USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Vol II > Part 19
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them on this side of the sea. He settled in Dalton, where he soon found employment with the Crane family, and in 1868 sent for his family. In politics Mr. Marshall is a steadfast Democrat, having with one exception always voted with his party, that exception being made in favor of his employer, ex-Governor W. Murray Crane. He is an active and devoted member of the Roman Catholic church.
Mr. Marshall married, in 1854, while living in England, Delia Russell, and their children are: John, born 1855; William, born 1858, lives in Auburn, New York; Mary, born 1860, died in infancy ; Michael, born 1861, died in Dalton, at the age of eighteen years; and Mary (2), born 1864, became the wife of John Crockwell, of Dalton, who is em- ployed in the Government Mill; they have four children. After com- ing to America three more children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Marshall, only one of whom survives-Robert, born in 1872, and lives in Con- necticut. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall, after enduring for nearly half a century, was dissolved by the death of the wife and mother, who passed away in 1903. The loss was deeply felt by the whole family, but especially by the aged husband, who has since been in very feeble health. Mr. Marshall will reside for the remainder of his life with his daughter, Mrs. John Crockwell, mentioned above.
GEORGE WASHINGTON FARNAM.
George Washington Farnam, a prosperous farmer of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, was born in 1831, the son of Oran and Almena Churchill (Squier) Farnam. The name of Farnam has long been closely identified with the settlement, progress and improvement of the town of Lanesboro, Massachusetts. The progenitors of the family in this country were Joseph Farnam and two brothers who emigrated to the
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United States from England, one settling in Vermont, one in Connecti- cut, and Joseph in Massachusetts. He was the father of a large family, one of whom was John, the grandfather of George Washington Farnam. John Farnam was born in 1767. All his life was spent in Lanesboro, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits, having purchased a farm on what is now known as " The Hill." He married and was the father of three children, one of whom was Oran, father of George W. Farnam. The death of John Farnam occurred in 1856.
Oran Farnam was born in 1797. Like his father and grandfather, he followed the calling of a farmer. The old home which he cultivated is a short distance above the village of Lanesboro and is still in the pos- session of the family, although not occupied by them. Oran married Almena Churchill Squier, and their children were: I. Oran Franklin, born 1820, married Hannah M. Hungerford, of Hancock, Massachu- setts, and they have four children-Walter, Frank, Nellie and Florence. 2. John M., born 1822, married Maria Searl. 3. Almena Maria, born 1824, married Valorous Burlingham; her husband is deceased, and she makes her home with her brother George. 4. George Washington (see forward.)
George Washington Farnam obtained his educational training in the district school, and a private school which he later attended in Lanesboro. Immediately after leaving the schoolroom Mr. Farnam en- gaged in farming, having a strong liking and adaptitude for this work. He and his brothers occupied and cultivated the home farm for a num- ber of years prior to the death of their father, and in 1870 George pur- chased the farm he now conducts, and his brothers occupy the old home- stead farm. Mr. Farnam markets the products of his farm, which is one of the most fertile in the country, and which he has brought to a high state of cultivation. He is an excellent citizen and an industrious.
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capable farmer. Politically he accords with the principles of the Repub- lican party, and is a strong temperance advocate. He and his family are members of the Congregational church.
In 1859 George Washington Farnam was united in marriage to Hannah Martha Jacobs, the daughter of Davis and Anna Jacobs, of Royalston, Massachusetts. Of the children born to them, but one, Anna Almena, is living, and she resides at home. Mrs. Farnam passed away October 19. 1903.
GEORGE CROCKWELL.
George Crockwell, deceased, who was for many years connected with the Glass Company's works at Berkshire, Berkshire county, Massa- chusetts, was the son of Thomas Crockwell, who, accompanied by his brother and sister, emigrated to this country from Ireland about 1850. Upon their arrival they settled in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and, the surrounding country being in an undeveloped condition at the time, it was necessary for them to work at what employment they could find for the first few years.
George Crockwell was about twenty-three years of age when he came to this country. His educational advantages were limited, but he was naturally industrious and observing, and when he found himself dependent upon his own resources, he soon found employment. Later he entered the works of the Glass Company at Berkshire, Massachusetts, and for fifteen years was in the employ of this concern, engaged in the manufacture of clay crucibles for holding the molten glass. Mr. Crock- well was an execellent workman, and the conscientious way in which he performed his duties soon won for him the respect and confidence of his employers. Politically Mr. Crockwell was a sound Democrat, and in matters of religion was a devout member of the Roman Catholic church.
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In 1853 George Crockwell was united in marriage to Ann Devlin. who was also a native of Ireland, and after her emigration to this coun- try, made her home in Berkshire county. She is an intelligent, indus- trious woman, and has worked earnestly to help give her children every possible advantage. The following named children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Crockwell: I. Mary E., born 1855. married James Callahan ; they reside with their family in Dalton, Massachusetts. 2. Patrick J., born 1857. married Mary Lyman: they live in Coltsville, where they have reared a large family. 3. Sarah, born 1859. married Thomas Tyre of Lee, where they make their home. 4. William, born 1862, married Catherine Hogan, and they reside in Pittsfield. 5. Lucy, born 1864, is still unmarried and makes her home with her mother. 6. John, born 1866, married Mary Marshall, daughter of Robert Marshall; they reside with their family in Dalton. 7. George, born 1867, is manager of a store in Coltsville. 8. Margaret, born 1869. lives at home. 9. Agnes, born 1873. married. and resides in Pittsfield. 10. Arthur T., born 1875, lives in New York state. II. Charles, born 1876, resides at home. Mrs. Crockwell and those of the children who reside at home are engaged in the conduct of a small farm. The children have all been hard working, provident men and women, who are a credit to their parents and the community. They have all worked and are at present engaged in the paper business in the Crane mills. The death of the father of these children occurred July 5, 1877. when he was but forty- five years of age. He was always held in the highest respect through- out the community, and his loss was keenly felt by his family and large circle of friends.
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WILLIAM RENSEHAUSER.
William Rensehauser, a prominent business man of Pittsfield, Berk- shire county, Massachusetts, was born in Springfield. Massachusetts, 1840, the son of William and Louisa (Boleman) Rensehauser. His father emigrated to this country from Imbeck, Saxon Holstein, Ger- many. He was a stone mason by occupation, and when he came to America the Boston and Albany railroad was being constructed. Mr. Rensehauser did a great deal of culvert work on that road between Springfield and Albany. When the railroad was completed the family settled in Copake, New York, where Mr. Rensehauser was employed in an iron foundry corporation. In 1864 he and his family removed to Pittsfield, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where they engaged in work in the Taconic Woolen Mills, and they have since been engaged in the woolen industry in different parts of the country. Mr. Rensehauser married Louisa Boleman, and their children were: I. Augustus, born in 1837. 2. William, mentioned at length hereinafter. 3. Fred, born 1842, married Winnie Waters of Becket; they reside in Pittsfield, and have a family ; the father works in the mill, and the children learned their trade in the Taconic mills. 4. Henry, born 1844, lives in Canada. 5. Louisa, born 1847, married Albert Dennison; they reside with their family in Rosedale, New Jersey. 6. Esther, born 1850, married Leon- ard Pike; they have one child and live in North Adams. 7. Hannah, born 1853, married Charles Rheinhart; they reside with their family in Pittsfield. 8. John, born 1855, resides in Springfield. 9. Susan. born 1857. died at the age of two years.
William Rensehauser obtained his education in the common schools, and immediately after leaving school went to work in the finishing room of the Taconic mill. He thoroughly mastered his trade in a very short
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time, and when yet a young man became foreman of the finishing room. He remained in Taconic mills for nineteen years. At the breaking out of the great Civil war he was one of the first to respond to the urgent call for volunteers, enlisting in Company A, Sixty-first Massachusetts Regiment, at Pittsfield, and served until the cessation of hostilities. He participated in several engagements, and, although he received no injury, has since suffered considerably from the exposure of that time. Mr. Rensehauser has on two occasions worked in Canada, but the most of his life has been spent in the mills about Pittsfield. For sixteen years he was engaged in the Pontoosuc Mill, and is now with the Dalton Woolen Company in Dalton. He is an excellent workman, and an industrious, useful citizen. In politics he affiliates with the Republican party, and is an enthusiastic member of the Grand Army of the Republic. In religious affairs he accords with the doctrines of the Baptist church.
In 1865 William Rensehauser was united in marriage to Harriet Tower, of Richmond, Massachusetts, and their children are: I. Lil- lian, born 1868, married Demare Webster, and of the children born to them one survives: the mother is deceased. 2. Jamies William, born 1871, resides in North Adams. 3. Benjamin T., born 1873, is em- ployed at Chester, Pennsylvania. 4. Harriet, born 1875. married John Webster, and resides at Pittsfield. 5. Bessie, born 1878. married Ed- ward Adams, lives in Pittsfield. 6. Mattie, married and lives in Hart- ford, Connecticut. 7. Mary, twin of Mattie, deceased. 8. Richard, employed in a drug store in Pittsfield. 9. Harry, born 1886, lives at home, attends high school. The mother of these children died in 1896.
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WILLIAM STANLEY.
One of those names which Berkshire county holds in honored re- membrance, names which have passed into the history of the county, is that of William Stanley, who for many years made his summer home at Great Barrington. The Stanley family is English, the Amer- ican branch having been founded by John Stanley, who in 1634 emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and settled at Cambridge. A few years later he accompanied the party which, under the leadership of Rev. John Davenport, made the first settlement at New Haven, and from that time the family was identified with the history of Connecti- cut. A son of John Stanley was a captain in King Philip's war, and some of his later descendants fought at the battle of Brooklyn, Long Island. The Stanleys were farmers by inheritance.
William Stanley, a direct descendant of John Stanley, the emi- grant ancestor, was born in 1827, in Goshen, Litchfield county, Con- necticut. In 1837 the family moved to Great Barrington, where they remained ten years. William Stanley was the only son in a family of eight children, and when he was but fifteen years of age his father died, leaving the household in extremely straitened circumstances. The mother, however, was a woman of the heroic type. Left a widow thus, she took care of the entire family, depending solely on her own unaided efforts, and not only succeeded in sending her seven daughters to be educated in the best boarding schools of the day, but enabled her only son to pass through Yale University. It is easy to imagine the love and reverence with which such a woman would be regarded by her children, and her son especially accorded to her the most unbounded love and de- votion. In 1847 the family moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where Mr. Stanley attended the school presided over by Rev. Henry Jones, a
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graduate of Yale, class of 1820. At this school he was prepared for the University, and joined the class of 1852 in the sophomore year. Graduat- ing in due course, he was awarded a part in commencement as one of the best third of the class. Choosing for his life-work the profession of the law, he entered the office of Hon. William L. Learned, now a judge of the supreme court, and subsequently became managing clerk for the firm of Baney, Humphrey & Butler. Later he went as clerk with Hon. Ed- wards Pierrepont, who had then recently moved from Ohio to New York. During all this time he was attending lectures at the Albany Law School, thus gaining simultaneously theoretical knowledge and prac- tical experience.
About 1853 Mr. Stanley was taken as a partner by Mr. Pierrepont, with whom he remained until the latter's elevation to the bench of the superior court of the city of New York. He afterward served under Mr. Pierrepont as first assistant United States district attorney. Later he formed a partnership with Christopher C. Langdell, which was main- tained until Mr. Langdell succeeded Judge Story as Dana professor of law at Harvard University. The Hon. Addison Brown, who was also a member of the firm, continued his connection with it until appointed to the judgeship of the United States district court of the southern district of New York, which he so well adorned. At a somewhat later period Mr. Stanley entered into partnership with Stephen G. Clark, a graduate of Dartmouth, class of 1854, and Edwin B. Smith, a Bowdoin graduate, of 1856, under the firm name of Stanley, Clark and Smith. Associated with them was Melvin Brown, of Harvard, 1860. The firm engaged in general practice. and came to be regarded as one of the most prominent of those in the revenue business, having been success- ful, among others, in the somewhat celebrated Lugat and Worsted
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Charges case, and in other cases in the federal courts which attracted attention at the time.
Mr. Stanley was a member of the Lawyers' Club of New York. He took an interest in sporting matters, and was for a time treasurer of the Robins Island Club. While at the University he was an active member of the literary societies, and belonged to the Yale crew, then in its infancy. In his junior and senior years he was "statement of facts" man for old Linonia, in association with Colonel Homer B. Sprague and against William W. Crapo and Randall Gibson, afterward members of congress, who represented the Brothers' Society. In his junior year he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi, and in his senior year of the Skull and Bones. In politics Mr. Stanley was always a Repub- lican, but sympathized strongly with the anti-slavery and economic views advocated by the " Evening Post."
Mr. Stanley married. in 1856, Elizabeth A. Parsons, daughter of a prominent and old-established merchant of New York. They were the parents of three children, a son and two daughters. The son has distinguished himself as an inventor, on whose patents the Washington Electric Light Company was originally founded.
For a number of years before his death Mr. Stanley resided at Englewood, New Jersey, where he took much interest in local affairs. His summer home was at Great Barrington, and upon his retirement from business, in 1892, he made it his permanent residence. It was a place for which he always entertained a peculiar affection, fraught as it was with memories of his boyhood and youth, and even while residing there but a small portion of the year, he regarded it as his home. His love for the Berkshire hills was one of the strongest features of his character. It was at Great Barrington that his death took place, in 1893. While Mr. Stanley's name will long be remembered by the world at large and
William Rauley
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the results of his labors will exercise an abiding influence on future generations, in Berkshire county his memory will be cherished in a special manner. The combination of qualities which composed his character was a somewhat remarkable one. To intellectual abilities of a high order and the strictest conscientiousness he joined a winning personality which enabled him to oppose without antagonizing. After his death it was truly and beautifully said of him by Judge Dewey, of the superior court of Massachusetts, that " he had a great many friends and no enemies."
WILLIAM STANLEY.
Berkshire county has reason to be proud of the conspicuous part which it has played in the astonishing progress made by the electrical art within the past half century. It was amid the gentle hills of Stock- bridge that Cyrus W. Field, with what might be termed prophetic op- timism, acquired the physical and mental energy which made it possi- ble for him to belt an ocean with a speaking cable. In the same village his nephew invented the first device for the multiplication of mes- sages over a single wire, and it is there that he has since added to his fame and the advancement of telegraphy, both with and without wires. by many important improvements. In Great Barrington, the adjoining town to the south, was born Leonard Pope, a prominent electrical en- gineer, who entered upon his useful career as a telegraph operator, and. upon his return at an advanced age to enjoy the quiet and repose of his native town, was shocked to death by the agency he had passed so many years teaching others to harness. In Great Barrington, also, William Stanley, the subject of this sketch. devised and successfully demonstrated what has unquestionably proved to be the most commercially useful
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system of electrical generation and distribution known, namely: the alternating-current system of long-distance transmission.
That Mr. Stanley has not been willing to rest his claim for scien- tific distinction upon this important discovery alone, and that the posi- tion which he holds among the foremost electrical engineers of the day has been well earned, is attested by the fact that some ninety patents having to do with an extensive variety of electrical machinery stand recorded in his name. A brief chronological list of some of the more important of his inventions and systems might be given as follows :
1882-Method of exhausting incandescent lamps, making it a prac- tical business operation instead of a laboratory one.
1883-84-Alternating-current transformer, now in general use.
1883-85-Alternating-current system of distribution. First plant installed in Great Barrington, 1885-86.
1885-The step-up and step-down long-distance transmission sys- tem, subsequently used on all long-distance power transmission.
1885-Alternator (alternating generator), the first used in this country, and manufactured since by the Westinghouse and General Elec- tric Companies.
1886-Synchronous motor.
1886-Auto-transformer.
1887-Inductor-generator.
1888-Alternating-current motors. First plant installed in Housa- tonic in 1894.
1891-Selective method of timing circuits (now used by the Mar- coni system of wireless telegraphy).
1892 -- Commercial condenser.
1892- Induction meter.
1896-Magnetic suspension.
1902-Alternating current dynamo electric machine and system of distribution.
As a consequence of Mr. Stanley's harvest of inventions, Berkshire has become an electrical manufacturing center of great importance. Two manufacturing concerns bear his name in the county-the Stanley Elec- trical Manufacturing Company in Pittsfield, recently amalgamated with
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the General Electric Company, and the Stanley Instrument Company in Great Barrington.
The inventor was born in Brooklyn, New York, November 22, 1858, the son of William Stanley, a prominent New York lawyer and former resident of Great Barrington .* The family two years later estab- lished a permanent residence in Englewood, New Jersey, where, with the exception of a few years in Berkshire and Williston Academy, East- hampton, the boy passed his early career and acquired his education, largely from private tuition. What youthful predilection he may have had for science or mechanics, although evinced by an inquiring turn of mind to investigate the works of watches, clocks and other domestic mechanisms, was not sufficiently marked to prompt his father to depart from an intention to educate his son to become a lawyer. At seventeen he entered the academic department of Yale.
Young Stanley, however, had his own notions as to his future, and soon tiring of the uncongenial course of study he was pursuing at New Haven, left college precipitately during the first Christmas holidays, much to his father's annoyance, and sought a more active career for him- self in New York. Here he entered into partnership with a Mr. George Wiley in the nickel-plating business, borrowing from his father, who could not sustain his impatience with his only son, two thousand dollars for the purpose. Due to young Stanley's energy, this enterprise was so successful that at the end of the first year he was able to repay his father the entire loan, and still leave for himself a substantial bank bal- ance. The nickel-plating business might be profitable, but it also was not congenial, and the young man dropped it to join Mr. Hiram Maxim (now Sir Hiram Maxim) at the munificent salary of fifty cents a day. The inventor of that deadly piece of ordnance which bears his name was
* The genealogy of the Stanley family will be found elsewhere.
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then engaged in manufacturing electric lamps and small direct-current generators, on the corner of Sixth avenue and Twenty-sixth street in New York. A recent letter from Sir Hiram contains a pen-picture of his young protege at that time which is well worth quoting: " Mr. Stanley was tall and thin, but what he lacked in bulk he made up in activity. He was boiling over with enthusiasm. I believe that he pre- ferred that each week should contain about ten days, and that. the days should be forty-eight hours long. Whatever was given him to do he laid himself out to do in the most thorough manner. He would spare no trouble or expense to accomplish the task which was given him to do. often laying out his own money in order to obtain material which he thought might be better than what was available in the works."
Promotions followed fast under Mr. Maxim, and, as Mr. Stanley enjoyed his new work, he took occasion to thoroughly acquaint himself with all the practical possibilities of electricity as it was then under- stood. The first commercial use of incandescent lamps was undertaken by the company at this time. when the drug store of Caswell & Massey, under the Fifth Avenue Hotel, was illuminated with lamps by the direct- current system. With the installation of this plant Mr. Stanley had much to do, as also with the installation of the New York Post Office, Equitable Building. Union League Club, etc., which followed. The ex- pensive use of copper, however, which this system engendered, so nar- rowed the field of service that an extensive use of electric light seemed to be prohibited unless a new method of generation and conduction could be devised. Mr. Stanley recognized this, and cherished the hope that he might solve the important problem which was engaging the attention of all the leading electrical experts in the country. In the meantime his duties under Mr. Maxim were too absorbing to permit him to give much play to his inventive skill. Mr. Maxim went to Europe about this
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time, and Mr. Stanley continued for a few months as assistant in the Weston Electric Light Company of Newark, New Jersey, which had absorbed the Maxim concern. This was followed by a year in Boston with the Swan people. While in Boston he took out one of the most important of his early patents, namely, a device for exhausting incan- descent lamps by machinery, which with few modifications has continued in use to the present day. In 1883 lie returned to Englewood and de- voted himself to experimental work in his laboratory. December 22. 1884, he inarried Miss Lila Courtney Wetmore, a daughter of Jacob S. Wetmore, formerly partner of William E. Dodge and William Walter Phelps. During the same year Mr. George Westinghouse, of air-brake fame, who was anxicus to enter the new field of manufacturing electrical machinery and appliances, engaged Mr. Stanley as inventor and engineer. agreeing under their contract to manufacture all the latter's inventions.
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