USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Vol I > Part 14
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such a crime may I be pardoned." It is not recorded that the faculty pursued the wrongdoer further.
While a student, Mir. Todd wrote a pungent article on Swedenbor- gianism, which was irritating to the exponents of that belief. In his autobiography he notes that on February 14, 1823, he began the writing of his first sermon. He was not physically strong, and he was obliged to abandon his studies in search of recuperation, his condition being then so unpromising that one of the professors expressed the belief that he was not long for this world. After a short respite, in course of which he did some editorial work in Boston, he returned to Andover Seminary, and was appointed librarian. He now began to attract atten- tion as a speaker and writer, and frequently appeared before public assemblages. In the midst of his literary work he was brought into the family of Mr. Willis, proprietor of the Recorder, who was the father of N. P. Willis and of a daughter who was a popular writer under the pen-name of Fanny Fern. In June, 1823, when he was twenty-three years old, Mr. Todd was licensed as a preacher by the Suffolk Associa- tion, which included the orthodox ministers of Boston. After speaking in the Park Street church he was invited to settle in Holliston. Soon after he delivered an orthodox discourse at Groton, a hotbed of Unita- rianism. At this time he had received four offers-a mission in Maine, one in Virginia, one to South Carolina, and another to Savannah. All of these he declined, as he did a fellowship in the seminary. He again preached orthodoxy at Groton. and so plainly that one of his Unitarian hearers said, " everybody who comes from Andover has hell-fire enough to send us all to misery." The church voted to extend to him a call. but the parish, comprising all the legal voters in the town, would not agree to it. As a sidelight upon the conditions at that time, it is curious to note that at the election rum was served by the pailful, and was even
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taken into the meeting house. He continued, however, to preach in Groton, and during this time declined the editorship of the New York Observer. After the building of a church, he was ordained on January 3, 1827, being then twenty-seven years old. In a revival which followed, Mr. Todd was taken ill as the result of over-exertion. He recovered, however, in time to be married to Mary, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Brace, of Newington. His bride had been a fellow-pupil in the Rev. Charles Herrick's school. Shortly after entering Andover Seminary, Mr. Todd visited Mr. Brace. who was so pleased with the young man that he consented to a correspondence with his daughter. Later, when Mr. Todd was twenty-three years old, and on Miss Brace's eighteenth birthday, the two young people drew up a formal contract of engage- ment, in which it was specified that they should marry "when circum- stances should render it convenient." The convenient time had now arrived, and the marriage occurred March II, 1827, the ceremony being performed by the father of the bride. Mr. Todd had preached twice on that day, previous to his marriage.
Mr. Todd remained all his life a member of the church in Yale Col- lege, being opposed on principle to holding such relationship with any church of which he was pastor. He remained at Groton until 1832, when he accepted a call to Northampton, and he delivered his first ser- mon there on January 20, 1833, in the town hall. Ten days later the organization of the church was completed, and he was installed as pastor. A meeting house was built and was dedicated on the following Christ- mas. In 1835 he aided in the organization of a Congregational church in Philadelphia, and he was installed as its pastor November 17. 1836, when thirty-six years old. A church edifice was built and was dedicated just a year later. In his dedication sermon Mr. Todd made what he termed " a simple comparison of Congregationalism with other church
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systems," and with such vigor that, to use the language of a letter writ- ten at the time, " one universal howl of rage went up from Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Unitarians alike." Mr. Todd's course lay not through unruffled seas. There were dissensions at times, many of his people desiring a return to Presbyterian forms. The eventual downfall of the church was, however, due to an unpayable debt.
In 1842, at the age of forty-two, Mr. Todd was installed as pastor of the First church of Pittsfield, the Rev. Dr. Shepard, of Lenox, preach- ing the sermon. In the spring of the same year he brought his family and settled in the place which was destined to be his home during the remainder of his life. Shortly after his arrival, his house burned down, and his family barely escaped with their lives. Within a year a par- sonage was built which was their shelter for thirty years. His life was a particularly busy one in all these years, and his letters containing the narrative are of intense interest. They record the completion of the new church building in 1853: the various happenings to his people : his own experiences with " all sorts and conditions of men; " the death of his mother after a long life in which her diseased mind was her constant affliction ; the six years' stay in the home of his father-in-law, the Rev. Dr. Brace : and much more.
His reputation had now extended throughout the country. As early as 1855 he visited the west and spoke to twenty-two different audiences. His health became impaired, and he found some restoration in a visit to Europe. In 1869 he journeyed to California with a company of Pitts- field people. and took part in the ceremonies of laying the last rail uniting the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads, making the prayer upon that interesting occasion, and which was printed in almost every newspaper in the land. He delivered seven lectures in California, and with such acceptability that he was invited to a pastorate in San
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Francisco at a salary of $10,000 in gold. In 1870, after a pastorate of nearly thirty years, during which he had declined numerous offers to go elsewhere, he resigned, feeling that he had served as long as could be expected of him. and being desirous of rest. It was not until 1872, however, that his successor was installed in the person of the Rev. E. O. Bartlett, of Providence. In 1873 he delivered an historical discourse narrating the career of the church from its foundation to that time.
As minister and man his influence over the community was com- manding. He advocated fearlessly whatever he believed to be right, and, later in life, was free from that bigotry which has lessened the effect of the preaching of many sincere and really good men. In his "Life," as edited by his son, in the analysis of the preaching of this excellent man, especial note is made of the simplicity of his style, his infrequent use of scientific theology, his great use of illustration and comparison, which his retentive memory facilitated, the gravity and solemnity of his sermons, and his strong common sense and deep knowledge of human nature. He did not often denounce particular sins or inculcate specific cities, but aimed rather to purify the fountain of human action. His power of pathos, which led him to sometimes indulge in what might he called the luxury of woe. and affect his hearers to the point of weep- ing, gave him a certain strong hold upon many. His enthusiasm was great, and he had fine imaginative faculties. In spite of his fondness for the pathetic, he was fond of humor, but never allowed that side of his nature of appear when in the pulpit.
His industry as a writer continued throughout his life. In 1835 he published his " Student's Manual." which was widely dstributed in the United States, and of which 150.000 copies were sold in England. His " Sabbath School Teacher." published about 1840. met with great success. In 1814 he wrote a very interesting history of the
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Berkshire Jubilee, of which lie was one of the principal managers. In 1848 he was induced to assume the editorial work on the " Berkshire Agriculturist," but he continued the work only eleven weeks. His "Lecture to Children," which was really his first book, went through many editions in England, as well as in the United States, and was translated into French, German, Greek, Bulgarian, Tamil, and other lan- guages. His "Stories on the Shorter Catechism " were well received. In 1867 he published a " Treatise on Woman's Rights," which brought upon him the severest criticism of Gail Hamilton.
Dr. Todd maintained the most pleasant relations with other pro- fessions, and especially with medical men, who made him an honorary member of the Berkshire Medical Society. To the end of his life he kept up interest in the progress of science, and in all the progressive movements of the day. He kept a workshop well stocked with lathes and tools, and many specimens of his mechanical skill are highly treas- ured by their possessors. He was especially devoted to his home, his church and his town, and county, and never allowed opportunity to praise them go unimproved. He was an earnest advocate of all public improvements. His social qualities were surpassing, and his extreme aptness for after-dinner speeches made him much sought after. For more than twenty years of his later life he visited the Adirondacks, hunt- ing and fishing. He was an expert authority upon fishing apparatus, yet preferred hunting as a personal sport. In boating he was as venture- some as a youngster. In all his trips on pleasure bent, he was one of the most genial and companionable of men.
Dr. Todd was a trustee of Williams College, and he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from that institution in 1845. He died August 2, 1873, at the age of seventy-three, and the entire body of people, of all denominations and of none, attended his funeral.
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CEBRA QUACKENBUSH.
Among the men whose public spirit and enterprise have contributed in large measure to the substantial development of Pittsfield the gentle- man whose name forms the caption for these memoirs is justly entitled to the general recognition which he receives as a public benefactor. He is of Hollandese extraction, a representative of that splendid American type that has been so important a factor in our national progress, which through numerous generations has retained the characteristics of the early Dutch settlers of the Hudson valley, indomitable will, persever- ance, thrift and conscientiousness. Of the ancestors of Cebra Quack- enbush William Cebra, maternal grandfather, was a soldier in the Pa- triot army during the war of the revolution. Anthony Bries. great- great-great-grandfather, held the office of high constable in Albany, New York, in 1696: deacon of the Dutch Reformed church, 1697, and one of the number who attained title for the city of Albany to the " Beaver Creek " lands. His son Hendrick (great-great-grandfather) was a free holder in Albany in 1731, and alderman 1738. He married a Van Vechten, and the son. Gerret Theumisse Bries (now spelled Breese) held numerous offices of trust in Albany. Gerret married a Grosbeck in 1774. The families Bries, Van Vechten and Grosbeck were all rep- resented prominently in the military and civic life of the colonial and revolutionary periods. The Van Schaicks are also among the collateral connections of Major Quackenbush. The founder of the American family now known as Quackenbush was
Pieter Quackenboss (originally Van Quackenbosch) who as early as 1668 was engaged in the making of brick in Albany, New York. His son was
Adrian Quackenboss, who married in 1699. Catherine, daughter
Cebra Zucotrabalho,
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of Sybrant Van Schaick, and settled at Schaghticoke. To this couple eight children were born and their names show the habit of educated Dutch people of that period of Latinizing. The records show that these children were baptized on dates ranging from January 7, 1700, to October 29, 1719. Sybrant, baptized June 14, 1702, married Elizabeth Knickerbocker. February 7, 1725, and of their children John served in the French and Indian war, was captured by the Indians, from whom after suffering many hardships he succeeded in making his escape. Of the children of Adrian Quackenboss the one in direct line with the immediate subject of these memoirs began an Anglicization of the family name by adopting the spelling Quackenbush. He was
John Quackenbush, born October 28, 1710. married Elizabeth Rumbley, December 22. 1730. He purchased a farm in 1765 on what was then known as the " Schneyder Patent." which had been granted by the crown in 1762, a 10,000 acre tract on the eastern border of the present town of Hoosick, New York, subsequently called Mapletown. He had six children, three sons and three daughters. His son Adrian. born in 1746, died a Patriot soldier on a revolutionary battlefield. Of these children the great-grandfather of Cebra Quackenbush was
Gosen (English rendition Hosea) Quackenbush, born May 27. 1744, rendered valuable service during the war of the revolution in the field, at the head of his command and as colonel in the second military department at Albany. He married and left three children, the eldest, grandfather of the immediate subject of these memoirs, being
John Quackenbush, who married Hannah. daughter of Peter Ostrander. The children of this marriage were Peter. Benjamin. John L. and Susannah. Of these
Peter Quackenbush. born at Hoosick. May 31. 1807. was for a number of years senior member of the leading powder manufacturing
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firm of Quackenbush, Steer & Armstrong, whose plant was located at Fair Haven, Vermont. He was married November 13, 1833, to Mary Cebra, daughter of James and Maria (Cebra) Breese. James Breese was a descendant of Hendrick Breese, one of the early settlers of Al- bany, New York, and whose son Anthony was high constable of that city in 1696. Mr. Peter Quackenbush purchased a farm of his wife's father at Hoosick, upon which he resided for many years. Mrs. Quack- enbush is described in the " Annals of Hoosick " as "a lady rich in graces and virtues." Collaterally connected with this family was Maria Bogardus, whose mother was Anneke Jans, from whom Trinity Church acquired its now priceless real estate. Anthony Breese, son of Henry Breese and Wyntje Van Vechten Breese, married Carayutje Yates about 1759. John Yates Cebra, a great-uncle, from whom the subject of this sketch received his given name, married in April, 1809, Mary Harriman, a daughter of a distinguished Long Island family.
Cebra Quackenbush was born at Hoosick, Rensselaer county, New York, September 7, 1838. He attended Ball Seminary, Hoosick, and Hudson River Institute, Claverack. He immediately thereafter entered upon the serious duty of obtaining a business education by ac- cepting a clerkship in the store of A. Thayer & Son, Hoosick Falls. where the service and salary were in inverse ratio, the latter being $5 a month and board, the former long hours and miscellaneous drudgery. Mr. Quackenbush's inceptive business experience on his own account was in Hoosick Falls, whence in 1865 he came to Pittsfield and pur- chased the American House, a then comparatively unknown hostelry, and within a few years had secured a patronage of the best class of travelers which tested its utmost capacity and necessitated its material enlargement. In 1876 he practically retired from his business activ- ities still, however, retaining his proprietary interest in the American
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House until 1889, when he leased the property to Messrs. Plumb and Clark, who have had continuous and conspicuous success in the con- duct of the hotel, which since 1898 has been known as The New Ameri- can. The year last named dates the completion of the commodious and elegant new structure and the remodelling and refitting of the rear of the original structure, the building in its entirety being one of the im- posing edifices of North street. It was built upon plans of J. Mc- Arthur Vance, architect, by Messrs. Dodge and Devannay. builders, and may justly be pronounced upon both mechanical and architectural grounds a most substantial improvement to the county seat. As a hostelry it is only necessary to say that it almost monopolizes the patronage of that best informed class of all patrons of hotels, the commercial traveler. Many public dinners have been given at the hotel, a notable and interest- ingly unique one during Mr. Quackenbush's administration being that of June 30, 1870, to the citizens of Pittsfield, who had reached or passed the age of seventy, at which the late Hon. Thomas F. Plunkett presided.
Another of the building enterprises of Mr. Quackenbush was his erection in 1871-72, in conjunction with Messrs. Munyan. builders, of the Academy of Music, which shortly after its dedication in 1872 came into the sole possession of Mr. Quackenbush. In 1880 four stores were added by him to the building. Throughout a long term of years the academy was the only building in Pittsfield suitable for public meet- ings, theatrical or musical entertainments, and its owner has many times donated its use for benevolent and patriotic purposes. The great storm of 1877 destroyed a portion of one of the end walls of the building, and its owner was accorded a complimentary benefit by lead- ing citizens of Pittsfield, who voiced the appreciative sentiment of the community in announcing the benefit in question in this wise: "The
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obligations of the town of Pittsfield to the proprietorship of the Acad- emy of Music are not diminished by the fact that its ownership is un- divided and has not sought aid outside of itself in erecting and main- taining a building which contributes to the pleasure of every liberal minded citizen. Had the injury inflicted by the late gale been sufficient to destroy the building, the town might have waited long for another like it." From 1874 to 1878 Mr. Quackenbush experimented in manu- facturing investments upon the favorable, but as it proved, over-sanguine representations of friends interested in the Eagle Mowing & Reaping Machine Company of Albany, New York. During this period he served as a director of the company, and for a part of the time as its treas- urer, an experience which cost him $100,000, but left him with an un- blemished reputation for business integrity. Mr. Quackenbush retains the old homestead in the place of his nativity and there passes his sum- mers, while the winter seasons have been spent mainly in New York city and abroad. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revo- lution and Holland Society of New York; of the Young Men's Asso- ciation of Albany, and since 1863 of Rensselaer Lodge No. 400, F. and A. M .. of Hoosick Falls, New York.
Mrs. Quackenbush died September 22, 1891, leaving three daugh- ters, Ada Cebra McLean, Mary Annette McCandliss and Florence Dew- ey Graves.
On December 7. 1892. Major Quackenbush married Minna Wilk- inson Millard, an accomplished lady of New York city.
CLAPP FAMILY.
The family from which is descended Mrs. Mary Campbell Bagg, of Pittsfield. Massachusetts, was planted in America by Captain Roger Clapp, who was born in Salcombe Regis, Devonshire, England, April 6.
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1609, died in Boston, Massachusetts, February 2, 1691; married, No- vember 6, 1633. Johanna Ford, born June 8, 1617, died in Boston, Massachusetts, June 29, 1695, daughter of Thomas Ford, of Dorchester, England, and of Windsor, Connecticut.
He came over in the ship " Mary and John," with the first settlers of Dorchester, who arrived there about June 17, 1630. He was select- man in Boston in 1637. and fourteen times thereafter. In 1665 he took command of a stone castle on a small island about three miles from Boston, of which castle he was captain for twenty-one years. Previous to that time it is thought that he lived near the causeway leading to Little Neck. now South Boston. The "Memoirs of Captain Roger Clapp" were printed in 1731. extracts from which, wth a verbatim copy of his will. are given in the Clapp genealogy. He was a founder of the church in Dorchester. He had fourteen children. The sixth was
Preserved Clapp (2), born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Novem- ber 23. 1643: died in Northampton, Massachusetts, September 20, 1720; married. June 4, 1668, Sarah Newbury. died October 3, 1716, daughter of Benjamin Newbury, of Windsor, Connecticut. He settled in North- ampton at about the age of twenty. when it was a week's journey from Boston, over a path through the forest where the trees were marked. He was a leading man in the town, a captain, representative to the gen- eral court, and a ruling elder in the church. He had eight children. The fifth was
Lieutenant Samuel Clapp (3), born in Northampton. Massachusetts. in 1677: died in 1761 ; married, in 1697, Sarah Bartlett, who died All- gust 7. 1703. He married (second) September 15. 1704. Thankful King, who died September 18. 1705. He married (third) March 17. 1708. Mary Sheldon, born in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1687, daughter of John and Hannah Sheldon. Mary Sheldon was taken cap-
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tive at Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1704, by the Indians, who took her to Canada. She was engaged to Jonathan Strong, who supposed she was dead and married some one else. so that when she returned she married Mr. Clapp, but on his death, Mr. Strong, being a widower, she married him when she was between seventy and eighty years old. Mr. Clapp was lieutenant of a military company in Northampton. He had seven children. His seventh child, the first by his third wife, was
Ebenezer Clapp (4), born in Northampton, Massachusetts, October 13, 1726; died September 22, 1797: married in Deerfield, Massachusetts, January 10, 1750, Catherine Catlin, born, January 8. 1728-9. died April 21, 1798, daughter of Captain John and Mary (Munn) Catlin. He lived in Northampton, and served in the French and Indian war in 1746 and 1747. He had ten children. The first was
Ebenezer Clapp (5), born in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1757; died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, June 16, 1833; married, May 5, 1778, Ann Tileston, of Dorchester. He lived in Northampton, and served his time at the tanning business with Colonel Ebenezer Clapp, of Dor- chester. He had six children. The third was
Jason Clapp ((), born in Northampton, Massachusetts, Novem- ber 5, 1782: died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, October 29, 1868 ;. mar- ried Patience Stockbridge. who died July 18, 1839. He married ( sec- ond) widow Cecelia (Eldredge) Luce. He and his wife Patience were admitted to the church in 1827. Mrs. Luce was admitted in 1830. He came to Pittsfield, and, having been an apprentice in the carriage busi- ness from the age of seventeen, became the foreman of L. Pomeroy's manufactory and remained with him for six years. In 1810 he began business for himself, and in 1840 associated his son Edwin with him under the firm name of Jason Clapp & Son. He employed from forty to fifty men, and in 1856 he had had about three hundred apprentices
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A.R. Brown
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since beginning business. He turned cut the best kind of work, one of his carriages being given to President Pierce by some Boston friends. He had medals awarded for his fine carriages. He owned and operated the stage route between Albany and Boston, in the conduct of this busi- ness having an associate in his son Edwin. He was twice elected repre- sentative to the general court. He had three children. The second was
Edwin Clapp (7), born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, May 1, 1809: died July 27, 188: married, June 26, 1834, Emily Peck, who was born in 1813, died, April 13. 1840, daugliter of Captain Jabez and Alice (Millard) Peck. He married ( second). December 30. 1851, Mary Mar- tin, who was born July 30. 1818, died November 4, 1901, daughter of Honorable Calvin and Mary (Campbell) Martin.
Mr. Clapp was taken into partnership with his father in the carriage business in 1840, and was a successful business man and prominent in public affairs. He took an interest in the fire department and was at one time foreman of the Housatonic Engine Company. He was a di- rector of the Agricultural National Bank, the Berkshire County Savings Bank, the Pittsfield Coal Gas Company, and a trustee of the Berkshire Athenaeum. He had three children by his first wife and they died in infancy. Of his two children by his second wife, the one surviving is Mary Campbell Clapp, wife of Allen H. Bagg (see sketchi).
AUGUSTUS KEEFER BOOM.
A leading physician of Adams. Berkshire county, Massachusetts, is Dr. A. K. Boom, a native of Albany, New York, born May 13, 1866, son of James and Lucy (Selby) Boom. Paternally he is descended from Matthaus Boom, who with a brother Johannas, were among the
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early Dutch settlers of Fort Orange (now Albany), New York, Matthaus Boom married Maria Hilten, April 25, 1752. They had one child. Maria (Hilten) Boom died and Matthaus Boom then married Josina Seger, by whom he had eight children. Of these Nicholas Boom, born November 23, 1763, entered the Colonial army .when fourteen years of age, serving in Captain Nicholas Van Rensselaer's company, belonging to the First Regiment, New York Line, Colonel Van Schaick, commandant. Nicholas Boom while on a scouting expedition out of Fort Stanwix in 1778 met with an accident that crippled him for life, ultimately losing his leg. He married Elizabeth Wands, by whom he had two children, Margaret and John. Nicholas died in 1816. His son John married Mary Patterson and their children were: James and Elizabeth. James married Lucy Selby and their son is the immediate subject of these memoirs.
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