USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Vol I > Part 8
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Elisha Goodrich (4), was on the "town list" of Pittsfield, No- vember 16, 1772, witli a family of four persons, and with his wife Rebecca, was admitted to the church June 5, 1722. He had two chil- dren. The second was:
Josiah Goodrich (5), born at Wethersfield, Connecticut, January 15. 1740, died at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, October 24, 1798. He married. September 10, 1767, Ruth Gilbert, who was born August 14. 1743, and died August 4, 1777. He married (second) in Wethersfield, Connecticut, February 25, 1779, widow Abigail (Wolcott) Wright, who was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut. April 21, 1752, and died at South Hadley, Massachusetts, December 24. 1831, daughter of Samuel and Mary ( Wyatt) Wolcott: her first husband was Levi Wright, to whom she was married January 30. 1772. Church records in Pittsfield show that Josiah Goodrich was admitted as a member. September. 1781, by letter from church in Glastonbury, Connecticut. They also show that Josiah Goodrich and Abigail, his wife, were admitted March 2. 1794. Mr. Goodrich had one child by his first wife and seven by the second wife. His fifth child, the fourth by his second wife, was:
Levi Goodrich (6), born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. December 9. 1785. and died Angust 8. 1868. He married. February 27. 1806. Wealthy Whitney, who was born January 6. 1788. and died July 24. 1858. daughter of Joshua and Anna ( Ashley) Whitney, of Pittsfieldl. The family Bible calls him Zevi Wright, but other records have the name Levi. He and his wife were admitted to the Congregational church in 1832, and lived at Pittsfield. He was an active and success- ful business man, as a farmer, builder and contractor. He had contracts on the Harlem, Housatonic, Western and North Adams railroads. He
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was many times called to hold office, and wielded a great influence in town affairs. He had ten children, of whom the third was:
Noah Whitney Goodrich (7), born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, May 17, 1811, and died January 9, 1875. He married, September 16, 1832, Abigail Porter Goodrich, born November 28, 1812, died Septem- ber 2, 1891, daughter of Butler and Lydia (White) Goodrich. He lived on Summer street in Pittsfield, and with his wife was admitted to the Congregational church in 1832. Having spent his life in Pitts- field he was well acquainted with its history, and was regarded as an authority in the matter of roads and boundaries. While he was de- scended from William Goodrich, the settler, through his son John, his wife was descended through another son, Ephraim, whose wife was Sarah Treat, daughter of Richard Treat and grand-daughter of Richard Treat, an early settler in Wethersfield. Ephraim Goodrich had a son Gideon, who married Sarah, and he had Caleb, who married Huldah Butler, and they were the parents of Butler Goodrich, whose wife was Lydia White. Noah W. Goodrich and his wife were fourth cousins. Lydia White was descended from Elder John White, who came from England in the ship "Lion" in 1632, settled in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, but removed to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636. Lydia White's father, Ebenezer, leased the mill privilege near Elm street in Pittsfield, in 1778. He was admitted to the church in 1776, and his wife Abigail (Porter) in 1774. She was daughter of Abraham Por- ter, of Hartford, Connecticut. Noah W. Goodrich had the following children, all born in Pittsfield: 1. Harriet, born June 6. 1834; 2. Levi W., born May 31, 1836, married Alice Battle: 3. Mary E., born June 21, 1838, married James B. Crane: 4. Lydia L., born August 24, 1840, married William H. Cooley: 5. Lydia W., born September I.
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1842, married John Feeley; 6. Frank Hinsdale, born April 7, 1846, married Elda Hoyt; 7. Fanny, born May 4, 1855. married Frank A. Robbins.
WINTHROP MURRAY CRANE.
The achievements of representatives of the Crane family in the manufacturing world and their services in the councils of the state have had their natural culmination in these opening years of the Twentieth Century in the appointment of Hon. Winthrop Murray Crane to the senate of the United States as successor to that venerable statesman, the late George F. Hoar.
In this dawning of the new century, too, his resourcefulness as a business man has been recognized by his election to a number of import- ant directorates. These responsibilities, in conjunction with extensive paper making, large property and other important interests, constitute the gentleman in question one of the most interesting figures in this most interesting national era in both the political and the business world. That Senator Crane owes much to heredity for the distinction and suc- cesses which he has attained, the records of the Crane family herein contained serve to demonstrate conclusively, and he would be the first to admit, indeed, he has many times with characteristic modesty and filial devotion insisted that the honors thrust upon him were practically so many testimonials to the worth of both father and grandfather of unusual business capacity and enterprise, of uncompromising integrity, and of generally recognized public and private usefulness.
That W. Murray Crane has done much more than to simply pre- serve untarnished the excellence of the family name is, however, current history, and the details of his personal career have an entirely individual as well as an extremely absorbing interest. He was born. where he
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has resided throughout his life. in Dalton, Massachusetts, April 23, 1852, attended the public schools of his native county, and the academies at Wilbraham and Easthampton, and then entered his father's mills to learn the paper making business. This accomplished in due course with a thoroughness subsequently demonstrated, he then gave his in- ceptive evidence of diplomatic ability by obtaining at Washington, whither he had gone on his own initiative, the government bank-note paper contract which the Crane establishment has held for nearly thirty years. This contract secured he succeeded, after one month's personal work in an old mill turned over to him by his father for experimental purposes, in perfecting a paper product that has fully satisfied the re- quirements of the government for bank-note purposes.
Until 1892 W. Murray Crane was not known in politics. That year he was made a delegate to the Republican national convention, and was reluctantly persuaded to accept the place of national committeeman from Massachusetts. He speedily came to exercise a strong influence on the committee, and so his political career began. In 1896 he was the manager of the Reed forces in the St. Louis convention, to which he was a delegate. In 1897 he was elected lieutenant-governor, and was re-elected in 1898 and 1899. The next year he was elected governor, and held the state's chief office for three years. After Theodore Roose- velt was called to the duties of the presidency by the death of President Mckinley, he early sought the counsel of Mr. Crane. The two men have maintained close relations, and the president invited the governor of Massachusetts to become secretary of the treasury, which offer was declined, as was a tender of the navy portfolio. In 1902 Governor Crane was in the carriage with President Roosevelt when the bodyguard of the latter was killed by the car collision in Pittsfield. Mr. Crane
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was a member of the Republican national committee, and one of Mr. Cortelyou's advisers in the conduct of the national campaign of 1904.
On the 12th of October. 1904, Governor Bates tendered the place in Washington left vacant by the decease of Senator Hoar to the ex-Governor, who accepted the appointment. Although Mr. Crane is essentially and strongly partisan politically, his friends and admirers are by no means confined to his political associates, as will be gathered from the following Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican editorial com- ment on his appointment as senator and his gubernatorial career :
" Arguing from his success as governor, the usefulness of Mr. Crane in this national office is likely to be so demonstrated and estab- lished by 1907 as to insure his continuance in it. He has not sought public office, and he has not failed to demonstrate his capacity when dis- charging a trust which has been conferred by the people.
"Senator Crane will not be an orator after the fashion of the tra- ditional senatorial type, albeit he is not without the power of clear, strong and convincing statement. This ability of his will be cultivated as it has not been before. In the large affairs of business, where he has been allied with men of national reputation on important directorates, Mr. Crane has made himself felt in a manner that the public does not realize. He will be effective in the senate in this way, and powerful in committee service. In shaping results he will surpass senators of the oratorical sort. This may be confidently expected. Power in the United States senate has been passing from the orators to the men of affairs, who know how to handle men and to control results as they are obtained in the world of business. Senators Aldrich and Quay, and Phút, of New York, have been masterly hands in the game of politics and of legislation. It is more desirable. in behalf of the public interest. the cause of the people and of good government, that Massachusetts send to serve in the senate some one who can manage men with tact and tireless industry in the shaping of legislation, guided by high prin- ciples, than that she be represented there by a pleasing orator, when the influence of results is looked for. In this light the wisdom of the choice which Governor Bates has made promises to be established. That it is a selection agreeable to the state is certain. Where Senator Hoar. with all his virtues, was unable to play the modern game, Mr. Crane ought to be and will be strong as a conserving influence for that which is right and practical. His influence with the administration, already
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strong, will be increased. He can serve the state and the country to advantage in Washington."
Massachusetts has come to know Mr. Crane and to regard him with increasing respect. His record as governor stands out conspicu- ously in the long list of those who have served the state in its chief office. During the three years that he served, things were done and reforms achieved with an industry and force that was exceptional and fruitful. When, in January, 1903, Governor Crane retired from office, leading citizens of Boston tendered him a complimentary dinner, which the late executive declined in an appreciative letter. The invitation to him set forth the grounds upon which the recognition was based, as follows :
" Three years ago you entered upon your duties as governor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, a position associated with strong char- acters and high traditions. During your terms of office you have con- served the traditions, added luster to the office and gained for yourself the confidence of the whole people. Your administration has been pure and just. You have devoted your marked executive abilities to the de- tails as well as to the greater duties of your position. You have been accessible to the humblest citizen, and have carefully weighed the counsel of strong men. You have acted upon your decisions with confidence and courage. You have been a leader in the promotion of industrial peace and the mutual understanding of employers and employed. You have knit the whole people into a more sympathetic and united body."
Such was the impression produced by the three administrations of Governor Crane, and it was the verdict of the state. Again The Chris- tian Register recorded a verdict that was general in these words :
" There has just gone out of the governor's office in the common- wealth of Massachusetts a man whom we can commend all the more heartily because he is not a Unitarian. For he is one who illustrates what we call the Unitarian idea of public service. He is a rich man who had the confidence of the poor. He is a man capable of control- ling great business operations, and yet apparently is without personal ambition or desire for official advancement. He regarded his office as
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an opportunity to serve the people. All its showy accessories he gladly relinquished to others. He could not make an eloquent speech, and he never tried to. He has shown by his example that people of all classes, from teamsters to college presidents, could understand and appreciate modesty, simplicity, honesty and unfaltering devotion to the interests of the people. As he passes out of office, it would be difficult for a stranger to learn by the record of his acts and utterances to what polit- ical party he belongs, to what church, and what was his attitude in re- gard to national questions that did not come directly in the line of his personal duty and responsibility. The moral of it is that he who minds his own business, and minds it well, deserves credit, gets honor, and shows the way in which loyal men and women may best serve the country."
Some brief particularizing will show the grounds upon which this praise rested. Governor Crane's work was after the pattern of the old, self-contained New England accomplishment. His first message de- clared that " Massachusetts has reached a limit of indebtedness beyond which she should not go," and it was the text on which he acted. His first inaugural address was the shortest on record in Massachusetts, and it was confined to reform recommendations, every one of which was enacted into law during the year 1900. The second inaugural was longer, because the governor had results to report and more reforms to block out; all he asked for was accomplished. The third inaugural made another batch of definite recommendations, and they were acted upon. In the first year 50,000 shares of the Fitchburg railroad com- mon stock-held for thirteen years and carried on the books of the state treasurer as an asset, so worthless were they considered-were sold to the Boston and Maine railroad for $5,000,000; and the last year of Governor Crane's administration the New York, New Haven and Hart- ford railroad paid a price for the state's reclaimed lands in Boston that surprised that company and the public. He knew business and how to do it. Neither Greenhalge nor Russell insisted more successfully upon
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the principle of home rule as applied to cities. Salaries were not raised in the three years, save in the single instance of the chairman of the railroad commission, and that was to insure the work of Chairman Jackson, whose services were very important to the state. The over- expansion of state commissions was checked, and consolidations were achieved-that of the cattle commission with the board of agriculture, of the state fire marshal's expensive establishment with the district police, of the inspector-general of fish with the commission on inland fish- eries and game, and of the state pension agent and commissioner of state aid in one body, with a deputy. An unpaid board of publication was created to edit state reports.
In promoting results, Governor Crane placed himself upon frank working terms with the legislature, wielding the influence of the leader- ship in both branches to the support of what was agreed to be for the public interest. He vetoed an undesirable Washington street subway bill in Boston, which failed duly to protect the interests of the public, and there was a furious fight to pass the measure over his head, which happily ended in his favor: and the next year, by tactful yet masterful co-operation with Mayor Collins and the elevated railway people, proper legislation was achieved.
One of Governor Crane's important successes was in unofficially but none the less effectually bringing' peace out of the great strike which sadly disturbed Boston and threatened all New England, in March. 1902. The method then employed was subsequently taken by President Roose- velt. upon the urgent insistence of the Massachusetts governor, in set- tling the great coal strike. The story of the Massachusetts strike was thus told in the Boston Post:
" Thousands of men from the different railroads of Boston, and many more thousands engaged in trucking the city's merchandise, threw
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Denashuane
1901.
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up their hands and quit work. There was little violence. The inten- sity of the storm seemed only increased by the outward calm. The strikers sought to ally every laboring interest with their own. Scarcely a team was driven about the streets. Boston merchants were distracted. Every day of the strike meant a loss of thousands of dollars. The rail- road companies, against whom the strike was directed, remained as unyielding as the coal barons. The threatening disaster to the city be- came the calamity of the state. Governor Crane was appealed to, and not in vain. For days the indomitable state leader bent himself to the task of relieving the situation. All his personal and official influence was brought to bear upon the leaders of both sides of the strike. Con- ferences at the statehouse were held daily. Both sides were for a time inexorable. But Governor Crane's diplomacy won in the end. The striking teamsters and the railroad men returned to work and one of the greatest calamities that ever threatened Boston was averted.
"Senator Crane is a modest and resourceful man of business, who has developed aptitude for politics and public affairs, and has been and will be absolutely devoted to that which he believes to be right and for the best interests of the people and the country. Self-seeking and self-interest will never dominate him. He has deserved the faith of his state and holds it in full measure. He is a man of the people, and men of all parties trust him."
Senator Crane married, February 5, 1880. Mary Brenner, of As- toria. Long Island, who died February 16, 1884. leaving one son, Win- throp Murray Crane, Jr., a graduate of Yale, class of 1903.
W. M. Crane, Jr .. emulated his father's example in learning the paper making business in the mills at Dalton, and is now of the com- pany. He married in February, 1905. Miss Ethel, daughter of Arthur W. Eaton, president of the Eaton-Hurlbut Paper Company, Pittsfield.
ZENAS CRANE.
Senior member of the firm of Z. & W. M. Crane, operating the chain of paper mills elsewhere referred to herein, the gentleman whose name introduces this narrative has proven equal in fullest measure to the large responsibilities which have devolved upon him.
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He was born December 6, 1840, eldest of the children of the late Zenas Marshall Crane. He received a liberal general and thorough business education. In 1865 he rented the Bay State Mill, subsequently purchasing it and operating it successfully up to its destruction by fire, May 15, 1877. Upon its site there was immediately erected a larger mill by the new firm of Zenas Crane, Jr., & Brother, the junior partner being Winthrop Murray Crane. Subsequent to 1887 the firm was known as Z. & W. M. Crane.
Mr. Crane has served as a member of the state legislature, and as executive councillor in 1885, Governor Robinson's administration. The Art Museum, Pittsfield, was the gift of Mr. Zenas Crane. The struct- ure at Dalton designed to accommodate a town hall, opera house and public library, was given by the Cranes, who were also largely instru- mental in the erection in 1888 of the Congregational church, Dalton.
Mr. Crane married Ellen J., daughter of Charles J. and Frances M. (Birchard) Kittredge, of Hinsdale. Charles J. Kittredge was a son of Dr. Abel Kittredge (see sketch, Charles H. Plunkett).
Charles J. Kittredge, ninth child of Dr. Abel and Eunice (Chamber- lain) Kittredge, born in Hinsdale, Massachusetts, April 1, 1818, died March 1, 1893; married, June 17, 1845, Frances M. Birchard. Their daughter, Ellen J., married Zenas Crane, of Dalton, of Crane & Co., paper manufacturers, and of the firm of Z. & W. M. Crane.
The sixth child of Dr. Abel Kittredge was Eunice C., born in Hinsdale, January 18, 1810: married, January 16, 1839, Hiram P. Paddock, of Hamilton. Their sons were Dr. Frank K. Paddock, of Pittsfield, now deceased, who married Anna Todd, and Dr. William L. Paddock, now a physician in Pittsfield. Rose, the daughter of Dr. Frank K. Paddock, is the wife of Frederick G. Crane.
1
Fax. Co. Hull.
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JAMES WELLS HULL.
The science, for it is nothing less, of conducting an insurance insti- tution upon sound business principles has been the life study of the gen- tleman whose name introduces these memoirs, and the substantial basis upon which thousands of families are to-day afforded the security of insurance protection through the Berkshire Life Insurance Company. at as low a cost to the insured as is possible with the absolute safeguarding of the general interests. is in no small measure due to the wisdom of his conduct of the offices which he has held therewith, particularly that of which he is incumbent, the presidency. The branch of the Hull family of which James Wells Hull is a member had its American founder in the person of
Rev. Joseph Hull, who was born in Somersetshire, England, in 1594; matriculated at St. Mary Magdalen Hall, Oxford, May 12. 1612; was instituted rector of Northleigh, Diocese of Exeter, Devonshire, April 14, 1621, and sailed from Weymouth for America with his family, a wife, two sons, five daughters, and three servants, March 20, 1635. Rev. Hull assisted in the erection of the plantations which subsequently be- came the townships of Weymouth and Barnstable, Massachusetts; was twice deputy to the general court ; and in 1638, one of the local magis- trates of Hingham. Massachusetts; was elected freeman and deputy for Barnstable at the first general court held at Plymouth ; was preach- ing at York, Maine, in 1642-43, and at the Isles of Shoals; returned to England in 1652, where he was given the living at St. Burian, Corn- wall, where he remained until after the Restoration. In 1662 he re- turned to America and settled as minister at Oyster River, now Dover, New Hampshire, and again at the Isles of Shoals, where he died No- vember 19. 1665. Of his children,
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Captain Tristram Huli, born in England in 1624, died at Barn- stable, February 22, 1662. That he was humane and had the courage of his conviction is suggested by records of February. 1656, and again in 1657, Boston, disclosing his having been fined for coming to the rescue and relief of persecuted Quakers. He had a son.
Joseph Hull, born at Barnstable, June. 1652: married, October, 1676. Experience, daughter of Robert Harper, who was one of the first of the Quakers to suffer in body and estate: was in 1660 banished from Boston, located in South Kingston, Rhode Island, where he died about 1709. Of the children of Joseph and Experience ( Harper) Hull.
Tristram Hull married Elizabeth Dyer, whose mother Mary was hanged in Boston Common, June 1, 1660, for the crime of being a Quakeress. Tristram Hull's descendants were among the settlers of Providence, Newport, South Kingston and Jamestown, Rhode Island. Of the children of Tristram and Elizabeth ( Dyer ) Hull.
Stephen Hull, born 1714, of Westerly, Rhode Island, married Mary Mowry, granddaughter of Benjamin Mowry, and great-grand- daughter of Roger Mowry and of Thomas Hazard. A son of Stephen.
Latham Hull, born in 1749. died in 1807, of Stonington, Con- necticut, married Anne Wheeler, a descendant of Thomas Wheeler. A son of Latham and Anne ( Wheeler ) Hull,
Jeremiah Hull, born 1770, also of Stonington, married Keturah Randall Williams, descended from Robert Williams, of Foxbury, Mas- sachusetts. Of their children,
Charles Williams Hull, born in Stonington in 1798, located in 1819 in New Lebanon, New York, where he became a leading agri- culturist and sheep breeder. He married, September 10. 1834, Lucena Ann Churchill, of Winfield, Madison county, New York, a descendant
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of Josias Churchill, of Wethersfield. Massachusetts. Charles Williams Hull died in 1866; his wife in 1890. Of their children.
James Wells Hull was born in New Lebanon, New York. Sep- tember 20, 1842. His general education was received in public and private schools of New Lebanon and this was supplemented by his attendance in 1862 at Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie. New York, on the staff of teachers of which institution he was retained for the term of '63-'64. The following year he taught in the public school at New Lebanon. On February 6, 1865. he removed to Pittsfield to accept a position in the Pittsfield (now Pittsfield National) Bank. where he remained for seven years, resigning his bank connection to assume in February, 1872, the duties of secretary of the Berkshire Life Insurance Company. succeeding to its treasurership, vice Edward Boltwood, deceased, April 15, 1878; and to its presidency, vice Will- iam R. Plunkett, deceased, December 21, 1903. Mr. Hull is a member also of the directorates of the Pittsfield Electric Street Railway Com- pany, Pittsfield Coal Gas Company, and is one of the original directors of the Pittsfield Electric Company. He was one of the founders of the Third National Bank of Pittsfield, and an original stockholder of the Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company. Mr. Hull's contribu- tions to the structural growth of Pittsfield are his handsome home on Appleton avenue and the Hull-Morton Block, North street, in which latter he is jointly interested with W. G. Morton, of Albany, New York.
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