USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > History of Great Barrington, (Berkshire County,) Massachusetts > Part 28
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On the 21st of February following, another attempt was made to raise money for preaching; but this effort failed, and at the same time a vote was passed allowing to the professors of the Church of England the sums which they paid towards the £20 raised on the 3d of the last of November. These proceedings, unimportant as they may appear, are in evidence of the ill-feeling which existed between the two religious denominations of the town, which we have before commented upon. The town meetings of that time were stormy ones, and the subjects discussed were productive of greater ex- citement than we are accustomed to witness in the larger and more decorous assemblages of the present day. In 1770, October 31, the town voted to raise
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
£40, to hire "a good, learned, and orthodox minister;" a committee was appointed for the purpose, and the professors of the Church of England were permitted to draw from the treasury, for the support of their own minister, the sum which they paid towards the amount raised. November 14, 1771, the town refused to raise money for preaching in the "Presbyterian meeting- house." From 1771 to 1777-the time of the hiatus in the town records-we have no record of money raised for preaching, though we know, from another source, that £30 was voted for this purpose in 1774.
It is pleasant to know, what we learn from the memorandums of Lieutenant Gamaliel Whiting-the old weather-book-that the celebrated Rev. George Whitefield, on the occasion of his last visit to this country, and but a short time previous to his decease, preached here for several successive days. Mr. Whit- ing's memorandum is as follows : "1770, July 12, Mr. Whitefield preached at Great Barrington from 2d." From this place Mr. Whitefield went to Canaan, Nor- folk, and Sharon, and Mr. Whiting records "Sunday July 15, went to Canaan and heard Mr. Whitefield."
During these years the pulpit in the meeting-house was very irregularly supplied, and this, for the most part by ministers of neighboring churches or by such others as could be occasionally engaged for a few Sabbaths.
In June, 1771, Mr. Hopkins-then settled at New- port-visited his old parishioners, occupied the pulpit for two Sabbaths, and on one evening preached at the jail.
In 1772-3, Mr. John Hubbard preached here a few times, and, as Lieutenant Whiting's memorandums in- form us, at a town meeting December 17th, 1772, "it was agreed to call Mr. Hubbard."
In 1773, the Rev. Daniel Grosvenor officiated for eight Sabbaths. The church voted to give him a call to settle here. But the inducement to settle in a town which did not willingly pay its ministers was perhaps uninviting. For his services at this time, Mr. Gros- venor did not obtain payment until eleven years after- wards. In 1779, the town voted to pay him the sum due, stated at £8, "but agreed to pay him £64, on account of the depreciation"-that is of the Continental
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PREACHING INTERMITTENT.
money. But this seems not to have been paid; and in 1784, it was, again, voted to pay him £9 12s, for preaching in 1773, and to allow interest after one year.
In 1777, a committee was chosen to invite and pro- vide a minister to preach in the meeting-house, but no money for the purpose was raised. The next year the town having voted to raise money for preaching, im- mediately reconsidered the vote.
April 1, 1782, the town "voted to raise £60 for preach- ing" and appointed Deacon Daniel Nash, Deacon Israel Root, and Josiah Phelps a committee to hire a minister. This committee apparently employed the Rev. (Caleb?) Alexander and a vote was passed the next year author- izing them to draw money from the treasury to pay him "for the time he has preached," and directing them " not to employ the Rev. Mr. Alexander any longer." This last clause was apparently distasteful to the good Deacon Nash, who peremptorily declined serving.
The sum of £75 was raised in 1783, to repair "the old meeting-house and the Church meeting.house," and also £60 for the support of preaching in both religious denominations.
Twice, in 1784, the town refused to raise money for preaching, but in June 1785, voted to raise £80 "to pay for preaching in the Church and in the Con- gregational meeting-house," and later in the same year raised the further sum of £80 for the repair of both the Church and Meeting-house.
In 1787, April 24th, the town having previously ex- tended a call to the Rev. Isaac Foster to settle here in the ministry, offering him a salary of £115 ($383.33) which call had been accepted, the inhabitants voted "to proceed to settle Mr. Isaac Foster in the work of the Gospel ministry agreeable to their former vote." Mr. Foster was accordingly ordained on the 4th of May following. In voting the salary of Mr. Foster, it was specified that he should have £115 over and above what was voted for the Episcopal minister. This in- dicates an understanding, that in voting a given sum for preaching each denomination should have a certain proportion of the money raised, an arrangement just and equitable to both parties. The town, soon after,
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
raised £200 to pay both Mr. Bostwick and Mr. Foster for preaching, the latter to have the sum of £115, and at the same time assigned to him the second pew east . of the pulpit, in the old meeting-house-the pew the same which, forty-one years before, had been set apart by the parish to the use of Mr. Hopkins and his suc- cessors forever.
The next year -- 1788-the same amount, £200, was raised for the support of both ministers. But in April, 1789, an article in the warrant, for raising money for the support of both the Congregational and Episcopal ministers, was "passed over;" and although, in the last month of the year, the town, already in arrears with Mr. Foster, voted to raise £365, for the support of both ministers, still, a week later, it annulled this action by instructing its assessors not to lay a tax for the sum voted.
Mr. Foster-after a ministry of exactly three years -was dismissed May 4th, 1790, for the reason that the people failed to support him, and as his predecessor had done, twenty-one years before, sued the town for arrearages of his salary.
The necessity for the support of an orthodox min- ister by the town, was soon after obviated by the division of its inhabitants into legally constituted religious societies, and thereby the one great cause of contention which for thirty years had marred the town meeting proceedings, was removed. This was effected-on the petition of the town --- by an act of the legislature, passed June 18th, 1791, by which Thomas Ingersoll, Elijah Eggleston and sixty others with their families, polls, and estates were incorporated into a Parish by the name of the Protestant Episcopal Society of Great Barrington," while by the same act it was provided " that all and singular, the other persons with their estates, within the said town of Great Barrington, shall continue and remain a religious society by the name of the Protestant Congregational Society of Great Bar- rington :" "to which shall belong the estates of the non- resident proprietors in said town."
From the dismissal of Mr Foster, as we have before remarked, for the space of sixteen years, no settled
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A SORRY PICTURE.
minister officiated in the old meeting house. Preachers were occasionally employed for short terms; but for a very great part of this time the pulpit was unoccupied, In this interval a few women of the town-as they always have been and still are-were more zealous than the men ; and we have it from an old lady, now de- ceased, that she when young, had been frequently sent by her mother, with other girls of the neighborhood, to sweep the meeting-house and put it in decent condition for occupancy, when, by chance, a minister had been secured for a Sabbath. We quote below from the Rev. Doctor Patten a sorry picture of the condition both of the people and meeting-house-about the year 1794. At this time the Rev. Samuel Hopkins re-visited the town, accompanied by Doctor Patten, and desired to preach to his old parishioners. The latter writes as follows: "the people were without a minister, nor was there any convenient place in which to assemble for public worship. Doctor Hopkins inquired if his former meeting-house could not be fitted for the purpose for one Sabbath ; but it was found to be impracticable, as the windows were broken, the door had fallen down, and the floor had been occupied by sheep, who resorted to it from the Common at night, and in storms. It was further said, that if a meeting should be appointed anywhere else, there would be but little interest taken in it ; but few would attend. It was common for those who regarded the Sabbath and public ordinances to go to other towns to enjoy them; while others devoted the day to visiting, to sitting in taverns, to horse racing, and other amusements; but Mr. Hopkins supposed they expended much more in these ways, and the conse- quent dissipation and extravagance, than would be neces- sary for the support of the gospel ministry among them."
In 1798, President Dwight visited the town and wrote, "It is probable that there has been more horse- racing in these two towns [Great Barrington and Shef- field] than in all the State of Massachusetts besides." At about the same time Mr. Hopkins wrote-in his au- tobiography, "They have had no minister settled among them, except for a short time, since I left them. The church has dwindled, and come to almost nothing, or
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
worse. They have not prospered in their worldly con- cerns, but the contrary. And are far from being re- spectable as a people or town in the sight of those who are acquainted with them, and their circumstances."
President Dwight, in his visit above referred to, says: "The soil of Great Barrington is excellent, yet we saw very few marks of thrift or prosperity. The houses are in many instances decayed ; the Episcopal church barely decent; the Congregational ruinous." He found greater proofs of industry and wealth among the descendants of the Dutch than of the English. "Few places," he writes, "can boast of a better soil, or more delightful situation, yet I suspect few have been less prosperous or less happy. Religion has had here, generally, a doubtful existence, and during the little time in which they have had a minister of the Gospel, he has scarcely been able to find a subsistence." But in later visits, about 1806, President Dwight, "observed with satisfaction that the people are beginning to ex- hibit more generally proofs of industrious exertions," and he "learned with particular pleasure that the Pres- byterian congregation had settled a regular and re- spectable minister, after a vacancy of thirty-four years. A spirit of improvement was visibly increasing." (1)
Such are the gloomy presentations of the character and condition of the people of the town at the close of the last century. May we not hope that the portrayal is exaggerated and overdrawn? But the fact that the newly incorporated Congregational society, when the responsibility of the support of preaching devolved upon it, permitted sixteen years to pass without set- tling a minister, warrants the inference that its people were not more zealous in religious matters than the in- habitants of the town, as a whole, had previously been. The course pursued by the inhabitants in the matters which we have been considering, may to-day seem illiberal and unwise. But of this it is not well to judge too harshly, for many extenuating circumstances at- tended. Some of these appear in the facts that the people, from the time of the formation of the parish,
(1) Dwight's Travels, Vol. 2, page 360.
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DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED.
« had been divided in their religious views, had quarreled for years over the salary of their first minister, had been very poor before the Revolution, had suffered the furth- er impoverishment of a seven years' war, and were bat- tling with the many difficulties incident to that chaotic state of public affairs which intervened between the war and the establishment of the Federal government.
CHAPTER XXIII.
NEW FAMILIES AND NEW LOCATIONS, OLD ROADS AND OLD INHABITANTS.
1780-1800.
With the close of the war and the advent of peace many new families moved into the town. But the un- settled state of public affairs, the poverty of the country, the town, and of individuals, caused by the war, with the contentions and animosities attending the Shays Rebellion, conspired to prevent a speedy return to pros- perity, and it was not until after 1790, that any very marked improvement in the condition of the inhabi- tants became noticeable.
A large portion of the new comers-1780 to 1800 -were from Connecticut; many of whom were of a better class than had composed the original settlers of the town. We propose now, briefly to notice some of the more prominent of these new settlers, and to point out their locations. The descendants of many of them still reside here, whilst the names of others are not represented amongst our inhabitants.
As early as 1780 Doctor John Budd, said to have been from New Bedford and a Lieutenant in the army at the capture of Burgoyne, moved into town and had his dwelling for a time near the west end of the Great Bridge, but afterwards owned and lived upon the farm, now of John A. Cone, west of Green River. Doctor Budd was an energetic, enterprising man and secured a large practice as a physician. He died in 1804, leaving two daughters, one of whom married Garret Burghardt and was the mother of the late John Budd Burghardt,
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JOHN AND STEPHEN SIBLEY.
and of Lonson N. Burghardt, who still resides here; the other became the wife of Mervin Pitkin, and was the mother of Rev. John Budd Pitkin-a Unitarian - clergyman, who died many years since at Richmond, Va .- and of Mervin Pitkin, who is supposed to have been lost at sea when a young man.
About 1780-81, Doctor John Sibley, who had been a surgeon in the army, settled here as a physician, and married Elizabeth Hopkins, daughter of the Rev. Sam- uel Hopkins. But after a few years-apparently in 1784 -- he removed from town and afterwards resided in Fayetteville, North Carolina. One of his sons, Major George C. Sibley, born in this town in 1782, whose early life was spent in North Carolina, was ap- pointed Indian Agent by President Jefferson. He held various offices of public trust, and died at Elma, Missouri, January 31st, 1863.
Stephen Sibley, a brother of Doctor John Sibley, came here as early as 1782. His occupation was that of a brasier and clock maker. He had his shop, in 1785, in a building which stood at the north-east corner of the new Town Hall ground-the corner of Main and Castle streets-the site the same afterwards occupied by the law-office of the late General John Whiting. Mr. Sibley purchased of Benjamin June, in 1789, a house, built by June, which stood on the present site of the Asa C. Russell house on Castle street, and re- sided there. He is supposed-at about that time-to have built the house, on the opposite side of the street, in which Lonson N. Burghardt now dwells; and this he used as a shop for his business. Mr. Sibley was a skillful artisan, as his works still attest. He made the tall, old-fashioned, eight-day brass clocks, some of which are still in use. One of these, known to be ninety-six years old, is still doing service in the pos- session of the writer. Mr. Sibley was for several years an acting Justice of the Peace, and was intimately identified with the business interests of the town. He, in connection with Abel Sherman from Rhode Island, first improved the water power at Housatonic, in the north part of the town, as will be more particularly .mentioned hereafter.
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
About 1810 Mr. Sibley removed to West Stock -- bridge, and not long after to Grafton, Ohio. His wife, whom he married in 1785, was Jemima Hopkins, daugh- ter of Deacon Timothy Hopkins. One of his sons, Hon. Mark H. Sibley, was a prominent lawyer of Canandaigua, New York, ; and another, John Sibley, resided in Illinois and died a few years since at an ad- vanced age.
In 1782, Elisha Blinn-originally we think from Connecticut, but who appears for a time to have resid- ed in Richmond-moved into town and purchased the- land, and buildings then standing, where Doctor C. T .. Collins lately lived, in the south part of the village. Here Mr. Blinn-as his predecessors on the premises . had done-kept a tavern, and also officiated as deputy under High Sheriff Caleb Hyde, but in 1788, bought the farm lately owned by David Leavitt, on the east side of the river and, not long after, removed to it. Mr. Blinn is presumed to have left town. about 1796, when he sold his farm to John Gibson. We have no infor- mation of his family except that derived from a tomb- stone in the upper burial ground, which commemorates the death of two of his sons-Erastus and Elisha, aged sixteen and twelve years-"both unfortunately drowned" in the Housatonic River, May 25th, 1782.
In 1782, Benjamin June purchased the premises on Castle street, where Asa C. Russell lately lived, and erected a house there. This, with the exception of the dwelling of Rev. Samuel Hopkins on the hill, was the first house built upon that street. Mr. June was a weaver, and for a time occupied the shop formerly Daniel Allen's-which has been mentioned-which stood nearly in front of the then dwelling place of General Ives-now F. T. Whiting's. Mr. June sold his Castle street place to Stephen Sibley in 1789, and after- wards, for a few years, resided in a house which stood a little north of Edward Manville's, in the south part of the village. But June had a propensity for change of location ; and we next find him domiciled near the top of the little mountain, in the south part of the town, which still, in its name of "June Mountain," perpetu- ates his memory. Here, in 1795, he came into posses-
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BENJAMIN JUNE.
sion of fifty acres of land, made a clearing, and erected the first and only dwelling which ever graced that at- tractive, though somewhat isolated, eminence. The house of Mr. June, which is still remembered, was standing and occupied forty years ago. Its cellar is still there, and the foundation of its fire-place, and the. old orchard which he planted, still produces fruit. Mr. June disposed of his mountain home in 1802, and later became one of the early settlers of Pompey, On -- ondaga County, New York. Some of his children, as we are informed, still reside in that county.
Nearly forty years ago a white-haired old man entered the law office-in Syracuse-of the Honorable- Elias W. Leavenworth ( formerly of this town) for the purpose of retaining Mr. Leavenworth to defend him in a suit for slander which had been instituted against. him by one of his neighbors. The slander consisted in the old gentleman's having accused this neighbor with. stealing one of his sheep. On looking at the papers presented, Mr. Leavenworth's attention was arrested by" the familiarity of the name "Benjamin June," and on. inquiry, he learned that his client was none other than. the veritable Benjamin June of June Mountain memory. Mr. Leavenworth defended in the suit-satisfied the jury that the accusation brought by Mr. June against. his neighbor was well founded-that he did steal the sheep-and obtained a verdict for his client.
In the period under consideration a number of families came from North Haven and Hamden (former- parishes of New Haven. Conn.,) abandoning the sandy lands of that region and finding new and better farms in the valley of the Housatonic. Amongst these were the Ives, Seeley, Crain, Ford, Bradley, Turner, and. Potter families ; and these were joined by the Arnolds from Haddam, Ct. Of this special emigration Thomas Ives-afterwards known as General Ives-may be considered the pioneer, as he was the first to locate- here, and it was largely through his influence that some of those named were induced to come. General Ives, then a young lawyer and unmarried, came from North Haven in 1782, and the next year purchased of Mrs. Esther Austin-the widow (re-married) of Daniel.
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
Allen-the house and land where the stone dwelling of Frederick T. Whiting now stands. To this he soon after brought his mother and sister from North Ha- ven, and they, for a time, officiated as his house-keep- ers. The main body of this house, since twice removed, now stands near the railroad, west of the house of Theodore W. French. The hill in front of it was then much higher and steeper than now. and the approach to it from the road was through a dugway of some six or eight feet in depth.
The dwelling of General Ives became the head- quarters and tarrying place of his old friends and neighbors from Connecticut, who came to the town prospecting for new locations, or in the removal of their families to this place; and although they were heartily welcomed and hospitably entertained, their visits were of such frequent occurrence that he was accustomed, jocosely, to call his house the North Haven tavern. General Ives began the practice of the law here, having his office in the store of Moses Hop- kins, which stood at the north-east corner of Ralph Taylor's garden, but in 1784, built an office in his door-yard, a short distance south of his dwelling. This office-since twice removed-now forms part of the main body of the house of William T. LeHommedieu, near the railroad crossing, on the road to Green River. By further purchases, General Ives soon owned a large farm lying west and south of his dwelling, and includ- ing, also, the land on the east side of the way, from the Misses Kellogg place, southerly, to John Brewer's ; and, in addition to his professional business, was ex- tensively engaged in agriculture. A more particular notice of General Ives will be given hereafter.
John Seeley, a carpenter and mill-wright. from North Haven, came to this town about 1791, and in that year purchased a house and small piece of land in Water street, directly west of the Great Bridge, where he dwelt for a time. Two years later he bought land in the northwesterly part of the town, near the Long Pond, and built his house back in the lots, perhaps half a mile west from the present residence of his grand-son-Thompson Seeley-on the Long Pond
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JOHN SEELEY.
road. At that time a road, leaving the Long Pond road at a point a few rods north of Thompson Seeley's, ran directly west to the west line of the town. This road long since discontinued, will be hereafter more particularly described. It was on this old road that John Seeley erected his house, and he also had a saw- mill on the Long Pond brook-near by. Here he re- sided to the time of his death, which occurred October 25, 1805, when he was fifty-four years old. He was the father of John, Jared, and Captain Bethuel Seeley -all now deceased-whose descendants still remain here. Mr. Seeley is described as a friendly, jovial man with a remarkable fund of sociability and good humor, qualities which have characterized his descendants to the present day. He was also a man of great stature, excelling in feats of agility and strength, and in the rude sports, common in that time, was the acknowledged champion of all the region round about. It is related that on one occasion a party of men came from the New York border bringing with them their "bully," as he was termed, for the purpose of testing Mr. Seeley's ability as a wrestler. The latter was busily engaged in laying out the frame of the old grist-mill, which, a few years since, stood a little below the Great Bridge. The visitors informed him of their errand, and invited him to a trial of skill and strength with their wrestler. This Mr. Seeley declined ; assigning as a reason that he was busy and did not wish to leave his work. The bully then began teasing him and removing his tools beyond his reach. Mr. Seeley, for a time, bore his taunts and insults with good humor, but finally, be- coming provoked, rose from his work, seized the bully in his arms and wading into the river ducked him re- peatedly into the water, holding him well under, until the fellow surrendered unconditionally and begged piteously to be released.
Samuel Ives, who from a profuse use of the word "Sir" in his ordinary conversation, came to be known as "Samuel Ives, Sir," located in quite the north part of the town on the Long Pond road in 1793. He was from North Haven, a nail-maker by occupation-for cut nails were then unknown, and all nails were made
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
by hand-and the father of the still well remembered and highly respected Deacon Joel Ives and John Ives.
William Crain, from North Haven, settled about 1794-5, a few rods north of the present residence of Thompson Seeley, on the Long Pond road, where Joseph King had previously and Jared Seeley has since lived, and where the old well still remains. Mr. Crain was a tailor, a quiet and exemplary man. He died many years since leaving, we believe, but one de- scendant-Miss Sally Crain-a very worthy woman .since also deceased.
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