USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > History of Great Barrington, (Berkshire County,) Massachusetts > Part 25
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Dec. 14. Benoni Haskins broke jail at night.
1772. Jan'y 7. Preble whip'd and committed.
Jan'y 11. Preble broke out."
and so the list continues. The escapes from the prison were of so frequent occurrance as to demand the adoption of measures for greater security, in which the county officials evidently taxed their ingenuity to the utmost. In May, 1773, specific and somewhat exten- sive improvements were, by the court, ordered to be made upon the jail. These included, amongst other things, repairs of the chimney, hearths and floors ; the lining of the gables with oak plank; the removal and filling up of the east door and window of the jail bed- room ; the putting up of a strong door, with sufficient fastenings, at the passage between the bed-room and the kitchen of the jail-house, "to be kept constantly locked, that no person may speak with a prisoner without leave of the keeper ;" the surrounding of the whole of the lower part of the jail with timbers set three feet in the ground, with their upper ends spiked to the outside of the building-a precautionary measure against tun-
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
neling. It was, further, ordered that a tight plank fence should be put up around the jail, ten feet in height and twelve feet distant from the building, its top armed with iron spikes five inches in length and four inches apart ; the fence to extend over the roof of the jail house kitchen. This work was performed under the supervision of John Chadwick and Mark Hopkins, Esq's., at an expense of nearly £50. The jail thus hedged in, however insecure it might appear to modern criminals, presented a formidable aspect to the evil doers of that time. Still, in later years, prisoners occasionally succeeded in making their escape, and ad- vertisements in the New Haven newspapers, offering rewards for their arrest were not uncommon.
We have been, perhaps, more minute than interest- ing in our description of the jail, and in the specifica- tion of the repairs and improvements made upon it; but in this our object has been to convey as nearly as possible a correct idea of the appearance of a building which was in its time one of the important institutions of the village. This jail was taken down about 1791 or 1792, soon after the removal of the prisoners to Lenox, and a portion of its timbers was used by Moses Hopkins, Esq., in building a barn upon the premises now occupied by Ralph Taylor, where some of them still remain. The keepers of the jail, after Israel Dewey and Samuel Lee, were probably Doctor Samuel Lee for a time. and William Bement as early as 1768, Lieutenant Gamaliel Whiting, who was appointed by High Sheriff Israel Dickinson in December 1776, and Ebenezer Bement, who succeeded Lieutenant Whiting in August 1778. During the Revolution, Tories from various towns, as well as those who "having been ap- pointed soldiers" refused to serve, were frequently in- mates of the jail: and some British prisoners are also known to have been, at one time, confined here.
Before and after the war, commitments for debt were of common occurrence, and debtors were some- times unreasonably persecuted. The debtor giving bonds to keep within the bounds, was allowed the freedom of the jail ground limits. It was while the old fort was used as a prison that a poor debtor was
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COURT HOUSE.
there confined, whose hard hearted creditor was willing to pay board in order to keep his debtor in jail. This man, having given the customary bonds for his enlarge- ment, was permitted to go upon the limits-then de- fined, at one point, by a stick of timber lying by the roadside. The hearts of the daughters of Israel Dewey -the keeper-were moved with compassion for the prisoner, and they conceived the plan of removing this boundary. But not daring to do it themselves, they tied a rope to the timber, with which the prisoner drew it up to the jail, and being no longer restrained by a boundary which did not exist he took his departure. The result of this feat was a suit, presumably brought by the creditor against the bondsmen of the abscond- ing debtor, in which the young ladies, who had con- nived at his escape were, much to their chagrin, sum- moned to appear as witnesses.
The first recorded movement towards providing a permanent place for holding the courts, is found in the records of the court of General Sessions in March 1764 when it was ordered "that Joseph Dwight, Esq., be allowed and paid out of said treasury-to be laid out in building a court house for said county-and to be paid as he shall have occasion for the same, One Hund- red Pounds, £100." The erection of the building was evidently begun in the spring or summer of 1764, but, as appears from the records, it was unfinished in Sep- tember of that year, when a further appropriation of £50 was made towards the building. It is probable that the court-house was so far completed as to be in condition for occupancy in April 1765, and that the April term of the court was then held therein. Atthat term it was ordered by the court to withold the pay- ment of such part of the £150, already appropriated, as then remained unexpended. In September 1768, the court appointed a committee-John Chadwick, Mark Hopkins and David Ingersoll, Jun'r, Esq's-to make sale of part of the land which had been purchas- ed of Doctor Samuel Lee, and with the proceeds of the : sale "to compleat and finish the court-house in said county, in a good workmanlike manner with window shutters" and also to make some repairs upon the jail.
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
The site selected for the court-house was directly with- in the highway or Main street of the village, at the juncture of Castle street with Main street. The build- ing stood so far out into Main street as to admit of a pass way for wagons, on either side, to Castle street in its rear. Castle street was then but little more than a lane, and, with the exception of the house of Rev. Samuel Hopkins,-on the hill, -- where Walter W. Hol- lenbeck now resides, there were no dwellings upon it. The court-house was of wood about 30 by 40 feet on the ground ; a high one and one-half story building, plain and unpainted. It fronted to the east, with its gables east and west, and was destitute of architectural pretention or ornament, save a semi-circular window in its eastern gable and some little carved wood work about the front door. Standing, as it did, but a short distance west from the middle of the street, it occu- pied a prominent position becoming the uses for which it was intended, and was a conspicuous object in the ill-kept and untidy village.
Previous to the formation of Berkshire, Joseph Dwight of Great Barrington and Ephraim Williams of Stockbridge were Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for Hampshire county, and William Williams of Pittsfield, Timothy Woodbridge of Stockbridge, John Ashley of Sheffield, Jabez Ward of New Marlboro, and David Ingersoll of Great Barrington were Justices of the Peace for the same county. Mr. Ingersoll was appointed a Justice September 8, 1749, but-as we have elsewhere stated-was deposed from that office in 1755. A presiding Judge and three associates con- stituted the Court of Common Pleas. These, in 1761, consisted of Joseph Dwight, William Williams, John Ashley and Timothy Woodbridge. Joseph Dwight was the presiding Judge of this court to the time of his decease in 1765. Other residents of Great Bar- rington who became judges of this court were Doctor William Whiting 1781-1787, and Elijah Dwight 1787- 1794. The Court of General Sessions was composed of the Common Pleas Judges and all the Justices of the Peace of the county. This court had jurisdiction in minor criminal cases and in ordinary breaches of
289
FIRST LAWYERS.
the peace, and also performed the duties which now devolve upon the board of County Commissioners. Each of these courts held four sessions annually, two at Great Barrington and two at Pittsfield. Elijah Dwight of Great Barrington was Clerk of the Courts and also Register of Probate, 1761-1781. Elijah Wil- liams, of Stockbridge, was the first High Sheriff, and Mark Hopkins of Great Barrington the first Treasurer of the county. Mark Hopkins was also the first Regis- ter of Deeds, 1761-1776. From 1761 to 1790 there was but one Registry of Deeds in the county and this was kept at Great Barrington.
John Ashley of Sheffield was engaged in the prac- tice of the law previous to the establishment of the . courts in Berkshire, as also John Huggins, of the same town, is said to have been. With the exception of Joseph Dwight, (who did not practice after his re- moval from Brookfield) Colonel Mark Hopkins was the first lawyer who resided in Great Barrington. He was admitted to the Berkshire bar at the first term of the court, September, 1761, and was the first person so ad- mitted. The office of Colonel Hopkins-in which was also kept the Registry of Deeds-was a gambrel roofed building, which he erected, formerly standing upon the site of the brick dwelling house of the late Mrs. Judith Bigelow, and which still stands near the river bank in Water street. Amongst the law students of Colonel Hopkins was Theodore Sedgwick, afterwards distinguished at the bar, a member of both houses of Congress, and a Judge of the Supreme Court of the state. Thomas Williams also studied in the office of Colonel Hopkins; he became a lawyer in Stockbridge, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Revolution, and died in the service at Whitehall in 1776. David Ingersoll, Junior, a native of Great Barrington, was admitted to the bar at the April term, 1765, and though, perhaps, for a short time a resident of Sheffield, was engaged in practice here until 1774.
Theodore Sedgwick was admitted at the September term of the court, 1765, opened an office and practiced law in this town until about 1768, when he removed to Sheffield, and from thence, in 1785, to Stockbridge.
19
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
The above named were all the lawyers resident and in practice in Great Barrington previous to the adoption of the State Constitution in 1780, though Major Wil- liam King-not a member of the bar-frequently ap- peared as counsel in the courts, as also Joseph Gilbert, a hatter of this town, is reputed occasionally to have done. From the time of the suppression of the courts by the people in 1774, to their reorganization under the Constitution of 1780, but little legal business was transacted in the county. In 1782, Thomas Ives, who had previously been admitted to the bar in Litchfield county, Conn., established himself in this town as a lawyer, and Elisha Lee, afterwards of Sheffield, ap- pears to have been, for a short time, in practice here about 1784-5. Erastus Pixley also-a native of this town. and a graduate of Yale college in 1780-was for a time engaged here in the legal profession. The foregoing, with the others previously mentioned, comprise all the lawyers of Great Barrington whilst the courts were here held.
We have made mention of the establishment of the "prison yard," or jail ground limits in 1766. In 1770, "the prisoners in his Majestie's Gaol," to wit: Silas Bingham, Jacob White, Ezra Hickok Junior, George Tobey, Henry Spring, and Daniel Harkin, (presumably confined for debt) petitioned the Court of General Sessions, stating that they had, and that other persons who should thereafter be committed to the jail, might have business to transact in the court-house, and pray- ing that the prison yard might be enlarged by extend- ing it east to "the line of elm trees recently planted in the highway," (1) and north to what is now the north line of Castle street, so as to include the court-house. On this petition, the prison limits were slightly en- larged by extending them east to the line of trees, but were not extended north so as to include the court- house. The limits were, however, soon after enlarged, and again in 1783, when they are thus described: "be-
(1) Of this line of elm trees, it is possible that the large elm in front of the Town Hall is a survivor ; but those in front of the church and parsonage are of more recent origin, having been planted by Ezra Kellogg and Samuel Riley.
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JAIL GROUND LIMITS.
ginning in the former line of the gaol ground, in the west side of the highway, by Ebn'r Bement's horse. house, thence running westwardly, in the former line of the gaol ground, to the line of the land sold by a committee of the county to Deodat Ingersoll, thence northwardly, in a line with the eastwardly line of said land, to the south fence of Gamaliel Whiting, being the north line of the old gaol ground, thence eastward- ly in a line with the said last mentioned north line to the south-west corner of Gamaliel Whiting's house, (1) thence in a line with the south end of said house to the south-east corner of the stoop in front of said house, thence in a straight line to the south-west corner of the court house-within the walls thereof in term-time only-thence from the south-east corner of the court- house in a right line to the post standing at the south- west corner of the yard before the house owned by the estate of Josiah Smith, deceased, (2) thence in a line with the fence bordering said land, on the eastwardly side of the highway to the north end of the bridge called Ash bridge or Silver Hollow, (3) thence across the street to the south post of the gate before Colonel Elijah Dwight's house, (4) thence in a line with the fence of the said Dwight, on the westwardly side of the road to the first mentioned boundary." This ar- rangement of the jail ground gave prisoners "on the limits" the range of the highway from Castle street southerly to the Henderson house.
The courts, which in the popular revolt against the British king had been suspended throughout the state in 1774, were in several counties gradually reorganized in 1775-77; and Judges for Berkshire were commis- sioned in 1779, but did not hold courts. In this coun- ty a strong aversion existed against admitting the
(1) The old Whiting house, taken down in 1876, which stood in front of the Town Hall.
(2) The old tavern house-where the Berkshire House stands.
(3) Ash bridge-a bridgeway-on the sidewalk-over the brook south of Mrs. McLean's house. This brook was called "Ash brook," and the locality was known as "Silver Hollow :" the brook then crossed the street a few rods south of its present location.
(4) The Dwight house-now the Henderson house.
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
courts of law before a state constitution should be framed and adopted. But that this feeling was less prevalent in Great Barrington than in most of the towns of the county, is evident from its repeatedly re- corded action. In the absence of a well founded form of government this town had voted, January 13, 1777, "to support the civil authority in this county, estab- lished in this state, for the redressing of public wrong," and had at the same time refused to petition the State Council not to commission Judges for the Court of Common Pleas until January 1st, 1778. On the 2d of April, 1778, the town gave its unanimous assent to the adoption of the then proposed constitution, which was, however, rejected by the people.
In August, 1778, the several towns of the county expressed their minds by yeas and nays upon a propo- sition, put forth by a county convention, as to whether the Courts of Common Pleas, and General Sessions, or either of them should be held in the county before a bill of rights and a constitution should be formed, and accepted by the people. On this proposition-which was negatived by a large majority of the voters of the county-the vote of Great Barrington was unanimous (59) in favor of admitting the Court of Sessions, and stood sixteen Yeas to eleven Nays on the question of admitting the Court of Common Pleas. In conse- quence of the state of public sentiment in the county, the courts of Berkshire were not reorganized until after the adoption of the Constitution of 1780.
Great Barrington remained the shire town, and courts were, alternately, held here and at Pittsfield until 1787. As early as 1781 the subject of changing the places of holding the courts was in agitation. Twenty years had added very materially to the population of the northern part of the county, though the preponderance of num- bers was still in the south. The questions of removal and of new locations of the courts and county build- ings were discussed with much warmth for a period of five years, and after several county conventions and various legislative enactments coupled with visits to the county of legislative committees, Lenox was fixed upon as the shire town, and the courts were removed
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REMOVAL OF COURT HOUSE.
to that place in 1787. The jail in Great Barrington continued in use until the latter part of the year 1790, when another having been built at Lenox, the prison- ers were removed thither.
From the time of its erection to 1793, the court- house was frequently used for town-meetings and other public assemblages. In 1791 the project of purchas- ing, removing and repairing the building-for the pur- poses of a town-house-was discussed in town-meeting, but the proposition did not meet with favor. The latest known occupancy of the court-house-on its original site-was on the 21st of January, 1793, when a town-meeting was held therein. Not long after that time the building went into the possession of Captain Walter Pynchon, who removed it on to ground nearly in rear of Egbert Hollister's store, where for many years it served as a barn, in connection with the old tavern, which stood where the Berkshire House now does. But with the demolition of the tavern and its surroundings in the improvements made by George R. Ives, it disappeared, about 1839.
The quarter of a century in which Great Barring- ton enjoyed the honors and maintained the position of shire town of the county was eventful in the history of the country and perhaps the most interesting period in the annals of the town; and in that time the county buildings and the village street were the scenes of many important and exciting events. Here, while Massachusetts Bay was yet a British Colony were reg- ularly assembled the justices and sheriffs of the King's court and the lights and founders of the Berkshire bar. The sessions of the court brought together the promi- nent men from all parts of the county representing magistrates, lawyers, clients, witnesses, and jurors; and at these sessions were set on foot many of the pro- jects for public improvement which marked the rise and advancement of the then youngest county of the Commonwealth. Here, on the 16th of August, 1774, was made the first popular demonstration in Western Massachusetts against Royal rule, when the people rising in their might, and animated with patriotic mo- tives, suppressed the King's court and dethroned his
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
Majesty's officials. Within the walls of the old court- house. in the earlier years of the Revolution, the citi- zens of the town often assembled for town meeting de- liberations, and were stirred by the manly eloquence of Hopkins and the sarcastic invectives of Major King to resist toryism at home and oppression from abroad. Here in the autumn of 1786, whilst the furor of the Shay's insurrection was at its height, a fiendish mob of insurgents, maddened with rum and led by unscrupu- lous men prevented the sitting of the county court and compelled the judges to sign a paper agreeing to hold no more courts. Again, a little later-February, 1787 -another mob of insurrectionists, liberated the pris . oners from the jail. insulted peaceable citizens. marched towards Sheffield and finished their day's exploits in the skirmish which followed, in which they were de- feated and routed.
Col. Mark Hopkins.
Mark Hopkins, a son of Timothy Hopkins of Water- bury, Conn., and the youngest brother of the Rev. Sam- uel Hopkins of Great Barrington. was born September 18th, 1739. His father, at his decease in 1749, com- mitted Mark, then in his tenth year, to the care of his brother the minister, with the request that he should receive a liberal education. Mark accordingly came to reside with the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, who undertook the personal supervision of his education and fitted him for college. He graduated at Yale college in 1758, studied law, and was admitted to the bar at the first session of the Berkshire court, September, 1761. He entered immediately upon his professional business in this town, was the first Register of Deeds for the county-an office which he held to the time of his de- cease-and was also the first county treasurer as well as the first town clerk of Great Barrington. With a good education and fine abilities Mr. Hopkins soon ob- tained prominence in the county courts and became a leading man both as a lawyer and citizen. He was also the King's attorney and a barrister, was commis- sioned a Justice of the Peace in 1766, a representative to the General Court in 1773 or '74, and was appointed
295
COLONEL MARK HOPKINS.
Judge of Probate for the county in 1775, but did not serve in that capacity. Before the commencement of hostilities with Great Britain he espoused the cause of the colonies, was a delegate from this town in the coun- ty convention of July, 1774, and one of the committee for drafting the patriotic resolutions adopted by that convention. With the breaking out of the war Mr. Hopkins became prominent as a member of the Com- mittee of Safety, and influential in the conventions of committees which were then common in the county. In the important public affairs of that time he exert- ed a salutary influence in giving direction to the will of his townsmen, and was also active in organizing and rendering efficient the militia of which he was the Colonel.
In the summer of 1776, Colonel Hopkins command- ed a detachment of Berkshire militia at Peekskill, or- dered out by General John Fellows, and later in the same year he served as Brigade Major under General Fellows. Whilst engaged in this service he was taken sick, and in a retreat of the Americans, suf- fered from exposure in being removed to a place of safety. By this exposure his illness was increased, and he died at White Plains, October 26, 1776, at the age of thirty-seven. By his death the town lost an influen- tial and valued citizen, and the American cause one of its most ardent supporters. But for his untimely death, the talents of Colonel Hopkins, which are said to have been of a superior order, would doubtless have advanced him to stations of still higher honor and more distinguished usefulness. It is related that the Hon. Theodore Sedgwick, who had been a law student under Colonel Hopkins, and who was also with him at White Plains, was accustomed to say that if Hopkins had lived, he himself would never have attained the emi- nent position as jurist and statesman which he oc- cupied.
Colonel Hopkins married in 1765, Electa Sergeant, daughter of the Rev. John Sergeant, missionary to the Stockbridge Indians. At his decease he left a family of six children. His widow in her later years removed to Stockbridge, where she resided with her son Archi-
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
bald-father of President Hopkins of Williams college -and died there July 11, 1798.
David Ingersoll, Junior, Esq.
David Ingersoll, Junior, a native of Great Barring- ton, and son of David Ingersoll, one of the early set- tlers of the town, was born September 26, 1742. He was educated at Yale college, graduated in 1761, and was admitted to the bar in Berkshire, April, 1765. There is some reason for supposing that he lived for a time in Sheffield, but he was residing in Great Bar- rington and engaged in the practice of the law here as early as 1768. Mr. Ingersoll was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1767, and in 1770 represented the towns of Sheffield, Great Barrington, and Egremont in the General Court. He was prominent in town affairs, and from the time of the settlement of the Rev. Gideon Bostwick, an active supporter of the Episcopal church. Before the Revolution he had attained some promi- nence as a lawyer and public man, and when the troubles between Great Britain and the colonies as- sumed a serious aspect he adhered to the British cause. In the spring of 1774 he was one of the "addressers" of Governor Hutchinson, which, with other causes, rendered him exceedingly unpopular with the patriots. At the time of the suppression of the King's court in the general uprising of the people-August, 1774-he was seized by Litchfield county men, carried to Con- necticut and imprisoned. He was not, however, long kept in confinement, as he appears to have been in Boston on the 2d of September following, when he mortgaged his homestead-perhaps for the purpose of raising funds with which to leave the country-and soon after sailed for England, where he died in 1796. During his residence in Great Barrington, though not then married, he owned and occupied the house in which the Misses Kellogg (now deceased) lately re- sided. He was one of the number proscribed and banished by an act of the General Court in 1778; and his homestead --- which is said to have been confiscated -was afterwards taken on executions obtained against him by his creditors. Mr. Ingersoll "married (in Eng-
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