USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 2 > Part 31
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In 1874, a full company of infantry-the " Hull Gnards"-was en- rolled according to the military statutes of the commonwealth. and at- tached as " Company C." to the 2d Regiment, Third Brigade. First Divis- ion, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. During its continuance here, it was successively under the command of Captains Charles E. Bruce and Henry S. Dean. The three years' enlistment of its members expired in 1877, when it was disbanded and its arms and equipments transferred to a successor of the same regimental designation formed in North Adams.
A stirring event for the quiet old town occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 6th and 7th, 1870. Summoned by notices pub- lished throughont the land, the descendants of President Edwards, to the number of about 200, gathered here and held a two days' commemoration of the great divine. The people through the town opened their houses for the accommodation of the celebrants, and music, public meetings. speeches, and festivity were freely indulged, closing with a dinner ten. dered by the citizens under an arbor on the old Indian Square. The oc- casion left a pleasurable impression unforgotten alike by entertainers and entertained. The ontcome of the gathering on the part of the latter was the erection of a monument to their great ancestor. of Scotch granite and manufacture, costing more than $3,000. It stands within a few rods of the site of the old Indian meeting house.
In 1881, by the efforts of Mr. George Lawrence, contributions to the amount of 8600 were devoted to the erection of a unique stone drinking
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fountain, appropriately inscribed and furnished, on the Library corner and fed by the Aqueduct Company. The draughts by the thirsty way- · farer, whether walking on two legs or four, upon its benefactions are often too constant for its ability to supply.
In the summer of 1841, Lord Morpeth (later Earl of Ripon) visited Stockbridge, and desiring to acquaint himself with the homes and life of the American yeomanry, was taken to the residence and farm of Mr. Paul S. Palmer, as a fair specimen of an answer to his wishes. His din- ner, intercourse, and inspection there prompted him to expressions, both private and public, of the solid, manly independence of the American over the British farmer.
An observance, for many years familiar to Stockbridge, is the New Year's Sunrise prayer meeting, established by Rev. Dr. Field in 1821. It is attended by all denominations, and is followed by half an hour's re- ligions service at the Episcopal church.
About half a mile this side of the Lenox line, on the north shore of Lake Mahkeenac, stands the little rel cottage where Hawthorne lived for eighteen months and wrote his " House with Seven Gables." " Won- der Book," and "Tanglewood Tales." This domicile has been-mistak- enly or otherwise-but wrongly, claimed by our sister town of Lenox. and it is frequently visited by the admirers of its eminent tenant of 1850-1.
During the last sixty years, several attempts have been made to re- cover lands in this vicinity by Indian titles produced by white specula- tors. The last and most persistent occurred in 1868. The claimant-a man from Western New York -- was quite peremptory in his demands, parading deeds, which he asserted were valid, from the Indian grantees when they left the valley. He even commenced the erection of a build- ing on the Indian burying ground. He was summarily ejected by the town authorities, and a thorough investigation by a committee of the fol- lowing Legislature of State and county archives, proved the utter groundlessness of such claims and closed the door forever on those who may hereafter urge them.
Considering its population, Stockbridge enumerates an unusual num- ber of names whose bearers have attained eminence in public office. edu- cation, journalism, letters, and social position. Until the settlement of Upper Berkshire, when the utilizing of its natural industrial facilities cansed business to gravitate northward, it was the center of importance of the county. This gave it an advantage which has failed not to appear in its subsequent history. Many of these celebrities were citizens of the town, whose names are appended elsewhere, while many more have won distinction in other places. Of such may be cited as educators : Presi- dent Kirkland of Harvard University, ex-President Hopkins and his brother, Professor Albert, of Williams College, Professor J. W. Hart. of Philadelphia, and Miss Abby D. Woodbridge, of Albany and Brooklyn. N. Y. In the line of journalism, Rev. H. M. Field, D. D .. of the New
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York Evangelist. William H. Whitney, of the Pittsburg. Pa., Iron Age. and Rev. Henry Fowler, of New York and Chicago, are recalled. The genial poet. William Pitt Palmer, never lost his filial regard for his birth. place. In eminent jurisprudence, practiced elsewhere, we may note Judge Ezekiel Bacon, of Utica, N. Y .: Pierrepont Edwards-son of the president -- of Connecticut ; Hon. Theodore Dwight-brother of President Dwight. of Yale-of New York ; Henry and Robert Sedgwick, of New York ; Hon. David Dudley Field. of the commission for codifying the laws of the State of New York ; and his brother, Stephen J., now on the bench of the United States Supreme Court. Rev. Samuel Whelpley. the famons anthor of " The Triangle" and a " Compend of Ancient and Modern History," was born and reared here. Cyrus W .. another of the Field brothers, has linked his fame indissolnbly with the first laid trans- Atlantic cable, and his nephew, Stephen D., is a noted practical elec- trician.
Stockbridge claims several devoted missionaries, both in the home and foreign field. Among these are Rev. Cyrus Byington, who. after a training for the law, decided to make the expounding of the " Higher Law" to the Indians the business of his life. After a course in divinity at Andover he went to the Choctaw nation, accompanied them on their removal west of the Mississippi, superintended the translation of the Bible and its imprint in their vernacular, combined the functions of preacher and teacher to the constant upgrowth of schools, and wore him- self out in this service. A sister shared his toils and trials and died among her adopted people.
Rev. Josiah Brewer, though a native of Tyringham, came here a boy. received his preparation for college, married a daughter of Rev. Dr. Field. and went out in the service of the A. B. C. F. Missions for several years' labor in Turkey and Greece.
Others to be remembered in this connection are: Mrs. Catharine Wat- son Webb, of the Burmese mission : Mrs. Catharine Sergeant De Forest, who was stationed at Beirut ;. Mrs. Sarah Perry Powers, of the Persian mission : Mrs. Mary Perry Ford, located at Aleppo ; and Miss Susan J. Johnson, who went among the Choctaws.
Elisha Bradley, from Connecticut, settled early in Stockbridge. His son, Stephen, settled in Lee. He married Lydia, danghter of Ebenezer Cook. of Stockbridge. They had six sons : Ebenezer, living in Batavia, Ill .; Elisha, died in New York ; Stephen, of Lee ; William, Denver : Charles, Lee : George. Hudson. O.
The valuation of the town in 1883 was 82,993,700, being the fourth in rank in the county. Its total taxation that year was 821.514 ; rate, 8.70; polls, 545. In agricultural order it is among the first, and there is an in- creasing interest among its farmers in the promotion of all that contrib- utes to better cultivation, improvement of stock, and the appliances of husbandry.
To Hon. Theodore Sedgwick belongs the honor of the first advocacy
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of a suit for freedom brought by a slave under the Massachusetts Consti- tution of 1780. The circunstances were as follows :
Elizabeth Freeman-locally known in later life as Mum Bet, and already referred to as a heroine at the time of the sacking of the village in the insurrection of 1787 -- was born a slave in the State of New York, and was purchased, when six months old, by Colonel Ashley, of Sheffield. In his family she grew up under a mistress who was extremely irascible. A sister of Mum Bet, also living in the family, one day incurred Mrs. Ashley's displeasure and was struck at with a hot fire-shovel. Mum Bet in her defense received the blow upon her own arm, and carried its scar to her grave. She immediately left the house, and no persnasion could in- duce her to return. Her master had recourse to the law, and the recusant applied to Mr. Sedgwick for her defense. He plead the Massachusetts Bill of Rights with such effect as to secure a verdict in her favor. She forthwith became a member of his household during her protracted life, was the nurse of his children, rendered heroic defense of his property in 1787. died in his mansion, and was buried in the family lot, where a mon- ument erected by her grateful supporters and inscribed by the authoress, Miss Catharine Sedgwick, commemorates her humble virtnes.
A second suit-and, it is believed, the only other of the kind in Berk- shire -- was, through the same advocacy, decided in like manner. After- ward, when chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State, Judge Sedgwick's decision of questions involving the inherent rights of man- hood emphasized his earlier pleadings at the bar. They were, in sub- stance, that " the law of nature should be the law of the land ; " that no man could hold legitimate property in the person of another ; and that " therefore, a contract made on the coast of Africa for a cargo of slaves. was a malum per se, and void as against the law of God." He held. ac- cordingly, " that no action upon such a contract could be sustained at common law in Mass."*
The following names are of citizens who have borne professional county. State, and national honors chile residents here, besides the clergy, already mentioned under religions societies:
Lawyers : Timothy Woodbridge, Ephraim Williams, Jahleel Wood- bridge. Theodore Sedgwick, Thomas Williams. John Bacon, Henry W. Dwight. Barnabas Bidwell, Thomas Williams, 20. John Hunt. Henry D. Sedgwick. Charles Sedgwick. Theodore Sedgwick. jr .. Samuel Jones. Augustus Sherrill, James Pepoon. Henry W. Dwight, jr., George Whit- ney, Lawson D. Bidwell, Horatio Byington, Theodore S. Pomeroy. Jon- athan E. Field, H. J. Dunham, J. R. French. Charles E. Evans.
Physicians : Erastus Sergeant, Oliver Partridge, Richard Tilmarsh. Horatio Jones, Royal Fowler. Alfred Perry, Vassel White. Lucius S. Adams, Lewis Miller, Thomas Warner, William Green, Charles McAllis- ter, Charles Mc Allister, 2d, George S. Knickerbocker. F. J. Blodgett, N. E. Heath.
+ Greenwood vs. Curtis, Mass. Reports, Vol. VI.
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Clerks of Court : Henry W. Dwight. 1st. Joseph Woodbridge, Charles Sedgwick.
County Commissioner : J. B. Hull.
Registers of Probate : Edward Edwards, George Whitney.
Judges of Courts : Timothy Woodbridge, Supreme Judicial; Jahleel Woodbridge. Supreme Judicial; John Bacon, Supreme Judicial: Theo- dore Sedgwick, Supreme Judicial. Common Pleas, John Bacon. Eph- raim Williams : Superior. Horatio Byington. Probate, Timothy Ed- wards, Jableel Woodbridge.
State Senators : Jahleel Woodbridge, John Bacon. Theodore Sedg- wick. Barnabas Bidwell, William Williams, J. Z. Goodrich. J. E. Fiehl : President of Senate, HI. J. Canfield.
Governor's Conneil : Timothy Edwards, Charles M. Owen.
Congressmen : Timothy Edwards declined. Theodore Sedgwick. Speaker of House of Representatives : John Bacon, Barnabas Bidwell. H. W. Dwight, jr., Jolin Z. Goodrich.
Lieutenant Governor : John Z. Goodrich.
United States Senator : Theo lore Sedgwick.
Such, in outline, is Stockbridge-past and present. Although the second incorporated, and for long the most important, town in Berkshire, it has, by the inevitable tendencies of traffic and intercommunication. been ontstripped in population, wealth, and business, by some of the sis- ter municipalities of the county, whose very sites were a wilderness when Stockbridge was in its maturity. While still holding a sure and steady growth as the home of quiet, taste, and rural enjoyment. it has a record of enterprise, patriotism, and Christian philanthrophy, which, with its citizens and the lovers of historic lore, more than offsets the material whirl of business and increasing change. May Heaven keep the town tine to the line of its glorious antece dents !
JONATHAN E. FIELD.
The fourth son of Rev. David Dudley Field. D. D .. was baptized with the name of the great New England divine, Jonathan Edwards. Born at Haddam, Conn .. JJuly 11th. 1813, he was six years old when the family removed to Stockbridge, where he was fitted for college. He ell- tered Williams in 1828, and graduated in 1832 with the second honor of his class, and studied law in the office of his brother. David Dudley Field, in New York. Seized with the ambition of young men in those days to strike out into new paths, and make a career in some new part of the country, he removed at the age of twenty to Michigan, which was then very far west, and the next year (18341 was admitted to the bar at Momoe, and commenced practice at Ann Arbor, which was then quite a new settlement, but is now one of the most beautiful towns in the West. the seat of the University of Michigan. In 1836 he was electedl clerk of the courts of Washtenaw county. He was one of the secretaries of the convention which framed the Constitution of the State preparatory to its
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admission into the Union. But his ambitious career was checked by that which was the scourge of all the new settlements. chills and fever. from which he suffered so much that. after five years, he was obliged to aban- don his Western home. He returned to New England, and settled in Stockbridge, where for nearly thirty years he continnel the practice of his profession, holding a very honorable place at the Berkshire bar. In the town he was invaluable as a citizen for his enterprise in projecting improvements for the general good. It was to his public spirit and energy that the village is indebted for the introduction of an abundant supply of pure water from the springs on the side of one of the neighbor- ing hills, which conduced not only to the comfort. but to the health of the town. Till then the people had been dependent upon wells, and there had been almost every year a number of cases of a fever, which was sometimes called in the neighboring towns the Stockbridge fever. But scarcely had this abundant supply of pure water been introduced when it entirely disappeared.
In 1854 he was elected a member of the State Senate for Berkshire county. The same year he was appointed by Gov. Washburn one of a commission to prepare and report a plan for the revision and consolida- tion of the statutes of Massachusetts. His associates in that commission were Chief Justice Williams and Judge Aiken. Originally a democrat in politics, vet when the war broke out he forgot everything in his devrim to the Union; and in 1863 he was elected by the republicans to the State Senate, and was chosen its president -- a position in which, by his dignity. his impartiality, and his courteous manners, he rendered himself so popular with the men of all parties that he was three times elected to that office-or as long as he continued in the Senate-an honor never ho- fore conferred on a member of that body. Such was the personal regard for him, that on one occasion. in the beautiful Summer time, the ment. bers of the Senate came to Stockbridge to pay him a visit. and were re. ceived with true New England hospitality. Nor did this continuance of honors excite surprise, for never had the Senate, or indeed any public body, a more admirable presiding officer, or one who commanded a more thorough and universal respect: so that when he died, April 23.1. 1863. there was an universal feeling of regret among those with whom he had been associated. The Springfield Republican, in announcing his death. gave a brief sketch of his publie career, and. alluding to the singular dis- tinetion which had been conferred upon him, of being three times elected president of the Senate, added : "The same general esteem he enjoyed among the brethren of his profession, and in the community. Active and public spirited as a citizen, he will be greatly missed in the affairs of the town and county, as well as of the State ; while as a kind friend and courteous gentleman, he will be truly mourned by all who knew him."
Mr. Field was married to Mary Ann Stuart of Stockbridge, May 18th, 1835. They had five children : Emilia Brewer, boca June 19th. 1830 : Jonathan Edwards, jr., born September 15th. 1998 : Mary Stuart, born
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July 18th, 1841 : Stephen Dudley, born January 31st, 1846 ; Sara Adele, born October 8th, 1849, died August 6th, 1850.
Mrs. Field died October 14th, 1849, aged thirty-four : and Mr. Field was married to Mrs. Huldah Fellowes Pomeroy, widow of Theodore S. Pomeroy, Esq., October 17th, 1850.
The eldest daughter, Emilia, was married October 4th, 1856, to Wil- liam Ashburner of Stockbridge, a chemist and engineer, who was educated at the Ecole des Mines, in Paris, and has been for the last twenty years in California, where he has a high reputation as a mining engineer, and holds the position of Professor of Mines in the State University. They had one son, Burnet Ashburner, who was born at Stockbridge, March 22d. 1858. and died March 24th, 1862.
The eldest son, Jonathan, was married to Henrietta Goodrich of Stockbridge, October 31st, 1859, and has two children : Sara Adele, born February 23d, 1862; and Mary Stuart, born May 2d, 1873. Sara Adele was married in the spring of ISS1, to Sanmel Benedict Christy, assistant professor in the University of California.
Mary Stuart Field was married October 30, 1872, to Chester Averill. of Stockbridge. They have three children : Chester, born August 11th, 1873; Julia Pomeroy, born July 2d, 1875; Alice Byington, born Feb- ruary 21st, 1878.
Stephen D. Field is an electrical engineer. At the age of sixteen he went to California, and there remained seventeen years. Having always a fondness for whatever had to do with electricity, he became connected with an Electrical Construction Company, and invented a new system of District Telegraphs, which was introduced with great success in the city of San Francisco. He was the first to apply dynamo-electric machines to the generation of electricity for the working of telegraph lines. Re- moving to the East in 1879, he introduced the same into the building of the Western Union, the largest telegraphic company in the world, thereby displacing sixty tons of batteries. He is the inventor of numer- ons devices for the application of electricity, the most important of which are two : 1. A quadruplex, which differs entirely from that now in use. both in principle and in construction, and which he thinks has superior advantages as being more simple, and therefore less likely to get out of order, and more easy to operate. Further, the instrument is elastic, and can be extended so that the quadruplex can be made into a sextuplex. and even, with an enlarged conducting medium, into an octuplex, were such a multiplex of any practical utility. 2. An electric motor, which antedates both that of Edison in America, and of Siemens in Germany. The patent office at Washington, after careful investigation of all con- flicting claims, awarded him the patent, as having been the first to apply dynamo-electric mechanism to the propulsion of cars. His place of business is New York city, while his family reside in Yonkers on the Hadson. He was married in San Francisco, September 30th, 1871. to Celestine Butters. They have had three children : Burnet Ashburner
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Field, born July 6th, 1873. died May 27th, ISSO: David Dudley Field, born April 12th, 1875 ; and Sarah Virginia Field, born February 3d, 1879.
HON. JOHN Z. GOODRICH.
Hon. John Z. Goodrich was born in Sheffield, September 27th, 1804. His father died while the son was yet a boy, and he was brought up by his grandfather in Richmond, and trained in the paternal occupation- that of a carpenter and joiner; but feeling the stirring of higher aspira- tions he added to his common school education a thorough course at Lenox Academy, and there became a law pupil of the late Judge H. W. Bishop, of that town. On being admitted to the bar, he united his pro- fession with that of editor, purchasing a journal called The Argus, pub- Jished at Pittsfield, and uniting it with The Berkshire Star of Lenox. giving the consolidated paper the title of The Berkshire Journal, and afterward The Eagle. His comparatively brief practice of law was mostly done during his residence at West Stockbridge, and both that and his editorial career were next exchanged for manufacturing pursuits. In connection with Samuel G. Wheeler, of New York, property involving a line water power was purchased at Glendale. Stockbridge, in 1847, and a thrifty business commenced as the chartered " Glendale Woolen Com- pany." In this he was concerned during the largest portion of his remaining active life.
His position as a journalist naturally led him into politics, and there. in he became actively interested. His merits were soon appreciated by his fellow-citizens, and in 1848 he was elected to represent Southern Berk- shire in the State Senate. The next higher stop was assigned him when sent to Congress from the Eleventh District for two terms, the last com- meneing in 1852. While there he was known as a hard-working, able and efficient member, enlisting himself in the momentous issues of the time. and lending the ability of both pen and tongue in support of the meas. ures he esponsed.
Mr. Goodrich was one of the originators of the republican party in 1856, traveling and speaking extensively in its advocacy. In 1860 he was elected lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts and was appointed by Gor- ernor Andrew one of the peace commissioners of the State who met at Richmond, Va., in the futile effort to forefend the threatening war of the Rebellion. The same year he was one of the presidential electors, and spoke at many of the great mass meetings of the campaign in the north - ern States, in favor of Lincoln. In 1861 he received the appointment of collector of the port of Boston, and held it for four years.
Thenceforward the energies of Mr. Goodrich were devoted mostly to personal, town, and county affairs. As president of the County Bible So- ciety, and the Housatonic Railroad, trustee of Williams College, and di- rector or leader in various local institutions, he was in all a very efficient co-operator. His inflowing means he devoted extensively to public bene-
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factions. His gift of a library building and conference hall to Stock- bridge and his munificent donations to Williams College are mentioned elsewhere.
His prominent mental characteristics were energy and indomitable perseverance. Once persuaded that a course of action was expedient and right and he drove toward it with a force that no obstacle could thwart. Misfortune could not dampen him. Thrice he was burned en. tirely out, the last time with a dead loss of $50,000. But no one could infer from his bearing that a blow had befallen him, and his tremendous energy soon found means to recover his footing and a way to retrieve his fortunes. Generous, public spirited. keenly appreciative of means for ends, and, withal, abrupt and assertive. he had the courage of his con- victions and those were almost invariably correct. In all the relations he sustained among his fellow men, including that with the Congregational church, of which he was an active member, he was entirely faithful and devoted. His last two years were marked by a gradual lapse into physi- cal and mental decrepitude and the inevitable end arrived April 19th. 1885, in his eighty.first year.
Mr. Goodrich was twice married-first to Miss Sarah Worthington, of Lenox, by whom he had four children, and lastly to Miss Mary G. Hopkins, of Stockbridge, a cousin of ex-President Hopkins, and founder of the Laurel Hill Association, who survives him. Of his children only Mrs. Isabella Fiske, wife of John M. Fiske, Esq., of Cambridge, Mass., is living.
Mr. Goodrich received the degree of M. A. from Williams College in 18-18.
1
CHAPTER XXXI.
TOWN OF TYRINGHAM.
BY O. C. BIDWELL.
Laying out the Land .- First Settlement .- Roads .- Proprietors' Meetings .- Incorporation .- Early School Houses .- Meeting House .- Rev. Adonijah Bidwell .- Rev. Joseph Avery .- Rev. Joseph Warren Dow .- Rev. Alvan C. Page .- The Settlers. - Methodist Church .- Baptist Church .- Industries .-- Schools .- Shakers. - The Townsend Family. - Damel Clark.
I T IS necessary, in the first place, for a right understanding of the locality with which this history has to do, to know that the town of Tyringham, up to 1847, included within its limits the territory of Monterey, and that its history, therefore, includes also the history of that town.
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