USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > History of Great Barrington, (Berkshire County,) Massachusetts > Part 2
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
-probably the same-occurrence as having taken place > in the north-east part of Salisbury, at the locality now called Dutcher's Bridge, and states-perhaps errone -- ously-that one Col. Whiting was the commanding offi- cer in that affair. But it seems not improbable that the place of conflict was at the fordway, "by the Great Wigwam," in the village of Great Barrington, where the Indian trail from Westfield crossed the river. This ; was the natural and direct route for a body of Indians fleeing toward the Hudson river-and it is well known that a large number of Indians, supposed to have been fugitives from this battle, soon afterwards, passed the Hudson a short distance below Albany ;- and this lo- cality corresponds with the foot note quoted, as this fordway was afterwards in quite the "upper part of Sheffield," as that town was, originally, incorporated. We are strongly inclined to the belief that Talcot's en -- counter occurred at the spot we haveindicated-though : it matters little whether it took place here or ten miles below, in the edge of Connecticut-and we have only introduced it here as the first well authenticated his -- torical event of this part of the Housatonic Valley.
In the Patent of Westenhook, as in other New York documents of a little earlier date, the river is called " Westenhook"-the Dutch name-which, (as is also our Housatonic) is an apparent corruption of the commonly accepted Indian name of the river-" Hooestennuc" --- " the river beyond the mountains." By both Indians ; and whites, the river was designated by different names : in the different sections through which it passed .--- names which applied appropriately to adjacent territory. Thus it was called by the Dutch Westenhook (some- times written Westenhock-Westenook-and West- ennuc) the name which they gave to the tract of country afterwards the Westenhook Patent; in Massachusetts, by the Indians Hooestennuc, the title by which their settlement in Great Barrington was known; in Con- necticut, Wyantenock, the name of a large tract of country in the vicinity of New Milford; and near its mouth it was known as the "Stratford" river, from the first established town upon its borders.
The earliest particular mention of this river, which
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11
HOUSATONIC RIVER.
we have met with amongst Massachusetts authorities is found in the journal of Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth, a minister of Boston, afterwards President of Harvard College, who, in 1694, accompanied the Commissioners of Massachusetts and Connecticut to attend a treaty held at Albany between Commissioners of Massachu- setts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey and the Five Nations of Indians. (1) The party travelled from Boston to Albany, on horseback, with a guard of sixty dragoons commanded by Capt. Wads worth of Hartford. They left Boston August 6th, and arrived at Westfield August 9th.
Mr. Wadsworth says "We set out from thence (Westfield) towards Albany the nearest way thro' ye woods;" they travelled about 24 or 25 miles and en- camped. "Ye road which we travelled this day, was very woody, rocky, mountainous, swampy ; extream bad riding it was. I never yet saw so bad travelling as this was. We took up our quarters, this night, by ye side of a river, about a quarter past 5," ( probably the Farmington River in Otis.) August 10th, travelled about 25 miles " and took up our lodgings, about sundown, in ye woods, at a place called Ousetonuck formerly inhabited by Indians .. Thro' this place runs a very curious river, the same ( which some say) runs thro' Stradford ; and it has on each side some parcels of pleasant, fertile intervale land." "Ye greatest part of our road this day was a hideous, howling wilder- ness ; some part of ye road was not so extream bad." "August 11, we set forward about sunrise, and came, ye foremost of us, to Kinderhook about 3 of ye clock." They continued to Albany, and, returning, took their route towards Hartford, by Kinderhook, Clavarack, Taghkanick, Kent and Woodbury, Ct. Leaving 'Tur- connick,' they rode twelve or fourteen miles, "on our left a hideous high mountain." About noon they came to Ten Mile river, 'called so from its distance from Wyantenuck, runs into Wyantenuck, by ye side of which we rode, I believe, six or seven miles and passed ye same a little after sundown.' " Wyantenuck river is
(1) This Journal is printed in Collections of the Massachu- setts Historical Society, Vol. 1, 4th series.
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
ye same yt passeth thro' Ousetonnuck ; it is Stratford river also."
It is probable that Mr. Wadsworth and his party, following the Indian trail from Westfield to Kinder- hook, crossed the Housatonic at the fordway by the "Great Wigwam" in the village of Great Barrington, and in that view, this abstract from his journal is valu- able as furnishing corroborative evidence of the truth of the tradition that an Indian settlement had once ex- isted near that fordway. This settlement had. then. in 1694, been abandoned, and it probably had not, to much extent, been inhabited since the time of King Phillip's war, eighteen years earlier. The river, then, was called by the Dutch of New York, Westenhook ; in Massa- chusetts, Ousetonnuc, or Housatunnuk in various styles of orthography; in the northern part of Connecticut Wyantenock. and below tide water the Stratford river.
The derivation of Housatonic-which, as we have said, is a corruption of the Indian name of the valley -has been frequently discussed and we have but little to add to what is known relative to it. Dr. Timothy Dwight is the authority for "Hoo-es-ten-nuc" and for its signification-" the river beyond the mountains"- and this is peculiarly appropriate, as relates to the tribe of Indians which dwelt along the Hudson, ( from which the Housatonic Indians were an offshoot) who were accustomed to resort to the Housatonic valley for hunting and fishing ; to them both the country and river were, in fact. "beyond the mountains." Still we believe the true meaning of Hoo-es-ten-nuc, to be "over the mountain." Such is the definition given in Morse's geography published nearly eighty years since, and such is the definition given by Isaac Huntting, Esq., of Pine Plains. N. Y., who has given much attention to Indian history and language. Mr. Huntting says "Hoo-est" means over, "ten-nuc" the mountain-and to give the Indian idea, it must be a mountain of trees. The tree part of it, is the pith and beauty of the word : the mountain of trees, or covered with trees."
The Rev. Jeremiah Slingerland of Keshena Wis- consin-himself a Stockbridge Indian of pure blood, and the minister of the Stockbridges residing there-
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DERIVATION OF ITS NAME.
informed the writer that the name, applied by the In- dians to this part of the valley was Ou-thot-ton-nook, the first syllable having the sound of ou in out-defi- nition "over the mountain;" but this was the name of their settlement, not of the river.
In illustration of his meaning he pointed at the full moon, then just rising above East mountain, and said "that is Ou-thot-ton-nook-over the moun- tain." But, as we have before said, the river, here and further south, derived its name from the country through which it flowed, rather than from any adaptedness of the names to the stream itself. The different names referred naturally to the land rather than to the stream.
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CHAPTER III.
THE UPPER AND LOWER HOUSATONIC TOWNSHIPS.
1722-1733 with Proceedings Relative to the Lower Township.
The preliminary proceedings towards the settle- ments of the Upper and Lower Housatonic Townships, have been often written, and are familiar to every reader of Berkshire history. At a session of the Great and General Court, of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, begun at Boston, on the last Wednesday of May, 1722, the petitions of Joseph Parsons and one hundred and fifteen others, and of Thomas Nash and sixty others, inhabitants of Hampshire County, were presented, asking for grants of two tracts of land on the Housa- tonic river. The report of the Committee, to which these petitions were referred, was accepted by the General Court, and received the approval of the Gov- ernor on the 30th of June, granting to such of the petitioners, or others, as might be admitted by a com- mittee for laying out and settling the lands, two tracts of land each to contain seven miles square, to be laid out on the Housatonic river, the first tract to adjoin southerly on the divisional line between Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut, the second to be laid northerly of and adjoining to the first tract.
John Stoddard and Henry Dwight of Northampton, Luke Hitchcock of Springfield, John Ashley of West- field, and Samuel Porter of Hadley, were appointed & committee to admit settlers or inhabitants, to grant lots, and manage all the prudential affairs of the set- tlers. The committee were directed to settle the lands in a compact, regular and defensible manner ; to ad- mit one hundred and twenty inhabitants or settlers into
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HOUSATONIC TOWNSHIPS.
the two townships, giving preference to such of the petitioners as they judge most likely to bring forward a settlement, allowing none of the settlers more than three years, from the time of the allotment of their lands, in which to bring forward a settlement, by build- ing a suitable house and dwelling therein by themselves - or a tenant to the committees acceptance-and tilling such quantity of land as the committee might direct, in in order to be entitled to their grants. The committee were also directed to reserve a sufficient quantity of land for the first settled minister, Ministry, and School, , and to demand and receive from each grantee the sum : of thirty shillings for each one hundred acres granted ; the money so received to be expended in paying the Indians a reasonable sum for their rights to the lands, paying the expenses of the settling committee and of laying out the lands, and the residue, in building meet- ing-houses in the townships.
At Westfield on the 25th April, 1724, Konkapot and twenty other Indians-"all of Housatonack allias West- . onook"-in consideration of the payment secured to them of "Four Hundred and Sixty Pounds, Three Barrels of Sider and thirty quarts of Rum," executed a deed conveying to the committee-Col. John Stod- dard, Capt. John Ashley, Capt. Henry Dwight and Capt. Luke Hitchcock-" A certain tract of land lying upon Housatonack river alias Westonook," bounding "Southardly upon ye divisional line between the Pro- vince of Massachusetts Bay and the Colony of Con- necticut in New England, westwardly on ye patten or colony of New York, northwardly upon ye Great Moun- tain known by ye name of Mau-ska-fee-haunk, and eastardly to run four miles from ye aforesaid River, and in a general way so to extend."
The Indians reserved within this tract all the land, « on the west side of the river, lying between the mouth of a brook called "Mau-nau-pen-fe-con" and of a small brook lying between the aforesaid brook and the river called " Waumpa-nick-se-poot" or "White River"-now the Green River-extending due west from the mouths of said brooks to the Colony of New York, and also a + "Clear Meadow" lying between the before-mentioned
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
small brooks and White River. The tract conveyed by this deed included the whole of the towns of Sheffield, Great Barrington, Mount Washington, and Egremont, the greater part of Alford, and large portions of West Stockbridge, Stockbridge, and Lee ; a much larger ter- ritory than was comprehended in the legislative grant.
As the boundary line between New York and Mas- sachusetts had not then been established, the western limit of this tract was indefinite. The Great Mountain -- "Mau-ska-fee-haunk"-the northern boundary in this conveyance, is believed to be the Rattlesnake Mountain in Stockbridge near the southern slope of which the- north line of the upper township ran as afterwards surveyed. (1) The grant of the two townships, as they were finally surveyed, included the present towns of Sheffield and Great Barrington, a large part of West Stockbridge, Stockbridge, and Lee, and a small part of Alford. The tract reserved by the Indians, with the exception of the clear meadow, lies immediately south of the south line of Great Barrington and extends from the Housatonic River westerly to the line of New York ; the clear meadow is included within the recognized limits of Great Barrington. This reservation will be. more particularly noticed hereafter.
Proceedings of the Settling Committee Relative to the Lower Township.
As an initiatory step toward the settlement of the Lower Township, the committee called a meeting of the petitioners or proposed settlers, to be held at the. house of John Day, in Springfield, on the 13th of March, 1723, but, as a public fast had been appointed to be observed on that day, the time of the meeting
(1) Some have supposed the Great Mountain here referred to, to be the Monument Mountain, -and it is so stated in a copy of the Indian deed printed in Vol. 8 of the New England Historical and Geneological Register, in 1854, but such supposition is evi- dently erroneous, as the north line of this tract as subsequently surveyed-and accepted by the Indians-ran more than two miles north of Monument Mountain, and the Indian name of the latter was Mas-wa-se-hi. We have followed the orthography of the Rev. James Bradford, in the Indian names in the deed, though they are printed differently in the copy above mentioned. .
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TOWN BOUNDS ESTABLISHED.
was postponed to the 19th. At this meeting fifty-five persons, each having paid the sum of thirty shillings to the committee, were accepted by them and were to have lands granted to them, on condition that each should build a suitable house and till twelve acres of land within three years' time. At a little later date John Stoddard declined serving on the committee and Samuel Porter died, and Capt. Ebenezer Pomroy was added to the the committee by a vote of the General Court, on the 14th of November, 1724. The records of the committee do not show what, if any, progress was made in the settlement of the township in the three years which had elapsed from March 1723 to March 1726, nor do they furnish any means of account- ing for the apparent delay.
On the 9th of March, 1726, at a meeting of the com- mittee, it was determined "that two of the committee, at least, should go to Housatonic to make something of a survey of the same, in order to a division of the two towns and some projection, if they could, in order to ye laying out of ye lots in ye Lower Township at least ; and Capt. Ashley and Capt. Pomroy went to Housa- tonic on the aforesaid message." Messrs. Ashley and Pomroy evidently visited Housatonic in March, and on the 8th of April the committee again assembled at Springfield, and determined "that ye Lower Town- ship shall extend up the Main River from ye Path yt goeth over ye River by ye Great Wigwam, something above ye middle falls, which is something above half a mile from said path ; and if there shall be a mill or mills sett up there in ye Great River, that each town shall have ye privilege of ye stream for yt purpose." This decree located the divisional line, between the two townships, at the north side of the present Iron Bridge -the Great Bridge-where it was afterwards surveyed by Timothy Dwight in 1736. The "Great Wigwam," or rather the locality known by that name, was near the site of the present Congregational Church in the village of Great Barrington, probably a little to the south and east of that building ; the "Path" crossed the river at a fordway directly east of the foot of Church street. The "Middle Falls" are the same now occupied by the
2
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
Berkshire Woolen Company. The committee at this meeting-April 8th, 1726,-proceeded to divide the Lower Township into five divisions, along the river, following the course of the stream from the Connecti- cut line, northerly, to the present Iron Bridge. These divisions were roughly made, and included the meadow land and the upland immediately adjoining; to each division a specified number of proprietors was allotted.
The first division extended up the river, from the Connecticut line, four hundred rods; in this division were nine proprietors. The second division extended up the river "about two miles" to a certain large brook ; (1) in this division were nine proprietors. The third division extended up to the "Indian Land," (2) "being most two miles;" to this division twenty-one proprietors were assigned, including the Minister's right and the School land. The fourth division began at the north side of the Indian Land, "near the mouth of Green River," and extended "about a mile" to a little cove (3) which emptied into the river at the low- er end of a meadow which "Joshua White improves :" in this division were fourteen proprietors. The fifth division extended from the mouth of the cove men- tioned, up the river "to the end of the town bounds;" to this division eight proprietors were allotted; but it was provided by the committee that the proprietors should not lay out the land above the path which crossed the river at the Great Wigwam. This provision was intended as a protection to, or reservation of the water power which fell within the limits of the fifth division, and which the committee had decreed should be kept for the use of both townships.
Having made the foregoing divisions, the com-
(1) Probably the stream which crosses the highway a little below Sheffield Plain.
(2) The 'Indian Land'-the Indian Reservation, or land re- served by the Indians in their deed of 1724.
(3) This cove is now a low piece of ground-near the high- way-in the meadow next south of the Agricultural Ground. The point where it emptied into the river is a little north of Merrit I. Wheeler's residence. The Green river then emptied into the Housatonic near the present north line of Sheffield.
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SETTLERS MOLESTED BY THE DUTCH.
mittee, at the same meeting-April 8th, 1726-report- ed their proceedings, reading them over several times to the proprietors, which were "well accepted by them," and the proprietors, fifty-nine in number, drew lots to determine in which divisions the lands to be laid out to each should be located, with the exception of a few, whose locations were determined by the committee. The few whose locations were fixed by the committee -aside from the Minister's Right, the right sequester- ed to the Ministry, and the School Right-may have been absent from the meeting, or, as appears more probable, were those who had already commenced im- provements in the Lower Township, as Matthew Noble and perhaps some others, had done. The breadths of the several divisions along the river, north and south, were estimated rather than accurately measured ; that these estimates were made with extreme liberality is apparent to the casual observer of the present day; their extent, east and west of the river, is indefinite, but was such as to accommodate each proprietor with a suitable quantity of both meadow and upland.
It is to be presumed that the committee proceeded immediately, after making these divisions, in April 1726, to lay out home lots and other lands to the proprietors in the respective divisions to which they had been by lot assigned, and that some of the proprietors entered upon and occupied their lands in the spring of that year; but the records of the committee furnish little light on this point, although they do inform us that "many people were upon the land" previous to May 1727. Soon after the commencement of settlements, difficulties arose between the settlers and certain Dutchmen from the Province of New York, who claimed the lands as within the limits and jurisdiction of that Province. Of how serious a nature these troubles were does not distinctly appear, but they were of such moment as to become the subject of correspondence between the governments of the two provinces as early as the spring of 1727.
The records of the committee sum up the matter very briefly, as follows :- " After ye lot was drawn, or after many people was upon the land at Housatunnuck,
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
the Dutch People molested them and caused great charge and trouble to ve Committee as well as ye People." On the 12th of May, 1727, the Lieut. Gover- nor of Massachusetts Bay addressed a letter to the settling committee informing them that he had received from the Governor of New York, a copy of an order of Council "forbidding the inhabitants of that Province prosecuting suits respecting those lands, or making further settlements until ye line be fixed," and he there- fore directed the committee to take "effectual care that the same be observed on ye part of ve inhabitants of this Province."
This "Order of Council" was a response to the petition of Evert Wendell in behalf of the proprietors of Westenhook. The petition, dated April 29th, 1726, narrates that the proprietors purchased the land of the Indians, and obtained a patent in 1705. and had ever since paid the Annual Quit Rent of £7 10s, that they had "lately met with great trouble and disturbance from the people of Conecticut and Massatuchets, they both pretending that Westenhook will fall into their boundaries whenever the partition lines between this Province and those Colonys shall be perfected, and doe begin already to settle the same." The petitioners ask the Governor and Council to interpose, and when the partition line may be completed "that the said proprietors may be continued in the quiet and peace- able possession of such part of Westenhook as may happen to fall within the bounds and limits of Conecti- cut or Massatuchets, and that the property thereof may remaine as the same now stands vested." (Land Papers, Vol. 10 page 4.)
In consequence of the above instructions, the com- mittee, on the 8th of May, issued an order to the set- tlers forbidding them from making further settlements, or commencing suits against the inhabitants of New York respecting the titles of their lands. By this order the progress of the settlement was stayed, and matters came to a stand still, much to the discomfiture of the settlers ; they however maintained their ground, trust- ing that they would be, eventually, sustained by the provincial government, and it is probable that they
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21
RECORDS COMPLETED.
were, tacitly, if not openly, encouraged, though we find no evidence that anything further was done for their relief until 1733. In the interim, the time allotted the committee, in which to perfect the work of laying out the lands and settling both townships, had expired, and their task was not yet completed.
On the 22d of June 1733, the General Court passed an order appointing John Ashley, Ebenezer Pomroy and Thomas Ingersoll a Committee to bring forward a settlement of the Upper Township at Housatonic, their "power to extend also to the Lower Township, so as to confirm the settlers in. their property;" the com- mittee were instructed to report their proceedings as to the Lower Township within twelve months from the date of the order. This committee visited the Lower Township in October 1733, and again in 1734, and com- pleted their work by making a full record of the lands laid to each proprietor's right, and confirming the settlers in the possession of their lands. During the eight years which had elapsed from the commencement of settlements in 1726, to the closing of the labors of the committee in 1734, many of the proprietary rights had changed hands, by sale or otherwise, and several of the original proprietors had died ; amongst the latter were John Huggins, Joshua Root, Lawrence Suydam, Noah Phelps, Daniel Ashley and David King. The proprietors whose titles were confirmed by the com- mittee in 1733-4, most of whom were then settled in the township were as follows :
IN THE FIRST DIVISION.
John Ashley, Aaron Ashley, Ezekiel Ashley, Matthew Noble, Nathaniel Leonard, Joseph Taylor, John Pell. Joseph Corbin, Jonathan Westover, Benjamin Sackett and Chileab Smith.
SECOND DIVISION.
Zachariah Walker, James Smith, Jr., Thomas Lee, and Joshua Boardman, Lieut James Smith, Samuel Goodrich and John Westover, John Smith. Joseph Seger and Lieut. Thomas Ingersoll. John Huggins-deceased, Joshua Boardman.
THIRD DIVISION.
Japhet Bush, John Ashley, Capt. John Day, Philip Callender, John Huggins deceased, David Clark, Anthony Austin, Nathaniel Austin, Eleazar Stockwell, Noah Phelps, Lieut. Thomas Ingersoll. Obadiah and Solomon Noble, Matthew Noble, Senr., William
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
Goodrich. Jonathan Root, Daniel Kellogg, Stephen Vanhall Samuel Ferry, Capt. John Ashley, Minister's Lot, School Lot.
FOURTH DIVISION.
Samuel Ferry, John Phelps, Thomas Dewey, Thomas Pier, ( two rights, ) Samuel Harmon, Joseph Noble, Joshua Root de- ceased, ( two rights, ) William Phelps. Samuel Surdam, and the heirs of Lawrence Surdam, Samuel Dewey, Sen'r. and Samuel Dewey, Jr., Joseph Sheldon, Lot sequestered to the Ministery.
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