USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885 > Part 37
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The first town-meeting was held in the forenoon of the 11th of May, 1761, at the house of Dea. Crofoot, which stood near the west end of Elm street. The only business transacted was the election of the following officers : David Bush, moderator ; William Williams, clerk ; David Bush, treasurer ; David Bush, Willam Williams and Josiah Wright, selectmen and assessors ; Jacob Ensign, constable; Gideon Goodrich, David Bush and Eli Root, highway sur- veyors ; Nathaniel Fairfield and William Francis, fence-viewers ; Simeon Cro- foot, sealer of leather and of weights and measures; Solomon Deming and David Noble, wardens ; and John Remington and Reuben Gunn, deer- reeves.
Among the following biographical sketches, we have endeavored to give, in a brief, concise way, a sketch of as many of the early settlers and prominent citizens of ancient and modern times as our space would possibly admit, though we are conscious that many who have taken a prominent part as builders of Pittsfield's history, and many whom we pass by with regret, are of necessity omitted.
Charles Goodrich, whom we have previously mentioned as bringing the first team into the town, was a member of the provincial congress, a member of the general court a number of years, and a justice of the court of common pleas. He lived here sixty-three years, and died November 16, 1816, aged ninety-six years.
Col. William Williams, who was among the early settlers of the town, was a chief justice of the court of common pleas, judge of probate, and a repre-
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sentative of the town for many years. He died April 5, 1788, aged seventy- five years.
Israel Stoddard, son of the famous Col. John Stoddard, and an early sheriff of the county, was born at Northampton in 1741, and graduated at Yale in 1758. He married Eunice, daughter of Col. Israel Williams, and settled in Pittsfield, where his father had such a large interest in lands. He was ap- pointed a justice of the peace in 1765, was a major in the Berkshire regi- ment, and received high consideration on the source of his own merits, as well as the social standing of his family. At the outbreak of the Revolution he naturally took the conservative side, and was so free in the utterance of his sentiments that he came to be regarded as a bitter Tory. And when the authorities of Pittsfield undertook to deal with him in the early part of 1775, he fled to New York. He returned, however, after a short period, but con- tinued to be watched and regarded with suspicion for two or three years longer. At length he gave in his adhesion to the "United States of America," and was a volunteer at the battle of Benington, in 1777. He died at Pitts- fied, June 27, 1782.
Woodbridge Little was born at Colchester, Conn., in 1741, graduated at Yale in 1760, studied theology, and, it is said, preached for a time in Lanes- boro ; but he afterwards took up the study of the law, was admitted to the bar at the April term, 1764, and probably settled in Pittsfield about that time. He was made a justice of the peace in 1770, and seems to have been actively engaged in his profession up to the time when business in the courts ceased. He was a decided loyalist in the early part of the Revolution, fled to New York with Maj. Stoddard, and was afterwards arrested and tempo- rarily imprisoned, but subsequently made his peace with the Whigs and was a volunteer at the Battle of Bennington, in 1777. He appears to have been sincere in his convictions, and to have taken the loyal side conscientiously. But after 1777 he adhered faithfully to his new alliance, and was so fully re- stored to the confidence of his fellow citizens that he was chosen selectman in 1781, and for several successive years. He did not resume the practice of law in the re-organization of the courts, but continued to take a lively inter- est in church and state affairs, allying himself with the Federalists, as was inevitable with his conservative tendencies. He died July 21, 1813, leaving no children, and by will gave the bulk of his estate to Williams college.
Daniel Jones was born at Weston, Mass., July 25, 1740, graduated at Har- vard in 1759, was admitted to the bar in Berkshire at the December term, 176t, and was the first lawyer who settled in Pittsfield. He was son of Col- onel Elisha Jones, who had a large interest in the town. His older brother, Elisha, was a settler here, and was nearly related to the Williams and Jones families in Stockbridge, all of which will account for his taking up his resi- dence here. The family were mostly loyalists and Elisha, Jr., became a refu- gee, and his estate was confiscated. Another brother, Isreal, was later a highly respected citizen of Adams. Daniel Jones remained in Pittsfield but
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a short time, though the records of the court seem to show that he had suffi- cient inducements to prolong his stay. His name "does not appear in the records of the April term, 1763, and in December of that year he mar- ried Lydia, daughter of Maj. Elijah Williams, of Deerfield, and removed to Hinsale, N. H., where he was a reputable lawyer and judge, dying in 1786 and leaving descendants who are widely scattered.
Col. John Brown was born in Sandisfield, October 19, 1744, graduated from Yale in 1771, studied law in Rhode Island, and commenced practice in Pittsfield in 1773. He was elected a delegate to the provincial congress, was a member of the general court, and in December, 1775, marched at the head of a regiment of militia to Mount Independence. After the battle of Bennington, being sent by General Lincoln with a detachment to surprise the garrison at Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, then in the hands of the British, he made himself master of the outposts, took an armed ship, sev- eral gun-boats, 200 batteaux, a quantity of arms and ammunition, and re-took a standard and about one hundred American prisoners. Not being able to capture the forts, however, he returned to General Lincoln with his booty. He was killed at Stone Arabia, in Palantine, N. Y., in an ambuscade of Can- adians, Tories and Indians, on his birthday, October 19, 1780, at the age of thirty-six years.
Rev. Thomas Allen was born at Northamton, Mass. January 17, 1773. He was educated at Harvard, graduated in 1762, studied theology under the in- struction of Rev. Mr. Hooker, of Northamton, and on the 18th of April, 1764, was ordained as the first minister of Pittsfield, where, during a ministry of forty- six years, he labored to promote the temporal as well as the spiritual wel- fare of the town. Mr. Allen was simple and courteous in his manners, zeal- ous in matters of belief, warm in his attachments, and frank in his reproofs of those he considered in the wrong. His frankness and zeal sometimes ex- posed him to the charge of indiscretion. Convinced that the American Rev- olution was founded in justice, he engaged in it upon a principal of duty. He was chairman of the committee of correspondence, chosen by the town in 1774. Constitutionally ardent and intrepid, he was impelled in those trying times to take up arms in his country's cause. When a detachment of Bur- goyne's troops had penetrated as far as the vicinity of Bennington, he marched with the volunteer militia of this town to meet and repel the invasion. Be- fore the attack was commenced, being posted opposite to that wing of the enemy which was principally composed of refugees, who had joined the in- vaders, he advanced in front of our militia, and in a voice distinctly heard by those Tories, in their breast-works, exhorted them to lay down their arms, assuring them of good treatment, and warning them of the consequences of a refusal. Having performed what he considered a religious duty, and being fired upon, he resumed his place in the ranks, and when the signal was given, was among the foremost in attacking the enemy's works. He was a Colonist in sentiment, and in ecclesiastical government, a Congregationalist, believing
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that Congregationalism in the church was analogous to republicanism in the state. On principal he was opposed to Presbyterianism and Episcopacy, as he was to aristocracy and monarchy in civil government. He died February 11, 1810, aged sixty-seven years. During his ministry 341 were admitted to the church.
Colenel Simon Larned, who came here in 1784, was born at Thompson, Conn., in 1756. He was an officer of merit in the Revolution, represented this district in congress, was sheriff of the county many years, and was col- onel of the 9th U. S. Infantry during the war of 1812. He died here No- vember 16, 1817, aged sixty-one years.
Colonel Oliver Root, another early settler, came from Westfield. He served as a soldier in the second French war, was an officer in the Revolution, and was with Colonel Brown when he was killed, in 1780. He died May 2, 1826, aged eighty-five years.
Thomas Gold, a distinguished lawyer of his time, was born in Cornwall, Conn., graduated from Yale in 1788, and settled here in 1792. He held va- rions town offices and was president of the agricultural society and of the Agricultural bank.
Hon. Timothy Childs, M. D., was born at Deerfield, in 1748, entered Harvard college, studied medicine, and in 1771, at the age of twenty-four years, commenced practice in Pittsfield. He entered the army in 1774, and did not resume his practice here until 1777, which he continued until within a week of his death, which occurred February 20, 1821, at the age of seventy- three years. He represented the town many years in the legislature, was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and president of the district society, composed of fellows of the State society. His son, Dr. Henry Hal- sey Childs, born in 1783, graduated from Williams college in 1802. He became one of the most prominent and honored citizens of the town. He was one of the most active and energetic promoters of the Berkshire Medical Institution. The school which was located in the old Pittsfield hotel, went into operation in 1822. In April, 1863, at the age of eighty years, Dr. Childs resigned his professorship though he retained the presidency from 1837 during the life of the institution. The war and other causes, together with the better facilities offorded by the heavily endowed city schools, served to depress the school here, and the institution was practically closed in 1867-68, and in 1871 the building was sold to the town, which remodeled it for the use of its high and grammar schools. J. E. A. Smith says of this school in his History of Pittsfield : "In an existence of forty-four years it had graduated eleven hundred and thirty-eight doctors of medicine, who lield a rank in their profession equal to that of those sent out by any college. It had had a large share in the advancement of medical science and the eleva- tion of medical character. It had attracted to Pittsfield in its faculty and others, persons of culture, who had adorned the society of the village while they mingled with it, and left it the better for their presence. And, when it
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could no longer creditably perform the work which was entrusted to it, it gracefully yielded the place to those who could."
Hon. Ezekiel Bacon, son of John Bacon, was born at Stockbridge in 1776, graduated from Yale, and came to Pittsfield in 1806. He was a member of the State legislature in 1805-06 ; chief justice of the court of common pleas in 1813 ; first comptroller of the United States treasury from 1813 to 1815 ; and representative in congress from 1807 to 1813. He subsequently removed to Utica, N. Y., and was a delegate to the constitutional convention of 182[.
Hon. George N. Briggs was born in Adams, April 12, 1796. He com- menced life by learning the trade of a hatter ; spent one year in an academy ; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1818; was a representative in congress from 1831 to 1843, officiating during the twenty-seventh congress as chairman of the committee on the postoffice ; and from 1844 to 1851 was governor of the State. From 1853 to 1859 he also held the position of judge of the court of common pleas, having been a member of the State con- stitutional convention of 1853, and registrar of deeds from 1824 to 1831. He was a trustee of Williams college for sixteen years, and was a noted ad- vocate of the temperance cause. He died in 1861, from effects of an acci- dent received from a gun.
Theodore Pomeroy was born in Pittsfield, September 2, 1813, and died here September 26, 1881, aged sixty-eight years. He was the eighth of the twelve children of Lemuel and Mrs. Hart Pomeroy, his father being a grand- son of Gen. Seth Pomeroy, an officer of note in the French and Indian war and one of the four selected by the general court of Massachusetts at the opening of the Revolution to command its armies, which position he modestly declined, however, giving as a reason his advanced age; but he served with credit at Bunker Hill, and subsequently as colonel, until he died in camp at Peekskill, N. Y., in February, 1777. The Pomeroy family, however, had also a civil record quite as honorable as its military. Eltweed and Eldred, the first of the family in America, are recorded in Dorchester, where they first settled, as " men of independent and liberal minds, in good circumstances and of respectable standing," and such, as a rule, their descendants have ever since been. The branch of the family of which Theodore was for many years previous to his death the head, have been manufacturers or artizans of exceptional skill and enterprise, for seven generations-or, including his sons and successors, eight. Eldad, the son of Eltweed, having received a grant of 1,000 acres of good land in Southampton, as an inducement for him to establish himself there as a gunsmith and blacksmith, the grant being still in the possession of one branch of the family. Seth Pomeroy, before he was. made a general, also lived at Southampton and carried on his art as a skill- ful manufacturer of firearms.
Lemuel Pomeroy, the father of Theodore and grandson of General Seth, is one of the most noted in the annals of the family, and was also one of the
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most noted and enterprising of the citizens of Pittsfield. He was born in Southampton in 1778, and came to Pittsfield in 1799, bringing with him the very anvil which his ancestor, Eldad, had carried up the narrow Bay Path from Windsor to Southampton, and which his descendants still preserve among the most precious of their many heirlooms. He first established himself here as a blacksmith, but in 1806 he entered upon his ancestral business, the manufac- ture of firearms. His small musket factory he soon enlarged so as to be able to contribute several thousand stand of arms annually to the supply of the national army and to the militia of the several States, until 1846, when the government, with his advice, began to manufacture its own arms. The income from this lucra- tive business he devoted for the most part to building up in the face of innu- merable obstacles, one of the feeble early woolen manufactories until it became one of the most successful and respected in the State. This enter- prise at last brought him in large profits, though near the close of his life Mr. Pomeroy is said to have remarked that his " experience as a woolen manufac- turer had been a hand to hand conflict with obstacles, now of one kind, now of another," and that as to the results, "he would gladly exchange all his pro- fits for two per cent. upon the outlay."
Lemuel Pomeroy was also a man of great public spirit. He erected ex- tensive buildings to enable his son-in-law, Prof. Dewey, the distinguished naturalist, to establish the great school knows as the Berkshire Gymnasium, and which were finally occupied by the Maplewood Young Ladies' Institute, another flourishing educational institution. He also built the town-hall-a good one for its day-the town furnishing the site, and being a partner with his heirs in its ownership to a late day. Indeed, there was scarcely and pub- lic movement in Pittsfield in which he did not have a prominent part and generally a controlling influence ; but that of the largest interest, and for which the people of Pittsfield owe his memory the deepest gratitude, was his influence in securing the route of the Western, now the Boston and Albany, railroad through the town, in preference to one further south. The result of this spirit of enterprise, public and private, was that in 1839 he had invested largely in various species of property, from a church edifice to workman's cottage, and was conducting the most extensive business in Berkshire county, taking it in all of its branches. In that year, having purchased the interest of his partner and kinsman, Josiah Pomeroy, in the woolen factory, he admitted as partners his sons Theodore and Robert, the firm name being Lemuel Pomeroy & Sons. Lemuel. Jr., his eldest son, was afterward connected with the famous blast furnace at Copake, N. Y., being then his father's prin- cipal assistant in the musket factory, while Edward, the youngest, being not twenty-one years old, was a practical iron worker.
Theodore Pomeroy was at this time twenty-six years old. He had been educated at the Pittsfield Academy and at the Gymnasium of his uncle, Prof. Chester Dewey. In 1831, at the age of eighteen, he began his business edu- cation as his father's clerk in the Pomeroy factory, there thoroughly fitting
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himself for the position which he was soon to assume and occupy to his life's end. In 1849 his father died, leaving a large estate, and a will in which, after properly providing for other members of the family, he made his three sons, Theodore, Robert and Edward, then resident in Pittsfield, his residuary legatees. The will further provided for the continuance of the business by these sons, under the firm name of Lemuel Pomeroy's Sons, Theodore being at the head of the firm. In 1878 the business had increased to mam- moth proportions, and the old firm, L. Pomeroy's Sons, was dissolved, Theo- dore purchasing the interest of Robert, Edward having sold his interest to them several years previous. Theodore continued the firm name, and his son, S. Harris, attaining his majority soon after, he admitted him as a part- ner. In addition to the woolen mills, the store, fine residence and other valuable real estate connected with them, Mr. Pomeroy, at his death, owned a large interest in the Greylock mill, at North Adams, and was president of the company, as well as a large amount of other property of different kinds variously distributed. He was one of the principal founders of the Pittsfield bank, and from its organization to his death was one of its most valued di- rectors, and was also for many years a director of the Berkshire Life Insurance Company. Mr. Pomeroy neither sought nor accepted political office, though whenever the manufacturers of the country met in council he had a high place among them, where the utmost confidence was placed in his judgment and wisdom, and on these occasions he showed abilities which would have well fitted him for either legislative or executive positions. Perhaps the greatest tribute one could give his memory is to quote the following remark, from one who knew him best: " In whatever relation Theodore Pomeroy is considered, those most highly esteemed him who knew him most intimately and truly." Mr. Pomeroy married three times, as follows : In 1836, to Fannie, daughter of Hon. Ezekiel Bacon, of Utica, N. Y., but formerly of Pittsfield, who died in 1851, by whom he had two children, who died in infancy; in 1852, to Mary, daughter of Col. Silas Harris, of Pine Plains, N. Y., who bore him six children, of whom Fanny (Mrs. W. L. Brown, of North Adams), Mar- garet H. (Mrs. W. P. Washbun, of Chicago), Mary (Mrs. Frank Russell, of Pittsfield, ) and S. Harris are living. She died in 1863. In 1866, he married Laura C. Knapp, of New York, who bore him two children, one of whom, Theodore L., is now living. She survives him.
Hon. Henry L. Dawes was born in Cummington, Mass., October 30, 1816, graduated at Yale in the class of 1839, was admitted to the bar in 1842, and commenced practice at North Adams, where, for a time, he edited the Transcript. While a student he taught school and edited the Greenfield Gazette. He represented North Adams in the legislature of 1848, 1849 and 1852, and in the constitutional convention of 1853. In 1853 he was elected to the State senate. He was district attorney of the western district from 1853 until elected to the thirty-fifth congress, in 1857, wherein he served as a member of the committee on Revolutionary claims ; was re-elected to the
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thirty-sixth congress, serving on the committee on elections ; re-elected to the thirty-seventh congress, serving as chairman of the committee on elec- tions ; re-elected to the thirty-eighth congress, serving on same committee, and to the thirty-ninth the same, also serving on that on weights and measures. He was also a delegate to the Philadelphia " Loyalist's Convention" of 1866, and re-elected to the fortieth congress, serving again at the head of the commit- tee on elections. In 1874 he declined a re-nomination, and in the following session of the legislature was chosen a United States senator, which office he now holds.
Hon. Henry Chickering, son of Rev. Joseph and Sarah A. Chickering, was born at Woburn, Mass., September 3, 1819, and died at his residence in Pittsfield, March 5, 1881, aged sixty-one years and six months. When Mr. Chickering was three years of age his parents removed to Phillipston, Mass., where he received a common school and academic education, and later, after a short term in the Phillips Academy, at Andover, he entered the printing office of Gould & Newman, of Andover, to learn the printer's trade, being then fourteen years of age. In 1844 he purchased the Transcript, of North Adams, continuing his connection with that paper until 1855, during which year he took up his residence in Pittsfield, having, in 1853, purchased an interest in the Eagle of this place, which he retained until his death. On the formation of the Republican party, Mr. Chickering identified himself with it, attending the first Republican convention held in the State, and earnestly sus- tained its interests during his remaining life, having also been a prominent and influential member of the Whig party. When the party came into power, in 1861, he was appointed postmaster in Pittsfield, a position he retained for twenty years, or until death released him from earthly duties. In 1833-54, during the administrations of Governors Clifford and Washburn, he was a member of their councils, and from 1860 to 1868, when he resigned, he was a trustee of the Reform school, at Westboro. In 1843, Mr. Chickering be- came a member of the Congregational church of Phillipston, was a deacon of the church at North Adams for many years, and in 1860 was elected a dea- con of the first church in Pittsfield, retaining the office until 1873, when he resigned. He was also for many years a prominent member of the Masonic order, having united with the LaFayette Lodge, of North Adams, in 1851, his first step in that direction. In 1863 he received all the degrees of the Scottish Rite, up to and including the thirty-second, and in September, 1880, was elected to the rarest of the Masonic degrees, the thirty-third. Mr. Chick- ering was twice married, his first wife being Miss Martha Newton, of Phil- lipston, who died in 1843, after a wedded life of about eighteen months, leaving a son who survived her three years. In October, 1844, he married Miss Elvira P. Allen, of Bowe. Mass., who survives him, having borne him three children, John A., Sarah C., and William H., only the latter of whom is iving, a rising lawyer of San Francisco, in partnership with a son of Judge Thomas, of Boston.
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Edwin Clapp, son of Jason Clapp, was born in Pittsfield, May 1, 1809, and died here July 27, 1884. His father came to Pittsfield, from Northampton, in 1802, and established the afterwards famous carriage manufactory in Pitts- field about the time of Edwin's birth, and in which Edwin became a partner. Mr. Clapp took an active interest in town affairs, was among the first in most important public undertakings, and took an especial interest in the fire department, of which he was for many years a member. Mr. Clapp was twice married, first to Miss Emily, daughter of Capt. Jabez Peck, who bore him three children, all of whom died young, and next to Miss Mary, daughter of the late Calvin Martin, who survives him with one daughter, one child having died in infancy.
Josiah Carter, a native of Portland, Me., who settled here in 1841, formed a partnership in 1846, with Capt. Curtis T. Fenn, (a dry goods merchant here since 1814,) under the title of Fenn & Carter, as dealers in carpets and paper hangings. They carried on business for twenty-five years on Bank row. In 1871 Mr. Fenn died, but the old firm name was retained until 1882, when Edgar T. Lawrence was admitted to partnership, under the firm name of Carter & Lawrence. This is the oldest carpet store in town. Mr. Carter has been town treasurer several years, is one of the directors of the Agricultural national bank, the Berkshire Life Insurance Company, the Berkshire savings bank, having been a director of the life insu- rance company since its organization.
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