USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > History of Great Barrington, (Berkshire County,) Massachusetts > Part 3
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FIFTH DIVISION.
Samuel Younglove, Coonrod Burghardt, Joshua White, Moses King. Israel Lawton, Moses Ingersoll, and Stephen King.
The proprietors held their first meeting on the 12th of May, 1733, and organized the propriety by choosing Daniel Kellogg clerk. This township was in- corporated as a town with the name of Sheffield, in January 1733; but at that time no regular survey of the town had been made, (1) and as it was desirable that it should include a larger tract than had been compre- hended in the legislative grant of seven miles square, the inhabitants and proprietors were desirous of ob- taining a confirmation of the grant, which should cover the excess. A plan of the township was prepared by Capt. William Chandler, compiled partly from surveys made by himself, and partly from those of adjoining lands. made by Timothy Dwight; this plan, which is poorly executed and contains apparent inaccuracies, was presented to the General Court in December, 1737, but was not then accepted.
In 1738 the proprietors, at their meeetings in April and November, discussed the matter, and "chose Na- thaniel Austin agent for the proprietors of Sheffield, to go to the General Assembly to get a confirmation of Sheffield together with the overplus lands found there- in." Mr. Austin was instructed to employ Col. John Stoddard, of Northampton, to assist him in this busi- ness ; but for unexplained reasons the matter was de- layed in the legislature until 1741, when on the 4th of August the plan of the township was accepted and
(1.) In the State Archives is a plat of a survey of the Lower Township, made October 24th, 1733, by John Ashley ; which, however, was not accepted by the General Court. Ashley's sur- vey differs somewhat materially from the one afterwards made by Chandler, which was finally accepted.
.
23
ACTION OF PROPRIETORS.
received the approval of the Governor. In 1735 the proprietors began laying out and distributing the un- divided lands in the township, which they continued to do at intervals until 1761.
At a meeting held January 31st, 1791, it was voted "to lay out all the common land not heretofore voted to be laid out," and a committee was appointed to ascertain the quantity of land remaining undivided. This committee made report that "after deducting all former layings, ponds, rivers, &c., there is to be laid out to each proprietor one hundred and twenty acres, which will comprehend all the lands in said propriety." A general scramble for lands ensued, and for many years, commonage, or the right to pitch lands under proprietary rights, was for sale at low rates. The sur- veys of lands were roughly made and carelessly record- ed; in many instances lands were laid out infringing upon surveys already made; these inaccuracies, to- gether with a general neglect of permanent boundaries, have given rise to numerous misunderstandings and much litigation, particularly as regards the titles of mountain lands. The propriety was finally deemed to be extinct, but was resuscitated and reorganized some thirty years since ; but this organization was shown to be illegal and was set aside. It was however again reorganized, and still claims to have an existence.
CHAPTER IV.
THE UPPER TOWNSHIP, 1722-1742.
Messrs. Ashley and Pomroy of the committee for laying out the townships, came to Housatonic in March, 1726. determined the boundary, on the river, between the two towns, and made the divisions of the Lower Township which have been mentioned. It is to be pre- sumed that some settlers were admitted into the Upper Township in that year, and it is certain, from the records of the committee, that several of them had entered upon their lands previous to May 12th, 1727. These settlers were molested by the Dutch people, who claimed the lands as within the jurisdiction of New York, and the progress of the settlement was, for a time, delayed by the order of the settling committee. of May, 1727, issued by instruction of the Lieutenant Governor, prohibiting the further laying out of lands. and the prosecution of suits against the New York claimants. The records of the committee furnish but little information, relative to the cause or extent of the troubles with the Dutchmen. The State of New York, claiming the Connecticut River for its eastern bound- ary, had granted the lands, along the Housatonic, to the Westenhook patentees thirty years previous to the commencement of settlements; and these patentees, or others holding under them, now contested the right of the Massachusetts settlers to the lands in both town- ships. It is said that the New York men brought suits against some of the settlers, caused them to be arrested and taken to Albany for trial. (1)
(1) So late as June. 1742, Ephraim Williams, Esq., and others in behalf of the inhabitants of Sheffield, Stockbridge and Upper Housatonic, memorialized the General Court, stating that divers persons from New York, under pretense of an Indian deed, and patent from that government, had been lately running lines, and surveying lands in those towns, with the intention of obtaining a confirmation of their patent from the crown.
25
TROUBLES WITH WESTENHOOK PATENTEES.
Some further information of the troubles with the Dutch-or the Westenhook patentees is found in the petition of "Coenræt Borghghardt" to the General Court, November 25th, 1741, (1) from which we gather the following facts: Mr. Burghardt had been en- ployed by the Settling Committee, and was instrumen- tal in purchasing the townships from the Indians in 1724; and was requested, the next year, to measure the distance from the Hudson River to the Housa- tonic at their "nearest point." He-then residing in Kinderhook-went to Albany and employed a surveyor for this purpose, who agreed to come, and fixed the day. The surveyor not appearing at the time appoint- ed, Mr. Burghardt went again to Albany and there learned that the surveyor had been bribed by the Westenhook proprietors "not to serve as promised."
Mr. Burghardt then went to Schenectady and en . gaged another to come on a set day. This one also disappointed him, and, going again to Schenectady, Mr. Burghardt found that he, too, had been bribed in the same manner. He then went eighty miles further, to King's Township, and there procured a surveyor- paying him £5, New York currency, in advance-who, with the assistance of Mr. Burghardt and one of his sons, measured the line.
In 1726, some of the people " that was settling upon Housatunnuck were molested and sued as trespassers by the said patentees, and lost their suit in Albany." Mr. Burghardt, at the request of Capt. John Ashley, gave bonds for the damages and costs and was at the trouble and expense of several journeys to Albany and Westfield, and finally paid £70 out of his own pocket to satisfy his bonds.
In consequence of the order prohibiting the laying out of lands, the affairs of the settlers were greatly em- barrassed : and, as the committee record, "Ye settle- ment at Housatonnuck was for a considerable time, much impeded and hindered; but afterwards many of ye settlers, by themselves, or others, got upon ye land, and had ye encouragement of ye General Assembly." A period of six years elapsed, between the stoppage of
(1) Massachusetts Archives ; "Lands "-Book 46, page 122.
26
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
the settlements and "ye encouragement " mentioned by the committee ;- a blank in the history of the pio- neers, upon which we have found no record casting a ray of light. During this time, the settlers appear to have maintained their possessions, and probably some accessions were made to their numbers : but, in this interval, the time allotted the committee, in which to complete the laying out and settling of the lands, had expired, and but little had been accomplished.
In 1733, June 22d, the General Court passed an order appointing John Ashley and Ebenezer Pomroy, Esq's., and Mr. Thomas Ingersoll a committee "to bring forward a settlement of ye Upper Township at Housatunnock, and allot ye same out pursuant to ye order and direction of this Court at their session in May, 1722; the former committee not having perfected their work before their power determined; the com - mittee's power to extend also to ye Lower Township. so as to confirm the settlers in their property ; and yt the committee report their doings as to ye Lower Township in twelve months, and ye Upper Township within two years from this date." The newly organ- ized. committee visited the township in October, 1733. as well as several times afterwards, admitted settlers and laid out house lots, meadow and other lands, along the river, both above and below Monument Mountain. prescribing as conditions, that each settler or proprie- tor should build a suitable house and occupy the same by himself or a tenant acceptable to the committee. and should cultivate twelve acres of land, all within three years' time. The number of proprietary rights originally provided for, was sixty, including that of the first settled minister and the school right; but, by the grant of the township of Stockbridge to the Indians. which included all of that part of the Upper Township which lies above Monument Mountain, the area of the township was greatly diminished, and the proprietary rights were consequently reduced to forty in number.
The records of the committee, which were written some years later, contain no account of the laying out of the lands above the mountain ; what information we have upon that point is gathered from other sources.
27
GRANTS OF THE INDIAN TOWN.
Early in 1735 the committee had the misfortune to lose their records-or papers-which were consumed in the burning of the house of John Pell, their surveyor, in Sheffield. This, with other "obstructions," led them to apply to the legislature for an extension of time in which to complete their work. After a large part of the lands had been allotted to the proprietors, and many below and a few above the mountain had settled and made improvements, the project of granting the town of Stockbridge to the Indians, was originated. It was foreseen that the proposed grant, if made, would include a large and valuable part of the Upper Town- ship, and that some arrangement must be made with the Housatonic proprietors, and with those who had already made settlements above the mountain.
On the 6th of January, 1736, the legislature ap- pointed a committee consisting of John Stoddard, Ebenezer Pomroy and Thomas Ingersoll, (the latter two of whom were also members of the settling com- mittee,) to confer with the Indians relative to the grant of the proposed township: and, as it was expected that the Indians would desire to have the meadow lands, north of Monument Mountain, which belonged to the proprietors of the Upper Township, and most of which had already been parceled out to some of them, the committee were instructed to confer with the proprie- tors, and arrange terms on which they would relinquish their rights to the lands above the mountain, or ex- change them for other unappropriated lands of the province. This committee came to Housatonic in February following; held conferences with both the Indians and proprietors, and made an early report of their proceedings to the legislature. On the 25th of March, 1736, the township was granted to the Indians, by the General Court. Messrs. Stoddard, Pomroy and Ingersoll were apppointed a committee to lay it out; and, in order to compensate the Housatonic proprietors for the lands taken from them, were authorized to dis- pose of the land in Sheffield, which had been originally reserved, but now relinquished, by the Indians, for that purpose, and also to give to the proprietors that. lived below the mountain, equivalents in unappropriated
28
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
lands lying adjacent to Sheffield, Upper Housatonic and Stockbridge, and further, to make to the proprie- tors above the mountain, equivalents in unappropriated lands of the province, in different places. In April the committee laid out the township to the Indians-six miles square, embracing the present towns of Stock- bridge and West Stockbridge the grant of which was regularly confirmed to them by the General Court in May of the next year. By this grant, the Upper Town- ship lost 9.240 acres of its territory. and the procedure added another to the many hindrances which had so long delayed its settlement. In addition to this the settling committee-as they record-were directed "to make no further records in this plan."
We are not aware that any record exists of the pro- ceedings of the committee-Messrs. Stoddard, Pom- roy and Ingersoll-in making equivalents to the pro- prietors, and arranging terms with the settlers above the mountain, by which they relinquished their titles to the lands taken from them. But from a memoran- dum, found among the papers of Col. John Stoddard, after his decease-apparently the draft of a report to be made to the legislature-which was duly authen- ticated and produced in our Berkshire courts, as evi- dence in some suit at law in 1782, we gather the fol- lowing facts. Meadow lands, above the mountain, had, then, been laid out to not less than twenty-nine proprietors or proprietary rights. for which equivalents were to be made. Of those who were in actual occu- pancy and settled there we have the following names: Jehoiakim Van Valkenburg, who owned 1.200 acres; Richard Moor, who had one right of 400 acres; John Burghardt, who owned three rights of 400 acres each; Elias Van Scoick, who claimed four rights,-though the settling committee had agreed to report three of his rights as forfeited to the province,-probably for the reason that he had not fulfilled the prescribed con- ditions of settlement. In addition to these "Arent Gardiner" owned one right, and probablyresided there. "Isaac Forsberry," [Vosburg] owned two rights above, and one right below the mountain; it is possible that he lived above the mountain, though the probability is,
29
EQUIVALENTS TO PROPRIETORS.
that his residence was below. Mr. Stoddard says that the Indians desired that both Van Valkenburg and Moor might be permitted to abide with them. Van Valkenburg was a friend of Captain Konkapot, often acted as an interpreter, and is reputed to have received 290 acres of land as a gift from that chief.
In arranging equivalents, the committee gave to Isaac Vosburgh, for his two rights above the moun- tain, an equivalent at the eastern end of the Indian land in Sheffield; they also bought of Vosburgh, the right which he owned below the mountain, (in order that it might be held for the first settled minister) and gave him in exchange, another tract in the Indian land. To Arent Gardiner, for his right above the mountain, they gave "the other south part of the Indian land." Thus the Indian land, or so much of it as lay within the town of Sheffield, was exchanged for four rights in the Upper Township. They laid out for Elias Van Scoick, for one right above the mountain, certain meadow lands below; and to John Burghardt, for his three rights, four meadow lots below the mountain, with the proviso that "he is to have no part in the Hop- land, nor more than 1,200 acres for his three rights." To Francis Clew, for one right above, they laid out meadow land below the mountain. (This right was, or soon after became, John Burghardt's.) To Captain Stephen Vanhall and Aaron Van Dyke, for their rights above the mountain, they gave each, one right below. These, and other changes were amicably made; in the transaction, the committee bought of non-residents, several rights below the mountain, which were ex- changed for rights above, giving therefor other unap- propriated province land. Various other rights above the mountain, owned by non-residents, were exchanged for province land in different places. The memoran- dum from which we have quoted, is not a full report, and though it is without date, was evidently made be- fore the committee had finished their business. This paper continues, "the committee have taken out of the Upper Housatunnuck, for the Indians, between nine and ten thousand acres, and they have agreed with the proprietors below the mountain that all the rest of the
30
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
township shall remain to them, and that all the Hop- lands should be divided to and amongst the proprie- tors below the mountain."
Of those who were settled above the mountain, or, are named above as having exchanged their rights, John Burghardt removed below the mountain, and set- tled where Charles Adsit lately resided. Isaac Vos- burgh removed onto the Indian land in Sheffield, and lived near where the late William W. Warner since re- sided. Arent Gardiner, is supposed to have moved onto the Indian land to the westward of Vosburgh. Jehoiakim Van Valkenburg continued to reside in Stockbridge, until about 1738 or 9, when he removed and settled at the foot of the mountain, where William Van Deusen lately lived. Of Richard Moor we have no account. Elias Van Scoick was a very troublesome fellow, and was eventually driven away in 1739. The Upper Township was finally surveyed in 1736, by Tim- othy Dwight of Northampton, as follows: beginning at the northwest corner of Sheffield, the line ran east nine degrees, south 1,902 rods, then north forty degrees, east 2,256 rods, then west nine degrees, north 3,150 rods, to the supposed line of New York, then south eleven de- grees, west 1,950 rods,-content 31,360 acres, equal to seven miles square.
The grant of the "Indian Town," (Stockbridge,) to the Indians, in 1736, took from this township, on its northern end, a tract 1,920 rods in length east and west, and 770 rods in width north and south, and left a large tract, known as the Hoplands, lying east of Stock- bridge, now a part of the town of Lee. The land taken for the Indian Town contained 9,240 acres, and the area of this township was thereby reduced to 22,120 acres. The township in its reduced form, extended from the north line of the Lower Township-at the Great Bridge-to the south line of Stockbridge, and West Stockbridge, and included the Hoplands east of Stockbridge. The forty proprietary rights were fixed by the settling committee at four hundred acres each. In this, as in the Lower Township, many of the rights had changed hands during the time which had elapsed between the commencement of settlements and the
31
OWNERS OF PROPRIETORY RIGHTS.
making up of the records of the committee. The names of the proprietors to whom lands were finally laid out, .and the number of rights and acres to which each was ·entitled, were as follows:
James Bowdoin,
7 1-2 rights.
3,000 acres.
John Burghardt,
4
1,600
Coonrod Burghardt,
6
66
2,400
William Clark,
2
800
David Ingersoll,
5
2,000
Joseph Pixley,
3
1,200
66
Jonah Pixley,
1
400
Hezekiah Phelps,
2
800
Josiah Phelps,
2 1-2
1,000
David Sackett,
1
66
400
Aaron Van Dyke, Esq.,
1
400
Capt. Stephen Vanhall, 1
400
David Winchell,
1
400
John Williams,
1
400
Minister's Lot,
1
400
66
School Lot,
1
400
The right to Aaron Van Dyke, Esq., who resided in Kinderhook, was "given gratis, by the committee, for his good services in purchasing the land of ye Indians." To each of these rights, the committee laid out house lots, meadow and upland along the river, from the Great Bridge northerly to Monument Mountain.
Of the proprietors, beforementioned, John Burg- hardt-or John De Bruer, as it was sometimes writ- ten,-Joseph and Jonah Pixley, Josiah and Hezekiah Phelps, and John Williams resided in the township at the time the records of the committee were made up. Coonrod Burghardt lived in the Lower Township, and his rights were occupied by his sons and son-in-law, to whom he afterwards conveyed them as follows : two rights to Isaac Van Deusen,-his son-in-law,-in 1743; three rights to his sons Peter and Jacob, in 1746; one right to his son Hendrick, at an earlier date. One Derrick Hogaboom had owned one right, and dwelt north and east of the Great Bridge, but had disposed of it as early as 1742; in that year Joseph Sheldon seems to have been in occupancy. In addition to these, there were several other settlers, tenants on the rights of James Bowdoin, David Ingersoll and others, but their names have not descended to us ; Ingersoll himself
32
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
may have resided above the bridge for a time, but built and lived a short distance below it in 1739.
The settlement of this township, begun in 1726, had been attended with peculiar difficulties. By the troubles with the Dutch claimants, and the official or- der of 1727, forbidding the making of further settle- ments, its progress had been stayed until 1733, then recommenced only to be again subjected to delay and inconvenience caused by the setting off of the Indian town, attended with the loss of nearly one-third part of its territory, and followed by an express order to the settling committee to make no further records. In the meanwhile, the time allotted to the settling com- mittee for the performance of their duties had expired, their records, apparently commenced in 1735, were un- finished, and it was not until sixteen years from the commencement of settlements. that the records were completed, and individual proprietors furnished with legal evidence of title to their possessions. Difficul- ties had arisen relative to individual titles to land, and some resident proprietors were in occupancy, and claim- ing possession of certain lands belonging to non-resi- dents; whilst others had not performed the conditions of settlement, prescribed by the committee, by build- ing and occupying a house and cultivating twelve acres of land. In December, 1741, John Williams, Hezekiah Phelps, and others, united in a petition to the General Court, complaining that the settling committee had not fulfilled their duties, and reciting their grievances and the inconveniences to which they were subjected. This petition, followed by another from Josiah Phelps appears to have awakened the attention of the legisla- ture to the condition of affairs at Housatonic, and is supposed to have formed the basis of an order of the court, which was intended to cover all grounds of com- plaint and relieve the inhabitants from further trouble.
This order, passed January 13th, 1742, after invest- ing the inhabitants with limited parish privileges- (which will be considered hereafter)-made it incum- bent upon such of the proprietors as had not already performed the conditions of settlement, to fulfill the same within the space of two years, under penalty of
33
COMMITTEE COMPLETE THEIR WORK.
forfeiture of their lands to the province, and contained the further provision that in case those persons who had not already fulfilled those conditions, and who had entered into lands which had been granted to others, and were holding the rightful owners out of possession of the same, should not, upon notice given them, de- liver up possession to the rightful owners, that then the rights of such so holding "shall be and hereby are declared utterly null and void and shall revert to the province," and that such persons should not be en- titled to any share in the undivided lands in the town- ship. The order also authorized the settling commit- tee to give out copies of all their grants or proceedings respecting the township, "which shall be held good to all intents and purposes in the law, the said commit- tee's power of acting as a committee being determined, notwithstanding."
The records, though bearing date 1735-7, were probably not completed until after the passage of the above order, and the committee, having finished their labors, on the twenty-third of May, 1743, delivered the record book to David Ingersoll, who had been previ- ously chosen clerk of the propriety. The proprietors held their first meeting March 14th, 1743, and organ- ized by choosing John Williams moderator, and David Ingersoll proprietor's clerk. At this, as well as at sub- sequent meetings, during that year, it was voted to lay out lands to certain of the proprietors named in the record ; but in each instance, for unexplained reasons, several owners of rights were not permitted to share in the divisions of land. The lands were laid out, as voted, and the surveys were properly recorded by the clerk. From 1744 to 1749 no meetings are recorded. The parties who had been omitted in the distribution of lands, had sufficient cause for grievance, and no doubt complained of the treatment which they received.
On the eighteenth of July, 1749, the proprietors held a meeting and voted that "Mr. David Ingersoll be dismissed from the office of clerk, and that he serve no longer in that capacity, in said propriety ;" and Timothy Woodbridge was chosen in his stead. After Mr. Ingersoll had been thus summarily deposed from 3
34
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
his office, he refused to deliver up the book of records to the newly elected clerk, and at a meeting held De- cember 19th, 1749, a committee was appointed to wait upon him and demand it, and in case of refusal, to take such course by law, or otherwise, as they might think proper for its recovery. The proprietors event- ually recovered the book, but it is said they were obliged to resort to legal measures to obtain it. By a vote passed October 10th, 1749, the proprietors de- clared null and void all divisions of land made by them to that time, for the reason that these divisions had been illegally and unjustly made, "Especially in de- nying and debarring several of the proprietors of their just rights and interests in the township." By this vote, all divisions made after the settling committee had finished their labors, were annulled, and set aside; and, although these divisions are a matter of record, they have ever since been disregarded. Soon after- wards,-December 19th, 1749,-measures were adopted for dividing all the land in the township. not previous- ly laid out by the settling committee, equally amongst the proprietors.
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