USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 1 > Part 4
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At various times during the Revolution Great Barrington was used as a center of military supplies on account of its situation at the junction of the roads between Boston and Albany and Hartford and Albany. The basement of Colonel Dwight's mansion, already described, was used as a receptacle for ammunition. clothing, provisions, and other stores; and the basement of the house of Lieutenant Gamaliel Whiting, which stood upon the site of the soldiers' monument in front of the town hall, was used for the same purpose. During the months preceding the battle of Saratoga, large supplies of cartridges, cannon-shot, rum. salt, and flour were collected here and sent forward for the use of the army of General Gates. This work was chiefly accomplished by the energy of Captain Walter Pynchon, assisted by Moses Hopkins, Esq., son of Rev. Samuel Hopkins. The store of the latter gentleman is supposed to have been located on the premises of Mr. Ralph Taylor. Many teams were con- umnally employed in the transportation from Great Barrington to the Claverack and Kinderhook landings on the Hudson. from whence the goods were sent up the river to Albany.
From Mr. Taylor's history we inesrt the following :
"The brief, but imperfect summary of this service which we are able to present . is mostly gathered from the original muster and pay rolls in the office of the Secre- tary of State. Thus, Roll 20, 157, Captain George King of Great Barrington, with a company of forty-three men-twenty-seven from this town-in the Regt. of Colonel Mark Hopkins, did service at the Highlands from July 15th to August 4th, 1776; travel allowed 112 miles each way. Of this Regt. Ebenezer Bement of Great Bar- rington was Adjutant.
" Later in the same year Capt. George King commanded a company from the north part of the county, in the Regt. of Colonel Benjamin Simonds, on duty at Ticonderoga, and died there January 19th, 1777.
"Roll 22, 208. In the company of Capt. John Spoor, Regt. of Col. Simonds' ordered out by Gen. Gates for service at Saratoga, from April 26th to May 2oth, were Lieutenant Warham Lee and seven others of this town.
" Roll 25, 152. Capt. Peter Ingersoll with a company of thirty-one men-twelve from this town-served in the Regt. of Col. John Brown at the northward, from July Ist to 30th, 1777; travel home 120 miles.
"Roll 21, 181. In the company of Captain Enoch Noble, Colonel Brown's Regiment, seven men of this town served from June 29th to July 28th, 1777; ordered out by General Fellows and the Committee of Safety at the request of General Schuyler.
" Roll 24, 161. Seven men from Great Barrington, in company of Captain Syl- vanus Wilcox, of Alford, Regiment of Colonel John Ashley, did ' service in the Northern army, July Sth to 20th, 1777.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
"Roll 20, 106. Lieutenant Charles Parsons and twenty-one others, of Great Barrington, served in the company of Captain Ephraim Fitch, Regiment of Colonel Ashley, at the northward, July Sth to August 14th, 1777.
" Roll 22. 129. Capt. Hewitt Root. with forty-eight of his men, marched in the Regiment of Colonel Ashley at ' the Fort Edward alarm:' service July Sth to 27th, 1777; travel home rro miles. In addition to these, thirty-one others went in the same alarm to Fort Edward, some of whom are included in the above Rolls.
"Roll 19, 135. * Pay Roll of Captain Silas Goodrich's company in Coione! John Ashley's Regiment of militia in the county of Berkshire at the action at Bennington, August 16, 1778 commanded while in service by Brigadier General Starks the Brave. entered service August 15, discharged erst.' Such is the caption of Captain Good- rich's pay roll for his company of forty six men who marched from this town at the time of the battle of Bennington, August 1777; the Roh probably mide up the next year is evidently erroneously dated '1778;' the time of service of the men is two, three, five, and seven days; the travel is twenty, forty, and sixty miles. At the same time-as appears from the pay toll-nine others went from this town on the same expedition.
"Roll 19, 136. Captain Silas Goodrich, with thirty-six men of this town, served in the Regiment of Colonel Ashley at Saratoga at the taking of Burgoyne, from Sep. tember 19th to October 19th, 1777; whilst three others were at the same time en- gaged in the company of Captain Sylvanus Wilcox.
" Roll IS, 213. In a detachment from Colonel Ashley's Regiment, ordered to Albany, Lieutenant John Powell with twelve other Great Birrington men did service from June 4U'r to July 15th, 1778, in the company of Captain Elijah Deming.
" Roll 18, 248. In the company of Captain Roswell Downing, Colonel Miles Powell's Regiment, twenty men from this town served from July 19th to August 23d, 1779. Of this Regiment Dr. William Whiting of Great Barrington was surgeon.
" Roll 20, 95. At an alarm at the northward, in October, 1781, Captain Thom is Ingersoll, Lieutenant John Powell, and eleven others marched to Stillwater, and did twelve days service; travel home eighty miles; 'found their own rations.'"
At length the news came that the preliminary treaty of peace had been signed at Versailles on the 30th of November, and on the anniver- sary of the battle of Lexington. April 19th. 1783. Washington gave orders that the cessation of hostilities should be proclaimed at the head of every corps and regiment of the army. Congress passed a resolution " that the service of the men did not expire until the ratification of the definitive articles of peace : but that the commander-in-chief might grant furloughs to such as he thought proper.". Large numbers of the soldiers were allowed to leave the armies, and in November the remaining troops were disbanded.
It is well known that the period that followed the Revolution was almost as dangerous as the war itself. The resources of the country were utterly exhausted, the soldiers were unpaid, and discontent was evident on every hand. The distress was greater in Massachusetts than in the other States, and resulted in a general disaffection throughout this com- monwealth, and finally in open insurrection in the western counties. Rev. Dr. Field, in the history of Berkshire, speaks of the Shays rebellion
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TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
as " the most unhappy and the most disgraceful transaction which ever occurred in Massachusetts," but when we consider the condition of the greater part of the population we cannot wonder that they were driven to resistance. They had not yet learned to await the safer and surer means of legislative reform.
Nearly all the able-bodied. loyal men of Great Barrington had been, at different times, in active service. Their farms and business interests had been neglected, and heavy debts had been contracted. They had been paid in the continental currency, and yet the government, though enforcing the payment of debts, would not make this currency a legal tender. Debtors were frequently imprisoned, and were thus deprived of all opportunity to pay their obligations. The suppression of the Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions at Northampton. in August. 1786, and likewise at Worcester a week later, had its effect in Berkshire, and again Great Barrington was the scene of an armed insurrection. The ses- sion of the courts was to be held on the 12th of September, but during the preceding night a body of some 2,000 men was assembled in this village.
A letter from Berkshire published soon after in the New Horen Gazette and Connecticut Magazine, and quoted by Mr. Taylor, says, " From ten o'clock the preceding evening until the evening of Tuesday, onr streets were crowded with men in arms. They were the discontent - edest people of the county, who had assemble l for the suppression of the conrt. Although the militia of the county had been ordered by the Gen- eral to appear in arms for the defence of the government, it served only as a pretext for the malcontents to carry into execution, with greater facil- ity, their designs for its abolition."
In the morning the appearance of the judges and the other officers of the court aroused the fury of the more turbulent insurgents, and. sifr- rounding the court honse. they threatened to destroy it. The court was opened at a private house, but being interrupted by the mob was imme. diately adjourned. The rioters seized upon the magistrates and conducted them to the residence of Dr. William Whiting, one of the justices, and there, "with the most insolent and barbarous threats, under the points of their drawn bayonets, extorted such engagements from them as suited their capricious and absurd Humors." Then they burst open the doors of the jail and released all those who had been imprisoned for debt. All the judges signed the agreement to hold no more courts nutil the wrongs of the people were redressed, with the exception of Colonel Elijah Dwight, who made an effectual resistance.
Colonel Dwight, a son of General Joseph Dwight, was a native of Brookfield, Massachusetts, and settlel at Greit Barrington in 1761. Here he was soon after appointed clerk of the courts and register of Pro- bate, and he served in these offices during a period of twenty years. Such was the confidence in his integrity and ability that he was often elected to the General Court, and in 175 he was chosen a delegate to the
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
convention for ratifying the Constitution of the United States and ear- nestly advocated its adoption. Not long afterward he was appointed one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, in which capacity he served until his death, on the 12th of June, 1794. He was a man of the highest moral and religious principles. Beneath a calm and gentle exterior he possessed the greatest firmness of character, as his successful opposition to the Shays rioters testifies.
At the session of the Supreme Judicial Court in Springfield. a few weeks after the Great Barrington riot, the judges, being intimidated by the Shays men, adjourned after having resolved . that it was inexpedient to proceed to the connty of Berkshire ; " but upon the day appointed for the session at Great Barrington another mob appeared, which was guilty of the most wanton condnet. Deputy Sheriff Ezra Kellogg, who resided at the time in the jail house, was very unpopular on account of his office. and was the peculiar object of the hatred of the insurgents. Upon learn- ing of the approach of the rioters he fled from the village in disguise. His house, however, was entered by the mob, and his wife, who was lying upon a bed of sickness, was threatened with death unless she disclosed the place where her husband was concealed. Bayonets were pointed at her breast, and a musket was discharged through the curtains of her bed, setting them on fire. Others citizens were fired upon or otherwise abused.
The Court of General Sessions had been adjourned to the 21st of No- vember, at Worcester, where, upon that date, the magistrates were again prevented from holding the session. At this juncture Governor Bowdoin issued an order to organize and equip the militia. On the 19th of Janu- uary, 1787, Major-General Lincoln assumed command, and in less than one month put to flight Shays' entire army.
The ringleaders succeeded in making their escape from the State, abont one hundred and fifty of the rank and file were taken prisoners, and the remainder dispersed and retired to their homes.
While the attention of the government was occupied elsewhere a body of Shays men, which had previously withdrawn into New York. under Perez Hamlin. of Lenox, recrossed the border on the night of the 26th of February, and entered the village of Stockbridge. Having com . mitted many depredations, and having taken possession of several of the leading citizens of that place. they set out for Great Barrington. Couriers soon brought the news of the raid, and a party of abont forty men, led by Captains Dwight and Ingersoll. retreated to Sheffield, where they united with the loyal citizens of that place, the whole body being under the command of Colonel John AAshley.
In the meantime the insurgents had arrived at Great Barrington in sleighs, which they had seized along their route, bringing with them their prisoners and plunder. Many were intoxicated. and were insulting and brutal in their behavior. It is related that the late Mrs. Mary Pynchon. then a young lady, was driven at the point of the bayonet to open the
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TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
store of Captain Walter Pynchon. The jail was again opened, and the prisoners were once more set free. Fortunately for the village their stay was short. Gathering his men nearly in front of the Episcopal church. at the corner of Main street and the road to Green River, Hamlin set ont toward Egremont. Word being received by Colonel Ashley that the Shays men were advancing toward Sheffield on the meadow road he im- mediately ordered his men north on that road to meet them. When a second report was brought that the insurgents were proceeding westward. Colonel Ashley, supposing that they were attempting to escape into New York, drove with his men hursiedly along the " back road " to the site of the Adam Pitcher place, where the white school house now stands, thence directly west to the fork of the roads, where Asher Saxton then lived. An old cellar and well still mark the site of this house.
From Saxton's the government party proceeded along the northwest road toward Egremont. Meanwhile the Shays men were proceeding toward Sheffield along the " back road." On arriving at the corner near the white school house they learned of the route of Colonel Ashley, and set out in pursuit. When the government men learned of the approach of the insurgents. they left their sleighs, and rapidly forming, marched sonth on both sides of the road toward their pursuers. After a sharp but brief conflict the Shays men were utterly routed, two of their party were slain. thirty were wounded-among whom was their leader, Ham- lin-and more than fifty were taken prisoners. Of the government men two were killed and one was wounded. The exact site of this conflict is not known, but it is certain that it occurred in the northwestern part of Sheffield, not far south of the marble quarry of the late Chester Goodale. Says the Rev. Dr. Field : " This skirmish took place over a little valley. now crossed by the Hartford turnpike. near the west line of Sheffield." He also asserts that this conflict " was more severe than any other which occurred during the Shays Insurrection."
A proclamation of amnesty was issued by General Lincoli, at Had- ley, and about 800 of the insurgents laid down their arms and took ad. vantage of its terms. Many of the ringleaders were tried and convicted of high treason, and six of the insurgents in Berkshire, at the session of the Supreme Judicial Court, held in Great Barrington in March, 1787. received the sentence of death, which, however, was never executed. There is no doubt that this insurrection hastened the adoption of the Constitution of the United States by showing the necessity of a stronger central government.
The severe drain upon the resources of the people of the town caused by the Revolutionary war, and the unhappy jealousies which remained after the suppression of the Shays rebellion, combined to prevent the immediate growth of the village ; but from the year 1750 to 1800 the town received at different times the addition of a large number of families, mostly from Connecticut, many of whom " were per-
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
sons of worth and stability, and proved valuable acquisitions to the population."
In 1780 Dr. John Budd, who had been a lieutenant in the Con- tinental army, came to this place from New Bedford, and soon after- ward purchased the farm since owned by the late John A. Cone. Dr. Budd was very successful as a physician, and acquired a large practice in this and the surrounding towns.
A few months after the arrival of Dr. Budd. another physician. Dr. John Sibley, who had served as a surgeon in the Revolution, settled in this village. He here married Elizabeth, the daughter of the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, but after a residence of four years removed to North Carolina. Dr. Sibley was followed by his brother, Stephen Sibley, who located here in 1782. as a clock maker, in which trade he was well skilled, as is evi- dent from the specimens of his workmanship, huge, old-fashioned. brass clocks, which still remain. Mr. Sibley was a man of public spirit. and for several years served as a justice of the peace. His place of business was on the south corner of Castle and Main streets, and his residence oc- cupied the site of the Asa Russell place. He continued a citizen of Great Barrington till 1810. when he went to West Stockbridge, from which place he removed, a few years later, to Grafton, Ohio. Mr. Sibley pur. chased his house on Castle street of Benjamin June, who came here in 1ise. This gentleman afterward resided upon the eminence south of the village and east of the Housatonic River. now known as " June Monn- tain," where the cellar of his house is still to be seen.
In 1782 Thomas Ives came to this place from North Haven, and pur- chased the premises now owned and occupied by Frederick T. Whiting. His law ofice was at first in the store of Moses Hopkins, Esq. already mentioned, but afterward he erected for this purpose a small building adjoining his own house. He served at various times in the Revolution. and upon one occasion acted as major in a brigade of Berkshire militia. After the war he still kept up his interest in military affairs, and passed rapidly through the grades of captain. major, colonel, brigadier general. and major general in the ninth division of the Massachusetts militia. In 1785 he was sent to the General Court of which he was a member for thirteen years. In 1809 he was appointed a special justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the county. During the Shays rebellion he was a firm adherent of the government, while sympathizing with the oppressed but misguided people.
The following incident of the Shays rebellion is related by Mr. Tay. lor. While the village was in the possession of the insurgents nuder Perez Hamlin, they entered the house of General Ives. At the approach of the Shays party the general, with his sleigh loaded with men, had withdrawn, in company with others, to Shetfield.
" Mrs. Ives was sick, confined to her bed, and her household affairs were in charge of a spinster of the neighborhood. Before leaving home General Ives told his temporary housekeeper that the Shays men would probably visit the house, direc-
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TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
ted her to treat them civilly, to follow them wherever they went, and to ascertain. so far as she might, who they were. He further instructed her to inform them of the illness of Mrs. Ives, and to request them to make no unnecessary disturbance. As anticipated, a large number of the insurgents came to the house at about eleven o'clock. The housekeeper performed her mission faithfully, and followed them about the house, which they searched in the hope of finding arms. Discovering an enor- mous hair-covered trunk. * * * in which General Ives kept his papers, they * determined to break it open, believing that it contained guns; but the spinster defended it stoutly and they at length satisfied themselves, by measuring the trunk with a musket, that it was too short to be made a receptacle for arms, and desisted from opening it. Having regaled themselves with such provisions as the house af- forded, and a large quantity of cider, which was brought by the pailfu! from the cellar by a boy, they departed without subjecting the family to insolence or further inconvenience. On returning home at evening, and learning from his housekeeper the names of several of the persons that had visited his house, General Ives repaired to the jail-then filled with prisoners taken in the fight-and looking amongst the inmates inquired who of-them had been at his house that day; all strenuously denied the imputation. He assured them that he knew many of them had been there, and that in consideration of the little disturbance they had made, he had now come to thank them and to treat them. Whereupon all immediately plead guilty and the general treated them to their and his own satisfaction."
Cordial Ives was a man of great influence and usefulness in the town and county, and while actively engaged in his profession, was interested in all attempts at publie advancement. He died, deeply regretted. on the Sth of March, 1814, at the age of 61.
Others from North Haven, following the lead of General Ives, be- came inhabitants of this town, among whom was John Seeley, a carpen- ter and millwright. This gentleman, after living a few years in the vil- lage, purchased in 1793, land near Long Pond and there everted his wel ling and a saw mill. Mr. Seeley was a man of sterling worth, and of a social and jovial disposition. Many of his descendants still remain in this section. In 1798, his half brother, Abraham Speley, settled at North Plain, near the Deacon Isaac Van Densen place.
The following year Isaac Seeley, brother of Abraham Seeley, took up his residence north of Van Deusenville, and soon afterward built the house since owned by John Sheridan. His son. the late Isaac Seeley. Esq., was for many years a prominent citizen of the town, and held. among other positions of trust. the office of town clerk during 35 years. Born June 27th, 1805, he acquired a common school education. and after engaging a short time in mercantile pursuits, he became a teacher in the public schools. He took an active pirt in local politics and in 1833 represented his district in the State Legislature. He was an ardent whig and was a member of the convention at Baltimore that nom. inated the famous Harrison and Tyler ticket. He held the office of reg. ister of deeds for the South Berkshire district from 1846 till his death in 1884. and was for many years postmaster of Great Barrington.
About 1790-92, David Wainwright, a native of Wallingford, Conn.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
moved from the outskirts of the town to the old Ingersoll place near Mount Peter. He had settled in Great Barrington earlier than 1776. He was a leading man in the town affairs, and served for five years as repre- sentative in the State Legislature.
William Crain and Samuel Ives, of North Haven, the former a tailor and the latter a nail maker. settled on the Long Pond road about 1793 04.
In 1796 Jonathan Ford came from Hamden. Conn .. and built a honse on the site of the residence of William Burghardt, just south of Long Pond. One of his sons. Gilbert, a deacon in the Congregational church. built the brick cottage now standing near the Green River road, on the estate of J. Milton Mackie.
In 1790 Major Dudley Woodworth came from Bozrah, Conn .. and began the manufacture of scythes in a shop on the land now occupied by the residence of Charles Benton. His business rapidly increased and after a few years was transferred to a shop that he had erected just south of the Great Bridge, and he leased "'a sufficient water power, on the east side of the river, for driving a bellows, trip-hammer, and grinding stone." He built as his residence the large square house near the Upper burial ground, since occupied by his son, Edward P. Woodworth, Esq.
In 1792 Simeon Cooper, a blacksmith, opened a tavern on the land occupied by the stone residence of the late Dr. Clarkson T. Collins. He afterward moved to the Younglove place, now owned by William H. Day.
In 1797 Samuel Riley, a tanner and shoemaker, purchased the house now occupied by Dr. W. H. Parks and built his shop in the rear.
Later in the same year Major Samuel Rosseter took up his residence on the site of the Housatonic Hall school, and engaged in the tanning busi- ness and the manufacture of shoes on Water street, in which he was quite successful on account of his enterprise and industry.
Another tannery was built the following year by Robert Kilborn. on the road to Three Mile Hill.
In 1797 John Farnum purchased the Jeremiah Atwood place on the Stockbridge road, and for many years kept a public house.
In 1800 Benjamin Rogers was engaged in business as a merchant on Bung Hill corner. He afterward studied medicine and achieved a respec- table success in his profession. He erected the house now owned by Bazy W. Pattison ; here he resided till 1837, when he returned to Hart- ford.
In 1807 Deacon George Beckwith, of Lyme, Conn .. located on the Riverside farm, near the estate of Deacon Daniel Beckwith. He was for many years a prominent member of the Congregational church, and ex- erted a healthy influence on the general welfare of the town.
Of the earlier inhabitants of the village many removed to the out- skirts of the town. Among these were the brothers Justin and Hugo Dewey, who sold the mills of their father, Israel Dewey, and purchased land near the Alford line. in 1791.
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