USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume I pt 2 > Part 40
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David H. married, July 2d, 1859, Margaret, daughter of James and Agnes (Allen) Young. Mrs. Tower was born in Glasgow, Scotland, May 30th, 1838. They have but one child living, Walter Lamont, born De- cember 26th, 186S.
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CHAPTER XXXV. TOWN OF EGREMONT.
BY H. C. WARNER.
Early Settlers and their Purchases, Descendants, and Successors .- Mills and Manufac- tories .- Congregational Church .- Methodist Episcopal Church .- Baptist Church .- Tav- erns .- Academy .- Magistrates .- Prominent Citizens .- Grosvenor Porter Lowrey .-- An- drew Reasoner.
T THIS town was incorporated February 13th, 1760. from lands west of the North Parish of Sheffield, and was named after Charles Wind- ham, Earl of Egremont, who was Secretary of State for England.
When John Konkapot and other Indians, in 1724, deeded the lands of the Housatonic Township to the settling committee. they reserved a tract five eighths of a mile wide, extending from the Housatonic River west along the north line of Sheffield to the supposed line of the prov- ince of New York. This tract was called the Indian Reservation.
In 1736, at a conference with the committee, the Indians exchanged this reservation for the township of Stockbridge, and at the same time requested that the Dutchmen, who resided on the reservation east of Taghconic, might not be dispossessed of the land which they had im- proved.
One of the settlers on the province lands south of the reservation. about 1730, was Lodowick Karner, supposed to be from Rhinebeck, N. Y. His farm was bounded east by the west line of Sheffield. In the early part of 1757 he died, leaving a wife and nine children : Andrew, Jacob, Nicholas, Derrick, Mary, Matilda, Catharine, Janike, and Wensha. At a Probate Court at Northampton, July 5th, 1757, the widow Catharine and her son, Jacob, were appointed administrators of the estate, and were notified to appear at a Probate Court at Northampton, January 10th, 1758. The widow's portion of the estate, aside from that of the chil- dren was :
" One third part of the house and barn, also the improvements where the house and barn stands, beginning northerly by the Indian line and running southerly 212
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TOWN OF EGREMONT.
rods, and also eleven acres on the north side of a 50 acre lot, bounded south on Jonah Westover's land; and of the personal estate, one basin, two platters, three plates, three jars, ten spoons, twelve trenchers, three porringers, water pot, coffee pot, two frying pans, flesh hook, two ladles, two jugs, two chests, two churns, three tubs, fifteen yards of linen, one bedstead, dog irons, box irons, fire pans, twenty pounds of bacon, sixty yards of woolen shirting, kersey, black and blue jacket, brown and great coat, leather breeches, stockings, leggings, mittens, shoes and boots, three linen shirts, one wagon, one corn fan, two shays, 3,500 feet boards, set harrow teeth, sleigh, plow, six hives bees, bed and bedding, one sash, one worsted cap, speckled grey colt."
Andrew Karner, son of Lodowick and Catharine Karner, settled on the reservation about 1730, and obtained of the Indians a lease of one half of it for ninety-nine years. Some years afterward Mr. Karner's title was disputed by other settlers, but an appeal being made to the General Court, that body, in 1772, confirmed him in his title, granting the land to him and his heirs forever, on conditions that he fulfill the stipulations of the original lease. It is traditional in the family that Andrew Karner obtained this land by allowing John Van Guilder, an In- dian with a Dutch name, to marry his sister, Mary. To this John Van Guilder the Indians gave or leased one half of the reserved land in Egre- mont at the time Mr. Karner obtained his portion, and, as stated by Mr. Karner, the land extended west to the mountain, 860 rods from the west line of Sheffield. The supposed site of Andrew Karner's residence is marked by a large chimney stack, of stone, near the west end of the reservation, in the northwest angle of the highway which leaves Guilder Hollow for Mount Washington.
The children of Andrew Karner were Felix, who lived at Mount Washington, but afterward removed to Pennsylvania; Nicholas, who married Sabra Kellogg, and died in the Revolutionary army, and who left three sons, Samuel, Levi, and Felix, to whom their grandfather deeded each eighty-five acres of land in 1780. Samuel, son of Andrew Karner, died at Sharon, Conn. Andrew, jr., died in this town. Lovi died in 1818, aged 67. He married. in early life. Polly Kellogg, who died Oc- tober 11th, 1828, aged 60. Prudence married a Quimby, and remove to Utica, N. Y. Anna married a Buckman. Roseannah married John Van Guilder, jr., and died at Stockbridge, November, 1764, or February, 1765. leaving, besides other children, a daughter. Roseannah, who married Israel Humphrey, of Mount Washington, about 1785.
In 1780, Andrew Karner, 1st, conveyed to his daughter. Mary, wife of Lieutenant Michael Loomis, eighty acres of the Indian land, bounded north on the north line of the Indian land, east on the land he gave to Magdalen, wife of Joseph Winchell, south on the dividing line of the Indian land. and west on Daniel Loomis' land. The same year Mr. Kar- ner gave to his daughter Elizabeth, wife of Daniel Loomis, thirty-seven acres in the northwest part of the Indian land.
Andrew Karner died in 1781. aged 81. In his will, drawn by Rev.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
Elipbalet Steele, he gave all his land then leased out, to the descendants of Roseannah, wife of John Van Guilder, jr. These leases expired about 1832, but the heirs are not able to enforce their claims.
Jacob Karner, son of Lodowick Karner, resided in Guilder Hollow. The ruins of his house may be seen in the southeast corner of the high- way, near where the dwelling of Andrew Karner stood. Jacob was town collector in 1787. He died February 8th, 1817, aged 84. Lucy, his wife. died February 28th, 1817. aged 76. They are buried on Town Hill. Their children were ; Lodowick, 2d. Silas, Stephen, Plyna, and Parmelia.
The children of Levi and Polly Karner, and grandchildren of An- drew Karner, Ist, were: Dimmus. born 1796; Sir Lanstel, 1799 ; Sabra. 1802; Andrew, 3d, 1804 : Sophronia, 1806, died 1849 ; Levi, jr., 1800, died 1866 ; Zadock, 1S11.
That part of the reservation called Guilder Hollow derives its name from John Van Guilder, sen., who dwelt in or near there, and who was one of the parties to the deed given by the Indians to the committee in 1724. It is traditional that he was an Indian, who, when a boy, wandered from his tribe and was brought up by and named after John Van Guilder. a Dutch farmer. He was brother-in-law to Andrew Karner, and in this way the Van Guilders became half-breeds. The family from 1740 until after the Revolutionary war were large owners of land, and being consid- ered wealthy the sons and daughters of Van Guilder united in marriage with the descendants of the early settlers of this town. John Van Guilder appears to have died previous to 1760. as April 14th of that year his wife. . Mary, sold certain lands to Jonathan Root, and in 1764, other lands to her grandsons. Elikim and Hezekiah Winchell. As these lands were claimed by Robert Livingston, the Van Guilders, with others, had fre- quent skirmishes with Livingston and his men, and as a result Van Guil- der and son were imprisoned, but were soon released by orders of Gover- nor Hardy, of New York. The Van Guilder families appear on the tax lists of the town in 1761.
In 1775 Andrew Van Guilder sold Elnathan Bush forty acres of the In- dian land. In 1790 this Van Guilder removed to Georgia, Vt., where. in 1819, he conveyed to Avery Ainsworth and Origen D. Richardson. of Milton, Vt., one third part of that piece of land in Egremont which his father leased for 99 years.
In 1807, Nicholas Van Guilder, son of John Van Guilder. jr., quit claimed to Stephen Root, of Entield, Conn., all his titles to the Indian reservation. The last of the name in this town was Daniel Van Guilder. who removed to Vermont many years ago. His children were David. Philander, Dyer, Lucy, and Ann.
Samnel Winchell, from Amenia. N. Y , settled near North Egremont with his brother, Ezeriah, in 1726. In 1733. Samuel removed to Twelve Mile Pond, in Monterey, where he kept a hotel three years, and then returned to Egremont. In a petition to the General Court. February 8th.
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TOWN OF EGREMONT.
1743, he states he owned fifteen acres of land in this town. He was re- lated to the Van Guilder and Karner families.
January 12th, 1763, Benjamin Kank ew-ena-en-ant, John Konka-pot, and others of the Stockbridge Indians, relinquished all their rights to the reservation in Sheffield and Egremont. . In the lapse of years this deed had been forgotten, and the agreement had become tradition. In 1811, certain of the tribe residing in Oneida county, N. Y., conveyed to John F. Gragg, of Augusta. N. Y., their supposed rights to certain lands in this town. In 1826, a party holding under Gragg laid claim to part of the reservation, and ten of the inhabitants were induced to pay 840 each to release their lands. Again, in 1868, a suit was commenced against Seth Newman by parties claiming under the Gragg title; but the dis- covery of the deed of 1763 terminated the suit.
In 1731, Captain John Spoor, for $30 and a suit of clothes, pur- chased of the Indians 600 acres of land on Egremont plain. Captain Spoor had three sons. Isaac, Jacob, and Cornelius.
By 1756 a number had settled both north and south of the Indian res- ervation. and October 29th of that year John Poph-ne-hon-mnk-wok. Peter Poph-qun-nau-peet, Jehoiakim Yoakin, Isaac We-naum-peet, Je. hoiachim Shauanun, of Stockbridge, in consideration of £20, conveyed to Ebenezer Baldwin, Aaron Loomis, Josiah Phelps, jr., Benjamin Tre- main, Samuel Colver, Samuel Welch, David Winchell, Samuel Young- love, Mary Shaw. William Webb, Noah Blandin, Timothy Hopkins. Jonathan Welch, Robert Joyner, Samuel Winchell, Jonathan Willard. William Joyner, Gideon Church, Ebenezer Smith, Aaron Sheldon, Philip Smith, Israel Taylor, Andrew Van Guilder, Joseph Van Guilder, Jacob Van Guilder, and others, the Shawenon purchase, which was bounded east on Sheffield. south on the north line of the reservation, west on land laid out to Robert Noble and others, called Nobletown, and to extend north to the northwest corner of said town, thence east to Stockbridge west line. This purchase extended into Alford, and the other grantees are given in the history of that town. At the same time, as recorded in the Proprietors' book, the Indians granted land titles to Nehemiah Mes- senger, John Hopkins, Elias flopkins, William Roberts, Nicholas Karner. Edward Bailey, Abraham Andrews, Jacob Karner, Josiah Loomis, Moses Loomis, John Tuller. Andrew Race, Christopher Brazee, Jacob Karner, 2d, Josiah Graves, John Hollenbeck, and Lodowjek Karner, their lands being chiefly south of the reservation.
In 1735, John Tuller, with Anna, his wife, came from Simsbury, Ct .. and settled near the north Jine of the Indian reservation, east of the vit- lage of South Egremont. His first house, of logs, stood about fifty rods east of the Tuller burying ground, in the corner of a meadow, and on the south side of Hubbard Brook. In 1758 Tuller purchased of Isaac Vos- burgh, in consideration of $300, three hundred and twenty acres ; it being part of that land which the Indians, at the sale of Sheffield, reserved. It was bounded north on a line running from the north bounding line of
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
said land, south three quarters the width of the Indian land ; west on the west bounded line of Sheffield ; east so far as to make three hundred and twenty acres. About a year before the close of the French and In- dian war John Tuller began the erection of the brick house now standing at the southeast termination of South Egremont village; on the north side of the highway. This house, constructed of bricks made on the farm, was finished in 1761. On its wall, which are firm as when first built, is the date 1761, with the initials A. for Anna, and J. T. for John Tuller, with an engraved heart between them ; thus showing the happy union which existed between Mr. Tuller and his wife. Before the com- pletion of his house Mr. Tuller was called upon to act as a wagoner in transporting supplies to the army, then acting in the northern campaign against the French and Indians. He was gone one year, and during his absence his descendants relate that the family resided in the brick house, which was only completed to the first story, and protected by a tempo- rary roof.
John Tuller came from Simsbury, Conn .. a poor man, but accumulated property, and before his death purchased a farm for his sons. In 1790 his farm, by an act of the General Court of Massachusetts, was set off from Sheffield and annexed to Egremont. John Tuller died May 1st. 1797, aged 83. Anna died June 25th, 1785, aged 68. They are buried in a yard fifty rods north of the old brick house. This yard adjoins a barn yard and is about seventy-five feet long and forty wide. In addition to those of John and Anna, gravestones of ancient pattern mark the burial places of John Tuller 3d, born February 3d, 1769, died October 11th, 1864. aged 97; Margaret, wife of John Tuller 3d, died February 26th. 1837, aged 65: Seneca Tuller, died 1828, aged 77; Joel Tuller, May Ist. 1835, aged 78 : Mark Tuller. July 16th, 1844, aged 74; Mary, wife of Joel Tuller. May 26th, 1800. aged 42 ; Taletha, wife of Asa Holmes, 1782, aged 22 ; Mary, wife of Francis Heare, December 14th, 1788, aged 33 ; Betsey, second wife of Francis Heare, January 3d. 1798, aged 42.
John Tuller, jr., built the old Tuller house in Guilder Hollow, now occupied by George Bradford. This house, over a century old, was occu- pied for many years by successive members of the Tuller family. Forty rods east of Mr. Bradford's residence there was once an ancient burial place of this and other families in the Hollow ; here also, it is related. the Van Guilders and other half-breed Indians buried their dead for some years. This burial place is remembered by a few aged inhabitants of the town, but all traces of it have disappeared, and the plow has many times passed over the last resting place of many of the original inhabitants.
The Proprietors' records, commencing with the Shawenon purchase in 1756, close in 1826. The old book, in a dilapidated condition, is pre- served in the office of the town clerk. Samuel Colver, Josiah Webb, and James Baldwin were proprietors (clerks) for many years. Among the old surveyors were : Samuel Messenger, John Williams, 1760; Isaac An- drews, Nathan Austin, 1700-65 ; James Baldwin, 1793: Ephraim Fitch.
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TOWN OF EGREMONT.
1805. William Webb was collector in 1760. In 1757 Ebenezer Baldwin was sent to Boston on business for the proprietors. September 13th, 1757, John Hamlin, Elnathan Bronson, and Daniel Kelsey were appointed a committee to prosecute any person found trespassing on the proprie- tors' lands, and John Hamlin and Elnathan Bronson were appointed a committee to pay the Indians and take security for the proprietors. In 1757 a committee was appointed to lay out highways.
At the first town meeting, March. 1761, Samuel Winchell was elected clerk ; Jonah Westover, Timothy Kellogg, Isaac Spoor, selectmen ; Sam- uel Winchell, Timothy Kellogg, Robert Joyner, assessors. In 1761 the tax payers were Jonah Westover, Stephen Kellogg, Timothy Kellogg, Ebenezer Olds. Joseph Jacobs, Robert Karner, Isaac Karner, John Hol- lenbeck. jr., Derick Hollenbeck, John Watson, Jacob Van Guilder, An- drew Van Guilder, Mattis Bunce, Mary Van Guilder, Jacob Karner 2d, Matthew Van Guilder, John Beals, Simon Willard, Asahel Porter, John Van Guilder, Hezekiah Winchell, Andrew Karner, Michael Loomis, Ja- cob Karner 1st, Bartholemew Hogeboome, Joseph Van Guilder, Nathan Smith. Josiah Loomis, Andrew Loomis, Josiah Welch, Jonathan Welch, Joshua Adams, Joseph Winchell. William Webb, Josiah Loomis, jr., Charles Blin. Jacob Boice, Josiah Phelps, Samuel Younglove, Peter Te- zen, Saunuiel Culver, Isaac Grimes, Simeon Noble, Andrew Race, Christo- pher Brazee, Philip Smith, Ebenezer Smith, John Collins, George Rober- son, Nehemiah Messenger, John Perry, Ephraim Fitch, Daniel Webster, Nicholas Karner, Isaac Tolbrey, Samuel Roberts, Isaac Spoor, Wheaton Hicks, Jonathan Hill. Noah Blandin, Widow Brazee, Jacob Spoor, Jolin Hollenbeck, Mikeal Hollenbeck, William Hollenbeck, Benjamin Tremain, Jonathan Darby, Ebenezer Baldwin, Robert Hollenbeck, John Race. Jonathan Center, Robert Joyner. David Rew, Ebenezer Taylor. Samuel Taylor, Samuel Winchell, Thomas Smith, Edward Bailey, Hooker Hab- bard, Isaac Graves, Nicholas Van Guilder, and Paul Tibbett.
Robert and William Joyner, from Cornwall, Ct., about 1740, were noted men in town. . William was an officer in the war of the provinces against the French and Indians. The hardships of the campaign brought on disease from which he died after his return home. He was buried on his farm, where Frank Baldwin resides. His tombstone has this inserip- tion :
HERE LIES INTERED YE BODY OF LIEUT WILLIAM JOYNER WHO DIED DECEMBER YE 15 1760 & IN YE 42 YEER OF HIS AGE. OUR GIDE IS GONE WE ARE LEFT A LONE BUT ON THIS STONE WE MAKE OUR MONE HAIL HAPPI OFFSPRING DO NOT SYTH THIS BRITAIN DIED FOR LIBERTY."
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
Robert Joyner, brother of Lieutenant Joyner, and first captain of Egremont, died November 11th, 1802, aged 77. Lucy, his wife. died February 9th, 1801, aged 70. They are buried in Town Hill Cemetery. Robert left Octavius, a captain of militia and member of the General Court in 1815. From Octavius are descended the different branches of the family.
Nothing can be said regarding the proceedings of the several town meetings during the Revolution, as the records were destroyed by the burning of the store of Sawyer & Race. at North Egremont, in February, 1838.
It is traditional that no tory was suffered to remain in town, and that on one occasion a party from Livingston Manor encamped near the cemetery at North Egremont. A skirmish ensued, a tory named Fields was captured, and having a British lieutenant's commission on his person he was sent a prisoner to West Point.
Baldwin Hill, near the center of the town, was named after Ebenezer Baldwin, who settled there between 1730 and 1756. He died April 20th, 1793, aged 78. His sons were: Benjamin, died August 21st, 1785, aged 21 ; Joseph, July 15th, 1803, aged 51; James, September 4th, 1843, aged 84; Samuel. in 1828, was an M. D., in Oxford, N. Y; and Jonathan.
The south part of the town, between the mountains, was set off from Mount Washington in 1817, and called Willard's Hollow, after Simon Willard, who settled there in 1760.
The first saw mills and grist mills were built at a very early date, and their history is lost in oblivion. Among the earliest of which any record can be found is the saw mill of Andrew Karner, on Hubbard Brook. at South Egremont, which Karner conveyed, in 1780, to his grandson-in- law, Francis Hare. West of this mill Hooker Hubbard had a grist mill in 1797. Hubbard was a wheelwright in town as early as 1759, and per- haps erected his mill about that time. In 1797 Hubbard conveyed his saw mill, a little west of his grist mill, to John Lightbody. This saw mill was built by Andrew Karner and others. In 1832 Nathan Benjamin and Chester Goodale purchased certain water rights and erected the new grist mill which was conveyed, in 1856, to Calvin W. and Joseph A. Benjamin. The grist mill at North Egremont was owned by Moses Church in 1794. In 1304 oil from flaxseed was manufactured at this mill. Since that year the successive owners have been Isaac Hatch, Peter Benedict, Joshua Dakin, Abraham Race, John Brazee, Andrew Race, John Colver, Azariah Judson, Daniel Winchell, Asa and Milo Talmage, Samuel and Miles Mil- lard, Thomas Wood, Joshua L. Millard, John E. Van Bramer. In 1832 Nathan Benjamin had a distillery at South Egremont, and Peter Millard one at North Egremont. In 1841 D. P. Hutchinson had marble worksat South Egremont, and Philo Upson a cloth manufactory. In 1808 Samuel and Seth Newman granted permission to Isaac Spoor, of Sheffield, to build a dam on Guilder Brook for a fulling and carding mill. This mill stood on the south side of the road which leaves Guilder Hollow for
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TOWN OF EGREMONT.
Mount Washington, near the residence of Seth Newman. In 1833 Rufus Newman conveyed this mill to Frederick Church, who operated it as a fulling mill, with a carding machine and dye house, until about 1860.
On Guilder Brook, five eighths of a mile northwest of Seth New- man's, on the road from the Hollow to Mount Washington, where Ephraim Welch resides, Michael Loomis erected a grist mill, of which, in 1790, he conveyed one third to Nicholas Race. After a few years this mill was succeeded by a saw mill, which was abandoned twenty-five years ago.
In 1843 Irwin D. W. Baldwin, of Van Deusenville, in Great Barring- ton, purchased a farm of the heirs of David Wheeler, on the turnpike, one and one fourth miles west of South Egremont. Removing there he soon erected, on the site of the old stone saw mill, a building three stories high and sixty feet long, in which he has been engaged with his brother, Orrin Baldwin, in the manufacture of chairs until the present.
At South Egremont, previous to 1845, Benjamin Cole had a coach building establishment, which he sold that year to David Dalzell, sen. The firm now known as Dalzell & Co. is engaged in the manufacture of axles for carriages and wagons.
The Congregational Church .- In 1767 the people of Egremont erected a meeting house, raised money to procure preaching, and invited Rev. James Treadway to become their pastor. He declined, and for two or three years several candidates were employed. The first church was or- ganized February 20th, 1770, by Rev. Thomas Strong, pastor of the church at New Marlboro, assisted by a council of delegates from neigh- boring churches. The first members were Ephraim Fitch, Timothy Kel- logg, Samuel Culver. Daniel Cooley, Seth Strong, and Louisa Strong. his wife.
June 28th, 1770, Rev. Eliphalet Steele, of West Hartford, Conn .. a grad- uate of Yale College in 1764, was ordained pastor. During his pastorate the following persons were added to the church : Ebenezer Olds, John Tuller, Anna Tuller, Abigal Loomis, Lydia Fitch, Deborah Westover, Kezziah Kellogg, Anna Olds, Philip Smith, Edward Bailey, and Sarah. his wife, Samuel Winchell, Abigal Jacobs, Anna Kellogg, Paulina Tuller, Daniel Webster, Hannah, his wife, Moses Corban, Eunice, his wife, Mar- garet, wife of Samuel Colver, Martin Tuller, Oliver Pier, Elizabeth Pier. Elizabeth, wife of John Tremain, Azariah Root, and Elizabeth, his wife, Samuel Bush, and Rachel, his wife, Josiah Loomis, Mindwell Kellogg. Jacob Karner, Lucy, his wife, Rebecca, wife of Daniel Cooley, Mary, wife of Edward Daley, Elizabeth, wife of Rev. Eliphalet Steele, Mary, wife of Robert Watson. Abigal, wife of Andrew Patterson, Anna Bartlett, a widow, Andrew Karner, Hannah Benjamin, William Daley, Lavinia Smith, widow, William Joyner, Thankful, wife of Jonathan Nash, Sarah Joyner. a widow, Joseph Baldwin. Samuel Dibble, Lydia, his wife. Aseneth. wife of Jonah Westover, Mary Denmore. Margaret, wife of John Root, Dolly, wife of Jacob Loomis, Rachel Loomis, John Root, Andrew Loomis, and
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
Thankful, his wife, Mary, wife of Moses Church, John Kellogg, Fanny Curtis, widow, Lucy Almander, Abigal Race, a widow.
For several years the ministry of Mr. Steele was successful, and it appears that he was esteemed by his people until near the close of his pastorate, Serious dissensions then sprung up among the inhabitants, originating in the Shays war. As he was supposed to be favorable to the government, the malcontents became his enemies and opposers. On a certain occasion several armed ruffians violently entered his house in the night, and after treating him in a very insolent and abusive manner, car- ried away his watch and several articles of clothing.
The church must have been in a low state at least ten years previous to his dismissal, for, in the life of Jeremiah Holland it is related that January 6th, 1784. he rode with Dr. West, of Stockbridge, to Egremont. to attend the meeting of the Association, where he expected to be licensed to preach ; but no one came to the meeting but Rev. Joseph Avery, of Alford. So they could not proceed to his examination. The next day Mr. Holland rode home with Mr. Avery, where he dined on potatoes boiled with a small piece of salt pork, but no bread, and not a word of complaint.
Mr. Steele was dismissed April 29th, 1794. In 1795 he was installed over the Congregational church at Paris Hill, N. Y., where his ministry was successful. His wife, Elizabeth, died in Egremont February 4th, 1793, aged 44. Mr. Steele died October 17th. 1817, aged 75.
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