USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > History of Great Barrington, (Berkshire County,) Massachusetts > Part 9
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(1) In addition to the £60, settlement, -Mr. Hopkins by settling here became entitled to, and the proprietor of, one right (the Ministry Right) in the Upper Township.
93
TERMS OF SETTLEMENT.
" ' I have taken the matter into consideration, and after serious: deliberation upon the affair and its circumstances ; if the above. mentioned additions be made to your first offers, and that alter- ation be made respecting the stating the money, I do now find myself disposed and willing to comply with your desires, and to come and settle among you in the great work to which you have called me, tho' insufficient for, and unworthy of such a. great and sacred employment, and desire [ing] your constant prayers for me, that if I do come to you, I may come in the fullness of the Blessing of the Gospel of Christ, and as I may reasonably expect [to meet] with many difficulties, trials and heavy burthens, in this arduous and difficult work, I expect you will assist and be willing to contribute to my ease and comfort, so far as lies in your power. I am, (if my heart deceives me not) willing to spend and be spent among you, if by any means by the blessing of God, I may be instrumental of the good of you and yours, and do with my whole heart subscribe myself
" 'Your Servant in the cause of Christ, SAMUEL HOPKINS."
"Having fully considered the above said Sam'l Hopkins' answer and proposals therein, the Proprietors as a further en- couragement for his settling amongst us Unanimously Voted to comply with the said Sam'l Hopkins' proposals, and to give, as a furthur addition to what was formerly voted, all and every- thing he has requested in his above answer or proposals, and the said Proprietors, with the consent of the said Sam'l Hopkins, voted and appointed the 21st day of December next to ordain the said Sam'l Hopkins to the work of the Gospel Ministry amongst us, and the said proprietors made choice of Moses Ingersole, Thos. Pier, Hendrick Burghardt Jun'r, Wm. King, John Williams and David Ingersole, a com'tee in behalf and in the name of the Proprietors to make suitable provision to enter- tain the ministers and assistance at said ordination, and also to advise with said Sam'l Hopkins, and to send to a suitable num- ber of ministers and delegates to come and assist in said ordina- tion."
The time appointed for the ordination,-Dec. 21st, was changed to the 28th of that month. The 14th was observed as a day of fasting and prayer ; services were held at the meeting-house, in which the Rev. John Sergeant and Rev. Mr. Jenison participated. It had been arranged that the Rev.'d Jonathan Hubbard,- who was also present,-should "gather the church " on this occasion, but as Mr. Hopkins records, "there did not a sufficient number offer themselves, so that the business is put by until the ordination." He also adds in this connection "I feel very much discouraged about entering into the ministry ; they are a conten-
94
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
tious people, and I fear I am no way qualified for such a work."
A few days previous to the ordination, Mr. Hopkins rode about amongst his parishioners to ascertain who of them would be embodied into the church,-to be organized on the day of the ordination ; he found some of them very backward, which caused him some gloomy reflections and led him to write, "The way looks very dark before me. I am, it is probable, going to run myself into innumerable difficulties by settling amongst this people. I dare not [hope] that there is one male christian amongst them, and most of them opposers of divine grace and the power of Godliness."
On Wednesday the 28th December, 1743, Mr. Hop- kins was ordained and the church was organized. The Records of the Upper Housatonic Propriety contain this brief account of the proceedings, in the hand- writing of David Ingersoll :
"The record of the Rev.'d Mr. Samuel Hopkins' ordination to the pastoral office of the Upper Propriety and second Church in Sheffield."
"Dec. 27th, 1743 ; by letters missive from said church, to the second church in Springfield, the Rev'd Mr. Sam'l Hopkins Pastor ; to the church of Westfield, the Rev'd John Ballentine Pastor; the first church in Sheffield, Rev'd Jonathan Hubbard Pastor ; to the church of Stockbridge, Rev'd John Sergeant Pas- tor; to the second church of Northampton, Rev'd Jonathan Judd Pastor ; Said elders meet, with their delegates, and solemn- ly set apart to the work of the ministry, by ordination the said Mr. Sam'l Hopkins as Elder and Pastor to the said second church of Sheffield, the day and date above.
JOHN SERGEANT Scribe."
The date of the record "Dec. 27th" is evidently, erroneous ; the ceremonies occurred on the 28th.
With the exception of the pastor, five persons only, were found ready to unite with the church, which was formed on this occasion ; to wit
JONAH PIXLEY, JAMES SEXTON, JOHN PIXLEY, ASAHEL KING,
JONATHAN NASH.
To these twelve more were added on the 5th Feb- ruary following ; namely :
Ichabod Averill, Thomas Horton, Esther King, Esther King, 2d, Huldah King, Catharine Ingersoll, Hannah Noble, Priscilla
95
MEETING-HOUSE COMPLETED.
Austin, Mercy Pixley, Zeruiah Nash, Submit Ingersoll, Samuel Winchell, Jr.
For the building of the meeting-house £162.10s " bills of the last emission," equivalent at its par value to $541.67, had been voted to be raised by tax, by the proprietors, in 1742. It is probable that this sum was expended in the erection of the house, but in the dearth of records and scarcity of papers no account of the ex- penditure is to be found.
As late as March 12th, 1746, the building commit- tee had apparently rendered no account of their dis- bursements, and at a parish meeting, of that date, Isaac Van Deusen, John Williams and Josiah Phelps, Junior, were appointed "to call the old committee, that undertook for the building of the meeting-house, to ajust their accounts, and see what is become of the money granted for that use and service." But, of the result of their inquiries, these gentlemen have left no record. The making of repairs, and the long continued process of finishing the building, were occasional sub- jects of parish legislation. Thus : September 25, 1751, "Vot. George King for to fasten ye windows of ye meeting-house and to repair some other Breaches and they will answer the bill." April 17, 1754, £15 lawful money, was raised to repair the meeting-house and William Ingersoll, Timothy Hopkins and George King were appointed to have the work done. June 2, 1757, £30 was raised "towards finishing the parish meeting- house," and a committee appointed "to dispose of said money." A further appropriation of £24, 11s, 7d, was made for the same purpose March 14, 1759; but the committee for finishing, in their expenditure, exceeded the amounts appropriated, and, in November, of the latter year, an additional sum of £8, 3s, 10d, 2f, was granted to make good the excess.
We may now consider the meeting-house as fin- ished, and in the sum of the different appropriations, we find its cost to have varied but slightly from $800. The house being completed and put in order, Jonathan Willard was entrusted with the key and appointed to "keep the house clean." Mr. Willard occupied the position of sexton-the first in that office of whom we
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
have any record-and was the next year .- 1760-com -- pensated with a grant of twenty-five shillings for his year's service. After the sale of pews, which has been mentioned. some changes were from time to time made- in the inside arrangement of the house, by the addi- tion of new pews and seats. Thus, in 1754, the parish granted to David Ingersoll, Esq., "two hind seats on either side of the Allie to make him a pew : and if he can exchange with ye Rev. Mr. Hopkins it is to be al -- lowed good." Whether or not Mr. Ingersoll built his pew, is uncertain ; but he evidently did not exchange with Mr. Hopkins. November 9, 1759, the parish, probably as a mark of respect for the character and official importance of Gen. Joseph Dwight, granted him liberty "to build a pew, where the three hind seats on the east side of the great alley are, and that he is to have for that end, one half of said three seats ; the said pew to be for the benefit of him and his family during his abode in this parish." This vote appears to have occasioned some little dissatisfaction: but was re-af- firmed by the parish the next March, and Gen. Dwight built his pew in the place indicated.
November 2, 1760. It was voted "that the gentle -.. men seated in the Great Pew in said meeting-house, have leave, at their own charge, to build a pew in the rear of the body of seats in s'd house, adjoining the broad alley, opposite Co'l Dwight's (1) pew ; of the same size with his, provided Madam Hopkins accept. the same for herself and family in lieu of the present pew ; and in that case that the present pew [Mr. Hop- kins'] be the seat for the said gentlemen's wives in lieu of that under the pulpit which is their present seat." Madam Hopkins and family occupied the second pew east of the pulpit, which had been set apart for the minister in 1746 ; whether or not she acquiesced in the proposed change for the accommodation of the "gentle- men's wives," does not, from the record, appear. At. the same time provision was made for building two seats in the gallery, one on each side of the house.
(1) Gen. Joseph Dwight is frequently mentioned as " Col- onel," in the records, -a title which he had worn for many years ..
97
SEATING THE MEETING HOUSE.
Prior to 1761 two pews appear to have been put up in the front gallery by some "young persons ;" and in 1764, the town permitted Mark Hopkins, Esq., to build for himself a pew in the rear of the seats in the body of the house, adjoining the pew of Gen. Dwight. The foregoing are the principal changes made in the inter- nal arrangement of the meeting-house, from the time of its erection to 1764. The seating of the meeting- house, or assigning seats to such as were not owners of pews, which was then and long after customary in New England, was a delicate business, and often gave rise to envious and jealous feelings. Seaters were from time to time appointed, and in the assignment of seats, preference was given to age, wealth, and official position, either civil or military. Thus, in 1759, Gen. Joseph Dwight, Isaac Van Deusen, Israel Dewey, Timo- thy Hopkins and Jonathan Nash were chosen seaters, and instructed, in seating, "to have regard to estates as contained in the last and present year's lists, and also to the age of particular persons, accounting each year's age, above sixteen, equal to £4 on the list, and also to persons honorary, whether by commission or otherwise." By the terms of the agreement made with Rev. Samuel Hopkins, in 1743, he was to receive as a settlement £60,-equal to $200,-and, as a salary, £35 per annum for the first five years, to which, at the ex- piration of that time, forty shillings per year, for those years, was to be added, and from that time, forward, his stated salary was fixed at £45, equal to $150 per year. In order to protect himself against the depre ciation of the paper money then in use, Mr. Hopkins stipulated that the payments, in whatever currency they might be made, should be equal to coined silver at 6s, Sd per ounce. Owing to the delays in the or- ganization of the parish, moneys due Mr. Hopkins were not voted or raised until 1745, and after that time it was customary to vote the salary, for each year, only with the close of the year.
August 14, 1745, the parish voted to Mr. Hopkins the £60 for his settlement, in New Tenor money, to be paid in Old Tenor at thirty-two shillings per ounce, and also £42 Old Tenor for preaching before he was 7
98
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
ordained; these amounts to be paid by the proprietors agreeable to the court act of 1742. At the same time his salary for the first and second years,-1742-3-was voted to be paid in Old Tenor at 32 shillings per ounce. In January, 1747, £140 Old Tenor was voted, as a salary for the past year, allowing £4 Old Tenor for £1 new. For the next year £152 Old Tenor was voted as a salary, but the depreciation of this currency was so great, that the amount was afterwards increased to £300. A similar sum of £300 Old Tenor was granted for the year 1748, to which £180 was afterwards added for arrearages and depreciation. These votes serve to illustrate the depreciation of the paper currency of that day, which finally went out of use about 1750. From that time, the minister's salary was commonly voted in lawful money,-silver taking the place of the paper currency. The parish was often remiss in the payment of salary, and so late as September, 1751, the salary voted for 1748, had neither been assessed or collected. In addition to his salary, the minister was from year to year furnished with firewood, either de- livered at his door by his parishioners, or by an appro- priation of money for its value.
At the time of the settlement of Mr. Hopkins, it had been stipulated that when he might need, the par- ish would furnish a sufficient quantity of timber for the building of a house, and logs, delivered at a saw- mill, for making the necessary lumber, and also that the stone needed for the house should be drawn to the place of building.
At a parish meeting March 29, 1745, a letter from Mr. Hopkins-hereafter quoted-was presented, re- minding the people of the agreement for these mate- rials, and informing them of his intention to build, but action on this letter seems to have been deferred until March of the next year, when, in the concise words of the record, the parish voted "to the Rev. Mr. Hop- kins logs for boards and stone for house," and appoint- ed John Pixley and Jonathan Nash "to take an ac- count of the logs and stone and to prise said logs to Mr. Hopkins and also the stone when brought for his building." The stone had at that time, been, in part,
1
99
OLD AND NEW TENOR.
drawn together, as Mr. Hopkins recorded in his diary on the 11th of February preceding, "the people drew stone for me to-day ;" but there appears to have been some remissness on the part of the parish in delivering the timber and logs, and four years later it voted to give Mr. Hopkins £50 Old Tenor, to be paid by the proprietors, for the timber and logs which they were to have furnished.
Old Tenor and New Tenor.
In order to a comprehension of the value of com- modities, and of sums stated in business transactions, in the early currencies of New England, a brief expla- nation of Old Tenor and New Tenor may seem neces- sary, and of their relative comparison with present values. The pound-twenty shillings-in New Eng. land currency was, then, as now, equal, at six shillings to the dollar, to $3.331. The ounce of coined silver, Troy weight, of sterling alloy,-which at 6s, 8d per ounce, formed the basis of value in business transac- tions,-was equal to $1.11 1-9. When sums are stated in "lawful money," silver is understood to be the cur- rency. Bills of credit, and promises to pay, were is- sued by the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and were in use for nearly fifty years previous to 1740. These bills, "equal to money," had a par value of 6s, Sd to the ounce of silver ; but this currency early depreciated and was subject to a constantly increasing discount.
In 1737, the province authorized the issuing of a new class of bills ; these were known as New Tenor bills, in distinction from the earlier issues, which were denominated Old Tenor. The terms, "Old Tenor " and "New Tenor," were used merely as a distinction between the old and new issues. By the terms of the New Tenor bills, their value was based upon coined silver, Troy weight, sterling alloy, at the rate of three ounces of silver to the pound-twenty shillings. At this rate 6s, 8d, represented an ounce of silver worth $1.11 1-9.
At the time of the issue of the New Tenor bills, the Old Tenor had largely depreciated in value, and, by the law creating the new issue, one pound of New
100
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
Tenor was made equal to three pounds of the old, but in business transactions, by common consent, as well as by the law authorizing another issue in 1742, the later bills of the New Tenor came to be passed at the rate of one of the new to four of the old. Still the New Tenor was not proof against depreciation, and both sank rapidly, but in nearly the same proportion, preserving their relative values of one to four.
From 1738 to 1744, the current value of Old Tenor varied but little from 28s to the ounce of silver-a dis- count of about 76 per cent. From 1745 to 1749 its value varied from 32s to 40s, to the ounce of silver ; and after that date it fell to 60s to the ounce, or to about eleven cents on a dollar.
About 1751, Massachusetts began to redeem her paper money, at its depreciated rates, with specie (received from England in payment for her expenses in the expedition against Louisburgh) and the Old Tenor was redeemed at the rate of eleven of paper to one of silver.
CHAPTER X. EARLY SETTLERS-THEIR FAMILIES AND LOCATIONS.
1726-1743.
In the foregoing chapters we have detailed the pro- ceedings relative to the laying out and settlement of the Upper and Lower Housatonic Townships, and the formation, in 1743, of the North Parish of Sheffield,- then commonly called Upper Sheffield,-which after- wards became the town of Great Barrington. At the expense of some repetition, we now return to the con- sideration of the early settlement of the town, and pre- sent to our readers such facts and circumstances per- taining to the pioneers, their families, and the locations of their dwellings, as are gleaned from records or hand- ed down by tradition. It is difficult to determine the precise date, or even the year in which individual set- tlers came to this place. It is, however, certain that none were here earlier than 1725, and that some came in 1726.
On this point we have the evidence of the settling committee, whose records explicitly state,-in May 1727,-that in the Upper Township "some of ye settlers," and in the Lower Township "many people " were up- on their lands, previous to which date they had been molested by the Dutch,-that is by the Westenhook patentees,-who claimed the lands under New York grants. Further, the patentees of Westenhook, in a memorial to the Governor of New York, asking that their rights might be protected, recite the fact that the Massachusetts men were then-April 1726 -beginning to settle here. It may, therefore, be con- sidered an established fact that the settlements in both .Great Barrington and Sheffield were begun in 1726.
102
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
To Matthew Noble, of Westfield,-as we believe,- belongs the credit of having been the first permanent white settler in Berkshire County, as he apparently came to Sheffield in the autumn of 1725, and remained through the following winter.
In the History of Berkshire, the Rev. James Brad- ford writes : "Mr. Obadiah Noble was the first white man that came to reside in Sheffield. He was from Westfield, and came and spent the first winter here with no other human associates than the Indians. In the spring he went back to Westfield ; and in June his daughter, afterwards the wife of Deacon Daniel Kel- logg, returned here with him. She was the first white woman that came into the town. She traveled from Westfield, when about sixteen years of age, on horse- back, bringing a bed with her, and lodged one night in the wilderness, in what is now the east part of Tyring- ham,"-Monterey.
This statement, though in the main correct, is nev- ertheless, open to criticism. The writer has been in- formed, as he believes truly, that it was Matthew No- ble-not Obadiah-who first came to Sheffield. Mat- thew was the father of Obadiah, and also of Hannah, --- born October 11, 1707,-who became the wife of Deacon Daniel Kellogg, May 13th, 1731. Obadiah was at that time-1726-under twenty-one years of age, un- married, and, consequently, not the father of a sixteen years old daughter. And if the pioneer who spent the winter of 1725-6 amongst the Indians, was the father of the young woman mentioned, he certainly was Mat- thew-not Obadiah-Noble. This Matthew Noble, who was about fifty-seven years of age when he came to Sheffield, had a family of six sons and three daugh- ters, all of whom appear to have removed with him from Westfield. Of his sons, Joseph,-the eldest,- settled in Great Barrington : Hezekiah, Matthew, Sol- omon, Elisha, and Obadiah all located in Sheffield. Of his daughters, Hannah married Deacon Daniel Kellogg of Sheffield ; Hester married Moses King of Great Barrington; Rhoda married Ebenezer Smith of Sheffield.
Of the first settlers of Great Baraington a majority were English, several of them from Westfield and that
103
EARLY SETTLERS.
vicinity, a few were Dutch from the state of New York. We are unable to determine the towns from which some of the families removed to this place. The ear- liest settlers of the town, south of the bridge, were Coonrod Burghardt, Samuel Dewey, Samuel Dewey, Jun'r, Asahel Dewey, Thomas Dewey, John Granger, Samuel Harmon, Moses Ingersoll, David King, Steph- en King, Moses King, Israel Lawton, Joseph Noble, Thomas Pier, John Phelps, Joshua Root, Joseph Shel- don, Samuel Suydam, Lawrence Suydam, Joshua White, Samuel Younglove, Samuel Younglove, Jun'r. Most of these settled here from 1726 to 1730 ; it is proba- ble that none of them came later than 1733. Above the bridge, the forty proprietary rights in the Upper Township were-in 1742-owned by sixteen individu- als, several of whom were non-residents.
The early settlers in that part of the town were, Derrick Hogaboom, Hezekiah and Josiah Phelps, Jo- seph Pixley and his sons Jonah, Joseph, Moses, John, and Jonathan, John Williams, Isaac Van Deusen, Je- hoiakim Van Valkenburgh, John Burghardt alias De Bruer, Hendrick Burghardt. A little later came Wil- liam King, Thomas Horton, Daniel Nash and his son Jonathan, Jonathan Willard and David Ingersoll. These last named appear all to have resided here as early as 1740. To these settlers, or to the owners of proprietary rights, house lots, with meadow and up- land, were laid out by the settling committee, along the valley of the river from the north line of Sheffield to the foot of Monument Mountain ; and a few loca- tions were made west of the Green River, in the south- erly and westerly parts of the town. But with these few exceptions, the settlements were for the most part confined to the valley, and did not penetrate the more remote parts of the town until 1753, or later. In di- viding the lands the compass was but little used ; courses by the magnetic needle were not laid down, and in many instances, boundaries and distances were very indefinitely described. It is, therefore, no easy matter, at the present day, to accurately re-locate the house lots and other lands of some of the settlers. Al- lowances of land were made by the committee, for
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HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
roads, along which the house lots were marked out ; but these were not surveyed, nor were their boundaries very distinctly defined. After the formation of the parish, Sheffield established town roads following some- what nearly the original locations.
The earliest highway through the village, coming from the southward, was substantially the same as now to a point near, or a little north of the Berkshire House ; here it turned to the east, and crossing the river at the Indian fordway,-east of the foot of Church street,-continued northerly, on the east side of the river, to the place where the old meeting house was afterwards built ; thence it ran east, across the burial ground, to the Bung Hill corner, where it branched towards Three Mile Hill and Stockbridge. For more than ten years after settlements were begun, the river was not bridged, and the fordway, above mentioned, was the only available place of crossing, in the vicinity of the village. No very early mention is made of a road through Water street, but it is probable that a path followed the west bank of the river, connecting, near the bridge, with the road leading towards Van Deusenville, which had been provided by the settling · committee.
In the south part of the village, where the brook crosses the street, north of Mount Peter, a highway di- verging northwesterly from the Main street, ran west of the dwellings of Doctor Clarkson T. Collins, and Ralph Taylor, in a nearly direct line to the Castle street hill, west of the Asa C. Russell house, and continued north- erly towards the pond. Castle street did not then ex- ist, and the road we have described continued in use until 1747.
In the first allotments of lands bordering on the Main street, the land lying between it and the road last described, from the brook to the north line of the premises of Frederick T. Whiting, was not included. This tract, on which now stand the dwellings of the late Doctor Clarkson T. Collins, Ralph Taylor, Freder- ick Lawrence, the late Mrs. B. F. Durant, Theodore W. French, and Frederick T. Whiting, was afterwards taken up bypitches made by different individuals. In
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