USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 2 > Part 10
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The Pittsfield Cadet Corps, auxiliary to the Father Matthew Society, was organized October 23d, 1883. W. H. Marshall is (February, 1885) captain ; Michael Kelley. 1st lieutenant : John D. Murphy, 2d lieutenant ; and R. F. Stanton, orderly sergeant.
Ethel Division, No. 103, Sons of Temperance, was instituted Decem- ber 4th, 1884, with the following officers : H. C. Morris, W. P .; Clara H. Bagg. W. A .; G. W. Nutall, R. S .; Louisa K. Hall. A. R. S .; Nida E. Kittell, F. S .; E. A. Shaver, T .: E. H. Sears, C .: Catharine Bagg, chap- lain. The division meets every Monday evening in the rooms of the Union for Home Work, on Fenn street.
Academy of Music .- Previous to 1872 there was not in Pittsfield a hall suitable for musical or dramatic entertainments of a high character. In the summer of that year the present Academy of Music was built by Messrs. A. B. & D. C. Munyan, who were practical builders. Mr. Cebra Quackenbush furnished the necessary capital, and afterward became the sole owner. By a liberal expenditure of money, and the exercise of ex. cellent taste by the builders, the academy was made one of the finest buildings of its kind in the country. It is of brick and iron, with dress- ings of blue stone and tile, and is richly ornamented. It is 132 by So feet in size, and 70 feet in height, with a mansard roof. The lower story is divided into six large stores. The stairways are of liberal propor. tion and easy ascent. The elegantly finished and furnished audito- rium has eleven hundred and fourteen sittings, and the stage, which is furnished with elaborate scenery, is So by 36 feet in size. The acons- tie properties of the stage and auditorium are excellent. The parlors are elegant and commodious, and the offices are spacious and con- venient. The people of Pittsfield have reason to be proud of their Academy of Music.
CHAPTER XXIV.
TOWN OF PITTSFIELD (concluded).
Capt. Charles Goodrich .- John Chandler Williams .- Thomas Gold .- Ashbel Strong .- Capt. David Campbell .- Oliver Wendell .- Rev. Thomas Allen .- Dr. Timothy Childs .-- Col. Joshua Danforth .- Simon Larned .- Thomas Allen, jr .- Jonathan Allen .- Rev. Wil- liam Allen .- Henry Halsey Childs .- James D. and Samuel D. Colt .- John B. Root .- Joseph Shearer .- Phinehas Allen .-- Jonathan Allen, 2d .- John W. Hulbert .- Ezekiel Bacon .- Thomas Melville, jr .- Henry Clinton Brown .-- Hon. William C. Jarvis .- Col. S. M. Mckay .- Hon. Thomas B. Strong .- Henry Hubbard .- Hon. Edward 1. Newton. -Ezekiel R. Colt .- Gen. Nathan Willis .- Solomon Russell .- Hon. Edward Learned .- Hon. E. H. Kellogg .- Nathaniel Fairfield .- Calvin Martin .- Thomas F. Plunkett .- William Pollock .- Thaddeus Clapp .- Almiron D. Francis .- Charles Bailey. M. D .- H. B. Wellington .- E. S. Francis .- J. N. Dunham .- Edwin Clapp .- Hon. Joseph Tucker .- Cebra Quackenbush .- Lemuel and Theodore Pomeroy .- Abraham Burbank.
A T the commencement of the present century there were still remain- ing in Pittsfield many prominent men who had been active par- ticipants in provincial and Revolutionary affairs. Some of these had been loyalists in the Revolution, and others ardent whigs ; and all retained the characteristics that had distinguished them in early life.
Captain Charles Goodrich became a settler of Poontoosuck planta- tion in 1752. In 1776-81 he was the champion of the Boston government, which elung to the Royal charter while Berkshire rebelled against it ; and in 1800, at the age of S1, he was a staunch federalist.
John Chandler Williams, who was 45 years of age in 1800, was also a leading federalist. Although somewhat eccentric in manner, he was a man of ability and of incorruptible integrity. He was a magistrate and a lawyer, and he continued the practice of his profession till his death.
Thomas Gold was born in 1760, graduated in Yale College in 1778. and commenced the practice of law in Pittsfield in 1782. He was a man of culture and refinement, an able law yer and a clear headed discreet man. He was a federalist, and an ambitious politician: but he was more success. ful in acquiring property than in obtaining office.
Ashbel Strong. a scholarly man and a lawyer, was born in New
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Marlboro, in 1754. He was a graduate of Yale College. He represented Pittsfield in the Legislature of 1799, and became county attorney in 1802.
Captain David Campbell came to Pittsfield about 1790. He was a man of large and varied information, and of excellent business talent. He was, at different times, engaged in many kinds of business, and was an extensive dealer in real estate.
Henry Van Schaack has been frequently mentioned in connection with events in the history of Pittsfield. He was a loyalist in the Revolution. and came to Pittsfield on being invited to leave the State of New York. He remained here, a silent spectator of events till the close of the war, after which he was a useful citizen. He was active in his exertions in behalf of the equality of all religions denominations before the law. He was a federalist in politics, as were most of those who had been loyalists in the Revolution. He was an intelligent and industrious amateur farmer.
Judge Oliver Wendell, of Boston, an ancestor of Oliver Wendell Holmes and Wendell Phillips, and a son of Jacob Wendell, one of the original proprietors of the township, was a summer resident in Pittsfield. He was a bitter federalist, but a man of undoubted patriotism.
Rev. Thomas Allen is a prominent figure in the history of Pittsfield. His activity as a whig during the Revolution was equaled by his ardor as a democrat afterward. He hated royalty and federalism with equal in- tensity, and was unsparing in his denunciations of both. Notwithstand- ing the enmity which he incurred by his active partisanship he was re- garded by all as a conscientions man and a faithful pastor.
Dr. Timothy Childs, one of the earliest and ablest Revolutionary pa- riots, was also a leading and decided democrat, though less emphatic in the defense of his principles than Mr. Allen. He commenced practice here in 1771, and in 1800. at the age of fifty-two, he was still the leading prac- titioner in the town.
Colonel Joshua Danforth was still a merchant on East street in 1800. but, the federalists being in power, he had been deposed from the office of postmaster, and this probably rendered his feelings toward his politi- cal antagonists more bitter.
Simon Larned, who came to Pittsfield in 1784, was an influential leader among the democrats. He was high sheriff of Berkshire county from 1792 to 1812, and in 1804, was elected to Congress. He was active in town affairs.
Of Rev. Thomas Allen's children, Thomas, jr., who was born in 1769. graduated at Harvard in 1789, and was admitted to the bar in 1792. He was deservedly popular as an attorney, and was the idol of the democratic party in his vicinity. He was elected a representative in 1805, and died at Boston, while serving a second term, in March, 1806.
Jonathan Allen was born in 1773. He acquired a more than ordinary education in the schools of Pittsfield and under his father's instructions. and commenced business as a merchant about 1795. He was an active
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Jeffersonian democrat, a fine political speaker and writer, and a man of large influence.
Rev. William Allen was born in 1784, and graduated at Harvard in 1802. He adhered strictly to the doctrines of the orthodox Congrega- tional church, and was conscientiously intolerant of what he regarded as error, and favored strong measures for its repression. He became a pro- fessor in Dartmouth, and president of Bowdoin College. He was also the author of several literary works. He was the author of the first bio- graphical dictionary published in America, which was the foundation of all that have followed it. In his later years he resided at Northampton and was very much reverenced throughout the commonwealth. Although a learned teacher he was not a successful disciplinarian, because of too great rigidity.
Henry Halsey Childs, son of Dr. Timothy Childs, and grandson of Colonel James Easton, was born in 1783, and graduated at Williams Col- lege in 1802. He was a Jeffersonian democrat from his youth, and al- though the faculty of his college were federalists, he was outspoken in defense of his political principles. A bold, self reliant, and impulsive man, it would have been strange had he never erred. Energetic, enthu- siastic, and generally practical, thoroughly devoted to whatever he un- dertook, he was usually successful.
James Denison-and Sammel Dickinson-Colt have already been spoken of as merchants. They descended from an old and honorable English family, and were prominent citizens in Pittsfield.
John Burgoyne Root, born in 1778, though the son of a loyalist, and afflicted with an unpatriotic name, was an ardent democrat. He was elected town clerk in 1806, was reelected in 1811, and every year thereaf- ter till 1838 ; a longer time than this office was ever held, consecutively, by any one person.
Joseph Shearer was a citizen of influence, and never willingly incon- spicnous in public matters. He married the widow of Colonel William Williams, who, though wealthy, was twenty six years his senior, and was never suspected of possessing angelic qualities. Their union was not a happy one, but it continued till she died of old age at ninety-one. He was an earnest democrat, was thrifty and shrewd in business, and ostentatiously generons in public matters. He died in 1838 at the age of 83.
Phinehas Allen. a nephew of Rev. Thomas Allen, was born in 1776, and came to Pittsfield in 1800. He was a printer, and upon the invitation of Rev. Mr. Allen, he established the Sun newspaper in the gambrel roofed cottage where the Gazette had been published. He was a firm and fiery Jeffersonian democrat, and of course his paper was the organ of the democrats here. During sixty years he was never known to admit that there was a fault or mistake in the policy of his party. He took an ac- tive part in town affairs. He was a member of the Legislature when the question of restoring the county seat to Pittsfield came up, and he was a
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zealous advocate of the measure. He was punctual and methodical in business, and in his long career as a local journalist he wielded a large influence.
Another valuable accession to the ranks of the democrats was Jona- than Allen, 2d. This gentleman was born at Northampton September 26th, 1786, his father being Elisha Allen. In 1901. at the age of fifteen. he walked from Northampton to Pittsfield. where he learned the clothier's business as an apprentice of Deacon Eli Maynard, with whom he entered into partnership on attaining his majority in 1807. Deacon Maynard re- tired in 1810, and the firm became Allen & Roswell, Knight. Mr. Knight left the firm in 1811: after which Mr. Allen, carrying on the buis- ness alone. accumulated a competent fortune. In 1812 he married Cla rissa Arms, of Conway. Mr. Allen, besides being a good business man. possessed some literary taste and was a good writer. Many of the best articles contributed to the Sun in its first half century were from his pen. He held many town offices and was active in town affairs as well as in national politics. He died October 17th, 1866.
The great intellectual leaders of the political parties in Pittsfield at the beginning of this century were John W. Hulbert and Ezekiel Bacon. Mr. Hulbert, a native of Alford, was admitted to the bar about 1794, and removed to Pittsfield about 1800. He was a man of brilliant intellect. keen wit. fascinating manners, and pointed and effective-though polish- ed-eloquence. By his brother federalists he was called the " Hamilton of Massachusetts.'
Ezekiel Bacon was born at Boston, though Stockbridge was the resi- dence of his parents then, in 1776. He graduated at Yale College in 1794, commenced the practice of law in 1798. and removed to Pittsfield in 1806. In that year he was chosen State Senator, and in 1807 he was elected to Congress, receiving every vote in Pittsfield, and nearly every vote in the district. He continued in Congress till 1813, serving on the committee of ways and means, and being its chairman in 1812. He was a firm democrat, but not a blind follower of political leadership. He was the intimate friend of many of the distinguished men of that period, and by his influence with the president, secured the appointment of Judge Story to the Supreme Bench before that afterward eminent jurist knew that he was a candidate. With pure, unselfish, and patriotic aims, of sound and independent judgment, well read in the principles of govern- ment, and gnided by full and accurate information, Ezekiel Bacon ranked high among the best of American legislators. His temperament was po- etic, and in 1842 he published a volume of poems entitled " Recreations in a Sick Room." dedicated to his old friend, Story.
In that excited and busy period of the town's history there were others of perhaps equal influence and pote, of whom it is hardly possible to gather more than vague outlines of their story. The people of Pitts. field in the early part of this century were this described by Rev. Dr. Humphrey in a historical sermon delivered in 1807 :
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" The fathers of that day, as I knew thein, were a stalwart generation, who had come over the hills from the fat valley of the Connecticut, and settled down here, to clear up the forests, trace these broad highways, and lay the foundations of society upon a stratum of the old Plymouth Rock. They were such men as Fairfield, Larned, Danforth, Childs, Williams, Ingersol, Root, Strong, Fowler, Lancton, Law- rence, the Wards, Merrill, Dickinson, Chapman, Francis, Stevens, Sacket, and others.
" They were as a generation staunch, enterprising men-somewhat set in their ways, if you please; but who, despite their shibboleths, would, had the occasion called for it, have united, shoulder to shoulder, as their fathers did, in fighting for liberty to the death."
Thomas Melville, jr., was the son of Major Thomas Melville, of the Revolution. Near the close of the eighteenth century the son, then about seventeen years of age, went to France and became a banker in Paris. The wars then convulsing the continent of Europe gave frequent op- portunities for financial ventures, in which Mr. Melville engaged. He shared in the fluctuations of these ventures, and was eventually overtaken by such reverses that he returned to his father's roof with his wife and his young children. The war of 1812 broke out soon after his return, and he was appointed commissary, with the rank of major, and was stationed at Pittsfield. His career here has been spoken of. About the close of the war his wife died. and he afterward married Miss Mary A. A. Hobart, a granddaughter of Major General Dearborn. He purchased the estate since known as Broadhall, and became a successful farmer. Financial reverses overtook him in later years. He retained the gratitude and re- spect of the community for whom he had done much, and in whose behalf he continued to labor. In 1837 he removed to Galena. Illinois, and as- sumed a responsible position in a mercantile house. He died there in 1846, after having, though late in life, achieved fortunate financial success for his family. He was a polished gentleman, with a bearing similar to that of a courtier of Louis XVI., though modified by his associations here. The Tuileries and the Taghconics were both represented in him.
Henry Clinton Brown, commonly known as Major Brown, because he was once tendered a major's commission in the United States army, was the son of Colonel John Brown, who was killed in the battle of Stone Arabia, in 1779, when Henry C. was only five months old. Mrs. Brown sent her son early to Williams' Free School, now Williams College. in- ยท tending to prepare him for the profession of his father, but impaired health finally compelled him to relinquish his purpose to become a law- yer, and he entered the store of a relative, Mr. Harry Brown, in Stock- bridge. Heafterward established himself in business at Williamstown, and became the postmaster at that place. In 1812, at the age of thirty- two, he was appointed to fill the vacancy made by the appointment of Sheriff Larned to the coloneley of the Ninth regiment, and removed to Pittsfield. He continued to hold the office of sheriff. acceptably to the people. during twenty seven years, till his death, which occurred May 22/1, 1833, at the age of fifty-nine. Mr. Brown's distinguishing charge-
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
teristic was a high bred courtesy, which manifested itself alike in his in. tercourse with his peers and with those in the lower walks of life. He was active in all benevolent undertakings, and a supporter of everything that tended to the elevation of morals.
Hon. William C. Jarvis was admitted to the bar and became a citizen of Pittsfield in 1815. He represented this town in the Legislature from 1821 to 1824. In 1825 he was appointed director of the State prison, and removed to Woburn, which town he represented in the Legislatures of 1826, 1827, and 1830. He was speaker of the House in 1824, 1826, and 1827. Ile was chosen senator for Middlesex county in 1828. He was the author of a series of essays on the " Principles and Policy of Free States," a work that attracted much attention.
Colonel Samuel Metcalf Mckay was born at Bennington, Vt., April 3d, 1793, and was educated at Williamstown. He received the honorary degree of A. M. from Williams College in 1823. He was a law student in Boston, but entered the army in the war of 1812, and rose from the rank of lieutenant to that of major. He became a farmer in Pittsfield after the close of the war, but in 1832 he engaged in the manufacture of cotton. Colonel Mckay was a member of the State Senate in 1829, and represented the town in the Legislatures of 1823-26, 1828, 1833-34. He was appointed by Governor Lincoln commissioner of education, and, in 1827, a member of the first board of Massachusetts railroad commissioners. He was a man of marked earnestness of purpose, of pronounced opinions, and clearly defined aims ; one whose influence could not fail to be felt. He died of consumption, October 6th, 1834.
Hon. Thomas Barnard Strong, a native of New Marlboro, read law with his uncle, Hon. Ashbel Strong, and was admitted to the bar in 1800. He inherited an ample fortune, and indulged his taste for agriculture in- stead of closely following his profession. He was an active member of the Agricultural Society, of which he was an original corporator. He represented the town in the Legislatures of 1827-29, and 1832. He died May 24th, 1863.
Henry Hubbard was born at Sheffield, May 22d, 1783. He was edu- cated at Williams College, and studied law with his brother-in-law, John W. Hulbert, in Sheffield. He was admitted to the bar in 1806, practiced in Lanesboro till 1815, then in Dalton till 1821, in which year he removed to Pittsfield. He was originally a federalist, then, successively, a whig, a free soiler, and a republican. He represented Lanesboro in the Legis- lature of 1812, and Pittsfield in that of 1838. He was two years a mem- ber of the Executive Council under Governor Lincoln. He was one of the attorneys appointed by the Legislature to protect colored seamen -- cit- izens of the State -- in southern ports. He was an active and influential politician, but he was too loyal to his convictions of right to achieve per- sonal success. He was a high minded gentleman of the old school. His sense of honor was so delicate that in his estimation meaniness was the last fault to be pardoned. Few men have lived whose lives have been
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purer, or whose veneration for what is great and good has been higher. He died December 25th, 1863.
Hon. Edward Augustus Newton was born at Halifax. Left to his own resources he came to Boston in 1804, and entered a mercantile house. In 1805 he was sent as a supercargo to the East Indies, became a resident of Calcutta in 1816, and in 1825 he retired from business with an ample fortune, and came to Pittsfield. He had previously married a daughter of John Chandler Williams. He became the owner of the old Williams homestead on which he resided till his death, August 18th, 1862. He was the chief founder of the Episcopal church, but he always manifested a hearty sympathy with the prosperity of other denominations. He was the patron and supporter of educational as well as religious institutions. He was president of the Agricultural Society, and the Agricultural Bank, and a trustee of Williams College. Although not a active partisan poli- tician he was made a presidential elector in 1836, and a member of the Executive Council in 18-12 and 1843. During the war of the Rebellion he was a warm supporter of the government.
Ezekiel R. Colt, grandson of Captain James D. Colt, and son of Cap. tain James D. Colt, 2d, whose wife was Sarah, daughter of Ezekiel Root, was born February 9th, 1794. He was educated in the academies in Pitts- field and Lenox, and afterward became a merchant's clerk. He was also a clerk in the commissariat of Major Melville, at the cantonment in Pitts. field. About 1816 he commenced the mercantile business, first in partner- ship with Moses Warner, and on his death. soon afterward, with James Buel. Colt & Buel conducted business on Bank Row during twenty-five years. He was the able and upright cashier of the Agricultural Bank
from its organization till his resignation in 1853, a period of thirty-five years. He was afterward State bank commissioner, and, still later, re- ceiver of the Cochituate Bank of Boston. He was presidential elector in 1852. Mr. Colt's prominent characteristic was uncompromising in- tegrity, and this engendered a love and appreciation of perfect honesty 'in others. He died December 3d, 1860.
General Nathan Willis, a descendant of one of the original Puritans, was born at Bridgewater in 1763. He spent his early years as a nail maker and forger, but removed to Rochester, Mass., in 1790, and became a merchant, a ship builder, and a navigator, thus accumulating a large fortune. In 1814 he removed to Pittsfield and became a farmer, some- times engaging in mercantile and manufacturing pursuits in a small way. Integrity and good sense made him an influential man in the democratic party, and he was several times chosen representative and councilor, as well as senator, and was a delegate in the Constitutional Convention of 1820. He had thirteen children, one of whom, Colonel George S., well known as a merchant and agriculturist in Pittsfield, was sheriff of Berk- shire county, and several times one of the selectmen of Pittsfield.
Solomon Russell, one of the most generons and disinterested friends of public improvement in Pittsfield during half a century, was born at
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Chesterfield in 1791. He was a "hired man" on a farm from his nine- teenth to his twenty-eighth year. In 1826 he removed to Pittsfield and engaged in hotel keeping with his brother. Zeno. They purchased the hotel on the corner of North and West streets, previously kept by Cap- tain Merrick. The building was burned within a year, but was soon re- built. This house-the Berkshire Hote !- soon acquired a wide and fa - vorable reputation. Until the era of railroads it was the central station for the several stage routes, and was a prosperous hotel. Mr. Russell continued his connection with the house nine years, then purchased a farm a short distance north from the village. While he manifested an active interest in all matters of public interest he was particularly zealous in promoting the establishment of the Western Railroad, to which, as a member of the Legislature, he gave efficient aid. He was also actively interested in the public schools. In these he effected, shortly after he became a resident, the reform of an abuse which had sprung up in the district. It had become the practice. after the school taxes were assessed. to return to each tax payer the portion paid by him, which he was to de- vote to the defraying of the tuition of his own children : so that prac- tically there was no free school in the district. To this custom Mr. Rits- sell strennously objected, and more with the thought of testing his cour- age in a contest with the village magnates than with the expectation that he would effect a change, he was elected district committee man. But he at once refused to draw the customary orders or any other, until schools had been organized as the statute required. Threats of suits at law were made against him, but he was unflinching, and finally triumphant. The illegal custom was broken up.
Hon. Edward Learned was born at Watervliet, N. Y., in 1820. He early became a skillful civil engineer, which profession he followed through the active portion of his life, though he also engaged in other branches of business, such as woolen and iron manufacture, and copper mining. His wife, to whom he was married in 1840, was Caroline, daugh - ter of Lewis Stoddard, of Pittsfield. In 1853 he became a resident here. having purchased the place known as Elmwood, which he has beautified and made one of the most elegant country seats in the State. He was elected to the Legislature from Pittsfield in 1857, and served in 1873 and 1874 for two terms as senator from the Berkshire district.
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