USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume I pt 2 > Part 11
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At a subsequent meeting the use of the Athenaeum was granted by the trustees to the society for holding meetings and depositing manu- scripts, specimens, etc.
The society has, from the first, been highly successful in its work. At its meetings, which have been held quarterly, many able and interest- ing papers on historical and scientific subjects have been presented. instructive lectures have been delivered, interesting discussions have been held, and valuable documents and specimens have been collected.
A large proportion of the most talented and scholarly gentlemen and ladies of the county have been active members of the society, and have labored with commendable zeal for the promotion of its objects. Judg- ing of the future of this society by what it has accomplished during its brief past existence a brilliant and useful career is open before it.
The presidents have been: Alexander Hyde, of Lee; Hon. Joseph White, of Williamstown; and Professor A. L. Perry, of Williamstown. E. G. Hubbel has been the secretary from the formation of the society.
Berkshire County Bible Society. -- The earliest Bible society of which
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
any knowledge is had was instituted in England, in 1804, and was known as the British and Foreign Bible Society. In 1816 delegates were sent from that society to New York, and as a result of their visit the Ameri- can Bible Society was formed. Soon numerous branch societies sprang up, among the earliest of which was the Berkshire County Bible Society. The first meeting of this society was held at the "Old Meeting House" in Pittsfield. July 17th, 1817, and sixty-four of the prominent men of the county were enrolled as members. The records of the society from the be- ginning are in the hands of the secretary, and the following extract from the record of its first meeting shows the two objects which it has steadily pursued, viz., the supplying the destitute at home and the aiding in the general distribution of Bibles throughout the world. " Resolved unani- mously, That this society become auxiliary to the American Bible Society, and that the surplus funds of the society, after the destitute within the county are supplied with Bibles, be transmitted annually to the treasurer of the American Bible Society." . As proof of the fidelity of the society to its original aim, and of the work it has accomplished, it is only necessary to say that after faithfully attending to the wants of its own field it has remitted to the American Bible Society over $70,000 in direct donations, and over $30,000 on book account. Nor have the contributions of this county been of money alone. Dr. Brigham, a native of this county, was for thirty-six years secretary, and for four years, from 1840 to 1844, Berkshire county supplied all the active officers of the American Bible Society. At the present time the county is represented on the board of life directors by eighteen members.
The formation, growth, and prosperity of the society have in no small measure been due to the influence and earnest work of its officers, which include such men as Hon. William Walker, Rev. Alvah Hyde, Hon. Ed- ward A. Newton, Calvin Martin, Esq., Hon. R. F. Barnard, Hon. W. C. Plunkett, Hon. H. H. Childs, Hon. Julius Rockwell, Hon. J. Z. Goodrich, Hon. Joseph White, and Hon. J. M. Barker, who have been its presidents; and Rev. Samuel Shepard. Rev. David Dudley Field, Rev. William A. Hawley, Rev. H. N. Brinsmade, Rev. T. S. Clark, Rev. John Todd, Rev. E. K. Alden, Henry W. Taft, Esq., Rev. R. S. Kendall, Rev. N. H. Eggleston, Alexander Hyde, Esq., and Dr. C. D. Mills, who have been its secretaries.
The society meets annually at Pittsfield on the third Wednesday of January, and its present officers are : Milo Stowell, of Hinsdale, presi- dent ; George H. Tucker, of Pittsfield, treasurer ; and Henry R. Pierson, of Pittsfield, secretary.
Berkshire and Columbia Missionary Society .- One of the earliest if not the earliest missionary society organized in this country was the Berkshire and Columbia Missionary Society. It was organized February 21st, 1798, by 23 members, each of whom was a member by the payment of one dollar a year. In its early days it received its support from the churches in the two counties, but gradually contributions were confined
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to Berkshire county, and ceased altogether when the larger national or- ganizations came to cover the field. During the first year of its exist- ence it sent two missionaries to the Western Wilds, which were then the Susquehanna valley and the western parts of Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania. Northeastern Berkshire was also missionary ground. The first missionaries were Rev. Joseph Brogan and Rev. Beriah Hotch- kin. As early as 1805 the society acted both as a Bible and tract society. It was in that year that a gentleman from Boston sent the society five and one half dozen Bibles, two and one half dozen Testaments, one hall dozen Primers, and three and one half dozen Dialogues. In 1808 men- tion is made of a donation of Bibles, Testaments, Dialogues, Primers, Tracts, and "Vincent on the Catechism", from Pittsfield. In 1816 847 were given by the Lenox church to distribute Bibles in the Louisiana district. For many years the donations came from the different churches in the counties, and in 1808 mention is made of a donation of $12.35 from the Female Cent Society of Lee. In 1816 the society was incorporated, and its income was upward of $1,000 a year. The earlier records of the soci- ety, except the treasurer's book, have been lost. For many years the society was very prosperous and did a great deal of missionary work, both in and out of the counties of Berkshire and Columbia. Upon its records are the annual donations of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches, and for officers the most noted divines and laymen of the two counties. Among its first corporators are found the names of Jacob Catlin, Alvah Hyde, Samuel Shepard, Ebenezer Jennings, and Joseph Woodbridge. The objects of the society as stated in its charter, are "for the purpose of furnishing the means of Christian knowledge and improve- ment by the distribution of pious and religious books and tracts, and by sending missionaries among the inhabitants of our own land who are des- titute of religious knowledge and instruction, or where such means are but partially provided ; and also to aid as their funds will permit in spreading the light of the Gospel among the heathen."
The last collections for the society by the churches were made in 1858, and in that year by only two. But the society is kept in existence by a small fund which is safely invested, and its income is annually ap- propriated to feeble churches in Berkshire county. The present officers are : Rev. Evarts Scudder, president ; Henry Pierson, vice president ; W. G. Harding, secretary ; J. L. Kilbon, treasurer; and a board of directors.
Berkshire Branch of the Woman's Board of Missions .- This board comprises the New England and Middle States, and is auxiliary to the American Board of Foreign Missions. The Berkshire Branch was organ- ized in June, 1877. Its object is to cultivate a missionary spirit, to dis- seminate missionary intelligence, and to increase the collection of money for missionary purposes. The Branch was organized with ten auxiliary societies and five mission circles. It has now thirty auxiliaries and ten mission circles. The total membership is between 1.600 and 1.700, and these are included in twenty-three churches.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
Since its organization this branch has contributed about $18,000 for missionary purposes, and its efficiency is steadily increasing.
The presidents of the Branch have been : Mrs. Paul A. Chadbourne, of Williamstown, who served during seven years ; and Mrs. E. F. Gid- dings, of Housatonic, chosen in June, 1884. The treasurer from the first has been Mrs. S. N. Russell, of Pittsfield. The corresponding secretary from the first has been Miss Elizabeth A. Morley, of Pittsfield, and Mrs. S. A. Warriner, of Hinsdale, has been recording secretary. The home secretary during seven years was Mrs. Mary B. Davis, of Pittsfield. Mrs. William B. Plunkett, of Adams, was chosen in 1884.
Berkshire County Sunday School Union .- This was organized at a meeting held in the chapel of the First Congregational Church in Pitts- field, April 11th, 1872. The object of the Union, as set forth in the second section of the constitution. is "by fraternal intercourse and cooperation to promote the Sunday School work in this county."
The Union is undenominational in character, and it labors in accord with the general operations of the State Sunday School Association.
The pastors, officers, and teachers of all the evangelical Sunday schools in the county are members of this Union. Meetings are held annually at such places as are agreed on by the Union, and at other times and places at the option of the executive committee. At these meetings there are devotional exercises, addresses, questions, criticisms, and discussions of all matters pertaining to Sunday school work, and it is believed that thus the Union has been largely instrumental in promot- ing the efficiency of Sunday schools throughout the county.
The presidents of the Union have been : Alexander Hyde, of Lee ; Charles Pixley. Great Barrington ; W. C. Plunkett, South Adams ; James Francis, Pittsfield ; A. Ostrander, Lee; T. F. Munger, North Adams ; G. W. Gile, Pittsfield ; L. S. Rowland, Lee ; C. W. Mallery, Housatonic; George Skene, Pittsfield ; George F. Mills, Williamstown. The secre- taries have been : George B. Perry, North Adams ; J. L. Kilbon, Lee ; F. Clark, George E. Foster, F. S. Parker, F. T. West, Pittsfield.
CAPITAL CRIMES IN BERKSHIRE.
There have been eight executions by hanging in this county, of which two were for burglary, three for rape, and three for murder. The first was December 6th, 1787, when John Bly, an Englishman, and Charles Rose were hung for burglaries committed in Lanesboro, under the pretense of obtaining supplies for the insurgents during Shays rebel- lion. Executions for burglary were not uncommon at that period. The second was that of Ephraim Wheeler, of Windsor, December 6th, 1806, for rape committed on his own daughter. There was some doubt as to his guilt, the girl, who was the principal witness against him, being of weak mind.
On the 18th of November, 1813, Ezra Hutchinson, of Stockbridge,
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was hung for rape on Sally Bates. The particulars of this case are not accessible.
On the 25th of November, 1819, Peter Johnson, a negro, of Sheffield, was hung for a rape committed ou Charity Booth, under circumstances of peculiar atrocity. The criminal overcame her strenuous resistance and threatened death to her and her two children who were alone with her. On the morning of the execution he was taken from the jail to the meeting house where an appropriate sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. Bradford, of Sheffield. Thence he was taken to the gallows, where a full confession was read, and he was executed in the presence of a large con- course of people.
The next case was that of Samuel P. Charles, an Oneida Indian, who had lived some time at West Stockbridge, and who was hung November 26th, 1826, for the murder of Joel Freeman, a colored man, by shooting, in a drunken brawl at Richmond. He was ably defended by Thomas Robinson and George N. Briggs (afterward governor of the State) but was convicted, principally on the evidence of his own brother. Tradition says that the brother on his death bed confessed that he himself fired the fatal shot, and that Sam was innocent. In an account of this execu- tion given by a paper at that time it was said: " Early in the morning the poor condemned criminal was taken from the jail to the old court house where appropriate religious services were performed by Rev. Dr. Shepard. Thence the prisoner was taken to the gallows guarded by a military corps of cavalry and light infantry; and we are told that not less than eight thousand persons were present to witness the painful scene." He protested his innocence in incoherent words on the scaffold.
On the 7th of September, 1862, there was perpetrated one of the most atrocious crimes that ever stained the annals of Berkshire. That day, Sunday, George A. Jones, who lived at Cold Spring, in Otis, went to church, while his wife, Emily, with two children of two and four years went to pick blackberries. On Mr. Jones' return from church his wife and children were missing. A general search the next day resulted in discovering the bodies of the missing ones hidden under an old brush fence, and covered with brush and leaves, their heads mangled in a most shocking manner. Marks on the body of the woman gave evidence of a fiendish outrage by more than one man. There was evidence of a des- perate struggle. Three or four negroes were arrested, but it was possi- ble to convict only one, a mulatto named James Callender, and him only on the evidence of his father, who was believed to have been at least an equal participant in the hellish crime, but who could not be legally con- victed.
The sentence was executed on Friday, November 6th, 1863. in pres- ence of 250 citizens from different parts of the county and State, and several of the relations of the murdered woman, as well as the father of the criminal, who, at his son's request, was compelled to be present. On the scaffold Callender said : "I haint got much to say, only the old man
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filled my head with rum, and led me into it with him to kill Mrs. Jones and the children, and now he has left me here to hang. That's all I've got to say."
The last who suffered the extreme penalty of the law in Berkshire county was John L. Ten Eyck, a negro, for the murder of Mr. and Mrs. David Stillman, in Sheffield. Mr. S. was a carpenter and a farmer, aged eighty, and his wife was seventy years of age. They were found, dead and cold, on the morning of November 30th, 1866, their skulls having been shattered, evidently by an axe that was found in the house. An attempt had been made to fire the house.
Suspicion at once rested on Ten Eyck, who was soon arrested, and was only saved from lynching by the officers in charge of him. No other motive than robbery and an enmity that he felt toward Mr. Stillman for having charged him with stealing fowls, was known.
He was tried, convicted, and sentenced. A remarkable feature of his trial was the voluntary appearance of his brother to testify against him. He firmly asserted to the last that he was innocent. He was executed on the 16th of August, 1878.
All the executions prior to that in 1863 were at Lenox, and public. Thousands flocked to witness them. The first took place in what was then a pasture, but which afterward became the garden of Judge Rock- well : all after that were on what was long known as Gallows Hill, a . beautiful elevation on which the late William Emery Sedgwick built a costly mansion.
At the time of the first executions the jail stood on the Stockbridge road, half a mile south of Lenox village, a mile from Gallows Hill. At each execution the considerable space between the two points was trav- ersed by a solemn procession, led by the high sheriff on horseback, bearing his official sword, and wearing his sash and other official dress. The condemned rode in a cart with their coffins. A military escort marched to the sound of fife and drum, which played a dead march on the way to the gallows, and the liveliest of tunes on their return. The clergy generally attended in a body. In short, every effort was made to render the scene impressive, with what effect moralists may differ in their estimate.
Besides those who were executed and those who were sentenced for high treason and pardoned, there have been at least three sentences to death passed in this county.
In the spring of 1861 a young couple who had eloped from their place of residence in the State of New York, were pursued by the girl's friends and found in New Ashford. They went to their chamber where they were soon afterward found with their throats cut. The girl was dead. but the man recovered ; and though he asserted that they had both at- tempted suicide, in which she had succeeded, he was convicted of mur- der and sentenced to death. Governor Andrews commuted the sentence to imprisonment for life.
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On the evening of September 1st, 1861, Mrs. Jane L. Collins was fatally stabbed with an old bayonet, by her worthless husband, because she could not supply him from her earnings with as much money as he desired. After killing his wife he sought the life of his daughter, and dangerously wounded a man who attempted to stop him. He was con- victed of murder and sentenced to death. He expressed regret that he did not succeed in killing his daughter. Governor Andrews commuted his sentence to lifelong imprisonment.
Daniel Gleason, of North Adams, not twenty-one years of age, plead guilty to the murder of his wife of seventeen. His case was examined by the executive council and his sentence was commuted because, as it appeared, he had cause for jealousy.
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CHAPTER XXIIL.
TOWNS OF ADAMS AND NORTH ADAMS.
BY HON. S. PROCTOR THAYER.
Topography .- Grants and Surveys .- Fort Massachusetts .- Sale of East Hoosuck Township .- First Meeting of Proprietors .- Incorporation of the Town of Adams .- Early Town Meetings .-- The Revolution .- Shays Rebellion .- The Settlers and their Locations .- Josiah Holbrook and Israel Jones .- Parker's Tavern .- First Stores .- Brickmaking .- Politics .- Early Roads.
T T HE old town of Adams which formerly comprised the villages of
North Adams and South Adams, occupied the summits of Hoosac and Saddle Mountains and the interjacent valley. This territory is di- vided into two nearly equal parts, by the south branch of the Hoosac River, which traverses the bottom of the valley. Of these two parts, the eastern is formed by the western slope of the Hoosac Mountain, which, in the first two thirds of its descent, is steep and regular, constituting a lofty wall on the eastern border of the town, but in the remaining por- tion it sinks by broken and irregular depressions. The western halt of the town was composed of the two eastern ridges of the Saddle Mountain. the valley between them, and the valley which opens a passage for the Hoosac toward Williamstown. The latter valley is a continuation of the principal valley that constituted the settled and most valuable part of the town. At the bend, it is narrowed up by the East Ridge, which pro- trudes itself northward almost to the base of the opposite mountain, crowding the two branches of the Hoosac into one channel. Toward the west the hills retire southward and leave a beautiful tract of meadow, on the south of which rises the main body of Saddle Mountain in a majestic and comely form, parting near the summit and forming an elevated valley of elevated pasture ground. Along this valley the line passed between Adams and Williamstown. The eastern ridge of the mountain projects a mile further north. The two ridges embraced within the line of Adams converge toward the south and meet about a mile and a half from the commencement of the shortest ridge. The tapering valley between them is called the " Notch.". By the union of the two eastern ridges and the
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abrupt termination of the western ridge in Williamstown is formed the peak known as "Greylock," which is the highest land in the common- wealth.
The mean width of the Hoosac valley in the old town of Adams is about half a mile. In some places it is nearly interrupted by spurs from the adjacent mountain, shooting out to the bed of the stream. The di- rection of the valley is northeast, till it passes an abrupt projection from the eastern ridge of Saddle Mountain about three quarters of a mile from North Adams, when it turns dne north, passes around that ridge and leads the Hoosac into Williamstown. The streams of water in Adams are few ; the two branches of the Hoosac, with their small tributaries, all passing out of Adams, comprise the whole. The South Branch, coming in from Cheshire, receives from the east, about half a mile south of South Adams, Dry Brook, which in freshets is generally larger than the main branch, but which during a part of the year is entirely dry. A quarter of a mile below it receives from the west mountain Hoxie's Brook, and half a mile north of South Adams it receives Tophet Brook from the east. The South Branch, on its way northward, receives only a few rivulets, which flow a part of the year from the adjacent mountains, until it meets the North Branch. Hudson's Brook falls into the north branch three fourths of a mile above. About a mile west of North Adams a small but rapid stream comes down from the "Notch," and a mile farther on another from the north mountain falls into the Hoosac, which thus be- comes the common outlet of all the waters of the town.
Hudson's Brook has worn a channel thirty rods long, in some places sixty feet deep, through a quarry of white marble. The mass of rock terminates toward the south in a steep precipice. Down this precipice water once fell ; but finding in some places natural chasms, and in others wearing away the rocks themselves, it has obtained a passage, the chan- nel being about fifteen feet wide. Two masses of rock, one of which lies ten or twelve feet above the other, span the stream like bridges. The lower bridge is finely arched and the stream has worn itself a bed more than fifty feet beneath. When the water is low persons can walk through the channel under the bridge. A cave, formed by the action of the water, and sufficiently capacious to admit of a man's crawling in upon his hands and knees and standing erect in some places, exists a little west of the top of the chasm. There are two openings into the cave, which formerly served as an inlet and an outlet for the water, and it is probable that the cave was once full of earth, which was washed out by the water as it ex- plored the interior of the hill, to make for itself a passage to the valley below.
If tradition may be believed this ravine and bridge were discovered by a hunter named Hudson, who gave his name to the brook and falls. He was returning to his home one evening, dragging a fat deer by the legs, and clambering along the wild, precipitous spot, when the deer sud- denly slid from his grasp and fell crashing a long distance below. It was
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too dark to search for it that night, but on returning the next day he discovered the carcass of the deer at the bottom of a deep ravine and was amazed at his own narrow escape from a similar fall over the side of the natural bridge.
In the latter part of the year 1737. or early in January in the year 1738, Captain Thomas Wells petitioned the Legislature that the lands lying on the Hoosac River should be surveyed, divided into settling lots, and thrown open to actual settlers. These lands comprised the present towns of Adams, North Adams, and Williamstown. The original peti- tion is missing from the State papers at Boston, but this petition was re- ferred to a committee, who reported thereon as follows :
" The committee having considered the memorial of Captain Thomas Wells are humbly of the opinion,
" That two tracts of the unappropriated land of the Province of the contents of six miles square each be surveyed and laid by a surveyor and chain men on oath on Hoosuck River by direction of a committee to be appointed by this Court and Platts returned to this Court for confirmation which committee shall be empowered to ad- mit sixty settlers into each of said townships and to take a bond of each settler for the sum of Twenty pound, for the performance of the conditions hereafter mention- ed, that a sixty-third part of each township be reserved for the first settled minister and the like quantity for the ministry and the like quantity for the use of the school and that the remaining part of each of said townships be granted to the settlers ad- mitted as aforesaid (viz) to each settler a sixty-third part of such township whereunto he shall be admitted as a settler on condition that each settler or grantee shall pay B his proportionate part of the charge of the committee and of the survey and that he his Heirs or assigns shall within three years from the confirmation of the platt build and finish a suitable and convenient dwelling house on his respective right and. shall likewise within five years from sd. confirmation Plough or bring to English Grass fit for mowing six acres of such land, and that they do within s'd five years build a convenient meeting house for the Publick worship of God and settle a learned orthodox minister in each of s'd towns.
" The committee are further of opinion that a letter be sent from this govern - ment to the government of New York, once more to pray them to joyn commission- ers with such as shall be appointed by this court for settling the boundaries between this government and that of New York.
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