USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume I pt 2 > Part 13
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The first meeting of the inhabitants of East Hoosuck of which there is any record was held on the 23d of January, 1779, for the purpose of ac- cepting the resignation of Mr. Todd, the first minister. It was voted that Mr. Todd be discharged from the work of the ministry, provided he re- linquish all right and title to all ministerial land.
The first annual town meeting was held on the Sth of March, 1779, when Captain Phillip Mason was chosen moderator; Isaac Arnold, town clerk ; and Captain Phillip Mason, Captain Israel Jones, and Captain Reuben Hinman, selectmen. In those early days captains were plenty and were looked upon as leaders in all public affairs.
Captain Reuben Hinman was also chosen town treasurer, and Luther Rich, David Jewell, and Eleazer Brown were chosen assessors. The meeting was then adjourned until March 20th, when Edmund Jenks, Benjamin Baker, William Smith, Jedediah Hurd, and John Kilburn were chosen a committee of safety. The business of the committee of safety was to see that no harm came to the town or its inhabitants from tories, Indians, British, or other public enemies. Similar committees existed in nearly all the other towns and kept the patriotic spirit alive. On the same day Lemuel Leavenworth was elected collector of taxes. It was voted to pay him for collecting the taxes nine pence in a pound, not an extravagant percentage when the scarcity of money in those days is con-
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sidered. Elias Jones, Gideon Smith, Jonathan Hulse, Stephen Smith, Philip Mason, Ruluff White, Oliver Parker, and Jonathan Hale were chosen surveyors of highways, and it was voted " to raise One Hundred Pounds to make and repair highways, to be paid in labor at 2s. 6d. per day or Indian corn at 2s. 6d. per bushel." The building and support of roads was then, as now, a heavy burden. A rocky soil, rapid running streams, abundant tree stumps, and steep hillsides made the establish- ment of good highways almost an impossibility.
The pay of the town officers was not so large as to cause strife for the offices. For the first year the selectmen's bills were as follows : "Reuben Hinman, £1, 13s., Philip Mason, 9s., Israel Jones, 18s. at 36 for one," i. e., thirty-six cents of continental money for one penny of English money. The assessors were each allowed $3 for their services, "at the rate of forty for one." The practice of the abatement of taxes began the very first year. £19, 12s., dne from six different unfortunates, were abated in the collectors' bills. The number of voters at the time of the incorporation of the town cannot be accurately ascertained ; but an estimate can be formed from a vote passed at a town meeting held on the 19th of April, 1779, when it was "voted unanimously for a new Consti- tution present forty four." The same meeting chose a delegate, whose name does not appear to represent the town in a Constitutional Conven- tion. The year before a new constitution had been rejected after a strng- gle similar to that of 1853.
At a town meeting held on the 5th of November, 1779, the question of annexing a part of Adams to New Providence, now Cheshire, was put and decided in the negative-yeas 24, nays, 48. This would show 72 votes cast, and as this was a question of general interest, it is probable that special efforts were made to bring out the voters. and that the at- tendance was large. This would indicate a population of four or five hundred people. The principal settlement in the time of the Revolution was at the village of South Adams, called in the records the "South End " as early as July, 1780, and North Adams would never have caught up and outstripped her sister town but for her more extensive water power on two streams. The land in the vicinity of South Adams was much better for farming purposes, and the sturdy farmers of that vicin- ity were for many years, the mainstay of the settlement.
During the two or three years after the town's organization town meetings were very frequent. Ten were held in 1779. A great deal of work had to be done as the critical events of the Revolution raised new questions for the voters to act upon.
A town meeting was held on the first of May. 1780, "for the purpose of considering of the New Constitution or Frame of Government." Two of the articles were " past by sixty votes," one relative to the judiciary was "rejected unanimously, and that the judges mentioned be annually elected." One relative to the Executive Power was " voted against unani mously, with this objection, that Every Person Liable to doe duty ought
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to have a Voice in chooseing his officers to Command him." Another article was " past with this Addition, that the Justice be Debarred hold- ing a seat in General Court." A committee consisting of Nathan Com- stock, Justus Holt, and John Eaton were " Appointed to examine and make Amendments."
These votes in favor of an elective judiciary, elective militia officers, and the separation of the judicial and legislative departments of the State, show the critical and independent spirit of the people at that time. The feeling of the town was very democratic, and its inhabitants seemed to feel a wholesome distrust of rulers. It was evident that the early settlers had named their town after Sam Adams, from their admiration of the un- flinching grit and sturdy independence of the old hero.
Such a people could not be otherwise than patriotic, and their patri- otism is abundantly shown by their liberal contributions in aid of the Revolution.
The following resolves of various town meetings are copied from the town records.
July 5th, 1779-" Voted to give the Nine months men Ten dollars a month to be paid in grain in the stipulated price. (viz) Wheat at 6s. Rye at 4s. and Indian Corn at three shillings pr. bushel and One Hundred Continental dollars as a Bounty Before the march."
July 23d, 1779-" Voted that the Selectmen make provision for the men that are Draughted to the place of Rendezvous."
March 25th, 1780-" Voted to pay William Howandeen 270 Continental dollars to make good the depreciation of money Due him as Wages for Service in the Con- tinental army."
June 20th, 1780-" Voted that the Town will raise Money by a Tax to hire their quota of Soldiers to serve in the Continental army six months."
" Voted to give each man that shall engage in the service for six months a bounty of Two pounds Ten Shillings for each month he shall Serve, to be paid in Produce at the Stipulated prices or in money equal thereto."
July 10th, 1780-" Voted that Captain Reuben Hinman be refunded the sum of three hundred Dollars which sum he gave a six months man, out of the Town Treasure."
" Voted that the three months men now to be raised have Fifty shillings pr. month in Addition to the State wages to be paid in the same manner and at the same time the Six months men are paid."
December 28th, 1780-" Voted that a Committee be appointed to report what Bounty shall be given to the Soldiers now to be raised for three years. Voted that Enos Parker, Levi Brown and Samuel Law be a committee for that purpose. Report of the Committee that each that shall engage in the Continental Army for three years or during the present war shall be entitled to receive the sum of Fifty pounds a year for Every year he shall serve Including the Continental pay and Each Soldier so En- gaging shall Receive the sum of thirteen pounds Previous to his marching if he chooses and thirteen pounds more at the Expiration of the first year and the re- mainder of the money annually.
"Voted that the town agree to and will comply with the above report."
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12th of February. 1781-" The question being Put whether the Town will agree to class its Inhabitants in Order to raise its Quota of men for the Continental Ser- vice, voted in the negative."
" Voted to choose a Committee to hire or raise said men. Voted that Jacob Stafford, Solomon Gardner, Giles Barnes, Samuel Low, Samuel Day be a Committee for the above purpose."
May 15th, 1781 -- " Voted to lay a tax on the Town of three hundred pounds hard money for the purpose of Procuring a Stock of Ammunition and Defraying Town charges Continental currency to be Received at the Common Exchange."
July 19th, 1781-" Voted that Each Soldier that shall Engage to serve in Con- . tinental Army three months shall receive from the Town of Adams the sum of four pounds for Each month he shall serve to be paid in Silver or in Grain, Wheat 6s. Rye at 4s. and Indian Corn at 3 shillings per Bushel the Soldier so Engaging to sign an Order for the Selectmen of Adams to Draw their State wages and that three pounds of the four to be paid such Soldier Previous to his marching if required and the remainder by the for day of January, 1782."
" Voted to assess a tax on the Inhabitants of Adams the sum of Two Thousand - one hundred and Eighty pounds State Money to Purchase 24,000 wt. of Beef and a quantity of Clothing."
August 17th, 1781-" The question being put whether the Town will make good the wages of the six and three months men, carried in the negative."
February 2 Ist, 1782 --- " The question being put whether the Town Will due any- thing Toward Procuring a man to serve three years in the Continental Army for Capt. Isaac Hathaway's Class. Voted in the negative."
Full credit should be given to South Adams as the principal settle- ment of the town of Adams in the time of the Revolution. The "South End" (so called in the records as early as July, 1780) had probably ten times as many inhabitants seventy-five years ago as the "North End ; " therefore the patriotism and self sacrifice of Revolutionary times were chiefly displayed by the citizens of South Adams. The village of North Adams had little glory because there was scarcely any one living there to let their light of patriotism shine.
The following is a copy of an enlistment paper whereby a soldier of Adams bound himself to serve in the Revolutionary army three years:
" I Benjamin Hazzard of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts County of Berk- shire and Town of Adams have Inlisted myself as A Soldier in the Sarvic of the United States of America For the time of three years and promis to obey and subject my Self to all the Laws and Regulations of the Army and my Superior Officer in Witness Whare of I have Set my hand this Twenty Third day of March 1781 and For Class No. 2 of Whome Mr. Darius Bucklin is head.
His " BENJAMIN X HAZZARD." mark.
Some of the inhabitants of Adams participated in the battle of Ben- nington, but the only information given us by the town records is a vote passed March 28th, 1785, choosing "Elijah Sprague, Comfort Arnold. and Umphrey Tiffery a committee to settle with Captain William White
0
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for a horse taken by Samuel Saulsbury and lost at the Bennington Battle."
The calamities growing ont of the Revolutionary war were deeply felt by the inhabitants of Adams then laboring under the hardships of new settlers. The soldiers who had served in the war had been paid in currency that no one would take and gold and silver were almost un- known. The difficulty which arose in meeting one's obligations may be imagined from a vote passed January 17th, 1786, when the town voted "that it be recommended to the General Court to pass a law making both real and personal estate a tender. Voted also to recommend to the General Court to strike a paper currency in this State."
. After the expiration of the legal tender act, in 1782, the consequent increase of civil actions excited ill will against the courts, and Shays in- surrection followed, in which the citizens of Adams took an active part.
The town records show that a number of men from Adams "took the oath of allegiance and subscribed the Declaration" before James Harris and other justices of the peace as participants in Shays rebellion, and as the record quaintly remarks " Some have gave up their arms to Col. Russell, Others said they had no arms nor did ever carry any in Opposition to Government."
Those taking the oath at Lanesboro in March, 1787, are as follows : James Barker, Jus' Peace, Daniel Read, Joshua Witham, Samuel Wright, Barnabas Allen, Joseph Spencer, William White, jr., Josiah Wright, Allen Briggs, William Peters, John Allen, Stephen Dexter, Darius Buckland, Nathan Bowen, Asa Shelding, Amos Graves, William Whipple. Nicodemus Harraden, John Eddy, Stephen Cummins. Oliver Parker. Thaddeus Parker, Stephen Ives, Benajah Tubbs, Waterman Baker, Isaac White, jr, yeoman ; Jonathan Moffat, yeoman : Joshua Read, trader ; George Thrasher, brickmaker ; Theodore Drewster, trader: and Jonathan Waterman, yeoman. Afterward at Great Barrington on the 31st of March, 1787,
" Jon'a Moffat, Eli Colton, George Hogg, Amasa Ives, Stephen Ives, John Kil- burn, jr., Thomas Kelly, William White, Barnabas Allen, Ezra Parker, Oliver Parker, John Kilbourn, Allen Briggs, Daniel Parker, Jos. Parker, George Thrasher, Willim Peters, Nathan Bowen, Isaac White, jr., Amos Graves which have been concerned in the present rebellion, having provided satisfactory evidence of their Penitence of the crime before mentioned and of a proper disposition to return to their allegience to the State and to perform the duty of faithfull citizens thereof and having taken and subscribed the oath of allegiance to this Commonwealth have received from the sub- scribers in the name of the General Court a promis of indemnity for the crime aforesaid."
"B. LINCOLN "SAM'L PHILLIPS & Commissioners." "SAM'L A. OTis
The following also took the oath of allegiance : Charles Cook, Brown. George Staples, James Sprague, David Nichols, Rufus Worden. Isaac Moffat, John Langdon, Josiah Holbrook, jr., Thomas Kelly, Otis Hogg,
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and Benjamin Brooks. Not all of those mentioned took an active part in the rebellion, but the large number that were compelled to take an oath of allegiance show that there Shays had many sympathizers in Adams.
Among the settlers already mentioned Abiel Smith and his two sons lived in two houses situate on Main street in the village of North Adams. on the site of Martin's block, Mr. Kilborn settled about a half mile north- west of South Adams, Mr. MeNeal about a mile and a half south of North Adams, on the Kingsley farm. Mr. Hinman two miles north of Sonth Adams, and Israel Jones on the Harrison farm in North Adams. In the year 1775 there were only five dwelling houses in the village of North Adams. Giles Barnes resided in one standing on the east bend of the Hoosac near the grist mill of M. D. & H. W. Hodge. This was a low one story structure and is believed to have been the first house erect- ed in North Adams. Josiah Wright lived in a house near him, and Eli Colton built a house on the spot where the "Berkshire House" now stands. Samuel Day lived in a house afterward known as the "old Block Tavern," standing on Main street on the site of Martin's block, and William Farrand purchased and lived in a honse on the site of the old Robinson House, west of the Main street bridge. The "old Block Tavern" was the Erst public house of consequence in the village of North Adams. The rear part was built by Samuel Day, and afterward occupied by Abiel Smith, one of the early settlers. This was undoubtedly previous to 1780, as the front east wing was erected by David Darling in 1788. In 1795 Mr. Darling opened the same as a public house. It was afterward sold to and occupied by Roger Wing.
In 1795 the principal landholders in the village of North Adams were Jeremiah Colegrove, Israel Jones, David Estes, and David Darling. In the year 1794, when Jeremiah Colegrove moved to North Adams, there were less than a dozen houses in that village. A small honse occupied by Mr. Rose stood on the site of the building on the corner of Main and Marshall streets. Asa Doty lived in a house located a little west and north of Main street bridge, and a Mr. Corliss lived in a honse situ- ate in the rear of the present site of the " Richmond House." Ebenezer Slocum lived in a house on Church street, Amos Bronson had a house on Eagle street on the site of the store now owned by the Freeman Manu- facturing Company, and Elisha Houghton had a dwelling about twenty- five rods north of the one last mentioned. David Estes owned and occupied a house on Center street, on the north side, east of the old Ro- man Catholic Church. No street was then laid out, and only a foot path or lane led from this house to Eagle street. Captain George Ray lived in a dwelling on Main street near the river bank, Josiah Holbrook lived in a log house on the Whitman place on State street, and Jeremiah Cole- grove lived on Main street near Marshall, until 1810.
The village of North Adams comprised part of settling lot number twenty-four. The site of the village was formerly a pine forest, with
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some white oak intermingled. The principle staple of early traffic was therefore pine and other lumber ; and the material of which the fences and many of the early buildings were constructed was such as to give it the name of " Slab City." Like those farmers who eat only such prod- uce as they cannot sell many of the men who built took such lumber as was not merchantable. The stumps of huge trees remained for a long time in the very streets, and Main street was only cleared by a " bee " of fifty men. The digging of cellars and the preparation of gardens was very much impeded by these stumps. In times of freshet the lower por- tions of the village were flooded by the river, and large rocks were dis- tributed plentifully across the "flats." There are evidences of the river having formerly been much broader than it is now ; and it certainly rose higher and was more ungovernable at the dreaded season of " breaking up" after the vigorous winters of ninety years ago. The furious flood has been known to sweep from the point where the lower bridge, or Union street, is located, across the entire village to Summer street. The entire space where now most of the trade and mechanical business are transacted, would be washed by an icy cold stream, driving the settlers from their houses, sweeping away or greatly damaging the little prop- erty they possessed, and literally drowning the hopes they had cher- ished of a prosperous season by obliging them to begin anew. The clear- ing up of the forests and the consequent drying of the springs have di- minished the volume of water in all the streams, and such extraordinary freshets are no longer to be feared.
The village site and its immediate vicinity were called by the early settlers the poorest part of the town of Adams. Like most pine land it was miserable land for farming purposes. The first farmers preferred settling in the mountain slopes : they said the " flat would hardly bear white beans." The pine lumber, however, was of excellent quality and very little pine lumber grew on any other point within a dozen miles or more.
Among the first settlers in East Hoosuck were Abiel Smith, his sons Gideon and Jacob, John Kilborn and John McNeal, of Litchfield. Conn .. Reuben Hinman and Jonathan Smith, of Woodbury, Conn., and Messrs. Parker, Cook, and Leavenworth, of Wallingford. Rev. Samuel Todd and Israel Jones also settled here. These settlers and those who came with them did not remain a long time. Most of them sold their lands to purchasers from Rhode Island, many of them Quakers. Others followed from that State, until Rhode Islanders occupied nearly the whole town. Their descendants still reside in North Adams and Adams and their names may be found on the voting lists of these towns. A part of the immigrants who came from Rhode Island pitched on Stafford's Hill, in Cheshire, then called New Providence. It appears to have been the wish of these New Providence settlers to be incorporated with Adams, asdur- ing the year of the incorporation of the town of Adams the inhabitants
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were twice called upon to vote upon the question of annexation. The vote was on each occasion carried in the negative.
Among the most notable of the early settlers were Josiah Holbrook and Israel Jones. Josiah Holbrook was a man large in stature and of a bold and determined spirit. He was one of the American volunteers at the battle of Bennington. in 1777, and one of the rebels under Shays, in 1786. After the defeat of that movement and his return home a party of four troopers tried in vain to arrest him. He was only captured by a company surrounding his house in the night, breaking in the door and seizing and binding him in bed. He submitted, gave up all his arms, took the oath of allegiance to the commonwealth, and was released. His name, Josiah Holbrook, jr., his father being of the same name, appears in the town records as one of the rebels who were pardoned by General Lincoln when he marched into Berkshire county in the spring of 1787. Mr. Holbrook lived for many years in the house above mentioned ; and although it was nearly eighty rods south of Main street it was a standing joke among the inhabitants of North Adams that Holbrook's whisper could be distinctly heard by everybody when he was out of doors, while his voice resounded to the top of Hoosac Mountain. He had one of those heroic souls set in an iron constitution, that was well fitted to grapple with the difficulties of a new settlement. In those early times the early pioneers enjoyed none of the benefits of labor saving machinery in their households or farms, but were obliged to depend on human muscles for everything.
The staunch whig patriotism of Israel Jones has been questioned be- cause he is believed to have absented himself from town in 1777, the year of Burgoyne's capture ; that his family connections were tories, and fled to the British provinces ; and his chimney top was painted white, the usual telegraphic signal of toryism in the days of the Revolution. What- ever rumors may have been afloat respecting Mr. Jones' political senti- ments, they did not affect his standing among his townsmen, who were zealous whigs and sagacious observers. His character as a man, a citizen, and a Christian was never impeached. He was a member of the first board of selectmen, chosen in 1779, and held town offices for many years, being very frequently moderator in town meetings. He was chosen representa- tive to the General Court in 1785, reelected in 1786, and reelected annually for six years from 1792 to 1797 inclusive. Israel Jones was the fourth of fifteen children, and was born in Weston in this State. His father, Elisha Jones, was one of the three original proprietors of the township of Adams .. Israel settled first in Pittsfield, but removed to the Harrison farm, west of North Adams, in 1766. There he lived sixty-three years. He was ex- tensively engaged in settling and dealing in lands. Many of the early deeds were given by him, either as principal or agent. He was an excel- lent surveyor, and was constantly employed in that capacity. Most of the roads described in the town records were laid out by him. The Fed- eral Government appointed him, in 1798, one of the commissioners to
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adjust the line between the United States and Southeastern Canada. He was a trustee, first of the Free School and then of Williams College. He was one of the first justices of the peace appointed in town, and served in that capacity more or less for forty years. He married, in 1767, the daughter of Rev. Mr. Todd, the first minister settled in the town, and lived with her fifty-nine years. They had nine children. In 1803 he be- came a member of the church in Williamstown, and regularly attended worship there until he aided in organizing the Congregational church in North Adams, in 1827. He was a progressive man and looked with favor upon improvements He owned the first brass clock in town, contained in a tall mahogany case, the whole costing sixty-five dollars. He also introduced the first one- horse covered chaise used here prior to 1808, and the first one-horse lumber wagon. Mr. Jones was a true gentleman of the old school, a plain man of simple and industrious habits, rather re- served and unobtrusive manners, uniform temperance, and wholesome exercise. His judgment was clear and vigorous, his tact proverbial, and his memory retentive to the last. Although a small man in stature, he must have possessed an "iron constitution," as he was active, hale, and hearty up to the very day of his death, September 11th, 1829, when he lacked only ten days of being ninety-one years old. He had ridden on horseback to Stamford and returned the forenoon before his death, and having lain down to take an after dinner nap, as was his custom, he re- quested his daughter to call him in an hour so that he could ride to Wil- liamstown before night. When his daughter tried to wake him the effort was in vain, his soul had departed without a struggle. His death created a great sensation, for he was truly one of the pillars of the town amid its early difficulties.
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