Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885, Part 5

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 5

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The increase of population in Berkshire, its distance from the Connecti- cut river valley and the difficulty of communication attendant on the few and imperfect highways of the period, led, as we have stated, to the formation of Berkshire county, in 1761, the act of incorporation going into effect the 30th of June of that year. The first duty of the executive after the passage of this act of incorporation was to organize the new county by the appoint- ment of its judicial and executive officers. The governor of the province was then Sir Francis Bernard, who was appointed by the crown in 1760. Thomas Hutchinson, a native Bostonian, long familiar with the people and politics of the province, was lieutenant-governor, and Israel Williams was member of the council from the western counties. Governor Bernard then, on the 24th of June, appointed Joseph Dwight, William Williams, John Ashley and Timothy Woodbridge, justices of the Court of Common Pleas ; Joseph Dwight, judge ; Elijah Dwight, register of probate; and Elijah Williams, sheriff.

The Court of Common Pleas, as then constituted, was exceptionally timely and fitted for its duties, though the members of the court at this period were not usually entitled to very high respect for judicial ability. The justices were not commonly professional men, nor familiar with judicial proceedings. Very few of the judges of the Superior Court were bred to the law. But of the new Berkshire judges, Dwight and Ashley were educated lawyers, and the former

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had had a long judicial career. Williams and Woodbridge were cultivated and intelligent men and had long been magistrates. The first meeting of the justices of this court is recored as follows :- 1363793 "Berkshire : At the first meeting of the Justices of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, held at the dwelling of Timothy Woodbridge, Esq., of Stock- bridge, in said county, on Monday, the 13th day of July, in the first year of the reign of George the Third, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc., Annoque Domini, 1761 :

" Present, Joseph Dwight, William Williams, John Ashley, Timothy Woodbridge,

Esq's.

"After having taken and subscribed the oaths appointed by Act of Parlia- ment, instead of the oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, the Test or Declar- ation in said Act contained, together with the oaths of Arbitration, the Pre- vious oath respecting the Bills of Public Credit of Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, and the oath of office, unanimously oppointed Mr. Eli- jah Dwight to be the Clerk of said Court, who was sworn to the faithful dis- charge of his said office."

At the same time and place the same persons under commissions as jus- tices of the peace organized the Court of Sessions, appointed Elijah Dwight, clerk, and Mark Hopkins, register of deeds, the latter to hold the position un- til some person should be elected to the office.

By the statute incorporating the county, Great Barrington was made the shire town, and the courts were to be held alternately at that place and Pitts- field. The first regular session of the Court of Common Pleas was held at Great Barrington, on Tuesday, September 1, 1761, in the meeting-house which stood on the east side of the river, near the bridge in the upper part of the village. Seventy eight actions were entered, a jury was in attendance, and there were three trials. Mark Hopkins, who was admitted to the bar at this term, now tried and won his first case before a jury. The second session was held at Pittsfield, at the house of Col. Williams, one of the judges, on the first Tuesday of December, 1761, and this appears to have been the usual place of meeting in Pittsfield for a considerable period.

The Court of Sessions was held at the same time and places as the Court of Common Pleas and grand and traverse juries were in attendance, crimes and misdemeanors were inquired into and indictments duly presented and tried. The same Traverse jury appears to have served in both courts. The first criminal case tried by a jury was an appeal by one John Williams, Jr., who had been convicted before a justice of the peace of stealing two deer- skins. The jury acquitted him. The first indictment found by the grand jury was against Samuel Lee, of Great Barrington, for presuming to be an inn-holder and selling strong drink without a license. The first indictment returned by the grand jury which came to a hearing illustrates the spirit of the times. Hewitt Root, of Great Barrington, was indicted at the March term, 1762, for that "he did wittingly and wilfully suffer and permit singing,

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fiddling and dancing in his dwelling house, there being there a tavern or pub- lic house." He pleaded guilty and was fined 10 s. and costs. And a further illustration is found in the fact that at the same time Judges Dwight and Ash- ley were licensed as retailers of spirituous liquors, and their associates on the bench became their sureties.

The Court of Sessions made early provision for the erection of a court-house and jail at Great Barrington, but as late as 1765 they were still unfinished. Israel Dewey's house was fitted up and used as a jail for several years. The court-house was a plain unpretentious wooden structure, about 30x40 feet, and stood in and near the west side of Main street, in front of the entrance of Castle street, then only a lane leading to the residence of Rev. Samuel Hop- kins. It was high between joists, finished on the ground floor only, and had neither cupola nor spire. . The jail was a few rods southwest of the court-house and not far from the site of the present Episcopal church.

The records of the Court of Common Pleas show some peculiarities. There was not, so far we can learn, a practicing attorney residing in the county at the time of its organization, and the appearance in the court of lawyers from Hampshire county and the neighboring colony of Connecticut was continu- ous up to the period of the Revolution. Joseph Hawley, of Northampton, John Worthington and Moses Bliss, of Springfield, were quite constant in at- tendence, and more rarely John Bliss, of Springfield, Simeon Strong, of Amherst, Cyrus Marsh, of Windham Co., and John Canfield, of Sharon, Conn.

The justices of the court seem to have been accustomed to prosecute and defend their own cases in their own court, and the scarcity of lawyers led to the employment of non-professional attorneys. Jabez Ward, Esq., appeared often in behalf of his neighbors, as did Joseph Gilbert and William King, of Great Barrington, the latter a man of imperfect education but of fine natural endowments. The court was also empowered by law to make rules of practice. The wild and unsettled condition of the country is manifested by such de- scriptions of parties as the following, which are frequent : "Janathan Hinsdale, living on a tract of land north of Stockbridge, in the county of Berkshire, yeo- man, etc." This was in 1763, and the locality the present village of Lenox. Again-" Asa Hills, living in the green woods, so-called, on the road leading from Pittsfield to No. 4, etc." The common law forms were closely followed, and great strictness in pleading seems to have been required, notwithstanding the provision of law enacted as early as 1701, that, "no writ

* shall be abated for any kind of circumstantial errors or mistakes when the person and case may be rightly understood and intended by the court, nor through defeat or want of form only, and the justices, on motion made in court, may order amendment thereof."

The first Probate Court was held at Great Barrington, July 30, 1761, and the court continued to be held there until after the death of Judge Dwight, when it was alternately held at Great Barrington, Stockbridge and Pittsfield. The sessions of the Court of Common Pleas terminated with the May term,

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1774, the August term being broken up by troubles attending the general unsettled condition of the country just prior to the Revolution. Judge Dwight died in 1765, and was succeeded by Perez Marsh, otherwise the com- position of the court was unchanged previous to the Revolution. Colonel William Williams succeeded Dwight as judge of Probate, and held his last court August 17, 1774. The office of registrar of deeds was kept open until July, 1776, perhaps the period when the time of the incumbent expired. From this time until 1780 no courts were held. In the meantime occurred the Revolutionary contest, and soon after its close events occurred wbich brought about the memorable Shays Rebellion. For this reason it may be well to insert a sketch of that affair at this point, though it properly belongs, perhaps, to another portion of our work. For the following notice thereof we are indebted to the History of Berkshire County, published in 1829 :-

Shays Rebellion, though primarily brought about by the scarcity of money, caused by the interruption of trade and the drain upon the finances of the country, by the war, was largely owing to two circumstances in this county. One was, that when the Revolutionary war began, the people were laboring under the hardships of a new settlement ; the calamites growing out of the war being, therefore, more deeply felt. The other circumstance was, that the inhabitants of this county were the first to put a stop to courts at the beginning of the Revolution, and were very backward in consenting to have them resume their functions. No probate courts were held here from 1774 until 1778, and even deeds were not recorded from 1776 until the last year mentioned. In the course of this year the several towns were consulted as to whether they would open and support the courts of Common Pleas and of Quarter Sessions, until a new constitution should be framed, and adopted by the people, and the point was decided in the negative by large majorities; as appears from the minutes of the county convention, which sat on the 26th of August. This convention drew up a petition to the General Court to call a convention of delegates from all the towns and places liable to taxation, to form a bill of rights and a constitution of goverment. In 1779, it is under- stood, the county assented by a small majority of their delegates in conven- tion, after debating more than two days, that the courts might be opened, though no judicial proceedings were actually held until after the adoption of the constitution, in 1780. This suspension of the courts, however desirable the constitution was, besides occasioning a vast accumulation of causes for future adjudication, was unfriendly in its influence to order and good govern- ment.

After the constitution was adopted, courts were held according to the pro- visions which it contained, and justice again began to take its direct course. But in 1782 an act was passed, usually denominated " The Tender Act," pro- viding that executions issued for private demands might be satisfied by neat cattle and other articles particulary enumerated, at an appraisement of im- partial men under oath, which caused a multitude of law suits to be post-

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poned until the year's existence of the law expired. This law furnished the first signal for hostilities between creditors and debtors, between the rich and the poor, the few and the many. The increase of civil actions gave employ- ment to the practitioners at the bar, and induced an unusual number to enter into the profession. These became odious to debtors as the legal instru- ments of their distresses, and were held up at length as the proper objects of proscription by the disaffected generally. From the bar ill will was extended to the courts and to the senate, to the laws of the state and the provisions of the constitution. No mild measures were sufficient to satisfy the discontented. An evil spirit continued and spread, until the summer and autumn of 1786, when events rapidly hastened the crisis which took place the succeeding win- ter.

During the Revolutionary war, county conventions had been held for the purpose of devising measures for promoting the public welfare, and were in- strumental of much good. They were now held to consider grievances, and became, in some instances, the instruments of unspeakable mischief. On the 22d of August a convention met at Hatfield, composed of delegates from fifty towns in the county of Hampshire, which drew up a catalogue of griev- ances and sent them into the counties of Worcester and Berkshire. The effect of this was soon visible, though the precise effect that followed may not have been intended by the convention. On the last Tuesday in this month a large number of insurgents, supposed to be near 1,500, assembled under arms at Northampton, took possession of the court-house, and effectually prevented the sitting of the court of common pleas and general sessions of the peace there at that time, as prescribed by law.

Upon this violence a proclamation was issued by the Governor, calling in strong and spirited language upon all the officers and citizens of State to sup- press such treasonable proceedings. Notwithstanding this, more than 300 insurgents appeared the next week at the court-house in Worcester, where the court of common pleas and general sessions of the peace were to be held, and by a line of bayonets prevented the judges from entering the door. Though the judges went to a neighboring house, opened court and adjourned until next morning, the violence of the mob soon obliged the court of common pleas to adjourn without day, and the court of sessions to adjourn until the 21st of November.

During the last of August, a county convention was held at Lenox, which took a much more justifiable course than the convention in Hampshire. Though a rage for reformation was conspicuous in it, yet they passed many judicious resolutions, and among others, that they would use their influence to support the courts in the exercise of their legal powers, and endeavor to quiet the agitated spirits of the people. The insurgents, however, assembled in force to the number of eight hundred at Great Barrington soon after, and not only prevented the sitting of the courts, which were so obnoxious to them, but broke open the jail and liberated the prisoners. They also com

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pelled three of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas to sign an obliga- tion, that they would not act under the commissions until grievances were redressed. It, however, in justice to the insurgents, ought to be mentioned that Hon. Elijah Dwight, then too a member of the senate, upon a proper resistance, was not compelled to subscribe to the obligation.

Hitherto the insurgents had directed their efforts against the inferior courts, but they were now determined to prevent the sitting of the Supreme Judicial Court, that they might not be indicted for obstructing the adminis- tration of justice. This court was about to sit at Springfield, and the Gover- nor ordered Maj. Gen. William Shepard to occupy the court-house with 600 men, which was accordingly done. But on the day of the court's sitting, Shays appeared with a body of men equally numerous, greatly incensed that the government had taken possession of the court-house. The insurgents sent a request to the judges that none of the late rioters should be indicted, who returned a firm reply, purporting that they should execute the laws of the country agreeably to their oaths. But such was the confusion attending the presence of so many armed men, who were continually increasing, and the panel of jurors not being filled, that the court adjourned on the third day, after resolving that it was expedient to proceed to the county of Berkshire.

When the time arrived for holding this court in Great Barrington, the mal- contents, pretending the resolution of the court was merely intended to deceive them, assembled there in considerable numbers, became extremely riotous, and obliged several persons, who were obnoxious to them, to fly. One gentleman, who sustained a very honorable office, was pursued by armed men in various directions, houses were searched, and, in some instances, citizens fired upon.

Some time after this, and while the house of representatives (for the legisla- ture had been convened) was debating respecting the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, some of the insurgents, alarmed by the circumstance, sent a circular letter to the selectman of many towns in the county of Hampshire requiring them immediately to assemble their inhabitants, to see that they were furnished with arms and ammunition according to law. They also ordered the militia in some instances, to be furnished with sixty rounds of powder, and to stand ready to march at a moment's warning.

On the 21st of November, when the Court of General Sessions were to meet according to adjournment at Worcester, the seat of justice was filled with armed men ; the justices were obliged to open at a tavern, and all the exertions of the sheriff were insufficient to procure them entrance into the court-house. Immediately on receiving news of this procedure, the Gover- nor issued his orders as commander-in-chief, called upon the major-generals of the militia immediately to see that their several divisions were completely organized and equipped, and ready to take the field at the shortest notice.

In the early part of December some hundreds of the insurgents collected at Worcester, and on the 16th of the month Shays assembled 300 malcon-

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tents at Springfield, took possession of the court-house, and prevented the court, which was to sit then at that place, from proceeding to business.

On the first of January the Governor and council, in view of these transac- tions, determined to raise a body of men from different counties, to suppress the insurrections which were now taking place with alarming frequency. Seven hundred from the county of Suffolk, 500 from Essex, 800 from Middlesex, 1,200 from Hampshire, and 1,200 from Worcester, the whole amounting to 4,400, rank and file. Two companies of artillery were ordered to be detached from Suffolk, and a like number from Middlesex. The troops of the first three named counties were ordered to rendezvous in the vicinity of Boston, on the 19th of January; those from Hampshire, at Springfield, on the 18th ; those from Worcester were to join the troops from the eastern counties at the town of Worcester, and the whole were to be raised for thirty days, unless sooner discharged.

On the 19th of January, 1787, his Excellency directed Major-General Benjamin Lincoln, of Hingham, whose military reputation and mildness of temper admirably fitted him for the delicate and important trust, to take com- mand of this respectable course. In his instructions, the Governor informed him that the great objects to be effected were, to protect the judicial courts, particularly those which were about to be held in the county of Worcester, should the justices of those courts request his aid ; "to assist the civil magis- trates in executing the laws, and in repelling or apprehending all and every such person and persons as should in a hostile manner attempt and enter- prise the destruction, detriment or annoyance of the commonwealth; and also to aid them in apprehending the disturbers of the public peace, as well as all such persons as might be named in the State warrants, that had been or might be committed to any civil officer or officers, or to any other person to execute."

In case he should judge it necessary, the govenor authorized him to call upon the major-general for further and effectual aid; and while he confided much to his discretion, suggested that it might be necessary to march a re- spectable force into the western counties. The raising and movement of these troops produced strong sensations among the malcontents, and prompted them to various expedients and efforts, in hope of securing themselves from punishment, and of distressing and weakening the friends of government.

Before the troops under Gen. Lincoln marched from Roxbury, Gen. Shepard had been ordered to take possession of the post at Springfield. He soon col- lected 900 men, and afterwards 200 more, the continental arsenal furnishing them with a sufficient number of field pieces, and such equipments as were wanted. It became an object with the insurgents to gain this post, if possi- ble, before the arrival of Lincoln's army. Their movements, therefore, were towards West Springfield on the one side, where about 400 men were col- lected under the command of Luke Day ; and towards the Boston road on the other, where 1, 100 more were headed by Shays himself. Besides these, a

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party of about 400 from Berkshire, under the command of Eli Parsons, were stationed in the north parish of Springfield.

Shays proposed to attack the post on the 25th of January, and wrote to Day on the 24th to co-operate with him. In a letter which was intercepted by Gen. Shepard, Day replied that he could not assist him on the 25th, but would the day after. On the 25th however, Shays, confident of his aid, about four o'clock in the afternoon, approached the arsenal where the militia were posted, with his troops in open column. Gen. Shephard sent several times to know the intention of the enemy, and to warn them of their danger, and received for an answer, in substance, that they would have the barracks, and they immediately marched onward to within 250 yards of the arsenal. An- other message was sent, informing them that the militia was posted there by order of the Governor and of congress, and that if they approached any nearer they would be fired upon. One of their leaders replied, "that is all we want," and they immediately advanced one hundred yards. Gen. Shepard was now compelled to fire; but, in hope of intimidating them, ordered the first two shots to be directed over the heads, which, however, instead of retarding, quickened their approach ; and the artillery was at last pointed at the center of their column which produced its effect ; a cry of murder was raised in the rear of the insur- gents ; their whole body was thrown into the greatest confusion, and in spite of all the efforts of Shays to form them, the troops retreated precipitately about ten miles to Ludlow, leaving three of their men dead on the field, and one wounded. Had Gen. Shepard been disposed to pursue, he might easily have cut many of them in pieces. But the object was not to destroy them, but to bring them to consideration and amendment.

Notwithstanding this retreat, there was serious apprehensions of another attack from the insurgents ; for Day was now on the west side of Connecticut river with his men, and Parsons at Chickopee, whither the party of Shays repaired, after losing 200 men by desertion, on the 26th. This apprehension was allayed the next day, at noon, by the arrival of Lincoln's army.

Gen. Lincoln had reached Worcester on the 22d ; had protected the courts there, and learning the situation of Gen. Shepard had started for Springfield on the 25th, having dispatched orders to Gen. Brooks to proceed to the same place as speedily as possible, with the Middlesex militia. Although the march from Worcester was very fatiguing, the weather being uncommonly severe, the army were ordered under arms at half past three o'clock the same day on which they arrived ; most of them were marching across the river to attack Day, while Gen. Shepard, with the Hampshire troops, moved up the river to prevent Shays from joining him. The party under Day speedily fled, with scarcely a show of opposition, and made the best of their way to Northamp- ton. In like manner the party under Shays fled the next day, as the army approached them, retreating through South Hadley to Amherst.

On his arrival at Amherst, Gen. Lincoln, finding that Shays had passed through the place with most of his men towards Pelham, too long to be over-

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taken, gave up the pursuit and directed his march to Hadley, the nearest place he could find cover for his troops. The next morning, information being received that a small number of Gen. Shepard's men had been taken at Southampton, and that some of the enemy were still there, a party was sent after them, who overtook this body of insurgents at Middlefield, at mid- night, captured fifty nine prisioners and nine sleigh loads of provisions, and returned to the army the day following.

The whole force of the insurgents having taken post on two high hills in Pelham, called east and west hills, which were rendered difficult of access by reason of the depth of snow around them, Gen. Lincoln, on the 30th of Jan- uary, directed a letter to Capt. Shays and the officers commanding the men in arms against the government, calling upon them to disband their deluded followers, threatening them with apprehension in case of refusal, etc., which led on to an unsatisfactory correspondence. The time for an adjourned ses- sion of the legislature soon arrived, and on the 3d of February a sufficient number of representatives were collected for the transaction of business. On this day the Governor laid before the assembly a full view of the state of things in the commonwealth, and the day after, a declaration of rebellion was unanimously passed in the senate, and concurred by the lower house. A peti- tion dated the 30th of January, and purporting to be from the officers of the counties of Worcester, Hampshire, Middlesex and Berkshire, at arms, in Pel- ham, was sent to the general court, acknowledging their error in taking up arms, and promising to lay them down and return to their homes, on condi- tion that a pardon should be granted the insurgents for their past offences.

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Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885, Part 5

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