USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 2 > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
The road from the south village to Hancock line as it is now used, was laid out in 1807, four rods wide, by a committee chosen by the town, and surveyed by Samuel Burbank.
The marked improvements in the county roads were made in 1826, by the construction of the road from near Woodcock Corners, through the valley west of Stone Hill, to the Sherman place, intersecting there the Bee Hill road, and in 1831 by the road from South Williamstown to the foot of "Judd Hill" or Scott Hill (the modern name). The first of these was constructed by Keyes Danforth, Stephen and John Hickox, and John Mills, the other by Thomas C. Phelps and Williard Hall.
The town refused to accept of the road now called, "The road through Torrey's Woods," as surveyed and reported by the selectmen in 1828, whereupon the petitioners applied to the county commissioners for relief. Luther Washburn as chairman of the board made a very full report of the hearings in the case, and the prayer of the petitioners was granted, and a town road laid from near the residence of Joseph Torrey to the new county road. It was constructed by Joseph Torrey for forty- nine cents per rod, in 1832.
The road from the village of Williamstown to the depot formerly called "Shattuck's Lane." was widened and improved upon the com- pletion of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad in 1859.
Since the erection of " Greylock Hall" which occupies the site where the "Sand Spring House" formerly stood, the road from North Adams to Pownal on the north side of the Hoosick has been widened and greatly improved and a new road opened to accommodate the increased travel and traffic on that route.
The first town meetings were held in the meeting house or school house in the north village, or in the taverns at the North or south villages. When the second meeting house was completed in 1798, the old meeting house erected in 1768 was moved west a short distance, and was used for town meetings until it was destroyed by an incendiary fire March 22d. 1829. Since then at various times the subject of a town hall has been discussed at the town meetings, and committees have been appointed to select a lo- cation and to build a house without successful results. In ISM1. Novem ber 14th, the town voted. .. To build a town house in the place most con- venient for the inhabitants and that Rodman Hazard (of Hancock ,, Rus-
684
HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
sell Brown (of Cheshire), and William E. Brayton (of Adams) be re- quested to fix on a site for the same."
The records show these as the places for town meetings: "Over Hos- ford & Brown's store," "at the house of J. Hickox " meaning the Mansion House, "at or near John P. Jordan's Inn," "Over Caleb Brown's store," "At Latham's Hall." "In the School House in the B. Woodcock Dis- trict," " At the Town Hall in the South Part of Sd. Town," which re- ferred to a hall in the meeting house constructed by passing timbers across the galleries and using the upperstory for the hall, for which work an appropriation of 8250 was made by the town. This was done in 1911. and town meeting's were held there until 1859. "The Union House" and "Cole's Hall, " and " Southworth's Hall." have been the places of meet- ing in later years.
WILLIAMS COLLEGE.
Williams College owes its origin and name to Col. Ephraim Wil- liams, a native of Newton, in this State, born in 1631, who, by his will made in 1755, a few days before his death. bequeathed a part of his landed estate to establish a free school in Williamstown. The executors of the will sold the land agreeably to the directions of the testator, and by their faithful management, the fund, small at first, was so increased that in 1785 they made application to the Legislature for an act to enable them to carry into effect the intention of the testator. An act was accordingly passed incorporating a free school in Williamstown. and appointing as trustees of the fund and of the school Rev. Seth Swift. Rev. Daniel Collins, William Williams. Theodore Sedgwick. Woodbridge Little, John Bacon, Thomson J. Skinner, Israel Jones, and Daniel Noble. The Legislature granted them also a lottery which yielded about $3,500. and the inhabitants of the town raised by subscription $2,000 more, and in 1990 the brick edifice (now West College) was built, costing $11.700. and the funds then remaining at interest amounted to about the same smn. The school was opened in October, 1791. under the care of Mr. Ebenezer Fitch, and became immediately prosperous.
In the May following, upon the wish of the people of Williamstown and others, the trustees sent a petition to the Legislature asking that the free school be incorporated into a college. This petition was granted and an act of incorporation changing the free school into a college by the name of Williams College was passed on the 22d of June, 1793. All the property belonging to the free school was transferred by the same act to the corporation of the college, and a grant of $4,000 by the Legislature accompanied the charter. The trustees of the free school, with the ad- dition of Rev. Stephen West. D. D., Henry Van Schaick, Hon. Elijah Williams, and the president of the college for the time, were constituted the trustees of the college.
Mr. Fitch, afterward tho Rov. Dr. Fitch, was elected president, Rer. Stephen West, D. D., vice president, and Daniel Dewey. secretary. The
----
TOWN OF WILLIAMSTOWN.
first Commencement was held in 1795, on the first Wednesday in Sop- tember, and that was its anniversary of " Commencement Day" till IST.
The dwelling called the " President's Home" which was located on the north side of Main street, a short distance west of the site of Good- rich Hall, was built in 1794, and cost, including six acres of land, $2.400 It was the home of the president of the college till about 1857. In 1700 the Legislature granted to the college two townships of land in the dis trict of Maine, which were sold for about 210,000 This and $2,000 ml ditional were applied in 1799 to build the wild .. East College." It -tool on the eastern eminence sixty rods east of West College, was of brink, four stories high. 101 feet long. and 28 feet wide, and containet 22 soffers of rooms. It was destroyed by fire on Sunday, October 17th, 1811, This present East and South Colleges, occupying in part the same groooxml. were erected in 1842. They are brick buildings, three stories high.
.. Griffin Hall." standing on the eastern eminente nearly opposite East College, was completed in 1828. It is of brick, three stories losb. and cost $10.000. The funds for its erection and also to establish a new professorship, amounting in all to $25,000, were obtained by Dr. Elward Dorr Griffin, the president of the college.
" The College Chapel and Alumni Hall" is of stone, located on the west brow of the East College growls. The main building is 01 by 41 feet, and the rear building which contains Alumni Hall, aby 38 feel It was built in 1858 and 1859.
" Clark Hall" was the gift of the late Edward Clark, Egg. M News York. an alumnus and truster of the college. It is of stone and for. and intended to be fire proof. It was designed chiefly to furnish a place of safe deposit for the Wilder Mineralogical Cabinet, and for the priser- vation of the college archives. It was built in 1881, and in point of con- struction is the finest of the college buildings. It is situated on the eastern eminence east of East College.
Near "South College" is the Astronomical Observatory." the first erected in this country for this exclusive use, built of stone by Prot Albert Hopkins in 1836. To the past of this is the " Magnetic Oferror- tory."
" Lawrence Hall" was built is 1546 through the liberality of Amies Lawrence of Boston. It contains the College Liigary, It is near East College, octagonal in form, IS foot in diameter, each side 20 feet, and can contain thirty five thousand volumes,
" Kellogg Hall" south of West College, built in 1517. is a three story brick building, used for poitation counts and students' rooms. It takes its name from Prof. Ebenezer Kollege, who gave an were of ground for the college garden, in which the building is located,
"Jackson Hall" was built for the Natural History Sompoly, by Nathan Jackson of New York
" Goodrich Hall and a gift from the Anche Hope John %. Gander la Stockbridge. It is a stone building, on the north sideof Main street. gost
686
HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
of Griffin Hall. The upper story of the structure furnishes a most ample and well provided gymnasium. It was built about 1870.
" Mission Park" consists of about fourteen acres of land purchased in 1855 by the " Mission Park Association," and transferred in 1885 to Williams College. The original purchase of the ground was made on ac- connt of the historical associations connected with it. Some young men, students in the college, among whom were Samuel John Mills, Gordon Hall, and James Richards, were accustomed to meet here and hold open. air prayer meetings and conferences on the subject of foreign missions. This was in 1807, and from these meetings and conferences. apparently feeble and inadequate, sprung the Board of Foreign Missions, an organi- zation world wide in its scope and influence. A marble monument sur- mounted by a globe, erected by Hon. Harvey Rice, of Cleveland, Ohio, marks the spot where these meetings and conferences were held.
The "Soldiers' Monument " stands near "Griffin Hall, " and is of red sand stone, erected in 1867, principally the gift of Hon. David Dudley Field, of New York. It is a beautiful memorial of " Williams' Fallen Heroes."
The "Field Memorial Observatory " is an iron building situated on high ground southwest of the principal college buildings, and was de- signed to supplement the old Astronomical Observatory. It and its vali- able apparatus were the gift of Hon. David Dudley Field, of New York, who has been at other times a liberal benefactor of the college. It was completed in 1881.
" Morgan Hall" the most valuable of the college buildings, erected in 1882, was a gift of the late ex-Gov. E. D. Morgan of New York. It is located east of West College, is four stories high of stone. The entire gift was $100,000 although this building was erected for a sum somewhat less.
A stone building, intended for a Gymnasium, is being erected on the south side of Main street east of Morgan Hall and promises to be an elegant structure.
The College Library consists of nearly 22,000 volumes, and is gradu- ally increased from the income of the Lawrence and other funds. These constitute a capital of $18,000.
Rev. Zephaniah Swift Moore, D. D., was the second president of the college, from 1815 to 1821. During his administration an attempt was made to remove the college to some town in the valley of the Connecticut. In 1819 the president. Dr. Moore, and nine of the trustees presented to the Legislature a petition asking that the college be removed to North- ampton. The reasons for removal were mainly that since the incorpora- tion of the college other similar institutions had been established in Vermont and New York, in that section of the country from which Wil- liams College largely received her patronage, and consequently that the college must in future look to the four western counties of Massachusetts for support, and that Williamstown was remote from the great body of
687
TOWN OF WILLIAMSTOWN.
the population of those counties, and far less convenient of access. Financially it was represented that although the college had received liberal donations of land and money from the State, the funds of the insti- tution were very small and inadequate, and did not admit of any enlarge- ment either in the number of instructors or other means and helps of education.
It was also represented that liberal subscriptions in aid of the college had been obtained on condition of its removal. $50,000 having been al- ready subscribed and expectations of future assistance were such as would materially conduce to the prosperity of the college.
Williamstown took active measures to prevent the removal. At a special town meeting, held December 19th, 1819. a committee consisting of Charles A. Dewey, Timothy Whitman, and Lyman Hubbell was ap- pointed to " Draft a remonstrance against the removal of the college." This committee presented what they termed " The Memorial of the in- habitants of the Town of Williamstown " (said to have been drafted by Hon. Charles A. Dewey), which received the unanimous support of the meeting and which urged with great force and clearness the arguments against both the legality and expediency of the removal. This was pre. sented to the committee of the Legislature having the subject in charge -
who reported that it was " Neither lawful nor expedient to grant the prayer of the petitioners."
The village of Williamstown, the seat of the college, has been greatly improved and beautified through the liberality of Cyrus W. Field of New York, who gave $10,000 to be expended for this purpose, with the condition that the court-yard fences in the village should be removed.
The State of Massachusetts has made liberal appropriations to the funds of the college. Besides those already mentioned two other town- ยท ships were granted sometime before 1819: also $3,000 annually for ten years, beginning with 1814 ; and in 1868 an appropriation of $25,000 an- nually for three years was given, provided a like sum should be obrained by private subscription. This was accomplished, mainly by the efforts of President Hopkins.
The presidents of the college have been: Rev. Ebenezer Fitch, D. D .. from 1793 to 1815 : Rev. Zephaniah Swift Moore, D. D., from 1815 to 1821 : Rev. Edward Dorr Griffin, D. D., from 1821 to 1836 ; Rev. Mark Hopkins. D.D., LL. D., from 1836 to 1872; Hon. Paul Ansel Chadbourne, D. D .. LL. D., from 1872 to 1881 ; Franklin Carter, Ph. D., LL. D., since 1881.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
TOWN OF WILLIAMSTOWN (concluded).
Rev. Mark Hopkins .-- The Danforth Family .-- Keyes Danforth .- B. F. Mills .- Sumner Sout worth -Col. Ephraim Williams .- Henry L. Sabin, M. D .- Hon. Joseph White .- John Mauning Cole .- The Phelps Family .- Chester Bailey .- Stephen Williams .- Enos Briggs .- Abel J. Brown.
REV. MARK HOPKINS, D. D.
M ARK HOPKINS. the fourth president of Williams College, was born in Stockbridge, February 4th, 1802. He was the oldest of three brothers, sons of Archibald Hopkins. Archibald was the oldest son of Colonel Mark Hopkins, who lived in Great Barrington. and was the first settled lawyer in the county. He married a daughter of John Ser- geant, the first missionary to the Indians in Stockbridge, and her mother, afterward Madame Dwight. was a half sister of Colonel Ephraim Williams, who founded Williams College. The mother of Mark was Mary Curtis, of Stockbridge, a woman of warm affections, sound sense. and energetic will, believing in the power of knowledge and in the word of God.
The early life of Mark was that of a boy who worked on the farm and was fond of books. He pursned his studies partly at Clinton. N. Y., partly at Lenox Academy, but chiefly with his uncle. Jared Curtis, who taught the academy at Stockbridge. His father did not propose to send him to college, but when it was supposed his studies were sufficiently ad. vanced, placed him in the office of Mr. Charles Sedgwick, wishing him to become a lawyer. He remained there for a time, but feeling the need of a broader education, told his father that as he did not feel able to send him to college, he would. with his consent, endeavor to make his own way. This he did and entered the sophomore class the second term of the sophomore year, and graduated in 1524 with the highest honor. The year following he taught the academy in Stockbridge He was then ap- pointed tutor at the college, where he remained two years. He then went to New York and entered the office of Dr. John Mc Sie Smith as a student of medicine. There he continued for six months, and then
,
black Hopkins
TOWN OF WILLIAMSTOWN.
went to Pittsfield where he pursued his medical studies and taught in the Institute under the care of Prof. Chester Dewey. In 1829 he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. The year after he practiced medicine in the city of New York, having had a place in one of the dispensaries. In 1830 he was called to the chair of moral philosophy and rhetoric in Wil- . liams College and in 1836 was chosen its president. He was at that time the youngest college president in years, and on his retirement from that position in 1872 was the oldest in office, in the United States. His con- nection with the college since his graduation covers a period of nearly sixty years. In 1857 he was elected president of the A. B. C. F. M. He has been honored with the Doctorate of Divinity by Dartmouth and Harvard, and of Laws by the Board of Regents of New York. In 1820 he united with the Stockbridge church, then under the care of the Rev. Dr. Field. In 1833, the health of Dr. Griffin having failed. he was licensed to preach and was ordained in connection with his inauguration as president.
Dr. Hopkins has published a volume of Miscellaneous Essays and Discourses, Lowell Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity, also on Moral Science, on the Law of Love and Love and Law, An Outline Study of Man, the Scriptural Idea of Man, a volume of Baccalaureate Sermons, and numerous articles and pamphlets.
In early manhood the intimate friends of Mark Hopkins know him to be an original thinker. He thought for himself on every subject : and he did so, not because he regarded with irreverence the seers of other times or the elders of his own time. Few men entertain profounder re- spect for the wise or consider with higher appreciation the products of great minds. But it is with him, certainly a mental, perhaps also a moral necessity to run through the mould of his own intellect all the great subjects which have enlisted the thinkers of the ages. He never pursues novelties. He cares less whether any view is new, asking but the simple question : "Is it true?"
His catholicity is as broad as the Church of Christ. An earnest ad. herent of the theology and probity of the orthodox Congregational church, he has eyes to see and heart to appreciate all that is good and true in every genuine Christian. He would lengthen the cords of charity and yet strengthen the stakes of doctrine.
The style of Doctor Hopkins is the perfection of clear simplicity, through which the truth shines steadily. His delivery would not be called graceful. It has not been called angular, yet it is singularly in !- pressive. The voice is pleasant, with tones of pathos ; the emphasis is apt and penetrating, and the mien is majestic. No one can listen with- out a reverence surpassed only by the feeling inspired by the uttered truth.
"Indisputably one of the foremost philosophie thinkers of our coun- try and combining with great mental acumen remarkable aptitude as a teacher, it was almost a matter of course that in his hands philosophie
690
HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
studies should have a place of more than usual prominence. Accordingly, during the almost forty years of his presidency over the college, while other studies failed not to receive due attention, or other sciences proper regard, the Science of Man had a place which, so far as we know. has nowhere else been accorded to it. In the college curriculum here, while the senior year has been almost wholly given to this highest science as the fitting crown of a collegiate course, the study of it begins with that course, Dr. Hopkins having been accustomed to give the Freshman class a series of lectures on physiology and the laws of health. His own early training for the medical profession prepared him to do this with unusual interest and effect. The influence, also, of this carly training upon his way of looking at the facts of mental and moral science may have aided him in the construction of a system of philosophy so broad and self con- sistent, and so completely in harmony with fact in all departments of knowledge that it may well be termed a universal philosophy. Dr. Hop. kins has not been willing that metaphysics should stand for something intelligible only to the learned few, while inexplicable to the common mind. On the contrary, he has held that the facts of the mind and laws of its operation, it being nearest of all things to man, may be known by all with as much certainty as the facts and laws of the outward and re- mote world. So he has fearlessly taken his students into this realm of study, and accustomed them to be at home with themselves, and while seeing the harmony of all knowledge, to see that the knowledge of them- selves is the highest of all, and that
. The proper study of mankind is man."
So far indeed has he carried his views of the simplicity and intelligibil- ity of these sciences, that he has been accustomed to teach them on the blackboard as one would arithmetic; and his success with this method in the classroom had been such, and his confidence in the system, that he ventured a few years ago to give a popular course of metaphysics be- fore the Lowell Institute, illustrated by diagrams the same way. The experiment was successful, and the phonographic report of those unwrit- ten lectures now constitutes that remarkable volume, . An Outline Study of Man : or The Body and Mind in one System.' which has become a text book in so many of our colleges. It is a small volume in comparison with many which treat of the same subject, but it may be said to condense in itself a complete system of philosophy. Any one who reads it, and con- siders that such a course of instruction, only greatly expanded, and a similar course in moral science, occupy a large portion of the time during the entire Senior year, will understand how rich that year is to the stu- dents at Williams. Many a gradnate looks back to it as the most mem- orable year of his life. That Senior recitation room. the throne of the presidency during Dr. Hopkins' long incumbency of the office, and where. although he has laid down the seals of authority, he still presides in a most important sense and so long as he continues to teach will preside by the regal sway of thought and character which he exercises, makes one
601
TOWN OF WILLIAMSTOWN.
think of the old Platonic Academy, or Socrates in friendly converse with his pupils, rather than the ordinary classroom. The glory of that room has been that there the fresh inquiry has been encouraged, and the stu- dents first taught to see and think for themselves, to call no man master. but to seek and welcome the truth as that for which they were made"."
It was the place above all others, where they were led to cultivate a sturdy self-reliance which admits of no difficulties in life not to be over- come by earnest perseverance and honest effort.
THE DANFORTH FAMILY.
Among the settlers who came to Williamstown during the Revolution was Jonathan Danforth, descended in the fifth generation from Rev. Nicholas Danforth. who emigrated from England in 1634, and with his three sous settled in Cambridge. The name is said to have originated from Danes' ford -- referring to the ford of a stream.
Jonathan Danforth removed from Western (now Warren) in 1775. and bought a farm in Williamstown on the site now ocenpied by his grand- son, Keyes Danforth. Esq. Previous to his coming here he and his two sons, Jonathan, aged 14, and Joshua, aged 16, were at the battle of Bunker Hill as volunteers. Soon after his arrival in Williamstown he organized a "Company of Foot." which he commanded at the battle of Bennington. He soon after returned to Williamstown and engaged in farming. His eldest son continned in the army throughout the war, and during the en- campiaent of the army on the banks of the Hudson his name is men- tioned on one or two occasions as Judge Advocate.
Jonathan Danforth was twice married ; he had four children by his first wife and four by his second. The grandmother of ex Vice Presi- dent Wheeler was a daughter of the first wife.
KEYES DANFORTH.
The subject of this sketch was the second son of Jonathan Danforth by his second wife. He was born at Williamstown in 1778. In early life he exhibited many of the characteristics of his honored father : bold and fearless in his nature. yet of a quiet and reserved disposition-uever seeking a quarrel, but ready and quick to resent an affront. Had he en- joyed the facilities for acquiring a classical education he would have made an able Inwyer, for as he grew to manhood he developed great men- tal force and energy of character, but for lack of opportunity to acquire an education his field of usefulness was to a great extent limited. He worked his father's farm and was sent to school during the winter months. He was a successful farmer, accumulated a fair competence, and in his day was considered a man of large means.
He was a "born leader." and during his life was the recognized leader of the democratic party in this locality. Many incidents are re-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.