USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 2 > Part 14
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
tion upon meutal culture. He was clerk in the store of A. Thayer & Son. in Hoosick Falls, at the wages of $5 a month and board. He began his business life for himself in 1861 by purchasing the Phoenix Hotel at Hoo- sick Falls, which had been erected by Judge Ball, more as a matter of public spirit than with a view to profit, and was one of the finest public houses outside the large cities.
In 1865 he removed to Pittsfield and purchased the American House. which was not of very large capacity and was just beginning to rival in reputation other hotels which had the prestige of years. It was not long before he made it not only the first, but the ouly house which was visited by the highest class of travelers ; and in a few years he almost doubled its capacity.
In the meantime Pittsfield became the county seat of Berkshire, with very costly county buildings, but it had absolutely no hall suitable for public meetings, theatrical, or musical entertainments. This public want, Mr. Quackenbush, associating with himself the Messrs. Munyan, builders of high reputation, determined to supply. Purchasing a most desirable site belonging to the estate of Hon. Phinehas Allen, at a cost of $40,000. they erected upon it a very large, elegant and substantial building, the architect being Louis Weisbein, of Boston. The lower story contains six fine stores. The second story forms the Academy of Music, one of the most admirable theatrical rooms in the country, with all the parlors, offices, and other accessory rooms which can be desired. This was con- structed under the direction of F. W. Mozart, of Bostou, one of the most noted and skillful theatrical machinists and builders, and cannot be sur- passed in its acoustic qualities, the good taste of its architecture and decorations, or its provisions for the comfort of the audience. In still another story is an excellent music hall. From the roof of the building, which is properly protected, there is one of the finest views in the county. Soon after the dedication of the Academy, in December, 1872, the build- ing came into the possession of Mr. Quackenbush alone, and in 1880 fon stores were added to the building. The academy has been occupied for every variety of purpose for which such a hall can be employed. It has enabled the people of Berkshire to enjoy at home theatrical and musical pleasures which they would without it have been compelled to forego, or seek at a distance. It has been constantly used for political, religious, educational. and charitable purposes, and its use has so often been given freely that it would amount to a large contribution in money. In 1877, although the building was supposed to be constructed as firmly as it could be, and was certainly built without any niggardly regard to ex. pense, an extraordinary gale destroyed a portion of one of its end walls. About one hundred of the leading citizens of the town seized the oppor- tunity to show their appreciation of the benefit which the building had been to the town by arranging a complimentary benefit to the proprietor. and in announcing it they said :
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" The obligations of the town of Pittsfield to the proprietorship of the Academy of Music are not diminished by the fact that its membership is individual, and has not sought aid outside of itself in erecting and maintaining a building which contrib- utes 10 the pleasure of every liberal minded citizen. Had the injury inflicted by the late gale been sufficient to destroy the building the town might have waited long for another like it."
Among the pleasant things connected with the occupation of the American House by Mr. Quackenbush were frequent publie dinners and reunions ; but the one in which he took most pleasure was that given by the people of the town, June 30th, 1870, to those of its citizens who had reached or passed the age of seventy. Hon. Thomas F. Plunkett pro- sided. Speeches were made by him and other distinguished citizens. and a poem was read by Prof. W. C. Richards. The occasion was one of great and unique interest, in which Mr. Quackenbush shared warmly.
He has been a lifelong and earnest democrat and represented the Eleventh Congressional District of Massachusetts in the national conven- tion in 1876, where he voted for the nomination of Samuel J. Tilden. He was the democratic candidate for presidential elector in the same year and received a larger number of votes than any other democrat save one. He has never been an office seeker, but has always attended to his duties as a citizen, politically as well as otherwise. Being a democrat, he has naturally contributed liberally to the support of that party.
He still retains the management of the American House at Pittsfield through an agent, but giving it his constant personal supervision. In 1876 he removed to Albany, and in 1879 became connected with the manage. ment of Stanwix Hall. In the following year he assumed the exclusive management of this popular establishment. Here he has shown the same energy and ambition to excel which he manifested at Pittsfield. The hotel, a granite building of large area and six stories high, was built in 1832-3 by Herman and Peter Gansevoort, and now belongs to the estate of Peter Gansevoort, whose danghter is the wife of Hon. Abraham Laus- ing. The house was named for Fort Stanwix, where General Gansevoort gained fame in the Revolution.
It has always been a favorite with travelers for its convenient loca- tion, its genial management, its luxury without pretense -- which means comfort-and its spacious proportions. It had some connection with Pittsfield, as Herman Melville, the author, was a descendant of the Ganse- voorts, and always made Stanwix Hall his home when visiting Albany ; and he also always praised its management.
In 1878 it had become somewhat antiquated and was remodelled in- ternally at a cost of $100,000. Since Mr. Quackenbush took possession it has been luxuriously and elegantly refurnished at a cost of $60.000. It has thus been completely modernized, and in all respects is one of the best appointed hotels in the country. Its management has also of course been made to conform to modern ideas, but with all that modern
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HISTORY OF BERESHIRE COUNTY.
life demands of a leading hotel, in retains its old genial, comfortable spirit.
In 1859 Mr. Quackenbush married Miss Annette, daughter of George A. Gillette, a merchant residing on Long Island. Mr. Gillette had two daughters, Helen E. and Annette. Helen married William Adams, a New York banker, and brother in-law of Edwin Croswell, editor of the Albany Argus. Mrs. Cebra Quackenbush is a lady of culture and re- finement, but devotes herself so closely to her children and family that she deprives society to a great extent of a pleasure which would be very grateful. Mr. and Mrs. Cebra Quackenbush have three daughters: Ada Cebra, Mary Annette, and Florence Dewey, the latter receiving her name from Judge Dewey, of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. who himself bestowed it upon her.
Mr. Quackenbush has one brother. Livingston Quackenbush, of Le Suenr, Minn., a banker and real estate dealer. Through a life of great activity and frequent changes he has maintained an unblemished charac- ter and adhered to pure and elevated principles, winning deserved success by honest business ability and energy.
HON. HENRY L. DAWES.
Henry Laurens Dawes was born at Cummington, Hampshire county. Massachusetts, October 30th. 1816. His family is a branch of that of the same name which is distinguished in politics and literature in eastern Massachusetts. He graduated at Yale College in the class of 1839. While a student at law he taught school and edited the Greenfield Ga- zette. He was admitted to the bar in 1842, and commenced practice at North Adams, where, for a time, he edited the Transcript. He also represented the town in the Legislatures of 1848, 1849. and 1852: and in the constitutional convention of 1853. In 1850 he was elected to the State Senate. From 1853 until 1857 he was district attorney for the western district of Massachusetts. In 1857, there being a very de- cisive contest pending, regarding the future status of political parties. Mr. Dawes, being the exponent of republican principles in the western- most district of Massachusetts, was chosen by a large majority over the democratic and American candidates. And he represented this district until 1874, when he declined a renomination. In the following session of the Legislature, he was chosen a Senator of the United States; and has since served in that capacity.
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TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.
LEMUEL POMEROY.
Of the many strong men who have contribate I towar I giving Pittsfield the position which she now holds, Lemnel Pomeroy stands first in regard to the extent and result of bis exertions and influence and the eager, unsel- fish good will with which they were given. No man ever did so much as he for the growth of the town in business, wealth, population, and repu- tation, and in establishing them all upon a firm foundation.
He was born at Southampton. August 18th, 1778. The family claim descent from Sir Ralph de Pomeroy, a favorite knight of William the Conqueror. upon whom that great dispenser of ravished lands bestowed extensive domains in the counties of Somerset and Devon. The ruins of the family seat, the castle Berri-Pomeroy, still attract the lovers of the picturesque to the shores of " Sunny Devon by the Sea."
The name is traced to an estate in Normandie upon which grew the king's favorite apple, which is said to be identical with the Pound Sweeting.
From this circumstance the estate took the name of Pomme de Roy. or king's apple, and, according to the custom of the age, and of Europe, the family took the name of the estate. Finally in England the name was softened to render it more easy of pronunciation by English tongues; hence Pomeroy. Some of Sir Ralph's descendants had a less pleasant ex- perience of royal power. Two of them. Eltweed and Eldred. brothers, rejecting, as papistry, the formalism and ritualism required by Arch- bishop Laud in the English church, fled from the prevailing perseention. and leaving Devon, reached Dorchester. Massachussetts, in 1636. The brothers are represented in the Dorchester records as "men of liberal and independent minds, in good circumstances and respectable standing." In 1637, followinga line of emigration then common, they went west as far as Windsor, Conn. When Eltweed was ninety years old, his son Eldad received an offer of a grant of 1,000 acres on condition that he should there permanently establish himself as a blacksmith and gunsmith. This tract which in the original grant was described by metes and bounds, afterward was found to contain 1,200 acres. It is still owned by one branch of the family and antil the last year has always passed by will or the laws of inheritance, and never by deed from one possessor to another, and is still known as " The Grant." The party went up the banks of the Con- necticut in the space left dry when the water was low ; the aged Eltweed being conveyed tenderly on a horse litter of lithe willows, the others using horse litters, horses, and their own feet. With them they managed to carry along the anvil of good omen-honored then, but not with the reverence it now receives. Almost all blacksmiths of that day, who claimed any skill at all in their art, were ready to make, or attempt to make, any article which could be demanded of a worker-in-iron ; but only a compara. tively small portion of them undertook to make firearms of any kind. The Pomeroys, however, without abandoning the other branches, made
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the manufacturing of muskets and other firearms a specialty. Gun- smithing became the hereditary art of the Pomeroys ; and it is the boast of the family to-day that from Eldad in the first Massachusetts genera- tion to Edward in the eighth it has never lacked a man to stand at the anvil-to stand before that venerable altar of Vulcan, whereon, not Vulean was worshipped but he who commands us " Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work." It was by such conscientious work that the Pomeroys everywhere and always maintained their knack of being, as their ancestors of Dorchester were, men in good circumstances and re- spectable standing.
General Seth Pomeroy, the most famous of the family in American history, was in personal skill as a gunsmith and in his management of journeymen and apprentices unrivalled by any man in America. And his manufactory employed many men.
The colonists soon learned the superiority of his arms and the French and Indian foes had it impressed upon their persons in so many encounters that they spared no pains and risked every danger to obtain possession of them.
General Seth Pomeroy served with great credit as major in the French and Indian wars, distinguishing himself especially in the campaigns against Ticonderoga, and in the siege which resulted in the capture of Louisburg, of which an account is given in the general history. Both were strongly fortified posts, and well garrisoned. The colonists looked upon the capture of Louisburg as of the greatest importance, and that of Ticonderoga as only second to it. The officers engaged in the capture were therefore exceedingly popular at home. Major Pomeroy's chief dis. tinetion was cool daring, which kept him in the calm command of all his faculties, and without which the most marvelous sharp-shooter in the training field is but as naught when within range of the enemy's guns. To this was added a quiet power to control his men, and keep them to duty without profanity and without resorting to the language of Billings- gate. He carried his religion to the wars, and walked the streets of Louisburg as circumspectly as those of Southampton.
When the Revolution took an organized armed form, although seventy-two years old, he wasappointed one of the four brigadier generals of the Massachusetts army, which was shortly merged in the Continental army with Washington as commander. He would doubtless have re- tained the office to which he had been appointed, but declined it on ac- count of his advanced years. He, however, accepted a commission for the more arduous and exposed place of colonel, and served until he died in command at Peekskill on the Hudson, in February, 1777. "A true friend to his country" was the brief but sufficient comment which Rev. Thomas Allen added to the record he made of Colonel Pomeroy's death in his diary.
At the battle of Bunker Hill he might have claimed the rank of either
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colonel or general, and was indeed urged to take the command in chief. But he preferred to serve as a volunteer in the ranks, correctly believing that he could there exercise more influence upon the yeoman soldiery. the younger portion of whom, at least, had never been in battle, than he could by asserting his rank and issuing his orders from its height.
Mr. Frothingham, the carefully accurate historian of the siege of Boston, writes : " Musket in hand, he ( Pomeroy) encouraged the men to await bravely the British advance." Every man in the army knew that by law he was the highest officer in rank on the field, and when they saw him. instead of assuming his rank, taking his place side by side with them and armed even as they were, the encouragement to meet the advance of the enemy bravely must have been great indeed. " When the inevitable retreat finally came," says Mr. Frothingham, "the veteran Pomeroy, too, with his shattered musket in his hand, with his face to the foe, en- deavored to rally the men."
The descendants of ancestors like these might well be expected to be men of courage, energy, business skill, and probity ; men true to them- selves, their country, and their God.
Lemuel, the son of the general, and the proprietor of the grant, was the father of Lemuel, afterward of Pittsfield, who was born at Southamp- ton, August 18th, 1778. There are two or three incidents in his early life which are so instructive, and had so much to do with after success, that we cannot refrain from relating them, especially as he delighted to tell them himself in the height of his prosperity.
One day he was sent, when a boy, with his brother, to do some work in a field within sight of the house ; but they sat down under a hickory tree and began discussing their plans for future life. " For my part." said his brother, "I am going to learn to be a good farmer and settle down on this very farm." And this plan of life he perfectly carried out. "Iam not going to do anything of the kind," replied Lemuel ; " I am going to get an education, get a name among folks." Just then his father called out from the house door : "Boys, what are you doing ?" whereupon his brother scampered off to his work. But Lemmel marched straight up to his father and told the whole story. " Very well," was the reply ; "if you want a college education, and work at some profession after it, to college you shall go ; but, verily, something you must do !"
He therefore entered the first class in Williams College after it had been organized as a college. He remained a year, and then he wrote his father that he would attend no college any longer, unless he could go to Yale. His father, who appears to have had many traits of character sim- ilar to his son, wrote him to come home and he would find a college to suit him. The morning after his arrival the father, Lemuel, arrayed the son, Lemuel, in a workman's leather apron, and, taking him down to the workshop, said to the foreman : " Here's a fine, strong, capable young man for you ; make what you can of him." Probably the change from
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the college to the workshop was a beneficial one. Mr. Pomeroy had mental power to make a leading lawyer, but his temperament unfitted him for either of the other learned professions, and his success as a lawyer would have been doubtful, while the business into which he was ahnost forced soon became of the deepest interest to him, and led him on to fortune. It is probable that sometimes, when he witnessed the success of some legal friend, he may have sighed to think that if he had been trained to the law he might have had similar triumphs ; but a moment's thought must have assured him that his were the greater victories.
Very many years after that discussion of their respective futures under the old hickory tree. his brother sent him a barrel full of nuts gathered from it, which must also have been filled with pleasant youthful memories.
In the year 1799, at the age of twenty-one, he was fully versed in the art of iron working, and was also a widower, having been married at the age of eighteen, and lost both his wife and child in little more than a year. In the fall of 1799 he came to Pittsfield, purchased what was afterward known as the Bement, and now the Mrs. W. B. Cooley, place, where he commenced work.
In 1800 he married Miss Hart Lester, of Griswold, Conn. This was a most happy union. Throughout the long life of Mr. Pomeroy they walked together harmoniously, helpfully, and lovingly. No wife could have been more helpful to a man with Mr. Pomeroy's temperament and burdened with the cares and anxieties which fell to his lot. He did not need advice in his business, although in some cases she was capable of giving it. What he asked and received from her was a wise manage- ment of his household affairs and a firm government of his children, with such training as should prepare them for the high positions which heex- pected them to fill in after life. She added gentleness to firmness, and the most tender care to gentleness. The result was that no child thought of disobeying her, even though they came of that race of independent thinkers who had followed their ancestor, Eldad, in that respect at least: and no mother ever so fully won the love of her children : one, at least, of those who survive being even now unable to speak of her without tears. It was a great reward to her that her husband fully recognized all this, and appreciated its value.
Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Pomeroy, and we give the record here for the sake of future convenient reference.
Olive Hart, born May 13th, 1801 : Lemuel, born April 15th, 1803 ; Elizabeth, born February 19th, 1805: Parthenia Little, born November 3d, 1806 : Ennice, born March 16th, 1808 ; Harriette, born December 26th, 1809 ; Emily, born November 13th, 1811 ; Theodore, born September 2d. 1813 ; George, born July 15th, 1815, died June 2d, 1831 : Robert, born June 30th, 1817 ; Edward. born September 3d, 1820.
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Emily (Mrs. N. S. Dodge), after her father's death, wrote a charming book, in a style equal to that of the English authors most noted for the purity of their style, telling the story of the Pomeroy children bewitch- ingly. It was intended only to keep alive the reminiscences of their childhood in the old homestead, and she does paint the picture glowingly, richly, and in a manner which gives assurance of its truth. We can almost see, as we read. the little laughing group, as they wander from tree to tree in the superb orchard, tumble on the smooth lawns, drink deep, delicious draughts from the old oaken bucket that hung in the well, and commit every childish freak in merry glee, and finally examine all the household luxuries laid up for their use in the spacious cellars. It is strange to think these were the bearded men and matronly women, lately so familiar to our eyes, and whom the all-beholding sun shall see no more.
" Even in these temperance times," says Mrs. Dodge, "we cannot forget the long rows of cider barrels, the contents of which. after some clarifying process, we saw brought to the table as sparkling and bright as the best champagne of the present day."
Mrs. Dodge's book was printed in London, in the most superb style of typography and binding. It is a large, thin quarto, and only twenty copies were printed, one for each of those who could be considered the immediate members of the family. The literary and moral value of the book, however, are so great, that it seems to us that it ought to be given to the public in a handsome volume.
In November, 1800, Mr. Pomeroy purchased what has long been known as the Homestead Lot. At the time of the purchase this extended from the east line of what is now known as the Edward A. Newton place on the west to the Ensign H. Kellogg place on the east, having a front- age of eighty rods on East street, and a depth sufficient to make the whole area eleven acres.
Pomeroy's lane, which, since it has become a fashionable and hand- some street, has assumed the rank of Pomeroy avenue, was laid out and made. Mr. Pomeroy built a few cottages on it for his workmen, and a workshop on the east corner of the lane and East street. All the land east of the lane and fronting on East street was soon sold. On a slight elevation a little east of the workshop stood a fine old gambrel roofed house, which was almost the exact model of the present Edward A. New- ton mansion house, which was built some years later than this. The Newton house was then owned and occupied by Mr. Newton's father-in- law, Hon. John Chandler Williams. It is a curious and significant fact that at this time all the houses on the south side of the street were oceu- pied by federalists ; all on the north side by democrats, which would in itself have been a sufficient reason for Mr. Pomeroy's removing from the north to the south side, although the homestead lot was in other respects much the more eligible.
The house, of which we have spoken. had. during the Revolution,
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
been occupied as a hotel by Capt. John Strong, a graduate of Yale and a strong patriotic leader, chiefly in council but often in the field. In some of its rooms the patriots of the town and county often took council together in times of imminent danger. As Mr. Pomeroy's means and family increased he made many changes, the most marked being the sub- stitution for the gambrel roof, of a third story with a peaked roof, and the addition of a very spacious L in the rear.
When young Mrs. Hart Pomeroy took possession of her home at the homestead the house was surrounded by Lombardy poplars, which were the fashionable shade trees of the day, although they cast about as much shade as a telegraph pole and were not much more graceful. One who looks upon two or three of these trees, intermixed with a profusion of others more umbrageous and graceful, may call it a pleasing or a curious contrast ; but think of a whole street lined, as East street was in 1800, for its whole length with these tall, thin figures, like a company of German infantry marching in single file. If they cooled nothing else they chilled the heart and shocked the taste of young Mrs. Hart Pomeroy. Her husband wisely left the command in chief in such matters to her, and shortly the grenadier poplars were lying low, and more graceful trees were rising in their place. Flowers and shrubbery, flowering and other, followed. The house and the grounds grew beautiful so rapidly that the village dames marvelled, and some of them went and did likewise as far as they were able. It is from his mother that Mr. Edward Pomeroy in- herits that ardent love for flowers, ornamental trees, and shrubbery, and their cultivation, which distinguishes him.
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