USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Greenfield > History of Greefield, shire town of Franklin county, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 22
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Perry, Jonathan. Private, Capt. Agrippa Wells' Co., Col. Samuel Brewer's regt. ; for mileage and travel allowance (109 miles) from place of discharge home ; served at Ticonderoga for 3 mos. from Sept. 1, 1776; sworn at Deerfield, Dec. 10, I777.
Phillis, Daniel. Capt. Timothy Childs' Co., Col. David Leonard's regt., service I mo., 17 days; Co. raised Feb. 24, 1777, for service at Ticonderoga.
Picket, Daniel. Greenfield ; private, Capt. Agrippa Wells' Co., Col. Samuel Williams' regt., marched on April 20, 1775, on the alarm of April 19, 1775 ; service, 15 days, left place of rendezvous May 6, 1775, and returned home.
Pecket, Daniel. Capt. Timothy Childs' Co., Col. David Fields' regt., marched on alarm at Bennington, of Aug. 14, 1777 ; service, 4 days, engaged for Greenfield.
Picket, James. Greenfield ; private, Capt. Agrippa Wells' Co., Col. Porter's regt., enlisted July 10, 1777, discharged Aug. 12, 1777; service, 38 days, including travel home (80 miles). Marched from home July 9, 1777, to reinforce Northern Army after the evacuation of Ticonderoga, roll sworn at Deerfield; also, corporal, Capt. James Walworth's Co., Col. Elisha Porter's regt., engaged July 22, 1779, dis- charged Aug. 27, 1779 ; service, I mo., II days, including 6 days travel home (113 miles); service at New London, Conn., roll sworn to at Deerfield.
Powers, Reuben. (Perhaps not Greenfield.) Private, Capt.
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SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTION
Agrippa Wells' Co., Col. Samuel Brewer's regt., company served at Ticonderoga for 3 mos. from Sept. 1, 1776; 117 miles travel allowed ; also, private, Capt. Moses Harvey's Co., Col. Woodbridge's regt., engaged Sept. 7, 1777, dis- charged Nov. 29, 1777; service, 3 months, I day, including 9 days travel home (180 miles); regt. raised to reinforce the Northern Army until last of Nov. 1777 ; service at Saratoga.
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CHAPTER LX
DAVID AIKEN AS JUDGE
I N 1858 Judge David Aiken held a term of court in New- buryport, and somewhat astonished the people of Essex. The Newburyport Herald had this to say of him : " We think that we may safely say, that in so short a period no judge has acquired greater popularity with the public ; and we should not be surprised, if no judge was so unpopular with the bar, though we heard some of the best members speak of him in the highest terms. We infer, however, that he cannot be popular with the young lawyers, for he has a way of cutting short all their 'extras' and bringing them to the law and the testimony, that they are not accustomed to.
".Bred to the law, and giving it his whole attention till now he must have seen threescore years, he is yet not inclined to attach much importance to the technicalities, but more to the spirit of the law and the ends of justice. So, when a jury was retiring, and the counsel in the case asked him to instruct them in a certain way, his prompt answer was,-' No, I shall do no such thing. I have stated the law to them as it is. Keep along, Mr. Sheriff;' and when the jury returned a ver- dict, and he was requested to ask them to define what they meant, his refusal was absolute,-' They know well enough what they mean, and I am satisfied with the verdict as it is.' Thus constantly he trained the bar, determined to keep them in place. It reminded us very much of the charge of Judge Dudley, which was somewhat after this style-' You have
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WILLIAM COLEMAN
heard, gentlemen of the jury, what has been said in this case by the lawyers, whose business it is to make a good case for their clients, for which they are paid; but you and I, gentlemen, have something else to consider. They talk of laws. Why, it is not law that we want, but justice.'
" We noticed also, a very commendable dispatch of business under his administration. The delays of the law are proverbial, and the expenses arising from such delays are grievous to be borne; but under such judges these grounds of complaint would be removed. He has no idea of mere eloquence, without reason ; and speech-making upon petty occasions, rhetorical flourishes for effect, he evidently considered out of place and in bad taste. His charges to the juries were short, simple, clear and in a conversational manner. But when one of our eloquent young advocates had talked about nothing for almost half a day, he replied to one who had said to him as he was going to dinner, ' I hope, judge, we shall have a short session.' 'Don't know ! don't know, all this forenoon has been wasted !' So, too, while the lawyers were instructed to waste no time in questions, the witnesses, who lagged in their equivocations, were occasionally hurried up with a hint that the time of the court was precious,-a suggestion not often thrown out in a court room.
" Upon the whole, therefore, we go for Judge Aiken against a bench of judges, as one of those sound, strong-minded, common sense men, who would be better if he had never seen a lawbook than a whole courthouse full of common lawyers. Under him there would be less litigation, less expense, and quite as much justice as we ever had."
WILLIAM COLEMAN
Greenfield still has some things to remind her that she once had as a citizen one of the most remarkable men of the age in which he lived. William Coleman planted and watered many of the great elms which adorn our street, and he built
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REVEREND HENRY COLMAN
the Hollister house, which architects declare to be one of the most perfect specimens of old colonial houses. He was a native of Boston, studied law with Judge Paine of Worcester, and was a member of the old Hampshire bar. He was promoter of the " Impartial Intelligencer," whose first num- ber bears date February 1, 1792, and which has under dif- ferent names continued ever since. Mr. Coleman was an athlete, and Historian Willard says of him, " He was first and foremost in everything, and finished what he undertook, except the house he began to build." He was in the great Virginia land speculation, and was ruined financially, like hundreds of others, and was compelled to see the house un- finished. (See Hollister House.)
He soon went to New York and became the law partner of Aaron Burr, and an intimate friend of Alexander Hamil- ton. He was then thirty-one years old and had been a soldier for the government in the Shays rebellion, and for two years a member of the Massachusetts legislature.
On the 16th of November, 1801, he issued the first num- ber of the New York Evening Post, federal in its politics, which immediately took a character of its own far above its contemporaries, which it has always sustained.
Mr. Coleman conducted his journal until his death in 1829, and was pronounced " one of the most able and celebrated conductors of a public journal in the United States."
His announcement of the death of Alexander Hamilton was " followed by a noble lamentation for his loss and a touching tribute to the man."
HENRY COLMAN
Reverend Henry Colman, of Salem in 1801 came up here and purchased, for $ 12,000, the " Hoyt farm " of two hundred acres at Cheapside. He continued to reside there until 1836, when he sold his property for $14,300 to Sylvester Allen, Cephas Root, Spencer Root and Franklin Ripley.
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LIEUTENANT WILLIAM GRENNELL
Mr. Colman was at one time pastor of the Congregational Church in Higham and was a celebrated teacher in the vicin- ity of Boston, and an enthusiast in agricultural matters. He was appointed by Gov. Everett Agricultural Commissioner for Massachusetts. The local paper says : " Mr. Colman was a man of commanding personal appearance, extensive travel, of singular activity of temperament, of great industry and of uncommon rapidity and clearness of observation." He died in England, August 17, 1849, and Lady Byron gave his grave in Highgate cemetery. He was 65 years of age.
AN EARLY SCHOOL MASTER
James Roberts born in 1747 was an early settler in Green- field and taught school here. He married August 14, 1777, Esther, daughter of Thomas Nims and before 1779 he had hewn out a home in the wilderness at Whitingham, Vermont. The historian of that town says : " He was a very prominent man in the early history of the town. Was one of the select- men for ten years, town clerk five years, represented the town in the General Assembly for ten years, besides filling many positions of trust in the town and county and state." He died March 12, 1825, aged 79.
WILLIAM GRENNELL
William Grennell, born in Saybrook, Conn., in 1752, was the father of the late Charles K. Grennell, and the grandfather of Edward Benton. He removed to Greenfield in 1792 and died here July 9, 1857.
He volunteered in the company of Captain Bradford Steele, who was attached to Colonel Wooster's Connecticut regiment, and in May, 1775, was stationed as coast guard at Norwalk, Conn., and after at New Haven where the news of the battle of Bunker's Hill was received and the regiment went imme- diately to Boston. His term of enlistment having expired, he enlisted in Captain Sperry's company of Colonel Thomp-
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THREE REMARKABLE WOMEN
son's regiment and marched to New York in July, 1776, where he was orderly sergeant of his company. He was in the Long Island fight and the retreat to Harlem Heights, Colonel Thompson having been killed. In April, 1777, he was with those who attacked the British at Ridgefield, Conn., at which place General Wooster was mortally wounded, and the British driven to take refuge on their ships. He was busy during the summer of 1777 with others in arresting and bringing to trial a number of Tories about western Connecticut, a number of whom were sent to the old Simsbury mines for safe-keeping. On his way to the defense of New Haven, from the British attack July 5, 1779, he with some aid cap- tured six of the invaders and took them to headquarters. He was in the skirmish on the common, and followed the enemy to Fairfield and Norwalk where they had another skirmish. In 1779 he was ensign in Captain Gilbert's company of the 2d Connecticut, commanded by Colonel Burrell, and was in garrison at New Haven until the following March. He was made a lieutenant in Captain Joel Hitchcock's com- pany in November, 1780, and his captain being detached and ordered to West Point, he commanded the company which remained in the vicinity of New Haven.
During the night of March 14, 1782, a British spy, a com- missioned officer, with the aid of six active Tories, broke into the house of Captain Ebenezer Dayton, a Whig merchant, and stole $1,500, in gold, with which they fled. Lieutenant Grennell immediately organized a party and started in hot pursuit ; overtaking them on Long Island, recovered all the money but thirty dollars, and saw the British officer executed as a spy, and the Tories sent to Newgate prison.
THREE REMARKABLE OLD LADIES
Ebenezer Billings was a son of Reverend Edward Billing, the first minister of Greenfield. He lived at old Fort Stock- ing and raised eleven children. Esther married Dr. Pynchon
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LIEUTENANT CALVIN MUNN
of Springfield and lived to be 97 years and five months old. Lucy P. always lived in Greenfield and died April 24, 1885, aged 93 years. Eunice B. also lived in Greenfield and died March 29, 1890, aged 95 years.
LIEUTENANT CALVIN MUNN
Benjamin Munn was born in Springfield, and was one of the early settlers of Monson, Mass. Here in 1761, his son Calvin was born, and at the age of 16 years entered the patriot army and served in it for six years, until the close of the war. He was at Saratoga at the surrender of Burgoyne, was sick at the time of the battle, but was a witness of the ac- tion. He was present at Yorktown and took part in storm- ing one of the redoubts there and was one of the boat's crew which captured a gunboat at Shirley on the James river, in which action about thirty of the British were killed and eleven
taken prisoners. He saw General Knox just after he was wounded during the seige of Yorktown. He was a lieuten- ant under the command of Lafayette, for a year while in the south. At one time Lafayette came on board a boat and con- versed with the crew of which he was a member. Mr. Munn was with General Sullivan when he evacuated Long Island, and was present at the execution of André. He was also at the battle of Jamestown under the command of Mad Anthony Wayne. The musket which he carried during his six years' service, as well as his discharge papers bearing the signature of General Washington are preserved by his descendants. In 1 824 he was present at the laying of the corner stone of Bunker Hill monument, and enjoyed a very pleasant interview with his old commander, General Lafayette. Mr. Munn was again called into service of the government during the Shays Rebellion, and was at Springfield at the time of the attack upon the United States Arsenal. In 1802 he had a black- smith shop about twenty rods north of the present Mansion
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DEBORAH SAMPSON
House, which he sold to William Granger in 1804. He also owned the Corse tavern stand.
While Calvin Munn was drill sergeant in the 4th Mass. regiment, there enlisted under the name of Robert Shurtliff a young girl about twenty years of age, whose real name was Deborah Sampson. She was under his command and he often related the story of her military life. The following ac- count of her is furnished to me by Hon. Eugene Tappan, of Sharon, Mass. :
Deborah Sampson was a Continental soldier in the Ameri- can Revolution, born in Plympton, Massachusetts, Decem- ber 17, 1760, and losing her father at a tender age, she was bound out to service on a farm. It is an interesting proof of the patriotic ardor of the time that this young woman enlisted in the 4th Massachusetts regiment (Colonel Shepard's) in Cap- tain George Web's company. Her soldier name was Robert Shurtleff. She was in an engagement in White Plains, N. Y., and was discharged at West Point, October 25, 1783. The following spring Deborah was married to Benjamin Gannett, a farmer of Sharon, Massachusetts, where she lived until her death April 29, 1827.
In recognition of her military service, the Massachusetts legislature in 1792 granted her thirty-four pounds. The preamble of the resolve recites " that the said Deborah ex- hibited an extraordinary instance of female heroism by dis- charging the duties of a faithful, gallant soldier, and at the same time preserving the virtue and chastity of her sex un- suspected and unblemished, and was discharged from the serv- ice with a fair and honorable character." Her name also was placed on the pension list of the United States in 1850. After the death of Deborah Sampson Gannett, her husband made his petition to Congress for a pension as the widower of a soldier. A favorable report was made by the committee on pensions in which they said, " He indeed was honored much by being the husband of such a wife." In 1838 (Mr. Gan-
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A MILITARY FAMILY
nett having in the meantime died) a special act was passed by Congress (Statutes at Large, vol. 6, page 735) directing the payment of $466.66 to the heirs.
Deborah Sampson Gannett was a public lecturer, appearing on the stage of the Federal Street Theatre in Boston, and in Providence, Worcester, Springfield, Albany and other large towns in 1802. Her address was printed the same year, and advertisements of her appearance can be found in the Co- lumbian Centinel of Boston and the Worcester Spy. The manuscript diary of her lecturing tour is preserved by a de- scendant. In her address she recounted her army experiences, and accompanied the narrative with an exhibition of her skill in the manual of arms. During this lecturing tour she visited her captain in Holden and General Paterson in New York. She paid her own way and sent money to her family.
Deborah Sampson Gannett reared a family of three chil- dren, many of whose descendants now live in the vicinity, while a great-granddaughter, Mrs. Frank G. Moody, resides in the old homestead. Deborah's home and grave are often visited. A street in Sharon is named after her, “ Deborah Sampson Street."
In the spring of 1902 a notable dinner was served in the Sharon town hall, in commemoration of the centennial of De- borah Sampson's lecturing tour, at which addresses were de- livered by Mrs. Mary Livermore and others.
A MILITARY FAMILY
Among the men persuaded to come to Greenfield by Colo- nel William Moore about 1790 was Samuel Pierce, copper- smith, tinner, manufacturer of lead pipe, pewter platters, and other articles of like character. He built the Strecker block and became a noted river man, doing a large freighting business upon the Connecticut. He was the father of John J., George and Samuel Pierce, energetic business men of their generation.
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THE PIERCES
Captain George Pierce, Jr., now (1902) the popular town clerk of Greenfield, was Ist lieutenant of Company G of the old 10th regiment at the beginning of the War of the Rebel- lion. He was an officer in the Boston custom house, under General James S. Whitney, collector, and leaving the custom house one day was in the camp at Brightwood the next, enlisted for three years' service. After the death of Captain Day, Lieu- tenant Pierce was promoted to the captaincy of Company G and did good and valient service. He was transferred to the com- mand of a company in the 37th, and given charge of a detach- ment ordered to aid in the protection of Washington, at the darkest period of the war. Captain Pierce was wounded at the battle of Malvern Hills, Spotsylvania C. H. and Win- chester. His army record was creditable to himself and to his native town.
Captain Henry H. Pierce, a younger brother of Captain George, was born in Northampton, August 15, 1834. He was in early life taken to the home of his uncle Samuel and aunt Phebe (bachelor and maid) residing on Federal street, and they gave him a thorough education. He graduated at Trinity college, Hartford, and was for six years professor of military tactics and mathematics at the University of West Vir- ginia, at Morgantown, and one year at the University of Michigan in the same capacity. He enlisted for service in the Civil War in the Ist Connecticut Heavy Artillery, as orderly sergeant, being discharged as major. At the close of the war he was appointed a lieutenant in the regular army, and in 1882 was adjutant of the 21st United States Infantry, then located at Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory. In Au- gust of that year, under orders of General Miles, he was placed in command of a scientific expedition to Lake Chelan and Skag river, near Puget Sound. In forwarding the report of Lieutenant Pierce, General Miles says, " Lieutenant Pierce is entitled to much credit for the efficient manner in which he performed this duty and in obtaining valuable information
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THEODORE D. JUDAH
regarding sections of country but little known." For this service he was made captain by brevet. Captain Pierce was a most accomplished scholar, ranking high in mathematics and the ancient languages. He published " A Rythmic 'Prose Translation of Virgil's Eneid," and a version of " The Odes of Horace" complete in English rhyme and blank verse, both most highly spoken of by press critics and college professors. Captain Pierce died in the northwest wilderness, July 17, 1883.
Captain Charles P. Pierce was a son of John J. Pierce and cousin of Captain George, Jr. He was born in Green- field, and enlisted in Co. G, of the old 10th, as orderly sergeant for the Civil War. He was appointed upon the staff of Briga- dier General Henry M. Judah and given the rank of captain. He died at Keene, N. H., April 23, 1888, aged 49 years, and his remains were buried in the Federal street cemetery.
Captain Frederick E. Pierce, now (1902) major of the Second Massachusetts Infantry, was son of William Pierce, a son of George, Sr., and was in command of Co. L, 2d In- fantry, at the breaking out of the Spanish War. He went into service with his men, and he and his command made a glori- ous record at the battle of El Caney in July, 1898. He came home at the close of the campaign seriously sick with the ground fever but fortunately recovered his normal health, and is the postmaster of Greenfield, standing high with the post-office department at Washington and deservedly popular at home.
Connected with the Pierce family by his marriage to Anna F., daughter of John J. Pierce, was Theodore D. Judah, who was the scientific man among the early promotors of the Pacific railroad across the continent. C. P. Huntington said of Mr. Judah, " To him belongs the credit more than any other one person, of solving the problem of the practicability of constructing a road across the mountains to connect the Atlantic and Pacific States." He was the chief engineer of
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THE MARTINDALES
the Pacific division, and after directing the preliminary sur- veys, was sent east to enlist capital and influence in the con- struction of the road. But journeying from California, he died November 2, 1863, at New York city, before his arrival at his home in Greenfield. To him belonged much of the honor due to the projectors and builders of the Pacific rail- road, and he should have shared in the colossal fortunes reaped by his associates, but his death at the early age of 37 years prevented this. His remains are buried in the Federal street cemetery. Mrs. Judah survived him until Septem- ber 2, 1895.
MARTINDALE FAMILY
The name of " Saunders Martingal " appears in Savage's Genealogical Dictionary, with this note, "Swore 9 May 1667 as a freeman of Connecticut, from what town is not known." See Trumbull's Colonial Register, vol. II, 58. In 1669 the name does not appear among the list of freemen. He may have moved to Hadley, with other families which settled there from Connecticut about 1660.
Edward Martindale, born about 1688, settled in Westfield, Mass., about 1732, when he joined the Westfield church by letter, from Hatfield. His wife, Ruth, and four children, born in Hatfield, accompanied him; their names being Gershom, Zadoc, Sarah and Lemuel. The latter was born in Hatfield, October 20, 1730. Other children, born in Westfield, were Ebenezer, born March 12, 1732/3, Ruth, October 12, 1734, married Noah Allen, October 16, 1752- of Deerfield-Elisha, born " Feb. the last " 1736/7, Edward, born February 7, 1739 40, Thankful, born February 22, 1744/5. Sarah married January 31, 1750/1, Thomas Dewey, Jr.
Edward died at Westfield, March 20, 1762, aged 74. His widow Ruth died January, 1765, aged 63.
Gershom Martindale married at Westfield, November 7,
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EARLY PRINTERS
1745, Bathsheba Nash and had a son, William, born July 21, I749.
Zadoc Martindale, born about 1728, married Sybel Spell- man, who died May 20, 1797, aged 59. They had Edward, born December 4, 1758.
Lemuel Martindale, born at Hatfield, October 20, 1730, married March 20, 1755, Christian Caldwell, daughter of Abel and Anna (Dwight) Caldwell of Westfield. (See Dwight family, Springfield Library). They had born to them in West- field, Molly, April 20, 1755 ; Ebenezer, November 25, 1756 ; Uriah, August 15, 1758 ; Justin, May 4, 1761. He removed to Greenfield in 1762.
Edward Martindale married May 4, 1721, Ruth, daughter of Ebenezer Smead, born September 5, 1702. He then lived in Deerfield. John Nims (son of John, son of Godfrey) married Abigail Smead, a sister of Ruth. Thomas Nims, the son of John, married an Esther Martindale of West- field.
THOMAS DICKMAN
Thomas Dickman, born in Boston December 18, 1768, came to Greenfield when twenty-four years of age to become the pub- lisher of the Impartial Intelligencer, about to be started by Wil- liam Coleman, who at that time was the leading man of the town. He had worked for the celebrated Isaiah Thomas, known as "the father of the press," and was aided by him in starting in busi- ness for himself, February 1, 1792. The name of the new paper was soon changed to " Greenfield Gazette," and he re- mained with it for twelve years.
After disposing of the paper he kept a bookstore, having in 1805 lost his position as postmaster. The next year he re- moved to Springfield where he published the Hampden Fed- eralist for fourteen years. While here he purchased the place now occupied by the Elm House, his house being the north half of the two upper stories of that building.
He represented Springfield in the legislature, and kept a
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JOHN DENIO
bookstore and circulating library for some time. Mr. Dick- man was a courteous and urbane gentleman of the old school, much respected in every relation of life.
He died very suddenly at the home of his daughter, Mrs. David Willard, of this town, December 9, 1841, aged 73 years.
JOHN DENIO
John Denio, grandson of old landlord Aaron, when fifteen was apprenticed to Thomas Dickman, in 1793. In 1800 he started a paper in Vermont, but eighteen months later he came back to Greenfield and bought out the Gazette and the book-selling business connected with the office. Denio was the publisher of the Gazette until 1811, when he sold out to Colonel Ansel Phelps, but bought back an interest the following year. In 1815 he sold to Phelps again, and two years later reformed the partnership, which was continued until a final dissolution, May 20, 1823.
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