USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Shelburne > History and tradition of Shelburne, Massachusetts > Part 34
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The following item is from the county newspaper : "Feb. 24, 1873, - Deacon Nims, who was a son of Joel, who was a son of Reuben, who was a son of John, who was a son of Godfrey Nims, one of the first settlers of Deerfield, has sold his farm in Shel- burne which has been in the family over 100 years to Lowell Brown of Charlemont and will remove to Decatur, Ill. Price pd. $6000."
In 1889 the Brown family moved to the Falls and Charles S. Allen, Jr., purchased the place. The fol- lowing year he brought his bride, Caroline Fiske, to "Nims Tavern." Mr. Allen improved the old house and added a porch. In 1908 he tore it down and built a new house which until recently has been the home of the Allens' daughter and son-in-law - Beatrice and John Cress - and their children.
As a tourist home for a few years, this large house provided rest to the tired motorist just as its predeces- sor refreshed the weary stagecoach passenger.
THE DANIEL NIMS TAVERN
Only a well, slightly southeast of the present Wheeler house, marks the location of Shelburne's first tavern and one of the most notable spots in the his- tory of Shelburne. In this old inn many town events
took place - church services before the log meeting- house was built, and the first town ( district ) meeting on October 31, 1768.
Historians have written that the first town meeting was held on October 1, 1768 at Lawrence Kemp's, but our town officers began their first recording with the following warrant contradictory to history:
Hampshire SS
To Mr. Stephen Kellogg of Shelburne in the County aforesaid. GREETINGS: "Whereas the great and Gen'l Court of this Province by an act Incorporated the Northwesterly part of Deerfield into a District by the name of Shelburne and has sd act impowered me the Subscriber to call the first meeting of the inhabit- ants of Sd Shelburne. These are therefore in his Majesty's name to will and require you, the aforesd Stephen Kellogg, to notify and warn the inhabitants of Sd Shelburne qualified to vote as Sd act directs to assemble and meet at the house of Mr. Daniel Nims in Shelburne aforesd upon Monday, the 31st of this instant October at ten of the clock in the forenoon in order to chose officers as by law . . .
Given under my Hand and Seal this 25th Day of October Anno Domini .. . " The meeting was held as proclaimed and recorded by the town clerk.
A number of town meetings were held each year in the Nims Tavern during 1768, 1769, and 1770. Among the articles voted in the 1769 annual March meeting, the following three, so different from to- day's business, were "to see if the District will allow swine to run on the commons if they are yoked and rung according to law," "to see if the District allow sheep to run on the commons without a Shepherd," and "to see if the District will allow horses to run upon the Commons without fetter or sheckels."
Daniel Nims settled at this place in the upper Center District in 1762, and it was in his home, a log cabin which preceded the inn, that a group of men from the Northwest gathered to discuss a name for the town. A petition had already been sent to Deerfield and the General Court to let Deerfield Northwest separate from Deerfield, and the men were certain their petition would be granted.
Martin Severance from the Falls attended and suggested the new town be named Shelburne after the Earl of Shelburne, who during the "Old French War" was known as a young soldier by the name of William Fitzmaurice in the English Army. As the Earl of Shelburne he was helpful to the Colonies.
Sheldon's History of Deerfield lists Daniel Nims as a tavernkeeper. In 1773 Shelburne voted to pay Daniel Nims for keeping the minister and providing for the counsel at Mr. Hubbard's ordination. His- torical writings have told the story of Daniel Nims being followed home one night by a pack of howling wolves.
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1
TEMPERANCE TAVERN
Temperance Tavern stood in the northeast part of Shelburne on the Colrain Road.
B. Frank Severance wrote in his "Pen Pictures of Early Settlers of the Wilson Family" (printed in the Gazette & Courier in December 1909) that Robert Wilson, who erected the East Shelburne tavern, was born in Ireland and came, when a child, to America with his parents. Robert settled in Shelburne in 1757 on what was later known as the Isaac Fisk place and was "the first permanent settler" in Shel- burne. The date 1757 is interesting because among the first settlers the name Robert Wilson is always given, but the year of his arrival is usually 1760; however, Mr. Severance, who had access to family account books, documents, etc., ought to have been accurate. Furthermore, he wrote, "The old house erected by Mr. Wilson about 1765 had a three-story front and the rear roof sloping down, leaving room for only one story. This old building was used as a tavern for many years, perhaps from 1822 down to 1848. It had a good run of custom and, as it stood on the old stage road between Greenfield and Colrain, many a weary traveler called here to slake his thirst and prime up for still greater effort before proceeding on his journey. This old house was demolished nearly 35 years ago." "Only one of the old elms planted by him is now standing - a fine perfectly shaped tree, and a living monument to one of the best and most honored men that ever lived in Shelburne." A num- ber of years have passed since Mr. Severance wrote
that tribute, but it is believed the old elm he men- tioned still stands.
Ebenezer Fisk, the third by that name in town, bought the homestead of the Wilson family in 1820. His wife was Hannah Tirrell, sister to Dr. Packard's wife. They had seven boys who grew up to be staunch temperance men under the nose of liquor selling. Mr. Fisk was a very religious man. After operating the tavern with three sons a number of years, tradition relates he signed a temperance pledge, took down the tavern sign, and closed the bar; however, we find Ebenezer Fisk was licensed as an innholder as early as 1824 and as late as 1845. "Ebenezer Fisk, Jr., Innholder, Temperance" received a license as "inn- holder and seller of fermented liquors only at his dwelling house." ( These dates correspond well with those of Mr. Severance.)
The tavern sign, which until a few years ago was stored in Fred Fisk's house, was a tremendous black board with "Temperance Tavern" in gold letters.
After Ebenezer Fisk died, his sons, Isaac and Henry, divided the farm. Isaac kept the old tavern house, and Henry built for his bride a house nearby and in it their son, George Fisk, lived until the very last of his life, when he sold. There were two resident owners for a short time before Alfred R. Carpenter, the present owner, purchased.
The following newspaper item, dated October 11, 1849, reveals the old tavern was a post office over a century ago: "A new post office has been appointed
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in the east part of Shelburne, called East Shelburne and Isaac T. Fisk, Free Soil, appointed postmaster."
According to an old newspaper Isaac Fisk built his new home in 1871 on his part of the farm across the road from the tavern. His son, Fred, continued liv- ing in the home after marriage and recently died there.
This famous old tavern which was taken down in 1871 by Isaac Fisk (newspaper item) stood on a knoll opposite the home of the late Fred Fisk and is pictured in this history through the courtesy of Mrs. Robert Webber - granddaughter of Fred Fisk.
AN OLD LANDMARK NEXT TO THE VESTRY - Pool Kellogg built, opposite his own house, a tavern glorified with stately square paneled pillars. As he died in 1843 at the age of fifty, it is doubtful if he built this hostelry before 1820. With the wide slop- ing lawn and a bridge on the small brook, this impos- ing tavern certainly looked attractive to the traffic which passed near the east entrance of the house. The bar was downstairs, and a stairway beside the barroom led to the tavern above. A few years ago two tills where the bar receipts were kept were still in the wall. If there was a dance hall, it was partitioned off into small rooms many years ago.
Nothing is known of the history of this tavern, but during the year 1853, when Farewell Conant purchased it for a home, the property had been trans- ferred three times to separate parties. Their owner- ship being transitory, it can be assumed that tavern business in Shelburne was found wanting.
This country tavern, passing into history, became a home for one family after another. Living for a number of years in this old house under the shadow of the church steeple were the "Chair Factory" Conants known affectionately as "Uncle Farewell" and "Aunt Lucy." They probably rented a few rooms before buying, because Farewell Conant was taxed for one-half shop in 1850, three years before buying the tavern.
A century or more ago there was a store upstairs, perhaps the store mentioned in a town record of 1837.
Rev. Richard Billings lived in the tavern during a part of his pastorate. In 1870, Rev. Alfred Marsh purchased and remodeled it for his home, as the pres- ent parsonage had not been built. A newspaper item dated May 8, 1876, stated, "Dr. Duncan has bought the Rev. A. F. March place for $1000." He pur- chased it for his daughter, Mrs. Fannie Mitchell.
Containing plenty of rooms and easily converted into separate apartments, the old inn often provided homes for two or three families. The barroom of tavern days became the kitchen in the north apart- ment. Among its many residents the old inn housed the William Davis family the longest.
The property on which the house stood when lived in by its last owner, Theodore Cromack and his fam- ily, was purchased in 1948 by the Parish, following a fire which destroyed much of the house and made it unlivable. Later, local firemen under the super- vision of the Falls Fire Department cleared the site by burning what remained of its charred frame.
SUCCESSORS TO OLD FRAME HOUSES IN RURAL SHELBURNE
Less Than a Century Old - Erected On or Near Former Homes: Ages of Their Predecessors Unknown
CHESTER H. CHAPMAN'S HOUSE ( Mohawk Trail)
Ebenezer Nims, son of Joel and grandson of Reu- ben, left town at the age of ten, and thirty-four years later, in 1866, returned to Shelburne and purchased from Joshua N. Sweet the present Chester Chapman place about one mile from the Falls.
It is known that Mr. Sweet owned the present house in 1858, which brings its age close to the cen- tury mark, and from its construction it appears to have been built about that time.
Ownership changed several times. In succession the families of Charles Sweet, Cyrus Bardwell, Harvey Fiske and George Townsend followed.
Near the river bank there were, a few years ago, signs of a brickyard, which may indicate the trade of the original settler.
The highway ran closer to the river in the early days. Because it is believed the Chapman house is the second one built on higher ground near the new road, it is mentioned in this history.
PLINY GOULD HOUSE ( Mohawk Trail)
Pliny Gould's farm, which he purchased in 1898, is the old Comstock place of three generations, and his home is the third house.
The first and original house stood south of the present one. It was the home of Austin and Fannie Merrill Comstock, whose daughter married Henry Warner. Very likely the Henry Warner family lived in the second house of pine paneling, which is now a workshop.
A son, Herbert Warner, was a "carpenter and joiner" and built for his home around 1870 the present house on or near the site of the second one. At that time the highway passed close to the house.
THE JOHN GEIGER HOUSE ( Mohawk Trail)
The recent home of the Arthur May family on the Mohawk Trail was owned by the Carl Libby
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family for a short time following the death of John Geiger, Sr. The house is now owned by Carleton Davenport.
In 1897 John Geiger purchased his farm, two-and- a-half miles from the Falls on the Mohawk Trail, from the heirs of the Samuel D. Bardwell estate.
Samuel Dwight Bardwell, who owned the hotel in the village and later moved to the old Severance house on the corner of Bridge and Maple Streets, owned the old Isaac Dole farm for at least twenty-five years. Like many a prosperous city man of today, he owned a farm and lived on it a part of the year. During his early ownership, he added the front rooms, which leads us to believe the house had not recently been built.
Isaac Dole was owner as late as 1873 and perhaps until his death in 1879.
The house may not have reached the century mark, but standing close on the west lawn was a very old house where Isaac Dole lived. Isaac Dole, Jr., distilled cider brandy for the Shelburne folks. His distillery stood on the little brook that filled the highway water- ing trough below. Also, it has been told one Isaac Dole was a cooper.
John Geiger tore down the old house in 1898. He took down Dole's distillery and built a sap house on the spot.
John Barnard, the first Barnard to arrive in town, settled on this farm, but as he soon moved to "Pattern" Hill, his first Shelburne home was presumably only a cabin.
THE ROBERT GOULD HOUSE ( Mohawk Trail)
Robert Gould's home on the hill southerly of the Center is a young house built where a very old home stood until 1940.
Tradition relates that the old house in weathered greyness was built around 1800; however, the large mantel-less fireplace paneled with some boards three feet wide, the winding stairway, and the very small windows indicated greater age, perhaps between 1775 and 1790.
We are interested in its origin. Tradition has not been helpful. Our county map of 1858 informs us E. Alvord and Sons were owners that year.
Epephus Alvord, son of Zerah, was born in Shel- burne in 1796. After marriage he continued living in Shelburne a few years before moving to Vermont. As a child was born in Wilmington, Vermont, in May 1832, and the next child, Alvan, was born in Shelburne December 12, 1833, it follows he returned to Shelburne one of those years. Very likely he pur- chased the house which was owned by him and his sons in 1858, because an old deed assures us he was living in it in 1837. That was the year he purchased more land ( west on the County Road ) from his older brother, Adolphus.
Did Adolphus, the older son, farm with his father? Was their home the house Epephus Alvord bought ?
If so, perhaps we have learned the origin of the house taken down by Robert Gould. Granting it was the boyhood home of Adolphus, Epephus and Cephas, we have no proof that their father, Zerah Alvord, built the house. It is known that Hannah Alvord and Levi Dole were married November 22, 1849, in the old house, which is further proof it was the home of Hannah's father, Epephus.
Rollin Alvord, great-grandson of Epephus Alvord, recalls listening in childhood to his grandmother's story of the Sunday fire that swept the first church in the present Center in the year 1845, and which she saw plainly from her house on the hill. She was Lydia L., daughter of Epephus Alvord.
The Old Loomis House
It is believed Reuben Rugg of Heath purchased Epephus Alvord's residence in 1858. He was known owner in 1871. A few years later Lowell Brown, whose home was the old Nims Tavern close by, pur- chased the property. He rented the house to Stillman Alvord, who retired from farming in the spring of 1872.
The next owner was Oscar Loomis. Here, he raised his family and died. The place was kept by his widow, daughter and son-in-law, Winfred Gould, until sold by him to the present owner.
Robert Gould demolished the old landmark because he felt it was too physically weakened for present-day economics.
THE JAMES BARNARD HOUSE ( Rowe Lot Hill)
During the early years of our town, Deacon Samuel Fellows and his wife, Eunice, lived in a house which preceded the present James Barnard residence. All their children, except the youngest, were born there. In town records Samuel Fellows is named in different years, selectman and constable. In 1777 he was a surveyor of shingles and clapboards and in 1776 a member of a Committee of Safety. In Dr. Long's diary of 1778 we read, "Deacon Fellows began my lean-to," which tells us Samuel Fellows was a car- penter, as was his son, John.
Because a town record mentions a road "from the bridge a little east of where John Fellows' barn stood to Deacon Fellows'," we were led to believe John
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lived in a house near his father; but Miss Mary Fel- lows tells us her great-grandfather, John, lived in the old Fellows home until he died. We know Stephen Fellows lived in the old home of his grandfather (Deacon Samuel) on the hill, not far from the Charle- mont Road, until about 1835, when he moved his family to the northeast part of the town.
Moses Allen Barnard (called Allen), born in 1812 on "Pattern" Hill and son of Ira Barnard, the first Ira in Shelburne, bought in 1840 this sightly farm on or south of Rowe Lot Hill from Joel Bardwell, whose son, Orsamus Omri, lived there a few years. He was taxed for one house valued at $400 and a shop at $50.
Allen Barnard was a carpenter, having learned his trade from his father, and built some of the old barns and houses in town. Bearing in mind those were the days of beautiful four-posters, it is interesting to know Allen Barnard made in 1840 three bedsteads for Joel Bardwell for the sum of $13.50.
Clinton E. Barnard inherited the farm from his father, Moses Allen, and built in 1880 the present house on the site of the first one. After Clinton's death, the farm went to his daughter and son-in-law. Clara and James Barnard, whose two sons live there now.
THE HARDING AND CLIFFORD AYER HOUSE (The Center)
The first house on the site of the present Ayer home was not old when swept by fire fully twenty years ago. It was built not long after 1858 by Lyman Conant, who owned and operated the chair factory next to his home ( the present Seward house ). Why he built a second house is not known, unless it was for his son, Edward.
About the time that Alvord & Franklin purchased the chair shop, this house, which had recently been built by Mr. Conant, was bought by John Franklin. He was the Center postmaster a few years, resigning in 1873.
It was in 1880 that Alfred Newhall purchased this place, which is well remembered as the home of the Newhall family many years.
The Ayers built the present house soon after their home, the original house, burned.
THE PARSONAGE AND ITS PREDECESSOR (The Center)
"Affectionate Sister Marian" ( Packard Severance ) wrote to the Packard family in Lyme, Ohio, August 24, 1855, that "the parish in Shelburne was taking measures to furnish a parsonage for the minister and had one meeting, choosing S. Fellows, J. Sweet and Abner Peck as a building com.," but no facts relative to the building of a parsonage by the Parish have been found until twenty-two years later, when a newspaper item of June 4, 1877, stated, "The cellar
for the parsonage has been completed by D. A. Fisk and the brick wall by Dole & Coleman." Another item June 25, 1877, reads, "The parsonage is raised & shingled, the chimneys are completed by Mr. Cole- man." The parsonage was opened to its pastor and wife in October 1877. It is the second house on the site.
The first house was old, originally an ell of Pool Kellogg's home (now Carl Shields') and moved over by him. Its first resident is not known. It may have been "Widow Fisk's place" mentioned in the follow- ing item - "The committee appointed by the parish to investigate the subject of building or procuring a parsonage submit the following report - Mr. Ly- man Conant offers to take for his buildings and Lot $1000. He offers to take $50 for the north part of his Lot. The Widow Fisk's place can probably be had for $200. Ai Kellogg offers his four front rooms and a garden spot and the use of barn for $75. In the estimation of your committee, it would cost as much to build on the north part as he asks for the whole" - Signed Ira Barnard, F. W. Carpenter, and H. Fellows. ( Mr. Conant owned the present Seward property, first house south of the parsonage.)
Levi Dole was resident owner of the old house in 1858, and his father, Josiah Dole, died there in 1861.
The county atlas of 1871 informs us L. G. Alvord owned the little house that year.
That old house which stood on the present parson- age site finally traveled down the road, where its enduring frame stands erect in Shelburne Center as the home of Mrs. Will Davis.
THE HOUSE OF KENYON TAYLOR ( Mohawk Trail)
The home of Kenyon Taylor, Jr., is on the old Amos Allen farm. It is a long house set on the crest of the hill above Allen's Brook, a few rods north of the Mohawk Trail, and not far from Greenfield's town line.
Following the loss of an earlier house by fire, Amos Allen & Sons built in 1877 this double dwelling, which housed the fourth and fifth generations of the Allen family. The house was framed by B. C. Dar- ling of Sunderland.
Amos Allen & Sons were assessed for a shingle mill in 1835. Also, they had a sawmill.
In 1828 the town "voted to accept a road from the road leading to Amos Allen's to William Hanson's grist mill and likewise a part road from Amos Allen's sawmill to Wm. Hanson's house." ( Hanson's house was the present Jarvis house, slightly south of the Mohawk Trail.)
ROGER PECK'S HOUSE THAT BURNED ( Peckville )
A short distance north of Fred Dole's house on the same side of the road, until it burned in 1939, stood Roger Peck's house, built by his grandfather, Abner
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Peck, Jr. It was the second house on that location to be destroyed by fire and, until Roger's marriage, had been the home of his parents, Charles and Mina Peck, who built a cement house close by.
The first house was the home of Abner Peck, Jr., and probably was built by him. It burned in 1864.
HOUSE OF FOREST A. MALOY (Where stood "the old Wilson House")
On the site of the present Forest Maloy residence in Northeast Shelburne, James Wilson in 1788 erected his house near his brother Robert's home (now van- ished ), which was only a short distance west.
James Wilson was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. B. Frank Severance believed James Wilson was the first person to build a dam and erect a saw- mill on the site of George Fisk's mill and he gave the date, 1799. MIr. Severance said James Wilson took a keen interest in the district school, and he copied the following item from an old "District book" where James Wilson had written it. "April ye 19th, 1797, at the School house Lt. James Wilson, School Committee, voted to hire a Dame twelve weeks, voted to put her board at vendue to the Lowest Bid- der and it was struck off to Elip't Stratton at +-3 per week, then voted that Dame's Board should be paid by the scholars and not by the town's money."
In 1814, James Wilson sold his farm to his son, Jesse. Later he moved to Heath.
In 1870, or a year or two later, Charles Wilson settled on the Lt. James Wilson farm and lived there twenty-six years. For twenty-five years he was post- master in East Shelburne, holding that office until nearly the turn of the century.
The property changed ownership two or three times before Walter Davenport purchased it in 1903. He lived ten years in "the old Wilson house." A num- ber of owners followed.
That old house, known as the Capt. Charles Wilson place, burned in 1920, and the present house was built in a year or two by W. G. Stebbins, who bought the farm for a summer place.
Now the Maloy family live on James Wilson's homesite. Down the road a short distance they con- duct a Day Camp, under the name of Camp Shelloy, which has a large enrollment over a period of six weeks during the summer.
THE ALLIE MITCHELL HOUSE (Colrain Road)
Near and north of the four corners on the Colrain Road is the Allie Mitchell home. From a newspaper item of 1879 - "Amasa Bardwell is building a new barn which, when completed, with his house nearly new, will make a pleasant place" - it is certain the house is considerably under one hundred years. An- other item of 1871 tells us the house was built that
year by O. Newhall & Sons. Mrs. Amasa Bardwell sold this place to Fred Taintor, who sold to Richard Ormand.
The first house, which burned some years after Amasa Bardwell took possession, claims our interest. Instead of being on the exact location of the present house, it was presumably close by on the same side of the road at the north, where there is a doorstep guarded in summer by old-fashioned flowers, and where it is said Anson Barnard lived.
THE HOUSE OF MRS. ANTOINETTE BURNHAM - DRAGON BROOK LODGE
On the Little Mohawk Road, a little north of the church and Consolidated School, is the home of Mrs. Antoinette Burnham. It is the second house on the site and was built by Allen Fiske about 1872, fol- lowing the burning of the first and probably the original house, which was the home of Deacon Elam Kellogg. His son, Chauncey, lived there and sold to Allen Fiske.
On Dragon Brook, near the present swimming pool, Deacon Kellogg had a blacksmith shop. Later it was moved very near the location of our stone library, where his son, Josiah, became the blacksmith.
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