USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Vol II > Part 35
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GEORGE BROWN.
George Brown, formerly an honored resident of Pittsfield, was born there. December 29, 1806, son of James and Keturah ( Pierson) Brown. His father, a native of Rehoboth. Rhode Island, born October 21. 1775. removed from that place when a young man to Richmond, Massachusetts, where he learned the tanner's trade with Nathan Pierson.
Having finished his apprenticeship he came to Pittsfield, and in company with his brother Nathan established a tannery on the north side of Silver Lake. This tannery was the third manufacturing enterprise started in Pittsfield, and ranked second, if not first, in importance. In 1798 James Brown built a tannery next to the Elm street bridge, on Water street, and in 1800 admitted his brother Simeon to a partner- ship in the new factory. It remained for a long time under their owner- ship, and was a remarkably prosperous enterprise. James Brown was a prominent man in the town, and closely identified with all local in- terests. He was one of the first officers of the cattle show, and was one of the committee who purchased of Parson Allen the site for the Episco- pal church. He was also interested in property in the west, and before
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1820 had established tanneries in Ohio. He died at Ashtabula, Ohio, on September 17, 1839. His wife, Kettrah, to whom he was married in Richmond, on October 5, 1797, was a daughter of Zachariah Pier- son, of Richmond, who, with two of his brothers, was among the first settlers of that town, coming from Long Island. Keturah Pierson Brown was born in Richmond, on November 9, 1780, and died in Pitts- field in 1854. She was the mother of six children: Nelson, James P., Mary Ann, George, Sarah Ann, and James H. The first named of these, who was born on January 10, 1799, was educated at Middlebury, Ver- mont, and became a physician. His health failing, he took up his resi- dence in the south, where he died prior to 1841. James P., who was born in March, 1800, died in infancy. Mary Ann, born on Christmas Day, 1802, married John Holliston, at that time of Pittsfield, but later a prominent citizen of Perrysburg, Ohio. James H. Brown, who was born on March 144, 1814, in Pittsfield, removed to the state of Pennsyl- vania, where he died. He left a son, Judge Henry Brown (at one time of Omaha, Nebraska, and later a resident of Pierce, Nebraska, which town he founded), and two daughters-Ella and Mrs. Burnes. Sarah Ann Brown was born on November 13, 1808.
George Brown obtained a practical education in the public schools of Pittsfield. Subsequently, at the age of fifteen years, he went to Utica, New York, to acquire a knowledge of mercantile affairs. In 1835 he removed to Buffalo, where he established a wholesale mercantile busi- ness in company with Mr. Holliston. Later he was engaged in business in Boston with James M. Beebe. On account of the failure of his health, however, he returned in 1849 to Pittsfield, and here resided until his death, which occurred on August 25, 1874. He was a director in an insurance company, and owned a farm of some twenty acres that is now within the city limits and is a valuable property.
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Mr. Brown married, on April 28, 1841, Abbie Buel, a daughter of James and Agnes (Center) Buel. James Buel, who was born in Litch- field, Connecticut, in 1787, and died in 1874, was for a quarter of a cen- tury one of the leading merchants of Pittsfield. When only twelve years of age he left home and went with a Mr. Keyes to Burlington, Vermont. Later he worked in Hudson, New York, and then, early in 1807, came to Pittsfield. He began business for himself there in 1812, in company with David Campbell, in Exchange Row. From 1814 to 1816 he was treasurer and general agent of the Pittsfield Cotton and Woolen Manufacturing Company, which controlled one of the first great factories of Pittsfield. He subsequently spent some years in New Orleans, engaged in business; but, as the climate there did not suit him, he returned to Pittsfield, and here formed a partnership with Ezekiel R. Colt in the general merchandise business, which continued for twenty-five years. In 1820 Mr. Buel was made a notary public by Governor Brooks, and held the office until 1870. A man of scrupulous integrity, his high worth was recognized by all who knew him.
His wife, Agnes, whom he married in 1811, was born at West Hartford, and was a daughter of Ebenezer and Agnes ( Hubbard) Cen- ter, of that town. Her father died in West Hartford, but Mrs. Center and a son, Ebenezer, came to Berkshire county, and eventually to Pitts- field. The latter was for many years the trusted cashier of the Agri- cultural Bank. He was born in 1768, and died in 1822. His children were as follows: Sarah, who married Edward Jenkins, of Hudson; Frederick Center, a civil engineer who built a fort at Mobile Point; George, a colonel in the Confederate army, from Florida, who died in 1865; Maria, who married Lyman Warriner, and at her death left one daughter, now the widow of Captain Edward Moody, of Birkenhead, England, who was a commander of the Cunard steamship line; and
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John Purvis Center, who graduated from West Point, and was subse- quently killed in the Seminole war in 1837. Mrs. Agnes Center Buel died in 1864. She and her husband were among the first members of the First Church of Pittsfield. Mr. Buel was treasurer of the Mutual Life Insurance Company. Buel street, laid out by Mr. Brown, was named for him, as George street was named for Mr. Brown. The chil- dren of James and Agnes Buel were six in number, as follows: Mary Gross, who died young; Catherine, born in 1813, who married William H. Powell, of Hudson; Abbie Center, who was born on March 14, 1815; Harriet Jarvis, born September 29, 1816, who married, in 1857, Solomon Warriner, of Pittsfield, lost her husband three years after her marriage, and died in November, 18941; James Alexander, born in 1819, who died in childhood, and Mary Peters, who was born in 1821, and died on February 28, 1888.
Mrs. Brown, who was born in Pittsfield, was educated in the schools of this city. She has been the mother of seven children, namely : George S., Maria C., Mary Lee. James, Agnes Hubbard, Abbie, and Kate C. George S. Brown, who died in 1893, resided in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was connected with the Cincinnati Enquirer. He was educated at Williams College, and studied law. He left a son George, who is now in California. Maria C. Brown married Theodore Allen, a descendant of the old Allen family, connected with the Berkshire Life Insurance Company : she has one daughter. Esther. James Brown died in Texas. Agnes H. and Kate C. Brown reside with their mother. Abbie, who was the wife of Benjamin Aycrigg, died in New Jersey in 1894, leaving two sons-Charles Benjamin and George Brown Aycrigg.
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AMOS PORTER SMITH.
Amos Porter Smith, of Monterey, was born in that town Novem- ber 21, 1819, prior to its separation from Tyringham. He was the youngest son of Oliver and Ruth (Boardman) Smith. His father was born in Southwick, Massachusetts, February 14. 1780, and his mother was born December 10, 1776. Oliver Smith was an energetic, hard- working farmer. He settled in Tyringham about the year 1815, and sonie twenty years later removed to Sheffield, where he died October 22, 1858. His wife died in Monterey, January 22, 1860. They were members of the Wesleyan Methodist church. Their children were: Eunice, born January 24, 1805; Lyman, born December 10, 1806; Asa, born December 15. 1808: Oliver, born February 13, 18II; Lovisa, born January 20, 1814: Eli, born February 27, 1816, and Amos P., the sub- ject of this sketch. None of them are now living.
Amos Porter Smith went to Sheffield with his parents when he was fifteen years old, but returned to Monterey seven years later and settled upon the homestead farm. For nearly fifty years he carried on with unusual success general farming and dairying, keeping an average of thirty head of cattle. In politics he was in his later years a Republican. Though taking a lively interest in the general welfare of the community, he neither sought for nor held public office He was a member of the Baptist church at Tyringham.
On March 30, 18.47, he married Chloe L. Brewer, who was born in Monterey, April 26. 1823. Her father. Josiah Brewer (2). who was a son of Colonel Josiah and grandson of Captain John Brewer, was born here in 1768: and her mother, Elizabeth Chapin Brewer, was a native of Sheffield. Captain John Brewer was one of the first settlers in this locality, and Brewer Pond was named for this family.
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Colonel Josiah Brewer, the date of whose birth was August 17, 1744. was the first male white child born in Tyringham. He was a prominent farmer and real estate holder, owning about one thousand acres of land. He lived to be eighty-six years old. His first wife, Mary Hall, was born June 29, 1751. He was the father of thirteen children, namely : Josiah (2), born October 16, 1768; Elizabeth, born Janu- ary 9, 1770: Daniel, born March 13, 1772; Jonas, born April 18, 1773; Hannah, born February I. 1775; Artemas, born April 8, 1776; Na- than, born October 1, 1778; Sylvester, born September 2, 1781 ; Mary, born August 6, 1783; John, born September 16, 1785; Hezekiah, born February 1, 1788; Chloe, born January 30, 1790; and Betsey, born November 28, 1792. Josiah and Elizabeth Chapin Brewer were the parents of five children : Hezekiah, born March 27, 1818: Camilla E., born May 25, 1821; Chloe L., mentioned above; Theodore A., born June 14, 1825; and Charles W., born September 4, 1827.
Mr. and Mrs. Amos P. Smith reared two children, namely: Ettie J., wife of Edward H. Slater, of Tyringham, and mother of one son, Duane Smith Slater; and Ella G., who died March 25, 1878, aged nineteen years. Amos Porter Smith died on April 2, 1887.
In October, 1891, Mrs. Smith married Edmund R. Ward, who was born in New Marlboro, Massachusetts, April 16, 1841. He died May 25. 1898.
CHESTER EUGENE GLEASON.
Of the younger men of the county seat whose capacity for useful- ness in the public service has been tested the gentleman whose name in- troduces these memoirs has demonstrated an ability, a zeal and an in- tegrity in the discharge of the official duties imposed upon him by the municipality that give fairest promise of continued valuable service in
Chestate Gleason
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the state legislature, where he now represents the Fourth Berkshire Dis- trict. He was born in Somerset county, Maine, as were his father and grandfather.
The founder of the Maine family of Gleasons, now numerously represented in that state, was Elijah Gleason, a native of Pomfret, Con- necticut, whence at the close of the Revolutionary war he took his family to Maine, becoming one of the pioneer settlers of Somerset county. He and his descendants wrested many fertile fields from the dense forests of the Pine Tree state, dividing their time between the cultivation of the acres cleared and the marketing of the timber felled.
Bryant Gleason, a son of Elijah, married Betsey Corson, and of the children born to them was Benjamin Gleason, the father of the immediate subject of this sketch. Benjamin Gleason was born March 9, 1828, in the village of Canaan, Somerset county. Save for one year spent in Australia, whither he was attracted by the gold discoveries of the early fifties, his life has been passed in his native county. Upon his return from the Antipodes in 1854 he purchased the two hundred-acre tract of land in Oakland upon which he has since continued to reside. He mar- ried, March 28, 1855, Caroline Victoria, daughter of Washington and Betsy (Spaulding) McIntyre, also natives of Somerset county. Wash- ington McIntyre was a leading citizen of Bingham, served efficiently for a number of years as one of its board of selectmen and was its capable representative in the state legislature. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Gleason, all of whom are still living, are named as follows : Carrie E., wife of Chester Small, decorator, of Oakland, Maine; Benjamin Franklin Gleason, farmer, of Alton, New Hampshire; Laura Belle, wife of Andrew D. Libby, farmer and stock raiser, of Oak- land, Maine ; Charles Sherman Gleason, physician, of Wareham, Massa- chusetts; Harry Clayton Gleason, dentist, of Boston, Massachusetts;
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Chester Eugene Gleason, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Nora Susan, wife of William L. Corson, photographer, of Madison. Maine; Howard Pul- sifer Gleason, milk dealer, of Worcester, Maine; and Arthur Augustus Gleason, who assists in the cultivation of the homestead farm.
Chester Eugene Gleason received his initial schooling in his native place. and completed his education in 1887 with a business course at Maine Wesleyan Seminary, Kent's Hill, Reedfield, Maine. He found immediate employment with the Boston & Albany railroad, in that com- pany's ticket office at Kneeland Street Station, Boston. It is an all sufficient commentary on his fidelity to the interests of this company that he remains in its employ, having been successively promoted in its Bos- ton office named until he had attained the chief clerkship, a position which he held from 1894 to 1898. In the latter year he was sent to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he has since continued to officiate as passenger and ticket agent at Union Station.
From the attainment of his majority Mr. Gleason has been staunchly Republican, and while privately active in his party's interests in Boston it was not until after several years' residence in Pittsfield that his services were sought in public behalf. In December, 1902, Ward Seven, Pitts- field, elected Mr. Gleason, by a majority approximated as two hundred, as its representative in the city council. He was placed upon the ordi- mances, printing and paving committees. Of the last named committee he served as secretary, and in that capacity throughout 1903 demon- strated such aggressiveness and fearlessness in protecting the city's in- terests during the important work involved in the improvement of North and West streets as to challenge general attention and win the public approval, and his unanimous choice as president of council for the en- suing year was the natural sequence of this splendid service. In 1904 he was the unanimous choice of the Republican city committee as its
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candidate for the legislature, representing the Fourth Berkshire Dis- trict. His vote (2,393), the largest ever cast for any candidate in that district, was the emphatic tribute to his capability and faithfulness in the public service. Mr. Gleason is a member of Crescent Lodge, F. and A. M., Pittsfield : St. Paul's Chapter. R. A. M., Boston ; Boston Council and Boston Commandery, K. T .: Aleppo Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Boston; and of Columbian Mystic Circle, Boston. He is a member also of the Railway and Steamboat Agents' Association of Boston.
He was married in October, 1897. to Miss Clara Belle Randall.
HENRY G. DAVIS.
Henry G. Davis, formerly a leading merchant of Pittsfield, was born in Oxford. Worcester county, Massachusetts, October 26, 1821, son of Jonathan Davis. It was his father's desire to give him a liberal education, but circumstances prevented the fulfillment of this inten- tion, and the son was obliged to content himself with such education as the common-school system of his native town afforded, with the addi- tional advantage of one year at the then famous Leicester Academy. At the age of seventeen he entered as clerk the general store of Samuel Dowse, a prosperous merchant of Oxford, where he received his first business training. Afterward he secured a position in a leading dry goods store in Springfield, Massachusetts, and still later was employed in the same line of trade at Worcester.
Coming to Pittsfield in 1843, on the advice of Mr. Dowse, who considered it a good place for a business opening, as the railroad had just been completed to this point, he in the following year leased a store in the Dr. Willard Clough block, forming a partnership with a Mr. Stowe, of Worcester, under the firm name of Davis & Stowe, engaged
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in general mercantile business, making a specialty of dry goods, carpets and crockery. Mr. Davis subsequently became sole proprietor of the establishment, and soon moved into Burbank block, just finished. Divid- ing his business a few years later, he opened a dry goods store across the street. Finding a man capable of looking after the crockery store, he gave him an interest in the business, which was thenceforth carried on under the name of Davis & Grant. Giving his personal attention to his dry goods business, Mr. Davis built up an extensive as well as a profitable trade, and at the time of his death, which occurred July 19, 1863, he was the largest dry goods dealer in Berkshire county.
On October 7. 1845, Mr. Davis married Mary B. Dowse. daughter of Samuel Dowse. his first employer, and a grand-niece of Thomas Dowse, of Cambridge, who gave his library to the Massachusetts His- torical Society. Mr. Davis was employed for six years as clerk with the afterward noted business man of Chicago, Marshall Field, and it was through letters of recommendation given him by his Pittsfield em- ployer that Mr. Field first obtained his first position in that city. Mr. Davis was the father of four children: Elizabeth; Mary Gilbert, mar- ried F. A. Rockwell: Henry, who did not live to grow up; and Samuel D., died in infancy.
In politics Mr. Davis was a Republican, and prior to the breaking out of the rebellion he served as postmaster of Pittsfield for nine months. filling out an unexpired term. During the Civil war he enlisted with a company from Pittsfield, the whole company supposing that they would be required to serve but three months, but upon learning that they would be expected to enlist for nine months, Mr. Davis withdrew his name, as it was impossible for him to leave his business for that length of time. He served as a deacon of the Congregational church from the age of thirty years until his death ; was for some time superintendent of the Sun-
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day school, and a teacher of a young ladies' Bible class. He was sincerely esteemed as a business man, as well as for his labors in behalf of the church. The following enlogy, taken from " Hints and Thoughts for Christians," written by the Reverend John Todd. D.D., one of the most respected pastors that Pittsfield has ever known, is an eloquent tribute to his character :
"When I first knew him he was a young man, having just come to my place of residence to begin business among us. He was unmarried, and I knew him only as a very pleasant young man, bearing a mild countenance and a hopeful look. He at once came into my church, en- tered the Sunday school as a teacher, and showed in all a true and modest piety. From that hour until his death he had been steadily and silently growing in Christian character. In a few years he had so gained the confidence of the community that while yet a young man he was elected an officer in our church. With great deference and dis- trust he at once came to talk the matter over with his minister and re- ceive his advice. He came in company with another young man whom the church had placed by her aid in precisely the same circumstances. I should not dare recall the solemn conversation of that hour. The modest, beautiful letter which they addressed to the church, accepting the trust, showed she had not mistaken her sons. They were together inducted into office on the Sabbath that our old church edifice was burned. Nobody has so good an opportunity to know the members of his church as the pastor: and if he be a kind, generous-hearted man, no one can appreciate all that is good so highly. To him every impress of character about him is the dust of diamonds. Some men in office are always in a state of anxiety less they be overlooked, or have less respect or influence than they think is their due; but, so far as I can remember, I never saw any such spirit in him. When called to act, whether to do a humble deed or great, he never inquired how he would look when doing it. He never seemed to think of himself, hence he was always natural, and always like himself. He never shouted in order to hear the echoes of his own voice. I have seen him on great occasions, when many eyes were upon him, and I have seen him at the head of our Sunday school year after year. I have seen him bringing in benches and giving seats to the poor, and falling back into the ranks, and taking a single class in the Sunday school, and I never saw any difference in his appearance or spirit, whether conducting a religious meeting, when its responsibility was resting upon him, or whether talking along with his pastor concerning his private experiences or hopes. He was ever the same, quiet, lowly, yet sincere man. You never felt that he would say
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or profess more than he felt, that he would attempt to be more than he was, or try to do more than he could. He did not wait for great oc- casions when he could do great things for his Master, or for a dark night, when his lamp, if kindled. would be seen afar off, but was al- ways ready to act. I have had him with me on councils of importance. and I have had him go with me to the sinning and erring, and I have never on either such occasion heard him say a word or give a look that I would have altered. His Christian experience was so wrought in him that I don't believe that he ever had, till he came to die, all the consola- tions of hope that he might have appropriated. He dwelt higher up the mount than he thought, and he wist not that his face shone when others saw that it did.
" There was no one among us, perhaps, who was more interested in foreign missions, in collecting money from our people, in receiving it from our churches in the country to be transmitted to the board, in attending the monthly concerts, in circulating intelligence, or more warm in sympathy, or more fervent in prayer for the conversion of the world; and yet there is no one, probably, whom the poor would more deeply mourn or more truly miss. His was an eye that saw afar off, and no less clearly that which was near. He was a model in benevolence. I have never known him to turn away from a call for charity, and my only fear on that score had been lest he should actually give more than he ought, or to objects not always the most pressing; and when I speak of his amiable life, I do not mean simply that he had a countenance so mild and so lovely that all loved to look at it, speech so sweet that all loved to hear him speak, a smile so winning that all loved to meet it. and a disposition so gentle that none could receive offence, but I mean that the natural traits of character were so permeated by the spirit of Christ that the whole man was made uncommon.
" How seklom it is that a pastor can be associated intimately with one standing in his relation, and so long, and be able to recall no word that was unkind, no act that was disrespectful, no emotion that was un- Christian, and no look that was cold! and yet there was no want of manly independence, and no spirit of sycophancy. We sometimes ad- mire the tree which our own hand had planted, as it silently and slowly spreads up and shoots out its branches, and stands out a thing of strength and beauty. How much more beautiful to see a human soul developed and enlarged and strengthened till the whole community can trust it, and love it while here, and deeply mourn it when removed. His was the beautiful path on the bank of the River of Life, and under the shades of the trees that grow therein, where he who walks has neither to seek nor shun office, neither to seek nor to shun riches, neither to strive to be great nor small, because there walks One with him who is Himself the exceedingly great reward.
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" I never heard him intimate that there was an office in the world which he coveted. or gain that he desired. He took his place modestly at life's banquet, and asked nothing which was not on the bill of fare. Whether I wanted him to go with me to an outside neighborhood meet- ing, or to see to the wants of any poor servant, or converse with a back- sliding one, or do any other self-denying work, I never knew him to re- fuse or try to find excuses for not doing it : and yet. so unobtrusive was his piety. so symmetrical was his character, and so gently he moved among us, that it was not until we saw him actually taken from us that we realized how much of worth was removed. Those who have seen his face as he ministered at the communion table, those who have met him weekly at the prayer meetings, who have seen him in his busiest hours, those who have been in his class in Sunday school, those who have had him come to them in poverty or sickness, will now most feel his loss and miss his presence. I am comforted under our heavy loss in the cheering thought that such a character can actually grow up among us and reach to so much development, and when, in the fulness of usefulness and of strength. it is cut down, it can leave such a mighty testimony to the power of the Gospel of Christ. Scarcely could anyone have lovelier views of the depravity of the heart, feel a deeper need of atonement and a divine power to renew the heart. or have a more exalted reverence or love for the Saviour of sinners.
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