Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885, Part 42

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 42

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The Advents at one time flourished here quite extensively, when the doc- trines promulgated by William Miller, who was a relative of the Millers of Savoy, created so much attention. Joe Smith, the Mormon prophet, also started a church, or community, here in 1810. The climate proved too warm for him, however, and he soon left for "greener " fields. The Shakers of New Lebanon, N. Y., also established here, in 1815, a community ; but they, too, thought it better to migrate. The hall they erected, in which to hold their peculiar religious services, is now used as a shed on Horace Ford's place. They also erected a grist-mill, shop, etc. They remained only a few years, when they returned to New Lebanon, N. Y.

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TOWN OF SHEFFIELD.

S HEFFIELD lies in the southern part of the county, in latitude 426' and long. 3°41', bounded north by Great Barrington, east by New Marlboro, south by the state line of Connecticut, and west by Egre- mont and Mount Washington. This town is not only interesting on account of the fine landscape and scenic beauties it presents, but it also brings for- ward facts which place it among the first in the county in point of historical interest, for its territory was a part of the old Housatonic townships, and within its borders was begun the first civilized settlement among the Berk- shire hills. But the story of these Townships, the first settlement, building of the first road, the part the town served in the Shays Rebellion, railroad history, etc., have all been mentioned in the county chapter, with still further notice in the sketch of Great Barrington, and in that of Stockbridge, so it will not be necessary to recapitulate at this point. In 1733 the Lower Town- ship was set off and incorporated as a town, eight miles long, north and south on the river, and wide enough to include seven miles square, according to the grant of 1722, and was called by the general assembly by the name of Shef- field, in honor of Sheffield, England. It extended north to Great Barrington bridge. Though the length was liberal for eight miles, it would seem the township could not then have been considered as extending as far west as the present line of New York. It was not until twenty seven years after, June 30, 1761, that Sheffield was reduced to nearly its present size, and the Upper Township incorporated as the township of Great Barrington. Several minor changes have been made in the town's area since, however, as fol- lows : Parts were annexed to New Marlboro June 19, 1795, February 7, 1798, and April 19, 1871, while parts were annexed to Egremont February 22, 1790, and February 16, 1824.

The surface of the town is beautifully diversified by mountain, hill, and verdant valley, the tout ensemble forming bewitching scenery that is charming in the extreme. In the eastern and western part of the town the scenery is both picturesque and grand, while the center, through which the Housatonic pursues a slow and serpentine course, lacks not in beauty. On the western border, in the northern part of the town, is located the celebrated " Dome of the Taconics," extending into the town of Mount Washington. Mr. Had- ley has given the following beautiful description of it and of the magnificent view its summit affords the beholder :--

"Two or three miles from Bash-Bish located in Mount Washington], is the Dome of the Taghconics, a lofty mountain rising, precisely like a dome, from the ridge of which it forms a part. It is, in our estimation, far superior to the Catskill, for you have, from a single spot, a perfect panorama below you ; you have only to turn on your heel, and east and west, north and south, an almost endless prospect spreads away on the vision. You are the center of a circle at least 350 miles in circumference ; and such a circle ! The mountains that stretch along the horizon between the Connecticut and the Hoosac rivers, on the northeast, fade away as the northern Taghconics, the Berlin and Canaan mountains greet you in the northwest ; and these, in turn, are forgotten as your eye falls on the dark mass of the Catskill, showing its

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huge proportions against the western horizon. And, then, between is such a wealth of scenery. The valley of the Housatonic, for miles and miles, spreads all its loveliness before you. There, too, are the two settlements of Canaan, and further up, a mere spot on the landscape, Sheffield ; and, still further up, Great Barrington, hardly visible amid its forest of old elms; while the white cliffs of Monument mountain shut out old Stockbridge from view, and the distant spire of Lenox church closes the long train of villages. Old Saddle- Back, of Williamstown (the Greylock range in Adams, North Adams and Williamstown), stands up to its full height against the misty mountains that repose further off in the horizon-a peculiar feature of the landscape. Egre- mont stands alone in the valley of the Green river, but its sloping land and swelling hills present a still lovelier variety. A low line of mist is dimly seen stretching along the black base of the Catskills, so indistinct that you would scarcely observe it ; and yet that is the lordly Hudson, heaving its mighty tide seaward, laden with the commerce of a nation. A mere pencil-mark in the landscape here, it gives no token of the haste and busy life on its sur- face. Close under the foot of the mountain, on the south, sleep the sweet lakes of Salisbury, while other lakes dot the horizon in every direction. But I cannot tell you of the prodigality of beauty which meets the eye at every turn. You seem to look on the outer wall of creation, and this old dome seems to be the spot on which nature set her great compass when she drew the circle of the heavens. A more beautiful horizon I have never seen than sweeps around you from this spot. The charm of the view is perfect on every side-a panorama, which becomes a moving one if you will but take the trouble to turn round."

In addition to the Housatonic, here some seven rods wide, the town is irregated by Schenab, Hubbard, Ironwork and other brooks, which furnish valuable motive power, though there are none on the Housatonic. Three mile lake, covering an area of about 104 acres, lies in the northeastern part of the town.

The geological formation of the town is of Lower Potsdam and Levis lime- stone formation. Specimens of asbestos pyrites, native alum manganese, and pyrolusite are found.

In 1880 Sheffield had a population of 2,204. In 1883 the town employed seven male and seventeen female teachers in its public schools, to whom was paid an average monthly salary of $29.57 to males, and $22.57 to females. There were 456 school children in the town, while the entire amount raised for school purposes was $3,578.61.

SHEFFIELD is a handsome post village located in the central part of the town on the Housatonic railroad. This village is commonly called " Shef- field Street," as it is located entirely on one street, extending about a mile on both sides of road 45, which is here lined with magnificent elms. At the southern end of the village is a large, beautiful elm, affectionately known as "The Old Elm." The village has three churches (Congregational, Metho- dist and Episcopal), four stores, one hotel, a high school building, etc., and about one hundred dwellings.

ASHLEY FALLS, a bright post village and station on the Housatonic rail- road, lies in the southeastern part of the town, on roads 71 and 72. It has

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one church (Methodist), a hotel, two stores, harness shop, monument works, blacksmith and wagon shop, and about eighteen houses.

SHEFFIELD PLAIN is a village similar in appearance to Sheffield, located about half a mile north thereof. It has about fifteen dwellings.

John R. Stanton's saw, shingle and grist-mill located on road 30, was built by Peck & Ensign, about fifty years ago, and came into Mr. Stanton's hands in 1870.

The Sheffield cheese factory and creamery, located on road 33, gives employment to four hands, who make about 1,300 cheese per annum.

William L Abbott's grist and flouring-mill, located on road 73, is owned by Mrs. William G. Bates, of Westfield, Mass. The mill-privilege occupied by this mill, is the oldest in the town, having first been used about 1733, the present mill being built about fifty years ago.

John N. Parmelee's saw-mill, at Ashley Falls, is owned by Mrs. William G. Bates, of Westfield, Mass.

Albert W. Curtis's saw and flouring-mill is located on road 23, being op- erated by water-power furnished by the Taconic creek. The flouring-mill is a stone structure and is known as the marble mill. It was built in 1840, by Ed- ward F. and Richard Ensign, as a paper-mill, and was used for this purpose by Doten, Mansfield & Root, until 1858, and in 1860 was converted into a flouring-mill by Ira Curtiss. Of the old paper-mill firm, the senior member, Bartlett B. Doten, is now dead. A. A. Mansfield is prominently connected with the Mount Holly Paper Company, at Carlisle, Penn, and Mr. Root is the present well-known high sheriff of the county.

It has usually, if not universally, been asserted that Obadiah Noble was the first settler in the town, and the first in the county. The facts attending this settlement have usually been given, mainly, as stated by Rev James Bradford, in the History of Berkshire, printed in 1829, as follows : " Mr. Obadiah No- ble was the first white man that came to reside in Sheffield. He was from Westfield, and came and spent the winter of 1725 here with no other human associates than the Indians. In the spring he went back to Westfield, and in June his daughter, afterwards the wife of Dea. Daniel Kellogg, returned here with him. She was the first white woman who came into the town. She traveled from Westfield, when about sixteen years of age, on horseback, bring- ing a bed with her, and lodged one night in the wilderness, in what is now the east part of Tyringham [Monterey]."

"This statement, though in the main correct," says Charles J. Taylor, in his admirable History of Great Barrington, " is nevertheless, open to criticism. The writer has been informed, as he believes truly, that it was Matthew No- ble-not Obadiah-who first came to Sheffield. Matthew was the father of Obadiah, and also of Hannah-born October 11, 1707,-who became the wife of Dea. Daniel Kellogg, May 13, 1731. Obadiah was at that time-1726 -under twenty-one years of age, unmarried, and, consequently, not the father of a sixteen year old daughter. And if the pioneer who spent the winter of

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TOWN OF SHEFFIELD.

1725-26 among the Indians, was the father of the young woman mentioned, he certainly was Matthew-not Obadiah Noble. This Matthew Noble, who was about fifty-seven years of age when he came to Sheffield, had a family of six sons and three daughters, all of whom appear to have removed with him from Westfield. Of his sons, Joseph, the eldest, settled in Great Barrington ; Hez- ekiah, Matthew, Solomon, Elisha, and Obadiah all located in Sheffield. Of his daughters, Hannah married Dea. Daniel Kellogg, of Sheffield ; Hester married Moses King, of Great Barrington ; and Rhoda married Ebenezer Smith, of Sheffield."

We have adopted Mr. Taylor's views, and have thus, in the county chapter, given Matthew Noble the credit of being the first settler. Coming on from Westfield, he located upon the farm now owned by William A. Forbes, at the Plain, and the site of his dwelling was just above that now occupied by Mr. Forbes's residence. Among the first settlers were those of the name of Aus- tin, Ashley, Westover, Kellogg, Pell, Callender, Corben, Huggins, Smith, Ingersoll, Dewey, Root, etc., in all about sixty, who had their lands, from 250 to 1,000 acres each, confirmed to them by the committee, by their personal attendance at Housatonic about 1733. The first town meeting was held at the house of Obadiah Noble, January 16, 1733, when Matthew Noble was chosen moderator ; Hezekiah Noble, town clerk; and John Smith, Philip Callender, and Daniel Kellogg, selectmen ; Daniel Kellogg, town treasurer ; Joseph Taylor, and Elisha Noble, constables ; Thomas Lee, Anthony Austin, and Samuel Dewey, tithingmen ; Nathaniel Austin, and Obadiah Noble, fence viewers ; Jonathan Root, surveyor.

At a town meting held in Sheffield, June 18, 1776, upon a resolution offered by a committee, consisting of Colonel Ashley, Dr. Lemuel Barnard, Colonel John Fellows, Colonel Aaron Root, and Captain Nathaniel Austin, it was voted that " in case Constitutional Congress should declare the Colonies inde- pendent of Great Britain, they, the inhabitants of Sheffield, would solemnly engage their lives and fortunes to support them in their measures." At the annual town meeting, held April 3, 1876, attention was called to the vote passed, a century before, -and on motion, "it was unanimously voted that the centennial anniversary of the day be observed in a fitting manner, and ac- cordingly, the centennial celebration was held on the 18th and 19th of the following June.

John, Philip and Nathaniel Callender, three brothers, descendants of Scotch ancestors, from Callender, of Monteith in Perthshire, were among the earliest settlers in Sheffield, coming here about 1827. Phillip was elected selectman at the first town meeting, and a deacon at the first meeting of the Congregational society. John, who located on road 14, had ten children, one of whom, Ezekiel, was a Revolutionary soldier. Heman C., a descend- ant of John, who located on road 14, is the only male representative of the fourth generation now living in Sheffield. He was born here June 2, 1810, and has traveled in nearly all the States in the Union. He has been engaged

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in the sale of clocks, and in the grocery and dry goods business. He has been married twice, and has reared two daughters and one son. Mr. Cailen- der has spent the last thirty-eight years in his native town, where has been twice elected selectman, twice road commissioner, a school committeeman, a bank director, steward and class leader and treasurer of the M. E. church. Archie, son of Philip, married Sally Savage, and had nine children, of whom Sally married a Mr. Boardman, whose son Dwight lives on the old Callen- der place.

Silas Kellogg was among the earliest settlers of Sheffield, locating here about 1739, on road 6, where his grandson, George, now resides. George, who has always resided on the homestead, has been chairman of the board of selectmen five years ; was the representative from the eighth Berkshire district in the legislative session of 1883, has been assessor for two years, and was president of the Housatonic Agricultural Society in 1883.

John Ashley was born at Westfield, December 2, 1709, and graduated from Yale college in 1730. He was a son of Col. John Ashley, who was for many years one of the justices of the court of common pleas in Hampshire, and one of the committee to advance the settlement of the Housatonic town- ships in whose lands he became largely interested, and whose estate in Shef- field ultimately descended to his son. Mr. Ashley was admitted to the bar in Hampshire county in 1732, and probably soon after settled in Sheffield, though whether he was to any extent engaged in the practice of law we have no means of ascertaining. He was an extensive land-holder and a merchant, represented his town in the legislature, was colonel of militia, and after 1753 was a justice of the peace. He acquired large wealth for the times and local- ity, and was enabled to supply the county with ready money towards the erec- tion of its county buildings, in 1761. He took his stand early and decid- edly upon the popular side in the Revolutionary contest, and presided at the county convention held at Stockbridge, July 6, 1774, which adopted the non- importation and non-consumption acts when the legislature of Massachusetts, undertook to govern the province under the old charter, committing the execu- tive functions to the council. Col. Ashley was appointed, February, 1779, one of the justices of the court of common pleas for Berkshire county, but the court was not organized. He died at Sheffield, September 1, 1802, having attained nearly the age ninety-three years. Among his possessions were a number of negro slaves, which he seems to have been inclined to retain after the declaration of independence. This gave rise to the noted case of Brown & Bet, vs. Ashley, commenced by writ of replevin, at the August term of the court of common pleas in 1781. It appears that these persons were slaves of the colonel, and under some harsh provocation had fled from their master and had been reclaimed. Theodore Sedgwick, then living in Sheffield, inter- ested himself in their behalf and this writ was the result. The defendant pleaded that the plaintiffs were his legal negro servants for life, and upon this plea the issue was joined. The plaintiffs were represented by Mr. Sedg-

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wick and Tapping Reeve, the distinguished lawyer of Litchfield, Conn., and the defendant by Davis Noble, of Williamstown, and Jonathan Canfield, of Sharon, Conn. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiffs and the defend- ant appealed to the supreme judicial court, but the judgment was not reversed. It does not appear whether the case was decided upon general principles or the specified circumstances of the case. It has been claimed, we think eroni- ously, that the case abolished slavery in Massachusetts. The female plaintiff continued afterwards an attached servant in the Sedgwick family, and was, we suppose, the veritable " Mum Bet" of literature and history. Col. Ashley left numerous descendants, some of whom are still living in Sheffield.

John Ashley, Jr., was born at Sheffield, September 26, 1736, graduated at Harvard in 1758, was admitted to the bar at the April term, 1762, and was made a justice of the peace in 1771. The only son of his father, destined to succeed to large interests in land, and engaging early in mercan- tile pursuits, he followed his profession only for a few years and then appears to have abandoned it forever. He continued to be quite frequent in his at- tendance on the court of sessions of which he was a member, before and after the Revolution. He represented his town in the legislature, and in the militia rose to the rank of major-general, and was in command of the force which dispersed the rebels in Sheffield during the Shays insurrection, February 26, 1787. He died November 5, 1799. He was twice married and has Jeft numerous discendants.

John Pell was a son of John Pell, of Sheffield, who came probably from Westfield. He was admitted to the bar at the December term, 1761, and practiced here in Sheffield with apparent success, if we may judge from the number of suits he brought. But it is to be feared that he fell early into graceless ways and brought discredit upon his honorable profession. As early as September, 1762, he was before the court of sessions upon his confession that he traveled on the Lord's day from the county of Hampshire through the towns of Sandisfield, New Marlboro, Tyringham and Sheffield, and he was thereupon fined ros., to be equally distributed to said towns for their re- spective poor. He disappeared from the court in 1765, and though living in 1773, his subsequent history is obscure.

Theophilus Cande, a Revolutionary soldier, was born in Middletown, Conn., August 2, 1736, and came to Sheffield soon after the close of the war, locating on road 80, being the first of that name to locate in the town. He had a family of five children, Zaccheus, Samuel, Isaac, Ira and Rebecca, to each of whom he gave a portion of the homestead farm, which was made up of a grant deeded him by the State. His eldest son, Zaccheus, also served in the war, and lived and died on the old homestead. He was thrice married, and it is a singular fact that his wedded life with each wife was just seventeen years. Of his family of twelve children, Warner and Zaccheus, Jr., reside in Sheffield. Warner, residing on road 59, married Sally Sparks, who bore him six children, three of whom are living. Zaccheus, Jr., has always resided on

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the old farm. He married Louisa Tuttle and has had a family of three chil- dren, one of whom, Horace, resides at home and carries on the farm for his father. Hopkins T., his other surviving child, is a prosperous farmer, being proprietor of the "Crystal Hill farm." He is a member of the Housatonic and Berkshire Agricultural societies, and was a member of the examining board of both societies in 1875. He has also been elected a school committeeman six terms. Zaccheus, Jr., represented the Eighth Berkshire district in the leg- islature of 1866 and '67.

Derrick Spurr, formerly Spoor, one of the earliest settlers, removed from Co- pake, N. Y., to Sheffield in 1760, and located on road 212, upon the farm now owned by Henry Spurr, a portion of land one mile square having been granted him by the State, which portion he subsequently divided among his four sons. He reared a family of four sons-Nicholas, Abram, John, and Isaac, and two daughters. Nicholas lived and died on road 21, upon the farm now owned by Abner Roys. Abram built near the old homestead, and the house which is over 100 years old, still stands. Isaac, who resided on the old farm, had six children, the youngest of whom, Moses, passed his entire life upon the homestead. He was a farmer, and had six children by his first wife and two by his third. His third son, Isaac, succeeded his father upon the farm, mak- ing the fourth generation to occupy the old homestead. Isaac married Mary Clark, of Salisbury, Conn., and has had two children,-George, residing on road 18, and Mary E., whose home is on Long Island. Isaac Spurr has been town assessor, is a prosperous farmer, and a highly esteemed member of the Methodist church.

Samuel Bushnell, among the first settlers in Sheffield, located on road 22, upon the farm where William Conway now resides, and reared a family. One of his sons, Samuel, Jr., born December 20, 1770, lived on road 19, upon the farm now owned by S. H. Bushnell. He married three times, rearing, in all, a family of five children. His oldest son, Samuel, was born and died on the old homestead, where be reared a family of six children. Of these, two, Sam- uel H. and David J., survive. Samuel H. married but has no children. David I. married Anna Bell Johnson, daughter of Captain Johnson, commander of one of the Federal gun boats, and resides in St. Louis, Mo.

Andrew Andrews came to Sheffield in 1788, when his son, Giles, was only nine years of age. Robert Dwight, son of Giles, who has always resided on his farm on road 59, has charge of the town poor.

Rev. Orville Dewey, D. D., whose father, a farmer, was among the first settlers in Sheffield, was born in 1794. After graduating at Williams col- lege in 1814 with the first honors of his class, he spent three years at Andover Seminary studying theology at the peril of his eye-sight. Recovering from this difficulty he preached a year for the American Educational Society, when he received a call to Gloucester, Mass., after which he assisted Dr. Canning, in Boston, for about two years. In 1823 he accepted a call to New Bedford, Mass., and, while still preaching, was weekly writing for the Christian Exam-

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iner. In 1835 he accepted a second call to the Second Unitarian church in New York city, now known as the Church of the Messiah, where he remained six years, during which time he received the degree of D. D. from Harvard college. In 1848 Dr. Dewey retired from this church, to his country home in Sheffield ; but, unable to remain idle, he wrote a course of twelve lectures on the " Problem of Human Destiny," which have been published and cir- culated all over the United States. In 1858 he took a temporary charge of the New South Society in Boston, returning again to Sheffield in 1862. He was an invalid for five years and died March 21, 1882, within one week of his eighty-eighth birthday, leaving a wife, one son and two daughters.

Dr. John Leland Miller, second son of Caleb Miller, a farmer, was born in Adams, in 1813, and attended the Berkshire Medical college, at Pittsfield, from which he graduated in 1837. The same year he went to the Belize, as surgeon for the Surveying Expedition of the United States. Being ship- wrecked on the tenth of September, 1838, at Gunkey, one of the West India Islands, while on his way home, instead of returning, as he had intended, he went to praticing in Providence. After practicing here for five years he be- came professor of the Pittsfield Medical college, where he remained two years, going from there to Illinois college, at Jacksonville, Ill., as professor of anatomy and physiology, in which capacity he served two years. On the thirteenth of July, 1847, he was appointed surgeon of the United States Army and served to the close of the Mexican war. He became an invalid after the war, and settled on a farm of eleven hundred acres, in Livingston Co., Ill., organizing the town of Fairbury, where he lived about five years. He then returned to Pittsfield and bought a farm of 200 acres, one mile from the Pittsfield park, and now owned by Mr. Learned, lived there ten years, and removed to Sheffield where he bought another farm of 200 acres, and where he now lives. Although the doctor is an old man of over seventy, he is still frequently called in council. In 1876 he was president of the Agricultural Society of Berkshire County, and is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, of which he has been president for several years.

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Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885, Part 42

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