USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > History of Great Barrington, (Berkshire County,) Massachusetts > Part 10
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105
JOSEPH SHELDON-MOSES INGERSOLL.
describing the locations of the early inhabitants, we will first notice those lying south of the Great Bridge.
Joseph Sheldon, the proprietor of one right, had a home lot of twelve acres and a ten acre lot lying together on the west side of the road, just mentioned as running from the brook below the late Doctor Col- lins' to the Castle street hill. Mr. Sheldon's land, the south line of which was in the rear of Ralph Taylor's house, extended along that road about sixty rods, near- ly to the north line of the lot on which Parley A. Rus- sell's'house stands. Here Mr. Sheldon built, and re- sided for several years, but eventually disposed of his right, and appears, for a time, to have lived near where Warren Crissey now does, on the road to Stockbridge. In 1742, Sheldon's house came into the possession of Moses King, who removed to it from the east side of the river. A house, supposed to have been the same built by Mr. Sheldon, the remains of which were visible eighty years ago, is known to have stood a few rods south of the dwelling of Col. George Church, near where the railroad now crosses South street. Shel- don's homestead included all the present dwelling places on the north side of South street, west of the railroad, and also the home lot of Parley A. Russell.
Moses Ingersoll, or Ingersole,-as the name was for- merly written, son of Thomas Ingersoll of Westfield, -born in 1694,-having resided for a time in Spring- field, removed to this town apparently in 1726 or 27. He was the proprietor of two and one half rights, and owned the land on the west side of the highway, from the north line of Edward Manville's premises to the Sheldon land, above described, a distance of ninety- four rods, and on the east side of the Main street from John Brewer's northerly to the Miss Nancy Kellogg place, including Mount Peter and the meadow north of it. Mr. Ingersoll's residence was, apparently, where the brick house, built by his son, Capt. Peter Inger- soll, in 1766, and now owned by the Pope family, stands ; but he afterwards had a dwelling on the east side of the street. He was the "inn keeper" in this part of the town, a large land holder, in comfortable circumstances, a prominent man amongst the settlers,
106
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
and held the office of parish treasurer. Mr. Ingersoll died about 1750-51 ; (the distribution of his estate is dated July 31, 1751). His wife survived him, and died March 9th, 1772.
The children of Moses Ingersoll and his wife Cath- erine - -, were :
Thomas, born at Westfield June 7, 1720 ; died November 6,. 1742.
Eleanor, born at Springfield November 11, 1722; married Captain Stephen Gunn of this town, January 14, 1751 ; died 1772.
Joanna, born at Springfield February 1, 1725 ; married Rev. Samuel Hopkins January 13. 1748; died here August 31, 1793.
Lydia, born (probably in this town) October 1, 1727 ; mar- ried William Ingersoll, of this town, afterwards of Lee, ) Decem- ber 11, 1746; died in Lee, June 2, 1804.
Elizabeth, born October 9, 1729 ; married Rev. Noah Wad- hams of New Preston, Conn., Nov. 8, 1758.
Peter, born May 11, 1733 ; resided in this town, and died here in 1785.
David, born March 1, 1736 ; died young.
Bathsheba, -; married Rev. David Sanford of this town, afterwards of West Medway, Aug. 4, 1757.
Israel Lawton, a blacksmith, apparently here in 1726, had a house lot of twelve acres, on the west side of the street, next south of Moses Ingersoll. This lot. had a frontage on the street of nineteen rods, and in- cluded the land on which Edward Manville now re- sides, and part of the ground connected with the Sedg- wick Institute. Mr. Lawton had also a meadow lot of twenty acres on the east side of the road, south and east of the house of John Brewer, which included the- "Island " formed by the river and cove,-now owned by the Pope family-then known as "Lawton's Is- land," since "Luke's Island." from Luke Noble, and more recently as "Hopkins' Island." Mr. Lawton is- presumed to have removed from town as early as 1740; in 1743 he was a resident of Orange county, Virginia. His homestead was afterwards in possession of Luke Noble, who came here from Westfield in 1743. The site of the dwelling occupied by Lawton, and by Noble is the same on which Mr. Manville's house stands. From the Sheffield records we obtain the following account of the children of Israel and Rebecca Lawton :
107
COONROD BURGHARDT.
Jacob, born October 28, 1726. Abigail, born January 14, 1728.
Sarah, born December 13,1731. Tabitha, born August 14, 1734.
Coonrod Burghardt, or, as by his autograph, Coen- reat Borghghardt, the ancestor of a numerous family which has long resided in this town, was from Kinder- hook, N. Y., and settled here a little later than 1730, probably within two or three years of that date. We find him mentioned in the Documentary History of New York as a somewhat prominent resident of Kin- derhook in 1702, and again in 1720; and in December of the former year, he, with some of his neighbors, was summoned to appear before the Governor and Council in New York City to make answer to the charge of having employed as clerk-religious teacher -one Paulus Van Vleck, who had been forbidden, by the governor, to preach. In consequence of the in- clemency of the season, Mr. Burghardt petitioned that the matter might be deferred until spring: but his prayer was not granted. The parties summoned made the journey to New York, and appeared before the au- thorities on the 11th of March, "acknowledged their error, and submitting themselves thereon, were dis- charged with a caution to be more careful for the future." (1)
In or before 1724, Mr. Burghardt, then residing in Kinderhook, being acquainted with the Housatonic Indians, and familiar with their language, was em- ployed by the settling committee to purchase the Hous- atonic townships of the Indians. In this business, as by his own statement, he was successful in reducing the money consideration, from £1,200. the sum asked by the Indians, to £460, the amount actually paid them ; and in the completion of this transaction, he was present at Westfield, acting as interpreter, and one of the subscribing witnesses to the deed given by the In- dians to the committee, April 25th, 1724.
In 1725, his services were obtained by the commit- tee, in measuring a line from the Hudson river to the Housatonic, at the nearest point. For this purpose he went to Albany, engaged a surveyor and fixed upon a
(1) Doc. His. N. Y., Vol. 3, 538-40.
108
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
time for running the line. The surveyor failing to ap- pear, Mr. Burghardt made another journey of twenty miles, to Albany, and there learned that the Westen- hook patentees had bribed his surveyor. He then went to Schenectady, employed another and fixed the day for the business ; this surveyor also disappointed him. Going again to Schenectady he found that this surveyor had also been bribed by the same parties. He then went eighty miles further, to King's town- ship, and by the payment of £5 New York currency secured the services of a third surveyor who, with the assistance of Mr. Burghardt and one of his sons, ran the line.
In 1726, some of the Housatonic settlers were pros- ecuted as trespassers, by the owners of the Westen- hook Patent. The suits were tried at Albany; and at the request of the settling committee, Mr. Burghardt gave bonds for damages and costs. As the suits, in New York courts, terminated adversely to the settlers, Mr. Burghardt was subjected to much inconvenience and expense in the matter. He was afterwards em- ployed by the committee, or by Mr. Ashley, to make purchase of a tract of land further north, owned by In- dians residing in the Susquehannah country, 220 miles to the westward. These Indian owners came to Kin- derhook, thirty-one in number, in 1731, and, as Mr. Burghardt says, were entertained for seventeen days at his house "with great fatigue and trouble" to himself.
In 1741, Mr. Burghardt memorialized the General Court, reciting at length the circumstances above nar- rated, and asked compensation for his services; and al- though it was shown that he had been in part remuner- ated by the settling committee, the General Court-the next year-granted him a tract of land of two hundred acres, lying (if we mistake not) in the town of Rich- mond, (1) Coonrod Burghardt had a large family of grown up sons and daughters, most of whom came with him to this place. His house lot of six acres, was on the west side of the highway, between the Sedg- wick Institute and the corner north of the cemetery,
(1) Massachusetts Archives, Book 46; "Lands," page 122.
109
COONROD BURGHARDT.
and had a front of eighteen rods upon the street. Be- tween this lot and the corner was the house lot of Joshua White,-also eighteen rods in width-which soon came into the possession of Mr. Burghardt and his son John. The small tenement next south of the Sedgwick Institute stands upon the original site of Mr. Burghardt's house. Directly across the street from the house, was formerly a deep circular hollow,-now nearly filled up-at the bottom of which Mr. Burg- hardt had his well. The well is still there, but covered with many feet of accumulated rubbish. The mansion house of the Burghardts, a low, Dutch looking struc- ture, with a long roof sloping to the south, was taken down about forty years since. This house, for the space of a hundred years, was, successively, the dwell- ing place of Coonrod, his son John, and his grand-son John the 3d,-familiarly known as Corner John,- whilst the locality was in common parlance known as "Coon's Corner." Corner John, the last of the family occupying the place,-then an old man,-removed to Durham, Conn., about 1835, and died there. Coonrod Burghardt owned the meadow, now the Agricultural Ground, and also a tract of two hundred acres, lying in the west part of the town, on both sides of Green River, upon which his son Garret had settled, earlier than 1736. This tract was where the late Jacob Burg- hardt, Esq., formerly lived; and to this Coonrod added other lands, making in all several large farms which were occupied by his descendants. Mr. Burghardt was the proprietor, too, of six rights of 400 acres each in the Upper Township, on which his son and son-in- law settled. He appears to have been the most wealthy of all the settlers, and to have maintained an influen- tial position amongst them. He died about the year 1750, but, as is the case with most of our early inhabi- tants, no inscribed memorial stone marks his resting place.
The following record of births of the children of Coonrod Burghardt and his wife, Geesie Van Wye,- married November 12, 1697,-is furnished by Henry Van Deusen, Esq., from a Bible of the Spoor family, preserved in Sheffield:
110
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
Mary, born January 27, 1698 ; married Isaac Lagrange.
Hendrick, born January 19, 1700; died here in 1758.
Fiche, born November 30, 1702 ; married Isaac Van Deusen. Eyche, [Ytie] born Oct. 20, 1704.
John, born November 30, 1706; lived on the homestead of his father, and died here June 1792.
Coonrod, born April 1, 1708.
Garret, born April 27, 1710; died here August 11, 1800.
Peter, born January 15, 1712. Jacob, born [April 27, 1715.]
Stincha, born June 10, 1718 ; married Peter Sharp of this town. (The name of Peter Sharp's wife is written both Stincha and Christine).
Joshua White, the owner of one right, had a house lot of six acres on the corner north of the cemetery, where William T. Gorham now lives, extending west nearly to the railroad. He also owned part of the meadow-now the Agricultural ground-which he had under improvement in 1733. Of Mr. White we have little information beyond the bare fact of his having set- tled here. It is probable that he was from the state of New York, and that he came here amongst the earliest settlers. His house lot and right were in possession of Coonrod and John Burghardt at a very early date. (1)
Samuel Younglove (probably of Suffield, Ct., born September 26, 1696,)-with his son Samuel-locat- ed on the west side of the highway, opposite the Ag- ricultural ground, his house occupying the site of that now owned by S. O. Dewey,-where Harrison Blackmer lately lived. Younglove's home lot was thirty- five rods in width on the highway, and extended wester- ly one hundred and fifteen rods, and he also had a meadow of thirty-five acres lying next south of the Ag- ricultural ground. Samuel Younglove, Jr., was the ancestor of the families of that name who have since lived in this town; but the family name is not now rep- resented here by any male descendants. The children of Samuel Younglove, Jr., and his wife Abigail, were :
John, born November 28, 1729 ; died February 9, 1735.
Jonathan, born February 14, 1732; settled where Almon I.
(1) The name of Joshua White appears on the "roll of the Independent Companie of the Manor of Livingston," Nov. 30th, 1715.
111
YOUNGLOVE-SUYDAM-DEWEY.
Loring, deceased, lately lived, in the west part of the town, and died August -, 1781.
Timothy, born September 18, 1734; built and lived where William H. Day now does, at the forks of the road west of Green River, and died December 31, 1796.
Titus, born March 10, 1739, settled on Christian Hill, oppo- site the now dwelling house of Frederick A. Burghardt, and died February 28, 1799.
Hannah, born October 28, 1744.
Mirriam, born February 13, 1748,
Abigail, the widow of Samuel Younglove, Jr., died December 1782, aged 83 years.
Samuel and Lawrence Suydam, said to have been brothers from the state of New York-Poughkeepsie -were joint owners of one right, and had lands laid out to them on the west side of the highway including the homesteads of the late John Tucker and Doc- tor Samuel Camp-the old Joseph Church place. The house of the Suydams is believed to have stood where Mrs. Tucker now resides. A very old house- supposed to have been built by them-stood upon that site fifty years ago. Lawrence Suydam died here be- fore the 19th of May, 1731, when administration on his estate was granted to his brother Samuel. Samuel married Janiche White, October 22, 1736, and resided here for some years. David Church came into posses. sion of the Suydam homestead about 1750.
Samuel and Asahel Dewey, from Westfield, were joint proprietors of one right, and had a home lot of thirteen -acres, on the east side of the way, where Merritt I. Wheel- er now resides, on which Samuel had a house standing in 1733. At a later date Asahel had a dwelling house which stood about fifteen rods north of Mr. Wheeler's, which he sold to David Stowe in 1769. He afterwards owned a house which stood on the west side of the street a little below Mr. Wheeler's, and is supposed to have dwelt there. This house-which many still re- member-was taken down a few years since. It had been the residence of Barnet Campbell before the in- corporation of the town, then of Zebulon Olds to 1768, and in the early part of this century of Capt. James Ives.
Asahel Dewey married in 1751, Elizabeth Palmer, and was living in town as late as the Revolution. A low rough stone in the south burial ground furnishes all
112
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
the record we have of his family: this is the inscription :
Hear lies The Body of Elizabeth The Wife of Asel D. And Child. D. C. August 31. D. 1752. Samuel Dewey, Jr., and his wife Elizabeth, were residing here as early as 1730; their children, by the Sheffield records, were :
Elizabeth, born 1730. Thankful, born 1737.
Hannah, 1732.
John,
1739. 1744, died in 1748.
Samuel. 1736. Ezekiel,
Joseph Noble, who came from Westfield about 1726, -son of Matthew Noble, the first settler of Sheffield-lo- cated on the farm now owned by John B. Chadwick, a. mile south of the village. His house, mentioned in the records of the settling committee-1733,-stood nearly east from Mr. Chadwick's residence, on the then west side of the highway. The road at that time ran several rods east of its present location. The house of Mr. Noble, afterwards occupied by his son Eli-was stand- ing within the past forty years. In addition to several tracts of meadow land, Mr. Noble had also a "home lot" of ten acres, laid to his right, apparently between the premises of Joseph Lee and Elisha Collins, west of" Green River. He appears to have been an active man and to have sustained a very respectable position in the parish. His wife was Abigail, daughter of Jedediah Dew --- ey of Westfield, and of their family of eight children, .. several were born before their removal to this town.
Mr. Noble died February 12th. 1758, at the age of 66. Of the children of Joseph and Abigail Noble,
Joseph, born September 22, 1718, married Thankful Dodd, .. and resided in Sheffield.
Eli married Hannah Miller, remained upon the homestead of his father and died here about 1797.
Preserved married Elizabeth Highstead, resided for a time in this town, on the premises now occupied by George Washington Ferry, on the road to South Egremont ; he was grandfather of the late Silas Noble, Esq., of Dixon, Ill.
Mary married Ebenezer Baldwin.
Margaret, born here, October 8, 1727, married Samuel Colver~ of this town.
113
NOBLE-DEWEY -- PHELPS.
Abigail, born September 14, 1731, was the first wife of Deacon Israel Root, of this town. Lydia, married Warham Lee of this town, Oc- tober 2, 1771.
The location of Joseph Noble was then-as that of Mr. Chadwick is now-the most southerly of any on the Meadow road, between Great Barrington village and the Sheffield line, as the lands were lowwet mead- ows, and unsuitable for dwelling places. Below Mr. Noble's, the meadows were regularly laid out and di- vided among the proprietors, extending from the high- way eastward to the Housatonic River, and westward, in long strips, across "Green River Swamp" to the "Great Hill," as the bluff west of Green River was called.
Thomas Dewey, from Westfield, settled on the east side of the river, on the farm lately David Leavitt's, where his house was standing in 1733. ; His meadow lot, bounded south on the Roaring Brook, which was afterwards-1736 -- known as "Thomas Dewey's mill brook." Hence it may be inferred that Mr. Dewey made some improvement of the water power on that stream. The house lot of Mr. Dewey apparently in- cluded the ground on which the Leavitt mansion stands, and it is probable that his house was in that vicinity.
It is traditional, and very likely true, that a fording place of the river then existed in the rear of Merritt I. Wheeler's house; but no bridge was erected over the river, near that place, until after 1780. To the south- ward of Thomas Dewey, John Phelps was located; their lands joining. His house,-mentioned by the settling committee,-as nearly as we can determine from the very indefinite record, stood at the foot of the hill, north of the Orson Tucker place, a few rods south of Roaring Brook, where Samuel Slate afterwards dwelt. The remains of an old orchard still mark the site. Of Mr. Phelps we have no information; he evi- dently remained here but a few years. The locations of Dewey and Phelps were the most southerly made on the east side of the river.
West of Green River, in the south part of the town, provision was made, by the committee, for a road run- ning north and south, as does the present highway, 8
114
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
along which house lots and other lands were laid out, and a few settlers established. The most southerly house lot in that part, was that of Samuel Harmon, described as being at the south end of the plain, on the east side of the road. This lot is now a part of the farm of Elisha Collins. Mr. Harmon's dwelling is be- lieved to have stood a few rods south of Mr. Collins' barn, where, in later years, Levi Loring-father of the late Almon I. Loring, resided. As early as 1742, Mr. Harmon sold his place to James Sexton, and after- wards resided in Sheffield, where he died, at the age of 70, July 9, 1758. His son Samuel, born April 5, 1740. married Kesiah-daughter of Asahel King of this town -resided in Sheffield, and died January 31, 1830. James Sexton, the successor of Mr. Harmon, settled here about 1742, and was, the next year, one of the five original founders of Mr. Hopkins' church. He died about 1756.
To the northward of Samuel Harmon's location, and separated from it by a lot of ten acres assigned to Joseph Noble, was the home lot of Joshua Root, twen- ty-eight rods in width, extending-as did the other lots in that vicinity-from the highway east to the brow of the Great Hill. This too contained ten acres, and is the same on which Joseph Lee now resides. Joshua Root was from Westfield,-born there November 2, 1682,-a descendant of John Root, of Farmington, Conn. He was the proprietor of two rights in the Lower Township, and is said to have come here amongst the earliest settlers, probably in 1726 or '27. His dwelling is supposed to have been on or near the site of the present house of Joseph Lee, which was built by one of his descendants, several of whom re- sided in that part of the town, and gave to it its title of "Root street." Mr. Root died September 28, 1730. His grave in the lower cemetery is the earliest known in this town. A low rough block of limestone marks the place of his interment and bears this inscription:
Hear Lies The body of Joshua Root. Aged 48. 1730.
115
JOSHUA ROOT.
A lot of ten acres recorded to the right of Joshua Root, bounding north and east upon the highway, is now entirely included in the south burial ground. When this lot was laid out, a reservation was made by the settling committee, of a small plot-only six by ten rods in extent-at its northeast corner, for burial pur- poses. Mr. Root was buried upon his own land, a little south of the plot reserved, as were also many members of his family. It has long been said and be- lieved, that Joshua Root was the first white person who died in this town; and it is certain that his grave is the oldest known in our cemeteries. Both Mr. Root and David King died at about the same time; but the date of decease,-as well as the place of burial-of the latter, is unknown. From the probate records of Hampshire county, it appears that the will of Mr. King was made February 5th, and proved October 13th, 1730, and that administration on the estate of Mr. Root, (who died September 28th) was granted Novem- ber 30th, of the same year. Hence it may seem prob- able that the decease of Mr. King preceded, by a short period, that of Mr. Root.
Joshua Root left a family of nine children,-three sons and six daughters,-all of whom, with the excep- tion of his son Israel, were born before the removal of the family from Westfield. One of the daughters- Ruth-was the wife of Silas Kellogg of Sheffield, and died at the age of 96, in 1818; the others removed to more distant places. The sons, Joshua, Thomas, and Israel, remained here. Joshua is said to have resided, where Samuel Harmon originally located, opposite the house of Elisha Collins ; he died here in 1791. Several of his children, earlier than 1800, had emigrated to the counties of Tioga and Chenango, New York. Thomas remained upon the homestead of his father, now the Joseph Lee place. Israel, who was a man of worth and a Deacon of the church, built and lived in the house now Joel Baldwin's, where he died at the age of 81, in 1809. He had sons Israel and Joel, the former resided in Cato and the latter in Oxford, N. Y., in 1810; another son-Stephen-was killed in battle at Stone Arabia, in 1780; and his son-in-law-Ephraim Porter
116
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
-was killed in the Shays fight in Sheffield, in 1787.
A not uninteresting relic of Deacon Israel Root is his wolf trap, still to be seen in the edge of a piece of woodland, at the top of the hill south of Joel Baldwin's dwelling. This consists of a hole sunk in the earth- now more than seven feet deep-two and one-half feet square at the top and considerably larger at the bot- tom. Its side walls are of stone regularly laid up, and flaring inward from the bottom to the top. To render this trap effective in use, the aperture was covered with light brush and leaves, over which a bait was suspend- ed from a pole or convenient sapling. The wolf, in springing to obtain the bait, falling upon the slight covering, was precipitated into the hole beneath, from which, by reason of the formation of its sides, escape was impossible, and he thus became the easy prey of his captors.
To "William Phelps of Windsor ye 2d," who was the owner of one right, was laid out, amongst other lands, a lot of six acres bounding westerly upon the highway and northerly upon the "Great Hollow." This lot was directly opposite the house of Joel Baldwin, including the ground on which his barn stands. The "Great Hollow,"-or as also written the "Long Hol- low," was the same now used by Mr. Baldwin as a pass- way to the meadows. It was decreed by the settling committee that there should be a highway two rods wide " down ye Long Hollow into Green River Swamp." We have found no evidence that Mr. Phelps ever re- sided here ; and if we mistake not, his right went into the possession of the Root family. Upon the lot which we have described, and within the present barn-yard of Mr. Baldwin, was formerly an ancient dwelling, oc- cupied sixty years ago by Yarre Notewire ; but this long since disappeared.
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