USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of the county of Berkshire, Massachusetts, in two parts > Part 18
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE.
ed. In 1803 he moved to Egremont, and two years after he moved to this town, in both which places, he preached often, especially in Egremont, where his la- bors were greatly blessed. At times he was employed by the Berkshire and Columbia Missionary Society to labour in these towns, and in Mount Washington. In the summer of 1824, he went into the state of Ohio, where he died suddenly in an apoplectic fit, in the town of Talmadge, five days after his arrival there, at the house of his son in law, Dr. Wright, on the 9th day of July, in the 80th year of his age.
Mr. Kinne was born at Norwich, Con. in Newent society, now a part of the town of Lisbon, and was graduated at Yale College in 1765. He possessed a sound understanding, which he retained to an unusual degree to the very close of life, and he was highly re- spectable as a scholar. Though not a graceful, he was still an interesting preacher. His sermons were full of thought and instruction, conveyed in appropriate and energetic language. The doctrines of grace were fa- miliar to him, and he excelled in the knowledge of the historical, prophetical and typical parts of scripture .- Besides contributions to the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, Panoplist, and some small works, he pub- lished in 1814, " An explanation of the Principal Types, the Prophecies of Daniel and Hosea, the Reve- lation, and other symbolical passages of the Holy Scriptures," in an octavo volume of 389 pages. A vol- ume of sermous which he prepared for publication, may yet pass through the press.
He was a man of prayer : three times in the course of the morning on which he died, he was discovered en- gaged in private devotion.
A HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF STOCKBRIDGE.
BY REV. DAVID D. FIELD.
1
In the autumn of 1734, a mission was commenced among the Housatonic Indians by M :. John Sergeant, then a candidate for the ministry, assisted by Mr. Ti- mothy Woodbridge as schoolmaster. They were pa- tronized by the Board of Commissioners for Indian Af- fairs in Boston, of which his Excellency Jonathan Bel- cher, then British Governor of Massachusetts, and Dr Benjamin Colman, a clergyman in Boston, were the most active and influential members. About half of these Indians, then reduced to S or 10 families, lived in the Great Meadow on the Housatonic, in this town, south of the Plain, called by them Wnahktukook. Here Konkapot, the principal Indian, resided, who had jast before been honored by Gov. Belcher with a captain's commission, and whose desire to be instructed in Chris- tianity had led on, more than any other circumstance, to the establishment of the mission. His-cabin stood on a knoll, a few rods north of Konkapot brook, on the east side of the county road. The other Indians lived on their reservation in Sheffield, called by them Skate- hook, about 10 miles south. There Umpachene resi- ded, whom Gov. Belcher hast made a lieutenant. Their living in these separate settlements, it was perceived at once, would seriously interfere with their instruction, 'specially with the schooling of the children. To rem- dy this evil in some measure for the time being, the 'ndians agreed to dwell together in the winter season, about half way between their settlements; and they
240
HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE.
immediately began the erection of a public house at the place selected, (somewhere in Great Barrington, though the precise spot is not known) which should serve the double purpose of a meeting-house and school-house. Around this they erected small huts for the accommoda- tion of their families, and in a short time all moved thi- ther. But then it was necessary for them to return to their settlements in the spring, to plant, and to pursue their means of living upon their own grounds. It be- came therefore an important object for them, and others who should unite with them, to provide for their dwel- ling permanently together ; for although their number was now small, they belonged to a large tribe of In- dians, who had been commonly called by the English, River Indians, some of whom lived in the northwest corner of Connecticut, and more at various places westward within the bounds of New-York. Could a suitable and sufficient township be obtained, it was ex- pected their settlement would become considerably large.
Made acquainted with their situation, the Legisla- ture, on the 17th of March, 1735, granted them a town- ship, six miles square, to be laid out on the Housatonic river, immediately north of Monument Mountain, pro- vided the proprietors and settlers of the upper Housa- tonic township could be induced to give up their right to that portion of their lands on which the new township would partly fall. The design was, to include the fine alluvial grounds at Wnahktukook, already cleared and cultivated to some extent, where a part of the Indians then lived, and where they might easily raise corn and other articles of food, and supply themselves with fish from the river. This spot, with the lands immediately about it, protected in part on all sides by mountain from the rage of the elements, was selected with admirable judgment to be the' seat of the mission. But how to free the lands, justiy and honorably, from incumbrance, was the difficulty.
A committee, consisting of John Stoddard, Ebenezer - Pomroy, and Thomas Ingersoll, Esquires, were appoin- ted "to weigh and consider all things and circumstan- ees" relative to the location and settlement of the town, to confer with the Indians and learn their views and
241
STUCEBRIDGE.
wishes ; to sell their reservation in Sheffield, to satisfy the proprietors and sentiers of the upper Housatonic township, (should an arrangement be effected,) so far as it would go ; to give the proprietors living below Monument mountain what .nore should be necessary to indemnify them for their loro in the ungranted lands in the vicinity, and to the proprietors above the mountain, who were expected to remove, on equivalent in some of the ungranted lands of the Province, either in the vi- cinity or elsewhere. Should na insurmountable obsta- cles occur, the committee were to proceed further, and actually lay out the town; ny dang which, one sixtieth part of it was to be reserved ley he missionary ; ano- ther sixtieth part for the sch . Unmaster, and a sufficient portion for four other Eagli dormiilies, who should set- tle in it, and assist them in their great and benevolent work.
They had little difficulty in performing the duties as- signed them, except with two or three Dutchmen who had settled above the mountain. At length, however, these agreed to come to an accommodation. Jehoiakim Van Valkenburgh, a special friend of Capt. Konkapot, who sometimes ac.ed as bis interpreter, to whom he had given 40 acres of land in Wuahktukook, and 250 acres of upland adjoining, sold out, and moved below the mountain. The purchasers gave the land to the Indians, taking an equivalent in unappropriated lands from the Legislature. The spot on which Van Valkenburgh lived is said to be that now occupied by Mr. Francis Dresser ..
In April, 1736, the committee laid out the town in an exact square. The west and east parallel lines ran north 9 deg. east, "70 rods in . the upper Housatonic township and 1150 above it, in all 1920; the south and north parallel lines ran east, 9 deg. south, from the sup- posed boundary of New York the same distance. There fell in the Housatonic township 9240 acres, and northward of it, 13,S00 ; total 23,040. The survey included the present townships of Stockbridge and W. Stockbridge.
In May, the committee reported their doings to the Legislature ; and early in this month the Indians moved into the town, with two new families added to their number. Others moved in soon after, so that by the 21
242
HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE.
close of June there were more than 90 souls in the set- tlement.
In the month of August, Mr. Sergeant visited Gov. Belcher at Boston with some of the Indians, who ex- pressed great thankfulness for the kindness the Govern- ment had bestowed upon them, particularly in granting them a township, for the conveniency of their living to- gether. And in return, (in addition to the reservation in Sheffield,) " gave up their challenge to two miles of land, one mile on each side of the road from Housatun- nuk to Westfield," a much greater tract than that given to them in the new township, though probably of less value. They also "prayed for the assistance of Go- vernment in building them a meeting-house and school- house."
In January, 1737, the subject being laid before them by the Governor, the Legislature ordered that a meet- ing-house, 30 feet broad and 40 long, together with a school house, should be built for the Indians at the charge of the Province : Col. Stoddard of Northamp- ton, Mr. Sergeant and Mr. Woodbridge were appointed a committee to see that the order was executed.
On the 7th of May, in this year, the grant of the town was formally confirmed to the Indians, their heirs and assigns ; and in 1939 the town was incorporated, and called Stockbridge, doubtless after Stockbridge in England.
It was some time before the meeting-house and school- house were erected, probably owing to the difficulty of obtaining materials. But by the 29th of November, 1739, the day of public thanksgiving in the Common- wealth, the meeting-house was so far completed, that it was opened for the worship of God. This stood a few rods north-east from the site of the present south meet- ing-house. The frame is now the frame of a barn half a mile west, on a farm belonging to the Hon. Henry W. Dwight. The school-house stood in the street, nigh the dwelling-house of the writer.
The settlement gradually increased for many years. The number of souls in it in March, 1740, was 120. Families came in from various places. In the spring of 1744, the inhabitants of a small village, called Kau- maumeek, on the flat about Brainerd's Bridge, 6 miles
243
STOCKBRIDGE.
west of New Lebanon, where David Brainerd labored about a year, moved here, agreeably to the advice of that celebrated missionary. In January, 1747, there were nearly 50 families and probably nearly 200 souls ; in July, 1749, 53 families and 218 souls. They were afterwards increased to about 400; and I have seen a statement, entitled to regard, which implies that at one time they were much more numerous. They may have been sometimes more and sometimes less than 400, by the accession and removal of families ; for by natural increase they hardly held their own. But 400 was, as far as is known, about their average number while they remained in this town.
Prior to the Revolutionary war, a township (6 miles square,) afterwards called New Stockbridge, was given to them by the Oneidas in the State of New York. They were prevented from removing to this tract until after the peace of 19783. Some removed in the course of that year ; they more generally removed in 1785, and the residue in 178S. At the time of their removal their number was about 420. In 1810, they are said to have been more than 600; but they afterwards diminished to 450.
In 1822, these Indians began to remove to Green Bay, on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, on to a tract of 5,000,000 acres, purchased for them and other Indians in the State of New York, for $5,000, of the Menominie and Winnebago tribes. They are now near- ly all removed on to the tract, where they have a settle- ment which bears the name of their settlement in New York. The head of Green Bay is near the centre of their purchase.
The residence of Capt. Konkapot in this town, the principal man among the Indians when the mission was commenced, has been mentioned. King Ben, [Benja- min Kokkewenaunaut] had a house on the elevated ground back from the Housatonic, half a mile west of the Plain. In 1771, being then 94 years old, this man said to the Indians that they must appoint another king, and king Solomon [Solomon Unhaunnauwaunnutt] was chosen his successor. Solomon's house was on the south bank of the Housatonic, opposite " Little Hill." He died in Feb, 1777, aged about 50. King Ben lived.
244
HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE.
until April, 1781, being 104 years old. Some of the In- dian houses were on the Plain, some on the meadows near the river, and a few about Barnum's brook. There is no evidence that they ever resided in West Stockbridge in any considerable numbers. Two or three families lived for a time on the flat on the Housa- tonic, nigh the dwelling-house of Elijah Andrews. That town was separated from this in 1994, many years be- fore their removal to the State of New York.
Though these Indians were at first called River Indians by the English, they were afterwards more generally denominated Housatonic Indians, until the incorporation of this town. Since that time they have been common-, ly called Stockbridge Indians. They have also some- times, as well as the tribe at New London, Con., been called Mohegans, which is a corruption of their proper name, Muhhekaneews. This is derived from an Indian word, Muhhekaneew in the singular, and Muhhekaneok in the plural, which as interpreted by themselves, signi- fies, " the people of the great waters, continually in motion.".
" Their history, as derived from the traditions of their ancestors, by one of the tribe," says President Dwight, in his Travels, vol. ii. p. 384, " is summarily the following :"
" They came from a distant country, west by north ; i. e. a country lying in that direction from their present residence ; crossed over the great waters, which sepa- rate that country from this, and after a series of pilgrim- ages, arrived on the borders of Hudson's river. Here they settled, and spread through the neighbouring coun- try. Their ancestors, they say, were much more civi- lized than their descendants; lived in towns and villa- ges, and were very numerous ; but, being dispersed by a famine, they were obliged to seek for subsistence in distant regions. In the progress, they lost their arts and manners; or in the language of the historian " apostatized." Before they began sensibly to dimi- mish, they could furnish on any emergency a thousand warriors; and of course consisted of about four or five thousand persons; probably, however, not more than four thousand."
245
STOCKBRIDGE.
"' It ought to be added," says the President, " from this writer, that when their ancestors came to Hudson's river, they there first after passing over the great waters, " where," to use the language of the historian, " this and the other country is nearly connected, saw ebbing and flowing waters ; and said one to another, this is like Muhheakunnuk, the place of our nativity." In the description given above of their route, this account is precisely established. Between the Straits of Behring, by which America and Asia " are nearly connected," and Albany, the course is as near west by north, as we can suppose such a tribe, wandering over such a dis- tance, would place it, and the waters of the Hudson would be the first " ebbing and flowing waters" which emigrants would discover, after they had left those straits. In one instance, therefore, we have an Indian tradition, directly asserting, in terms which cannot easi- ly be misconstrued, that the Americans, partly at least, came from the eastern shore of Asia.
Concerning the language of these Indians, the young- er President Edwards shows, in a dissertation read in 17SS, before the Connecticut Society of Arts and Sci- ences, that it was the common language of the Indians in New England, of the Penobscots bordering on Nova Scotia, of the Indians of St. Francis in Canada, and of tribes far to the west and south, with the exception of the Iroquois, that it was spoken more generally than any other Indian language in North America. Differ- ent tribes of course used different dialects : but the lan- guage was radically the same. Elliot's translation of the Bible was into a particular dialect of it.
In this language there is no diversity of gender, either in nouns or pronouns. With regard to cases, these In- dians use but one variation from the nominative, formed by adding the syllable an, as wncchun, nechunan, his child. They form the plural by adding a letter or sylla- ble to the singular, as nemannauw, a man, nemannauk, men ; penumpauso, a boy, penumpausoouk, boys. They distinguish the natural relations of men to each other more carefully than we do, or perhaps any other nation, having one word to express an elder brother, netokcon, another to'c press a younger brother, nghee- gum, &c. They have no adjectives in their language, 21*
426
HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE.
unless we reckon numerals and such words as all, many, &c. adjectives. They have no relative corresponding to who or which, but instead of the man who walks, they say the walking man, or the walker, &c. Besides their use of prefixes and suffixes, Dr. Edwards discovered a remarkable analogy between some words in their lan- guage, and the corresponding words in the Hebrew.
This tribe was considered by itself, and acknowledged by the other tribes as being the eldest branch of their nation, and as such had regularly the precedence in their councils.
But what was the effect of the mission upon these In- dians ?
One incidental and very important effect was, that their friendship was effectually secured to the English. They performed numerous kind offices for the early set- tlers of this County and for others who passed through it, acting as their guides and interpreters. In time of war they were spies for the English, and often fought, and sometimes shed their blood in their armies. Though Fort Massachusetts was repeatedly attacked in the time of the first French war, and terror was spread through all this region ; though Mr. Sergeant's house was gar- risoned and perhaps some others in the town, yet in consequence, as it was supposed at the time, of the well known friendship of the Muhhekaneews, no hostile Indians ventured down into the vicinity of this place, and the southern section of the County was saved from such calamities as befel some of the settlements on Con- necticut river, and others to the west in the State of N. Y. And though in the second French war the few families in Williamstown, Lanesborough and Pittsfield were disturb- ed ; and though in one instance, in 1754, as it is gen- erally stated, but in the summer of 1755, as the time is given by the Rev. Mr. Taylor, in his appendix to the Redeemed Captive, a small party came into the centre of the County, two of which attacked a family in Stock- bridge ; yet the mischief was little, compared with what probably would have been done, had it not been for the friendship of the Stockbridge tribe. There was indeed a suspicion for a time that they were in some way concerned in this attack. But of this proof was wanting. "Upon investigation, the enemy was found
247
STOCKBRIDGE.
to consist of the Scatekook tribe, who had instigated the Orondocks and others to the invasion." The fami- ly attacked was that of Mr. Joshua Chamberlain, who lived on the " Hill," on the ground now occupied by the house of Mr. Stephen Hull. The attack was made on the Sabbath, while the people generally were at- tending public worship. The Indians were bravely op- posed by a hired man of Mr. Chamberlain, by the name of Owen. But his resistance only enabled Mr. Cham- berlain and wife to escape, he at length falling under his wounds, and dying very soon. The Indians scalped him, and killed and scalped one child, and carried away another, which they soon killed, in consequence of dis- covering that a party was in pursuit of them. At the same time that this affair took place, the people were fleeing hither for safety from Pittsfield and Lenox. In this flight a person was killed in the edge of Lenox, a little north of the house in this town formerly belonging to Dea. Samuel Whelpley. By this invasion, alarm was produced in the County, and old fortifications were repaired, or new ones built. Very soon after this, the Stockbridge Indians were received as soldiers in the service of Massachusetts, and showed how they had been slandered, by fighting for the whites. In the Re- volutionary war, a part of the company of minute men 1 under the command of Capt. Goodrich of this town, was composed of Indians. These acted as rangers for a time in the vicinity of Boston, under Capt. Timothy Yokun, one of their own tribe. A full company went to the White Plains, under Capt.Daniel Nimham, where. . four were slain, and some died of sickness. Numbers served at other places. At the close of the war, Timo- thy Edwards and others, contractors for supplying a di- vision of the army at West Point with provisions, were ordered by Gen. Washington, (as the tradition is here, ) to give the Indians a feast, in consideration of their good conduct in the service. An ox, weighing 1100, was roasted whole, the whole tribe partook of it, the men first, and then the women, according to custom. The Rev. John Sergeant (theyounger) and a Mr. Deane pre- sided at the table, and the principal men of the place. attended. The feast was kept near the residence of king Solomon ; and after this was over, the Indians
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE.
buried the hatchet, in token that the war was past, and performed some other ceremonies in their own style, for the gratification of the company.
But how far were they civilized and christianized ? To judge correctly of this, it must be remembered that when the mission was established among them, they were in the common debased state of the Aborigines generally in our country. The school commenced by Mr. Woodbridge in the autumn of 1734 was kept by him many years, and was regularly kept afterwards (for some time by Mr. John Sergeant, Jun.) until the In- dians emigrated to the region of the Oneidas. In this, the body of the Indian children were instructed, and probably obtained as good an education as English children at that period generally did in the common schools of New England.
In 1741, Mr. Sergeant projected the plan of a board- ing school, which was summarily this : That a tract of land of about 200 acres should be set aside for the use of the school, and a house erected upon it ; that a num- ber of children and youth, between the ages of 10 and 20, should be received, and placed under the care of two masters, one of whom should take the oversight of them in their hours of labour, and the other in their hours of study, and that their time should be so divided between the hours of labour and study, as to make one the diversion of the other ; that the fruit of their labours should go towards their maintainance, and to carry on the general design, and that a stock of cattle should be maintained on the place for the same purpose. It was also proposed to take into the number, on certain con- ditions, children from any of the Indian tribes around, that by their means the principles of virtue and christian knowledge might be spread as far as possible.
This project was very popular among the Indian and English inhabitants of this place, and much was eventu- ally done by them, considering their circumstances, for promoting it. It was also popular with the com- missioners and their friends in Boston. But before much was done, the first French war commenced, which rendered it necessary that the actual establishment of the school should be postponed for a season. In the mean while, as the Corporation for Indian Affairs, un-
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STOCKBRIDGE.
der which the commissioners acted, existed in London,* the project attracted the favorable notice of such blessed men there as Dr. Isaac Watts and Capt. Thomas Co- ram, who exerted themselves to raise funds for the sup- port of the school. The Prince of Wales headed a subscription with 20 guineas, and a few others high in rank and office subscribed for it. Mr. Isaac Hollis made provision at first for supporting 12 boys, and af- terwards for supporting 24, and was so anxious that the children should be instructed immediately, that Mr. Sergeant took 12 under his care in the beginning of 1748. But as it was not altogether safe for them to remain here during the war, he procured Capt. Martin Kellogg, of Newington, in Wethersfield, Con., to take them in May, and instruct them for a year. In 1749, the war being closed, a house for the boarding school was erected, which stood on the southern end of the garden belonging to Mr. Benoni C. Wells.
The heart of Mr. Sergeant was drawn exceedingly towards this school. His successor, President Edwards, thought much of it, and directly after his settlement in this place, a large council from the Six Nations sat here to consider the subject cf sending their children to the school. After it was opened, the Rev. Gideon Haw- ley, afterwards missionary at Marshpee, it is under- stood, instructed it for a time. " He taught a few fa- milies of Mohawks, Oneidas and Tuskaroras." The Rev. Cotton Mather Smith, who afterwards settled in Sharon, Con., also instructed it for a season. But arrangements for managing the school were never very thoroughly made ; and admirable as was the plan, and as much as it promised, the occurrence of the second French war nearly destroyed it.
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