USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of the county of Berkshire, Massachusetts, in two parts > Part 13
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Samuel Mckay,
Languages.
Ebenezer Kellogg, 1815
Soon after his resignation in September, 1815, Pres- ident Fitch became the minister of the Presbyterian
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE.
church and society in West Bloomfield, N. Y., where he still resides.
President Moore, upon his resignation in Sept. 1821, became the President of the Collegiate Institution at Amherst, now Amherst College. He died June 30, 1823, in the 53d year of his age. He was a native of Palmer, and a graduate of Dartmouth College; studied theology with Dr. Charles Backus, of Somers, Conn., and was settled as pastor of the church in Leicester from 1798 to 1811 ; during a part of which time he was the principal preceptor in Leicester Academy. From the time of his leaving Leicester until his inauguration as President of Williams College, he was Professor of Languages in the college at Hanover. He was a sound classical scholar, had a very happy talent both in in- structing and governing youth, and possessed great moral worth. A memoir of him was published in the Christian Spectator, in the number for September, 1823.
The number of graduates from the College is about 700, of whom about 200 have entered into the ministry of the gospel. Many have gone into the professions of law and physic. Though the College has suffered in point of numbers by the repeated efforts to remove it to the region of Connecticut river, it has on the whole been prospered, and has accomplished much good for the church of God and for the world. The number of undergraduates for several years has varied from 80 to 120. Among those who have exerted a powerful influ- ence in the benevolent operations of this period, may be mentioned the names of the Rev. Samuel John Mills, the active friend of oppressed Africa ; and of the Rev. . Gordon Hall, late missionary at Bombay. Others have also filled and are occupying important missionary stations ; and many are filling important offices in civil life.
With this College, the Berkshire Medical Institution at Pittsfield is connected. This was incorporated in June, 1823.
Prior to this, and other similar establishments in our country, young men, after going through an Academic or Collegiate course, were prepared for the practice of physic by studying for a time with some private practi-
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sing physician. The late Dr. Erastus Sargeant, of Stockbridge, fitted many for their profession. A con- siderable number were instructed by some other physi- cians of eminence in the County.
In January, 1757, several physicians in Berkshire formed a Medical Association, " for the purpose of observing and communicating those things which might be for the improvement of the art of physic, and of en- couraging a spirit of union among the faculty, and of rendering it the more respectable." This association held its last meeting in June, 1796.
In 1820, the Massachusetts Medical Society for the District of Berkshire, was formed. It consists of all the fellows of the General or State Society, and all such licentiates of the General or District Societies as reside in the County. The Society has an annual meet- ing in May, and a semi-annual meeting in October. Censors are appointed in the County by the parent So- ciety, or rather by the Councillors of the State Society, whose business it is to examine candidates for the pro- fession, and whose approbation is indispensable, that they may practice physic, and collect debts for medical services, according to the laws of the Commonwealth.
The reader will find a list of the physicians in the history of the several towns.
The Berkshire Medical Institution is managed by its own Board of Trustees ; but the degree of Doctor of Medicine is conferred upon its alumni by the President of Williams College, either at the annual Commence- ment of the Medical Institutiou, on the last Thursday in December, or at the Commencement of Williams College. The Medical Institution has a course of med- ical lectures, beginning on the first Thursday in Sep- tember and continuing fifteen weeks to its Commence- ment. It has also a Reading Term for resident stu- dents, with recitations, and demonstrations from the resident Professors, which commences on the first Wednesday in March, and excepting a vacation of two weeks in May. continues to the last Wednesday in Au- gust. This Medical Institution has received the confi- dence of the public beyond most of the similar institu- tions of the same age. Beginning in the year 1822 with a class of about 25, it soon had a class of more than 100
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attending the Lectures. The course of instruction is extensive, judicious, and practical. Great efforts and sacrifices have been made on the part of the Professors to make the course of instruction very complete. The reading term is of great consequence to the medical stu- dent. The recitations demand an attention which is not commonly required in the method of medical educa- tion, and the demonstrations both give and apply facili- ties and experience and tact.
The Medical Faculty is composed of a Professor of Anatomy and Physiology,
Theory and Practice of Physic,
Theoretical and Practical Surgery,
66 Materia Medica and Obstetrics,
Medical Jurisprudence,
6.6 Chemistry, Botany, Mineralogy, and Natural Philosophy .*
!
Two edifices belong to the Berkshire Medical Insti- tution. The one is a large building of three stories, for rooms and a boarding establishment. Another large building contains several rooms for students, besides a laboratory, lecture room, anatomical theatre, with a fine skylight, a room for the cabinet of preparations and wax imitations, and another for the cabinet of min- erals and collection of subjects of natural history. There is a Lyceum of Natural History connected with the Institution, and formed by its trustees, according to the act of the Legislature. At the commencement of the Institution, about $3000 were raised by subscription, and $5000 were subsequently given to it by the Legis- lature.
* It is worthy of serious consideration whether the employment of a clergyman of the right character as to talents, wisdom and pie- ty, during term-time, would not add to the usefulness of the in- stitution : one who should conduct a devotional exercise with the students at a stated hour morning and evening. who should give a course of Biblical lectures who should point out the infinite importance of piety to them, not only as men, but as persons de- signed for a public profession, that they might be like Luke the beloved physician, and other physicians of blessed memory; and who should by argument, anecdote, and exhortation, occasionally published in the papers, call the attention of Christians to the great duty of praying particularly for Medical Institutions.
0
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, TOWN-HOUSE, MEDICAL INSTITUTION, AND BOARDING-HOUSE. PITTSFIELD.
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-SCHOOLS-ACADEMIES.
"Besides these means of education, a considerable number of youth of both sexes, and especially of females, are annually sent from the County to some of the acade- mies or higher schools in the cities, or other places, for the perfection of their education. By an examination of the catalogues of several Colleges, it appears that more than thirty young men from this County are an- nually receiving a public education at some of the Col- leges. This fact, while it shows the attention to educa- tion, proves that the College in the County does not receive all that patronage which it merits, and which the good of the County requires.
The establishment of libraries in many towus, has been another important meaas of diffusing knowledge. Many of these libraries have indeed been divided among the proprietors, since the greater multiplication of books, and especially of periodical works. The con- sequence is, that while there is more reading than for- merly, there is far less reading of the substantial authors in the English language. The subject of town libraries demands new attention. Though there are many diffi- «culties in carrying into effect the measures which are in this way designed for the public good of the people, it is not a point to be doubted, that the good to be effected by such libraries demands and authorizes much sacri- fice and large expenditures of patience and perseve- rance on the part of the more affluent and influential. The influence in elevating the character of the people has been the more fully proved in those places where the object has received the most and the longest con- tinued attention.
The first printing office established in the County was at Stockbridge, and the paper then issued was called he Western Star. This paper (weekly) commenced in the autumn of 1788. It has been continued with lit- tle interruption. For some years it has been called the Berkshire Star. In 1828 it was removed to Lenox, and printed as the Berkshire Star and County Repub- lican.
The Sun was commenced a few years later at Pitts- field, and has continued to the present time. Another weekly paper was printed for several years at Pittsfield and then discontinued.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE.
In 1826, the Berkshire American was commenced at Pittsfield; and in Feb. 1827 was removed to the N. Vil- lage in Adams. The Argus soon succeeded the Amer- ican at Pittsfield.
The American Advocate, another weekly paper, was issued from the press April 12th, 1827, at Williams- town. This paper is designed to be employed in part for the diffusion of religious intelligence.
At no period, probably, have greater efforts been made to enlighten the people generally than at the pre- sent. Let the citizens increase these efforts till educa- tion and intelligence are brought to the lowest indivi- dual. Rarely is the person to be found, who was born and bred in the County, who cannot read, and write, at least his own name ; let the time be seen when all can read and write, so far as the business of life requires.
GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE,-IMPROVE- MENT IN MANNERS-AMUSEMENTS .- In view of facts already stated, this County may be regarded as compo- sed of a very intelligent and moral, and, relatively con- sidered, religious population. The literary and pious institutions and customs of our fathers have sent down a blessed influence, which has reached until the present time, notwithstanding the evil moral tendency of the Revolutionary war and Shays insurrection, the party politics that have sometimes raged, and other un- happy events. Our scattered settlements and general employments are favorable to good morals. The repeat- ed revivals, affecting many of the influential men & fami- lies, and very many of the substantial yeomanry, have had a mighty and most beneficial effect upon the whole community. The distribution of tracts, and various literary and religious publications, is producing great improvement among persons of all ages ; while sabbath schools, with their libraries, are accomplishing the greatest blessings for the young. Benevolent exer- tions by their re-action, are doing immense good among ourselves.
The operation of these and other causes has produ- eed a.considerable change in various particulars. Works on infidelity, or of an irreligious and immoral tendency, which were once abundant, have become very rare
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CHARACTER-MANNERS-AMUSEMENTS. 1
among the people. The character of the books read by children and youth has been changed within a few years greatly for the better. The vulgar and barba- rous practices of horse-racing, cock-fighting, and box- ing, never prevalent in the County, have become nearly extinct. The dregs of society alone think of the two last with any favor, and the first is scarcely thought re-, putable in the better part of society. Gambling, once prevalent among a portion of the citizens, is rarely known, and when practised, is made literally, as it is morally, a work of darkness.
Dancing, though still a fashionable amusement, is less general, while balls are conducted on better prin- ciples. The lateness of the hour to which they are gen- erally continued, and the exposure of the health, espe- cially of the females, still make them no inconsiderable evils. Were religious evening meetings to be thus pro- tracted, even without the exposure of health, they would receive very general reprobation. The grand objection to this amusement, however, is its known tendency to dissipate the mind, and unfit it for serious reflection.
The shooting of turkeys, &c., as an amusement, Is continued in some places, and attended with some dis- order and with the brutalizing of the feelings of those who allow themselves in the cruel and barbarous indul- gence.
The progress of more enlightened principles and the influence of moral causes, are diminishing the evil practices, and preparing men for the higher object of acting consistently with their rational natures.
The days regarded by many of the people as seas- ons of amusement and relaxation, are the day of the Election of the Governor, the anniversary of our In- dependence, the General Training, the Cattle show and Fair of the Agricultural Society, and to some ex- tent, the day following the annual Thanksgiving .- Christmas is rarely observed, except by those who are Episcopalians, as it is a point generally considered as settled, that the day on which our saviour was born can not be ascertained. The day of the New Year re- ceives some attention-but the people are more in the habit of extending their " compliments" through the several seasons than of confining them to any particu-
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE.
lar one. To a certain portion of society, the exhibitions at the academies or higher schools, and the annual commencement of the College, afford an opportunity for relaxation and literary intercourse and amusement.
Playing at ball, in its variety of games, is practised occasionally by many. The game of ball, called wicket, has been one of great interest in some parts of the County, enlisting the feelings and rousing the efforts of the old and young. Wrestling is rare as an amuse- ment. Fishing and hunting re followed by all whose , taste or pursuits allow them the indulgence.
COMPARATIVE RATABLE PROPERTY OF THE TOWNS -- TRADE-BANKS, &C. The ratable property of the County, on page 14th of this work, according to returns made in 1822, is stated to be $316,671. Agreeably to the valuation then made, the towns rank as follows, be- ginning with the highest, viz : Pittsfield, Sheffield, Williamstown, Great Barrington, Sandisfield, Adams, Lanesborough, Stockbridge, Cheshire, New-Maribo- rough, Lenox, Richmond, Lee, Hancock, Tyringham, Becket, West Stockbridge, Dalton, Windsor, Hinsdale, Peru, Egremont, Otis, Alford, Washington, Savoy, N: Ashford, Mt. Washington, Florida, Clarksburg. Pitts- field is assessed at $29,852 77, and Clarksburg at $1218 63. The average assessment of the towns is $10,555 70.
The trade of the towns does not correspond entirely with their ratable nor real property. Much depends upou individual enterprise, the possession of water pri- vileges, and various other circumstances. As a.general fact, the towns on the Housatonic and Hoosic do the moct business. A little trade is carried on with Hart- ford, and some other towns on Connecticut river, and a little with Boston. But the far greater portion of the trade is with the city of New-York, and the cities of Troy, Alhany, and Hudson. The last mentioned mar- kets are only about thirty miles from the principal towns in Berkshire.
Among the articles carried to market are butter, cheese. pork, lard, ham, beef (rarely,) leather, pota- toes, onions, apples, poultry, rye, oats, beans, indian corn, flaxseed, barrels, staves and heading, pails and the like, timber for cabinet work, boards, plank, shingles,
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RATEABLE PROPERTY-TRADE-BANKS.
potashes, essence of peppermint, ale, cotton and wool- len goods, marble in immense quantities, lime, iron, hats, wool, &c.
More wheat is probably brought into the County than is carried out of it-also of iron, hats, &c. Other arti- cles introduced into the County are too common to need , notice.
It is impossible to state precisely the amount of arti- cles, either in quantity or value, which are carried year- ly from the County, and of those likewise which are in- troduced into it. An attempt was made a few years since to ascertain the amount in tons of the exports and imports to and from Albany, Hudson, Troy, and Hart- ford. Returns were made from 22 towns, and the re- sult was a total of 18,475 tons. If we suppose the towns from which returns were not received, viz: Pitts- field, Richmond, Hancock, Windsor, Florida, New Ashford, Alford, and Mount Washington, to have a proportional share of trade, the total will be 25,193 tons, and the exports and imports, omitting fractions, will stand as follows :
Exports of produce, 8535 tons.
Do. of manufactures, 2210 “
Imports of merchandize, for con- sumption, 7302
Do. raw materials for manufactures, 2094
The Berkshire Bank, in Pittsfield, was incorporated in 1806, and failed in 1809. The Agricultural Bank, located in the same town, was incorporated in February 1818, with a capital of $100,000, and is in successful operation.
The Housatonic Bank, in Stockbridge, was incorpo- rated in 1825. It has a capital of $100,000, and pos- sesses the confidence of the public.
A charter for another bank, with the same capital, to be located in the North Village of Adams, was granted in 1828. This has not commenced operations.
These banks seem to be important from the increase ing attention to manufactures. In the course of busi- ness, individuals will be supplied from some bank ; and the profit, whatever it may be, is now retained in the County. At the same time, the citizens cannot be
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE.
too fully aware of the danger arising from the multipli- cation of these institutions. The subject is an old one, indeed ; but the danger is renewed from day to day. It is not the borrowers of money, as a general fact, upon whom the country can depend ; but dependence must be placed upon the substantial and independent farmer, mechanic, and labourer. Mortgage is certain to prove in the general, what the word signifies, a death-gage to the property upon which it is fastened, and to the pros- perity of the man who allows it to be fastened upon his estate.
EMIGRATIONS-COLOURED POPULATION .- For fifty years, the emigrations from this County have been al- most perpetual. The people moved at first chiefly to Vermont, and then to the State of New York. About 1786, a company in Berkshire purchased ten townships about Chenango river, called the Chenango purchase. Many families removed from the County to those town- ships, one of which bears its name. Some have remo- ved to Pennsylvania, to Ohio, Michigan, and various other parts of the United States ; and some have re- moved to Canada, and become subjects of the British government. Formerly but few coloured persons were ~ found in the County. A considerable number have come into it from the adjoining parts of the State of New York, where slavery was continued until 1827. Some came to escape from servitude, and others be- cause they had become free, and wished to leave the land where slavery existed at all. Many of the blacks are respectable inhabitants, possessed of some educa- tion and some property ; some are admitted to all the rights of freemen, and to all the privileges of the church. A large part of them, however, are idle, ignorant, poor, and vicious. Their situation demands the attention of the benevolent. The improvement of the free coloured population of our country ought to proceed equally with the grand effort to abolish slavery entirely. To these sons of Africa the whites owe an immense debt ; and every proper measure should be adopted to improve their education and morals, to make them religious, re- spectable, and happy. The most careful and constant attention should be paid to their child. e. : let them en%
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DISEASES.
joy all the benefits of the district and sabbath schools. Every town is deeply interested in ameliorating their condition.
SUPPORT OF THE POOR .- The number of paupers is considerable in every town, and will continually in- crease, unless by existing, or some other efforts, the progress of intemperance shall be stayed. While some are unavoidably and innocently destitute and depend- ent, the situation of most of them'is clearly owing to in- temperance and its kindred vices.
The expense of the poor in some instances will be given in the history of the towns. It is already great. In several towns they are supported at the sum offered by the lowest bidder. This seems to be an objectiona- ble method ; aud yet many respectable men are of the opinion that the poor are made as comfortable in this way as in any other which has been tried, while the ex- pense is much less.
In what way economy and kindness can be most ef- fectually united in the support of the poor is a question difficult to be settled. While none should be left to ab- solute suffering, those should be furnished with the greatest portion of comforts, who are poor by the mere act of Providence, and not from folly and vice. Every one should be employed in some business suited to his capacity and strength. All should be favoured with re- ligious books and counsel, and placed where, if in health, they can attend the public worship of God.
DISEASES .- The diseases are generally of the acute kind. Bilious fever, fever and ague, typhus fever, group, inflammation of the brain, peripneumony, dysen- tery, cholic, &c. Besides these rheumatism in several forms, jaundice, dyspepsia among those of sedentary habits, are often seen ; gout, very rarely ; consumption frequent.
In the summer and autumn of 1796, the dysentery and bilious remitting fever, then called pond fever, from its supposed origin in the miasma of a mill pond, (known at that time as Hubbard's mill pond,) near the centre of the town, was very fatal in Sheffield. In the early part of the season the dam was raised a foot or a
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE.
foot and an half, and the banks of the pond and stream, then covered with vegetation, were overflowed. The season was uncommonly hot, and heavy rains fell at in- tervals of 15 and 20 days, by which the water was suc- cessively raised, and then lowered by the letting off of the water at the mills. The sickness began in July, and continued and increased until the occurrence of frosts in October; during which about sixty persons died. The people who suffered, were within a mile and a quarter of the pond, on the plain, and in the neigh- borhood about the meeting-house. Those suffered the most who were nearest to the water. In other parts of the town, the inhabitants were healthy, few dying ex- cepting such as had resided in the infected district. The dam has since been lowered, by an adjudication of the courts, and no similar calamity has occurred.
In 1802, the canker-rash was very fatal in Williams- town ; and bilious fever prevailed there extensively in 1809, but was rarely fatal.
In 1811, the spotted fever was an alarming disorder in the north part of the County. This disease swept away many in all parts of the County about that time. No one disease has prevailed over the County at the same time.
The meazles and whooping cough walk their usual rounds.
The small pox has not been known in the County for many years. Many of the inhabitants have been vaccinated. It is a surprizing fact, however, that so few avail themselves of this protection ; and an alarm- ing consideration, that in view of the fancied security, the inhabitants are most extensively exposed to the ravages of this terrible disease, whenever it shall be suffered by divine providence to make its appearance. In such a case, it will be the more widely scattered, and prove the more fatal, because the physicians have been so long unacquainted with it, and so many of them have never seen it at all. The occurrence of the disease in several parts of the country, and the ravages it has made, have placed the stamp of reality on the truth just expressed, and render a more general practice of vac- eination the interest and duty of all who place a just
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CLIMATE-METEOROLOGY.
estimate upon human life, and the preservation of the lives of their own families and friends.
In the history of some of the towns, bills of mortality will be given; from which it will appear, that many among us die at an advanced age, and that Berkshire must be considered as a healthy portion of the country. .
CLIMATE-METEOROLOGY .- The climate is salubri- ous and healthtu !. The mean temperature of the year is about 46 deg. Farenheit. On the more elevated dis- tricts it is nearly a degree less, and in the lower towns it is a little greater. Situated on the west side of the range of the Green mountains, it is less affected by the north-east winds and storms, and the disagreeable east- erly winds which are so much felt and complained of along the shore of the Adautic and the interior of New England to Connecticut river. Owing to the situation of the mountains in the northern part of the County, the winds are very rarely from the north-east, and such winds are of short duration through the County ; and from the direction of the Taconic range, very little west wind is noticed. The principal winds are from the north-west, from the south-west, from the south, and south-east. The wind is from the north-west through the day about 150 days in the year. These winds are cool, and dry, and invigorating. The proportion of winds from the four principal directions, are, on an ave- rage of four years, nearly in the following proportions, viz : north-west 600; south-west 105; south 156, and south-east 103. Dew or frost, showing the number of clear and still nights, occurs about 120 mornings aunu- ally. The mean quantity of water failing annually at Williams College for eight years, was about 34 inches, and is probably about the mean quantity which falls an- nually in the County. To this should be added for dew three or four inches. '
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