USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 1 > Part 23
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In 1877 he received from Williams College the title of Doctor of Di- vinity. A few years later (1881) he made an extended tour through Egypt, Palestine. Syria, the Mediterranean Islands, Greece, Turkey, and a large portion of Southern Europe. Returning he resumed work with vigor in the Middle Reformed Church.
In the spring of 1882 he was appointed by the South Classis of Long Island a delegate to the Seventy-sixth General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, which convened at Schenectady, New York, in June, 1SS2. He was chosen president of that body and presided with such dignity. impartiality, and dispatch that contrary to the custom of General Synod a special vote of thanks was accorded him.
Meanwhile, the Puritan Congregational Church, which had passed through many vicissitudes. was looking to Dr. Ingersoll for the solution of its manifold problems. In the autumn it made overtures to him which were accepted only after mature and prayerful consideration. The Middle Reformed Church was in the vigor of life, its original mortgage debt was reduced, and it was entirely free from floating debt. The Puritan Church, reduced in numbers, limited in means, depressed in spirit, yet in domitable, needed precisely this pastor. The wisdom of her children was
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
justified in their selection. Dr. Ingersoll's acceptance of their call was a notable answer to the stock sneer that " ministers of the Gospel always see the line of their duty in the direction of the largest salary." He under. took this charge at a remuneration but little more than half his former stipend. The Head of the Church has rewarded the sacrifice by furnish- ing the pastor with the key to unlock all the financial, social, and ecclesi astical complications of the church. Under his efficient guidance it is gaining an enviable position of prosperity and power.
In person Dr. Ingersoll is above the medium height, with a robust frame, with a head indicating intellectual development and a countries always expressing the largeness and warmth of his affectionate nature. His manners are unaffected and cordial. Without effort, he compels confidence and wins esteem.
His voice, of great rotundity and power. is yet susceptible of those modulations which are the vehicle of all the finer feelings.
His manner in the pulpit is dignified and graceful : his delivery Par- nest, without high dramatic action, therefore unconventional and effective. He combines the manuscript with the extempore method, being confined to neither.
With a sound wisdom. he chooses to make his sermons rather practi- cal and popular than abstract and philosophical. By consequence the people "hear him gladly." His treatment of all themes is serious. evan- gelical, and applicative. He enlists the passing event, the lives of men. the illustrations drawn from common things as well as from art and science, the simile, the metaphor, the " direct and oblique oration." into the service of holy truth. He is a born pastor as well as orator. He is eminently a man among men.
" The friends he has, and their adoption tried. He grapples to his soul with hooks of steel."
As a platform speaker he has much readiness and graceful humor. He presides with equal aptness at a banquet or an ecclesiastical conneil. He has published a number of occasional sermons and is a liberal contrib. utor to the religious journals and has occasionally entered the lecture field. Under his ministry the Puritan Church has a competent teacher and leader, with success for the future assured.
Dr. Ingersoll is an enthusiastic student and lover of nature. He has learned her varied language, not from the printed page or the painted canvas, but from herself : from listening to her voices, under every sky. in her changeable moods, in her storms of passion, in her whispers of peace. In holding the mirror up to her face he both catches and preserves those reflections which give color, warmth, and focus to his pulpit utterances.
A part of every vacation is devoted to the woods and waters, the mountain and the ocean. Physical vigor, mental freshness, and spiritual tone are the result.
His skill with the rod makes him a better " fisher of men."
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TOWN OF LEE.
His accuracy with the rifle gives him truer aim at " folly as it flies." He is one of the most companionable of men, whether in the forest, by the seaside, in the parlor, or on the journey.
He addresses himself with equal facility to the ethical or theological discussion and to the lighter skirmish of anecdote and repartee.
He is a patriot by ancestral dower and native instinet. Treason and disloyalty, in every form and of every grade, arouses all the protesting . and detesting forces of his nature.
As a preacher he is thoroughly evangelical, the result both of broad culture and transmitted soundness of faith. He could be nothing but true, aggressive and earnest.
Dr. Ingersoll was married in September, 1860, to Julia A. De Forest, of Cleveland, by whom he had two children : Antoinette De Forest, born July 27th, 1861, and Alice Tenney, born April 26th, 1864. Mrs. Inger- soll died in 1865, and he was married in October, 1866, to Helen E. Abbot, of Andover, Mass.
The former daughter is now Mrs. Charles A. Parsons, of Brooklyn.
WILLIAM PORTER.
William Porter, son of a physician of the same name, of Hadley, Mass., settled in Lee in 1816, and practiced law there till his death in 1853. His son, William, a graduate of Williams College in 1833, has, since 1852, been professor of Latin in Beloit College, Wisconsin. He has three children : William, a physician in Hartford. Coun .: Frank C., a theological student at same place ; and Mary.
CHARLES MAY.
Charles May was born in Lee, December 14th, 1851. He prepared for college at Lee High School, and graduated at Williams College in 1873. He was a teacher in Greylock Institute two years, read law with Pingree & Barker, at Pittsfield, one year, entered Columbia Law School in New York city, in 1876, graduated in 1878, was admitted to New York bar as attorney same year, and as counsellor in 1873, since which time he has been practicing in New York city.
CHAPTER X.
TOWN OF LENOX.
BY PROF. HARLAN H. BALLARD.
Early Settlers .- Indians .- Land Titles .- Incorporation .- First Town Meeting. -- Early Records. -Congregational Church .- Episcopal Church .- Methodist Church .- Roman Catholic Church .- The Revolution .- The Shays Rebellion .- The Civil War.
TN a quiet corner of our village churchyard a plain white stone bears this inscription :
"In memory of Mr. Jonathan Hinsdale, who was born in Hartford, Conn , March 17, 1724. He was the first inhabitant of Lenox in 1750, and died Jan. 31. 1St1. aged 87."
It was not love of social pleasure that led Mr. Hinsdale to this please ant valley, nor was he attracted hither by the natural beauty of the scenery. When he built his little house near the foot of the Court House Hill there were hardly a dozen white families north of Stockbridge in what is now Berkshire ; and from the site selected for his home there was no prospect of distant mountains veiled in autumn haze, nor view of crystal lake sleeping in summer sunshine.
He was one of those men for whom there has always been a mysteri- ous charm in the wilderness and in the West.
After a winter of lonely toil he was joined by a Mr. Cooper, and a little later by Mr. Stephens and Mr. Dickinson. For a few years these men and their families endured serious hardships. They were connected with the world only by the rough road that wound from Sheffield up through Barrington and Stockbridge. An unknown forest stood around them, into whose gloomy depths stole narrow Indian trails. Often from this forest came the howling of wolves following frightened deer. Some- times, when pressed by hunger, these wild animals came forth from their coverts in the woods and attacked the sheep in the fold. and made the mothers anxious to keep their little children close by home. Aslate as 1782 Lenox was so disturbed by wolves that a bounty of forty shillings. in addition to the province bounty of equal amount, was voted for each
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TOWN OF LENOX.
one killed. Nor is it fancy that tells us of the deer The records show that Lenox, until 1774, annually elected officers called " deer reeves," whose duty it was to enforce the law against killing any moose or deer between December 21st and Angust 11th.
Whatever alarm the settlers may at first have felt at sight of the sin - nous Indian trails mest happily proved groundless,
The land in all this region, as far east as the Westfield River, was at that time claimed by the Stockbridge Indians, but was not settled by them to any extent north of Stockbridge. Into that town these Indians were collected by honest and zealous missionaries. There they were taught, civilized, christianized ; and they lived for years with their white brethren, sharing in their conneils and protecting them from invasion Their friendly influence was felt throughout this valley. Although Fort Massachusetts was stormed, although settlements to the west and south were visited with fire and steel, this part of Hampshire was at peace. It is true that in 1754 a small band of Indians appeared in the county. alarming the scattered settlers so that they fled for safety, and that for a time the friendly Indians were mistrusted ; but the invaders were found to be a handful of Schaghticokes, seeking revenge for the unjust death of one of their tribe, and they had from the Stockbridge Indians neither instigation nor assistance. Their raid, however, has a local interest for us. Among the settlers fleeing before them were Mr. Jonathan Hiusdaje and his friends, one of whom, Mr. Stephens, was shot by the Indians and fell dead. while a daughter of Mr. Sylvanus Piercey, who was on the horse with him, was rescued by Mr. Hinsdale. Some of these settlers afterward returned to Lenox and chose sites in the northern portion of the town. The descendants of Jacob Bacon, and of Messes. Hunt, MeCoy. Glezen, Steel, Waterman. Root. Miller, Dewey, Parker, Richards, Col- lins, Hollister, Wright, Stanley, Treat. and Andrus will be pleased to know that these men were among the earliest here, and that most of them came from West Hartford and Wallingford. Com.
Land Titles .- The titles of the indians to lands in the province were, at the best. questionable, and negotiations with them were rendered difficult on account of their ignorance. On the whole they seem to have been quite fairly treated. The provincial government, however, adver- tised to sell at auction ten townships of Indian land, on June 20, 1762 The Stockbridge Indians, apprised of this, sent a petition that the Court would stay the proceedings, on the ground that they were the " Ancient and Original owners" of the soil. A committee appointed to consider this petition reported that there was not sufficient evidence offered to support the Indian title and recommended that the sale of the hands should proceed. On the day of the sale, however, it was deemed pro- dent, in order to keep the Indians in good tomber, "that 51,000 be granted and paid out of the public treasury for their use, provided said Indians shall release all claim to any of the lands of the Proving- to which they pretend a title."
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
At that auction sale Township No. S, including the present town. ships of Richmond and Lenox, was bought by Mr. Josiah Dean for £2.550. But there were two circumstances which preventel the action and auction of June 2d from proving quite successful In the first place, the Indians were not satisfiedl to part with all their lands in the province for £1,000, and, in the second place. Mr. Dean discovered that a prior claim to lands in No. S was held by a company of proprietors headed and clerked by Samuel Brown. jr., who had already bought them of two Stockbridge chiefs named Yokun and Ephraim. To remedy the first difficulty the grant to the Indians was increased February 17th. 1763. to $1,700, and to compromise the second. the government agreed to confirm the claim of Sanmel Brown & Co. in consideration of 9650, pro- vided " that within the space of five years from this time there be fifty settlers residing within the Limits of the Said Yokun town and Mt. Ephraim, who shall each have a dwelling house of the following dimen- sious, viz .: Twenty-four feet in length and eighteen feet in width and seven feet stud, and have Seven acres of Land well cleared and fenced. and brought to English Grass and ploughing, and that the settlers afore said shall have settled among themselves a learned Protestant Minister of the Gospel." These conditions were fulfilled and the land was so cured to the proprietors. It must not be understood. however, that this purchase of Mr. Brown's company included all the land now in Lenox and Richmond. Part of Washington has since been annexed, and there were several prior grants to which the company acquireda title at a later day. Among these were the Quincy grant of 1,000 acres in the northeast part of the plantation, the Ministers' grant of over 1,000 acres, includ. ing the land whereon stands the present village of Lenox, and smaller grants belonging to Messrs. Phillips. Williams, and Woodbridge, etc.
That part of the settlement that was called Mt. Ephraim is now Rich- mond, and what was then Yokuntown is now Lenox.
The names of the original purchasers, proprietors, or grutters of " Yokuntown " are as follows: Daniel Allen. Moses Ashley. Jacob Ba- con, Isaac Brown, Jonathan Bull, Christopher Cartwright, Samuel Churchill, Titus Curtis, Israel Dewey, Israel Dewey, jr., Solomon Glez en. Charles Goodrich, Samuel Goodrich, Eleanor Gaun. Jonathan Hongh, John Ingersoll, Daniel Jones, Elijah Jones, Josiah Jones, jr., Josiah Jone, Joseph Lee. Edward Martindale, Elisha Martindale, Gershom Martindale, Stephen Nash, Stephen Nash, jr. Moses Nash. Ast Noble. David Pixley. David Pixley, jr., Abraham Root, Abel Rowe, Asbibel Treat, Timothy Treat, Ezra Whittlesey. These proprietors held on an average abont 200 acres each.
Names of the proprietors of Country Grants: William Phillips. Esq .. of Boston. 120 acres; Israel Williams, Esq., Hatfield. 200: Judge Quincy's heirs, 1,000 ; Da. William Bull's heirs, 200: Lemmel Collins, 500; Rev. Peter Reynold's heirs, 480; Rev. Jonathan Edwards, 933: Elizur Dickinson. 240 ; Elias Willard, 140; Noah Isbell, 100; Timothy
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TOWN OF LENOX.
Woodbridge, 350; Samuel Whilpley, 100; T. Williams, 200; Rev. S. Williams, 240; Ed Gray. 140; Caleb Culon, 140: Sanford. 200 ; Enos Stone. 130; Warham Elwards, 169: Thomas Landers. 140 ; Sammel Lathrop, 200; James Guthrie, 123; JJoseph Dwight. 100 ; Caleb Bull. 70; Isaac Smith, 59 : Samuel Jerome, jr., 79: Timothy Way, 50. These land owners and their friends in Mt. Ephraim had. as yet. no corporate existence, and were unable to organize for the purposes of government, etc., until, in response to their petition, on January 31st. 1764. an act was passed incorporating the purchasers of the plantation of Yokuntown and and Mr. Ephraim into " one distinct Propriety " to enable them " to call meetings, grant taxes, and bring forward the settlement of their plan- tation."
A propriety or proprietary is a number of proprietors forming a cor- poration inferior to a town.
The names of Mt. Ephraim and Yokuntown were taken from the Indian chiefs who formerly owned the land. Of Ephraim, nothing is known. He may have taken his name from Colonel Ephraim Williams, who was active in the good work among his tribe. Yokun, adopting the name of Timothy, probably in honor of Mr. Timothy Woodbridge, his teacher, joined the church with his wife and three children. August 21st. 1737, and was long known in Stockbridge as a kind neighbor and faithful friend.
The first meeting of the new proprietary was held at the house of Mr. John Chamberlain in Mt. Ephraim. on April 17th, 1754. and $25 were voted to " hire preaching." On May 25th it was votel to build two Bret. ing houses. "35 by 45 fee !. and a suitable hight for that bignoss :" and forthwith contention arose. The plantation was long and divided by a mountain range. All the settlers could not conveniently worship in one meeting honse.
By October 9th of the same year came the sad necessity of looking out places for two burying grounds and the future division of the towns was foreshadowed. Still neither plantation was strong enough to stand alone, and they united in a petition to the General Court, and were in- corporated June 21st, 1765, into a town by the name of Richmont. The records of the next two years contain little of interest, but indicate a growing desire for a separation, and on July 6th, 1766, it was voted to petition for a division. On February 26th, 1767. Governor Francis Ber. nard signed a bill to incorporate the easterly part of the town of Rich- mont into a district by the name of Lenox. The old district charter signed .. Fra Bernard " may still be seen in Sedgwick Hall. It has been said that Lenox was set off as a "district," not a town. The principal difference was that a district was not entitled to send a representative to the General Court. This demands a word or two of explanation. The General Court, under the authority of the charter granted by William and Mary, passed an not in 1992 enjoying every town " consisting of the number of forty freeholders," to choose and send each year one free
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
holder as its representative. By a provision of the same charter the General Court elected yearly under certain restrictions "28 chancellors." who served in the capacity of an Upper House, In process of time, as towns multiplied, the number of representatives grew very dispropor- tionate to the number of councilors, until, in 1761, when on the same day bills were laid before Governor Bernard for setting Berkshire county off from Hampshire, for incorporating Poontoosuck into the town of Pitts field, and for erecting four other plantations into towns, he felt that a crisis had been reached. He therefore returned the bills for the other towns unsigned, which " produced some popular harangnos " -and signed the charter of Pittsfield, with the proviso that it should not send a repre sentative until 1704. He then addressed a letter to the " Lords of Trade" in England, laying the matter before them, and asking their advice. (Province Laws, Vol. IV., p. 451.) The Lords replied, after six months deliberation- " All therefore that we can do upon this occasion is to rev. ommend to you to take care that in every future division of a township. by Act of Legislature, you do use your best endeavours that the Part set off be so formed as that it will have all the benefit of ineprporation with out being entitled under the Charter, or the Act of 1632, to choose a Rep. resentative."
It was thus that Governor Bernard consented to set Lenox off from Richmont as a district, but not as a town.
A clause was. however, inserted in the district charter, directing Lenox to unite with Richmont in choosing one representative each year. taken alternately from the old town and the new district, and a failure to comply with this direction was punished, November. 1770. by a fine of £5. of which £1, 5s .. 41. was assessel upon Lenox and the balance 'on Richmont. As this was followed by a fine of ES the next year for similar neglect, it appears that our ancestors were not yet so fully alive to the value of representation as they afterward came to be. In common with all other districts, Lenox became a town by a general act passed March 23d. 1786, which made all districts towns with complete privileges.
The name Richmont had been taken in honor of the Duke of Rich- mond, and was at first spelled with a "t" bya mistake, which was recti- fied by Act of the General Court in 1785. Lenox was named in honor of the same duke, whose family name was Charles Lennox ; but by an error which has not been rectified it was incorporated with one "n." The name Lennox came to the family from a county in Scotland, anciently called Lennox or Levenax. now Dumbartonshire. Lenox is probably a corruption of Levenax, and as the Loven is one of the principal streams of that lovely shire, it may be worth some antiquarian's time to deter- mine whether, after the Norman conquest, the name of the Scottish tiver was rudely wedded to the Norman word for waters. Now, "leven " is a word meaning, in Scotland. "opening between woods," so that if the conjecture prove more than fanciful, the signification of Lenox is . The waters of a glade." Such a meaning would be appropriate for the name
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TOWN OF LENOX.
of a village situated among the lakes and streams of this pleasant valley.
The District of Lenox, being now a town to all intents but the one specified above, held its first town meeting at the house of Israel Dewey. at nine o'clock in the morning of March 11th. The joint proprietary of Richmont and Lenox continued their meetings nearly a year longer ; and the proprietors of Lenox maintained an independent organization within the District of Lenox, having charge of highways, public buildings, etc. until 1774. So that for a time we have a triple record, and for neuly seven years we have a double record of the town ; the Proprietor's Book, with its account of their doings in the matters just specified and the District Book, with its record of elections, school matters, and en- gagements of ministers. The responsibilities of the proprietors were gradually assumed by the district, and after 1774 the propriety ceased to have a separate existence. Mr. John Paterson was the last clerk of the propriety. He was sworn, but made no entry in the book. His country called him to make a different record, and how well he made it shall be shown in its proper place.
Perhaps a clear notion of the manner of living and thinking in those . early days of Lenox can be given by reproducing some of the entries in the old district record books.
" First Meeting, March 11th, 1767. Elias Willard, Moderator. Samuel Wright chosen town clerk. Israel Dewey, Jacob Bacon and Amos Stanley chosen selectmien, Edward Martindale chosen constable. Elizur Dickinson, Lemuel Collins and Simgel Goodrich, church wardens. Daniel Richards and Samuel Wright, Jun , tithing men. Daniel Richards and Ashbell Treat, fens vewers. Elisha Martindale and Solomon Glezen, hog-reefs. Voted the swine shall run at large under the Regulation of the Law. Israel Dewey, town treasurer. David Root, deer-reef. Benson Hunt, seale: of wates and measures. Daniel Richards, pound-keeper."
"September 16th. Voted, that Mr. Richards shall be hired to preach out the money voted by the Proprietors as a Probationer. Voted, that each man in the Dis- trict of Lenox shall do two days work at the Highway."
In those days the quality of goods manufactured was of great con- cern to the State, and was carefully regulated by law. Every tanned hide had to bear the official seal as a guarantee of its excellence, so that we are not surprised at the next entry: " March 14th, 1767. Leather sealer chosen.'
The question of education was among the first discussed, but for three years every proposition for an appropriation for this purpose was voted down. On " ve 6th day of March 1770," however, 520 was " voted to hire schooling.
About the same time the religious zeal of the settlers seems to have been quickened, and they were no longer satisfied with desultory preach. ing. Rev. Samnel Munson was called to take charge of the parish, and on October 10th, it was voted that his salary be .. $15 the first year. Co the second, 955 the third, 90 the fourth and his firewood annualiy " With rare wisdom it was voted " that the singers agree among themselves who shall tune the psalm."
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
Besides attending thus faithfully to matters of religion and educa: tion, dne regard was paid also to matters of law. " On ye 6th of March 3 shillings was voted to get a jury box with lock and key;" and on Nov. ember 1st, " voted 6 shillings to pay Mr. Elias Willard for bringing a law book from Boston." This meeting and others thereafter were held in the meeting house ..
About this time the first intimations of national fire begin to flash from the musty pages of the old parchment covered book.
December 16th, 1774, " voted that we will fall in with the advice of the Continental Congress." December 26th. .. Voted 45. 65. to Colonel John Paterson, to pay his expenses to the Continental Congress." But as the war history of Lenox is to be given elsewhere, we will now con- tinne the quotation of miscellaneous extracts, reserving also for special mention matters pertaining to the church.
In 1776 the town was afflicted with the small pox and a lively contest was waged between the advocates and the opponents of inoculation. It was in the warrant of a town meeting held August 16th, 1776. " to see if the town will come into some measures whereby the enokalition of small pox may be carried on in said town." This motion prevailed only under strict conditions, and it was voted to choose a committee of five to oversee and inspect, and take sufficient bond of the doctor " that he don't spread the infection." Either the doctor was unskillful or prejudice conquered intelligence. for nine years later it was " voted not to allow inoculation."
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