USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 1 > Part 20
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
captain. He died of fever at Suffolk. Va., June 28th, 1863, and his body was brought to Lee for burial. The local Post of the Grand Army of the Republic has honored itself and him by taking his name. Capt. Franklin W. Pease was mortally wounded at Spottsylvania Court House May 14th. 1864. Eldad E. Moore, who enlisted in the 27th regiment, September 19th, 1861, passed through the horrors of the prison pen at Andersonville. On the transfer of the prisoners to a place of greater security during Sher- man's march to the sea, he jumped from the train and started for Atlanta, but was recaptured after he had traveled seventy-five miles. Confined again at Columbus, Ga., by exchanging clothes with some Southern sol- diers, he succeeded in passing the guard, and at last reached Atlanta. Starting for the North, the train was captured by bushwhackers. from whom he escaped, and again found his way to Atlanta. He finally reached home in safety, and received his discharge after a service of three years and two months.
One of the most peculiar experiences of the war was that of Charles Gates, a minor son of William K. Gates, of East Lee. Desiring greatly to enlist, but not securing the permission of his father, he one day, after driving cattle to pasture, without notice to his family, pushed on to the rendezvous of the 10th regiment, in which he enlisted. Fulfill- ing his term of service without a furlough he received his discharge, and leaving the cars at the Becket station, took the pasture in his way, and all unannounced, drove home the cows at the usual time as coolly as if nothing had happened.
The services of the soldiers of the town in the war for the Union find fitting commemoration in the Memorial Hall building, which serves the double purpose of a monument and a town hall. It was built in 1874. at a cost, including the site, of $29.000. On a beautiful tablet in the princi- pal hall are inscribed the names of the thirty-eight soldiers of the town who fell in the war. Besides rooms for town purposes, the building fur- nishes accommodations for the post office and the public library. The amount of money raised by the town for the purposes of the war, exclu. sive of private subscriptions, was 821.654.56. The manufacturing interests of the town were greatly stimulated by the war, and were never so prosper- ous as during its continuance and for a few years after its close. The largest internal revenue tax paid by any in lividnal in the county was that of Mr. Elizur Smith, of Lee, it amounting at times to $4.000 monthly.
A post office was first established in Lee in 1803, in the tavern of Jedediah Crocker, in Cape street, and he was the first postmaster. The nearest post office previous to that time. it would seem, was at Stock bridge. Mr. Crocker was succeeded in the same place, in 1811, by Rich - ard Brush. In ISis the post office was removed to the Center, and Rol. lin C. Dewey received the appointment. followed the next year by John B. Perry, who also retained the office but a single year. resigning in favor of Dr. Hubbard Bartlett, who served as postmaster for more than twenty years. His successors have been as follows : L. D. Brown, 1846 ; George
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H. Phelps, 1849 ; A. M. Howk, 1853 : Nathan Gibbs, 1861 ; Dr. E. Wright, 1863 ; 1874, Joseph C. Chaffee, the present incumbent.
There are few more significant tokens of the progress of the last half century than the growth of the business of the post office. Dr. Bartlett's entire commission from the office during the first year of his incumbency was but $20, and at the close of his long term of service it had risen ouly to $450. In 1883 the income of the office was more than 85,000, and the present salary of the postmaster is $1,700. Previous to 1832 it would seem that not a single daily paper was taken in town, since a document has been found among Dr. Bartlett's papers, dated July 6th, 1832, with the names of nine individuals, and of four business firms, requesting him to take a daily paper in order that they might be kept informed with re- gard to the progress of the cholera, and promising to pay from twenty- five to seventy-five cents each for the privilege of reading the news. In 1826 a post office was established at South Lee, and in 1848 at East Lee.
The first record with regard to a cemetery is found in the year 1778, when a committee was appointed to select and purchase a lot for that purpose. In 1785 it was recommended to purchase of Levi Nye 100 square rods for a burying ground. This was the eastern part of the present town cemetery. In 1804 the ground was enlarged by the purchase from Mr. Nye of an additional half acre, and in 1854 another enlargement was made to the present dimensions. The original ground must, however, have been used for burial purposes before its purchase, as some of the grave stones ante-date the record of purchase. The oldest with a legible in- scription is that of Mattey Handy, daughter of Joseph Handy, who died in 1773, aged seventeen. It is estimated that there have been as many as 4,000 burials in the Center cemetery, a number equaling the present pop- ulation of the town. In 1804 it was voted to purchase of William Inger- soll, jr., 30 square rods of land. with the necessary connection with the road, for a burying ground at South Lee. " being the place where persons have been buried." The oldest stone in this ground is that of Isaac Davis, the first settler in the town, who died in 1789, aged sixty-three.
The Roman Catholic cemetery, about a mile west from the Center. was opened in 1859. the price paid for the land being $500. The mimber of interments to the present time is about 1,500.
A lodge of masons has been maintained in town since 1795. Its first master was Judge William Walker, of Lenox, and it has always numbered among its members many of the first citizens of Lee and neighboring towns. It is called the Evening Star Lodge, and now numbers ninety. three.
A police court was organized in 1855, in which the following gentle. men have held the position of justice: L. D. Brown, 1855-6; Isaac C. Ives, 1857-75 : Moses H. Pease, 1875-84 : John Branning, 1884.
Lee is now furnished with all the conveniences and improvements of a well organized community. A fire district was established at the Center
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
in 1859, which maintains an engine company and cares for the lighting of the streets. There is a second company at East Lee, and there are also in town two steamers, one owned by the Smith Paper Company, and the other by the manufacturers of East Lee, but both of which are gener- ously put to the service of the public in case of need. There have been only two disastrous fires in the history of the town. On the night of January 23d, 1857, one of the coldest of the season, a fire broke out in one of the stores on Main street, and destroyed several business blocks with the Congregational church and chapel. The loss was about $60,000 with an insurance of 832,000. The intense cold made impossible any ef- fective use of the engines, and the night is often referred to by those who were present as one of the most terrible in the history of the town. Feb- ruary 3d, 1870, a large block of stores on the east side of Main street was burned, together with the Episcopal church on Franklin street. The loss was more than $50,000, largely covered by insurance. Most of the paper mills of the town have at one time or another suffered much from fires, and a number of them have been burned out several times. But their scattered situation has prevented any extensive spread of the fires, and the habit of manufacturers in keeping their property well covered by insurance has saved them from serious loss. The recent introduction into the Center village of public water from a reservoir on Washington Mountain by the Berkshire Water Company, gives additional protection against fire, and affords an abundant supply of excellent water for do mestic purposes. The village is also supplied with petroleum gas from works erected in 1881. A public library was established in 1874, about $3,000 being contributed by the citizens for the purpose. It is supported mainly by annual appropriations from the town treasury, and now num- bers about 4,000 volumes.
The population and valuation of the town with the number of polls by decades, as far back as the statistics are matter of record, have been as follows :
In 1791, population 1,170 ; 1800, population 1,267 ; 1810, population 1,305 ; 1820, population 1,384, polls 310, valuation $283,369 ; 1830, popu- lation 1,825, polls 372, valuation $321,211 ; 1840, population 2,428, polls 611, valuation $594,796 ; 1850, population 3,220, polls 794, valuation 8868,727; 1860, population 4.420, polls 949, valuation $1,807,191 ; 1870, population 3,860, polls 866, valuation 81.666,719 ; 1884, population (about) 4,000, polls 1,020, valuation $1,898,521.
By the census of 1880, 752 of the population were of foreign birth, and 1,994, almost exactly one half of the entire population, were of foreign birth or of foreign parentage. There were in town 845 families, and 747 dwellings.
On the 13th of September, 1877, the town celebrated its hundredth anniversary, anticipating the exact date, October 21st, by a few weeks in order to insure favorable weather for out of floor services The princi- pal services were held in the Congregational church, where an historical
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discourse was delivered by Hon. Franklin Chamberlain. of Hartford, Conn., a former resident of the town, and a poem by William Pitt Pal- mer, Esq., of Stockbridge. The afternoon was devoted to the dinner, with its accompanying speech making. in a tent spread on the grounds of Wel- lington Smith. About 700 guests were at the tables, and the pleasant services were continued till nearly night. In connection with the Cen- tennial of the town was held on the previous day the fortieth anniver- sary of the united academy and high school, the services in connection with which were held in the open air on Fern Cliff. The two occasions brought back to their old homes very many of the natives and former residents, and the two days were the most interesting and memorable in the history of the town. With nothing specially remarkable in its his- tory, there are few towns in the county that can exhibit a more continu- ous and healthful growth, or that can be more properly cited as exam. ples of the typical New England and Berkshire life.
CHAPTER IX.
TOWN OF LEE (concluded).
Elizur and Wellington Smith .- Thomas Hurlbut .-- Amos G. Hulbert .- Henry C. Hulbert .- Rev. E. P. Ingersoll .- William Porter .- Charles May.
ELIZUR AND WELLINGTON SMITH.
A MONG the citizens of Lee, prominent in business, politics, and so- ciety, the Honorable Messrs. Elizur and Wellington Smith stand with the foremost. These gentlemen have in many respects entirely distinct histories, but they are so closely connected with the Smith Paper Company and so identified with it that some account of that great Berkshire manufacture is a necessary prelude and foundation for any sketch of the life of either.
It has been well and truly said that "Western Massachusetts in a territory about fifty miles square is the most remarkable region of its size in the world for paper manufactories. The amount of the product far exceeds anything that has been known elsewhere, and in the best kinds the paper is unexcelled, and is equalled only by a few manufac- tories in the world."
This manufacture was begun, so far as the region west of the Con- necticut River is concerned, at Dalton, in the year 1801, as has been stated in the history of that town. This was followed in 1806 by a mill built at South Lee, by Samuel Church, who in 1808 built another at North Lee, near the present site of the Eagle Mill of the Smith Paper Company. One mill succeeded another until Lee stood at the head of the paper making towns of the country in the amount and variety of its productions and its reputation in the market.
Prominent in securing this result were Elizur Smith and his partner, George W. Platner, who died in May, 1855, leaving behind him an envi- able reputation, both as a man and a manufacturer, although the busi- ness of the firm had by no means assumed the proportions which it reached within a few succeeding years.
Elizur Smith was born January 5th, 1812, at Sandisfield, a town pro lific of men of business note. His father was an energetic and skillful
0
Elizar Smith
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TOWN OF LEE.
farmer, and he acquired a love for agriculture which has developed itself grandly in his later years. But when he was 12 years old an accidental cutting of his foot confined him to his house for a considerable time. The accident was a blessing in disguise, for it directed his attention to books and led to thoughts that gave a direction to life which carried him to wealth and a worthily obtained distinguished position in society, in which his kinsfolk share.
At the age of 16 he was sent to the Westfield Academy. Those who have the means of comparing the colleges and academies of that era, and can judge of their comparative merits in the light of the present day, know well that the academy, supposing it to be well conducted, was the better institution of the two to prepare young men for real life. But, be that as it may, Elizur Smith certainly obtained a good education at Westfield.
In 1830 he went to Lee as clerk for John Nye, jr. & Co., who had a store in connection with their paper mill. His salary was only 820 a year and board, which would not now be considered great, but the posi- tion gave him opportunity to learn something of the paper making busi- ness and he availed himself of it to good purpose.
He bought a half interest with Milton Ingersoll and George W. Platner in their Turkey Mill in Tyringham, very close to the Lee town line. This mill was built in 1833 and made a small quantity of good writing paper, Messrs. Platner & Ingersoll devoting their energies and capital chietly to their Etna Mill in Lee. Bnt. in 1835, Mr. Ingersoll sold his interest in that mill to Mr. Smith and the Lee firm of Platner & Smith, which continued with eminent success for more than thirty years. was formed.
The new firm passed successfully through the crisis of 1837, the most disastrous ever known in the business of America, and soon pur- chased the Union Mill of J. & L. Church and the Enterprise Mill of Luman Church. In 1850 they bought the mill which was built in 1826 on the site of the present Housatonic, by Walter, Winthrop, and Cutler Laflin, and was then considered a marvel of enterprise. At that time it required eight months to excavate its 170 rods of raceway.
The Messrs. Laffin built another mill three quarters of a mile north of the first, where the Columbia Mill now stands. They sold out their business at Lee in 1837, and, after passing through several hands. this mill in 1865 became the property of Hon. Elizur Smith.
Soon after 1850 Platner & Smith bought Ball & Bassett's satinet factory and clothier's shop at the outlet of Lanrel Lake and converted them into the Castle and Laurel Paper Mills.
For many years Platner & Smith were renowned as the leading paper makers of the United States, their imprint being the first which com . manded full confidence in the market everywhere from Maine to Lou- isiana, partly, perhaps, because in defiance of the popular prejudice in
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
favor of imported goods they had the courage to place their own mono- gram upon every sheet which they sent out.
After Mr. Platner's death, in 1855, Mr. Smith carried on the business alone under the old firm name nntil 1865 when he associated with him . self his nephews, Hon. Wellington Smith and Mr. De Witt Smith, and formed the Smith Paper Company.
This firm added to the previous mills and greatly increased the cap- acity of those which it originally owned. As an illustration, they pur- chased the Pleasant Valley Mill, in the north part of the town, near Lenox Furnace, which had been built in 1826 by Thomas Sedgwick & Co. Before this purchase it made 1,000 pounds of paper daily : under the improvements and enlargements of the Smith Paper Company it has made fifty tous in one week.
The honor of first making paper entirely from wood pulp belongs to the firm of Platner & Smith ; and this class of paper has now become a necessity because it is the only material which can be printed upon with the immense rapidity required for the issues of the great city journals and also on account of its cheapness.
The statement of the making of paper from wood by Platner & Smith requires some explanation. In 1854 one Mellier, a Frenchman, persuaded the firm to experiment with a machine of his invention. They did so successfully, using basswood. The result was a fair paper, specimens of which are still preserved in the office of the Smith Paper Company. It is far from being of the same quality as the wood pulp paper now made by the company, but it showed what might be done in that direction. There was a strong prejudice against it, and it made its way into favor in the market as many other good things do by slow degrees. Messrs. Platner & Smith did not at once introduce it into their manufac- ture. Paper made partly of wood pulp was first made and sold in this country by the Smith Paper Company in 1865. Alberto Pagenstretcher, who had patented what is known as the Voelter grinder of wood pulp. brought it to America, but found so little faith in it among paper mann- facturers that it remained unused for several years. But in 1864, acci- dentally visiting Berkshire, he bought a small water power in Curtisville, a village in Stockbridge, where he built a mill for grinding the pulp : the Smith Company agreeing to buy the produet and see what could be done with it. The paper made from it did not seem to the newspaper printer to differ in any respect from that made of cotton rags, and was afterward found to be infinitely the best for rapid printing.
The little water power at Curtisville soon became insufficient for its purpose and was abandoned. The use of the Voelter grinder became universal through the eastern paper making sections, the Smith Paper Company having first demonstrated the usefulness and salability of the paper made from its pulp. The company now makes a large proportion of the pulp which it nses. In 1575 it bought the mill at Lenox Furnace, previously used by the Lenox Plate Glass Company for polishing their
Wellington Smith
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product. It is now called the " Centennial Mill." They have also the "Niagara." which was bought from an iron making company. In these two, twenty-five tons of dry pulp are made weekly, all of which is used by the company besides much more which is bought from other parties. Between thirty and forty cords of poplar or spruce are weekly ground into pulp, the farmers and others from whom it is bought receive $5 a cord in cash : a very good. although a not very large, illustration of the manner in which a prosperous manufacturing company contributes to the business of a town.
Upon the organization of the company in 1865 the manufacture of writing paper was abandoned and the mills were devoted exclusively to the making of news, book, and manilla. The establishment, now one of the largest in the country, in addition to the two pulp mills just men- tioned and a fully equipped machine shop, consists of four first-class pa- per mills-the Pleasant Valley, the Columbia, the Housatonic, and the Eagle. These have 34 engines, 9 machines, 62 inch, 72 inch. 76 inch, 84 inch, 90 iuch, 95 inch, and 100 inch Fourdriniers ; 48 inch and 62 inch wet machines : 27 wheels of about 1.500 horse power, and 12 steam en- gines of about 700 horse power. In 1865 the company made sixty tons of paper a week. It now makes from 160 to 165 tons. "This remark. able increase," says the Paper World, " is due to the increased speed at which the machines are now run, and to wider machines. This company was one of the first to force a high speed, and by so doing nearly doubled the paper product. At the same time the width of machines was in- creased : indeed the very first 100 inch machine was used by this com- pany."
The business done by the company is immense. At one time the New York Herald was supplied with news paper to the amount of $1.000 per day. Other journals were supplied with large amounts, its custom- ers extending all over the United States. In two weeks of December. 1884, Hon. Wellington Smith, the treasurer of the company, took orders for 1,400 tons of paper and in one week of January, 1885, he received orders for 700 tons. The largest order ever received was of 1,000 tons from James Gordon Bennett.
We have now to speak of the leading members of the firm as individ. uals. About the year 1869 Hon. Elizur Smith began to relinquish his management in the Smith Paper Company and indulge the taste for agri- cultural pursuits which he inherited and which the means acquired in the paper business enabled him to follow on a grand scale. He continues to reside at his handsome home in the village of Lee, but from time to time he purchased 700 acres of land on the western side of Laurel Lake, which by liberal and judicions expenditure he has made famous as The High Lawn Stock Farm. Many long and elaborate articles have been published concerning this farm and its magnificent stock, but the story is well con. densed in the following paragraph from the Paper World of March, 1895.
" In the management of his landed estate Mr. Smith has exhibited the same
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
enterprise and system so characteristic of his manufacturing. Improved machinery, thoroughbred stock and great crops attest his energy in agriculture. Much of his land was naturally wet, and this he thoroughly underdrained, putting in about fifty miles of drain tile. The stones have been removed and placed in walls, the hard hacks, weeds, and bushes have been eradicated and fertilizers have been liberally applied till his farm of abont 700 acres is one of the mast perfect and productive in the State. But, probably, Mr. Smith's greatest hobby at the present time is the breeding of trotting horses. For two or three years he has owned the high priced Ken- tucky stallion " Alcantara," and the fame of his colts was such that Mr. Smith de- termined to own the best stallions in the country. With this design he went to Ken- tucky last autumn and bought "Alcyone " for $20,oco. Many horses are now on this farm, and a descriptive catalogue of them is issued every year, Men come from far and near to see them and frequent sales are mide at high prices. Colts with the most enviable pedigrees are found there, many of them being able to trot well down in the twenties. For the purpose of speeding and training horses, a half mile track has been made on the farm, where purchasers can see what metal the animals are made of."
The farm has also some high-bred Holstein, Jersey, and other cattle.
Although a breeder of fast horses he is the very reverse of what is called "a sporting man." Men like the Messrs. Smith and most of the other Berkshire manufacturers contribute to the public welfare more by conducting their business liberally. honestly, and intelligently than in any other form, but they also as in this case, are often the most publie spirited citizens in other respects. He has given generously both in time and money to the support of schools, churches, the fire de- partment, and all institutions for the benefit of the town. Besides holding other local offices he was elected Representative from the town in 1848 and 1878, and Senator from the Southern Berkshire Distriet in 1879 and 1886.
Hle married Miss Mary A. Smith, of Lee, February 20th, 1865.
The management of the vast business of the Smith Paper Company has for years devolved largely upon Hon. Wellington Smith, who has conducted it on a broad spirit which embraced in its scope very much more than the ordinary details of production and sale, extending to the influence of legislation both upon his own prosperity and that of the whole country. He was born in Lee. December 15th. 1841, the only son of John R. and Parthenia C. (Yale) Smith, and, on his mother's side a direct descendant of the first couple married in the town.
This couple were Captain Josiah Yale and Ruth Tracy and they were married September 26th, 1774, one year before the incorporation of the town. Mr. Smith spent his boyhood in Lee and Russell, his father own- ed a paper mill in the latter town in connection with his brother, Elizur and Cyrus W. Field, since of Atlantic cable fame.
Wellington gained his school education in the common schools and by a limited attendance on the higher schools kept by Alexander Hyde. at Lee, and Joseph Hyde, at Sheffield. Alexander Hyde was one of the
Firmy
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RESIDENCE OF HON. ELIZUR SMITH,
LEE.
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