USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 2 > Part 36
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TOWN OF WEST STOCKBRIDGE.
who reported that they could not obtain them withont some ready money, and after much discussion the town was classed, each class being made up of men and property as nearly equal as practicable, and required to furnish its man.
Five hundred and thirty pounds were raised for the purpose, to be shared equally by each class in the common purpose, and the following named soldiers were enlisted, who entered the service for three years with Rossiter's regiment and Hull's company ; Jabez Josslin, tailor ; Nathan Baker, collier; Jonathan Rawson, laborer: Nathan Griffith, laborer : Shubael Woodruff, laborer : Benjamin Towley, Indian ; Frank Dunkins, negro ; to whom a bounty of $518 in the aggregate, specie. was paid. Dan- kins had already rendered six months service. The next year 430 were raised for bounty to the three months' soldiers, and twenty " hard " dol- lars were voted to be given them before marching. In April, 1777, it was voted to divide the town into classes for raising men, but no action ap- pears under that vote. Colonel Williams was moderator of the meeting. and soon afterward Lieutenant Deming was chosen on a committee in place of Colonel Williams. In September, 1778, on trying the question whether the town would do anything about Colonel Williams coming home, the vote was "Colonel Williams might come home to his own house to live." The explanation of this action is to be found in the fact that Colonel Williams, who had been in office under the provincial gov- erment and was the first sheriff of the county and naturally did not en- tertain the decided sentiments of his adopted town, but was opposed thereto in some particulars at least, and was in a position as a " Royal- ist " for peremptory dealing on that account, found it more comfortable to absent himself until permitted to return ; after that he appears to have sustained a prominent part in all the action and doings of the town in relation to the war, and until his return to Stockbridge about 1802 was one of the prominent and respected citizens.
A few men went out from here to the defense of Boston. in the war of 1812, but their service was only for brief periods, and all safely re- turned. None were engaged in the Mexican war.
In the war of 1861 this town was required to furnish 152 men to fill all its quotas. According to the credits in the adjutant general's office, 160 were furnished, while the town records show 162, there being a sar- plus of eight or ten by the records. Of these, ninety five were residents of the town, the balance being made up of volunteers who resided che- where, drafted and commuted men, and veterans who enlisted for a second term of service. Of this number, six were commissioned officers : Charles W. Kniffin. Christopher Pennell, and Henry M. Sears, lieutenants : Franklin Meacham, and Edward B. Root, assistant surgeons in the mili- tary service ; and William W. Leavitt, assistant surgeon in the naval service. Pennell and Sears were killed in the service, and Dr. Meacham continued in the regular army. Twenty other men were killed in service. and five died of disease contracted therein. To the memory of those Fost
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
in the war the town has placed a memorial tablet in the public hall. In the year of the breaking out of the Rebellion, F. B. Cone, C. E. Rees, and D. A. Treat were selectmen, and George W. Kniffin. Henry T. Ford, and Thomas W. Barnes were the selectmen for the next three years, and upon them fell the duty of providing the men required. William C. Spaulding was town clerk and treasurer.
Cemeteries .- The first cemetery was established soon after the organ- ization of the district, on the knoll westerly of Jobn Deming's (now Wil- liam Barnes') house, but was soon discontinued and another located on the east side of the highway south of the brick school house at the Center, and between that and the house of Peter Easland on the other side of the way, and was continued in use until after the meeting house was built, when it was abandoned, and nearly all visible traces of it have been obliterated. The next was that on the north side of the church at the Center. Following this, one was located near the " Fuarey place." and is now known as the " South Cemetery." The next was one north of the church in the village, on part of the present school grounds the remains in which were removed by permission of Legislature in 1877. preparatory to the erection of the present school house. In 1847 another was located about half a mile east of George H. Cobb's house, but was discontinued after a few years. At the same time a new cemetery was established about a mile north of the village. and is known as the " Vil- Jage Cemetery." On the completion of the Roman Catholic church another was established in connection with their parish. about half a mile north of the last mentioned. Within the last twenty years all the private cemeteries in town, of which there were several, have been discontinued. Those now existing and in use are "The Center." "The South," "The Village," and " The Roman Catholic" cemeteries.
Schools .- The subject of schools received immediate attention, the first appropriation being £18, and appropriations, varying from £12 in Revolutionary times to 8800 in 1864, and about $4,800 in 1885, have been regularly made. It is probable that a school existed in 1774 at the Cen- ter, near where the present house stands, and also one west of the ore bed, near Baldwin's corner, as references are made to the school houses there, but for many years nothing relating to school districts or their lim- its was recorded. Soon after that time other schools appear to have been established in the southwest, southerly, and northeast parts, and two others were afterward added, and it was voted to designate them as the Northwest, Middle west, Southwest, Southeast, South-southeast, East Middle and Northeast, but no more definite record of them exists. Some residents of the extreme southwest corner of the town were allowed "to school out their rates elsewhere, it being more convenient." "School committee men " were chosen annually for each in its locality to whose care their support, the collection and expenditure of the school rates, and all duties relating to them were committed for the year. Ter- ritorial changes resulted in the discontinuance of one school, and in the
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TOWN OF WEST STOCKBRIDGE.
designation of the schools and districts afterward by numbers, State Line being No. 1, the Center, No. 2, Four Corners, No. 3. Williamsville. No. 4, Boughtou's, No. 5, and the Village. No. 6. and recently another was established at the Ore Bed as No. 7. The first " visiting committee." consisting of six members, was chosen in 1823. In 1827, pursuant to the duty imposed by statute passed in 1826, which was the first step here to. ward the school system now prevailing, Dr. Thomas Miner, Robbins Kellogg, and Luther Plumb were chosen the town's school committee. The district system prevailed until 1882, when it was abolished. but schools are maintained in the same manner and places as before. A new building, of four rooms, was erected in the village in 1877 at the expense of nearly $4,000, and an extra house was built at the Ore Bed in 1882, and two schools are maintained there: there are eleven schools now maintained at an expense of about $1.800 annually, and the number of pupils of school age in town in 1884 was 369. Small private schools have been opened at different times, but for want of sufficient support have always been discontinued.
Statistics .- What the population was at the time of incorporation there are no means of knowing. The earliest record is that of the Colo- nial census of 1776, which with the succeeding national and State censuses shows the population at the dates given : 1776, 370 ; 1790, 1, 113 ; 1800. 1,002; 1810, 1,049 ; 1820, 1.034: 1830. 1,209; 1840, 1,448: 1850, 1,713 ; 1855, 1,736; 1860, 1,589: 1865, 1,620 : 1870, 1,924; 1875, 1,951 ; 1880. 1,923. The census of 1885 will show about 1, 825 inhabitants. The census of 1880 shows the following : 997 males ; 926 females ; 1,172 born in town: 1,523 Americans ; 400 foreign ; 1,895 white ; 28 African ; 872 born of na- tive and foreign parentage ; and 391 families and dwellings.
The earliest assessors' records to be found were made by Colonel Williams and Christopher French in 1792, from which the following sum- maries are taken : Polls 16 to 21 years of age, 25; over 25 years, 171 : dwelling houses, 102; shops, 4; grist mills, 2 ; saw mills, 4; barns, 80 : horses, 158 ; cows, 494; oxen, 135: other cattle, 327 ; swine, 469 : grain raised, in bushels: wheat, 4.841 : rye, 3,705 ; oats, 3,462 ; corn, 4,901 ; barley, 10 ; beans and peas, 60; hay ent, 513 tons ; acres mowing, 671 : pasturage, 1,511 ; wood, 3,288 ; unimprovable, 1,299 ; in roads, 226; cov- ered with water, 118. The records of ISS4 show the following : polls, 519: value of personal estate, 8156.351 ; real estate, 8575.033; rate of tax for that year, $1.44; tax, 811,610.70 ; horses, 282; cows, 491 ; sheep, 544; houses. 373 : land. 11.325 acres.
Secret Societies .- Twenty-one members of the Masonic order having petitioned therefor. " Wisdom Lodge " was chartered June 13th, 1803,and for many years their meetings were held at the house of Amos Fowler. where Walter 1. Forrow now lives. When the revision consequent upon the Morgan excitement came, about 1826-7, the charter was returned to the officers of the grand lodge at Boston, and this lodge remained sus- pended until June 6th, 1856, when, on the application of eight members
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
residing here, the charter was restored and the lodge revived, and ever since has held its meetings at the village. It now has forty-eight mem- bers, with W. J. Langdon master. During its suspension the regalia of the lodge was entrusted to the care of Daniel Spencer (the Mormon) who was a prominent member until he left town for Nauvoo, and was by him kept secreted in the attic of his house, which stood where the dwelling of W. H. Edwards now stands, and some little articles belonging to the regalia, souvenirs, are said to be now in the possession of some of his family in Utah. An organization of the order of Odd Fellows existed here for a short period about thirty years ago, but was discontinued, some of its members joining the Masonic order.
A society of Good Templars was established some fifteen years ago. and after an existence of a year or two it became extinet, but an effort is now being made to revive it.
Industries .- Mica slate prevails especially in the mountain ranges. Marble exists here in immense quantities, found mostly in deposits, and the ledges on both sides of Williams River and south of the church at the Center. It is diversified in color and texture ; some is clear white : it is found of a dark, smoky hue, and some is beautifully variegated, veined and clouded, varying in many shades from blue to. white. It is of a quality which well withstands the effects of the weather, and by reason of its texture and strength is well adapted for building purposes and the ordinary uses to which marble is put, and for which it has been largely employed. In the State Honse at Boston, the old City Hall in New York, and some of the Girard College buildings at Philadelphia are marbles produced here. Formerly large quantities were shipped from here to distant markets, especially on the sea-board, as far south as Charleston, being at first carried by teams, and then by rail, to Hudson River, and then transported by water. Fuarey & Struthers were large producers and shippers. Until abont fifteen years ago J. K. & M. Freed- ley also produced and shipped large amounts of sawn marble to Phila- delphia for building purposes, where much produced here has been so used. On the 17th of April, 1867, their quarry was partly filled up and so much damaged by the fall of an overhanging mass of rock, probably loosened by the action of the frost, that it was finally abandoned; the superintendent aud three workmen were crushed to death by the falling mass. Beyond the ordinary employments of the early inhabitants in clearing and cultivating lands, quarrying and preparing marble for such market as then existed was the second material productive enterprise estab- lished in town, the making of bar iron being the first. It was carried on to a limited extent from about 1790 to 1802, when James Cook and John Newell built a marble mill near " the old quarry," a little sontherly from Freedley's quarry, and from that time forward the business was so much increased that in 1830 nine quarries, besides three now in Alford, and five marble mills existed Here. At different times fourteen marble mills existed in town. The Freedley's were the only parties carrying on the
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TOWN OF WEST STOCKBRIDGE.
business bere for the last thirty years ; now all the quarries are idle and all the mills but Mrs. Freedley's, not now used, have disappeared. Pear- ley Truesdell built a kiln and began the manufacture of lime in the village in 1856 ; having sold out to his brother, Marcus, he built a second kiln in 1866, and the business is still carried on. Nicholson & Thompson also established another kiln in 1867, now operated by Fuarey & Gaston, which is also running. The average daily production of each kiln is estimated at 150 bushels, which finds a ready market in the surrounding region.
Indications of galeua exist northerly of George H. Cobb's house. Manganese in the form of black oxide is found a short distance east of the village and has been mined to a limited extent. The greatest and most important industry is mining iron ore, which has been developed within the last sixty years and is now the main productive business of the town. From the earliest settlement ferruginous earth has been known to exist northwest of John G. Wilson's mill and on and around Maple Hill, and surface ore in pieces used to be gathered in the latter locality and on the farms of Ithamar Lane aud Nathaniel Leet, which was ofteu added to the supplies of the iron works obtained elsewhere for making wrought or bar iron, which was done in a kind of "oven" or puddling furnace without previous smelting. The great deposits of ore, which are the treasure of the town, are located about a mile and a half west of the village, in the locality now generally known as " Leet Ore Bed," aud were discovered in this wise : In 1826 Isaac Nicholson, of Richmond. an Englishman somewhat familiar with the localities in which iron was found in his native country, seeing the burrow of a woodchuck on Mr. Leet's premises near the Benton road and north of Lane's corner, observed " wash ore " and ocher in the earth thus thrown out to the surface, and from the location with regard to the limestone ledge close by, believed a deposit existed there, and in connection with Eli Richmond obtained a lease of the lot from Mr. Leet, and making an excavation, discovered the vein there: further explorations have developed the existence of the great masses now known to lie near by, and from this beginning, though small at first, mining has been carried on to this time, the product vary- ing in later years from estimates of 20,000 to 40,000 tons annually, accord- ing to the demands of the iron market, and employing from 100 to 200 men in raising, washing. and shipping the ore.
The Stockbridge Iron Company acquired the ownership of the Leet property in 1847, and two years later sold that on the south side of the highway, known as the " Chauney Leet Bed" to the Hudson Iron Com- pany, and it has been continuously worked since. About eighteen years ago, having been suspended for a time, mining on the north side of the highway was resumed at the Nathaniel Leet bed, and is still carried on. The " Nicholson " and " Goodrich " beds lie to the north of the " Leet," and adjoining the latter on the south is the newly developed. though now idle, " Pomeroy & smith " bed. The supply from these beds appears to
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
be inexhaustible. The ore is principally brown hematite, an oxide, with a small proportion of spathic, known among the workmen as "white- horse" ore, a carbonate. The ore obtained here is of superior quality and richness, yielding metal fit for all uses. As yet no workings much exceed 200 feet in depth. In 1853 S. R. Gay and C. T. Webster pur- chased the site and began work for establishing an iron smelting furnace in the village, which is the only establishment of the kind ever located here. Webster dying soon, C. H. Woodruff joined Gay, and the furnace was completed, but soon went into the hands of the Troy Iron and Nail factory. It has since been operated at intervals by Beekman & Burt, Cone Iron Works, Pomeroy Iron Works, and Pomeroy Iron Company. With the changes and improvements made in it, under the superintend- ence of the late General W. F. Bartlett, it is capable of turning out about 200 tons of pig iron per week ; it has been shut down since 1881. Gay & Woodruff also began the foundation for another furnace, " No. 2," but it was soon given up and abandoned.
State Line was the first railroad station located in the county, be- ing the eastern terminus of the old Hudson & Berkshire Railroad, and the West Stockbridge Road, which was really an extension of that to the village, was the first railroad built in the county. It gave a wonder- ful impetus to the growth and business of the village, which temporarily - became the shipping and receiving point for all the central and southern part of the county, until the Western, now the Boston & Albany, came in at State Line from Pittsfield, and the Berkshire up the Housatonic. and Williams River valleys, from Connecticut, being practically the northern terminus of the Housatonic Railroad until the completion of the Stockbridge & Pittsfield Railroad from Van Deusenville to Pitts- field, by which all besides local business was consequently and natur- ally diverted to other points. In anticipation of its becoming an im- portant business place an association known as the " Berkshire Marble Association " was formed, mostly of men in Hudson, N. Y., who pur. chased lands in and about the village and marble lands near by, laying out building lots and entering largely into enterprises here: but the same causes which affected the village affected the Association, and after a few years their properties were disposed of and they withdrew.
Until about eighteen years ago the town was remarkably exempt from losses by fire, about which time several barns about the town were destroyed. In December, 1876, a fire broke out in the village, burning up one store and a part of the stock and two drug stores. The origin of these tires has never been ascertained.
The elevation of the village at Shaker Mill Pond, as given in 1829, is 887 feet above the Hudson River at Albany : by a later survey it was 916 feet above the mean tide, at " the old depot," which did not mate- rially vary from the level of the present one, and State Line station is placed at 914 feet.
Miscellaneous .- Passing along the railroad and principal highways
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TOWN OF WEST STOCKBRIDGE.
which run over the lower ground, one will get no true or adequate idea of the many beautiful landscapes and charming views which abound on every hand to be seen from any elevation, and especially from the sum- mits of Maple Hill and Pleasant Hill and the height north of Tom Ball, while the mountain scenery is equal to any in the vicinity.
Of the prominent men who were natives of the town or resided here, now deceased, besides those already noticed, may be mentioned : Judges Harry Ward, Samuel Rawson, Jared Wilson; lawyers, Joseph Bloss and Robbins Kellogg : ministers, Rev. Dr. Charles B. Boynton, Samuel Pomeroy, and Nathan Shaw ; physicians, Plut B. Tyler, Thomas Miner, Stephen D. Hand, Luke Dewey, Nathaniel and Dudley Leavitt.
Besides the business mentioned, there are now in town two saw mills, one sheathing paper mill, and four feed and four mills, two of which are in the village, as are all the following : three general stores, one drug store, one stove and tin store, two harness shops, one carriage shop, two physicians, one lawyer, two barbers, one tavern, and three saloons.
Miners' Savings Bank was chartered in 1872, and has deposits aver- aging about $70,000, coming mostly from residents of the town and work- men in this vicinity.
In conclusion, it will be seen that previous to 1774 the history of this town is, in all excepting local matters, part of the history of Stockbridge. and to be found in it. The remarkable increase in population, improve ments, and apparently in valuation. from the time of incorporation to 1790 and 1792, well illustrates the vigorous enterprise and activity of the first inhabitants. In 1790 there were probably as many . English " in- habitants, or more, than there are now, since which date the best in- formation shows no proportionate increase in any respect, and especially in population and agricultural products. Most of those inhabitants came from Connecticut, a few from the eastern parts of this State and New York. Of the present population probably not less than 500 are of foreign (mostly Irish, birth, or boru here of foreign born parents, who were attracted here by the marble interest now dormant, and the mining enterprises, upon the revival and increase of which, and due time, and the improvement of the water powers, and a just and better administra- tion of local affairs, especially in matters touching the moral interest. reputation, and character of the community, as well as its material inter- ests, the future prosperity, standing, and advancement of the town materially depend.
GEORGE W. KNIFFIN.
George W. Kniffin, of West Stockbridge, is a native of New York State, born in the village of Rye, Westchester county, in the year 1800. In the spring of 1810 he was placed in charge of Dan. M. Beebe, a farmer of the town of Richmond, Berkshire county, by his widowed mother, who had been left in straightened circumstances. Here Mr. Kuifin livel until
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
his marriage, November 24th, 1830, with Marietta Gaston, daughter of Captain Elisha Gaston, of Richmond. He received only the educational advantages offered by the distriet schools of the town in which he resided, but being naturally of a studious turn of mind and possessing an indomit- able will, he acquired, by devoting much of his spare time to quiet study at home, an education that qualified him for a teacher, which position he filled for four seasons in his own town and in Pittsfield. He carefully saved all his earnings and was soon able to purchase a farm, which he conducted from the date of his marriage until 1842, taking in the mean- time numerous contracts for iron ore mining, two deposits of which were found on the land he had purchased. In the year 18442 he exchanged his farm for stock in the Richmond Iron Works and retained his interests in it until 1851. During the last year of his connection therewith he was its treasurer and general manager. He also owned for a short time an inter- est in iron works at North Adams, in company with Joseph Marshall and Nelson HI. Stevens. In 1851 he exchanged his interests in the iron busi- ness for the homestead in West Stockbridge, where he now resides. In the same year he formed a copartnership with O. H. Perry in the mercan . tile business at West Stockbridge, under the firm name of Perry & Co. Their stock consisted of general merchandise, such as is usually found in village stores. In 1858 he gave his interest in this business to his two sons, William M. and Charles W., who later purchased Mr. Perry's in- terest and have since been sole proprietors. In the year 1855 Mr. Kniffin. in company with James P. Nicholson, purchased the Grove mill, in West Stockbridge. About three years afterward he sold out to his partner and purchased a one third interest in the Rock Dale mills. near Housatonic. in company with Platt and Barnes. He severed his connection with this firm in 1865, and repurchased the Grove mill. which he still owns and conducts in partnership with his sons.
Mr. Kniffin has had all the political honors within the gift of the jeo. ple of the towns of Richmond and West Stockbridge, having been sent to the Legislature from Richmond in 1837 and in 1848, and from West Stockbridge in 1857. He has also held most of the minor town offices. In 1844 he was appointed justice of the peace by Governor Morton. and his commission has been renewed, without solicitation, every seven years since.
Mr. Kniffin united with the Congregational church of Richmond in 1841, and is now a member of the society in West Stockbridge, where he has held the office of deacon for the past twenty years.
At the advanced age of seventy eight years Mr. Knitlin is still vigor- ous and1 active. By a life of honesty, industry, and economy he has acquired a handsome competence and won the confidence and respect of his townsmen.
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