USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 1 > Part 14
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The mandate for calling the inhabitants together in town meeting was addressed to Colonel Williams, anthorizing him to issue a warrant for that purpose to some principal inhabitant of the town. Nehemiah Bull, Esq., was chosen, who summoned the first meeting of the freeholders of the town of Lanesborongh on July 15th. 1765. The first town officers were : The Rev. Samuel Todd. Dr. Francis Guitean, and Moses Hale, selectmen and assessors : Samuel Warren, town treasurer : Miles Powel, constable : Thaddeus Curtis and Joseph Farnum, tithing men : Moses Hall and James Goodrich, wardens : Daniel Perry, sealer of leather ; Nehemiah Bull, deer reeves ; Justus Wheeler, James Loomis, and Miles Powel, hog reeves. The Rev. Samuel Todd was town clerk, and was soon afterward sneceeded by Mr. Nehemiah Bull.
In April, 1766, the town purchased for 928 of Mr. Jones Loomis, one acre of ground lying east of the country road for a cemetery. This is the old cemetery in the village, where lig buried many of the original settlers.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
The first representative of the town in the General Court was Mr. Peter B. Curtis, chosen in May, 1772.
The town was thoroughly alive to the importance of resisting the tyranny of the British government, and like the rest of Berkshire county was ready to do all in its power to secure independence. There were, how. ever, some men of influence who sympathized with the Crown, but they were guarded vigilantly, and either compelled to leave the town or hold their opinions in silence. On the 4th of July. 1774. Messrs. Peter B. Curtis, Gideon Wheeler, and Dr. Francis Guiteau were appointed to meet the committees from the other towns who were to determine the measures to be taken to assert the rights of the colonies, in a convention to be held at Stockbridge on July 6th. On the 31st of August. 1771, 520 were voted to provide powder and lead ; Mr. Peter B. Curtis was chosen to go to Worcester to make answer to Dr. Warl. anl the following committee of safety and correspondence was appointed : Deacon Jabeth Ha". Mr. Peter B. Curtis, Mr. Gideon Wheler. Dr. Francis Quitean, Captain Miles Powel, Ezra Hoyt, Caleb Smith, Isaac Nash. Jedidiah Hlubbel. Lieutenant Abel Prindle, Ensign Jonathan Smith, Jonathan Pettibone, Ebenezer Newel. David Wheler, Capt. Nathaniel Williams.
With some changes this committee was continued throughout the Revolution, and did effective service in mising men and money, and keeping the loyalists in proper subjection. At the first rumer of hostil- ities at Boston a party of men from Lanesborough were immediately de. spatched on the long journey. Captain Miles Powel was chosen to teach the company "' the art military ; " a committee was chosen to see that articles in the stores of the merchants were purchased previons to Decem- bei. 1774 ; and Mr. Peter B. Curtis was elected delegate to the Provincial Congress at Cambridge. On the 27th of December, 1774. it was " voted and resolved, that the doings of the Continental and Provincial Congress be adopted by this town." In the ambuscade at Stone Arabia, New York. in October, 1780, when Colonel John Brown, of Pittsfield, gave up his life, three of the sons of Lanesborough also died. When the alarm went through the Berkshire towns that the stores at Bennington were to be attacked by the Hessians under Colonel Baum this town furnished its contingent, and three of the soldiers perished in the battle. So intense was the feeling against the tories that in the town records, beautifully written and bordered with heavy black lines. is the following tribute to the two officers who were then killed :
"Lieutenant Abel Prindle of Lanesboro' in the County of Berkshire, State of Massachusetts Bay, departed this life on the 16th day of August, Anno Christ 1777, being shot through the head at Bennington fight, supposed to be done by one Sol- omon Bunnel a Tory and neighbor townsman of his who had turned to the enemy and was found under arms and taken prisoner at Bennington fight, who confessed he had done his best to kill his neighbor. The poor man not only received his mor- tal wound by this infidel, but was taken out of time and sent into the eternal world of spirits instantaneously. That is, not one moment of time to think or prepare him-
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self for his great last change; but we have reason to believe that God will be merci- ful to those who died in so just a cause. Thus departed this life as good a friend to the American cause perhaps, as ever yet was born. And we trust there is laid up for him a crown of glory.
" Lieutenant Isaac Nash of Lanesboro, County of Berkshire, State of Massa- chusetts Bay, departed this life on the 16th day of August, Anno Christ 1777, after being shot through the body at Bennington fight, supposed to be done by one Solomon Bunnel, a neighbor and townsman of his, a Tory, who like Judas Iscariot had turned to the enemy and betrayed his friend, who in a few hours after he had received his morta! wound patiently resigned his soul into the hand of Almighty God who gave it, and left his friends and countrymen to bemoan his unhappy fall, as likewise the loss of so good a friend and countryman, and likewise so good a friend to the American cause. In his death his wife lost a kind husband, his children a tender parent, his friends a good member of society. But we mourn not as one having no hope, for we have reason to believe that he has exchanged an earthly tabernacle for a heavenly diadem."
Like many other towns in the country. Lanesborough put on record its desire for independence before the actual adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress. "June 14th. 1776, at a meeting of the inhabitants of Lanesborough. Holden upon ye 14th day of June, 1776, and said meeting regulated by the selectmen of said town, thered and voted that the Inhabitants of said Town will abide by the Con- tinental Congress in case they shall declare them independent of Great Britain." Throughout the whole war the town was ready to furnish whatever was necessary for its soldiers. In 1778 the depreciation of the currency was such that five dollars a pair were given for shoes. the same price for a pair of stockings, and for each shirt furnished to the soldiers. In June, 1778, 9270 were voted as a bounty to the soldiers. In the same year the controversy concerning the establishing of courts of justice under the constitution submitted to the people of the Commonwealth by the General Court, in May, 1778, was raging in the western counties. Berk shire had refused to accept the constitution, and in each town when the test vote came there was a large majority in favor of managing the affairs of the county by the committees of safety rather than by officers ap- pointed under a defective constitution. The vote of Lanesborough was. for supporting the courts, three : for not supporting them, sixty-three. Upon the committee appointed by the Berkshire towns to petition the General Court for a constitutional convention was James Harris, for many years the town clerk. In March, 1779, the town " voted by eighty-seven persons to have a new Constitution for this State. In the spring of 1780 a constitution was submitted to the people of the State and adopted by a large majority. The first election under it was held September 4th, 1780, when Lanesborough voted as follows : For governor. Hon. John Hancock. 64 : General Artemas Ward, 43 : for first senator. James Barker, 56, Jal- eel Woodbridge. 19 ; for second senator, Ephraim Fitch. Esq .. 42. Wil- liam Whiting, Erq. 12 ; Ely Root, Esq. 1 ; Jaleel Woodbridge, 5.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
The following is written on the margin of a page somewhat defaced by a large ink stain :
"With grief I confess that this book was abused in my hands by an unforseen misfortune (viz) a bottle of ink hanging to a joist and happened to be right over the table on the evening of the third day of March, 1780, the ink having been froze cracked the bottle and thawing by the heat of the fire suddenly split in two and the ink fell on the book and on my clothes together with one half the bottle.
" JAS. HARKIS, Town Clerk."
Governor Briggs in his address of welcome at the Berkshire Jubilee, in August, 1844, thus eloquently preserves the memory of one Revo- lutionary veteran of the town, from which we can judge the others :
"I knew a good old man-peace to his ashes -- who was through that whole Revolutionary struggle. He was a brave soldier and a true son of Massachusetts; and was as honest and just in peace as he was firm and curageous in war. In that dreadful winter at Valley Forge he suffered with his fellow soldiers. The last time I saw him he gave me the whole history of the battle of Yorktown. He was there during the preceding suminer, and discharged many an important and confidential trust confided to him by La Fayette: and I saw that good old man meet in this vil- lage his brave and generous old commander. Fifty years had passed since they fought together, the old man had toiled away in his shop at Lanesborough, and when he heard that La Fayette was to be here, his heart beat high with the pulsations of youth, and he said he must see his general once more. He came down and met him under yonder elm, and when he mentioned an incident which served to waken old associations, they clasped each other and wept like children. His name is Dwid Jewett, a name which has never gone abroad on the wings of fame, but he was one of those who resemble more the corner stone of the building which the world never sees, than he did some more ornamental but less important part."*
The population of the town had been steadily increasing during the Revolution, and now that peace had been declared an era of prosperity was apparent. There were several stores built, and large business inter- ests were growing up. The quiet steady growth of the town continued for many years. " In 1822 there were stores in the town, five hotels, three tanneries, two hatters, five shoe shops, three tailogs' shops, harness maker, five blacksmith shops, two cloth dressing and carding factories, two wagon makers and repairers, a grinding mill, five saw mills, and one shop for making spinning wheels. +
It is curions to read in the town records that in the uncontested election of President Monroe, in 1820, one vote was cast for Rev. Daniel Collins, who had been for many years the Congregational minister of the town.
The prevailing political opinions of the town are shown by their votes in several elections of great interest and importance. In 1856, John C. Fremont, Rep., 110: James Buchanan, Dem .. 100: Millard Fillmore. American, 13. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln, 109 : Stephen Douglas, 84 ;
* The Berkshire Jubilee. p. 156.
Mr. Justi- Tower's " Chapters on Lanesborough History " in Berkshire County Eagles,
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TOWN OF LANESBOROUGH.
John Bell, 10: Jan C. Breckenbridge, 3. In 1864, Abraham Lincoln, 114; George B. Mcclellan, 106. In the State election of 1859, N. P. Banks, Rep., 64: B. F. Butler, Dem., 73; George N. Briggs. American, 17. In 1857, on the proposed amendment to the constitution limiting the right of suffrage to those who could read and write there were : Yes, 25 ; No, 33. The town bas for several years voted to allow no license for the sale of liquors.
Dming the last few years the history of the town is that of a quiet, intelligent farming community. The concentration of mercantile pi- suits in the large towns has caused the enterprise of the townsmen to seek investment in other ways. The center of population has gradually moved southward. There is one main village, with a hotel. post office. one store-that of the Lanesborough Iron Company-and the church buildings of the Congregational, Baptist, and Methodist societies. the town hall, built in 1827, the Grange hall and many dwellings extending along the main road and that leading to the hamlet of Berkshire, two miles east. In this part of the village is the old cemetery where the Rev. Daniel Collins and many of the well known pioneers, are buried. It was purchased by the town from James Loomis in 1766 for SS. One mile to the north, along the same main road, is St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Church, voar which business centered fifty years ago.
An ancient tavern, now used for storage purposes, is still standing near the Episcopal church. The names of a few of the early innkeepers have been preserved. In 1762 Moses Hale was an " Innholder, " and later James Loomis and Gideon Wheeler. The chief hotel at present is that kept for many years by Mr. George Hall.
The town can claim some citizens whose names are well known in the State and country. The Hon. Henry Shaw, a son of Dr. Samuel Shaw, congressman from the Rutland, Vt. district settled in the town early in this century. He was a man of great ability, and soon became prominent for his legal talent. He was for many years a member of Congress, a personal friend of Henry Clay and he became the social mag- nate of the town. Squire Shaw, as he was commonly called, built the house now occupied by William B. Mclaughlin, Esq. He was a large property owner, and gained a great influence in the town and county. His son, Henry W., born in ISIS, in this town, has become well known under the name of Josh. Billings, as a humorous writer, who has gained a brilliant reputation for originality and a keen insight into human na- ture. At the age of 15 he went to the Far West and engagedl in farming and auctioneering. At the end of 25 years he returned to the East and settled in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., as an auctioneer. His first comic arti- cle was written May 25th. 1863, and he immediately found himself ta. mous. His nome de plume was the impulse of the moment. He has since 1863 devoted himself to literary work, having published four vol- umes of sketches, editing his Allminax, and lecturing successfully. He married Miss Bradford. of Lanesborough, after whose father Brad-
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ford street, Pittsfield. is named. He visits occasionally his native town.
Among the physicians of the town may be mentioned Francis Guit- ean, born in Bethlehem, Conn., whose services during the Revolution are still remembered. He had the first pest house in the town for ingen- lation with the small pox. It was situated in a lot west of St. Luke's church, long known as the " Pock lot."#
Reuben Garlick, who removed to Canada, where he received holy orders in the Church of England ; Hezekiah Burbank, who removed to Pompey. N. Y .; Asa Burbank, who was the first president of the Wil- liams College Alumni. and Professor in the Berkshire Me lical College. at Pittsfield. died in 1820 ; William H. Tyler ; and Henry Pratt. who died in 1877. The present physician of the town is Dr. Henry Van Rensselaer, a graduate of the Albany Medical College, and the efficient town clerk.
The lawyers of the town have been Samuel Wheeler, Chauncey Lusk. Luther Washburn, Calvin Hubbell. Henry Hubbard, Governor Briggs, and William T. Filley.
Miss Shaw, a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Shaw, has written gracefully and successfully for the press.
Miss L. F. Green has compiled the life of Elder John Leland, pub- lished in New York in 1848.
One of the early settlers in Lanesborough was Truman Tyrell from Connecticut. His son. Truman, married Amelia, daughter of Captain John Morse, of Mount Washington. John A., eldest son of the second Truman. is now a resident of Chicago, Ill.
Jonathan Smith was an active and public spirited citizen and filled several offices with credit.
Mr. Justus Tower of late years filled a large place in the affairs of the town. He took a great interest in its antiquities and in addition to some chapters on its history in the Berkshire County Eagle, had gathered material for a more complete narrative. Mr. Tower was born at Waterville, Oneida county. N. Y .. in 1804. At the age of nineteen he walked to Lanesborough and entered his brother's store. He was anxious to fit himself for professional life and spent one winter at the Lenox Academy, and devoted his evenings to hard study. By the advice of his brother, however. he abandoned the design and returned to the store. In 1828 he married Emeline, a danghter of Nehemiah Talcott. In the same year he contracted to built the present Congregational church. About this time he became a strong advocate of total abstinence from strong drink. He removed to Cheshire in 1831 and became a large dealer iu cheese and starch. His stock was burned in the great fire in New York in 1835. after having been removed three times. This caused his failure. In 1841 he re- turned to Lanesborough. opened a store, and afterward began the manu- facture of fellows. He was also a sawyer of logs for Steinway & Co. and other piano manufacturers, and engaged in charcoal burning for iron fur-
* He was an ancestor of the assassin. Charles S. Guitar.
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naces. He was a faithful member of the Congregational church, and bore the chief part of the cost of renovating the present building in 1877. He was the chief promoter of the present grammar school and took much interest in educational matters. The present support of the town lib- rary by the dog tax is due in a large measure to his advocacy in town meetings. He died November 20th, 1880, his widow and several children, Mrs. Mary Hemning and Edward Tower, of Pittsfield : Mrs. Harrick Childs, of Nebraska, and Mrs. Fanny Stevens, of Boston, surviving him.
The Congregational Church .- By the terms of their grant the inhal- itants were to build a meeting house, and settle a learned and orthodox minister within three years after their removal to the new town. The first resolution on this subject is recorded in the general history of the town. The Sunday services were held for several years in private houses. and the discussion of the proper place to build the meeting house, and the merits of successive candidates for the ministry led to many resolu- tions in the frequent town meetings. August 20th. 1760, the proprietors accepted the proposition of Samuel Martin to give an acre and a half of his lot No. S for a meeting house and burying ground, provided that a Committee to be chosen, and a surveyor, judge it " most accommo lable." Ensign Martin, and Mr. Isaac Hill were at the same time appointed a committee to provide preaching for the future. On October 20th. 1761. the proprietors resolved that " Mr. Levi Post should be our Gospel min- ister. Voted to give him £91 settlement, and 980 salary, and his fire wood."* Mr. Post does not appear to have remained long in the town. for on April 2d. 1762, Messrs. Samuel Warren, and Peter Curtis were chosen a committee to provide a house to meet in for Divine worship.and Messrs. Peter Curtis. William. Bradley, and Nehemiah Bull, a committee to provide preaching for the future. Ensign Martin's house was need for the Sunday services, as he was allowed in this same spring to " draw six pence upon each lot from the treasury for the use of his house in time past for public worship. Soon after Mr. Woodbridge Little, who was born in Colchester, Conn .. in 1741. and graduated at Yale College in 1760, settled in the town as a probationer for the ministry. He was a man of much ability and brilliant talent. He had studied theology under the learned Dr. Bellamy. On February 15th, 1703, the article in a previous warrant for a town meeting, "to give Mr. Woodbridge Little a call to be our Gospel minister," was reconsidered. Mr. Little removed to Pittsfield. studied law, and became one of the public spirited and honored citizens of that town. He died in 1813, leaving legacies to the Congregational church of Pittsfield, and to Williams College, for the support of indigent students. Mr. Daniel Collins, a classmate of Mr. Little. born in Guil- ford. Conn., in 1733, was his successor, and was called as a probationer, October 31st, 1763. His services were so acceptable that on the 12th of December he was called as the minister of the town at eighty pounds salary, to commence with "sixty pounds yearly. on the day of settle.
See Proprietors Records, New Framing ham.
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ment two years, and then rise five pounds yearly, until it amounts to eighty pounds, and thirty cords of wood yearly." The records of the Congregational church commence with this statement :
"The records of the church of Christ in New Farmingham or Lanesborough, from the settlement of the church in that town in the year of our Lord 1764.
"The Church of Christ was first gathered in the town of Lanesborough ou Wednesday the ed March, 1764, by the assistance of the Rev. Messrs. Samuel Hop- kins of Great Barrington and Stephen West, Stockbridge."
The entry evidently was made by Mr. Collius after the incorporation of the town as Lanesborough. In the town records is found a transcript of the proceedings of the Council that was called to ordain Mr. Collins. As giving the form then used in recording ordinations in the orthodox churches of Massachusetts it is of value.
" At a council convened at New Framingham on the 17th day of April, A. D. 17644, at the desire and upon the instance of the Church of Christ in this place for the setting apart of Mr. Daniel Collins to the work of the Gospel ministry over and among that people. Present: Rev'd Messrs. Adonijah Bidwel, Samuel Hopkins, Jonathan Lee, Stephen West and Ebenezer Martin. Delegates, William Hall, Daniel Allen, Samuel Brown and Isaiah Kingsley. Mr. Samuel Hopkins was chosen moder- ator of the Council and Mr. West scribe. The Council then proceeded to such an examination of the candidate as they judged suitable, they approved of and by pages and the imposition of hands solemnly set apart the said Mr. Collins to ye work of the Gospel ministry in sd. place.
" SAMUEL HOPKINS, Moderator. " Test. STEPHEN WEST, scribe."
The confession of faith then follows, consisting of sixteen articles upon the Trinity, Revelation, God's free grace. the penalty of sin. the Church of Christ, the Resurrection and Judgment. The tone is strongly Calvanistic. These articles still remain, with some modifications, the confession to which the members of the church assent at the present time.
The covenant which the members of the church make with each other is next inserted. It is signed, among others, by Samuel Martin. Ann Martin, Azariah Rood, Desire Rood, Andrew Squire, Huldah Squire, James Loomis, Catharine Hill, Thaddeus Curtis, Susannah Hall, Isaac Hill. Hannah Brownson, Timothy Brownson, Mrs. Dorwin. Nehemiah Bull, Mrs. Hurd, Samuel Dorwin. Phebe Nichols, Titus Hinman, Mis. Powel, Jedidiah Hurd, Susannah Goodrich, Joseph Nichols, Hannah Newton, Miles Powel, Hannah Hill, Samuel Turrel. Mrs. Ephraim J. Dorwin, Isaac Goodrich, Lydia Rood. In twenty-one years Mr. Collins admitted to membership one hundred and sixty-two personsand baptized two hundred and ninety-one. There are no documents to show when the first place of public worship was built, but a minute of the proprietary meeting held January 7th, 1765, says " the meeting adjourned to meet in the meeting house, " so that some house must have been used for public worship and known as the meeting house. The controversy over the building of a meeting house was aggravated by the fact that a portion of
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the town's people were members of the Church of England, who were paying, as required by law, their assessments for public worship and supporting a Congreational minister, and waiting for an opportunity to have the services of a clergyman of an English church and build a church for themselves. March 10th, 1706, the question of building a meeting honse was put and passed in the negative. April 11th, 1768. the sum of twenty shillings was levied on each right to build a meeting house, and Messrs. Nathaniel Williams, Miles Powel, Jedidiah Hubbel. Ambrose Hall, and Joseph Keeler, jr .. were appointed a committee to build it. Its dimensions were ordered to be, sixty feet in length. forty-three feet wide, and with twenty-seven feet posts. In October the dimensions were altered to fifty-eight feet in length, forty in width, and twenty-five feet posts. I: was also voted not to build a porch to the meeting house. On the 2d of November Peter Curtis, James Goodrich, Alvira Hill, Benjamin Farnum, William Bradley, Jacob Bacon, Daniel Heirington. Ambrose Hall, Asa Barnes, and Abraham Bristol signed a call to reconsider the site for the meeting house and all action concerning it. The majority of these gentlemen were perhaps of the Church of England. and the pros- pect of having regularly the services they loved and building a church for themselves led to this action. The meeting house, however, was built and occupied for many years, until replaced by the present church in 1828. The church book contains many entries that read strangely to day when church discipline is almost lost. They show the strictness of the new England Puritans, their great care that nothing that defileth should come within the border of their Zion. Jannary 29th. 1772. it was resolved that "members must show visible holiness ;" November 29th, 1773. it was determined that "offending members must show signs of repentance before being restored to communion." A member charged with " the sin of an exesssive use of spirituous liquors and of a profana- tion of a sacred passage of the Holy Scriptures " was publicly excommu- nicated. Another member was complained of for " tarrying on the night before the celebration of the Lord's Supper at a public house until late in the night." He confessed his fault and begged forgiveness. One member is complained of as " inimical to his country." and some months after, the offending member read a full confession and was restored to the church.
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