USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > History of Great Barrington, (Berkshire County,) Massachusetts > Part 8
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The place selected for the site of the meeting-house was near the divisional line between the two townships, a few rods east of the Great Bridge. The spot on which it stood is now just within the westerly line of the north burial ground. It is traditional that David In- gersoll gave to the parish the land on which the house was built, with the green or common to the westward. The site was selected with reference to the accommo- dation of the larger number of the inhabitants and was sufficiently central for that purpose ; indeed the earlier attempts towards a village were in its immediate vicinity. Already a saw-mill, grist-mill and a forge for
(1) Moses King, at that time, lived, and apparently kept a tavern, on the east side of the river, south of the meeting house and sixty rods south of the line dividing the Upper and Lower townships.
6
82
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
the manufacture of iron were standing on the river bank near by-and not far distant was a store and the dwellings of several of the settlers. The committee appear to have employed one Moses Bull to build the house, and the labor was prosecuted with such vigor that the building was so far completed as to be ready for occupancy in the following autumn.
No account of the cost of the building is preserved nor do the records of the parish furnish much informa- tion relative to it. The meeting-house was a plain two-story structure, unpainted, about 35 by 45 feet on the ground, with neither steeple, bell or chimney, and with but little exterior or interior decoration. It stood fronting the south, with its gables east and west, with doors in the center of each the south, east, and west sides. Its peak was surmounted with the frame of a belfry, which remained unfinished until 1745, when the parish voted "to make a roofe to the Beelfree, shingle and clabord the said Roofe." But the belfry-if com- pleted-disappeared at a period earlier than any per- son now living-familiar with the building,-can re- member; though tradition affirms that a sentry box stood on the top of the building. The principal or front entrance was at the south door, from which the "great alley" led up to the pulpit. In the south-east and south-west corners were stairways, leading to the galleries which extended around the south, east. and west sides of the building. The pulpit occupied the center of the north side of the room, and was sur- mounted by a sounding board which projected from the side wall of the building. In front of the pulpit was a balustrade or railing, to which was attached a leaf hanging on hinges, which served the purposes of a communion table. Square pews were built around the four sides of the building, with alley-ways passing in front of them, and the central or body part of the room was fitted with seats on either side of the great alley. In process of years, these seats were in part or wholly removed, and pews were built in their stead. But the house, though in condition to be occupied in the autumn of 1742, was not fully completed, and the pro- cess of finishing extended over a period of several
83
SALE OF PEWS.
years, as the needs and the ability of the inhabitants increased. It was rude and primitive,-somewhat barn- like,-in its appearance, but was a fac simile of many of the New England churches of that period, and fully subserved the simple requirements of the settlers. The pews in the meeting-house were disposed of by sale to the highest bidder, on the 9th of April, 1746. Previous to the sale, it was provided that all rates and taxes laid upon individuals for building the house and settling the minister, should be deducted from the sums which such individuals might bid for their pews; and the second pew east of the pulpit was set apart for the use of the Rev. Samuel Hopkins and his successors in the ministry forever. The parish records furnish the fol- lowing account of the sale :
" To David Ingersoll, the first pew west of the
pulpit and adjoining the stairs of the pulpit, £77. Old Tenor. To Hendrick Burghardt, Jun'r. the north-west corner pew, 73,
To Luke Noble & Samuel Suydam, the third pew from the pulpit, north of the west door, 40,
To Josiah Phelps, the pew east of and adjoining to the pulpit,
38.
To Moses Ingersoll, the pew in the north-east corner,
63, 66 66
To James Bowdoin, Esq., the fourth pew east from the pulpit,
To Capt. John Spoor, the pew south of the east end door,
43,
٠،
To David Ingersoll, the pew west of the fore door,
30, 66 66
To David Ingersoll, the pew east of the fore door,
60,
66
To David Ingersoll, the pew south of the west end door,
30,
66
To Coonrod Burghardt, the second pew east from the south door,
49,
To Serg't Thomas Pier, the pew under the stairs at the west end,
38,
To -, the second pew west from the fore door,
34,
£707"
97, 66 66
To Isaac Van Deusen, the pew between the last pew and the stairs,
35, 66 66
84
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
The fourteen pews sold, with one set apart for the minister-fifteen in all-probably represented the whole number then built. The sum realized from the sale, £707 in Old Tenor currency, was equal, at its then depreciated value, to about $470. The purchasers of the pews were all proprietors of lands ; persons who were not owners of pews had seats assigned them, from time to time, in the central part of the house or in the galleries, by committees appointed " to seat the meeting-house ;" and in assigning the seats the com- mittees had regard to estates, age, and official position. At the time of the building of the meeting-house, and for many years afterwards, the highway crossing the bridge turned southerly,-as the old road now does -- and turning, nearly at a right angle to the eastward, passed on the south side of the meeting-house and across the present burial ground to the foot of the mountain. The meeting-house, with its open common, and little burial ground, occupied the angle made by the turn of the highway. The committee appointed for providing preaching obtained the services of the Rev. Thomas Strong of Northampton,-afterwards settled in New Marlboro,-who officiated here in 1742, and, perhaps, a part of the next year ; he was the first minister employed here of whom we have any account.
The erection of the meeting-house, and the estab- lishment of preaching were important events as regards the welfare of the community ; but the legislative act granting authority for the building of the house, and the settlement and maintenance of a minister, conferred no further powers. The inhabitants labored under the same embarrassments arising from the want of munici- pal regulations as before. The peace of the community was disturbed by the presence of loose fellows, loafers, who came here to escape the responsibilities of the law, to avoid taxes, and who rendered themselves obnoxious and burdensome to the proprietors. The meeting-house had been built with money raised by tax on the pro- perietary rights, and funds for the future support of a minister were, by the terms of the act to be obtained from the same source. Many of the inhabitants were not proprietors, and were consequently free from respon-
85
PETITION FOR INCORPORATION.
sibility and taxation, and whilst enjoying all privileges in common with the proprietors, were not holden to con- tribute to the means by which those privileges were obtained. To obviate these difficulties, the proprietors, through the agency of David Ingersoll, who appears to have been their prominent man and spokesman on all occasions, made application to the General Court, prof- fering a petition to be erected into a corporate town. This petition, which is found in the Massachusetts Archives, volume 115, pages 193-4, is as follows :
" To His Excellency, William Shirley, Esq., Captain, Gene- ral, and Govener, &c., his Majesties Councel and hous of Rep- resentetives. In General Court Assembled, Feb'ry 1743.
"The Memorial of David Ingersole of a Parrish Lying Be- tween Sheffield and Stockbridge, In Behalf of the Proprietors, Humbly Sheweth : That in Jan'y, 1742, The Gen'l Court was pleased to invest with parrish priviledges The Inhabitants Lying On housatonnock River, betwene The Indian Land by Green River, and The Township of Stockbridg, and Orders That the Rates and Taxes Should Be Raised Equally Upon Each right of Land Contained In said Bounds.
"Now your Memorialist Would Represent That the s'd Inhabi- tants Labour Under Many Inconveniences, Not haveing the powers and privelidges of a Corporate Town in Particular, by Reason of many Stragling fellows Coming In Upon us, Which we have no way to purg out Nor Able to Lay any Tax Upon, them, to Support the burdens we are under. And further, The prop'rs of said Parrish have Built a meeting-house and setled a Minister With Grate Charg and Expedition, Without any help from Those persons Who run in A Mong us, to Secure Them- selves from paying Taxes to any place.
"I Would, Therefore, Humbly pray in Behalf of the Prop'rs of Said Parrish, That The said parish may Be Erected into a Town With Such powers and preveleges As the Corporate towns in this province are Vested With, And that a Moderate Tax May be continued Upon the Rights that have not fulfilled The Con- ditions of Setlement, for Such Term of Time as the hon'd Court Shall Think fit. And That The Land Lying Betwene The said Parish and Toucanock mountain May be added or annexed there- to. And Your Memorialist, as in Duty Bound, shall ever
pray." (1) DAVID INGERSOLE.
Mr. Ingersoll's petition was read the second time in the House of Representatives, on the 22d of Febru-
(1) The statement in the petition, that the proprietors had settled a minister, was not strictly true. No minister had been settled, though Mr. Strong had been employed to preach, with a view to a settlement.
86
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
ary, 1743, and an order was introduced and passed per- mitting the petitioner to bring in a bill to erect the lands, mentioned, into a town, but on the 29th, the Council non-concurred on some of the minor points of the order. and the subject, for the time being, was laid aside. It is probable that the petition met with oppo- sition from the town of Sheffield, which could poorly afford to lose the territory and population north of the Indian Land. The project, however, was not aban- doned; the petition was again brought forward. On the 15th of March, an order passed the House of Rep- resentatives, and received the concurrence of the Coun- cil, and the approval of Governor Shirley on the 16th, which, though it did not erect the territory and in- habitants into a separate town,-as prayed for,-en- dowed them nevertheless, with full parish privileges, added to their domain a large tract to the westward, and extended the jurisdiction of Sheffield over the whole. By this order the North Parish was virtually incorporated into the town of Sheffield, and its inhabi- tants were vested with all and the same municipal rights, which were enjoyed by the citizens of that town. This arrangement was perhaps a compromise between the petitioners and the town of Sheffield. and was prob- ably satisfactory to the latter, as, thereby both her population and taxable property were considerably in- creased. The following is a copy of the Order. from the General Court Records, Volume 17, page 495 :
"On the petition of David Ingersol, in behalf of the pro- prietors and inhabitants of Upper Housatonack, in the county of Hampshire.
" In the House of Representatives, March 15, 1743. Read, and in answer to this petition, ordered, that the lands and in- habitants of the Upper Housatonack, together with those lands and inhabitants which lye between the said Upper Housatonack and the Indian lands, which by an order of this court, in Jan- uary, 1742, were made a district, excepting James Sexton, and the lands he bought of Samuel Harmah, [Harmon], together with a tract of land and its inhabitants, which lye west of said district, between that and Tauconick Mountains, be and hereby, are made a parish or precinct, and vested with all the powers and privileges which other parishes or precincts within this province do by Law enjoy, and that the whole of the aforesaid parish be, and hereby is, annexed to and incorporated with the
87
ORGANIZATION DELAYED.
Town of Sheffield, during the pleasure of this Court, there to do duty and receive privileges as amply and fully as the present inhabitants of Sheffield. Saving, nevertheless, to the province, their right in the said lands lying between Housatonick and Tau- conic Mountains.
"Sent up for concurrence.
"In council, March 16th, 1743, Concurred.
"Consented to,
W. SHIRLEY."
By the terms of this act, the North Parish of Shef- field was made to include all of Great Barrington, and a large part of Egremont and Alford, the whole an- nexed to and made part of the town of Sheffield. That the jurisdiction of Sheffield ever extended over the whole of this territory, seems to have escaped the ob- servation of all writers of the history of Southern Berk- shire, and in the lapse of time to have been forgotten. The parish records contain no copy of the act of incor- poration, nor even any allusion to it, and, though indi- cations that Sheffield once exercised such jurisdiction, are occasionally found, the authority under which she acted, has but recently been brought to light. But this act seems not fully to have met the requirements of the inhabitants, and for the space of two years they neglected to legally organize themselves into a parish. During this time, what little parochial business was done, was transacted as before, in the name of "the Proprietors of Upper Housatonack and those lying be- tween said Upper Hausatonack and the Indian land," under authority of the order of 1742. As before re- marked, this order authorized the proprietors to raise money by tax upon proprietary rights, for the purpose of building a meeting-house, settling and supporting a minister, whilst the inhabitants who were not proprie- tors, were exempt from any responsibility in the mat- ter. After the passage of the act of 1743, fully incor- porating the parish and annexing it to Sheffield, ques- tions seem to have arisen, relative to the justice and propriety of making it incumbent upon the proprie- tors, to pay all the expenses which had already been incurred in building the house, and settling the minis- ter, and the proprietors were of the opinion, that the inhabitants, non-proprietors, should bear a portion of the burden. These and other questions of similar im-
88
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
port, doubtless delayed the organization of the parish, and were made the subject of a petition to the General Court, presented early in 1745, by Joseph Noble, Luke Noble and Aaron Sheldon-parish assessors.
In answer to this petition, the Legislature, on the 29th of January, 1745, passed an order by which the charges of building the meeting-house and the settle- ment of the minister, were to be paid by the proprie- tors, in accordance with the terms of the original order of 1742, whilst money for the future support of the minister, was to be raised by tax, equitably assessed on polls, estates, and proprietary rights.
Soon after this-on the 29th of March, 1745-the first parish meeting was held, and the parish duly organized.
Josiah Phelps, was chosen Moderator ; William King, Parish Clerk : Moses Ingersoll, Treasurer ; Jo- seph Noble, Luke Noble, Aaron Sheldon, Assessors : Asahel King, John Burghardt. Collectors.
At this meeting John Pixley, one of the committee appointed in 1742, for employing a minister, was re- warded by an appropriation of "two pounds. teen shillings, New Tenor, for going to get a minister,-to be paid by the proprietors ;" and also with "thirty shillings, New Tenor, for moneys which he paid Mr. Thomas Strong, for preaching among us." At the same time, it was voted to pay "Mr. Moses Ingersoll, two pounds, teen shillings, New Tenor, for boarding Mr. Strong, when he preached amongst us, and enter- taining ministers and messengers at Mr. Sam'l Hop- kins' ordination."
With the exception of the above brief mention, no allusion, in the parish records, is made to the Rev. Mr. Strong, or his ministry here.
The records of the parish,-which are provokingly brief and concise in statement, with never a word of explanation or comment,-extending from 1745 to 1761, are contained in twenty-three pages of cap paper : and during this long period of sixteen years, in only one instance is the warrant for a meeting recorded. We are therefore obliged to glean, from other sources, what little can be learned of the history of the parish.
89
MR. HOPKINS INVITED TO PREACH.
Next in importance to the erection of the meeting- house, the affair which agitated the people was the settlement of a minister. Mr. Strong had officiated amongst them for some time, but, whether or not ac- ceptably we have no means of knowing.
The attention of the committee for providing preaching was, perhaps providentially, directed to the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, then a young man of twenty- "one years, engaged in pursuing his theological studies with the Rev. Jonathan Edwards of Northampton. . Mr. Hopkins had graduated at Yale college in 1741, and after studying for a time with Mr. Edwards, had been approved, and licensed to preach by an association of Connecticut ministers. Having preached a few months at Simsbury he had now returned to Northampton,-to the family of Mr. Edwards. It was here that a messen- ger from the North parish,-David Ingersoll,-sent to invite him to preach, found Mr. Hopkins in June 1743. To the diary (1) of Mr. Hopkins, as well as to the autobiographcal sketches of his life, we are indebted for much that is interesting, connected with the history of the parish and with his ministry here. At this time Mr. Hopkins was somewhat unwell, and on account of ill health had recently declined an invitation to preach in New Marlboro. The account of his coming to this place is perhaps best told by the following extracts from his diary :
"Northampton, Monday, June 20th, 1743. Came from Pelham to-day; was taken with a pain in my back when I got on to my horse, which got into my breast before I got home, and afterwards into my shoulder; it very much disorders my limbs. I kept the school this afternoon ; and when I returned to Mr. Edwards' to-night, I found Mr. D. Ingersole here from Housa- tonick with a desire that I would go and preach there.
(1) This diary, the original of which was in the possession of the late Rev. Calvin Durfee of Williamstown, extends from December 1742, to May 1747, and covers nearly four years of Mr. Hopkins' ministry here. The abstracts which we have made, are from a copy of the original, kindly furnished by a lady of Great Barrington.
90
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
I have given him no answer yet, but am to see him in the morning."
"Tuesday, June 21, 1743. Am troubled yet with this pain. Kept the school to-day. Gave Mr. Ingersol encouragement that I would go to Housatonick next week."
" June 30th. Set out in the afternoon and rode to Westfield.
"Number One, (1) Friday, July 1, 1743. I did not, according to appointment and my expectation, meet any body here-Westfield-to-day from Tunnuck in order to conduct me there, but accidentally lit on a man going: that way so far as Mr. Bruer's (2) which is within 8 miles of it. I set out with him and after a long and tedious ride in an exceedingly bad road came to Mr. Bruer's between 11 and 12 o'clock. And though I have tired my body, I have been comfortable in my mind almost all the way, and have felt in a praying frame. I saw by the way, that God wanted nothing of me but to do my duty in all respects and if I do he will give me every thing I want, if I will be faithful to him. "Housetunnuck, July 2, 1743. Got but little or no rest last night. I went to bed after midnight, and after I was abed was much troubled with gnats, which are very tedious here ; they kept a smoke by the door all night, and made a smoke in the house, but this did not keep them off, but they came all around and into. the bed, so I had not much comfort while in bed, and I did not lie there but about four hours, and slept I. believe not one. The people of the house seemed to be after the world, and not to savor of religion any more than the heathen, only as the man in the house asked me to pray in his family. Came to Tunnuck at 11 o'clock, am kindly received and well accommodated to all appearance."
(1) "Number One,"-afterwards Tyringham and Monterey.
(2) "Mr. Bruer's" was on the southerly side of Brewer's Pond, in Monterey. The route traveled by Mr. Hopkins, was nearly the same as the present road to Westfield, -passing through Monterey, a corner of Sandisfield, Otis and Blandford. It was the same route by which the settlers from Westfield had emigrated to the Housatonic Townships, following the original: Indian trail.
91
IMPRESSIONS OF THE PEOPLE.
On Sunday, July 3d, Mr. Hopkins preached his first sermon to this people, and records "the most of the people seemed serious and attentive," but on the next Sabbath, "the congregation seemed to be very senseless and stupid." He had come to Housatonic, not with the intention of remaining any great length of time ; he was undetermined what to do, or what course he should pursue, but at the same time he felt. prepared to go wherever duty and conscience might direct. The people were pleased with him, and urged him to remain. His impressions of the inhabitants were not favorable; they were a "very wicked people." A people, for years destitute of stated preaching, could not be otherwise. He left ; "giving the people en- couragement that I would return after two Sabbaths." He did return ; and preached on Sunday, July 31st ; "the people seem to be attentive though not much affected."
On the next day, August 1st, he records in his diary ; "Took a walk to-day in the woods, and as I re- turned went into the tavern, found a number of men there, who I believe had better been somewhere else. Some were disguised by drink. It appeared to be a solemn place. The circumstances of this place appear more and more dreadful to me ; there seems to be no religion here ; if I did not think I had a call here I should be quite discouraged." He felt that he had a call to stay here ; and he therefore remained, preach- ing, with occasional absences, until his ordination in the following December. In the meantime he suffered severely from the fever and ague, "a distemper :"- which, as he says-"few escape who live in this town." The bad roads, the gnats which he encountered at Num- ber One, and the fever and ague are suggestive of pioneer life in a new country.
In September, the people invited Mr. Hopkins to settle here in the ministry, offering him sixty pounds lawful money as a settlement, and thirty-five pounds lawful money as an annual salary for the first five years, and then to add forty shillings per year,-for the same years,-making forty-five pounds, which was. thereafter to remain his stated salary. Mr. Hopkins.
92
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
at first, objected to the sixty pounds-settlement-as insufficient for the building of a house and barn, but finally accepted the terms proposed, with some slight modifications, as appears from the following abstract of proceedings, from the Parish Records. (1)
"At a legal meeting of Proprietors of Upper Housatonock and those lying between s'd Upper Housatonock and the Indian Land, held by adjournment September ye 9th, 1743, Daniel Nash moderator,
" Voted, -To give Mr. Samuel Hopkins a call to settle amongst us in the work of the Gospel Ministry.
" Voted,-To give the said Sam'l Hopkins the sum of thirty- five pounds lawful money per annum for the first five years, and then to add forty shillings a year for same years,-which will make forty-five pounds a year, -and that to be his stated salary, being to enable him to go on with said work.
" Voted,-To give the said Sam'l Hopkins the sum of sixty pounds lawful money, for his settlement.
" Voted, -That Thos. Horton, David Ingersole, John Williams, Joseph Noble, Dan'l Nash, Thos. Pier, Moses Ingersole, Josiah Phelps and William King be a committee to acquaint the above said Sam'l Hopkins of the above said vote and to receive his answer and make report to the above said proprietors."
"' At a legal meeting of the Proprietors of a Parish lying be- tween Sheffield and Stockbridge, assembled as the law directs, Nov'r 25th 1743, Mr. Thos. Horton moderator.
" Then the proprietors took into consideration Mr. Samuel Hopkins' answer respecting his settling among us, which is as followeth :
" 'To the Proprietors of Upper Housatonock and those lying between said Upper Housatonock and the Indian Land.
" 'Sirs. It is some time since you gave me a call to the work of the Gospel Ministry among you, and made me some offers of Temporal Things for my support in the world; and you have since that manifested your willingness to add something further to my settlement, by getting Timber for a House, to the place of building, when I should stand in need of it, by drawing Logs to the saw-mill, which may, when sawed, make Boards sufficient to finish it, and getting the stone that shall be necessary in building. I am also informed that it is your design,-tho' yet forgotten, -to add to Salary by getting my firewood yearly, and that you have, or are willing to state the sum of money at first voted by you, by Silver at six shillings and eight pence per ounce, and instead of voting lawful money, vote so many pounds equal to coined silver, sterling alloy, Troy weight, at six shil- lings and eight pence per ounce.
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