USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 1 > Part 16
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*Rer. G. M. Preston. Baptist Church. Lanesborough. Minute- Berkshire Association. 1884. p. 24.
+Rev. G. M. Preston's History, p. 25.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
Burr Smith, Fuller, and Jesse Potter as the nuclens. An old store in the north part of the town, where the services had been held, was pur- chased and remodeled as a church, and dedicated in 1865. The Rev. Mr. Seuter succeeded Mr. Smith, and the zealons work of the founder began to tell and the society to prosper.
The church was removed to the lower part of the village, near the Congregational church. a few years ago.
The society constitutes a portion of the New Ashford charge, the time being equally divided between the two places. The parsonage, a very well arranged and convenient house, is at Lanesborough.
There are sixty-five members in the whole charge, of which thirty. three are at Lanesborough.
The present pastor is the Rev. H. W. Dann. The stewards are Joseph Belcher, Robert J. Smith. Pardon Belcher, C. E. Potter. William B. Smith, Hosea Beach. William P. Smith, and R. B. Dickey ; recording secretary, E. B. Ingraham : trustees. Clarence Potter. William Wood, and Hiram Fuller.
(Robert J. Smith. Hosea Beach, William P. Smith, and E. B. Ingra- ham are of New Ashford.)
There have been in the town a few Quaker families, prominent among them those of Beers and Wilcox.
Schoots .- The terms of the grant made it imperative that the educa- tion of the children should be among the first matters to receive the attention of the people of the new town. A lot of land was to be forever preserved for school purposes. The first formal action of the town was taken December 24th. 1760. when it was resolved that a school house should be built, and Ephraim Powel. Joseph Keeler, and Moses Hale were appointed a committee to build it at the charge of the proprietors. Samnel Martin was made a member of this committee in place of Joseph Keeler, on October 29th, 1761. A temporary school house was probably built, and in 1766 (October 17th) it was " voted to build three school houses, and that one of the said houses shall stand near to Mr. Joel Smith's house, one by Mr. William Bradley's, and the other by Mr. Ebenezer Savage's. Andrew Squier. Nath'l Bacon, and John Powel be a Com'te to build sd. honses." In 1770 £42 were voted for support of schools.
The school matters of the town were managed for many years by local trustees in the eight districts into which the town was divided. the . money being received by a general tax for their support at the annual town meeting. Several attempts were made to abolish the district sys- tem, but without success until. in 1869. the State Legislature took the matter in hand and made the formation of town school committees com- pulsory. Efforts were made to supplement the district school by a cen- tral high school. On April 5th, 1854. 8350 were appropriated for estab. lishing such a school in which the higher branches should be taught. Fifty scholars were to be accommodated. three from each district, and
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twenty-six appointed according to the population of the respective dis- tricts, these pupils being allowed to attend without charge excepting for firewood. On April 20th this resolution was reconsidered. On November 13th of the same year a committee appointed for the purpose reported in favor of erecting a new building in the village to be used partly as a town hall and partly as a school house. They declared that the prosent town hall was in a wretched state of repair. and very uncomfortable ; too small. and in such a condition as not to be conductive to the decorum which should characterize the meetings of Massachusetts freemen. $1.600 were immediately appropriated for this purpose. On the 25th of the same month this resolution was reconsidered, and some repairs upon the old town hall were ordered to be made. They consisted in changing the location of the door from the west to the south end, and such neces. sary repairs as made it a more dignified place of meeting.
There are nine schools in the town, occupying seven school houses. By his will Ephraim Bradley left a bequest of $800. the interest of which should be forever applied to the maintaining a school in the North Cen- tral District as many additional weeks as the interest money will cover. This fund bas accumulated. and now amounts to $1, 403.
The present school committee consists of Messrs. George B. Sherman und Holm W. Martin ; the Ker. William F. Avery. the other member elestel having removed from the town in June. 1884.
The first private school in the town of which we have any record was that opened by Mr. Daniel Burhans, who first came to Jamesb rough in 1781, where he worked with a farmer for his board and the privilege of attending school. The school teacher having been found incompetent. Mr. Burhans was asked to teach the school, which he did for some time. In 1783 Mr. Bnrhans became a communicant of St. Luke's Church, and soon after he seems to have left the town. About 1787 he returned. and his friends having heard that he had been invited to Lenox to open a school, built a handsome brick building in Lanesborough. in the northern part of the town, and Mr. Burhans opened it as an " Independent School." to use his own words. In six months there were one hundred scholars and in a year one hundred and fifty, as many as could be accommo lated. This number remained undiminished for seven years. until the new duties he assumed as rector of St. Luke's compelled him, in 1724, to relinquish the charge of the school. Other masters, however, coatingel the school for some years. The building was a little south of the stone school house. There have been at least seven other private schools. Miss Green had a successful boarding and day school for girls in the house now occupied by Mrs. Whitney. This was followed by one in the same house by Mr. Amos Royce. Mr. Nehemiah P. Taleptt. je .. in the house now occupied by Mrs. Ezra H. Sherman, had an excellent school for boys, the reputa- tion of which extended through the county. Mr. Tolman kept a well known school in the Squite Show house for many years. to which scholars of both sexes were admitted. A boys' school was established, about 154.
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by the late Daniel Day, who had been assistant in Mr. Talcott's school, which the state of his health obliged him to close about 18.50.
The Elnwood Institute, under the charge of the Rev. A. B. Gilbert, was established as a boys' boarding school of the highest character. to which day scholars were also admitted. It aimed at thoroughness and accuracy, and gave to those who entered an education that fitted them for either entering business or pursuing professional studies. Mr. Gilbert had the assistance of competent teachers, and the fame of his school has gone far and wide.
Among the many private day schools which flourished for awhile and then were closed, may be mentioned that of the Rev. W. S. Knapp.
Miscellaneous .- In the old history of Berkshire the valuable deposits of iron ore to be found in the western part of the town are thus men- tioned : "Some valuable beds of iron ore have been found here from which considerable quantities of iron were formerly manufactured, though but little attention has been paid to them."
In 1847 Edward and Samuel Smith, of Boston, Mass., purchased the ore beds, and sold them to Thomas Pingree, Messis. Weston, Hudson. and others, of Salem, who formed the Briggs Iron Company. It erected a furnace and charcoal kilns and manufactured soft iron. Mr. Seneca Pettee was for many years the company's efficient agent. In 1864 the company sold its works to Mr. J. L. Colby, who remodeled the furnace and commenced the manufacture of car wheel iron. The works consist of one furnace and fifteen brick coal kilns. At the ore beds there is a considerable village composed of the miners and their superintendent. Mr. Colby owns four or five hundred acres of woodland in Lanesborough and Cheslare. Two hundred men are employed. Mr. Colby has, in con- nection with the works, a general store, which was built in 1847 and sup- plies the wants of the whole village, and in which three clerks are em- ployed. The works are now operated under the name of the Lanes. borough Iron Works and are under the careful and able superintendente of Mr. S. P. Butler as agent. There have been three disastrous fires since the company commenced business. In one of these the furnace was destroyed, in the next, the coal kilns, and in the last, three years ago, everything. The ore is of most excellent quality and the mann fac- tured iron finds a ready and profitable market.
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In the eastern portion of the town is a station upon the Pittsfield and North Adams Branch of the Boston & Albany Railroad, known as Berk- shire. It has grown up around the extensive works of the Berkshire Glass Company. Upon the same range of rocks as the Cheshire sand beds there is, in the town of Lanesborongh, an extensive deposit of fine sand for the manufacture of glass. An account of the Berkshire Glass Company has been given in the history of Cheshire. A post office was established at Berkshire in 1853.
Among the past industries of the town was the quarrying of marble upon a large scale. More than forty years ago this was the chief busi-
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ness enterprise. Several mills were kept constantly in operation, those near the present residence of Sidney Newton and William Dewey still leaving some traces. The marble taken from these quarries was both pure white and variegated. and was considered among the finest in the country. Much of the marble in the State Capitol at Albany. built in 180S. and taken down in 1853. to display the front of the magnificent new capitol, was from these quarries. After the opening of the Erie Canal, in 1995, large quantities were shipped by it to the western part of the State of New York. In 1851, in the northern part of the town, was Platt's quarry, which had a capital of $7,000. The marble was shipped to West- ern New York and Rhode Island. Its average receipts were $1.000 an- nually. In 1812 and 1843 the industry was at its height, and maible to the value of more than $200, 000 was sent from Lanesborough over the country. A large amount of capital was invested in the quarries, and several hundred men were employed in quarrying and transporting the marble to the place of shipment. The lack of railroad facilities rendered Lanesborough capitalists unable to compete in this branch of industry with those of other towns with direct railroad communication.
Brick making was at one time an extensive industry. The bricks from which the Baptist and Congregational churches were built were made at o grad near the Bowerman House, which was also built of bricks from the same yard. The Poutoosue Mills, of Pittsfield, and the house of Esquire Shaw, were built of bricks from a yard near the house of Mr. Tyler.
Lime kilns, saw mills, and grist mills were among the industries of the past.
The farmers have maintained for some years a cheese factory in the northern part of the town.
In 1971 several of the towns people formed a library association. It has now a large number of members, a library of 1, 161 volumes, and is supported by the proceeds of the town dog tax and a small annual assess- ment. The library is kept in the town office, and is opened one afternoon and evening of each week. A reading room has recently been opened, and is supplied with daily and weekly newspapers and magazines. The present officers are : president, Mr. R. B. Dickey ; vice-president, Mr. V. Burlingame : secretary, Mr. Josiah A. Royce : librarian, Miss Hattie M. Nourse : directors. R. B. Dickey, V. Burlingame. J. M. Benjamin, and E. P. Wood ; committee to purchase books, Mr. R. B. Dickey. J. A. Royce, Rev. C. J. Palmer, and Mr. William B. Smith.
A grange of the Patrons of Husbandry was organized December 31st. 1875. It has a large membership and does much for the social entertain- ment of its members. Its well arranged and convenient hall in the vil- lage was opened in 1881. Its present officers are: worthy master. Harvey M. Owen : secretary, Walter Farnum ; chaplain, J. W. Newton : treas- urer, Charles Ingalls.
CHAPTER VIL.
TOWN CF LEE.
BY REV. L. S. ROWLAND.
Geographical and Descriptive .- Indian Occupation .- First Settlers .- Immigration from Cape Cod .- Land Grants .- Incorporation .- The Revolution. - The Shays Insurrection .- War of 1812 .- Ecclesiastical .- Congregational Church .- The Methodists .- Baptist Church .- St. George's .- Roman Catholics .- Union Chapel.
THE town of Los is the youngest member of the municipal circle with which it is immediately connected. The currents of civiliza- tion had been flowing about it on all sides for twenty years or more be- fore a single settler found his way into its territory ; and it was more than forty years after the first settlements in Southern Berkshire before its incorporation. The first settlement within its limits was made as late as 1760, and its incorporation did not take place until October 21st, 1777. The reasons for this delay are not apparent. for in natural advantages the town is not inferior to most of its neighbors. It was doubtless simply one of the accidents of pioneer history, and significant of nothing but of the somewhat random way in which, with such a superabundance of ter- ritory open before them, the early settlers of Berkshire chose their habi- tations.
Lee is situated in the valley of the Housatonic and on the slopes of its bordering hills. Viewed from neighboring eminenees it shows as a long and deep depression in the landscape, shut in on all sides except the north by ranges of hills, the river winding almost exactly through the middle. On the east it is bounded by the long undulating range known as Washington Mountain, one of the terminal spurs of the Green Mountains, lying partly within its own limits and partly in the town of Washington. On the south the view is closed on one side by the massive pile of the Beartown range, and on the other by Pixley Mountain, with an opening between into the beautiful valley of Tyringham. In the middle of the view on the west rises the ridge known as Rattlesnake Mountain, revealing over both its northern and southern slopes the more distant hills of West Stockbridge. Northward the eye ranges along a
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converging vista of hills for more than twenty-five miles, as far as Grey- lock, whose clearly cut form, standing squarely across the line of vision, terminates the view in that direction.
In its general dimensions Lee falls somewhat below the common New England township, averaging only about five miles by five. Except on the west it is very irregular in outline. On the northeast a narrow wedge of land is thrust up along the Housatonic two or three miles beyond the main territory, between Washington and Lenox; while on the east a broader one runs out an equal distance along the valley of the Green- water, between Washington and Tyringham, to the limits of Becket. On the sonth there is an abrupt turn in the line where the three towns, Lee. Tyringham, and Great Barrington, come together. The Housatonic. first touching the town at its extreme northeastern point, forms for some dis- tance the boundary between Lee and Lenox ; then, entering the town at Lenox Furnace. it pursues a sontherly course to South Lee, where it turns abruptly west into Stockbridge in search of an escape from its en- tanglement in the hills, which it finds at last at Glendale. Its descent through the town, though regular, is quite rapid, securing a swift enrrent and furnishing numerous sites for mills. No less than seven dams cross the river within the limits of the town. Its waters are increased during its course by three tributaries of some size. One, the ontlet of Laurel Lake, comes in from the west near the center. A second. through which flows the combined waters of Greenwater Lake, in Becket, and of Lake 'May in the northeast part of Tyringham, empties about a mile below the center. A third, called Hop Brook, coming down from the valley of Tyringham, joins the river at South Lee. The Lake May Stream, descend- ing as it does six or seven hundred feet in the course of three miles, is hardly inferior as a source of water power to the Housatonic itself. and is utilized by numerous mills. The low and protected situation of the town tends materially to soften the rigors of the Berkshire climate, as is plainly apparent on coming down into the valley from the hill towns in the neighborhood. The difference at some seasons of the year is equal to that of a degree or two of latitude. The town contains three consid- erable villages, the Center. East Lee, two miles, and South Lee, three mriles distant. The total population in 1880 was 3.939. The distance from Pittsfield is eleven miles ; from Boston and New York by rail each about one hundred and sixty miles, from Albany forty miles. The elevation above sea level at the Center is abont 900 feet.
Though less widely famed for its natural beauties than some of its neighbors, Lee abounds in charming landscapes. The views from many, points are surpassed by few in Berkshire. those from Fern Cliff near the Center, around Laurel Lake, in the northwestern part, and on the roads to Stockbridge and Tyringham in the western and southern parts being specially fine. There are few pleasanter nooks in the county than the Square in the south part of the Center village, with its gem of a park and handsome public and private buildings. But for its predominatingly
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manufacturing character, Lee would doubtless be considered a very at- tractive summer resort.
The territory of Lee, like that of all the towns of the region. belonged originally to the Mohegan tribe of Indians, or to that branch of the tribe known in their later history as Stockbridge Indians. But the town has properly no Indian history, the aboriginal tidle to all the lands within its boundaries having been extinguished before any settlements were made upon them. The only remaining traditions of Indian occupation are con- nected with transitory encampments during the maple sugar season by small parties from Stockbridge It is related that Captain Enoch Gar- field, grandfather of Hon. Harrison Garfield, when a boy of fourteen, coming up from Tyringham to look after cattle, discovered a wigwam near the present park, whose occupant, a solitary squaw, treated him to maple sugar. On the other side of the river he found another wigwam, where the marble quarry now is. Captain Garfield, who afterward be- came a resident of the town, died in 1824, at the age of seventy-eight. His discovery of the wigwams, therefore, must have been in 1760, and it is believed to be the first mention, even in tradition, of the site of the present village of Lee. There is also a faint tradition of an Indian named "Kunkerpot " who had a wigwam on the site of the park at the center of the village. The early settlers of Lee had their share of privation and peril, but they came too late for any of those experiences of savage war- fare which marked the pioneer history of some of the older towns in the county.
The first settler in the present territory of Lee is believed to have been Isaac Davis, of Tyringham, who, in 1760, located in the extreme southern part of the town, on what is known as the MeAllister place. on the banks of Hop Brook. Other settlers slowly followed. although the exact time of their coming cannot in all cases be determined. Reuben Pixley, who came from Great Barrington at an early date, located on the Tyringham road, on the farm now owned by Harrison Garfield. His house was at the foot of the mountain that has since borne his name. Hope Davis, from Tyringham, settled near May's paper mill in East Lee, and Simon Calkins further east. on the farm afterward occupied by Wil- liam Chanter, now owned by the May Brothers. Asahel Dodge located on the hill nearly two miles directly east from the Center. Around him sprung up eventually quite a hamlet called "Dodgetown." which was for a time the principal settlement, and where it was first proposed to build the church. The old homesteads in this locality are now nearly all abandoned, and it is fast reverting to its original wilderness con- dition.
John Winegar came into the territory in 1770, from Sharon, Conn .. when there were in it but thirteen families. He located in what was for- merly called Crow Hollow, near the site of the Columbia paper mill. building there a log house, and the first grist mill in town. His house is said to have been built against a perpendicular rock, which served as its
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rear wall, and the chimney was of such huge dimensions that the wood being drawn upon the hill behind could be precipitated down it into the fire place below, thus saving much time and labor in the preparation of fuel. Mr. Winegar was of Dutch descent, and he seems to have been a man of much energy and enterprise. He built a second grist mill at East Lee. where John MeLaughlin's machine shop now stands, and near it a frame honse, which is still standing, and which is supposed to be the oldest building in town. It is now used by Mr. MeLaughlin as the pat- tern shop for his foundry.
Jonathan Foote came from Colchester, Conn., in 1770, and settled where his great-grandson, Theron L. Foote, now lives. He brought with him five sons. Jonathan, jr .. Fenner. David. Asahel. and Solomon. Some of them had already arrived at man's estate. The four oldest settled around their father, and the name plays a prominent part in the early history of the town. Solomon became a physician and settled in Corn- wall, Vt., afterward removing to Rutland. in the same State. Senator Foote, of Vermont, was his son. David emigrated with his family to Ohio early in the century. Descendants of the other three sons still re- side in town. The Foote family has been remarkable for the longevity of many of its members in successive generations, Jonathan Foote, sen .. living to the age of eighty-eight. his sons. Fenner and David. to ninety- three and ninety-four, and a grandson. Alvan, to ninety-five.
Elisha Freeman came from Sandwich in 1773 and settled about a mile north of Mr. Foote, on the farm occupied by his grandson, the late . John B. Freeman, and now in the possession of Charles H. Sabin.
Oliver West, from Connecticut, located a little north of Mr. Free- man, on the place now owned by Patrick Navin. Mr. West was a deacon in the Congregational church from its origin in 1780 to his death in 1816.
William Ingersoll came up from Great Barrington in 1769 or 1770, and settled in the Hopland district. His farm consisted of 1,000 acres. stretching along the Housatonic from the quarry to South Lee. He seems to have been the most conspicuous citizen in the early history of the town. He was chairman of the first board of selectmen. and of the "Committee of Correspondence." and his name stands first in the list of members of the Congregational church, and is prominent in all the earher history of both church and town. His house stood a little southeast of the present residence of E. M. Langdon, and his seven sons, on coming to maturity, all settled around him on some part of his ample domain. He died in 1815. at the age of ninety-two, leaving, according to the epitaph on his tombstone, 149 descendants. The name has now almost entirely disappeared from town.
In 1721 Richard Howk. of Kinderhook, N. Y., bought a tract of land, afterward increased to 1,000 acres, ou what is known as Howk's Hill, on the road to Stockbridge, just west of the Center village. Hisson, Isaac Howk. lived where Mr. W. W. Wilde now resides, and his large
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
Dutch barn, from its conspicuous position on the top of the hill, came to be known far and wide as " Howk's Barracks." A portion of this tract is still in the possession of one of the descendants of the family, Mr. John C. Howk.
In 1773 Jesse Bradley, of New Haven, Conn., settled near the pres. Bradley street school house. He was also a leading citizen, an officer in the Revolutionary war, an original member of the Congregational church, and one of its first two deacons. He afterward changed his religious sentiments, and became an Episcopalian. He had six sous, all of whom made homes in his immediate neighborhood. He died in 1812, at the age of seventy-seven. According to his epitaph he left 109 descend- ants, and
" He was the son of Daniel Bradley, who was the son of Daniel Bradley, who was the son of Abraham Bradley. who was the son of William Bradley, who was one of the first settlers of New Haven in 1637."
The present representatives of the family in town are , Alonzo and Jared Bradley, who are in the fourth generation of descent, and who live in the old locality.
Salong oilers who also came into town before 1775 were John Nye. from Connecticut, and Levi Nye, from Sandwich. Though of the same name and coming at about the same time there seems to have been no re- lationship between them. The former settled in the extreme north part of the town near the place now owned by William Perry. His son, John Nye. jr., died in 1876. aged ninety-one. Charles B. Nye is a grandson. Levi Nye located on the site of the present town cemetery, in 1773, build- ing, at a later date. the house now owned by the town. and used as an alms house. He was a deacon in the Congregational church from 1792 to his death in 1825.
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