USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > History of Great Barrington, (Berkshire County,) Massachusetts > Part 15
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164
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
on those lands, in October, 1757, called in the rates from the hands of the collector and appointed John Williams, Israel Dewey and Jonathan Nash "to send a petition to the General Court to know what the North Parish in Sheffield shall do for the future concerning rating those people living west of said parish." In 1754, and again in 1755, the parish agitated anew the subject of becoming incorporated as a town or district, and in each of those years, in the curt language of the record, "voted to be set off a District." Their efforts, however, were opposed by the town of Sheffield, and at a town meeting, October 4, 1756, the question was put "whether the town will vote the Upper Parish in Sheffield in order to bring forward into a District or not, and it passed in the negative;" and at the same time John Ashley, Esq., Nathaniel Austin and William Spencer were appointed a committee "to give in ye reason, to the General Assembly, why the town did not vote off ye Upper Parish in order to its being formed into a District." This opposition on the part of Shef- field doubtless delayed the incorporation of Great Bar- rington for a time; but Sheffield finally ceased to op- pose the measure, and on the 11th of March, 1760, con- sented to the separation by voting "to set off the Upper or North Parish in the town of Sheffield to be formed into a separate District or Town." Having obtained the consent of the town of Sheffield, the North Parish, on the 9th of March, 1761, voted "to be set off a Town or District as the General Court shall judge proper." and made choice of Timothy Hopkins, Jonathan Nash and William Ingersoll a committee to prefer a petition to the Great and General Court or Assembly of this Province, "to be set off a Town or District."
The committee, soon after, prepared, and presented to the General Court, a petition of which the following is a copy :
"To his Excellency Francis Barnard, Esq'r, Capt'n Gen'l and Commander in Cheife in and over his Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, the Hon'ble his Majesty's council, and House of Representatives, in Gen'l Court as- sembled :
Humbly shew Timothy Hopkins, Jonathan Nash and William Ingersoll a com'tee of the North Parish in Sheffield in the Coun-
165
INCORPORATION OF TOWN.
ty of Hampshire to this purpose appointed That the Body of the Inhabitants of the s'd Parish are remotely settled from the south Parish in s'd Sheffield, that this and Diverse other Inconveniences attending ; The s'd Town having taken into consideration the same and consented and voted that the s'd North Parish be made into a Town or District, and the said Parish having appointed the s'd com'tee to prefer a Petition to this Great and Gen'l Court that the same Parish may be set off a separate Town or District ; Wherefore your Petitioners humbly pray your Exe'cy and Hon'rs to take the same into your wise consideration, that the same may be done accordingly by the same Limits and Bounds which divide the s'd North from the s'd South Parish in Sheffield and as in duty bound shall ever pray.
TIMO. HOPKINS, JONATHAN NASH, WILLIAM INGERSOL."
The presentation of this petition resulted in the passage of an act by the Legislature, incorporating the North Parish into a town with the name of Great Bar- rington, with all the privileges enjoyed by other towns in the Province, excepting that of sending representa- tives to the General Court, which privilege the town was entitled to exercise jointly with the town of Shef- field. This act received the approval of Governor Ber- nard on the 30th of June, 1761.
CHAPTER XIII.
GREAT BARRINGTON-DERIVATION OF THE NAME OF THE TOWN-TOWN ORGANIZATION-EARLY TOWN MEETINGS.
1761-1770.
At whose suggestion the town received its name "Great Barrington," is now unknown. In the petition for its incorporation, no name was presented, and in the preliminary stages of the bill in the House of Rep- resentatives, the name of the town-as we are in- formed-was left blank. It was, formerly, currently said by the old inhabitants that the town was named in memory of Lord Barrington of England then de- ceased-"the first of the name and peerage of Barring- ton"-who, during his life, had manifested an especial interest in, and had been particularly friendly to the colonies of New England. At that time-as well as since-the divisional line between Massachusetts and Rhode Island was unsettled and in controversy. The town of Barrington, now in Rhode Island, lay near the disputed line, and had been in some degree, subject to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts; but as it was uncer- tain whether, by an adjustment of the line, Barrington would fall within Massachusetts or Rhode Island, and to obviate the possible impropriety of having two towns of the same name in the province, it was deter- mined that the new town should be called Great Bar- rington. Hence the prefix which is so often made the subject of question and comment.
Lord Barrington-John Shute, a son of Benjamin Shute, and a younger brother of Samuel Shute, gov- ernor of Massachusetts, 1716-1723-was born in 1678 and died in 1734 at the age of fifty-six. He was a
167
MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION.
Protestant dissenter, and in 1701 published pamphlets "in favor of the civil rights of Protestant dissenters to which class he belonged." "On the accession of George 1st, he was returned as a member of Parliament for Berwick upon Tweed, and in 1720 the King raised him to the Irish Peerage by the title of Viscount Barring- ton of Ardglass." (1) Four of his sons became distin- guished; and the eldest-William, succeeded his father as Viscount Barrington.
By the act incorporating the town, Gen. Joseph Dwight was authorized to issue his warrant "directed to some principal inhabitant" of the town, requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants, qualified to vote in town meetings, to assemble for the choice of town officers.
The warrant of Gen. Dwight, dated July 18th, was addressed to Jonathan Nash, who warned the first town meeting. This meeting was assembled at the meeting-house, on Wednesday, July 22d, 1761, at 4 o'clock, p. m.
Joseph Dwight was chosen moderator, and the fol- lowing town officers were also chosen:
Mark Hopkins, Town Clerk ; Joseph Dwight, Timothy Hop" kins, John Burghardt, Selectmen and Assessors; Timothy Hop- kins, Town Treasurer ; Thomas Pier, Jun'r, Constable ; Aaron Sheldon, Jonathan Pixley, William Brunson, Hog Reeves ; Timo- thy Hopkins, Jonathan Nash, William Brunson, Surveyors of Highways; Aaron Sheldon. Israel Root, Fence Viewers ; Timo- thy Hopkins, Sealer of Leather ; William Ingersoll, Jonathan Nash, Timothy Hopkins, Overseers of the Work-house ; William Ingersoll, Jonathan Nash, Tythingmen ; Jonathan Nash, Timo- thy Hopkins, William Brunson, Wardens.
It was voted that William Ingersoll's house be the work-house, and he the master thereof; and thus the municipal machinery of the town was set in motion. A second town-meeting was held on the 16th of August following. The meeting-house, which had been built nineteen years, was still in process of finishing; and it was voted to finish the galleries with seats, and that two new pews be built in the front gallery. In this gallery two pews had been previously built by some
(1) Encyclopedia Brittanica.
168
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
"young persons" at their own expense, and, by an ar- ticle in the warrant for this meeting, the town was now called upon "to quiet them" in the possession of their improvements, but refused to do anything in the prem- ises. It was also provided that new and good steps should be set up at the doors of the meeting-house; and that Timothy Hopkins should employ some person to sweep the house and keep it "clean and decent;" and, as the first session of the courts for the county was soon to be held, and as no place for holding the courts had yet been provided, it was voted that the Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace may sit in the meeting-house in this town. But the more important business of this meeting was to hear and act upon a list of jurors to be presented by the selectmen. The list, as reported and accepted, contains the names of forty-nine "freeholders"-a large number for the small population of the town-and probably included most of the inhabitants who were competent, and not disqualified, to serve as jurors. The following is the list:
Hendrick Burghardt, David Church,
Josiah Phelps, William Pixley,
Thomas Willcocks, Jonathan Read,
Jonathan Pixley, Moses Pixley,
Zephaniah Phelps, Bill Williams,
Thomas Pier, Jr.,
Jonathan Nash, William King, Jr., Hewit Root,
Israel Dewey,
Timothy Hopkins,
Stephen King, John Church, Israel Root, Thomas Root,
George King,
William Jones,
Joseph Gilbert,
Aaron Sheldon,
Elias Gilbert,
Daniel Allen.
Peter Ingersoll, Peter Burghardt,
David Sanford,
Jacob Burghardt,
Nathaniel L'e, Eliatha Rew,
William Brunson,
John Burghardt, Anthony Hoskins,
Stephen Kelsey.
Jonathan Younglove, John Hamlin, John McLean.
Elnathan Brunson,
Daniel Munger, Moses Church, Samuel Lee,
Asahel Dewey,
William Ingersoll,
Joshua Root, Garret Burghardt, Peter Sharp, Phineas Nash,
The leading men in the management of town busi- ness, and in giving direction to the will of the inhabi- tants, were Gen. Joseph Dwight, who had had large ex- perience both in the civil and military affairs of the province, Mark Hopkins, a young lawyer of superior ability, Deacon Timothy Hopkins, whose unswerving
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TOWN APPROPRIATIONS.
integrity and honesty of purpose commended him to the respect of the citizens. Among the younger men who afterwards became prominent in town affairs were William King, Jun'r .- Major King-Jonathan Nash, William Ingersoll, David Sanford, Elijah Dwight, Bene- dict Dewey, and Jonathan Younglove.
The population of the town, numbering about 500, was composed of somewhat incongruous materials, rep- resenting but little wealth, with no extraordinary amount of intelligence or ability, and already divided on questions of morals and religion. Few matters of special importance agitated the earlier town-meetings. The principal business, aside from the annual election of town officers, consisted in appropriations of money for the support of preaching, schools, highways, and general town charges; and on these matters the inhab- itants were frequently at variance, and sometimes re- fused to raise money for these or any other purposes.
The first appropriation of money made by the town, was on the 16th of November, 1761, when £65 was voted as a salary for the Rev. Samuel Hopkins for that year, £10 to provide his firewood, £30 for the support of a ¿school, and £15 for town charges. A committee was also appointed to determine in what places "the school" should be kept, how many school-houses should be built, and where they should be located. Probably, acting upon the recommendations of this committee, the town voted-April 1762-"that there be one, and but one, school-house built at the charge of and for the use of said town"-"that the said school-house be built on the highest of the land between Mr. Aaron Sheldon's barn and Mr. Israel Dewey's land on the bend of the river, (1) and that said house be twenty feet square beside or exclusive of the chimney." The sum of £25 was granted for building, and Israel Dewey, Samuel Lee, and Joshua Root were appointed to super- intend its erection. This school-house, the first and (until quite recently) the only one erected by the town
(1) Aaron Sheldon's barn-near where the Berkshire House stands ; Israel Dewey's land, the same now occupied by Henry Dresser and Frederick Langsdorff.
170
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
in its corporate capacity-was completed in the follow- ing autumn, and stood near the site of the present Congregational church, where it is mentioned as a boundary in the east line of the county road in 1764. Some misunderstanding arose between the town and the committee which built it, and Israel Dewey-always vigorous in maintaining his own views of right, both in church and state-brought a suit against the town, in which he eventually recovered judgment. This ap- pears, then, to have been the only school-house in the town; and the inhabitants voted, March 15, 1768, to remove this school-house, and to build two new ones, and appointed a committee to determine to what place "the present school-house" should be removed and also where the two. proposed to be built, should be set. But this vote was not, apparently, carried into execu- tion. Still. connected with this vote are the specifica- tions adopted by the town, which convey some impres- sion of the appearance and cost of the average school- house of that period. The town proposed to pay Peter Ingersoll and Oliver Watson £20 ($66.67) provided they would build the two houses in such places as a. committee might direct, "and in the following manner, sixteen feet wide and eighteen feet long, with two floors, and three glass windows with twelve squares 7 by 9 each, each house. The outside or body to be plank, and the roof to be well shingled, and chimneys in each; to be completed by the 1st day of September next." The sum, £20, to be paid, we presume to be for each building, though not so definitely expressed in the record. From 1761 to 1770 appropriations for "the school" or schools were annually made, varying from £30 to £40, and in one year reached £50. The school was maintained with some regularity, though, in 1764, the town was complained of, and summoned to answer before the court of General Sessions "for not having provided a school-master according to law." Daniel Allen was appointed to defend against the com- plaint, and the town escaped the usual penalty of a fine. For several years, one teacher only, appears to have been employed, and the itinerating custom, in vogue under the parish rule, was kept up.
171
ROADS AND BRIDGES.
Money was from time to time, though quite irregu- larly raised for the repair of highways, and the inhabi- tants, so disposed, were permitted to work out their highway rates: and in March, 1762, it was provided "that the price of a day's work at highways, from this time to the last of September next, be three shillings, and after that, to the end of the year two shillings, and that a team of four cattle, a day, be the same price of a day's work of a man." But the roads were not al- ways well cared for, and in 1766, the town having been presented by the Grand Jury, was fined for not keeping them in repair.
One of the early minor improvements was the build- ing of a town pound, in 1763, by Joshua Root, for which he was awarded a compensation of £7. 14s. 2d. The site of this pound is the now front door-yard of Frederick Lawrence, where it marked the boundary of the county road in 1764.
A work of considerable importance at the time, was the rebuilding of the Great Bridge over the . Housa . tonic River, which was accomplished in the autumn of 1766, under direction of Doctor William Whiting, George King, and Oliver Watson, at a cost of £56. 18s. 6d. The next year the bridge over the Williams River, at Van Deusenville, was built, on the site of an earlier one, with an appropriation of £10. 10s. ; this was again rebuilt in 1778 at a cost of £90 in Continental money, more than thirty of the inhabitants turning out to work upon it. In 1770, we find Peter Burghardt asking compensation for having erected a bridge over "See- konks River," at Seekonk, on the road "leading from the Court-house to Podunge"-Podunk, as Alford was then called.
In 1768, Deodat Ingersoll was granted 19s. 7d. 1f. from the treasury, in consideration of his late suffering by fire; and in 1771, £3. 10s. was appropriated on the petition of Daniel Bailey, to procure a cow for his use. Timothy Younglove was desired to make the purchase and see that the cow was well cared for.
The seating of the meeting-house was occasionally attended to, which the selectmen, in one of their war- rants, described as "a very important and difficult
172
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
work;" thus, in 1767, it was voted to seat the meeting- house anew ; Isaac Van Deusen, Israel Dewey, Jona- than Younglove, William Ingersoll and Daniel Allen committee for seating. Voted "that the list of the present year be the rule for said committee to go by in seating said meeting-house, and that said committee, in seating, shall consider each year of every person's age equal to forty shillings estate." Votes were an- nually passed permitting swine, properly ringed, and horses, fettered, to run at large. Deer Reeves, to at- tend to the enforcement of the law for the prevention of the killing of deer, out of season, were frequently chosen, and instances of prosecution and fine for the violation of this statute are not wanting in the court records. Tything-men, and Sabbath wardens were annually chosen.
In the first year of its corporate existence, the town chose three selectmen ; but as a larger number was found desirable, the board for nine succeeding years consisted of five freeholders. A work-house, with a board of overseers, was annually provided, to which paupers and transient persons were sent; and the custom prevailed of warning out of town such new comers as had no visible means of support, in order that they might not become chargeable to the town for their maintenance. The first, and for many years the only paupers mentioned in the records, were Bernard Campbell and his wife-"Europeans." These were frequently the subject of town legislation; were assisted from 1768 to 1781, when they were still on hand. In 1777, the town having appropriated £10 for their sup- port, coupled the grant with the proviso that Camp- bell "is to be put to business, at the discretion of the selectmen," and in case of his refusal to comply, he was not to have the benefit of the appropriation. Until 1770, it was customary to vote upon and audit all de- mands against the town in open town meeting ; but in that year and afterwards the adjustment of accounts was referred to the selectmen or to committees. For several years the compensation of the Town Clerk and the Treasurer was eighteen shillings per annum, each.
The early town meetings were frequently character-
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DISCORDANT MEETINGS.
ized by fitful moods of temper, having their origin, for the most part, in a contention which existed from 1760 to '69, relative to the support of the Rev. Samuel Hop- kins, in which the supporters and opposers of the min- ister were pitted against each other. These meetings were at times of a noisy and turbulent character; es- pecially so whenever the question of raising money for the support of preaching was discussed ; and a dispo- sition to vote down every proposition which was pre- sented-however reasonable-was occasionally mani- fested. Thus in May, 1763, the inhabitants --- for the second time in that year-refused to raise money "for defraying the necessary charges of the town ;" refused to choose a committee "to reckon with the treasurer ;" refused to appoint a committee "to examine and pass the accounts of Samuel Lee and Isarel Dewey for build- ing a school-house ;" and refused to join with Sheffield in the choice of a representative to the General Court. But in October of the same year, the inhabitants, in better temper, granted £40 for the support of "the school," £20 for contingent expenses, and £55 for re- pair of highways. At this meeting Mark Hopkins asked permission to build for himself, at his own ex- pense, a pew in the meeting-house-a privilege which the parish had formerly accorded to others-but his prayer was not granted. In January of the next year the petition of Mr. Hopkins was renewed and acceded to, and he was permitted to build his pew in the rear of the body seats, on the east side of the "great alley," adjoining to and east of General Dwight's pew ; and at the same time liberty was given to some other persons to build a pew at the west end of the front gallery.
The inhabitants were averse to taxation, and scruti- nized closely all appropriations and expenditures for public purposes. In 1765, they were greatly exercised over the proposed purchase-by the county-of a house -the lately demolished old Episcopal parsonage-and an acre of land, for a jail house and site for a jail, and appointed Timothy Hopkins, David Sanford, and John- athan Younglove "to prefer a petition, with other towns- in the county, to the court of General Sessions of the Peace for the county of Berkshire, praying that they
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
would consider the distressed circumstances of the county, and not oblige them to pay such large sums for purchasing land and buying a house and barn for accommodating a Gaol in said county, and also that they may not be holden to build such an expensive Gaol, and to represent said affairs in such a dutiful way as to them should seem proper."
By the act of incorporation, Great Barrington jointly with Sheffield was entitled to the privilege of sending a representative to the General Court, and Egremont was afterwards united with these towns in the exercise of that right. The elections were held in Sheffield; and the first inhabitant of Great Barrington, chosen to that office, was David Ingersoll, Jun'r, Esq., in 1770. Mark Hopkins, Esq., was also the representative in 1773.
The office of Town Clerk was filled by Mark Hop- kins 1761-64, when Elijah Dwight was chosen; he was succeeded in 1770 by William King, Jun'r, who is sup- posed to have been the clerk until 1776. During the first ten years the records of town proceedings were intelligibly written and well kept ; but from November 1771, to March 1776, no minutes of the town meetings appear on the book of records, nor are such minutes known to have been preserved. The early town meet- ings were held at the meeting-house, and as no means were provided for warming that building, were some- times in inclement weather, adjourned to the tavern of Captain Hewit Root near by. After the erection of the court-house meetings were held both there and at the meeting-house, but more frequently in the former, from which they were often adjourned to the neighboring taverns of William Bement, Gamaliel Whiting, and Josiah Smith. The court-house was first occupied for town-meetings October 27th, 1765, and the last meet- ing, there held, was on January 21st, 1793.
Brigadier General Joseph Dwight.
In the foregoing chapters frequent mention has been made of General Joseph Dwight, than whom no individual among the early inhabitants either of the town or county occupied a more eminent position or exercised a more salutary influence ; and although the
175
JOSEPH DWIGHT.
years which he spent in this town were few in number- the nine latter years of his life-nevertheless the im- portant part which he took in that period, in forming and shaping the character of the town and in the direc- tion of its affairs, together with his earlier public serv- ices, both civil and military, entitle him to a particular notice in these pages and to a more faithful portrayal than we are able to produce.
Joseph Dwight was a son of Captain Henry Dwight of Hatfield-one of the committee for settling the Housatonic townships-and a descendant of John Dwight, who emigrated from England in 1734-5 and settled at Dedham, Mass. He was a native of Hatfield, born October 16th, 1703, and a graduate of Harvard College in 1722. He studied law, and resided for several years in Springfield, where he was engaged in trade, and where he married, August 11th, 1726, Mary Pynchon of that town. About 1730-31 he removed to Brookfield, where he soon entered upon the practice of the law, and in 1731 was the representative of the town of Brookfield in the General Court, an office to which he was chosen in ten subsequent years ; he was also a member of the Provincial Council, and in 1748-9 speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1739, he was appointed judge of the court of Common Pleas of Worcester county. In addition to his legal and judicial employments, he devoted much time to military affairs, was a colonel of militia, and at the time of the expedi- tion against Louisbourgh, on Cape Breton, was com- missioned a Brigadier General-February 20th, 1745 -by Governor Shirley. In that year he distinguished himself as the commander of the Massachusetts Artil- lery at the siege and capture of Louisbourgh, and was commended by General Pepperell who commanded in that expedition. General Dwight, soon after, raised a regiment for a proposed expedition against Canada ; but his regiment was for the most part employed in frontier service. Not long after the death of his wife, which occurred March 29th, 1751, he removed to Stock- bridge, as a "trustee of the Indian schools," and there married Mrs. Abigail Sergeant, widow of the Rev. John Sergeant, in August 1752.
176
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
From 1753 to 1761, he was one of the judges of the- courts for Hampshire county, and at the incorporation of Berkshire county he was appointed judge of both the : County and Probate courts, which offices he held to- the time of his decease. In the second French war- 1756-he commanded a regiment in service about. Lakes George and Champlain, and soon after his return from this campaign removed from Stockbridge to Great. Barrington-probably in 1757. In 1759, he purchased the place in the village, since occupied by the late Deacon Allen Henderson, with twelve acres of land ad- joining-including the premises on which Parley A. Russell now resides-and erected the Henderson House. This house, which was at that time considered a very fine one, is still well preserved, and if spared by the hand of improvement, may last through another" century.
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