USA > Massachusetts > Historical collections, being a general collection of interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c., relating to the history and antiquities of every town in Massachusetts, with geographical descriptions > Part 11
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The name of this hermit was Timothy Leonard. He came from Fredericksburg, Dutchess county, N. Y., five or six years before the revolutionary war; and though he purchased a farm, he led a solitary life till his death. He died June 13, 1817, from infirmity and old age, being, as was supposed, in his 70th year. Unwilling that any one should remain with him during a single night, he died as he lived, alone and un- attended. The cause of his leading a solitary life is supposed to be explained by the fact that he was an inveterate hater of woman. His description of them was,
"They say they will, and they won't; What they promise to do they don't."
"Let none smile at the history of Timothy Leonard, for he is not a solitary instance in which disappointed hope and mortified pride have been suffered to blot out the social affections, and produce uselessness, wretchedness and ruin."
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OTIS.
In the west part of the town is a cave of some little note. It has several apartments of various dimensions, whose sides and roofs are limestone, on which stalactites are continually forming. About one fourth of a mile S. W. of the south meeting-house is a rock judged to weigh 30 or 40 tons, so equally balanced on another rock, that a man may move it with one finger. This town is 20 miles S. by E. of Lenox, and 130 S. W. by W. of Boston. Popu- lation, 1,570.
OTIS.
THIS town consists of the former town of Loudon and the dis- trict of Bethlehem. Loudon was incorporated in 1773. Previously it was called Tyringham Equivalent, because it had been granted to the proprietors of that town to compensate them for some losses which they had sustained. Bethlehem was incorporated in 1789. This was originally called the north eleven thousand acres, in refer- ence to Southfield, which was called the south eleven thousand acres. The settlement of Loudon commenced probably about 1750 or 55. Some of the earliest inhabitants whose names can be ascertained were David Kibbe, Stephen Kibbe, Isaac Kibbe, Dan. Gregory, Larkeom from Enfield, Con., Jeremy Stow, Eldad Bower, E. Pelton, George Troop, Ebenezer Trumbull, Jacob Cook, Timothy Whitney, Jonathan Norton and Samuel Marcy. The vote to build the first school-house was passed in 1774. The town settled but very slowly. Bethlehem began to be settled several years after Loudon. The names of some of the first settlers were Thomas Ward, Daniel Sumner, Phineas Kingsbury, John Plumbe, Adonijah Jones, Ebenezer Jones, Miles Jones, James Brackenridge, John Spear, and Robert Hunter. Most of these, and the subsequent in- habitants who moved into the district, came principally from Con. In June 1809 the district of Bethlehem was united with the town of Loudon, the town still bearing the name of Loudon. At a town meeting held in May 1810 it was proposed to have the name of the town altered at the discretion of P. Larkeom, Esq., then representa- tive at the general court; and in June he obtained for it the name of Otis, in honor of the speaker of the house of representatives, the Hon. H. G. Otis of Boston.
It appears from the records of the town that money was voted from year to year to hire preaching. About 1772, before the incorporation of the town, a person came into it by the name of George Troop, who asserted himself to be a candidate for the minis- try, whom the inhabitants employed several years ; though it appeared finally that he had no license to preach. On a time appointed some of his hearers undertook to ordain him, and he on his part to form them into a church, after which he led them to the choice of deacons. The people at length becoming dissatisfied with him, an eccle- siastical council, convened in 1775, decided that he had no authority to preach or to organize a church, and that his church was not a regular church of Christ. He left the town in 1776 and joined the United States army in the character of chaplain, and his church separated and dissolved. On the 2d of Feb. 1779 a regular church was formed of 7 members. The Bethlehem church was organized Sept. 14, 1795, of 8 members. At a conference of these churches, held June 5th, 1810, it was mutually agreed to become one church. No house of worship was ever built in Loudon, though different attempts were made for the purpose. Before the union of the town and dis- trict in 1809,the united society agreed to erect a meeting-house, and procured timber and
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PERU.
fixed upon a place to set it. This house was built by subscription, and was dedicated in the autumn of 1813. For a while after, the society had the services of Rev. Aaron Kinne, and some other clergymen. In Nov. 1814, the Rev. Jonathan Lee was invited to preach in the place, and was ordained pastor June 28, 1815.
When Shays' insurrection broke out in 1786, a number of people who lived in the north part of the town, and attended meeting at Sandisfield, became alienated from their minister, the Rev. Mr. Storrs, on account of his opposition to the party of Shays. They withdrew from his ministry and professed themselves Baptists, and united with some inhabitants in the western part of Bethlehem in forming a Baptist church. They built a meeting-house, which stands in the south-western corner of this town. In the south-eastern section is a Methodist society, who have a meeting-house, which was erected by subscription in 1816. There is an Episcopal society in the center of the town, which was organized on the 1st of Jan. 1828.
The general aspect of this town is uneven and broken. It abounds with granite rock, which renders the tillage difficult and | expensive. At the distance of half a mile west of the center is a rock, with an opening or cavity in it, near the surface of the ground, where crystals of quartz and iron pyrites have been found. In (! the early settlement of Bethlehem, Daniel Sumner, while hunting for deer near by this rock, heard a sudden loud, explosion, which much surprised and alarmed him. Curiosity leading him to exam- ine from what source it proceeded, he found an unusual appear- ance of the rock, which was discolored, where a fissure had been made, from which he concluded that the sound had proceeded from that place. It was probably produced by the combustion of hydrogen gas. This town is 15 miles S. E. of Lenox, and 120 W. by S. of Boston. Population, 1,077.
PERU.
THIS township included the greater part of Hinsdale until 1804. The whole was purchased at auction, at Boston, June 2, 1762, for £1,460. This was denominated No. 2 of the nine townships which were sold at that time. It went into the hands of Oliver Partridge and Elisha Jones, and, in honor of the former gentleman, was called Partridgefield from its incorporation in 1771 until 1806, when it received its present name. It is about 6 miles long and four and a half broad. Within these limits the settlement commenced about 1764. Between this time and 1768, Henry Badger, from New Jersey, Nathaniel Stowell, from Connecticut, Peter, Daniel, and Nathan Thompson, brothers, from the eastern part of this state, set- tled in it, and Ebenezer Pierce shortly after. This town, occupying the height of land on the Green mountain range, has a cold, severe climate. The surface is uneven, and the soil hard and stony, and best adapted to grazing. There is a limestone quarry, from which lime is made of the best quality. The first team is said to have crossed the mountain in this town in 1767, over which a turnpike road now passes.
The inhabitants of this place have been distinguished for their zeal in supporting the institutions of the gospel. They are mostly Congregationalists, though there are some Baptists and Methodists
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PITTSFIELD.
belonging to societies in the adjoining towns. The church was organized with about 35 members, in 1770, and the Rev. Stephen Tracy, from Norwich, Connecticut, was ordained their pastor in April, 1772. The first meeting-house was erected in 1780, and the present one July 18, 1807. It is a remarkable fact, that the rain from the east roof of this house flows into Connecticut river, and from the west into the Housatonic. This town is about 15 miles N. E. of Lenox, and 111 W. of Boston. Population, 656.
PITTSFIELD.
THE settlement of this town was commenced in 1752, by Solo- mon Deming, who moved with his family from Wethersfield, Con., and settled in the east part of the town. Charles Goodrich and a number of others soon followed. Mrs. Deming was the first white female who came into the town, and was often left alone through the night by the necessary absence of her husband, when there was not another white inhabitant in the town, and the wilderness was filled with Indians. She was the last, as well as the first, of the settlers, and died in March, 1818, aged 92. Mr. Goodrich (who died in 1815, in the 96th year of his age, ) drove the first cart and team into the town from Wethersfield, and was obliged to cut his way through the woods a number of miles. In the year 1753, Simeon Crofoot, Charles Goodrich, Jacob Ensign, Solomon Deming, Stephen Crofoot, Samuel Taylor, and Elias Willard, obtained an act from the general court, incorporating them by the name of " The proprietors of the settling lots in the township of Poontoo- suck." This was the Indian name of the place, which was retained until 1761, when the town was incorporated by the name of Pitts- field, in honor of the celebrated statesman William Pitt. The pro- prietors were driven off once or twice by the Indians in the time of the second French war. Three small forts were erected in dif- ferent parts of the town, as places of safety against the Indians.
The first meeting-house was erected a little south of the present Congregational church. The Rev. Thomas Allen was ordained the first pastor, April 18, 1764. He continued in that relation till his death, which occurred Feb. 11; 1810. Owing to political differ- ences this church was divided. from 1808. till 1817, during which time the minority were a separate church, and settled Mr. Thomas Punderson their minister, but were again united in the last-men- tioned year, and Rev. Heman Humphrey installed their pastor.
Pittsfield is finely situated at the junction of the principal branches of the Housatonic river, and occupies a beautiful expansion of the valley between the Taconic and Green mountain range. The soil of this township is of a superior quality, and is divided into farms exhibiting fine specimens of agriculture. The village in the central part of the town is one of the largest and best built in the county. There is a public square in the center, containing about
f
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RICHMOND.
four acres : in the center of this square is a large elm, which was left standing when the original forest was cleared away. It is 126 feet in height, and 90 feet to the limbs. It is a striking object, and never fails to attract the notice of strangers. There are in the village 4 churches : 1 Congregational, 1 Episcopal, 1 Bap- tist, and 1 Methodist; the Berkshire Medical Institution, and a number of other public buildings. There is also a bank, the " Agricultural Bank," incorporated in 1818, with a capital of $100,- 000; a printing-office, an academy, and other seminaries of learn- ing. The Berkshire Medical Institution was incorporated in 1823, and is connected with Williams College, at Williamstown. There is a Lyceum of Natural History connected with this institution, formed by its trustees, according to act of the legislature. Pitts- field is 6 miles from Lenox, 33 E. S. E. from Albany, and 125 W. from Boston. Population, 3,575.
In 1837, there were in the town 2 cotton mills, consuming 125,- 000 lbs. of cotton ; 500,000 yards of cotton manufactured ; 6 woollen mills, consuming 315,000 lbs. of wool; 233,000 yards of cloth manufactured, valued at $547,000. There were 2,135 Saxony sheep; 10,534 merino sheep; other kinds of sheep, 293; the value of the wool produced, $19,443; capital invested, $349,974. The value of muskets manufactured, $24,000; and 30 hands employed. Value of carriages manufactured, $20,000; hands employed, 30. Beside the above, various other articles are manufactured, such as buttons, brooms, hats, leather, chairs, &c.
RICHMOND.
THIS township was first purchased of two chieftains of the Stock- bridge tribe of Indians, by the agency of Samuel Brown, jr., Esq., of Stockbridge, in or about the year 1763. The consideration for the purchase was £1,700. It appears that by a resolve of the general court, passed Feb. 17 of the same year, the purchase was confirmed to the several proprietors on condition of their paying the stipulated sum of money to the Indians, and that they should, within five years' time, have 50 settlers residing within the limits, who should each have a good dwelling-house, and that they should have a learned Protestant minister settled among them within the time specified. The settlement of the town commenced in 1760. In the summer of that year, Capt. Micah Mudge moved his family into the place, and in the succeeding autumn Mr. Ichabod Wood, from Rehoboth. 'These two families settled about 3 miles apart, and remained alone in the wilderness through a long and gloomy winter. In the year 1761, several families moved to this place, viz. Elijah and Isaac Brown, John Chamberlain, David Pixley, Joseph Patterson, and Daniel, Timothy, and Aaron Rowley, who generally settled in the south and west parts of the town. In 1762, Joseph and Paul Raymond, and John and Daniel Slosson, from
Drawn by J. W. Barber-Engraved by S. E. Brown, Boston. CENTRAL PART OF PITTSFIELD MASS.
This view shows the appearance of the Common, as seen from near the western side. The Congregational Church is the first building, with a spire, on the left ; the next the Town-House; the next eastward is the Episcopal Church ; the other buildings near are connected with the Medical Institution. The ancient elm, one hundred and twenty-six feet in height, is seen rising in the central part of the Common.
التصدى
ـرصيـ
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SANDISFIELD.
Kent, Con., moved in, and some others. From that time, the set- tlement advanced rapidly, until every part of the town was inha- bited. The most part of the first settlers were from Connecticut and Long Island. The church was formed in Richmond about 1765. In that year, the Rev. Job Swift, afterwards the minister of Bennington, Vt., was settled as their pastor. He was a native of Sandwich, Mass., and a graduate of Yale College in 1765. President Dwight says, "Dr. Swift was one of the best and most useful men I ever knew. To the churches and ministers of Ver- mont he was a patriarch: and wherever he was known he is remembered with the greatest veneration." The present Congre- gational meeting-house was built in 1794, at the cost of $4,000. The Methodist society have a neat and convenient meeting-house, which was built in 1825.
This town was incorporated on the 20th of June, 1765, by the name of Richmond, (after the Duke of Richmond). In the year 1766, on the 26th of February, the township was divided by an act of the legislature, and the easterly part incorporated by the name of Lenox. The tract included between the mountains is a pleasant and fertile valley, averaging about 3 miles in width, enclosed by hills on the east and west, commanding delightful prospects. An intelligent gentleman, who had spent many years in foreign countries, after passing through this town, and viewing the valley from the hill on the west, observed that in natural scenery it excelled the view from the famous Richmond Hill, in England. This town joins Lenox : distance from that place, 5 miles, and 135 W. of Boston. Population, 820. There is a fur- nace in the town for the manufacture of pig iron, which in 1837 employed 40 hands, who manufactured 600 tons, valued at $26,400. There were 4,835 merino sheep, whose fleeces averaged 3 pounds, and valued at $8,703; capital invested, $90,000.
SANDISFIELD.
THIS town, in connection with others, was granted to a company who petitioned for the same in 1735. It was called No. 3. The proprietors mostly lived in the county of Worcester. The patent of the town was granted in 1736; and soon after the location of town lots was made. No family moved into the place till 1750. Thomas Brown was the first. Soon after, his father, Daniel Brown, Esq., moved in with his numerous family. He was one of the principal men; was born near Boston, but had lived for some time in Enfield, Con. The settlement of the town advanced rapidly. A large number of families came in from Wethersfield, Con., and the adjoining towns, and also a considerable number from the towns below Plymouth, on Cape Cod. The first white child born in the town was named Lot Smith, Aug. 7, 1757, because the pro- prietors, meeting on the day he was born, proposed giving him a lot of land. The town enjoyed the preaching of the gospel within
12
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SAVOY.
5 or 6 years of the first settlement. The first meeting-house was erected in 1757, and stood till 1796, when a new one was built. The site is nearly in the center of the town, and the house is lite- rally founded on a rock. The church was formed in 1756. Rev. Cornelius Jones, a native of Bellingham, and a graduate of Har- vard College in 1752, was the first minister in the place. He was ordained at the time the church was organized. The place of the transactions of the day, for the want of a more convenient place, was a barn. The first President Edwards, then settled over the Stockbridge Indians, was moderator of the council, and preached the ordination sermon. There are two Baptist churches in this town, though the meeting-house of the second society is in the N. W. corner of Otis. The first was organized Aug. 21, 1779. Their first pastor was Elder Joshua Morse, who was ordained Oct. 2, of the same year. The second Baptist church, consisting of 19 mem- bers, was constituted April 25, 1788. Mr. Benjamin Baldwin, a native of Otis, was ordained over this church June 9, 1790. This town was incorporated in 1762, and now includes the original township of Sandisfield, and the tract formerly called the south 11,000 acres. This tract was incorporated as a district in 1797, and annexed to Sandisfield in 1819. The length of the township is about 9 miles and the breadth six. The surface is hilly; the hills rise to a considerable height, but not abrupt, they being mostly large swells. A considerable mountain rises, however, on the western bank of Farmington river, in the S. E. section of the town, known by the name of Hanging mountain. It is 450 feet in height above the bank, and presents to the S. E. a mural perpen- dicular front. This town was originally Indian hunting-ground. In clearing a piece of wood-land a few years ago, a large number of arrow-heads of stone were found carefully deposited between two rocks, probably placed there ages ago. It does not appear that the town was ever an Indian settlement. This town is 20 miles S. E. by E. of Lenox, and 112 W. by S. of Boston. Popu- lation, 1,493.
SAVOY.
THE general court, in 1770 or 71, granted to Col. William Bul- lock, of Rehoboth, agent for the heirs of Capt. Samuel Gallop and company, a township of land 6 miles square, in consideration of the services and sufferings of the said Gallop and com- pany in an expedition into Canada in 1690, in King William's war. The greater part of this grant composes the present town of Savoy. The first family settled in this town in Sept., 1777, and within 10 years from that time 35 families were located in the place. Some of these were Lemuel Hatheway, Daniel Wetherell, William Wilbore, Zachariah Padelford, and Joseph, William, Thomas, and Joseph (jr.) Williams, from Taunton, John
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SHEFFIELD.
Bourn, Joseph Bishop, Comfort Bates, Abiel Dunham, Michael Sweet, and David Matthews, from Attleborough, and families of the names of Babbit, Shearman, Reed, Bennet, Ingraham, Nelson, Rogers, Fuller, Putney, and Heath, from other places. Public worship was early established in this town. Most of the people are Baptists, though there are some Methodists and Congregation- alists. The Baptist church was organized June 24, 1787. Their first minister was Elder Nathan Haskins, a native of Shutesbury, ordained in 1789. The society built their meeting-house half a mile north of the hollow, in 1804. Savoy is a mountainous town- ship, and a large portion of it too broken for cultivation. The best lands are in the north and east parts. The inhabitants are mostly farmers, who raise stock and keep large dairies. The vil- lage called 'Savoy village is in the south part of this town, on the north branch of the Westfield river. This little village consists of 2 churches, (1 Baptist, 1 Methodist,) 2 taverns, 2 stores, and about 15 dwelling-houses. Distance, 25 miles from Lenox, 7 from South Adams, 28 to Northampton, 29 to Greenfield, and 44 to Troy, N. Y.
SHEFFIELD.
As early as 1722, Joseph Parsons and 176 other persons within the county of Hampshire, petitioned the general court of Massa- chusetts for two townships of land on the river Housatonic or Westbrook. This petition was granted Jan. 30, 1722-3, and a committee appointed for the purpose of making the purchase of the Indians, dividing the tract, granting lots, admitting settlers, &c. On the 25th of April, 1724, the committee made the pur- chase of the Indians and received from them a deed, "in conside- ration of £460, three barrels of cider, and thirty quarts of rum." This deed was signed and sealed by Konkepot and twenty other Indians at Westfield, before John Ashley, justice of the peace. The Indians in this deed reserved to themselves two small tracts, which on their removal, about 10 years after, they exchanged for land in Upper Housatonic, within the present town of Stockbridge. There were two or three small Indian settlements in this town, though but a few traces of them are now to be found. On a gravelly hillock in the north part of the town, in a tract which they reserved, it is supposed was their burying-place. Human bones were discovered in making the turnpike road through the town two and a half miles south of the meeting-house, on the rise of ground a few rods south of the turnpike gate, which led to the conclusion that this spot too was an Indian burying-place.
In 1725, Capt. John Ashley and Capt. Ebenezer Pomroy, two of the committee, made a general division of the lower township, especially of the part lying upon the river; and soon after the place began to be settled by individuals from the county of Hamp-
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SHEFFIELD.
shire, and mostly from the town of Westfield. In 1726 the settlers were subjected to much inconvenience and vexation by some of the Dutch inhabitants of the province of New York, who con- tested the titles to the lands. They were also subjected to priva- tion through fear of the Indians, and were obliged for safety to picket in two or three dwellings in different parts of the town, to which they resorted to spend the night.
Southern view of Sheffield, (central part).
In 1733 the lower township Housatonic was set off and incorporated as a town, eight miles long on the river, and wide enough to include 7 square miles ; and was named Sheffield, pro- bably from Sheffield in England. It extended north to Great Barrington bridge. In 1761 the town was reduced to its present limits, 8 miles in length and 7 in breadth. Among the first settlers of this town were those of the name of Noble, Austin, Westover, Kellogg, Pell, Callender, Corban, Huggins, Smith, Ingersoll, Dewey, Root, &c., in all about 60, who had their lands, from 250 to 1,000 acres each, confirmed to them by the committee. Mr. Obadiah Noble, from Westfield, was the first white man who resided in the town. He spent the first winter here with no other human being than the Indians. In spring he went back to Westfield, and in June returned with his daughter. The first church in this town was organized on the 22d of Oct., 1735. Mr. Jonathan Hubbard, of Sunderland, and a graduate of Yale College, was ordained their pastor on the same occasion. The people had built a meeting- house the summer previous, 45 feet by 35. This house stood till 1762, when a new one was erected.
The engraving above is a view of the Congregational church (the only church in the town) and some other buildings in the central part of the town, with the east mountain in the distance. The first meeting-house stood about half a mile north of the pre- sent house, near the house of Mr. Hubbard, the first minister, which is still standing and occupied by his son. This place is 20 miles from Lenox, 28 from Hudson, 28 from Litchfield, 48 from Hartford, and about 125 from Boston. Population, 2,308.
.
93
SHEFFIELD.
A Baptist church was formed in this town on the 7th of July, 1825, with 15 members. There are a few Episcopalians and Methodists in the town.
The town includes an extensive vale, and, except on the east, is generally level. In that part there is an extensive chain of con- siderable hills, extending from one end of the township to the other. On the west it is mountainous : Taconic, or Mount Wash- ington, as this part of the Taconic range is more generally called, is about 2500 feet in height, and presents a magnificent spectacle. A part of this mountain is within the limits of Sheffield. This town affords great abundance of white marble, and much of ex- cellent quality. The soil of the township is generally productive, and in the vale easily tilled. Large quantities of hay are easily obtained from the extensive intervals lying upon the river. The Housatonic, which passes through the length of the town, is here a silent, sluggish stream, from 6 to 8 rods in breadth. From this town it passes into Connecticut, and, flowing through the western part of the state, empties into Long Island Sound between Mil- ford and Stratford, 13 miles west of New Haven.
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