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 13
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I am your's, §.c."
The following is the inscription on the monument of Mr. Ser- geant, in the grave-yard near the Congregational church.
100
TYRINGHAM.
Here lies the body of the Rev. Mr. John Sergeant, who dy'd the 27th day of July, A. D. 1749 in the 46th year of his age.
Where is that pleasing form I ask, thou canst not show, He's not within false stone, there's nought but dust below ; And where's that pious soul that thinking concious mind, Wilt thou pretend vain cypher that's with thee inshrin'd ? Alas, my friend's not here with thee that I can find, Here's not a Sergeant's body or a Sergeant's mind: I'll seek him hence, for all's a like deception here,
I'll go to Heaven, and I shall find my Sergeant there.
TYRINGHAM.
THE settlement of this town commenced in 1739. In April of that year Lieut. Isaac Garfield, Thomas Slaton, and John Chad- wick, moved into the place. In August following, Capt. John Brewer, from Hopkinton, moved into the town and put up a house; and erected mills for the use of the inhabitants, agreeably to a contract with the proprietors, on the site of the present Lang- don mills. Concerning Capt. Brewer, it is worthy of notice that he was the father of 13 children, and his youngest child, Col. Jo- siah Brewer, (born in 1744,) had exactly the same number. In the French war beginning in 1744, several houses were fortified, and the fortifications were rebuilt upon the alarm produced by two or three murders in the vicinity, in August, 1755. The first and principal of these fortifications was around the house of Capt. Brewer, at which some soldiers were placed by the provincial gov- ernment. Among these were William Hale, who had assisted in building Fort Massachusetts, in Adams. He became a settler here as early as 1747, and was afterwards a deacon in the church. About 1750, John Jackson moved into the town from Weston, and persons by the names of Thomas and Orton ; and four brothers by the name of Warren, with their father Joshua, (the first person born in Watertown,) moved into it about the same time. The south part of the town, sometimes called South Tyringham, was generally settled at an early period ; but Hopbrook, or North Ty- ringham, was left as an insalubrious marsh for more than 20 years. The first log house in this section of the town was erected by Dea. Thomas Orton, about 1762. The first settlers were Congregational- ists, and in 1743 they erected a meeting-house. The church was formed of 8 members, Sept. 25, 1750, and on the 3d of October fol- lowing Rev. Adonijah Bidwell, a native of Hartford, Con., and graduate of Yale College in 1740, was ordained its pastor. In 1796, the society built the second meeting-house near the old one, which was dedicated July 4, 1798. In 1782, a portion of the peo- ple became Shakers, and set up meetings at each other's houses, according to the customs of this sect. In 1792, they collected together in a body, and formed themselves into what they denominate church order. Their settlement is in the north part of the town, at Hopbrook, where they own nearly 2,000 acres of land. The spiritual concerns of the three settlements at Tyring-
101
WASHINGTON.
ham, Hancock, and Enfield, in Con., are superintended by a presid- ing elder, assisted by a subordinate elder in each settlement. After the close of the revolutionary war some Baptists moved into the town from Rhode Island, and there are also some families of Methodists. These denominations have meeting-houses in the north part of the town.
This town is 7 miles in length and 5 in width. It was incor- porated by the general court May 18, 1762. It is said the name was given at the suggestion of Lord Viscount Howe, who owned property at Tyringham in England, and who passed through this town a few days before he fell near Ticonderoga, July 6, 1758. This town is 14 miles S. E. of Lenox, and 116 W. of Boston. Population, 1,288.
WASHINGTON.
THIS town was purchased of the Indians, in 1760, by a com- pany, most of which lived in Hartford and Suffield, Con. Some of the proprietors settled on their lands the same year. These were George Sloan, Andrew Mumford, William Milekan, Elijah Crane, Amos Beard, William Beard, Joseph Knox, Nathan Ingraham, Joseph Chaplin, and Matthew DeWolf. After the settlement was commenced, the proprietors met with some difficulty by the pro- vince authorities claiming a right to the township; whereupon Nathaniel Hooker, John Townly, and Isaac Sheldon, of Hartford, in behalf of themselves and 57 others, proprietors, in the begin- ning of 1762 petitioned the general court of Massachusetts to grant them the township. This grant was made in February of the following year, from which time till 1777 it was called Hartwood. The church in this town was formed as early as 1772. After two unsuccessful efforts to settle a pastor, the Rev. William G. Ballan- tine, of Westfield, was ordained, June 15, 1774. The first meet- ing-house was built in 1773, which stood till 1792, when a new one was erected. An Episcopal church, called St. John's church, was formed here in 1825. There are a considerable number of Baptists and also of Methodists in the town.
This town was incorporated by its present name April 12, 1777. It being situated on the Green mountain range, the surface is uneven, diversified by hills and valleys. The township is well watered by pure springs and brooks, and furnishes in every part good farms for grazing. A few years since a considerable number of the principal farmers exchanged their improved farms in this place for new lands in Ohio, on the St. Lawrence, in New York, and elsewhere, and removed, by which the population and prop- erty of the town have been much diminished. This town is situ- ated 8 miles E. of Lenox, and 120 W. of Boston. Population, 758.
102
WEST STOCKBRIDGE.
WEST STOCKBRIDGE.
North-western vien of West Stockbridge Village.
THIS town originally belonged to the Stockbridge Indians, and was sold by them in parcels to individual purchasers. The first person who settled in the town was Joseph Bryan, from Canaan, Conn., in 1766. In the fall of the same year Col. Elijah Williams, from Stockbridge, settled in that part of the town now called West Stockbridge village. Between this time and 1774, about 40 families settled in the town, among whom were the families of Increase Hewings, Elisha Hooper, Lemuel Burghardt, Christopher Brazee, John Minkler and Samuel Boynton, from different places in this state, and Ichabod Miller, Samuel Mudge, Elijah Slosson, Josiah Arnold, John Deming, Matthew Benedict, Roderic Messen- ger, Benjamin Lewis, John Ford, Ambrose Collins, and Amasa and James Spencer, from Connecticut.
The early settlers generally planted themselves down in the north part of the town, where the lands are the most feasible and productive. The first meeting-house in this town was built in 1788, and the church organized June 4, 1789. Their first minister was the Rev. Oliver Ayres. The Baptist church was organized in 1792, and the society incorporated and a meeting-house built in 1794. . The Rev. Samuel Whelpley, from Stockbridge, preached to them for a number of years from the time the society was formed.
This town was incorporated in 1774, and its name was derived from its relation to Stockbridge. Before its incorporation it was called Queensborough. A collection of rugged hills occupy the center of the town. Near the south-west corner is a mountain called Tom Ball, extending into Great Barrington and Alford, while Stockbridge moun- tain is on the eastern side. The south and south-eastern parts consist generally of rough, broken land. Lime quarries abound. There is much valuable marble in the town, of various colors ; some hardly less inferior in whiteness to snow, some parti- colored, mostly with blue; some is dove-colored, some is gray, and some is black. In Boynston's quarry, near the village, (in 1828,) an opening or fissure in the rocks, about 15 feet deep and from 18 to 4 inches in diameter, was charged with 204 pounds of powder. Upon firing it a mass of marble was raised, about 60 feet square on the surface and 8 feet thick, and at least twice that quantity was loosened.
West Stockbridge village is situated near the north line of the town, on Williams' river, a mill stream passing through the whole extent of the town. It consists of about 30 dwelling-houses, 2 churches, 1 Congregational and 1 Methodist, (erected in 1838,) and a number of mills for sawing marble. Stockbridge mountain rises immediately eastward of the village, and is the boundary between the towns. This place is 5 miles' from Lenox, 5 from Stockbridge, 47 from Springfield, 63 from Hartford, 28 from Hud- son, 30 from Albany, and 135 from Boston. Population of the town, 1,244.
103
WILLIAMSTOWN.
WILLIAMSTOWN.
THIS town is in the north-west corner of the state. It was ex- plored, together with the town of Adams, and the limits traced, by a committee of the general court, in 1749. The committee con- sisted of Col. Partridge, of Hatfield, and Col. Choate and Capt. Nathaniel Dwight, of Belchertown. Both towns were intended to be 6 miles square, but for some reasons they were laid out 7 miles in length and 5 in width. This township was called West Hoo- sic and the adjoining one East Hoosic. This was the Indian name of the tract embraced in these towns. The first meeting of the proprietors of which any record is preserved was held Dec. 5, 1753, by virtue of a warrant of William Williams, Esq., of Pitts- field, "issued in pursuance of a vote of the general court of Mas- sachusetts Bay," Sept. 10, 1753. But "the house lots" in the north part of the town were laid out, previous to this meeting. The settlement of this town, like that of others of that day, was retarded by Indian hostilities. Nehemiah Smedley, William and Josiah Hosford, and some other young men, came to prepare for themselves and families a settlement here, it is believed, in 1751 or 52. But they were interrupted by the increasing hostility of the Indians in those years. Returning to Connecticut, they enlisted in a company raised to protect the frontiers, and came again with others to this place and garrisoned a fort, which stood a few rods north of the present meeting-house, and also a block-house near the west college. A few soldiers were kept here in garrison till 1760. But the inhabitants were exposed to frequent alarms. Some were carried into captivity, and in an attack July 11, 1756, Capt. Chapin and two persons by the name of Chidestree were killed. The dangers nearly ceased at the close of the French war. The following are most of the early settlers from the first, till about 1770.
Capt. Nehemiah Smedley,
Titus Harrison,
Alexander Sloane, Thomas Roe,
2
Josiah Hosford,
Thomas Ovitt,
Ichabod Southwick,
Col. B. Simmons,
Josiah Wright,
Jesse Southwick,
Seth Hudson, Richard Stratton,
Samuel Birchard,
William Torrey,
Jonathan Meacham,
Joseph Wheeler,
Capt. Samuel Clark,
James Meacham,
Asa Johnson,
Moses Young,
Thomas Train,
Robert Hawkins,.
Andrew Young,
Thomas Dunton,
Derrick Smith,
William Young,
Wilson Webb,
Joseph Talmadge,
- Zebadiah Sabin,
Derrick Webb,
Elisha Higgins,
Elkanah Paris,
Stephen Olmsted,
Capt. Isaac Searle,
Nathan Smith,
John Newbury,
Isaac Stratton,
Joseph Corben,
Elisha Higgins, Dea. Nathan Wheeler, Mr. Seely,
John McMaster,
Samuel Sherwood,
Elisha Baker and Son,
Moses Rich,
Isaac Sherwood,
William Hine,
Bartholomew Woodcock,
Deming,
David Nichols,
David Johnson,
Stephen Davis,
Samuel Sloane,
David Johnson, 2d, Asa Corben, Amasa Corben,
Daniel Burbank,
Samuel Mills,
Robert McMaster,
Jonathan Sherwood,
Seth Lewis, -
Nehemiah Woodcock,
Lieut. Sampson Howe.
Capt. Smedley (at the head of this list) had five brothers who settled in the place.
William Hosford,
Isaac Ovitt,
Jesse Ryan,
John Torrey,
104
WILLIAMSTOWN.
The town received also a large number of inhabitants at differ- ent times, between 1770 and 1800, from Colchester, Con., among which were all the Buckleys, Bridgeses, Chamberlains, Days, Fords, Judds, Northams, Skinners, Tylers, Judah and Elisha Williams, Elijah, Thomas, and Solomon Wolcott. At a meeting of the proprietors, March 10, 1763, it was voted, "that for the future" they "would have preaching," and accordingly a call was given to Rev. Moses Warren to preach on probation. Two years after this, and immediately after the incorporation of the town, the proprietors called Mr. Whitman Welch " to the work of the min- istry in this town," July 26, 1765. His settlement was £80, ($267) to be paid one half the first year, the other half the year following. His salary was at first £40, and was to be increased £3 annually, until it should amount to £70, and he was to have the use of the ministry-house lot. He was ordained the latter part of the year 1765, and continued the pastor of the church nearly 12 years.
Mr. Welch was a native of Milford, Con., and great-grandson of Thomas Welch, one of the.53 " first planters" of that town. His father dying early, the care of his education devolved on an uncle, with whom he went to reside in New Milford. He graduated at Yale College, in 1762. He was a man of intelligence, and was social in his habits, and at suitable times gay and sportive. He was an animated preacher, and attentive to the duties of his office. In the winter of 1776, he went with the American army to Canada as chaplain, in a regiment to which a party belonged, commanded by Lieut. Zebadiah Sabin, of Williamstown. Mr. Welch died of the small-pox in March of the same year, near Quebec.
The first proposal to build a meeting-house was in 1766, in De- cember of which year it was voted to build a house 40 feet by 30, and to raise £180 for this purpose. The house was erected in 1768, and was occupied by the congregation for 30 years, when it was removed and fitted up for a town-house, and a new meeting- house erected, 76 feet in length and 55 in width, at the cost of about $6,000. The meeting-house at the south part of the town was erected by subscription in 1812, by the united exertions of Con- gregationalists and Baptists. There was early a small Baptist congregation in this town. In May, 1791, the town refused " to incorporate Matthew Dunning and 14 others into a Baptist socie- ty," according to their petition. The next year " Isaac Holmes was chosen tythingman for the Baptist society in this town," (town records). This church included some members from Han- cock, but was always small, and was dissolved in 1811. In 1814, another Baptist church was organized, which is now in a flourish- ing state.
The principal street in Williamstown passes over the highest part of three eminences ; on the first of which stands the east college and the chapel, on the second the west college, and on the third the Congregational church, from which the drawing for the engraving was taken. There are about 50 dwelling-houses near the colleges, standing compactly enough together to be called a village. This place is 20 miles from Pittsfield, 45 from Northampton, 14 from Bennington, 34 from Troy, and 135 miles from Boston. .
105
WILLIAMSTOWN.
Williams College, in Williamstown, was founded in 1790, was incorporated June 22, 1793, and held its first commencement in 1795, on the first Wednesday in September, which is still its anni- versary. It was thus called in honor of Col. Ephraim Williams, a native of Newton, near Boston, and eldest son of Col. Ephraim
Western view of Williams College and other buildings.
Williams, who was afterwards one of the first settlers of Stock- bridge, and a justice of the court of common pleas in the county of Hampshire. The following account of Williams College, and of Col. Williams its founder, is by the Rev. Chester Dewey, and is extracted from the History of Berksire County.
"Col. Williams, the younger, led for a number of years a seafar- ing life, but was induced to relinquish it by the persuasion of his father. In his several voyages to Europe, in which he visited England, Spain, and Holland, he acquired graceful manners, and a considerable stock of useful knowledge. In the war between England and France, which continued from 1744 to 1748, he dis- tinguished himself as commander of a company in the army rais- ed in New England for the Canada service. After the peace, he retired a while to Hatfield, but was soon appointed commander of the line of Massachusetts forts on the west side of Connecticut river, and resided principally at Fort Massachusetts, which stood not far from the north-eastern end of Saddle mountain, on the north border of the Hoosic, in the edge of Adams, three and a half miles from Williamstown. Under the protection of this fort, and a small one in Williamstown, which stood a few rods north- west of the present site of the meeting-house, the settlers in this section of the county began their improvements. Col. Williams, who owned considerable land among them, was much conversant with them, witnessed their dangers, difficulties and hardships, and, for the purpose of encouraging them, intimated an intention of doing something liberal and handsome for them at a future time. In the second French war, in 1755, he was colonel of a regiment,
14
106
WILLIAMSTOWN.
and was ordered to join Gen. Johnson at the north. On his way to that station, on the 22d of July in that year, he made his will at Albany. On the morning of the 8th of September following, he was ordered out at the head of a scouting party, 1,200 strong, and was shot through the head by an ambush party of French and Indians, near French mountain, a little east of that point of Lake George on which Fort George was built in 1759, in the 42d year of his age. His detachment returned to the main army, which the same day obtained a memorable victory over the enemy.
In his will, after several bequests to his relatives and friends, he directed, " that the remainder of his land should be sold, at the discretion of his executors, within five years after an established peace; and that the interest of the monies arising from the sale, and also the interest of his notes and bonds, should be applied to the support of a free school, in a township west of Fort Mas- sachusetts, forever; provided said township fall within Massachu- setts, upon running the line between Massachusetts and New York, and provided the said township when incorporated shall be called Williamstown;" otherwise it was to be applied to certain other pious and charitable uses. Both of these conditions took place.
The executors of the will sold the land agreeably to the direc- tions of the testator, and by their provident and faithful manage- ment the fund was annually increased. In the year 1785, they applied to the general court for an act to enable them to carry into effect the benevolent intention of the testator ; and an act was ac- cordingly passed, incorporating a free school in Williamstown. Nine gentlemen were appointed trustees of the fund and of the school, viz. William Williams of Dalton, Theodore Sedgwick, Woodbridge Little, John Bacon, Thompson Joseph Skinner, Esquires, the Reverend Seth Swift and Daniel Collins, Mr. Israel Jones and Mr. David Noble, who voted in 1788 to erect a building for its use. The legislature granted them a lottery, which yield- ed about $3,500, the inhabitants of the town raised by subscrip- tion $2,000 more towards the building, and in 1790 the brick edifice, now the west college, was built on the middle eminence in the principal street, 82 feet long, 42 broad, four stories, contain- ing 28 rooms and a small chapel. The expense of the building was about $11,700, and the funds then remaining at interest amounted to about the same sum.
The school was opened in October, 1791, under Mr. Ebenezer Fitch, a native of Canterbury, Conn., who had been a tutor at Yale College. It consisted of two departments, an academy or grammar school, and an English free school; and, under the direc- tion of this gentleman, immediately became prosperous. A con- siderable number of students resorted to it from Massachusetts and the neighboring states, and even from Canada. Upon the de- sire of the people of Williamstown and others, and to effect more perfectly the object of the donor, the legislature, in June, 1793,
-
107
WILLIAMSTOWN.
erected this into a college, and accompanied the charter with a grant of $4,000. The trustees of the original school, together with Henry Van Schaack, Esq., of Pittsfield, Elijah Williams, Esq., of Deerfield, and the Rev. Stephen West, were constituted trustees of the college. In the charter it was provided that the trustees might be seventeen in number, (of whom the president ex officio is one,) that they might fill their own vacancies, and hold property, the annual income of which shall amount to $20,000. Mr. Fitch, now the Rev. Dr. Fitch, was elected president, and the college be- gan its operations in October of this year, by the admission of three small classes. The English free school was discontinued, but the academy continued for some years in connection with the college. In 1794, a lot was purchased and a house built for the president, which together cost $2,400. In January, 1796, the legislature granted to the president and trustees, two townships of land in the district of Maine, which were sold in May for about $10,000; which, with a considerable sum besides, were applied in 1797 and 8 to build the east college. This stands on the eastern eminence in the principal street, about 60 rods from the other col- lege, on the south side of the road. This is also of brick, 104 feet long, 28 broad, four stories, containing 32 suites of rooms. Both colleges front the east.
Two townships have since been granted to the college, and sold less advantageously. The college also received from the com- monwealth three thousand dollars annually for ten years, begin- ning with 1814; the interest of one fourth of which ($7,500) is applied annually to the payment of the bills of such students as need assistance. Woodbridge Little, Esq., of Pittsfield, one of the first trustees, made a donation of $2,500 in 1811, and raised the sum to near $5,700 at the time of his death, in June, 1813; the interest of which is applied also to assist young men intended for the Christian ministry. In 1820, more than $17,500 were added to the funds of the college by subscription ; and in 1826, $25,000 more were raised in the same manner, for the establishment of a new professorship, and the erection of a new chapel. In the sum- mer of 1828, the chapel was erected, and on the 2d of September dedicated to the service of God. It is of brick, stands on the op- posite side of the road from the east college, facing the south, 93 feet long, 38 wide, and three stories high. It contains, besides the large and convenient room for the chapel, a chemical laboratory, lecture rooms, apartments for the philosophical apparatus, the mineralogical collection, the libraries, the meetings of the trustees, &c. In addition to the buildings already mentioned, the corpora- tion own a house and lot, designed for the accommodation of one of the professors, and a right in the meeting-house.
The fast property of the college, with the library, apparatus, and cabinet of minerals, has cost about $44,000, and the produc- tive fund is $66,000.
The college library is a choice selection of books, amounting to little more than 2,000 volumes. The library of the students,
108
WILLIAMSTOWN.
called the Adelphic Union Library, the library of the Theologi- cal Society, and a collection of class books, called the Franklin Library, for the immediate use of the indigent students, amount to about half that number.
The philosophical and chemical apparatus is well selected.
The immediate instruction and government of the college is placed in the president, professors and tutors, who compose the faculty. Besides the president and tutors, there is established a professorship of divinity, of law, of moral philosophy and rhet- oric, of mathematics and natural philosophy, of chemistry and natural history, and of languages, and a lectureship of anatomy, There was formerly a professorship of the French language.
The terms of admission and the course of instruction are the same substantially as in the other New England colleges.
With this college, the Berkshire Medical Institution, at Pittsfield, is connected.
Williamstown was incorporated by the general court of Massa- chusetts in 1765. The township is nearly 7 miles in length and a little more than 5 in breadth. The general character of the soil is clayey, though loam predominates in some places, and a few spots of some extent may be called gravelly. Some of the best lands lie along the Hoosic, particularly in the eastern part of the town, though not a very large tract can properly be called meadow. A tract of considerable extent in the south part of the town, about the junction of the two principal branches of Green river, and along up those streams, is also particularly fertile and beautiful. But the hills also, and generally the mountain sides, almost, and sometimes quite, upto their tops, have a good and in many places an excellent soil, suited both to grazing and tillage, though generally best for the former. In 1837, there were in the town 2,000 Saxony sheep, merino sheep 5,800, other kinds of sheep 200; Saxony wool produced, 5,000 lbs., merino wool, 17,400 lbs .; 1 cotton and 2 woollen mills. Population, 1,981.
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