USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 1 > Part 34
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Joseph Badger, who was stationed at Fort No. 3 in Charlestown at the time of the battle of Bunker Hill, in 1775, in 1800 went as a mission- ary to Western Reserve, in Ohio, and was of such influence as to have. after his death, a memoir attributing deserved praise for his energetic goodness.
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TOWN OF PERU.
Henry Badger, originally from Bethlehem, N. Y., moved from there to Wilbraham, Mass .. and in 1766 to Partridgefield. He was descended from Giles Badger, who came from England and settled in Newburyport. Mass., in 1635.
Joseph Badger was born in Wilbraham, and was nine years old when they moved to Peru. After a period of service in the Revolutionary army he entered Yale College, and graduated in 1785. He was licensed to preach in 1786 ; was settled at Blanford, Mass., thirteen years, then was appointed missionary to the Western Reserve, Ohio, by the Home Missionary Society. He left his family and went on horseback, the Pitts- burgh route, and visited all the settlements on the Reserve: formed churches in several townships; there were then only two families in Cleveland, and two in Painesville ; this was in 1800. In 1801 he returned to Blanford, took his family, wife and six children. in February, 1802. started with a wagon and four horses for Ohio. He had gone but a little way before the snow compelled him to buy a sled and load his wagon on to that. He had to cut his way for the wagon through the woods from Buffalo to the Pennsylvania line, some ninety miles, fording rivers and camping out nights, and arrived at Austinburgh, Ohio, where he built a log cabin and made his home. His field was the Reserve, and he visited all the families on the Reserve. The best road was only marked trees.
He labored there as missionary or pastor till he was eighty years old. and then spent the remainder of his life with his daughter, at Perrys. burgh. He died at the age of eighty-eight.
Caleb Knight was born in 1770, graduated 1800, and died in 1854. Aaron W. Leland, born 1787, graduated 1808, went to South Carolina and was professor in a theological seminary. Mason Frissell was born in 1797, and graduated in 1820. He was a lawyer, a judge, and was hon- ored with the title of LL. D. Sylvester Scoville graduated in 1822. He was president of a college in Indiana and died in 1849, aged fifty-one.
Cyrus A. Stowell was born in Peru in 1808, and graduated at Wil- liams College in 1830. He was a farmer and had three sons, all of whom enlisted in the Union army. The youngest. C. O., was killed at Port Hudson in 1863, and the second, Myron E., at Spottsylvania, in 1864 : the other, Charles Stowell, came back and lived with his father, who was chosen a member of the Assembly from Deerfield. Mass.
Azel Stowell, of Peru, brother of Cyrus, had a son, John Maxwell Stowell, now ex-mayor of Milwaukee.
Major Amasa Rockwell, serving in the Revolution as major under La Fayette, was born in Connectient, in 1756, and died in Peru. December 31st, 1836. When 19 he joined the army. His father was Elisha Rock- well. Amasa married Olive Morse, of Partridgefield, in 1781. of whose seven children six lived to maturity. The eldest, Elisha, was the father of Judge Jarvis Rockwell, of North Adams. Amasa's second wife was Merey Stevens, who bore him four children. His third wife was Prudence Hutchins, whose only child is now Mrs. A. E. Frissell, wife of Dwight
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
Frissell, of Peru. Amasa was six feet in his stockings, well proportioned. and weighed over 260 pounds. He took with him to the army great hardihood, intrepidity, strength, and courage, such as few men could boast of. For this as well perhaps as for other reasons he was employed as a scout and spy and to carry important papers from one commander to another, and for such other services as few men cared to undertake. It was on one of these trips " up country " that he came into Pern where he finally settled. He enlisted at three separate times of one year each. While the British held New York he was employed to carry papers with orders not to be taken unless it was capture of life, and if taken to de- stroy his papers. Once he was taken by a party who took him across the river in a boat : he played the fool to avert suspicion and destroyel his papers ; said he had a big brother in the British army, was afraid he would be killed and he was going to see him. Suspecting him they in- vited him to go with them and he was glad to have a chance to see his big brother. The commanding officer plied him with questions till they believed in his simplicity. yet they asked him to enlist : he hesitated. but thinking he might meet his big brother, consented. Soon after he was safely home in his own company with ample reports for which he was commended and given his choice to remain in service or seek greater safety at home : he remained and was sent again, this time with a horse and his way marked out for him to a certain point ; he escaped capture though he encountered squads of tories on the road, and once a platoon of British soldiers who made him the mark of their guns; and he escaped by a leap of his horse over a stream near an old mill dam, according to directions, " If you come to a fence or a stream give him the rein and sit close to your saddle." To tell of his watch at a post where the guards had been picked off for many nights ; of his escape and ultimate capture of the murderers : of his narrow escape from the Indian knife : of his carrying off a Dutch oven with the feast, while the ceremony of a mar- riage was being performed within the house -- all this would be novel like and true, but it must be left for a more ample record of this town than these pages allow.
Four families with the name of Frissell came to this county. James. from England, settled in Roxbury, and had Benjamin, Ebenezer, and Samuel as sons before 1673. John, from Braintree, Scotland, came to Framingham, Mass. William, from Scotland. came to this country about 1652, possibly one of the prisoners taken at Worcester, England. Sep- tember 3d, 1651, by Oliver Cromwell, and sent to this country for sale, in the ship John d. Sarah which landed them in Boston in 1652. Before 1680 he was married and had five children : Hannah, William, jr., Eliza. Mary. and Clark. From Winsted. Conn., came to Partridgefield the grandson of William, or William the third, with a family, of whom Mon- icha married Walter Richards, Sarah married JJohn Pierce, of Partridge. field. and four sons, William. Amasa, Thomas, and Lemuel, married and settled on adjacent farms, Lemmel occupying the homestead now owned
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TOWN OF PERU.
by Eli Sennott and sons. Most of William's children went West. Thomas died a little past middle life leaving four daughters. of whom Mr -. William S. Bower is the only survivor. Augustus, a farmer and mem ber of the Legislature, died in middle age. Lemuel left an only son. Franklin, who died early on the homestead, leaving four children. He also left three daughters, in each of whose families was an only son. Amasa, like Lemuel, lived to a good old age. keeping sixteen cows and making his own butter and cheese. To three of his four sons he gave a liberal education, while Socrates, the eldest, remained a farmer. Mason and John graduated from Williams College. The former practiced law and became a judge in Missouri ; the latter is a noted surgeon in Wheel. ing. Va. Judith, the eldest daughter, died a missionary among the In- dians in Arkansas. Amasa, the youngest son, graduated from the Yale Divinity School and is now employed by the tract society. Among the descendants of Amasa first are six M. D.'s. His reading was historical. philosophical, and scientific, and once when visiting a district school "over north," allusion being made to "a telegraph" just invented. in his " remarks" he said, ". Remember, boys and girls. this telegraph will go round the world ; I may not live to see it but some of you will, " and they did. He was a typical Frissell. uniting perseverance with sagacity. and having withal an underlying vein of humor, appreciating a joke even upon himself. When a widower (he was thrice married) a neice kept his house. One day when about to go to mill he missed a bag. " Sally. have you seen that bag ?" " Yes, sir, B -- borrowed it." " Well. Sally, don't lend any of my things without asking me." "If you are not in the house what shall I do ?" " Send for me." Before many days. when he had taken his dinner to a far lot that he might not return till with the cows at night, and was just fairly there. he heard the calling horn, and hastened home all out of breath. " What is it. Sally ?" "Well. uncle, Mrs. W. wants to borrow the darning needle." " Oh, well. let her have it, and never mind such little things." and he went back to his work. thinking. He was a surveyor and delighted in such work, and it some- how entered into his religious belief to such a degree that in the Sunday school class which he taught he would expariate on the grandeur and possibilities of the universe and express the belief that when he left this world he would be employed, in his higher life, in measuring and sur- veying the planets for the homes of the redeemed.
A sketch of the history of Oliver Partridge will not be amiss in the history of the town purchased by and named for him. William Partrigy came from Brunswick-on-Tweed, in Scotland, to Hartford, Conn., some- time in 1644. In 1660 he removed to Hadley, Mass .. where he died. in 1668, leaving two children. Samuel and Mary. His son, Samuel, was born in 1645. He was the father of eleven children, some of whom changed the name from Partrigg to Partridge. Edward. the eighth child, was born in 1623, and died in Hatfield, in Li57. He married Martha, dangh- ter of Rev. William Williams, of Hetfield. in 1707. They had three
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
children. Oliver, the only son and last child, was born in 1712 and died in 1792. He was a graduate of Harvard College in 1730, and married Anna, sister of Colonel William Williams, of Pittsfield, in 1734. He was a member of the first Colonial Congress at Albany in 1765, with James Otis and Timothy Ruggles as fellow delegates. He dealt largely in real estate in Berkshire county. Could he now revisit the county and get under the shade of his genealogical banyan tree, he would find fruit. on root and branch, of which he never dreamed. Among more than 800 relatives and connections he would see President Dwight of Yale College, one of thirteen children whose grandfather, Timothy, had six wives and thirteen children ; Jonathan Edwards, of North Hampton, one of eleven children : Anthony Stoddard and his fifteen children : Rev. Solomon Stoddard with twelve children : his own thirteen children and their issue, including Dr. Hopkins, of Williams College: Hon. Theodore Sedgewick and daughter Catharine : John W. Dickenson, secretary of the Board of Education of Massachusetts : Colonels William and Ephraim Williams ; Governor Thomas Dudley and Governor Simeon Broadstreet : the Nobles, Sabins, Sergeants, Whitneys, Roots, Bardwells. Wariners. Fenns. Car- ters, Wards, Bakers, Parkes, Collins, Taylors, Crockers, Buckminsters. as well as Partridges everywhere. In this wonderful family gathering would be two generals, one major, seven colonels, fifty college graduates, forty clergymen, ten doctors. five deacons, and three governors. Surely the inhabitants of the ancient Partridgefield from their mountain dome may look out over a goodly heritage.
CHAPTER XVIII.
TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.
BY J. E. A. SMITH.
Descriptive .-- Grants, Surveys, Sales .- First Attempt at Settlement .- Permanent Settlement. -Second French and Indian War .-- Plantation Organization Resumed .- Pittsheld In- corporated .- The Revolution .-- The Constitutionalists .- The Shays Rebellion.
T `HE southern boundary of Pittsfield is nearly equally distant from the northern and southern boundaries of Berkshire county, and its eastern line is considerably west of the center of the eastern and west- ern county limits. The town has for its boundaries Lanesborough on the north, Dalton and a small portion of Washington on the east, a small part of Washington. the whole of Lenox, and about half of Richmond on the south, and Hancock, which separates it from Columbia county, N. Y .. lies west of it.
It has an uneven surface, and it is nearly surrounded by mountains, through which, by convenient passes, narrow but rich valleys extend to the extremities of the county.
Within the town lie, wholly or in part, six lakes or lakelets, all of which, more or less directly, feed streams that furnish motive power to large manufactories ; and four have had their capacities increased.
Pontoosuc, which is the second in size of these, lies partly in Pitts- field, on its northern border. It originally covered 425 acres, but in 1867 it was enlarged to 575. Before this change it had two little islets, which the increased depth of the water has almost obliterated. The name of this lake has been several times changed. In the Mohegan tongue it was called Shoon-keck-moon-keek. It was then called Framingham Pond. from the plantation of New Framingham that was established there. When this plantation expanded into the town of Lanesborough it was called Lanesborough Pond. By the people of Pittsfield it was often called North Pond, because it was north from their meeting house : and one of its names was " Joe Keiler's Farm," because it is said a wag of that name once bargained it to a New Yorker, who mistook it. when covered with snow, for a level expanse of land. In 1824 the Poutoustic
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
Woolen Manufacturing Company purchased the water privilege, and thus came its present name.
Lake Onota, a mile west of Pittsfield village. the largest lake in the town, had originally an area of 456 acres, but in 1864 this was increased to 683. Formerly this was divided by a causeway into two lakes, one of which, the northern and smaller, was formed by a beaver dan across its outlet. There was formerly on its western shore a wall of pebbles and boulders which had been thrown up by the ice, and which resembled a work of art. This was submerged when the lake was enlarged. and the outline of the lake was much changed.
Richmond Lake, on the southwestern border of the town, and partly in Richmond, had an original area of ninety-eight acres, but in 1865 it was enlarged to 250. It was formerly known as South Pond, and near it was a small body of water called Rathbun's Pond. from Valentine Rath bun, who, in 1769. built a fulling mill near it.
Silver Lake, just east from the village, now covers sixty acres. It was enlarged in 1843 to form a reservoir for the Pittsfield cotton factory. Its early name was Ensign's Pond, from Jacob Ensign, who built near it the first fulling mill in Pittsfield. It was afterward known as Hatter's Pond, because a hat factory was erected on its northern shore. A lakelet of about thirty acres, a mile east from Silver Lake, was early called. from one of the settlers, Goodrich Pond. It is laid down on Walling's map as Sylvan Lake.
Melville Lake, of about thirty acres, lies a little to the north of South Mountain. It has borne, at different times, the names of the own- ers of the mansion near it.
The forks of the Housatonic River unite about two miles north of the Lenox line. The eastern or main branch comes into the town from Dalton and passes southwesterly to its junction. The western branch enters the town through Pontoosne Lake, which is properly an expansion of its waters. This was called Pontoosne River on old maps. It passes southerly to its junction with the main stream, and in its course receives the waters of Onota Lake through Onota Brook. Farther south it is joined by Shaker Brook, which comes from the Taconies of Richmond and Hancock. Issuing from the gorges in the mountains of the Taconic range, along the western border of the town. are many brooks, some of which pass under a surface of gravel drift at the base of the mountains.
The most considerable tributary of the Housatonic in the town, after the confluence of its branches, is the Sackett Brook, which comes in from Washington, and after being joined by the Ashley passes to the Housa- tonie in a westerly course. Another brook, called the Cameron, joins the Housatonic from the east in Pittsfield.
In the Taconic range are Mount Honwee. " The Promised Land," Ar- butus Hill. Old Tower Hill, Pine Mountain, and May Mountain, the latter called by the Shakers Mount Zion, and by " the world's ; eople" Shaker
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TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.
Mountain. In this range also are many ravines, or gorges, or "opes," as they are termed.
The streams which rise in and flow through the town afford ample water power, which was long since utilized for mills and manufactories. and many manufactories of various kinds are carried on without the aid of water power. Around most of these manifac tories little villages have grown up. some of them containing several hundred inhabitants. They contain the dwellings of the operatives, and often the elegant residences of the proprietors and others.
Centrally located in the town is the village of Pittsfield. The town was. by an act of the Legislature, made the county seat in 1868. This town is distant from Boston. by the highway, one hundred and thirty miles, and from Albany thirty three. By the windings of the railroad it is distant from the former city one hundred and fifty. and from the latter fifty miles.
In the records of transactions preliminary to the settlement of Pitts- field the names appear of Colonels Jacob Wendell, of Boston, and John Stoddard, of Northampton. Both these men were prominent citizens. were members of the Provincial Conneil, and colonels of militia in thej respective counties. Colonel Wendell was a member of the Wendell family at Albany, but early became a resident of Boston, where he was a wealthy merchant. a director of one of the first banking institutions in America, and a successful politician. He was the father of Oliver Wen- dell, a prominent Revolutionary leader, and the ancestor of Wendell Phillips and Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Colonel Stoddard was a very prominent man in public affairs in his time. There were few public matters then in which he had not some part. He was one of a commission to open the settlement at Sheffield. and also to establish the Indian mission at Stockbridge. He was an active participant in events during and after Queen Anne's war, and in 1734 the General Court granted to him one thousand acres of its " Unap- propriated lands in the County of Hampshire." in consideration of his great public services in the province. The bounds of the patent are thus defined :
"Lying on the main branch of the Housatonic River, about sixteen miles north of Capt. Konkapot's house: beginning east ten degrees, south eighty perch from two hemlock trees, marked (which trees stand upon a ridge of upland running northerly), and coming to a point a few rods from said trees, which are about ten rods from a sand bank on the east side of said Housatonic River, just above Unkamet's or An- tankamet's Road, where it crosseth said branch; and, from the end of the aforesaid eighty perch from said trees, it runneth north ten degrees, east two hundred and forty perch; thence west ten degrees, north four hundred perch; thence south ten degrees, west four hundred perch; thence east ten degrees, south four hundred perch; and thence north ten degrees, east one hundred and sixty perch, to the eastern end of the first eighty perch."
Konkapot's house stood on the north bank of Konkapot's Brook, in
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HISTORY. OF BERESHIRE COUNTY.
Stockbridge. Unkamet's road extended from Northampton to Albany. It crossed the eastern branch of the Housatonic near where the highway, Unkamet * street, now bridges it.
Colonel Stoddard contemplated an extension of his patent to a full township, either by grant or purchase, and with that view he obtained deeds and leases extinguishing the title of the Indian claimants to a tract six miles square and nearly identical with the present town of Pittsfield. The following is a copy of the material portions of one of their leases :
"To all people to whom these shall come. Greeting: Know Ye, That we, Jacobus Coh-qua-he-ga-meek, Matakeamin, and Wampenum, formerly of Menanoke t or the island in the Hudson below Albany, now planters in the Indian town on Housatonic River, have demised, granted and to farm-letten (sic) and by these presents do farm-let unto John Stoddard of Northampton, in the county of Hampshire and Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, Esq., all that tract and parcel of land, of six miles square, lying and being in the county of Hampshire and Province of Massachusetts Bay aforesaid, on the main or principal branch of Houseatunnick River, so called, about sixteen miles northward of the place where Cuncupot now dwells, and at the place where Unkamet's Road, so called, that Itads from Albany to Northampton, crosseth said branch, beginning at said crossing, extending thence two miles eastward and four miles westward, three miles northward and three miles southward, extending every way from said point until it embraces six miles square of land, to have and to hold for the term of nine hundred and ninety-nine years. (The yearly rent was fixed at ' six pounds, in public bills of the Province, or its equivalent in silver, according to the present worth or estimation,' payment to be made upon the 20th of October annually; and the lessors to have the right to re-enter and take possession, if payment was delayed, twenty-one days from that date. The lease was executed in the eleventh year of our sovereign Lord, King George the II., and Anno Domini 1737.)
his "JACOBUS X COOCHEECOMEEK. mark. his " MAHTOOKAMIN O mark.
his " WAMPENUM Q mark. " Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of " TIMOTHY WOODBRIDGE, " JONATHAN WHITE, " ABIGAIL. WOODBRIDGE."
A grant was, however, made to the town of Boston of three town- ships, one of which afterward became the town of Pittsfield. This grant was made June 27th, 1735, and contained the following provisions:
" Provided the town of Boston do, within five years from the confirmation of said
* Unkamet in the Mobegan tongue meant " the path over there." It was vulgarly cor- rupted to Huckamuch.
+ A Mobegan word meaning " island place."
.
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TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.
plats, settle upon each of the said towns sixty families of his Majesties good subjects inhabitants of this province, in as regular and defensible manner as the lands will admit of, each of said families to build and finish a dwelling house upon his home lot, of the following dimensions, viz .: eighteen feet square and seven feet stud at the least; that each of the said settlers, within the said term, bring to and fit for im- provement five acres of said English grass, and fence the same well in, and actually live upon the spot; and, also, that they build and finish a suitable and convenient house for the public worship of God; and settle a learned orthodox minister in each of the said towns, and provide for their honorable and comfortable support; and also lay three house lots in each of the said towns, each of which to draw a sixty third part of said town in all future divisions-one to be for the first settled minister, one for the ministry, and one for the schools."
A commission was appointed by the Legislature to supervise the settlement of the township, and in June, 1736, Col. Jacob Wendell. one of that commission, purchased at auction the rights of Boston in one of these townships. The deed to Mr. Wendell was made by the selectmen of Boston, in March, 1737, and the survey was made by John Huston in September, 1738, and the plat of this survey is here inserted:
PLAT OF TOWNSHIP, 1738.
Hemlock Tree. So. W't. Corner.
So. 20d., Wt. 462 Chains and 31 links. Beech Tree. N. Wt. Cerner.
A Platt of a Township Granted by the General Court to the Town of Boston. and by the Said Town of Boston Sold to the Honble. Jacob Wendal, Esgr., of the contents of Six Miles Square, including in said Plat a Grant of 1000 acres made to the Hon ble John Stoddard. Esqr., which contains in the whole 21040 acres. The whole whereof is thus bounded: viz .. Beginning at a Stake with Stones about it. the So. Et. corner, nigh a Small Run of water. about a mile and Halfe East of Housea Tunnie River. from Sd. Stake the line Extends No. 20. Et. 462 Chain 31 Links to a Hemlock tree marked up a Hill the No. Et. Corner. From thence the line Runs Wt. 20d. No. 520 Chain to a Beech tree marked up on a steep Hill, with Ston's about it. the No. Wt. Corner. From thence So. 20d. Wt. 462 Chain 31 link- to a Hemlock Standing by a little brook, mark'd with Stones about it, being the So. Wt. corner. From thence Et. 200. So. 520 Chain. to the Stake and Stones first mention'd, which sd. Township is Lying About Five Miles No. No. Et. From the Indian Town on Housatunnick River. in the County of Hampshire. Platted by a Scale of 45 Chain in an Inch. September 27. 1799.
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