Berkshire, N. Y., are living.
Elijah Dwight the first clerk of the court, and register of probate, was the
. son of Gen. Joseph Dwight, and was born at Brookfield, April 23, 1740. He held the above offices until the Revolution, and September 6, 1765, was ap- pointed a justice of the peace and special justice of the court of common pleas. He is understood not to have sympahized very strongly with the pop- ular leaders in the Revolutionary contest. He certainly was not an active Whig, but he was a man of the highest character and standing, and never in any respect obnoxious to his fellow citizens. He was repeatedly a represent- ative from Great Barrington, a member of the State senate from 1788 to '93, a member of the convention which ratified the Federal constitution in 1788, and one of the justices of the court of common pleas from 1787 until his death. He died at Brookfield, June 12, 1794. It is said of him-"he was an able magistrate and a very gentle, kind-hearted, good man." He married
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a daughter of Dr. Thomas Williams, of Deerfield, but has now no living descendants. His home in Great Barrington was the home built by his father and is still standing.
Mark Hopkins was the youngest child of Timothy Hopkins, of Waterbury, Conn., born September 18, 1739, and graduated at Yale in 1758, in the class of Israel Stoddard. He came to Great Barrington, perhaps drawn there because it was the residence of his elder brother, Dr. Samuel Hopkins, then pastor of the church here. He was admitted to the bar at the first session of the court of common pleas (September, 1761), the first person admitted to the bar in this county. At the same time he was by the court appointed register of deeds, which office he held by successive elections to the time of his death. It is worthy of mention that he was succeeded in this office by his nephew, Moses Hopkins, Esq., in 1778, who, in his turn, was re-elected from time to time for a period of sixty years. Mr. Hopkins was also county treasurer for a number of years, Kings attorney or prosecut- ing officer, from an early date, and justice of the peace from 1766, after the Revolution commenced, and during the unsettled state of the government, he was appointed by the council (September 28, 1775), judge of probate for this county, but never assumed the office. He was a decided Whig at the open- ing of the Revolution, a member of the county convention at Stockbridge, July, 1774, and in 1776 joined the army about New York, as brigade major in the brigade commanded by Gen. John Fellows. He died in the service at White Plains, April 20, 1776. The house and office which he built and occupied in Great Barrington are still standing, though each is removed from its original location.
Isaac Seeley, who waslong register of deeds here, was born in Van Deusen- ville, June 27, 1805. He was afforded a common school education, and soon after leaving school he became a clerk in a store at Van Deusenville, and also taught school for a time. Later he went to Worcester, Ohio, where he was a clerk in a store. Returning to Great Barrington, in 1828, he again began teaching school, and taught school for several years. About this time he became interested in politics, and in 1833 was elected a Whig member of the legislature, and in 1840 was a member of the convention at Baltimore that nominated Harrison for President. In the spring of 1844 Mr. Seeley began to keep books in the store of the Berkshire Woolen Company, and continued in that occupation until 1846, when he was elected register of deeds, of the South Berkshire district, retaining the position until his death, in 1884. He also held town offices and was postmaster a number of years. His widow and five children survive him-Miss Julia A., Mrs. Kate Gallup, Miss Alice E., and George B., of this town, and Merret, of Concord, N. H.
Clarkson T. Collins, M. D., was born in Smyrna, Chenango Co., N. Y., January 8, 1821, and died in New York City, April 10, 1881. His parents, Job. S. and Ruth Collins, were well known and highly esteemed members of the Society of Friends. They removed to Utica, N. Y., in 1835, where they
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continued to reside until the father's death, in 1870. Dr. Collins graduated from the medical department of the University of New York, in 1843, hav- ing also attended the city hospital. He then settled in New York city, where he soon secured a good practice. Soon after his graduation, he was appointed one of the physicians to the Eastern Dispensary, and also district physician to the New York Lying-in Asylum. In 1845, with his characteristic energy and progressive ideas, he established the New York Medical and Surgical Reporter, when medical papers and magazines were by no menns so common as at the present day. Having made a special study of Gynecology, he estab- lished, in 1848, an infirmary for the treatment of female diseases and re- mained in charge of it until the year 1849. In that year he was compelled by repeated hemorrhages of the lungs to relinquish, for a time, his arduous professional duties. He spent four months on the Island of Madeira, and then made a tour through Spain, France and England. On his return from Europe he made a visit among the Berkshire Hills, and the climate here agreed with him so well that he decided to remove from New York city to Great Barrington, which he did, in the autumn of 1850, and continued to re- side here in his villa, known as "Indiola Place," until the time of his death. During his residence of over thirty years in Berkshire county he established a large practice and won a wide reputation for medical and surgical skill. In 1851 he founded an institution, still known as the "Collins House," for the treatment of chronic diseases, and received many patients from all parts, of the country.
Dr. Collins was an early advocate of the American Medical Association, and was a delegate from New York city at its meeting in Boston, in 1849. He was also one of the earliest advocates of the New York Academy of Medicine, which was organized in 1847. He was made chairman of the Com- mittee on Ether by the Academy when the members of his profession were divided in sentiment as to its use ; that committee consisted of thirteen men- bers, among whom were Drs. Valentine Mott, Parker, Post and other emi- nent men. Dr. Collins was a member of the American Medical Association, the New York State Medical Society, the Massachusetts Medical Society, and the Berkshire District Medical Society, and of the latter was twice presi- dent. He was also one of the censors and State councillors, also corres- ponding member of the Massachusetts Board of Health and of the Boston Gynecological Society. He devoted much time to the study of his profession and published a number of contributions to its literature. He married, in 1844, Lydia C., daughter of Charles G. Coffin, of Nantucket. In 1864 his two children, a son and daughter, died. This sad blow was followed in a few months by the death of his wife. Dr. Collins was a man of commanding presence and vigorous personality, which never failed to impress those with whom he was brought in contact, while his kind heart and genial disposition greatly endeared him to those who knew him best. He combined with a practical judgment and broad and progressive ideas, an indomitable energy
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and untiring perseverance that won for him an enviable place in the ranks of his profession, and enable him to exert an influence that will long be felt in the community in which he lived.
Augustine Giddings was born in Sherman, Conn., October 5, 1804, and died in Great Barrington, April 7, 1876. The early ancestors of this family, emigrated to New England from the parish of Great St. Albans, Hertford- shire, Eng., in the year 1635. Connected with this ancestry were Rev. Salmon Giddings, the first Protestant missionary in Missouri, in 1815; Joshua R. Giddings, representative in congress from 1838 to 1859 ; and Marsh Gid- dings, governor of New Mexico from 1871 to 1875. Both his father and the grandfather of Augustine bore the name of Jonathan, each engaged in hus- bandry, and the family estate in Sherman descended from father to son. Augustine came to Great Barrington in 1827, and was followed soon after by his brother, Daniel. Edwin, and then by his sister Laura, wife of N. B. Pickett, an earnest Christian and a skillful physician. The three families settled upon adjoining farms on North Plain, prospered in their worldly affairs, and cele- brated their thanksgivings together. Mr. Giddings was representative in the legislature of 1841, and held the office of justice of the peace forty-two years. Thoroughly orthodox in his religious faith, he instructed his family in the assembly's catechism, and daily acknowledged his Heavenly Father in family prayer. He married September 6, 1826, Olive S., daughter of Philo and Olive Millard, an adopted daughter of Dr. John Raymond, of Kent, Conn. Their children were as follows : Myra Ann, died young ; Edward Jonathan, entered the Congregational ministry, has labored in Housatonic, West Stock- bridge, Gill, Scituate, and Somerset, Mass., Eaton, N. Y., and Wolcott, Vt., married Rebecca Jane, only daughter of Revilo Fuller, of Sherman, Conn., descendant of Dr. Samuel Fuller, a deacon of the church in Holland, and signer of the compact on board the " Mayflower." He resides at Housatonic, and has four children-two sons in the employ of Springfield Union. Augus- tine Henry, graduated at Union college, settled as a lawyer in Michigan and was elected judge of the fourteenth judicial circuit, 1869, re-elected 1875, died in 1876. Theodore studied medicine, was graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in New York, and is in the successful practice of his profession at Housatonic. William, graduated at Williams college and at Union Theological Seminary, labored in the ministry at the West for a time, and now occupies the homestead ; he married Maria A., daughter of William Mallory, of Hamden, N. Y., and sister of Rev. Charles W. Mallory, of Housa- tonic.
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