USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > History of Great Barrington, (Berkshire County,) Massachusetts > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
Jonathan Ford from Hamden, Conn., purchased a farm on the Long Pond road in 1796, the same on which William Burghardt now resides, and had his dwelling where the house of Mr. Burghardt stands. He died November 8th, 1815, at the age of sixty-eight. His sons were Captain John, William, Deacon Gilbert, Enos, Jesse, and Eaton Ford.
Captain John Ford succeeded his father in the oc- cupancy of the homestead, and was the principal car- penter and builder of the town sixty years ago. He eventually migrated to Western New York, as did also his brother Eaton.
William Ford built, and lived to the time of his de- «cease in 1852, where Edwin N. Hubbard now does, in the Long Pond District; and Enos settled in the same neigh- borhood, on the farm now owned by John H. Coffing.
Deacon Gilbert Ford, who was an earnest support- er of the Congregational church, resided in the brick cottage, which he built, standing on the farm of J. Milton Mackie.
Jesse Ford died a few years since in the west part of the town; the last of the sons of Jonathan Ford.
Others of these Connecticut men located in that part of the town called the North Plain, between Van Deusenville and the West Stockbridge line, on the east end of the Long Lots. The first of these was Dimon Bradley, who came with his sons Zebe and Zalmon T. Bradley-then both young-from North Haven in 1792. He purchased, December 19, 1791, of Peter Burghardt, land on the west side of the county road, in quite the north part of the town, including a house, and a mill
, 335
BRADLEY-TURNER.
« on the Williams river. This purchase embraced lands .. on the east side of the stream-now owned by Albert Rewey-on which Mr. Bradley, and his sons after- wards had their dwellings-three of them-a hundred rods or more west from the county road. The cellars of these dwellings, as well too as the remains of the old dam on the river, are still visible. Here Mr. Brad- ley resided to the time of his decease, July 1st, 1828, when he was seventy-three years old. The late Zal- mon T. Bradley afterwards lived in the house built by William Turner-now Albert Rewey's-on the county road, and before the introduction of spinning machine- ry was engaged in the manufacture of the old time spinning wheels.
About 1792 or '93, Elijah Turner from Hamden, moved to this place, and in 1795, bought land on the North Plain, where Noble B. Turner now lives, and re- sided there for a time. But he purchased the next year other land, on the road to Three Mile Hill, and settled where the house of Merrick G. Hall now stands. He was the father of Mix, Eli, Frederick, Captain " George, and David P. Turner. Captain Jabez Turner .- brother of Elijah-also from Hamden, came in 1795. The next year he purchased of Elijah Turner his place . on the North Plain, and of Josiah Dewey other lands in the same vicinity, and made a permanent settlement. Jabez Turner removed to Monticello, Illinois, and died there at the age of ninety-one years, about 1847; his : sons were :
Benajah W., who died a few years since, and whose descend- : ants still reside here.
Bela.
Timothy, an early advocate of the temperance cause, who · died not many years since at Monticello, Ill.
Zina, lost at sea when a young man.
Jabez, now eighty-five years old, residing in New York city. William W., born January 1st, 1800, living in Hartford, Conn.
William Turner, brother of Elijah and Jabez, also settled here at an early day. He built and lived in the house since occupied by the late Zalmon T. Bradley- now the residence of Albert Rewey-but eventually : removed to Ohio.
The most northerly location in that part of the
336
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
town, was that of Martin Hart. from Farmington, Conn., who in 1795, succeeded Phineas Barnes in the ownership of a house and seventy-six acres of land bounding north on the West Stockbridge line. Mr. Hart resided on this spot to the time of his decease in 1842, and the place has since remained in the occu- pancy of his son Martin (now deceased) and his de- scendants. Further south, on the North Plain, Jacob, Timothy, and John Arnold, from Haddam, Conn., set- tled 1795-97.
Jacob Arnold bought in 1795 the place on which Daniel E. Giddings now resides, as well as that on which Augustine Giddings, deceased, lately lived, and had his residence on the east side of the way a short. distance above the Augustine Giddings house. Jacob Arnold died at the age of eighty years, January 10th, 1826, and his son Deacon Elias Arnold resided upon the Augustine Giddings place.
Timothy Arnold settled on the place lately owned by Doctor Noble B. Pickett, which he bought in 1797, and is supposed to have erected the Doctor Pickett house.
John Arnold also bought land in the same vicinity in 1796, and is said to have built the house now owned by Isaac Van Deusen.
Abraham Seeley, from North Haven, a cooper by trade, and half brother of the before mentioned John Seeley, located on the North Plain in 1798, on land which he bought, with a house then standing, of Roger Buttolph. The site of this house was on the east side of the road about twenty rods north of the old Deacon Isaac Van Deusen homestead. Abraham Seeley was the father of the still well remembered Joel B. Seeley -the old-time miller in Water street-whose descend- ants still reside here, also of the late Abram Seeley, and of Nancy who became the wife of Deacon Gilbert Ford.
Roger Buttolph, of whom Mr. Seeley purchased, had settled there many years earlier. His name was frequently written "Buthrop," and the locality above Van Deusenville came very early to be called "Buth- rops-borough."
Isaac Seeley, also from North Haven, a brother of Abraham Seeley, and the father of our respected towns-
337
SEELEY-POTTER-WOODWORTH.
man, Isaac Seeley, Esq., settled in 1799, just above Van Deusenville, in a small house formerly owned by Asa Eddy. After a few years Mr. Seeley erected a new dwelling, a short distance north of the old one- the same now owned by John Sheridan. Mr. Seeley was by occupation a tailor and in addition cultivated a small farm. He was moreover a fine musician, and his skill as a violinist was known and appreciated at the balls and frolics for miles around.
In 1792, Job Potter from Hamden, located on the farm-now owned by Nicholas Race-in the west part of the town, adjoining the Egremont line. The house of Mr. Potter, which stood a short distance north of the dwelling of Mr. Race, and near a monument in the town line, was the same previously occupied by Coon- rod Sharp, and by his father Peter Sharp.
Job Potter was the father of Heman B., and Robert L. Potter. The former became a lawyer and resided in Buffalo, N. Y., and was a very prominent man in that vicinity; the latter, also a lawyer, was admitted to the bar in 1809, and practised law in this town, but eventually removed to Meadville, Penn.
Major Dudley Woodworth, the father of Edward P. Woodworth, Esq., from Bozrah, Conn., came in 1790. He was a scythe maker, and at first made scythes by hand, having learned the trade in Norwich, Conn. His first place of business, here, was in a shop erected by General Ives in 1790, where the house of Charles Ben- ton now stands, just north of the lane leading to the Centre school house. Two or three years later he re- moved to the east bank of the river, south of the Great Bridge, where he had water power, a trip-hammer and other appliances to facilitate his manufacture. He also, about that time, purchased the old school-house near by, and converted it into a smith's shop in con- nection with his business. Major Woodworth built and lived in the large square house, adjoining the upper burial ground, in which his son E. P. Woodworth since resided. He was also for several years interested with General Ives in the mills-"the Union mills"-on the river in Water street.
Eliphalet Spencer from Connecticut, whose name 22
338
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
first appears in the town tax list in 1788, resided a little west and north of the Great Bridge, and was em- ployed as a miller at the mill south of the bridge. He also lived for a time-1799-in Seekonk where the lo- cation of his dwelling-a few rods north of the See- konk Brook, on the road from Simeon Sage's to Charles Watson's-is still pointed out. Mr. Spencer apparent- ly removed from town about 1804, and afterwards re- sided at Quality Hill, near Canastota, N. Y. The four sons of Eliphalet Spencer became notable men in Cen- tral New York; Ichabod S. Spencer as a prominent lawyer at Canastota; Joshua A. Spencer as an eminent jurist at Utica; Thomas Spencer as a surgeon in the Mexican war, and the founder of the Medical College at Geneva; and Eliphalet Spencer as a minister of the Gospel at Rome.
As early as 1788, William Hambly, an Englishman, located in the house formerly of David Stowe, which stood a few rods north of Merrit I. Wheeler's. Mr. Hambly was a surveyor and school master, and taught here for a time, but eventually removed to Canada.
Simeon Cooper came about 1792, and kept a tavern where the Doctor Collins stone cottage stands, but later, removed to the fork of the roads west of Green River, where William H. Day now lives.
John Tucker, from Norfolk, Conn., the father of Captain Orson Tucker and of John E. Tucker, had his residence south of the village, but about 1795, moved to the east side of the river, on the Brush Hill road.
In that part of the town, too, James Jacklyn and Cæsar Freeman-negroes-located very early.
Jacklyn settled about 1793, near the brook, north of Mark Laird's, where he long maintained a cider brandy distillery. He lived to the age of ninety-three, and died September 8th, 1831.
Joseph B. Osborne located, perhaps before 1800, where the house of Mark Laird stands-the most southerly dwelling in town, on the Brush Hill road. Mr. Osborne was long a school teacher and collector of the town taxes.
In 1797, Samuel Riley established himself as a shoe-maker and tanner, in the village, having his resi-
339
ROSSETER-KILBORN.
dence where Doctor W. H. Parks now lives, with his shop and tan vats in the rear.
In the same year, Major Samuel Rosseter, originally from Berlin, Conn., but who had for a few years re- sided in Claverack, N. Y., came here, and located where Henry Dresser now resides, and carried on the busi- ness of tanning in Water street. Major Rosseter was a man of remarkable energy, industry and promptness, and was for more than fifty years conspicuous in the business and improvements of the village.
Robert Kilborn, from Sandisfield-the father of Russell, Levi, and Joel Kilborn, all now deceased- came to this town in 1796, and erected a tannery on the road to Three Mile Hill, where he became a large land holder and resided to the time of his decease, at the age of ninety-four, November 30th, 1857.
John Farnum, in 1797 and later, kept a tavern in the house, now Jeremiah Atwood's, next north of the Pixley Brook, on the Stockbridge road; and at the same time George and Caleb Stanley were in business as merchants at the Bung Hill corner.
As earlyas 1800, Benjamin Rogers was engaged, with William Robb, in merchandising at the Bung Hill corner, but afterwards studied medicine, attained a large practice as a physician, and eventually,-more than forty years since-removed to Hartford, Conn., and died there.
In the period under consideration several new set- tlers located in Seekonk and its vicinity. Among these were Prince Done, John and Martin Howk, Eli Lyon, Peter Orcut, and Nehemiah Olmsted.
In addition to the few early inhabitants of Muddy Brook, which have been mentioned, the following set- tled there before 1800, and several of them as early as 1790; Elijah Harris from New London, Conn., with his sons Elijah and Elisha; Perigrine, Ebenezer, and Lancaster Comstock; Elisha Andrews, David Dresser, who died in the year 1800; Daniel Chapman ; Silas Lester, who afterwards lived in Seekonk; Hezekiah Bolles, perhaps Jesse Martin, Anthony Stimpson, and families of Hitchcock and Bradley.
Some of the inhabitants of the northern part of
340
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
Muddy Brook petitioned the town in 1793, asking that they might be set off to Stockbridge ; but their request did not meet with favor.
From 1780 to 1800, several highways were laid out in the Muddy Brook section, for the accommodation of its inhabitants. These were mostly two rods, only, in width, and were granted with the condition that the town should be at no expense. The road from Stock- bridge, through the valley to the Yorker place, and thence over Blue Hill to Tyringham, was a county road before 1792 ; and that from the top of Three Mile Hill, northerly, was established by the town, in 1792, with a width of two rods. This afterwards-1803 to 1828-formed part of a turnpike leading from Stock- bridge, through the Muddy Brook valley, New Marl- boro, and part of Sandisfield, to the line of Connecticut.
Between 1780 and 1800, several highways were es- tablished in the north-easterly part of the town-the Beartown district-and in that interval a number of families settled there. Prominent among these were Seth and Samuel Phillips. In the early part of the century that section of the town contained a larger population than it now does ; and Mr. Levi Beebe in- forms us that on his possessions are now the remains of fourteen extinct dwellings.
The new settlers of the town-1780 to 1800-were largely from Connecticut ; many of them were persons of worth and stability, and proved valuable acquisi- tions to the population. During these years some families, and many individuals, emigrated to new lands in Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania; but the new comers were in excess of the emigration, and the population of the town shows a gradual increase from 961 in 1776, to 1,373 in 1790, and to 1,754 in 1800.
Old Roads and Old Inhabitants.
We have already given some accounts of the laying out of the principal highways and county roads in the town. Previous to its incorporation, and before set- tlements were general in the more remote parts, paths through the woods served as a means of communica-
341
OLD ROADS.
tion between isolated neighbors. These, by use, be- came cart roads, and were afterwards, as necessity re- quired, regularly constituted highways. There are indications that one of these early roads extended from near the residence of Frederick Dellert, (beyond Chris- tian Hill on the Long Pond road) northerly, past John C. Munson's and along the west side of Williams River, to the north part of the town. On this course, through the woodland, between Mr. Dellert's and Mr. Mun- son's, is now an occasionally used wood road which we believe to have been the route of this early traveled path. Above Mr. Munson's-perhaps 100 rods-and a little distance west of the Williams River is yet to be seen the cellar of a former dwelling, and a house is known to have stood there, but when or by whom oc- cupied is now unknown. Farther north the path is again traceable in the woods, and beyond this another house is known to have stood, on the west side of the river, and north-west of John Sheridan's-the old Isaac Seeley place. The sites of these ancient dwelling places are remote from any highway; but these, with other evidences, lead us to believe that such a road did exist and that it extended north as far as the first location of the Bradley families.
The road up Christian Hill, north-westerly from the Great Bridge, we find mentioned as "the old saw- mill path," in 1744, and this became a traveled road with a few settlers upon it-perhaps as far west as Frederick A. Burghardt's-the old Titus and Daniel Younglove place-probably as early as 1760. But beyond that, towards Long Pond-although a few families were there located-no road was laid out be- fore 1770. In 1769 Thomas Willcocks and others pe- titioned the Court of Sessions to lay a road, in that part of the town, from the west end of Lot No. 10,- near where Mr. Dellert lives-westerly and northerly to the West Stockbridge line, (a continuation of the Christian Hill road). The petitioners made complaint that although the selectmen had laid out a road on the route indicated, still, the town unreasonably refused to approve it. This road was accordingly established by the court in 1770, beginning at the West Stock-
342
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
bridge line and running south past the Long Pond, to the south line of Lot No. 10, "to the old road that led to Podunk." The houses of inhabitants, north of Thompson Seeley's, on the Long Pond road, at that time, mentioned in the petition, were those of Jona- than Willard, Nathan Willcocks, Jonathan Nash, Thom- as Willcocks, and Thomas Sherelock. Willard lived where Elijah N. Hubbard now does ; Jonathan Nash owned the William Burghardt farm, but did not reside there ; one of the Willcocks's owned the John H. Cof- fing-Ford-place; and Sherlock-from whom the lit- tle mountain is named-had his residence a little north of the lime-kiln on the Ford place. "The old road that led to Podunk" ran west in nearly a straight line -from the residence of Mrs. Sarah Coyn-to the vi- cinity of Seekonk, and thence continued to Podunk- as Alford was then called. This road -- probably long unused-was discontinued by a vote of the town in 1799.
In laying out the west tier of Long lots, in 1753, a strip ten rods in width, running nearly east and west, was left for a road between lots No. 16 and 17. This strip, as the settlement of the outskirts of the town advanced, came into use as a highway. It extended from a point near the house of John C. Munson-west of Van Deusenville-to the extreme west line of the town near the late residence of Silas S. Dewey, de- ceased, in Alford. From a point where the house of Joseph Soudant stands-south of the furnace at Van Deusenville-a road, diverging from the county road, ran westerly, across the present furnace bank, to the east end of the Ten rod strip, near John C. Munson's, and following the strip over hills and ledges, passed about fifteen rods north of the house of Thompson Seeley on the Long Pond road, and crossing the brook a short distance south of the outlet from Long Pond, intersected the road to Alford near the Silas S. Dewey place. It was a hard, rough road, up hill and down, varying from a straight line only so much as the pre- scribed limits of the strip permitted. From the house of Thompson Seeley westward traces of this road still exist, and near its western terminus it is in use as a farm lane.
343
OLD DWELLING PLACES.
It was on this road, west of Thompson Seeley's, and near the brook, where are several lime stone knolls, that John Seeley located in 1793, as we have men- tioned. Here, too, was then standing a saw-mill on the brook, built a few years earlier, apparently by Wil- liam and Charles Whiting, which they sold to Mr. See- ley. The water power at this point was then consid- ered valuable, and had been reserved by a former own- er in making sale of the land; for the whole tract be- tween Long Pond and Seekonk was covered with a heavy growth of timber. Here, near the outlet of the pond, William Ford for many years maintained a saw-mill.
On the north side of this old road, and midway between the pond and Thompson Seeley's, Jared See- ley had his dwelling, with a cooper's shop near by. The cellar of the Jared Seeley house is still visible be- side a large flint boulder, which seems to have sup- ported a corner of his house.
Not far from the site of the Seeley saw-mill, a road diverging from the one last described, crossed the brook and ran southerly through the woods to the highway now traveled near the house of Egbert L. Tullar. This road-still traceable in the woodland- was used until 1812, or later, when, by the building of the Great Barrington and Alford Turnpike-from the foot of Monument Mountain, westerly through Van Deusenville, and by way of Thompson Seeley's and Henry A. Tobey's to North Egremont-its further use was rendered unnecessary.
In this part of the town are to be seen the cellars of ancient residences, remote from the present high- way. One of these stood about 30 rods west from the house of Egbert L. Tullar, and is traditionally said to have been occupied by Prince Done nearly 100 years ago ; and an orchard-still remembered-which stood near it was called the Done orchard. Another is found about 30 rods north-west of the residence of Charles Watson, the name of its owner and the time of its oc- cupancy being unknown.
John O'Brien, a stone mason, as early as 1780, set- tled and had his house where Charles Watson now re-
344
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
sides-the late Jared Murray place-but afterwards built, farther north, the house now owned by Egbert L. Tullar. He was the father of the late William O'Brien, and of John O'Brien, Esq., formerly a lawyer of Greene county, N. Y., who died here a few years since. John O'Brien had worked at the building of the old State House at Albany, and came here imme- diately after its completion.
South of Charles Watson's, the old red house, on the corner-formerly Silas Lester's-is said to have been built by Peter Orcut, a son-in-law of Moses Church, who resided there to the time of his decease in 1805.
Oliver Watson-grandfather of the present Oliver Watson, who is 86 years old-removed from the cen- tral part of the town to Seekonk about 1773-4, and built a saw-mill, where the mill of Simeon Sage now stands on the Seekonk Brook. Mr. Watson had his house a little south of the brook, on the east side of the cross-road leading from Charles Watson's to See- konk ; and a short distance north of the brook, on the same side of the road, is still to be seen the cellar of a house once owned by Prince Done, and afterwards- 1799-the residence of Eliphalet Spencer.
Moses Church-"Lord Church"-whose name ap- pears in the first list of jurors-1761-settled quite early in Seekonk, where he had large tracts of land. He is said to have lived on the corner west of the house of Simeon Sage-where an old wagon shop since stood. Mr. Church died in 1795, leaving a son, Moses, and daughters Thankful and Mary-wives of Peter Orcut and Peter Burghardt.
The first improvements of water power on the See- konk Brook, were made as early as 1749, by Peter Burghardt, Peter Sharp and others. The proprietors of the Upper Township, in a vote of December 19, 1749, relative to the laying out of lands, made an exception of "the improvements made by Peter Burghardt and Peter Sharp," "together with the saw-mill belonging to them and others, with three acres of land adjoining to the same for the accommodation thereof."
In 1776, a saw-mill, probably the same, or on the
345
SEEKONK.
same site, was owned in equal shares, by eight indi- viduals, seven of whom were David Arnold, John Bur- ghardt, Peter Burghardt, Jacob Burghardt, 2d, John Burghardt, 3d, and Isaac Van Deusen. This mill is supposed to have stood where Sage's mill does. It was afterwards owned by Peter Orcut and John Van Deusen, Jr., who sold it in 1796 to Eli Lyon. A grist mill had also been built upon the Seekonk Brook as early as 1787-perhaps several years earlier. This probably stood upon the site of the present mill of Andrew J. Baldwin. It was sold by John Burghardt, 3d, to Oliver Ingersoll in 1787. Ingersoll the next year conveyed it to Eli Lyon. Mr. Lyon, who resided for sev- eral years in Seekonk, appears to have been an enter- prising man. He eventually removed to Bloomfield, N.Y.
The name of Burghardt has been intimately asso- ciated with the vicinity of Seekonk from its earliest settlement. Lambert Burghardt, the father of the late Peter and Isaac Burghardt, had his dwelling a lit- tle south of the main road, where his grand-son, John L. Burghardt, now resides. John Burghardt at the beginning of the present century resided on the late Jonah A. Hulbert place, on the road from Seekonk to the West plain-though there was no road there at that time. This John Burghardt was the possessor of a large tract of land including the farms since owned by John M. and Jonah A. Hulburt.
Con Murray, who had been a soldier in Burgoyne's army, and one of the prisoners taken at Saratoga, built and lived where the house of William R. Palmer now stands in Seekonk.
We have, too, the tradition of one Ninham, an In- dian, who in the last century had his cabin near the bank of the brook, a little south of the bridge in See- konk, and whose son Hendrick is said to have been a man of some importance among the Stockbridge Indi- .ans after their removal to the Oneida country.
Robert Watson-son of Oliver Watson before men- tioned, and father of the present Oliver-bought the ·" Watson place," now James Kelly's-between the vil- lage and Seekonk, in 1805, and erected the present house on the site of an older one.
346
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
West of Seekonk at the corner of the Alford road, . where Henry A. Tobey now resides, John Hickok set -- tled and kept a tavern before the Revolution.
The first settler, in this town, on the Alford road, of whom we have knowledge, was Eliatha Rew, who appears to have located on "the Prindle farm," next west of Henry A. Tobey's in 1762, and whose house is mentioned in alterations of that road made in 1764.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.