USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 1 > Part 2
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On the 8th of April. 1726, the proprietors, now numbering fifty-nine, received from the committee the lands assigned to them under the name of the Upper and Lower Housatonic townships.
It is recorded that Mathew Noble, of Westfield, was the first English settler in Berkshire county. After spending the first winter among the Indians, he returned to Westfield to bring his daughter, a girl of sixteen, to his new home ; in June, 1726, they set out on horseback from West- field and arrived at their destination after spending one night in the wil- derness. Other settlers soon followed. Hardly had they entered into possession of their property when difficulties arose with the Dutch pro priotors from New York. holding the territory under the patent of West- enhook. These quarrels soon became quite serious, sometimes leading to acts of violence and bloodshed.
As early as 1726 some of the proprietors who were " settling upon Housatunnnek were molested and sued as trespassers by the said paten. tees, and lost their suit at Albany :" one settler was obliged to pay $70 to satisfy his bonds, while another less fortunate was imprisoned in the Albany jail. In the following year a correspondence took place between the governor of New York and the lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, resulting in an order from both governments, forbidding their respective settlers to prosecute any suits or make any further settlements until the line should be agreed upon. Consequently the progress of the commu- nity was greatly impeded, though the pioneers held their own, hoping for a decision in their favor ; and in June, 1733, the General Court passe lan order appointing a new committee, a portion of whose work was to con- firm the settlers in their property. During the preceding January the Lower township had been incorporated as a town called Sheffield, in honor of Edmund Sheffield. Duke of Buckingham ; and it extended from the Connecticut line to what is now the northern part of the village of Great Barrington, eight miles north and south on the river, being wide enough to include seven miles square, and also embracing portions of what are now Egremont and New Marlboro.
It has been stated above that there were certain tracts of land re- served by the Indians for their own use : one of these sections lay imme- diately south of the present Great Barrington line, and extended from
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TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
the Housatonic west to the line of New York : there was also included an adjoining meadow lying within the limits of Great Barrington.
In the Upper township there was another reservation in the present limits of the town of Stockbridge. on the land known as the Great Meadow, called by the Indians Wnahtnkook. When the Rev. John Sergeant be- gan his mission" in Southern Berkshire. the lower Indian reservation, called Skatekook, was occupied by a few families under Chief Umpachene, while four or five other families, under Chief Koukapot, dwelt upon the Great Meadow.
While the people of Sheffield village had the benefit of a church. settled pastor, schools, etc., those who inhabited the northern part of the town, as well as what had been left of the Upper township. numbering about two hundred persons, had no regular religious teaching and few schools. These inconveniences were sorely felt, and in December, 1741, a petition, signed by John Williams, Hezekiah Phelps, and others, was presented to the General Court, asking that the inhabitants of the Upper township, together with those on the tract of land lying between the said township and the Indian land, should be invested with parish privi- leges, and on January 13th. 1742, an order was passed by the Legislature, granting the same.
The first meeting of the proprietors under the authority of this act was held on the Sth of March, 1742, at the house of Daniel Nash, Ephraim Williams being chosen moderator, and David Ingersoll, clerk. It was voted " to build a meeting house for the public worship of God and to erect said house on the east side of the river." and a committee was appointed " to provide some suitable person or persons to preach the Gospel Word among us. in order for his settlement in the ministry." The church was erected near the divisional line between the two townships. about twelve rods east of the so-called Great Bridge, now the northern part of Great Barrington village. It was a large barn-like edifice, about 45 feet long by 35 feet wide, unpainted, and with no bell or chimney. It fronted the south, with its gables east and west, and had doors in the center of the south, east, and west sides. The frame of a belfry was placed upon the roof, but this was not completed until 1745, when it was voted " to make a roofe to the beelfree, shingle and clabord the said Roofe." From the main or south entrance the "great alley" led across the church to the pulpit, which was surmounted by a large sounding board. "In front of the pulpit was a balustrade or railing, to which was attached a leaf hanging on hinges, which served the purpose of a communion table." Along the south, east, and west sides of the building ran a gallery, which was reached by staircases in the southeast and southwest corners. Be- neath the gallery high, square pews were built, to which access was had by alley ways, while the body of the house was filled with seats along
* See history of town of Stockbridge.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
either side of the " great alley." These seats, however, were afterward nearly all replaced by pews.
East of the charch lay the graveyard, now known as the Upper burial ground, while to the west was the village green of common. the whole tract having been presented to the parish. it is said, by David Ingersoll.
The first minister employed by the committee was the Rev. Thomas Strong, of Northampton, who afterward settled in Now Marlboro.
The affaire of the North Parish were now in a better condition than before, but the inhabitants still labored under many inconveniences : the peace was continually broken on account of the lack of any municipal regulations; the majority of the inhabitants were not proprietors and therefore the burden of taxation fell upon the few. In consequence of these difficulties another petition was sent to the government at Boston requesting that the North Parish be set off as a separate town Though this petition was not granted it was ordered that the North Parish should be incorporated into the town of Sheffield. .. there to do duty and receive privileges as amply and fully as the present inhabitants of Sheffield." By this act the jurisdiction of Sheffield was extended over what is now Great Barrington and a large portion of Egremont and Alford. The first parish meeting under the new act was held March 20th, 1745, and the par- ish was then duly organized. It was voted to pay John Pixley thirty shillings " for moneys which he paid Rev. Thomas Strong for preaching:" and also to pay Moses Ingersoll . for entertaining ministers and messen- gers at Mr. Samuel Hopkins' ordination."
Mr. Hopkins was graduated from Yale College in 1741, and after studying theology with Jonathan Edwards, at Northampton, he was licensed to preach. He began his labors at Waterbury, Conn., his native place, and afterward ministered to the people of Simsbury ; but having remained there only a few months he returned to Northampton. where he was met in June. 1743, by a messenger from the North Parish, inviting him to preach, and on Sunday, July 3d, he delivered his first sermon In. fore this people. He soon after receive la call at a salary of 035 per an. num, which he decided to accept, and on the 28th of December hisordina- tion took place. Here he labored faithfully for nearly twenty-six years. when he removed to Newport. Rhode Island. to become the pastor of the First Congregational Church of that town. Through the earnest efforts of Mr. Hopkins the church was increased from five members to about 100. and the general condition of the community was much improved.
From the earliest settlement to the time of the breaking out of the French and Indian war of 1744 there had been an undisturbed price in Berkshire, with the exception of the difficulties arising under the West- enhook Patent, already described.
In the fall of 1743 the General Court passe la bill granting Gloreach to Sheffield, Stockbridge, and Upper Housatonic for the creation of forts or block hauses, but none seem to have been built here. The fort of Cool- rad Burghardt is incidentally mentioned, but no description of it has been
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TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
left. About the year 1755, a fort was built on the west side of the road that leads to Van Densenville, a little north of the house of Frederick Abbey, where its cellar, wholly overgrown with grass, can still be defined. It was a large building, about thirty by thirty-five feet, constructed of square timbers, and surmounted by a watch tower. This building was afterward used as the county jail, and during the Revolution, as a small- box hospital.
In February, 1745, a militia muster was held in the North Parish. at which men from the surrounding country were enlisted for the famous Lomisburg expedition, and troops often passed through this part of the town over the " Great Road from Boston to Albany." Rev. Dr. Samuel Hopkins, in his journal, states that on the 5th of December, 1735. " more than twenty soldiers lodged at my house last night, on their return from camp at Lake George, and a number are here again to-night." "Lord's day, March 16th, 1756. A great number of soldiers at meeting both fore- noon and afternoon, who are on their march to Crown Point. Two cap. tains and their companies desire prayers in their behalf this afternoon."
In 1758. during the last French and Indian war, General Amherst, with his British regulars and Continental troops, passed through the parish on their way to attack Ticonderoga. The army encamped east of the Green River bridge in the open fields on each side of the road : and considerable quantities of musket balls, ploughed up on the lands of .J. M. Mackie, are supposed to be relies of the encampment.
But the North Parish saw more than the occasional passage of sol. diery through its limits. In the journal of Dr. Hopkins, under the date of Sunday, December 8th. 1745. it is recorded : " Went to the fort last night to lie, and sometime in the night news came from Stockbridge that a barn was set on fire and burnt up-supposed to be done by the Indians and French-which made something of an alarm among us." .. Sunday, April 12th, (1747). Preached to day in Conrad Burghast's fort. (pen- ple not being inclined to go to the meeting house) from Isaiah XXII, 12. 13. 14."
Again Dr. Hopkins states in his journal, " July 9th (1:55). Heard to-day that the Indians have taken a man and woman and child, about ten miles to the west of us. It was done yesterday. and one Indian was killed by the husband. while he was attempting to carry off his wife a captive. One woman is also wounded. Two or three Indians clavel a man about a mile and a half west of my house. Upon this news we think it not pendent to live at my house, and have therefore concluded to lodge at Mother Ingersoll's this night."
From these few leaves of the pastor's journal is caught a glimpse of the constant alarms and hardships of the frontier life.
In 1760 that territory lying west of the Upper and Lower townships was set off from Sheffield and incorporated under the name of Egremont and, stimulated by this example, the inhabitants of the North Parish again attempted to withdraw from the parent town. Considerable oppo-
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
sition to the separation was made by the South Parish at first, bur at a town meeting. held on the 11th of March, a vote was passed "to set off the Upper or North Parish in the town of Sheffield, to be formed into a separate Distriet or Town." and in the following year a petition was sent to the General Court, which resulted in the passage of an act by that body, whereby, on the 30th of June. 1761, the North Parish became a town. under the name of Great Barrington.
By the act of incorporation General Joseph Dwight was directed to issue a warrant to " some principal inhabitant." requiring him to notify the citizens qualified to vote to assemble for the purpose of organization. In accordance with this direction a warrant was addressed to Jonathan Nash, and the first town meeting. 'duly warned. was held in the meeting house, on Wednesday, July 22d, 1701. General Dwight, Timothy Hop- kins, and John Burghardt were chosen selectmen : and Mark Hopkins town clerk.
The inhabitants of the town at this time numbered about 500, among whom. with other prominent names, we find the following : Gen. Joseph Dwight, Rev. Sammuel Hopkins. Mark Hopkins, Timothy Hopkins, Major William King. Jonathan Nash, William Ingersoll, David Sanford, Elijah Dwight, Benedict Dewey. Israel Dewey, and Jonathan Younglove
It was due to the influence of General Dwight more than to that of any other that Great Barrington was finally incorporated as a town. A brief sketch of his life has already been given in the chapter on the Bench and Bar.
At the time of the incorporation of the town the village extended from the Wheeler place northward to the Great Bridge and thence to Pixley street. The center was just east of the bridge, where, amid a few dwelling houses, the church building, which has already been described. was located. Nearly opposite the meeting house, and east of the bridge was the tavern of Captain Hewit Root, which still stands on the north side of the highway near the river bank, having been moved a few rods west.
In connection with this house a story has often been told. first re- lated by President Dwight in his Travels. Late one evening there arrived on horseback at the tavern a Mr. Van Rensselaer, a young gentleman from Albany. Upon being asked by the landlord where he had crossed the river, he replied " on the bridge." Mr. Root declared that this was impossible because the framework alone had been raised that very day and not a plank had yet been laid The young man persisted in his story, saying that as the night was too dark for him to see the way, he had trusted to his horse, who had crossed the bridge with no signs of un- willingness. Each discredited the story of the other, but in the morning the young man, upon viewing the naked framework of the bridge, was so overcome with astonishment and fright that he is said to have falien in a swoon.
The first indictment-regularly found by the grand jury-that re-
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TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
sulted in a trial in Berkshire county, was one against landlord Root. it being charged that he "did wittingly and wilfully suffer and permit singing, fiddling, and dancing in his dwelling house, there being there a tavern or public house." It is recorded that he pleaded guilty and was fined 10 shillings and costs.
Not far from the tavern. on the west side of the way, at the curve of the road in Water street, was located the tammery of William Jones, which is said to have been in operation in 1700 ; there was in connection with the works a saddlery and harness shop. Another member of the Jones family is said to have had a house and saddler's shop on the site of the present dwelling of Hon. Justin Dewey. South of Root's tavern, and nearly opposite the meeting house, were located the works of David Ju- gersoll, consisting of a saw mill and grist mill and also a forge and trip hammer to manufacture bar iron ; in addition to his other business he had a small store near by.
The main road extending from the east side of the bridge ran south- erly to the meeting house, and turning abruptly to the east. on the sonth side of the building, extended across the burial ground to the foot of the mountain and joined the present highway near the house of Benjamin F. Gilmore, whence it extended east toward the present towns of Monterey and New Marlboro.
At Bung Hill was another small cluster of dwellings, one of which- the old I house on the corner-is standing at the present day. This was the residence of Captain George King. one of the early sheriff's of the county, who afterward died in the service at Ticonderoga. It is in this viciniry that the notorious Gill Belcher livel. anl while apparently working at his trade as a tinker, he was in reality, as tradition has it. engaged in counterfeiting silver coin. On the mountain side. just south of the comer, is a cavern. known as " Belcher's Cave." where the con- terfeiter is said to have been discoverel at his illegitimate work. Whether the tradition be true or false in this respect, in the weather book of Lieutenant Gamaliel Whiting are found the following entries :
" 1772, July 28, Gil Belcher com't'd" (committed). " 1772, Aug. 3d, Belcher released."
" 1772, Oct. 30, Gill Belcher, D. Lewis, J. Adams, and J. Catul com. for counter- feiting.'
" 1772, Oct. 31. Money makers went to N. Canaan."
It is possible that Belcher and his confederates were a part of a line of counterfeiters extending at that time from Connecticut through Berkshire into New York. Belcher was probably taken to New Ca- naan for trial, and was afterward confined in the Albany jail, where it is recorded that he was executed.
. In 1761 the business center began to move southward on the west side of the river. The change. though gradual at first, was hastened by the erection of the county court house, built in 1961 5, and the county jail, built in 1705-6. The former building continued to be used as the
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
county court house until 1787. when Lenox was made the shire town. and thither the courts were removed. It was still used, however. for town meetings and other public assemblies until 1793. when it fell into the possession of Captain Walter Pynchon, who removed it to the ground in the rear of Egbert Hollister's store, where it was used as a barn until about the year 1839.
The jail yard reached from Castle street southerly to the residence of of General Joseph Dwight, since called the Henderson place, and now occupied by Mrs. Hannah Calver. The former Episcopal parsonage. which was located in front of the plot of ground covered by the present rectory, was the jail house, and was the residence of the prison koppers from 1766 to 1790. The jail was a large structure two stories in height. and stood! just south of the jail house, facing the street and extending to the present site of the Episcopal church. This building must have pre- sented a somewhat sombre appearance, with its unpainted and weathen beaten walls, its iron-grated windows, and its high plank fence. armel at the top with iron spikes. During the Revolution it was used as a place of confinement of tories from various towns, and at one time of British prisoners ; imprisonment here for debt was customary before and after the war.
General Joseph Dwight's house, already mentioned, was considered at that time and for many years later the finest residence in the town : and indeed the wainscoting and wood carving, which are well preserved. rival the work of the present day. It is two and one half stories high. with a brick basement, which in recent years has been plastered over and paintedl white, the color of the whole structure. Like others in the com- munity, General Dwight is known to have possessed negro slaves, and four are said to have made the basement their quarters The mansion house became the property of Colonel Elijah Dwight on the death of his father in 1765.
General Burgoyne remained here several days on the march toward Boston after his defeat at Saratoga : during the Shays rebellion the h dise was entered by the mob ; and in later years, while in the possession of Deacon Allen Henderson, it was the scene of the marriage of the port Bryant, at that time a lawyer and notary public in this town.
The dwelling of Israel Dewey was erected, abont 1761, on the grounds of the late Major Samuel Rosseter-now owned by Henry Dresser -and in the rear of his house on the west side of the river, he built a large saw mill and grist mill. and. as the works of David Ingersoll had become dis- used, these mills, finished in 1702, appear to have been the most important manufacturing interest in the place for many years. Mr. Dewey success. fully operated these works till his death in 1973. when they fell into the possession of his sons. Justin and Hugo. Israel Dewey's ability and sturdy character early gave him prominence in local affairs. He was chosen upon the committed to build the first school house created by the town, and hold many other offices in the town and parish.
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TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
At the demolition of the oll General John Whiting house the work- men discovered in the walls a copy of Hugo Grotius' work upon Inter national Law with the name of Israel Dewey upon a fly leaf. The inei- dent suggests his natural tastes. He appears to have been a man of strong convictions and of decided preference to think for himself. It became known that he objected to some of the doctrines set forth by bis pastor. particularly the statement " that nothing could possibly happen but what was right and ought to be rejoiced in, because all was exactly as God would have it, even events the most vile and enormous." He was accord- ingly called to account by the church for his views ; but he again ex- pressed his belief " that it was not on the whole best that sin should take place in the world," and maintained his position with such arguments that it was voted "to let him pass without public censure. but only to admonish him before all the brethren, to be more modest and earnestly seek further light, as we look upon him ignorant and much out of the way." Several letters passed between Mr. Dewey and Dr. Hopkins upon this and kindred subjects, and the correspondence was afterward pub- lished.
Colonel Mark Hopkins, brother of the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, re- cently admitted to the bar, began to practice here in 1761. and built a house opposite the site of the present Congregational church. Colonel Hopkins was the first register of deeds. and his office was a low gambrel- roofed building, situated where the Bigelow place now stands. It was also used as the post office from 1797 to 1840, when it was removed to the east side of Water street, where it can still be seen.
Between the years 1761 and 1764 Joseph or Elias Gilbert erected a house nearly opposite the Dwight mansion : this building was ocenpied by Elias Gilbert until 1770, when it was sold to David Ingersoll, jr. son of the proprietor of the mills, who occupied it until his departure for England in 1774. In later years it became the propertyof the Misses Kel- logg, and has since been replaced by the summer residence of Mrs. Mark Hopkins, of San Francisco.
A tavern was kept by Aaron Sheldon near the site of the Berkshire House until 1768, when he sold his house to David Rowley, together with all the land on the east side of Main street, between the premises of Fred- erick Langsdorff and the lane leading to the high school: the property soon afterward again changed hands, and Josiah Smith, of Tyringham. took possession and immediately erected a new building, where the Berk- shire House now stands. In 1764 Captain Truman Wheeler, of South- bury, Conn .. settled here as a merchant, having his place of business south of the village near the present residence of his grandson, Merritt I. Wheeler. Captain Wheeler was town treasurer and county muster mas- ter during the Revolution.
During the spring and summer of the same year the Episcopal church was erected. a short distance south of the present residence of John Brewer. The main body of this building was 40 by 50 feet, exclusive of
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
chancel and porch, while the steeple was 110 feet high. surmounted by a gilded weathercock, and supplied with a bell. A large quantity of glass had been presented to the society by friends in England. and this was so freely used that the sides of the house were for the most part windows. As was the custom in those days a lige sounding board was suspended above the pulpit. Here the society attended divine service until 1833, when a stone edifice was built, now known as Church Block, on the cor- ner of Main and Railroad streets. Some of the beams from the interior of the old church, finely fluted and painted white, are still to be seen in the cellar under the jewelry store of Marens E. Tobey.
A small and unattractive school house stood near the present site of the Congregational church. and below in the .. Great Hollow" the town pound was located.
The hills around the village were covered with forests, broken here and there by clearings. The main street. ill made and ill-kept, was abrupt in its ascents and declivities, and was frequently crossed by brooks. Just south of the house of the late Dr. Collins a limestone ledge rose several feet in height on either side of the highway, through which single carriages could with difficulty be drawn. Near the residence of Ralph Taylor there was a steep descent into the ". Great Hollow. " which brought the road upon a level with the meadow now belonging to the estate of Mrs. Mark Hopkins. The road crossed another valley, known as "Silver Hollow, " near the General Dwight place, then ascended a knoll in front of the Episcopal church, and again descended a ravine in front of the town hall. As a whole the village was untidy and neglected in its appearance. In 179S President Dwight, of Yale College, visited Great Barrington, and in his Travels he does not give a very flattering description of the town.
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